Pakistan

GILGIT: The Karakoram Highway (KKH) was reopened for traffic on Sunday while the Astore Valley road remained blocked as heavy rainfall lashed parts of Gilgit-Baltistan, triggering landslides across the region. The KKH was blocked after a landslide near the Lachi area in Kohistan late Saturday night. According to local police, light traffic was restored to the KKH after nearly 20 hours. Due to the blockage, thousands of passengers travelling to and from GB to other areas remained stranded for several hours, police said. District administration has urged the public to take precautionary measures in light of the weather. As per the police, landslides have also blocked the Shounter Road in the Astore Valley. Last week, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had predicted rain, wind, and thunderstorms — with isolated heavy falls and hailstorms — in the upper parts of the country from April 16-19. A westerly wave was expected to enter the nort­h­western parts of Pakistan on April 16 and is likely to persist i...

Security in Islamabad has been further tightened ahead of a potential second round of talks between the United States and Iran, according to reports citing official sources.

Police in Austria said late on Saturday that rat poison was found inside a jar of HiPP baby food, following a recall of the product from more than 1,000 SPAR supermarkets in the country over safety fears. Police in Burgenland, Austria, said in a statement that a sample from one of the 190-gram jars of “Carrots and Potatoes” baby food reported by a customer had tested positive for rat poison. HIPP had said on Saturday that it could not be ruled out that a dangerous substance was introduced into the product and that its HiPP Vegetable Carrot with Potato jars may have been tampered with. Consuming the contents of jars could be life-threatening, HiPP said. The police statement said the affected jars had a sticker with a red circle on the bottom of the jar and a lid that had already been opened, damaged, or missing a safety seal, or had an unusual smell. They said initial lab tests on similar jars seized by police in the Czech Republic and Slovakia showed the presence of a toxic substance. The statement gave no fu...

The first Hajj flight under the Road to Makkah project departed from Islamabad International Airport on Sunday, marking the start of this year’s Hajj operations from Pakistan.

A growing number of Pakistanis are seeking employment opportunities in Germany, but experts stress the importance of understanding the country’s structured hiring and qualification recognition system before applying.

In a significant development for Pakistan’s healthcare sector, the Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Lahore (INMOL) has been designated as a collaborating centre by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), becoming part of its global network.

A fresh spell of rain and hailstorms affected several parts of the country on Sunday, including Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Azad Kashmir, with authorities warning of further wet weather in the coming hours.

The National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) said on Sunday that more than 44.

Britain’s government is set to announce legislation next month to move the country closer to the European Union, as the Iran war sours the United Kingdom’s so-called special relationship with the United States. US President Donald Trump’s unpredictability and stream of insults towards America’s historic ally are adding impetus to Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s bid to deepen ties with the 27-nation bloc, a decade after Britons narrowly voted to leave the EU. “We have a government that is already eager to move closer towards the EU, and the events in Iran provide an opportunity to speed up that process,” Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, told AFP. Starmer’s administration is preparing an EU “reset” bill that will give ministers powers to align UK standards with EU single market rules as they evolve — something called “dynamic alignment”. King Charles III will announce the legislation on May 13 when he reads out Starmer’s legislative plans for the coming months, a government ...

KARACHI: In light of continuing regional conflict and vigorous peace promotion efforts in Isla­mabad, DawnMedia, the organisers of the Breathe Pakistan Inter­na­tional Cli­mate Change Confe­re­nce, announced the temporary postponement of its second conference, which was ori­ginally scheduled to be held on April 22-23. The conference is now scheduled to be held on May 6-7 at the Jinnah Con­vention Center in Islam­abad. The organisers reg­ret any inconvenience cau­sed to national and international speakers, partn-ers, and participants. Further details on the updated agenda will be shared by the organisers over the next few days. Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2026

The Punjab Government has made online attendance compulsory for all public schools, requiring both students and teachers to record their presence digitally in a move aimed at promoting transparency and improving governance in the education sector.

Health authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have issued a province-wide advisory to prevent the spread of Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF), urging heightened vigilance ahead of Eidul Azha.

North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the sea on Sunday, accelerating its missile launches amid Iran war tensions and talk of possible meetings with the US and South Korea. Pyongyang’s intense missile activity — this was the fourth such launch this month and the seventh of the year — is meant to display its self-defence capabilities while gaining international leverage, some experts said. “The missile launches may be a way of showing that — unlike Iran — we have self-defence capabilities,” said South Korean former presidential security adviser Kim Ki-jung. “The North also appears to be exerting pressure preemptively and make a show of force before engaging in dialogue with the United States and South Korea,” he said. Iran war, Trump visit loom over launches The seven-week-old US-Israeli war against Iran, which Washington says aims to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme, could reinforce Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions, experts and former South Korean officials say. US President Donald Trump, preparing for a summ...

KARACHI: Salman Mirza, the left-arm pacer who burst onto the international scene last year, has set his sights firmly on representing Pakistan at the 2027 ODI World Cup. Having broken into the national T20I setup just last year at the age of 31, Salman has never looked back, transforming himself from a late-blooming domestic grinder into a reliable performer for the green jersey. In his short international career, Salman has already made a strong impression. He made his T20I debut against Bangladesh in July 2025 and quickly showcased his accuracy and variations. A standout moment came later that year when he was selected ahead of Shaheen Shah Afridi and delivered a match-winning spell of 3-14 against South Africa in Lahore. By the time the 2026 T20 World Cup concluded, he had featured in 17 T20Is, claiming 23 wickets at an impressive average of 16.13 and a strike rate of 15.04. His economy hovered around 6.43, underlining his ability to control proceedings with late swing, in-swingers and stump-to-stump accur...

RAWALPINDI: As the Rawalpindi Ring Road is set to be completed by the end of May, the provincial government has decided not to start work on the Thalian interchange on the motorway and instead make the road functional with a two-way carriageway. A senior official of the divisional administration told Dawn that work on the Ring Road had entered its final phase, as the road had taken shape and horticulture work had started along the main corridor. He said work had begun to widen the Thalian section, where the Ring Road merges with the motorway, as more than 18,000 vehicles will enter the motorway from the Ring Road. At this point, it is necessary to widen the road to avoid long queues of vehicles. Official says work on Rs5 billion Thalian interchange project will not start immediately Talking to Dawn, Deputy Project Director of Rawalpindi Ring Road Ashfaq Sulheri said that the Rs5 billion Thalian interchange project would not start immediately. To make the Ring Road functional, authorities have decided to use a...

LAHORE: Police claimed on Saturday to have arrested the prime suspect involved in snatching a mobile phone from a girl riding a scooty. According to police, suspect Adnan Yousaf was arrested from the Chung area after being injured. The suspect was involved in snatching a mobile phone from a girl two days ago. The social media users criticised the government for failing to ensure the security of women. Earlier, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz also took notice of the incident and directed police to arrest the suspect. Police spokesperson said Adnan was riding a motorcycle with an accomplice at the time of the crime. Using geofencing and human intelligence, police tracked his movements and set up checkpoints across multiple locations. According to the DIG Operations spokesperson, when police signalled the suspects to stop at a checkpoint, they attempted to flee and opened fire on the police party. During the exchange, Adnan was struck by a bullet fired by his own accomplice, leaving him injured. The accomplice manag...

GUJRAT: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday arrested a group of four persons, including three women, at Sialkot airport for being involved in beggary in Saudi Arabia. A senior FIA official said the group of passengers, namely Shah Nawaz, Shahzia, Sonia and Farzana Bibi, all residents of Islamabad, arrived at the Sialkot International Airport from Saudi Arabia via Oman.They were questioned by immigration officials due to suspicious travel history and upon inquiry, they admitted to engaging in organised beggary in Saudi Arabia. These passengers had obtained visas and tickets through an agent, Muhammad Siddique Akbar, a resident of Saudi Arabia, who arranged their travel for Rs250,000 per person. The amount was paid to the agent through the money earned from begging. FIA Gujranwala zone Director Muhammad Bin Ashraf told Dawn these beggars had travelled to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on umrah visas. He added that the FIA would approach the authorities at the KSA Embassy for deportation of the...

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has said that no provision exists in the general and special laws in the province about blocking of computerised national identity card (CNIC) of any person in civil litigation. A single-judge bench of the SHC headed by Justice Muhammad Hasan Akber also noted that after the enactment of 18th Constitutional Amendment, the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) has become a provincial subject, whereas no such provision was available in the CPC enforceable in the province of Sindh. The bench made these observations while deciding two civil miscellaneous applications (CMAs) filed by Malik Ali Zain, one of the judgement debtors in a decree, against an order of the civil court concerned for directing the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) to block his CNIC. The civil court had issued directive to Nadra in May last year on an application filed by the decree holder under Section 51 of the CPC for execution of the decree and impugned order was passed over non-service of notice or pu...

QUETTA: Security forces have arrested the wife of an alleged facilitator of the female suicide attacker who targeted the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters in Nokundi last year, officials said on Saturday, claiming that her husband had taken a woman and her our children to Afghanistan for suicide bombing training. Speaking at a press conference, Additional Chief Secretary Home Hamza Shafqaat said extremist networks were increasingly using women and children as tools to carry out attacks, calling the trend inhumane and contrary to local traditions. “Evidence of cross-border infiltration and terrorism from Afghanistan exi­sts, and terrorists escape across the border after carrying out attacks,” said Mr Shafqaat, flanked by DIG Counter-Terrorism Depa­r­tment (CTD) Baloc­histan and aide of home department affairs Babar Khan Yousafzai. Officials said the Nov 30 attack on the FC headquarters involved a female suicide bomber linked to a banned outfit (Balochistan Liberation Front), adding that the arrest of Rahima Bib...

• Jameel Ahmad says macroeconomic indicators improved faster than expected at start of fiscal year • Claims prudent monetary, fiscal policies stabilised inflation, strengthened buffers KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad has said the country’s key macroeconomic indicators have improved faster than anticipated at the start of the fiscal year, owing to a prudent mix of monetary and fiscal policies that helped stabilise inflation and strengthen external positions. While the ongoing conflict in the Middle East has introduced new risks and heightened uncertainty about the macroeconomic outlook, he said, the economy is relatively better positioned than during previous crises to manage these challenges. The SBP governor was speaking at meetings with senior executives of leading global financial and investment institutions, including JP Morgan, Barclays, Citibank, Jefferies and Franklin Templeton, as well as major credit rating agencies such as Fitch, Moody’s and S&P Global. These engagements ...