Pakistan

Eid sales remain below 50%; women, children reduce shopping significantly

Wildlife dept says operation caused destruction to conservation facilities

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Minister terms news 'fabricated and baseless'

Violators will face strict legal action, warns govt

KARACHI: The main suspect involved in the killing of a newly married couple in the Malir area yesterday was arrested by police, according to a statement issued by the Korangi police spokesperson on Tuesday. On Monday, a newly married couple was shot dead when assailants opened fire on their car near the RCD ground in Malir’s Saudabad. They were returning from the court, where the woman recorded her statement, maintaining that she married of her own free will. The couple had also submitted their Nikahnama in the court. “On the strict directives of the Korangi senior superintendent of police (SSP), Saudabad police carried out an operation using modern technical methods and intelligence and arrested the main suspect involved in the murder of a husband and wife, yesterday,” said the police statement. The spokesperson added that the arrested suspect was identified as Sajid, son of Aslam, who confessed during interrogation to opening fire on the couple. A case related to the incident was also registered at Saudabad...

Ireland aims to pass a law curbing goods trade with settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank by mid-July, with Israel, some US lawmakers and business groups opposing the move, Foreign Minister Helen McEntee said on Tuesday. Ireland’s government, one of the most outspoken critics of Israel’s war on Gaza, first promised to sanction Israeli settlements in October 2024. The legislation has since been held up by pressure from opposition politicians who aimed to extend the ban also to the services trade, on one side, and international company lobbyists seeking to scrap the bill, on the other. Sources told Reuters last October that the bill was set to be limited to goods. Prime Minister Micheal Martin confirmed that last week and said widening the scope to services was neither “implementable” nor “viable”. Limiting the bill to goods only will impact just a handful of products imported from Israeli-occupied territories, such as fruit that are worth just €200,000 ($234,660) a year, Ireland’s Central Statistics Of...

Western Europe faced another day of record-breaking temperatures on Tuesday as a heatwave pushed the mercury well above normal levels for May. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the sort of heat not usually seen until high summer. “It’s a bit worrying because it’s not really normal at this time of year, but unfortunately, I think this is going to become the norm in France,” student Chloe Voisin, 22, told AFP while touring the southwestern city of Bordeaux. Britain and France both reported that Monday was the warmest day in the month of May on record — with the French weather agency expecting Tuesday to be even hotter. French authorities on Tuesday also reported at least seven deaths linked to the heatwave — five of which were drownings, as many people sought relief on beaches and other bodies of water. Scientists say human-driven climate change is amplifying such extremes, with weather events like heatwaves, droughts and ...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday wrapped up his four-day official visit to China and departed for Pakistan after holding extensive discussions with the Chinese leadership aimed at further strengthening the long-standing strategic partnership between the two countries.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, on the occasion of Hajj 1447 Hijri and 9th Zilhaj, extended heartfelt felicitations to the Muslim Ummah, particularly pilgrims performing Hajj, and urged Muslims to uphold the values of unity, sacrifice, and collective responsibility.

United States President Donald Trump, who turns 80 next month, will undergo his routine annual physical on Tuesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, following a year of public attention on apparently minor health issues. Trump frequently casts himself as more energetic and fitter than Joe Biden, his Democratic predecessor who left office last year at age 82 after facing questions about his fitness for the job. Still, recent photographs showing a blotchy neck rash have added to questions about Trump’s health, following images in July 2025 of swollen ankles and a bruised hand concealed with makeup. Trump, whose birthday is June 14, became the oldest person to assume the presidency when he began his second term in January 2025. Trump maintains an active golf schedule, but joked about his relative lack of exercise at a recent Oval Office event where his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr said the president walks 14.5 kilometres every time he goes golfing. “When I am not using the cart,” Trump s...

Medical school graduates pose with a performer in a gorilla costume at their farewell dinner in Karachi | FAS Events Comedian Tabish Hashmi once joked that the wedding of Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s son should be a humbling experience for all those flaunting their lifestyle on Instagram. That ‘us’ nobodies should sit on the side and simply observe what actual affluence looks like. He wasn’t wrong, given the kind of muscle the Ambanis were able to pull, from Hollywood to Bollywood. The spectacle was less a wedding and more a reminder of how far wealth can stretch the idea of celebration. Just the images of celebrities such as Mark Zuckerberg, David Beckham and the Kardashians casually drifting through the venue like guests at some lavish exotic retreat was nauseating to most — and perhaps deeply inspiring to the local elite circles, who must have spent the endless wedding feeling painfully ordinary by comparison. However, the masses, Indian masses in particular, weren’t moved by that. The masses continu...

China and Pakistan have reached a new broad consensus on deepening their strategic partnership, according to a joint statement issued by the countries at the end of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to Beijing. The statement, shared by the Foreign Office (FO) on X, said, “The two sides engaged cordially and reached a new broad consensus on further deepening the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership and on international and regional issues of mutual interest.” The statement was issued as PM Shehbaz concluded his four-day visit to China. He was seen off by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying at the Beijing airport. The joint statement said that the two sides shared the view that the ties between the two countries were an “important wealth and a strategic asset”. “Throughout the 75 years of diplomatic relations, this friendship has remained rock solid no matter how the international and regional situations evolved, and the two countries have always trusted, respected and support...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Shafi Jan on Tuesday dismissed reports of PTI MPAs forming a group against KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi, terming them “fabricated and baseless”. The statement comes in response to media reports claiming that around 50 PTI MPAs had formed a group against CM Afridi over dissatisfaction with his performance. It was also reported that the division may impact the passage of the upcoming provincial budget, due to which CM Afridi had met with Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman for his “support”. In a statement posted to his X account, Jan said that the reports of assembly members forming a group against CM Afridi were “false, fabricated, and baseless,” warning that “those who dream of sowing division among party assembly members have failed”. Jan clarified that all members of the KP Assembly remained “united under the leadership of CM Afridi and were determined to serve people”. He said that “organised and baseless propaganda” had been carried out...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement on Tuesday that nations in the Middle East would “no longer serve as shields for US bases”. Mojtaba, who has not appeared publicly since being named as the supreme leader on March 8, made these remarks in his Haj message and hours after the US carried out fresh strikes in Iran despite a fragile ceasefire and the two sides engaging in negotiations for a deal to end the almost three-month-long war. “The hands of time will not turn back, and the nations and lands of the region will no longer serve as shields for US bases,” the supreme leader said in his message, which was shared on his X account and reported by Iranian media. He said that the US “will no longer have a safe haven for its mischief and for establishing military bases in the region“, adding that it was “growing more distant from its former status day by day”. “The future belongs to the Muslim ummah and the new Islamic civilisation,” he said. He further stated, “The Muslim ummah an...

Peshawar - A weekly video-link review meeting on governance affairs was held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Shahab Ali Shah, with senior officials from relevant departments in attendance.

Peshawar - Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sohail Afridi, visited Lower Chitral, where he joined Faisal Karim Kundi and other political and government dignitaries in welcoming Prince Rahim Aga Khan on his arrival in the district.

LAHORE: The Punjab government has deferred its decision to restore original historical names of roads and streets in Lahore apparently on the pressure of some “extremist elements.” The Lahore Heritage Areas Revival (LHAR) held a huddle last March jointly presided over by PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. The meeting had approved restoration of original historical names of roads and streets in Lahore and and its neighbourhood. Nawaz Sharif is the head of the LHAR. However, some extremist elements including vloggers took on CM Maryam on the decision by giving it a religious colour. The Punjab administration appears to have gone on the back foot and deferred the decision to avert backlash. “No such decision has been taken as yet,” Lahore Deputy Commissioner retired Capt. Muhammad Ali Ijaz replied to Dawn’s queries on Monday. Lahore DC insists no decision has been taken as yet When asked that both Nawaz Sharif and CM Maryam had given approval to restoration of original (pr...

US forces attacked missile sites in southern Iran and boats trying to lay mines on Monday, US Central Command said, imperiling a fragile ceasefire and casting new doubt on a deal to end the Middle East war. The strikes came as top Iranian negotiators arrived in Doha for the latest round of talks to end the months-long conflict, and as the Israeli military stepped up hostilities with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Oil prices fluctuated in the wake of the strikes, which may threaten any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, where an Iranian blockade has choked global fuel supplies. “US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces,” Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman, said in a statement. It gave no details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to “emplace mines”. Subsequently, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said it reserved the “legitimate and definite” right to retali...