Pakistan

Two four-storey buildings collapsed in the Moroccan city of Fez, killing at least 19 people, according to a provisional toll reported by the country’s official news agency on Wednesday. “Sixteen other people were wounded, with varying degrees of severity,” the Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP) agency reported, adding that search operations were still ongoing to “save other people who may be buried under the rubble”. The two adjacent structures, which housed eight families, collapsed overnight in the major northern city’s Al-Moustakbal neighbourhood, in the Al-Massira area, according to MAP. Images from the pre-dawn scene showed first responders carrying a corpse in a grey body bag to waiting emergency vehicles, as residents gathered to watch the rescue efforts. Other workers, using jackhammers and pickaxes, tried to dig through the rubble, occasionally assisted by mechanical excavators. Local authorities have indicated that the toll could rise in the coming hours. MAP reported that safety officials had conducted “nec...

Law and order debate derails as PTI, PML-N lawmakers clash, forcing deputy speaker to suspend session

Abandoned device brought into madrassa explodes, leaving 17 children injured

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The war of words between members of the PTI and ruling coalition continued on Wednesday, with Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Information for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan saying that “things have reached a point of no return”, while PTI chairman Barrister Gohar Ali stressed that “common sense should prevail”. The tensions have particularly intensified in recent days after the spokesperson for the armed forces held a hard-hitting press conference on December 6, in response to Imran’s latest outburst against the military leadership. Politicians from various parties have rallied behind the armed forces since, chastising the PTI. Yesterday, the Punjab Assembly also adopted a resolution calling for a ban on Imran and his party, terming them “anti-state”. ‘Things have reached a point of no return’ Earlier today, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Information for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan said that “things have reached a point of no return”. Addressing a press conference, Wa...

Senior PTI leader and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was discharged from hospital - where he was admitted for a surgery - and transferred back to Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison, his lawyer Rana Mudassar Umer said on Wednesday. Qureshi was hospitalised last month at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute for gallbladder stone complications, where he underwent a successful procedure to remove the stone. Umer said he was discharged from the hospital after his condition improved, while tests were conducted, and their reports would be released in 15 days. The PTI leader has been indicted in multiple cases pertaining to the May 9, 2023, riots and has remained behind bars since August 2023. In July 2024, the PTI leader was indicted by a Lahore anti-terrorism court in a case registered by the Shadman police over allegedly attacking and burning the police station. The same month, he was transferred from Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi to Kot Lakhpat on a police request. It had stated that frequent transportation...

The Supreme Court (SC) will take up on Thursday (December 11) the application of lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir, seeking an early hearing of her plea for a stay in the trial of the controversial social media post case. On December 4, Mazari and her husband, Hadi Ali Chatha, were facing trial before the additional sessions judge and Peca (Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016) special judge in the controversial tweets case. On December 1, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) denied the couple ad-interim relief of staying the trial. They appealed the IHC order before the SC through their counsel, Faisal Siddiqi. In their subsequent application from December 4, the petitioners pleaded that the criminal trial against them was at its concluding stage and therefore, extreme urgency in the matter was required. The application also pleaded that the petitioners filed a criminal revision before the IHC to question the trial proceedings in view of violations of due process as prescribed under CrPC, particularly the reco...

Japan has scrambled jets to monitor Russian and Chinese air forces conducting joint patrols around the country, the Japanese defence ministry said late Tuesday, amid rising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. Two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable strategic bombers flew from the Sea of Japan toward the East China Sea to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers, and performed a “long-distance joint flight” in the Pacific, the ministry said. Four Chinese J-16 fighter jets joined the bombers as they made a round-trip flight between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands, it added. The Miyako Strait between the two islands is classified as international waters. Japan also detected simultaneous Russian air force activity in the Sea of Japan, consisting of one early-warning aircraft A-50 and two Su-30 fighters, the ministry said. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in a post on X on Wednesday that the Russian and Chinese joint operations were “clearly intended as a show of force against our nation, which is a ser...

Growing up in Karachi in the 1990s, it was unthinkable for most of us to have access to fresh strawberries. All one came across were artificial strawberry flavours and essence, which were generously used in chocolates, biscuits, ice creams, desserts, jams, jellies and custard, to name a few convenience products. Pushcart fruit vendors selling strawberries were unheard of and only a lucky few would find fresh strawberries at any of the handful of supermarkets that existed in the city in those days. To our family’s delight, my father would sometimes purchase a can of strawberries from the then-renowned chor bazaar, a flea market where smuggled items were also available. The only fresh strawberries that we were exposed to in those times were the ones we saw being consumed on television. It is no surprise, then, that these factors added to our eagerness to not only consume fresh strawberries, but also to grow them. Fast forward to the 2020s and, during its fruiting seasons, different sizes and varieties of strawb...

United Kingdom Minister of State for International Development Baroness Jenny Chapman, on Wednesday, called on Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, and the two sides discussed cooperation in key areas of mutual interest.

The Supreme Court has fixed the hearing of Advocate Imaan Mazari’s petition for tomorrow.

PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar warned on Wednesday that targeting any single individual in politics could destabilise the entire system, cautioning that a “minus-one” strategy would ultimately lead to broader consequences.

A three-day Basant festival would kick off in Lahore from February 6, 2026, following the Punjab government’s decision to lift a ban on the historic event of celebration, colours, and kite-flying after 18 years, with strict regulations. The festival was banned in 2007 because of an increasing number of deaths and serious injuries caused by sharp strings, particularly to motorcyclists and pillion riders, as well as by celebratory gunfire. “The Basant festival will be held in Lahore from Feb 6 to 8, 2026,” Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari told Dawn on Wednesday. The festival would be “completely safe, regulated, and strictly monitored,” she added. In a post on X, Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said, “CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz has approved the revival of our beloved Heritage Basant Festival on February 6th, 7th and 8th, celebrated across Lahore after 25 years, a tradition rooted in history and admired worldwide.“ On CM Punjab’s directions, a city-wide campaign to install safety antennas on all mo...

Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado is safe and will be in Oslo, the Norwegian Nobel Institute said in a statement on Wednesday. Earlier, the organisers said the Venezuelan opposition leader, who lives in hiding, will not attend Wednesday’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, and the award will be accepted by her daughter. Machado has only been seen once in public since going underground in August last year, amidst a tense showdown with President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuela’s attorney general has said the 58-year-old would be considered a “fugitive” if she left the country to accept the award. It was not known in the hours before the ceremony whether Machado was in Norway for the event due to start at 1pm (5pm PKT). The Nobel Institute finally confirmed that she would not be there. “It will be her daughter Ana Corina Machado who will receive the prize in her mother’s name,” Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told Norway’s NRK radio. “Her daughter will give the speech that Maria Corina herself wrote.” Harpvik...

US President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency was only “a little bit successful”, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said on a podcast on Tuesday, adding that he would not lead the project again. The billionaire, who is founder of electric car company Tesla, was a major donor to Trump’s presidential election campaign and became a close ally and adviser to his administration. Musk led the DOGE team in seeking to slash the federal government’s budget and workforce in the first five months of Trump’s second term. But the role and his political rhetoric sparked a backlash against him and Tesla, including vandalism of Tesla cars. “I think instead of doing DOGE, I would have basically worked on my companies. And they wouldn’t have been burning the cars,” Musk said on the podcast with former Trump administration official Katie Miller. “We were a little bit successful. We were somewhat successful. We stopped a lot of funding that really just made no sense, that was entirely wasteful,” Musk said. Asked if he would ...

Pakistan’s population has crossed an estimated 257 million at midyear, placing it among the world’s most populous nations even as its fertility and growth rates continue to decline, according to a report released by the US Census Bureau on Tuesday. Demographic databases, including projections by the US Census Bureau and the United Nations, show Pakistan’s population density at 333 persons per square kilometre, underscoring the scale of pressure on land and public services. The data depict a country facing one of the most complex population transitions in South Asia — caught between rapid numerical expansion and slow human-development gains. Despite decades of policy debate, Pakistan is still adding millions of people each year. Its annual population growth rate stands at 1.82 per cent, lower than in previous decades but high enough to keep total numbers rising steeply for at least another generation, the report said, It added that the total fertility rate (TFR) — the average number of births per woman — has f...

The PTI said early on Wednesday that authorities used water cannons to disperse protesters, including the sisters of PTI founder Imran Khan, who were staging a sit-in outside Adiala jail after being denied a meeting with the ex-premier. In a post on X at 3:58am, the party said, “Pakistani authorities used water cannons to disperse Imran Khan’s sisters and peaceful PTI workers outside Adiala Jail, despite a court order allowing a meeting with the jailed former PM. “This brutal crackdown on a peaceful sit-in violates basic human rights and freedom of assembly in freezing weather!” the party said. It also shared a video of a water cannon being used as people, bundled up against the cold, fled the scene. In another post, the party said that Imran’s family was deliberately blocked from meeting him, which led to the sit-in. It said that the use of water cannons was “not only a shameless violation of Imran Khan’s prisoner rights but also an outright assault on the constitutional rights of people who gathered to prot...

Prime Minister’s Coordinator for Information and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Affairs Ikhtiar Wali Khan said on Wednesday that the government is considering relocating PTI founder Imran Khan from Adiala Jail to a prison in another province, citing continued protests by party supporters outside the facility.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) rejected on Wednesday Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti’s petition seeking the postponement of local government elections in Quetta that were scheduled to be held on December 28. Bugti had filed the petition on Monday, and informed sources told Dawn that he cited the precarious law and order situation in the provincial capital and the suspension of internet services as reasons for postponing the Quetta Metropolitan Corporation (QMC) elections. In its written order today, seen by Dawn, the ECP said the plea was being rejected for “being devoid of force” and that the electoral body had decided to hold local government elections in Quetta on the already scheduled date of Dec 28. However, in the majority decision, one of the six members of the commission that considered the plea was in favour of the postponement of local government elections. In its order, the ECP directed the Balochistan government to assist the commission and “all other functionaries who have bee...

A man riding a motorcycle was killed on Wednesday morning after a water tanker collided with his vehicle in Karachi, prompting a mob to torch the tanker. According to a statement by Khawaja Ajmer Nagri police, the incident took place near 4k Chowrangi in North Karachi. The statement said the motorcyclist sustained severe injuries in the accident, following which he was rushed to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead. The tanker’s driver managed to escape, leaving his vehicle. The tanker was then set on fire by a mob, the statement added. Separately, a bus ran over a 45-year-old woman in the Baldia-8 area of Karachi on Wednesday morning, a statement by Saeedabad police said. The body was rushed to Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital Karachi, it said, adding that the driver and conductor of the bus managed to escape. Today’s incidents come two days after a dumper of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board (SSWMB) carrying garbage struck and killed a motorcycle rider in the Nagan Chowrangi area of Ka...