ISLAMABAD: Pakistan formally appointed the Asian Development Bank as transaction adviser for the outsourcing of Islamabad International Airport on Wednesday, deploying a multilateral institution for the first time in the country’s privatisation program as it works to meet commitments tied to its International Monetary Fund loan.
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FM Aurangzeb says Pakistan’s provincial funding formula is unsustainable
ISLAMABAD: Finance minister said the government must overhaul the formula that determines how the country distributes federal tax revenue among its four provinces, arguing that a system weighted overwhelmingly toward population size has become untenable as the nation grapples with one of the world’s fastest-growing populations.
ICC clears path for extra India-Pakistan clash in shake-up of 2027 World Cup
LAHORE: The International Cricket Council has torn up the format for next year’s men’s 50-over World Cup, introducing a change that could hand cricket’s most commercially valuable fixture — India against Pakistan — an additional airing.
Pakistan moves to shield Chinese mine after warning of shutdown over militant unrest
ISLAMABAD: The government pledged on Wednesday to significantly expand security around the country’s largest Chinese-operated copper and gold mine, responding to an unusually blunt warning from the mine’s operator that a monthlong spiral of violence in the southwestern province of Balochistan could force production to a halt within weeks.
Balochistan offensive kills three more militants, pushing toll past 125
QUETTA: Security forces killed three more militants on Wednesday as a joint military and police offensive in restive Balochistan province pushed its death toll to 88, state media reported, part of a broader crackdown that has claimed 126 lives since early July.
Pakistan’s farms are shrinking, and its aquifers are paying the price
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s farmland is fracturing into smaller and smaller pieces, and the water that irrigates it is slipping out of state hands entirely, according to the country’s newly released Agricultural Census, a survey that offers the most complete statistical picture yet of a rural economy in the middle of an unplanned transformation.
Bhutto-Zardari proposes truth panel as Kashmir region reels from deadly unrest
MUZAFFARABAD: The chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party proposed the creation of an independent truth and reconciliation commission on Wednesday to help end nearly six weeks of deadly unrest in Azad Kashmir, warning that continued bloodshed there was inflicting lasting damage on both the Kashmir cause and Pakistan’s standing abroad.
Karachi HIV cases linked to children’s hospital rise to 120, officials say
KARACHI: The number of people found to be infected with HIV in connection with a children’s hospital in Karachi has climbed to 120, provincial officials said Tuesday, as a public health investigation that began nine months ago continues to widen across working-class neighbourhoods in the city’s industrial quarter.
Trump threatens Iran’s power grid, bridges as Hormuz standoff enters fourth day of strikes
ISLAMABAD: US President Trump warned on Tuesday night that the United States would begin striking Iranian power plants and bridges next week if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table, escalating his rhetoric on the same day American forces carried out a fourth consecutive night of strikes against Iranian military targets and reimposed a naval blockade on the country’s ports.
Nine dead as security forces clash with banned Kashmiri rights group ahead of march – report
MUZAFFARABAD: At least nine people were killed on Tuesday in clashes between security forces and supporters of a banned civil rights group, officials said, a day before the group had vowed to march on the region’s capital in defiance of a monthlong government crackdown, media reports said.