ISLAMABAD: A punishing overnight deluge sent floodwaters surging through Pakistan’s twin cities on Tuesday, submerging roads, breaching sealed basements and pushing a critical drainage channel to its highest level in three years, prompting authorities to shutter schools and mobilise the army alongside emergency crews.
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Pakistan court orders jail not to keep Imran Khan, wife in isolation
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court ruled on Tuesday that petitions alleging former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were being held in solitary confinement at Adiala jail could proceed, and ordered prison officials to ensure neither is kept in isolation going forward.
After legal win in The Hague, Pakistan tells India at SCO not to weaponise water
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told leaders of a major Asian security bloc on Tuesday that water “must never be weaponised,” using a summit stage to press neighbouring India on a decades-old river-sharing treaty just a day after an international tribunal ruled that India could not unilaterally suspend it.
Security forces kill 12 militants in gun battle after Reko Diq convoy ambush
QUETTA: Security forces killed 12 armed militants on Monday after gunmen ambushed a convoy of vehicles associated with the Reko Diq copper and gold project in a remote stretch of southwestern Pakistan, the latest in a string of assaults on a mining venture that foreign investors have been assured is safe.
Pakistan rushes to buy spot LNG cargo as gas shortage triggers blackouts
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is seeking an emergency spot cargo of liquefied natural gas for delivery in the first week of September, as a shortfall in the fuel needed to run the country’s power plants leaves millions of households facing extended blackouts.
Pakistan says 40 million hold crypto accounts, third-biggest market
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has become the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency market, with roughly 40 million residents now holding accounts linked to digital assets, according to the head of the country’s newly formed virtual-asset regulator.
FBR beats two-month revenue target despite August shortfall
ISLAMABAD: The tax authority collected 901 billion rupees in August, missing its target by 29 billion rupees and leaving the pace of revenue growth well short of the roughly 17% annual increase required to meet a target tied to the country’s International Monetary Fund loan program.
Inflation seen near 11 percent in August as floods, credit slump threaten growth
ISLAMABAD: Inflation is projected to hold in a range of 10% to 11% in August, as global commodity and energy costs continue to pressure consumer prices even as the country contends with a slump in foreign investment and a deepening contraction in private-sector lending, the Finance Division said.
Petrol up, diesel down as Mideast war keeps pump prices on knife edge
ISLAMABAD: The government raised the retail price of petrol by 77 paisa a litre while cutting high-speed diesel by Rs1.03, the Petroleum Division said on Monday, the latest in a run of daily adjustments that have become the norm since the outbreak of the Iran war roiled global crude markets in late February.
Lawmakers challenge Pims fire probe over missing footage, disputed infant count
ISLAMABAD: Lawmakers in both houses of the parliament pressed officials on Monday over gaps in the investigation into a nursery fire that killed 14 infants at a major Islamabad hospital, with committee members in the National Assembly and Senate raising pointed questions about incomplete surveillance footage, uncertain casualty figures, and the qualifications of hospital leadership.