Pakistan

The foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the US agreed to jointly build a port in Fiji and signed pacts covering critical minerals and energy security, as they sought to inject fresh energy into the grouping. The brief meeting between the countries’ top diplomats — Australia’s Penny Wong, India’s S Jaishankar, Japan’s Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio — was the third such gathering of the group known as Quad since September 2024. The Quad meeting came as the US and Iran have been circling around a possible deal to end their three-month conflict and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The group unveiled its first joint infrastructure project, a port in Fiji. “We are going to be partnering on issues of port infrastructure, in particular in response to insufficient port capacity in the Pacific Islands, we are announcing plans to work with Fiji,” Rubio said, adding that the initiative would be “a practical demonstration of our collective ability to deliver high-quality, resilient infras...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that China has become a model for the world and has no equal in terms of economic strength.

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi visited camps of Pakistani pilgrims in Mina, where he reviewed arrangements and inspected the facilities being provided to Hajj pilgrims.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar arrived in New York on Tuesday for an official visit scheduled from May 26 to 28, according to the Foreign Office.

North Korea fired several projectiles, including at least one short-range ballistic missile, toward waters off the country’s west coast on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said. They were launched at around 1 pm (0400 GMT) from near Chongju in North Korea’s North Pyongan Province, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a statement. The missile flew about 80 kilometres, the JCS said. It is North Korea’s first known missile launch since April 19, when the country test-fired several short-range ballistic missiles, which it said were equipped with cluster bombs. In early April, Pyongyang also said it tested a new cluster-bomb warhead on a ballistic missile and an electromagnetic weapon, in a move that analysts said was part of efforts to showcase the North’s capacity to fight a modern war. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in March that his country’s status as a nuclear-armed state was irreversible and that expanding a “self-defensive nuclear deterrent” was essential to national security. Despite UN ...

ISLAMABAD - Leaders of the National Dialogue Committee (NDC) on Monday demanded formation of a national government and major constitutional and electoral reforms, saying the country could not achieve stability without free and fair elections based on Form-45.

ISLAMABAD - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (DPM/FM), Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar will depart for New York on Monday night to participate in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Open Debate on “Maintenance of International Peace and Security” following the conclusion of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s.

ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to the protection of fundamental rights and personal liberty by ensuring expeditious hearing and disposal of pre-arrest and post-arrest bail cases across the country.

LAHORE - Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has directed deputy commissioners and district police officers to inspect buses and bus terminals across the province ahead of Eidul Azha to ensure safe and convenient travel for passengers.

ISLAMABAD: Academicians, diplomats, military and war experts at a gathering emphasised importance of diplomacy and adoption of new war technologies to deter security threats posed by increasingly belligerent and aggressive India. The conference ‘Strategic Stability, Emerging Threats and Role of Diplomacy’ was organised by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) in connection with Youm-i-Takbeer falling on May 28. The meeting was attended by Quaid-e-Azam University Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, Numl professor Dr Rizwana Abbasi. While discussing the role of diplomacy, Dr Zafar Nawaz Jaspal highlighted that diplomatic engagement remains essential for maintaining strategic stability in South Asia. He noted that Pakistan has played a significant diplomatic role in managing regional crises, including efforts linked to the Iran-US ceasefire, but stressed that sustained dialogue between India and Pakistan is even more important for regional peace. He observed that the deadlock in bilate...

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ruled that family courts should not convert a wife’s suit for dissolution of marriage on grounds of cruelty into a decree of khula without her explicit and informed consent, particularly when valuable financial rights such as unpaid dower are involved. Authored by Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan on behalf of a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi, the observations came while hearing an appeal filed by Selab Akhtar against a decision of the Peshawar High Court that upheld concurrent findings of lower courts dissolving her marriage through khula and denying her full dower and past maintenance. “We hold,” the judgement said, “that khula should not ordinarily be granted without the wife’s consent or clear election where she had sued on grounds of cruelty and valuable financial rights were implicated.” However, where cruelty is not proved and marital life has manifestly collapsed, courts must give the wife an opportunity to choose whether to pursue dismiss...

• Massive explosion damaged many homes near Chaman railway crossing, making them ‘unsafe’ to live in • Administration forms body to assess damage and formulate compensation measures QUETTA: After a powerful bomb explosion that targeted a shuttle train at the Chaman railway crossing in the provincial capital, residents of the nearby Faqirabad neighbourhood have been forced to relocate due to extensive damage to their homes. Faqirabad is a densely populated area in downtown where working and middle-class families reside. The Sunday bombing left more than 70 per cent of the houses damaged, besides destroying the electricity infrastructure, due to which the area has been without power for the past 48 hours. “We have been without internet, electricity, gas, and water for the last 48 hours,” a resident, Haji Muhammad Nawaz, told Dawn, lamenting that not a single minister or other official visited Faqirabad. Several residents received injuries after the bomb blast shattered their windowpanes and caused the walls and...

• Naveed Qamar criticises continued reliance on indirect taxes, petroleum levy • UNDP consultants warn Pakistan remains on a ‘fragile stabilisation path’ • Inflation projected to exceed 12pc despite gradual economic recovery ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary committee on Monday accused the government of persistently violating its own laws by failing to circulate and publish the Budget Strategy Paper (BSP) by May 10, besides doing little on economic reforms. A meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Comm­ittee on Finance and Revenue, presided over by former finance minister Syed Naveed Qamar of the PPP, also expressed serious concern over the continued heavy reliance on indirect taxes and petroleum levy instead of sustainable expansion of the tax base. The panel was equally worried over sluggish progress on critical structural reforms when briefed by private economic analysts representing the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Qamar voiced concern over the growing burden of circular debt in the energy s...

Temperatures hit record highs for May in the United Kingdom and France on Monday, as forecasters warned of a prolonged period of extreme heat across Europe throughout the week. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Temperatures in Spain were expected to peak later this week at 38°C, while parts of Italy imposed restrictions on working outdoors. In the UK, the Met Office weather agency said it was the hottest May day on record, with temperatures hitting 34.8°C at Kew Gardens, southwest London – a full two degrees above the previous high. “This heat would be exceptional in the UK even in mid-summer, let alone May,” it said on X. “The weather here, it’s like a mini version of hell. It’s boiling. It’s like really hot,” said 10-year-old Liza Nizari on a visit to London, where temperatures normally average about 17°C or 18C at this time of year. Lindy Brand-Daloze, a 66-yea...

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday met visiting Prince Rahim al-Hussaini Aga Khan V at the Lower Chitral Airport, where the latter assured him of investment in the province. Prince Rahim arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday for a week-long visit — his first to the country since being named the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community last year. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Chitral, CM Afridi said he had made the visit to welcome Prince Rahim on his arrival. “During the meeting with Prince Rahim Aga Khan, discussions were held on the province’s potential as well as the government’s initiatives and goals,” the chief minister said, while lauding the services of the Aga Khan Foundation. “‘We also discussed the establishment of an Aga Khan University and hospital in Peshawar,” CM Afridi added. “Prince Rahim Aga Khan assured investment in the province.” At the Lower Chitral Airport, the chief minister was received by local leaders and government officials. He added that he would atten...

China’s President Xi Jinping hailed Beijing’s “unbreakable” friendship with Pakistan on Monday as he met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Beijing, seeking to deepen the “all-weather” partnership between the two countries. PM Shehbaz landed in China on Saturday on a four-day official visit, reaching Beijing yesterday after making a stop in Hangzhou. Addressing bilateral talks at the Great Hall of the People, Xi said: “China is ready to work with Pakistan to move faster to build an even closer China-Pakistan community with a shared future in the new era, work for more results in our all-weather cooperation, […] contribute to regional peace and stability and set an example for building a community with a shared future among neighbouring countries.” Xi called PM Shehbaz an “old friend” and said the two countries had “understood, trusted and supported each other” over decades, forging an “unbreakable tradition of friendship”. “Despite international changes, China has always prioritised Pakistan relations in our ne...

ISLAMABAD: A fire that erupted in the capital’s Margalla Hills near the F-5 sector on Monday was “completely” brought under control, and the cooling process was underway, the district administration said. According to a statement, “The fire has been completely brought under control, and the cooling process is underway.” However, there have been no official reports of any losses so far. A contingent of firefighters had reached the site to extinguish the blaze, alongside local residents, the administration said in a prior statement. “As a result of the fire, all hiking trails in the Margalla Hills were temporarily closed,” an earlier statement said. Spread over 12,605 hectares, the Margalla Hills National Park witnesses many fires during the summer season, which, in recent years, have become a matter of concern for the government and the Capital Development Authority (CDA). In March, ahead of the fire season, the city managers held a meeting to devise a strategy to handle the issue. It was decided that the Isla...

US President Donald Trump on Monday seemingly predicated an emerging Iran peace deal on Muslim-majority nations across the Middle East and beyond normalising relations with Israel. This brand new demand came on the heels of a potential memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran to end the war on all fronts and potentially lift oil waivers. It is worth noting that the nations named by Trump, including Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, have traditionally advocated for a two-state solution between Palestine and Israel as a precursor to any discussions on the normalisation of relations with Israel. In a lengthy social media post, Trump listed countries whose leaders he spoke with on Saturday about efforts to end the war with Iran. “After all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these countries, at a minimum, simultaneously sign onto the Abraham Accords,” he wrote. “Those countries discussed are Saudi Arabia, the Uni...

Over 1.5 million Muslims began filling a vast tent city in Makkah on Monday for the annual Haj pilgrimage. The white-robed pilgrims on buses or on foot arrived at the sprawling encampment in Mina after performing the tawaf. This year’s rites, drawing Muslim worshippers from across the world, including Iran, follow waves of attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours. A Saudi security officer speaks to Muslim pilgrims at the Grand Mosque, ahead of the annual Haj pilgrimage, in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia on May 20, 2026. — Reuters Members of the Saudi security forces take part in a military parade in preparation for the annual Haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2026. — Reuters Members of the Saudi security forces take part in a military parade in preparation for the annual Haj pilgrimage in the holy city of Makkah, Saudi Arabia on May 21, 2026. — Reuters Members of the Saudi security forces hold a demonstration during a military parade in preparation for...

Says Armenia could lose cheap gas if it turns away from Moscow