Pakistan

LAHORE: The ongoing heatwave across Punjab is set to continue until at least June 12 (Thursday), with temperatures rema­ining well above seasonal norms, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) confirmed on Monday. According to the PDMA, current temperatures are ranging between 4 and 7 degrees Celsius higher than average, pushing conditions into potentially life-threatening territory. A similar warning for next few days was issued for Gilgit-Baltistan. The Met Office said temperature would increase by five to seven degrees. It suggested precautionary measures as it noted that the high temperature may speed up glaciers melting this week. The city of Sargodha reco­rded the province’s hig­­h­est temperature on Mon­day at a scorching 47°C. Major urban areas, incl­uding Lahore, Multan, and Faisalabad, simmered at around 45°C, while distri­cts such as Toba Tek Singh, Sahiwal, Okara, Mandi Bahauddin, Khane­wal, Kasur, Layyah, Jhang, and Hafizabad saw temperatures between 40°C and 42°C. Southern Punjab fac...

ISLAMABAD: In a move that has raised eyebrows, the government has approved over fivefold increase in the salaries of Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker taking it to Rs1.3 million a month. A May 29 notification reveals that the Senate chairman and NA speaker’s salaries have been raised from Rs205,000 to Rs1.3m, besides 50pc of the revised salary (Rs650,000) as the sumptuary allowance. The hike, with retrospective effect, has become effective in January 2025. A senior NA Secretariat official, while confirming the development, said the raise for the two offices had been made for the first time since January 2016. Move draws criticism from within ruling PML-N; ANP demands its reversal In March, the salaries and allowances of federal cabinet members had been increased by up to 188pc. Earlier, the finance comm­ittees of the two houses of parliament had approved an increase in the salaries of MNAs and senators, raising it to Rs519,000. Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique slammed the pay raise for the...

ISLAMABAD: Former chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) Jawwad S. Khawaja has requested the Supreme Court to revisit the May 7, 2025 judgement on military trials of civilians otherwise the same will serve as a constant reminder of ceding judicial space to executive by accepting that it can act as judges to try civilians in criminal cases. “This ceding of judicial space will haunt the Supreme Court and our nation,” says a petition moved to seek review of the May 7 judgment by the seven-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court. On May 7, a five-judge constitutional bench had restored key provisions of the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) that allow for the trial of civilians in military courts. The court ruled by a 5-2 majority in favour of overturning its earlier decision on Oct 23, 2023, in which the five-judge Supreme Court bench had held the military trial of civilians involved in the May 9, 2023 acts of arson and attacks on the military installations as illegal and unconstitutional. Except for Justice Jamal Khan M...

JERUSALEM: Israeli left-wing opposition leader Yair Golan called on Monday for an immediate end to the Gaza war and said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government no longer represented most Israelis. “Today the government of Israel doesn’t represent the vast majority of Israelis,” said Golan, chairman of the Democrats party and a former deputy army chief, days before a planned parliament vote which the opposition hopes would trigger a general election. He told journalists in a briefing that after more than 20 months of fighting that Israel “should end the war as soon as possible”. Golan’s party, a conglomeration of left-wing factions, has only four seats in Israel’s 120-member legislature. But in a country where coalition building is essential to achieving a political majority, even relatively small parties can wield considerable power. Golan said that the current government — one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history — was a threat to democracy. He said that the vast majority of Israelis wante...

NEW YORK: (This June 8 story has been refiled to correct the name of the brothers to Duffer, not Duff, in the second bullet point) With bloody body contortions, booming blasts and brooding high school angst, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” based on the 12-time Emmy-winning Netflix science fiction series “Stranger Things,” took home Tony […]

Pakistani fast bowler Hasan Ali’s hat-trick and a six-wicket haul in the T20 Blast 2025 pulled Derbyshire Falcons apart. Playing for the Birmingham Bears, Hasan Ali bowled a blazing spell, giving just 23 runs in 3.1 overs, ensuring an emphatic 58-run victory for his team. Hasan Ali’s hat-trick took a dramatic turn, eliminating Ross Whiteley […]

ROME: Kim Novak, a Hollywood diva from the 1950s and 1960s who starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at this year’s Venice Film Festival, organisers said on Monday. Best known for her starring role in the 1958 psychological thriller, Novak also held notable roles in classics such as […]

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD.O) said it would split into two publicly traded companies, separating its studios and streaming business from its fading cable television networks as the parent of HBO and CNN looks to compete better in the streaming era. The breakup is the latest unravelling of decades of media consolidation that created global conglomerates […]

The Pakistan Budget 2025-26 is scheduled to impose severe tax reforms targeting non-filers and tax evaders, sources told ARY News on Monday. As part of the new improvements, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is suggesting a tenfold increase in fines, through Point of Sale (POS) systems, for tax fraud, increasing penalties to PKR 5 […]

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Calls potential canal, dam projects act of war, cites UN charter violation

PTI rejects Economic Survey as 'IMF script'

Trump, California gov face-off as Marines called out to quell protests

High courts run without permanent top judges

Apple said on Monday it will open up the underlying technology it uses for Apple Intelligence and announced an overhaul of its operating systems. The tone and content of the presentations at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) focused more on incremental developments, including live translations for phone calls, that improve everyday life rather than the sweeping ambitions for AI that Apple’s rivals are marketing. Apple software chief Craig Federighi said the company is opening up the foundational AI model that it uses for some of its features to third-party developers. “This work needed more time to reach our high-quality bar,” Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, said of the delays of some features, such as improvements to the Siri virtual assistant. In an early demonstration of how partners could improve Apple apps, the company added image generation from OpenAI’s ChatGPT to its Image Playground app, saying that user data would not be shared with OpenAI without a user’s p...

Tehran reacts to 'ambiguous' Washington offer

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Detains Greta Thunberg and others aboard Madleen

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