Dawn

Source: https://www.dawn.com

Found 7960 news

  • Pakistan to play three Test matches against England next year
    Dawn - 15:03 Jul 24, 2025
    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Thursday that the national team will face England in a three-match Test series next year during the World Test Championship. In a press release, the PCB said that the test matches will be played in August and September 2026. “The first Test will begin at Headingley in Leeds on August 19, while the action will move to the Lord’s Cricket Ground in London for the second Test of the series from August 27. The two teams will lock horns in the third and final Test from September 9 at Edgbaston in Birmingham,” the statement read. “This will be Pakistan’s fourth Test tour of England since 2016 and overall 29th bilateral Test series between both teams since they first faced each other in 1954,” it said. The PCB also said that the team was currently touring England for a three-match 50-over and two-match three-day series. On Sunday, the International Cricket Council announced that England would host the next three World Test Championship finals. “We are absolutely delighted that...
    Tags: Pakistan Test England
  • PM Shehbaz lauds World Bank support for Pakistan’s ‘legitimate position’ on Indus Waters Treaty
    Dawn - 14:36 Jul 24, 2025
    Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday appreciated the World Bank’s (WB) support for Pakistan’s position in light of India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). In April, India held the IWT in abeyance following the attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war”, noting that the IWT had no provision for unilateral suspension. In a meeting with the WB’s regional vice president for the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan (MENAAP), Ousmane Dione, in Islamabad, the premier acknowledged the institution’s principled support for Pakistan’s legitimate position on India’s “unilateral and unlawful actions”, which undermined “important international agreements” such as the IWT. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to upholding international law, achieving prosperity, maintaining regional peace and reiterated the country’s resolve to resolve all issues throu...
    Tags: Pakistan World Bank Indus Waters Treaty
  • S&P Global lifts Pakistan’s credit rating ‘B-’ from ‘CCC+’, outlook stable
    Dawn - 14:08 Jul 24, 2025
    Ratings agency S&P Global raised Pakistan’s sovereign credit rating to ‘B-’ from ‘CCC+’ and placed it on a ‘stable’ outlook on Thursday, saying the country’s finances and reserves had been stabilised by International Monetary Fund (IMF) support. “The stable outlook reflects our expectations that continued economic recovery and government efforts to enhance revenue will stabilise fiscal and debt metrics,” S&P said in a statement on the move. “We also expect that sustained official financing will support Pakistan in meeting its external obligations, and that the country will continue to roll over its commercial credit lines over the next 12 months.” Pakistan’s longer-dated international bonds rallied after the upgrade, with the 2051 maturity gaining 1.6 cents to be bid at 84.85 cents on the dollar, according to Tradeweb data. The 2031 and 2036 maturities also gained around 1 cent, while shorter-dated maturities posted smaller gains. Last week, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb urged the leading US rating agen...
    Tags: Pakistan Global
  • Australian women win right to sue Qatar Airways over forced strip searches
    Dawn - 14:04 Jul 24, 2025
    Five Australian women who say they were pulled from a Qatar Airways flight by armed guards and strip-searched have won the right to sue the airline, after a court on Thursday overturned an earlier decision to throw out the case. Women on 10 Qatar Airways flights, including 13 Australians, were subjected to invasive examinations to see if they had recently given birth after a newborn baby was found abandoned at Doha’s Hamad Airport in October 2020. The incident made headlines around the world, sparked outrage in Australia and strained diplomatic ties with Qatar. A group of five women on a Sydney-bound flight launched legal proceedings in 2022 against Qatar Airways, the operator of Doha Airport Matar, and Qatar’s Civil Aviation Authority. They brought claims under the Montreal Convention, which covers airline liability, as well as negligence, assault and false imprisonment. The women sought damages for the impact on their mental health, including depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, stemming from the ...
    Tags: Qatar Airways
  • PCB chief Naqvi hails positive ACC AGM, says Asia Cup fate to be announced soon
    Dawn - 13:49 Jul 24, 2025
    Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman and Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi on Thursday hailed the positive environment in which the council’s annual general meeting (AGM) was held and said the fate of the upcoming Asia Cup would be announced soon. The meeting, hosted by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), comes ahead of the Asia Cup tournament, scheduled to be hosted by India in September. The tournament remains in limbo amid strained India-Pakistan ties following a military encounter in May. On Wednesday, Hindustan Times reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), reversing an earlier decision, would attend the Asian Cricket Council’s annual meeting virtually. The BCCI had previously declined to travel to Dhaka, citing tensions with Bangladesh and threatening to boycott the meeting. The AGM was held in Dhaka today with 24 other members in attendance. Addressing the media after the meeting, Naqvi said: “The meeting went very well. We have 25 ACC members and all of them pa...
    Tags: Asia Naqvi
  • Britain and India sign free trade pact during Modi visit
    Dawn - 12:02 Jul 24, 2025
    Britain and India signed a free trade agreement on Thursday during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sealing a deal to cut tariffs on goods from textiles to whisky and cars and allow more market access for businesses. The two countries concluded talks on the trade pact in May after three years of stop-start negotiations, with both sides hastening efforts to clinch a deal in the shadow of tariff turmoil unleashed by United States President Donald Trump. The agreement between the world’s fifth and sixth largest economies aims to increase bilateral trade by a further 25.5 billion pounds ($34bn) by 2040. It is Britain’s biggest trade deal since it left the European Union in 2020, although its impact will be a fraction of the effect of leaving the orbit of its closest trading partner. For India, it represents its biggest strategic partnership with an advanced economy, and one which could provide a template for a long-mooted deal with the EU as well as talks with other regions. It will take effect aft...
    Tags: Britain India
  • Pakistan signs maritime MoU with Chinese shipping giant to boost collaboration
    Dawn - 11:58 Jul 24, 2025
    The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese shipping giant, Shandong Xinxu Group, on Thursday in a move that is set to bring about a “major transformation” in the shipping sector. PNSC, headquartered in Karachi, is Pakistan’s premier national flag carrier, operating under the Ministry of Maritime Affairs. The Shandong Xinxu Group Corporation, based in Zibo City, Shandong Province, is a leading Chinese enterprise engaged in international trade and shipping. A statement from the Press Information Department said the MoU signing ceremony took place between the PNSC CEO and the chairman of Shandong Xinxu Group Corporation in Islamabad with Maritime Affairs Minister Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry present. “The Pakistani shipping sector is set for a major transformation following the signing of a MoU,” he was quoted as saying by the statement. Addressing the signing ceremony, he said the development symbolised a “growing partnership” between Pakistan and...
    Tags: Pakistan Chinese
  • Arshad Nadeem focused on World Championships as post-surgery rehab mars upcoming competitions
    Dawn - 11:56 Jul 24, 2025
    Javelin ace Arshad Nadeem could miss two upcoming Diamond League championships next month as he undergoes post-surgery rehabilitation in London, in the hopes of a full recovery ahead of the Tokyo World Athletic Championships this September. The Olympic champion was set to travel to England this month to prepare for the World Championships, ahead of the Diamond League meet in Silesia, Poland on August 16 and Zurich, Switzerland on Aug 27-28. Last week, however, he underwent surgery on his calf muscle to address a recurring injury. The interventional procedure was done by Dr Ali Bajwa at Spire Hospital in Cambridge, United Kingdom. View this post on Instagram “We are now doing rehab work with a physiotherapist in London,” Arshad Nadeem’s coach, Salman Butt, told Dawn.com. “This is a two-week plan before we test ourselves for going back to regular workouts,” Butt added. “We are trying to achieve good form for the World Championship in Tokyo and maybe compete in one competition before Tokyo if Arshad regains good...
    Tags: World Championships Arshad Nadeem
  • Microsoft says some SharePoint server hackers now using ransomware
    Dawn - 08:49 Jul 24, 2025
    A cyber-espionage campaign centred on vulnerable versions of Microsoft’s server software now involves the deployment of ransomware, Microsoft said in a late Wednesday blog post. In the post, citing “expanded analysis and threat intelligence”, Microsoft said a group it dubs “Storm-2603” is using the vulnerability to seed the ransomware, which typically works by paralysing victims’ networks until a digital currency payment is made. The disclosure marks a potential escalation in the campaign, which has already hit at least 400 victims, according to Netherlands-based cybersecurity firm Eye Security. Unlike typical state-backed hacker campaigns, which are aimed at stealing data, ransomware can cause widespread disruption depending on where it lands. The figure of 400 victims represents a sharp rise from the 100 organisations catalogued over the weekend. Eye Security says the figure is likely an undercount. “There are many more, because not all attack vectors have left artefacts that we could scan for,” said Vaisha...
    Tags: Microsoft
  • India expulsions to Bangladesh unlawful, target Muslims: HRW
    Dawn - 08:44 Jul 24, 2025
    India has pushed hundreds of ethnic Bengali-speaking Muslims into Bangladesh without due process, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday, accusing the government of flouting rules and fuelling bias on religious lines. The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has long taken a hardline stance on immigration — particularly from Muslim-majority Bangladesh — with top authorities referring to them as “termites” and “infiltrators”. Critics also accuse the government of sparking fear among India’s estimated 200 million Muslims, especially among speakers of Bengali, which is widely spoken in both eastern India and Bangladesh. HRW, a New York-based nonprofit, said that India forcibly expelled more than 1,500 Muslim men, women, and children to Bangladesh between May 7 and June 15, quoting Bangladeshi authorities. “India’s ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is fuelling discrimination by arbitrarily expelling Bengali Muslims from the country, including Indian citizens,” Elaine Pearson, Asia director ...
    Tags: Muslims Bangladesh India
  • BCCI makes volte-face, decides to attend ACC meeting virtually
    Dawn - 06:32 Jul 24, 2025
    NEW DELHI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in a U-turn has decided to attend the Asian Cricket Council’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Thursday, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday. The ACC meeting taking place in Dhaka will decide the fate of this year’s Asia Cup, which India is scheduled to host in September. Sources within the BCCI have confirmed that the board has indeed decided to attend Thursday’s meeting virtually. “Yes, we have decided to attend the meeting virtually,” a BCCI source told the Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity. Earlier, amid rising political tension between India and Bangladesh, the BCCI decided not to visit Dhaka and threatened to boycott the all-important AGM of the game’s Asian body. The meeting on Thursday is set to determine the status of the Asia Cup, which is supposed to be played in T20 format. If the tournament gets the go-ahead, it will most likely be played in the UAE, with India maintaining its hosting rights. Considering the fact that th...
    Tags: BCCI
  • Punjab IGP told to review Crime Control Department encounters
    Dawn - 06:07 Jul 24, 2025
    LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday directed Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar to review the encounters being carried out by the newly-created Crime Control Department (CCD). Earlier, in compliance with the court’s order, the police chief appeared before LHC Chief Justice Aalia Neelum in connection with a woman’s petition against the killing of her son in an alleged CCD encounter. A report submitted by the IGP stated that the suspect was being taken away after a recovery, when the police vehicle’s tyre punctured and his accomplices launched an attack. It said the suspect was killed by the firing of his own accomplices. The chief justice said the IGP was summoned after the SHO concerned failed to satisfy the court. She found the IGP’s report complete and satisfactory. However, the chief justice questioned, “Whenever there is firing on a police vehicle, how does the bullet directly hit a suspect? Why it never hits a constable or the police vehicle?” She mentioned that the LHC ...
    Tags: Crime Control Department
  • SC denounces use of ‘infertility claims’ to target women
    Dawn - 05:39 Jul 24, 2025
    • CJP-led bench slams petitioner for attacking wife’s ‘womanhood’; imposes Rs500,000 fine as demonstration of disapproval for his conduct • Rules that infertility, even if present, is no ground to deny woman dower or maintenance ISLAMABAD: The Supr­e­me Court on Wednesday denounced the distressing and sorrowful social practice of ‘weaponising’ infertility, or even the mere suspicion of it, against women. “This social prejudice routinely results in courts of law becoming venues for humiliating a woman under the guise of litigation,” regretted Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Yahya Afridi. The CJP, who was part of a two-judge bench alongside Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb, was remarking on a case filed by one Saleh Muhammad against a March 3, 2025, judgement of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), regarding a dispute over dower claims, dowry articles and maintenance of the respondent, Mehnaz Begum. “This court cannot but record in the strongest possible terms its disapproval of the manner in which the respondent — a...
  • Pakistan, Afghanistan sign trade agreement
    Dawn - 05:29 Jul 24, 2025
    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan on Wednesday signed an Early Harvest Programme (EHP) to reduce tariffs on eight agricultural items for one year, laying the foundation for a broader preferential trade agreement (PTA) between the two countries. The EHP, which takes effect on Aug 1, will remain in force for one year and is renewable. It also allows for the future inclusion of additional items, making it the first tangible step towards launching negotiations on a comprehensive PTA. The agreement was signed by Pakistan’s Commerce Secretary, Jawad Paul, and Afghanistan’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Mullah Ahmadullah Zahid, who was accompanied by a delegation of senior technical officials. The Afghan delegation arrived in Islamabad on Monday night to hold detailed negotiations with Pakistan’s Ministry of Commerce. Under the agreement, tariffs on four Afghan agricultural exports to Pakistan — grapes, pomegranates, apples, and tomatoes — and four Pakistani exports to Afghanistan — mangoes, kinnows, b...
    Tags: Afghanistan Pakistan
  • Columbia University to pay over $200m to resolve Trump probes
    Dawn - 04:39 Jul 24, 2025
    Columbia University said on Wednesday it will pay $200 million to the US government after President Donald Trump threatened to pull federal funding over what he said was its unwillingness to protect Jewish students. In a sweeping deal that will restore the prestigious New York institution’s federal monies, Columbia has pledged to obey rules that bar it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring, among other concessions. “Columbia University has reached an agreement with the United States government to resolve multiple federal agency investigations into alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws,” a statement said, adding that the $200m would be paid over three years. The university will also pay $21m to settle investigations brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it said. “Under today’s agreement, a vast majority of the federal grants which were terminated or paused in March 2025 will be reinstated and Columbia’s access to billions of dollars in current and fut...
    Tags: Columbia University
  • Pakistani passport still ranked among ‘weakest’ despite improvement
    Dawn - 03:22 Jul 24, 2025
    KARACHI: While the passports of other Asian countries have emerged as the most powerful in the world, Pakistan’s travel document continues to be ranked among the ‘weakest’ in the world, with visa-free access available to only 32 destinations. According to the Henley Passport Index for 2025, Pakistan currently ranks 96th on the list — ahead of the war-torn nations of Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Although still quite low, the country’s ranking has improved slightly; in 2024, the Pakistani passport was tied with Yemen as the fourth-worst in the world for the fourth consecutive year. The Henley Passport Index compares the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations, and ranks all the world’s passports based on the number of destinations their holders can enter without a prior visa. Singapore, Japan and South Korea top the list; Afghanistan placed at the bottom If no visa is required, then that passport is given a score value of 1. The same applies if you can obtain a vis...
    Tags: Pakistani
  • Mostly children among 13 dead in KP monsoon spell over last 48 hours: PDMA
    Dawn - 19:11 Jul 23, 2025
    At least 13 people died, including nine children, and three were injured over the last 48 hours in monsoon rain-related incidents across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said in a damage report on Wednesday. Monsoon rains, which fall across the region from June to September every year, continue to lash many parts of the country, prompting authorities to release an urban flooding warning for several cities. The monsoon death toll since the end of June surged to 234, according to the National Disaster Mana­gement Authority (NDMA). Heavy rains triggered flash floods in several districts of KP and Gilgit-Baltistan, damaging homes and increasing water levels in rivers and streams. Over the last 48 hours, Swat has recorded the highest toll as six children and one woman died owing to flash floods and a house collapsing, while a woman and child were injured, the KP PDMA report said. Three people died in Buner, which experienced heavy rain with thunder and lightning. A woman and ...
    Tags: PDMA
  • World’s top court paves way for climate reparations
    Dawn - 19:05 Jul 23, 2025
    The world’s highest court on Wednesday declared that states are obligated under international law to tackle climate change and warned that failing to do so could open the door to reparations. In a historic ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said climate change was an “urgent and existential threat” and states had a legal duty to prevent harm from their planet-warming pollution. Countries breaching their climate obligations were committing a “wrongful act”, the court said in its advisory opinion, which is not legally binding but carries significant moral, political and legal weight. “The legal consequences resulting from the commission of an internationally wrongful act may include … full reparations to injured states in the form of restitution, compensation and satisfaction,” said ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa on behalf of the 15-judge panel. This would be on a case-by-case basis where a “sufficient direct and certain causal nexus” had been shown “between the wrongful act and the injury”, the court...
  • FM Dar calls for unconditional ceasefire, unrestricted humanitarian access amid Gaza food crisis
    Dawn - 18:52 Jul 23, 2025
    Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday urged the United Nations Security Council and the international community to bring about an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, along with unrestricted humanitarian access amid a food crisis in the besieged territory. Gaza’s population of more than two million people is facing severe shortages of food and other essentials, with residents frequently killed as they try to collect humanitarian aid at a handful of distribution points. The UN on Tuesday said Israeli forces have killed over 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the US and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) started operations. An officially private effort, the GHF began operations on May 26 after Israel halted supplies into the Gaza Strip for more than two months, sparking famine warnings. GHF operations have been marred by chaotic scenes and near-daily reports of Israeli forces firing on people waiting to collect rations in the Pal...
    Tags: Gaza
  • Zubair Habib reappointed as CPLC chief for 3-year term
    Dawn - 18:33 Jul 23, 2025
    The first meeting of the newly established Executive Council of Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) reappointed Zubair Habib as the head of the CPLC for the next three years, it emerged on Wednesday. He previously served as CPLC chief as well, being appointed in October 2015 when its board accepted the resignation of former chief Ahmed Chinoy and appointed Habib in his place. “The Sindh home minister in consultation with the executive council directed the CPLC chief Zubair Habib to continue his position,” said an official statement issued today. Habib told Dawn.com that previously, the CPLC worked under the police rules. The Sindh Assembly had passed the Police Act in 2019 under which the CPLC was declared as a statutory body, under which its new configuration was required. Previously, the Sindh governor was the head of the advisory council, but now the home minister would be its chairman. Similarly, the home minister would be the head of the executive council, whose members included the home secretary, ...
    Tags: Zubair Habib CPLC

7960 items

Popular Tags