Pakistan

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Friday released fresh details regarding the ongoing military campaign named Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, claiming that Afghan Taliban fighters have suffered significant losses during the operation.

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday rejected the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s plea to postpone the delimitation exercise in 24 districts of the province for the upcoming local government elections. According to informed sources, the KP government had sought a delay of 180 days in conducting the delimitation exercise in 24 districts. Meanwhile, the province’s chief secretary had also written to the electoral watchdog, seeking a delay in local body polls due to the provincial government’s plan to amend the Local Government Act, 2013. In his letter, the chief secretary had also written that the ECP had not consulted the provincial government before initiating the delimitation process. In addition, bad weather and law and order situation in some districts were also cited as reasons for the delay. However, sources said the electoral body deliberated upon the letter and emphasised that the ECP was bound to conduct delimitation and local government elections in accordance with the exist...

The Indian National Congress on Friday assailed the Narendra Modi-led BJP government after the US temporarily allowed Russian oil stranded at sea to be sold to India, saying the move called into question the country’s autonomy in matters of national interest. The waiver, which the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said was issued to “enable oil to keep flowing into the global market,” comes under heightened tensions in the Middle East following the US-Israeli attack on Iran, sparking uncertainty around oil. It should be noted that India had earlier said it would stop purchasing Russian oil as part of a trade deal with the US. In a post on X, the Congress, citing the development, criticised the Indian government, and stressed that the BJP-led government “has led the country to a situation where the US is now deciding where India can buy oil from and where it cannot”. “This decision is not being made by Prime Minister Modi, nor by the Indian government,” it said. Congress said the Indian citizens were asking,...

Seven days into the war between the United States-Israeli coalition and Iran, the conflict has transitioned from initial high-intensity exchanges to a phase defined by the former’s air and naval dominance and the latter’s asymmetric resilience. The coalition, over the past twenty-four hours, maintained clear conventional superiority, including sustained strikes on Tehran, buried targets, and Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon. Still, at the same time, Iran has adapted effectively. The Iranian ballistic missile volume has been reported by Centcom and other sources in the region to be down 80–90 per cent, yet verified penetrations with cluster munitions on Tel Aviv and confirmed strikes on Bahrain’s BAPCO refinery demonstrated Iran’s capability to impose meaningful political, economic, and psychological costs. Iran’s multi-nodal command structure and underground “missile cities” appear to have helped sustain operations despite heavy losses. Tehran has clearly adjusted its approach and is now fighting a different ...

Soon after the first Iranian missile and drone attacks on Dubai last week, two Indian entrepreneurs based there tried to move more than $100,000 each from their local bank accounts to Singapore to hedge risk. Technological glitches in the aftermath of the Iranian attacks initially scuppered those plans, the entrepreneurs, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters. One of them said he managed to subsequently transfer the sum to his Singapore bank account via another Emirates-based bank. Scores of other wealthy Asians are making enquiries or taking similar steps to move their Dubai-parked assets to the regional financial hubs of Singapore and Hong Kong, industry advisers and lawyers said, as the US-Israel war on Iran clouds the Gulf’s safe-haven aura and rattles investors. While the rich typically diversify their investments across regions and asset classes, they choose where to be based depending on tax, regulatory, privacy and operational considerations. Towards that...

Qatar expects all Gulf energy producers to shut down exports within weeks if the Iran conflict continues and drives oil to $150 a barrel, the country’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday. Qatar halted its production of liquefied natural gas on Monday, as Iran continued to strike Gulf countries in retaliation for Israeli and US attacks. The country’s LNG production is equivalent to about 20 per cent of global supply and plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand for the fuel. “Everybody who has not called for force majeure we expect will do so in the next few days if this continues. All exporters in the Gulf region will have to call a force majeure,” Kaabi told the FT. “If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted,” he said. “Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply,” Kaabi s...

On a balmy winter day, Irfanullah Wahid and his cousin Faisal Asadullah amble through a maze of carts in Karachi’s Shireen Jinnah neighbourhood. They are young – only 11 and 10 years old respectively – and the white bags they carry are almost as tall as they are. They laugh and joke, but their eyes are peeled. Every few steps, they pause, bend, pick something up off the street and slip it into the bags. Wahid collects only metal cans. Asadullah sticks to thick plastics. Asadullah stoops to pull out a flimsy plastic bag, commonly known as ‘shopper’ across Pakistan, stuck in the wheel of a cart. His practised hands rip it off with ease. “I don’t collect these”, he says, holding it up to show the difference with the sturdier material he rummages for. Around him, there is scattered litter. Chips packets, sachets of shampoo and of saunf-supari (mouth freshener). Most are made of non-recyclable laminates which has no use for. “The kabadiwallah (recycler) won’t pay for this,” he says. In Pakistan, about 2 million to...

India face New Zealand on Sunday in Ahmedabad, looking to become the first side to lift the T20 World Cup for a third time but under huge pressure with the weight of a nation on their shoulders. Standing in the way of Suryakumar Yadav’s side are a team who have already upset the odds with a thumping nine-wicket win over the previously unbeaten South Africa to reach the final. New Zealand believe, after Finn Allen’s record 33-ball century in the semi-final in Kolkata, that they are capable of taking down the hosts to win their maiden T20 World Cup title. “We’ve got a lot of momentum going into the weekend,” warned Allen. “I think if we play our best cricket, we can beat anybody.” India will not only have to withstand the expectations of 100,000-plus cricket-obsessed fans in a packed Narendra Modi stadium and hundreds of millions more watching on TV, but also the weight of history. The world’s top-ranked T20 team are attempting to become the first to win back-to-back T20 World Cups and the first to lift the tro...

A high-level meeting on petroleum supply was held on Friday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during which officials assured that the country has sufficient petrol reserves.

The federal government has declared spring holidays for all educational institutions operating under the federal administration in Islamabad.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday presided over a high-level meeting on petroleum products, directing provincial governments to take strict legal action against those hoarding the commodities. According to a handout by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Ministry of Petroleum gave a detailed briefing about stocks of petroleum products in the country, in the context of the changing situation in the region. According to the briefing, sufficient reserves of petroleum products are available in the country to meet national needs, the statement said. It added that PM Shehbaz directed provincial governments to take strict legal action against those hoarding petroleum products. He said that any petrol pump involved in the illegal practice of creating an artificial shortage should be immediately closed, its licence cancelled, and legal action taken against it, it said. The premier also instructed the petroleum minister to visit the provinces and, in coordination with the provincial governments, prepare a stra...

Pakistan’s benchmark stock index, the KSE-100, plunged 3,714.57 points on Friday, reversing some of the strong gains recorded in the previous session. The index declined to 157,496.10 points, 2.3 per cent down from its previous close of 161,210.67 points. The intraday high was 161,435.83 points while the intraday low hit 157,072.64 points, slightly lower than the closing mark. The fall comes a day after the benchmark staged a sharp recovery, closing Thursday in the green with a gain of 5,433.46 points. After Thursday’s positive session, investors came in to sell before the weekend, as fear grow the US-Iran conflict with Iran may turn into a prolonged war, according to Topline Securities. Friday’s session was marked by pronounced early volatility. The index dropped sharply around 9:20am, briefly recovered by 9:25am, and then fell again by 9:34am. It regained some momentum until about 9:40am before resuming a steady downward trajectory. Among the most actively traded stocks so far: K-Electric: down 2.98pc to Rs...

A narrow vote in the House on Thursday rejecting limits on presidential war powers highlighted a growing clash between President Donald Trump’s approach to the conflict with Iran and Congress’s constitutional authority over military action. The House voted 219–212 against a resolution that would have required the president to seek congressional authorisation before expanding US military operations against Iran. A similar effort in the Senate failed earlier, leaving the administration free to continue its current campaign. The resolution, introduced by lawmakers from both parties, sought to reassert Congress’s authority under the Constitution to approve acts of war. Its defeat underscored the sharp partisan divide on Capitol Hill over the administration’s strategy. “Today, I voted for the War Powers Resolution to put an immediate stop to President Trump’s unlawful war with Iran,” said Representative Judy Chu, a California Democrat. She argued that the administration had presented “no imminent threat” that woul...

The US Justice Department released FBI records on Thursday that summarise interviews of an unidentified woman in which she made accusations against US President Donald Trump related to an alleged sexual encounter. FBI agents interviewed the woman four times in 2019 as part of their investigation into accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. The Justice Department had previously released a log confirming that the interviews took place, but released a summary of only one of those four meetings, in which she accused Epstein of molesting her when she was a teenager. The newly disclosed records, which were posted on the department’s website on Thursday, show she also claimed Trump attempted to force her to engage in sexual acts after Epstein introduced her to the future president in New York or New Jersey in the 1980s when she was between 13 and 15 years old. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about the disclosures. Politico, which first reported the disclosures, said White House press secreta...

The government is considering introducing a four-day workweek and reduced office hours as part of possible energy conservation measures amid concerns over potential fuel supply disruptions linked to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz.

The government of Punjab has decided to establish “Anti-Drone Units” in all districts as part of efforts to enhance security and strengthen aerial surveillance across the province.

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ISLAMABAD: The number of Trojan banker attacks on Android smartphones increased by 56 per cent in 2025 compared to the previous year, 2024. The claim was made by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky in a report titled “Mobile Malware Evolution.” This type of malware is designed to steal user credentials for online banking, e-payment services and credit card systems. Cybercriminals commonly distribute Trojan bankers through messaging apps as well as malicious webpages. The number of new Trojan banker installation packages for Android (unique APK files) also increased sharply across the globe, reaching 255,090 packages. This may indicate that these tools generate substantial profits for cybercriminals. Experts believe that threat actors will continue to expand delivery channels and develop new Trojan variants in an attempt to evade detection by security solutions. “Although Trojan bankers for smartphones are the fastest-growing type of malware, we also observed another important trend: preinstalled backdoors such as Tr...

Punjab will establish “anti-drone units” in all districts of Punjab, said a statement from the provincial home department on Friday. The launch of an anti-drone unit was approved by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz last week. Emphasising a proactive approach, she said that instead of only reacting to terrorist incidents, authorities must adopt a policy of taking preemptive measures. According to the statement, the unit will conduct aerial surveillance of the district with the help of special drone fleets. An “anti-drone system” will also be provided in each district under the leadership of their district police officer (DPOs). Surveillance drones and anti-drone systems will be provided as per the needs of each district. “The anti-drone system will disable the drones of the enemy and miscreants with the help of jammers,” the statement added. The statement, quoting the home department spokesperson, stated that the decision was taken to meet modern-day counter-terrorism requirements and maintain an atmosphere ...

Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto has reassured local Islamic groups that he will withdraw from United States President Donald Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ if the platform does not benefit Palestinians, a government statement said on Friday. The participation of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, on the board, and its decision to contribute troops for a Gaza stabilisation force, has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises its long-standing support for the Palestinian cause. Prabowo gathered the groups’ leaders for a meeting on Thursday evening where he reiterated his reasoning behind joining the board, according to a statement put out by the government communication office. Prabowo will withdraw from the board if it does not benefit Palestinian and Indonesian interests, the statement quoted Hanif Alatas of the Islamic Brotherhood Front as saying. “The president said that if he sees that there is no longer any benefit for Palestine … and that it is no...