Pakistan

Pakistan’s middle-order batter Asif Ali announced his retirement from international cricket on Monday, calling it the “greatest honour” of his life to represent the country. Asif, 33, played 21 ODIs and 58 T20Is, mainly as a finisher in the middle order. “Wearing the Pakistan jersey has been the greatest honour of my life and serving my country on the cricket field has been my proudest chapter,” he said in a post on social media. “To my fans, teammates, and coaches, thank you for your love, belief, and support through every high and low. He made his T20I debut against West Indies in April 2018 after helping Islamabad United win the PSL that year, hitting three successive sixes at a crucial point in the chase in the final. Two months later, an ODI debut followed. “To my family and friends, who stood with me in moments of joy and in ther deepest of trials, including the loss of my beloved daughter during the World Cup, your strength carried me forward,” he said. He added: “I retire with immense gratitude, and I...

Federal Minister for Water Resources Muhammad Mueen Wattoo on Tuesday said surveys were underway to assess flood-related losses, including damage to crops, livestock, and houses, with compensation to be provided to all affected families.

PTI supporters on social media platform X have been sharing posts since Monday related to an alleged visual of digital news outlet Siasat.pk, featuring a quote from senior journalist Suhail Warraich about Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. However, the viral visual is doctored. Punjab remains in the grip of a worsening flood crisis, as the Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej rivers surge to “exceptionally high” levels, threatening vast swathes of land, while the Provincial Disaster Management Authority has warned of more torrential rain, which could lead to urban flooding across Lahore, Gujranwala, and Gujrat. On Sept 1, a visual of digital news outlet Siasat.pk was shared on X by a user who appeared to be a PTI supporter based on his past posts and username. The visual featured a quote attributed to Warraich. The text on the image read: “The type of anti-ageing treatment Maryam Nawaz is undergoing has harmful side effects — it causes brain cells to shrink. That’s why Maryam has been acting childishly and behaving with...

Speakers at an international workshop jointly organized by COMSTECH and the Institute of Botany, Azerbaijan, stressed the need to integrate traditional knowledge with modern science to unlock new opportunities in drug discovery, nutraceuticals, and cosmetic industries.

Another 28 members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have tendered their resignations from parliamentary committees, bringing the overall number of PTI withdrawals from these bodies to 47.

Subhan Ali, a young fisherman, couldn’t catch a single fish from the Indus river on Monday. For hours, he waited at the riverbank that touches the Hussainabad neighbourhood in Latifabad — a town situated in the suburbs of Hyderabad — but his makeshift fishing rod came out empty after every attempt. “We call it chambi,” he explained to Dawn.com, referring to the makeshift fishing rod — a wooden frame glued together from multiple pieces of wood and a net tied at one end — as we caught up with him at the downstream Hyderabad-Kotri railway bridge on the left bank of the Indus. Ali had tied a piece of foam around his waist with a rope. “This [foam] helps me float in the river as long as I am in there,” he remarked. A group of young fishermen holding one end of the net while their colleagues venture into the Indus river. Most days, he swims in the river on both sides as well as in the rivercourse, wherefrom the main current of the Indus flows. While entering the river, Ali holds the chambi tight. “As soon as a fish...

Taiwanese Olympic boxing gold medallist Lin Yu-ting will not compete at the world championships starting this week, Taiwan’s association told AFP on Tuesday, despite reportedly submitting her gender test results. Lin and Algerian boxer Imane Khelif were at the centre of a major gender row at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where they won titles in separate weight classes. World Boxing said last month that women wanting to compete at the championships in Liverpool on September 4-14 would have to undergo mandatory gender testing under its new policy. The 29-year-old Lin had agreed to undergo the testing, her coach Tseng Tzu-chiang told AFP at the time. Taiwan’s boxing association said it submitted the results to World Boxing and had not received a response, the semi-official Central News Agency reported late Monday. “We cannot allow the athlete to travel to the UK without any guarantee,” the association was quoted as saying. The association told AFP in a message on Tuesday that Lin “will not attend the world champions...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met President Emomali Rahmon of Tajikistan in Beijing, where the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit on Tuesday, reaffirmed their strong resolve to further strengthen the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between Pakistan and China.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has said that issues between former prime minister Imran Khan and the establishment can only be resolved by Khan himself.

The Sindh Information Commission (SIC) has issued notices to five divisional commissioners and 27 deputy commissioners of Sindh for failing to provide details sought under the Right to Information (RTI) law.

More than one in every 100 deaths globally is due to suicide, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday, calling for urgent action to stem a mounting mental health crisis among young people, especially. The WHO said that, while global suicide rates had fallen somewhat in recent years, progress in combating the issue was far too slow. In 2021— the last year for which data was available — there were an estimated 727,000 suicides worldwide, the United Nations’ health agency said. “Globally, suicide accounts for more than one in every 100 deaths, and for each death, there are 20 suicide attempts,” said Devora Kestel, the interim head of the WHO’s non-communicable disease and mental health department. Those suicides “affected countless more lives and livelihoods, as friends, carers and loved ones were forced to grapple with unimaginable hardship”, she told reporters. The WHO’s World Mental Health Today report highlighted that suicide remains a leading cause of death among young people across geographies and socio...

Nestle investors were pitched back into choppy waters on Tuesday after the Swiss food giant changed its chief executive officer for the second time in a year, ousting boss Laurent Freixe over an affair he had with a subordinate. The company’s shares were indicated 1.9 per cent lower in premarket activity in Zurich following Freixe’s sudden dismissal on Monday following a board meeting to discuss the findings of an investigation into the relationship. The downturn is another blow for Nestle investors who have been frustrated with three years of share price declines between 2022 and 2024 and no signs of a recovery this year. Freixe will be replaced by Philipp Navratil, a rising star at the maker of Nescafe coffee and KitKat chocolate bars, which has been struggling with sales volumes since the pandemic. The dismissal of Freixe follows an investigation into an undisclosed romantic relationship with a direct subordinate, which breached Nestle’s code of business conduct, Nestle said late on Monday. Freixe, who spe...

Authorities have declared a high flood emergency across nine districts of Punjab after heavy inflows from India swelled the Sutlej River, triggering widespread devastation across the province.

The Head Muhammad Wala Bridge was closed for all types of traffic on Tuesday after exceptionally high flood levels were recorded in the River Chenab.

Pakistan and China on Tuesday reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their “iron-clad and all-weather strategic cooperative partnership” through enhanced cooperation, reflecting their unique bilateral relationship. Pakistan and China share a longstanding strategic partnership with ties ranging across different sectors — including trade, energy, defence, and infrastructure. The bilateral ties and cooperation were discussed in a meeting between Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Heads of State (CHS) summit, held from August 31 to September 1. “During the meeting, the two leaders agreed that the relationship between their countries was unique and unparalleled, which should be reflected in their enhanced bilateral cooperation,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said. “Both leaders also discussed important regional and global developments and agreed to continue...

Federal Minister for Planning, Ahsan Iqbal, has said that the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will take bilateral cooperation to new heights, opening avenues in renewable energy, ports, and the livestock sector.

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Monday invalidated the bids for the Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Tranche-III project and called on the National Highway Authority (NHA) to cancel the bids and inform the project financier of its findings regarding the use of “forged” documents to secure all four contracts associated with the Rs170 billion project. The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Division also called for the blacklisting of a joint venture (JV) of three firms — M/s Ningxia Communications Construction Co., Ltd NXCC, M/s Dynamic Constructors, and M/s Rustam Associates. The committee called on the NHA to write to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the project financier, within two days regarding the firms’ non-compliance and the fraudulent nature of the bids. It further recommended that the Economic Affairs Division officially notify the ADB that the bids were “technically invalid and were manipulated due to the malafide intentions of NHA officials and the contractors.” Commi...

Flight operations at Sialkot International Airport were restored on Tuesday after a temporary suspension caused by heavy flooding in the region.

The Government of Punjab has officially launched the Punjab Laptop Scheme 2025, a major initiative aimed at fostering digital literacy, promoting academic excellence, and ensuring equal access to technology for students across the province.