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• NHA gave all contracts worth Rs170bn to a previously blacklisted firm • Committee orders cancellation of current bidding process ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Division on Monday uncovered what it called “massive corruption, ghost tendering and illegal contracts” in the Rs170 billion Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation (CAREC) Tranche-III corridor project , after all four contracts were awarded to a single firm previously blacklisted by the National Highway Authority (NHA). The committee, chaired by Senator Saifullah Abro, reprimanded the NHA for favouring the Chinese firm Ningxia Communication Construction (NXCC), which had been disqualified in 2023 for failing to complete a previous project. The committee directed the NHA to cancel the current bidding process and initiate a fresh one. “The Chinese company, terminated by NHA, was disqualified in 2023 after being awarded a contract of Rs6.86 billion for the Lodhran-Multan project in 2021, w...

WASHINGTON: As the world grapples with escalating conflicts, deepening geopolitical rifts, and growing doubts over the efficacy of multilateral institutions, Pakistan assumes the presidency of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, taking on a symbolic but strategic role at a particularly fraught moment. This marks Pakistan’s eighth term on the 15-member body and its first presidency since 2013. Islamabad began its current two-year term as a non-permanent member in January 2025 and will serve through the end of 2026. Talking to Dawn , Pakistan’s Permanent Rep­resentative to the UN, Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, noted the challenges that define the current international landscape. “Pakistan is going to assume the presidency of the United Nations Security Council at a time of global tumult marked by growing instability, escalating conflicts, complex geopolitical and geostrategic landscape, and serious threats to international peace and security,” he said. A familiar role ...

The Punjab Food Authority (PFA) on Monday sealed suspected food outlets after two girls died from alleged food poisoning in Gujranwala’s Eminabad, a notification said. International kabaddi player and father of victims Naveed Pehlwan told Dawn.com that the family had ordered food during a birthday party. “The family, including me, my wife and five children, were taken to the hospital after feeling sick,” he said. He added that two of the children, an 8-year-old and a 4-year-old, passed away while two others were in critical condition. “On the directions of Punjab Food Authority Director General Muhammad Asim Javaid, food safety teams conducted a crackdown in Eminabad following the alleged death of two minor girls due to toxic food,” according to a PFA handout seen by Dawn.com . The operations were carried out from the identification of the suspected food outlets by the family, the statement read. It said, “During the raid, two food outlets were sealed and various food samples, i...

China has rolled over $3.4 billion in loans to Pakistan, two senior Pakistani government officials told Reuters on Sunday, in a move that will help boost Islamabad’s foreign exchange reserves, a requirement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Beijing rolled over $2.1bn, which has been in Pakistan’s central bank’s reserves for the last three years, and refinanced another $1.3bn commercial loan, which Islamabad had paid back two months ago, the sources said. The officials asked not to be named as they were not authorised to discuss the matter publicly ahead of an official announcement. Another $1bn from Middle Eastern commercial banks and $500 million from multilateral financing have also been received, one of the officials said. “This brings our reserves in line with the IMF target,” he said. The loans, especially those from China, are critical to shoring up Pakistan’s low foreign reserves, which the IMF required to be over $14bn at the end of the current fiscal year on Jun...

• Reduction to benefit consumers in all categories, except ‘lifeline’ domestic users, using up to 50 units per month • Relief worked out based on Nepra’s tariff determination, power purchase price, reduced subsidies under IMF deal • Regulator to hold public hearing on Tuesday to consider Centre’s application ISLAMABAD: The government wants to reduce the electricity price for consumers across the country starting July 1, it emerged on Sunday. The federal government has filed a petition with the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), requesting a Rs1.15 per unit reduction in the tariff. The change would be applicable to all but lifeline domestic consumers. The power division has advised against any change in electricity rates for the first two lifeline slabs of domestic consumers, as they were already over-subsidised. Nepra has called a public hearing on July 1 to complete the formality before notification and application of the revised tariff. According to the pet...

US President Donald Trump branded the winner of New York City’s mayoral Democratic primary a “pure communist” in remarks that aired Sunday, an epithet the progressive candidate dismissed as political theatrics. Zohran Mamdani’s shock win last week against a scandal-scarred political heavyweight resonated as a thunderclap within the party, and drew the ire of Trump and his collaborators, who accused Mamdani of being a radical extremist. The Republican’s aggressive criticism of the self-described democratic socialist is sure to ramp up over the coming months as Trump’s party seeks to push Democrats away from the political centre and frame them as too radical to win major US elections. “He’s pure communist” and a “radical leftist … lunatic,” Trump fumed on Fox News talk show ‘Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo’. “I think it’s very bad for New York,” added Trump, who grew up in the city and built his sprawling real estate business there. “If he does get in, I’m going to be ...

MARSEILLE: South­ern Europeans braced on Saturday for the first heatwave of the northern hemisphere summer, as climate change pushes thermometers on the world’s fastest-warming continent increasingly into the red. Temperatures are set to rise to 37 degrees Celsius (99 Fahrenheit) in Rome, driving the Eternal City’s many tourists and pilgrims to the Vatican alike towards the Italian capital’s 2,500 public fountains for refreshment. With residents of the southern French port city of Marseille expected to have to cope with temperatures flirting with 40C (104F), authorities in city ordered public swimming pools to be made free of charge to help residents beat the Mediterranean heat. Two-thirds of Portugal will be on high alert on Sunday for extreme heat and forest fires, with 42C (108F) expected in the capital Lisbon, while visitors to — and protesters against — Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos’s Friday wedding in Venice likewise sweltered under the summer sun. The heatwave is forecast to b...

The United States and the Group of Seven nations have agreed to support a proposal that would exempt US companies from some components of an existing global agreement, the G7 said in a statement on Saturday. The group has created a “side-by-side” system in response to the US administration agreeing to scrap the Section 899 retaliatory tax proposal from President Donald Trump’s tax and spending bill, it said in a statement from Canada, the head of the rolling G7 presidency. The G7 said the plan recognises existing US minimum tax laws and aims to bring more stability to the international tax system. G7 officials said that they look forward to discussing a solution that is “acceptable and implementable to all”. In January, through an executive order, Trump declared that the global corporate minimum tax deal was not applicable in the US, effectively pulling out of the landmark 2021 arrangement negotiated by the Biden administration with nearly 140 countries. He had also vowed to impo...

PESHAWAR: Following the Constitutional Bench’s decision to render the PTI ineligible for reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, the number of opposition members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly is expected to jump from 27 to 52. Currently, the 120-strong house has 93 PTI-backed MPAs, who were elected as independents, while 25 seats reserved for women and non-Muslims were vacant due to the cases pending before the apex court. After the increase in their stre­ngth, the opposition members will be in a position to requisition assembly sessions. So far, they did not have sufficient numbers for the purpose. Friday’s judgement restored several March 2024 notifications of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to declare 25 candidates of opposition parties elected to rese­rved seats in the provincial assembly. On May 13, 2024, the ECP had suspended several notifications, declaring MNAs and MPAs as returned on reserved seats, in light of an earlier order of the Supr...

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that he is calling off trade negotiations with Canada in retaliation for taxes impacting major US tech firms, adding that Ottawa will learn of their tariff rate within a week. “Based on this egregious tax, we are hereby terminating all discussions on trade with Canada, effective immediately,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. He added that Canada will soon find out the levy it needs to pay to do business in the United States, calling his country’s northern neighbour “very difficult” to trade with. Washington has previously taken issue with Canada’s digital services tax, requesting dispute settlement talks last year over the matter. While Canada’s digital services tax is not new — it was enacted last year — US service providers are “on the hook for a multi-billion dollar payment in Canada” by June 30, noted the Computer and Communications Industry Association. While Canada has been spared from some of Trump’s...

• 41 demands for grants okayed; eight cut motions presented by opposition rejected • Bill to set up autism centre tabled, among others • Treasury MPA slams ‘illegal raid’ by police LAHORE: The Punjab Asse­mbly on Thursday passed a tax-free budget worth Rs5.33tr for the fiscal year 2025-26 with a majority vote. It also passed the Finance Bill 2025-26. No new taxes have been imposed in the budget, and the existing tax structure also remains unchanged. There are no changes to provincial revenues, property tax, or transport tax. No additional taxes have been levied on any sector, including industry, agriculture, health, or education. The focus of the budget, in the words of Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, was on development, with 18 new projects allocated funds across various sectors as the government aimed to stay the course by encouraging economic activity without further tightening the tax net. Prior to this, 41 demands for grants totaling over Rs4,31bn for various depar...

• Asks govt to revise document to ensure it is easily understood • Calls registrars’ role vital in safeguarding interests of men, women ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has ordered the government to simplify Nikahnamas and ensure that nikah registrars are qualified, knowledgeable and persons of integrity to preserve the rights of the bride and groom in a marriage. The directions were issued in a verdict released on Thursday. The verdict was authored by Justice Athar Minallah, who was part of a three-judge bench that heard appeals filed by a man and woman who disagreed over the provisions of dower mentioned in the Nikahnama. Fakhra Jabeen, the woman, filed an appeal against the Dec 13, 2021, verdict of the Lahore High Court, which held that entries in the Nikahnama must always be interpreted in favour of the groom because he has to bear the burden of the liabilities recorded in the contract. In the 22-page judgement, Justice Minallah regretted the large number of disputes reaching the...

Magazine legend Anna Wintour is stepping down as editor of fashion bible US Vogue after 37 years in the post, US media reported on Thursday. British-born Wintour, 75, has been one of the most influential and formidable figures in fashion and magazine journalism for decades, famous for her ever-present sunglasses and unchanging bob haircut. She was widely seen as the inspiration behind The Devil Wears Prada , a hit 2003 novel and 2006 movie, in which the role of a tyrannical magazine editor was played by Meryl Streep. Wintour, who took the helm at US Vogue in 1988, announced her departure at a staff meeting, but she will stay on as group owner Conde Nast’s global chief content officer and as editorial director at Vogue , People magazine reported. Several other publications also reported this news. Wintour, who held the title of Vogue’s editor-in-chief, was made a British dame in 2017 and in February this year was made a companion of honour, joining a select group never numbering...

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday approved over Rs636.65 billion in budget demands for grant for the fiscal year 2025-26, covering crucial sectors like police, health, and education. Finance Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja lauded the budget as “people-friendly” and dismissed all objections from the opposition. The session, presided over by Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan, began with a three-hour and 33-minute delay. The opposition continued their vocal protests, prompting the Speaker to humorously inquire if they were chanting against “Modi” or “Yahoodi” (Jews), which drew laughter from the treasury benches. Summing up the five-day budget debate, the minister emphasised that it was a “progressive and balanced budget” aligning with public aspirations. He highlighted a significant increase in the development budget to Rs1,240bn for the current fiscal year, compared to Rs840bn previously. He also noted substantial reductions in non-development expenditures and the circular debt. ...

PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan. • PTI’s Ali Muhammad Khan asks whether decision had cabinet nod • Demands parliament be briefed on Trump-COAS meeting • Sibghatullah criticises Trump’s role in Israel’s war on Palestine • NA approves demands for grants of Rs51.6tr for various ministries ISLAMABAD: Opposition lawm­akers on Tuesday strongly condemned the government’s decision to nominate US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, demanding an explanation for the controversial move. The government recently posted on X that Mr Trump deserved the award “in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis”. Opposition members questioned the basis of the nomination and sought clarification on what led to such a decision. Meanwhile, in a significant development towards the passage of the upcoming fiscal year’s budget, the National Assembly approved 108 demands for grants for various ministries and divisions, amou...

• Region to receive Rs80bn in federal grant; size of ADP to be Rs22bn • Opposition slams budget as ‘anti-poor’ GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan finance minister on Monday unveiled the region’s Rs148.63 billion budget for fiscal year 2025-26. The budget was presented by Speaker Nazir Ahmed Advocate. Addressing the session, Finance Minister Muhammad Ismail said Rs88.19bn has been allocated for non-development and Rs37bn billion for development expenditures. As per the minister, the region will get Rs80bn in federal grant for the next financial year. Moreover, Rs20bn has been allocated for the purchase of subsidised wheat. The size of Annual Development Plan will be Rs22bn, with Rs11bn allocated for PSDP projects. Moreover, Rs59.60bn has been allocated for the salaries of government employees; Rs28.29bn for service delivery and administrative matters, including health, education, basic facilities, peace and electricity supply; and Rs80 million for regional elections to be held in Novem...

• Shipping and insurance costs could soar if key oil route shut, warn business leaders • Global oil prices retreat 4pc KARACHI: The potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most critical oil transit chokepoints —could deal a devastating blow to Pakistan’s already fragile economy, with soaring production, shipping, and insurance costs threatening industrial output, exports, and employment. Zubair Motiwala, Chairman of the Businessmen Group (BMG) and former CEO of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), warned that a shutdown of the Strait—located between Iran and Oman—would significantly disrupt supply chains. “Our imports of raw materials, 30 to 40pc of which pass through this route, would become prohibitively expensive, making continued production unsustainable,” he said. Motiwala noted that freight markets were already strained due to the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict . He pointed to Iran’s parliament approving a move to close the Strait i...

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Senator Kamran Murtaza on Monday submitted a resolution in the Senate against the government’s decision to nominate US President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Iran. The government had decided to nominate Trump for the prestigious award to hail his “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during last month’s Pak-India conflict , when both neighbours stepped back from the brink of war with US mediation . In a statement , it had highlighted that Trump “demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship through robust diplomatic engagement with both Islamabad and New Delhi”, which ultimately secured a ceasefire. However, after the US bombed Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites, with Trump saying they were “totally obliterated”, leaders across the political spectrum joined citizens in voicing their reservations. In the resolution dated today, a copy of whi...

TEHRAN: Iranians take part in a protest against the US attack on nuclear sites.—Reuters DUBAI / TEHRAN: Should Iran escalate the conflict through retaliation against US interests, or, as President Donald Trump has called on them to do, negotiate, which in practice means giving up all nuclear enrichment inside Iran? Iran has been exchanging fire with Israel for over 10 days now, but retaliating against the US brings a whole new level of risk, for the whole region. Andreas Krieg, a senior lecturer at King’s College London, called the US action a “high-risk operation that delivers unpredictable outcomes”, given the facility was deep underground. According to Krieg, Iran will seek a “calibrated response — loud enough to resonate, but measured enough to contain”. According to the BBC ’s Frank Gardner, there are three different strategic courses of action now open to Iran. Iran is confronted with three strategic courses of action: retaliate soon, retaliate later, or not at all N...

• Pakistan condemns attack on nuclear facilities • Premier holds call with Iranian president; call US action ‘violation of international law’ • Iranian envoy hints at retaliatory strikes on American bases ISLAMABAD: An emergency meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) will be held today (Monday) to discuss the regional situation after the US airstrike on three nuclear facilities in Iran. The NSC, chaired by the prime minister and comprising the top brass of both civil and military leadership, is the highest forum for security deliberations. Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) told Dawn that the NSC meeting will be held on Monday evening. Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir will also attend the meeting. The field marshal, who recently returned from a trip to the US, will brief the committee on the details of his meeting with US President Donald Trump. Pakistan condemns strikes The US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which came four days aft...

At least 20 people were killed and dozens injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Mar Elias Church in the Dweila neighbourhood of the Syrian capital Damascus on Sunday, health authorities and security sources said. It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar al-Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led rebel insurgency in December. Syria’s interior ministry said the suicide bomber was a member of Islamic State. “He entered the church, opened fire and then detonated his explosive vest,” a ministry statement added. A security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two men were involved in the attack, including the one who blew himself up. Islamic State has been behind several attempted attacks on churches in Syria since Assad’s fall, but this was the first to succeed, another security source told Reuters . Syria’s state news agency cited the health ministry as saying that 52 people were also injured in the blast. A livestream from the site by Syria’...

Pakistan, where press freedom has perpetually remained under curbs and the media landscape faces multiple challenges, has once again been excluded from the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s (RISJ) annual report — a North Star for insights on the state of the media industry. The Digital News Report by RSIJ, a research centre at the University of Oxford, sheds light on trends in global digital news media and offers the most comprehensive snapshot of how news is consumed, trusted, paid for and shaped by technology globally. The latest report, published last week, included data from six continents and 48 markets. The 14th report found that the dependence on social media and video platforms is growing and that in some countries, influencers are playing a significant role in shaping debates. Experts say challenges like media curbs, lack of innovation make it all more important for insight from nation to be studied It revealed news podcasts are reaching more younger and ...

ISLAMABAD: The pre­sence of poliovirus has been confirmed in seven distri­cts across all four provinces. The Regional Refer­ence Laboratory for Polio Era­dication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) tested sewage samples from nine districts, of which seven were found positive for the presence of poliovirus. A sewage sample from an area is the basic parameter used to identify the presence of the virus in an area. It determines if polio vaccination campaigns were resulting in the desired immunity among children. An NIH official said wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) was detected in sewage samples collected from Gwadar, Quetta, South Waziristan Lower, South Waziristan Upper, Rawalpindi, Larkana and Mirpurkhas. The two negative samples were collected from Pishin and Lahore. The official explained that if the virus is found in sewage, it is called a positive sample and whenever a child is paralysed with the virus, it is called a positive case. After the virus is detected in sew...

LONDON: Britain’s parliament took a historic step towards allowing euthanasia on Friday when MPs backed contentious legislation that would introduce assisted dying for terminally ill people. Lawmakers in the lower House of Commons chamber voted 314 in favour to 291 to send the proposal to the upper House of Lords for further scrutiny following four hours of emotional debate. The outcome sparked celebrations among supporters gathered outside parliament who say legalised euthanasia will give people with an incurable illness dignity and choice at the end of their lives. But opponents attending a neighbouring counter-protest said they feared vulnerable people could be coerced into dying and urged lawmakers to focus on improving palliative care instead. Outcome sparks celebrations among supporters outside parliament The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill would allow assisted suicide in England and Wales for adults who have been given less than six months to live. They would h...

The Pakistani government has decided to formally recommend US President Donald Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his “decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership” during the recent India-Pakistan crisis . In a post shared on X, the government said the international community had “bore witness to unprovoked and unlawful Indian aggression, which constituted a grave violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, resulting in the tragic loss of innocent lives, including women, children, and the elderly”. Following the Indian aggression, Pakistan “launched Operation Bunyanum Marsoos — a measured, resolute, and precise military response”, the post read. It noted that the response was executed to exercise the country’s “fundamental right to self-defence” and “carefully to re-establish deterrence”, defending its “territorial integrity while consciously avoiding civilian harm”. The post further read that “at a moment of heightened regional t...

Afghanistan is in discussions with Russia to import certain foodstuffs as the conflict between Israel and Iran, one of its largest trading partners, risked cutting off supplies, its agriculture minister told Reuters . As relations between Russia and the Taliban government have been improving , an Afghan delegation is visiting Russia’s main economic conference in St Petersburg this week, meeting Russian agriculture officials. “Afghanistan is definitely aiming for self-sufficiency in its agricultural products. However, we still rely on some food items that come from Iran, and if problems arise there, it will undoubtedly have its effects,” Ataullah Omari said on the sidelines of the conference. Iran supplies Afghanistan with some dairy products, among other commodities, and there is widespread concern that the week-old war between Israel and Iran could disrupt trade flows. Russia — the world’s largest wheat exporter — and Kazakhstan are the main suppliers of wheat and flour to Afghan...

QUETTA: Amid tight security, Pakistani pilgrims, students and business people returning from Iran continued to pour into the provincial metropolis. Officials said that Pakistanis were returning from different cities of Iran, starting from the first batch that reached Taftan via passenger coaches on Monday night. Over the past three days, around 1,400 Pakistani pilgrim and some 400 students have crossed back, of whom 481 people who crossed via Taftan, reached Quetta on Thursday night. “We are providing all facilities to the Pakistanis coming back to the country on their arrival at Taftan and shifting them in Pakistan House,” Assistant Commissioner Taftan Naeem Qasim Shahwani said. The official said that on Wednesday, a convoy of five coaches carrying around 200 people arrived in Quetta from Taftan. Among them were 80 pilgrims and 120 students who had earlier reached Taftan by bus from Iran. In Gwadar, the return of Pakistani citizens also continued through the Gabad-Rimdan cross...

Roughly one month ago, from the stage at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia, US President Donald Trump issued a warning to Iran that would prove prophetic. “We’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or nuclear attack,” Trump told the crowd, sending a message to the leadership in Tehran. “The time is right now for them to choose. Right now. We don’t have a lot of time to wait. Things are happening at a very fast pace.” That May 13 ultimatum received little attention at the time. But behind the scenes, the president already knew an attack on Iran could be imminent — and that there might be little he could do to stop it, according to two US officials. By mid-May, the Pentagon had begun drawing up detailed contingency plans to aid Israel if it followed through on its long-held ambition to strike Iran’s nuclear programme, the officials said. And the US had already diverted thousands of defensive weapons away from war-torn Ukraine toward the Middle East ...