ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s finance ministry rejected allegations of irregularities in the country’s recent sovereign bond sales, pushing back against a lawmaker’s claim that officials passed over a more favourable Citigroup Inc. offer in favour of banks selected without competitive bidding.
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LPG industry warns of shortage, threatens strike over pricing dispute
LAHORE: Pakistan’s liquefied petroleum gas industry escalated a monthslong dispute with federal regulators this weekend, with importers warning of an imminent nationwide shortage and more than 1,000 industry representatives threatening to shut down operations entirely if their demands are not met within three days.
Gunmen kill five Punjab labourers in restive Balochistan province
QUETTA: Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire inside a barbershop in a remote corner of southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing five labourers from the country’s Punjab province in the latest assault targeting non-native workers in a region gripped by a decades-old separatist insurgency.
As fragile truce collapses, Pakistan presses US and Iran toward deescalation
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan issued an urgent appeal for restraint on Sunday as the United States and Iran exchanged their heaviest fire in months, with strikes and counterstrikes spreading across the Persian Gulf and threatening to unravel a fragile peace agreement Islamabad spent months helping to negotiate.
Gilgit-Baltistan moves to create glacier protection agency as flood warnings mount
GILGIT: The government of Gilgit-Baltistan announced on Saturday that it will establish a new authority dedicated to protecting the region’s glaciers, a step officials described as essential to confronting the accelerating effects of climate change in one of the most glaciated landscapes outside the polar regions.
One dead as police, protesters clash in Azad Kashmir
MUZAFFARABAD: A man was killed, and several others were hurt on Saturday when protesters clashed with law enforcement personnel on a mountain road connecting two district capitals in Azad Kashmir, the latest and deadliest flashpoint in a monthslong standoff that shows no sign of easing before a government deadline expires this week.
Pakistan’s crypto regulator meets top cleric to defend digital assets push
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top digital-assets regulator met with one of the country’s most influential Islamic scholars over the weekend, seeking to contain fallout from a religious ruling that cast doubt on the legitimacy of cryptocurrency under Shariah law just as the South Asian nation races to build out a regulatory framework for the industry.
Gwadar Port completes first commercial ship refuelling, adding to cargo business
KARACHI: Gwadar Port, the Chinese-backed deep-water facility on Pakistan’s southwestern coast, carried out its first commercial ship refuelling operation this week, a step toward the kind of marine-services business that port operators use to draw revenue beyond cargo handling.
Media regulator ends Geo News suspension, but warns network faces license revocation for any repeat violation
ISLAMABAD: Geo News, one of Pakistan’s most-watched television networks, resumed broadcasting shortly after midnight Sunday, ending a 15-day suspension that the country’s media regulator said was necessary after the channel aired religiously sensitive imagery during a special Muharram program last month.
Death toll from Balochistan militant sweep reaches 102
QUETTA: Security forces have killed 102 suspected militants across the restive southwestern province of Balochistan since July 5, military officials said Saturday, as a sweeping counterterrorism campaign launched after a series of coordinated attacks earlier this month showed no signs of slowing.