Dawn
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Dawn - 16:01 Oct 16, 2025
The Punjab government announced today its intention to recommend a ban on the religiopolitical party, Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), after violent clashes between the party and police in Muridke at the start of the week led to the arrest of 2,716 protesters in the province. The party had set out for what it described as a “Gaza solidarity” march, pledging to reach Islamabad and protest outside the US embassy. However, in a massive crackdown, law enforcement agencies launched a pre-dawn operation on Monday to dismantle the party’s protest camp, which sparked clashes, widespread chaos and arrests. Additionally, the number of cases registered against the outfit has reached 72, with at least 39 registered in Lahore, amid arrests of second- and third-tier leaders of the TLP — said to be the biggest number of criminal cases against the TLP across Punjab during the last few years. The decision to ban TLP is being linked to some crucial meetings, where its record of violent agitations, fatal attacks on the law enf... -
Dawn - 15:32 Oct 16, 2025
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met his Saudi counterpart on the third day of his ongoing US visit, the finance ministry said on Thursday, adding that the former briefed the latter about the privatisation process of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and key airports. The meeting was held on the sidelines of the plenary meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) in Washington, D.C., where Aurangzeb arrived on Sunday on a six-day trip. A foreign ministry statement issued today said Aurangzeb continued a series of high-level meetings in the US capital, including his engagement with Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Jadaan. “He apprised his Saudi counterpart of the ongoing privatisation process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and key airports, underscoring the government’s resolve to attract strategic investments through transparency and efficiency,” it added. The development comes after a parliamentary committee was informed last month that the PIA Co... -
Dawn - 13:59 Oct 16, 2025
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national alliance faces a tough regional election in the state of Bihar next month, due to youth unemployment and distrust over voter rolls, which could pose risks to his coalition that relies on regional partners. Bihar, in eastern India, is one of the country’s poorest states and its third most populous, with over 130 million people. Its chief minister, Nitish Kumar, has previously sided with both Modi and the opposition, but is currently a key partner in Modi’s National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The state is part of a politically crucial heartland region and any cracks within the NDA in November’s assembly vote in Bihar could threaten Modi’s coalition, with elections to follow within months in the states of Assam, West Bengal, and Tamil Nadu. Modi’s national alliance, which has 293 out of 543 seats in the Parliament, has a strong voter base only in Assam. Women are a key voting bloc in tight poll The Vote Vibe agency said its opinion poll in Bihar showed the NDA had a... -
Dawn - 13:47 Oct 16, 2025
China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran on Thursday welcomed Pakistan and Afghanistan’s agreement to a 48-hour ceasefire after the two neighbours witnessed a fresh round of deadly cross-border clashes that threatened to escalate into a wider conflict. China’s foreign ministry said today it supported countries in exercising restraint and realising a full and lasting ceasefire. “China stands ready to continue to play a constructive role for continued improvement in the two countries’ relations, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, told a regular press briefing. Iran also welcomed the ceasefire between its eastern neighbours, urging dialogue and diplomacy after days of deadly clashes. In a statement, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei expressed concern over civilian casualties and called for stronger regional cooperation to combat terrorism, while reaffirming Tehran’s readiness “to assist in any effort to maintain calm and reduce tensions between the two neighbouring Muslim countries”. Meanwhile, Fore... -
Dawn - 13:42 Oct 16, 2025
In north central Nigeria’s Muslim-majority state of Kwara, where religious traditions shape daily life, a group of girls are challenging cultural norms by playing soccer. They’ve embraced the game’s team spirit, competitive thrill, plus the highs and lows of winning and losing, all whilst trying to ignore the disapproval of those who consider it unsuitable for women who choose to dress modestly. As Maryam Muhammed laces up her boots and heads to soccer training at a local school in Ilorin, she feels the sweltering heat — made worse by her hijab and leggings — as well as the scorn from some in the local community. Muhammed, 17, regularly hears taunts as she walks to her training sessions with the Model Queens Football Academy. “They tell me I won’t achieve anything. But I believe I will achieve something big,” she said. Despite the discomfort, it is important to her to cover up when she plays rather than wear shorts and a t-shirt. “Sometimes it feels like I want to open the hijab, but I must not expose my hair... -
Dawn - 13:30 Oct 16, 2025
India said on Thursday that its energy priority was the interest of its citizens, after United States President Donald Trump said New Delhi had promised it will stop buying Russian oil. New Delhi neither confirmed nor denied it was shifting policy towards Russia. “It has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario,” Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement. “Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has previously defended buying oil from Russia, a historic partner of India, despite Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump in August raised tariffs on Indian exports to the US to 50 per cent, with Trump’s aides accusing India of fueling Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy,” Jaiswal added. “This includes broad-basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market con... -
Dawn - 13:23 Oct 16, 2025
PAKISTAN burns $130 million every single day on the health and economic consequences of breathing poisoned air. This $47.8 billion annual toll represents 5.88 per cent of GDP lost to healthcare costs, productivity losses, and 22,000 premature deaths. Over 11 million children under five are regularly exposed to hazardous air quality, with 1.8 million people in Punjab alone suffering health consequences during smog episodes. This crisis stems from 25 years of policy drift. While Pakistan drafted the National Environmental Policy (NEP) in 2005 and Climate Change Policy in 2012, it lacked clarity of purpose and implementation resolve. During these lost decades, all major Asian economies invested systematically in public transportation, clean technologies and inclusive propoor policies, leaving Pakistan dangerously behind. Current approaches remain trapped in outdated administrative and punitive measures instead of systematic, integrated solutions. This reactive approach has proven ineffective against a crisis req... -
Dawn - 13:09 Oct 16, 2025
At least 15 people were killed — all from the same family — when a Punjab-bound truck overturned in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district early morning on Thursday, according to a Rescue 1122 official. Malakand Rescue 1122 Spokesperson Shafiqa Gul said in a statement, “At least 15 members of the same family were killed and eight others sustained injuries when a truck overturned near tunnel No. 3 of the Swat Motorway on Thursday morning.” The dead and injured include men, women and children, she said. “The family was from the Gabral area of the Bahrain tehsil and were travelling to Punjab when the tragic incident occurred,” the statement said. Rescue teams rushed to the site of the incident and carried out relief operations alongside the Motorway police, according to the spokesperson. She further said that the injured had been taken to the District Headquarters Hospital, Batkhela. “Doctors at the hospital confirmed that 15 people had lost their lives,” she said, adding that four of the injured were in critical co... -
Dawn - 13:01 Oct 16, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said Islamabad was ready to talk if Kabul agreed to fulfil Pakistan’s “justified” conditions following recent hostilities between the two countries. Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday agreed to a temporary ceasefire after a fresh round of deadly cross-border clashes that threatened to escalate into a wider conflict. Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) said the ceasefire, implemented at the Taliban’s request and with mutual consent, took effect at 6pm local time on October 15 and would last for 48 hours. The announcement followed sustained hostilities between the two countries over the weekend. Addressing the federal cabinet today after the latest round of conflict, the premier stated that the Afghan side had requested a ceasefire and made a formal request. “Yesterday we decided the temporary 48-hour ceasefire [and] the message has been sent that if they want to fulfil our justified conditions through talks, then we are ready. The ball is in their court.” He added that ... -
Dawn - 12:16 Oct 16, 2025
New York’s Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday apologised to the New York Police Department (NYPD) for remarks he made in 2020 during the height of the George Floyd protests. “I apologise for the language that I used, and I spoke to them about the fact that I want to work with them to deliver public safety because what we’re seeing in the city right now is we’re asking officers to do nearly everything we can think of,” Mamdani said in an interview on US media outlet Fox News. “We used to ask officers to focus on serious crimes. Now we’re asking them to focus also on the mental health crisis, to focus also on homelessness. In one year alone, the NYPD receives 200,000 mental health calls,” he added. Fox host Martha MacCallum said officers she spoke with had requested a public apology from Mamdani. He responded: “I’ll apologise to police officers right here, because this is the apology that I’ve been sharing with many rank-and-file officers. I apologise because of the fact that I’m looking t... -
Dawn - 10:15 Oct 16, 2025
For a generative artificial intelligence system to learn how to write an autopsy report, human workers must sort and annotate thousands of crime scene images. The precarious work of training AI, which generally pays just a few dollars, has sparked a movement for better wages and conditions stretching from Kenya to Colombia. “You have to spend your whole day looking at dead bodies and crime scenes… Mental health support was not provided,” Kenyan national Ephantus Kanyugi told AFP. Labellers “need to spend time with these images, zoom into the wounds of dead people” to outline them so they can be fed into the AI, the 30-year-old added. Kanyugi, who has worked on image labelling since 2018, is the vice-president of the Data Labelers Association (DLA), an 800-strong labour group based in Nairobi. The DLA plans to unveil a code of conduct this month aimed at major labelling platforms, calling for improved conditions for workers. Kenya has no law regulating data-annotation work — like many countries around the worl... -
Dawn - 09:10 Oct 16, 2025
Flawed engineering and inadequate testing contributed to the catastrophic implosion of a private submersible during a 2023 expedition to the Titanic wreckage, the US National Transportation Safety Board said on Wednesday. Its report comes after a US Coast Guard investigation in August outlined a litany of issues with operator OceanGate’s conduct, as well as design flaws in its Titan submersible, that led to a “preventable tragedy” in which all five passengers were killed. “We found that OceanGate’s engineering process for the Titan was inadequate and resulted in the construction of a carbon fibre composite pressure vessel that contained multiple anomalies and failed to meet necessary strength and durability requirements,” NTSB’s report said. “Because OceanGate did not adequately test the Titan, the company was unaware of the pressure vessel’s actual strength and durability, which was likely much lower than their target. “Additionally, OceanGate’s analysis of Titan pressure vessel real-time monitoring data was... -
Dawn - 08:47 Oct 16, 2025
An Afghan man accused of a deadly knife attack on a group of toddlers in Germany went on trial on Thursday, nine months after an incident that inflamed a heated pre-election debate on immigration. Germany was shocked by the stabbing spree that killed a two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man who tried to protect the children and left three others wounded in the southern city of Aschaffenburg. Five toddlers from a kindergarten class were in a public park, accompanied by two teachers, when the assailant attacked them with a kitchen knife. The suspect arrested at the scene of the January 22 attack has been only partially named, in line with usual practice by the German judiciary, as 28-year-old Enamullah O. He has a long history of mental illness, and prosecutors said an expert assessment concluded his psychiatric state meant he was not criminally responsible. The public prosecutor’s office has previously said there was no indication the suspect acted out of extremist or terrorist motivation, and they were seekin... -
Dawn - 08:06 Oct 16, 2025
Pakistan and Kazakhstan have begun a joint counterterrorism training exercise lasting two weeks to improve military-to-military relations, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday. Pakistan regularly holds joint military exercises with countries across Asia, the Middle East, and beyond to boost operational readiness, deepen defence cooperation, and improve interoperability. These engagements enable Pakistan to share counterterrorism expertise, reinforce alliances, and project itself as a balanced and responsible regional actor. “Pakistan-Kazakhstan Joint Exercise Dostarym-V is being conducted between the armies of Pakistan and Kazakhstan in [the] counter terrorism domain from 13-24 October 2025 at the Special Operations School, Cherat, Pakistan,” a statement from the ISPR said. “Special Services Group of [the] Pak Army and Special Forces of [the] Kazakhstan Army are participating in the exercise,” it added. According to the statement, the opening ceremony of the exercise was conducted on Tu... -
Dawn - 04:47 Oct 16, 2025
US President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he authorised the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, marking a sharp escalation in US efforts to pressure President Nicolas Maduro’s government. The New York Times first reported the classified directive, citing US officials familiar with the decision, saying the Trump administration’s Venezuela strategy aims to remove Maduro from power. The administration has offered $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction on drug trafficking charges. The new authority would allow the CIA to carry out lethal operations in Venezuela and conduct a range of operations in the Caribbean, the Times reported. Asked why he authorised the CIA to operate in Venezuela, Trump told reporters his reasons were migration of Venezuelans to the United States and drug trafficking. “I authorised for two reasons really,” Trump said. “Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America…they came i... -
Dawn - 03:26 Oct 16, 2025
ISLAMABAD: A judge of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) has surrendered his US permanent residency, commonly known as a green card, after the introduction of a stringent vacation and travel policy that requires judges to seek prior approval from the Chief Justice before travelling abroad. According to well-placed sources in the IHC, the judge has obtained a five-year visa on his official passport following the cancellation of his Green Card. The decision came in the wake of recently introduced amendments to the Presidential Order and a General Standing Order which make it mandatory for judges to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from chief justices of their respective courts before leaving the country, even during holidays or vacations. The new standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued under the policy state that the entire time of a judge, including leave, vacations and holidays, is at the disposal of the state. The chief justice has been empowered to regulate such leave and may cancel it even after a j... -
Dawn - 02:34 Oct 16, 2025
PESHAWAR: As tensions with Afghanistan spike, the country’s security forces claimed to have killed dozens of militants who were attempting to infiltrate Pakistan, state media and official sources said. The action was undertaken in Mohmand district, officials said, thwarting an attempt by dozens of militants to enter Pakistan, PTV News reported. The operation was carried out on the basis of credible intelligence reports, indicating that a large group of militants was mobilising near the mountainous Khor area of Bahadar Kalay, officials said. “Security forces swiftly cordoned off the area and launched an intensive operation,” sources said. State media claimed that at least 30 terrorists had been eliminated, but local sources said the number may be higher. There was no official word from Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) until going to press, but PTV News claimed the incident demonstrated how the Afghan government was now relying on militant groups to try and exact revenge after their attempts to attack P... -
Dawn - 02:28 Oct 16, 2025
• 48-hour ‘Qatar-brokered’ truce initiated at Afghan Taliban’s request • Both sides pledge to seek resolution through dialogue • Khawaja Asif says ceasefire may not hold as Taliban have become ‘proxy for Delhi’ • Latest round of clashes erupted after Afghan fighters target Chaman border posts overnight • Pakistan confirms retaliatory strikes on militant camps in Kandahar city, Spin Boldak • Two explosions rock Afghan capital; TTP leadership targeted in ‘precision strikes’, state-run PTV reports ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday agreed to a temporary ceasefire after a fresh round of deadly cross-border clashes that threatened to escalate into a wider conflict. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said the ceasefire, implemented at the Taliban’s request and with mutual consent, took effect at 6pm local time and would last for 48 hours. “During this period, both sides will make sincere efforts to find a positive resolution to this complex but solvable issue through constructive dialogue,” the Foreign Office... -
Dawn - 19:00 Oct 15, 2025
The federal government on Wednesday night slashed the price of petrol by Rs5.66 per litre and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs1.39 per litre for the next fortnight. According to a notification issued by the Finance Division, the petrol price now stands at Rs263.02 per litre from Rs268.68 per litre. Meanwhile, the price of diesel has dropped to Rs275.41 per litre from Rs276.81 per litre. Meanwhile, superior kerosene oil (SKO) and light diesel oil (LDO) also experienced rate cuts, with SKO dropping in price from Rs184.97 per litre to Rs181.71 — a drop of Rs3.26. LDO price dropped by Rs2.74 from Rs165.50 per litre to Rs162.76. The notification added that the new rates were decided on the recommendations from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and the relevant ministries. Widely used in motorcycles, rickshaws, and private vehicles, petrol has a direct impact on the budgets of middle- and lower-income households. HSD fuels heavy transport, agricultural machinery, and trains. Its price is considered h... -
Dawn - 18:41 Oct 15, 2025
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday expressed a lack of confidence in the 48-hour ceasefire agreed between Pakistan and Afghanistan, as the latter has become a “proxy of Delhi”. Today’s fighting was the third major skirmish between Pakistan and Afghanistan within a week, following the incident in Kurram last night and earlier skirmishes that began on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning at several locations. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath’ on Wednesday night, the defence minister said that the Afghan Taliban are “fighting a proxy war” on behalf of India and stated that they have become a “stooge” for New Delhi. “I have my doubts that the ceasefire will hold, because the [Afghan] Taliban are being sponsored by Delhi,” he added. “Right now, Kabul is fighting a proxy war for Delhi.” Asif reaffirmed Pakistan’s readiness and capability to defend itself in the face of further aggression from Kabul. “We have the capability and we will attack them, God willing, if the...
8012 items