Pakistan

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The World Bank said on Tuesday that higher tariffs on Indian goods exported to the US would be a drag on South Asia’s economic growth rate in 2026, even as it remains shielded in the current year by government spending. The World Bank said growth in South Asia was expected to slow sharply to 5.8 per cent in 2026 from its projection of 6.6pc for 2025. Its forecast for the region comprises India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and the Maldives. “For 2026, the forecast has been downgraded, as some of these effects unwind and India continues to face higher-than-expected tariffs on goods exports to the United States,” the World Bank said in its report. The World Bank has raised its forecast for India’s growth in the current fiscal year ending March 2026 to 6.5pc from 6.3pc, while trimming its projection for the next fiscal year to 6.3pc from 6.5pc due to tariffs imposed by the United States. US President Donald Trump has imposed a 50pc tariff on most exports from India, among the highest for any US trading ...

Pakistan is no stranger to man-made and natural disasters and ranks among the countries most affected by climate change worldwide. Since DawnRelief’s inception in 2005, we have provided support and rehabilitation to communities impacted the most by such crises. For two decades, this has remained our unwavering manifesto. 2005 - 2021 — Earthquake in Azad Kashmir DawnRelief was established by DawnMedia in October 2005 as a direct response to the devastating earthquake that struck Azad Kashmir and other parts of northern Pakistan. We established four tent villages in Hattian Bala Tehsil, District Muzaffarabad, where we supported over 8,500 men, women and children for nearly a year. After that, we constructed 166 homes and eight schools. In 2021, we constructed the Haji Sir Abdullah Haroon Government High School Auditorium, which can accommodate over 200 people and also serves as a community hall. 2008 — Earthquake in Balochistan Provided tents, bedding, blankets, food and jackets to affected people in Ziarat Dis...

A high-level business delegation from Saudi Arabia, led by the Chairman of the Saudi-Pakistan Joint Business Council Prince Mansour bin Mohammad Al Saud, has arrived in Islamabad to discuss trade, investment, and collaboration, the Foreign Office (FO) said today. The development follows Pakistan forming an 18-member committee to oversee bilateral economic engagements and negotiations with the Kingdom. Last month, the two countries also signed a mutual defence agreement, pledging a joint response to any act of aggression. According to an FO statement, Prince Mansour and his accompanying delegation will “hold meetings with the Pakistani leadership and engage with senior government officials, chambers of commerce and leading business groups to explore avenues for enhanced bilateral trade and investment cooperation.” It added that the visit underscored the deep-rooted and brotherly ties between Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, reflecting their shared commitment to expanding economic and investment partne...

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) has inaugurated a modern and fully equipped data center at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, marking a major milestone in the authority’s digital transformation journey.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has emphasized the urgent need to adopt modern technology to boost cotton production.

Spotify has integrated with ChatGPT, allowing users to receive personalised music recommendations directly within their chats, the company announced on Tuesday. This fresh integration is now live in English across 145 countries on ChatGPT Free, Plus, and Pro accounts, on both web and mobile (iOS and Android), allowing free and premium Spotify users to discover and enjoy music through conversation, a press release from the company said. “Spotify users can now connect their accounts to ChatGPT and get tailored recommendations, request playlists by mood, genre, or artist, and tap to listen directly in the Spotify app,” the release added. “Already available across more than 2,000 devices, including cars, TVs, and smart home systems, Spotify has always aimed to be everywhere you listen and watch.” The company said the integration will make music discovery part of everyday conversations, helping users find new songs or revisit old favourites through simple prompts. It added that the feature also offers artists anot...

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Salman Akram Raja has termed the 26th Constitutional Amendment a decisive legal battle, affirming that the party will not back down in line with directives from its founder.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron faced growing pressure on Tuesday to resign or hold a snap parliamentary election to end political chaos that has forced the resignation of five prime ministers in less than two years. The 47-year-old centrist president has repeatedly said he will see out his second term, which ends in 2027. But resignation calls, long confined to the fringes, have entered the mainstream during one of the worst political crises since the 1958 creation of the Fifth Republic, France’s current system of government. On Tuesday, as Macron’s outgoing Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu held last-ditch talks to form a new government, his first premier in 2017, Edouard Philippe, said it was time for a new president to break the deadlock. Speaking to RTL radio, Philippe said Macron should be “leaving in an orderly manner” to allow a way out of the crisis. ‘It’s a mess’ Political turmoil in the euro zone’s second largest economy was front page news across Europe at a time when US President Donald Trump i...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that some people are envious of Punjab’s rapid progress, asserting, “We have cleansed not only our cities but also the minds of those who begrudge Punjab’s development.

Russia said on Tuesday it was waiting for clarity from the United States about the possible supply of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, saying such weapons could theoretically carry nuclear warheads. US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would want to know what Ukraine planned to do with Tomahawks before agreeing to provide them because he did not want to escalate the war between Russia and Ukraine. He said, however, that he had “sort of made a decision” on the matter. Asked about the comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We understand that we need to wait, probably, for clearer statements, if any come.” Peskov said that under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, US practice had been to announce supplies of new weapons only once they had been delivered to Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments published on Sunday that if Washington supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine for long-range strikes deep into Russia, it would lead to the destruction of Moscow’s relationship with the US. Pes...

Britain’s biggest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), said on Tuesday some factories would restart manufacturing on Wednesday after an almost six-week shutdown following a cyberattack, one of the country’s most disruptive hacks. To try to help smaller parts suppliers who have been pushed to the brink after weeks without business, JLR also announced it would be providing some companies with up-front cash for parts during the production restart phase. The luxury carmaker, owned by India’s Tata Motors TAMO.NS, has three factories in Britain, which together produce about 1,000 cars per day, and economists had warned of the impact of a prolonged shutdown on the country’s manufacturing output. High-profile hacks JLR was the latest high-profile cyberattack target in Britain this year, and comes after one of the country’s major retailers, Marks & Spencer (MKS.L), lost about 300 million pounds (about $400 million) after a breach forced it to shut down its online shop for two months. The incidents highlight the vulnerab...

Pakistan will be sold Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) by United States defence group Raytheon following a modification in the firm’s contract that included the country in the list of buyers, it emerged on Tuesday. The US missiles are equipped on F-16 Falcons flown by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF). A September 30 press release on the contracts issued by the US Department of War for the US Air Force said Raytheon was awarded a $41.6 million firm-fixed-price modification to a previously awarded contract for the enhanced C8 and D3 AMRAAM variants and their production. It added that the modification brought the total cumulative face value of the contract to $2.5 billion from $2.47bn. “Work will be performed at Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed by May 30, 2030. This contract involves foreign military sales to United Kingdom, Poland, Pakistan, Germany, Finland, Australia, Romania, Qatar, Oman, Korea, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Singapore, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Japan, Slovak...

Jolts from an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 were felt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chitral and Swat districts on Tuesday, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said. Pakistan falls on three major tectonic plates — the Arabian, Euro-Asian and Indian — which create five seismic zones under the country. The intersection of multiple fault lines means that tectonic movements remain a frequent occurrence in the region. Today’s quake, measuring a depth of 138 kilometres, originated in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan at 4:36pm, the PMD said in a statement. According to the United States Geological Survey, the quake measured 5.1 and the epicentre was located 9km south-southeast of Afghanistan’s Yangi Qala district. The development comes just days after a 4.3-magnitude earthquake was recorded in the Pattan tehsil of KP’s Lower Kohistan district. Earlier this month, a 3.2-magnitude tremor was felt in parts of Karachi, with its centre 7km northwest of the Malir area. Residents of KP witnessed tremors multiple times ...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has launched an initiative to upgrade the country’s early flood warning and weather forecasting network.

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday sought response from the founder of PTI and other parties on a petition seeking to remove the posts of the PTI founder from his X account while declaring it illegal.

Former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan has shared harrowing details of his detention in an Israeli prison following his release and arrival at the Pakistan embassy in Amman, Jordan.

“This is not just a sea journey, it’s not an adventure, but rather it is a task that is extremely dangerous,” said former Jamaat-i-Islami senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan in an interview with Dawn.com just before he embarked on the Global Sumud Flotilla mission to Gaza. The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), with around 500 participants from over 44 countries, including Pakistan, attempted to break Israel’s siege on Gaza and distribute humanitarian aid to the malnourished and injured civilians suffering from two years of genocide in the enclave at the hands of Israel. Former senator Khan’s words rang true from the very beginning of the mission, when two GSF aid boats were struck by incendiary devices in Tunisian waters. The ‘Family’ and ‘Alma’ boats, which held the steering committee of the aid convoy, were attacked on September 8 and 9. The aid boats were attacked once again on September 23 near Crete; this time, there was international condemnation, with Italy, Spain and Turkiye dispatching warships to aid the boats. T...

A high-level session of the Moscow Format on Afghanistan began in the Russian capital, bringing together key regional players including Pakistan, China, Iran, India, and several Central Asian nations.

An eight-judge Constitutional Bench (CB) of the Supreme Court (SC) approved on Tuesday a set of requests seeking the live streaming of proceedings on pleas challenging the 26th Amendment. The Amendment, which was approved by both houses of parliament in October last year, altered judicial authority and tenure, and has been a lightning rod for debate with both opposition parties and legal experts questioning its impact on the judiciary’s autonomy. It took away the SC’s suo motu powers, set the chief justice of Pakistan’s (CJP) term at three years and empowered the prime minister to appoint the next CJP from among the three most senior SC judges. It also paved the way for the formation of the CB, which is now hearing petitions against the very legislation that led to its establishment. It has been challenged by various high court bar associations, the PTI and others. A CB headed by Justice Aminuddin Khan and comprises Justices Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Mus...