Pakistan

Field Marshal Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Commander of Defence Forces (CDF), visited the National Police Academy in Islamabad and interacted with officers of the Police Service of Pakistan.

Australia’s lower house of parliament has passed new laws for a national gun buyback, tighter background checks for gun licences and a crackdown on hate crimes, in response to the country’s worst mass shooting in decades at a Jewish festival last month. Two bills for stricter gun control and anti-hate measures passed on Tuesday by the House of Representatives in a special parliament session will now go to the upper house Senate for debate. The gun control laws are expected to pass with the support of the Greens party despite opposition from the conservative Liberal-National coalition. The anti-hate laws are likely to pass with support from the Liberal party. Introducing the gun reforms, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said individuals with “hate in their hearts and guns in their hands”, carried out the December 14 attack at Bondi Beach that killed 15 people. “The tragic events at Bondi demand a comprehensive response from government,” Burke added. “As a government, we must do everything we can to counter bot...

The Punjab government has decided to establish the Suthra Punjab Authority under the leadership of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, following the approval of the Suthra Punjab Authority Bill 2025 by the Punjab Assembly’s Standing Committee on Local Government.

CNG stations remain closed in Peshawar and most districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, causing severe difficulties for residents.

CHITRAL: A snow leopard was found dead in the pastures of Wakht village of Garam Chashma valley here on Monday afternoon. The animal was spotted in the area about two months back after its long disappearance for more than 10 years. The deputy ranger of wildlife department, Shafiq Ahmed, and regional programme manager of Snow Leopard Foundation, Jamigh Sherazi, told Dawn that after receiving a report about spotting of the snow leopard carcass, they reached the spot along with a team. They said the carcass was frozen, which meant that the animal had died many hours before their arrival. They said the cause of death of the wild cat would be ascertained only after the postmortem was carried out in the veterinary hospital, where the body was being shifted. Earlier, the leopard was spotted in Wakht, Munoor and Beghusht villages, which attacked the goats of the local people. The people had also been voicing concern about their losses. The area has recently received snowfall forcing the animal to come to lower altitu...

Sessions of the Senate and the National Assembly will resume at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast cold and dry weather for most parts of the country during the next 24 hours, with very cold conditions expected in hilly areas.

KARACHI - Senator Sarmad Ali, Managing Director of the Jang Group and President of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), was conferred an Honourary Doctorate in Media Innovation and Public Leadership by Greenwich University at its convocation ceremony held at the Governor’s House the other day in Karachi.

ISLAMABAD: Alarm bells were rung in the Senate on Monday over the recently launched military operation in the Tirah area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Khyber tribal district. Speaking on a point of public importance, ANP chief Senator Aimal Wali Khan accused the federal government of being in a “deep slumber” over the ongoing operation in KP, leaving the people helpless and clueless. He said such “processes” had been carried out in the past in KP with all stakeholders on board. “But this time, the Centre is sleeping, whereas the provincial government is unbothered about what is going on,” he added. “The federal government is behaving as if KP is out of its jurisdiction, and the provincial government is headed by one who is openly talking against the system and is not ready to accept any operation,” he contended. “Please leave aside day-to-day things and talk about this operation, as the KP government is not even bothered to arrange tents for the displaced people,” he said. Senator Palwasha asks for her privilege mo...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court, in a poignant observation, has called out society for its apathy towards victims of domestic violence, noting that despite sustained maltreatment by their husbands and in-laws, women are still forced to return to the same abusive environments. “With a heavy heart we state that in similar cases, where daughters are subjected to sustained maltreatment by their husbands or in-laws, it is the sad state of our society, though with a few exceptions, that families still compel them to return to the same abusive environment,” observed Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim in a six-page judgement regarding domestic violence in an abusive marriage case. Headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Kakar, a three-judge SC bench had taken up a jail petition of Khursheed Ahmad against the Feb 1, 2022 rejection of his plea by the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench. The SC, however, upheld the conviction of the petitioner for the murder of his wife, Gulshan Bibi. Husband’s conviction upheld as no evidence of natural d...

Chipurson Valley (Gilgit-Baltistan): Vehicles are buried under the rubble of a structure that collapsed during the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the region on Monday.—Photo by the writer • Several homes and cattle sheds damaged or collapsed • Landslides block Karakoram Highway and several link roads GILGIT: A 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted Gilgit-Baltistan on Monday, killing one person, injuring four others and damaging dozens of homes, cattle sheds, and public and private properties. The quake also triggered landslides that blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) and several other roads. According to the Pakistan Mete­orological Department (PMD), the earthquake struck at 11:21am at a depth of 10 kilometres, with its epicentre located in northwestern Kashmir. Meanwhile, the European Medi­terranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which reports magnitude using the Moment Magnitude Sca­le, recorded the quake at a magnitude of 5.7 at a depth of 31 kilometres. The EMSC said the earthquake was recorded about 58 ki...

• Davos disinvites FM Araghchi over ‘tragic’ crackdown • UN condemns use of executions as ‘a tool of state intimidation’ TEHRAN: Internet access in Iran will “gradually” return to normal this week, a senior official said on Monday, as the government faces international fallout from an 11-day communications blackout imposed during deadly anti-government protests. The announcement came the same day organisers of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, confirmed the Iranian foreign minister would not attend the summit because it would not be “right” following the recent crackdown. Simultaneously, the United Nations issued a report condemning Tehran for using executions as a “tool of state intimidation”. “The internet will gradually return to normal operations this week,” Hossein Afshin, Iran’s vice president for science, technology and the knowledge economy, said on Monday on state television. The government imposed a nationwide communications blackout earlier this month amid huge demonstrations triggere...

• Kazakh, Uzbek leaders ready to join; Moscow weighs ‘nuances’ • Starmer pledges UK support for Gaza reconstruction efforts • Israeli minister issues ‘us or them’ ultimatum to Netanyahu MOSCOW: The White House on Monday extended invitations to leaders from Russia, Poland and Israel to join a so-called “Board of Peace” which aims to address global conflicts and manage governance and reconstruction efforts in Gaza. While others weigh participation, Central Asian leaders moved quickly to accept. The press secretaries of Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev confirmed their leaders’ readiness to join the board. Both leaders have been courted by Trump, who invited them to the G20 summit in Miami. Meanwhile, the Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin received an invitation to join the board, which would be chaired by Trump. “President Putin also received an invitation to join this Board of Peace,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists...

• Transmission system suffers from overloading, underutilisation • 116 of 192 transformers overloaded beyond 80pc capacity • Regulator urges fast-tracking projects, upgrading substations • Says up to 1,750MW of cheaper power frequently curtailed ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s nati­onal transmission system, one of the largest in the world, suffers from a damaging mix of overloading and underutilisation, creating operational constraints that unde­rmine merit-based power supply and impose an unquantifiable financial burden on consumers and the national economy, the National Electric Power Regul­atory Authority (Nepra) has said. In a detailed review of the national grid system, the regulator pointed out that the backbone of the transmission network — 500kV and 220kV lines — remained “mostly overloaded” at the close of FY2024-25. It said the National Grid Company (NGC) faced critical overloading in several sections of its 500kV and 220kV network, particularly during summer peak demand. “Many grid stations and power transfo...

BENGALURU: Gold and silver hit record highs on Monday, driven by a flight to safety after US Presi­dent Donald Trump warn­ed of extra tariffs on some European countries in a dispute over Greenland. Spot gold jumped 1.7 per cent to $4,672.49 an ounce by 12:05pm ET (1705 GMT), after scaling a record peak of $4,689.39. US gold futures for February delivery advanced 1.8pc to $4,677.70 an ounce. Trump threatened several European allies with a series of escalating tariffs on Saturday unless the US is allowed to buy Greenland, intensifying a dispute over Denmark’s vast Arctic island. Markets expect the Fed to leave rates on hold at its meeting over January 27-28 but are pricing in at least two cuts of 25 basis points this year. Elsewhere, spot silver climbed 5pc to $94.41 an ounce after hitting a record high of $94.61. Silver has risen more than 32pc since the start of the year. Analysts at Citi Research said they remain tactically bullish on precious metals, setting price targets of $5,000 an ounce for gold and $10...

ISLAMABAD - Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan on Monday said Pakistan is preparing to launch its first-ever National Women Entrepreneurship Policy, a landmark initiative that will place women entrepreneurs at the center of economic planning.

ISLAMABAD - The Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Monday decided to conduct a comprehensive fire safety audit of all high-rise public and private buildings in Islamabad and strengthen emergency preparedness, including the use of modern firefighting technologies such as drones.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Air Force contingent comprising F-16 Block-52 fighter aircraft, alongside dedicated air and ground crew, arrived at King Abdulaziz Air Base, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to participate in the multinational aerial combat Exercise Spears of Victory-2026.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar yesterday met British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott, where the two sides exchanged views on key regional issues and current international developments, the Foreign Office said.

ISLAMABAD - As the Local Government polls once again postponed for the third time, the top election regulatory body yesterday urged amendments to Section-219 of the Elections Act, 2017, to prevent federal and provincial governments from altering local government laws once an election cycle begins or a term expires.