Prince Harry, despite the uncertainty surrounding his ties with the members of the royal family after amid years-long feud, has once again stirred speculation about his possible return to the royal fold.

Since Harry and Meghan left for the US in 2020, there has been a major shift in the public opinion in the UK, with the polls rating dropping. It got worse after they badmouthed the royals in public. Although, the tides may be shifting now.

The Duke of Sussex may not be a senior member of the royal family but he continues to support the charities he did as a royal. He has made several visits in the past and the latest trip had been the most popular of all. The British press and the public were all praise for Harry.

Royal experts have often expressed their dislike for the Sussexes but the true feelings of Britons were laid bare during a random street interview.

Young people asked about Harry and Meghan’s return appeared to have positive reaction.

“Yeah, why not?” one person said. “They’re fun. Young people love them.”

“I think people are way too much in this business. I think we’ll let the man be a father, let them live. Love to have them back though.” When the reporter asked “back with privacy?”, they said yes.

One Harry fan shared that she doesn’t want the Sussexes to come back as they would have a lot of pressure her in the UK.

It discovered earlier this month that King Charles’s son had finally won back his police protection. While the official verdict is yet to be announced, sources from the Sussex camp have insisted that Harry’s police protection has been reinstated and it’s now “just a formality” at this point.

The King’s younger son has been fighting for his security ever since it was stripped off after stepping down as a working member of the royal family. The taxpayer funded protection is provided to senior members automatically but for Harry, it was made on a case-by-case basis by the UK Home Office.

Harry had argued publicly that he scored the highest, just below his grandmother Queen Elizabeth, for security risk but just after one night he was removed from it. Last year, he had almost given up the fight after the “devastating” verdict in May 2025.

However, following the stalker incident in September during his UK visit (and possibly the repairing ties and meeting with his father), a surprising turn is noted with the anticipated decision. It appears that the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec) had no choice but to approve the request after the fresh assessment.

It is hoped that the announcement will be made in coming weeks.

• Lahore university student stable, on oxygen support.
• Forensic review of student’s last call underway in Lahore.
• Hina Butt visits hospital, says saving student is top priority.

LAHORE: A female student at a private university in Lahore has regained consciousness and been removed from a ventilator after a suicide attempt, hospital authorities said on Thursday.

The student, identified as Fatima, who allegedly jumped from the second floor of the university building, is currently being treated in the intensive care unit (ICU) at Lahore’s General Hospital. Hospital officials said she remains on oxygen support but is now stable and responsive.

“The patient has regained consciousness and has been removed from the ventilator. Her condition has improved significantly,” a hospital spokesperson said.

According to the administration, Fatima’s vital signs are stable. “Oxygen support is continuing and her haemodynamics are stable,” the spokesperson added.

Hospital officials said that the student has also spoken with her family. “She has communicated with her relatives and is responding well to treatment,” the administration said.

Doctors will reassess the need for spinal surgery, the hospital said, noting that her condition is being monitored closely.

‘Pressure over marriage being probed’

Meanwhile, Punjab Women Protection Authority Chairperson Hina Pervaiz Butt visited Lahore’s General Hospital on Thursday, where the student is receiving treatment, and met both the patient and her family. She said the student’s condition had improved significantly and stressed that her life remained the top priority.

“After regaining consciousness, the student has been taken off the ventilator, and her condition has shown marked improvement,” Butt said in a statement.

Hina also said that claims related to pressure over marriage and education were also under review.

She said that officials have launched a forensic examination of the student’s mobile phone records, including her last call before the incident. “All facts before and after the incident will be brought to light in accordance with the law,” Butt said.

Her statement comes a day after police said that Fatima, a resident of NarangMandi, wished to marry a young man named Ahmed, according to The News. However, her family opposed the marriage and insisted that she should continue her studies. Sources said the student became distressed over the refusal and attempted to take her own life.

She directed hospital authorities to ensure strict monitoring of the student’s treatment at every stage. “Saving the student’s life is the foremost priority, and the hospital administration must closely supervise every phase of her care,” Hina added.

She further said that authorities are also investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident. “All aspects of the case would be examined, including possible pressure related to education, family matters and personal choices.”

Medical board restructured

A day earlier, the medical board constituted to oversee the treatment of the injured student had been restructured. The number of board members has been increased from four to seven.

The board includes Professor of Medicine Dr Khurram Saleem, Head of the Pulmonology Department Dr Javed Magsi, and Associate Professor of Gynaecology Dr Saira Zeeshan. Senior doctors are providing continuous care to the student, while Principal Professor Farooq Afzal is supervising the treatment process.

Moreover, the administration of a private university located on Raiwind Road in Lahore has constituted an eight-member inquiry committee a day earlier to investigate an alleged suicide attempt by a female student. 

PARIS: When people stop taking the new generation of weight-loss drugs they pile back on the kilos four times faster than they would after ending diet and exercise regimes, new research found Thursday.

But this was mostly because they lost so much weight in the first place, according to the British researchers who conducted the largest and most up-to-date review of the subject.

A new generation of appetite-suppressing, injectable drugs called GLP-1 agonists have become immensely popular in the last few years, transforming the treatment for obesity and diabetes in many countries.

They have been found to help people lose between 15% to 20% of their body weight.

“This all appears to be a good news story,” said Susan Jebb, a public health nutrition scientist at Oxford university and co-author of a new BMJ study.

However, recent data has suggested that “around half of people discontinue these medications within a year,” she told a press conference.

This might be because of common side effects such as nausea or the price — these drugs can cost over $1,000 a month in the US.

So the researchers reviewed 37 studies looking at ceasing different weight-loss drugs, finding that participants regained around 0.4 kilogrammes a month.

Six of the clinical trials involved semaglutide — the ingredient used in Novo Nordisk’s brands Ozempic and Wegovy — and tirzepatide used for Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound.

While taking these two drugs, the trial participants lost an average of nearly 15 kilogrammes.

However after stopping the medication, they regained 10 kilogrammes within a year, which was the longest follow-up period available for these relatively new drugs.

The researchers projected that the participants would return to their original weight in 18 months.

Measurements of heart health, including blood pressure and cholesterol levels, also returned to their original levels after 1.4 years.

People who were instead put on programmes that included diet and exercise — but not drugs — lost significantly less weight. However it took an average of four years for them to regain their lost kilos.

This meant that people taking the drugs regained their weight four times faster.

‘Starting point, not a cure’

“Greater weight loss tends to result in faster weight regain,” lead study author Sam West of Oxford University explained.

But separate analysis showed that weight gain was “consistently faster after medication, regardless of the amount of weight lost in the first place,” he added.

This could be because people who have learned to eat more healthily and exercise more often continue to do so even as they regain weight.

Jebb emphasised that GLP-1 drugs “are a really valuable tool in obesity treatment — but obesity is a chronic relapsing condition.”

“One would expect that these treatments need to be continued for life, just in the same way as blood pressure medication,” Jebb said.

If this was the case, it would impact how national health systems judge whether these drugs are cost-effective, the researchers emphasised.

“This new data makes it clear they are a starting point, not a cure,” said Garron Dodd, a metabolic neuroscience researcher at the University of Melbourne not involved in the study.

“Sustainable treatment will likely require combination approaches, longer-term strategies, and therapies that reshape how the brain interprets energy balance, not just how much people eat,” he said.