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Express Tribune
5 hours ago
- Climate
- Express Tribune
Children among six killed in rains
Flash floods sweep through the Kaghan Valley in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after heavy rains. PHOTO: PPI Flash floods triggered by torrential rains in the upcountry areas continued to wreak havoc on Wednesday, as 10 people were swept away in a swollen stream in Hassan Abdal, while authorities braved heavy monsoon downpours in the Kaghan Valley to rescue 160 stranded passengers, officials said. The tragedy struck Jhary Kas, Hassan Abdal, when a vehicle carrying 10 people was swept away by a flash flood in a local stream. Officials said Rescue 1122 divers had recovered four bodies - all women from Wah Cantt - while the search continued for a missing child. The deceased included three sisters: Kinza, Nazia, and Sabira Bibi. The fourth victim was identified as Aiman Bibi. A four-year-old boy, Mustafa, remains missing. The search was temporarily suspended late at night but was expected to resume early in the morning, according to rescue authorities. Initial reports suggest the family was returning from a wedding ceremony when the incident occurred. Their vehicle was caught in a sudden, strong water current caused by recent heavy rainfall, which led to dangerously high-water levels in the stream. In another tragic incident amid the ongoing monsoon downpours, a mud house collapsed in Darveshabad, Balakot (Abbottabad district), killing two girls. Locals pulled the girls from the rubble, but they succumbed to their injuries. Further north, the Mansehra district administration, the Kaghan Development Authority (KDA), and the National Highway Authority (NHA) worked overnight to rescue over 160 travellers and restore traffic between the tourist spots of Jalkhad, Barwai and Besar. Officials stated that tourists and Gilgit-bound passengers were stranded after flash floods in local streams. "The KDA, NHA, and district administration staff worked amid heavy rains and cleared the highway after 12 hours," KDA official Moazzam Khan told The Express Tribune. Balakot Assistant Commissioner Nadir Khan added that Rescue 1122 personnel waded through the flooded stream near Besar to reach those trapped in their vehicles. "All people were safely evacuated at night and relocated to nearby hotels," Khan said. Rescue teams provided first aid to eight individuals suffering from minor injuries, physical exhaustion, hypoglycemia, and vomiting. Fortunately, no serious casualties were reported. The ongoing heavy monsoon rains have created hazardous conditions in various tourist destinations, increasing the risk of road blockades, landslides and flooding in low-lying and hilly areas. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) urged people to take precautionary measures. (WITH INPUT FROM APP)
Express Tribune
3 days ago
- General
- Express Tribune
Building on MA Jinnah Road begins to sink, lives at risk
The Karachi Development Authority (KDA) has once again raised alarm over a dangerously dilapidated multi-storey building located on the central MA Jinnah Road, warning that it has begun to sink and could collapse at any moment, posing a serious threat to human lives. The building, situated on Plot No MC-4 and MC-7 in Sector 1 of the Lines Area Project, was constructed in 1986-87. Over the years, rainwater has accumulated in its basement like a stagnant pool, severely compromising the structural integrity of the entire building. Despite never being fully occupied, the building has been periodically painted and advertised for residential sale. According to KDA officials, flats have been marketed to unsuspecting citizens even though the structure has long been unfit for July 25, 2024, KDA Lines Area Project authorities had formally written to the Director General of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), warning that the building was not safe for occupancy and requesting its immediate demolition. The letter also urged authorities to consider declaring the structure a "heritage building" in order to ensure proper preservation or removal in a responsible manner. Sources say that SBCA only issued routine responses to the letter, and no practical action has been taken so far. Now, with the building reportedly beginning to sink into the ground, the threat has grown significantly. On July 24, 2025, the KDA Lines Area Project's Deputy Director (C\&S) issued a new letter to the SBCA Secretary for Dangerous Buildings, reiterating the urgency of declaring the structure officially hazardous and demolishing it immediately. KDA officials have warned that any further delay could result in a major tragedy and loss of life if the building collapses. Following the tragic building collapse in Lyarri that claimed 27 lives, SBCA has intensified its drive to vacate and seal dangerously dilapidated buildings across the city. A committee of expert structural engineers has been conducting ongoing surveys to identify and assess high-risk structures. According to the committee's reports on District South, a total of 59 buildings have been declared extremely dangerous — including 10 heritage buildings. These structures are located in densely populated old city areas such as Arambagh, Lawrence Quarters, Napier Quarters, Saddar Bazaar, Telu Ram Quarters, and Old Town. In the first phase of the operation, 41 of these buildings have already been vacated and sealed in order to protect human lives. The process of evacuating residents from the remaining buildings is ongoing, with assistance from local authorities. In the next phase, steps will be taken to initiate demolition procedures for these unsafe structures. The SBCA has urged citizens to report any buildings — internally or externally damaged, structurally weak, or visibly deteriorating — particularly in older, congested neighborhoods. Citizens can report such buildings at any time via the SBCA online portal.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Belagavi faces renewed tensions over mandatory Kannada signboards ahead of Ganeshotsav
Belagavi: The city, known for its linguistic sensitivity, is once again on edge over a fresh controversy surrounding the mandatory use of Kannada on signboards. With Ganeshotsav approaching next month, the police department is grappling with growing tensions between Kannada enforcement and opposition from Marathi outfits. The situation escalated after personnel from Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) removed a Marathi-only signboard put up by a Ganeshotsav Mandal at Patil Galli near Shani Mandal on Friday. In defiance, the Mandal reinstalled the board on Saturday and called upon other Mandals to follow suit, intensifying the standoff. All this occurred on the day when the border in-charge minister, HK Patil, was in Belagavi. After BCC personnel removed the board of the Ganeshotsav Mandal on Friday evening at Patil Galli, the situation was tense. On Saturday, the office bearers of various Ganesh Mandals visited city police commissioner Bhushan Borase to detail the situation. They cautioned that it was the board welcoming the public for Ganeshotsav. Targeting such boards just because they are in the Marathi language does not send a good message and may also impact the upcoming Ganesh festival in the city, where more than 370 mandals install Ganesh idols in public places for 11 days. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Mini House for 60 sqm for Seniors with Toilet and Bath (Price May Surprise You) Pre Fabricated Homes | Search Ads Search Now Undo Responding to them, police commissioner Borase mentioned holding discussions with the BCC commissioner in this regard. This is not the first incident in the past fortnight on linguistic grounds. The controversy started simmering since the visit of Kannada Development Authority (KDA) chairman, Purushottam Bilimale, to Belagavi city a fortnight ago. During the meeting with Bilimale, the leaders of Kannada outfits appreciated the govt officials who achieved 80% success in Kannada implementation on the signboards in the city according to the govt guidelines. They demanded achieving 100% success. Accordingly, the KDA head instructed the officials to put in efforts to achieve 100% success. Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) strongly opposed the statement of the KDA chief and submitted a memorandum to the district minister Satish Jarkiholi and DC Mohammad Roshan, urging them to stop targeting Marathi boards in the city. Meanwhile, at the demand of Kannada outfits, Kannada number plates were installed on the cars of BCC mayor Mangesh Pawar and deputy mayor Vani Vilas Joshi, which was also opposed by the MES members. After that, mayor Mangesh Pawar stopped using the BCC car. However, the police found a middle way and installed number plates with both English and Kannada numbers. The linguistic controversy also resonated in the BCC Council meeting held on Saturday, with the MES member demanding BCC documents in the Marathi language. Condemning the demand, Kannada outfits tried to enter the meeting hall in protest. The Kannada outfits also raised the issue with minister HK Patil during an interaction on Saturday. The series of incidents have helped the Marathi outfits to organise and fight back.
GMA Network
4 days ago
- Sport
- GMA Network
Onic PH ousts Area77 to keep MSC title dream alive
Onic Philippines bounced back with a vengeance, thrashing North America's Area77 with a 2-0 victory in their do-or-die group stage clash at the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Mid-Season Cup 2025 late Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A day after falling prey to Aurora Gaming of Turkey, the Philippine bets regrouped and vented their ire to eliminate an all-Filipino Area77 and advance to the lower bracket semifinals of Group B. The win gave Onic Philippines another chance at advancing to the playoffs, but it will have to face Malaysia's HomeBois first in another must-win situation later tonight. "Para sa akin, hindi kami na-shock [sa talo namin sa Aurora] kasi alam naman naming nagpur-prepare din 'yung Aurora para sa amin," Onic's mid laner Frince "Super Frince" Ramirez said in the post-game press conference. Onic head coach Tony "Ynot" Senedrin added: "It's just the same, we just used our one life, I guess. So it was really up to us to look at the loss objectively, make sure that we do know the opportunities we have." Onic needed just 14 minutes and 12 seconds to secure Game 1 against Area77 with Super Frince making a surprise Kagura pick, delivering a spotless KDA of four kills and three assists. The game then snowballed in Game 2 when Onic's jungler Cyric "K1NGKONG" Perez delivered three early kills against his counterpart Lance "Shiro" Nones (Suyou), who sustained four deaths in the first four minutes. Area77 could not recover from that early collapse as the reigning world champions maintained map control the rest of the match with K1NGKONG dictating the tempo and the rest of Onic executing near-flawless plays. A lopsided 23-4 kill spread saw K1NGKONG unleash 14 kills and six assists against just one death as Onic lived to fight another day. —JKC, GMA Integrated News
Time of India
6 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Kannada Kasturi translation software will be launched soon, says Bilimale
Karwar: Purushottama Bilimale, chairman of the Kannada Development Authority (KDA), announced that the Kannada Kasturi software, which translates from English to Kannada with precision, will soon be made available for public use. Speaking to the media at the district commissioner's office here on Thursday, he said there are many errors when translating from English to Kannada using Google, and to address this, the Kannada Kasturi software was developed. It will provide highly accurate translations and will initially be available to Vidhana Soudha officials before being released to the public. Currently, there are only 20 font designs in Kannada, but 200 new designs are being prepared, which will be completed by Nov, he added. The KDA has prepared 500 famous Kannada slogans, and by Nov 1, 92 of these will be installed at key locations in Vidhana Soudha. All 500 slogans will be sent to all districts with instructions to display them in all govt offices. He also mentioned that there are about 230 minor languages in the state, and a committee will be formed to empower them. He added that a request was submitted to the Union minister of culture and senior officials of the department of archaeology to install plaques in Kannada at more than 5,000 historical sites in the state, highlighting their significance. There are 3,000 schools in the state, which are a century old, and reports on the progress of these schools and their alumni are being prepared. Additionally, 17,000 schools do not have accounts, and the education department should create accounts for these schools, he noted. In this year's SSLC examination, more than 200,000 students failed in Kannada, and a separate committee will be formed to investigate the reasons for the failures, with a report to be submitted to the govt within three months. Due to Karwar district's proximity to the Goa border, steps will be taken to organise a border festival at the end of this year, he said. It was also mentioned that the All India Kannada Literary Conference was held in this region 60 years ago, and there will be a push for the next conference to be held here, with requests made to the chief minister, the minister of Kannada and culture, and the State Kannada Sahitya Parishat. Dr Santosh Hanagallu, secretary, Yakub Khader Gulwadi, member of KDA and BN Vasare, district president of the Kannada Sahitya Parishat, were present.
