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FOOD insecurity across the world has reached unprecedented levels, with conflict, economic shocks, and climate extremes pushing millions to the edge of starvation, according to the Global Report on Food Crises. The situation is most harrowing in Gaza, where the entire population of 2.1m is facing high levels of acute food insecurity. As of March 2024, more than half the population was classified in IPC Phase 4 Emergency levels, while an alarming 50pc faced Catastrophe conditions (IPC Phase 5), the final stage before famine is officially declared. This is not just a humanitarian failure but a result of deliberate policy and sustained conflict. Gaza’s economy has collapsed under a 17-year blockade and repeated military escalations. By the end of 2024, 75pc of cropland, 57pc of greenhouses, and 68pc of wells had been destroyed. In north Gaza and Gaza governorates, 70pc of the population was surviving under Catastrophe-level conditions, relying almost entirely on inadequate humanitarian ai...

A child lost his life, while 11 others were injured in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkwa after trees and signboards fell due to strong winds and storms, officials said. Speaking to Dawn.com , Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmad Faizi said, “A storm hit several KP areas, including Charsadda, Nowshera, Peshawar and Mardan on Sunday evening.” The storm also hit parts of the capital Islamabad. Faizi said a 10-year-old boy, Mohammad Hamad, died when a wall of a house collapsed in the Najib Abad area of Charsadda, adding that the injured were moved to the respective areas’ hospitals. Due to the storm, the electricity supply was suspended in many areas of the city, due to which citizens had to face severe difficulties, he said. He said that the Disaster Response Team of Rescue 1122 was immediately dispatched to the affected areas and work was underway to remove fallen trees from the roads. At least three people were killed in Rawalpindi and Gujar Khan last month after an intense ha...

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LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Saturday distributed the copies of charge-sheet among 267 suspects, including several senior PTI leaders, and summoned them for indictment in the Jinnah House attack case next week. While incarcerated PTI leaders including ex-ministers Dr Yasmin Rashid, Mian Mehmoodur Rashid, ex-governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema and Senator Ejaz Chaudhry were produced before Judge Manzer Ali Gill, who conducted the hearing inside the Kot Lakhpat jail, the latter was informed that ex-minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was shifted to Punjab Institute of Cardiology for a cardiac complaint before the hearing commenced. Also, PTI’s former lawmakers Aliya Hamza Malik and Rubina Jamil, social media activists Sanam Javed and Tayyaba Raja, fashion designer Khadija Shah and other suspects out on bail attended the hearing inside the jail. Senior lawyers Burhan Moazam Malik and Rana Mudassir Umar appeared on behalf of the suspects. After being provided with the copies of the charge...

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would speak to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on Monday following talks between the two sides at which a Ukrainian official said Moscow’s negotiators voiced new demands before a ceasefire could be agreed. In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies preparations were underway for a conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump. The talks in Turkiye on Friday were the first time the sides had held face-to-face talks since March 2022, weeks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbour. A senior Ukrainian official familiar with the talks said Russian negotiators demanded Ukraine pull its troops out of all Ukrainian regions claimed by Moscow before they would agree to a ceasefire. Trump, writing on Truth Social, said he would speak with Putin to discuss stopping the war at 10am on Monday. “The subjects of the call will be, stopping the ‘bloodbath’ that is killing, on avera...

• FO says Islamabad’s restrained response reinforces deterrence, warns Pakistan will have no choice but to respond if India resumes hostilities • Insists govt remains committed to ceasefire • Indian defence minister signals aggressive stance, calls strikes a ‘trailer’ • Jaishankar reiterates any talks will be strictly bilateral ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday rejected India’s claim that recent military strikes had established a “new norm” in their tense bilateral relations, insisting that respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity remains the only acceptable standard in inter-state ties. The remarks by Foreign Office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan came amid a fragile ceasefire agreed upon on May 10, following India’s Operation Sindoor (vermilion, a traditional symbol of marriage worn by Hindu women) and Pakistani response codenamed Operation Bunyanum Marsoos (Iron Wall). Pakistan condemned the strikes as a violation of its sovereignty. “While India propagates the notion of e...

The police launched an investigation into the murder of locally renowned Ahmadi doctor, Sheikh Muhammad Mahmood, 58, who was shot dead in Punjab’s Sargodha on Friday. “We cannot comment on whether the doctor was targeted on a religious basis or for some other reason as it would be premature to say,” Sargodha District Police Officer Sohaib Ashraf told Dawn.com . He said one person was involved in the murder and the police were already gathering information after launching an investigation. The first information report of the incident was filed at Shahid Shaheed Police Station by a relative of Dr Mahmood under Pakistan Penal Code Section 302 (murder). It said the deceased was a practitioner at Sargodha’s Fatima Hospital and a renowned individual of the city. The complainant said he reached the hospital with the deceased around 2:35pm. The FIR stated that an individual wearing a uniform of the ‘Saaf Suthra Punjab’ initiative approached the deceased and took out a pistol while saying:...

• Attack on Deir al-Balah leaves buildings flattened • Hamas says Gaza ‘not for sale’ GAZA: Palestinian rescuers reported more than 100 people killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes on blockaded Gaza, where a US-backed organisation said it intends to begin distributing aid by the end of the month. Aid to Gaza has been cut off since March 2, a tactic Israel has said is intended to force concessions from Hamas, but the group insisted on Thursday that the restoration of humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged territory was “the minimum requirement” for talks. It also warned that Gaza was not “for sale” hours after US President Donald Trump, on a visit to the region, again floated taking over the territory and turning it into “a freedom zone”. Gaza’s civil defence agency said the death toll from Israeli bombardment since dawn on Thursday had risen to 103. Israel’s aid blockade preceded a resumption of military operations on March 18, ending a ceasefire that had largely halted hos...

President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates on a visit to the Gulf state that is expected to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence. Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states after hailing plans by Doha to invest $10 billion in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar. “I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. “Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion,” Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $1.4tn in the US over 10 years. Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed’s brother and the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds. “And all I can say is thank you very much,” Trump add...

QUETTA: A Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) rally came under grenade attack in Quetta on Wedn­esday, leaving a party worker and another man dead, police said. Ten persons were injur­ed. The PPP rally led by its former Balochistan chapter president Ali Madad Jattak and MPA Obai­dullah Gorgag was on its way to Railway Hockey Stad­ium to attend a public meeting to celebrate Paki­s­tan’s victory against the recent Indian aggression when it was attacked, officials said. Eyewitnesses said arm­ed men before hurling hand grenades fired into the air as the rally was passing through Munir Mengal Road in the Sariab area. Ali Madad Jattak and Obaid Gorgag, who were leading the rally, rema­ined unhurt as their personal guards covered them before shifting them away, they said. Police official Asif Ghafoor said, “The grenade exploded near the rally, injuring 11 party workers.” He said the injured were rushed to the Trauma Centre of the Civil Hospital, Quetta. “A PPP worker, Mehboob Ali Kurd, who rece...

• Policy-level budget talks set to begin on Monday • GDP growth projected at 3.6pc, inflation at 7.7pc • Revenue collection forecast to increase by Rs1.4tr • Fiscal deficit targeted at 5.1pc of GDP ISLAMABAD: As virtual technical-level discussions on the upcoming federal budget begin, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Pakistan’s total revenue to grow to nearly Rs20 trillion in the next fiscal year, up from the current estimate of less than Rs17.8tr, with an emphasis on tight expenditure controls to ensure sustainable debt servicing. After three days of technical discussions through video link, formal policy-level negotiations on budget finalisation are set to begin on Monday (May 19) and continue until Friday (May 23). The agreement between the IMF staff mission and the authorities on next year’s budgetary measures and macroeconomic framework would lead to the announcement of the federal budget on June 2. The IMF has already put on the table its projections for majo...

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court has removed the names of PTI leaders Raoof Hasan and Aleema Khan from no-fly lists and raised questions over the legality of the process to place people on these lists. IHC Justice Raja Inaam Ameen Minhas issued the order on Mr Hasan’s petition challenging the government’s move to place him on the PCL. The judgement highlighted loopholes in the current mechanism of adding citizens to travel restriction lists like the Provisional National Immigration List (PNIL) and Passport Control List (PCL) and Exit Control List (ECL). The court found the decision to restrict Mr Hasan’s movement was made without the requisite approval from the cabinet, as mandated by the Supreme Court. The decision was made solely by the Immigration & Passports director general, allegedly based on an FIA report. The court noted such unilateral decisions without the cabinet’s involvement or judicial scrutiny were a “recipe for abuse, especially in politically sensitive cases...

AS Pakistan and India count their casualties, tend to the wounded and grieve the fallen, the leaderships of the two nations, as well as their people, must ask themselves whether perennial conflict is in their individual interests. The military confrontations between the two nations last week provided just a small glimpse into the destruction that can be unleashed on both sides of the border in the event of an all-out war. The American president, who brokered a ceasefire between the two, has remarked that his administration helped prevent a nuclear exchange. If hostilities had reached that point, the leaderships of India and Pakistan would have failed their most fundamental duty: to prevent catastrophe. As nuclear nations, both countries have a duty to wield their powers with utmost responsibility and immense restraint. It is in the strategic interest of both nations to avoid all-out war, and ceasefires are not concessions but necessary steps to prevent irreparable damage. The Indian g...

• Islamabad rejects inflammatory rhetoric by Modi, says remarks ‘dangerous escalation’ rooted in misinformation • FO says will closely monitor Indian actions, take necessary measures to preserve rights under Indus treaty • Security forces jam, seize ‘Indian surveillance drone’ in Lahore ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan on Tuesday said it rem­ai­ned committed to the current ceasefire understanding with India, but any fut­ure aggression will be met with full resolve, as the Foreign Office lambasted a provocative spe­ech delivered by the Indian prime minister on May 12. A statement issued by the Foreign Office said that Pakistan rejected “the provocative and infla­mmatory assertions” made by the Indian premier, and the remarks were “a dangerous escalation rooted in misinformation, political opportunism, and a blatant disregard for international law”. In his speech, PM Modi had accused Pakistan of retaliating with strikes on Indian military and civilian targets, claiming that India’s air defence...

THE Pakistani and Chinese special envoys for Afghanistan were in Kabul on Sunday meeting various key ministers in the Afghan Taliban set-up under the banner of the trilateral dialogue mechanism linking the three neighbouring states. Such meet-ups are important for regional integration and security, and send the message that states in the region should cooperate and solve their problems themselves. Islamabad and Beijing’s envoys met the Afghan Taliban’s interior, foreign and commerce ministers, with regard to the main issues that concern all three states: security and trade. Afghan Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani called for “mutual respect and constructive engagement”, while Pakistan’s envoy Ambassador Mohammad Sadiq said “good neighbourly relations [and] regional stability” were emphasised. While no foreign state — including Pakistan and China — has recognised the Afghan Taliban regime, many states, especially in the wider region, have maintained diplomatic engagement with ...

• PCB to make a decision after franchises’ report • Organisers plan remaining eight matches from May 17 to 25 LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is aiming to hold the remaining eight matches of the Pakistan Super League — postponed due to the conflict with India — from May 17 provided foreign players return to the country. The six franchises have reached out to players, who were flown from the country on a charter flight over the weekend as the cross-border skirmishes with India intensified last week, to return after a ceasefire agreement was reached. “The franchises are in negotiations with their foreign players regarding the tentative dates of May 17 to 25 with Raw­a­lpindi proposed to be the ve­nue for the remaining matc­hes,” sour­ces told Dawn on Monday. The PSL was first moved to the UAE and subsequently postponed after an Indian drone crashed close to the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium last week. “As soon as the franchises confirm the availability of the foreign playe...

RAWALPINDI: Despite the reopening of Pakistan’s airspace following the ceasefire with India, flight operations — both domestic and international — remained disrupted across the country on Sunday, causing serious inconvenience to thousands of travellers. Cancellations and delays of inbound and outbound flights worsened the situation, with two major Gulf carriers yet to resume operations after the airspace was officially reopened by Pakistani authorities on Saturday evening. The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) had earlier issued a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) restricting the country’s airspace from 4am to 12pm on May 12. However, restrictions were lifted by 6pm on Saturday, after which some domestic flights resumed. Flight data from Islamabad International Airport showed that 30 scheduled flights — 25 of them operated by international airlines — were cancelled on Sunday. Similar disruptions were observed at Jinnah Inter­national Airport in Karachi and Allama Iqbal International Airpo...

• Emergency declared in LoC districts • Educational institutions across AJK to remain closed until further notice as civil defence seeks thorough safety sweeps • Thousands evacuated from LoC need humanitarian assistance • Affectees lack adequate privacy and safety MUZAFFARABAD: A day after Pakistan and India agreed to de-escalate tensions, internally displaced persons (IDPs) from vulnerable areas along the Line of Control (LoC) in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) found themselves caught in a dilemma — torn between the longing to return home and lingering doubts about the durability of the ceasefire. According to Sardar Waheed Khan, Director General of the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA), calm had largely prevailed along the LoC following the ceasefire agreement — except in Barnala sector of Bhimber district, where Indian shelling continued until 10:30 pm on Saturday before finally subsiding. He said intense shelling had officially displaced around 1,186 families across AJK...

The United States and China on Sunday said that progress had been made after a weekend of talks aimed at de-escalating trade tensions sparked by US President Donald Trump’s aggressive tariff rollout . The increasingly ugly trade spat between Washington and Beijing has rocked financial markets and raised fears of a global economic slowdown and an inflationary spike in the United States. “We’ve made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters in Geneva after the second day of discussions. “The talks were productive,” he said, taking no questions but promising a “complete briefing” on the outcome on Monday. In a statement on Sunday, which did not provide any additional details, the White House hailed what it called a new “trade deal” with China. China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng told reporters the meetings had achieved “substantial progress,” echoing Bessent’s remarks, and described th...

RAWALPINDI: Pakis­tan reopened its airspace for all types of flig­hts on Saturday as tensions eased with India following a ceasefire agreement. The two neighbouring nations closed their airspaces multiple times since Wednesday, when India launched missiles into Pakistan, triggering a series of hostilites. On Saturday evening, the Pakistan Airport Aut­hority (PAA) announced that the airspace has been fully restored for all types of flights and issued a fresh notice to airmen (NOTAM). “All airports in the country are available for normal flight operations,” a spokesman for PAA said. He requested passengers to contact the airline for the latest flight schedule. However, the normalisation of flight operations is expected to take time as passenger aircraft and other equipment were shifted to safe locations as a precaution during escalating tensions between Pakistan and India. Officials have said the aircraft are being brought back to the operational area for routine operations. The Pa...