Pakistan

Iraq has announced new visa regulations for Pakistani pilgrims planning to visit religious sites in the country.

Police have arrested three suspects in connection with an alleged gang rape case in the Badaber area of Peshawar, while several members of a local jirga involved in handling the matter have also been taken into custody, officials said.

The 9th of Muharram-ul Haram is being observed across the country on Saturday with due solemnity and respect to pay tribute to the sacrifices of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) and his devoted companions in the Battle of Karbala.

As Europe sweats through record-breaking temperatures, Asian makers of air conditioners, such as South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, China’s Midea and Japan’s Mitsubishi Electric, are enjoying a boom in sales. Air conditioning is common throughout buildings, transport and homes in major cities across Asia, but it is rare in Europe, and people are struggling to stay cool as searing heat claims lives, disrupts power supplies and shuts schools. Seeking respite from the sizzling weather, people and companies across Europe are snapping up portable and fixed air conditioners as some countries warn the heatwave could intensify. “With temperatures expected to rise further from June onward, we expect sustained demand through the peak cooling season,” said Samsung Electronics in a statement to Reuters. Key markets, including Italy, Spain and France, generated double-digit sales growth in the first half of this year, it added. Rival LG Electronics said air conditioner production lines at one of its facilities in South Ko...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday said Pakistan was now being recognised as a “peacemaker” on the global stage for its role in mediating between the United States and Iran. Speaking to the media in Lahore, he said that following Pakistan’s role in the US-Iran negotiations, the country was now being recognised as a “peacemaker.” “Pakistan, which was once said to have become diplomatically isolated, is now being discussed across the entire world,” Dar said. “Even those countries that did not know Pakistan before, now know Pakistan,” he said. He added that Pakistan was now viewed as a “middle power” with an active diplomatic role internationally. “We now have to become an economic power. For this, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is working day and night,” he said. Recalling the PML-N’s past economic performance, Dar said Pakistan had witnessed strong macroeconomic indicators during 2013–2017. “This was the same country which, from 2013 to 2017, had its voice heard across the world. A...

Pakistan and China co-organised an informal meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), providing a platform for the member states to discuss how the council “can ensure the full, effective and non-selective implementation of its resolutions,” the Foreign Office (FO) said on Thursday. UN Assistant Secretary-General Khaled Khiari, UNSC Report Executive Director Shamala Kandiah and Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group briefed the meeting held on Tuesday. They “emphasised that implementation lies at the heart of the Council’s credibility, authority and effectiveness”, the FO said. The speakers stressed that UN resolutions must be accompanied by “realistic mandates, clear implementation pathways, sustained reporting, adequate resources, political will and follow-up mechanisms” that can translate the resolutions into practical action on the ground. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, who serves in the UN as the permanent representative of Pakistan, added that UNSC resolutions are legal obligation...

Mourning processions for the 9th of Muharram are being held across Pakistan today to pay tribute to the martyrs of Karbala, with security placed on high alert throughout the country.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday it may never be known who was at fault for a ​deadly strike on a girls’ school in Iran on February ‌28, the first day of the Iran war, that killed scores of children. Reuters reported in March that an initial internal US military investigation showed US forces were likely responsible ​for the fatal strike in Minab in southern Iran. The Pentagon ​has since elevated the probe but it has not acknowledged any ⁠preliminary findings. “I don’t know that they are ever going to solve ​that problem,” Trump told reporters. “I don’t know that they are ever going to ​solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it because there were missiles flying all over the place, and it’s horrible what happened but there were missiles flying ​all over the place,” he said. “Somebody said it was our missile, maybe ​it wasn’t our missile but I have seen nothing to lead me to believe ‌it ⁠was,” Trump remarked, adding: “I don’t think it was us.” The strike on February 28, when the US and Israe...

United States President Donald Trump faced pointed criticism over the Iran war in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans on Wednesday, shortly before his administration asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the conflict. Several Republicans who attended said Trump engaged in a shouting match with Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the administration needed to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that gives Iran financial incentives but falls short of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning. “The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.” Later on Wednesday, the Senate’s Republican leaders scheduled a late-night vote to block a resolution calling for an end to hostilities with Iran in what appeared to be an effort to please the president. The Senate voted by 50 to 47, largely along party lines, to block a war powers reso...

• Girl subjected to ‘violent rape’ before being murdered • Police surgeon describes it as ‘one of the most horrific cases in her career’ • IGP forms special team to bring culprits to justice KARACHI: A three-year-old girl was found murdered at her doorstep in Quaidabad and initial findings of a post-mortem examination confirmed that she had been subjected to “violent rape” before being murdered, officials said on Wednesday. Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed described the gruesome murder as “one of the most horrific cases” she had seen in her career. “All rape-murder cases of children are horrific, but some are more [terrible] than the others. This was one of them. Really disturbing,” she said. The incident prompted the inspector general of police (IGP) to form a high-level probe team, tasking the DIG of East Zone to conduct transparent investigation of the case. The Quaidabad police said the body of Kulsoom Mohammed Qasim, stuffed in a gunny bag, was found outside her home near Mustafa Masjid in Muslimabad Colony ...

• FO expects technical talks to resume on Tuesday • Hopes Hormuz tensions will ease with diplomatic progress • Urges Afghanistan to prevent terrorism emanating from its soil • Says govt pursuing release of crew members from hijacked tanker ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan on Wednesday expre­ssed optimism over ongoing high-level technical talks between Iran and the United States, saying progress in trade and economic cooperation with Iran would be linked to the easing of international sanctions on Tehran. Addressing the weekly press briefing, Foreign Of­f­ice spokesperson Tahir Hus­sain Andrabi said the pathway towards sanctions relief for Iran had alre­ady been initiated thr­o­ugh talks held in Buergenstock, Switzerland. He described the process as a positive development and expressed the hope that the negotiations would produce constructive results as they moved forward. Responding to a question, the spokesman said there had been a temporary pause in technical-level discussions between Iran and the United States and tha...

LAHORE: The Punjab government has sent the first batch, comprising 135 skilled youths, to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) under the ‘Parwaaz Card’ initiative. Addressing a ceremony in this regard here on Wednesday, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said the youths going abroad for employment would not merely be workers but ambassadors of Pakistan. She said providing quality vocational training to the youth of Punjab was her dream, which is being transformed into reality by Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) under the supervision of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship Department (SD&ED). Punjab Task Force on Skill Development Chairman Adnan Afzal Chattha and SD&ED Secretary Nadir Chattha, PSDF Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ahmed Khan, recruitment partners, representatives of the Bank of Punjab (BoP), overseas employment promoters and the Parwaaz Card beneficiaries attended the event. Interacting with the participants, Ms Nawaz inquired about their experience with the Parwaaz Card scheme and told them, “When...

PESHAWAR - Climate change and natural disasters have witnessed as significant threats to the economy and financial stability of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said a recent assessment report.

The National Assembly on Wednesday approved a supplementary budget of Rs593.64 billion for the fiscal year 2024-2025 (FY24-25) and a sum of Rs475.05bn for the outgoing fiscal year (FY25-26). Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb moved a series of papers for approval during Wednesday’s session. Under the Constitution, the government must secure parliamentary approval for the federal budget before any spending. This approval allows the government to spend specified funds for different heads. However, the government often seeks retrospective approval for additional amounts already spent, leaving the parliament with no choice but to regularise these expenditures. The NA’s X account said Aurangzeb laid the Supplementary Authorised Expenditure 2024-2025 and 2025- 2026, along with other papers, before the house under Article 83 of the Constitution. Dawn provides a breakdown of the additional amounts approved for spending during FY24-25 and FY25-26, which will conclude on June 30. FY2024-25 The following supplementary ...

ISLAMABAD - A special meeting of the parliamentary party of opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday suspended the membership of its MNA Iqbal Khan Afridi for his alleged abusive behaviour towards fellow lawmaker Sahibzada Sibghatullah.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Iran have agreed to expand cooperation in security, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and immigration, as Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held detailed talks with his Iranian counterpart, Eskandar Momeni, on bilateral relations and the evolving regional situation following a peace agreement.

DUBAI - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressed Wednesday that the US would not “undermine” its Persian Gulf allies in the negotiations with Iran and said he “didn’t sense any doubts about our security assurances” to the region.

PESHAWAR - Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Communications and Works (C&W), Shakeel Ahmad has said that the Timergara Panjkora Bridge Bypass Kondaro Road Project in Lower Dir is a project of great public importance.

PESHAWAR - In a major terrorist attack in Sararogha area of South Waziristan, six police personnel including Station House Officer (SHO) Ahmad Shah were abducted by armed militants on Wednesday.

ISLAMABAD - Lieutenant General Saddam Khalifa Haftar, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, called on Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, COAS & CDF, at General Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi on Wednesday.