Pakistan sees sharp drop in militant attacks, casualties for second straight month

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded a second consecutive month of markedly improved security conditions in April, with verified militant attacks falling by more than 40 percent and combat-related deaths declining sharply, according to a detailed report released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

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Inflation accelerates to 10.9 percent in April, overshooting finance ministry forecast

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s headline inflation quickened to 10.9% year-on-year in April, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reported on Friday, topping the government’s projection and highlighting the stubborn price pressures that prompted the central bank to raise interest rates for the first time in three years.

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Iran submits new proposal for US peace talks as Trump faces war-powers deadline and Hormuz crisis drags on

ISLAMABAD: Iran delivered a new proposal late on Thursday for a second round of negotiations with the United States aimed at ending the nearly nine-week war, Iranian state media and Pakistani officials involved in the mediation said on Friday, offering a potential opening in a diplomatic impasse that has kept global oil prices elevated and the Strait of Hormuz largely closed to commercial traffic.

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Security forces kill 13 militants in foiled Afghan border infiltrations; cross-border shelling kills 9 Pakistani civilians

ISLAMABAD: The security forces have killed at least 13 militants in two separate attempts to cross the Afghan border this week, the military said, in operations that underscored Islamabad’s deepening frustration with what it described as the Afghan Taliban government’s failure to control its side of the frontier.

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Imran Khan’s lawyers urge Islamabad court to grant release on humanitarian grounds, citing solitary confinement and eye ailment

ISLAMABAD: Lawyers for former prime minister Imran Khan told the Islamabad High Court on Thursday that their client should be freed on humanitarian and compassionate grounds, pointing to more than a year of solitary confinement and an untreated eye infection that have worsened his condition in prison.

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Trump receives briefing on Iran options as new supreme leader wows to safeguard nuclear program amid surging oil prices and Hormuz standoff

ISLAMABAD: President Donald Trump will receive a classified briefing on Thursday on US military options for the Strait of Hormuz and potential actions inside Iran, as the administration grapples with a punishing naval blockade that has driven energy prices to their highest levels in years and shown no sign of breaking an impasse with Tehran.

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