Pakistan

• MNAs complain poor connectivity affecting parliament’s paperless mechanism • Minister assures them spectrum auction will address problem • Concerns raised over digital harassment, online fraud ISLAMABAD: Several members of the National Assembly on Thursday raised the issue of slow internet speed in the House as well as across the country, in the context of recent efforts to switch to a paperless working environment in parliament to enhance efficiency and reduce costs. Despite repeated requests by the NA chair, the majority of MNAs from all sides paid no attention to the implementation of the paperless system in parliament. Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah reminded members that parliamentary proceedings were being automated as part of efforts to modernise the functioning of the House and the physical distribution of bills and other documents would soon be eradicated. “All the members have been provided with tablets to facilitate paperless proceedings and improve efficiency. We want to minimise paper usage,...

ISLAMABAD: Infor­m­ation Minister Attaullah Tarar on Thursday lashed out at “coordinated negative information campaign… initiated from outside Pakistan” that was trying to discredit Pakistan’s role for sustainable peace in the region. In a post on his X handle, the minister said that “detractors of peace, who are unable to come to terms with Pakistan’s role for peace in the region” were running a malicious campaign to discredit Pakistan, adding that facts and verification by credible domestic media sources as well as multiple fact check forums have already called out the propaganda. “We understand quite clearly that behind such stories are certain elements,” he said, adding that Pakistan and its responsible media will continue to expose the nefarious designs of those behind this coordinated campaign. While the information minister did not specifically mention any particular reports, he was ostensibly referring to reports such as the one recently carried by US network CBS News, falsely claiming that Pakistan h...

ISLAMABAD: Following the release of a $1.1 billion tranche for Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified Pakistan’s economic exposure to the Gulf Coope­ration Council (GCC) as its most acute external vulnerability. In its staff report, the lender warned that “the war weighs on the near-term outlook as Pakistan is highly exposed to energy imports and remittances from the Gulf countries as well as to global financial conditions”. According to the report, 81 per cent of Pakistan’s fuel imports originate in the GCC region, while 55pc of remittances — equivalent to about nine percent of the GDP — flow from these economies. The IMF noted: “A significant disruption to the GCC economies and/or return of migrant workers could weigh on these flows, a major source of financing for consumption and the balance of payments”. According to the Fund, the Iran war’s impact has been formally embedded in Pakistan’s macroeconomic projections. Under the IMF’s baseline scenario, GDP growth is expected to slow b...

• Most compromised passwords either begin or end with digits • Common symbols like ‘@’ and ‘.’ are heavily overused ISLAMABAD: An analysis of 231 million unique passwords leaked between 2023 and 2026 has revealed several alarming patterns, according to a report by cybersecurity company Kaspersky. Firstly, 68 per cent of modern passwords can be cracked within a day. Secondly, the vast majority of compromised passwords either begin or end with a digit — a common habit that makes them vulnerable to brute-force attacks. Thirdly, users often rely on positive or trending words in their passwords. For example, the use of the word “Skibidi” in analysed passwords increased 36-fold over the past few years, reflecting the rise of the internet trend. “In recent years, secure password rules have become a widely discussed topic. More and more services now require passwords that are at least 10 characters long, include an uppercase letter, and contain a number or symbol. Yet a comparative analysis of leaked passwords from r...

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of direct involvement in military operations against his country during a Brics meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, Iranian state media reported. The spat comes a day after the UAE denied a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he visited the Gulf country during the Iran war, to which Araghchi already reacted by saying that “those colluding with Israel to sow division will be held to account”. “I didn’t name the UAE in my [Brics] statement for the sake of unity. But the truth is that the UAE was directly involved in the aggression against my country. When the attacks started, they didn’t even issue a condemnation,” state media quoted Araghchi as saying on Thursday, in response to comments made by the Emirati representative. Iranian state media did not specify what the Emirati representative said. According to the reports, Araghchi argued that neither US bases nor an alliance with Israel provided the UAE with secu...

US President Donald Trump hailed “extremely positive” talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday, in remarks made at an opulent banquet in Beijing attended by top leaders and American business figures, including Elon Musk and Tim Cook. His trip to Beijing is the first by a US president in nearly a decade, with the grand reception belying a host of unresolved trade and geopolitical tensions between the two countries. The two leaders rounded off the first full day of a closely watched summit in the Chinese capital with the banquet in a red-carpeted dining room in the lavish Great Hall of the People, abutting Tiananmen Square. “There are those who say this may be the biggest summit ever,” Trump told Xi after a ceremony that featured an honour guard and throngs of children waving flowers and flags at the Great Hall. Trump also said he had invited Xi and his wife, Peng Liyuan, to visit the White House on September 24. Live images streamed before the leaders arrived showed a jovial atmosphere, with s...

ISLAMABAD, May 14: PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Thursday said that the government had not contacted him or his father, President Asif Ali Zardari, regarding a constitutional amendment. His remarks came amid media reports about the government’s intention to have the 28th constitutional amendment passed by parliament. “President Zardari and I remain in contact with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, but the government has not contacted the PPP regarding any constitutional amendment,” the PPP chief said at a press conference after chairing the parliamentary party meeting at the Parliament House in Islamabad. Responding to questions, Bilawal said that without the PPP, the passage of constitutional amendments and the federal budget would not be possible. “The PPP’s role in the 26th and 27th constitutional amendments is evident to everyone. We did not allow the rights of the provinces to be reduced; instead, we expanded them. Through our amendments, Balochistan’s representation in the Senate increased,” he ad...

France’s health minister said Thursday that 26 people in France identified as close contacts of hantavirus cases linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship had tested negative for the illness. Dutch authorities also confirmed that all people who arrived in the Netherlands on evacuation flights from the ship this week have tested negative. Twenty-six people are in hospital isolation in France, including 22 identified as close contacts of a Dutch woman on the MV Hondius that was at the centre of an international alert for the rare disease typically transmitted by rodents. French doctors are monitoring four others who were on the ship, while a fifth French passenger tested positive for hantavirus and is in serious condition in a French hospital. “As of today, all close contacts of a person who tested positive for hantavirus, present in France, have tested negative, without exception,” said Health Minister Stephanie Rist on X. Twenty-two of the individuals in France were on a flight from the Atlantic island of Saint He...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday approved the establishment of a task force to promote waste-to-energy production in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD: The government on Thursday said that IMF-mandated asset declarations of civil servants would be made publicly accessible in a redacted form to ensure both transparency and personal privacy. The declaration of government officials’ assets is required under IMF governance and corruption-related benchmarks. Establishment Division Secretary Nabeel Awan testified before the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue, which ordered full investigations into two major scams involving the disappearance of over 400 kilogrammes of silver and a major portion of 2,000 bags of skimmed milk from the custody of Pakistan Customs. The meeting of the senate panel, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, took up the status of asset declarations by government servants, and Awan reported that the government had revised the Civil Servants Conduct Rules and was in the process of digitising the asset declaration system through the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) platform. He said, “Declarations would be publicly access...

.

.

Trump seeks economic wins, help on Iran war Xi hails 'positive outcome' of trade talks China to buy 200 Boeing

Bilawal warns major legislation impossible without party support

Says assets strictly for deterrence and defense

Ship reported seized off UAE, steered towards Iran

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred approach for addressing regional challenges during a telephone conversation with UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump met in Beijing on Thursday for high-stakes talks, discussing the Iran war, Ukraine and economic cooperation. Away from the long list of complex agenda topics, here are five other highlights from day one of the summit: One-sided friendship? China’s President Xi Jinping (R) and US President Donald Trump shake hands as they attend a state banquet at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14, 2026. — AFP Trump heaped praise on Xi as talks began at the cavernous Great Hall of the People, saying: “It’s an honour to be your friend.” “You and I have known each other for a long time… We’ve had a fantastic relationship, we’ve gotten along when there were difficulties, we worked it out,” Trump told Xi. “I would call you and you would call me.” Xi has in the past partially reciprocated Trump’s characterisation of their relationship, referring to a “personal friendship”. But on Thursday the Chinese leader stopped short of using that label, saying ins...

.

Calls for comprehensive housing reforms