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SPAL ensures extensive cleanliness arrangements

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LAHORE – The Suthra Punjab Agency Lahore (SPAL) deployed its sanitation operational teams across the city on the 9th Muharram-ul-Haram to ensure cleanliness at religious gatherings and along procession routes. According to a press release issued here on Thursday special cleaning measures were undertaken on the routes of the Ashura procession originating from Nisar Haveli, where sanitation workers and machinery remained active to maintain a clean environment for mourners and visitors. SPAL also carried out extensive cleanliness operations during the 983rd annual Ghusl ceremony of Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh Ali Hajveri (RA). More than 150 workers participated in the cleanliness operation around Data Darbar, supported by 2 washer vehicles, 3 compactors, 1 mechanical sweeper and 2 loader dumpers. Six supervisors, 2 zonal officers and the town manager personally monitored the operation in the field. Mechanical sweeping was conducted on roads and streets surrounding the Darbar, while pathways leading to the Data Darbar were washed and sprayed with a mixture of phenyl and rose water to maintain hygiene and improve the environment for devotees. On the instructions of Suthra Punjab Authority DG Babar Sahib Din, 10 additional waste containers were installed around the Darbar. Roads, markets and adjoining streets were cleaned and washed, while lime was also sprinkled on routes leading to the Darbar. As part of the Muharram sanitation plan, workers were engaged in manual sweeping and waste clearance in ‘Lakri Mandi’ and Main Bazaar Mochi Gate, while cleanliness measures were also ensured in Mughal Haveli, Taveela Nawab Sahib and Mohalla Shian. 
Waste containers placed along all procession routes were cleared regularly to facilitate mourners and residents. 
DG Babar Sahib Din said all available resources had been utilised to provide a clean and hygienic environment for visitors and devotees. He also thanked citizens for cooperating with Suthra Punjab teams and disposing of waste in designated bins.

Four-tier security in place ahead of Ashura, says CCPO

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Lahore – Lahore Police have implemented a comprehensive security plan to maintain law and order and ensure the safety of mourners during the observance of the 9th of Muharram. More than 11,000 police officers and personnel have been deployed across the city to perform security duties. According to a statement issued by Capital City Police Officer Lahore Bilal Siddique Kamyana, extensive security arrangements have been made for 386 majalis and 81 mourning processions. He said that strict implementation of the security Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued by the Punjab government, as well as Section 144 restrictions, is being ensured. A complete ban on pillion riding on motorcycles will remain in force on the 9th and 10th of Muharram. The CCPO further stated that enforcement of the Loudspeaker Act is being strictly monitored. Shops and markets located along procession routes will remain closed, while standing on the rooftops of buildings and shops surrounding the processions will not be permitted. Organizers and participants will also be required to adhere to designated timings and approved routes for  majalis and processions. Bilal Siddique Kamyana said that mourners are being provided with a robust four-tier security cover, supported by walk-through gates, metal detectors and other modern security equipment. He added that, in coordination with procession and majalis organizers, the screening and checking process for participants has been further strengthened. Processions and majalis are being monitored around the clock through live digital surveillance by the Punjab Safe Cities Authority and other monitoring centers. Divisional SPs have been directed to maintain close coordination with peace committee members and procession organizers, while Dolphin Squad, Police Response Unit (PRU) and Elite Force teams continue patrols around majalis and procession routes. The CCPO also urged citizens not to pay attention to rumors or fake news and to remain vigilant against miscreants while promoting unity and harmony within the community.

Indian authorities arrest staff accused of theft from temple built on site of razed Babri mosque

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Indian police have arrested eight people over allegations of theft and misappropriation of offerings at a temple that has been at the centre of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-first politics, authorities said.

The Ram Mandir temple in northern Uttar Pradesh state, built on grounds where a mosque stood for centuries before being torn down by Hindu zealots, was inaugurated in 2024 with great fanfare by Modi himself.

Allegations regarding irregularities in the handling of donations led to a criminal case being registered on Thursday, with police arresting eight people, including temple employees, according to a government statement issued late on Thursday.

Most of them were involved in counting or handling cash and valuables donated by devotees, including gold and silver, media reports said.

The government has not disclosed the scale of the alleged embezzlement.

Opposition parties and media reports say it could amount to more than $20 million.

“It is so shameful that a shrine of such supreme importance is being discussed for all the wrong reasons,” said Viti Saxena, a 44-year-old homemaker who had donated to the temple.

“I now wonder if that actually went into the temple coffers or not. It is a matter of global shame now,” Saxena told AFP. “The faith of countless Hindu believers is shaken.”

The eight arrested face charges of criminal breach of trust, theft, criminal conspiracy and corruption, the government statement said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, whose state government had established the special investigation team looking into the case, was quoted in the statement as having vowed that “no guilty person will be spared”.

The construction of the temple cost an estimated $240m, all of which was sourced entirely from public donations, according to the trust managing the site.

Devout Hindus believe that deity Ram was born in the town of Ayodhya — home to the temple — more than 7,000 years ago, but that the Babri mosque was built over his birthplace by a 16th-century Muslim emperor.

India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — then in the opposition — played an instrumental role in public campaigning that eventually led to the mosque’s demolition in 1992.

It helped propel Modi’s BJP as an unstoppable electoral juggernaut, eventually displacing the secularist Congress party that had governed India almost without interruption since independence from Britain.

Zelensky Steps Up Threats Against Belarus for Aiding Drone Attacks

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Ukrainian officials say their northern neighbor is allowing its radio relay stations to be used to guide Russian attack drones more precisely.

Four bodies bearing bullet wounds found inside ambulance in KP's Bannu

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BANNU: Four bodies bearing bullet wounds were found inside an ambulance in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu on Friday, police said.

Police sources told Dawn that the ambulance was found at the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Circular Road and initial investigation showed that the four men, who appeared to be middle-aged, were killed after unidentified attackers opened fire on the ambulance.

Officials estimate that the attack was carried out on Thursday night.

They said police reached the site shortly after being informed about the bodies, cordoned off the area and began collecting evidence.

The bodies were taken to the District Headquarters Hospital for medico-legal formalities.

Meanwhile, police have registered a case against unidentified attackers and launched an investigation, the officials said.

“The motive behind the attack is yet to be determined and further investigation is under way,” one of the officials said.

Bannu district has been the scene of repeated security incidents in recent months, with both civilians and local security forces coming under attack amid a broader surge in militant violence.

Violence in Bannu has included attacks on police and jirga members, prompting targeted operations by police and security forces in various localities to disrupt terrorist networks.

Last week, seven people were killed and three others were injured in two explosions in Marka Bera, a semi-tribal mountainous area of Bannu’s Wazir sub-division.

On June 13, suspected terrorists attempted to destroy the Teri Ram Bridge on the district’s Miryan Road with explosives, causing partial damage to the bridge.

Amid the terrorism surge, a jirga held on June 18 demanded that the government take immediate steps and root out militancy from the region.

The High School Pipeline to South Korea’s Chip-Making Fortunes

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Huge memory-chip profits from the global A.I. boom have increased interest in semiconductor factory work. But behind the hype are uncertain job prospects.

Zayn Malik faces fresh challenges amid career comeback

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LONDON: Singer Zayn Malik is reportedly facing new challenges in his career comeback after claims emerged that he has parted ways with his management, adding to a series of recent setbacks.

The Sun reported, citing a source, that the former One Direction star has split from Zenkai Management, the agency that had managed his career since 2022. The reported departure comes after last year’s alleged fallout involving former bandmate Louis Tomlinson.

According to the report, Zayn isn’t the easiest character to work with and his team stood by him through in all circumstances. However, things reached a point where his management felt they couldn’t do anything else, and they recently resigned. Now Zain is looking for the third manager of his career.

Neither Malik nor Zenkai Management has publicly commented on the reports.

Dispute with Louis Tomlinson

Earlier reports claimed that Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson clashed while filming a proposed travel series in 2025.

According to those reports, the show would have followed the former One Direction bandmates on a journey across the United States, where they planned to reflect on their careers, personal lives, and memories from their time in the globally successful boy band.

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The reports alleged that tensions escalated during filming after Malik reportedly became difficult to work with, leading to a heated argument. It was further claimed that Malik remarked on Tomlinson’s late mother, Johannah Deakin, who died of leukaemia in 2016 at the age of 43.

Following the reported dispute, two of Tomlinson’s sisters, Phoebe and Lottie, unfollowed Malik on Instagram.

The reports also alleged that the confrontation turned physical, with sources claiming Malik punched Tomlinson, causing a head injury. However, these allegations have not been independently verified.

A $2.5 Billion Whodunit: The Hack That Dented the U.K. Economy

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A loose collective of cybercriminals initially took credit for crippling Jaguar Land Rover last year. Investigators now see Russian hands behind the ransomware attack.

President Zardari gives assent to finance bill outlining Rs18.8tr budget for FY2026-27

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President Asif Ali Zardari gave his assent on Friday to the Finance Bill, 2026, which outlines the budget for the upcoming fiscal year with an outlay of Rs17.5718.8 trillion.

“President Asif Ali Zardari has assented to the Finance Bill, 2026, relating to the federal budget for fiscal year 2026-27,” a post on the Presidency’s X account said.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the FY2026-27 budget in the National Assembly (NA) on June 12, offering relief to higher-income salaried individuals and businesses by rationalising income tax, sales tax, and customs duties, while promoting documentation, digital compliance, and investment.

The NA passed the budget on Tuesday after the opposition staged a walkout. The House approved the budget after all seven amendments moved by opposition members were rejected by a majority vote. However, the finance bill included amendments suggested by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance.

Some of the key changes made to the bill since its introduction in parliament included the abolition of duties on mineral water or hydration drinks, sales tax exemption for local airlines on the import or lease of aircrafts, and an amendment to the duties imposed on electric cars or SUVs imported into the country.

The government did away with the proposed 20 per cent Federal Excise Duty (FED) on mineral waters, aerated waters, hydration drinks or electrolyte beverages with artificial sweetener or sugar content below 5g/100 ml.

Previously, all kinds of mineral waters, aerated waters, hydration drinks or electrolyte beverages were subjected to 20pc FED, irrespective of the artificial sweetener or sugar content.

The budget draft also included permission for all airlines operating in the country to avail sales tax exemption on the import or lease of aircrafts and their parts from July 1, 2027, which was only granted to PIA in the original bill.

It also showed that excise duty on imported electric cars would be calculated based on their values, to be calculated US dollars.

No FED will be applicable on electric cars and electric SUVs, imported in Completely Built-Up (CBU) condition with a value not exceeding $75,000, as determined under section 25 of the Customs Act, 1969.

Meanwhile, 30pc excise duty would be applicable on electric cars and electric SUVs valued between $75,000 and $110,000, while those whose value exceeds $110,000 would face 40pc excise duty.

Meanwhile, the Device Identification, Regist­ration and Blocking System (DIRBS) tax on imported phones will now be paid in instalments, but all instalments have to be paid before the end of the financial year in which the import is made.

The legislation approved also revealed that persons having turnover up to Rs200 million may opt out of the fixed tax regime, subject to a final and irrevocable certificate filed with the Tax Commissioner before filing their returns for the tax year 2027.

The minimum rate of value addition tax shall be one per cent in the case of import of coal, subject to the conditions that such imported coal is exclusively and directly supplied to Independent Power Producers.

Under the new budget, income tax exemptions wou­ld be available on any income derived by a private equity and venture capital fund registered under Private Funds Regulations, 2015.

This will be applicable where not less than 90pc of the accounting income of that year, as reduced by accumulated losses and unrealised capital gains, is distributed by the private equity and venture capital fund to its unit or certificate holders or shareholders.

This exemption will not be available if the private equity and venture capital fund is established to acquire a public listed company, whose status has not been changed to pri­­vate limited company on the acquisition.

In addition, the legislation says that for steel melters, re-rollers and composite units, tax will be collected on the basis of per unit electricity consumed, including use of electricity produced by a captive power plant or through any other alternative source of energy at the rate or rates as prescribed by FBR.

The tax so collected shall be an adjustable input tax, to be claimed in the return of the month in which such payment is made. The per unit sales tax shall be determined by the FBR on the basis of minimum notified price and the industrial benchmarks of consumption of electricity against per ton production of steel products.

US Supreme Court sides with Trump in asylum-processing case

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WASHINGTON: The U.S. Supreme Court handed President Donald Trump a victory on Thursday by backing the federal government’s authority to turn away asylum seekers when officials deem U.S.-Mexico border crossings too overburdened to handle additional claims.

The court, in a 6-3 ruling powered ​by its conservative justices, overturned a lower court’s finding that the policy violated federal law. The Republican president’s administration has said it may seek to revive the policy, known as “metering,” after it ‌was dropped by Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.

The ruling was one of two in immigration-related cases issued by the court on Thursday backing Trump.

The metering policy allowed U.S. immigration officials to stop asylum seekers at the border and indefinitely decline to process their claims. It is separate from a sweeping policy to deny entry to asylum seekers at the border that Trump announced after returning to the presidency last year. That policy also faces an ongoing legal challenge.

Under U.S. law, a migrant who “arrives in the United States” may apply for asylum and ​must be inspected by a federal immigration official. The legal issue in the current case is whether asylum seekers who are stopped on the Mexican side of the border have arrived in the United ​States.

Conservative Justice Samuel Alito, who authored Thursday’s ruling, wrote that the answer is “no.”

US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) resumes asylum claims after halt

“In ordinary speech, no one would say that a person ‘arrives in’ a place — for example, a house, a ⁠city or a country — before the person enters that place,” Alito wrote. “The context in which the phrase ‘arrives in the United States’ is used in the immigration statutes at issue here supports an ordinary-meaning reading.”

‘MORE PEOPLE WILL DIE’

Alito read ​a summary of his opinion from the bench, as is customary. Justice Sonia Sotomayor then read a lengthy summary of her dissenting opinion from the bench — an action that signals a justice’s strong opposition to a ruling.

Sotomayor, in a ​dissent that was joined by fellow liberal justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, wrote that Thursday’s ruling authorizes U.S. immigration officers to refuse to consider asylum applications by “physically blocking (applicants) from stepping foot onto U.S. soil.”

“The consequences of today’s decision are predictable,” Sotomayor wrote.

“More people will die. More people will attempt to cross the border illegally, and some will make it while others will not. More people will be forced to walk along the U.S.-Mexico border in dangerous conditions, trying to find a port that will inspect them. More ​people will turn back and be subjected to violence because of something they cannot or should not have to change about themselves, such as their race, religion, nationality or political opinion,” Sotomayor wrote.

In an unusual move, Alito then responded ​from the bench to Sotomayor with an additional defense of the ruling, saying there was much more he would have included in his opinion summary had he known that Sotomayor intended to air her dissent in court.

The other immigration-related ruling issued on ‌Thursday also was ⁠authored by Alito. In that one, the court cleared the way for the Trump administration to strip hundreds of thousands of Haitian and Syrian immigrants of a humanitarian status that protects them from deportation. At issue was Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 people from Haiti and 6,100 from Syria.

‘AN IMPORTANT TOOL’

James Percival, general counsel at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, welcomed Thursday’s ruling, saying it “opens up an important tool to continue securing our southern border.”

“We had to go all the way to SCOTUS to vindicate the principle that an alien is not ‘in the United States’ until he is, in fact, in the United States,” Percival said, using shorthand for the Supreme Court of the United States. “We ​have yet AGAIN been vindicated by the Supreme Court.”

Melissa ​Crow, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said the ⁠ruling “should sound the alarm for anyone who cares about human rights and the rule of law.”

The ruling, Crow said, “suggests the president may unilaterally override decades of established law and trample on people’s legal rights if doing so suits his political agenda.”

A MIGRANT SURGE

U.S. immigration officials began turning away asylum seekers at the border in 2016 under Democratic former President ​Barack Obama amid a migrant surge. The metering policy was formalized in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office, with border officials authorized to decline processing asylum ​claims when the government decides it ⁠is unable to handle additional applications. Biden rescinded the policy in 2021.

The Trump administration has said it likely would resume metering “as soon as changed border conditions warranted that step,” without providing specifics. Trump has pursued hardline immigration policies since his return to office last year.

The advocacy group Al Otro Lado launched the long-running legal challenge in 2017. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2024 ruled that federal law requires border agents to inspect all asylum seekers who “arrive” at designated ⁠border crossings, even ​if they have not yet crossed into the United States, and the metering policy violated that obligation.

The Supreme Court also backed Trump in ​several immigration-related rulings issued on an emergency basis since his return to the presidency, including allowing him to deport migrants to countries other than their own and to revoke temporary legal status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants.

The court is expected to rule by around the end of ​June on the legality of Trump’s directive to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States.

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Zayn Malik faces fresh challenges amid career comeback

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LONDON: Singer Zayn Malik is reportedly facing new challenges in his career comeback after claims emerged that he has parted ways with his management,...