ISLAMABAD: Catastrophic floods in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province have wiped out 30 percent of the country’s wheat stocks, a senior business leader said on Thursday, raising fears of food shortages and soaring prices in the world’s eighth-largest wheat producer.
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Sugar crisis fuels windfall profits for mills linked to Sharif, Zardari, Tareen families
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s political dynasties, including the Sharifs, Zardaris, and Jahangir Tareen, have reaped an estimated Rs300 billion in sugar mill profits since exports were permitted in 2024, official records show, wielding policy influence to shield the industry as half the mill owners hold government or parliamentary posts.
Top court justice decries ‘hybrid system’ as dictatorship, laments judiciary’s failures
KARACHI: Supreme Court Justice Athar Minallah said Thursday that widespread references to a “hybrid system” in Pakistan amount to an admission of dictatorship, blaming a lack of constitutional governance for enabling elite capture to eclipse the rule of law.
Magnitude 5.9 quake rattles Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, no damage reported
ISLAMABAD: A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck Pakistan’s capital region and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday night, sending residents into the streets as tremors reverberated through Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and surrounding areas, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD).
US condemns suicide bombing at political rally in Balochistan province
ISLAMABAD: The United States on Thursday strongly condemned a suicide bombing that killed at least 15 people at a political rally in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, joining Pakistani leaders in denouncing the attack claimed by the Islamic State and pledging continued solidarity in the fight against terrorism.
Bandits kidnap 10 in retaliatory attack on Punjab highway, injuring three
RAHIM YAR KHAN: Bandits armed with assault rifles and rocket launchers ambushed vehicles on a major highway in southern Punjab province on Thursday morning, kidnapping 10 people and injuring three others in an attack that police said was retaliation for a drone strike on a criminal hideout a day earlier.
ADB approves $130 mln loan for Pakistan’s energy sector – ministry
ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $130 million loan for Pakistan’s energy sector to help promote clean energy and upgrade the country’s power transmission and distribution systems, the energy ministry said on Thursday.
ECP postpones by-elections in flood-ravaged Punjab as rivers surge and evacuations escalate
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s election commission has postponed by-elections in nine constituencies in Punjab province, overwhelmed by catastrophic flooding that has left dozens dead, millions displaced and rescue efforts stretched thin across the region.
Pakistan, China pledge to fast-track CPEC 2.0 projects, sign raft of MoUs in Beijing
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang reaffirmed their commitment on Thursday to advancing the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a multibillion-dollar infrastructure initiative central to their strategic partnership, during a meeting Sharif described as “warm and most productive.”
Divided IHC adopts contentious rules, senior judges in revolt
ISLAMABAD: A deeply divided Islamabad High Court (IHC) adopted the High Court Establishment (Appointment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2025, on Wednesday, pushing through a contentious set of regulations despite fierce opposition from senior judges, Dawn newspaper reported on Thursday.