ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will press the International Monetary Fund for greater leeway in its bailout program to manage the fallout from the US-Israeli war on Iran, including measures to shield consumers from soaring petroleum prices, the Ministry of Finance said on Thursday.
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Trade deficit widens 22.65 percent to $27.81 billion in nine months on weak exports
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit expanded 22.65% to $27.81 billion in the first nine months of fiscal 2026, driven by a sharp drop in exports that more than offset higher imports, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released on Thursday.
Security forces kill 8 Indian-linked TTP militants in North Waziristan border clash
ISLAMABAD: The security forces killed eight militants in an intelligence-based operation along the Afghanistan border in North Waziristan district, the military said Thursday, recovering weapons and ammunition and using the episode to sharpen its criticism of the Taliban-led government in Kabul.
PM Sharif urges provinces to slash development spending, prioritise relief as oil crisis deepens from Iran war
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on federal and four provinces governments on Thursday to set aside political differences, curtail development spending and redirect resources toward agriculture, public goods and transport as the country confronts the economic fallout from the global oil crisis triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Eight Muslim-majority nations, including Pakistan, denounce Israeli death penalty law for Palestinians as ‘apartheid’ escalation
ISLAMABAD: Eight Muslim-majority countries, including Pakistan and close US partners Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, issued a joint condemnation Thursday of a new Israeli law that makes death by hanging the default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of carrying out deadly attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Five killed in Karachi as torrential rains trigger electrocutions and building collapse
KARACHI: At least five people died in the sprawling port city of Karachi on Thursday as unusually heavy rains triggered a series of deadly electrocutions and sent part of a three-story building crashing onto a passerby, officials said.
Pakistan opens talks with Afghanistan in China, insisting on action against militants as border operation continues
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has sent a senior delegation to the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi for talks with Afghan officials aimed at resolving escalating border tensions, even as its military continues a counterterrorism operation inside Afghanistan, the Foreign Office said on Thursday.
Trump’s Recycled Rhetoric and the Real Cost of More War
President Trump’s primetime address on the war with Iran was never going to be easy listening. But even by the standards of a conflict that has already claimed thousands of lives, drained billions of dollars and sent global energy prices soaring, Wednesday night’s 19-minute performance was astonishingly empty. Billed as a moment for Americans to hear how the fighting would end, it delivered only the same threats, the same boasts and the same timeline — two or three more weeks of ferocious bombing — that everyone has heard for weeks. There was no new diplomatic formula. No acknowledgement of Iranian demands. No realistic path to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Just the familiar vow to “hit them extremely hard” and “bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.” This was not resolve. It was stalling.
Pakistan inflation accelerates to 7.3 percent in March, highest since August on energy shock
KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer inflation quickened to 7.3 percent year-on-year in March, the fastest pace since August 2024, as surging energy costs tied to the Middle East conflict pushed household prices higher, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released on Wednesday.