Pakistan

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif has termed the recently signed defense agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia a historic breakthrough, describing it as the outcome of Marka-e-Haq (the battle of truth).

Court grants FIA three-day remand to investigate Rs1.2b financial irregularities

Project aims to ease congestion, boost trade, and create SEZs for twin cities

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Mosques, welfare groups join hands to distribute food among low-income families

The federal capital has announced strict measures against motorists driving without valid licenses, with enforcement beginning on October 1.

A deal for the Chinese parent company of popular video-sharing app TikTok to sell its US operations would see the creation of a board dominated by Americans, the White House said on Saturday. “There will be seven seats on the board that controls the app in the United States, and six of those seats will be Americans,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. She said a deal could be signed “in the coming days.” The United States has forcefully sought to take TikTok’s US operations out of the hands of Chinese parent company ByteDance for national security reasons. Under President Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, the US Congress passed a law to force ByteDance to sell its US operations or face a ban on the app. US policymakers, including in Trump’s first term, have warned that China could use TikTok to mine data from Americans or exert influence on what they see on social media. But Trump turned to the platform, which is hugely popular with young Americans, to garner support during his ul...

Seven people, including five children, died when the roof of a room in a house collapsed in the Farooq Azam neighbourhood of Punjab’s Hafizabad district on Saturday, according to police. Hafizabad District Police Officer (DPO) Atif Nazir Kadhar said in a statement that a woman and her son were holding tuition classes in the affected house when the room’s roof collapsed. “As a result, the woman, her son and five children who were taking tuition classes died.” The statement said DPO Kadhar reached the site after receiving information about the incident and oversaw the rescue work. According to data shared by the Rescue 1122, one child also suffered a critical head injury in the incident. Last month, three members of a family died after the roof of their under-construction house caved-in in the Islampura locality of Nankana Sahib in Punjab. Earlier in July, two children had died and two other were injured when the roof of a house collapsed in Lahore’s Badami Bagh. The incident had taken place reportedly due to t...

With millions displaced and close to a thousand people dead, the Pakistan floods that have been ongoing since June are worryingly reminiscent of the floods that devastated the country in 2022. As the country fights to keep its head above the rising floodwaters, many questions abound. Could the damage so far have been contained? How has climate change contributed? Has India’s release of floodwater — which it had warned about — exacerbated the loss and damage of its lower riparian neighbour? Have the floods been down to bad governance, or a lack of preparedness? To understand these matters, Dialogue Earth spoke to Muhammad Ehsan Leghari, an expert on water resource management and member for the Sindh province at the Pakistani water regulator, the Indus River System Authority. He discussed the factors that have contributed to the unprecedented floods in Pakistan, what has and hasn’t worked for flood control, and how the country can manage future floods effectively. This conversation has been edited for length an...

Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav sidestepped the no-handshake issue ahead of the Asia Cup rematch against Pakistan in Dubai on Sunday, choosing to focus instead on the cricket. The Group A clash between the fierce rivals last Sunday ended on a bitter note when Indian players refused to shake hands with their opponents. It was the first meeting between the regional neighbours since a four-day conflict in May left more than 70 people dead. While the match itself passed without incident, there was no shaking of hands between the captains at the toss or among the players at the end. Then, at the post-match ceremony, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav seemingly ‘politicised’ the victory by bringing up the Pahalgam terrorist attack in India-occupied Kashmir, over which the two countries fought a four-day military conflict in May, saying the victory was “a perfect gift” for his country. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) called for match referee Andy Pycroft’s immediate removal for a code of conduct “violation” and consid...

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has released updated statistics showing a notable rise in the country’s electorate, with the total number of registered voters now standing at 134,949,984.

The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) has announced that the second solar eclipse of the year will occur during the night of September 21 and 22, but it will not be visible from anywhere in Pakistan.

History has a strange way of rhyming. Sometimes it repeats as farce, sometimes as tragedy — and sometimes, in Pakistan, it comes back wearing the same last name. The last time a Justice Dogar was in the news, the country was under military rule. When Musharraf imposed an emergency in November 2007, Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar took oath under a Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO) and validated his actions. After the judiciary was restored, contempt proceedings were initiated against Justice Dogar for endorsing the dictator’s actions and violating an order of the court. In Abdul Hameed Dogar vs Federation (2011), Justice Dogar claimed that his actions were, “under confusion, misconception and misunderstanding” He pleaded that he was “really sorry”. Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar, who had supported a military dictator, was ultimately required to place himself at the mercy of the post-restoration judiciary. Nearly a decade later, the judiciary faces another crisis. This time, with Justice Sarfraz Dogar at the centr...

Pakistan faces a critical water security challenge due to population growth, climate change, upstream water demands, and historical mismanagement.

An Islamabad court indicted accused Umar Hayat in the murder case of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf on Saturday. The accused pled not guilty to murdering Yousaf, who was shot dead at her house in June. During the hearing, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mohammad Afzal Majoka enquired whether Hayat had killed Sana. “I did not commit any such crime,” the accused replied. The judge then asked him whether he was falsely accused in the case. “Is this all a lie?” the judge remarked. He also pointed out that Hayat had also been accused of snatching Yousaf’s mobile phone. At that, the accused maintained that all allegations levelled against him were “based on falsehood”. The court then adjourned the hearing until September 25. Islamabad police had arrested Hayat on June 3, a day after Yousaf was killed at her house in Islamabad. Preceding his arrest, a first information report (FIR) of the murder was registered at Islamabad’s Sumbal police station against an unidentified man on the complaint o...

A cyberattack on a provider of check-in and boarding systems has disrupted operations at several major European airports, including London’s Heathrow — the continent’s busiest — causing flight delays and cancellations on Saturday. Collins Aerospace, which provides systems for several airlines at airports globally, is experiencing a technical issue that may cause delays for departing passengers, Heathrow Airport said, having warned of delays. Brussels Airport and Berlin Airport were also affected by the attack, they said in separate statements. RTX, Collins Aerospace’s parent company, said it had become aware of a “cyber-related disruption” to its software at selected airports, without naming them. Electronic check-in affected “The impact is limited to electronic customer check-in and baggage drop and can be mitigated with manual check-in operations,” RTX said in an e-mailed statement, adding that it was working to fix the issue as quickly as possible. The attack has rendered automated systems inoperable, allo...

Sindh’s Rain and Flood Emergency Monitoring Cell reported on Saturday that water levels are receding at Guddu and Sukkur barrages, bringing some relief to flood-affected areas.

Following the landmark defence agreement between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, both nations have stepped up efforts to expand bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would meet US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly next week as Russia intensified attacks across his country. Russia carried out one of its largest aerial attacks overnight, firing 40 missiles and some 580 drones at Ukraine in a barrage that killed at least three people and wounded dozens, Zelensky said on Saturday. Zelensky said he would hold “a meeting with the President of the United States”, adding he would discuss security guarantees for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia during the talks with Trump. Ukraine has insisted on Western-backed security guarantees to prevent future Russian attacks. Russian President Vladimir Putin has meanwhile warned that any Western troops in Ukraine would be unacceptable and legitimate targets. A US-led push for a quick end to the war has stalled and Russia effectively ruled out a meeting between Putin and Zelensky — something that Kyiv says is the only way towards peace. “We expect san...