Pakistan

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi arrived in Tehran on Saturday for an important visit taking place amid the deadlock in negotiations between the United States and Iran.

Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Muhammad Ishaq Dar visited the shrine of Hazrat Ali Hujwiri (RA), popularly known as Data Ganj Bakhsh, here on Saturday, where he offered Fateha, and prayed for the security and prosperity of the country as well as the unity of the Muslim Ummah.

Hamas’s armed wing chief Ezzedine Al-Haddad was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza the previous day, the Israeli military and Hamas confirmed on Saturday. The Israeli military and intelligence services have waged an extensive campaign targeting the group’s senior political leaders and commanders in Gaza and across the region. On Friday, the Israeli military said it had carried out an airstrike in Gaza targeting Haddad and confirmed his death on Saturday. “The IDF and the ISA announce that yesterday, in a precise strike in the area of the City of Gaza, Ezzedine Al-Haddad was eliminated,” the military said, referring to itself and the Shin Bet domestic security agency. Two Hamas officials also told AFP that Haddad had been killed in an Israeli strike. “Senior commander… Ezzedine Al-Haddad was assassinated in an Israeli strike targeting a residential apartment and a civilian vehicle in Gaza yesterday,” one senior Hamas official said. A member of Hamas’s armed wing separately confirmed his death. Haddad was kill...

Soaring diesel prices since the onset of the Iran war are draining already tight US school district budgets, making it more expensive to bus students and run generators in a shock officials say they will not be able to afford for long. School districts from Yakima, Washington to Waco, Texas are tapping emergency funding reserves to keep buses running. In remote Alaska, officials are scrambling to secure enough fuel to keep the lights on, according to Reuters interviews. “It’s more than a straw on the camel’s back, it’s like a haystack,” said Yakima Superintendent Trevor Greene. The stress reflects one of many knock-on impacts of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has disrupted the flow of around a fifth of the world’s oil supplies. Since the war started in late February, fuel prices have posted one of their most rapid climbs on record. The spike has upended economies around the globe. It has caused enough pain in the US to be a political liability for President Donald Trump ahead of November mid-term elections...

As United States President Donald Trump showered ​praise on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, the CEOs of several US aviation, commodities, technology, and finance conglomerates looked to ‌advance their business interests by meeting the heads of powerful Chinese regulators and ministries. These include GE Aerospace, Boeing, Qualcomm, Cargill, Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, who held talks with the leading officials of Chinese government agencies such as the commerce ministry, state planner, securities regulator, and central bank, according to official government statements and state-backed media reports published on Friday and Saturday. The US ​executives travelled to Beijing as part of the business delegation Trump brought to China. They stood behind Trump’s cabinet on Thursday morning as they ​were each introduced to Xi, and later in the evening mingled with Chinese officials and businesspeople at a state banquet. The executives ⁠are hoping the political goodwill generated by the bonhomie be...

A looming 18-day strike at South Korean chip giant Samsung that has triggered worries within the government, rattled foreign investors and threatened global supply chains rests on one crucial question: who should share in the spoils of the AI boom? More than 45,000 workers are threatening to stage the largest strike in the conglomerate’s history from May 21, reducing production of memory chips that are crucial components in AI data centres, smartphones and laptops, as Samsung and its union struggle to find a compromise over bonus payouts. Samsung Electronics, which has reaped huge profits from a global memory shortage, has offered to pay generous bonuses to staff. But it wants to give 27,000 memory chip employees at least six times more than its other workers in its logic chip design and manufacturing businesses. Samsung Electronics labour union members chant slogans during a protest against company’s compensation levels ahead of a planned lengthy strike in front of Samsung Electronics semiconductor plant in ...

Former chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), A.

Fatima Sana will lead Pakistan in the upcoming ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday announced a 15-member squad for the tournament, as well as a tri-series featuring Ireland and the West Indies. According to a press release by the PCB, Pakistan will feature in a tri-series in Dublin from May 28 to June 4, where hosts Ireland and the West Indies are the other two participating teams. Pakistan is set to play four matches in the event. “The tournament will help Pakistan and the other two sides gear up for the 12-team ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, scheduled to take place from June 12 to July 5,” the cricket board said. Among the 15 players selected by the Women’s National Selection Committee, Eyman Fatima, Natalia Pervaiz, Rameen Shamim, Saira Jabeen and Tasmia Rubab will feature in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup for the first time. It said 24-year-old Fatima, who will feature in her third ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, would captain the side for the second successive T20 World C...

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China on May 19 for a two-day visit, hot on the heels of United States President Donald Trump’s trip to Beijing, the Kremlin said on Saturday. During the trip, the Russian leader will discuss with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping how to “further strengthen the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation” between Moscow and Beijing, according to a Kremlin statement. Putin and Xi will “exchange views on key international and regional issues” and sign a joint declaration at the conclusion of their talks, it added. As part of the visit, Putin is also scheduled to discuss economic and trade cooperation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. The announcement of Putin’s trip comes just after Trump wrapped up on Friday the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, with the grand reception belying a roster of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions, including over the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Although Trump and Xi discussed the more than four-year-l...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to building a peaceful, tolerant and inclusive society, saying Pakistan remained dedicated to ensuring dignity, equality and mutual respect for all citizens regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held separate engagements with Uzbek Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov and senior US official Paul Kapur, focusing on bilateral ties, regional developments and diplomatic cooperation.

Alleged cocaine dealer Anmol alias “Pinky” on Thursday accused police of torture and fabricating cases against her during a hearing before a judicial magistrate in Karachi.

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Abu Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, had been eliminated in an operation conducted by US and Nigerian forces. “Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield. “Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, second in command of ISIS globally, thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He also thanked the Nigerian government for its partnership in the operation. Nigeria had earlier come under scrutiny from Trump who had said that Christians there were being persecuted, which the African nation’s government denies. The US had struck what it said were militant bases in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day last year, following Trump’s accusations. Meanwhile, Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and ...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday met a delegation from Egypt during which the two sides discussed promoting cooperation in the fields of security, counter-terrorism, combatting narcotics, cybercrime, and safe city initiatives, the interior ministry said. Both sides agreed to enhance cooperation between the interior ministries of the two countries, it said in a social media post on X. The delegation from Egypt’s interior ministry was led by Major General Magdy Helal and included Brigadier Essam Abu Al-Khair, Brigadier Engineer Mohamed Rady and Brigadier Dr Mohamed Mounir. The ministry said it was decided that cooperation would be enhanced between the National Police Academy and Egypt’s police academy for joint training of officers. “The visit of the Egyptian delegation will help explore new avenues of bilateral cooperation,” Naqvi was quoted as saying. He further said that practical steps would be taken to further strengthen the relations between the two countries, while a Pakistani delegation will v...

Indian veteran Virat Kohli said he has nothing left to prove and would consider playing the 2027 One-Day International (ODI) World Cup only if he can still contribute meaningfully. The 37-year-old, who retired from Twenty20 Internationals after India’s 2024 World Cup triumph and ended his 123-test career last year, is now active only in the ODI format. Kohli played 13 ODIs last year, scoring 651 runs, and returned to the Indian Premier League after last representing India in January. He has already struck one century in the current IPL season. Asked about his prospects for the 2027 World Cup, Kohli said he remains ready to represent India but would not pursue selection unless convinced he could add value. “If I can add value to the environment that I’m a part of and the environment feels like I can add value I’ll be seen,” Kohli said on a podcast of his IPL team Royal Challengers Bangalore. “When I arrive to play, I put my head down, I work as hard, if not harder, than anyone else. And I play the game in the ...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday appreciated IBI Group’s decision to establish its Pakistan Digital Economy Headquarters in Pakistan and expressed satisfaction at the expanding business to business (B2B) cooperation between Pakistan and China.

QUETTA - Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari during his visit to Quetta on Friday inaugurated 11 transformative public welfare and healthcare projects launched by the Balochistan government, including the province’s first-ever Air Ambulance Service and a state-of-the-art Trauma Center in Quetta —.

ISLAMABAD - The federal government has slightly reduced the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel prices by Rs 5 per litre each.

ISLAMABAD - In a stark reminder of the persistent security challenges emanating from the neighborhood, Russia has reiterated that Afghanistan remains a hub of global terrorism and cross-border narcotics trafficking, severely threatening the stability of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) region.

• Proposes Rs430bn new budgetary measures • Suggests 18pc hike in petroleum levy target • Asks provinces to mobilise extra Rs430bn • Links power tariff relief to BISP • Sees economic growth at 3.5pc • Estimates average inflation at 8.4pc • Seeks hike in BISP payment to Rs18,000 with 40pc population vulnerable ISLAMABAD: With Rs430 billion in new budgetary measures and an 18 per cent higher petroleum levy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has targeted Pakistan’s federal revenues at Rs17.145 trillion for 2026-27, along with a series of administrative and policy measures committed by the government for the federal and provincial budgets to be passed by the parliament. In its staff report on completion of third review of $7bn Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and second review of $1.4bn Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), the fund has projected total federal revenues for FY27 at Rs17.144tr — over Rs2.03tr higher than the current fiscal year, up 13.5pc. The report showed that Pakistan had to commit and d...