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Dawn - 03:54 Jun 13, 2025
• Officers to get 50pc of salary, soldiers 20pc; ministry stays mum on financial impact • Minister expects policy rate to come down before next year, seems hopeful about privatisation • Finance secretary says current year’s uplift budget reduced to Rs967bn, hints at further drop • Lawmakers concerned over tax-to-GDP ratio, revenue shortfall, taxes on solar panels, among other things ISLAMABAD: Amid a downward revision in federal development spending, which may fall further by the end of this month, the Ministry of Finance told a parliamentary panel on Thursday that armed forces officers had been granted a special relief allowance at 50 per cent of their basic salary, while junior commissioned officers and soldiers would get 20pc allowance in the upcoming fiscal year. Testifying before the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, Secretary Finance Imdadullah Bosal highlighted relief measures proposed in the budget, saying that “special relief allowance at the rate of 50pc to officers and ... -
Dawn - 03:41 Jun 13, 2025
DAMASCUS: Syria’s interior ministry on Thursday said the Israeli military killed one civilian and detained seven people during an overnight incursion, with the Israeli army saying it seized members of Palestinian group Hamas. The Israeli army said on X that its soldiers seized several suspected members of Palestinian group Hamas in a “targeted” operation in Beit Jinn, 12 kilometres (seven and a half miles) from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Since the overthrow of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria aimed at denying military assets to the Islamist-led interim administration. It has also deployed troops across the demilitarised zone on the Syrian side of the armistice line that used to separate the opposing forces on the Golan. Syria’s interior ministry said “these repeated provocations constitute a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic… these practises cannot lead the region to stability and will only result in furthe... -
Dawn - 03:30 Jun 13, 2025
• Ahsan calls for shift from population-based formula • Says fiscal space shrinking, provinces must share burden and invest in human development ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday proposed shifting the “regressive” population-based formula for distributing divisible pool resources under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award to criteria based on climate adaptation and other performance indicators. Speaking at a news briefing, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the current NFC criteria were regressive as population, being the overwhelming consideration, had been made an incentive instead of a disincentive. He said the Centre would seek climate adaptation and other social sector indicators as key determinants for distributing resources with and among the provinces when the NFC meets in August this year. He went on to question the devolution planned under the 18th Amendment and the 7th NFC Award in place since 2009. He said the devolution was incomplete as the provinces had not devolved responsib... -
Dawn - 03:15 Jun 13, 2025
GAZA CITY: Gaza’s civil defence agency said Israeli fire killed 22 people across the Palestinian territory on Thursday, including 16 who were waiting to collect aid. The distribution of food and basic supplies in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip has become increasingly fraught and perilous, exacerbating the territory’s deep hunger crisis. Civil defence official Mohammed al-Mughayyir told AFP that the Al-Awda Hospital received 10 dead and around 200 wounded, including women and children, “after Israeli drones dropped multiple bombs on gatherings of civilians near an aid distribution point around the Netzarim checkpoint in central Gaza”. He said that Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital received six dead following Israeli attacks on aid queues near Netzarim and in the Al-Sudaniya area in northwestern Gaza. GHF accuses Hamas of attacking aid workers; Palestinian group calls the foundation a ‘filthy tool’ of Israeli forces The Israeli army said it was looking into the reports when asked for comment by AFP. Restrictions impose... -
Dawn - 18:54 Jun 12, 2025
One person survived as over 200 people were killed when an Air India plane bound for London with 242 people on board crashed minutes after taking off from the western city of Ahmedabad on Thursday, authorities said, in the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. The plane came down in a residential area, crashing onto a medical college hostel outside the airport during lunch hour. It was headed for Gatwick Airport, south of the British capital. City police chief GS Malik told Reuters that 204 bodies had been recovered from the crash site. There were no reports of survivors being found, and the Indian Express newspaper said all 242 on board had perished, citing police. The majority of the people on board are feared dead, a top official in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation told The Print. Malik similarly said the same to the Associated Press, saying: “It appears there are no survivors.” He later told Indian news agency ANI that there was one survivor who was under treatment. View this post on Insta... -
Dawn - 18:10 Jun 12, 2025
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday once again offered to arbitrate the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, echoing comments made by the US State Department a day prior. Trump had offered to work on the Kashmir issue after he brokered a ceasefire between the two nuclear powers following their most intense military confrontation in decades. In a message lauding the countries’ leaders for achieving peace, he remarked, “I will work with both of you to see if, after a ‘thousand years’, a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir.” Responding to a question on the steps the US plans to take in the wake of Trump’s offer, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce noted, “[Trump] has been the only one to bring certain people to the table to have conversations that nobody thought was possible,” remaining hopeful that the Kashmir issue can also get resolved. Fielding questions after a bill-signing ceremony on Thursday, the US president said that he “stopped a war” between Pakistan and India. “Ev... -
Dawn - 17:38 Jun 12, 2025
Sindh extends mandatory biometric verification deadline for vehicle transfers, alterations to Aug 14
The Sindh government on Thursday extended the timeline for individuals to get their mandatory biometric verification through the National Database and Registration Authority for vehicle transfers and alterations to sellers till August 14. The move was made in a notification today from the Sindh Excise, Taxation and Νarcotics Control Department. The Associated Press of Pakistan reported that on September 16, 2024, the Sindh Excise Department had taken a significant step by making biometric verification mandatory for vehicle registrations and transfers. Sindh Senior Minister for Information, Transport, Excise, Taxation, and Narcotics Control Sharjeel Memon had said that all new and old vehicles would be subject to biometric verification during the registration or transfer process. He elaborated that the change would be implemented in three phases under the new policy. In the first phase, starting from July 1, biometric verification will be mandatory for the registration of new vehicles. In the second phase, beg... -
Dawn - 17:23 Jun 12, 2025
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday met with the United Arab Emirates leadership to discuss regional peace and stability and explore ways to deepen bilateral ties during his official day-long visit to the emirates. Over the last few months, UAE has expressed commitment to strengthening its long-standing partnership with Pakistan and announced a $2 billion debt rollover soon after. In April, the two nations signed and exchanged multiple memoranda of understanding (MoU) to further strengthen the bonds between the people of both nations. The premier arrived in Abu Dhabi earlier today, where he was welcomed by the UAE’s National Security Adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, The Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported. During a high-level meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, PM Shehbaz discussed bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest and reaffirmed commitment to further enhance cooperation in key areas, state media PTV reported. “Both leaders expressed ... -
Dawn - 16:20 Jun 12, 2025
Rights activist Mahrang Baloch on Thursday moved the Supreme Court against the Balochistan High Court’s (BHC) May 22 order that dismissed constitutional petitions challenging her detention and that of two other Baloch leaders, more than two months after they were held under Section 3 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO). Mahrang, the chief of the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), along with other activists of the group was arrested on March 22 for allegedly “attacking” Quetta Civil Hospital and “inciting people to violence”, a day after their members faced a police crackdown in Quetta while protesting against alleged enforced disappearances. The BYC is a Baloch advocacy group working against enforced disappearances since 2018. Mahrang’s sister had challenged the detention in the BHC but the court had asked the petitioner to approach the home department for her release. The sister had subsequently filed constitutional petitions in the high court challenging the detentions but those were dismissed.... -
Dawn - 15:54 Jun 12, 2025
A woman on Thursday allegedly gunned down her husband, a motorway cop, in the Mian Khan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mardan district, according to police. Mardan police spokesperson Faheem Khan told Dawn.com, “The suspect has been arrested and a first information report (FIR) has been registered at the Baizai police station.” The FIR, registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and seen by Dawn.com, states that the complainant, the slain police official’s elder brother, alleged that he was asleep in his room when gunshots were heard in the house. “When my wife and I went inside, we found my brother’s wife with a pistol in her hand, while he was lying in a pool of blood,” the complainant alleged, adding that the victim succumbed to his injuries while being transported to a hospital in Katlang. “There have been domestic disputes between them since they got married and they used to fight regularly,” the complainant added in the FIR. Incidents of homicides are frequently reported in var... -
Dawn - 15:33 Jun 12, 2025
Jurors will reconvene on Thursday in Harvey Weinsteins sex crimes retrial, a day after they handed down a partial conviction against the former movie mogul but hit an impasse on a rape count as deliberations spiralled into angry infighting. Weinstein, once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, faced a retrial that began on April 23 after a state appeals court last year overturned his 2020 conviction. He was accused by prosecutors in the case of raping an aspiring actress and assaulting two other women. Weinstein, 73, pleaded not guilty and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. The jury found Weinstein guilty on one of the three counts he faced, which stemmed from his alleged assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. The jury found Weinstein not guilty of a charge stemming from his alleged assault of Kaja Sokola in 2002 when she was a 16-year-old aspiring actress. The jury has not yet reached a verdict on a third count, which charges him with raping aspiring act... -
Dawn - 14:04 Jun 12, 2025
US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that US personnel were being moved out of the Middle East because “it could be a dangerous place”, adding that the United States would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Reuters reported earlier on Wednesday that the US is preparing a partial evacuation of its Iraqi embassy and will allow military dependents to leave locations around the Middle East due to heightened security risks in the region, according to US and Iraqi sources. The four US and two Iraqi sources did not say what security risks had prompted the decision, and reports of the potential evacuation pushed up oil prices by more than four per cent. A US official said the State Department had authorised voluntary departures from Bahrain and Kuwait. The State Department updated its worldwide travel advisory on Wednesday evening to reflect the latest US posture. “On June 11, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel due to heightened regional tensions,” the ... -
Dawn - 13:57 Jun 12, 2025
Pakistan was bottom-ranked among 148 countries in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap Report 2025 — with 56.7 per cent gender parity — the highest since 2006, it emerged on Thursday. The annual report benchmarked the current state and evolution of gender parity across four key dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. In the latest report, Pakistan has been ranked below Sudan, (57pc, 147th), Chad (57.1pc, 146th), Iran (58.3pc,145th), Guinea (59.5pc, 144th), Democratic Republic of the Congo (60.1pc, 143rd), Niger (61.3pc,142nd), Algeria (61.4pc, 141st), and Mali (61.7pc, 140th). Occupying the bottom rank of the index, Pakistan saw its overall parity score decline from last year’s edition, from 57pc to 56.7pc, the report said. Overall Pakistan has closed +2.3 of its gender gap since 2006. However, this year’s results were a second consecutive drop from the economy’s best score of 57.7pc, achieved in 2023. Pakistan’s... -
Dawn - 13:48 Jun 12, 2025
Los Angeles was “safe and sound for the last two nights”, United States President Donald Trump said on Thursday morning, as he hailed troops for helping to restore order in the city after days of anti-deportation protests. “Our great National Guard, with a little help from the Marines, put the LA Police in a position to effectively do their job,” Trump said on Truth Social, adding that without the military, the city “would be a crime scene like we haven’t seen in years”. The mostly peaceful protests ignited last week over a sudden escalation in efforts to apprehend migrants in the country illegally. But there were also pockets of violence, including the burning of self-driving taxis and hurling stones at police. Trump deployed several thousand National Guard troops and some 700 active-duty Marines over the objections of Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom, the first such action by a US president in decades. In his post, Trump said Newsom “had totally lost control of the situation”. “He should be sayin... -
Dawn - 13:29 Jun 12, 2025
Egyptian authorities have detained more than 200 pro-Palestinian activists in Cairo ahead of an international march with the stated aim of breaking Israel’s blockade on Gaza, organisers said Thursday. As part of the Global March to Gaza, thousands of activists planned to travel to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Palestinian territory on Friday to demand the entry of humanitarian aid. On Thursday, the march’s spokesperson Saif Abukeshek told AFP: “Over 200 participants were detained at Cairo airport or questioned at hotels across Cairo.” He added that those detained included nationals from the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Morocco, and Algeria. Abukeshek said that plainclothes police entered hotels in Cairo on Wednesday with lists of names, questioned activists and in some cases confiscated mobile phones and searched personal belongings. “After interrogations, some were arrested and others were released,” he added. At Cairo airport, some detainees were held for long hours wit... -
Dawn - 13:24 Jun 12, 2025
The Islamabad High Court on Thursday restrained the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from “harassing” former senator and prominent human rights defender Farhatullah Babar. FIA Anti-Corruption Circle (ACC) opened an inquiry against Babar in March over alleged “corruption, tax evasion and illicit asset accumulation”. Babar appeared before the FIA in Islamabad on March 28 to respond to the notice over a complaint filed by a citizen named Touseef Abbas in Rawalpindi. The senator, who is the head of PPP’s Human Rights Cell, filed a writ petition through lawyers Imaan Mazari and Hadi Ali Chatha with the Ministry of Interior and FIA as respondents, urging the court to quash an anti-corruption inquiry filed against him and restrain the agency from harassing or arresting him. Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas heard the case today on a petition filed by Babar under Article 199 of the Constitution, one that grants high courts the power to issue writs to enforce fundament rights. The petitioner’s counsel told the court that B... -
Dawn - 12:45 Jun 12, 2025
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday urged parents and employers to make joint efforts to eliminate child labour, as the country observed World Day Against Child Labour. Over 12.5 million children in Pakistan are involved in child labour, according to the Child Rights Movement (CRM) National Secretariat. One in four households in Pakistan employed a child for domestic work, often in hazardous conditions, as per the International Labour Organisation (ILO). According to a provincial survey, working children accounted for 11.1 per cent of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s child population. According to a statement from the President’s House, President Zardari, in his message, called for efforts to protect children from exploitation, expressing hope for a future where children could “learn, play, and grow in a safe and dignified environment”. Stressing the need for collective action by governments, the president urged employers to “strictly follow child labour laws and ensure that their wor... -
Dawn - 10:39 Jun 12, 2025
Police arrested a suspect with an extensive criminal record in Punjab’s Lodhran district, while two other suspected dacoits escaped during an exchange of fire, police officials said on Thursday. A first information report (FIR) was filed against the suspect at the City Kahror Pakka Police Station on the behalf of the state under sections 324 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for “deliberately attacking police officers with the intention to kill and assisting his accomplices escape”. The suspect was arrested in an injured condition by the Crime Control Department (CCD), the FIR said. It added that the police team was present at Allah Warai chowk when they received a tip-off that three armed persons were present at Khudai Phatak area. “Police immediately formed teams and conducted a raid, when the suspects suddenly opened... -
Dawn - 08:09 Jun 12, 2025
US President Donald Trump touted a new website for his planned $5 million US residency permit on Wednesday, saying the waiting list for the golden visa has opened on TrumpCard.gov. “Thousands have been calling and asking how they can sign up to ride a beautiful road in gaining access to the greatest country and market anywhere in the world,” Trump wrote in a social media post. screengrab via Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump Trump unveiled the first such visa aboard Air Force One in April, holding a golden prototype that bore his face and promising the special permit would probably be available “in less than two weeks.” The visas are not available yet, but the website announced on Wednesday allows interested parties to submit their name, desired visa and email address under a header that says “The Trump Card is Coming.” Trump previously said the new visa, a high-priced version of the traditional green card, would bring in job creators and could be used to reduce the US national deficit. The announcement comes as ... -
Dawn - 07:41 Jun 12, 2025
• Centre sets aside Rs3.2bn in budget for FY26 against requirement of Rs40bn for completion of water supply scheme • JI says federal govt has ‘literally shelved’ the project • Sharjeel expresses concerns over earmarking of ‘inadequate’ funds KARACHI: Lingering for over two decades, the much-delayed K-IV water project now faces another major setback as the federal government has allocated only Rs3.2 billion in the budget against the required amount of Rs40bn for the scheme, sparking fears that the city may have to wait for “another 10 years” or more for the completion of the plan. Officials associated with the project, speaking on the condition of anonymity, have expressed deep frustration over the paltry allocation, warning that the funding shortfall has derailed any realistic timeline set for the project’s completion. “Over 63 per cent of the work is already done, and with proper funding, we were confident of wrapping it up within a year,” said one senior official. “But with just Rs3.2bn, we are now staring ...
7934 items