Pakistan

United States President Donald Trump says the deal agreed between Israel and Hamas marks the first steps toward a “strong, durable, and everlasting peace” that will end the two-year-old Gaza conflict. Yet the agreement signed after indirect talks in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, a favoured location for Middle East peace conferences over the decades with a patchy record of success, is only an initial phase involving a ceasefire, a handover of captives held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners inside Israel and a partial withdrawal of Israel from the enclave. Plenty of pitfalls remain after negotiators left for later discussions about some of the thornier issues on which previous initiatives have foundered, such as the full extent of an Israeli withdrawal, the disarmament of Hamas, how to guarantee that fighting will not resume after this phase — and who could provide such a guarantee. Have the guns fallen silent? Not yet. Trump demanded Israel halt its bombing when Hamas first indicated part...

Loans to be obtained online for equipment from foreign firms

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538 cases registered across the district since January

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Police recover three kidnapped truck drivers

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In the dry hills west of Karachi, a caracal moves silently across rocky terrain, its long, black-tufted ears twitching at every sound. A hidden camera captures the fleeting moment, offering rare evidence that one of the country’s most elusive wild cats still survives. The caracal, a medium-sized wild cat native to arid regions of Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia, is now critically endangered in Pakistan. Wildlife experts warn that habitat loss, increasing human intrusion and retaliatory killings have pushed the species to the brink of local extinction. “Local people either kill the cat to protect their sheep, goats, deer and other small animals, or in retaliation for its preying on small livestock,” wildlife expert Saeedul Islam told Anadolu. Hunting for the illegal pet trade poses another threat. “This has left the animal’s population in only a few hundred, not even a thousand, in Pakistan,” he said. Javed Mahar, conservator with the Sindh Wildlife Department, said the caracal still exist...

Minister for Infor­mation Attaullah Tarar on Thursday claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Sohail Afridi has been nominated as the new chief minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to “support, promote, and enable” terrorism in the province. Yesterday, PTI’s Ali Amin Gandapur said he has resigned from his role as the KP CM while the party’s general secretary, Salman Akram Raja, confirmed that party founder Imran Khan directed Afridi to assume the role of provincial chief executive. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad today along with Ikhtiar Wali Khan, the coordinator to prime minister on information for KP affairs, Tarar maintained PTI “enables terrorists”. “These handful of terrorists are enabled by a person sitting in jail who is the chief sponsor of terrorism,” the information minister claimed, saying that PTI founder’s support for terrorists is evident from old interviews. Tarar said the contention with Ali Amin Gandapur was that he does not do what he’s told, i.e., “enable and support terrorists...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Thursday received US Chargé d’Affaires Natalie Baker at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where both sides reviewed the growing momentum in Pakistan–US relations and discussed avenues to further enhance bilateral cooperation.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan has directed all party members to immediately resign from their positions in the Punjab Assembly’s standing committees, PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan announced on Thursday.

Terrorists were involved in attack that martyred 11 army personnel, including Lt Col and major, say security sources

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