Pakistan

Greenpeace on Thursday warned that an oil spill resulting from a tanker collision off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could have grave environmental consequences, after authorities reported a “small” slick. On Tuesday, the Emirati coastguard said it rescued 24 crew members of the Adalynn oil tanker after it collided with the Front Eagle vessel in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of the Khor Fakan area of the UAE. “Greenpeace Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has warned of a potential environmental disaster after two crude oil tankers collided,” the group said in a statement. The environmental campaign group said satellite imagery indicated a “large plume of oil stretching up to around 1,500 hectares from the site of the crash”. The group said the Adalynn was part of a Russian “shadow fleet”, which it described as “a collection of partially obsolete tankers that operate below basic security standards and carry Russian oil”. Security analysts say Russia uses the fleet of ageing vessels to circumven...

Another patient died of Congo fever on Thursday in Karachi, as the number of fatalities from the disease reached two this year in Sindh, a statement from the district health officer in Malir said. Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), commonly known as Congo Virus, causes severe viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks with a case fatality rate of 10-40 per cent, according to the World Health Organisation. There is no vaccine available for the disease. Per experts, the CCHF virus is primarily transmitted to people either by tick bites or through contact with infected animal blood or tissues during and immediately after slaughter. In April, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued an advisory urging the prevention of Congo fever ahead of Eidul Azha. A 25-year-old man, Zubair, a fisherman from Ibrahim Hyderi, passed away on Thursday morning, a day after the disease was confirmed, said a report by DHO Malir Dr Imdad Ali Chandio. The victim butchered animals continuously for two days on June 7-8 during Eid. On J...

Director General of ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhary, on Thursday described the success of Operation Bunyan-un-Marsoos as a triumph for peace, reaffirming that Pakistan has always prioritised peace over conflict.

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday conducted a hearing on bail petitions filed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan in eight separate cases linked to the May 9 riots.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday held a farewell meeting with the outgoing Country Director of the World Bank in Pakistan, Najy Benhassine.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast a spell of pre-monsoon rains across the country from June 20 to 23, as moist currents from the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea begin penetrating the region.

Pakistan has crossed a major milestone in digital connectivity, with telecom subscribers exceeding 200 million, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) announced.

In a rare and high-level diplomatic engagement, Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir met with former US President Donald Trump over lunch at the White House Cabinet Room on Wednesday.

Two people, including a woman, were killed and 11 others injured on Thursday after unidentified men opened fire at a group of people returning from a funeral in Chashma Ganda area of Gumbat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohat district, according to a police official. Kohat District Police Officer (DPO) Dr Zahidullah Khan said initial police investigation suggests that the attack was motivated by personal enmity. The injured, along with the deceased, have been shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and legal formalities, according to DPO Kohat. Further investigation is underway to apprehend the assailants. On Wednesday, two people were killed and one was injured during a shooting incident in Karachi’s Ittehad Town due to personal enmity between the two sides. Last month, a man and his two sons were shot dead by unknown armed men in KP’s Mardan district. While in a separate incident in May, six people, including three women, lost their lives in an exchange of fire over a family feud in the Khatko Pul area...

The federal government has decided to launch a strict crackdown on sugar hoarders and market manipulators in an effort to control the artificial surge in prices.

US President Donald Trump and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir discussed joint counterterrorism efforts and expanding bilateral trade during their “cordial” meeting in Washington, the military’s media wing said on Thursday. Gen Munir met with Trump at the White House yesterday, becoming the first serving chief of army staff to have a face-to-face meeting with a sitting US president. The occasion also marked the first time a serving Pakistani army chief had been formally received at this level, without holding political office or governing under martial law. The high-level engagement was scheduled at the Cabinet Room over luncheon, followed by a visit to the Oval Office. Secretary of State Senator Marco Rubio and Special Representative for Middle Eastern Affairs Steve Witkoff were present during the meeting from the US side, while National Security Advisor Lt Gen Muhammad Asim Malik — also the intelligence chief — accompanied the COAS. “Although initially scheduled for one hour, the mee...

Pakistan says it has expelled more than a million Afghans in the past two years, yet many have quickly attempted to return — preferring to take their chances dodging the law than struggle for existence in a homeland some had never even seen before. “Going back there would be sentencing my family to death,” said Hayatullah, a 46-year-old Afghan deported via the Torkham border crossing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in early 2024. Since April and a renewed deportation drive, some 200,000 Afghans have spilled over the two main border crossings from Pakistan, entering on trucks loaded with hastily packed belongings. But they carry little hope of starting over in the impoverished country, where girls are banned from school after the primary level. Hayatullah, a pseudonym, returned to Pakistan a month after being deported, travelling around 800 kilometres (500 miles) south to the Chaman border crossing in Balochistan, because for him, life in Afghanistan “had come to a standstill”. He paid a bribe to cross the Chaman fronti...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held separate telephone conversations with his counterparts from Uzbekistan and the United Kingdom to discuss regional and bilateral issues, according to official statements.

• Proposes raising purchase limit for filers from 130pc to 400pc of declared wealth • Tax approved on previously exempt luxury private clubs • Proposed e-commerce tax rejected; tax on online academies approved ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee has recommended raising the threshold limit for purchases made by “eligible individuals” — a new term for people who file their tax returns — and approved a measure to tax luxury clubs nationwide. The development came as the Senate and National Assembly Standing Com­mittees on Finance and Revenue held simultaneous sessions at Parliament House to conduct a clause-by-clause review of the Finance Bill 2025-26. Chaired by Senator Saleem Man­dviwalla and MNA Naveed Qamar respectively, both panels proposed several amendments and rejected some measures outright. The Senate standing committee expressed concern over the newly inserted clause in the Finance Bill, which restricts the “eligible person” from making any purchase exceeding 130 per cent of the wealth reflected in th...

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Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday called on the international community to act to bring about an "immediate" ceasefire between Iran and Israel, warning that further escalations would be detrimental not only to the region but also to global peace.

LAHORE: The PIA has resumed Lahore-Paris flight five years after the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) lifted ban on its operations in Europe. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK authorities had suspended permission for PIA to operate in the region in June 2020 after Pakistan began investigating the validity of pilots’ licences following a deadly plane crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. Following the ban lift on PIA by the EASA in November last year, the national flag carrier had resumed Islamabad-Paris flights early this year. “We can operate for any destination in Europe now (except the UK) after the lifting of ban by the EASA. However, it depends upon traffic on specific routes in Europe,” a senior official of PIA told Dawn on Wednesday. He said the PIA was also hopeful that its operation for the UK would resume in a couple of months as well. “Talks with the UK authorities concerned are underway and hopefully the PIA will be operating flights there in a couple of months,” he said. A...

TRIPOLI/BERLIN: At least 60 migrants are feared dead after a pair of shipwrecks off the coast of Libya over the past week, according to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). The first ship went down on June 12 near a Libyan port in Tripoli, with 21 people, including women and children, reported missing and only five survivors found, the IOM said in a statement on Tuesday. Those lost at sea included Eritrean, Pakistani, Egyptian and Sudanese nationals. The second wreck took place about 35 kilometres off the port city of Tobruk, with the sole survivor reporting 39 people lost at sea, according to the UN body. “With dozens feared dead and entire families left in anguish, IOM is once again urging the international community to scale up search and rescue operations and guarantee safe, predictable disembarkation for survivors,” said Othman Belbeisi, the IOM’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa. According to the statement, at least 743 people have died so far this year trying to cro...

SUKKUR: A powerful explosion of a remotely-controlled explosive device fitted to rail tracks caused four bogies of the Jaffer Express to derail near cattle market in Jacobabad on Wednesday. Luckily, no one was hurt in the incident. The responsibility of the terror act was claimed reportedly by the banned Baloch Repu­blican Guards (BRG) through a statement, which started circulating on social media soon after the blast. Witnesses said that the bomb ripped through the train, when it was en route to Quetta, leading to shouts and cries of passengers. The blast caused floor of a bogie to crumble to pieces, left a three to four foot crater at the site and damaged 20-30 feet of the rail track, said officials. Jacobabad SSP Saddam Hussain Khaskheli, accompanied by officials of police and Pakistan Railway, reached the site and gathered details of the incident. The Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) officials had begun probe to determine the type of the bomb and the amount of explosive material used in the blast, he said. He sa...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday termed the regional situation very alarming due to escalated armed conflict between Iran and Israel and said it posed threat not only to the regional but also to the global peace.