Pakistan

Sweden on Monday appeared to distance itself from Gaza-bound aid ship Madleen, carrying Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, as Amnesty International called for the release of the vessel’s activists from Israeli custody. The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had departed from Sicily on June 1 and had hoped to reach Gaza later on Sunday, when the interception occurred, the group said on its Telegram account. Among those on board the boat are Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. View this post on Instagram Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard addressed the status of the 12 activists illegally taken into Israeli custody, emphasising that Sweden’s government long advised against travel to Gaza and the activists bore “clear personal responsibility”. “The government’s current assessment is that the activists are not in danger and there is no...

Police declared all of downtown Los Angeles to be an unlawful assembly area and ordered protesters to go home on Sunday night after a third day of demonstrations against President Donald Trump’s immigration policy that sometimes included burning cars and hurling bottles at officers. National Guard troops, deployed by Trump over the weekend to help quell the protests in a move that California Governor Gavin Newsom called unlawful, guarded federal government buildings on Sunday. The unrest in Los Angeles has become a flashpoint in Trump’s signature effort to clamp down on illegal immigration. The Republican president has pledged to deport record numbers of people who are in the country illegally and to lock down the US-Mexico border, setting the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) border agency a daily goal of arresting at least 3,000 migrants. California state and local officials, mainly Democrats, accuse Trump of inflaming initially small-scale protests by mounting a federal response. He calls the prote...

The government on Monday released the Pakistan Economic Survey 2024-25, revealing key figures for the fiscal year ending June. Key among them was the economy expanding by 2.7 per cent during the outgoing year. The government had initially targeted a GDP (gross domestic product) growth at 3.6pc, but lowered it last month. The International Monetary Fund expects real GDP to grow by 2.6pc in FY25 and for the economy to grow 3.6pc in FY26. In his foreword to the survey — a key pre-budget document — Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said Pakistan’s economy had been globally acknowledged for achieving macroeconomic stabilisation in the outgoing fiscal year. Pakistan is consistently advancing on an upward trajectory, built upon investment-friendly reforms, enhanced domestic savings, and increased foreign direct investment, with GDP growth projected at 5.7pc over the medium term, he said. Dawn.com spoke to analysts regarding their take on the economic survey, particularly concerning four things: the GDP growth rate...

The post-Hajj flight operation is set to begin tomorrow, with the first return flight scheduled to land in Islamabad at 3:50 AM.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders harshly criticized the federal government’s recently released Economic Survey 2024-25, calling it misleading and detached from the country’s harsh economic realities.

China and the United States began a new round of trade talks in London on Monday, Beijing’s state media reported, as the world’s two biggest economies seek to shore up a shaky truce after bruising tit-for-tat tariffs. The two sides are meeting in the historic Lancaster House, run by the UK Foreign Office, following a first round of talks in Geneva last month. Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng was again heading the team in London. Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported the start of the talks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are leading the US delegation, President Donald Trump said on Friday. “The meeting should go very well,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told Fox News on Sunday: “We want China and the United States to continue moving forward with the agreement that was struck in Geneva.” While the UK government reiterated that it was not involved in the discussions, a spokesperson sai...

Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb announced on Monday that the province executed its largest-ever cleanliness operation during Eidul Azha, using a fully digital system to monitor and manage waste disposal activities.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has felicitated Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdul Aziz and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman for exceptional organization of this year's sacred Hajj pilgrimage.

A special session of the federal cabinet has been scheduled for tomorrow at 4 PM at Parliament House to finalize and approve the federal budget for fiscal year 2025–26.

The Economic Survey 2024–25 has revealed key insights into Pakistan’s education sector, showing modest progress in literacy but underscoring persistent challenges.

Russia fired a record 479 drones at Ukraine in an overnight aerial barrage, Kyiv’s air force said on Monday, the latest massive attack as Moscow rejects calls for a ceasefire. The attack caused damage in several Ukrainian regions, though there were no reports of people killed or mass casualties. “Enemy air strikes were recorded in 10 spots,” the Ukrainian air force said. The mayor of the western city of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, called it “the largest attack” on the region since the start of the war. Russia has escalated its attacks across Ukraine in recent weeks, which Kyiv says demonstrate that Moscow has no intention of halting its three-year-long invasion and is not serious about peace talks. The barrages have raised concerns about the capacity of Ukraine’s stretched air defence systems, but the air force said that it shot down or intercepted 460 of the drones, as well as 19 out of 20 missiles fired by Russia overnight. Ukraine also said it had launched its own overnight strike on an electronics factory t...

PPP Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has warned that water is a lifeline for Pakistan and any attempt to block it would be seen as an act of war.

As the Eidul Azha holidays come to a close, the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) has issued a travel advisory to ensure public safety amid an expected surge in traffic on highways and motorways.

Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, presented the Economic Survey for FY 2024–25, outlining the government's assessment of the national economy ahead of the upcoming federal budget.

Three terrorists were killed in Lakki Marwat’s Kot Kashmir on Wednesday in a gun battle with the police and local peace committee in which a cop was also martyred. The incident reflects the escalating militant presence in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Lakki Marwat district, where attacks have become more frequent in recent months despite ongoing efforts by local peace committees to maintain order and resist terrorist influence. “In the exchange of fire, three Khawarij, including a key local terrorist, Commander Chhota Waseem Gundi Khankhel, were killed,” a statement by Lakki Marwat police spokesperson Shahid Marwat said. Fitna Al Khawarij is the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “Policeman Shahidullah Gundi Khankhel was seriously injured and was sent to the District Headquarters Hospital, where he was embraced martyrdom while succumbing to his injuries on the way,” the statement continued. KP Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed praised the courage and bravery of the Lakki M...

Aid vessel Madleen, carrying 12 members — 11 activists and one journalist — on their way to break the Gaza siege, was intercepted by Israeli forces early on Monday morning and towed to Israel. The Israeli foreign ministry, in a statement on X, said that the vessel “is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries”. The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, had departed from Sicily on June 1 and had hoped to reach Gaza later in the day, when the interception occurred, the group said on its Telegram account. On board the Madleen — named after Palestine’s only fisherwoman — are 12 activists from around the world, who had set out in response to Israel’s total aid blockade in the besieged enclave, according to a report by Al Jazeera. Greta Thunberg Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture ...

Iran said on Monday it will soon present a counter-proposal on a nuclear deal with the United States, after it had described Washington’s offer as containing “ambiguities”. Tehran and Washington have held five rounds of talks since April to thrash out a new nuclear accord to replace the deal with major powers that US President Donald Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018. The longtime foes have been locked in a diplomatic standoff over Iran’s uranium enrichment, with Tehran defending it as a “non-negotiable” right and Washington describing it as a “red line”. On May 31, after the fifth round talks, Iran said it had received “elements” of a US proposal, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi saying later the text contained “ambiguities”. Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei criticised the US proposal as “lacking elements” reflective of the previous rounds of negotiations, without providing further details. “We will soon submit our own proposed plan to the other side through (mediator) Oman once it i...

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new travel ban came into effect early on Monday immediately after midnight, barring citizens from a dozen nations from entering the United States and reviving a divisive measure from his first term. The move is expected to disrupt refugee pathways and further restrict immigration as the Trump administration expands its crackdown on illegal entries. Many of the nations covered by the restrictions have adversarial relations with the United States, such as Iran and Afghanistan, while others face severe crises, like Haiti and Libya. In announcing his restrictions last week, Trump said the new measure was spurred by a recent “terrorist attack” on Jews in Colorado. The group had been protesting in solidarity with hostages held in Gaza when they were assaulted by a man the White House said had overstayed his visa. That attack, Trump said, “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted” or who overstay their visa...

A fire that broke out at a factory in Landhi on Sunday could not be fully controlled even after more than 30 hours of firefighting efforts, according to a Rescue 1122 spokesperson. Rescue 1122 spokesperson Hassaanul Haseeb told Dawn.com that the “fire has been brought under control to a large extent”, however, more time is required to completely control the blaze. “There are flames burning in the affected factories. It may take more time to fully control the fire and complete the cooling process,” he said. The spokesperson said rescue teams are still present on the third day of Eid and continuously engaged in extinguishing the fire. The fire, which erupted in a factory in the export processing zone in Landhi, caused part of a factory building to collapse, leaving five people injured. “The injured include 45-year-old Aslam, 30-year-old Hamza, 20-year-old Ayaz, 43-year-old Sajid Mahmood and 53-year-old Mohsin,” Haseeb said. “They have been transported to Civil Hospital.” Earlier, Haseeb told Dawn.com that the f...

Two young men drowned in a canal near Jamshoro on Monday while attempting to cool off amid the ongoing heatwave, Dunya News reported.