ISLAMABAD: Misinformation exploded across social media and seeped into mainstream reporting in the hours after a father-and-son duo inspired by Islamic State ideology carried out Australia’s deadliest mass shooting in nearly three decades, killing 15 people and wounding dozens at a Hanukkah celebration near Sydney’s Bondi Beach, complicating investigations and stoking ethnic tensions.
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SBP cuts interest rate by 50 basis points, defying IMF guidance
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank on Monday unexpectedly lowered its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 10.5%, defying analyst expectations and recent IMF guidance to hold off on further easing amid risks to inflation and external balances.
Security forces kill 13 Indian-backed militants in northwest Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed 13 militants affiliated with a banned terrorist group in two separate operations in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the military announced on Sunday, amid a continuing surge in attacks that has plagued the region.
Pakistan presses world to push Taliban on militancy, warns of rising cross-border threats
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the international community on Friday to press the Afghan Taliban to rein in terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil, emphasising Islamabad’s persistent security concerns amid fragile cross-border relations.
Ex-ISI chief Faiz Hameed gets 14-year sentence in rare military court verdict on political meddling
ISLAMABAD: A military court has sentenced Faiz Hameed, the former head of the country’s powerful intelligence agency, to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment after finding him guilty of political interference, violating secrecy laws and misusing his authority, the army’s public relations wing said on Thursday.
Jailed Imran Khan to remain in Adiala as transfer rumors swirl
ISLAMABAD: The prison authorities on Wednesday dismissed reports that imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan could be relocated from a jail near the capital to a more isolated facility, possibly in remote Balochistan province, calling the claims “pure speculation” even as a senior government official confirmed deliberations over such a move amid escalating political clashes that have reached a “point of no return.”
Pakistan’s economy avoids free fall but faces slow grind ahead, IMF say
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund said the immediate risk of a sovereign default in Pakistan has receded, yet the cash-strapped South Asian nation remains mired in a fragile stabilisation mode plagued by anemic growth, towering debt loads and scant relief for its 240 million citizens.
As political tensions mount, ministers raise threat of treason charges against Imran Khan
ISLAMABAD: In a sharp escalation of political tensions, the military and government officials have accused Imran Khan, the imprisoned founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, of posing a national security threat through his anti-army rhetoric, prompting warnings of possible treason charges and drawing defiant responses from his supporters.
US weapons left in Afghanistan now bolster Taliban and fuel militant attacks in Pakistan, watchdog finds
ISLAMABAD: Billions of dollars in American-supplied weapons and military equipment abandoned during the chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan have become the core of the Taliban’s security forces, according to a final report by a United States government watchdog, with some of those arms already appearing in the hands of militants launching attacks across the border in Pakistan.
Tense calm returns to Chaman after deadly Pakistan-Afghanistan border clash
ISLAMABAD: Calm returned to the volatile border crossing at Chaman between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Saturday, a day after heavy clashes erupted between security forces on both sides, killing at least five people on the Afghan side and injuring three civilians on the Pakistani side, according to officials, in a fresh escalation that highlighted the deepening rift between the two neighbours.