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  • PM Shehbaz to embark on tour of 4 friendly countries from May 25-30: FO
    Dawn - 14:50 May 23, 2025
    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Turkiye, Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan from May 25-30, the Foreign Office (FO) announced in a statement on Friday, to hold “wide-ranging discussions” with the nations while acknowledging their support during Pakistan’s recent escalation with India. The visit comes a fortnight after Pakistan and India reached a US-brokered ceasefire following a brief military confrontation. During the conflict, the Iranian foreign minister visited both nations to act as a mediator. According to the FO’s statement, the PM will have “wide-ranging discussions” with the leaders of the four countries on issues including bilateral relations and matters of regional and international importance. “He will also have the opportunity to express the deepest appreciation and acknowledgement for the support extended to Pakistan by the friendly countries during the recent crisis with India,” the FO added. “The prime minister will also be attending the International Conference on Glaciers in Dushanbe,...
  • Harvard sues Trump administration for blocking enrollment of foreign students
    Dawn - 14:26 May 23, 2025
    Harvard University sued the Trump administration on Friday over its decision to revoke the Ivy League school’s ability to enrol foreign students, ratcheting up White House efforts to conform practices in academia to President Donald Trump’s policies. In a complaint filed in Boston federal court, Harvard called the revocation a “blatant violation” of the US Constitution and other federal laws and had an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders. “With the stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard’s student body, international students who contribute significantly to the University and its mission,” Harvard said. “Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard,” the 389-year-old school added. Harvard asked a federal judge to block the revocation, citing “the immediate and irreparable harm inflicted by this lawless action.” The case was assigned to US District Judge Allison Burroughs. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson d...
    Tags: Harvard Trump
  • Airspace ban on Indian airlines extended until June 24: PAA
    Dawn - 14:04 May 23, 2025
    The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) on Friday announced that the airspace ban on Indian airlines was extended until June 24 amid the recent escalation with India. New Delhi had accused Islamabad, without evidence, of orchestrating last month’s deadly attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. Pakistan had strongly denied the allegations and called for a neutral probe. As the situation turned into a military confrontation between the nuclear powers, it took American intervention for both sides to agree to a ceasefire. On April 24, Pakistan’s top brass had announced a series of measures, including the closure of its airspace to all India-owned or Indian-operated airlines with immediate effect, as it retaliated against New Delhi’s slew of aggressive measures against the country. According to today’s statement by the PAA, “The ban on Indian aircraft flying over Pakistani airspace has been extended until 4:59 am on June 24, 2025. All Indian registered, operated, owned or leased aircraft will remain under the ban. “N...
    Tags: June Indian
  • Aseefa, World Bank officials hand over home ownership papers to flood-hit families
    Dawn - 09:47 May 23, 2025
    Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, the youngest daughter of President Asif Ali Zardari, on Friday visited a flood rehabilitation housing project in Shaheed Benazirabad district of Sindh accompanying a delegation of officials from the World Bank. The WB officials included its managing director Anna Bejerde and country director Najy Benhassine. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah also accompanied them as they visited the flood rehabilitation housing project in Nazar Muhammad Laghari village in Shaheed Benazirabad district. This project, under the Sindh Peoples Housing for Flood Affectees (SPHF) programme, aims at rebuilding homes destroyed by the 2022 devastating floods, said a statement by the CM House. During the visit, Aseefa and Bejerde distributed ownership rights certificates to women homeowners, and interacted with female members of the Village Reconstruction Committee, as the latter showcased their handicraft work. The committee was briefed that 32 homes were destroyed in the village and had now been rebuilt. ...
    Tags: Aseefa World Bank
  • 3 terrorists killed, six escape in Mianwali operation: CTD
    Dawn - 08:57 May 23, 2025
    Three terrorists were killed while six others escaped after the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) conducted an intelligence-based operation (IBO) near Rehmanikhel in Mianwali, according to the specialised police force on Friday. A statement issued by the CTD read that it conducted an IBO to arrest the terrorists. However, the terrorists opened fire on the police. In an exchange of fire, the terrorist killed three of their own while the remaining six escaped. The police found rifles, three hand grenades, bullets and explosives on the slain terrorists. A search operation was underway to arrest the terrorists who had escaped, the statement said, adding that the teams had set up a blockade near Rehmanikhel. The process of identifying the slain terrorists was underway, the statement continued. It added that the terrorists who were targeted had completed their planning for carrying out major attacks on police posts. Separately, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police, in a statement, said that unidentified miscreants carried ou...
    Tags: Mianwali
  • Naila Kiani scales world’s third-highest peak Kanchenjunga
    Dawn - 07:16 May 23, 2025
    Mountaineer Naila Kiani on Friday summited Mount Kanchenjunga (8,586m), the world’s third-highest mountain situated in Nepal, becoming the only Pakistani female mountaineer to summit the world’s 12 highest mountains above eight thousand metres. The summit marked a historic milestone in her pursuit of the world’s 14 peaks above 8,000m. Speaking to Dawn.com today, Mingma G, famous Nepali climber and the owner of Imagine Nepal, said that Kiani stood at top of the peak at 6am local time (5:15 am PKT). Mingma G added that after the successful summit, the expedition team started their descent to camp four and were heading towards basecamp. Secretary Alpine Club of Pakistan, Karrar Haidri, congratulated Kiani for the feat. According to press release issued by Kiani’s team, the achievement cemented her place not only in Pakistan’s mountaineering history but also on the global stage, etching closer to a rare and elite global record: becoming one of fewer than 20 women in history to summit all 14 of the world’s 8,000m ...
  • Pakistan rubbishes Indian PM Modi’s bid to link Islamabad with terrorism
    Dawn - 05:48 May 23, 2025
    The Foreign Office on Friday categorically rejected the “baseless, provocative, and irresponsible allegations” made by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in a heated speech accused Pakistan of carrying out terrorist attacks in his country. The military confrontation between New Delhi and Islamabad came as tensions over last month’s Pahalgam attack continued to build up, as India —without evidence — blamed Pakistan for the attack. On the night of May 6-7, India launched a series of air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, resulting in civilian casualties. Islamabad responded by downing five Indian jets. After intercepting drones sent by India and tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally drop their guns and declare a ceasefire. India has since continued its aggressive posturing even as Pakistan has warned against any further military aggression and offered talks. Yesterday, the Indian premier said that Pakistan would not get water f...
    Tags: Pakistan Indian Islamabad
  • UNSC condemns ‘heinous, cowardly’ terrorist attack on school bus in Khuzdar
    Dawn - 05:47 May 23, 2025
    The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned “in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly” terrorist attack on a school bus in Khuzdar earlier this week. At least six people, including three students, were slain while over 40 others — mostly students — sustained injuries after a bomb targeted the bus near Zero Point in Khuzdar on the Quetta-Karachi highway when it was on its way to drop the students at the Army Public School in Khuzdar Cantonment. The condition of at least a dozen is said to be serious due to critical injuries, officials said, adding that at least 15 girl students were among the injured. Security forces vowed to “relentlessly pursue” the culprits of the attack as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir visited the injured in Quetta yesterday. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that two major terrorist groups operating in Pakistan were “Indian proxies”, adding that Islamabad would present “complete evidence” to prove New Delhi’s involvement in the attack ...
    Tags: Khuzdar
  • Business confidence turns positive after three years: OICCI
    Dawn - 05:00 May 23, 2025
    • Manufacturing sector leads recovery, followed by retail and wholesale sectors, survey shows • Respondents highlight inflation, taxation, inconsistent policies, rupee devaluation as key threats ISLAMABAD: The latest survey conducted by the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) has shown marked improvement in business confidence over the country’s economic and business outlook. The OICCI released the results of its Business Confidence Index (BCI) Wave 27 survey that depicted a significant improvement in the overall business confidence, which improved by 16 percentage points to positive 11 per cent from negative 5pc in the previous wave conducted in October-November 2024. This is the first time in nearly three years that business confidence has ente­red positive territory. The last time the index was in the green was in May 2022, when it stood at 17pc. Since then, it had remained negative, registering -4pc, -25pc, -18pc, -14pc, and -5pc in subsequent waves. The survey was conducted by the...
    Tags: OICCI
  • Army chief’s elevation to field marshal splits PTI
    Dawn - 04:19 May 23, 2025
    ISLAMABAD: There appears to be a split in the PTI over Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir’s promotion to the rank of field marshal, as its interim chairman Gohar Ali Khan felicitated the newly appointed field marshal as opposed to the incarcerated party founder, Imran Khan, who criticised the government’s move. If a message posted on his X handle is to be believed, Imran Khan criticised the promotion in his interaction with lawyers, family members, and journalists during a hearing in the Adiala Jail courtroom on Wednesday. The tweet was posted on Thursday morning, however. It may be noted that the PTI leader had also met his sisters and lawyers, including Salman Safdar and Usman Gill, on the jail premises on Wednesday. The former premier doesn’t have access to his X account and someone else posts on his behalf, but the PTI has never revealed the identity of Mr Khan’s social media handler. The PTI founder said it would have been more app­ropriate if Gen Asim Munir had been declared ‘king’ as Pakistan was being run...
  • PM Shehbaz pledges swift reforms, resolves to benefit from World Bank help
    Dawn - 03:43 May 23, 2025
    • Meets IMF delegation, says country on road to economic progress • Govt seeks relief measures in budget; Fund reviewing proposals ISLAMABAD: Amid week-long talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on next fiscal year’s budget, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to fast-track institutional reforms and maintain macroeconomic stability. During a meeting with an IMF delegation led by Regional Director for the Middle East and South Asia, Jihad Azour, the prime minister said the country was now firmly on the path of economic development after a period of recovery and stability. “By the grace of Allah, Pakistan is now moving from economic stability towards sustainable growth,” PM Shehbaz said in an official statement. He said the government’s top priority was to sustain macroeconomic gains and expedite comprehensive institutional reforms, crucial for long-term resilience. The high-level meeting took place at the last leg of negotiations between an IMF staff mission an...
    Tags: Shehbaz
  • NA okays another IMF-dictated law ahead of budget
    Dawn - 03:37 May 23, 2025
    • Lawmakers pass the bill without debate • House passes resolution urging govt to condemn India for suspending Indus Waters Treaty ISLAMABAD: Days before presentation of the federal budget for the next fiscal year, the National Assembly on Thursday passed an IMF-dictated money bill through a supplementary agenda and without any debate. The Off the Grid (Captive Power Plants) Levy Bill, 2025, aimed at providing legal justification for the grid levy imposed on the supply of natural gas or imported liquefied natural gas to industrial captive power plants (CPPs) as of March 7, was tabled by Minister for Petroleum Division Ali Pervaiz after the house suspended the rules. The minister moved the motion for the passage of the bill soon after presentation of the report of the standing committee on petroleum by its chairman Mustafa Mehmood. The bill cleared all the required stages in just one day as the committee had also approved it in a meeting held minutes before start of the NA session. The opposition challenged th...
    Tags: IMF-dictated
  • No water for Pakistan from ‘Indian rivers’: Modi
    Dawn - 03:13 May 23, 2025
    • AGP Awan says Islamabad willing to discuss water sharing deal • Senate panel slams India’s ‘provocative action’ NEW DELHI: Pakistan will not get water from rivers over which India has rights, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, a month after a deadly attack in India-held Kashmir led New Delhi to suspend a key river water-sharing treaty between the neighbours. The attorney general for Pakistan, in an interview with Reuters, responded that Islam­abad remained willing to discuss water sharing between the neighbours but said India must stick to the decades-old treaty. The suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), negotiated by the World Bank in 1960, was among a slew of measures announced by India against Pakistan last month after the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 people. New Delhi had said the attack was backed by Pakistan, an accusation Islamabad den­ied and the nuclear-armed neig­hbours were involved in their worst military fighting in nearly three decades before agreeing to a ...
    Tags: Pakistan
  • PIA to launch Lahore-Paris flight on June 18
    Dawn - 03:05 May 23, 2025
    RAWALPINDI: Pakis­tan International Airlines (PIA) announced on Thursday the launch of direct flights from Lahore to Paris, with the first flight scheduled to take off on June 18, as part of its strategy to further expand flight operations “PIA has decided to operate a weekly flight from Lahore to Paris every Wednesday,” a spokesman for PIA said. “With the launch of this flight, three direct flights per week will become part of PIA’s operations.” The new route is part of the airline’s broader strategy to extend its network to Europe and meet growing demand from the Pakistani diaspora in France and Pakistan, the spokesman said. “This direct route to Paris addresses a long-standing demand from the Pakistani community, offering affordable fares and time savings,” the spokesman added. Earlier this year, to mark the relaunch of PIA flights from Islamabad to Paris, the airline decorated a Boeing 777 aircraft with a model of the Eiffel Tower on its tail and the slogan “I Love Paris” on the nose. The aircraft was mod...
    Tags: June
  • Pakistan suffered 7th highest number of casualties from explosives in 2024: report
    Dawn - 02:54 May 23, 2025
    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was the seventh most affected country for civilians harmed by explosive weapons in 2024, with 790 civilian casualties and 210 killings, recorded across 248 incidents in the country, according to a report released by UK-based NGO, Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) on Thursday. Titled, ‘Action on Armed Violence’ (AOAV), the report notes that the casualties in 2024 represent a nine per cent decrease from 2023. However, there was a 11 per cent increase in incidents compared to 218 in 2023. Pakistan was listed at seventh position among the 15 most affected countries and territories in 2024. The majority of civilians harmed was attributed to non-state actors, who were reported responsible for 76pc of civilian casualties. In particular, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) killed and injured 119 civilians in Pakistan last year. The BLA is among the biggest non-state users of explosive weapons in 2024, and it was the reported perpetrator of 15pc civilian casualties, marking a 440pc increase from 22...
    Tags: Pakistan
  • US govt revokes Harvard’s right to enrol foreign students
    Dawn - 19:01 May 22, 2025
    United States President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday revoked Harvard’s right to enrol foreign students — more than a quarter of its annual enrollment — in a major escalation of the president’s fight with one of the world’s most storied universities. Trump is furious at Harvard, which has produced 162 Nobel prize winners, for rejecting his demand that it submit to oversight on admissions and hiring over his claims that it is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and “woke” liberal ideology. “Effective immediately, Harvard University’s Student and Exchange Visitor (Sevis) Programme certification is revoked,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a letter to the Ivy League institution, referring to the main system by which foreign students are permitted to study in the United States. Last month, Trump threatened to stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students if it did not agree to government demands that would put the private institution under outside political supervision. “As I explained to you in...
    Tags: Harvard
  • Man, two sons gunned down in KP’s Mardan: authorities
    Dawn - 18:19 May 22, 2025
    A man and his two sons were shot dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district, police and rescue officials said on Thursday, adding that the five suspects had fled the scene. Rescue 1122 Mardan spokesperson Mohammad Abbas Shah told Dawn.com that the incident took place on Wednesday and that a case was registered at Shahbaz Garhi police station on the complaint of the victim’s sister. “Five suspects opened fire on the victims, Qubad Khan and his sons, in a field in the Gariala area of Mardan,” Shah said. “The victim and his young sons died at the scene, while women nearby were able to narrowly escape.” He added that the suspects were able to flee the scene after the incident. According to the police report, seen by Dawn.com, the suspects were charged under sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of a common object), 302 (punishment for murder) and 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code. Earlier this week, six...
    Tags: Mardan
  • Bangladesh’s interim govt ‘undermining’ freedoms: rights group
    Dawn - 17:49 May 22, 2025
    Human Rights Watch strongly criticised Bangladesh’s interim government on Thursday, warning that it risked “undermining fundamental freedoms” through measures including its ban on the former ruling party. The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since the student-led revolt that ousted then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024, with parties protesting on the streets over a string of demands. The interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has promised democratic reforms and vowed polls will be held by June 2026 at the latest. However, New York-based HRW said Yunus risked following the example of Hasina in clamping down on opponents. “Instead of pursuing its pledge to reform the criminal justice system and bring accountability for serious abuses, the government … is attempting to suppress the rights of supporters of the deposed leader,” the rights group said in a statement. HRW said the government had used “newly introduced powers under a draconian a...
    Tags: Bangladesh
  • France detains 55 men in child sex abuse crackdown
    Dawn - 17:48 May 22, 2025
    Fifty-five men, including a priest, a paramedic, and a music teacher, were arrested in France this week as part of an operation to dismantle a suspected paedophile ring operating via the Telegram messaging app, authorities said on Thursday. The arrests took place in 42 departments over possession, distribution and regular viewing of pornography involving children “under the age of 10”, France’s OFMIN, which is tasked with preventing violence against minors, told AFP. OFMIN issued the warrant that led to the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Paris in 2024, and he remains under formal investigation by French authorities over illegal content on the popular service. The arrests of the 55 men aged 25 to 75, which followed a 10-month investigation, took place from Monday to Thursday. The men exchanged messages on Telegram and were in contact with “extremely dangerous” child sex abusers who have been in prison since last summer, Quentin Bevan, head of OFMIN’s operational unit, told AFP. The large-scale opera...
    Tags: France
  • Several dead as plane crashes on California neighbourhood
    Dawn - 17:39 May 22, 2025
    Several people are feared dead after a small plane crashed into a California neighbourhood before dawn on Thursday, destroying homes and setting cars on fire. At least 10 houses were burned or hit by debris that spread over a wide area, and cars on both sides of a street were set on fire when the Cessna 550 slammed into the ground in San Diego. “There are more than one fatality that we found so far, but we’re waiting to get the registered numbers that were on the plane itself,” said San Diego’s Assistant Fire Department Chief Dan Eddy. “When it hit the street, as the jet fuel went down, it took out every single car that was on both sides of the street,” he said, adding: “We have jet fuel all over the place.” Footage of the immediate aftermath of the crash showed a line of burning fuel linking the flaming cars. Eddy said “miraculously” no one on the ground had been killed or seriously hurt. Daylight revealed what a close call it had been for some people, with images showing the roof of one home blackened and c...
    Tags: Several California

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