Pakistan

Faulty construction blamed for collapse of sewerage project

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Pursuant to the Prime Minister’s directive, a nine-member high-level multiparty delegation, led by Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in New York to hold meetings with the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, President of the UN General Assembly, as well as the Ambassadors of Permanent and non-permanent members of.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) of Islamabad on Monday adjourned the hearing of protest-related cases against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) founder due to his absence.

More than a million pilgrims poured into the holy city of Makkah ahead of the annual Haj, with authorities vowing to hold a safer pilgrimage amid searing desert heat and a massive crackdown on illegal visitors. Officials have beefed up heat mitigation measures, hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s Haj, which saw 1,301 pilgrims die as temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius. Temperatures were forecast to exceed 40 degrees Celsius this week as one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings starts on Wednesday. The Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means to do so. As of Friday, more than 1.3 million pilgrims had arrived in Saudi Arabia for the multi-day pilgrimage, according to officials. This year, authorities have mobilised more than 40 government agencies and 250,000 officials, doubling their efforts against heat-related illness following the lethal heatwave of 2024. Shaded areas have been expanded by 50,000 square metres (12 acres), th...

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has declined to undergo a polygraph test for the fourth time in connection with the May 9 incidents.

As millions of Muslim pilgrims gather in Saudi Arabia to perform Haj every year, thousands of volunteers help the pilgrims navigate their journey with ease and comfort. According to the Saudi Ministry of Haj and Umrah, over 7,000 volunteers work across Makkah and other holy places to facilitate the pilgrims. They are the “unseen anchors” whose efforts, often behind the scenes, ensure that the pilgrims do not face hardships. “You may not know their names. You may not remember their faces. But if you have ever performed Haj, you have felt their kindness — a bottle of cold water pressed into your hand, a voice gently guiding you when you felt lost,” the ministry said. Haj, one of the fundamental pillars of Islam, is performed each year by millions of Muslims worldwide. Pakistan receives one of the highest Haj quotas from Saudi Arabia. The statement said that the volunteers sacrifice their own Eid celebrations, sleep and comfort so that they can help out the pilgrims in many ways, narrating the stories of multipl...

The Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) has agreed to form a technical committee to draft a framework for digital and virtual assets, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. The PCC was officially launched in March to “regulate and integrate blockchain technology and digital assets” into the country’s financial landscape. According to a press release by the finance ministry, the meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and attended by PCC Chief Executive Officer Bilal Bin Saqib, governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and government officials. “The meeting focused on the draft regulatory framework for digital and virtual assets in Pakistan, aiming to align with international standards and evolving technological trends,” the press release said. It added that the participants discussed options for establishing “an autonomous regulatory authority to oversee and regulate the digital finance and crypto ecosystem in the country”. “It w...

Screenshots of news stories doctored to look like articles on DAWN.com have been circulating on social media since at least March, with certain images posted in the form of sponsored ads on social media platforms leading to dubious links. DAWN has taken up the matter of the impersonated images with the relevant authorities. All news stories by DAWN will appear on its website or can be checked on its official social media accounts: Instagram: @dawn.today Facebook: Dawn.com X: @dawn_com Doctored images The earliest known such image spotted this year was of former caretaker foreign minister Jalil Abbas Jilani with the following headline in upper case: “THE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST JALIL ABBAS JILANI HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED!” Immediately, the image presents stark differences when compared with articles on DAWN.com. The doctored image’s headline is centred, whereas DAWN’s headlines are left-aligned Viewed on a desktop, the headline is followed by the author byline, dateline and social media plugins before the picture, wher...

Federal Minister for Railways Muhammad Hanif Abbasi on Monday announced that Pakistan Railways will run five special trains and offer a 20 percent discount on fares during the three days of Eid-ul-Azha.

Russia and Ukraine on Monday swapped plans for ending their three-year war during talks in Istanbul aiming to find a way out of Europe’s largest conflict since World War II. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said any deal must not “reward” Russian leader Vladimir Putin, but said Kyiv was willing to take the “necessary steps for peace”. Urged on by US President Donald Trump, Moscow and Kyiv have opened direct negotiations for the first time since the early weeks of Russia’s invasion, but have yet to make progress towards an agreement. Monday’s talks come a day after Ukraine carried out one of its most brazen and successful attacks ever on Russian soil — using drones to hit dozens of strategic bombers parked at airbases thousands of kilometres behind the front line. A first round of meetings in Istanbul last month yielded a large-scale prisoner exchange but no pause in the fighting, which has raged since Russia invaded in February 2022. On Monday, the delegations “exchanged documents through the Turkish si...

In a landmark moment for Pakistan’s aviation industry, AirSial successfully launched its first international flight from Islamabad International Airport (IIAP) to Dubai.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department has predicted widespread rain and thunderstorms across various regions of the country from June 3 to 9.

Another low-intensity earthquake was felt by Karachi residents on Monday, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). The tremor was the third within 24 hours. The most recent quake measured 3.2 on the Richter scale with the city’s densely populated Quaidabad area as its epicentre. The area’s residents had also experienced a similar 3.6-magnitude tremor at 5:33pm yesterday. Both earthquakes originated at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres beneath the surface. View this post on Instagram A separate tremor originating near the city’s Gadap Town was recorded at 1:05am earlier today. It measured 3.2 on the Richter scale and had a depth of 12km. Ameer Hyder, the chief meteorologist at the Met Office in Karachi, told Dawn.com that the tremors were caused by an active fault line in Landhi. He noted that the quakes’ intensity was not high and was “gradually declining”. While stating that no formal prediction could be made yet, Hyder expected the tremors to end within a week. This screengrab shows a “norm...

A huge plume of ash, gas and rock spewed forth Monday from Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, after a portion of its southeastern crater likely collapsed, authorities said. Images showed a massive grey cloud billow forth from the volcano on the island of Sicily, beginning about 11:24am local time (0924 GMT), according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). Surveillance cameras showed “a pyroclastic flow probably produced by a collapse of material from the northern flank of the Southeast Crater”, the agency said. A pyroclastic flow occurs when volcanic rock, ash and hot gasses surge from volcanos. They are extremely dangerous. The explosive activity “had transitioned to a lava fountain”, INGV said, with the plume of ash expected to dissipate towards the southwest. A red alert issued for aviation authorities said the height of the volcanic cloud was estimated at 6.5 kilometres. The nearby Catania airport was still in operation.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Monday said the government will have to prioritise high-value projects, as only Rs880 billion has been allocated for development in the upcoming budget for the fiscal year 2025-26. The government has adopted austerity measures for the upcoming budget — set to be announced on June 10 — in line with the demands of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to implement stricter spending policies and raise revenues to reduce the budget deficit and improve debt sustainability, as part of its $7 billion loan programme. The global money lender also expects Pakistan to achieve a 3.6 per cent economic growth with 7.7pc inflation next year. Speaking to reporters in Islamabad after a meeting of the Annual Plan Coordination Committee, the planning minister noted that since 2023, the development budget had decreased, stating that Pakistan was observing “tight financial discipline in order to balance spending and income” — a process he said had ...

A tragic incident unfolded as Abdul Rehman, a 32-year-old labourer, took his own life along with his two sons due to poverty and unemployment.

Salman Farooqi, the owner of a private company, has been arrested for assaulting a motorcyclist in Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA Phase 6, Karachi.

In the face of rising criticism of Israeli atrocities on Gaza, which has killed nearly 54,000 Palestinians, a man in the United States yelling “free Palestine” used incendiary devices to torch protesters rallying in support of Israeli hostages, injuring at least eight people in the US state of Colorado on Sunday. The FBI said it was investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack” and identified the suspect as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman. He was booked into the county jail just before midnight on multiple felony charges, according to county records. His bond has been set at $10 million. The incident comes as pressure on Israel rises to cease what has been called a “genocide” in Gaza by the United Nations and Amnesty International among other international human rights organisations. Police in the city of Boulder said it was too early to determine a motive for the attack, which took place shortly before 1:30pm (12:30am PKT) at a demonstration outside a mall. The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish a...

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari stated that the recent victory in the PP-52 Sambrial by-election reflects the public's confidence in Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's commitment to public service.