NEWSMAKERS OF THE WEEK

NINETY-FIVE INDEED IS A RIPE OLD AGE. THEREFORE THE DECISION OF PRINCE PHILIP TO CALL IT QUITS DOESN’T COME AS A SURPRISE. WHAT IS MORE SURPRISING IS THAT HE CARRIED OUT ALL HIS PUBLIC ENGAGEMENTS TILL THIS AGE. A NEVER SAY DIE ATTITUDE, CERTAINLY.

Britain’s Prince Philip, the 95-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II, will retire from public engagements later this year, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday in a surprise announcement. The former naval officer’s irascible, nononsense approach, combined with his infamous and sometimes politically incorrect offthe-cuff remarks, has not made it easy for people to warm to his style. A former warlord branded the “Butcher of Kabul” made a triumphant return to the Afghan capital on Thursday, two decades after leaving the city where he stands accused of killing thousands of people. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister, has returned to mainstream political life after his dormant Hezb- i-Islami militant group signed a peace deal with President Ashraf Ghani. After a stay of around 83 days at Mumbai’s Saifee Hospital for weight-reduction treatment, Egyptian national Eman Ahmed (36) left in an EgyptAir cargo aircraft for Abu Dhabi for further treatment. Ms Ahmed, who weighed around 500 kg at the time of her admission in Saifee Hospital, is around 330 kg lighter thanks to bariatric surgery and the liquid diet she has been on since February. Justice (retd) Leila Seth, the first woman chief justice of a state high court in the country and mother of celebrated author Vikram Seth, died on Saturday. She was 86 and passed away last night at her residence in Noida. Seth was the first woman to have topped the London Bar exam, first woman judge of the Delhi High Court and also the first woman chief justice of a state high court (Himachal Pradesh). Pakistani police have registered a report against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly provoking people and creating hatred against the armed forces. The report was lodged at Civil Line police in Rawalpindi on Wednesday by Advocate Ishtiaq Ahmed Mirza, who claimed himself as the chairman of the I.M. Pakistan party.