Pakistan

Pakistan and the European Union have agreed to continue working together to advance common priorities and deepen cooperation across key sectors.

A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country’s largest urban blaze in almost half a century. Aerial footage from broadcasters showed houses reduced to rubble and thick plumes of smoke rising from the hilly Saganoseki district of Oita city, which overlooks a fishing harbour renowned for its premium Seki-brand mackerel. The flames had also spread to nearby forested slopes and an uninhabited island more than one kilometre off the coast, likely due to strong winds, local media reported. The blaze started on Tuesday evening and has burned 48,900 square metres — roughly the size of seven soccer fields — forcing 175 residents in the district, some 770 kilometres southwest of Tokyo, to flee to an emergency shelter, Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. The cause of the fire was under investigation, the agency added. One person has been found dead, local m...

The Pakistan Navy has seized more than 2,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamine—commonly known as ice—in the Arabian Sea, in a bust valued at US$130 million, according to an official statement issued on Wednesday.

“In a world reshaped by rising climate pressures, urban growth, and inequality, safe sanitation remains a cornerstone of public health and human dignity,” says United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a statement on World Toilet Day on November 19. Established by the World Toilet Organisation in 2001, the day was made an official United Nations Observance in 2013. Every year, UN-Water — the UN’s coordination mechanism on water and sanitation — sets the theme for this day. In 2025, the theme is ‘Sanitation in a changing world’, which, according to the UN reminds us “that no matter what the future holds, we’ll always need the toilet”. A toilet stands outside the Llamocca family home at Villa Lourdes in Villa Maria del Triunfo on the outskirts of Lima, Peru, on October 7, 2015. — Reuters “The humble toilet is an icon of progress — preventing disease, protecting the environment, and preserving dignity and opportunity. Without safe sanitation, sustainable development falters. Contaminated water can spr...

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The Pakistan Navy (PN) seized over 2,000 kilogrammes of methamphetamine, commonly known as ice, in a drug bust worth $130 million in the Arabian Sea, according to a statement issued on Wednesday. The statement from the navy’s Directorate-General Public Relations (DG PR) said the PN Tabuk was conducting a regional maritime security patrol in support of the Saudi-led Combined Task Force 150 under the Combined Maritime Force (CMF), a naval partnership that includes the United States, when it intercepted a “suspicious dhow” operating in the Arabian Sea. “Subsequently, the ship successfully conducted a major counter-narcotics operation onboard stateless dhow, resulting in the seizure of over 2000kg of ice,” the statement said, adding that the capture was the third consecutive successful interdiction conducted in the last two months by PN ships. The navy said these successful operations demonstrated its “enduring resolve and unwavering commitment” against illicit trafficking at sea. “The scale of the operation, cou...

Supreme Court’s Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail has observed that returning officers (ROs) correctly prepared lists of 41 independent candidates during the 2024 general elections, as it was PTI’s decision-makers who “compelled” them to contest in that manner. Justice Mandokhail, a member of the now-defunct Constitutional Bench (CB), made the observation in his additional note in the reserved seats review case. In its June 27 ruling, the CB, by a majority of seven judges, had overturned the earlier SC judgment of July 12, 2024 that had granted reserved seats to the PTI. While seven judges had accepted all review petitions filed by the ruling coalition parties, three others — including Justice Mandokhail — had partially allowed them, and two had rejected the pleas outright on the first day of the hearing. Justice Mandokhail had maintained his original July 2024 order of giving 39 seats to PTI, but reviewed the majority judgment to the extent of 41 seats. In his note uploaded on the SC website on Tuesday, the judg...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday announced the allocation of 80 electric buses for Rawalpindi, aiming to improve public transportation and reduce congestion. The chief minister was scheduled to inaugurate the new transport system in the garrison city on October 15, but the ceremony was cancelled due to the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan protest in Islamabad. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the electric bus initiative in Rawalpindi today, CM Maryam said, “The electric buses are equipped with modern amenities, including air conditioning, free Wi-Fi, and charging ports.” The initiative, the chief minister highlighted, is part of a broader effort to enhance infrastructure and public services in Rawalpindi. Other projects include signal-free corridors, flyovers, and hospitals. “The government has allocated significant funds for road construction and improvement,” she said, adding that the electric buses are part of a larger plan to promote sustainable transportation and reduce pollution. “The bu...

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said on Wednesday that even the opposition acknowledges that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the only party capable of delivering real progress.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday met with industrialists in the metropolis’s SITE Area and Haroonabad and briefed them on ongoing sewage treatment and water recycling projects aimed at industrial use. The mayor, accompanied by a delegation of industrialists, conducted a detailed visit to the SITE Limited Sewerage Treatment Plant. On the occasion, Chief Executive Officer of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, briefed the mayor and the industrialists on the technical aspects and the current status of the treatment plants. “For the first time in Karachi’s history, a formal process of treating wastewater and recycling it for industrial purposes is being initiated to provide industries with a reliable, sustainable and uninterrupted water supply,” Wahab said. He added that the TP-III treatment facility in Mauripur has become operational again after a long time, and after 25 years, complete cleaning and rehabilitation work has been carried out at the TP-I treatment plant in...

Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Sohail Afridi has announced the provincial government will provide complete free medical treatment for a young cancer patient from Bajaur.

Iran must “cooperate fully” with the UN’s nuclear watchdog, according to a draft resolution submitted to the agency’s board by Britain, France, Germany and the United States, and seen by AFP on Wednesday. Tensions between Iran and the UN nuclear watchdog have repeatedly flared in recent years, with relations being further strained in the wake of a 12-day war in June that saw Israeli and US strikes on key Iranian nuclear facilities. Since the war, agency inspectors have not been granted access to key nuclear sites such as Fordo and Natanz, which were hit in the strikes in June, but they have been able to visit other sites. The draft, which is expected to be voted on by the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) during its meeting this week, stresses that it is “imperative” for Iran to comply with its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. It also urges Iran to provide “access that the agency requests”. Last week, the IAEA called on Iran to allow it to verify its enriched uraniu...

Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja arrived in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on a two-day official visit to attend the signing ceremony of B2B MoUs between Pakistani companies and firms from CAREC member countries.

Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain has affirmed government's commitment for the development of a sustainable and competitive olive value chain across Pakistan.

A report submitted to the US Congress has mentioned Pakistan’s “military success” over India during the four-day conflict in May this year. “Pakistan’s military success over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry,” said a report submitted to the US Congress on Tuesday by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, formed to report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the US and China. Pakistan initially said it downed five Indian planes in air-to-air combat during the conflict, but later raised the tally to seven. Islamabad has denied any losses of its planes and says it hit 26 Indian targets after three air bases were targeted. US President Donald Trump, who continues to comment on the conflict, most recently said that eight planes were “essentially” shot down. In its annual report, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission referred to the May conflict and said that China used it to “test and promote its own defenc...

An additional district and sessions judge in Multan has sentenced to death the husband of the 20-year-old pregnant woman who was killed last year in Multan, it emerged on Wednesday. Sania Zehra — a mother of two — was found dead in her room on July 9 2024, hanging from a ceiling fan. Her father, Syed Asad Abbas, had claimed that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He said his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the murder as a suicide. A first information report (FIR) was registered at the New Multan police station on his complaint under Sections 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). In a one-page court order, dated November 18 — a copy of which is available with Dawn — Additional Sessions judge Mohsin Ali Khan ruled that Syed Muhammad Ali Raza has been “duly convicted of the Qatal-i-Amd of Sania Zehra deceased,” and sentenced the convict to “death as Ta’zir under Section 302 (b) of the Pakistan Pen...

A day after newly-elected Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Raja Faisal Mumtaz Rathore’s oath-taking, 18 legislators from the PPP were sworn in as ministers for his cabinet on Wednesday. The oath to the 18 ministers was administered at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Muzaffarabad by AJK Legislative Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, who was substituting as the acting president due to the illness of AJK President Barrister Sultan Mahmood. Mahmood reportedly could not travel to the regional capital due to health issues. PM Rathore, as well as former AJK premiers Sardar Tanveer Ilyas and Haji Yaqoob Khan, were also present on the occasion. A large number of PPP workers and supporters, as well as several senior civil servants, also attended the ceremony. The newly-appointed ministers are Mian Abdul Waheed, Sardar Javed Ayoub, Javed Iqbal Budhanvi, Chaudhry Qasim Majeed, Amar Yasin, Sardar Ziaul Qamar, Syed Bazil Ali Naqvi, Nabila Ayub Khan, Deevan Ali Chughtai, Malik Zafar Iqbal, Chaudhry Arshad, Chaudhry Muhammad ...

The PTI said late on Tuesday that police manhandled and “violently detained” the sisters of ex-premier Imran Khan from outside Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where they were camped out after being denied a weekly meeting with the party founder. The PTI had held a protest outside the jail on Tuesday, where Imran is currently incarcerated, but the jail administration did not allow party leaders and the PTI founder’s family to meet him. Subsequently, the party held a sit-in outside the jail and criticised the prison administration for violating the court order in this regard. In a post on social media platform X after midnight, the party said Aleema Khan, Noreen Niazi and Dr Uzma Khan were “sitting peacefully” outside the jail when the police action happened. It added that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government Minister Meena Khan Afridi, MNA Shahid Khattak and other party workers, including several women, were “subjected to violence and picked up by police”. “What should be routine weekly court-mandated family visits,...

Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik on Wednesday said climate-induced disasters must be treated as a “political” priority as he detailed the long- and short-term strategies to mitigate losses and plan for the next year’s monsoon season. Monsoon rains fall across the region from June to September, offering respite from the summer heat and are crucial to replenish water supplies. However, heavy downpours also trigger deadly floods, landslides and displacement, particularly in vulnerable, poorly drained, or densely populated areas. Data from Punjab’s disaster management authority shows this year’s floods affected at least 4.7 million people across 4,700 villages. Speaking at a press conference with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Chairman Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik in Islamabad today, the climate change minister stated that “climate-induced disasters must be treated as a political priority,” noting that the 2022 floods alone caused losses exceeding 9 per cent of the GDP. “Since 2...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed authorities concerned to begin early preparations to prevent any loss of life or property during next year’s monsoon season and ordered immediate implementation of the short-term plan presented by the Ministry of Climate Change.