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Dawn - 16:04 Mar 22, 2026
Allegations of sexual misconduct against the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are still under review by the court’s executive branch, an internal memo shared with staff on Sunday said, after a media report that he had been exonerated. ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, has stepped aside temporarily pending an investigation into accusations of a non-consensual sexual relationship with a lawyer in his office. He rejects allegations of wrongdoing. After a year-long investigation, the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services submitted its confidential fact-finding report in December to the ICC’s executive branch, known as the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties. A Saturday news report by Middle East Eye said Khan had been cleared of the allegations. But in a memo to court staff, which Reuters reviewed, the Assembly’s President Paivi Kaukoranta said: “The disciplinary process before the Bureau is ongoing and remains confident... -
Dawn - 15:54 Mar 22, 2026
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday directed to increase the levy on high-octane fuel used by luxury vehicles by Rs200 per litre. According to a handout from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the development came as the premier virtually chaired a meeting on decisions regarding high-octane fuel used in “luxury vehicles”. “The prime minister took notice that the levy on high-octane fuel used in the most expensive vehicles should be increased,” the statement said. Therefore, PM Shehbaz decided that the levy, which was Rs100 per litre, should be increased by Rs200 per litre. “A levy of Rs300 per litre will now be applicable on high-octane fuel used in the most expensive vehicles,” the statement said. “This decision will save the government Rs 9 billion per month and as per the prime minister’s instructions, this will be used to provide the people with relief,” it said. “This decision will reduce the burden on the economy; the richest class in the country will bear the burden,” it said. “The prices of fuel u... -
Dawn - 15:26 Mar 22, 2026
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Sunday that the 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) would go ahead sans spectators while matches would be held only in Karachi and Lahore in line with the government’s austerity drive. The tournament, which is set to begin on March 26, will feature eight teams and 44 matches. It was initially scheduled to be held across six venues — Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Multan, Peshawar, and Faisalabad. However, addressing a press conference in Lahore on Sunday, the PCB chairman said the board, after holding consultations with the government and security agencies, had decided that the tournament “will go ahead as scheduled [..] but a few difficult decisions had to be taken”. Noting the government’s austerity drive, which was launched in the wake of the global fuel crisis triggered by the US-Israel’s war on Iran and aimed at fuel saving measures, the PCB chairman said, “On one hand, 25,000 to 30,000 people will be gathering at stadiums and on the ot... -
Dawn - 15:14 Mar 22, 2026
On the 23rd day of the US- Israeli war against Iran, the conflict entered its most dangerous phase yet as US President Donald Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum imposed a hard deadline on an already grinding and multi-front war. The demand that Iran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power infrastructure has compressed timelines and raised the risk of immediate escalation. Tehran’s response was swift. It warned that any attack on its power, fuel or energy infrastructure would trigger strikes not only on US and Israeli-linked assets, but also on critical energy, IT and desalination facilities across the Gulf. This explicit warning, backed by proven Iranian capability to deliver on their warnings, sharply raised the stakes, particularly for Gulf states. At the operational level, US and Israeli strikes have continued against Iranian coastal missile sites and access tunnels near Kharg and the Tunb islands. These actions look to be designed by the US and Israel to degrade Iran’s ability to control the... -
Dawn - 14:43 Mar 22, 2026
Security sources said on Sunday that on the second day of Eidul Fitr, two terrorists belonging to the banned Fitna al Khawarij were killed after they attempted to attack an under-construction police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kurram district. Fitna al Khawarij is a term designated by the state for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Security sources said that labourers were busy with the construction while police officials had been deployed for security. During this time, Fitna al Khawarij terrorists demanded that the work stop, which resulted in their clashing with police. As a result, two terrorists were killed, they said. Security sources said that the terrorists also kidnapped a few of the workers and policemen. However, negotiations were held with tribal elders, which resulted in them being let go, they said. They said that additional police personnel also reached the scene and the situation was brought under control. Meanwhile, one person was killed and three others were injured after a mortar ... -
Dawn - 13:52 Mar 22, 2026
ISLAMABAD: A social media influencer was allegedly murdered by her husband in Islamabad, it emerged on Sunday. The TikToker was killed within the limits of Humak Police Station near a shopping mall. The initial investigation showed that the suspect shot the victims before shooting himself in the head. According to police sources, the victim was identified as Sana Javed, who had a TikTok account called OutLofara, a permanent resident of Attock. Police said that the suspect, Muhammad Sadiq, was also a resident of Attock and previously served as a constable in Attock Police, but was dismissed from service. The suspect initially shot his wife and then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head, sources said. As many as three shells of fired bullets and a 9mm pistol have been recovered from the site of the incident, they said. According to the first information report (FIR), available with Dawn, a private security guard informed police that he was performing his duties in a market located in DHA Phase II. H... -
Dawn - 12:56 Mar 22, 2026
Chinese Premier Li Qiang pledged on Sunday to further open the country’s economy to foreign firms and pursue more balanced trade with its global partners, after a year marked by trade friction and tariff wars with the United States and European Union in particular. China will import more high-quality foreign goods and work with all parties to promote optimised and balanced trade development and expand the global trade pie, Li told the China Development Forum in Beijing, according to state media. The annual two-day forum, which concludes on Monday, allows Beijing to lay out its economic vision and investment opportunities to foreign business leaders, Chinese officials, economists and academics. It comes after the world’s second-biggest economy reported a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus for 2025. Challenges for Beijing are aplenty, including deflecting concerns from an increasing number of global capitals about China’s trade practices and overcapacity, as well as its overreliance on key Chinese products. Whi... -
Dawn - 12:47 Mar 22, 2026
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday said that the government was moving towards “targeted relief” so that the benefit is passed onto the deserving. Aurangzeb’s remarks came amid spiking global fuel prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. Delivering a televised address, the minister referred to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the nation on Friday night, where the latter mentioned the steps taken to minimise the burden on the public “He spoke clearly and said that the government has taken on Rs69bn of the burden using our own fiscal resources,” the finance minister said. “Yesterday, my honourable colleagues in the cabinet, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik and Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, had a detailed talk,” he said. “Ali Pervaiz Malik sahib especially said in detail that all our efforts are focused on making sure we have supplies, so that we have no supply disruption in the chain [and] we can ensure the uninterrupted supply of petrol, diesel and other molecules,” Aurangz... -
Dawn - 11:56 Mar 22, 2026
Qatar on Sunday confirmed four of its military personnel and three Turkish nationals, including one serviceman, were killed on board a helicopter that crashed in Qatar’s territorial waters. The Gulf state’s interior ministry said in a statement rescue operations had been completed and a final seventh individual was confirmed dead. “All those who were on board have been found, numbering seven, and their martyrdom has been confirmed,” it said. Earlier, Qatar’s defence ministry named the victims of the crash as Captain Mubarak Salem Daway al-Marri, Sergeant Fahad Hadi Ghanem al-Khayarin, Corporal Mohammed Maher Mohammed and Captain Saeed Nasser Sameekh from the Qatari armed forces. The defence ministry also identified Major Sinan Tastekin from the Qatar-TurkiyeJoint Forces and two Turkish civilians, Suleiman Cemra Kahraman and Ismail Anas, as having been killed in the crash. They are the first recorded fatalities from both countries since the US and Israel unleashed strikes on Iran on February 28 and the Islamic... -
Dawn - 08:27 Mar 22, 2026
President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday called on India to immediately restore full implementation of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in accordance with international obligations. In a message on World Water Day, President Zardari reiterated Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the unilateral suspension of the treaty by India. “This deliberate weaponisation of shared water resources is a matter of deep concern. India’s decision to place the treaty in abeyance, disrupt hydrological data-sharing, impede agreed mechanisms and undermines both the letter and spirit of a long-standing international agreement that has governed equitable sharing of the Indus river system for over six decades,” he said. “Such conduct threatens food and economic security, jeopardises the livelihoods of millions who depend on these waters and sets a dangerous precedent for the management of transboundary resources under international law,” he said. The IWT, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allocates the three western rivers — Indus, Jhelum a... -
Dawn - 07:29 Mar 22, 2026
US President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a significant escalation barely a day after he talked about “winding down” the war. “If Iran doesn’t fully open, without threat, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 hours from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various power plants, starting with the biggest one first!” Trump said on social media. Trump’s ultimatum would expand the scope of US strikes to infrastructure that affects daily civilian life in Iran. The threat of Iranian attacks has kept most ships from getting through the strait, a narrow waterway that serves as the conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, threatening a global energy shock. Its near-closure sent European gas prices surging as much as 35 per cent last week. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military command headquarters said on Sunday that if the US attacks I... -
Dawn - 07:15 Mar 22, 2026
An American-operated Patriot air defence battery likely fired the interceptor missile involved in a pre-dawn explosion that injured dozens of civilians and tore through homes in US-ally Bahrain 10 days into the war on Iran, according to an analysis by academic researchers examined by Reuters. Both Bahrain and Washington have blamed an Iranian drone attack for the March 9 blast, which the Gulf kingdom said injured 32 people including children, some seriously. Commenting on the day of the attack, US Central Command said on X that an Iranian drone struck a residential neighbourhood in Bahrain. In response to questions from Reuters, Bahrain on Saturday acknowledged for the first time that a Patriot missile was involved in the explosion over the Mahazza neighbourhood on Sitra island, offshore from the capital Manama and also home to an oil refinery. In a statement, a Bahraini government spokesperson said the missile successfully intercepted an Iranian drone mid-air, saving lives. The damage and injuries sustained ... -
Dawn - 06:52 Mar 22, 2026
Mavra Bari had intended to take part in a march for International Women’s Day in Islamabad, but spent it in a cramped prison cell. What was meant to be a celebration was instead a terrifying 12-hour ordeal in a suffocating space, with a broken toilet and the smell of damp concrete and sweat. Over 30 others — women, men and children — were also held. “We were in a horrible prison,” said Bari, a 36-year-old sociologist and activist. “We were beaten.” An AFP journalist saw detainees when they were released. All looked shaken from the experience, and some had signs of ill-treatment, such as bruises and swelling. Outside the police station, one man said tearfully: “My daughter came here just to observe the march… She did nothing wrong.” On the face of it, the Women’s Day march, like those elsewhere in the world, should have posed little concern for the authorities in Islamabad. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself posted on X on March 8 that women’s empowerment was “central to our government’s vision for Pakistan... -
Dawn - 06:40 Mar 22, 2026
Two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel on Saturday, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack of the three-week war, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to retaliate “on all fronts”. The strikes tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground. First responders said 75 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal. Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons. The Israeli army told AFP there had been a “direct missile hit on a building” in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds. In Arad, emergency workers combed through the rubble of heavily damaged buildings. Netanyahu vowed to... -
Dawn - 06:22 Mar 22, 2026
Diplomats from 13 European countries and Canada on Saturday slammed growing “terror” by settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, after a surge in deadly attacks. Since the start of March, six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks in the West Bank, according to a tally of data from the health ministry. “We strongly condemn increasing settler terror and violence by the Israeli security forces inflicted upon Palestinian communities,” said a joint statement from the diplomatic missions of countries including France, Spain and Britain. “We are especially appalled by the killings of Palestinians over these past weeks. This violence by settler militias, aimed at taking over land and creating a coercive environment, forcing Palestinians to leave their homes, must end.” The statement called on the Israeli authorities to “prevent and prosecute the lethal violence, raids and attacks”. Israel’s military chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, on Wednesday criticised the increase in settler att... -
Dawn - 05:32 Mar 22, 2026
WASHINGTON: Iranian missile strikes on southern Israel and toward a key US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean have escalated the conflict into its fourth week, prompting US Democrats to call for transparency and oversight. The developments are bound to intensify their push in Congress for public hearings on US President Donald Trump’s war on Iran — even as their efforts have so far failed to gain traction. Iran fired long-range ballistic missiles at southern Israeli towns, including Dimona and Arad, near Israel’s sensitive nuclear research facilities. Israeli authorities said dozens were wounded and some missiles penetrated air defence systems. In a significant widening of the conflict, Iran also launched missiles toward the US-UK base on Diego Garcia. US officials said the missiles did not strike the base, with one failing mid-flight and another intercepted by a US naval vessel. President Trump has not sought congressional authorisation for the military campaign. On Friday, he suggested operations could be... -
Dawn - 05:13 Mar 22, 2026
THE LAST CONVERSATION It was December 2007. A chill had begun to descend over Islamabad, and over Pakistan’s democracy. The country was just weeks away from general elections that had been agreed to between Gen Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto, after torturous negotiations laid down in the ‘Memorandum of Understanding.’ Having returned from exile, Benazir Bhutto was navigating a minefield of threats, both political and personal. But that cold evening, she made time for a quiet dinner with the former prime minister, Mian Nawaz Sharif, at Zardari House in Islamabad. It was in a highly friendly setting. The dinner meeting was consequential, as the Charter of Democracy signed between the two just a year ago had buried the hatchet from the 1990s, when the two parties were at each other’s throats while taking turns forming governments. It was also consequential as it was their last conversation — the one in which both poured out their hearts as never before. But it was most consequential for the subject matter they dis... -
Dawn - 04:45 Mar 22, 2026
Sri Lanka raised fuel prices by 25 per cent on Sunday, the second increase in two weeks, as the country prepared for more impact from the war in the Middle East. Regular petrol was increased to 398 rupees ($1.30) per litre, up from 317 rupees, while diesel, the fuel commonly used for public transport, rose by 79 rupees to 382. Last week, the government ordered an eight per cent increase in retail fuel prices and introduced rationing to limit consumption. “We hope to achieve a 15 to 20pc reduction in fuel consumption with the latest increase,” an official at the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation said. He said President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told them last week that the country must prepare for a prolonged conflict in the Middle East that could affect the island’s energy supplies. The president ordered a four-day working week from last Wednesday and asked employers to reintroduce work-from-home arrangements where possible. The Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which some 20pc of global oil exports pass in ... -
Dawn - 04:29 Mar 22, 2026
Pakistan has ranked number one on the Global Terrorism Index for the first time, recording a six per cent increase in terrorism-related deaths, 1,139, in 2025, it emerged on Sunday. The Global Terrorism Index 2026 published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) provides a comprehensive summary of the key trends and patterns in terrorism over the last two decades. The report ranks 163 countries (99.7pc of the world’s population) according to the impact of terrorism. The indicators include the number of terrorist incidents, fatalities, injuries and hostages. The Global Terrorism Index. — Screengrab via report According to the report, Pakistan’s “strained” relationship with neighbouring countries, particularly Afghanistan, and rising violence from the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have created “significant security” risks for the country. “Deaths from terrorism in Pakistan are now at their highest level since 2013, with the country recording 1,1... -
Dawn - 19:39 Mar 21, 2026
A US federal jury found Elon Musk liable on Friday for claims he defrauded Twitter shareholders by trying to drive down the social media company’s stock price so he could renegotiate or back out of a $44 billion takeover in 2022. The verdict from a jury in San Francisco federal court came in a closely watched civil trial where Musk, the world’s richest person, was accused of falsely claiming on social media that Twitter underreported how many fake and spam accounts, known as bots, were on its platform. Damages have yet to be calculated but Francis Bottini, a lawyer for the shareholders, estimated they could total about $2.5 billion. “Musk’s status as the world’s richest man is not a free pass,” Bottini said in a statement. “If you’re able to move markets with your tweets, you’re responsible for the harm you cause to investors.” In a joint statement, Musk’s lawyers at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan called the verdict “a bump in the road. And we look forward to vindication on appeal”. The civil trial began o...
8986 items