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Dawn - 17:18 Jun 17, 2025
A panel of government officials and health experts on Tuesday stressed the need for a science-based approach and comprehensive fiscal reforms in the food sector, as part of efforts to improve food safety and public health on World Food Safety Day. The panel called “Science in Action and Fiscal Governance for Safe Food” was jointly organised by the Senate, Gallup Pakistan, Impact Research International, and Islamabad Food Authority in the federal capital, according to a press release. “The event underscored the critical need for a science-led approach to food safety and called for urgent fiscal reforms, particularly in taxation policy to support the formal food sector,” the press release said. Senator Syed Masroor Ahsan, Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research, presided over the panel. According to the release, he stressed the urgent need to design and implement evidence-based policies that ensure access to safe, traceable food in line with international standards. “Foo... -
Dawn - 17:11 Jun 17, 2025
Posts from multiple users on social media platforms X and TikTok on Sunday shared an image claiming to show the Israeli city of Haifa devastated by Iranian missile strikes. However, the viral image is an old photo of an Israeli strike in Lebanon from 2024. As Israel and Iran entered the third day of intense missile exchanges, reports emerged of at least four injuries in Haifa following Iranian strikes on June 15, according to Al Jazeera. The escalation began on June 13 when Israel launched airstrikes targeting Iranian commanders, scientists, and nuclear facilities, claiming it aimed to halt Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons development — an accusation Iran denies, asserting its programme is for civilian use. On Sunday, an X user shared an image showing a large explosion at night, with multiple fireballs and plumes of smoke rising into the sky. The blast appears to be occurring in a densely populated urban area, given the surrounding city lights and visible high-rise buildings in the foreground. The caption of ... -
Dawn - 15:57 Jun 17, 2025
Israel launched strikes against Iran on June 13, saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders during the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon. Iran, which has denied such intentions, has in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz for traffic in retaliation to Western pressure. Experts have said that any closure of the strait could restrict trade and impact global oil prices. Below are details about the strait: The strait lies between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond. It is 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane just 2 miles (3 km) wide in either direction. Why does it matter? About a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the strait. Between the start of 2022 and last month, roughly 17.8 million to 20.8m barrels of crude, condensate and fuels flowed through the strait daily, according to dat... -
Dawn - 15:37 Jun 17, 2025
The National Assembly and Senate Standing Committees on Finance and Revenue on Tuesday rejected the government’s proposal to impose an 18 per cent sales tax on solar panel imports. A week earlier, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the proposed budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 on the floor of the NA, revealing that an 18pc tax would be applied on imported solar panels, while online businesses and digital marketplaces would also come under the tax net. During today’s meeting of the NA standing committee, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial said that there was no sales tax on photovoltaic cells or solar panels. “There is no tax on solar panels which are imported as complete products. If parts of solar panels are imported and manufactured here, there is a tax on it,” he said. “Solar panels used to be very expensive, but now they have become quite cheap,” he added. Committee chairman Syed Naveed Qamar said, “All political parties opposed the tax on solar [panels] in the Ho... -
Dawn - 13:47 Jun 17, 2025
Nine of the world’s top-10 men and nine of the top-10 women have officially entered into the US Open’s revamped mixed doubles event, tournament organisers said on Tuesday, with former singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu teaming up. The competition, which will take place a week before the singles main draw during its “Fan Week”, will award $1 million in prize money to the winning team. Sixteen teams have entered and the entry window closes on July 28, after which the top eight teams with the best combined singles ranking will be in the draw via direct acceptance, with eight more wildcard entries. “In our initial discussions about reimagining and elevating the US Open mixed doubles championship, we wanted to find a way to showcase the world’s best men and women competing with and against one another,” USTA CEO Lew Sherr said. “We were confident that we would be able to get the top players in the game excited about this unique opportunity. Seeing the teams that have already put their names on the ... -
Dawn - 13:38 Jun 17, 2025
India’s aviation safety watchdog has asked Air India for the training records of the pilots and dispatcher for the plane that crashed last week as part of its investigation into the incident that killed at least 271 people, government memos showed. The directorate general of civil aviation also asked all flying schools to conduct training compliance checks, according to the confidential memos, seen by Reuters. The DGCA said the requests were part of a “regulatory” review of the accident, and also sought details of action taken following the watchdog’s audits of Air India in the last few months. It asked for the details to be provided by Monday. It was not clear whether Air India had complied with the directive. The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London with 242 people on board began losing height seconds after take-off in Ahmedabad on Thursday before crashing into nearby buildings. Everyone on board was killed, bar a single passenger, along with about 30 on the ground. Sumeet Sabharwal, who the Indian gove... -
Dawn - 12:52 Jun 17, 2025
The gunmen attacked after dark and chased farmer Fidelis Adidi away from the central Nigerian village of Yelwata. The next morning he returned to find the charred remains of one of his two wives and four of his children. They had been living in a room he had rented in the market, in an attempt to keep them safe from a wave of clashes between cattle herders and farmers in the country’s Middle Belt region. His second wife and another child were badly wounded in the assault that began on Friday night and, according to Amnesty International, killed around 100 people in the town in Benue region. “My body is weak and my heart keeps racing,” the 37-year-old told Reuters as he stood outside the room, surveying the damage. “I lost five of my family members.” In another room in the market, bodies lay burned beyond recognition next to blackened piles of food and farm equipment. Authorities have struggled to contain the violence that has simmered for years, fuelled by competition over land as well as ethnic and religious... -
Dawn - 11:18 Jun 17, 2025
Waves of Russian drones and missiles struck districts across the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Tuesday, killing 14 people and injuring 44, according to the interior ministry. The Russian attack struck 27 locations around the capital, damaging residential buildings, educational institutions, and critical infrastructure facilities, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. “Today, the enemy spared neither drones nor missiles,” he said about what he called one of the largest attacks on the city since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Reuters witnesses said drones swarmed over the capital and they heard what appeared to be missiles overhead. An air raid alert remained in effect more than seven hours after it had been proclaimed. Other parts of the country also came under attack, including a region outside the capital where one person was injured and the southern region of Odesa, where 13 people were injured, according to local authorities. Klymenko said a ballistic missile struck a... -
Dawn - 11:09 Jun 17, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed relevant authorities to link the Reko Diq project in Balochistan with the Pakistan Railway’s line network by 2028 to meet the requirements of future transportation and cargo services. In January, Saudi Arabian mining fund Manara Minerals said it was set to buy a 10-20 per cent stake in the Reko Diq copper and gold project in Pakistan for proceeds of about $500 million to $1 billion. In April, the Reko Diq Joint Venture shareholders approved the project’s updated feasibility study and conditionally approved the associated Phase-1 development capital, subject to securing up to $3bn in project financing. While chairing a meeting today, PM Shehbaz issued orders for the formation of an inter-ministerial committee to look after financing matters for upgrading and developing Pakistan Railways. The committee will present recommendations regarding to financing required for Pakistan Railways’ development and its extension to Reko Diq. During the meeting, the prime minis... -
Dawn - 10:12 Jun 17, 2025
An IndiGo flight travelling from Oman’s Muscat to New Delhi made an emergency landing in Nagpur city of India’s Maharashtra state on Tuesday after receiving a bomb threat, according to Indian media. The flight left India’s Kochi city, where it had a layover, for the Delhi airport carrying 157 passengers and six crew members at 9:31am IST (9:01am PKT). The Cochin International Airport Ltd. (CIAL) said the threat was received on its official email address, Press Trust of India reported. All passengers of the IndiGo flight had been safely disembarked, according to Nagpur Deputy Commissioner of Police Lohit Matani. While an investigation was underway, preliminary checks did not find anything suspicious, officials said. After the bomb threat was received by the CIAL airport, a Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) was convened and the threat was declared as “specific”. As per ANI, a similar incident happened on Monday, where a Lufthansa flight LH752 scheduled to fly from Frankfurt to India’s Hyderabad, was force... -
Dawn - 10:02 Jun 17, 2025
US President Donald Trump is widely expected to extend the Thursday deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a ban in the United States. It would be the third time Trump put off enforcing a federal law requiring its sale or ban, which was to take effect the day before his January inauguration. “I have a little warm spot in my heart for TikTok,” Trump said in an NBC News interview in early May. “If it needs an extension, I would be willing to give it an extension.” Trump said a group of purchasers is ready to pay TikTok owner ByteDance “a lot of money” for the video-clip-sharing sensation’s US operations. Trump has repeatedly downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app’s US business. The president is “just not motivated to do anything about TikTok,” said independent analyst Rob Enderle. “Unless they get on his bad side, TikTok is probably going to be in pretty good shape.” Trump had long supported a ban or divestment, but reversed his pos... -
Dawn - 09:42 Jun 17, 2025
Karachi once again ranked in the bottom five of the world’s “least liveable cities” in a global survey by The Economist. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, the metropolis ranked 170 on a list of 173 countries — just above Dhaka, Tripoli and Damascus — and had a score of 42.7 on the index score, with a score of 100 being “most liveable”. It was the only Pakistani city to feature on the list, albeit poorly. Topping the list was Copenhagen, with a score of 98. Vienna and Zurich tied for second place at 97.1, followed by Melbourne at 97.0, and Geneva with a score of 96.8. The annual survey, designed to help companies calculate hardship allowances when they relocate staff, rates 173 cities across five categories: health care, culture and environment, education, infrastructure and stability, according to The Economist. In last year’s ranking, Karachi compared with Lagos, Tripoli, Algiers and Damascus. The year before, Karachi was ranked 169 out of 173 countries Last October, the Asian Development Bank s... -
Dawn - 09:11 Jun 17, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s commitment towards defending its right to water, terming the Indus River as the “lifeline” of the people of Pakistan, in his message on “World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought”. Observed on June 17 every year, the annual day highlights global urgency against drought. Climate Risk Index 2025 ranks Pakistan 1st among top 10 countries most affected by extreme weather events in 2022, with over 68 per cent of its land area now classified as arid or semi-arid. Prolonged droughts in Balochistan, Sindh and South Punjab continue to push vulnerable communities deeper into poverty. In a statement released by the PM’s office, PM Shehbaz raised alarm over India’s unilateral action to hold the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance, calling it a “serious concern”. “There is no provision for such actions under the Treaty, and the waters of the Indus are the lifeline of the 240 million people of Pakistan,” he added, vowing to defend Pakistan’s right to water. He reaffirmed... -
Dawn - 08:34 Jun 17, 2025
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir has expressed his deep appreciation for the significant role being played by overseas Pakistanis as ambassadors of the country during his official visit to the United States, the military’s media wing said on Tuesday. Field Marshal Munir arrived in Washington on Sunday for a five-day official visit aimed at reinforcing military and strategic ties between Pakistan and the United States, diplomatic sources confirmed. The visit, which sources described as “primarily bilateral in nature”, is not officially linked to the US Army’s 250th anniversary celebrations on June 14, despite its timing. “During the visit, the COAS interacted with the overseas Pakistani community in Washington DC,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. “During the interaction, the COAS expressed his deep appreciation for the vital and most significant role being played by overseas Pakistanis for being ambassadors of Pakistan,” the press release continued. He acknowledged thei... -
Dawn - 07:43 Jun 17, 2025
Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Tuesday said that Pakistan and the US will continue to strengthen their economic partnership as both sides agreed to advance negotiations on reciprocal tariffs through constructive engagement, state-run Radio Pakistan reported. Pakistan faces a potential 29 per cent tariff on its exports to the US due to a $3 billion trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy, under tariffs announced by Washington in April on countries around the world. While speaking at an event in Islamabad today, Aurangzeb said he had a constructive and positive conversation with the US Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, last night. He said that both countries are moving in the right direction. “The government will stay the course of reforms in taxation, energy and other sectors,” he said. “We have also carried out tariff reforms to move towards competitive economy.” Aurangzeb continued that both sides agreed to advance negotiations on reciprocal tariffs through constructive engagement, aiming to... -
Dawn - 07:17 Jun 17, 2025
The US Department of Defence on Monday awarded OpenAI a $200 million contract to put generative artificial intelligence (AI) to work for the military. San Francisco-based OpenAI will “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains”, according to the department’s posting of awarded contracts. The programme with the defence department is the first partnership under the startup’s initiative to put AI to work in governments, according to OpenAI. OpenAI plans to show how cutting-edge AI can vastly improve administrative operations such as how service members get health care and also cyber defenses, the startup said in a post. All use of AI for the military will be consistent with OpenAI usage guidelines, according to the startup. Big tech companies are increasingly pitching their tools to the US military, among them Meta, OpenAI and, more predictably, Palantir, the AI defense company founded by Peter Thiel, the conservative tec... -
Dawn - 07:03 Jun 17, 2025
KARACHI: The board of directors of Fauji Fertiliser Company Ltd (FFCL) has approved the submission of an expression of interest (EoI) and pre-qualification documents to the Privatisation Commission for acquiring stakes in Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Ltd, along with a comprehensive due diligence process. FFCL shared this development in a stock filing on Monday. The 234th board meeting of FFCL was held on June 13, at which the decision to acquire PIA shares was taken. The government last month extended the deadline to submit EoI for buying PIACL until June 19 from June 3 deadline with all terms and conditions remaining the same. In a surprising turn of events, the People’s Unity of Pakistan International Airlines employees’ union, which had previously opposed the privatisation of PIA, has now submitted a bid to the Privatisation Commission to acquire shares of PIA and gain management control. While submitting the EoI, the joint letter, signed by the central president of People’s Unity of PIA Emp... -
Dawn - 06:44 Jun 17, 2025
• Health, education get major allocations • Govt employees’ salaries up by 10pc • Minimum pay raised to Rs40,000 • 50,000 families to get house loans • Lahore remains priority for development schemes • Credible plan to boost tax revenues missing LAHORE: The PML-N government in Punjab on Monday proposed a Rs5.33 trillion annual budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, focusing primarily on large infrastructure schemes and freebies for the urban middle classes, especially the youth, as well as small industries and farmers to regain the political ground it had lost in its stronghold in the 2024 election. The budget features a record Rs1.24tr Annual Development Programme (ADP), which is Rs240 billion or 25pc greater than the federal Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP), and commits to produce Rs740bn in estimated provincial surplus to meet a key IMF goal to hold down consolidated federal budget deficit. The Provincial Consolidated Fund also includes a one-time income of Rs160bn under the head of ‘supernumer... -
Dawn - 05:20 Jun 17, 2025
• WWF-P adviser suggests the marine mammal may have died after becoming entangled in gillnets • The most recent sighting of the world’s largest mammal was off the coast of Gadani in April last year KARACHI: A 35-foot-long blue whale was found dead in the Arabian sea, in a remote area called Gwater Bay, between Pakistan and Iran, on Monday. According to officials representing the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan), local fisherman Ahmad Baloch spotted the dead whale floating near Kuntani, Balochistan. “It is likely that the whale may have died a few days back in the open sea between Pakistan and Iran and drifted towards the Gwater Bay by rough sea and strong currents,” said Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical adviser at the WWF-Pakistan. He added that while the exact cause of the death could not be ascertained, the marine mammal might have gotten entangled in gillnets, commonly used in the coastal and offshore waters in the area for fishing. Classified as an endangered species, blue whales, scient... -
Dawn - 04:41 Jun 17, 2025
PAKISTAN is on the front lines of the global climate crisis, yet continues to approach the challenge with a troubling mix of policy confusion, underfunding, and institutional weakness. The country remains among the most climate-vulnerable in the world, without contributing even 1pc to GHG emissions. From the devastating floods of 2022 that affected over 33m people, to the recurring heatwaves, droughts and water shortages, the evidence is everywhere. What remains missing is a credible, well-resourced plan to take these challenges head-on — a plan rooted in data, foresight and political commitment. The recently unveiled federal budget once again reveals the contradictions that have long plagued our climate policy. While the government claims to prioritise climate resilience, its actual allocations tell a different story. Only Rs85bn has been allocated to adaptation — the category that includes essential interventions such as disaster preparedness, food and water security, early warning systems, and climate-resi...
7934 items