Pakistan

Pakistan’s squash sensation Noor Zaman gave former world champion Mohamed Elshorbagy a run for his money as he took the Englishman to five intense games at the Karachi Open quarterfinals before being defeated and ending Pakistan’s streak at the international tournament. Noor had a shaky start in the first game against the former world number one, who wowed the crowd with exceptional shots that the 21-year-old Pakistani couldn’t keep up with, winning 11-2. But Noor had the advantage of a home crowd that was cheering him on for every handful of points he won, finding his footing in the second game that Elshorbagy took 11-8. It was in the third game that Noor finally found his momentum and defeated Elshorbagy 11-6 to stay in the running for a spot in the semifinals. He exited the court to “shabash Noor!” from the crowd of sports enthusiasts and former athletes in Creek Club’s glass court. Noor had begun loosening Elshorbagy’s grip on what otherwise seemed like a sure-shot, three-game victory for the current worl...

Ocean heat rose ~23 zettajoules in 2025, equal to nearly 40 years of global energy use

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok on Friday turned off its image creation feature for non-paying users of X following backlash over its use in creating sexualised deepfakes of women and children. Owned by Elon Musk and developed by xAI, Grok’s image-generation and editing tools have faced backlash on the social media platform X after netizens raised concerns about the chatbot generating nude images of women and children. Musk has also been threatened with fines, and several countries have recently pushed back publicly against the tool over its creation of sexually explicit imagery. Replying to users on Musk’s social media platform X, Grok posted: “Image generation and editing are currently limited to paying subscribers. You can subscribe to unlock these features.” The change means many users of the tool can no longer generate or edit images using the AI. Paying customers must provide the platform with their credit card information and personal details. The European Commission this week said the photos of undressed ...

Russia fired a powerful hypersonic missile at Ukraine near the EU border overnight, in what Kyiv called a new threat to European security that demanded a global response. Moscow said it had fired the Oreshnik missile in response to what it has described as an attempted drone attack on one of President Vladimir Putin’s residences last month, which Ukraine has denied and the United States has said did not happen. It was only the second time Russia has fired the Oreshnik at Ukraine, and came amid a night of air attacks that Ukrainian authorities said also killed four people in Kyiv, knocked out power in the capital and damaged the Qatari embassy there. The Oreshnik, designed to project power across Europe and which Moscow says is impossible to intercept, is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, although there was no suggestion it had done so. Rescuers work at the site of the apartment building hit by a Russian drone strike in Kyiv, Ukraine on January 9. — Reuters “Such a strike close to [the] EU and Nato border ...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting to review ongoing power sector reforms, with a special focus on solarisation to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply in remote and far-flung areas of the country.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday met representatives of the firms that won the bidding for two new teams in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

The Balochistan provincial cabinet on Friday approved a series of initiatives aimed at improving public welfare, promoting economic activity and strengthening governance in the province.

Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat on Friday dismissed reports circulating on social media about an extension in winter vacations across the province, calling them false and misleading.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has taken disciplinary action against 19 of its officers and officials on charges of corruption, abuse of authority and negligence as part of an ongoing internal accountability drive.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif on Friday chaired a high-level meeting to review the third-party validation of last year’s Ramadan package and discuss the proposed package for the upcoming Ramadan.

Heavy fog blanketed large parts of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the night between Thursday and Friday, forcing the authorities to close several sections of the motorway network as visibility dropped to dangerously low levels.

The Punjab government has decided to amend the Property Ownership Act to restore judicial oversight, marking a retreat amid growing legal challenges.

WASHINGTON: Pakistan has called for the launch of a high-level economic dialogue with the United States at the earliest and urged a shift in bilateral engagement from geopolitics to geoeconomics during a series of meetings between the country’s envoy Rizwan Saeed Sheikh and senior members of Congress. Meeting House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast and House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US said 2026 should be treated as a “year of action” to translate shared intentions into concrete economic cooperation. “Our focus is shifting from geopolitics to geoeconomics,” he said, according to one of two handouts issued after the meeting, and stressed the need for institutionalised engagement in sectors such as energy, defence, minerals, information technology and artificial intelligence. Ambassador Sheikh said Pakistan’s low-cost, high-quality manufacturing base positioned it well to meet growing US market needs, highlighting surgical instruments, textiles and ...

Former federal minister Fawad Chaudhry on Friday urged Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) President and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to play a role in resolving the ongoing political turmoil in the country.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has called for continued stringent action against mafias involved in human trafficking and illegal immigration, stressing a zero-tolerance policy towards those exploiting vulnerable individuals.

he Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan has announced the Chinese Government Scholarship High-Level Postgraduate Program 2026 (Type B) for Master’s and PhD studies at Tianjin University, China.

The visa sections of three Bangladesh missions in India have been closed temporarily on security grounds, Foreign Affairs Adviser Touhid Hossain said on Friday. “What I have done is that I have asked our three missions to keep their visa sections closed for the time being. It’s a security issue,” he told reporters at the foreign ministry, responding to a question on whether Bangladesh missions in India had restricted tourist visas for Indians. He did not name the missions. However, diplomatic sources said the visa sections of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, the Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, and the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission in Agartala have been closed. The visa sections at Bangladesh missions in Chennai and Mumbai, however, remain operational, sources said. Over the past few weeks, protests have taken place near Bangladesh missions in India. Following the ouster of the Awami League regime, the Indian High Commission restricted tourist visas to Bangladeshis, citing security concer...

Opposition alliance says many workers arrested by police from Lahore Unidentified individuals attacked protest march near Gujrat Tariq Fazal says talks, dialogue only sustainable solution.

LAHORE - The Punjab government has initiated a comprehensive rightsizing exercise across provincial departments as part of a broader fiscal reforms plan aimed at reducing administrative expendi­tures and long-term financial liabilities, official sources said.

A 5.8-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of the country early on Friday. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck at a depth of 159km in the Tajikistan- Xinjiang border region at 2am. The European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), which reports magnitude using the Moment Magnitude scale, said the earthquake had a magnitude of 5.3 and struck Tajikistan at a depth of 140km. The United States Geological Survey said Pakistan, Tajikistan, China and Afghanistan were among the affected countries. According to media reports, the tremors were felt in Islamabad and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. There were no immediate reports of any casualties. Pakistan falls on three major tectonic plates — the Arabian, Euro-Asian and Indian — which create five seismic zones under the country. The intersection of multiple fault lines means that tectonic movements remain a frequent occurrence in the region. In October 2025, a 3.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded in Karachi. ...