Pakistan

LAHORE: Police on Saturday submitted a report in the Lahore High Court (LHC) detailing the security plan for the upcoming three-day Basant festival. Basant will be celebrated in Lahore from February 6-8, following the passage of the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying Bill, 2025, that ended a suspension of the festival after almost two decades. The report identified areas of concern for the 2026 festival, based on data from the last decade, and urged full implementation of the Punjab Regulation of Kite Flying Bill, 2025. It stated that registration of every kite and spool of string is mandatory through a QR code and there would be zero tolerance for glass, chemical-coated, or metallic wire. According to the report, Lahore has been divided into red, yellow, and green zones, while officials will continuously monitor kite-flying activities through drones, social media, and control rooms. It also warned that strict action will be taken against aerial firing, drinking, and illegal activities on rooftops. The report s...

At least nine people were killed and several others injured on Saturday when a passenger bus overturned on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan, police said.

Dense fog once again blanketed large parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the night between Friday and Saturday, bringing routine life to a standstill and severely disrupting road traffic due to extremely low visibility.

The Nobel Peace Prize remains inseparably linked to the person or organisation that won it, though the medal can be given away, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said on Friday, a day after last year’s winner gave her medal to US President Donald Trump. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gave her medal on Thursday to Trump, who thanked her for it. The White House released a photo of Trump and Machado, with Trump holding up a gold-coloured frame displaying it, and a White House official said Trump intends to keep it. Machado’s award also consists of a diploma and 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.19 million). “Regardless of what may happen to the medal, the diploma, or the prize money, it is and remains the original laureate who is recorded in history as the recipient of the prize,” the award body said in a statement. “There are no restrictions in the statutes of the Nobel Foundation on what a laureate may do with the medal, the diploma, or the prize money. This means that a laureate is free to keep, gi...

A landmark global treaty to safeguard biodiversity in the high seas came into effect on Saturday, providing countries with a legally binding framework to tackle threats such as overfishing and meet a target to protect 30 per cent of the ocean environment by 2030. The United Nations treaty, also known as Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), was finalised in March 2023 after 15 years of negotiations, and will allow the creation of a global network of “marine protected areas” in vast and previously unregulated ocean ecosystems lying in international waters. “It’s two-thirds of the ocean, (and) it’s half the surface of the planet that for the first time will have a comprehensive legal regime,” said Adam McCarthy, first assistant secretary at the Australian foreign ministry and a co-chair of the treaty’s preparatory committee, speaking at a media briefing. The treaty reached the threshold of 60 national ratifications on September 19 last year, meaning that it would go formally into operation within 12...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed his hope for peace and stability in Iran on Saturday, the Foreign Office (FO) said. According to a post by the FO on X, Dar spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in a phone call in which the two diplomats discussed the current situation in Iran and the wider region. Dar “expressed hope for peace and stability, and both sides agreed to continue bilateral consultations on matters of mutual interest”, the statement added. On Thursday, Pakistan had expressed hope at the United Nations Security Council for an early normalisation of the situation in Iran, which saw its largest demonstrations in years, challenging the country’s government. Ambassador Asim Ahmad described Iran as a “brotherly country”, saying that the people of the two nations share deep-rooted historical, friendly, cultural and religious bonds. Protests have taken place across Iran in a movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, leading to authorities imposing...

ISLAMABAD: The number of approved special economic zones has surged dramatically from seven to 44 in the second phase of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), including notification of 37 new SEZs through coordinated efforts led by the Board of Investment (BoI). The increase in approval rate was revealed on Friday during a briefing on Pakistan’s engagement with China under the second phase of CPEC, with particular focus on SEZ-led industrialisation and Pakistan-China business-to-business (B2B) cooperation, which form the backbone of the upgraded CPEC framework. The BoI serves as the lead Pakistani agency for the Joint Working Group (JWG) on Industrial Cooperation, with China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) as the counterpart lead agency. Since its inception, Project Management Unit of the CPEC-Industrial Cooperation Development Project (PMU CPEC-ICDP) has played a pivotal role in revitalising Pakistan’s SEZ framework. Minister for Board of Investment, Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh, visited to the...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast rain accompanied by thunderstorms and snowfall in various parts of the country over the coming days.

ISLAMABAD: The arrest and detention of Afghan nationals have increased by 18 per cent so far in January as compared to the previous week. The top three districts for arrest and detention between Jan 1 and 10 were Chaghi, Pishin and Islamabad Capital Territory. The latest ‘Flash Update’ jointly released by UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and UN Migration office, IOM, says from January 4 to 10, 73 per cent of the total reported arrests and detentions took place in Balochistan and 16 per cent in Islamabad Capital Territory. Of all arrests and detentions of Afghan nationals during the period, Afghan Citizen Card (ACC) holders and undocumented Afghans represented 87 per cent of the total arrest and detentions while Proof of Reg­istration (PoR) card holders represented 13 per cent. The data released by UNHCR and IOM shows that a total of 130,999 Afghan nationals were arrested and detained from September 15 to January 10, 2026. Most arrests took place in Balochistan with 68 per cent arrests, followed by Islamabad (19pc), ...

Military-to-military ties between Pakistan and the United States appear to be strengthening, marked by renewed joint training, major defence sales and unusually warm rhetoric from President Donald Trump towards Pakistan’s military leadership. According to a statement issued by the US Central Command (Centcom), American and Pakistani troops this week concluded joint training at Pakistan’s National Counter-Terrorism Center in Pabbi. “This week, US and Pakistan Army Soldiers completed training at Pakistan’s National Counter-Terrorism Center during Exercise Inspired Gambit, which focused on combined infantry skills and tactics, and counterterrorism operations. Training exercises like this between the US and Pakistan strengthen our long-standing defense ties,” the statement said. The exercise comes amid broader signs of re-engagement between the two defence establishments. In December, the United States approved the sale of advanced technology and upgrade packages for Pakistan’s F-16 fighter aircraft, a deal value...

Canadian PM Mark Carney shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the People’s Great Hall in Beijing.—Reuters BEIJING: Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed on a raft of measures from trade to tourism on Friday at the first meeting between the countries’ leaders in Beijing in eight years. The Canadian premier hailed a “landmark deal” under a “new strategic partnership” with China, turning the page on years of diplomatic spats, retaliatory arrests of each other’s citizens and tariff disputes. Carney has sought to reduce his country’s reliance on the United States, its key economic partner and traditional ally, as President Donald Trump has aggressively raised tariffs on Canadian products. “Canada and China have reached a preliminary but landmark trade agreement to remove trade barriers and reduce tariffs,” Carney told a news conference after meeting with Xi. Under the deal, China — which used to be Canada’s largest market for canola seed — is expected to reduce tar...

• PTI senators slam ban on meetings with Imran • Law minister says jail superintendent responsible for meetings, denies solitary confinement claim ISLAMABAD: Senators on Fri­day called for keeping tabs on the use of social media platforms by children under 18, with the chair proposing a special committee to develop safeguards in consultation with relevant ministries. The issue was raised through a calling-attention notice moved by Senators Falak Naz, Fawzia Arshad, Aimal Wali Khan, Saadia Abbasi and Dilawar Khan. Presiding over the sitting, Senator Sherry Rehman said some checks were needed and suggested forming a special committee comprising representatives of the ministries of information technology, interior, education and law, along with parliamentary parties and provincial governments. She said the final decision would rest with Senate Chairman Yousaf Raza Gilani. Speaking on the notice, Senator Naz said most platforms were designed for adults and warned that children’s exposure to inappropriate content ...

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday took up the issue of increasing cybercrimes in the country, which are badly affecting the masses. Members highlighted the problem of fake driving challans, as well as fraudulent messages from educational institutions, banks, mobile phone companies and other entities. It was also informed that in some cases people responded to such fake messages and later faced charges of blasphemy and anti-state activities, resulting in imprisonment. On the other hand, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry claimed that necessary steps were being taken to introduce reforms in the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in order to effectively tackle cybercrimes. PTI leader Sheryar Afridi informed the House that a large number of young people were facing cases and imprisonment after being declared guilty of committing blasphemy and anti-state activities. House told NCCIA received over 150,000 cybercrime complaints in a year “A number of people told me outside Adiala j...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed that pension is a vested constitutional right and not a bounty or something given out of generosity by the employer. The employee earns these benefits through long, continuous, faithful and unblemished service, observed Justice Muhammad Shafi Siddiqui in a six-page judgement that upheld the right of a former civil servant to receive pension benefits despite the fact that he had applied for pension 13 years after his resignation. Justice Siddiqui was a member of a three-judge SC bench headed by Justice Naeem Akhter Afghan, which also comprised Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb. The bench had taken up an appeal filed by Muhammad Usman against the July 3, 2024 rejection of his plea by the Federal Service Tribunal (FST). Sets aside ruling of service tribunal on plea by ex-auditor The appellant was a former senior auditor (BS-11) in the office of the Military Accountant General, Rawalpindi. He was held disentitled to pension benefits on the grounds that he had tendere...

ISLAMABAD: Despite over 35 years of ‘reforms’ and policy interventions, Pakistan’s power sector remains incapable of instilling confidence in the country’s economic growth and in consumers’ trust, leading to gains secured from power producers through renegotiations evaporating amid unending inefficiencies. This charge sheet has been framed by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) against the policymakers and power sector managers in its flagship ‘State of the Industry Report 2025’, while conceding that regulatory powers for correction had been diluted through administrative and legal challenges. It said the inefficiencies of the distribution companies (Discos) contributed around Rs400 billion to the circular debt, while law-abiding consumers paid around Rs235bn in debt servicing surcharge (DSS) in 2024-25, not due to normal business practices but to inefficiencies. It said that despite some structural and policy-level interventions, “overall progress remained limited and insufficient to ins...

Pakistan’s ICC U19 Cricket World Cup campaign got off to a disappointing start on Tuesday as England dismantled the Green Shirts’ top order, taking six wickets for 86 runs to seal a 37-run victory. Winning the toss at the Takashinga Sports Club in Harare, Pakistan U19 team captain Farhan Yousuf elected to field first — a decision that turned out to be in the team’s favour as it bowled out England for just 210 in a fifty-over match. English batter Caleb Falconer scored 66 runs, for which he also got the Man of the Match award later, aided by Ben Dawkins’ 33 and Ralphie Albert’s 25. With the help of the commanding spells by Pakistani bowler Ahmed Hussain, who took three wickets, and Ali Raza, Abdul Subhan, and Moshin Qamar, who grabbed two wickets each, Pakistan established their position, booming in the first innings. While chasing the target, howeve, Pakistan’s top order could not stand England’s Alex Green and James Minto’s bowling attack, as both took a couple of wickets each. Six of Pakistan’s batters were...

Six power distribution companies remain in losses despite over Rs1tr subsidies

CPPA-G requests increase of 48 paisa per unit under fuel cost adjustment

Rises 0.25% WoW; middle and lower-income households face higher inflation

Think tank urges clean lending, risk coverage to expand bank credit to small businesses