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Dawn - 10:34 Feb 26, 2026
New Zealand’s “street-smart” cricketers can find a way to beat England and guarantee their semi-final place at the T20 World Cup, coach Rob Walters said on Thursday. A win for New Zealand in Friday’s Super Eights clash in Colombo will see them top Group 2 and join the already-qualified England in the final four. A defeat would leave the door ajar for Pakistan to beat eliminated Sri Lanka on Saturday with the second semi-final berth then being decided on net run rate. Mitchell Santner’s New Zealand were in trouble at 84-6 against Sri Lanka on Wednesday before the captain steered them to 168-7 and a thumping 61-run win which knocked out the co-hosts. “I think if you look historically at the Black Caps, you would probably say that they’re a team that have been great problem solvers,” Walters told reporters. “They are street smart; they find a way to understand the conditions quickly. “It’s certainly something that we pride ourselves on. We can adapt to conditions quickly and find a method.” England are the only ... -
Dawn - 10:24 Feb 26, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) is set to hear former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi’s petitions seeking the suspension of their sentences in the £190 million corruption case on March 11. A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan resumed the case proceedings on Thursday. During the hearing, the bench expressed displeasure as dozens of lawyers affiliated with PTI stood up and approached the rostrum simultaneously. “What is this? Are you trying to influence the court?” the IHC chief justice asked. Imran’s counsel, Barrister Salman Sardar, replied: “Not at all.” He argued that the matter had assumed greater urgency in view of the former premier’s sudden eye ailment. He further submitted that Bushra Bibi, despite being a woman, was serving a seven-year sentence and that her petition for suspension of sentence had been fixed after six months. “We request you to suspend the sentence. The last order was passed on November 9,... -
Dawn - 09:36 Feb 26, 2026
Pakistan’s benchmark equity index, the KSE-100, gained 4,266.79 points by market close on Thursday, signalling recovering sentiment after previous sessions saw a sustained sell-off. The advance placed the index 2.59 per cent above its previous close of 164,626.29 points. During trading, a total of 291 scrips advanced, 145 declined, and 131 remained unchanged from their previous close. A total of 355,320,144 shares were traded by market close. The index touched an intraday low of 162,953.63 and a high of 169,374.27. The range reflected the elevated volatility that has persisted from earlier in the week into today’s trading. According to Topline Securities, “as the session progressed, the tone changed”. The brokerage house noted that selling pressure eased, and buyers returned with renewed confidence, turning a tentative recovery into a broad-based rally. The strong close suggested some improvement in investor sentiment. On Wednesday, the index had also staged an early rebound, but ultimately closed in the red,... -
Dawn - 08:54 Feb 26, 2026
The imprisonment and reported deteriorating health of former prime minister Imran Khan came under sustained scrutiny in the UK Parliament on Tuesday. Peers across party lines pressed the Labour government to intensify diplomatic engagement with Islamabad and consider linking aid and trade to human rights benchmarks. The issue was raised during oral questions led by Labour peer Baroness Alexander of Cleveden, who asked about discussions with the government of Pakistan regarding Imran’s incarceration. Responding on behalf of the Foreign Office, Minister of State Baroness Chapman of Darlington reiterated that while Pakistan’s judicial processes are a matter for its own authorities, the UK had consistently raised concerns over fundamental rights. “While Pakistan’s judicial processes are, of course, a matter for Pakistan, we are clear that the Pakistani authorities need to respect fundamental freedoms, including the right to a fair trial, due process, humane detention and access to appropriate medical treatment,” ... -
Dawn - 08:40 Feb 26, 2026
The number of births in Japan fell for the 10th straight year in 2025, official data showed on Thursday, highlighting the challenges for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. A total of 705,809 babies were born in Japan, the preliminary health ministry data showed, down 2.1 per cent from 2024. The data includes births to Japanese nationals in Japan, foreign births in Japan and babies born to Japanese nationals overseas. Meanwhile, 505,656 couples got married in 2025, up 1.1pc, while the number of divorces fell 3.7pc to 182,969 cases. There were 1,605,654 deaths, down 13,030 or 0.8pc from 2024. The internal affairs ministry estimated Japan’s overall population as of February at 122.86 million people, down 0.47pc, or 580,000, from a year ago. The world’s fourth-biggest economy has one of the world’s lowest birth rates and a falling and ageing population. This is leading to a host of problems, including labour shortages, a ballooning social security bill and fewer working people paying tax. That in turn is adding to Ja... -
Dawn - 08:23 Feb 26, 2026
The district administration on Thursday imposed Section 144 in the districts of Upper South Waziristan and Lower South Waziristan due to rising security concerns and to facilitate the movement of logistics for security forces. Officials said the move aims to ensure public safety, maintain law and order, and facilitate the uninterrupted operational movement of security personnel. Upper South Waziristan Deputy Commissioner Asmatullah Wazir confirmed that Section 144 has been enforced in the tehsils of Sarvekai and Sararogha from 6am to 6pm. During this period, all movement will be strictly prohibited, and all markets and commercial centres will remain closed. The affected routes include Makin, Sararogha, Kot Kai and Spinkai Raghzai up to Nazar Khel. Additionally, the route from Dargai Bridge through Madi Jan, Sheen Warsak and Moley Khan Sarai to Chagmalai will also remain closed. Officials said in the statement that residents have been instructed to stop their vehicles at least 50 metres before approaching secu... -
Dawn - 08:08 Feb 26, 2026
BANNU: A tragic incident during Taraweeh prayers on Wednesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu district has left the area in mourning after militants raided a mosque and abducted three brothers, two of whom were police personnel. Eyewitnesses reported that 10–12 armed men entered the mosque, held worshippers hostage, and abducted three brothers before fleeing to an unknown location. The abducted individuals were identified as Saeed Akhtar, a clerk at the commissioner’s office, and Amjad and Hazratullah serving in the Wazir subdivision’s police force. Police officials confirmed that the two abducted police personnel were later brutally killed and their bodies were dumped along Marwat Canal Road, while the third brother remains missing. Local Chairman Masoom Wazir said he received information about two bodies and, upon reaching the site, found both victims covered in blood. The bodies were immediately taken to the District Headquarters Hospital. RPO Bannu Sajjad Khan stated that the kidnappers were affiliated with... -
Dawn - 07:29 Feb 26, 2026
KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Thursday framed charges against main suspect Armaghan Qureshi and co-accused Sheraz alias Shavez Bukhari in the Mustafa Amir murder case. Amir, 23, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered by his friends — Armaghan and Sheraz — in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) on Jan 6, 2025. According to the police, the accused stuffed Amir’s body in the trunk of his car and torched it in the Hub area of Balochistan. Both accused denied the charges before the court, which also summoned witnesses and adjourned the hearing until March 12. A final charge sheet against Armaghan in the murder case was filed in August 2025. In the document, Investigating Officer (IO) Muhammad Ali had said that the last known location of the victim and the two suspects was Armaghan’s house in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA). The IO stated that blood collected from Armaghan’s house allegedly matched samples taken from the body recovered from the car in Hub. The report claimed that CCTV foot... -
Dawn - 05:47 Feb 26, 2026
The US Justice Department announced the arrest on Wednesday of a former Air Force fighter pilot who allegedly trained Chinese military personnel without authorisation. Gerald Brown, 65, was arrested in Indiana after having recently returned to the United States from China, where he had been since December 2023, a Justice Department statement said. He is accused of having “conspired with foreign nationals to provide combat aircraft training to pilots in the Chinese Air Force” without a required license from the US State Department, the statement said. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel posted on X: “Major story… the FBI and our partners have arrested a former US Air Force Pilot who was allegedly training pilots in the Chinese military.” Brown had a 24-year career in the US Air Force during which he “commanded sensitive units with responsibility for nuclear weapons delivery systems, led combat missions, and served as a fighter pilot instructor and simulator instructor on a variety of figh... -
Dawn - 02:36 Feb 26, 2026
WITHIN hours of the bombing of an Islamabad Imambargah on Feb 6, Pakistani intelligence and law enforcement zeroed in on a home in Hakimabad, Nowshera, 49km east of Peshawar. “It was a race against time. Sifting through technical data, establishing coordinates and isolating the target,” a senior security official said. “It didn’t take long before we knew the location.” By late evening, they had already laid siege to the residence, taken up position and called out those inside to come out, hands raised, and surrender. For a moment, there was no movement. But then, someone showed a raised hand from behind the door, indicating their willingness to surrender. Except that he didn’t. Aiming a 9mm gun straight at the security cordon, the lone gunman fired straight shots, hitting an assistant sub inspector of the police right in the chest, killing him on the spot, and injuring two intelligence officers. The exchange of fire didn’t last long, though. Within minutes, the gunman, said to be in his mid-thirties, was shot... -
Dawn - 02:32 Feb 26, 2026
THE chaos at the country’s major airports seems to be subsiding, with some order gradually restored after the state’s ham-handed efforts to crack down on unlawful travel. The past few months had been a nightmare, with passengers travelling abroad from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad routinely complaining of long queues, repeated questioning by security personnel, and extremely long waits for immigration clearance. It seems that some unscrupulous elements had also jumped at the opportunity to fleece time-stressed travellers by furtively offering ‘facilitation services’ in exchange for extortive ‘fees’. Some passengers had even complained on social media that the free-to-use luggage trolleys meant to facilitate travellers had ‘disappeared’ from their usual drop-off spots, and they were forced to pay to use one. Then there were the reports of passengers being denied boarding on flimsy pretexts, or for no reason at all. It seems that the growing discontent finally forced the authorities to restore some order. While... -
Dawn - 20:00 Feb 25, 2026
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned a joint session of Parliament on March 2, at the start of the new parliamentary year. A notification issued by the National Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday said that in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 read with clause (3) of Article 56 of the Constitution, the president has summoned both Houses of Parliament to assemble together at the Parliament House in Islamabad on March 2 (Monday) at 10:30am. Earlier, a post on the Presidency’s X account stated that he had approved the summary for convening the session. The post also said that the session would be convened at 3pm on March 2. Later, the National Assembly Secretariat issued its notification, in which the time was revised to 10:30am. The session is being convened in continuation of the practice of a joint sitting behind held at the start of every parliamentary year. According to Article 56 of the Constitution, the president addresses both Houses of parliament at the start of th... -
Dawn - 18:50 Feb 25, 2026
Iran sees the chance of a good outcome from a third round of talks with the United States, its President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Wednesday, as a delegation left for Geneva for negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme. A senior US official said on Monday that envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are slated to meet with the Iranian delegation, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, in Geneva on Thursday. The two countries resumed negotiations over the long-disputed nuclear programme earlier this month as the US builds up its military capability in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic. Iran has threatened to strike US bases in the region if it is attacked. Trump on February 19 said he was giving Tehran about 10 to 15 days to make a deal. “In relation to the talks, we see a good outlook, tomorrow in the meeting that Dr Araqchi will hold in Geneva … we have tried, with the guidance of the supreme leader, to manage this process to get out of th... -
Dawn - 18:36 Feb 25, 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told lawmakers in Jerusalem on Wednesday that India stands “firmly” with Israel following Hamas’s attack on October 7, 2023. Modi also met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a two-day visit aimed at deepening trade and defence ties that has drawn criticism at home. “I … carry with me the deepest condolences of the people of India for every life lost and for every family whose world was shattered in the barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7,” Modi said in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. “We feel your pain, we share your grief. India stands with Israel firmly with full conviction in this moment and beyond.” In his speech, Modi did not explicitly mention the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza during the more than two-year-long Israeli onslaught. But he said that India “supports all efforts that contribute to durable peace and regional stability”. Modi also told Israeli lawmakers that his country’s economic growth and Israel’s leadership... -
Dawn - 18:31 Feb 25, 2026
ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Wednesday approached the Supreme Court seeking the medical treatment of jailed party founder Imran Khan at a hospital of his choice, along with access to his personal physicians. The application, filed by PTI lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa under Order XXXV Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules 2025, comes after Imran underwent a government-facilitated follow-up treatment for his eye ailment. The application, available with Dawn, was filed on behalf of Imran and named the Islamabad district election commissioner as the respondent, as it invoked the Toshakhana case in which the PTI founder was first arrested on Aug 5, 2023. The plea requested the SC that Imran be “immediately shifted to Shifa International Hospital, Islamabad for proper treatment of his eyes from [a] retina specialist”. It may be mentioned that Shifa International Hospital — where Imran’s family and personal doctors want him to be taken — is in Islamabad, whereas Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital, a doctor of which was involved in Tuesda... -
Dawn - 18:03 Feb 25, 2026
New Zealand knocked co-hosts Sri Lanka out of the T20 World Cup on Wednesday with a 61-run win in Colombo that boosted their semi-final hopes. Sri Lanka needed an emphatic win to stay alive but instead exited with a whimper, limping to 107-8 chasing New Zealand’s 168-7. A win for New Zealand against England on Friday at the same R. Premadasa stadium would see them top the Super Eights group and qualify for the semi-finals along with Harry Brook’s side. A defeat would open the door for Pakistan, who would probably need a big win against Sri Lanka in Kandy on Saturday to sneak through on net run rate. Sri Lanka were never in the chase as Matt Henry dismissed their leading batsman Pathum Nissanka with the first ball of the innings. Henry also removed Chairth Asalanka with the first ball of his second over to leave Sri Lanka in trouble at 6-2. Sri Lanka crawled to 20-2 at the end of the six-over power play, the lowest in the competition and Sri Lanka’s second lowest ever in T20 internationals. Part-time spinner R... -
Dawn - 17:49 Feb 25, 2026
LAHORE: Five senior PTI leaders incarcerated in Lahore’s Koth Lakhpat Jail have written an open letter, urging the chief justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi to again look into the matter of PTI founder Imran Khan’s health and treatment and “see that justice is done”. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omer Sarfraz Cheema made the appeal in a joint handwritten open letter, which was shared by their counsel Rana Mudassar on Wednesday. They also drew a comparison between the events surrounding the jailed ex-prime minister’s treatment today and that of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in 2019. Nawaz, who was serving a prison sentence granted by an accountability court that found him guilty of corruption in the Al Azizia case in 2019, had been allowed to travel to London for treatment after he was diagnosed with an immune system disorder. Prior to that, he was also provided treatment at the hospital in Pakistan. The five PTI leaders said in their letter that in 2019, “when Naw... -
Dawn - 17:07 Feb 25, 2026
Multiple PTI supporters across social media platforms were sharing a dim clip of party founder Imran Khan since February 24, 2026, claiming that it was from his latest visit to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) for a second eye injection. However, the video is old from February 20, 2023, when he appeared before the Lahore High Court (LHC) for interim protective bail in a case. The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is false. Imran was brought to Pims for a follow-up eye treatment on Feb 24. According to a doctor, he was brought to the hospital for a second dose of anti-VEGF intravitreal injection. Imran’s eye ailment — right central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) — came to light in late January 2026. His first medical procedure, which was carried out on January 24, was confirmed by the government five days later. Since then, the government and the opposition have also been engaged in a blame game, with the latter accusing the former of a lack of transparency ... -
Dawn - 16:40 Feb 25, 2026
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will embark on Thursday on a three-day visit — from February 26-28 — to Saudi Arabia to participate in the Open-Ended Extraordinary Ministerial Session of the Organisation of Islamic Council (OIC) Executive Committee, according to the Foreign Office (FO). The FO said in a statement on Wednesday that the ministerial session would be held on February 26 in Jeddah “to consider the illegal decisions of the Israeli occupation authorities aimed at expanding settlements, pursuing annexation, and attempting to impose Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied West Bank”. The meeting is taking place against the backdrop of the Israeli government approving a proposal to register large areas of the occupied West Bank as “state property” for the first time since the occupation of the territory in 1967. The move is in violation of international law, which states that an occupying power cannot confiscate land in occupied territories. At the ministerial session in Jeddah, FM D... -
Dawn - 16:00 Feb 25, 2026
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and 17 other press freedom and human rights organisations on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take immediate steps to “uphold the country’s constitutional and international obligations” to protect press freedom. In a joint letter addressed to the premier, they said they were writing to express “deep concern regarding the sustained deterioration of media freedom in Pakistan”. The letter was endorsed by Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the International Press Institute, Forum Asia, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, and the Freedom Network, among other local and international groups. The letter said that the recent legal and institutional developments, alongside “persistent failures” to ensure accountability for attacks on journalists, had contributed to a worsening environment for members of the media in Pakistan. “We urge your government to take immediate action to uphold Pakistan’s obligations under the Constitut...
7911 items