Pakistan

Australia pace bowler Mitchell Starc said Thursday he could not be compared with Wasim Akram after he surpassed the Pakistani great as the leading left-arm pace bowler in Test history. Starc’s six-wicket haul on day one of the second Ashes Test in Brisbane gave him 418 Test wickets, four more than Wasim. “Wasim’s still a far better bowler than I am,” said Starc. “So as far as I’m concerned, he’s still the pinnacle of left-armers and certainly he’s right up there with the best bowlers to ever play the game. “It’s nice to be spoken of up around that, but I’ll just try to keep churning a few out.” Starc led the Australian attack in the day-night match at the Gabba in the absence of his usual strike partners Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who are injured, and spinner Nathan Lyon, who was dropped. “I don’t think I’ve ever played in an attack without one of the three of them playing,” Starc said. “So it’s a little bit different in that regard.” The 35-year-old, who has taken 16 wickets in the series, was the only ...

A third Afghan national has been arrested in the US, days after another Afghan national, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, shot two National Guards, for providing “material support to ISIS-K”, according to a statement issued by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday. Jaan Shah Shafi, who entered the US in 2021 under former president Joe Biden’s Operation Allies Welcome, “provided support to the ISIS-K. He also provided weapons to his father, who is a commander of a militia group in Afghanistan,” the press release stated. It further stated that Shafi applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), but his application was terminated once DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ended TPS for Afghans. He was arrested in Waynesboro, Virginia. The Trump administration halted the Afghan refugee resettlement program on January 20 and suspended the entry of Afghan nationals, for “protection and safety of Americans”. Nearly 190,000 Afghan nationals entered the US during Biden administration, the statement read. Lakanwal, who wo...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi was prevented for the ninth time by prison authorities from meeting PTI founder Imran Khan at Adiala Jail on Thursday. Imran’s sister Uzma Khan met the party founder in prison on Tuesday after weeks of effort, with CM Afridi and other party leaders scheduled to meet him today. The meeting took place as rumours regarding Imran’s health began circulating in local and foreign media, despite claims by the government and PTI leaders that the former prime minister was in good health. These speculations, however, gained traction due to the government’s reluctance to let visitors, including his family members and legal team, meet Imran over the past few weeks. According to a post on X by the PTI, CM Afridi went to Adiala jail to visit Imran, but access was not granted. Afridi addressed the media outside the prison after the continued lack of access. He said he would update the media on the immediate course of action — whether he would stage a sit-in or not. The PTI also...

Authorities have issued a weather alert as rain is expected across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) warning of potential emergencies.

The building of a garment factory in Karachi Export Processing Zone collapsed on Thursday after a fire erupted there, Rescue 1122 said, adding that efforts were under way to douse the flames. An initial statement by the rescue service said, “As soon as the Central Command and Control of the Rescue 1122 received the information, a fire and rescue team, along with an ambulance and a fire brigade truck, were dispatched to the scene.” It added that the team was trying to bring the fire under control. An update by Rescue 1122 later said the factory’s building had collapsed due to the intensity of the fire, adding that two firefighters had been injured due to the collapse. They were being provided first aid, the statement said. Separately, a statement by Sukkan police said that the fire erupted in a warehouse and no casualties had been reported thus far. Further investigation was under way, the statement added. This is a developing story that is being updated as the situation evolves. Initial reports in the media c...

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday told the inaugural meeting of the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) that the Centre was there to listen to the stance of the provinces. State broadcaster PTV shared images from the meeting on social media platform X, which showed Aurangzeb greeting Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi. It said that the meeting was held at the Finance Division. According to a handout issued by the finance ministry, he made the comments in his opening remarks. The minister chaired the meeting as negotiations for the sharing of federal divisible resources between the Centre and the provinces formally began. The press release said that at the outset of the meeting, the minister stressed that it had provided an opportunity for mutual cooperation, upholding constitutional responsibility. He noted that the forum was established under Article 150 of the Constitution, adding that the 10th NFC Award had expired in July this year. “In...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday that Pakistan was ready to provide landlocked Kyrgyzstan access to regional and global markets through its ports. The premier made the remarks as he addressed the media in Islamabad alongside Kyrgyzstan President Sadyr Zhaparov, following discussions between the two leaders. Zhaparov arrived in Islamabad yesterday on a two-day maiden visit to Pakistan. PM Shehbaz said in a post on X that the visit was the first by a Kyrgyz president in 20 years. Detailing the discussions held today, the prime minister said that Kyrgyzstan was a landlocked country and therefore, “Pakistan stands ready to provide Kyrgyz Republic access to regional and global markets through our ports of Karachi, Bin Qasim and Gwadar”. View this post on Instagram “During our fruitful discussions today, we had a detailed exchange on […] bilateral relations as well as important regional and international developments,” PM Shehbaz said about his meeting with Zharapov. Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal ...

If you meet a South Korean, there‘s a 45 per cent chance that their surname is either Kim, Lee or Park. And there’s an even higher probability — some say nearly 90 per cent — that their surname originates from a bogus family tree. According to the latest census data from Statistics Korea, these three surnames account for nearly half the population, which is over 20 million people. Expand that to the top 10 surnames, and you’re looking at 64 per cent of the population. This remarkable concentration has given rise to the Korean expression, “finding Mr Kim in Seoul,” to describe an impossible task — something akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Name game Korean family names may seem simple at first glance. Most are a single syllable, with a staggering concentration of a few popular names rarely seen elsewhere. However, there are many sub-branches even within the same surname. Each surname is associated with a clan name, which indicates the name‘s regional origin or ancestral hometown. Although there are trad...

After nearly 50 days of closure, Pakistan has partially reopened the Torkham and Chaman border crossings with Afghanistan to allow United Nations humanitarian cargoes.

An Islamabad district and sessions court rejected on Thursday an application submitted by lawyer and rights activist Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, seeking her acquittal in a controversial social media posts case. Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka, who was presiding over the proceedings, also rejected an application moved by Mazari and her husband, co-accused Hadi Ali Chattha, challenging the appointment of a counsel by the state to represent them in the case registered with the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA). Both of them have been accused of attempting to incite divisions on linguistic grounds through social media posts and of creating the impression that the armed forces were engaged in terrorism within the country. At the hearing today, Mazari and Chattha, along with lawyer Sher Afzal Marwat, Islamabad Bar Association (IBA) President Naeem Ali Gujjar, Islamabad Bar Council member Raja Aleem Abbasi and other legal representatives, appeared before the court. The court’s previous orders were read out...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has approved the formation of a 15-member steering committee to eliminate child labour across the province.

When Rano was airlifted to Islamabad on November 5, 2025, the 25-year-old Himalayan brown bear left behind more than just a confined, concrete enclosure at Karachi Zoo. She left eight years of untreated injuries and the memory of her companion — an Asiatic black bear who died five years ago. Her relocation to a rehabilitation centre under the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) came by court order, pushed by animal rights activists who had watched her deteriorate for years. Rano isn’t the first animal to be relocated from a zoo in Pakistan. Last year, the elephant Madhubala was relocated, following an outcry in the wake of viral videos of the distressed and disease-addled animal, to the sprawling Safari Park in Karachi. Before that, another elephant called Kaavan, dubbed the “loneliest elephant on the planet”, was relocated from a zoo in Islamabad to a wildlife sanctuary in Cambodia. Such relocations have been hailed as symbolic victories by animal rights’ activists in Pakistan; rare moments of optimis...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has formally placed its key financial demands before the federal government during the inaugural session of the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC), calling for the inclusion of the former FATA region in the award and substantial revision of provincial allocations.

Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan on Thursday reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen bilateral relations across multiple sectors, including politics, trade, connectivity, energy, agriculture, education, defence and culture.

Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Nurgozhoevich Zhaparov was accorded a grand ceremonial welcome at the Prime Minister House on Thursday as he commenced his two-day maiden state visit to Pakistan.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday dismissed Indian media reports claiming that a man arrested in the US for illegal possession of a machine gun was Pakistani, clarifying that he is an Afghan national.

Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that a man arrested by the US police last week in Delaware after he was found in possession of a handgun, ammunition and written plans for an attack was not of Pakistani origin and was an Afghan. “He is not [a] Pakistani national or [of] Pakistan origin. He is an Afghan, spent a few years as a refugee [in Pakistan] and then went to the US, where he spent most of his life,” Andrabi said in a statement shared with journalists. His clarification came after several media reports, including those from Indian and American news outlets, identified the suspect as a man of Pakistani origin. A USA Today report said the arrested man, Luqman Khan, was a Pakistan-born US citizen, who was arrested on November 24. Similarly, reports by the New York Post and India’s Hindustan Times and Times of India, among others, also identified him as a Pakistani immigrant. According to a report by The Associated Press from earlier today, which also does not identify Khan as ...

The last supermoon of 2025 is set to light up skies across Pakistan tonight and tomorrow night, according to state-run Radio Pakistan. A supermoon occurs when the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, causing it to appear unusually large and bright — up to 14 per cent larger and nearly 30pc brighter than a typical full moon. The final supermoon of the year, known as the Cold Moon, will be visible across Pakistan tonight and tomorrow night, Radio Pakistan said, quoting the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco). “It marks the third consecutive supermoon of the year and the last supermoon of 2025,” it said. Suparco encourages the public, astronomy enthusiasts, students, and families to observe this natural spectacle, the report said. “No special equipment is required; the supermoon will be easily visible to the naked eye, provided the skies remain clear,” it added. According to CNN, the moniker ‘Cold Moon’ indicates that it’s the full moon event closest to t...

The Pentagon’s independent watchdog said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen could have put American troops at risk, US media reported on Wednesday. The probe by the inspector general’s office concluded that Hegseth did not, however, violate rules on classification because he has the authority to declassify information, the reports said, citing sources familiar with the results of the investigation. The watchdog’s conclusion — which has been transmitted to Congress — is nonetheless likely to reignite debate over conduct by Hegseth, who is already under fire over US strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats that experts say amount to extrajudicial killings. The probe was sparked by the Atlantic magazine’s revelation in late March that its editor-in-chief was inadvertently included in a Signal chat in which US officials, including Hegseth and then-national security adviser Mike Waltz, discussed strikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels. Th...

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced increased vetting of applicants for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers, with an internal State Department memo saying that anyone involved in “censorship” of free speech be considered for rejection. H-1B visas, which allow US employers to hire foreign workers in speciality fields, are crucial for US tech companies which recruit heavily from countries including India and China. Many of those companies’ leaders threw their support behind Trump in the last presidential election. The cable, sent to all US missions on December 2, orders US consular officers to review resumes or LinkedIn profiles of H-1B applicants – and family members who would be travelling with them – to see if they have worked in areas that include activities such as misinformation, disinformation, content moderation, fact-checking, compliance and online safety, among others. “If you uncover evidence an applicant was responsible for, or complicit in, censorship or attempted censorship of protec...