Dawn
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Dawn - 00:37 May 07, 2025
ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on Tuesday expressed concern over gas loadshedding in many areas despite excess supplies. The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Petroleum, presided over Senator Umar Farooq, was also told that Sindh was now the largest producer and consumer province in the country — producing about 1,609 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas and consuming about 1,115mmcfd. During the meeting, Senator Kamil Ali Agha raised the issue of unannounced gas loadshedding in Lahore. He reported that consumers had been forced to use LPG cylinders due to gas load shedding, which had become a “persistent hardship for citizens”. He noted that in recent years, the government’s policies seemed to have disproportionately favoured the industrial sector with subsidised gas but domestic users neither get the subsidy nor gas supply. He deplored that a major city like Lahore had gas supply issues and called for a policy shift that prioritised domestic users. Lawmaker says govt prioritising industries over d... -
Dawn - 19:06 May 06, 2025
The outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) continues to be a thorn in relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan despite a recent positive trip of Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to Kabul, according to remarks by veteran diplomat Mohammad Sadiq on Tuesday. The increased activity of armed groups within Pakistan since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 remains a common source of tensions between the two neighbours. Pakistan maintains that these armed groups operate from within Afghan soil, a claim that Afghan officials have denied, maintaining that no one can use Afghan soil against any country. Last month, FM Dar had said Pakistan and Afghanistan had assured each other that they would not allow nefarious elements to use their soil to conduct attacks or illicit activities against the other, adding that both countries would be responsible for taking appropriate action in such a case. Dar’s interactions with the Afghan Taliban leadership were quite cordial, with promises from both sides to improve ties and... -
Dawn - 16:55 May 06, 2025
The Israeli military carried out an airstrike on Yemen’s main airport in Sanaa on Tuesday, its second attack in two days on Houthi fighters after a surge in tensions between the group and Israel. Three people were killed in the strike, according to Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV. Israel warned people to leave the area around Sanaa International Airport before Tuesday’s attack, which it said targeted Houthi infrastructure and “fully disabled the airport”. Witnesses later reported four strikes in the capital. Tensions have been high since the Gaza conflict began, but have risen further since a Houthi missile landed near Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Sunday, prompting Israeli airstrikes on Yemen’s Hodeidah port on Monday. “A short while ago, IDF (Israel Defence Forces) fighter jets struck and dismantled Houthi terrorist infrastructure at the main airport in Sanaa, fully disabling the airport,” the Israeli military said. “The strike was carried out in response to the attack launched by the Houthi terrorist regime agai... -
Dawn - 16:29 May 06, 2025
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday said that Pakistan’s resolve to fight was for freedom and not for conflict, amid the growing tensions with India in the wake of a militant attack in occupied Kashmir. An attack on April 22 in Pahalgam killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in one of the deadliest assaults since 2000. India has implied cross-border links without evidence. Pakistan has firmly rejected the claim and called for a neutral probe. Tensions have since spiked, with Pakistan reinforcing its forces as it expected an incursion and India’s premier granting “operational freedom” to his military. As temperatures remain high, with the military warning of a “swift” response to any misadventure by New Delhi, diplomatic channels have remained engaged to prevent conflict. Speaking during the National Assembly session today, Bilawal said, “Pakistan had no hand in that crime. We do not export terror, we are the victims of terrorism.” He refuted India’s claims on fighting against terrorism, saying, “How ca... -
Dawn - 15:59 May 06, 2025
German conservative leader Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor by parliament on Tuesday in a second round of voting after a humiliating and unprecedented defeat on the first attempt, getting his coalition government off to a weak start. Merz, 69, who led his conservatives to a federal election victory in February and has signed a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), won 325 votes, nine more than needed for an absolute majority, in the secret ballot. He had secured just 310 votes in the first round of voting, meaning at least 18 coalition lawmakers failed to back him. After the vote, he headed to the nearby Bellevue Palace to be formally nominated by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Later, he will return to the historic Reichstag building in the heart of Berlin to take the oath of office to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since the end of World War Two. Merz is under heavy pressure to show German leadership after the implosion last November of outgoing SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s t... -
Dawn - 14:51 May 06, 2025
As the constitutional bench (CB) of the Supreme Court on Monday took up a set of review pleas against the top court’s ruling that had declared the PTI eligible for reserved seats, two judges declared the petitions as inadmissible. In its July 12, 2024 short order, eight out of 13 judges ruled that 39 out of a list of 80 MNAs were and are the returned candidates of the PTI, setting it to emerge as the single largest party in the National Assembly. However, the ruling had not been implemented by the National Assembly, while the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had raised some objections. The review petitions against the SC order had been filed by the PML-N, the PPP and the ECP. As the full-strength 13-member CB led by Justice Aminuddin Khan took up the review pleas today, Justices Ayesha A. Malik and Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi objected to them, declaring the applications as inadmissible. The other 10 members of the bench were Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hil... -
Dawn - 14:38 May 06, 2025
Seven soldiers were martyred in a blast from an improvised explosive device planted by “Indian proxy” terrorists in Balochistan’s Kacchi district, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday. A press release from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said: “On May 6, 2025, terrorists belonging to Indian proxy, so-called ‘Baloch Liberation Army’, targeted security forces’ vehicle with an improvised explosive device in general area Mach.” It said the following seven soldiers were subsequently martyred in the attack: Subedar Umar Farooq, 42, resident of Karachi; Naik Asif Khan, 28, resident of Karak district; Naik Mashkoor Ali, 28, resident of Orakzai district; Sepoy Tariq Nawaz, 26, resident of Lakki Marwat district; Sepoy Wajid Ahmed Faiz, 28, resident of Bagh district; Sepoy Muhammad Asim, 22, resident of Karak district and Sepoy Muhammad Kashif Khan, 28, resident of Kohat district. “Nefarious designs of India and its proxies operating on Pakistani soil will be defeated by the valiant security forces, LEAs... -
Dawn - 14:16 May 06, 2025
PPP’s Syed Waqar Mehdi won the by-election held for the vacant general seat of the Senate from the province of Sindh in Karachi on Tuesday, the Associated Press of Pakistan reported. The ruling PPP and the opposition Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) had nominated Waqar Mehdi and Nighat Mirza, respectively. The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) did not field any candidate and on Monday it announced boycotting the polling process as well. In the by-election held at the Sindh Assembly, Mehdi secured 111 votes, while MQM-P’s Nighat Mirza received 36, and two were rejected, said the returning officer, Provincial Election Commissioner Sindh Ejaz Anwar Chauhan. The polling was conducted from 9am to 4pm without any break. A total of 149 votes were cast during the scheduled polling time. The general Senate seat from Sindh province fell vacant after the death of PPP’s Senator Taj Haider on April 8 in Karachi. He was elected a senator on a PPP ticket from a Senate general seat in Sindh in March 2021 for a period o... -
Dawn - 14:14 May 06, 2025
India and the United Kingdom concluded on Tuesday a long-coveted free trade pact, in a landmark deal that represents London’s most significant post-Brexit agreement that was finalised in the shadow of US President Donald Trump’s tariff increases. The deal, between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies, has been concluded after three years of stop-start negotiations and aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds ($34bn) by 2040 with liberal market access and eased trade restrictions. “These landmark agreements will further deepen our comprehensive strategic partnership, and catalyse trade, investment, growth, job creation, and innovation in both our economies,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X. The deal lowers tariffs on goods such as whisky, advanced manufacturing parts and food products such as lamb, salmon, chocolates and biscuits. It also agrees to quotas on both sides for auto imports. Both countries are also seeking bilateral deals with the United States to rem... -
Dawn - 13:30 May 06, 2025
A policeman was shot dead by unidentified assailants in the limits of the Mandan police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district on Tuesday morning. Khanzala Quraishi, spokesperson for the Bannu regional police officer, told Dawn.com: “Police Constable Khanzeb was on his way to duty on a motorcycle when he was intercepted and targeted by unidentified assailants near the Asghar fuel station in the limits of Mandan police station.” He added that the policeman was killed on the spot by the intense firing and the body was moved to the District Headquarters Hospital Bannu after a heavy police contingent soon reached the spot. A statement from the police said that Bannu District Police Officer (DPO) Saleem Abbas Kulachi also visited the incident site later in the day, inspecting the scene in detail and issuing strict instructions for the arrest of the culprits. The statement said the DPO himself, along with other police personnel, was present in the area for the operation to arrest the suspects. “We will not ... -
Dawn - 20:31 May 04, 2025
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lt General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry and Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday briefed members of political parties on national security amid the growing tensions with India, during an in-camera session in Islamabad, state-run broadcaster PTV News reported, quoting sources. An attack on April 22 in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in one of the deadliest assaults since 2000. India has implied cross-border links without evidence, while Pakistan has rejected the claim and called for a neutral probe. Tensions have since spiked, with Pakistan reinforcing its forces as it expected an incursion and India’s premier granting “operational freedom” to his military. As temperatures remain high, with the military warning of a “swift” response to any misadventure by New Delhi, diplomatic channels have remained engaged to prevent conflict. According to PTV News, national security issues were discussed in the camera session to... -
Dawn - 20:10 May 04, 2025
A team of middle-school Pakistani students won the first prize in the Social Innovation category at the Teknofest aerospace festival held in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Saturday. Teknofest is Türkiye’s first and only aerospace and technology festival organised in partnership with many organisations that play a critical part in the development of national technology in Türkiye, according to the information available on its website. Last year, the competition took place in Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir, hosting tech competitions spanning 41 categories, all aligned with the focal points of the future. These competitions attracted applications from over 333,000 teams and more than 1 million individuals from all 81 Turkish provinces and 96 countries. “Asma Fatima and Inaya Khan, along with their teacher Gohar Khursheed, met Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan to receive their first-place award at Teknofest 2025,” Pak-Turk Maarif International Schools and Colleges announced in a post on Instagram. View th... -
Dawn - 18:26 May 04, 2025
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Saturday that she had rejected an offer from United States President Donald Trump to send American troops to Mexico to help combat drug trafficking. “I told him, ‘No, President Trump, our territory is inviolable, our sovereignty is inviolable, our sovereignty is not for sale,’” she said at a public event, referring to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal that described a tense exchange between the leaders. During the recent call, Sheinbaum said, Trump had asked how he could help fight organised crime and suggested sending troops. She said she declined, telling him that “we will never accept the presence of the United States Army in our territory”. Sheinbaum said she offered to collaborate, including through greater information-sharing. Trump himself said in an interview last week with conservative outlet The Blaze that he had offered to help Mexico fight the drug cartels, but that he had been turned down. Without providing details, Trump told his interviewer: ... -
Dawn - 18:08 May 04, 2025
Pakistan on Sunday banned the import of Indian-origin goods transiting through Pakistan by land, sea and air and prohibited the transit of goods exported to India by third countries, a notification from the commerce ministry said. An attack on April 22 in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in one of the deadliest assaults since 2000. India has implied cross-border links without evidence, while Pakistan has rejected the claim and called for a neutral probe. Tensions have since spiked, with Pakistan reinforcing its forces as it expected an incursion and India’s premier granting “operational freedom” to his military. As temperatures remain high, both nations have imposed tit-for-tat measures on each other in a tug-of-war started by India. The notification, which has been seen by Dawn.com, stated that these bans would not be applicable to goods for which a bill of lading or letter of credit had already been issued. The ministry banned, “the import of Indian origin goods by third countr... -
Dawn - 17:23 May 04, 2025
Brazilian police on Sunday said they had arrested two people in connection with a foiled plot to attack Lady Gaga’s packed mega-concert in Rio de Janeiro. Rio’s civil police force said that “together with the ministry of justice”, it had “prevented a bomb attack that would have occurred at Lady Gaga’s concert in Copacabana” on Saturday night. Officials said the superstar’s huge free gig on the beach, her first concert in Brazil since 2012, drew up to two million people. Writing on X, Rio police said it had arrested an adult who was “responsible for the plot” as well as a teenager in the operation codenamed “Fake Monster” — a reference to the US pop diva’s pet name for her fans, “Little Monsters”. It said those involved had recruited people online to “carry out attacks using improvised explosives” and Molotov cocktails as “a collective challenge with the aim of “gaining notoriety on social media”. The police added that the group behind the plot “spread hate speech”, radicalised youths, and used self-harm on di... -
Dawn - 15:34 May 04, 2025
United States President Donald Trump said in a television interview airing on Sunday that he does not know whether he must uphold the US Constitution. He also said he is not seriously considering running for a third White House term, after musing publicly over an idea clearly barred by the nation’s founding legal document. “I don’t know,” Trump responded when the host of NBC News programme ‘Meet the Press’, Kristen Welker, asked directly whether he believes he needs to uphold the supreme law of the land. Asked specifically whether American citizens and non-citizens alike deserve the due process of law, as the US Constitution states, Trump said: “I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.” The president’s aggressive moves to deport undocumented migrants — some without the benefit of a court hearing — have drawn widespread criticism, but Trump insists it is necessary in the face of what he has declared to be a “national emergency”. The suggestion of possibly seeking a third term in office has been sharply questioned by le... -
Dawn - 15:25 May 04, 2025
ISLAMABAD: The two telecom companies have agreed to pay outstanding taxes totalling Rs26 billion to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) instead of pursuing further litigation after losing a case in the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The Large Taxpayer Office (LTO) Islamabad had decided to attach the bank accounts of the two telecoms before they could file an appeal against the court decision. The LTO remained operational on Saturday for the purpose of attaching the bank accounts of Telenor Pakistan and Deodar Pakistan, a subsidiary of Jazz. Following the promulgation of Tax Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2025, the FBR has started recovery proceedings and enforcement measures. The FBR officials were preparing for a forceful recovery of taxes through the attachment of bank accounts of these two companies falling under the jurisdiction of the LTO Islamabad, as the head offices of both companies are situated in the federal capital. Both companies had gone to court over tax on equipment import However, a final settlement ... -
Dawn - 13:23 May 04, 2025
A small plane has crashed into a backyard of a residential neighbourhood in southern California, in the United States, killing two people onboard and damaging homes, local authorities said. The Ventura County Fire Department said firefighters received reports on Saturday afternoon of a single-engine aircraft that had crashed into two houses in Simi Valley, northwest of Los Angeles. Police and the medical examiner’s office “verified there were two passengers in the aircraft, both of whom were fatally injured in the accident,” the county fire department wrote on X. The two homes were occupied at the time of the crash but no injuries to residents were reported, the fire department said. Photo and video images posted by the department showed firefighters on top of a house with holes in the roof, a fence and brick wall between residences knocked down, and the tops of trees sheared off. The Simi Valley Police Department said officers had located the plane “in the backyard of a residence.” Police told CBS News that ... -
Dawn - 11:24 May 04, 2025
President Asif Ali Zardari promulgated four ordinances on Friday — one of them to increase the salaries of federal ministers and ministers of state to match those of National Assembly members (MNAs). In February, the lower house of the parliament passed the Members of Parliament Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill 2025 — already approved by the Senate — with a majority vote, increasing the salary of the parliament members. The National Assembly’s Finance Committee, headed by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, approved the proposed increase of the monthly salary of each MNA and senator to Rs519,000. Previously, lawmakers received a monthly salary of Rs180,000. “The federal ministers and ministers of state shall receive a monthly salary equivalent to the salary of a member of the National Assembly,” read the ordinance. The changes were made to the Federal Ministers and Ministers of State (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) Act, 1975. The ministers’ salaries will now be Rs519,000 per month and equivalent to the MNAs.... -
Dawn - 10:33 May 04, 2025
Afghanistan officials on Sunday expressed their concern that the ongoing tensions between Pakistan and India would have a “direct negative impact” on Kabul and the region. After an attack on April 22 in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam killed 26 people, India, without investigation or evidence, implied “cross-border linkages” of the attackers. Pakistan has firmly rejected the claim and called for a neutral probe. In response to India’s aggressive moves against the country, Pakistan had announced retaliatory measures that have included halting all border trade, closing its airspace and ports to Indian carriers and expelling Indian diplomats. Addressing a press conference on Sunday, Hekmatullah Zaland, the deputy director of the Afghan foreign ministry’s Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS), said: “Since Pakistan and India are located in our neighbourhood, if this tension spreads, it will have a direct negative impact on the region and Afghanistan.” The CSS deputy director added, “We are currently interacting wit...
5680 items