Pakistan

Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Sheikh Zayed bin Hamad bin Hamdan Al Nahyan, Chairman of the United Arab Emirates’ National Anti-Narcotics Authority, at the Ministry of Interior on Thursday to discuss enhanced cooperation against drug trafficking.

Indus River System Authority (IRSA) on Thursday released 234,800 cusecs of water from various rim stations with an inflow of 262,600 cusecs.

Following PTI founder Imran Khan’s directives, the wave of resignations from parliamentary committees has now extended from the National Assembly to the Senate, where several PTI senators have stepped down from their posts.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi on Thursday condemned the Punjab government’s reported ban on wheat supply to his province. Kundi had last week expressed his regret over reports that wheat supply from Punjab had been suspended. However, Punjab officials tasked with maintaining supplies of commodities and regulating their prices denied there was any ban on the grain’s inter-provincial movement. “The arbitrary ban imposed on August 31, 2025, by the Government of Punjab on the supply of wheat and flour to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is a blatant violation of Article 151 of the Constitution and a serious breach of national unity,” Kundi said on X. The Constitution’s Article 151 states that “trade, commerce and intercourse throughout Pakistan shall be free”, but empowers the parliament to “impose such restrictions on the freedom of trade, commerce or intercourse between one province and another or within any part of Pakistan as may be required in the public interest”. The KP governor further noted: “As a res...

The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), with support from intelligence agencies, killed four terrorists linked to Fitna al-Hindustan during a joint operation in Balochistan’s Pishin district.

The schedule for the second economic review under the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF) has been finalized, with negotiations on a new $1 billion tranche set for later this month.

Pakistan has formally assumed the chairmanship of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s (SCO) Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), the Foreign Office announced on Thursday.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday said the upcoming Women’s Cricket World Cup would feature an all-female panel of umpires and match referees for the first time in the 50-over tournament’s history. “While three recent events — the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the two most recent ICC Women’s T20 World Cups — have featured all-female match official panels, this is the first time in the history of the Women’s World Cup the feat will be achieved,” the ICC said a statement. The 13th edition of the Women’s World Cup is set to be held in India and Sri Lanka from September 30. The tournament would be overseen by a group of 14 umpires, including Claire Polosak, Jacqueline Williams, Sue Redfern, Lauren Agenbag and Kim Cotton. The ICC statement mentioned that Polosak, Williams and Redfern “will be appearing at their third Women’s World Cup” this year while Agenbag and Cotton “will be at their second World Cup”. View this post on Instagram The all-female panel of match officials for the Wor...

The River Chenab at Head Panjnad is experiencing an extremely high-level flood, with water discharge exceeding 668,000 cusecs and moving towards Samka Chachran, according to the Punjab Flood Forecasting Division.

The Power Division on Wednesday reported significant progress in electricity restoration efforts across flood-affected regions of Pakistan, with the majority of consumers reconnected and remaining areas being prioritised.

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday announced the establishment of an Asan Khidmat Markaz here in collaboration with Azerbaijan’s State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations (SAPSSI), marking what he described as “a new milestone in Pakistan-Azerbaijan friendship.

Shehbaz Sharif says flood danger not yet over as deluge moving towards Sindh Cabinet condemns derogatory social media content against Armed Forces Approves resumption of new gas connections.

In the hot summer sun of southern Punjab, the roof of Lucky Cement’s factory glints with solar panels soaking up rays. Below, inside a quiet control room, sit rows of lithium-ion batteries made by Chinese company CATL. While the plant usually draws from the national grid when possible, these batteries can power it during the blackouts that have become an almost daily problem. Across Pakistan’s busy industrial zones – from Faisalabad’s textile mills to food processing units in Sindh – an increasing number of businesses are turning to solar panels paired with batteries. They, along with wealthier households, are trying to cope with soaring electricity prices and frequent load shedding, where power is shut off to parts of the grid to ease the strain on power stations. Helping drive this change is an unexpected factor: China producing more batteries than it can use. But rather than continuing to rely on Chinese battery and solar products, Pakistan needs policies that promote their manufacture domestically, that m...

Security forces killed 19 Indian-backed terrorists during a series of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) conducted in Mohmand, Bannu, and North Waziristan districts on the night of September 9 and 10, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Wednesday.

Press freedoms worldwide have declined significantly over the past five years to hit their lowest level in 50 years, a report by a democracy think tank showed on Thursday. Afghanistan, Burkina Faso and Myanmar — already among the poorest performers in press freedoms — posted the biggest falls, the report by the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) said. The fourth-biggest drop was in South Korea, it added, citing “a spike in defamation cases initiated by the government and its political allies against journalists, and raids on journalists’ residences”. “The current state of democracy in the world is concerning,” IDEA secretary general Kevin Casas-Zamora, secretary general told AFP. More than half of countries in the world (54 per cent), registered a drop in one of the five key democracy indicators between 2019 and 2024, the report said. “The most important finding in our report is the very acute deterioration in press freedom around the world,” Casas-Zamora sai...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif departed for Doha on Thursday morning for a one-day visit to express solidarity with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatari royal family, and the people of Qatar following recent Israeli aggression.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has presented its comprehensive transformation roadmap in a high-level awareness program organised for representatives of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) and the Pakistan Business Council (PBC).

Two women were killed, while four people were injured after the jeep they were travelling in plunged into a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mansehra district, police said on Thursday. Shenkiari Station House Officer Muhammad Saqib told Dawn.com that a jeep heading towards the Jabori area fell into a ravine due to landslide debris following heavy rains on the road. “The local people rushed to the scene after the accident and retrieved the victims from the ravine. Two of them were [found] dead,” he said, adding that four others were injured in the incident, including three children and a driver. He also said that the dead bodies and the injured were taken to the Shenkiari Rural Health Centre, while two of the injured were later taken to the King Abdullah Teaching Hospital for further treatment. Fatal accidents are common on roads in the mountainous regions of the country due to traffic rule violations, treacherous terrain, and poor infrastructure. Earlier this month, two people were killed and 24 others sustaine...

ISLAMABAD: As part of efforts to deepen ties, enhance economic diplomacy and boost tourism cooperation, Uzbekistan Airways is increasing the number of regular flights between the two countries. The Uzbek embassy in Islamabad said on Wednesday that Uzbekistan and Pakistan continued to strengthen their friendly relations and expand cooperation across multiple sectors. In this process, transport and logistics, particularly air connectivity, played a crucial role. Starting October 28, the frequency of flights on ‘Tashkent-Islamabad-Tashkent’ route will be doubled, from once a week to two flights per week. Currently, Uzbekistan Airways operated flights twice a week — on Wednesdays and Fridays — on the ‘Tashkent-Lahore-Tashkent’ route, and once a week (on Saturdays) on the ‘Tashkent-Islamabad-Tashkent’ route. Due to consistently high demand, with flights running at full passenger capacity and tickets selling out several days in advance, the airline had decided to expand its flight schedule. The Embassy of Uzbekista...

New York prepared to mark the devastating attacks of Sept 11, 2001 on Thursday, 24 years after the deadly plane hijackings that claimed almost 3,000 lives and forever changed the United States. Vice President JD Vance was expected to attend memorial events at Ground Zero in Manhattan, where the World Trade Centre’s twin towers were destroyed in coordinated attacks that also saw a jetliner crash into the nerve centre of American military power, the Pentagon in Washington. Another jet, Flight 93, crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside when passengers overran the hijacker and took control of the aircraft. This year’s gathering takes place against a backdrop of sharp political division both in the city and nationally. New York is in the grip of an unprecedented mayoral election campaign in which socialist Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani is facing off against former governor Andrew Cuomo and sitting mayor Eric Adams. New Yorkers go to the polls on November 4. It was unclear which of the mayoral candidates w...