Pakistan

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Sunday said Pakistan was making rapid progress on the economic, foreign relations and military fronts, economy had achieved stability and now the country would move towards economic growth and progress.

With many medical stores lacking qualified pharmacists, unsafe drugs are openly sold across the province

.

Balochistan food department missteps, corruption deepen shortages

Union warns shutdown of schools, offices if demands ignored

Russia launched hundreds of drones and missiles at Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine early on Sunday, killing at least four people and injuring dozens, in one of the most sustained attacks on the capital since the full-scale war began. Neighbouring Poland closed its airspace near two southeastern cities and its air force scrambled jets in response until the danger had passed. Ukraine’s military said that Russia launched 595 drones and 48 missiles overnight and its air defences shot down 568 drones and 43 missiles. It noted that the main target of the strike was the capital Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attack, which lasted more than 12 hours, damaged a cardiology clinic, factories and residential buildings. Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday it had carried out a “massive” attack on Ukraine using long-range air and sea-based weapons and drones to target military infrastructure, including airfields. Moscow has denied targeting civilians in its war against Ukraine, although thousands have been ...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has commended Germany’s assistance in modern agricultural technology, green technology and forestry development.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed on Sunday the hope for “encouraging” outcomes of US President Donald Trump’s meeting with Muslim leaders in Washington earlier this week where the American head of the state presented his plan to end Israel’s invasion of Gaza. “We fully participated in the meeting on Gaza, and God willing, its encouraging results will come out soon,” he said, flanked by Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar while addressing overseas Pakistanis at the High Commission in London. According to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan, he also said that Pakistan was also part of Trump-led efforts to bring peace to Palestine and end oppression against the people of Gaza. The premier also expressed distress over the situation in Gaza, which has been subjected to Israeli onslaught since October 2023, and prayed that the cruelty and barbarity being witnessed there ends soon. Trump’s meeting with Muslim leaders on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York had brought together leaders fro...

Security sources confirmed Sunday that Muhammad Ihsani, alias Anwaar, a senior commander of the banned Daesh-K, was killed in Afghanistan’s Mazar-i-Sharif.

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have reaffirmed that access to information is a fundamental democratic right of every citizen.

The United Nations has reinstated an arms embargo and other sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme following a process triggered by European powers that Tehran has warned will be met with a harsh response. Britain, France and Germany initiated the return of sanctions on Iran at the UN Security Council over accusations it had violated a 2015 deal that aimed to stop it from developing a nuclear bomb. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. The end of the decade-long nuclear deal originally agreed by Iran, Britain, Germany, France, the United States, Russia and China is likely to exacerbate tensions in the Middle East, just months after Israel and the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites. UN sanctions imposed by the Security Council in resolutions adopted between 2006 and 2010 were reinstated at 8pm EDT on Saturday. Attempts to delay the return of all sanctions on Iran failed on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN this week. “We urge Iran and all states to abide fully by these resoluti...

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday said it had foiled an attempt to send citizens abroad for hefty bribes and arrested two of its own personnel posted at Islamabad International Airport. According to an FIA statement, the action was taken on the instructions of the director of the agency’s Islamabad Zone during a surprise inspection of the immigration staff under the supervision of Deputy Director (Immigration) Salman Liaquat. The statement read that an assistant sub-inspector and a constable were taken into custody while on duty “after they were found using mobile phones”, which the immigration staff are prohibited from carrying during duty. Their phones were searched on suspicion, and “important evidence related to illegal immigration” was recovered. The FIA reported that according to initial investigation, the two men were in “contact with passengers and agents” and “charging Rs50,000 per person to send citizens to the Philippines and Uzbekistan”. Records of transactions amounting to “million...

Pakistan has called India a “regional bully” at the United Nations General Assembly after an Indian diplomat referred to the country as “terroristan,” the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Sunday. Ties between Pakistan and India have long been fraught, with four wars fought since independence. Earlier this year, a brief but intense military escalation erupted after India launched air strikes in Pakistan over the Pehalgam attack in occupied Kashmir, which killed more than two dozen people. Pakistan denied involvement, and the crisis eased following US intervention. Since then, relations have become exceedingly sour between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. The spat unfolded during the fifth day (Sept. 27) of the 80th UNGA session in New York, where exchanges turned heated in the absence of the usual prime ministerial face-off. The sharpest blows came in the Right of Reply, with Indian representative Rentala Srinivas branding Pakistan a terrorist state, declaring: “No arguments or untruths can ever...

The district administration on Sunday released its daily dengue surveillance report, confirming 36 new cases across the capital in the last 24 hours and teams inspected 265 sites, with six locations testing positive for larvae.

China has once again affirmed its unwavering support and friendship with Pakistan by extending timely humanitarian assistance for the flood-affected people.

Vietnam closed airports and evacuated thousands of people in areas under storm threat on Sunday, as intensifying Typhoon Bualoi barrelled towards the country, days after causing at least 10 deaths and widespread flooding in the Philippines. The typhoon was generating winds of up to 133 km/h (83 mph) as of 1000 GMT (3pm PKT) and is forecast to make landfall in central Vietnam around 0100 on Monday, slowing as it nears the coast, state-run Thanh Nien newspaper reported. “This is a rapidly moving storm - nearly twice the average speed - with strong intensity and a broad area of impact,” the national weather forecast agency said. “It is capable of triggering multiple natural disasters simultaneously, including powerful winds, heavy rainfall, flooding, flash floods, landslides, and coastal inundation.” Northern and central provinces may see up to 600 mm of rain through October 1, with rivers rising by 9 meters and risks of flooding and landslides, it said. Authorities in the central province of Ha Tinh have starte...

The controversy surrounding the supposed inclusion of columnist and social media activist Shama Junejo in Pakistan’s delegation to the United Nations this week took a new turn on Sunday when she claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had included her among the delegates as an adviser. The controversy had surfaced when photos from Defence Minister Khawaja Asif’s address at a UN Security Council session on artificial intelligence (AI) spread like wildfire on social media platform X, with users pointing to Junejo sitting in the background. Several of them also shared screenshots from her Twitter (now X) timeline from several years ago, expressing support for Israel — a position sharply at odds with Pakistan’s longstanding pro-Palestinian stance. After social media furore, Asif said on X that only the Foreign Office could explain Junejo’s presence at the session. Later, the FO clarified that she had not been part of Pakistan’s accredited delegation. Following that, Asif also spoke about the matter on Geo News...

Former domestic player and administrator Mithun Manhas was unanimously elected on Sunday as president of India’s cricket board, the sport’s most powerful national body. Manhas was the only nominee to be chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and was appointed after the board’s annual general meeting in Mumbai. Rajeev Shukla was elected as vice-president, while Devajit Saikia will stay on as secretary, the BCCI said in a statement. Manhas, 45, never played for India but turned to the game’s administration after his first-class playing career ended. He replaces India’s former World Cup-winner Roger Binny, who quit in August after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70. Cricket’s massive popularity in India has helped the BCCI become by far the wealthiest of all of the sport’s boards, netting massive money from sponsorship and TV deals. Manhas’ rise has apparently been backed by India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was chosen at a key meeting in New Delhi last week that was als...

Pakistan’s bilateral trade with Central Asian states, along with Afghanistan and Azerbaijan, rose sharply to $2.

At least three young boys were killed and five others injured when explosive shells left behind by Khawarij militants detonated in Bajaur’s Mamund Tehsil.