LAHORE: PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has demanded a thorough investigation into buying of the ‘most expensive’ LNG by the Imran Khan government in the country’s history. “This procurement has cost the country $422.4 million extra. The PTI government repeatedly lied to the nation on the matter as it has bought LNG for $15 per mmbtu which the PML-N bought for …

LAHORE: Following persistent increase in positivity ratio of Delta variant cases and detection of California strain of Covid-19 in the city, the Punjab government imposed a smart lockdown in 13 areas of Lahore on Saturday. The lockdown was imposed in seven streets of Samanabad, two of Allama Iqbal Town and in some areas of Aziz Bhatti Town, Cantonment, Gulberg and …

RAWALPINDI: Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Saturday put to rest all rumours about privatisation of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), saying the government had no plan to sell it off. He rather said four new aircraft would be added to the PIA fleet this year. Speaking at a press conference at PTI Public Secretariat here, the minister said Pakistan aviation …

The fourth wave of Covid-19 pandemic has continued its upward trajectory, with Pakistan reporting 5,029 cases over the past 24 hours — the highest number of daily cases in the country since April 29 when 5,112 infections were reported. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the body responsible for the country’s Covid-19 response, the new cases were …

KARACHI: The strained relations between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh and the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in the centre suffered another blow on Saturday when the provincial administration revised its coronavirus lockdown restrictions it had imposed a day earlier, but Islamabad still called the lockdown decision “defiance of the terms agreed between the two sides”, rejecting a “curfew-like situation …

KARACHI: An accountability court acquitted on Saturday a former chairman of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) with 16 dealers in a Rs311 million graft case, as the prosecution had failed to prove the case after the lapse of 12 years. Then PSM chief Moin Aftab Shaikh, then director (commercial) Sameen Asghar with private dealers — Abdul Razzaq, Mansoor Ali, M. …

KARACHI: People are rushing for Covid-19 vaccination in large numbers following the government announcement that mobile phone SIMs of unvaccinated people would be blocked and they wouldn’t get their August salary, it emerged on Saturday. Sources said long queues were being seen at all vaccination centres across the province, particularly in Karachi, where the situation became serious when people waiting …

Taliban fighters struck Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan with at least three rockets overnight, the insurgent group’s spokesperson said on Sunday, adding that the aim was to thwart air strikes conducted by Afghan government forces. “Kandahar airport was targeted by us because the enemy was using it as a centre to conduct air strikes against us,” Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban …

WASHINGTON: National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has said that arrangements should be made to keep displaced Afghans inside their country instead of pushing them into Pakistan. Addressing a news conference at the Pakistan embassy here on Saturday, Mr Yusuf said Pakistan was focused on ensuring that tensions in Afghanistan do not lead to more bloodshed. “But if a situation arises, …

Iran said on Sunday it was not involved in an attack on an Israeli-managed petroleum product tanker off the coast of Oman, referring to an incident last week that killed two and which Israel blamed on the Islamic Republic. “The Zionist regime (Israel) has created insecurity, terror and violence … These accusations about Iran’s involvement are condemned by Tehran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman …