Pakistan to vaccinate 19 million children against polio in nationwide drive after new cases

ISLAMABAD: The health authorities will begin a week-long door-to-door polio vaccination campaign from Sunday, targeting nearly 19 million children across 79 districts, officials said on Tuesday, in the latest push to eradicate a disease that remains endemic only in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

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Pakistan rejects CBS News report alleging it sheltered Iranian military aircraft during fragile US-Iran ceasefire

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Tuesday categorically rejected a CBS News report that accused Islamabad of quietly permitting Iranian military aircraft to park at one of its air bases while positioning itself as a mediator in the US-Iran conflict, dismissing the account as “misleading and sensationalised.”

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CM Bugti says plot to force girl into Islamabad suicide attack was foiled by intelligence agencies

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti said on Monday that the intelligence agencies had thwarted a plot to force a girl into carrying out a suicide bombing in the capital, Islamabad, an operation he described as a particularly egregious case of terrorists exploiting Baloch women and girls through blackmail and threats.

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Pakistan receives Qatari LNG cargo as second vessel heads through Hormuz amid US-Iran tensions

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has taken delivery of one liquefied natural gas cargo from Qatar, while a second tanker is en route through the Strait of Hormuz, officials said on Monday, marking a tentative resumption of supplies after weeks of disruption caused by the ongoing conflict between the US and Iran.

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Pakistan extends fuel-saving austerity measures to mid-June as oil crisis from Middle East war persists

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday ordered an extension of Pakistan’s stringent nationwide austerity program until June 13, prolonging a series of fuel-conservation and spending cuts imposed in March to shield the import-dependent economy from the fallout of soaring global oil prices.

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Pakistan warns Afghanistan of ‘decisive’ response after suicide bombing kills 15 police officers in northwest

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office summoned Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires on Monday and delivered a strong diplomatic protest over a suicide bombing that killed 15 police officers in the northwestern district of Bannu, accusing Afghan-based terrorists of masterminding the assault and reserving the right to retaliate.

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Trump says Iran ceasefire is ‘on life support’ after rejecting Tehran’s terms as ‘garbage’

ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump said on Monday that the tenuous ceasefire with Iran is “on life support” and “unbelievably weak,” a stark assessment delivered as the two sides traded fire over the weekend and Tehran formally rejected a US proposal to end the two-month-old conflict.

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Pakistan IT exports seen hitting record $4.6 billion this year as digital push accelerates

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was briefed on Monday that Pakistan’s information-technology exports are projected to hit $4.5 billion to $4.6 billion in the current fiscal year, the Prime Minister’s Office said, underscoring the government’s focus on expanding one of the country’s most dynamic sources of foreign exchange.

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