ISLAMABADL: Electricity consumers across Pakistan are set to receive an unusual rebate of about 1.75 rupees per unit on their bills for the next three months as regulators prepare to pass through 63.94 billion rupees in savings from lower capacity payments to power producers.
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Pakistan braces for severe heatwave, with temperatures expected to hit 50°C in south as 10 die in Karachi
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s meteorological authorities have forecast a punishing heatwave across much of the country this week, with extreme temperatures already claiming at least 10 lives in Karachi and prompting emergency measures nationwide.
US nears one-page accord with Iran to halt two-month war and frame nuclear talks – report
ISLAMABAD: The White House believes it is close to securing a one-page memorandum of understanding with Iran that would formally end the two-month war in the Persian Gulf and establish a framework for more substantive negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program, according to US news website axios quoting two officials and two other people briefed on the discussions.
An Unwinnable War
President Donald Trump’s announcement on Tuesday evening that the United States would suspend “Project Freedom” — the naval escort operation launched only days earlier to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — came wrapped in the usual language of strength. “Great progress” had been made, he said. Toward a deal, Pakistan had asked, “tremendous military success.” The blockade of Iranian ports would remain. And the decision directly contradicted the message his own senior officials had spent the day delivering: that the ceasefire held, that Iranian actions remained below the threshold for renewed fighting, and that the operation was both limited and necessary to free 20,000 stranded sailors and restore the flow of one-fifth of the world’s oil. This is not the decisive leadership the administration projected when it joined Israel in Operation Epic Fury in late February. A superpower that helped kill a supreme leader and promised generational destruction of Iran’s capabilities has now blinked after one day of real pushback in the Strait. It is the acknowledgment, however reluctant, that military pressure has run into the hard limits of geography, economics, and politics. The Strait of Hormuz still carries one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. Iran’s threat to mine it, patrol it with fast boats, and harass shipping has turned that waterway into the single most effective lever Tehran possesses. The United States, for all its air power and naval presence, has been unable to break that grip without risking the very global economic disruption it set out to prevent.
Trump halts Hormuz escort operation, citing progress in Iran talks; blockade to continue
ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday evening that the United States would temporarily halt its newly launched naval operation to escort stranded commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, saying the pause would allow time for negotiations toward a broader agreement to end the conflict with Iran.
Pakistan’s trade deficit hits $4.07 billion in April, widest in 46 months as imports surge
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit climbed to $4.07 billion in April, the widest in 46 months, as a surge in imports more than offset a modest recovery in exports, according to data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics released on Tuesday.
Pakistan’s financial system proved resilient in 2025, SBP says, even as Iran war clouds outlook
KARACHI: Pakistan’s financial system remained stable and resilient throughout 2025, the State Bank of Pakistan said on Tuesday, citing stronger capital buffers, easing inflation and improved macroeconomic conditions even as the central bank warned that the war in Iran could pose fresh risks to financial stability.
‘Takes two to tango’: Pakistan urges US and Iran to revive talks after Gulf attacks shatter fragile ceasefire
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister expressed guarded optimism Tuesday that his country’s intensive diplomatic campaign could still produce a negotiated end to the six-week-old conflict between the United States and Iran, even as renewed fighting broke out the previous day in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
Pakistan’s HIV response under strain as 20,000 patients disappear from care
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s health authorities told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday that nearly 20,000 people who began antiretroviral treatment for HIV have since disappeared from care, a stark illustration of the gaps in a national response to one of the world’s fastest-growing epidemics in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
JUI-F calls for nationwide protests after prominent cleric is assassinated in targeted attack
CHARSADDA: A prominent religious scholar and former lawmaker affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) was shot dead on Tuesday in a targeted attack in northwestern Pakistan, prompting the Islamist party to announce two days of nationwide protests and accuse federal and provincial governments of failing to protect citizens.