Pakistan

Narcotics, gutka, mawa, weapons, stolen phones recovered

Technical fault causes heavy smoke inside moving Metro bus, one passenger injured

.

Sets up 12 cattle check posts, intensifies monitoring of Eidul Azha markets

PCA organises themed painting contest highlighting dignity, importance of women

.

.

Pakistan’s Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee is set to convene on Saturday to determine the sighting of the Zilhaj crescent moon, a decision that will also confirm the official date for Eidul Azha in the country.

LAHORE: Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar on Saturday said he saw “no indications” of the 28th Constitutional Amendment, but noted that whenever it is introduced, it would be discussed with coalition partners. Speaking to journalists after a conference on minority rights, Tarar clarified that constitutional amendments are not possible without consultation with coalition partners. He added that meetings with all stakeholders are underway, and several issues remain unresolved. Tarar elaborated that some issues need a solution, but there should be consensus on them. “Legislation is an ongoing process,” the law minister explained. He asserted that, in the case of the 28th Amendment, all coalition partners would first be taken into confidence. “The constitutional changes can be introduced, [but] only if an agreement is reached,” he added. He recalled that the 18th Amendment was also introduced with a consensus amongst political parties. To a query, Tarar revealed that the issues of population control and the creation...

Federal Minister for Railways Muhammad Hanif Abbasi held a meeting with delegations from Pakistan Railways Inqalabi Union, Open Line, Railway Workers Union Workshop, and Rail Mazdoor Ittehad.

President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing this week may have produced modest results by the standards of US-China summits but it highlighted a clear benefit for China: after the extremes of last year’s trade war, the countries have reverted to their familiar economic and strategic standoff. Two days of talks between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping underscored that even after Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs and the ensuing trade detente the two sides reached late last year, Washington and Beijing are still locked in the contest that Trump inherited when he started his second term. For the United States, that means that the most troubling aspects of the relationship — from what it considers Beijing’s mercantilist trade policies to its efforts to increase its military clout in the Indo-Pacific — remain largely unaddressed. But for Xi it offers some breathing room and a return to a more predictable set of challenges. He appeared to describe the change this week with a new framework for the countries’ relatio...

A collision between a freight train and a bus killed at least eight people and injured more than 30 in the Thai capital Bangkok on Saturday, police said. Firefighters and rescue workers cordoned off the collision site, with investigators seen peering into the burnt-out shell of the bus. Pedestrians were ushered away from the busy downtown intersection, which is used by tens of thousands of vehicles each day. Forensic officers investigate the site of a train collision with a bus (back) underneath Makkasan Airport Rail station in Bangkok on May 16, 2026. —AFP “Eight people have died and 35 others were injured,” Bangkok police chief Urumporn Koondejsumrit told AFP, updating the number of injured from previous reports. The collision happened early in the afternoon, with images on social media showing the train approaching a level crossing at a moderate speed before colliding with the bus, which instantly burst into flames. “The fire is now out and we are trying to recover the bodies,” Urumporn said. The flames ap...

The National Disaster Management Authority has predicted rain, windstorms, and possible hailstorms in different parts of Punjab between May 19 and 22.

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Saturday for an important visit taking place amid the deadlock in negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Muhammad Ishaq Dar visited the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hujwiri (RA), popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, here on Saturday, where he offered Fateha, and prayed for the security and prosperity of the country as well as the unity of the Muslim Ummah.

Hamas’s armed wing chief Ezzedine Al-Haddad was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza the previous day, the Israeli military and Hamas confirmed on Saturday. The Israeli military and intelligence services have waged an extensive campaign targeting the group’s senior political leaders and commanders in Gaza and across the region. On Friday, the Israeli military said it had carried out an airstrike in Gaza targeting Haddad and confirmed his death on Saturday. “The IDF and the ISA announce that yesterday, in a precise strike in the area of the City of Gaza, Ezzedine Al-Haddad was eliminated,” the military said, referring to itself and the Shin Bet domestic security agency. Two Hamas officials also told AFP that Haddad had been killed in an Israeli strike. “Senior commander… Ezzedine Al-Haddad was assassinated in an Israeli strike targeting a residential apartment and a civilian vehicle in Gaza yesterday,” one senior Hamas official said. A member of Hamas’s armed wing separately confirmed his death. Haddad was kill...

Soaring diesel prices since the onset of the Iran war are draining already tight US school district budgets, making it more expensive to bus students and run generators in a shock officials say they will not be able to afford for long. School districts from Yakima, Washington to Waco, Texas are tapping emergency funding reserves to keep buses running. In remote Alaska, officials are scrambling to secure enough fuel to keep the lights on, according to Reuters interviews. “It’s more than a straw on the camel’s back, it’s like a haystack,” said Yakima Superintendent Trevor Greene. The stress reflects one of many knock-on impacts of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has disrupted the flow of around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies. Since the war started in late February, fuel prices have posted one of their most rapid climbs on record. The spike has upended economies around the globe. It has caused enough pain in the US to be a political liability for President Donald Trump ahead of November mid-term elections...

As United States President Donald Trump showered ​praise on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, the CEOs of several US aviation, commodities, technology, and finance conglomerates looked to ‌advance their business interests by meeting the heads of powerful Chinese regulators and ministries. These include GE Aerospace, Boeing, Qualcomm, Cargill, Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, who held talks with the leading officials of Chinese government agencies such as the commerce ministry, state planner, securities regulator, and central bank, according to official government statements and state-backed media reports published on Friday and Saturday. The US ​executives travelled to Beijing as part of the business delegation Trump brought to China. They stood behind Trump’s cabinet on Thursday morning as they ​were each introduced to Xi, and later in the evening mingled with Chinese officials and businesspeople at a state banquet. The executives ⁠are hoping the political goodwill generated by the bonhomie be...

A looming 18-day strike at South Korean chip giant Samsung that has triggered worries within the government, rattled foreign investors and threatened global supply chains rests on one crucial question: who should share in the spoils of the AI boom? More than 45,000 workers are threatening to stage the largest strike in the conglomerate’s history from May 21, reducing production of memory chips that are crucial components in AI data centres, smartphones and laptops, as Samsung and its union struggle to find a compromise over bonus payouts. Samsung Electronics, which has reaped huge profits from a global memory shortage, has offered to pay generous bonuses to staff. But it wants to give 27,000 memory chip employees at least six times more than its other workers in its logic chip design and manufacturing businesses. Samsung Electronics labour union members chant slogans during a protest against company’s compensation levels ahead of a planned lengthy strike in front of Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant in ...

Former chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), A.