Pakistan

Framework will ensure transparency in assessments

Second female biker to die in recent months

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CM orders immediate action over the incident

Police say children were slain after accused planned to escape and remarry

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PESHAWAR: The Utmanzai tribe of North Waziristan staged a peace rally in Mir Ali on Friday and warned of launching a civil disobedience movement if its demands, including restoring peace, lifting the curfew, and reopening the Ghulam Khan border crossing, were not fulfilled by Jan 20. Thousands of people from the tribe, along with other political and local leaders, gathered at Noor Islam Shaheed Chowk in Mir Ali, where Friday prayers were also offered, led by Member of the National Assembly Mufti Misbahuddin. Speakers stressed that peace was a fundamental right of citizens and demanded that residents of North Waziristan be allowed to live peacefully like people in other parts of the country. Misbahuddin told the rally that Waziristan could no longer withstand further military operations. “Peace is the greatest blessing, and tribal elders have always cooperated with the state, but the authorities never appear serious about restoring lasting stability,” he lamented. Chief of Waziristan Jirga Malik Nasrullah said...

Heart disease remains one of the leading causes of death among men globally, and South Asian countries are no exception. As men continue to balance careers, family, and daily pressures, their hearts often bear the silent strain. Experts remind us that understanding and protecting men’s cardiac health is not just a medical need but a matter of self-care and longevity. Dr Ashraf Ur Rahman is a Medicine Specialist and a Cardiologist at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD). He notes that the majority of cardiac cases he encounters involve men above the age of forty. Image showing a person holding a cardboard heart. — Ryan’O Niel / Unsplash Dr Rahman explains that the difference between men’s and women’s heart health begins with hormones. Women benefit from the protective effects of oestrogen, which usually helps maintain healthy blood vessels and cholesterol levels. Men, however, lack this hormonal shield. As a result, they are naturally more susceptible to ischemic heart disease (IHD) from a...

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad anti-terrorism court (ATC) handed out two life sentences each to YouTuber Adil Raja, journalists Wajahat Saeed Khan, Sabir Shakir and Shaheen Sehbai, anchorperson Haider Raza Mehdi, analyst Moeed Pirzada and former army official Akbar Hussain in cases related to riots in the country on May 9, 2023. The riots — during which government and military installations were also vandalised — had erupted following the arrest of former prime minister Imran Khan. The prosecution had accused the convicted individuals of “digital terrorism against state institutions” in relation to the events of May 9, 2023. The cases stemmed from allegations that the accused used digital platforms to incite, facilitate and amplify attacks against state institutions during the May 9 unrest. Reserved verdicts in the cases were announced by ATC Judge Tahir Abbas Sipra on Friday after the completion of trials in absentia. The trials were conducted in absentia at the prosecution’s request and by means of invoking the re...

Ambreen Jan, former information secretary, was selected on Friday as the new chairperson of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), which will make her the first female head of the electronic media regulator once her appointment is confirmed. The previous head of the regulator, Mohammad Saleem Baig, was appointed in 2018 and retired last year, leaving the post vacant. A meeting of a parliamentary committee, chaired by Shehbaz Babar, selected Jan after it was convened to appoint the next head of the influential media regulatory authority. Following the committee’s unanimous approval, Jan’s name was forwarded to President Asif Ali Zardari for final confirmation. A former Grade 22 officer, Jan has also previously served as the managing director of the state broadcaster PTV, the director general of Radio Pakistan and press counsellor to Bangladesh while relations were strained from 2011 to 2018. She was among five shortlisted candidates considered for the post, including Brigadier (retd.) Anwa...

The first super moon of the year 2026 will be visible on Saturday, offering skywatchers a striking celestial display.

Heavy snowfall across the upper regions of the country has intensified the cold spell, while fresh snow in the “Queen of the Hills” brought cheer to tourists.

The first supermoon of 2026, traditionally known as the Wolf moon, will be visible in Pakistan on January 3 and 4, according to a statement issued by Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) on Friday. A supermoon occurs when the moon reaches its closest point to Earth in its elliptical orbit, causing it to appear unusually large and bright — up to 14 per cent larger and nearly 30pc brighter than a typical full moon. “In Pakistan, the supermoon will rise at 5:51pm PKT on the evening of Jan 3, with an illumination of 99.8pc, and remains visible throughout the nights of Jan 3 and 4,” read the statement. During the current event, which marks the final supermoon of the cycle that began in October 2025, the Earth–Moon distance will be approximately 362,312 kilometers, making the moon appear about 6 to 7 per cent larger and up to 10 per cent brighter than a typical full moon, it stated. Supermoons typically occur in sequences of three to four consecutive events, with the current cycle concluding wit...

Former special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) Mirza Shahzad Akbar has said that his house in the United Kingdom (UK) — where he has been living in self-imposed exile — was subjected to a “deliberate and targeted criminal attack with the intent to cause serious harm”. The development comes a little over a week after Akbar said he suffered a fractured nose and other facial injuries after being attacked at his home. In a post on X on Thursday, Akbar said that his home in Cambridgeshire, England came under attack on December 31, 2025, in a “deliberate and targeted criminal attack with the intent to cause serious harm”. He said that the perpetrators “criminally damaged the property and attempted to set it on fire, placing lives at immediate risk”. Akbar maintained it was the second such attack “within one week against my home, myself, and my family, each carried out with clear malicious intent”. He held that the incidents were not isolated. “I was physically assaulted in a targeted attack on Dec 24, leavin...

Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunications Shaza Fatima Khawaja announced on Friday that Pakistan would auction the 600 megahertz (MHz) spectrum next month to provide better internet speeds and roll out 5G in the country. In a meeting last week, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the process of auctioning the 600 MHz spectrum within two months. “The spectrum available for our telecom industry is extremely limited,” said the minister while addressing the media in Islamabad, and added that telcos “provide services in the country using just the 274 MHz”. “We are a spectrum-starved country,” she said. “We are a country of 240 million people with only 274 MHz of spectrum,” she stated, adding that “Bangladesh, with about two-thirds of Pakistan’s population, provides 600 MHz.” View this post on Instagram The spectrum is the range of radio frequencies that carries wireless signals for mobile phones, the internet, TV, and radio. Mobile networks like 3G, 4G, and 5G operate by sending data over speci...

After US President Donald Trump warned Iran on Friday of intervention if authorities in the Middle Eastern country “violently kill” peaceful protesters, a top official of the Islamic Republic said any interference by Washington would mean “destabilising the entire region and destroying America’s interests”. “If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. Reacting to his statement, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, posted on X: “With the statements by Israeli officials and Donald Trump, what has been going on behind the scenes is now clear. “We distinguish between the stance of the protesting shopkeepers and the actions of disruptive actors, and Trump should know that US interference in this internal matter would mean destabilising the entire region and destroying America’s interests.” He added, “The Ame...

A joint parliamentary committee comprising members from the Senate and the National Assembly has shortlisted two candidates for the post of chairman of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA).

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday sent a notice to the Adviser to the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Shafiullah Jan, seeking an explanation for his statement blaming the electoral body for irregularities during the Haripur by-elections last year, sources said. During a press conference on December 19, Jan blamed the ECP for electoral irregularities, and claimed Form 47 was issued from Islamabad instead of the returning officer’s office. “This was a singular yet bizarre event in the country’s history, when a Form-47 was issued from Islamabad,” adding that “ECP didn’t upload all Form-45s from 602 polling stations in the constituency, nor could the PML-N produce all Form-45s from 602 polling stations.” Sources said the ECP, in its notice, said “baseless” allegations were made against the commission concerning the conduct of the Haripur by-elections, including the issuance of Form-47 from Islamabad, the non-uploading of Form-45 on its website, and other claims of irregularities. They...