Pakistan

MUZAFFARGARH - Four people were injured after a bus they were travelling collided with a truck near here on Sunday.

They were beaten 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw

The death toll from the devastating earthquakes that struck Venezuela five days ago has risen to at least 1,719, National Assembly president Jorge Rodriguez said on Monday. Rodriguez added that 5,034 people were injured in the quakes, which left tens of thousands of people missing. Hopes of finding survivors more than four days after the powerful twin earthquakes were fading, as residents grew increasingly frustrated with the government’s response to the disaster. French and American rescue teams found a man and his teen son alive under the rubble on Sunday in Caraballeda, a town about 40 kilometres north of Caracas, AFP journalists saw. The rescue offered a glimmer of hope in an ongoing tragedy that has shaken a country already mired in an economic crisis, but tens of thousands of people were still unaccounted for as the critical 72-hour window for rescuing trapped victims passed. Millions more people were feared to lack sanitation and other basic needs after one of Latin America’s most devastating earthquak...

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday said that meaningful negotiations were the only solution to the ongoing situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), urging the government to avoid the use of force and immediately engage with the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC). On June 5, the JAAC was declared a proscribed organisation by the regional government and placed under the First Schedule of the region’s anti-terrorism act (ATA). Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Rehman said JI had accepted the responsibility of mediation and was playing its role in restoring trust between the government and the committee to prevent “bloodshed and unrest”. JI AJK Emir Dr Mushtaq Khan, former AJK emir Dr Khalid Mahmood, JI Deputy Secretary General Syed Farasat Shah and Islamabad Emir Nasrullah Randhawa were also present on the occasion. “JAAC has expressed complete confidence in Jamaat-i-Islami and postponed its long march, sending a positive message,” he said. He urg...

Senior Punjab Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb has announced that the provincial government plans to establish wastewater treatment plants in every city across Punjab as part of a comprehensive strategy to modernise water and sanitation infrastructure.

ISLAMABAD: As part of Pakistan’s efforts to help broker an end to the war in the Middle East, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will pay official visits to Iran and Turkiye from July 3 to 6, sources in the PM Office told Dawn on Monday. The US military said it carried out new strikes on early Sunday on multiple targets in Iran, in response to a fresh Iranian attack on a ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran responded by launching strikes against US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait before both sides agreed to halt attacks. Sources said that during his visit, the prime minister will meet the leadership of both Iran and Turkiye and call on Tehran and Washington to exercise restraint, particularly following the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as part of the peace process. The strikes underscored the fragility of the Pakistan-brokered interim peace deal aimed at ending a war launched by the United States and Israel on February 28, which disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and r...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday welcomed the First Financial Closing of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) and greeted the nation on this historic milestone in the privatization history of Pakistan.

A gunman killed six people Monday in a German youth welfare centre for mothers and their children in what police said was a likely “family tragedy”, before the male suspect and a female companion were arrested. The deadly shooting spree sparked a major police operation in the northern city of Stade, about 50 kilometres from Hamburg. The six people killed were all adults, among them one who succumbed to their injuries in hospital, while another person was wounded and in stable condition, a police spokesman told AFP. “A male principal offender and a female companion” were arrested, he said, while a separate police statement mentioned a third suspect being held. The police spokesman told AFP that investigators believed “it is not a case of femicide, nor does it involve a political background or anything of that nature. Rather it is an extended family tragedy.” N24 television cited witnesses as saying that police deployed to the building after an emergency call and spotted two suspects who attempting to flee in a...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Monday that a fresh monsoon spell was set to begin in the country from the first week of July. Monsoon rains fall across the region from June to September, offering respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenishing water supplies. However, heavy downpours also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. In an advisory, the department said that a westerly wave was likely to enter the upper parts of the country from June 30. At the same time, “moist currents from the Arabian Sea are continuously penetrating the eastern and central parts of the country”. It added that moist currents from the Bay of Bengal were expected to reach the upper parts from July 2. Under the influence of this system, the PMD predicted that scattered rain, windstorm/thundershower, accompanied by isolated heavy falls, were expected in Neelum valley, Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, Poonch, Hattian, Bagh, H...

Pakistani professional gamer Arslan ‘Ash’ Siddique on Monday bagged his eighth Evolution Championship Series (Evo) title after winning the Tekken tournament in Las Vegas against South Korean player Rangchu. In a post on X, the tournament announced that the Tekken champion had won the Tekken 8 tournament at Evo 2026 for the fourth year in a row. In August 2022, Arslan finished third in the Evo 2022 Tekken 7 tournament. He won the Tekken 7 title at EVO Japan in April 2023 and claimed his fifth EVO title in July 2024. In August 2025, he won his sixth Evo title at Evo 2025. Two months later, in October 2025, he claimed his seventh EVO title at EVO France. The professional gamer had also won the Tekken 7 tournament in Japan in 2019 as well as the Evo tournament in the US. This year’s tournament ran from June 26-28 and was held at the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Centre. Arslan also announced the win in a post on X. “8x EVO champion. Alhamdulillah,” he wrote. According to the tournament’s website, Evo is t...

'BLA does not represent Balochistan. It weaponises Balochistan's deprivation'

Hafiz Naeem urges govt to avoid use of force in the region

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RAWALPINDI: As many as 14 under-trial prisoners escaped from a prisoner van on Monday while being transported from Kahuta to Adiala jail after overpowering security guards, prompting police to launch a search operation, a statement said. “Following reports of prisoners escaping from a prison van in the Sihala area of Rawalpindi, CPO Hamdani took notice of the incident and directed senior officers to immediately reach the scene, submit a report, and launch an operation,” said a statement by a Rawalpindi Police spokesperson. However, the police spokesperson added that four of the escaped prisoners had been re-arrested during an operation, while police teams were continuing search operations to apprehend the remaining escapees. “The escaped individuals are accused in cases currently under trial,” the spokesperson said. The statement added that the incident occurred within the jurisdiction of Sihala police station in Islamabad district, and coordination with the relevant police authorities was ongoing. According ...

Trump confirms high-level meeting in Qatari capital White House says Witkoff and Kushner to join talks Tehran denie

Arif Habib Consortium takes over national carrier

Fresh monsoon spell set to drench Pakistan

Foreign Office protests use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism