Pakistan

Gold broke through $5,200 for the first time on Wednesday, as the dollar plunged to a near four-year low amid persisting geopolitical concerns, ahead of a US Federal Reserve monetary policy decision. Spot gold jumped 1.4 per cent to $5,262.66 per ounce, as of 05:58 GMT, after scaling a record high of $5,266.37 earlier. It has gained more than 20pc since the start of the year. US gold futures for February delivery surged 3.4pc to $5,255.30 per ounce. “(Gold’s rise) is due to the very strong indirect correlation with the dollar and … Trump’s remark to a casual question about the dollar, which implied that (there is) a broad-based consensus within the White House to have a weaker greenback going forward,” said Kelvin Wong, a senior market analyst at OANDA. The US dollar was grappling with a “crisis of confidence” as it struggled near four-year lows, exacerbating dollar selling, after President Donald Trump said the currency’s value is “great” when asked whether he thought it had declined too much. US consumer co...

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday sought replies from the federal government and other authorities on a petition seeking a ban on the use of social media by children under the age of 16. LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum heard the petition filed by Aliya Saleem and others through Advocate Shiza Qureshi on Tuesday. Justice Neelum observed that it was an important matter and a policy issue that should be addressed by the government. The counsel for the petitioner contended that social media was causing serious harm to the mental, moral and educational development of children. The petitioner’s counsel stated that developed countries were also considering restrictions on social media use by underage children. The lawyer informed the court that Australia imposed a ban on children’s use of social media in December 2025, while France, Norway, Malaysia and New Zealand were in the process of legislating on the matter. Qureshi asked the court to order a ban on social media use for children under 16 years of...

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has declared the industrial and commercial development of Gwadar Port a national priority, underscoring its growing strategic importance for Pakistan’s economy.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed a petition seeking the restoration of student unions and imposed a fine on the petitioner during the hearing.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday confirmed the category renewals of 89 local players for the upcoming season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), promoting five players, including Salman Ali Agha, to the Platinum category. A press release issued by the PCB said that the five players moved to the Platinum category were T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali and Abrar Ahmed. “Going forward, each franchise may retain a maximum of four players, limited to one player per category,” the statement said. It added that, following the completion of retentions, the teams will participate in the first-ever PSL player auction on February 11 to complete their team rosters. The statement also said that the registration date for foreign players had been extended to February 3. According to the PCB, among the newly-designated Platinum players, only Sahibzada was previously in the Gold category, while the others made the jump from the Diamond category. “Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, I...

At least 38 people across 14 states had died as of Tuesday from a powerful winter storm that left much of the central and eastern United States gripped by snow, ice, and below-freezing temperatures, according to local officials and news reports. The storm started to develop on Friday and dumped snow across a large region over the weekend. The snow snarled road traffic and led to widespread flight cancellations and power outages before subsiding Monday, leaving behind bitter cold that is expected to linger. By Tuesday, cities were mobilising emergency responders and resources to ensure that residents, particularly homeless people, were safe, even as more than 550,000 homes and businesses across the country lacked electricity. Ten of the storm’s fatal victims were in New York City, where temperatures were the coldest they had been in eight years, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a news conference on Tuesday, when the low hit -13° Celsius. While the 10 victims were found outside, it was not clear whether they were h...

EDINBURGH: With new head coach Owen Dawkins at the helm, and under the captaincy of Richie Berrington, Scotland have named their squad for their seventh appearance at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Scotland have replaced Bangladesh at the global showpiece being staged jointly by India and Sri Lanka from Feb 7 to March 8. Bangladesh refused to play their World Cup matches in India due to security concerns amid political tensions between New Delhi and Dhaka. The European side had also participated in the inaugural edition of the tournament staged in 2007 in South Africa. Zainullah Ihsan is a first-time call-up, with the Afghan-born fast bowler having recently qualified to play for Scotland. Also in contention is former New Zealand international Tom Bruce, who will boost up their batting line-up. The 34-year-old Bruce has featured in 17 T20 Internationals for the Black Caps before he changed his allegiance to Scotland. Squad: Richie Berrington (captain), Tom Bruce, Matthew Cross, Bradley Currie, Oliver Davidson, C...

The deputy chief minister of India’s wealthiest state of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar, was killed on Wednesday, along with four people on board his charter aircraft that went down in flames, the aviation regulator said. Pawar, who hailed from a top political family, was en route to his home region to canvass in local body elections, media said. Two of his staff and two crew were also aboard the aircraft, the directorate general of civil aviation said. “No person on board has survived,” it added in an initial statement. Pawar backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party in the state government, leading a faction that split in 2023 from the opposition Nationalist Congress Party. Video showed billows of smoke rising from some of the burning wreckage of the plane, scattered across an open field. Media said Pawar’s aircraft, travelling from the financial capital of Mumbai, tried to make an emergency landing in the family stronghold of Baramati, 250 km away, where he was set to canvass in the elections. ...

Seconds after an attacker sprayed US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with an unidentified liquid at a Minnesota meeting, she confronted the man and then defiantly went on to finish her comments, AFP journalists saw. The Somali-born US lawmaker, a constant target of US President Donald Trump’s attacks, had just called for the president’s homeland security chief to resign in the wake of immigration agents killing two US citizens in a matter of weeks. The attacker, identified by police as 55-year-old Anthony Kazmierczak, managed to spray Omar before he was tackled and removed from the Tuesday meeting in Minneapolis. She was unharmed, police said. Yet before he was even grabbed, Omar stepped rapidly toward the attacker with her fist raised. The lawmaker then went on to urge the crowd to settle down and listen to herremarks. “Here is the reality that people like this ugly man don’t understand — we are Minnesota strong and we will stay resilient in the face of whatever they might throw at us,” Omar said to the meeting of ...

Pakistan today is not confronted with an active external military conflict, nor is it formally at war with any great power.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian that Riyadh will not allow its airspace or territory to be used for military actions against Tehran, state news agency SPA reported on Tuesday. In a phone call with Pezeshkian, the crown prince affirmed his country’s support for any “efforts that would resolve differences through dialogue” to bolster security and stability in the region. Earlier, Iranian media reported that Pezeshkian told bin Salman that Tehran welcomes any process, within the framework of international law, that prevents war. The statement by the Saudi de facto ruler follows a similar statement by the United Arab Emirates that it would not allow any military action against Iran using its airspace or territorial waters. Uncertainty over the possibility of military action in Iran has lingered after US President Donald Trump said last week that an “armada” was heading toward the country but that he hoped he would not have to use it. Trump said on Tuesday another US...

Indian authorities said they had ensured “timely containment” of the deadly Nipah virus after two cases were confirmed in West Bengal state. Nipah, spreads from animals to humans, has no vaccine and a fatality rate ranging from 40 to 75 per cent, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). “Enhanced surveillance, laboratory testing, and field investigations were undertaken… which ensured timely containment of the cases,” India’s health ministry said in a statement late Tuesday. It did not give further details on the two infected patients. “The situation is under constant monitoring, and all necessary public health measures are in place”, it added, saying 196 contacts linked to the cases had been traced, and all were negative. Nipah was first identified in 1998 after it spread among pig farmers in Malaysia. In India, the first Nipah outbreak was reported in West Bengal in 2001. In 2018, at least 17 people died from Nipah in Kerala, and in 2023, two people died from the virus, also in the southern state. ...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has summoned the federal cabinet meeting to be held today (Wednesday).

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Army troops, with the help of heavy machinery, are continuing rescue and relief operations in snowfall-hit areas across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

Pakistan and Australia have held discussions on expanding bilateral cooperation in the mining and gemstones sectors amid growing international interest in Pakistan’s mineral resources.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast cold and dry weather for most parts of the country over the next 24 hours, while very cold conditions are expected to continue in hilly areas.

ISLAMABAD: S&P Global Market Intelligence has projected a strengthening of Pakistan’s macroeconomic outlook in the current and next fiscal years, endorsing the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) projections. Real GDP to expand 3.5 per cent in FY26, before strengthening to 4.4pc in FY27, it said while commenting on SBP’s monetary policy decision that kept benchmark interest rate unchanged at 10.5pc on Monday. This is generally in line with SBP that projected real GDP growth in the range of 3.75-4.75pc in 2025-26, reflecting stronger-than-anticipated momentum in commodity-producing sectors and spillovers to services. This momentum is expected to extend into FY27, aided by earlier monetary easing and ongoing macroeconomic stability. These projections are relatively higher than 3.2pc growth rate projected by the International Monetary Fund last week, down from 3.6pc of its previous estimate. On the external front, the SBP projected the current account deficit to remain within 0-1pc of GDP in FY26. With continued remi...

Terms migration 'routine annual' exercise; Says IBOs more effective; Denies any military operation underway

Reaffirms parliament's exclusive legislative competence in taxation

K-P CM warns against 'closed-door decisions', decries 'forced displacement' during winter