Pakistan

Funding shortfall leaves hospitals with outstanding medicine liabilities of Rs2.2b

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Alliance seeks 50% salary and pension increase in Budget 2026-27

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Gives go ahead to Rs11.19b Karachi infrastructure projects

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Warns against continued restrictions on access to Imran

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ISLAMABAD: Aleema Khan, sister of incarcerated former premier Imran Khan, on Tuesday said that the only acceptable “deal” would be the restoration of an independent judiciary and the holding of free and fair elections in the country, as authorities once again denied her a meeting with her brother. Speaking to the media outside Adiala Jail, Aleema said it was their constitutional right to meet Imran. She vowed to continue visiting Adiala, saying it was the only way to exert pressure on the “powers that be”. “The family of Imran and party leaders will continue efforts for an independent judiciary and a free media,” she emphasised. Replying to a question regarding rumours of a meeting between the PTI founder and a former military chief, she rejected such claims, terming them politically motivated. “No such meeting has taken place, and such rumours are circulated whenever political temperatures rise.” Aleema said that she had earlier asked PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Khan about reports of a meeting with Interior...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi has said that no one can remove him from office except PTI founder Imran Khan, asserting that he was appointed by the party leadership and enjoys the support of PTI lawmakers.

Ambassador of Turkiye to Pakistan Dr Irfan Naziroglu called on Faisal Karim Kundi in Islamabad on Tuesday and discussed measures to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.

Pak-China cooperation enters tech, industrialisation phase

After reports of the murder of four Pakistani farmers in Italy, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday that the “exact nationality” of the deceased was not confirmed yet. The FO’s statement came hours after Corriere della Sera daily reported that Italian police had arrested two Pakistani nationals for the murder of four Pakistani farm workers found dead in a burnt-out minivan in southern Italy. The FO said that while the deceased individuals were reported to be Pakistanis, their “exact nationality” was not confirmed yet. It added that the matter was being investigated by local police, who were also carrying out forensics. “The Pakistani embassy in Italy is following up on the matter and is in touch with local authorities regarding further developments,” the FO said. According to Corriere della Sera, the burnt-out vehicle with four bodies was found at a petrol station near the village of Amendolara in a vast farming area in the Calabria region. CCTV images from the petrol station showed two people blocking th...

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has returned over Rs6 billion to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in a multi-billion-rupee fraud case in Upper Kohistan. An inquiry authorised by NAB in April 2024 revealed large-scale misappropriation of public funds in Upper Kohistan. Investigators established that more than Rs37bn had been embezzled through manipulation of treasury instruments and misuse of official financial procedures over nearly a decade. The funds were recovered following an extensive investigation by NAB’s KP director general and a Combined Investigation Team (CIT). At a ceremony, NAB Chairman Lt-Gen (retd) Nazir Ahmad formally handed over the recovered funds to the KP chief secretary, marking the first phase of a broader recovery process. The assets handed over to the provincial government include cash holdings, precious metals, high-value commercial and residential properties and luxury vehicles identified during the investigation. Addressing the ceremony, the NAB chief praised th...

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday dramatically scaled back the number of suspected Ebola cases in central Africa to 116, down from more than 900 previously, with 330 cases now confirmed. As of May 31, the WHO said 116 suspected cases of the deadly virus had been registered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — down from 906 late last week. Some 321 cases have now been confirmed in the DRC, including 48 deaths, while nine confirmed cases have been registered in neighbouring Uganda, including one fatality. While some suspected cases have been confirmed, many more “have been cleared out” from the data after having been shown to have other diseases with similar early symptoms or an unlinked fever, said WHO spokesman Christian Lindmeier. He stressed that “anybody who gets picked up by surveillance or presents themselves in a health facility with any symptoms that could be Ebola-like” is counted as a suspected case in the outbreak, pending testing. The outbreak was declared on May 15 in conflict-...