Pakistan

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Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has said that Saudi investment will pave the way for a new era of prosperity and development in the province, as she welcomed a delegation of the Saudi-Pakistan Business Council led by Prince Mansour bin Mohammed Al Saud.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a large military parade displaying its new intercontinental ballistic missile in front of visiting international dignitaries, state media KCNA said on Saturday. The parade, which began late on Friday, marked the 80th anniversary of the foundation of its ruling Workers’ Party and followed celebrations on Thursday. Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as Vietnam’s Communist Party chief To Lam, were seen at Kim’s side at the parade, while other foreign dignitaries looked on. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watches a military parade celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers Party, in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this picture released on October 11, by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. —KCNA via Reuters In the military parade, nuclear-armed North Korea displayed its most advanced Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, described by KCNA as the country’s “strongest nuclear strategic wea...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has acknowledged receiving the resignation of Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur but has deferred its approval pending a detailed legal review.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Saturday assailed the PTI-led KP government for “facilitating terrorists, sowing division, and undermining national security,” stressing that the sacrifices of Pakistanis in the fight against terrorism will not be in vain. The information minister’s remarks come a day after the spokesperson for the military’s media wing, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, without naming anyone, said the “state and its people will not and cannot be left to the whims of a single person deemed most responsible for bringing terrorism back to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.” “In the past week alone, there have been several terrorist attacks which were bravely and courageously repelled by officers and soldiers of the Pakistan Army,” Tarar said. Referring to PTI, he said during this time, there remains only one party, “Tehreek-i-Inteshaar” (movement of chaos) which has no concern for the sacrifices of our martyrs, no concern for the integrity of the country, and whose only interest is in “further d...

Two terrorists were killed and two injured during an operation in the Hasan Khel tehsil of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Peshawar district, police said on Saturday. Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Peshawar Dr Mian Saeed told Dawn.com that three more terrorists had been intercepted and additional reinforcements dispatched for the operation. “Hasan Khel police, displaying courage, bravery and professionalism, have repelled the terrorist attack after a 2-hour fight,” he said in a statement. “The police used modern weapons like sniper guns during the encounter.” “There are fears that the terrorists may be killed during the exchange of fire, as the police thwarted their nefarious intentions through timely action,” the statement said, adding that heavy police force had been called in. Pakistan has witnessed an uptick in terror activities over the past year, especially in KP and Balochistan, after the TTP ended its ceasefire with the government in November 2022. A day ago, two terrorists, including one reported to be the ...

Pakistan has successfully conducted its first-ever corneal transplant using tissue donated by a female donor, marking a historic advancement in the country’s medical field.

Six policemen, including trainees, were martyred and 13 others — 12 policemen and a civilian — were injured in a terrorist attack on the Police Training School in Dera Ismail Khan district, which security forces and law enforcement personnel successfully repelled, the military’s media wing said on Saturday. According to a statement from the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), on the night of October 10–11, assailants attempted to breach the perimeter of the Police Training School, but “their nefarious designs were swiftly foiled by the vigilant and resolute response of law enforcement personnel deployed on duty.” In their desperation, the attackers rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into the gate of the complex, the statement added. “Displaying unwavering courage and professional excellence, police personnel engaged the intruders, eliminating three Khwarij belonging to Indian proxy Fitna al Khwarij, the ISPR said, using the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “While corne...

Pakistan captain Shan Masood believes taking 20 wickets, rather than piling up big scores, will be key to winning the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa, as the hosts prepare spin-friendly conditions for the opener at the Gaddafi Stadium from Sunday. Speaking at the pre-series press conference at the venue on Saturday, Shan said Pakistan’s focus was on creating result-oriented pitches that suit their strengths. “We don’t want flat tracks where matches end in draws,” he remarked. “Sometimes you sacrifice runs to create situations where 20 wickets are possible.” The Pakistan skipper said the approach reflected lessons from the previous World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, where his side struggled to convert opportunities at home. “The idea is to use our home advantage wisely,” he added. The Gaddafi Stadium surface, hosting its first Test of the current WTC cycle from Sunday, is expected to offer assistance to spinners. Pakistan are likely to field up to three slow bowlers, with off-spinner Saji...

The European Commission is scrutinising safeguards for minors on Snapchat, YouTube, the Apple App Store and Google Play under its Digital Services Act (DSA), it said on Friday. The Commission is asking the businesses to provide information on their age verification systems, as well as on how they prevent minors from accessing illegal products, including drugs and vapes, or harmful material, such as content promoting eating disorders. “Today, alongside national authorities in the member states, we are assessing whether the measures taken so far by the platforms are indeed protecting children,” EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said. Google, in response, said it had already put in place measures to ensure its platforms offered age-appropriate experiences and had “robust” controls for parents. “We keep expanding these efforts [and] continue to engage with the Commission on this critical area,” a Google spokesperson said. The DSA is an EU landmark law that requires online companies to do more to tackle illegal and ha...

Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Saturday accused former prime minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of supporting terrorists on various platforms, claiming that there is a growing perception that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has effectively become PTI’s “military wing.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with Egyptian Foreign Minister Dr.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute will investigate whether leaks preceded Friday’s award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado because of suspicious betting. The odds of Machado winning the prize jumped from 3.75 per cent to nearly 73pc overnight Thursday to Friday on the predictive betting platform Polymarket. But no expert or media outlet had mentioned her being among the favourites for the prize, which was announced just a few hours later in Oslo. “You don’t normally see this in the betting market. It’s very suspicious,” Robert Naess, a data specialist, was quoted as saying by Norwegian broadcaster NRK. “I don’t think there have ever been any leaks in the entire history of the prize. I can’t imagine that’s the case,” Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Jorgen Watne Frydnes told the NTB news agency. The institute will nevertheless investigate whether there could have been any leaks, its director, Kristian Berg Harpviken, said. “It’s too early to be categorical about the ex...

Dazed survivors of a pair of major earthquakes in the southern Philippines awoke on Saturday to scenes of devastation, after hundreds of aftershocks rocked the region overnight. Many coastal residents of Mindanao island had slept outdoors, fearful of being crushed to death by aftershocks of the 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude quakes that struck off the coast within hours of each other on Friday. Philippine authorities said at least eight people were killed. Office of Civil Defence Information Officer Ezzra James Fernandez said there were no reported missing. “As to the initial assessment yesterday, the (infrastructure) damage is minimal,” Fernandez said, adding that road-clearing operations are ongoing and most roads are already passable. In Manay, a Mindanao municipality of 40,000 residents, people were removing debris and sweeping up broken glass from homes and other buildings Saturday morning. “Our small house and our small store were destroyed,” resident Ven Lupogan told AFP. “We have nowhere to sleep. There’s no e...

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has left for the United States to participate in the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), state-run Radio Pakistan reported on Saturday. The visit comes after a IMF mission concluded talks with Pakistani authorities on reviews of two lending programmes totalling $8.4 billion without announcing a staff-level agreement (SLA). A day earlier, the finance minister had expressed optimism that the SLA with the IMF would be finalised next week during his visit to Washington. According to the Radio Pakistan report, the minister will participate in more than 65 events, forums, ceremonies, and meetings during his six-day visit to the US. “During his visit, the finance minister will represent Pakistan at the plenary meetings of the IMF and the WB,” the report added. It further said that Aurangzeb would meet with senior officials from the IMF, the WB, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency...

The fear of smog has already started lingering upon us. We are once again bracing ourselves to choke in our own neglect. Are we doomed to suffer every year, through climate change, mismanagement, broken promises, or is it just bad luck? In truth, it seems less a matter of fate and more the outcome of willful ignorance — an ignorance far from blissful, especially given that under Article 9 of Pakistan’s Constitution, the right to life inherently includes the right to a clean and healthy environment. Numbers tell the story This contradiction defines our new normal. For the past several winters, Pakistan has ranked as the third most polluted country in the world. Nowhere is this crisis more visible than in Lahore, the country’s second-largest city, where nearly 14 million residents are forced to breathe poison. It’s the most polluted city in the world and in the last five years, its air has met the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) minimum safety standards on only seven days. The World Bank (WB) and the Air Qual...

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Friday that Qatar will be allowed to build an air force facility at Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho that will house F-15 fighter jets and pilots. The announcement comes soon after President Donald Trump signed an executive order vowing to defend the Gulf Arab state against attacks, following Israeli air strikes targeting Hamas leaders in the Qatari capital Doha. “We’re signing a letter of acceptance to build a Qatari Emiri Air Force facility at the Mountain Home Air Base in Idaho,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon, with Qatari Defence Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani at his side. “The location will host a contingent of Qatari F-15s and pilots to enhance our combined training” as well as “increase lethality, interoperability,” he said. “It’s just another example of our partnership. And I hope you know, your excellency, that you can count on us.” The Idaho base currently also hosts a fighter jet squadron from Singapore, according to its website. Hegseth a...

DG ISPR says status quo will no longer work Terrorists, their facilitators will be confronted Lt-General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry notes non-implementation of National Action Plan main reason behind surge in terrorism Afghanistan should not make its territory a haven for non-state actors India using Afghanistan.

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD - The religious political group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Friday began its pro-test march from Lahore towards Islamabad led by the party’s chief Saad Hussain Rizvi.