Pakistan

Salvoes of rockets were launched on Friday at the US embassy in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, the mission said, the latest in a flurry of such attacks amid Israel’s bombardment of Gaza for the October 7 attack by Hamas. “A multi-rocket attack was launched at US and coalition forces in the vicinity of Union III and the Baghdad embassy …

DADU: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s leader Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi, along with his brothers and supporters, announced on Thursday joining the Grand Democratic Alliance while reiterating that many ‘bogus’ FIRs were lodged against them though he was not afraid of fabricated cases. The announcement came after final negotiations held between PTI delegation led by Liaquat Ali Jatoi and the GDA’s Pir Sadruddin …

ISLAMABAD: A World Bank report has pointed out that eight in 10 people in Pakistan are concerned about impacts of climate change, with female and educated people being more concerned. The report titled, Climate Silence in Pakistan, has observed that climate change has profoundly affected Pakistan, manifesting in altered weather patterns and devastating floods. According to projections, Pakistan’s GDP is expected to …

ISLAMABAD: With the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) all set to unveil schedule for the Feb 8 polls next week, Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja on Thursday said printing and delivery of final electoral rolls had successfully been completed. Talking to Dawn, a senior official said the schedule would most probably be announced on Dec 14. At the same time, …

ISLAMABAD: The UK envoy on Thursday called on JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman at his residence and asked the latter to use his influence on the Afghan Taliban to remove a bar on women’s education in Afghanistan. Maulana Fazl, however, told High Commissioner Jane Marriott that the Western model of education was “not possible in Afghanistan due to its cultural …

LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is wary of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) dominance on social media platforms, but it asserts that it may not have an impact on the polls, which will be contested on the ground. “The PTI invested in social me­­dia over the last 15 years, and we lagged behind. What is happening in cyberspace is not …

India’s Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on a set of pleas against New Delhi’s 2019 imposition of direct rule in occupied Kashmir on Dec 11 (Monday), The Times of India reported on Friday. In 2019, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had revoked occupied Kashmir’s special status by repealing Article 370 of the constitution. Article 370 had limited the power of the Indian parliament …

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday ordered authorities to impose a fine of Rs50,000 on restaurants not adhering to the government’s anti-smog measures. It also instructed authorities to seal cafes violating the guidelines. The directions come as several cities of Punjab, especially Lahore, remain blanketed with toxic smog after pollutants in the air quality spiralled with the start of …

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday issued a notice to the PTI in response to pleas against the party’s intra-party elections, alleging they were “rigged and fraudulent”. The ECP issued a notice to the party in response to the recent plea filed by estranged PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar, who had challenged the conduct of intra-party elections that resulted …

The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund will meet on January 11 to approve the Staff-Level Agreement (SLA) with Pakistan for the first review of the $3bn Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), an IMF spokesperson told Bloomberg. In June, the IMF executive board had approved the much-needed nine-month arrangement with Pakistan “to support its economic stabilisation programme”. The approval had allowed for an immediate disbursement …