When President Trump took to Truth Social on Monday morning and announced that he was extending his 48-hour ultimatum to Iran by five full days, citing “very good and productive conversations” with Tehran, the global financial markets did exactly what they have learned to do under his leadership: they rallied.
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Pakistan positions itself as lead mediator in US-Iran war – FT
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has thrust itself forward as the primary mediator seeking to negotiate an end to the war between the United States, Israel and Iran, drawing on the Pakistani army chief’s longstanding connections in Tehran and the close rapport between Islamabad’s leadership and President Donald Trump, FT reported on Monday.
Pakistan braces for week of widespread rains and thunderstorms as western disturbance approaches
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Meteorological Department on Monday forecast a week of rainfall and thunderstorms across much of the country, with the potential for heavy downpours, isolated hailstorms and flash flooding as a western weather disturbance moves in from the southwest.
Sahibzada Farhan’s World Cup masterclass earns him ICC player of the month for February
LAHORE: Sahibzada Farhan has been named ICC men’s player of the month for February after a record-breaking campaign at the 2026 T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka, where the Pakistan opener became the tournament’s leading run-scorer and surpassed Virat Kohli’s mark for the most runs in a single edition of the event.
Pakistan bans high-octane fuel in government vehicles as austerity tightens amid oil shock
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif banned the use of high-octane fuel in all government vehicles on Monday, the latest austerity step as the country confronts the economic fallout from soaring global oil prices triggered by conflict in the Middle East.
Pakistan marks founding resolution with gun salutes and flag-raisings, but skips traditional parade amid global oil crisis
ISLAMABAD: The country observed its annual Pakistan Day on Monday with the patriotic fervor that has long defined the holiday, but this year’s ceremonies were deliberately modest, stripped of the usual military parade and large-scale pageantry in line with government austerity measures imposed because of the global oil crisis.
PM Sharif urges Iran and Gulf neighbours to return to dialogue as US postpones strikes on Iranian power plants
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday pressed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for an immediate collective effort to de-escalate the widening Middle East conflict, warning that the fourth week of war had created a “grave situation” requiring urgent dialogue among neighbours and renewed unity across the Muslim world.
Floggings, Executions, Legalised Abuse: The Taliban’s Vision of Justice
Four years after the Taliban seized power, Afghanistan is no longer sliding backward. It is hurtling into a deliberate abyss of codified cruelty, where the state’s highest authorities have decided that beating women, flogging citizens and executing dissenters in public stadiums constitutes governance.
A Pakistani farm hand is seen fertilising a wheat field by hand in this photo by Qasim Ghauri dated February 11, 2021. Image courtesy of APP.
Pakistan fertiliser buffers shield Rabi, Kharif crops from Iran conflict fallout
ISLAMABAD: The government has ruled out any risk of fertiliser shortages for the ongoing Rabi 2025-26 season and the upcoming Kharif 2026 planting, even as the escalation of conflict in Iran and the broader Middle East sharply raises threats to global energy and agrifood supply chains.