Pakistan is celebrating its Independence Day today with patriotic zeal and fervor. The day began with special prayers for peace and progress in the country, and a 31-gun salute in the federal capital, Islamabad.
Early in the morning, the national flag was hoisted at all important public and private buildings. The day-long festivities include special seminars, documentaries, music and painting exhibitions.
The nation also paid homage and respect to Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, by visiting his mausoleum in Karachi.
To spice up the festivities, vendors have set up stalls across the country to sell the country’s green and white flags, shirts, badges and balloons. The young and elderly alike are buying these things to show their patriotism.
“We are excited to celebrate our independence day and hope the incoming government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf will do something extraordinary to make us a proud nation,” Zulfiqar Ali, 53, told Arab News while buying national flags from a stall in Islamabad.
He said Pakistan’s forefathers sacrificed their lives for a “great mission of independence from British rule” and it is now time to work hard to make it more strong and invincible.
Shazia Qambar, a teacher in an upscale area of the federal capital who is illuminating classrooms with national flags and posters with messages about the importance of independence, said schools try each year to educate their students through fun and games about significance of the independence day.
“This year we are arranging a national songs competition among our students on the school’s premises, besides screening some documentaries about the struggle of our ancestors to get the separate homeland,” she told Arab News.
On Independence Day, all important public and private buildings in Islamabad and all four provincial capitals are also illuminated in different colors and lights.
Pakistan’s Parliament is also being illuminated to mark the country’s 71st year of independence, where 329 newly elected lawmakers took the oath of their office on Monday and vowed to work for the betterment of the country.
“This day reminds us the unforgettable struggle and sacrifices made by our forefathers for next generations to live in freedom,” outgoing Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said after administering the oath to the legislators.
He said that this is a proud day for the Pakistani nation that is celebrated with great devotion and enthusiasm. “Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah entrusted us with a sacred trust to transform Pakistan into a citadel of peace and a model for all other nations,” he said.
“We should rethink our plans, our actions and their outcomes for forging synergies in the best interest of our country and raising Pakistan to new heights of development,” he added.
Intellectuals and political analysts opine that Pakistan can emerge as a developed nation on the world map only if all the countrymen work together for the development of the downtrodden and poor.
“The key to progress of any country is quality education and rule of law,” Professor Tahir Malik, political analyst and academic, told Arab News.
He said the incoming government should utilize all available resources on human development and promotion of science and technology to turn Pakistan into a knowledge economy.
“On this important day, we should also commemorate the sacrifices of our valiant soldiers and countrymen who laid down their lives to defend the motherland,” he added.
Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, political analyst, said that Pakistan enjoys a unique geographical location in the region and has played a positive role in peace and stability of the world.
“The entire nation is now looking up to the forthcoming democratic government for political and economic prosperity in the country,” he told Arab News, “We should also pledge on this independence day to fight social evils prevailing in the country.”
Pakistan celebrates 71st Independence Day with zeal and fervor
Pakistan celebrates 71st Independence Day with zeal and fervor
- The day was marked by a 31-gun salute in the federal capital with special prayers for peace and progress in the country
- National flag is hoisted at all important public and private buildings across the country
Sri Lanka to monitor bus drivers with AI after worst crash in decades
“We are going to make AI-backed driver observation systems mandatory on all buses”
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka will use artificial intelligence to monitor bus drivers and make seat belts mandatory on public transport, a government minister said on Wednesday, after the country’s worst bus crash in two decades killed 23 people.
The South Asian nation, which records an average of 3,000 road fatalities annually, has some of the most dangerous roads in the world.
Buses are to be equipped with driver monitoring systems from next year, while seat belts will become compulsory on public transport from June, Transport Minister Bimal Rathnayake told reporters in Colombo.
It came after an overcrowded bus carrying dozens of Buddhist pilgrims plummeted into a precipice on Sunday.
The changes are aimed at “educating motorists to develop a better driving culture and improving safety standards,” Rathnayake said.
“We are going to make AI-backed driver observation systems mandatory on all buses from next year, and we will expand them to all long-distance trucks as well.”
The minister said the cause of Sunday’s crash in the tea-growing mountainous region of Kotmale was still being investigated, but that two more passengers had died, raising the toll to 23.
Fifty-four passengers were admitted to hospital, Rathnayake said, adding that preliminary inquiries had found no immediate indication of driver error.
Another driver had reported a problem with the bus’s steering wheel the day before, but managers said it was attended to.
Sunday’s crash off a cliffside road was the deadliest recorded in Sri Lanka since April 2005.
The state-owned bus was carrying around 77 passengers — about 20 more than its capacity.
In March 2021, 13 passengers and the driver of a privately owned bus died when the vehicle crashed into a precipice in Passara, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the site of Sunday’s crash.
Germany’s Merz calls for western unity on Ukraine on eve of peace talks
- Merz said the West could not accept a dictated peace for Ukraine or a submission to the status quo achieved by Russian military forces
- “Such a ceasefire can open a window in which peace negotiations become possible“
BERLIN: Germany’s new Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday urged the West not to be divided on Ukraine and said he was working to ensure unity between allies in Europe and the United States on how to end the war.
In his first major speech to parliament since taking office last week, Merz said the West could not accept a dictated peace for Ukraine or a submission to the status quo achieved by Russian military forces.
He was speaking a day before Ukrainian and Russian delegates could meet for peace talks in Istanbul, more than three years after the start of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two.
After winning elections in February, Merz has promised to give Germany a bigger role on the global stage and beef up its military through more defense spending. Though he has publicly castigated US President Donald Trump’s administration as an unreliable ally, in Wednesday’s speech he thanked Trump for his support in pushing for a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“Such a ceasefire can open a window in which peace negotiations become possible,” he told parliament.
“It is of paramount importance that the political West does not allow itself to be divided, and therefore I will make every effort to continue to achieve the greatest possible unity between our European and American partners.”
“This terrible war and its outcome will not only determine the fate of Ukraine,” he added. “The outcome of this war will determine whether law and order will continue to prevail in Europe and the world, or whether tyranny, military force, and the sheer right of the strongest will prevail.”
Still, strengthening the German military is a top priority, Merz said.
“The government will provide all the financial resources that the Bundeswehr needs in order to become the strongest conventional army in Europe,” he said.
In his speech, Merz took blunt aim at Russia, accusing it of involvement in state-sponsored killings and poisoning in European cities, cyberattacks and the destruction of infrastructure, including undersea cables.
Merz was speaking as German prosecutors announced the arrest of three Ukrainians for their suspected involvement in the shipment of exploding parcels, after a series of fires at European courier depots pointed to suspected Russian sabotage.
Security officials told Reuters the exploding parcels were part of a test run for a Russian plot to trigger explosions on cargo flights to the United States. Russia has denied this and other accusations by Western countries of sabotage plots.
The growing closeness between Russia and China was also concerning, Merz added.
In a wide-ranging speech, Merz also rattled through his government’s policy priorities, from boosting growth in Europe’s largest economy to hardening its stance on migration. He stressed the latter would be done within the parameters of EU agreements, seeking to dispel fears that Germany would act unilaterally.
Indonesia develops AI system to help diagnose malaria
- Indonesia’s malaria cases may be as high as 1.1m in 2024, WHO estimates show
- AI-powered system could help reach patients in remote areas, Indonesian researchers say
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency is developing an artificial intelligence-powered system to help diagnose malaria under the country’s efforts to eliminate the disease by 2030.
Indonesia recorded over half a million malaria cases in 2024, but due to the lack of testing, the World Health Organization estimates that the actual number was at least twice higher.
“Our main goal is to create a computer-aided diagnosis system that can automatically recognize malaria status from blood smear images,” Anto Satriyo Nugroho, head of AI and cyber security at Indonesia’s national research agency, or BRIN, said in a statement.
Such a system would speed up confirmation of malaria, which to date is mostly done through microscopic examination.
“We are optimistic that sustainable AI research and development will create an important tool for diagnosis that will contribute significantly to eliminating malaria in Indonesia,” Nugroho added.
AI applications are rapidly gaining in popularity, including in medical care to improve disease diagnosis, treatment selection and clinical laboratory testing.
In 2020, a study published in Nature showed researchers from Google Health, and universities in the US and UK, reporting on an AI model that reads mammograms with fewer false positives and false negatives than human experts.
That algorithm has since been released for commercial use globally.
In Indonesia, BRIN researchers have been working with various local and foreign universities, the WHO as well as other UN agencies to speed up the country’s efforts in eliminating malaria.
An AI-powered system also opens up possibilities for remote diagnostics, which would enable healthcare workers to reach and assess patients in outlying areas.
Malaria is endemic in eastern parts of Indonesia, with around 90 percent of cases reported from the easternmost province of Papua, where healthcare access remains low due to challenging terrain and limited resources.
“With the massive potential to increase accuracy in diagnosis and improve efficiency in healthcare services in endemic areas, BRIN is optimistic that AI technology will become a strategic partner in managing malaria cases nationally,” BRIN stated.
“AI cannot work on its own. Collaboration between tech experts and biomedical researchers is an absolute requirement for this technology to be reliable.”
New campaign against Israel-linked brands gains ground in India
- First BDS-focused rally took place in the country last month
- Campaigners say Indians join when they realize Palestinians are under colonial occupation
New Delhi: There were only a handful of students at the first BDS India rally last month, but the movement is now gaining ground across the country as more people are willing to join efforts to boycott products and companies linked to Israel.
While many grassroots groups have been organizing in India to protest Israel’s deadly onslaught on Gaza that began in October 2023, it is only recently that the efforts began to focus on advancing the global Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
The first such protest took place in Hyderabad on April 5 and similar rallies and public awareness meetings have since been held in 10 other Indian cities.
“For the last two months, we have been actively promoting the BDS movement in India ... we have been going to different neighborhoods, campuses, working-class areas and we are seeing that the common masses are very receptive,” Sreeja Dontireddy, BDS India coordinator, told Arab News on Wednesday.
“We began with maybe five to 10 people in each city or team. Now that number has definitely grown to much more than that, to around 20-25. And different people come to different campaigns. The teams are constantly growing because more and more people are volunteering to be part of the campaign.”
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is a global campaign launched in 2005 to pressure Israel to comply with international law and respect Palestinian rights.
It calls for the boycott of Israeli goods and institutions, divestment from companies complicit in violations of Palestinian rights, as well as sanctions against the Israeli state. BDS is inspired by the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and its goal is to end the occupation of Palestinian land and uphold the right of return for Palestinian refugees to their homeland.
Support for Palestine has always been an important part of India’s foreign policy even before Indian independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Many years before the establishment of Israel, Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India’s freedom movement, had opposed a Jewish nation-state in Palestine, deeming it inhumane and wrong.
But a change in the Indian government’s stance has been visible over the past few years. During Israel’s deadly campaign in Gaza, India has even supplied it with weapons.
“Our country’s government might directly or indirectly support Israel, but that doesn’t mean that the people of India also must do so ... when we explain to them that this is a liberation struggle and Palestine is fighting for its independence, they are very receptive,” Dontireddy said.
“The people of Palestine are relentlessly fighting with whatever means they have. And this is a source of inspiration and awe for all of us. And it is our duty to stand by them. And BDS offers something operative to do in that instance, and it allows us also to create a tangible effect that will affect and injure the sort of hegemony that Israel enjoys.”
BDS India activists have been raising awareness about companies and products that have links to Israel. They approach people individually, in local neighborhoods, share their product lists with shopkeepers and have some of them place boycott-related stickers and materials on their displays.
They also organize rallies in front of international outlets featured on global boycott lists.
“People are clearly angry about what is happening in Palestine. They really want to do something,” said Swapnaja Limkar, a member of the BDS India movement in Pune.
“Initially, there were like 10 people. After a month or so, we have about 200 people in every protest. We have organized some boycott protests outside Starbucks, outside Domino’s Pizza, and are campaigning every day. We have gathered around 200 people who are in support of Palestine in Pune right now.”
The most recent BDS India protests took place on May 10 in front of Domino’s outlets in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Patna and Vijayawada.
“Not only physically, but also on social media, people have shown presence as well as support in larger numbers,” said Akriti Chaudhary from BDS India in Delhi.
“The movement has been growing steadily, and more and more people are joining the campaign ... we have suffered 200 years of colonialism. No one can understand better than us what it means. That’s why the Palestinian issue resonates with us, and we need to stand with the people of Palestine in this hour of crisis, as they face an existential threat from Zionist Israel.”
Kremlin blasts potential EU deployment of French nuclear bombers
- Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, possesses about 4,000 warheads and views France’s nuclear deterrence as a potential threat to its national security
- The French president floated the idea during a TV appearance on Tuesday
MOSCOW: The possible deployment of French nuclear bombers across the EU will not enhance security on the continent, the Kremlin said Wednesday, after French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to discuss the issue.
“The proliferation of nuclear weapons on the European continent is something that will not add security, predictability, or stability to the European continent,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The French president floated the idea during a TV appearance on Tuesday, comparing it to the United States’s nuclear umbrella policy that guarantees Washington would reciprocate if its allies come under nuclear attack.
“The Americans have the bombs on planes in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Turkiye,” Macron told TF1 television.
“We are ready to open this discussion. I will define the framework in a very specific way in the weeks and months to come.”
France is the EU’s only nuclear-armed nation.
Amid Russia’s offensive on Ukraine and US President Donald Trump’s calls on Europe to take more of the burden for its own defense, discussion is growing over extending Paris’s nuclear deterrent to the rest of the 27-member bloc.
Russia, the world’s biggest nuclear power, possesses about 4,000 warheads and views France’s nuclear deterrence as a potential threat to its national security.
“At present, the entire system of strategic stability and security is in a deplorable state for obvious reasons,” Peskov added.
Amid his offensive on Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has several times threatened nuclear escalation, drawing rebukes from the West over “reckless” rhetoric.
