Pakistan

Say utility charges doubled from Rs400 to Rs750 without consultation

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PPP secures seven seats unopposed, three remain vacant

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has officially declared Rana Sanaullah the winner of the Punjab general seat in the Senate by-election.

Kuldeep Yadav returned figures of 4-7 to lead holders India to a crushing nine-wicket win over hosts United Arab Emirates in their opening match of the men’s Asia Cup 2025 on Wednesday. Kuldeep struck three times in one over with his left-arm wrist spin as tournament favourites India skittled UAE for a paltry 57 in 13.1 overs after they elected to field first in the T20 in Dubai. India romped home to victory in 4.3 overs after left-handed opener Abhishek Sharma hit 30 off 16 balls and vice-captain Shubman Gill stood unbeaten on 20. But it was the bowlers who set up victory for the reigning T20 World Cup champions as medium-pacer Shivam Dube claimed three before Kuldeep wrapped up the innings. Put in to bat, UAE opener Alishan Sharafu started briskly with boundaries before falling to pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah for 22 off 17 balls. Skipper Muhammad Waseem struck 19 to be the only other batsman to make double figures in an otherwise shambolic show by the rest of the team. Kuldeep’s three wickets, including Wasee...

Pakistan on Wednesday requested an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to address the unprovoked and illegal Israeli aggression against the State of Qatar.

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Shanghai Electric Power Company has decided to terminate its offer to acquire up to 66.4 per cent of K-Electric Ltd due to changes in Pakistan’s business environment, it emerged on Wednesday. KE is the only electricity generator, transmitter, and distributor for Karachi and its adjoining areas, and the only listed electricity supplier. It was privatised in 2005. Shanghai Electric Power had agreed to buy a controlling shareholding in KE from Abraaj Group back in 2016 for a sum of $1.77 billion. The transaction never materialised because the seller failed to obtain the required approvals from different authorities and liquidity constraints as a consequence of mounting circular debt in the country’s power sector. In June 2023, Shanghai Electric reiterated its commitment to the deal. In a statement issued a day ago, the Chinese company said: “On September 9, 2025, the company convened the fifth meeting of the ninth board of directors and reviewed and approved the proposal to terminate and write off the equity acq...

Sialkot district authorities have announced that 26 government schools in flood-affected areas will remain closed for two additional days due to heavy rains and damage to infrastructure.

Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik on Wednesday announced that the federal cabinet has approved the resumption of new gas connections across the country, ending the ban imposed in 2021. Briefing the media on cabinet decisions along with Federal Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, he said the government had responded to strong public demand by lifting the restriction on new connections. He said the cabinet took several key decisions, including restoring new domestic gas connections, particularly in newly developed housing areas where residents had been forced to rely on LPG cylinders and alternative fuels. The minister assured that both Sui companies had already completed procurement processes for meters and pipelines, and would immediately begin processing pending applications once the official notification is issued. Existing applicants would also be given the option to convert their requests to RLNG-based connections by paying the prescribed security fee to the Oil and Gas Regulatory ...

Soldiers guarded Nepal’s parliament and patrolled deserted streets on Wednesday amid a curfew in the capital Kathmandu, after two days of deadly anti-corruption protests forced Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign. The upheaval in the Himalayan nation was unleashed by a social media ban that was announced last week, but was rolled back after 19 people were killed on Monday as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to control crowds. The death toll from the protests had risen to 25 by Wednesday, Nepal’s health ministry said, while 633 were injured. Burnt-out vehicles and twisted metal littered the area around parliament, where army firefighters battled to douse a blaze in the main hall, while the building’s exterior was charred after protesters set it ablaze on Tuesday. TV footage showed youths cleaning up some damaged buildings and clearing debris from roads and the areas near parliament. “I have been informed by the (parliament) security chief that the fire has destroyed the entire infrastructure. Nothin...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday, taking notice of the flood situation in Karachi and other areas of Sindh, directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to fully cooperate with the provincial government and Sindh Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) in relief operations.

Hassaan Khan Niazi, nephew of PTI founder Imran Khan, has filed a petition in the Lahore High Court challenging his military custody and court-martial in connection with the May 9 riots.

Poland said on Wednesday it had scrambled aircraft alongside allies to shoot down “hostile objects” violating its airspace during a Russian attack on neighbouring Ukraine, a first for a NATO country during the war. “Aircraft have used weapons against hostile objects,” Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz said on social media, adding: “We are in constant contact with NATO command.” The incursion came as Russia unleashed a barrage of strikes across Ukraine, including in the western city of Lviv, around 50 miles (80 kilometres) from the Polish border. Russian drones and missiles have entered the airspace of NATO members — including Poland — several times during Russia’s three-and-a-half-year war, but a NATO country has never attempted to shoot them down. A cornerstone of the Western military alliance is the principle that an attack on any member is deemed an attack on all. The operational command of Poland’s military slammed the “unprecedented” airspace violations, saying it had spotted around a dozen dron...

Former US vice president Kamala Harris said it was “recklessness” to let Joe Biden run for a second term as president, in an excerpt released on Wednesday from her upcoming memoir. Harris — who replaced Biden as the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate but lost to Donald Trump — admitted that the then-81-year-old got “tired” and was prone to stumbles that showed his age. She also lashed out at White House staff, whom she accused of failing to support her — and sometimes actively hindering her — while she was Biden’s deputy. “‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotised. Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” Harris said in the first extract from “107 Days”, published by The Atlantic magazine. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.” Biden stunned the world by dropping out o...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday conducted an aerial survey of Multan and Jalalpur Pirwala to assess the flood-affected areas.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday summoned the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to appear in person on September 15 in connection with a contempt of court petition, directing him to present the complete record.

PTI leader Hassaan Khan Niazi, party founder Imran Khan’s nephew, on Wednesday moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) against his military custody, a court martial carried out against him and the full operation of the military court. Niazi was handed over to the military for trial in 2023 over his alleged involvement in the May 9 riots at Lahore’s Jinnah House. He was sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment last December. Niazi filed a petition with the LHC today through his lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, contending that after being arrested in the May 9 case, he was not presented in a civilian court. “The transfer of the petitioner’s custody directly to the military authorities without any judicial oversight is patently and wholly without jurisdiction,” the petition, available with Dawn.com, argued. “No application under Section 549(3) (delivery to military authorities of persons liable to be tried by court-martial) [of the] CrPC (Criminal Code of Procedure), 1898, was filed before any court, including the ATC (...