Pakistan

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Wednesday said lower government expenditures in the outgoing fiscal year were a “response” to previous “right pushback” from tax-paying individuals. He made the remarks during a post-budget press conference where he expanded upon the federal budget proposed yesterday for the upcoming FY25-26. Maintaining an aggressive stance on fiscal consolidation, as required by the Int­ernational Monetary Fund (IMF), Aurangzeb yesterday still managed to offer some notional relief to the salaried class in the federal budget for FY2025-26, along with incentives for the real estate and construction sectors to revive the struggling industrial sector and stimulate economic growth. Highlights: Finance minister links no hike in minimum wage with slower inflation Aurangzeb defends salary hike ‘after 9 years’ for NA speaker, Senate chairman FBR chief notes levy on solar panels due to ‘disadvantaged’ local assemblers FBR member explains rationale behind taxing high-value goods at different rate...

Harvey Weinstein was convicted of sexual assault in a retrial after his 2020 conviction was overturned in New York.

US cities hosting next year’s FIFA World Cup faced questions on Wednesday about how to reassure international fans concerned by President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown and travel ban as the year-to-go countdown began. The United States, along with Canada and Mexico, is set to co-host the finals, which will feature 48 teams and a record 104 matches in a tournament that FIFA boss Gianni Infantino said would usher in a new generation of football fans. Celebrities and football stars were due to walk the red carpet at the Fox Studio Lot in Los Angeles — one of the host cities — for the year-to-go event there, a day after President Trump deployed Marines and the National Guard to quell protests. California Governor Gavin Newsom described the deployment as an “unmistakable step toward authoritarianism”, while Trump officials defended it and branded the protests as lawless, blaming local and state Democrats for permitting upheaval. Los Angeles is one of several host cities that will mark the year-to-go occasio...

The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday slammed remarks by India’s Minister for External Affairs Subhramanyam Jaishankar regarding how India had the “right to strike Pakistan”, stating that New Delhi’s “bellicose punchlines” showed its “sheer frustration following an unsuccessful military adventure”. The Indian minister’s comments come in the wake of a four-day military conflict between the nuclear powers last month. Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Jaishankar said when India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained that ‘Operation Sindoor’ was not over, it was a clear message that “we reserve the right to go after terrorists anytime, anywhere if they have done harm to us”. According to the FO statement, Pakistan rejected Jaishankar’s comments, stating that top diplomats should aim to promote peace and harmony rather than producing “bellicose punchlines”. Criticising his conduct, the FO said the tone and tenor of a foreign minister “should be commensurate with his dignified status”. The FO further said: “For th...

Surplus planned as spending to focus on development, education emergency

Bench slams misuse of case property amid missing car claims

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The most anticipated Budget 2025-26 was announced on June 10, 2025 and as Muhammad Burhan Mirza, a prominent entrepreneur and investor said it has sent shockwaves through Pakistan’s startup ecosystem and the entire entrepreneurial community.

Pakistan has long been struggling with the gradual disappearance of its rare wildlife species due to a lethal mix of environmental and human-induced factors, including habitat destruction, dwindling water resources, pollution and poaching. Among these vanishing species is the endangered Indus fishing cat, found mostly in the Indus River Delta and surrounding buffer areas, where its numbers have dropped dramatically over recent decades. Habitat loss, food scarcity, hunting and growing human populations have significantly impacted this rare feline, which plays a vital role in maintaining the balance of aquatic ecosystems, according to experts. “The past two decades have appeared to be disastrous for this environment-friendly animal, mainly because of the destruction of wetlands and killings by local people,” Saeedul Islam, a senior wildlife expert, told Anadolu. Although official surveys have yet to determine precise figures, Islam explained that conservative estimates suggest the cat’s population in the countr...

A meeting of the FBR Review Committee was held here on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Law and Justice Senator Azam Nazir Tarar, in which the ongoing legal proceedings and progress of cases of the FBR were reviewed.

Pakistan on Wednesday categorically rejected the irresponsible remarks of the Indian External Affairs Minister made during different media engagements in Brussels, advising him to refrain from concocting misleading narratives to justify their recent aggressive actions.

PTI leader Sheikh Waqas Akram has strongly criticized the federal budget 2025-26, calling it “useless for farmers” and warning that it could push the agricultural sector deeper into crisis.

The Punjab government has postponed the presentation of its annual budget from June 13 to June 16, citing the need for additional time to finalize budget preparations.

Syria’s government has decreed that women should wear burkinis or other swimwear that covers the body at public beaches and swimming pools, while permitting Western-style beachwear at private clubs and luxury hotels. The tourism ministry decision issued this week marks the first time the Damascus authorities have issued guidelines related to what women can wear since Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. During the Assad family’s iron-fisted rule of Syria, which was shaped by a secular Arab nationalist ideology, the state imposed no such restrictions, though people often dressed modestly at public beaches, reflecting conservative norms. The new requirements were set out in a wider decree dated June 9, which included public safety guidelines for beaches and swimming pools ahead of the summer, such as not spending too long in the sun and avoiding jellyfish. It said that beachgoers and visitors to public pools should wear “appropriate swimwear that respects public decency and the feelings of different segment...

United States and Chinese officials said on Tuesday they had agreed on a framework to put their trade truce back on track and remove Beijing’s export restrictions on rare earths while offering little sign of a durable resolution to longstanding trade differences. At the end of two days of intense negotiations in London, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told reporters the framework deal puts “meat on the bones” of an agreement reached last month in Geneva to ease bilateral retaliatory tariffs that had reached crushing triple-digit levels. But the Geneva deal had faltered over China’s continued curbs on critical minerals exports, prompting the Trump administration to respond with export controls of its own preventing shipments of semiconductor design software, aircraft and other goods to China. Lutnick said the agreement reached in London would remove some of the recent US export restrictions, but did not provide details after the talks concluded around midnight London time (4am PKT). “We have reached a fra...

United States Central Command (Centcom) commander Army General Michael Kurilla on Wednesday praised Pakistan as a “phenomenal partner in the world of counter-terrorism”, citing the nation’s struggle against terrorism in Balochistan and against terrorist groups like the Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K). Pakistan and the US reaffirmed the continuation of counter-terrorism cooperation during a dialogue in Washington on May 10. The dialogue underscored the cooperation between the two countries in addressing the most pressing challenges to regional and global security, including the threats posed by terrorist outfits such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and IS-K. The two nations are slated to have another counter-terrorism dialogue this month. During a House Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday, the general was asked about the situation on the Afghan border with Pakistan, where he outlined that Pakistan has apprehended several “high-value” IS-K operatives. View this post on Instagram Hail...

A special Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore has dismissed a police request to conduct polygraph and photogrammetric tests on the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in connection with the May 9 incidents.

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) hit an all-time high of 124,000 points on Wednesday as the proposed federal budget for the upcoming fiscal year was well-received by investors for being “neutral-to-positive”. Maintaining an aggressive stance on fiscal consolidation, as required by the Int­ernational Monetary Fund (IMF), the government yesterday still managed to offer some notional relief to the salaried class in the budget for FY2025-26, along with incentives for the real estate and construction sectors to revive the struggling industrial sector and stimulate economic growth. While there had been uncer­tainties surrounding the taxation measures ahead of the budget announcement, the PSX remained bullish yesterday and gained nearly 400 points to cross the 122,000 point-mark, just before the budget was presented in the National Assembly. The benchmark KSE-100 index crossed the 124,000-point barrier at around 11am. It then witnessed a slight decline before resurging to 124,588.17 points at 3:30pm — 2,5...

Former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Wednesday lambasted India for attempting to “sabotage President Donald Trump’s peace efforts” in South Asia, stressing that Pakistan was willing to solve all issues through dialogue. His statement came against the backdrop of Pakistan’s recent conflict with India triggered by a deadly April 22 attack on tourists in Occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam. New Delhi, without evidence, accused Islamabad of backing the attackers — an allegation that led to a four-day military escalation between the two nuclear-armed countries before the United States brokered a ceasefire on May 10. To present Pakistan’s stance on the escalation and dismiss Indian propaganda, the government constituted a high-level delegation, chaired by Bilawal, to visit major world powers. After holding meetings in the US, the delegation is now in the United Kingdom, after which it will head to the Belgian capital of Brussels to hold talks with the members of the European Commission. Addressing a press conf...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will undertake an official visit to the United Arab Emirates tomorrow (Thursday) to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest during some high-level meetings. Over the last few months, UAE expressed the country’s commitment to strengthening its long-standing partnership with Pakistan and announced a $2 billion debt rollover soon after. In April, the two nations signed and exchanged multiple memoranda of understanding (MoU) to further strengthen the bonds between the people of both nations. A press release issued by the Foreign Office today said that the visit reflected the “deep-rooted fraternal ties” between Pakistan and the UAE, marked by mutual trust, shared values, and close cooperation across multiple sectors. “The PM will be accompanied by a high-level delegation, including the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, federal ministers, and other senior officers,” the press release said. “PM Shehbaz will hold high-level meetings with the ...