Pakistan

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed the bail application of a teacher accused in a case involving the alleged sexual abuse of a minor student and directed the Punjab government to strengthen child protection mechanisms in schools across the province.

The Directorate General of Immigration and Passports has announced that all passport offices across the country will discontinue cash-based fee collection from July 1, 2026, replacing it with a fully digital payment system.

North Korean leader Kim Jong ‌Un said exercising the country’s position as a nuclear state is the only way to cope with an unpredictable and complicated global security situation, KCNA state news agency reported on Tuesday. “Unimaginable, astonishing incidents and events” are occurring because of the “gangster-like” greed of hegemonic forces, making confrontations around the world more ​violent, Kim said, blaming the US for worsening bloodshed in Europe and the Middle East. He was speaking at a ​Central Committee meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party, running from Saturday to Monday, KCNA said. Kim accused the US ⁠and South Korea of making the security situation on the Korean Peninsula more dangerous by steadily upgrading their combined nuclear posture, ​the only purpose of which, he said, is to attack North Korea. “To steadily expand and strengthen the nuclear forces … and to thoroughly ​exercise the position of a nuclear weapons state is the most correct and unique way to actively and confidently cope with t...

Meta has tapped Indian fintech founder Kunal Shah as the new head of WhatsApp, as the US tech giant seeks ways to monetise the messaging app’s massive user base. The announcement, made Monday night, was accompanied by news that Meta would also lead a $900 million funding round in Shah’s consumer finance firm CRED. “Kunal built CRED into one of India’s most important technology companies,” Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “He brings the kind of builder mentality and global perspective that will serve him well in running the world’s biggest messaging app.” Shah, a serial entrepreneur and influential figure in India’s fintech world, started CRED in 2018 after selling an earlier payments startup to Indian e-commerce giant Snapdeal for roughly $400 million. He is also one of India’s most prolific angel investors, according to data tracker Tracxn, with the local financial press often reporting how Shah agrees to seed funding pitches within minutes of hearing them. But over the last few years, Shah ha...

Mobile phone services were suspended in Quetta on Tuesday as authorities tightened security measures for the observance of the 7th of Muharram.

The Sindh government has announced that it will bear the medical expenses for those severely injured after a car crashed into a tent of mourners outside an imambargah in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA). A teenage girl died, while more than a dozen people were injured after a fast-moving vehicle crashed into a Muharram majlis at Masjid-o-Imambargah Baqiatullah on Sunday night. According to a post on the social media platform X by the Sindh Information Department on Tuesday, the health department has written separate letters to Aga Khan Hospital and South City Hospital. The letters informed the hospitals that the medical expenses of the “severely injured” would be borne by the government. The two hospitals were directed to submit the bills/vouchers to the government after treating the patients. According to the letter, the patients under treatment at Aga Khan hospital included Shabana Bibi, Mehnaz Bibi, Zunaira Fatima, Kousar Parveen, Bibi Irshad, Bibi Mumtaz, Iman Fatima and Fatima Maheen. Meanwhile,...

KARACHI: Raising serious concern over the rapid environmental degradation the metropolis has experienced in recent years, speakers at a conference held on Tuesday at Karachi University (KU) said that the city’s air quality index has reached alarming levels, seriously threatening public health. They questioned the authorities’ silence as the city continues to lose its trees to development projects and housing schemes. The event — Climate Matters Conference — was organised at KU’s Chinese Teachers Memorial Auditorium by the Institute of Environmental Studies (IES). The event, themed “inspired by nature, for climate, for our future”, was held in connection with World Environment Day. Experts say city’s air quality index has far exceeded WHO limits In his remarks, IES Director Dr Farrakh Nawaz regretted that while Pakistan was among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, “societal awareness and seriousness were almost non-existent”. Describing environmental pollution and the rapidly changing climate as ...

KABUL: The Taliban government’s morality police detained about 20 aid workers near the Iran-Afghanistan border beca­use their beards were not long enough, three sources from aid organisations said on Monday. The Taliban authorities in Kabul rule according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law and have said men must grow beards longer than a fist. The staff detained were working on Saturday near the Islam Qala border cro­ssing for organisations that cooperate with the United Nations, according to internal statements sha­red by two aid workers on condition of anonymity. The morality police arre­sted “national male staff members from UN implementing partner organisations at the Islam Qala Reception Centre due to trimmed or shaved bea­rds”, said one of the internal statements from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). Some of the aid workers were released the same day, while the rest were freed the following day, it said. The Propagation of Vir­tue and the Prevention of Vice Ministry (PVPV) did ...

NEW DELHI: Top Indian and Iranian security officials met in New Delhi on Monday, the foreign ministry said, as security chiefs gathered for a BRICS meeting that also included China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi. India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Iranian official Ghadir Nezamipour, a senior member of Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council, and discussed the “ongoing situation” in the Middle East, as well as India-Iran ties, the foreign ministry said. India has long maintained cordial ties with Iran but has had to carefully balance its relationship with the United States, especially during the recent weeks of conflict in the Middle East. India is heavily dependent on imported energy and its fuel supplies were hit hard during the US-Iran war. Russia, South Africa, Brazil round out summit presence Iran’s embassy in New Delhi said in a post on X that Nezamipour also met Wang, with whom he discussed the “implementation of the peace agreement” and expressed Tehran’s “appreciation for China’s politica...

• Adiala superintendent claims counsel deliberately avoided collecting signed ‘power of attorney’ document, accuses them of ‘misleading’ court • Daughter seeks action against jail staff for ‘mistreating’ Bushra Bibi ISLAMABAD: As political tensions deescalate in parliament, PTI interim chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan and Secretary General Salman Akram were among lawyers whose names had been shared with the Adiala jail administration for a meeting with former prime minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail on multiple charges since 2023. The list submitted by Awais Younas Chaudhry Advocate included the names of Barrister Gohar, Salman Akram Raja, Ali Zaman, Haider Majeed, Imran Khan Orakzai and Shamsa Kiyani. The jail administration was requested to allow them to meet the incarcerated party chief on Tuesday in line with the court orders. The list containing the names of Barrister Gohar and Salman Raja came after the PTI interim chairman said in parliament that he hoped that the recent handshake between oppos...

OUR STAFF REPORTER RAWALPINDI The Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Monday issued a show-cause notice to the Chief Executive Officer of Veteran Enclave Limited over alleged illegal marketing and sale of plots in an unapproved housing scheme in the Taxila area.

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MUHAMMAD SABRIN ATTOCK In a heart-warming initiative aimed at promoting social inclusion and raising awareness about thalassaemia, the district administration appointed a teenage girl living with the blood disorder as the honorary Deputy Commissioner of Attock for a day.

MUDASSIR RAJA RAWALPINDI Controller of Examinations Tanveer Asghar Awan conducted surprise visits to multiple examination centres across Fateh Jang, Pindi Gheb, Khour Company, Jand and Rawalpindi on Monday as part of ongoing monitoring to ensure transparency in ongoing board examinations.

SHIKARPUR/ISLAMABAD - At least eight people were killed and five others injured critically after an Alam (flag) touched 11,000-volt electricity transmission lines during a Muharram mourning procession in Budo Goth village of Sindh’s Shikarpur district.

ISLAMABAD - The coalition government with numerical strength is most likely to pass the federal budget 2026-27 today [Tuesday] in the National Assembly, though opposition benches are planning to stage protests.

ISLAMABAD - The federal government on Monday announced two-day public holidays across the country on June 25 and 26 (Thursday and Friday) to observe the 9th and 10th of Muharram-ul-Haram, 1448 A.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (DPM/FM), Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Monday announced the successful repatriation of eight Iranian fishermen who had been rescued at sea after their boat ran aground.

WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain this week as the Trump administration has stepped up efforts to end the war with Iran while Gulf countries remain uneasy about a proposed deal.

A 5.4-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Islamabad on Monday. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the earthquake was recorded at 3:22pm at a depth of 215 kilometres with the Hindu Kush region in Afghanistan as its epicentre. It was felt in Peshawar, Islamabad, Mansehra, Swat, Battagram, Abbottabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Mianwali, Multan and Potohar region, among other areas. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the Rescue 1122 spokesperson in KP directed the public to contact their helpline immediately in case of an emergency. No reports of loss of life or destruction of property have been received in Punjab so far, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) spokesperson said in a statement. Citizens have been asked to contact the PDMA Punjab helpline at 1129 for any assistance or information related to the earthquake. In April, an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 jolted Islamabad and KP. Earlier that month, the areas also felt tremors ...