Pakistan

Khudmukhtar Khatoon facility targets MSMEs underserved by formal banks

Footwear, bags taxed on notional retail prices instead of actual transaction values

KSE-100 sheds 451 points as profit-taking erases early rally

Tata Electronics detects cyberattack after hackers claim

KHYBER: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police on Monday announced the recovery of a foreign citizen and her children from a house in Bara after allegations of domestic abuse and physical torture inflicted by her husband, who was also taken into custody. On June 18, in a written complaint submitted to the Khyber district police officer (DPO), the complainant claimed that she and her children had been living in an extremely difficult situation for the last 12 years as her husband had been subjecting them to domestic abuse and physical torture. The complainant alleged that her husband had deprived her and her children of freedom and was not fulfilling his legitimate duties as a caring husband and father. “He beats us and puts pressure on our lives on a daily basis. We have scars on our faces and other parts of our bodies due to his violent outbursts,” she alleged. The complainant appealed to the police to register a criminal case against her husband, after which the police filed a First Information Report the same ...

First Lady Bibi Aseefa Bhutto Zardari has said that the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) stands as a lasting reflection of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s vision to provide support and opportunities to vulnerable segments of society.

An anti-terrorism court in Quetta has found Mahrang Baloch, chief organiser of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, and another group leader guilty in a case involving the death of a security personnel during a protest in Gwadar in 2024 that turned violent. ATC Quetta-1 Judge Muhammad Ali Mobeen heard the case pertaining to the death of a Frontier Corps (FC) personnel who died as a result of injuries received from a mob pelting stones. BYC’s Mahrang, Sibghatullah Shahji and others were nominated in the case. After completing the hearing, the court announced the verdict on Monday, handing life sentences to Mahrang and Sibghatullah, the former’s lawyer Israr Jattak told the media. A written verdict is yet to be released. “The judge of the ATC Quetta has awarded a life term to Mahrang Baloch and Sibghatullah Shah Ji in the murder case of FC personnel,” Jattak said. While the exact details of the case are unclear, BYC protesters had clashed with security personnel in Gwadar on July 29, 2024 as the organisation gathered...

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.

Alan Greenspan, hailed as the greatest Federal Reserve chairman when he retired in 2006 but derided for a severe financial crisis that followed barely two years later, died on Monday aged 100, NBC News reported. Greenspan, who exerted a powerful influence on the US economy during his tenure at the helm of the Fed from August 1987 to January 2006, died at his home from complications of Parkinson’s disease, NBC reported, citing his wife, Andrea Mitchell, who is the outlet’s chief Washington correspondent. Greenspan oversaw the second-longest economic expansion in US history, an uninterrupted decade of growth from March 1991 to March 2001. His decision to let the economy run — despite pressure to raise interest rates against an inflation threat that never materialised — helped foster years of US prosperity and earned him rock star status as an economic “maestro”. The era was marked by his prescient judgment that a productivity surge in the mid-1990s would keep inflation contained. His intuition in that moment is...

The federal and Sindh governments on Monday announced public holidays on June 25 (Thursday) and 26 (Friday) on account of Ashura. In a notification dated June 22, the Cabinet Secretariat said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has declared Muharram 9 and 10, falling on June 25-26, as public holidays. Meanwhile, the Sindh Information Department also issued a notification to this effect on social media platform X. The notification, issued by Sindh’s chief secretary, said. “The government of Sindh, hereby declares June 25 and 26, 2026 as public holidays throughout the province of Sindh, on the occasion of Ashura (Muharram 9 and 10, 1448 A.H).” It added that all offices, autonomous bodies, semi-autonomous bodies, corporations and local councils under the administrative control of the government of Sindh, except essential services, would remain closed. Muharram is a month of mourning, observed in particular by Shia Muslims worldwide. It commemorates the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD, where, amongst many, the grandso...

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Monday called on the government to eliminate the interest-based financial system, saying that authorities are not serious about implementing constitutional and judicial directives on abolishing riba.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has finalised a comprehensive security plan for the observance of Ashura (9th and 10th Muharram) across the province, including suspension and partial suspension of mobile phone services in selected areas to ensure law and order.

The prosecution has returned the initial investigation report in the Gul Plaza fire case to Karachi Police, citing significant shortcomings in the probe and directing investigators to collect additional evidence before resubmitting the challan.

All eyes were on Burgenstock over the weekend as high-level delegations from the United States, Iran, Qatar and Pakistan descended upon the idyllic Swiss hamlet to iron out the details of the Islamabad Memorandum. The US team of Vice President JD Vance, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, came face-to-face with the Iranian team comprising chief negotiator and parliamentary speaker, Bagher Ghalibaf, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in a rare meeting outside of Islamabad. The talks were hosted and mediated by the Pakistani team of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Asim Munir, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, along with a Qatari delegation led by Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. The media circus unfolding above Lake Lucerne managed to capture moments from the historic talks that would otherwise never have been...

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday for a brief one-day visit, according to media reports citing diplomatic sources.

The Gilgit-Baltistan Assembly is scheduled to meet on Monday to elect its speaker, deputy speaker and leader of the house after 30 newly elected lawmakers took oath in the inaugural session.

The Indian government is in talks with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to sell some of its flagship defence systems, including the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos, four Indian sources said, as the Gulf nation steps up arms procurement following the war in the Middle East. The discussions, which have not been previously reported, include the potential sale of India’s air defence system Akashteer, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. “The UAE has shown interest for a number of our weapon systems, including BrahMos and Akashteer. The talks between India and the UAE are at initial stages and are progressing fast,” said a third source with direct knowledge of the matter. Indian officials and the UAE foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment. BrahMos, jointly developed by India and Russia, is among the world’s fastest cruise missiles and can be launched from land, sea and air platforms, while Akashteer is a fully automated air defence system developed by India’s state-run Bh...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday expressed Pakistan’s continued commitment to play an “honest and sinere” role in advancing dialogue in what were his first remarks after the conclusion of a high-level meeting between the United States and Iran under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding aimed at ending the Middle East conflict. In a post on X, PM Shehbaz expressed satisfaction at the “successful conclusion” of the meeting held in Switzerland’s Burgenstock. The premier stated that the discussions were held in a “positive and constructive atmosphere and yielded encouraging progress,” which included a roadmap towards the final deal within 60 days, the establishment of a high-level committee for political oversight and the commencement of further technical talks. PM Shehbaz commended the leadership of both the US and Iran for “continued commitment to constructive engagement”. He also expressed thanks for “all brotherly and friendly countries for their valuable support in advancing this historic process...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to return to Pakistan on Monday after participating in the latest round of talks between Iran and the United States aimed at finding a lasting resolution to tensions in the Middle East.

Oil prices declined on Monday after US-Iran talks concluded in Switzerland with Tehran saying it had secured waivers for oil and petrochemical exports, easing worries about a supply shortage in global markets. Brent crude fell $1.68, or 2.09 per cent, to $78.89 a barrel by 0633 GMT (11:33am PKT). Prices had climbed to $82.30 at the start of trading, fuelled by a bumpy start to the talks with threats from US President Donald Trump to restart the war on Iran and Tehran’s announcement it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $76 a barrel, down 60 cents, ahead of the contract’s expiry later on Monday. The more active August contract fell 69 cents to $75.16 a barrel. There was no settlement in the US market on Friday due to a holiday. “The decline has been driven primarily by improving prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough between the United States and Iran … reviving hopes that sanctions on Iran could eventually be eased,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, founder of SS W...