Dawn
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Dawn - 13:48 Mar 25, 2026
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday met with PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and discussed the evolving situation in the Gulf amid the US-Israel war on Iran and matters of national importance. During the meeting, the prime minister informed Bilawal about Pakistan’s diplomatic efforts aimed at promoting global peace in light of regional tensions. Both leaders also exchanged views on political developments and internal security challenges facing the country. Bilawal appreciated the federal government’s policies and measures to address potential challenges arising from the ongoing conflict, praising the prime minister’s leadership during a difficult time. The two leaders also reviewed development projects being carried out by the federal government in Sindh. The meeting was also attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Minister for Law and Justice Azam Naz... -
Dawn - 13:20 Mar 25, 2026
Despite gold’s reputation as a safe-haven asset, its price has plunged since the outbreak of the Middle East war, erasing almost all its 2026 gains after reaching record highs. Here’s why the price of gold has fallen as global economic uncertainty rises. Urgent need for cash Uncertainty around the Middle East conflict has prompted investors to rapidly sell off assets to raise cash and offset losses elsewhere. They have turned first to selling gold, “given the size of the rally seen over the course of the past year”, said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. By liquidating gold and sister metal silver, investors gain access to dollars — the currency used to trade oil and other energy products. Oil prices have soared owing to the closure of the crucial Strait of Hormuz and strikes on Gulf energy infrastructure. Gold is trading at around $4,550 an ounce, after reaching highs above $5,500 earlier in the year on mounting geopolitical tensions — from US President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught to ... -
Dawn - 12:22 Mar 25, 2026
Millions of Sri Lankans enjoyed a government-ordered extra day off on Wednesday as the island nation battles an energy crisis triggered by the Middle East war. Rail and bus stations were largely deserted as most state institutions, schools and universities shifted to a four-day working week. “I am really enjoying the mid-week break because it is a fully paid holiday,” said housing ministry official Prarthana Perera, 40. Her office, like many government departments in Battaramulla — the capital’s main administrative hub — was closed. Banks operated on shorter hours, while many private firms introduced work-from-home arrangements, industry bodies said, urging members to help curb energy use. Sri Lanka has already raised fuel prices by a third since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran, triggering retaliatory attacks that have disrupted global energy supplies. About half of Sri Lanka’s electricity is generated by coal and diesel. The cabinet has set a target of cutting electricity consumption by 25 pe... -
Dawn - 12:08 Mar 25, 2026
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed authorities to accelerate the export of surplus food items to Gulf countries while ensuring an uninterrupted domestic supply, and called for a comprehensive plan to expand flight operations and enhance port efficiency in view of the evolving regional situation. The directives came as the premier chaired a high-level meeting to review the export of food items to the Middle East and Pakistan’s port and maritime operations, according to a handout by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). During the meeting, the premier was informed that a special committee had approved 40 food items for exporting to Gulf countries amid the current regional situation. It should be noted that earlier, PM Shehbaz issued directives for the formulation of a strategy for exporting surplus food items to Gulf countries while making sure that Pakistan’s nutritional needs were not affected. The meeting on Wednesday was also briefed on the measures taken regarding the matter. “These ... -
Dawn - 10:49 Mar 25, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The government has finalised a mobile application-based quota system for fuel for two- and three-wheelers, which may possibly include up to 800cc vehicles, to ensure a targeted subsidy to the low-income strata and to minimise oil consumption through pricing signals. The details of the quota-based fuel supply system have been tested and finalised by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the ministries of finance, petroleum and information technology, a senior government official told Dawn. Based on these workings, the government will now take a final decision on whether the scheme should extend to small cars or remain restricted to two- and three-wheelers. The government plan involves “a quota-based fuel supply system” to be operated through a mobile application and would be end-to-end automated. “A free, pre-installed app for retail operators will be provided,” said a senior official, adding that consumers will use a separate application. Meanwhile, the government will mandate a minimum o... -
Dawn - 10:32 Mar 25, 2026
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) urged authorities to revisit the proposed 28th Constitutional Amendment and make necessary changes to safeguard citizens’ rights and uphold democracy. Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, MQM-P Chairman Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, alongside Mustafa Kamal and Farooq Sattar, highlighted what they described as the escalation of long-standing political tensions. “Today, to address this properly, the 28th Constitution Amendment needs to be reviewed, and if necessary, amended. This would allow a decisive resolution to be made urgently.” Siddiqui told reporters. “Pakistan seems prepared, and political parties do not appear to oppose the 28th Amendment with the same intensity,” he added. He added that after the amendment is tabled and cleared by the country’s lawmakers, people should know they did it for the sake of the country. Farooq Sattar also weighed in, emphasising local governance and citizen participation. “Now’s the time to transform Pakistan’s feudal democrac... -
Dawn - 10:31 Mar 25, 2026
ISLAMABAD: As global temperatures continue to rise due to the burning of fossil fuels, Pakistan is projected to see a net increase in mortality of 51 deaths per 100,000 people by 2050, with low- and middle-income countries accounting for 90 per cent of these premature deaths due to climate change. According to a study, these are the first projections of rising temperatures’ impact on mortality to target adaptation planning, which are compiled by the Climate Impact Lab at the University of Chicago, using “highly-localised data from around the world”. “Ten times more people are projected to die each year in lower-income countries (about 391,000 people) than in higher-income countries (about 39,000 people) due to shifting temperatures, despite being expected to have roughly equal populations,” the study noted, while highlighting the disproportionate impact of heatwaves on the Global South. Pakistan and Burkina Faso will be the hardest-hit countries, as per these projections. Pakistani cities fare even worse due ... -
Dawn - 10:22 Mar 25, 2026
French investigators searched the Paris offices of Swiss bank Edmond de Rothschild as part of an inquiry into alleged corruption involving a French diplomat named in documents linked to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prosecutors said on Tuesday. The name of Fabrice Aidan, a middle-ranking French diplomat who was seconded to the United Nations from 2006 to 2013 and later worked at the bank, appeared in more than 200 documents released by the US Justice Department. These include emails he is alleged to have sent Epstein between 2010 and 2016 from his personal and UN accounts. Some of the emails reviewed by Reuters show the transfer of UN Security Council briefings and other confidential documents to Epstein during that period. Aidan has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The French Foreign Ministry said it had completed an administrative investigation, performing about 30 interviews. The ministry said all current and former staff members who had... -
Dawn - 10:18 Mar 25, 2026
Pet lovers eagerly gathered around a container to snap photos of meerkats at a Beijing animal fair, each selling for $320, while nearby, a raccoon nervously paced in a cage only slightly bigger than itself. Throngs of people from across China packed into the cavernous exhibition halls for the annual pet fair, where exotic animals are a more common sight than cats or dogs. The exotic pet industry is experiencing rapid growth with a market nearing 10 billion yuan ($1.45 billion), Chinese state media have said. Approximately 17.07 million people in China have exotic pets, Xinhua reported last year, and animal rights groups have raised concerns about welfare standards. Unconventional pets are particularly popular among young people, with videos on how to raise them widely shared on social media platforms. A boy looks at a snake at a pet fair in Beijing on March 19, 2026. —AFP/File An 18-year-old putting down a deposit for a meerkat told AFP he was confident it would be easier to raise the animal than his previous... -
Dawn - 08:50 Mar 25, 2026
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast rain in Karachi on Thursday, along with showers in other areas of Sindh over the rest of the week. In its daily weather outlook issued on Wednesday, the PMD said that a westerly wave was “affecting southern parts and spread over most parts of the country today”. It forecast partly cloudy weather in Karachi today, with a maximum temperature of 32-34 degrees Celsius and a minimum of 24.5°C. A separate statement by the PMD added that there was a chance of light rain or drizzle in some areas of the city. The humidity was expected to reach 84 per cent in the morning before dropping to 45-55pc in the evening, with a west/southwesterly wind prevailing, it said. On Thursday, mostly cloudy weather was expected in the city with “rain-wind or thunderstorm at isolated places”. The PMD predicted highs of 31-33°C and lows of 23-25°C with humidity levels of 75-85pc in the daytime, and a west/southwesterly wind. Friday will bring mostly sunny weather, with mercury sur... -
Dawn - 08:00 Mar 25, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday announced that it was introducing an optional multi-tariff time of use (ToU) mechanism for industrial consumers for optimal utilisation of grid supply through pricing signals. “The Power Division is considering introduction of a new optional tariff mechanism aimed at facilitating industrial consumers and enhancing overall efficiency in electricity utilisation,” an official statement said. The division said that several internal consultative and technical meetings had already been undertaken by Power Minister Sardar Awais Khan Leghari in this regard. Under this proposed framework, industrial consumers will have the flexibility to opt into a multi-slab tariff structure, where energy pricing is based on average marginal cost signals across defined time-of-use slabs. This approach is designed to better reflect the actual cost of electricity supply during different periods. The tariff will consist of two primary components that include fixed charges and variable energy charge... -
Dawn - 07:48 Mar 25, 2026
WASHINGTON: Speakers at an hours-long symposium on Capitol Hill on Tuesday noted that Pakistan’s gesture to mediate peace between the United States and Iran, amid the recent escalation of hostilities between Washington and Tehran, reflects growing confidence in Islamabad’s diplomatic role in regional disputes. Referring to the recent US–Iran military confrontation — which included direct strikes and retaliatory actions that heightened tensions across the Gulf — participants observed that Pakistan’s outreach underscored its desire to play a stabilising role in a region already burdened by multiple conflicts. Speakers argued that Pakistan, a developing country of more than 250 million people situated in a strategically sensitive region bordering Afghanistan, Iran, India and close to the Gulf, must be viewed beyond a narrow security lens. They noted that the country has a large diaspora in the United States, a growing and educated middle class, significant natural resources, and nuclear capability — factors that... -
Dawn - 07:30 Mar 25, 2026
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday hailed Saudi Arabia for showing “remarkable restraint” during the ongoing Middle East hostilities and stressed the need for urgent de-escalation. He made the remarks during a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wherein the two discussed Iran’s retaliatory attacks sparked by the US-Israel military actions on February 28. A statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) about the phone call early this morning termed their conversation “warm and cordial”. “While appreciating the leadership of the Kingdom for demonstrating remarkable restraint in the current crisis, the prime minister reassured His Royal Highness that Pakistan would always stand by the Kingdom and the brotherly people of Saudi Arabia, just as they had always supported Pakistan, through thick and thin,” the PMO stated. It further said that the prime minister “reiterated Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia and expressed, once again, Pakistan’s com... -
Dawn - 07:10 Mar 25, 2026
LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Hanif Abbasi said on Wednesday that “human error and some mechanical issues” were most probably the reasons behind the derailment of the Karachi-bound Tezgam express train the day before. Twenty-six passengers were injured, including one critically, when seven coaches of the train derailed near Adam Wahan Railway Station near Punjab’s Lodhran on Tuesday night. “I can not confirm before time … the reasons behind this derailment. But most probably, the reasons seem related to mechanical and human error,” Abbasi said while talking to Dawn on Wednesday morning. “You know they (Pakistan Railways) have very old coaches to run. And they have not addressed such issues well,” he deplored, adding that for the last nine years, there was no proper maintenance of the locomotives. He said that 1960 model coaches are still in use by railways, “and we are currently refurbishing them one by one — not to the extent of paint work alone, but mechanical and other works too”. The minister said... -
Dawn - 06:50 Mar 25, 2026
The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday condemned the awarding of a life imprisonment sentence to prominent Kashmiri leader Asiya Andrabi, as well as the 30-year prison sentences awarded to her associates Fehmeeda Sofi and Nahida Nasreen by a court in Delhi. Andrabi is the founder of a Kashmiri rights group called the Dukhtaran-i-Millat, or Daughters of the Nation. The court sentenced her, Fehmeeda and Nasreen under the Indian Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) after government prosecutors alleged that Andrabi was involved in a conspiracy to carry out militant activities. In a statement posted to social media platform X, the FO said that the verdict constituted a “grave miscarriage of justice” and reflected the “continuing suppression of fundamental rights” in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. “Pakistan views this decision as part of a broader pattern of politically motivated prosecutions aimed at silencing dissenting voices and intimidating those advocating the legitimate rights of the Kashmiri people,... -
Dawn - 04:15 Mar 25, 2026
LARKANA: Recent excavations and new radiocarbon dates confirm an earlier urban occupation at Mohenjo Daro during the Kot Diji Phase, circa 3300-2600 BC, a source in Technical Consultative Committee (TCC) of the National Fund for Mohenjo Daro (NFM) has disclosed to Dawn. New excavations at the plain level to the west of the famous Stupa Mound have provided five new radiocarbon dates for a massive mud brick perimeter wall of the city. Sir Mortimer Wheeler had first discovered this structure in 1950, “but misidentified it as a revetment or flood protective bund”, experts working at the site said. The recent archaeological investigations were carried out at Mohenjo Daro under the direction of the NFM after a lapse of many years. A Joint Mission of the Directorate General of Archaeology and Antiquities, Sindh, and the Sindh Exploration and Adventure Society (SEAS), Pakistan, carried out excavation during the summer of 2025, and winter of 2025-26. The project was led by leading Pakistani Archaeologists Dr Asma Ibra... -
Dawn - 02:52 Mar 25, 2026
WASHINGTON: Pakistan on Tuesday joined seven other members of the UN Security Council in reiterating firm opposition to the annexation of any part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the forcible displacement of the Palestinian people. All seven nations warned that such actions violated international law and undermined prospects for peace. The briefing, however, was delayed because the Israeli Ambassador Danny Dannon occupied the microphone and spoke first, although Pakistan pointed out that the slot was reserved for the seven-nation stakeout. Asked to explain Israel’s position about reported US-Iran peace talks in Islamabad, Dannon said that Israel has “continued its participation” in the war and will “continue to attack targets” until it achieves its objectives. At a Security Council press stakeout, Pakistan delivered the first portion of a joint statement on behalf of Bahrain, Denmark, France, Greece, Latvia, Pakistan, Somalia and the United Kingdom. Tel Aviv envoy ‘hogs the mic’ ahead of stakeou... -
Dawn - 02:30 Mar 25, 2026
MEYRIN (Switzerland): CERN scientists on Tuesday pulled off the unprecedented feat of transporting antiprotons by road, successfully test-driving the world’s first antimatter delivery system, with an eye to one day supplying research labs across Europe. “The particles returned... so this was a success,” CERN physicist Stefan Ulmer told reporters after the large truck came back from a 10-kilometre drive around the campus of Europe’s main physics laboratory. While that might not sound like a big distance, Ulmer, a spokesman for CERN’s BASE experiment probing the asymmetry between matter and antimatter in the universe, said it marked the “starting point to a new era”. Visible matter and its mysterious twin antimatter are believed to be almost identical, except their charges and magnetic properties are reversed. Scientists today still wonder why our universe contains far more matter than antimatter, when the Big Bang should have created an equal amount. When antimatter comes in contact with matter it annihilates,... -
Dawn - 02:27 Mar 25, 2026
• Insiders say Washington asked Pakistan to host negotiations; groundwork laid in weeks of ‘hectic diplomacy’ • Witkoff expected to lead engagement; no indication yet of who Iran may send • Trump claims engagement on ‘15 points’ • Tehran implies existence of backchannel; spox says messages from US ‘received and responded to’ • Qatar, Turkiye support swift efforts to end war • German president calls US-Israeli war on Iran ‘violation of international law’ ISLAMABAD: A day after a proposal was floated to hold Iran-US talks in the nation’s capital, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif formally pitched Islamabad as a potential venue for negotiations between Iranian and US officials. “Subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honoured to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict,” he wrote on X, tagging US President Donald Trump, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The move followed rep... -
Dawn - 19:44 Mar 24, 2026
LAHORE: Several people were injured when a Karachi-bound train derailed near Punjab’s Lodhran on Tuesday night, officials said. Lodhran District Emergency Officer Engineer Shakeel Ahmed told Dawn that, according to initial reports, 17 of the injured were provided first aid at the spot while eight others were taken to the district headquarters hospital. Pakistan Railways (PR) spokesperson Babar Ali told Dawn that no loss of life was reported in the incident and that the cause of the accident was yet to be determined. He said the federal minister for railways had ordered a “high-level inquiry” to determine the cause. The spokesperson also stated that the affected track would soon be open for traffic, and Rescue 1122 and PR medical teams had conducted relief and rescue operations at the site. A relief train and a relief truck were also sent to the site, he added. Further details about the incident involving Tezgam Express are not yet clear. The train’s driver, Tariq Khan, earlier told Dawn he could not explain h...
10418 items