KARACHI: The wreckage of a cargo jet that vanished over the Arabian Sea was located on Wednesday roughly 53 nautical miles south of the coastal town of Ormara, capping a 12-hour search by the Pakistan Navy and maritime security forces that mobilised warships, surveillance aircraft, and merchant vessels within hours of the plane’s disappearance.
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In new global liveability rankings, Karachi remains mired near the bottom – and Gulf cities tumble too
KARACHI: Copenhagen has once again been named the world’s most livable city, but for residents of Karachi, Pakistan’s sprawling port metropolis, the latest edition of a closely watched global index brought little to celebrate: The city remained lodged near the very bottom of the rankings, one of only four cities on Earth judged less livable than nearly all others surveyed.
As glaciers melt and monsoons rise, a Pakistani city builds directly in harm’s way
For a decade, this city in the shadow of the Karakoram range has been building its way into a disaster. Satellite photographs taken in 2013 and again in 2023 show the same stretch of land along a stream on Gilgit’s outskirts, and the difference between them is stark: what was once open floodplain is now dense with rooftops, shopfronts, and roads. The stream that cuts through it is not an ordinary waterway. It is fed by glacial lakes high in the surrounding mountains, the kind capable of bursting without warning and sending a wall of water, mud, and debris down into whatever lies below.
Pakistan scraps annual Hajj sign-up, unveils first four-year pilgrimage plan
ISLAMABAD: For as long as most Pakistanis can remember, the machinery of applying for Hajj has reset every single year. A new application. A new waiting period. A fresh scramble each cycle to secure one of the coveted spots in the country’s quota for the pilgrimage to Mecca.
Pakistan eyes first dollar-settled, rupee-linked bonds
KARACHI: Pakistan has requested proposals from advisers to arrange its first dollar-settled, rupee-linked bonds, adding a new instrument to a slate of planned Eurobond and Sukuk sales as the government works to widen its pool of foreign investors and push out the maturity schedule of its external debt.
Gunmen kill nine police officers in Balochistan province; security forces kill 15 militants in response
QUETTA: Nine police officers were killed, and nine more went missing overnight Monday when militants stormed a checkpost guarding a dam construction site in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, officials said, touching off an hours-long gun battle, a highway blockade by angry residents, and a security sweep that by Tuesday had located every missing officer alive.
Cargo jet carrying five vanishes over Arabian Sea on approach to Karachi
KARACHI: A cargo plane carrying five crew members disappeared over the Arabian Sea late on Tuesday as it neared the end of an overnight flight from the United Arab Emirates to Pakistan, setting off a sea-and-air search by the military that stretched into Wednesday morning without any confirmed sign of the aircraft or those aboard.
Public debt tops Rs82 trillion as domestic borrowing surges
KARACHI: Pakistan’s total public debt climbed to Rs81.949 trillion by the end of May, according to central bank data released on Monday, as the government leaned harder on domestic banks to plug a widening gap between tax revenue and spending.
With talks nowhere in sight, Kashmir protest crisis heads toward a deadline
MUZAFFARABAD: A month-long protest movement led by a banned rights alliance, the Joint Awami Action Committee, barreled toward a government deadline this week with no sign of a breakthrough, as the group and police continued to clash over the death toll from the weekend’s latest bout of violence and neither side showed any appetite for talks.
Deadly clash near Quetta follows villagers’ warnings about militant threat
QUETTA: Gunmen stormed a remote village in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday evening, touching off a firefight with security forces that left at least four militants dead and nine other people wounded, provincial officials said Monday, warning that the death toll could still rise with fighting underway and several villagers unaccounted for.