Pakistan

PESHAWAR: At least eight militants, including two Afghan nationals belonging to the banned Tariq Gidar group — an affiliate of the proscribed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — were killed on the second day of an ongoing operation against militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Darra Adamkhel area on Saturday, security sources said. A total of 13 militants have now been killed in the operation, with five killed on Friday, when the operation commenced. Sources added that the operation was launched on the reported presence of a group of militants in the area, adding that the offensive was ongoing and that the area had been cordoned off. “The dead militants include Daud from Zorh Kalay, along with Hamza, Qari Zeenatullah and Qari Lawangin,” the sources said. They added that Afghan nationals Zeenatullah and Lawangin were among the dead, while the identities of the other dead militants were being ascertained. “Security forces have cordoned off the area, and the operation is still underway,” they said, adding that the op...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Saturday wrote to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan, urging immediate judicial intervention to ensure transparency in the upcoming GB elections amid what he described as an “alarming” deterioration in the electoral environment. The move came amid a series of reported incidents involving PTI leaders during the ongoing election campaign in the mountainous region. PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser on Saturday claimed he was prevented from reaching Islamabad airport, resulting in him missing his flight to Skardu in connection with the election campaign. The incident followed the expulsion of PTI MNA Junaid Akbar and his team from GB a day earlier, while they were campaigning for the upcoming elections scheduled for June 7. In the letter, the chief minister said reports emerging from GB regarding the electoral process were “extremely concerning”. CM alleged that one political party was being subjected to undue obstacles in carrying o...

A large-scale operation against illegal land occupation in Karachi has resulted in the recovery of government-owned railway property valued at more than Rs1.

Top seed Aryna Sabalenka and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka on Saturday set up a blockbuster last-16 meeting at the French Open, while defending champion Coco Gauff seeks to join them in the second week. Sabalenka beat Australia’s Daria Kasatkina 6-0, 7-5 in just 76 minutes to stamp her ticket to the fourth round. After racing through the first set, Sabalenka went an early break down to her 53rd-ranked opponent before battling back. “I was happy in the tough moments, I never gave up,” she said on court as Roland Garros goes through the last day of the heatwave that has sat over Paris since the beginning of the tournament. Aryna Sabalenka plays a backhand return to Australia’s Daria Kasatkina during their women’s singles match on day 7 of the French Open tennis tournament, on Court Suzanne-Lenglen at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris, France on May 30, 2026. — AFP With victory, the Belarusian world number one has set up a meeting with her fellow quadruple major winner, Osaka. Sabalenka and Osaka, bot...

Ishaq Dar held a series of diplomatic engagements with foreign ministers from several countries during his visit to the United Nations in New York City.

UN health chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus landed on Saturday in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province worst-hit by a severe Ebola outbreak. The World Health Organisation’s director general told reporters in Bunia, capital of Ituri province, that the international community was helping the DRC government cope with the outbreak, but “at the same time, community ownership is important”. He said that was the reason for his trip: “We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help.” The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever is already present in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda, where nine confirmed infections, including one death, have been recorded. There have been at least 1,077 suspected cases of Ebola in the DRC since the outbreak was declared on May 15, including 246 deaths, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. The true reach of the outbreak in the DRC, which is thought to...

Azma Bukhari has announced that Maryam Nawaz approved a cash reward of Rs 10,000 for each worker involved in the Suthra Punjab cleanliness campaign in recognition of their performance during Eid-ul-Azha.

Maryam Nawaz has directed authorities to strengthen monitoring and emergency preparedness measures across the province to ensure prompt drainage of rainwater and public safety during heavy rainfall.

Blue Origin faces a months-long setback after the explosion of a rocket damaged its launch pad, company and industry sources said, scrambling schedules for Amazon satellite launches and bolstering SpaceX’s dominance in the commercial launch market. The mishap, which occurred during a test fire of the engines for the New Glenn rocket’s launch next week, comes at a critical time for Jeff Bezos’ business empire. His companies Blue Origin and Amazon are seeking to establish themselves as viable challengers in the heavy-lift and global satellite internet network industries, competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Thursday’s setback could also complicate Nasa’s lunar ambitions. A Blue Origin booster called “No, It’s Necessary” — a nod to a line from the film Interstellar — was wrecked in the incident on Thursday. The launch pad was “practically destroyed” and engineers expect at least a six-month disruption, if not longer, said a person familiar with the matter who declined to be named because they are not authorised to...

KARACHI: A suspected thief died by suicide to avoid arrest during an office-cum-house robbery on Khalid Bin Waleed Road near Tariq Road in PECHS early Saturday morning, officials said. Ferozabad police Station House Officer (SHO) Adeel Afzal said the suspect had entered the office of a travel agency located within a bungalow with the intention of committing a robbery. When a police party arrived at the scene, he allegedly shot himself out of fear of arrest and died on the spot, the official said. He said that the suspect had been identified as an employee of the travel agency in question, who had been working with the company for the past five years. Afzal said the suspect had reportedly made a duplicate key to gain entry to the premises. When the owner noticed that someone had entered the bungalow, he called Madadgar-15 and the area police, the official said. Subsequently, police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the bungalow, he said. “The suspect locked himself in the washroom and shot himself to avoid a...

Rescuers pulled four people from a flooded cave in Laos on Saturday, Thai volunteer rescuers said, hours after another man was brought out late on Friday. The five are among seven Lao nationals who had entered the cave in Xaisomboun province to prospect for gold, but were trapped for more than a week when rising water blocked their exit. Two others remain missing. Kengkard Bongkawong, a Thai cave diver involved in the mission, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that all four of the trapped people had emerged from the cave. Video footage from the volunteers showed rescuers bringing four Laotian men out of the cave with flashlights strapped to their heads and with muddy clothes. They had joyful expressions on their faces, and some were crying with relief. The five rescued people were found by rescuers on Wednesday, but had remained trapped. Rescue officials said they would continue searching for the two missing people. A team of volunteers from neighbouring Thailand joined the rescue efforts last Sunday and fu...

Family members of Shahnaz Baloch, who has been identified by authorities as a commander of the banned Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), on Saturday publicly distanced themselves from her and her alleged activities.

PTI senior leader Asad Qaiser on Saturday claimed he was prevented from reaching the Islamabad airport, resulting in him missing his flight to Skardu in connection with the ongoing election campaign in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB). The incident comes just a day after PTI MNA Junaid Akbar and his team were expelled from GB while they were campaigning for the upcoming elections on June 7. Qaiser, also the secretary general of Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP), accused the Punjab police of not letting him “enter the Islamabad airport and closing the entry routes of the airport”. “The Punjab police kept me under detention till the flight took off,” he wrote on X, decrying that not only did he miss his flight, but ordinary citizens were also inconvenienced. Qaiser termed the incident an instance of undue obstruction in the electoral process and political victimisation. He alleged that efforts were being made to influence the electoral process in GB and that PTI was being hindered from carrying out its election c...

Pakistan will begin its post-Hajj flight operation on Sunday to bring home thousands of pilgrims from Saudi Arabia following the completion of the annual pilgrimage.

United States President Donald Trump’s doctor said he was in “excellent health” but advised him to lose weight, according to a memo released on Friday after the 79-year-old underwent a routine medical check. “President Trump remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and overall physical function,” said Trump’s doctor, US Navy Captain Sean Barbabella. “Preventative counseling was provided, including guidance on diet, recommendation to take a low-dose aspirin, increased physical activity, and continued weight loss.” The three-page memo provides an overview of Trump’s physical examination and diagnostic testing conducted at Walter Reed Medical Hospital near Washington on Tuesday. Barbabella said Trump was “fully fit to carry out all duties of the Commander-in-Chief and Head of State”. Trump, who turns 80 next month, is on three medications, two of which are designated for cholesterol control and the third being aspirin for “cardiac prevention”. Standing at six foot three...

South Korea and the United States are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea (USFK), Seoul’s presidential office said on Saturday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say this week that he had “truly crossed the line”. The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington may seek to expand the role of USFK in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key ally of North Korea and Russia. Brunson last year also underscored South Korea’s strategic value in the broader Indo-Pacific, describing the US ally as a “fixed aircraft carrier” in the region, Yonhap reported. South Korea’s presidential Blue House said on Saturday that it was “aware of Commander Brunson’s recent series of public remarks” and that Seoul and Washington “have been maintaining communication at various levels r...

LAHORE: Heavy rain lashed various parts of Lahore on Saturday, with the highest rainfall recorded in Nishtar Town. According to the data shared by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Jail Road recorded 20.5 mm of rain, airport area 40 mm, Gulberg Head Office 20 mm, Lakshmi Chowk 30.5 mm, Upper Mall 29 mm, Mughalpura 30.5 mm, Tajpura 27 mm, Nishtar Town 48.5 mm and Chowk Nakhuda 25 mm. Rainfall was also recorded in Pani Wala Talab (22 mm), Farrukhabad (19 mm), Gulshan-i-Ravi (17 mm), Iqbal Town (20 mm), Samanabad (22.5 mm), Johar Town (37.5 mm), Defence Road (15 mm), Shadipura (0.5 mm) and Saggian (18.5 mm). Separately, Rescue 1122 said that at least two people were injured after a wall collapsed on a rickshaw in Wapda Town. It said that one of the two was taken to Jinnah Hospital for further treatment. According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s weather forecast, rain, windstorm/thunderstorm were likely at isolated places in Azad Kashmir, northeast/east Punjab and Potohar regions. It said that h...

Washington/ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Friday met US Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio in Washington, D.

Islamabad - Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), HJ, COAS & CDF, visited Zhob District, Balochistan to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with frontline troops deployed along the Western frontiers.

Islamabad - The federal government on Friday decided to reduce petrol and diesel prices by Rs 22 per litre each.