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Dawn - 18:44 Nov 19, 2025
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar discussed the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) scheme with European Union Council President Antonio Costa on Wednesday, ahead of an upcoming review this month. The status was granted by the EU in 2014, which led to a 108 per cent hike in Pakistani textile exports to the EU due to concessional tariffs. In October 2023, the European Parliament unanimously voted to extend the GSP+ status for another four years until 2027 for developing countries, including Pakistan, to enjoy duty-free or minimum duty on European exports. The upcoming GSP+ monitoring mission was delayed from June because of the Iran-Israel conflict and will scrutinise Pakistan’s record on 27 international conventions tied to the trade scheme, which grants duty-free access to most Pakistani exports. The Foreign Office (FO) said that FM Dar called on Costa for a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, in which they “exchanged views on various areas of mutual interest, including GSP+, trade and... -
Dawn - 18:33 Nov 19, 2025
At least 25 Palestinians were killed in four Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday in Gaza since a shaky ceasefire took effect in October, health authorities said. Medics said 10 people were killed in the Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun, two in the Shujaiya suburb to the east and the rest in two separate attacks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The Israeli military claimed its forces struck Hamas targets across Gaza after members of the Palestinian group fired on its troops in violation of the nearly six-week-old ceasefire. No Israeli forces were injured. Multiple air strikes have pointed to the fragility of the ceasefire. Israel and Hamas have traded blame for what both call violations of the US-brokered truce, the first stage of President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan for a post-war Gaza. All three attacks were far beyond an agreed-upon imaginary “yellow line” separating the areas under Israeli and Palestinian control, according to medics, witnesses and Palestinian media. The Zeitoun attack was on a building... -
Dawn - 17:49 Nov 19, 2025
European Union (EU) Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis on Wednesday said that the country needed to “do more” in terms of fulfilling its commitments under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status ahead of a review. The status was granted by the EU in 2014, resulting in a 108 per cent increase in Pakistani textile exports to the EU due to concessional tariffs. In October 2023, the European Parliament unanimously voted to extend the GSP+ status for another four years until 2027 for developing countries, including Pakistan. The upcoming GSP+ monitoring mission will scrutinise Pakistan’s record on 27 international conventions tied to the trade scheme. Maintaining GSP+ status is critical for Pakistan to keep export costs low. What is GSP+ status? According to the EU, GSP+ status is a special incentive awarded to developing countries to “pursue sustainable development and good governance” in exchange for cutting import duties to zero on two-thirds of the tariff lines of its exports. Governmen... -
Dawn - 17:14 Nov 19, 2025
Lawmakers are set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) at the United States Capitol on Wednesday on the second day of a visit to the US that has aimed to tout stronger-than-ever economic and security ties with Washington while brushing off scrutiny of his human rights record. President Donald Trump gave bin Salman a lavish welcome at the White House on Tuesday and defended him over the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, which US intelligence agencies have concluded the crown prince approved. A handful of Republican members of Congress, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast attended a black-tie dinner at the White House for bin Salman on Tuesday, according to a White House official. MBS was considered an outcast by Washington in the aftermath of the Khashoggi killing, but his rehabilitation was rubber-stamped this week. In... -
Dawn - 17:04 Nov 19, 2025
Security forces killed four terrorists in separate engagements across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the military’s media wing said in a statement on Wednesday. According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), multiple intelligence-based operations (IBO) were carried out between November 17 and 18, with the dead terrorists belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khawarij. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “On [the] reported presence of khwarij, an intelligence-based operation was conducted by the security forces in Bajaur district,” the statement read. “During the conduct of [the] operation, own troops effectively engaged the khwarij location and after an intense fire exchange, one kharji was sent to hell.” The ISPR said that two more terrorists were killed in IBOs conducted in the areas of Spinwam and Zakir Khel in North Waziristan, while another terrorist was killed in an IBO in Dera Ismail Khan District. “Weapons and ammunition were ... -
Dawn - 16:58 Nov 19, 2025
The PTI on Wednesday strongly condemned the Punjab government for unleashing “a reign of terror” on party founder Imran Khan’s sisters, party leaders, lawyers, and workers outside Adiala Jail, describing the act as utterly intolerable and completely unacceptable. The party announced that the opposition alliance would observe a countrywide ‘black day’ on Friday to demand the restoration of the Constitution, the rule of law and ‘real freedom’, as Imran repeatedly stated that the nation was left with no choice but to choose between freedom and death. Speaking at a press conference alongside Imran’s sisters — Aleema Khan, Uzma Khan and Noreen Niazi — as well as Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) Chairman Senator Allama Raja Nasir Abbas and other party leaders, PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja condemned the acts carried out on Tuesday night and issued a stern warning to the authorities. He stated that the PTI continued to urge those in power to abandon their “reckless arrogance” and act responsibly before it w... -
Dawn - 16:48 Nov 19, 2025
European Union (EU) Ambassador to Pakistan Raimundas Karoblis on Wednesday said that the country needed to “do more” in terms of fulfilling its commitments under the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) ahead of a review. The status was granted by the EU in 2014, which led to a 108 per cent hike in Pakistani textile exports to the EU due to concessional tariffs. In October 2023, the European Parliament unanimously voted to extend the GSP+ status for another four years until 2027 for developing countries, including Pakistan, to enjoy duty-free or minimum duty on European exports. The upcoming GSP+ monitoring mission was delayed from June because of the Iran-Israel conflict and will scrutinise Pakistan’s record on 27 international conventions tied to the trade scheme, which grants duty-free access to most Pakistani exports. In an interview on DawnNewstv show ‘Doosra Rukh’ today, the EU ambassador was asked about whether Pakistan needed to do more to fulfil the requirements of the scheme, to which he sa... -
Dawn - 16:25 Nov 19, 2025
State-owned energy company Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL) is reclaiming land from the sea to create a launchpad to ramp up oil and gas exploration, US outlet Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Citing PPL’s General Manager Exploration and Core Business Development, Arshad Palekar, Bloomberg reported that the artificial island will be created about 30 kilometres off the coast of Sindh, near Sujawal. He said this on the sidelines of an oil and gas conference in Islamabad. “Planned with a height of six feet, the platform will prevent high tides from interrupting round-the-clock exploration work,” he said. Pakistan’s drilling efforts are gaining fresh momentum after United States President Donald Trump indicated an interest in the country’s “massive oil reserves” in a social media post in July. Since then, Islamabad has awarded offshore exploration licenses to local companies PPL, Mari Energies Ltd and Prime International Oil and Gas Company. “The project, a first for Pakistan, builds on Abu Dhabi’s experience, where ... -
Dawn - 15:22 Nov 19, 2025
A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country’s largest urban blaze in almost half a century. Aerial footage from broadcasters showed houses reduced to rubble and thick plumes of smoke rising from the hilly Saganoseki district of Oita city, which overlooks a fishing harbour renowned for its premium Seki-brand mackerel. The flames had also spread to nearby forested slopes and an uninhabited island more than one kilometre off the coast, likely due to strong winds, local media reported. The blaze started on Tuesday evening and has burned 48,900 square metres — roughly the size of seven soccer fields — forcing 175 residents in the district, some 770 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, to flee to an emergency shelter, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the agency added. One person has been found dead, local m... -
Dawn - 14:56 Nov 19, 2025
“In a world reshaped by rising climate pressures, urban growth, and inequality, safe sanitation remains a cornerstone of public health and human dignity,” says United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement on World Toilet Day on November 19. Established by the World Toilet Organisation in 2001, the day was made an official United Nations Observance in 2013. Every year, UN-Water — the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation — sets the theme for this day. In 2025, the theme is ‘Sanitation in a changing world’, which, according to the UN reminds us “that no matter what the future holds, we’ll always need the toilet”. A toilet stands outside the Llamocca family home at Villa Lourdes in Villa Maria del Triunfo on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, on October 7, 2015. — Reuters “The humble toilet is an icon of progress — preventing disease, protecting the environment, and preserving dignity and opportunity. Without safe sanitation, sustainable development falters. Contaminated water can spr... -
Dawn - 14:08 Nov 19, 2025
The Pakistan Navy (PN) seized over 2,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, in a drug bust worth $130 million in the Arabian Sea, according to a statement issued on Wednesday. The statement from the navy’s Directorate-General Public Relations (DG PR) said the PN Tabuk was conducting a regional maritime security patrol in support of the Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150 under the Combined Maritime Force (CMF), a naval partnership that includes the United States, when it intercepted a “suspicious dhow” operating in the Arabian Sea. “Subsequently, the ship successfully conducted a major counter-narcotics operation onboard stateless dhow, resulting in the seizure of over 2000kg of ice,” the statement said, adding that the capture was the third consecutive successful interdiction conducted in the last two months by PN ships. The navy said these successful operations demonstrated its “enduring resolve and unwavering commitment” against illicit trafficking at sea. “The scale of the operation, cou... -
Dawn - 13:34 Nov 19, 2025
Supreme Court’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has observed that returning officers (ROs) correctly prepared lists of 41 independent candidates during the 2024 general elections, as it was PTI’s decision-makers who “compelled” them to contest in that manner. Justice Mandokhail, a member of the now-defunct Constitutional Bench (CB), made the observation in his additional note in the reserved seats review case. In its June 27 ruling, the CB, by a majority of seven judges, had overturned the earlier SC judgment of July 12, 2024 that had granted reserved seats to the PTI. While seven judges had accepted all review petitions filed by the ruling coalition parties, three others — including Justice Mandokhail — had partially allowed them, and two had rejected the pleas outright on the first day of the hearing. Justice Mandokhail had maintained his original July 2024 order of giving 39 seats to PTI, but reviewed the majority judgment to the extent of 41 seats. In his note uploaded on the SC website on Tuesday, the judg... -
Dawn - 13:23 Nov 19, 2025
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday announced the allocation of 80 electric buses for Rawalpindi, aiming to improve public transportation and reduce congestion. The chief minister was scheduled to inaugurate the new transport system in the garrison city on October 15, but the ceremony was cancelled due to the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan protest in Islamabad. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the electric bus initiative in Rawalpindi today, CM Maryam said, “The electric buses are equipped with modern amenities, including air conditioning, free Wi-Fi, and charging ports.” The initiative, the chief minister highlighted, is part of a broader effort to enhance infrastructure and public services in Rawalpindi. Other projects include signal-free corridors, flyovers, and hospitals. “The government has allocated significant funds for road construction and improvement,” she said, adding that the electric buses are part of a larger plan to promote sustainable transportation and reduce pollution. “The bu... -
Dawn - 12:24 Nov 19, 2025
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday met with industrialists in the metropolis’s SITE Area and Haroonabad and briefed them on ongoing sewage treatment and water recycling projects aimed at industrial use. The mayor, accompanied by a delegation of industrialists, conducted a detailed visit to the SITE Limited Sewerage Treatment Plant. On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, briefed the mayor and the industrialists on the technical aspects and the current status of the treatment plants. “For the first time in Karachi’s history, a formal process of treating wastewater and recycling it for industrial purposes is being initiated to provide industries with a reliable, sustainable and uninterrupted water supply,” Wahab said. He added that the TP-III treatment facility in Mauripur has become operational again after a long time, and after 25 years, complete cleaning and rehabilitation work has been carried out at the TP-I treatment plant in... -
Dawn - 12:18 Nov 19, 2025
Iran must “cooperate fully” with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, according to a draft resolution submitted to the agency’s board by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and seen by AFP on Wednesday. Tensions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have repeatedly flared in recent years, with relations being further strained in the wake of a 12-day war in June that saw Israeli and US strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities. Since the war, agency inspectors have not been granted access to key nuclear sites such as Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the strikes in June, but they have been able to visit other sites. The draft, which is expected to be voted on by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during its meeting this week, stresses that it is “imperative” for Iran to comply with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It also urges Iran to provide “access that the agency requests”. Last week, the IAEA called on Iran to allow it to verify its enriched uraniu... -
Dawn - 12:02 Nov 19, 2025
A report submitted to the US Congress has mentioned Pakistan’s “military success” over India during the four-day conflict in May this year. “Pakistan’s military success over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry,” said a report submitted to the US Congress on Tuesday by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, formed to report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the US and China. Pakistan initially said it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat during the conflict, but later raised the tally to seven. Islamabad has denied any losses of its planes and says it hit 26 Indian targets after three air bases were targeted. US President Donald Trump, who continues to comment on the conflict, most recently said that eight planes were “essentially” shot down. In its annual report, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission referred to the May conflict and said that China used it to “test and promote its own defenc... -
Dawn - 11:59 Nov 19, 2025
An additional district and sessions judge in Multan has sentenced to death the husband of the 20-year-old pregnant woman who was killed last year in Multan, it emerged on Wednesday. Sania Zehra — a mother of two — was found dead in her room on July 9 2024, hanging from a ceiling fan. Her father, Syed Asad Abbas, had claimed that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He said his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the murder as a suicide. A first information report (FIR) was registered at the New Multan police station on his complaint under Sections 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). In a one-page court order, dated November 18 — a copy of which is available with Dawn — Additional Sessions judge Mohsin Ali Khan ruled that Syed Muhammad Ali Raza has been “duly convicted of the Qatal-i-Amd of Sania Zehra deceased,” and sentenced the convict to “death as Ta’zir under Section 302 (b) of the Pakistan Pen... -
Dawn - 11:34 Nov 19, 2025
A day after newly-elected Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore’s oath-taking, 18 legislators from the PPP were sworn in as ministers for his cabinet on Wednesday. The oath to the 18 ministers was administered at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Muzaffarabad by AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was substituting as the acting president due to the illness of AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood. Mahmood reportedly could not travel to the regional capital due to health issues. PM Rathore, as well as former AJK premiers Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Haji Yaqoob Khan, were also present on the occasion. A large number of PPP workers and supporters, as well as several senior civil servants, also attended the ceremony. The newly-appointed ministers are Mian Abdul Waheed, Sardar Javed Ayoub, Javed Iqbal Budhanvi, Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, Amar Yasin, Sardar Ziaul Qamar, Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi, Nabila Ayub Khan, Deevan Ali Chughtai, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Chaudhry Arshad, Chaudhry Muhammad ... -
Dawn - 11:30 Nov 19, 2025
PTI says Imran’s sisters manhandled, ‘violently detained’ by police while camped outside Adiala jail
The PTI said late on Tuesday that police manhandled and “violently detained” the sisters of ex-premier Imran Khan from outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where they were camped out after being denied a weekly meeting with the party founder. The PTI had held a protest outside the jail on Tuesday, where Imran is currently incarcerated, but the jail administration did not allow party leaders and the PTI founder’s family to meet him. Subsequently, the party held a sit-in outside the jail and criticised the prison administration for violating the court order in this regard. In a post on social media platform X after midnight, the party said Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Dr Uzma Khan were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when the police action happened. It added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Minister Meena Khan Afridi, MNA Shahid Khattak and other party workers, including several women, were “subjected to violence and picked up by police”. “What should be routine weekly court-mandated family visits,... -
Dawn - 11:16 Nov 19, 2025
Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik on Wednesday said climate-induced disasters must be treated as a “political” priority as he detailed the long- and short-term strategies to mitigate losses and plan for the next year’s monsoon season. Monsoon rains fall across the region from June to September, offering respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenish water supplies. However, heavy downpours also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. Data from Punjab’s disaster management authority shows this year’s floods affected at least 4.7 million people across 4,700 villages. Speaking at a press conference with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik in Islamabad today, the climate change minister stated that “climate-induced disasters must be treated as a political priority,” noting that the 2022 floods alone caused losses exceeding 9 per cent of the GDP. “Since 2...
8038 items