Pakistan

50-hour-long search and rescue operation began after five-storey residential building collapsed on Friday

• New regime includes 18pc GST, additional levies for non-filers, mandatory buyer data reporting by banks and intermediaries • Online sellers and courier services waiting for clarity over the future of their businesses ISLAMABAD: Confusion and fear prevail not only among local and international e-commerce platforms regarding the imposition of new taxation regimes with the advent of the 2025-26 fiscal year, but also among sellers and courier services, who are waiting for clarity over the future of their businesses. The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has compiled a list of eight key e-commerce platforms that provide tangible and intangible items, including music, movies, and software. The largest selling platform was Facebook, with transactions worth more than Rs12.31bn. Others include Apple/Tunes, Google, AliExpress, Netflix, Temu, and Spotify, while the largest transactions are held under the category of others. The total amount of transactions by these international and local online platforms, such as Daraz,...

GWADAR: The family of abducted assistant commissioner of Tump, Hanif Noorzai, has appealed to tribal elders, political leaders and influential figures to play an active role in securing his safe release. They also urged the kidnappers to respect humanitarian values, Balochi traditions and tribal norms. Speaking at a press conference in Turbat, Hanif’s brother, Guldad Noorzai, said the assistant commissioner was abducted on June 4 while he was travelling with family from Tump to celebrate Eid in Quetta. Though his family was released later, Noorzai remains in captivity. The banned Baloch Liberation Front (BLF) had claimed responsibility for the abduction of Hanif Noorzai. Published in Dawn, July 6th, 2025

Gaza City faces increased bombardment in recent days as Netanyahu terms Hamas ceasefire draft changes 'unacceptable'

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the nation to take guidance from the life and character of Imam Hussain to overcome internal and external challenges and keep Pakistan on the path of peace, unity and progress. He said the grandson of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), along with his family and companions, sacrificed their lives for the “sake of truth, justice and religion but did not bow down to falsehood.” “This great sacrifice of his reminds us that protecting principles and standing firm on the truth requires great courage and unwavering faith,” he said in a message on the occasion of Ashura. He said the battle of Karbala taught us that although the path of truth is difficult, it is the way that leads to Allah Almighty. Strict security arrangements nationwide for majalis, processions “Today, when our nation is facing many challenges — be it the economy, society or national unity — we need to take guidance from the life of Imam Hussain more than ever.” He urged the nation to adopt Imam Hussain’s qualiti...

GAZA CITY: Israeli forces killed 32 more people across Gaza on Saturday, hours after Hamas said it was ready to start talks “immediately” on a US-sponsored proposal for a Gaza ceasefire. Asked about Hamas’s positive response to the latest ceasefire proposal, an Israeli official said “no decision has been made yet”. It came ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s departure for talks on Monday in Washington, where US President Donald Trump has intensified calls for an end to the war. Gaza civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Saturday’s dead included eight people killed in two strikes on schools in Gaza City. He also reported that eight people were killed by Israeli fire near an aid distribution centre in southern Gaza. On the other hand, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he asked US President Donald Trump to intervene to stop shootings at Gaza aid centres, which the UN says have killed more than 500 people. Erdogan said when he met Trump at the Nato summit in June, he asked him to s...

• Declares America is ‘winning, winning, winning like never before’ • Democrats worry ‘big beautiful bill’ will slash health, welfare support • New legislation poised to add $3.4tr to US deficit over 10 years WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump signed his flagship tax and spending bill into law, capping a grandiose White House Independence Day ceremony featuring a stealth bomber fly-by. “America is winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said before signing the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” on Friday, flanked by Republican lawmakers who helped push it through Congress. Trump also played down criticism by Democrats that the unpopular legislation will slash social welfare programmes, saying: “You won’t even notice it.” With First Lady Melania Trump at his side, Trump watched from the White House balcony as two B-2 bombers — the same type that recently struck Iranian nuclear sites — roared overhead, accompanied by F-35 and F-22 fighter jets. The 79-year-old’s victory lap came a day after Repub...

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur has once again hinted at approaching the court to claim PTI’s share of reserved seats, citing his own nomination papers as the basis. Talking to journalists informally, the chief minister emphasised that he never contested the Feb 8 general elections as an independent candidate but rather as a PTI nominee. He said this would form the foundation of his legal challenge and vowed to go to any extent to secure PTI’s share of reserved seats in both the national and provincial assemblies. The development come in the wake of the Constitutional Bench’s recent ruling on June 27, which effectively overturned the earlier Supreme Court verdict that had declared PTI eligible for the reserved seats for women and non-Muslims. The CB decision, handed down by a majority of seven judges, nullified the Supreme Court’s July 12, 2024 ruling by eight judges and transferred the reserved seats to rival parties. Cites his own nomination as basis for contesting case in...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Poland have agreed to enhance collaboration thro­ugh the exchange of high-level visits, parliamentary interactions and dialogue. The agreement was reached during the 9th round of Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) between Pakistan and Poland held in Warsaw. According to the Foreign Office, Pakistani delegation was led by Ambassador Muhammad Ayub, Additi­onal Foreign Secretary (Europe), while the Polish delegation was headed by Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs Wadysaw Teofil Bartoszewski. The Ambassador of Pak­is­tan to Poland, Muhammad Sami-ur-Rehman, and the Polish Ambassador to Pakistan, Maciej Pisarski, were also present during the consultations. The two sides reviewed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations. The additional foreign secretary reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to further broadening and deepening its ties with Poland in various fields, including trade, investment, energy, security and defence cooperation, science and technology, agric...

• Deputy PM says PML-N won’t abandon PPP despite having better strength in parliament now • Interior minister dismisses reports about president’s removal, says two parties, army ‘on same page’ • PPP leader claims party in no mood to join federal or Punjab cabinet LAHORE: Two key federal ministers on Saturday dismissed speculations regarding the disintegration of the PML-N-PPP alliance, saying the two parties, and even the army were “on the same page”. However, the enthusiasm regarding the coalition was a bit more diminished among PPP leaders who accepted having differences with the ruling party and also stressed the party has no desire to take ministries in the federal government. While talking to the media in Lahore, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that the PML-N’s total seats in the National Assembly have increased after the distribution of reserved seats in light of the Supreme Court’s order but the party was in no mood to shun PPP. “The Bilawal-led party stood by the government d...

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s Meteorological Depart­ment on Saturday issued an alert for heavy rains in the upper parts of the country, including the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, for July 6 and 7. The alert said that heavy to very heavy rainfall from Sunday to Monday may trigger flash floods in local streams of Murree, Galiyat, Mansehra, Kohistan, Abbottabad, Buner, Chitral, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan and Islamabad/Rawalpindi. Flash flooding is also possible in the hill torrents of D.G. Khan, northeast Punjab, Kashmir and parts of Balochistan. Officials warned that landslides and mudslides could cause road closures in vulnerable hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Murree, Galiyat and Kashmir during the wet spell. Chilas records its highest temperature since 1997, hitting 48.5 degrees Celsius The department said heavy downpours may also cause urban flooding in low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sialkot, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Nowshera and Peshawar. An official sai...

Emergency teams continue search for missing as floodwaters recede in central Texas

Statement reasserts Tibetan religious autonomy amid rising geopolitical tensions with Beijing

KARACHI: Foreign exchange companies contributed around $450 million to remittance inflows during June, taking their total contribution to approximately $5 billion in FY25, according to the Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP). “We sold about $450m to banks in June, highlighting our growing role in supporting the country’s exchange rate stability,” said Zafar Paracha, Secretary General of ECAP. Exchange companies have welcomed the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) recent decision to include them in the Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI). For years, these companies have demanded similar incentives to those offered to banks, arguing that they also play a crucial role in channelling remittances. “This incentive will certainly boost remittance inflows through exchange companies, and I believe FY26 could witness a new record,” Mr Paracha said. He estimated the total remittances handled by exchange firms during FY25 to be around $5bn, although he noted the figure is not yet officially confirmed. The SBP ...

Tight security measures were enforced across the country, and mobile phone services were also partially suspended

Independence Day becomes monument to plutocracy as Trump’s bill wages war on the poor, planet and future

India’s UCC stirs echoes in Pakistan, where fears of state overreach over minority rights feel all too familiar

Pakistan’s students must be freed from rote learning to embrace curiosity, ethics and the power of social science

PMDD isn’t bad PMS — it’s a severe, cyclical mood disorder that hijacks the brain and raises suicide risk sevenfold

Under the shadow of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, UK’s most storied music festival became a platform for moral urgency