Pakistan

Lando Norris trimmed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri’s lead in the drivers’ world championship to just nine points on Sunday when he switched tactics to lead him home by just 0.698 seconds in a thrilling finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The 25-year-old Briton, who moved from a two-stop strategy to one stop, held off series leader Piastri, on fresher tyres, over the closing laps of a strategic contest to claim McLaren’s 200th victory and their record 13th win in Hungary. It was Norris’s first win at the Hungaroring in the event’s 40th race, avenging his ‘team orders’ defeat in 2024 when Piastri claimed his maiden success, his fifth victory of the season and the ninth of his career. The dominant McLaren pair finished 22 seconds clear of third-placed George Russell of Mercedes, with polesitter Charles Leclerc of Ferrari fourth, grumbling at the Italian team’s poor planning after he slipped out of the leading position. “I wasn’t planning to do a one-stop,” said Norris. “But it was the only option to get back in...

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Violators to be evicted, fined, booked

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128 more traced abroad; key murder suspect nabbed in Spain

Case registered under Section 155-C of the Police Order 2002

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A top aide to United States President Donald Trump on Sunday accused India of effectively financing Russia’s war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, after the US leader escalated pressure on New Delhi to stop buying Russian oil. “What he (Trump) said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” said Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House and one of Trump’s most influential aides. Miller’s criticism was some of the strongest yet by the Trump administration about one of the United States’ major partners in the Indo-Pacific. “People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil. That’s an astonishing fact,” Miller said on Fox News programme ‘Sunday Morning Futures’. The Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Indian government sources told Reuters on Saturday that New Delhi will keep purchasing oil from Moscow despite US threats....

Experts from various professions assailed systemic injustice in Pakistan on Sunday, stressing the need for legal and civil institutions to be supportive and have a holistic approach. The observations came during a plenary session of the Imagining Futures Conference, taking place at Karachi’s Habib University from August 1-4, where subject experts and stakeholders discussed human rights and civil liberties in Pakistan. As the session, brimming with participants of all ages, began exploring Pakistan’s legal landscape, National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) Chairperson Rabiya Javeri highlighted: “Knowledge is capital.” However, she stressed, people should be aware of their rights but the “system is messed up”. Responding to a query from the audience about whether knowledge really guaranteed protection if women such as ex-premier Benazir Bhutto and Noor Mukadam could be murdered, Javeri pointed out: “Empowerment through education or skills needs to be integrated into systems […] educational, financial, judic...

Indian filmmakers are locking up the rights to movie titles that can profit from the patriotism fanned by a four-day conflict with Pakistan, which killed more than 70 people. The nuclear-armed rivals exchanged artillery, drone and air strikes in May, after India blamed Pakistan for an armed attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. The fighting came to an end when US President Donald Trump announced a surprise ceasefire. Now, some Bollywood filmmakers see an opportunity to cash in on the battle. India tagged its military action against Pakistan “Operation Sindoor”, the Hindi word for vermilion, which married Hindu women wear on their foreheads. The name was seen as a symbol of Delhi’s determination to avenge those widowed in the April 22 attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which sparked the hostilities. Film studios have registered a slew of titles evoking the operation, including: Mission Sindoor, Sindoor: The Revenge, The Pahalgam Terror and Sindoor Operation. A rickshaw moves past a banner of the Bollyw...

The former prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi, was arrested on Sunday over violations of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO), a police official told Dawn.com. Niazi in 2022 tendered his resignation from his office to defuse the move by his parliamentary party, the PTI, to replace him with regional president Sardar Tanveer Ilyas through a vote of no-confidence. The MPO law in Pakistan allows authorities to detain individuals without trial for up to 90 days to prevent threats to public peace and safety. Mirpur Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Dr Liaqat Ali told Dawn.com that Niazi was arrested under Section 16 (dissemination of rumours) of the MPO. “Under the orders of the Mirpur deputy commissioner, he was arrested under Section 16 of the MPO,” the DIG said. “He is being held at the industrial area guest house in Mirpur, which has been declared a sub-jail,” he said. The Mirpur DIG added that plainclothes policemen from Islamabad came to detain the ex-P...

The tariffs United States President Donald Trump imposed last week on scores of countries are likely to stay in place rather than be cut as part of continuing negotiations, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Sunday. Ahead of a Friday deadline, Trump set rates including a 35 per cent duty on many goods from Canada, 50pc for Brazil, 25pc for India, 20pc for Taiwan and 39pc for Switzerland, according to a presidential executive order. In trade talks since Trump returned to office, the White House has lowered some rates from levels initially announced, including halving import duties set last week as part of a deal with the European Union. Greer told CBS’s ‘Face the Nation’ on Sunday, however, that this would not be the case on the most recent round of tariffs. “A lot of these are set rates pursuant to deals. Some of these deals are announced, some are not, others depend on the level of the trade deficit or surplus we may have with the country,” he said. “These tariff rates are pretty much set.” Greer al...

The inaugural flight carrying 100 metric tons of essential relief items for marooned Palestinians is set to depart from Islamabad International Airport on Sunday evening as all logistical and operational arrangements have been finalized to ensure timely dispatch of the humanitarian consignment.

The first witness in the trial of Bangladesh’s fugitive ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina gave evidence on Sunday, a man shot in the face during protests that toppled her last year. Hasina, 77, who has defied court orders to return from India to attend her trial on charges amounting to crimes against humanity, is accused of ordering a deadly crackdown in a failed bid to crush the student-led uprising. Up to 1,400 people were killed between July and August 2024, according to the United Nations. The first witness, among the 11 cases that the prosecution is expected to present to the court, was Khokon Chandra Barman, whose story reflects the violence of the protests. The 23-year-old wears a mask to conceal his face, which was ripped apart by a gunshot during the culmination of the protests on August 5, 2024, the same day that Hasina fled Dhaka by helicopter. “I want justice for the ordeal I’ve been going through, and for my fellow protesters who sacrificed their lives,” he told the court. Barman lost his left eye,...

Former AJK Prime Minister and PTI leader Sardar Abdul Qayyum Niazi was arrested on Sunday, just a day before the party’s planned protest on August 5.

Pakistan and Iran have set a target of boosting their bilateral trade to ten billion dollars at the earliest.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is set to launch a nationwide movement for constitutional and democratic rights starting tomorrow.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced a blanket ban on future participation in the World Championship of Legends (WCL), citing “hypocrisy and bias” in the context of Indian players being awarded points despite willfully forfeiting a match with the Pakistani team. Political tensions bet­ween the two nations over the years have cast a sha­d­ow over bilateral sporting events, causing major tournaments to hang in the balance. The countries’ teams have previously refused to travel across the border for sporting events, electing to play on neutral ground via a hybrid model instead. The Pakistani veterans team advanced into the WCL final on Wednesday after Indian players forfeited the semi-final scheduled for Thursday. PCB issued a statement on Sunday announcing the blanket ban after chairman Mohsin Naqvi “reviewed with considerable disappointment WCL’s appalling conduct of awarding points to a willfully forfeiting team, and the content of the press releases of the WCL announcing the cancellation of t...