Pakistan

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Footage shows girl entering grocery store, not exiting

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Each reinstated officer to plant 10 trees, warning issued against future indiscipline

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ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has set July 1 as the deadline for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad authorities to submit pending maps and data needed for local government (LG) elections. The tenure of LGs in KP ended on March 15 this year. According to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Act, 2013, local representatives are elected for a four-year term. The term of the last LG in Islamabad expired in February 2021, and since then, elections have been delayed under various pretexts. As a result, around 2.5 million residents of Islamabad continue to face issues ranging from water shortages to unpaved streets. Chairing a key meeting at the ECP Secretariat on Tuesday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, along with ECP members, the ECP secretary and senior officials, reviewed preparations for LG polls in the federal capital, Punjab and KP. The ECP expressed concern over the KP government’s failure to provide the requisite maps and other data for 15 districts despite re...

LAHORE/ SARGODHA: Sargodha police said on Tuesday they had arrested four suspects in the murder case of a seven-year-old girl, whose body was found in a shop. The prime suspect in the case has been accused of trying to rape the girl before killing her. According to the first information report (FIR), the criminal acts were committed at the behest of the three other suspects. A statement by Sargodha police on X said the prime suspect, the owner of the shop where the girl’s body was found, and two others had been arrested in the case. Police and the Crime Control Department (CCD) were investigating all aspects of the case, the statement added. While the police statement confirmed the arrest of four suspects, Sargodha District Police Officer (DPO) Sohaib Ashraf told Dawn that a fifth suspect had also been taken into custody. However, he did not share further details about charges against the fifth suspect or his involvement in the case. Meanwhile, Civil Judge Imran Farooq of a court in Sargodha granted CCD six-d...

The Karachi Gateway Terminal Ltd (KGTL) is planning up to $100 million in new investment within five years as Pakistan tries to cut freight costs and turn a cargo surge triggered by the Iran war into longer-term regional shipping gains. KGTL, backed by Abu Dhabi Ports Group, has already completed a $60m dredging project at Karachi Port and is expanding container and bulk-handling facilities, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Khurram Aziz Khan told Reuters in an interview. “We are targeting another $75 million to $100 million” within five years, Khan said, adding that the next phase would focus on expanding the container terminal, enhancing yard capacity, larger ship and yard cranes, dedicated bulk export infrastructure, silos, warehouses and automated conveying. Khurram Aziz Khan, CEO of Karachi Gateway Terminal Limited (KGTL) and Karachi Gateway Terminal Multipurpose Limited (KGTML), speaks during a Reuters interview in Karachi on June 23, 2026. — Reuters KGTL is also exploring investment in rail freight, includ...

Each year, sometime around June, Karachi’s beaches become crowded — not just with people, but also seashells, hundreds of thousands of them, spread across the shore in dense and clattering drifts. The sight leaves citizens intrigued, with many wondering if something was wrong. The same thing happened this June, as well. For the past few days, there has been discussion both online and offline regarding why this phenomenon occurs. Was it climate change or nature’s spectacle? The science and the fishermen tell a more layered story. A prelude to the monsoon The phenomenon is not new. A Dawn report dated July 17, 2009, noted that large numbers of white and yellow seashells had appeared on Clifton Beach overnight. Another Dawn report, dated May 21, 2016, reported that wave action dislodges shellfish, particularly Venus clams, locally known as “burgar”, from shallow sub-tidal habitats, carrying them onto beaches where they die and leave behind empty shells. The same event was also covered by The Express Tribune on M...

President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr.

Israel is deliberately targeting Palestinian children in what has become a key factor in an ongoing “genocide” in Gaza, United Nations investigators charged on Tuesday, in a report slammed by Israel. The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said it had found evidence that “Palestinian children have been deliberately targeted and killed by Israeli security forces”. This, it said, was a key factor in establishing “the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities and security forces to destroy the larger Palestinian group in Gaza”. The three-member investigative team, which does not speak for the UN itself, first determined in a report last September that Israel had committed “genocide” during its assault in Gaza — a finding Israel flatly rejected. In Tuesday’s follow-up report, they said the intense scale and systematic nature of Israeli military operations had continued, resulting in the “unprecedented” death, injury and trauma of Palestinian children. There were “reasonable grounds” to conclude t...

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government on Tuesday ruled out any blanket amnesty for leaders of the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), holding them responsible for recent deaths and violence and vowing to pursue legal action against them. The regional administration and the JAAC remain at odds over various issues, most notably the committee’s demand to abolish the 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. Addressing a joint press conference alongside Inspector General of Police (IGP) Liaqat Ali Malik, Chief Secretary Khushal Khan said the JAAC leadership had become divided over the ongoing process of negotiations and mediation. “There will be no blanket amnesty,” he said, adding that the leadership of the proscribed organisation would have to face the consequences of the deaths and violence linked to its movement. On Tuesday, a strike called by the JAAC continue...

The National Assembly on Tuesday passed the budget for the upcoming fiscal year during a session that saw the opposition staging a walkout. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb moved the bill for the House to approve the budget proposals for the next fiscal year after the opposition’s walkout. The walkout was preceded by a speech by NA Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who had criticised the government over several issues. His speech was not livestreamed on the NA’s social media platforms or on television channels, even after Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Sunday lifted longstanding curbs on the airing and dissemination of opposition members’ speeches. Later, Achakzai posted on X: “We have taken an oath to protect the Constitution of Pakistan. You have supported undemocratic forces in trampling the Constitution; through your vote, you have clipped the wings of the judiciary.” According to Achakzai, this excerpt was from his address in the NA, which was “censored”. Achakzai assails govt Sparks flew in the House a...

Following months of all-out conflict that began on February 28, 2026, the United States and Iran have transitioned to a de-escalation phase. On June 17, Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war, establishing a 60-day ceasefire extension to negotiate the final terms of a deal. Pakistan served as a key mediator throughout the process. Following the signing and despite a rocky start, the first round of high-level talks concluded in Bürgenstock, Switzerland on Monday, June 22, with the two sides agreeing on a roadmap towards a final deal within 60 days, along with communication lines to keep the Strait of Hormuz open and a deconfliction cell to end fighting in Lebanon. Mediators Pakistan and Qatar described the outcome as reflecting encouraging progress, with technical talks set to continue through the rest of the week at Bürgenstock. Most observers and experts describe the overall process as a considerable (if still fragile) breakthrough in one of...

The federal government has decided to introduce an installment facility for the payment of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) taxes on imported smartphones under the Finance Bill 2026–27.

Philippine authorities are rethinking school safety measures and looking to expand civil defence planning to cover gun violence, officials said on Tuesday, a day after a deadly attack at a high school shocked a nation where such incidents are rare. At least three students were killed and 20 others injured when two of their schoolmates, aged 15 and 14, opened fire at a public high school in Tacloban City, southeast of Manila, on Monday. The attackers used a 9mm Glock pistol and a 38-calibre revolver. The youngest among the injured was a 12-year-old. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has called for an investigation. “This will change how we prepare our schools for safety, not just for earthquakes,” senior civil defence official Rafaelito Alejandro told Reuters. “We need to fast-track preparedness, not only for natural disasters but also for human-induced, crime-related incidents.” The school, which has close to 2,000 students, was not prepared for such a situation, Lieutenant Evalyn Diaz, a police spokes...

STATE budgets mustn’t mirror boring finance ledgers that merely balance revenues and outlays. They must embody strong strategy scripts that show vividly how the state will drive progress. But reading ours is painful as one goes through over 100 unrelated petty measures that don’t add up to a gripping vision for progress. Clearly, progress isn’t a goal to pursue for our elite hybrid rulers but a prospect to fear, as it harms their dubious wealth and power. So, the new status quo federal budget makes the rich richer, the poor poorer, and the IMF and big lobbies happier. It defers yet again the state reforms and societal restructuring we urgently need to thrive. Our rulers dread them and so fail on most key aims of good budgets. The document meets the fiscal balance aim with a deficit target of 3.6 per cent of GDP (against 7-8pc till recently) but via heist and spin. It expropriates surpluses from meek provinces to force them to cut spending by nearly 20pc, mainly uplift funds. This effectively cuts their NFC sh...

The Punjab government has decided to install surveillance cameras in marriage halls, marquees, farmhouses and large food chains as part of a broader strategy to strengthen monitoring and improve tax enforcement.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has said that Sunday’s US-Iran talks in Switzerland were nearly “derailed” due to Israel’s continued attacks on Lebanon, it emerged on Tuesday. In an exclusive interview with Al Arabiya, which was recorded before the talks began, DPM Dar said, “The parlays starting in Switzerland could have started a few days earlier, but Israel’s attacks on Lebanon derailed and stopped everything.” At the outset of the interview, DPM Dar recalled Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts since the start of the conflict on February 28, recalling the Pakistan-mediated ceasefire followed by the talks in Islamabad in April. “Those parlays were the first time direct talks between the US and Iran after 47 years, and Pakistan was asked to be the witness,” DPM Dar said. He said that Pakistan’s continued efforts after the Islamabad talks culminated in the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 18. “You see, during this period, Pakistan has been … very active. Not on...

The most advanced artificial intelligence models (AI) are improving quickly enough to outsmart prevailing cybersecurity know-how within months, the Five Eyes spy agency alliance has warned. The risk posed by AI-enhanced hacking is in the spotlight, after US startup Anthropic said in April that its cutting-edge Mythos models had unprecedented abilities to find software vulnerabilities. The security agencies of Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand urged governments and businesses to act swiftly to prepare themselves as AI evolves. “The rapid pace of frontier AI development means cyber risk assumptions can become outdated in months, not years,” said a joint statement dated Monday. AI “lowers barriers for malicious actors and increases the speed and complexity of attacks”, the Five Eyes advisory said. “Breaches will occur. Preparedness helps you contain them quickly and prevent escalation into major operational and financial crises.” To improve cyber defences, organisations should integra...