Pakistan

• National registry suggested for incompatible donor-recipient pairs • Proposal follows unique 10-way donor-exchange liver transplant chain LAHORE: Experts from the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute & Research Centre (PKLI&RC) have proposed the establishment of a National SWAP Liver Transplant Programme for Pakistan with the primary objective of facilitating life-saving transplants for patients who are unable to receive organs from family members or blood relatives due to blo­od-group incompatibility or other medical reasons. Since its inception, PKLI’s surgeons have successfully performed 2,000 kidney and liver transplants. A senior medical expert said the proposal was put forward by a panel of senior surgeons on the day the institute achieved what it described as another milestone in transplantation medicine by successfully performing the world’s first 10-way Living Donor Liver Transplant (LDLT) SWAP Chain, enabling 10 patients to receive life-saving liver transplants through a coordinated donor-exchange ...

• National Telecommunication Company asked to hold further stakeholder consultations, shore up security of communication ecosystem • CDWP okays PakSat-2 launch, with its predecessor set to be retired later this year • Slew of IT-related projects among 15 development measures approved ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday decided to deploy a sovereign, secure and ‘below-internet’ mobile communication network for at least 10,000 government users to address gaps that are causing critical information leakages, as it cleared a total of 24 development projects worth Rs465.76bn. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP), which also supported the launch of the Pakistan Communication Satellite–2 (PakSat-2) at an estimated cost of Rs37.192 billion, to replace PakSat-IR, which is set to complete its 15-year life later this year. Sources said the Planning Commission was not satisfied with the technical strengths of the Rs709 million ‘PAKAWAZ Secure Mobile Communication Ecosystem’...

ISLAMABAD: The recurring incidents of fire at the H-9 Weekly Bazaar in the federal capital have exposed safety gaps besides causing heavy financial losses to traders and civic agencies. Sources point out that the failure of city managers to ensure the “dawn-to-dusk” policy has turned the H-9 Weekly Bazaar into a permanent shopping area. They said stallholders keep their goods on-site against the rules, posing a permanent fire risk. It was further reported that a fire tender was also missing when a blaze broke out on Tuesday. The recent fire, which engulfed over 374 stalls out of a total 2,749, once again left stallholders in distress, with garments worth millions of rupees reduced to ashes. This was the fifth major fire incident in the bazaar over the past nine years. Although the cause of the latest fire has yet to be determined by an inquiry committee, concerns remain that further incidents could occur if proper measures are not taken, as vendors store their goods in stalls like warehouses and cover them wi...

A 23-YEAR-OLD British TikTok influencer is facing potential execution by firing squad in Dubai after being charged with the premeditated murder of her boyfriend, a human rights group told BBC. Brooke George, of Kent, England, claims she stabbed the man in self-defence during a violent domestic dispute. The advocacy organisation Detained in Dubai stated that George was arrested on June 22. The group alleges her partner had become abusive, punched her, withheld her passport and attacked her in their apartment. She feared for her life and, reaching for a kitchen knife within her grasp, acted in self-defence,” Detained in Dubai CEO Radha Stirling said, according to the BBC. George, a former John Lewis employee, was taken into custody early June 22 and charged with premeditated murder. If found guilty under United Arab Emirates law, she could face the death penalty. George’s mother, The­reza George, told the BBC her daughter was “absolutely terrified” and had a visibly swollen eye when they spoke immediately after...

Anthropic said on Friday that the US government has allowed it to release its powerful Claude Mythos 5 artifical intelligence (AI) model to some “trusted” US organisations, partially reversing an order two weeks ago to suspend access over national security risks. More than 100 companies and institutions will now have access to Mythos 5, including many Fortune 500 companies, a source familiar with the new directive said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. Concern that powerful AI systems could be misused by military intelligence users in China, Russia or other countries of concern has prompted US President Donald Trump’s administration to take an aggressive approach to oversight of releases of Anthropic’s and rival OpenAI’s frontier models. OpenAI said earlier in the day that it was delaying a full public launch of GPT-5.6 at the US government’s request, limiting its access to a small group of vetted partners whose details were shared with the authorities. Anthropic had abruptly d...

The government on Friday kept petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) prices unchanged at Rs299.50 per litre and Rs311.47 per litre respectively “till further orders”. The decision was announced in a notification issued by the Petroleum Division. Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced a Rs74 reduction in petrol prices and a Rs67 cut in high-speed diesel (HSD) prices as the government passed on the benefit of declining international oil prices. Petrol is mainly used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers, and changes in its price affect the middle and lower-middle classes. Similarly, changes in diesel prices also impact the public at large, as it is mainly used in the heavy transport sector, power plants and large generators. As the energy crunch from the US-Iran war due to the Strait of Hormuz blockade hit the global markets, the government began revising petroleum prices every week on Friday night. In the first wartime revision on March 6, the government hiked petrol and dies...

Ashura processions across the country concluded peacefully on Friday amid elaborate security arrangements as thousands of mourners participated in Muharram 10 processions. Yaum-i-Ashura is observed every year with mourning processions and religious gatherings to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Husain (RA) and his companions in the Battle of Karbala in 680AD. The central procession in Karachi departed from Nishtar Park at around 9:30am. It concluded at Imambargah Hussainia Iranian after passing through its traditional routes. In Hyderabad, the central procession emerged from Qadam Gah Maula Ali off Station Road and culminated at Karbala Dadan Shah. No processions were taken out in Islamabad, but the main procession in Rawalpindi was taken out from Imambargah Ashiq Hussain in Taili Mohallah and culminated at Imambargah Qadeemi. In Lahore, the central procession emerged from Nisar Haveli and concluded at Karbala Gama Shah later in the evening. All mourning processions and religious gatherings in Multan and oth...

The death toll from two powerful earthquakes that devastated Venezuela earlier this week rose to 920 on Friday, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said. In a televised address, Rodriguez updated the death toll that had previously been at 589. He also announced military deployment to one of the worst-hit regions, the state of La Guaira. More than 50,000 people were missing following the disaster, United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher told AFP on Friday. “We’ve got over 50,000 people missing, over 500 people dead, so a massive job to go through the rubble,” he said. Families searched desperately for loved ones trapped under debris, with some of them using their hands to claw at the rubble of buildings. Foreign rescue teams and aid were arriving in Venezuela nearly two days after devastating twin earthquakes flattened areas in and around the capital Caracas. The government has also confirmed 2,980 injuries till now. The magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 tremors, two of the biggest earthquakes in Latin America’s mod...

OpenAI on Friday launched a US-only preview of its latest powerful AI model series to a limited group of partners at the request of the United States government, the company said. The release comes two weeks after the US government took Silicon Valley by surprise in ordering OpenAI’s rival Anthropic to ban all foreign nationals from accessing its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models, citing national security concerns. The release marks the debut of OpenAI’s GPT-5.6 series, which comprises three new models: Sol, OpenAI’s new flagship; Terra, a mid-range model for everyday work; and Luna, a fast, low-cost option. The company said Terra would be priced at half the cost of its predecessor GPT-5.5, as it seeks to lock in customers amid fierce competition from Anthropic and Google. OpenAI said it briefed the US government on its new models’ capabilities ahead of the launch and, at the government’s request, is beginning with a limited preview for a select group of trusted partners whose identities have been shared with autho...

PESHAWAR: Security forces killed at least seven terrorists in an operation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu on Friday, security sources said. Bannu district has been the scene of repeated security incidents in recent months, with both civilians and local security forces coming under attack amid a broader surge in militant violence. Security sources stated that their forces carried out a successful operation in the Ghora Baka Khel area of Baka Khel tehsil, targeting a suspected vehicle reportedly loaded with weapons and explosive materials. According to the sources, the forces received credible information about the suspicious movement of terrorists. Acting swiftly on the intelligence, they targeted the suspected vehicle, parked near a government school, using a quadcopter. The vehicle was carrying a heavy cache of weapons, including a 12.7-millimetre machine gun, RPGs, and mortar shells. The explosion completely destroyed the vehicle, and initial reports suggest that all “seven to eight” terrorists inside the ve...

They became the first African side to score five goals in a World Cup match

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday said 22 Iranian crew members of a tanker earlier seized by the United States have arrived in Pakistan. On April 13, during the US-Iran war, Washington imposed a naval blockade and would target and board oil tankers and other vessels trying to enter or leave Iranian ports. One of these was the M/T Davina, which was seized during an overnight interdiction by American forces. In a post on X, the deputy prime minister said that the 22 crew members served on the Davina, adding: “Arrangements are now being finalised in close collaboration with the Iranian missions in Pakistan to facilitate their earliest and safe return to their homeland.” “We remained in close contact with the US and Iranian authorities throughout this process.” Dar added that this was the fourth group of Iranian crew members whose repatriation was facilitated by Pakistan over the last two months. “So far, we have assisted in the repatriation of over 70 Iranian brethren (including toda...

An aircraft about the size of a car crashed into Beijing’s tallest building, CITIC Tower, on Friday, two bystanders told Reuters, as police closed off roads around the skyscraper and stopped passersby from filming the scene. The building, known as CITIC Tower or China Zun, is a 108-storey skyscraper in Beijing’s central business district. It is the headquarters of the state-owned conglomerate CITIC Group. There was a heavy police presence at the site, with some approach roads closed to cars. Police prevented some people from taking pictures and asked others to delete those they had taken while ushering people away from the building. Two glass panels on a high floor were damaged. @dawn.today An aircraft about the size of a car crashed into Beijing’s tallest building, CITIC Tower, on Friday, two bystanders told Reuters, as police closed off roads around the skyscraper and stopped passersby from filming the scene. The building, known as CITIC Tower or China Zun, is a 108-storey skyscraper in Beijing’s central bu...

He scored a stunning first-half hat-trick in a 4-1 victory

President Asif Ali Zardari gave his assent on Friday to the Finance Bill, 2026, which outlines the budget for the upcoming fiscal year with an outlay of Rs18.8 trillion. “President Asif Ali Zardari has assented to the Finance Bill, 2026, relating to the federal budget for fiscal year 2026-27,” a post on the Presidency’s X account said. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the FY2026-27 budget in the National Assembly (NA) on June 12, offering relief to higher-income salaried individuals and businesses by rationalising income tax, sales tax, and customs duties, while promoting documentation, digital compliance, and investment. The NA passed the budget on Tuesday after the opposition staged a walkout. The House approved the budget after all seven amendments moved by opposition members were rejected by a majority vote. However, the finance bill included amendments suggested by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance. In the new budget, income tax slabs have been eased, super tax rationalised...

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN LOWER: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has restored the affected generating units of the Gomal Zam Hydropower Station after eight years and successfully synchronised it with the national grid, bringing the facility back to its full generation capacity of 17.4 megawatts (MW). Officials said that both of the station’s generating units had ceased operations in October 2016 due to a major technical fault. One unit was repaired and brought back into service in June 2018, restoring half of the station’s installed capacity. However, the second unit remained out of service because of the complexity of the technical damage. As a result, the hydropower station continued operating at only half of its installed capacity, generating 8.7MW, for the past eight years. According to a statement issued by Wapda on Thursday, the restoration marks a significant milestone for the country’s hydropower sector. With both generating units now operational, the power station has resumed full-capacity e...

Accuses Israel of major ceasefire violations, to send response on new proposals to Cairo in coming days

Mourners participated in Muharram 10 processions across the country on Friday in observance of Ashura. Yaum-i-Ashura is observed every year with mourning processions and religious gatherings to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain (RA) and his companions in the Battle of Karbala in 680AD. Processions took place amid tight security arrangements, with 20,000 police personnel deployed across Karachi, along with Army and Rangers units and thousands of police personnel in Rawalpindi. Meanwhile, mobile phone services and internet connectivity have been suspended in Quetta and other sensitive areas of Balochistan during the processions. Mourners holding portraits of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei take part in a procession to mark Ashura on the tenth day of Muharram in Karachi on June 26, 2026. — AFP Mourners touch a horse symbolising the mount of Imam Hussain during a procession marking Ashura on the tenth day of Muharram in Karachi on June 26, 2026. — AFP Mourners march during a religious pr...

Petrol remains Rs299.5 while high-speed diesel is Rs311.47

Agrees to pay $2.25m fine, with half due within five days of sentencing and the full amount within 90 days