Pakistan

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Friday urged the National Assembly speaker and the Senate chairman to convene a meeting for deciding on a single bill for lawmakers’ privileges. His remarks come after the KP Assembly passed the KP Provincial Assembly (Powers, Immunities and Privileges) Act, 2026 on April 30. The law expanded provincial assembly members’ powers and immunities, including the issuance of lifetime official passports to them and their spouses. Kundi had assen­ted to the law, alongside others, on May 6. However, following backlash, KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi this week ordered a review of the new law’s provisions. In a post on the social media platform X, Kundi called on National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani to “immediately convene a meeting of the speakers of all four provincial assemblies and agree on a single, harmonised bill governing the salaries, privileges and entitlements of legislators across Pakistan”. “No province should legislat...

Pakistan's seafood exports reached a record $568 million during the 2025-26 fiscal year, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry said on Tuesday.

The World Bank has approved a $375.

US-Israeli war on Iran disrupted helium supplies, hitting AI chip production and semiconductor manufacturing

The move aims to strengthen financial firms by reducing cyber attack and technology outage risks

Formerly titled 'Hotel Tehran', the action thriller follows ex-CIA operatives on a risky rescue mission in Iran

Orders Okara DPO to register FIR against the officials concerned, submit compliance report in 15 days

Meta faces charges, risking a fine of up to 6% of global annual turnover before an EU final ruling

The World Bank’s (WB) Board of Executive Directors has approved $375.9 million in financing for Pakistan’s Grid Stability Enhancement Project to strengthen the country’s national power transmission network. According to a press release issued by the WB, the project is being implemented under the Boosting Energy Security through Transmission in Pakistan (BEST-PAK) Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA). It said the project is the first phase of a 10-year programme aimed at helping Pakistan modernise its “electricity transmission network, reduce power outages and bring more clean energy to homes, businesses and industries”. “Pakistan’s energy challenges are deeply interconnected with its broader economic stability,” WB Country Director Bolormaa Amgaabazar was quoted as saying. “By investing in advanced technologies for more resilient transmission infrastructure, this project will contribute to reducing electricity costs, bring more renewable energy onto the grid, and lay the groundwork for a power sector that w...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Salahuddin Ahmed have agreed to extend cooperation in curbing cybercrime and online fraud, the interior ministry said on Friday. The two ministers held a meeting in New York. In a statement on the social media platform X, the ministry said that the ministers also agreed to expand cooperation in areas of mutual interest. During the meeting, they discussed training and exchange programmes for police officers, it said. It further said that they held a detailed discussion on the US-Iran conflict and the current situation in the Middle East. According to the statement, Ahmed lauded Pakistan’s “constructive role” in establishing peace. Meanwhile, Naqvi was quoted as saying that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir played a vital role in maintaining peace. “We must seize new opportunities to further strengthen our mutual relations,” he said. Naqvi is currently in the US, where he repre...

Kundi says no province should grant itself extra perks while asking citizens to endure austerity measures

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi lands in New Zealand on Friday touting a free trade deal that has sparked a backlash despite promises it will unlock jobs and economic riches. On the agenda are trade, tourism and sport — but recent undercurrents of anti-migrant sentiment risk tarnishing his trip to a nation long proud of its tolerance. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon celebrated the signing in April of the free trade deal with the world’s most populous nation, touting an export boom that would deliver jobs and investment in spades. The pact is widely expected to be approved by New Zealand’s parliament. But not everyone is happy at the prospect. Lawmakers in the populist New Zealand First Party, part of Luxon’s governing coalition, railed against parts of the agreement covering migration and visas. “I don’t care how much criticism we get, I am just never going to agree with a butter chicken tsunami coming to New Zealand,” government minister Shane Jones told a local radio show. An Indian commun...

Actor ordered to pay millions in fines following decade-long dispute over film loan

From personal loss to public service, YBQ shares the experiences that reshaped his outlook on life

He says elected representatives reflect public expectations, problems, priorities

Tete-a tete with Miral Sharif, Country Head at Yango Pakistan and Ivan Kaplunovich, Head of B2B at Yango

On Thursday, gold prices rose by Rs3,600 locally

Name: Kunri, Umerkot Pop.: 26,600 Area: 585 km² The farmers say the origin story goes something like this. In the sixties, a handful of chilli seeds travelled south from Radha Ram in Punjab to Kunri in Sindh. Harvest after hot harvest proved so successful that within two decades the town shot to fame as the red chilli capital of Asia. The farmers put their fortune down to divine largesse but the scientific explanation is far more mundane: Kunri simply had exactly the right climate for a brief window of time—partially humid and partially dry—for its soils to produce one variety of chilli that cannot be grown anywhere else in the world. That chilli is Dundicut or Longi, which when plucked comes off without the stem, hence the name dandi-cut. It grows in the crumbed soil of sun-cooked fields, which infuse the air with pepper mist. Rows of the dwarf plant are punctuated by figures at work in armfuls of ivory bangles and neon green cholis. This little fighter registers between 30,000 and 35,000 Scoville heat units...

Civil protection mechanism designed to mobilise additional resources, includes measures to assist isolated people

Partial restoration of Hormuz oil flows boosts June output, but regional production below levels seen pre-conflict