ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday ordered a nationwide ban on the manufacture and use of substandard syringes, acting a day after parents of children infected with HIV at a Karachi hospital took their case to court seeking criminal charges against those responsible.
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Lahore court remands four suspects in sexual assault, kidnap case involving two foreign women
LAHORE: A Lahore court on Friday ordered five days of physical remand for four men arrested over the alleged kidnapping and rape of two foreign tourists, a case that has drawn attention after police said the women were held for ransom and sexually assaulted over several days in the eastern city of Lahore.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives for a handshake for photographers with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 25, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
US backs Pakistan’s right to self-defence as UN splinters over terrorism strategy
ISLAMABAD: The United States on Thursday reaffirmed its support for Pakistan’s right to defend itself against terrorist attacks, as a UN vote this week exposed rare discord over the world body’s flagship counterterrorism strategy, with Washington breaking two decades of consensus to vote against the text.
At least 40 killed as overloaded bus plunges into ravine in northwest Pakistan
QUETTA: At least 40 people were killed and eight injured on Friday when an overcrowded passenger bus plunged into a ravine on a mountain road straddling the border of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, officials said, in one of the country’s deadliest road accidents in years.
Sharif, Munir pay Pakistani respects to Khamenei as Iran opens week of funeral rites
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir paid their respects on Friday at the coffin of Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Tehran opened a week of funeral rites for the man who led the Islamic Republic for nearly four decades.
Pakistan central bank scraps remittance incentives after IMF scrutiny
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank has withdrawn two long-running incentive schemes that paid commercial banks to attract overseas remittances, after the cost of the programmes swelled to a level that drew the attention of the International Monetary Fund, according to central bank circulars and sources in the financial sector.
Senate panel to seek FIA, NAB probes into power sector graft, brief prime minister
ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee decided on Thursday to brief Pakistan’s prime minister on alleged irregularities and corruption in foreign-funded power sector projects, and to ask two federal investigative agencies directly to open inquiries, after the government’s Economic Affairs Division said it lacked the authority to order a probe into projects run by another ministry.
Pakistan Army to get all-local wheat supply from 2026-27 crop
ISLAMABAD: The government approved the supply of 175,000 tonnes of fresh, wholly domestic wheat to the Pakistan Army for the 2026-27 crop year, ending a four-year arrangement under which troops were fed flour milled partly from imported grain that soldiers had repeatedly complained about.
Imran Khan’s PTI party to skip Kashmir vote, backs protesters over ‘politics of power’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the party founded by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, said on Thursday it would boycott the upcoming general election in Azad Kashmir, citing weeks of civil unrest, arrests of political workers and a blockade of food supplies to the region.
Pakistan seeks fresh S&P rating upgrade to unlock $2 billion in bond sales
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has formally asked S&P Global Ratings for a further upgrade to its sovereign credit rating, seeking to raise around $2 billion this fiscal year through additional international bond sales, local media reported on Friday.