Pakistan says Iran-US peace deal hours away, but skirmishes flare in the Strait
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Saturday that a peace agreement to end the three-month war between the United States and Iran could be finalised within 24 hours, a statement of striking optimism that landed even as American warships were shooting down Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz.
PM Sharif extends olive branch to opposition even as parliament clashes over budget cuts
ISLAMABAD: The day after his government laid out an $67.5 billion federal budget built on austerity and IMF discipline, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stood before a restless National Assembly on Saturday and offered something harder to price: an appeal to the political opposition to set aside their differences and forge a shared compact for the country’s future.
Security forces kill 21 more militants in North Waziristan, bringing week’s toll to 48
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed 48 militants over the past week in a series of intelligence-guided operations in North Waziristan, the military said Saturday, as the army pressed a sweeping counterterrorism campaign in tribal districts that have long been among the country’s most volatile.
BITES
- Mobile broadband services restored
- LPG prices rise by 29.2pc for February
- Cabinet swells to 75 members
- Govt allows TCP to import wheat via all ports
- World Bank approves $200 million in loan for Punjab’s farm development project
- PM Sharif’s party decides to get tough on hecklers
- Apex court overturns PHC ban on poultry exports
- Shahbaz Gill declined bail
- IHC disposes of PTI employees petition against FIA notices
- Rupee plumbs new lows against dollar
- Punjab gets new policy chief
- Loans under Mera Ghar scheme to continue
- Senior army official shot dead in Balochistan rescue operation
- Bani Gala Firing: Man shot, wounded by PTI leader’s gunman
- Turkish commander calls on CJCSC
- Inquiry commission to probe reasons of energy crisis
- ANP set to fly Sharif’s coop
- Member Communist Party of China calls on COAS
- CHE to be renamed, HQ shifted to Karachi
- Pakistan to import high-quality Afghan coal in rupees
- IHC chucks plea to interfere with legislation
- Saudi Arabia confers King Abdulaziz medal on General Bajwa
- Interior Minister no-show at drugs case hearing
- Pakistan hopes early, successful visit by FATF team
- Pakistan commiserates with Afghanistan over quake, flood destruction
Finance minister Aurangzeb says budget marks shift from stability to export-led growth
ISLAMABAD: Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Saturday mounted a vigorous defence of his Rs18.77 trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2026-27, saying the government had exhausted the fiscal space available to it in pursuing an ambitious pivot from economic stabilisation toward export-driven growth.
Petrol prices cut for fifth consecutive week
ISLAMABAD: The government has reduced the price of petrol by Rs4 per litre and high-speed diesel by Rs2 per litre, with the new rates taking effect from Saturday.