Pakistan

TikTok announced on Thursday that it has established a majority American-owned joint venture to operate its US business, allowing the company to avoid a ban over its Chinese ownership. The video-sharing app is a global digital entertainment powerhouse, but its mass appeal and links to China have raised concerns over privacy and national security. The TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC will serve more than 200 million users and 7.5m businesses while implementing strict safeguards for data protection and content moderation, the company said. The new structure responds to a law passed under US President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden that forced Chinese-owned ByteDance to sell TikTok’s US operations or face a ban in its biggest market. Trump welcomed and claimed credit for the deal, but also thanked Chinese President Xi Jinping for approving it. “I am so happy to have helped in saving TikTok!” Trump said in a post on Truth Social late Thursday. “It will now be owned by a group of Great American Patriots and Inv...

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Aalia Neelum has decided to make the performance of the subordinate judiciary public for the first time, marking a historic step toward transparency and accountability in the justice system.

President Donald Trump said a US “armada” was heading toward the Gulf and that Washington was watching Iran closely, even after downplaying the prospect of imminent military action and saying Tehran appeared interested in talks. Trump has repeatedly left open the option of new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war in June aimed at degrading Iranian nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The prospect of immediate American action seemed to recede in recent days, with both sides insisting on giving diplomacy a chance. On his way back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, the president told reporters on Air Force One the United States was sending a “massive fleet” toward Iran “just in case.” “We’re watching Iran,” he said. “I’d rather not see anything happen but we’re watching them very closely.” Addressing the WEF on Thursday, Trump said the United States attacked Iranian uranium enrichment sites last year to prevent Tehran from making a nuclear weapon. Iran den...

KHYBER: With hundreds of displaced families stranded on the road due to prolonged registration process, the Khyber district administration on Thursday suspended the evacuation of more families from Tirah valley due to heavy snowfall that began in early hours of the day. A note issued by Khyber House in Peshawar asked Tirah families to refrain from travelling to Bara until Friday evening due to the inclement weather. It added that the process of evacuation and registration would restart after weather improvement. Sources in Tirah had earlier informed that law-enforcement agencies made announcements in the valley about speedy evacuation of families as the Jan 25 deadline for displacement neared. Stranded families complain they had sleepless nights on the road Announcements caused panic and worry among Tirah families as the weather turned hostile and LEAs wanted them to leave without delay. Gul Mand Khan, who reached Bara on Wednesday evening, told Dawn that it took him and his extended family six days to cover ...

The Punjab government has announced an expansion of its flagship housing initiative, Apni Chhat, Apna Ghar, extending its scope to benefit joint families across the province.

The local administration has temporarily banned the entry of tourists into Murree following heavy snowfall, authorities said on Friday.

United States President Donald Trump withdrew on Thursday an invitation for Canada to join his Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts. Trump’s about-face follows Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he openly decried powerful nations using economic integration as weapons and tariffs as leverage. “Please let this Letter serve to represent that the Board of Peace is withdrawing its invitation to you regarding Canada’s joining, what will be, the most prestigious Board of Leaders ever assembled, at any time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post directed at Carney. Neither Carney’s office nor the White House immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment on Thursday evening. Last week, Carney’s office said he had been invited to serve on the board and planned to accept. Carney received a rare standing ovation in Davos after the speech, in which he urged nations to accept the end of a rules-based global order. Canada, which recently s...

The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) will conduct a mobile registration operation in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2026, to provide identity-related services to overseas Pakistanis closer to their communities.

ISLAMABAD: The capital police have sought the services of two army majors and 16 Special Services Group (SSG) commandos to train personnel of the newly formed Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) force, Dawn has learnt. In this regard, a written request was sent from the office of the inspector general of police (IGP), Islamabad, to the office of the chief commissioner, Islamabad. The letter, signed by the deputy inspector general of police (Headquarters), sought the requisition of the services of two majors and 16 serving SSG-trained officials on a secondment basis for the capital police. The letter stated that the Islamabad police are performing multifaceted duties, including maintenance of law and order, crime fighting and prevention and ensuring security and route duties. Request sent for services of two majors and 16 SSG commandos on secondment It further requested that the concerned quarters be approached to place the services of two majors and 16 serving SSG-trained officials of the Pakistan Army at the ...

LAHORE: In a major breakthrough in the Rs1bn gold fraud case of Ichhra Bazaar, the police have reportedly arrested the suspect, a jeweller, from Islamabad and shifted him to an undisclosed location. A police team was staying in Islamabad for the last 10 days or so when they got a tip-off that the suspect, Waseem Akthar, was hiding somewhere in the federal capital. He was nominated in multiple FIRs lodged by his fellow jewellers besides his own stepmother. The major fraud case surfaced in the second week of December 2025 when several jewellers of Madina Jewellers Market Ichhra after they came to know that Waseem had disappeared suddenly with 20kg of gold worth over Rs1 billion they had “invested” with him for decades. The lockers of the suspect’s shop where they had deposited the gold ornaments were found unlocked at the time when the affected jewellers visited the premises. An official, privy to the development, said the suspect kept on changing his location and the police finally managed to arrest him and hi...

Pakistan has stepped up its call at the United Nations for reinforcing the primacy of international law and reforming the Security Council, warning that selective compliance with treaties and parallel diplomatic initiatives risk weakening the UN at a time of heightened global conflict. Speaking at the International Law Year in Review 2026 Conference on Thursday, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, said the erosion of treaty obligations and uneven application of international law were undermining the foundations of collective security built after World War II. “There must be no space for selective compliance or legal exceptionalism,” the ambassador said, adding that the principles of the UN Charter must be applied “more consistently, more courageously and more faithfully” if the rules-based international order was to survive. Ambassador Asim linked the debate on international law directly to the functioning of the Security Council, noting that divisions among major po...

ISLAMABAD: PTI MNA Asad Qaiser, while speaking in the National Assembly on Thursday, raised objections to the bill ensuring the secrecy of lawmakers’ assets passed a day earlier, saying parliamentarians were not above ordinary citizens. He announced PTI’s dissociation from the bill and sought its withdrawal. Under Section 137 of the Elections Act, all members of parliament and provincial assemblies are required to submit to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), on or before Dec 31 each year, a statement of their assets and liabilities, including those of their spouses and dependent children. Section 138 of the Act requires the ECP to publish these declarations in the official gazette. The proposed amendment to Section 138 seeks to insert a proviso stating: “Provided that the Speaker of the concerned Assembly or, as the case may be, the Chairman of the Senate may, on an application made by a member and for reasons to be recorded in writing, by a ruling delivered in the chamber, determine that the statemen...

Govt shelves Islamabad airport outsourcing plan as talk with UAE stall

Experts say green investment could help local industry meet EU carbon rules and expand food exports

ADB says reforms in public services face data, capacity and coordination gaps

Minister clarifies BISP not disaster-response mechanism

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Fund far below Pakistan's needs despite global pledges, NA told