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Dawn - 06:22 Dec 04, 2025
The last supermoon of 2025 is set to light up skies across Pakistan tonight and tomorrow night, according to state-run Radio Pakistan. A supermoon occurs when the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, causing it to appear unusually large and bright — up to 14 per cent larger and nearly 30pc brighter than a typical full moon. The final supermoon of the year, known as the Cold Moon, will be visible across Pakistan tonight and tomorrow night, Radio Pakistan said, quoting the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco). “It marks the third consecutive supermoon of the year and the last supermoon of 2025,” it said. Suparco encourages the public, astronomy enthusiasts, students, and families to observe this natural spectacle, the report said. “No special equipment is required; the supermoon will be easily visible to the naked eye, provided the skies remain clear,” it added. According to CNN, the moniker ‘Cold Moon’ indicates that it’s the full moon event closest to t... -
Dawn - 05:36 Dec 04, 2025
The Pentagon’s independent watchdog said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen could have put American troops at risk, US media reported on Wednesday. The probe by the inspector general’s office concluded that Hegseth did not, however, violate rules on classification because he has the authority to declassify information, the reports said, citing sources familiar with the results of the investigation. The watchdog’s conclusion — which has been transmitted to Congress — is nonetheless likely to reignite debate over conduct by Hegseth, who is already under fire over US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats that experts say amount to extrajudicial killings. The probe was sparked by the Atlantic magazine’s revelation in late March that its editor-in-chief was inadvertently included in a Signal chat in which US officials, including Hegseth and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz, discussed strikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels. Th... -
Dawn - 05:29 Dec 04, 2025
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in “censorship” of free speech be considered for rejection. H-1B visas, which allow US employers to hire foreign workers in speciality fields, are crucial for US tech companies which recruit heavily from countries including India and China. Many of those companies’ leaders threw their support behind Trump in the last presidential election. The cable, sent to all US missions on December 2, orders US consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants – and family members who would be travelling with them – to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others. “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protec... -
Dawn - 04:37 Dec 04, 2025
LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) says criminal syndicates are operating in Southeast Asia targeting Pakistanis with fake job offers and warned all those availing themselves of such “phony opportunities” should thoroughly verify to save them from trouble. “Criminal syndicates operating in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia are targeting Pakistanis with fake job offers, especially in the IT sector – call center and relevant jobs, promising high salaries. However, upon arrival, these Pakistanis are forced into illegal activities, including cyber and financial crimes. Those who resist face severe consequences, including violence and extortion from the victim’s family,” FIA deputy director Mehmood Ali Khokhar said on Wednesday. He urged the aspirants to first verify such job offers through legitimate sources or report such suspicious activity or persons to FIA. “Beware of false promises! As your dream job offer could be a nightmare,” the FIA official said. Criminal syndicates operate in T... -
Dawn - 04:26 Dec 04, 2025
KARACHI: Hours after the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) blamed the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line for the tragic death of a three-year-old boy in an open manhole, the project’s management hit back, rejecting the allegation as “a serious oversight”, igniting a rare public showdown between two government bodies already under scrutiny for Karachi’s crumbling infrastructure. First it was an inquiry report by the KMC on the incident which attributed the tragedy to the “carelessness” of officials of the Red Line project and a department store adjacent to where the incident took place. The body of the child, who died after falling into an open manhole near Nipa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Sunday night, was found on Monday, around 15 hours after the incident. The report by the KMC said that the department had received instructions from Mayor Murtaza Wahab and the municipal commissioner to initiate an operation for recovering the body of the child from the drain. Assistant commissioner among five officials suspend... -
Dawn - 02:56 Dec 04, 2025
WASHINGTON: The American workforce is growing older at an unprecedented pace, a new survey released on Tuesday by the US Census Bureau highlights a demographic challenge that could complicate President Donald Trump’s efforts to curb immigration. Workers aged 55 and older have been the fastest-growing group in the US labour force for more than two decades. Their share has risen from 10 per cent in 1994 to 24pc in 2022. Yet the distribution of older workers is far from uniform across industries and states. Some sectors and regions have far higher concentrations of older employees than others, according to the Census Bureau’s survey of Business Dynamics Statistics of Human Capital (BDS-HC). The utilities sector has seen the most dramatic shift. In 2006, 35pc of employment in this sector was at firms where at least a quarter of workers were over 55. By 2022, that figure had jumped to 80pc. Manufacturing and wholesale trades have also seen substantial increases: in 2000, only 14pc of employment in these sectors wa... -
Dawn - 02:40 Dec 04, 2025
• Salman Akram Raja tasked with putting together ‘smaller body’, which will also include allies • PTI founder ‘heartbroken’ over lawmakers’ attendance at NDU workshop ISLAMABAD: Amid disagreements within the opposition party, PTI founding chairman Imran Khan has dissolved the party’s political committee in his first move after weeks of being incommunicado. A tweet posted on his X account, which the ex-prime minister does not have access to while incarcerated, said a smaller committee would replace the existing body and put Salman Akram Raja in charge of the reconstitution process. “I am dissolving the political committee of the PTI today. Party’s Secretary General Salman Akram Raja has full authority to form a smaller committee to formulate a political strategy and implement it,” the tweet based on the account of the Tuesday meeting said. It may be noted that a day earlier, Uzma Khan met her brother in prison after weeks of effort. PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqqas Akram told Dawn the political committe... -
Dawn - 02:27 Dec 04, 2025
ISLAMABAD: After nearly two months of halted cross-border cargo movement, the Pakistani government has begun clearing humanitarian consignments for Afghanistan, marking the first controlled reopening of transit trade since routine trade was suspended in October. The government has completely suspended customs clearance for both exports and imports, along with Afghan Transit Trade (ATT) cargos, at major border crossings — including Torkham, Ghulam Khan, Kharlachi, and Angoor Adda — effective October 12, and at the Chaman border from October 15. An official letter was issued to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Directorate General of Transit Trade to initiate the movement of consignments belonging to three United Nations agencies through the border crossings at Chaman and Torkham. In the first phase, a total of 143 containers of humanitarian goods will be allowed for clearance at Chaman and Torkham. The breakdown shows that the containers include 67 containers of food assistance from the Wo... -
Dawn - 20:14 Dec 03, 2025
After a hiatus of 18 years, the Punjab government on Tuesday lifted the ban on kite flying and allowed the celebration of Basant with strict regulations. The festival was banned in 2007 because of an increasing number of deaths and serious injuries caused by sharp strings, particularly to motorcyclists and pillion riders, as well as by celebratory gunfire. Basant Panchami, with ‘panchami’ meaning the fifth day of the lunar month Magh, is a celebration of future crop prosperity, spring, and good luck. Historically, in the 19th century, Maharaja Ranjit Singh held an annual Basant fair and introduced kite flying as a regular feature. The association of kite flying with Basant soon became a tradition centred in Lahore, which remains the regional hub of the festival throughout Punjab even today. However, the festival has also traditionally been celebrated in other parts of Punjab, including Indian Punjab. Over time, the festival began to be celebrated across the country. During the festival, the city sky is filled... -
Dawn - 20:09 Dec 03, 2025
Three cops, including an assistant sub-inspector (ASI), were martyred in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeting a police vehicle in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan on Wednesday. The spokesperson for district police, Yaqoob Zulqarnain said, told Dawn that an IED was used in the blast that took place in Paniyala area, which is in the jurisdiction of the Shaheed Nawab Khan police station. ASI Gul Alam, Constable Rafiq and the driver of the mobile van, Sakhi Jan, lost their lives in the incident, the police spokesperson said, adding that another constable accompanying them, Azad Shah, remained unhurt. He said the site of the incident had been cordoned off and a search operation had been launched. “Police are searching for the attackers, and the matter is being investigated from all angles,” he said. The Paniyala deputy superintendent of police and station house officer, as well as the district police official (DPO), also reached the site of the blast after the incident, according to the police... -
Dawn - 19:50 Dec 03, 2025
Arshad Sharif murder: Federal Constitutional Court wonders whether it can proceed with suo motu case
The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday wondered whether it could continue proceedings in the murder case of journalist Arshad Sharif, as the suo motu powers invoked by the Supreme Court while taking up the case had been curtailed after the 27th Amendment. The question was raised by a two-judge FCC bench, headed by Justice Aamer Farooq and also including Justice Rozi Khan, as it took up the murder case. Sharif was shot in the head when Kenyan police opened fire on his car on the outskirts of Nairobi on Oct 23, 2022. He had left Pakistan in August 2022 after multiple cases of sedition were registered against him in different cities. The suo motu case for an independent and transparent probe of the murder was initially taken up by a five-member SC bench in December 2022. After the passage of the 26th Amendment, it was heard by a six-member constitutional bench of the SC. However, after its formation under the 27th Amendment, the FCC was granted jurisdiction over both constitutional and suo motu case... -
Dawn - 19:09 Dec 03, 2025
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab visited the grieving family of a three-year-old boy who fell into an open manhole and drowned in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Wednesday night, assuring them of an impartial inquiry and action against those found negligent. The body of the boy, who drowned in an open manhole near Nipa in Gulshan-i-Iqbal on Sunday night, was found on Monday, around 15 hours after the incident occurred. The child’s tragic death, particularly the lack of cooperation from relevant civic agencies to launch an immediate search, had angered relatives and area residents, who staged a protest on University Road on Sunday night and again during the day on Monday. On Tuesday, many political parties held protests against the provincial administration and demanded that the Karachi mayor resign, while pleas were also filed in courts demanding action against city officials. A post by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation on X on Wednesday night said the mayor visited the boy’s family and extended his condolences. “An imparti... -
Dawn - 18:21 Dec 03, 2025
Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday for a two-day maiden state visit. The Kyrgyz president and his high-level delegation comprising senior cabinet ministers, top officials and prominent business leaders landed at Nur Khan Airbase, where Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari received them. State-run Radio Pakistan reported that a 21-gun salute was presented in honour of the visiting dignitary while children, dressed in traditional attire, offered him a bouquet. PM Shehbaz later said in a post on X the visit was the first by a Kyrgyz president in 20 years. “This long-awaited visit marks a significant moment in our enduring brotherhood. “I look forward to a meaningful and forward-looking engagement. Pakistan and Kyrgyz Republic are poised for a bright future together.” A press release issued by the Prime Minister’s Office earlier said the invitation for the visit was extended to the Kyrgyzstan president by PM Shehbaz. Separately, Deputy PM and Foreign Mini... -
Dawn - 18:11 Dec 03, 2025
The Trump administration has imposed the most sweeping internal freeze on immigration benefits in decades, ordering United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to halt all asylum adjudications and suspend a broad range of applications from nationals of 19 “high-risk” countries, while reopening thousands of previously approved cases for fresh security screening. The directive, issued this week to USCIS field offices, follows a series of violent incidents involving Afghan nationals admitted under earlier programmes. Those cases prompted the White House to conclude that vetting procedures between 2021 and 2024 were “dangerously insufficient”, triggering a system-wide overhaul of immigration screening. The freeze is the domestic counterpart to Presidential Proclamation 10949, which in June barred the entry of nationals from 19 countries. Now the same nationalities face extensive restrictions inside the US. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has already recommended that the travel-ban list be e... -
Dawn - 18:11 Dec 03, 2025
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Wednesday dissolved the party’s political committee, with a plan to replace it with a smaller body. The party’s information secretary, Sheikh Waqas Akram, while talking to Dawn, confirmed that the current political committee has been dissolved and a new committee, having fewer members, will replace it. The now-dissolved committee had around 40 members. Waqas elaborated that the new committee will most likely have the party’s provincial heads, leaders of the opposition and a few more members. The party’s incarcerated founder also directed to appoint Shahid Khattak as parliamentary leader in the National Assembly. However, according to party insiders, it might not be implemented. In the past, Zartaj Gul was appointed as parliamentary leader, but this time, an excuse could be made that independent legislators cannot be appointed to the role. Moreover, Imran has authorised KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi to reorganise the Insaf Lawyers Forum (ILF). PTI criticis... -
Dawn - 16:49 Dec 03, 2025
Officials in Indonesia and Sri Lanka battled on Wednesday to reach survivors of deadly flooding in remote, cut-off regions as the toll in the disaster that hit four countries topped 1,500. In Indonesia, survivors expressed growing frustration about the slow pace of rescue efforts and aid delivery, as humanitarian groups warned the scale of the challenge was almost unprecedented, even in a country that has faced no shortage of natural disasters. Monsoon rains paired with two tropical storm systems dumped record deluges across Sri Lanka, and parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week. In Indonesia, 770 were confirmed dead, the country’s disaster management agency said on Wednesday, revising the toll down from 812 it announced earlier in the day. Another 463 people are also missing. Information is only trickling in as many regions remain physically cut off by flood damage, isolated by electricity and communications failures, or both. “It’s very challenging logistically to res... -
Dawn - 15:16 Dec 03, 2025
The shooting of National Guard members in Washington, DC, over which an Afghan immigrant has been charged, has nothing to do with Afghanistan’s people or its government, Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said on Wednesday. Muttaqi’s comments are the first on the incident by the Afghan Taliban government, and come a week after events in Washington when suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal is accused of opening fire on guard members, killing one and critically wounding another. On Tuesday, Lakanwal was charged with murder and other offences as he made his first court appearance, appearing remotely from a hospital bed. “This incident has nothing to do with the honourable people of Afghanistan or with the Afghan government,” Muttaqi said. “This is an individual criminal act, and the person who committed it was trained by the Americans themselves.” US officials have said Lakanwal was part of a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan. He entered the US in 2021 through then-president Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welc... -
Dawn - 14:41 Dec 03, 2025
Chief of the Army (COAS) Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir expressed satisfaction on Wednesday with the “robust defence collaboration” underway between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. The two countries have long shared a multifaceted relationship rooted in strategic military cooperation, mutual economic interests, and shared Islamic heritage. These ties have encompassed economic assistance and energy supplies, with Riyadh being a significant source of financial aid and oil for Islamabad. In September, Islamabad and Riyadh signed a Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, pledging that any attack on either nation would be treated as an act of aggression against both. A statement posted on X by state broadcaster PTV News said COAS Munir met Royal Saudi Land Forces (RSLF) Commander Lieutenant General Fahad Bin Saud Al-Johani at the General Headquarters. “COAS expressed satisfaction on robust defence collaboration between the two countries and emphasised upon the need for continued cooperation in training, capacity building, ... -
Dawn - 13:36 Dec 03, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that bidding for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) would be held on December 23 with a live media broadcast. The government has been seeking to sell a 51-100 per cent stake in the struggling national airline to raise funds and reform cash-draining, state-owned enterprises as envisaged under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. It would be the country’s first major privatisation in nearly two decades. Four bidders have been pre-qualified for the sale: Lucky Cement Consortium, Arif Habib Corporation Consortium, Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited and Air Blue Limited. A press release posted on X by state broadcaster PTV News said that the prime minister held a meeting with all corporate entities and company representatives participating in the privatisation process of the national airline. “PIA’s bidding will take place on December 23, 2025, which will be broadcast live on all media,” the statement quoted the prime minister as saying. He said... -
Dawn - 11:31 Dec 03, 2025
A Karachi anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Wednesday acquitted Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leader Dr Mahrang Baloch in a case of sedition and public mischief registered against her in October last year. Mahrang had been booked in the terrorism case by Malir district’s Quaidabad police on Oct 11, 2024, for allegedly inciting people by levelling “allegations against security institutions”. ATC Judge Ayaz Mustafa Jokhio announced the verdict today on Mahrang’s acquittal plea in the case, filed by Advocate Jibran Nasir. “I am of the view that there is no probability of the accused being convicted of any offence. I hereby allow this application and acquit the accused, Mst. Mahrang Baloch, d/o Abdul Ghaffar,” the court order read. The rights activist was cleared of charges under section 265-K (power of court to acquit accused at any stage) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). Mahrang, as per the court order, appeared via video link from Quetta Prison, where she has been incarcerated after her arrest in March....
5467 items