Pakistan

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Asim Munir on Thursday held informal meetings with various world leaders on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The two met with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, according to a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). PM Shehbaz and Field Marshal Munir also attended US President Donald Trump’s address to world leaders at the WEF held on Wednesday. Field Marshal Munir and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on the sidelines of the WEF, just before the signing ceremony for the Board of Peace Charter. In a post on X, Dar said he and the field marshal met Fidan moments before the ceremony, writing, “Pakistani and Turkish nations share a strong bond which has stood the test of time and is cherished deeply by both nations.” The ...

Ran Barzilay, a psychiatrist and researcher at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, won’t be letting his nine-year-old son get a smartphone before age 13. He made the decision based on data from his recent study, published in the medical journal Pediatrics, which linked getting a smartphone at a young age to worse health consequences. Kids who owned a smartphone by age 12 had a greater risk of depression, obesity, and insufficient sleep compared to those who didn’t, a research team led by Barzilay found. That was based on observational data collected between 2016 and 2022 in an ongoing study of more than 10,000 children across the United States. Designed to assess brain development and child health, the nationwide Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study has been following children for the last decade, starting from ages nine to 10 into early adulthood. The age at which kids got a phone in this cohort ranged from four to 13, with a median age of 11. “We’re not advocating for people to go back to the Stone...

Bangladesh will not travel to India to play in next month’s T20 World Cup, its cricket board said on Thursday, effectively ruling the country out of the tournament. According to ESPN Cricinfo, the decision was announced after a meeting in Dhaka between Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Aminul Islam Bulbul, CEO Nizamuddin, Sports Adviser Asif Nazrul and several national team players. “Our only demand is to play the World Cup – but not in India,” the BCB president told reporters. The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that it would not be making any changes to the World Cup schedule or groups, days after Bangladesh requested that its matches be moved to Sri Lanka after refusing to play in India. “We will go back to the ICC with our plan to play in Sri Lanka,” the BCB president said. “They did give us a 24-hour ultimatum but a global body can’t really do that. ICC will miss out on 200 million people watching the World Cup (if Bangladesh is axed). It will be their loss…” “Bangladesh is a cricket...

Nestle on Thursday announced that it would invest an additional $60 million in Pakistan and would also “undertake a robust expansion of its operations in the country”. The development came as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met Remy Ejel, the executive vice president and chief executive officer for Asia, Oceania, and Africa at Nestle, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, according to a statement issued by the finance ministry. The ministry said Aurangzeb chaired a high-level business roundtable on the sidelines of the WEF, bringing together chief executive officers and senior leaders of leading global corporations to discuss Pakistan’s reform trajectory, investment climate, and long-term growth potential. “The roundtable formed part of the government of Pakistan’s ongoing engagement with multinational investors to promote policy predictability, economic formalisation, and sustainable, export-oriented growth,” it said. “A major highlight of the discussion was the announcement by Eje...

Rain accompanied by gusty winds swept across several parts of Karachi, leading to a sharp drop in temperatures and a chilly atmosphere across the city.

KARACHI: Over 288,000 e-tickets have been issued under the Traffic Regulation and Citation System (TRACS) since its launch in October last year, it emerged on Thursday. Last year, the Sindh government had decided that e-challans for traffic violations would be delivered to vehicle owners’ registered home addresses. The system was officially inaugurated in October and drew a mix of praise and criticism from the public. According to a press release issued from the office of Sindh Inspector General of Police (IG) Javed Akhtar Odho, in a meeting held at the Central Police Office Karachi today, the newly appointed IG reviewed the performance of the new traffic system. During the meeting, the deputy inspector general of traffic police briefed Odho that “so far, over 288,000 e-tickets have been generated under TRACS,” out of which 52 per cent of the tickets had been delivered, while 48pc were still under process. The IGP was informed that the “reason for the delay in delivery was due to refusal to accept tickets, ch...

The US is due to officially exit the World Health Organisation on Thursday, in the face of warnings it will hit both US health and global health and also in violation of a US law that requires Washington to pay the UN health agency $260 million in fees that it owes. President Donald Trump gave notice that the US would quit the organisation on the first day of his presidency in 2025, via an executive order. Under US law, it has to give one-year notice and pay all outstanding fees before departure. On Thursday, a US State Department spokesperson said the WHO’s failure to contain, manage and share information had cost the US trillions of dollars and the president had exercised his authority to pause the future transfer of any US government funds, support, or resources to the WHO. “The American people have paid more than enough to this organisation and this economic hit is beyond a down payment on any financial obligations to the organisation,” the spokesperson said by email. Quick return unlikely Over the last y...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar held a sideline meeting with Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow on the occasion of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Punjab Police on Thursday rejected allegations of fake encounters involving the Crime Control Department (CCD), telling the Lahore High Court (LHC) that crime rates across the province have dropped by up to 60 per cent since the department’s establishment.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader and Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday called for Karachi to be placed under the control of the federal government, saying the provincial administration has failed to govern the city effectively.

President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday approved the confirmation of a total of 27 additional judges of the Sindh, Lahore, and Peshawar high courts. According to a statement issued on Thursday by the president’s secretariat, the approval was given in accordance with the recommendations of the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP). For the Sindh High Court (SHC), the statement said the president had approved the confirmation of all 10 additional judges recommended by the JCP: Justices Miran Muhammad Shah, Tasneem Sultana, Riazat Ali Sahar, Muhammad Hasan, Abdul Hamid Bhurgi, Jan Ali Junejo, Nisar Ahmed Bhanbhro, Ali Haider ‘Ada’, Muhammad Osman Ali Hadi and Muhammad Jaffer Raza. President Zardari also approved a six-month extension in the tenures of Justices Khalid Hussain Shahani and Syed Faizul Hassan Shah of the SHC, the statement added. For the Lahore High Court (LHC), President Zardari confirmed all 11 additional judges recommended by the JCP as permanent judges, namely Justices Hassan Nawaz Makhdoom, Mali...

The first snowfall of the winter season has triggered a sharp drop in temperatures across Quetta and several parts of northern Balochistan, with snowfall continuing in Chaman and adjoining areas.

Over the past 3.5 years, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has written to X three times seeking closure of an account in PTI founder Imran Khan’s name, but received no response, it emerged on Thursday. The information came to light in a PTA report, seen by Dawn and submitted to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) today in relation to a petition against the incarcerated former premier regarding “inflammatory posts” made from an X account operated in his name. The report stated that the first request was sent on August 21, 2022, to X, and the body received no response from the social media platform. On April 18, 2024, PTA submitted another request for the blocking of Imran’s account via email. The report said that the email included “citation of relevant court orders against Imran and details of his conviction and sentence to 14, 10, and seven years in Toshakhana, cypher, and unlawful marriage cases”. However, it added that once again, no response was received from X. The report added that on November 2...

US President Donald Trump repeatedly made an apparent gaffe in a speech Wednesday to world leaders assembled in Switzerland by referring to “Iceland” several times instead of his much coveted “Greenland”, with the White House furiously denying any confusion on his part. The 79-year-old Republican has been clamoring for the United States to acquire Greenland, a large island territory of Denmark, citing what he called security threats from Russia and China in the Arctic Circle. On Wednesday he announced a “framework” for a future deal on Greenland and the cancellation of planned tariffs on European countries that had opposed his moves to control the island — but not before ruffling Nato allies and straining transatlantic relations. “I’m helping Nato, and until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me,” Trump said during his remarks to the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. “They’re not there for us on Iceland — that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterda...

KARACHI: Only after a devastating fire at Gul Plaza caused massive human and financial losses, enraging the public over the lack of firefighting mechanisms and emergency exits, has the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) decided to enforce fire safety rules in buildings in the metropolis. The delayed action has triggered backlash from builders, developers and civil society, who say that the building regulator has been sitting on a KMC fire safety audit report for over two years despite being formally notified. They termed the SBCA’s sudden directives to building owners “too little, too late”, accusing the authority of criminal negligence and questioning how many lives could have been saved if the warnings had been acted upon earlier. “Since the SBCA will not be able to achieve the desired objectives without the cooperation of your members in this matter, you are therefore requested to direct your members to immediately comply with the fire safety deficiencies highlighted in the audit reports within three ...

ISLAMABAD: Fitch Ratings, one of the world’s top three agencies, on Wednesday affirmed Pakistan’s long-term debt ratings at ‘B-’ (B-negative), which it had upgraded in April last year, and assigned a Recovery Rating of ‘RR4’ following the removal of the ratings from Under Criteria Observation (UCO). In a statement issued from its regional office in Hong Kong, the agency said the rating actions reflect the application of Fitch’s new Sovereign Rating Criteria, effective September 2025, and the inclusion of recovery assumptions into sovereign debt ratings for the first time. The recovery rating RR4 denotes ‘average’ recovery expectation from default in a scale of six categories, starting from RR1 for outstanding, RR2 for superior, RR3 for good and RR4 for average. This is followed by RR5 for below average and RR6 for poor. The senior unsecured long-term debt ratings of Pakistan and The Pakistan Global Sukuk Programme Company Ltd are equalised with Pakistan’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR)...

FO says decision supports Palestine cause; Hopes new framework will lead to lasting truce

Index retreats nearly 1,600 points amid broad-based stock selling

Warns tax will raise prices, hurt food security and push small farms out

Report warns regional conflicts, climate shocks can compromise limited fiscal space