Pakistan

A divided United States supreme court gave US President Donald Trump the green light on Monday to resume dismantling the Education Department. The conservative-dominated court, in an unsigned order, lifted a stay that had been placed by a federal district judge on mass layoffs at the department. The three liberal justices on the nine-member panel dissented. Trump pledged during his White House campaign to eliminate the Education Department, which was created by an act of Congress in 1979, and he moved in March to slash its workforce by nearly half. Trump instructed Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “put herself out of a job”. Around 20 states joined teachers’ unions in challenging the move in court, arguing that the Republican president was violating the principle of separation of powers by encroaching on Congress’s prerogatives. In May, District Judge Myong Joun ordered the reinstatement of hundreds of fired Education Department employees. The supreme court lifted the judge’s order without explanation, ju...

The Senate will convene today (Tuesday) at 4:00pm at the Parliament House to deliberate on a 12-point agenda featuring critical legislative matters and public interest issues.

• Writes to KP governor, chief minister; says delay in oath taking would prevent it from holding Senate elections on schedule • Commission reserves verdict on plea seeking redistribution of reserved seats in provincial assembly ISLAMABAD: With Senate elections in Kh­yber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) just a week away, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has written to the province’s governor and chief minister, asking that the provincial assembly be convened immediately so that new members can be sworn in on reserved seats. Also on Monday, the ECP reserved its verdict in a case related to reallocation of reserved seats in the KP Assembly. The letter, addressed to the KP governor’s principal secretary, stated that the commission was obligated to conduct Senate elections in the province, which had been set for July 21. “But the matter of administration of oath is still pending and dela­yed,” it said. The correspondence no­ted that the KP Asse­mbly speaker was requ­ested to administer the oath to the newly returned can...

FAISALABAD - Minister of State for Interior and senior PMLN leader Senator Talal Chaudhary said that the Frontier Constabulary (FC) is being restructured and renamed Federal Constabulary only to bolster internal and national security of Pakistan.

LAHORE: A sessions court on Monday sought a reply from Johar Town police on a habeas corpus petition seeking the recovery of a man allegedly arrested for using abusive language against Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. Muhammad Umar filed the petition for the recovery of his father, Muhammad Sajid. Representing the petitioner, Advocate Sameer Khan Khattak alleged that Johar Town police had illegally detained his client’s father for the past two days. He claimed that Sajid had been arrested without any registered case and had not been produced before any court. The counsel also stated that the police had forced the petitioner’s father to record apology videos, which were later circulated on social media. He asked the court to order the recovery and release of the petitioner’s father. Additional District & Sessions Judge Ghulam Farid issued a notice to the Johar Town station house officer (SHO) and directed him to file a reply by July 15. A few days ago, a video of Sajid riding a motorcycle in the rain went viral on...

Shehbaz Sharif says expanding tax base, reducing tax burden on poor top priority Calls for digitisation of economy to ensure transparency Simplified digital tax returns will be launched from today for salaried individuals and from July 30 for other taxpayers, PM told.

Six including four children die in KP Two madrasa students die, 12 injured in Bahawalnagar Man dies, three injured in Hyderabad n Another spell of heavy rains most likely from today: PMD.

KARACHI - Federal Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb on Monday addressed a press conference in Karachi, ex-pressing confidence in Pakistan’s economic trajectory and emphasising the pivotal role of banks in national development.

ISLAMABAD: The Pri­­vatisation Commis­sion has granted access to the virtual data room of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) to four shortlisted parties for conducting buy-side due diligence ahead of the airline’s privatisation. The commission infor­med the National Asse­m­bly Standing Committee on Privatisation on Mon­day that the pre-qualification committee had fi­­nalised four entities — a consortium comprising Lucky Cement Ltd, Hub Power Holdings Ltd, Kohat Cement Company Ltd and Metro Ventures Limited; a consortium comprising Arif Habib Corporation Ltd, Fatima Fertiliser Company Ltd, The City School Ltd, and Lake City Holdings Ltd; Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd; and Air Blue. The virtual data room — an online repository used for document stora­­ge and sharing — facilita­tes due diligence proces­ses typically associated with mergers and acquisitions, loan syndication, private equity and venture capital transactions. A meeting of the standing committee, chaired by Muhammad Farooq Sa...

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi has urged bar representatives to sensitize their respective bar associations about the ongoing developments and to proactively engage in judicial reform initiatives.

ISLAMABAD: The PTCL on Monday refused to share information with a parliamentary committee regarding the sale of a piece of land in Karachi, saying the state-owned company was not answerable to the National Assembly Sta­n­ding Committee on IT and Telecom. The issue at hand was a PTCL announcement in which the company said it would auction a property situated on I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi. Committee’s Chair­man Syed Aminul Haq exp­ressed displeasure, saying the PTCL was not providing the proof of powers that allowed it to sell properties. The chairman of the committee asked the PTCL team about the specific clauses of the sale and purchase agreement that allowed PTCL to sell its properties without seeking permission from the government. The company did not provide information to the panel, but in a response to the IT ministry it stated that the PTCL’s Memoran­dum of Association allowed the company to sell its properties. At this, the lawmakers asked if the company had such powers to sell land and wondered whe...

Case reviewed by five-member bench led by CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja.

ISLAMABAD: Prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) are expected to increase by Rs5.25 and Rs6.50 per litre, respectively, for the upcoming fortnight starting July 16, owing to a rise in global oil prices and import premiums. According to informed sources, the ex-depot price of petrol is projected to rise by about 2pc to Rs272.04 per litre, while HSD is likely to see a 2.5pc increase to approximately Rs279.48 per litre. The final prices will be announced after government approval. Currently, petrol is priced at Rs266.79 per litre following a Rs8.36 per litre hike on June 30. Widely used in motorcycles, rickshaws, and private vehicles, petrol has a direct impact on the budgets of middle- and lower-income households. Diesel, which fuels heavy transport, agricultural machinery, and trains, stands at Rs272.98 per litre after a Rs10.39 hike earlier this month. Its price is considered highly inflationary, influencing the cost of food and other essential goods. Transporters have already begun adjusting fares in ...

ISLAMABAD - In a significant diplomatic development, the interior ministers of Pakistan, Iran, and Iraq convened in Tehran for a landmark trilateral conference aimed at enhancing facilitation for religious pilgrims traveling between the three countries.

LAHORE - PML-N MPA and Chairperson of the Punjab Women Protection Authority Hina Parvez Butt has submitted an important resolution in the Punjab Assembly (PA) strongly condemning the brutal killing of nine Punjabi citizens in Balochistan.

PESHAWAR - The incidents of targeted killings continued to happen in North Waziristan, as according to the local police on Monday, unidentified gunmen shot dead a prominent tribal leader and his driver.

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi on Monday anno­unced a new initiative for underprivileged litigants to engage legal representation, at state expense. The initiative, launched under the auspices of the Law and Justice Commi­ssion of Pakistan (LJCP), will be implemented acr­oss all levels of the judiciary, from magistrate courts to the Supreme Court. The counsels in such cases would be given up to Rs50,000 in remuneration, which would be provided to them through the Dis­trict Legal Empo­werment Commi­ttees, to ensure equi­table access to justice for all citizens. The decision was taken during a meeting presided over by the chief justice at the Supreme Court Branch Registry in Quetta. The meeting reviewed institutional linkages between the bar associations of Balo­c­histan and LJCP in strengthening justice delivery. During the meeting, the CJP shared insights from his visits to some remote districts, where he noticed a gap in coordination bet­ween bar associations and the LJCP. He said that des...

• Urdu version to be available by July-end, Sindhi and Pashto versions will follow suit • New system will automatically pull data linked to filer’s CNIC, at-source deductions, bank details • PM seeks early release of income tax refunds for salaried individuals; wants Raast chairman, board to be appointed by September ISLAMABAD: In a move to simplify tax filing procedures for the salaried class, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has introduced a new interactive return form, which will incorporate an auto-fill system that seamlessly integrates data about purchases, asset details and tax deductions at source etc. — ultimately generating a single-form return upon completion. The new return form is currently available in English, while the Urdu version is set to come out by the end of this month. During the first rollout phase, the form will also be available in two regional languages, Sindhi and Pashto. More versions in regional languages — Punjabi and Balochi — are expected to be rolled out subsequently. Under ...

WASHINGTON: Puzzle fanatic Liza Fireman has finally earned a place in the Guinness World Records for accumulating the largest viral jigsaw puzzle collection, adding 4,060 unique designs. The 46-year-old Liza Fireman started her journey in 2019, driven not by desire for praise but by a deep love for puzzling, mainly the high-quality artistry of Ravensburger […]

U.S. President Donald Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine on Monday, and threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Russia agrees a peace deal, a major policy shift brought on by frustration with Moscow’s ongoing attacks on its neighbor. But Trump’s threat of sanctions came with a 50-day grace period, a move that was […]