Pakistan

It will encourage companies to improve environmental, social and governance practices

Average inflation hits 7.1% in FY26, lower than target of 7.5%

.

Pakistan faces 253 cyberattacks in 2026; govt issues COC deadline for organisations

Emphasise processed meat, value-added products offer bigger gains

.

Index crosses 184k; banking sector leads rally on robust investor interest

Local rate dips Rs5,200/tola but international bullion rebounds on soft jobs data

.

The federal government has rolled out a cashless payment system at passport offices across Pakistan, allowing applicants to pay passport fees through digital payment methods instead of cash.

A spell of heavy rain coupled with strong winds swept through Khanpur Hazara and adjoining areas, bringing a welcome drop in temperatures after days of intense heat.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange’s (PSX) benchmark KSE-100 index sustained its positive momentum and gained over 3,700 points on Wednesday, the first day of the new fiscal year. The KSE-100 index gained 3,748.40 points (2.08 per cent) to close at 184,050.10. The benchmark index traded in green the entire session, gradually witnessing gains from an intraday low of 180,565.83 at 9:35am. The market had staged a recovery rally on Tuesday, propelling KSE-100 above the 180,000 mark and helping the market close FY25-26 with a stellar performance. Awais Ashraf, director of research at AKD Securities, and Topline Securities Ltd linked today’s investor confidence to the inflation figures for June. Pakistan’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 11.1pc year-on-year in June, easing from 11.7pc in May and coming within the government’s forecast range of 11pc-12pc, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. On a month-on-month basis, CPI fell 0.3pc in June, compared with a 0.5pc increase in May and a 0.2pc rise in June las...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he was thrilled to make his first flight aboard his new Air Force One plane, thanking Qatar for the controversial gift of the luxury jet. Trump said the United States “couldn’t build a plane like this” — despite the fact that the heavily modified Boeing 747-8 aircraft was originally made there. “To be honest with you, I’m excited about the first flight. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” Trump told journalists travelling with him, including an AFP photographer, ahead of a trip to North Dakota. The 80-year-old president is due to attend an event at the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library as part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of American independence. “They just completed it. They made it appropriate for a president, that means the security and all of the different bells and whistles they put on. Very complex stuff, but it’s really quite something,” Trump said at Joint Base Andrews near Washington. Critics have raised a host of ethical, constitution...

Encrypted communications, wives and children in the dark, and spending only in cash — the Ukrainian soldiers behind brazen long-range drone strikes on Russia live their lives almost completely in the shadows. The retaliatory attacks on Russian military sites and oil refineries they carry out have embarrassed President Vladimir Putin, who four years ago thought he could capture Kyiv in a matter of days. The price they pay, though, is almost complete secrecy. Servicemen from the 7th Battalion of the “Madyar’s Birds” brigade operate mid-range drones from an underground control room at an undisclosed location in Ukraine, on May 15, 2026, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. —AFP/File Denys, whose name has been changed, has been taking part in the strikes since 2025. But his friends and even parents have no idea, thanks to the ultra-strict rules in his unit. “Don’t draw attention to yourself, don’t brag. You’ll never be able to talk about what you’ve done, even after the war,” he told AFP in a rare interview by a...

The United States on Wednesday signed an agreement to build a new embassy compound in Jerusalem, in a move that Israel said reflected the “unbreakable alliance” between the countries. During his first term, US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital in December 2017 and ordered the relocation of Washington’s diplomatic mission from Tel Aviv. But the services were spread across several locations in Jerusalem until a single permanent site could be found. “The United States not only recognises Jerusalem as the eternal, indigenous, and forever capital of the Jewish people, but also that the United States says that we’re going to do something about it,” US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said during a signing ceremony at Israel’s foreign ministry. “We are going to plant our flag, our American flag, on the soil of Jerusalem for a permanent and a brand new embassy compound that will serve as our mothership of diplomatic activities here in Israel. “I would say God made that decision 3,800 y...

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday noted the “non-assistance” of the federal government among the reasons for the delay in local government polls for Islamabad, summoning the city’s chief and deputy commissioners on July 7. The term of the last local government in Islamabad expired in February 2021, and since then, elections have been delayed under various pretexts. On Wednesday, a four-member ECP bench chaired by its Sindh member Nisar Ahmed Durrani resumed hearing the case. Appearing before the electoral watchdog, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz Memon said the district administration has provided the maps required for the LG polls in Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT). In its subsequent order, the ECP said it was of the “considered view that the process of conduct of Local Government Election in ICT has been delayed on various accounts, including non-assistance of the federal government as mandated under the Constitution and law”. It expressed its “serious concern abo...

The tuition teacher injured in the deadly roof collapse at a tuition centre in Lahore's Kahna area has denied reports that construction work was underway at the time of the incident, insisting the children were not being taught in unsafe conditions.

Syed Murad Ali Shah has directed the provincial food department and district administrations to launch a strict crackdown on wheat hoarding and profiteering, warning that the government will not tolerate artificial shortages as the province prepares for its wheat requirements in the coming months.

Pakistan has made “meaningful” progress on fiscal federalism since 2010; however, deviations from “international norms” and “good practices” remain, including in the current federal–provincial transfer arrangements, the World Bank said in a report released on Tuesday. In its report titled “Strengthening Fiscal Federalism in Pakistan”, the WB highlighted four critical dimensions in which Pakistan lacked in terms of fiscal federalism. “First, expenditure assignments remain incompletely implemented and inadequately defined in some areas,” the report said and highlighted that the government continued to “operate” in constitutionally devolved areas despite the 18th Constitutional Amendment. It added that the involvement had caused waste and blurred “accountability”, while local governments lack clearly defined or adequately resourced functional mandates. It also pointed out that the 18th Amendment had caused “fragmentation” of the tax system. “While the Amendment strengthened provincial tax authority, particularly...

Sony on Wednesday announced that PlayStation will end physical disc production for games on its consoles from January 2028. In a statement on PlayStation’s blog, the gaming giant said the decision was taken “as consumer preferences and the broader entertainment industry continue to shift away from physical discs to digital formats”. “Following this date, new games will be available on the PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only. This transition has no impact on games that have already been released, or will be released prior to January 2028 in disc format,” the statement added. Sony noted that the move was “a natural direction” to adapt to consumer trends, where demand for digital media has surpassed physical discs. “This transition will enable us to align more closely with how most of our community prefers to access and play games today,” the statement read. “We’ll continue to prioritise our resources to drive innovation in how players can access games and provide choices as to where playe...