Pakistan

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif arrived at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Sunday to a warm reception from senior Japanese government officials and members of the diplomatic corps, according to a handout issued by the information department here.

LAHORE - Senate Chairman Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has said that Pakistan successfully defended its sovereignty with courage, wisdom, and national unity, while earning international recognition for its military and diplomatic achievements.

ISLAMABAD - At least one passenger was killed and several others were injured when four bogies of the Awam Express, traveling from Lahore to Karachi derailed near Lodhran Railway Station in wee hours of Sunday.

Also questions restoration of jirga system after seven years of tribal areas’ merger with KP.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed all departments including district administrations, PDMA, Police and Rescue 1122, to remain on high alert and take precautionary measures in view of possible torrential rains across the province.

SAHIWAL / NAROWAL / OKARA / DERA GHAZI KHAN: Villages near the river banks of the Sutlej, Ravi and Indus are at risk of flooding due to the increasing water levels, whereas local administrations have started taking precautionary measures in adjoining areas. The Baein and Auj drains at the river Ravi have started overflowing, and hundreds of acres of land have been submerged. Land erosion is being reported near Chak Jamil, Fatehpur, Shahpur and Chanjhora villages due to the floodwater. Water level in Ravi has risen from 12,000 cusecs to 51,400 cusecs. Meanwhile, Rescue 1122 rescued 68 people trapped in the floodwater due to flooding in the rain drain flowing into the Shakargarh tehsil. Of these, eight citizens were trapped near village Dinpur and 60 were rescued near village Sikmal. The local administration has setup 15 flood relief camps on the banks of River and its rainwater drains. Narowal Deputy Commissioner Syed Hassan Raza said that the situation on the banks of Ravi and its rain drains was under contro...

Words popularised by Gen Z and Gen Alpha, including “skibidi”, “delulu”, and “tradwife” are among 6,000 new entries to the online edition of the Cambridge Dictionary over the last year, its publisher said on Monday. Cambridge University Press said tradwife, a portmanteau of traditional wife, reflected “a growing, controversial Instagram and TikTok trend that embraces traditional gender roles”. The dictionary also took on the challenge of defining skibidi, a word popularised in online memes, as a term which had “different meanings, such as cool or bad, or can be used with no real meaning”. The gibberish word was spread by a YouTube channel called “Skibidi Toilet” and is associated with the mindless, “brain rot” content found on social media and consumed by Gen Alpha’s overwhelmingly digital lifestyle. The dictionary defined delulu, derived from the word delusional, as “believing things that are not real or true, usually because you choose to”. As an example, it cited a 2025 speech in parliament where Australia...

ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has set up four specialized benches to exclusively hear financial and commercial cases, in a move aimed at ensuring speedy adjudication of such matters.

GUJRAT - Punjab Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chaudhry Shafay Hussain, visited Gujrat and participated in a prize distribution ceremony held under the Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Development Program at the Aden IT Center.

NAROWAL: Pakistan Railway police have registered a case against 14 unidentified youths for harassing and torturing a woman and her children aboard the Lasani Express. A complaint registered with the Lahore Pakistan Railway police, Razia Sultan, resident of Fateh Ali Colony of Narowal, said that she boarded the Lasani Express passenger train with her daughters and son to travel to Narowal from Lahore. She alleged that two boys, aged between 20 and 22, started harassing her daughters. She said that when she and her son tried to stop them from molesting her daughters, they attacked her son. She said other passengers intervened and saved her son. However, she alleged that as soon as the train stopped at the Narang Mandi railway station, around 10 to 12 boys came and attacked her and her children. She said that they punched and kicked them and they were helpless because of the sudden attack. She said that on hearing their screams, passengers in the train rescued them from the youths. An FIR was registered against ...

At least 657 people have lost their lives and 929 others sustained injuries in rain-related incidents across Pakistan since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Security forces have arrested a key terrorist commander in Quetta who was working as a university lecturer, sources said on Monday.

Several parts of the city received light drizzle on Monday, offering brief relief from the prevailing humid weather.

• At least 323 dead, 150 missing in the province; PM orders ministers to supervise KP relief efforts • 657 lives lost nationwide since June 26; NDMA warns of more rain spells next month • Food shortages, lack of utilities take hold as parts of GB remain cut off • Flows in Punjab rivers subside to ‘low flood’ levels PESHAWAR/ISLAM­ABAD: With more than 150 people feared missing, the recent catastrophic floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have claimed at least 323 lives, provincial authorities said on Sunday, as the nationwide toll from rain-related incidents since late-June rose to 657. As another two to three waves of heavy rain are expected in early September, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed members of his federal cabinet to personally supervise relief operations in the worst-hit KP province. Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director General Asfandyar Khattak said that as per details collected by revenue staff in the Buner and Shan...

Air Canada’s fleet of hundreds of planes remained grounded on Monday morning after striking flight attendants refused a government-backed order to get back to work and called on the airline to return to the bargaining table. The carrier, which normally carries 130,000 people daily and is part of the global Star Alliance of airlines, had planned to start ramping up operations on Sunday evening, after a labour relations board ordered the union to return to work and start binding arbitration. The union said no, setting up an almost unprecedented standoff with the Canadian government, which had requested the back-to-work order. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents 10,000 Air Canada cabin crew, had pushed for a negotiated solution, saying binding arbitration would take pressure off the airline. The attendants are striking for better wages and to be paid for work on the ground, such as boarding passengers. They are currently only paid when planes are moving, sparking some vocal support from Cana...

ISLAMABAD: A multiparty conference (MPC) on Sunday declared that past internal and foreign policies are responsible for the current instability and terrorism plaguing Pakis­tan, particularly in the Khyber Pakht­unkhwa and Balochistan provinces. The conference, organised by the Awami National Party (ANP), asserted that peace and development are not possible without democracy, the supremacy of the constitution, and granting rights to the provinces. Although 20 political parties atten­ded the conference, the PTI was absent. According to ANP sources, the PTI was invited to the conference, but no prominent leader from the party attended it on Sunday. Attendees included Senator Aimal Wali Khan, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, PML-N’s Irfan Siddiqui and PPP’s Nayyer Bukhari, among others. Calls for an end to military operations in KP, Balochistan In a joint declaration, the participants condemned all forms of terrorism and extremism, which they alleged were a result of past policies, and stressed the need for new...

• 120,000 connections for LNG-based piped supply planned in first year • Move comes amid push to address continuing glut in gas network ISLAMABAD: The government is almost set to allow new gas connections at the price of imported LNG — around Rs3,900 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) at the current rate — and almost four times the current connection fee. Sources told Dawn that a summary has been moved by the petroleum division to the federal cabinet for lifting the ban on new connections, with a first-year target of 120,000. Priority would be given to applicants who had previously been issued demand notices or had paid the urgent fee but could not get connections because of a subsequent ban. The number of new connections would be enhanced for next year. Around 250,000 applicants fall in this category, who would have to file affidavits not to approach the courts for their past claims and the connection fee increase. Before the ban, consumers were allowed to pay an upfront fee of Rs25,000 to secure a con...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said the government is working on a priority basis to digitalise the economy and shift financial transactions to a cashless and digital system. Chairing a review meeting on cashless economy in Islamabad on Sunday, he directed all the provincial chief secretaries to fully cooperate with the federal government in expanding the Raast digital payment system to the district level. The prime minister expr­essed satisfaction over the progress made towards a cashless economy and digital financial systems. The meeting was briefed that Pakistan will develop digital public infrastructure to create digital IDs for every citizen, integrating national identity cards, biometrics and mobile numbers. These digital IDs will enable secure and efficient payments. It was further said that the provincial governments have shown significant progress in linking government-to-public and public-to-government payments with the Raast system. The meeting was info­rmed that the federal developme...

A Lahore magistrate on Sunday dismissed the case against transgender persons for allegedly organising an “objectionable” private party after police had arrested them earlier. According to the court order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the case was dismissed after “no incriminating material is available on record which connects the accused persons with the commission of alleged offences. “Hence, the request of 10 days for physical remand of the accused persons is hereby turned down, and the accused persons present in the court are hereby discharged in this case.” The order added that no private witness of the occurrence was associated during the raid, nor were any statements taken. “Moreover, no permission for making a raid is attached with the file on a private place. Prima facie, it seems that the accused persons were included in the case on the basis of forged and concocted facts,” the order said. Lawyer Haider Butt represented the accused in the case. He confirmed to Dawn.com that all the acc...

Actors, writers and cricketers amplify voices of those left voiceless by disaster