Nawaz Sharif, daughter arrested, taken to Islamabad
Lahore, July 13 : Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz were arrested by anti-corruption officials late on Friday after they arrived in Lahore from Abu Dhabi. The two were taken to Islamabad in a private plane.
According to media reports, dozens of security officials entered the plane as it landed and asked other passengers to deboard. The passports of both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders were seized by a three-member Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team.
Nawaz and Maryam were flown in a small private plane to Islamabad. Upon landing in Islamabad, the two would either be flown to Adiala Jail or driven to Attock Jail, the reports said.
Nawaz and Maryam were convicted by an accountability court in the Avenfield corruption reference last Friday and handed jail sentences of 10 years and seven years, respectively. The former was found guilty of owning assets beyond known sources of income, while his daughter was convicted for aiding and abetting her father in covering up the "conspiracy".
After the pronouncement of the verdict, Nawaz and Maryam had said they would return to Pakistan and appeal against the decision. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Punjab government had made elaborate arrangements to take the father-daughter duo into custody upon arrival.
In Lahore, authorities have braced to maintain law and order, as a large number of PML-N workers and supporters have gathered in various parts of the city to welcome the ousted Prime Minister and his daughter.
Earlier, the father and daughter departed late from Abu Dhabi as their flight got delayed for over two hours. They had left London the previous day.
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Scientists detect “strongest evidence till date” of life outside our solar system
London: Astronomers have reported the strongest evidence yet of potential biological activity on a distant planet named K2-18b, located about 124 light-years away from Earth. The planet, which is more than twice the size of Earth, has shown signs of atmospheric molecules that, on Earth, are produced only by living marine organisms.
The discovery was made by an international team of scientists led by Indian Origin scientist Dr. Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge. Using data collected by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the team analyzed the chemical composition of the planet’s atmosphere. They found molecular signatures that suggest the possible presence of life-supporting processes.
“This is certainly the strongest sign we have seen yet,” said Dr. Madhusudhan in a television interview. “I can realistically say that we could confirm this signal within one or two years.” He added that if life is found on K2-18b, it could point to the likelihood of life being common across the galaxy.
The planet K2-18b is located in the habitable zone of its host star, a red dwarf. This is the region where temperatures could allow for the existence of liquid water—a key ingredient for life. The planet is about 2.5 times the size of Earth and sits roughly 700 trillion miles away.
The James Webb Space Telescope, launched in 2021, is equipped to detect and analyze the faint light that passes through a planet's atmosphere as it transits its star. This allows scientists to identify the presence of specific molecules. In the case of K2-18b, the molecules detected appear to be those that, on Earth, are associated with biological activity.
However, experts are urging caution. While the findings are promising, they remain inconclusive. The scientific team is in the process of preparing a detailed paper on the discovery and is expected to seek further observations to validate the results.
Catherine Heymans, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, noted that even more detailed data might not provide a definite answer. “Even with perfect data, you still won’t be able to say that this is definitely of biological origin,” she said. “There are many unknowns in the universe, and other non-biological processes could produce similar signatures.”
The research team hopes that continued observations using the James Webb Space Telescope and other advanced instruments will offer greater clarity in the coming years.
