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			<title>Iran says ‘no planned negotiations’ with US in coming days as Washington says Doha meeting set for tomorrow</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615546/iran-and-us-agree-to-halt-attacks-and-renew-talks-us-official-says</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615546/iran-and-us-agree-to-halt-attacks-and-renew-talks-us-official-says#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 05:12:08 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Foreign Ministry spokesman says expert delegation to visit Doha this week to follow up on release of frozen assets]]>
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				<![CDATA[Iran said on Monday that no negotiations&rdquo; with the United States&nbsp;were scheduled at any level in the coming days, stressing that its priority remained&nbsp;the implementation of their memorandum of understanding on ending the war.

Esmaeil Baqaei, Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Ministry and negotiating team spokesman, told reporters that Tehran was currently focused on ensuring the implementation of the memorandum&rsquo;s provisions and was&nbsp;&ldquo;seriously pursuing&rdquo; its demands in that regard, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.&nbsp;

Baqaei said the US had already issued the necessary licences under Article 10 of the memorandum related to oil sales and that Iran was following the implementation process.

On Article 11 concerning the release of Iran&rsquo;s frozen assets, he said the implementation process was also underway and that an Iranian expert delegation would travel to Doha later this week to follow up on the matter.

He added that Iran had not yet entered the stage of negotiations for a final agreement, saying Article 13 of the memorandum stipulates that talks on a comprehensive deal &ldquo;can only begin&rdquo; after the implementation of Articles 1, 4, 5, 10 and 11 and their continued enforcement.

Baqaei also denied reports about a possible meeting with senior US representatives in Doha during the Iranian delegation&rsquo;s visit, saying any US trip to Qatar would have no connection to Iran&rsquo;s technical mission there.

&ldquo;There will be no negotiation meeting with the American side at any level in the coming days,&rdquo; he said.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said earlier&nbsp;that Iran had requested a meeting, which would take place in Doha on Tuesday (tomorrow), without providing further details.

&quot;Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha,&quot; Trump wrote in all capital letters in a Truth Social post.



His statement came after Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stated that technical working group meetings under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding were not scheduled for this week.

Iran says $6b of its funds in Qatar &lsquo;should be released&rsquo; under US deal

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Monday that $6 billion of Iran&rsquo;s funds held in Qatar &ldquo;should be released&rdquo; and returned to the country under the agreement with the US, according to Iranian media.

&ldquo;Based on the plans made, $6 billion out of a total of $12 billion of Iran&rsquo;s funds in Qatar should be released and returned to the country,&rdquo; Pezeshkian said during a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Shobeiri Zanjani, according to ISNA news agency.

He added that &ldquo;necessary follow-ups are underway&rdquo; for the return of the remaining funds.

Iran says technical working group meetings under the memorandum with US not scheduled this week

Iran&#39;s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Monday that technical working group meetings under the Iran-U.S. memorandum of understanding were not scheduled for this week, Iran&#39;s Tasnim news agency reported.

Earlier, a source with knowledge of the talks told Reuters that Iranian and US technical teams working on implementing the MoU would be meeting in the coming days.

Gharibabadi also said consultations between Iran and Qatar regarding the US commitments were continuing as planned but that technical working group talks in Doha had not been confirmed.

&ldquo;Although consultations with Qatar &ndash; including on following up on the implementation of the other party&rsquo;s commitments &ndash; are ongoing as usual the news from some media outlets that technical talks by the working groups will be held in Doha cannot be confirmed,&rdquo; Gharibabadi said in a statement on Telegram, according to Al Jazeera.

&ldquo;The first round of technical talks within the framework of the designated working groups will be held when conditions are met, and after an agreement is reached on the date and location. Consultations in this regard are continuing through intermediary countries,&rdquo; he added.

Iran, Oman hold first meeting of joint committee of Strait of Hormuz, Gharibabadi says

Iran and Oman have conducted the first meeting of a joint committee on the Strait of Hormuz in Muscat, the Iranian deputy foreign minister said on his X account on Monday.



در سفر به مسقط، اولین نشست کمیته مشترک هرمز با عبدالعزیز الهنایی، وزیر مشاور در امور خارجه عمان برگزار شد. ضمن مرور مسائل جاری در رابطه با تنگه، درباره مدیریت آینده تنگه در چارچوب بند پنج یادداشت تفاهم اسلام آباد و حقوق حاکمیتی دولت&zwnj;های ساحلی تبادل نظر کردیم. pic.twitter.com/m26EBHWwhn
&mdash; Gharibabadi (@Gharibabadi) June 29, 2026


Kazem Gharibabadi said him and Oman&#39;s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Al-Hinai had exchanged views on Gulf coastal states&#39; sovereign rights as well as on the strait&#39;s future management based on the interim deal signed this month by Tehran and Washington.

&quot;We exchanged views on the future management of the Strait within the framework of...the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding,&quot; he wrote.

Hormuz traffic drops after fresh vessel attacks fuel security concerns

Commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz continued at a reduced pace over the weekend after attacks on two vessels renewed concerns over the safety of one of the world&rsquo;s most important energy chokepoints.

Tracking data showed that some open transits were still taking place after a Singapore-registered container ship, Ever Lovely, was damaged on June 25 and the Panama-flagged tanker M/T Kiku was hit on June 27.

The continued crossings suggest some operators are still prepared to use the waterway, but the slowdown points to uneven confidence among shipowners, insurers and charterers after the latest escalation.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore said Ever Lovely sustained minor damage to its bridge area from an unknown projectile while leaving the strait, adding that the vessel later completed its transit and that all 21 crew members were safe.

The US Central Command said Iranian forces struck M/T Kiku with a one-way attack drone while the tanker was sailing near the Strait of Hormuz with more than 2 million barrels of crude oil. CENTCOM said it carried out additional strikes against Iranian targets in response.

Despite the attacks, several vessels still moved through the waterway over the weekend, including empty very large crude carriers entering the Persian Gulf and loaded tankers leaving it.

A French-registered container ship, CMA CGM Galapagos, also exited the strait and later anchored off Muscat, Oman, according to maritime sources. The vessel had been among ships trapped in the Persian Gulf since the conflict began in late February.

Meanwhile, tracking platform Windward data showed that on 27 June, 24 vessels transited inbound and 16 outbound through the Strait of Hormuz &ndash; 40 in total.

Inbound traffic was tanker-heavy (13 of 24) with strong Iranian-flag representation: Touskla, Dan, Hawk and Jairan. Outbound flow was northern-corridor dominant, with roughly 4.1M barrels of crude moving out aboard three laden tankers.

The movement of empty tankers into the Gulf remains important for regional energy producers seeking to restart exports after months of disruption. VLCCs are needed to load crude at Gulf terminals, and any hesitation among shipowners could slow the recovery of oil flows even if diplomatic talks continue.

The Joint Maritime Information Center raised the maritime security threat level in the Strait of Hormuz to &ldquo;substantial&rdquo; after the latest attacks, warning vessels about mines and naval activity linked to mine-clearing operations.

Shipowner sentiment remains mixed. Some vessels that had recently abandoned or delayed crossings have not made new attempts, while others have used either the Iranian-designated northern route or the southern lane close to Oman.

US envoy to UN says Iran&rsquo;s leverage over Hormuz &lsquo;diminishing day by day&rsquo;

Mike Waltz says Iran stands &ldquo;completely isolated&rdquo; over its push to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz and its leverage over the waterway is &ldquo;diminishing by the day&rdquo;.

Speaking after the US and Iran traded strikes following attacks on two ships in the strait, Waltz told Fox News that Gulf Arab states were already building alternatives with the UAE and Saudi Arabia both expanding oil pipelines that bypass the waterway.

He added that the US will &ldquo;create alternatives to our [military] basing posture&rdquo; in the Middle East by &ldquo;hardening some&rdquo; and possibly moving others underground. &ldquo;So this leverage that Iran thinks it has now is diminishing faster and faster, literally every week as we speak,&rdquo; he said.

Waltz said even China had opposed fees or tolls in the strait and claimed that Oman had rejected Iran&rsquo;s proposal to help set up the necessary infrastructure. &ldquo;So they&rsquo;re completely isolated here,&rdquo; he said.

The diplomat warned Iran that it risks a &ldquo;path to absolute ruin&rdquo; and said Trump&rsquo;s patience &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t going to last forever&rdquo;.

French president, Saudi crown prince discuss US-Iran escalation

Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed bin Salman have discussed the latest developments between the US and Iran during a phone call on Sunday, according to the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA), according to Al Jazeera.

The agency said the two leaders discussed the &ldquo;efforts being made to reach comprehensive solutions that achieve security and stability of the region&rdquo;.

They also emphasised the importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and supporting diplomatic efforts to de-escalate tensions.

Iran and US agree to halt attacks and renew talks, US official says

Iran and the United States ​agreed to halt recent hostilities in the Gulf and renew talks regarding their dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a US official said on Sunday, raising &zwnj;hopes of saving an interim peace deal that was under pressure from days of tit-for-tat strikes.

&ldquo;Technical talks are slated to continue on all areas of the MOU. Both sides will stand down for now, and vessels can move freely,&quot; the official said, referring to the 14-point memorandum of understanding that was agreed on June 17 under which the strait would be reopened for traffic.

Axios, which first reported the cessation ​of hostilities, citing a senior US official, said talks would resume on Tuesday in Qatar.

A return to diplomacy would follow several days of strikes and counterstrikes since ​an Iranian projectile hit a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, with both the US and Iran accusing the ⁠other of breaking an interim ceasefire that was agreed to on June 17.

Iran launched missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain early on Sunday, shortly ​after Trump threatened that the Islamic Republic would cease to exist if it did not honour the agreement to end the war.

Read: Pakistan moves to salvage fragile ceasefire

Meanwhile, Israel claimed on Sunday it had once ​again struck Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, claiming it destroyed underground infrastructure used by the group in a village in southern Lebanon. That came after another strike on Saturday, which closely followed its latest ceasefire deal with Lebanon on Friday. Iran says the fighting in Lebanon must end if the wider agreement is to stick.

The US military said earlier it had struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in ​the Strait of Hormuz, the world&#39;s most important energy shipping route, which Tehran has largely closed for most of the conflict.

&quot;There may come a point when we are no ​longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,&quot; Trump said on social media, before the Axios report.

&quot;If that happens, the Islamic Republic &zwnj;of Iran ⁠will no longer exist!&quot; he added.

The 14-point interim peace accord was meant to halt the fighting, which the US and Israel started on February 28, and reopen the strait while talks proceeded on issues such as Iran&#39;s nuclear program.

Violence, accusations follow peace deal

One round of mediated talks, led by Vice President JD Vance and Iran&#39;s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, was held in Switzerland a week ago, and Washington waived sanctions on Tehran, but fighting has since resumed and intensified.

About an hour after Trump&#39;s post, Kuwait&#39;s army said its air defences were responding ​to missile and drone attacks, while Bahrain ​said sirens had sounded there.

Iran&#39;s Islamic ⁠Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement its navy and air forces had launched missile and drone operations targeting US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The Guards said US strikes had violated the ceasefire and &quot;will result in the complete halt of all diplomatic processes&quot;, state-run ​Press TV said. The IRGC Navy command said American bases in the region &quot;will experience hell in the coming days&quot;.

Read more: Iran and US step up attacks and threaten to escalate

A US official, ​confirming Iran had targeted ⁠US facilities, told Reuters there were no reported US casualties or major damage to US sites in the Middle East but the situation was still unfolding.

Hours later, alarms sounded for a second time in Bahrain, where authorities said an Iranian attack damaged a residential building in Muharraq province, with no casualties reported. Bahrain urged the UN Security Council to hold an urgent session ⁠to hold Iran ​accountable.

The Kuwaiti army said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles with no damage or casualties.

Separately, Qatar said ​one of its nationals had died after sustaining injuries from shrapnel aboard a vessel that had gone missing on Saturday. A second person was injured in the incident, which was due to &quot;military operations in the area&quot;, the interior ​ministry said, without giving a location or apportioning blame.]]>
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			<title>Tarar says IWT cannot be revoked unilaterally as Pakistan plans legal, technical briefing for experts on treaty</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615567/tarar-says-iwt-cannot-be-revoked-unilaterally-as-pakistan-plans-legal-technical-briefing-on-treaty</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615567/tarar-says-iwt-cannot-be-revoked-unilaterally-as-pakistan-plans-legal-technical-briefing-on-treaty#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 09:37:14 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Climate minister warns anyone trying to deprive Pakistan of its water will face severe consequences]]>
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				<![CDATA[Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Monday said the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) could not be revoked unilaterally as Pakistan prepared to present the treaty&rsquo;s legal and technical aspects to experts at the IWT 2026 seminar, scheduled to be held in Islamabad on Tuesday (tomorrow).

&ldquo;Water security is important to Pakistan,&rdquo; the information minister stressed and added that the country retains legal and environmental rights over the contractually bound waterway shared with the eastern neighbour.

For over six decades, India and Pakistan amicably managed the Indus River system through the IWT transboundary water-sharing agreement signed on September 19, 1960. Last year in April, India suspended the treaty in the wake of the Pahalgam attack.

Tarar, during a joint press conference with Minister for Climate Change Dr Musadik Malik, highlighted that the World Bank-brokered treaty included a detailed framework for resolving any outstanding issues.

Read: Here&#39;s what India&#39;s suspension of Indus Waters Treaty means for Pakistan

He reminded the Modi-led government that water was not just the country&rsquo;s lifeline; it was also the country&rsquo;s &ldquo;red line&rdquo;.



سندھ طاس معاہدے کو باقاعدہ طور پر دونوں ملکوں نے تسلیم کیا تھا، وزیر اطلاعات#AttaullahTarar #IndusWatersTreaty pic.twitter.com/Yx47wRORtA
&mdash; APP (@appcsocialmedia) June 29, 2026



The minister said the government invited a host of water and legal experts from around the world to inculcate awareness about the rights of Pakistan over the Indus River against the backdrop of the agreement, saying a conference has been organised on Tuesday (tomorrow) to supplement the cause.

Everyone recognises the narrative of Pakistan, the information minister outlined.

Speaking on the occasion, the climate&nbsp;minister said the issue of unilateral suspension had been raised on several international forums, including the United Nations.

&ldquo;Pakistan&rsquo;s standpoint was upheld by the International Arbitration Courts,&rdquo; Malik underscored during the presser.

He said the current water crisis suffered by the 240 million people of Pakistan can be explained metaphorically through the widely reported case of Iqbal Solangi &ndash; a farming resident of the Sindh-Balochistan border who suffered in the deluges of 2010, 2012 and 2022 while he constantly tried to build his life around the catastrophes.

Malik explained that agricultural land across Pakistan continuously suffered due to either floods or droughts: &ldquo;Either the land sinks under several feet of floodwater or is left cracked due to an immense shortfall.&rdquo;

&ldquo;Climate change is not the only element to blame; the Indian prime minister is equally responsible,&rdquo; he added.

The climate minister highlighted that PM Modi, with &ldquo;his hand on the tap&rdquo;, threatens to deprive Pakistan of every drop of water.

Read more: &#39;Not a single drop of water will flow to Pakistan&#39;: Indian minister threatens to block water supply

&ldquo;India nefariously plans whether to flood or deprive Pakistan.&rdquo;

He further stated that India&rsquo;s water war adversely affects around 40- 50% of the people of Pakistan who depend on agriculture and, in the long term, shrinks the country&rsquo;s 25% economy relying on the sector.

Hinting at Pakistan&rsquo;s latest diplomatic coup, the minister said Pakistan managed to garner immense support from the European Union and NATO during a recent seminar held in Brussels.

Read further: New Delhi rattled by Brussels water event

&ldquo;No one in the history of the world ever planned to stop rivers from flowing downstream, or the wind from crossing the border,&rdquo; the minister took exception to India.

He warned that Pakistan had already declared that anyone trying to deprive it of its water would face severe consequences.

&ldquo;There is also the question of justice. We will protect ourselves,&quot; Malik said while questioning whether every upper riparian now had the right to stop the flow of water to the lower riparian.

&quot;Elsewhere in the world, water flows downstream unbothered even in the absence of a treaty, governed only by a convention... We have a treaty. How can the water be stopped then?&quot; the climate change minister asserted, the case, he said, was bound by justice.

He outlined that Tuesday&rsquo;s conference was primarily about justice and rights.

Concluding on the Indian policy of undermining the treaty with Pakistan, Malik said, it matched the defiant and genocidal policies of Israel, which overlooks all international treaties.

The Indus Waters Treaty

After years of negotiations, facilitated by the World Bank, the IWT was signed in September 1960 by then-Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru and former Pakistani President Ayub Khan. India was given control over the three eastern rivers&mdash;Ravi, Sutlej, and Beas&mdash;while Pakistan was assigned control over the three western rivers&mdash;Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab. According to the treaty, India is legally bound to allow the waters of the western rivers to flow into Pakistan, with only a few exceptions.

According to the treaty, Pakistan has unrestricted use of these rivers, while India is permitted to construct hydroelectric facilities on them under specific conditions. These projects must conform to design constraints outlined in the treaty&rsquo;s annexures, ensuring that they are &quot;run-of-the-river&quot; and do not significantly alter water flow or storage to Pakistan&rsquo;s detriment.

Pakistan, which receives roughly 80 per cent of the water in the Indus river system, relies heavily on these rivers. Of the 16.8 crore acre-feet of water in the system, India is allocated around 3.3 crore acre-feet. At present, India uses slightly more than 90 per cent of its permitted share, leaving Pakistan deeply dependent on the remainder.

This dependence is profound. The Indus river network&mdash;comprising the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej&mdash;forms the backbone of Pakistan&rsquo;s agricultural sector. It sustains a population of tens of millions, fulfilling 23 per cent of the country&#39;s agricultural water needs and directly supporting nearly 68 per cent of rural livelihoods. Any disruption to this supply could trigger widespread consequences: reduced crop yields, food insecurity, and further economic instability, particularly in regions already burdened by poverty and an ongoing financial crisis.

Compounding the issue is Pakistan&#39;s limited water storage capacity. Major dams such as Mangla and Tarbela have a combined live storage of just 14.4 million acre-feet (MAF)&mdash;a mere 10 per cent of the country&rsquo;s annual entitlement under the treaty. In times of reduced water flow or seasonal variability, this shortfall in storage leaves Pakistan acutely vulnerable.

Despite Pakistan&rsquo;s heavy reliance on the Indus waters, the treaty does afford India certain rights. It allows the development of 13.4 lakh acres of irrigation in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. However, as of now, only 6.42 lakh acres are being irrigated in these Union Territories. Furthermore, the treaty permits India to store up to 3.60 million acre-feet of water from the western rivers&mdash;although little to no such storage infrastructure currently exists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Relations between the two nations took a marked downturn after India revoked Jammu and Kashmir&rsquo;s special autonomy in 2019, followed by the Pahalgam attack in 2025. Since then, trust between New Delhi and Islamabad has eroded further.

Early June this year, Indian Minister of Water Chandrakant Raghunath Patil told the media that India was strategising the disruption of Indus River flow into Pakistan - an action backed by PM Narendra Modi.

&quot;It is certain, not a single drop of water will go (to Pakistan) in the coming years,&quot; the Indian minister had told ANI news agency.

Meanwhile, Pakistan had warned the Modi-led government against any such measures.]]>
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			<title>Arif Habib Consortium takes over PIA management as govt formally completes privatisation process</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615595/arif-habib-consortium-takes-over-pia-management-as-govt-formally-completes-privatisation-process</link>
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			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 14:41:24 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[PIA says the transition marks 'bold new chapter of modernisation and global excellence' for the national flag carrier]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Monday that it officially transitioned to new management under PIA Equity Ltd, a special purpose vehicle of the Arif Habib Consortium.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir were also present at the occasion.

In a statement, PIA said the transition marked &ldquo;a bold new chapter of modernisation and global excellence&rdquo; for the national flag carrier.

The airline said a Rs125 billion equity injection had fully capitalised PIA, positioning it to modernise operations, improve service standards and preserve its legacy.

&ldquo;As the new ownership officially takes over today, we deeply understand that the trust of a nation isn&rsquo;t simply transferred on a document. Trust is earned&mdash;mile by mile, smile by smile, year by year. We know this. And we accept the challenge wholeheartedly,&quot; the press release quoted the chairman of PIA Equity Ltd as saying.

PIA said the new chapter would focus on modernisation, service improvement and honouring the airline&rsquo;s heritage as it moves under the new ownership structure.



Today, #PIA officially transitions to new management under PIA Equity Ltd (a SPV of Arif Habib Consortium), marking a bold new chapter of modernization and global excellence. With a massive Rs125B equity injection, PIA is now fully capitalized and ready to modernize the airline&hellip; https://t.co/hrcGwu4QZC
&mdash; PIA (@Official_PIA) June 29, 2026


The Ministry of Privatisation, in a statement, said that the Privatisation Commission had completed the first financial close of PIA&#39;s privatisation, marking what the ministry described as the country&rsquo;s largest privatisation transaction.

The statement further stated that the milestone reflected Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to structuring complex transactions through a transparent, fair and competitive process.

&quot;The transaction brings a total investment commitment of Rs180 billion, including Rs125 billion in fresh capital to transform PIA and Rs55 billion payable to the Government of Pakistan,&quot; it added.



Today, Privatisation Commission has successfully completed the largest privatisation transation - First Financial Close of the PIA&rsquo;s privatisation.
This milestone demonstrates Pakistan &amp; Privatisation Commissions&rsquo;s committement to structure complex transactions through a&hellip;
&mdash; Ministry of Privatisation, Government of Pakistan (@PrivComPakistan) June 29, 2026


PM Shehbaz congratulated everyone involved and said it marked another &quot;important milestone&quot; in Pakistan&rsquo;s economic reform journey.

&quot;The successful first financial closing of the PIA privatisation transaction, and the transfer of management control to the investor consortium, marks the beginning of a new chapter for our national carrier. With a transformational investment to modernise and strengthen PIA, we are laying the foundation for its revival while reinforcing investor confidence in Pakistan.&quot;



Alhamdulillah! Today marks another important milestone in Pakistan&rsquo;s economic reform journey.

The successful First Financial Closing of the PIA privatisation transaction, and the transfer of management control to the investor consortium, marks the beginning of a new chapter for&hellip;
&mdash; Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 29, 2026


FM Dar said the &quot;complex transaction&quot; was completed through hard work, sincerity, efficiency and close coordination across government institutions, reinforcing the government&rsquo;s &quot;commitment to transparent governance, economic reforms and investor confidence&quot;.



I congratulate the Prime Minister and the entire Nation for first successful Financial Close of the PIA privatisation transaction which is in itself a landmark achievement for Pakistan.

This complex transaction was completed through hard work, sincerity, efficiency and close&hellip;
&mdash; Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) June 29, 2026


Last year in December, the government sold its 75% stake in PIA for Rs10.1 billion cash to a consortium, marking the completion of the first major privatisation transaction in two decades by offloading the white elephant.

The consortium of Habib, Fawad Ahmed Mukhtar, Gohar Ejaz and Aqeel Karim Dhedhi &mdash; Pakistan&#39;s renowned businesspersons, placed the highest bid of Rs135 billion for the 75% shares in the 13th round of open auction. It beat another cash-rich consortium led by Muhammad Ali Tabba.

It was the second attempt to sell the PIA in over one year and marked the first successful transaction since 2005 when the government had sold K Electric, the country&#39;s largest power distribution company. PM Shehbaz had desired that the PIA should be sold for Rs200 billion.

Read More: Govt finally cuts loose &#39;white elephant&#39; PIA

From the start, the Arif Habib Group took an aggressive approach compared to the only competitor, which was initially conservative and added Rs250 million in each of the first eight rounds of the auction. After the eighth round, the Tabba group sought a half-hour break to internally consult before finally &quot;congratulating Arif Habib&quot; when he raised the price tag to Rs135 billion.

To make the second attempt successful, the government had also waived 18% sales tax on aircraft lease, given Rs36 billion tax credit to the bidders and extended the timeframe to clear the current over Rs33 billion liabilities of the Federal Board of Revenue and the Civil Aviation Authority.]]>
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			<title>HRCP slams Punjab's habitual offenders bill</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615600/pti-hrcp-slam-punjabs-habitual-offenders-bill</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615600/pti-hrcp-slam-punjabs-habitual-offenders-bill#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 15:21:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Government claims the bill aims to combat hooliganism and online abuse by replacing the outdated 1959 law]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)&nbsp;on Monday expressed deep concern over and slammed the proposed Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, warning that it appeared to grant sweeping powers to the executive without adequate judicial oversight or due-process safeguards.

The Punjab Assembly on Sunday witnessed a stormy session dominated by sharp criticism of the proposed bill. The proceedings were overshadowed by Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan&#39;s surprise expression of ignorance about the proposed bill. The controversy erupted after opposition MPA Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan argued that the proposed legislation violated fundamental human rights and could affect future generations.

The speaker had voiced serious concern over the bill&#39;s procedural handling, saying no bill could be referred to a committee without the speaker&#39;s signature and termed the revival of colonial-era legislation unacceptable.

In a statement issued on X today, the HRCP said the proposed legislation could allow authorities to impose intrusive restrictions on individuals, including surveillance, limits on freedom of movement, interference with property, and curbs on freedom of expression and speech.

The commission said such measures, which directly affect fundamental rights, must comply with constitutional principles of legality, necessity and proportionality rather than reflecting archaic and repressive colonial-era laws.

HRCP further announced that it planned to hold consultations with multiple stakeholders, including lawmakers, to build strong opposition against the proposed bill and other similar legislative measures.



HRCP is deeply concerned by the recently proposed Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, which appears to confer sweeping powers on the executive to impose intrusive restrictions on individuals without adequate judicial oversight or due-process&hellip;
&mdash; Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) June 29, 2026


Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary Information Sheikh Waqas Akram had also condemned the proposed bill in a post on X on Saturday.

&ldquo;PTI vehemently condemns the Punjab government&#39;s Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill 2026 as a repressive colonial relic and a grave assault on fundamental rights, due process, and democratic governance.&rdquo;

He noted that the bill was headed towards a vote in the provincial legislature.

Outlining PTI&rsquo;s apprehensions regarding the bill, Akram said the proposed law grants committees open-ended authority to add new categories of anti-social behaviour without legislative oversight.

&ldquo;The bill is a profound affront to constitutional guarantees of due process, presumption of innocence, security of person, freedom of expression, and the right to property,&rdquo; the party&rsquo;s information secretary underscored.



June 27, 2026
Sheikh Waqas Akram, Secretary Information, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Vehemently Condemns the Punjab Government&rsquo;s Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, 2026 as a Repressive Colonial Relic and a Grave Assault on Fundamental Rights, Due&hellip;
&mdash; PTI (@PTIofficial) June 27, 2026


He contested that a judicial system already plagued by delays and police overreach allowed punitive administrative sanctions based on unproven allegations, inverting justice and enabling political victimisation of opponents, journalists, activists, and citizens.

Comparing it to the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, Akram said the bill revived &ldquo;colonial instruments&rdquo; of repression.

&ldquo;It intensifies these legacies under the guise of tackling modern challenges.&rdquo;

Akram rubbished the stance of the PML-N government that the proposed legislation aimed at combatting hooliganism and online abuse by replacing the outdated 1959 law.

He called out the provincial government for &quot;covertly introducing surveillance and pre-emptive punishment while maintaining the guise of progressive governance&quot;.

Akram said the PTI viewed this as another example of the PML-N&#39;s authoritarian drift in Punjab to stifle dissent and bypass constitutional protections.

&ldquo;The party rejects the legislation and calls on the legal fraternity, civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, and citizens to oppose its passage. Genuine security requires accountable institutions, fair trials, and respect for rights-not recycled colonial tools of repression.&rdquo;

He further stressed that Pakistan had endured &ldquo;enough&rdquo; arbitrary power; therefore, PTI reaffirmed its commitment to a democratic, constitutional, rights-based order where no citizen faces punishment without due process.

The controversial bill

The bill, based on stricter punishments and heavy fines, has been approved by the Punjab Assembly&#39;s Standing Committee on Home Affairs. Once passed by the Punjab Assembly, it will be enforced immediately.

Under the proposed law, strict punishments have been included.

A first-time conviction may result in imprisonment ranging from three to five years. Habitual offenders and repeat violators may face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to Rs2 million.

National identity cards and bank accounts may also be blocked. Law enforcement agencies will be empowered to freeze and block the CNICs and bank accounts of anti-social elements.

Police will also be authorised to carry out digital monitoring of criminals. Modern electronic surveillance will be permitted, while biometric and digital data of suspects will be collected.

Those displaying weapons on social media, resorting to aerial firing, impersonating government officials or harassing others will also face strict punishment under the law.

Supreme Court Advocate Saeed Yousaf Khan, an expert in criminal law, said amendments to the 1959 Goonda Act were aimed at making the law more effective. He said the legislation would enable strict action against hooliganism, extortion, gang-related crimes and the display of weapons at any place, including on social media.

Police would now be able to digitally monitor criminals. A first offence would carry a sentence of three to five years, while repeat offenders could face seven years in prison, a Rs2 million fine, blocking of CNICs and freezing of bank accounts.]]>
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			<title>Explainer: the 250,000 UK grooming gang figure is not based on official data</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615589/explainer-the-250000-uk-grooming-gang-figure-is-not-based-on-official-data</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615589/explainer-the-250000-uk-grooming-gang-figure-is-not-based-on-official-data#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 13:23:06 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Fact Check By iVerify]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615589</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The real number of children sexually exploited by organised grooming gangs in the UK remains unknown]]>
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				<![CDATA[Over the decades, the United Kingdom (UK) has grappled with a range of organised crimes &mdash; from county lines drug networks to human trafficking &mdash; that have exposed systemic failures in law enforcement, local authorities and social services.

Among the cases that drew sustained public and political attention was the issue of organised child sexual exploitation, particularly cases involving grooming gangs.

Since the early 2010s, child sexual exploitation cases surfaced in towns such as Rotherham, Rochdale, Telford, Oxford and Huddersfield, leading to convictions, official inquiries and sustained scrutiny of how police, local authorities and safeguarding institutions responded to vulnerable children. Survivors, campaigners and political figures have continued to argue that institutional failures prevented the full scale of abuse from being recognised.

Estimates from a 2014 report suggested the number of victims who may have been exploited by men, primarily of Pakistani heritage, in such cases is at least 1,400.

In 2025, the issue once again hit the headlines after US tech billionaire Elon Musk accused UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of complicity for his role as the then head of the Crown Prosecution Service. Later that year, a Manchester court sentenced seven men to prison terms ranging from 12 to 35 years for systematic sexual abuse of two teenage girls in Rochdale between 2001 and 2006.

In the autumn of 2025, the National Crime Agency (NCA) also launched Operation Beaconport, a project tasked with unearthing failings to tackle grooming gangs. A BBC report quoted the deputy director of the NCA as saying that &ldquo;human error&rdquo; may have led to criminal cases involving alleged grooming gangs being dropped.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen in some cases that those investigations haven&rsquo;t followed what we would characterise as proper investigative practice; actually, that would have contributed to the no further action decision,&rdquo; he said.

Since then, public concern has increased, with renewed calls for a national inquiry and debate over whether prior investigations adequately captured the extent of exploitation.

However, recently, misinformation has spread based on reality &mdash; the numbers have now become a point of contention, raising several questions.

The 250,000 figure

Since June, the 250,000 figure has been reportedly doing the rounds both online and offline.

Several users &mdash; including Musk, British politician Rupert James Graham Lowe, British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, US Congressman Randy Fine, Australian Senator Ralph Babet and others &mdash;took to social media over the past few days and claimed that 250,000 white British girls had been subjected to systematic sexual exploitation by organised Pakistani grooming gangs over the years. The number spread rapidly through reposts, commentary and media coverage across several countries.

The claim came about after the publication of &lsquo;The Rape Gang Inquiry Report&rsquo;, shared publicly on June 16 by British politician Rupert Lowe in the UK parliament. The report and excerpts from it attracted substantial online engagement and were subsequently circulated by politicians, political commentators and influencers.

Even international media outlets such as FirstPost, News18, Visegrad24, Wave News Network, and others carried news articles based on the claim.

As the figure gained attention, questions emerged: where did it come from, who is it attributed to, is the number even accurate, and many more. Some also questioned whether the figure reflected documented national data.

What the 2026 inquiry report says

The iVerify Pakistan team conducted a detailed reading of the report and found that the figure of 250,000 used online was not presented as an official government estimate, police statistic or verified national victim count.

Page 12 of the report stated that the 250,000 figure was not based on government or law enforcement data; instead, it was based on remarks passed by Lord Malcolm Pearson during debates in the House of Lords over the years, as seen here and here.

The report later repeated that reasoning and argued that applying localised estimates and assumptions about underreporting could produce a national figure reaching 250,000. However, it did not provide a detailed statistical methodology showing how that estimate was calculated.

The report also acknowledged that the number was not intended as a precise count, stating that no comprehensive national total exists.

The local inquiry most frequently cited in relation to the estimate was the 2014 Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Rotherham, led by Professor Alexis Jay. It described a conservative estimate that approximately 1,400 children had been sexually exploited in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

But researchers and fact-checkers examining the viral claim noted several limitations in extending those findings nationally. The Rotherham inquiry did not provide a gender-specific breakdown of victims, and applying results from one locality to the entire country assumes comparable reporting patterns, prevalence and conditions across different regions.

Subsequent national work also highlighted the limits of existing data.

The national Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), published in 2022 and chaired by Prof Jay, also concluded that it was not possible to determine the full scale of child sexual exploitation by organised networks at a national level. The inquiry noted that criminal justice records do not capture all such cases and that available datasets do not provide a complete picture.

It stated in its Prevalence section:

&ldquo;Offence codes: Police data collection and reporting is generally driven by type of offence but there is no specific offence of child sexual exploitation. Instead, four criminal offences are listed under the heading &lsquo;child sexual exploitation&rsquo; in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.[1] In 2018/19, offenders were charged with 1,012 offences within this group.[2] In 2019/20, the latest full year for which figures are available at the time of writing, this rose to 1,363.[3] However, these categories do not include more serious crimes such as rape, which may also involve child sexual exploitation.[4] For that reason, crime statistics for offences listed as child sexual exploitation fail to capture the most serious child sexual exploitation crimes.&quot;

As a result, no official national dataset was identified that supports the figure of 250,000 victims. That absence of comprehensive national data has become part of the broader public argument itself.

Gap between claim and evidence

The real number of children sexually exploited by organised grooming gangs in the UK remains unknown, as admitted by the country&rsquo;s own national inquiry.

While the 250,000 figure has travelled far and fast on social media, it doesn&rsquo;t come from government data, law enforcement records or any verified national count. Instead, it traces back to extrapolations built on localised estimates, underreporting assumptions and public remarks.

This explainer was originally published by iVerify Pakistan &mdash; a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.]]>
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			<title>TTAP says police stopped delegation from travelling to AJK to join sit-in</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615556/ttap-says-police-stopped-delegation-from-travelling-to-ajk-to-join-sit-in</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615556/ttap-says-police-stopped-delegation-from-travelling-to-ajk-to-join-sit-in#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 08:13:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Usama Iqbal]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615556</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Spokesperson says police told delegation they were instructed by seniors not to allow entry into AJK]]>
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				<![CDATA[A high-level delegation of Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan (TTAP), led by National Assembly Opposition Leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai, was stopped by police from travelling to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Monday after announcing plans to join an ongoing sit-in in Rawalakot, the alliance&#39;s spokesperson said.

Earlier today, TTAP announced that its delegation would travel to Rawalakot to express solidarity with the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee&#39;s (JAAC) sit-in and support what it described as public demands in line with the principles of democratic freedoms, constitutional supremacy, and public rights.



تحریک تحفظ آئین پاکستان کا وفد عوامی ایکشن کمیٹی کے دھرنے سے اظہارِ یکجہتی کے لیے راولاکوٹ روانہ

اسلام آباد، 29 جون: تحریک تحفظ آئین پاکستان کا ایک اعلیٰ سطحی وفد، قائد حزب اختلاف قومی اسمبلی محمود خان اچکزئی کی سربراہی میں آزاد کشمیر کے شہر راولاکوٹ کے لیے روانہ ہو گیا ہے، جہاں&hellip; pic.twitter.com/PUX0jC8TM6
&mdash; Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (@TTAP_OFFICIAL) June 29, 2026


The delegation included Senate opposition leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, TTAP spokesperson Hussain Ahmad Yousafzai, and Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, counsel for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founder Imran Khan.

According to the spokesperson, the delegation intended to meet the JAAC&#39;s leadership and address participants at the sit-in, reaffirming its commitment to the Constitution, democracy, and the protection of public rights.

Read: Khawaja Asif doubles down, says &#39;stands by&#39; contentious AJK remarks despite volley of criticism

However, in a subsequent statement, TTAP said police stopped the delegation at Kahuta before it could enter AJK.



تحریک تحفظ آئین پاکستان کے وفد کو آزاد کشمیر میں دھرنے سے اظہارِ یکجہتی کے لیے جانے سے روک دیا گیا

راولپنڈی: تحریک تحفظ آئین پاکستان کے ایک اعلیٰ سطحی وفد کو آزاد کشمیر میں جاری دھرنے کے شرکاء سے اظہارِ یکجہتی کے لیے جاتے ہوئے کہوٹہ کے مقام پر پولیس نے روک دیا۔ وفد کے اراکین نے&hellip; pic.twitter.com/dcsoHyQzqv
&mdash; Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (@TTAP_OFFICIAL) June 29, 2026


The party&#39;s spokesperson said members of the delegation asked police under what legal authority they were being prevented from proceeding. According to the spokesperson, police officers replied that they had been instructed by their &quot;senior officers&quot; not to allow the delegation to continue.

TTAP said peaceful political activity and the right to express solidarity could not be restricted through the use of force. It further alleged that preventing the delegation from proceeding without a legal order or written directive amounted to a violation of fundamental rights.

The delegation maintained that it had been travelling peacefully to express solidarity with the people of AJK and said stopping it from proceeding was tantamount to restricting political freedoms, according to the spokesperson.

Background

The recent unrest and deadly clashes broke out in areas, including Rawalakot, where the JAAC had been holding a sit-in outside the Combined Military Hospital Rawalakot. AJK police allege that armed JAAC members opened fire on deployed law enforcement in a planned attack, leaving four personnel dead and around 20 injured. JAAC, however, disputes this account, claiming security forces used tear gas and fired shells toward the hospital.

According to the AJK police, three individuals linked to the JAAC and four law enforcement personnel were killed during the protests. JAAC, however, said in a statement on X that seven individuals were killed and dozens were injured when street firing was carried out in the dark after electricity was allegedly cut off.

The clash came as the AJK government and the JAAC witnessed a face-off, as the election date for AJK was announced for July 27.

Read More: Certain elements seeking to create instability in AJK despite repeated offers of dialogue: Rana Sanaullah

AJK&#39;s 53-member legislative assembly includes 12 seats reserved for Kashmiri refugees &mdash; people who fled Indian-controlled Kashmir in 1947 and 1965 and are now scattered across Pakistan. Six seats represent refugees from the Jammu division (~434,000 people) and six from the Kashmir Valley (~30,000 people) &mdash; an already lopsided arrangement that many see as unfair.

The region witnessed one of its most turbulent periods in October last year when protests led by the JAAC erupted over demands for constitutional and governance reforms. At least nine people, including three policemen, were killed during the unrest.

The JAAC, which organised the protests and strike, had presented a wide-ranging charter of demands, including an end to the privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite, the abolition of 12 assembly seats reserved for refugees, and the scrapping of the quota system.

Two days after the violence, the government and the JAAC reached an agreement covering 12 core and 13 additional points. Under the accord, both sides agreed to constitute a high-level committee to examine the issue of refugee seats in the AJK Legislative Assembly]]>
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			<title>Pakistan, Italy sign Rs6.3b concessional loan agreement for agriculture skills project</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615591/pakistan-italy-sign-rs63b-concessional-loan-agreement-for-agriculture-skills-project</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615591/pakistan-italy-sign-rs63b-concessional-loan-agreement-for-agriculture-skills-project#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 13:53:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615591</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Project aims to strengthen Pakistan's TVET system, with focus on agriculture by enhancing professional skills]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan and Italy on Monday signed a concessional loan agreement worth approximately Rs6.3 billion&nbsp;to support a project&nbsp;aimed at strengthening agricultural skills development and vocational education in the country.

The agreement was signed by Economic Affairs Secretary&nbsp;Muhammad Humair Karim and Ambassador of Italy&nbsp;Marilina Armellin in the presence of senior officials from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research&nbsp;and provincial departments for the&nbsp;Professional Capacity Building and Extension in Agriculture project under Pakistan&rsquo;s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) National Reform Programme.

The project aimed to strengthen Pakistan&rsquo;s TVET&nbsp;system, with a particular focus on the agriculture sector, by enhancing professional skills, improving technical certification&nbsp;and promoting innovation across agricultural value chains.

The initiative was designed to build the capacity of farmers, extension workers, trainers, and other stakeholders through modern, demand-driven training programmes that contributed to increased productivity, sustainable agricultural practices, and improved livelihoods.



پاکستان اور اٹلی کے درمیان 20 ملین یورو (6.3 ارب روپے) کے رعایتی قرضے کے معاہدے پر دستخط

قرض کے زریعے زیتون، پستہ، کھجور، مشروم، چیری، انگور، آڑو اور بادام جیسی فصلوں پر توجہ دی جائے گی

42 ماہ پر مشتمل اس پروگرام کے دوران مجموعی طور پر 720 زرعی تربیتی کورسز منعقد کیے جائیں گے pic.twitter.com/5GhyxZ2x1o
&mdash; Khurrram Shahzad (@KhurramShahzPK) June 29, 2026


Under the programme, emphasis would be placed on the development of high-value crops and the strengthening of agro-food value chains. Dedicated training facilities would support stakeholders engaged in horticulture production, processing, and marketing, while fostering product diversification and value addition.

The project would focus on crops including olives, pistachios, dates, mushrooms, cherries, grapes, peaches, and almonds, drawing upon Italian expertise in modern agronomic practices and Pakistan&rsquo;s significant agricultural potential.

Over a period of 42 months, the programme would deliver 720 training courses benefiting an estimated 18,398 participants, including farmers, women, youth, and trainers, supported by the development of 11 standardised training curricula.

Read More: Pakistan, Italy sign diplomatic visa waiver

Infrastructure investments would include the establishment of 12 model orchards and nurseries, eight eco-villages equipped with climate-resilient technologies, five agro-food processing units, and two National Centres of Excellence for citrus and date crops in Sargodha and Turbat.

The project would be implemented by the Pakistan Oilseed Department in coordination with Provincial Agriculture Departments and was expected to generate rural employment, enhance producer incomes, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen farmer cooperatives, and improve the competitiveness of Pakistan&rsquo;s agriculture sector.

A press release said the signing of the&nbsp;agreement reflected the strong and longstanding development partnership between Pakistan and Italy and underscored their shared commitment to promoting sustainable agricultural development, skills enhancement, and inclusive economic growth through strengthened bilateral cooperation.]]>
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			<title>Imran, Bushra Bibi move SC for sentence suspension in £190m Case</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615550/ihc-removes-objections-to-imran-bushra-solitary-confinement-petitions</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615550/ihc-removes-objections-to-imran-bushra-solitary-confinement-petitions#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 06:07:58 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Fiaz Mahmood]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615550</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Separately, IHC removes objections to Imran, Bushra solitary confinement petitions]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking suspension of their sentences in the &pound;190 million case, arguing that the Islamabad High Court wrongly rejected their pleas without properly examining the evidence and despite their medical conditions.&nbsp;

The appeals, filed through senior lawyer Salman Safdar, seek suspension of the sentences on both medical and legal grounds and request their release on bail pending a final decision and&nbsp;challenge the dismissal of their applications by the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The petition&nbsp;argues&nbsp;that the decision was contrary to the requirements of justice and that, although the IHC found the applications maintainable, they failed to examine the merits of the case properly.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC)&nbsp;disposed of pleas regarding&nbsp;sentence suspension in early May, observing&nbsp;that since the principal appeals had already been fixed for hearing, there was no justification to separately take up the suspension pleas.

In his petition, Imran submits that he developed an eye condition during imprisonment and had to be transferred outside the jail for medical treatment. He argues that continued incarceration despite serious health issues is unjust and says prolonged solitary confinement has caused him exceptional mental distress.

The appeal further alleges that the sentence suspension application was deliberately delayed and notes that Imran&nbsp;was&nbsp;granted bail during the trial after the allegations against him were found to be without basis. It argues that courts are legally empowered to examine the merits of a case when deciding sentence suspension applications and that dismissing the plea without a preliminary assessment of the evidence was erroneous.

The petition also accuses the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of repeatedly seeking adjournments, delaying proceedings and causing a denial of timely justice. It further alleges that Imran&#39;s arrest was unlawful and politically motivated, adding that a higher court had previously ordered his release over the manner of his arrest.

Imran&#39;s appeal argues that following amendments to the NAB law, final appeals fall within the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Bench, but sentence suspension appeals remain within the Supreme Court&#39;s jurisdiction. It requests the apex court to set aside the High Court&#39;s order, suspend the sentence and order the release of both appellants.

Citing the Supreme Court&#39;s judgment in the Khawaja Salman Rafique versus NAB case, the petition argues that the apex court has previously observed that accountability laws had been used for political engineering. It also states that Imran&nbsp;has been taken from jail to hospital four times for treatment and contends that prisoners suffering from deteriorating eyesight and requiring specialist medical supervision are entitled to bail.

The petition also relies on the Lahore High Court&#39;s ruling in Muhammad Akmal versus The State on medical bail, arguing that Khan cannot receive adequate treatment while in prison.

Read:&nbsp;TTAP says police stopped delegation from travelling to AJK to join sit-in

In her separate appeal, Bushra Bibi states that she underwent eye surgery at Al-Shifa Hospital and that during a meeting with her daughter on April 17, she informed her that she had undergone the procedure and was wearing an eye patch and dark glasses during recovery.

Her petition argues that she has neither been convicted in a terrorism case nor sentenced to life imprisonment, and that her bail application has remained pending before the Islamabad High Court for more than a year due to repeated adjournments sought by NAB rather than any delay on her part.

The appeal alleges that NAB has followed a pattern of prolonging proceedings and, relying on the Khawaja Salman Rafique versus NAB judgment, argues that the legal process has been used as an instrument of coercion rather than justice.

Bushra Bibi further submits that she is entitled to bail in view of her serious medical condition and as a woman. The petition contends that the trial court&#39;s judgment failed to identify any criminal role played by her in the Al-Qadir Trust case, noting that no official witness testified against her and no funds connected to the case were ever transferred into her bank account.

The appeal also states that during proceedings on July 2, 2024, NAB&#39;s prosecutor informed the court that Bushra Bibi&#39;s arrest was not required.

Islamabad High Court

Separately on Monday, the IHC&nbsp;removed the registrar&#39;s office&#39;s objections to petitions filed on behalf of&nbsp;Imran and Bushra Bibi against their alleged solitary confinement and directed that the cases be assigned regular numbers.

Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro heard the petitions filed by Imran&#39;s sister Aleema Khan on behalf of him and by Mubashra Khawar Maneka on behalf of Bushra Bibi. Barrister Salman Safdar and PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja appeared before the court.

Aleema had filed a writ petition in the IHC seeking a declaration that the prolonged solitary confinement and incommunicado detention of her brother at Adiala Jail is illegal, unconstitutional, and without lawful authority.

During the hearing, Safdar argued that &quot;The registrar&#39;s office has raised the objection that the petitioners are not the aggrieved parties,&quot; adding that &quot;Aleema is the PTI founder&#39;s sister and Mubashra is Bushra Bibi&#39;s daughter.&quot;

Safdar said the issue of alleged solitary confinement had previously been raised before the chief justice during appeals. &quot;The chief justice told us to approach the relevant forum,&quot; he said.

Referring to previous case law, Safdar cited the Begum Shamim Afridi case and said she had challenged the solitary confinement of her imprisoned husband.

Justice Soomro asked counsel to identify the relevant paragraph in the judgment confirming that the petitioner had been the prisoner&#39;s wife. Safdar then read the relevant portion of the ruling before the court.

The lawyer said he had not been allowed to meet Bushra Bibi since December, while he had met Imran only twice under orders issued by the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief justice of the IHC.

&quot;They do not have a television and are not being provided with newspapers. Solitary confinement is the harshest form of punishment,&quot; Safdar argued.

&quot;There is no mention of solitary confinement anywhere in the judgment against us,&quot; he added, contending that &quot;even extraordinary prisoners can only be kept in solitary confinement for 14 days.&quot;

Read More: Kasim urges UNHRC intervention to end Imran&#39;s persecution, detention immediately

Safdar further alleged that &quot;both husband and wife are being subjected to inhumane treatment&quot; and claimed they had been kept in solitary confinement for the past seven months without being allowed to meet anyone.

He also referred to a previous petition involving Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, saying, &quot;If no family member can approach the court, then who can?&quot;

During the proceedings, Justice Soomro asked for a copy of the order in which the chief justice had allegedly directed the petitioners to approach the relevant forum. &quot;We do not have a copy of the order. We face difficulties even in obtaining certified copies,&quot; Safdar replied.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor, Rafi Maqsood, disputed the claims, telling the court that after meeting Imran, Safdar had never informed the bench that his client was being held in solitary confinement. &quot;He only told the court that he had been instructed to argue the suspension of sentence applications and not the appeals,&quot; the prosecutor said.

Safdar responded that a miscellaneous application raising the issue had already been filed in the pending appeals. The prosecutor argued that the miscellaneous application had already been dismissed, while Safdar maintained that it had not.

The NAB prosecutor further contended that the matter could now be taken to the Supreme Court and could not be pursued through a constitutional petition under Article 199.

The petition, filed under Article 199 of the Constitution through a legal team led by Safdar and Advocate Salman Akram Raja, names the superintendent and deputy superintendent of Adiala Jail, the Punjab inspector general of prisons, the NAB chairman, the FIA director general, the medical superintendent of PIMS, and the state as respondents.

The petition contended that no court awarded the 74-year-old former premier solitary confinement in either the Al-Qadir Trust Case or the Toshakhana-II case, yet jail authorities have allegedly kept him in isolation for nearly 22 hours a day over the last six months without any lawful sanction.

Also Read: Imran&#39;s &#39;solitary prison&#39; challenged

Safdar requested the court to summon copies of the miscellaneous application and any related order from the earlier proceedings, maintaining that no order had been passed by the chief justice&#39;s bench on the solitary confinement issue.

After hearing the arguments, the court removed the registrar&#39;s office&#39;s objections, directed that the petitions be assigned regular numbers, and held that the question of maintainability would be decided on the judicial side.

At Safdar&#39;s request, the court adjourned further hearing until Tuesday.

Imran and Bushra Bibi remain incarcerated in Rawalpindi&#39;s Adiala Jail. They were sentenced on December 20, 2025, to 17 years in prison in the Toshakhana-II case, which pertains to allegations that the couple unlawfully retained a Bulgari jewellery set gifted by the Saudi crown prince during an official visit to Saudi Arabia.

In January last year, an Islamabad accountability court sentenced Imran to 14 years and Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The IHC is currently hearing appeals seeking suspension of these sentences.

&pound;190 million case

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are facing a&nbsp;&pound;190 million graft case&nbsp;linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare organisation they established in 2018. The trust, which runs a university outside Islamabad focused on spirituality and Islamic teachings, is accused of being used as a front to receive land worth millions of dollars from a real estate tycoon.

The government claims the donations were in exchange for Imran&rsquo;s administration using repatriated UK funds to pay fines against the businessman, instead of depositing the money into Pakistan&rsquo;s treasury.

Imran has denied any wrongdoing, insisting neither he nor his wife gained financially from the trust or related transactions.]]>
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			<title>PM Shehbaz offers condolences after helicopter crash claims 14 lives in Saudi Arabia</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615549/shehbaz-offers-condolences-after-helicopter-crash-claims-14-lives-in-saudi-arabia</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615549/shehbaz-offers-condolences-after-helicopter-crash-claims-14-lives-in-saudi-arabia#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 05:40:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Islamabad]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615549</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says Pakistan stands in solidarity with Saudi brothers, sisters in hour of grief]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday expressed sorrow over a helicopter crash in Saudi Arabia&#39;s Ras Tanura yesterday that claimed the lives of 14 Saudi nationals, extending Pakistan&#39;s condolences to the Saudi leadership and the bereaved families.

In a post on X, the prime minister said he was &quot;deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash.&quot;

PM Shehbaz also extended condolences on behalf of the people and government of Pakistan, saying, &quot;I extend our heartfelt condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the bereaved families, and the brotherly people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.&quot;



Deeply saddened by the tragic helicopter crash in Ras Tanura that claimed the precious lives of 14 Saudi nationals.

On behalf of the people and Government of Pakistan, I extend our heartfelt condolences to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, His Majesty King Salman bin&hellip;
&mdash; Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 29, 2026


Reaffirming Pakistan&#39;s support, the prime minister stated that &quot;Pakistan stands in full solidarity with our Saudi brothers and sisters in this hour of grief.&quot;

The helicopter crash killed 14 Saudi citizens on Sunday, the kingdom&#39;s official press agency had reported, adding that the aircraft belonged to state oil giant Aramco. The Saudi Press Agency, citing an official at the energy ministry, reported the helicopter crashed in Ras Tanura in the country&#39;s east. &quot;The accident claimed the lives of all 14 passengers, all Saudi citizens,&quot; the agency said, adding that an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the crash.

According to Aramco, it operates more than 60 aircraft, including helicopters, and serves more than 300 heliports in Saudi Arabia, making it one of the largest corporate fleets in the region.

Read: Pakistan moves to salvage fragile ceasefire

The deadly accident comes as oil-rich Gulf nations seek to ramp up their output following Iranian attacks and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for the export of oil and gas. The Gulf monarchy, however, did not indicate that the crash was in any way connected to a hostile attack.

During the Middle East war, Iranian attacks have targeted energy facilities in the Gulf. Ras Tanura, home to one of the largest refineries in the Middle East with a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day, is critical to Saudi Arabia&#39;s energy sector. The refinery has been targeted several times, notably during an Iranian drone attack at the beginning of the conflict, which caused a fire and forced a partial shutdown.

Riyadh said in April that the weeks-long attacks had disrupted several production operations at key facilities, with refineries in Ras Tanura as well as Jubail, Yanbu and Riyadh targeted.]]>
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			<title>Fact check: Viral video does not show Iran's attack on US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615571/fact-check-viral-video-does-not-show-irans-attack-on-us-fifth-fleet-in-bahrain</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615571/fact-check-viral-video-does-not-show-irans-attack-on-us-fifth-fleet-in-bahrain#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 10:33:03 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Fact Check By iVerify]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615571</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Viral compilation contains multiple unrelated, AI-generated clips, originating from different years and events]]>
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				<![CDATA[Multiple pro-Iranian users, based on their past posts, have been sharing a video on social media platform X since Sunday, claiming that it shows Iran&rsquo;s attack on the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain. However, the video is a combination of older and unrelated clips.

US and Israeli forces launched a war against Iran on February 28. On June 22, the US and Iran agreed on a roadmap towards reaching a final peace deal in 60 days after hours-long negotiations in the Swiss resort of Burgenstock.

Iran hit a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz on June 25, with both the US and Iran accusing the other of breaking an interim ceasefire that was agreed to on June 17.

Iran also launched missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain on Sunday, shortly after US President Donald Trump threatened that the Islamic republic would cease to exist if it did not honour the agreement to end the war.

How it started

On Sunday, a pro-Iranian account, based on its past posts, shared a video on X allegedly showing Iran&rsquo;s attack on the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, with the following caption: &ldquo;The Fifth Fleet in Bahrain has been completely erased by Iran. Let America go and threaten again! This time, no bargaining, so it has become an eye for an eye.&rdquo;

The post gained 1.7 million views.

Another user shared the same clip with the following caption: &ldquo;The clip everyone&rsquo;s sharing right now: Claims that Iran completely destroyed the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.&rdquo;

The post gained 2.1m views.

Another X account shared the same video with the following caption: &ldquo;Breaking: Claims report that the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain was completely destroyed during an Iranian attack.&rdquo;

It gained 1.5m views.

A pro-Iranian account posted the same clip with a similar claim, accumulating 203,700 views.

Similarly, the same image was also shared by other users on X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here; collectively gaining 194,000 views.

Methodology

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the recent developments surrounding the ongoing conflict between the United States and Iran.

A keyword search was conducted to verify whether any credible Bahraini, American, or international media outlets had reported that Iran had destroyed the United States Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain along with the viral video compilation. However, no such reports or footage matching the viral video were found.

A reverse image search conducted to trace the origin of the viral video compilation revealed that it consists of multiple unrelated clips that predate the viral claim.

The first clip was traced to a social media post published on March 3 by an Instagram account &ldquo;paralelverse_net&rdquo; that consistently posts AI-generated content. The user in the caption of the video stated that the video was AI-generated and created for entertainment purposes only, confirming that it does not depict a real military attack.





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The second viral clip dates back to August 2018, posted by Saudi Arabia News on its X account and shows missiles passing through the sky over a football field, launched by Yemen&rsquo;s Houthis towards Jazan, Saudi Arabia.



فيديو ..
.
عندما تتحدث القوة .. عدد من الشباب في صامطة يمارسون لعبة كرة القدم في حين أن أبطال الدفاع الجوي يُفشلون صواريخ حوثية إيرانية .
.#السعودية #الأمن #الحوثيين #إيران
. pic.twitter.com/8YzSH0H6pd
&mdash; أخبار السعودية (@SaudiNews50) August 2, 2018


The third viral clip was traced to March 2026, posted by Australian outlet Ticker News on Facebook, and shows Tomahawk cruise missiles flying over a commercial cargo vessel in the Middle East.



https://www.facebook.com/weareticker/videos/crew-members-aboard-a-commercial-ship-filmed-several-tomahawk-cruise-missiles-fl/781559361683573/



Further searches yielded the same footage shared by Al Jazeera on March 5 on Facebook, stating that crew members aboard a merchant vessel captured two missiles, believed to be US Tomahawk cruise missiles, flying overhead towards targets inside Iran. This indicates that the video predates the current viral claim and has been recirculated out of context.



https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/videos/video-shows-cruise-missiles-flying-over-merchant-vessel-in-middle-east/1649866182820859/



These findings indicate that the viral compilation contains unrelated and old footage, including AI-generated content, that has been falsely depicted as showing Iran destroying the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.

Fact-check status: False

The claim that a viral video shows Iran&rsquo;s attack on the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain is false.

The viral compilation contains multiple unrelated and AI-generated clips, originating from different years and events.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan &mdash; a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.]]>
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			<title>Police constable shot dead while travelling to duty in Bannu</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615561/police-constable-shot-dead-while-travelling-to-duty-in-bannu</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615561/police-constable-shot-dead-while-travelling-to-duty-in-bannu#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 08:56:08 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[NASIRUMINALLAH]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Khyber Pakhtunkhwa]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615561</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Attackers forced the constable out of a rickshaw before opening indiscriminate fire, killing him at the scene]]>
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				<![CDATA[A police constable was shot dead by terrorists after being pulled from a rickshaw near Lora Bridge in Bannu on Monday while travelling to his place of duty, District Police Officer (DPO) Bannu Yasir Afridi confirmed.

According to Afridi, Constable Umar Niaz Khan was on his way to the DIG Bungalow, where he was posted, when unidentified armed terrorists intercepted the rickshaw carrying him near Lora Bridge.

He said the attackers forced the constable out of the vehicle before opening indiscriminate fire, killing him at the scene. The assailants fled immediately after the attack.

Following the incident, police and members of the local peace committee reached the site, cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to apprehend the attackers. Investigators collected evidence from the crime scene and have opened an investigation into the killing.

Later, funeral prayers for Khan were offered with full official honours at Bannu Police Lines. The ceremony was attended by police officers, personnel and other government officials, who paid tribute to the slain officer&#39;s sacrifice.

Police also reiterated their commitment to bringing those responsible for the attack to justice.

The killing followed a fresh wave of terrorist violence in Bannu and the adjoining South Waziristan Lower district, where multiple attacks over the past week have underscored growing security concerns.

In South Waziristan, unidentified terrorists destroyed a government girls&#39; primary school in the Sara Ghora area of Barmal Tehsil by planting explosives inside the building during the night, reducing the structure to rubble.

In another attack, terrorists used a quadcopter to drop two improvised explosive devices inside the premises of Haved Police Station, injuring two Frontier Corps personnel and damaging two official vehicles.

Read: Terror wave jolts Bannu, South Waziristan

In another incident, Nisar Ahmed, headmaster of the Government High School in the Mandiu area of Miryan Tehsil, was allegedly abducted by armed men from the school premises, raising alarm among teachers and residents.

Bannu also witnessed other security incidents during the week. A suspected drone strike in the Narmi Khel area under Bakakhel Police Station injured rickshaw driver Asifullah, while two mortar rounds fired towards Bannu Cantonment landed at the old ROD Ground, causing panic but no casualties.

Separately, retired Frontier Corps official Ali Mar Khan was abducted from the Jani Khel area.

K-P remains a key focus of the country&#39;s counterterrorism efforts, with security forces regularly conducting IBOs against terrorists. The province witnessed a significant rise in militant violence last year, with more than 500 attacks reported, marking a 50% increase compared to the previous year.

According to a security assessment obtained by The Express Tribune, K-P recorded 1,588 terrorism-related incidents, underscoring the growing militant threat across both settled and tribal districts. Despite the increase in attacks, security forces reportedly thwarted 320 major strikes, while 137 police personnel were killed in the line of duty.

Read More: Bannu&#39;s misery

The report said joint operations by the K-P Police, the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) and other security agencies led to the arrest of 1,244 suspected militants, while 420 militants were killed in intelligence-based operations.

Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat, Hangu and Peshawar were among the districts most affected by militant violence, with the report noting a pattern of attacks allegedly planned and launched from across the Afghan border.

The CTD report also recorded a 56% increase in attacks targeting police personnel, rising from 327 in 2024 to 510 in 2025. During the year, security agencies conducted 2,791 search operations and identified 25 foreign militant operatives, while extortion networks operating in Peshawar and other districts were dismantled, according to the report.]]>
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			<title>'My past isn't baggage': Actor Mariam Michael on marrying at 17, divorcing at 19</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615577/my-past-isnt-baggage-actor-mariam-michael-on-marrying-at-17-divorcing-at-19</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615577/my-past-isnt-baggage-actor-mariam-michael-on-marrying-at-17-divorcing-at-19#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 11:11:12 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Life And Style Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615577</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor says she refuses to be ashamed of chapter that helped shape who she is]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Actor and model Mariam Michael opened up about a personal chapter of her life, revealing she got married at the age of 17 and got divorced at 19. Taking to social media, Mariam aimed to break the deep-seated societal stigma that surrounds divorce, particularly for women.

The actor said she chose to keep this part of her life hidden from the public eye for years; however, in a recent statement, she reflected on how hiding the past only fuels societal judgment. &quot;For years, I kept this part of my life private, but I&rsquo;ve realised that silence only gives shame more power, and I refuse to be ashamed of a chapter that helped shape who I am,&quot; Mariam wrote.

Mariam shared that she was just 17 when she tied the knot, revealing that she got divorced at 19. Rather than framing her divorce as a tragedy or failure, the actor characterised it as a mature conclusion reached by two young individuals who &quot;simply weren&#39;t ready for marriage.&quot; She emphasised that the separation was mutual, respectful, and devoid of malice.

&quot;Sometimes things don&rsquo;t work out, and that&rsquo;s okay,&quot; the actor said, adding that the two chose to end the marriage with respect, and over the years, have both moved on. &quot;Today, there is no resentment, no bitterness, and no conflict between us. I genuinely wish him nothing but the best, and I know he wishes the same for me,&quot; Mariam shared.





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Responding to potential questions about why she decided to bring up the story now, Mariam remained unbothered and direct. &quot;People often ask why I don&rsquo;t hide this part of my life. The answer is simple: because it&rsquo;s my story,&quot; she stated.

Further, she shared that there was nothing from the past that she regretted, as that past made her the woman she is today. &quot;It taught me lessons I couldn&#39;t have learned any other way,&quot; she said, noting that every experience, every mistake, and every chapter contributes to one&#39;s growth.

Mariam&#39;s post transitioned into a critique of societal double standards, particularly regarding how women are pressured to erase their past relationships in order to maintain social comfort. The actor questioned, &quot;Why is divorce treated as something shameful when sometimes it&rsquo;s simply two people realising they aren&rsquo;t right for each other? Why should anyone have to pretend a chapter of their life never existed?&quot;

&quot;I&#39;m not ashamed of my past, and no one can make me feel ashamed of it,&quot; she said, expressing hope that a potential marriage in the future would be built on complete acceptance. &quot;If I ever marry again, I hope it&rsquo;s with someone who accepts every part of my journey, not just the easy parts,&quot; Mariam said, adding, &quot;My past isn&#39;t baggage; it&#39;s part of the story that made me who I am.&quot;

With her statement, Mariam sent a message of empowerment to her followers, particularly women who may be navigating similar experiences. &quot;A divorce does not define your worth. Your past does not make you less deserving of love. And your story is not something you have to hide,&quot; she reminded her followers.

Mariam concluded by clarifying that her statement was neither a bid for attention nor an act of remorse, but an offering of solidarity. &quot;This isn&rsquo;t a confession. It&rsquo;s not an apology. It&rsquo;s simply my truth. And if sharing it helps even one person feel less alone or less ashamed of their own story, then it&rsquo;s worth telling,&quot; she wrote.]]>
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			<title>'Shandaar' inspired by real-life roadside killings, says Wajahat Rauf</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615645/shandaar-inspired-by-real-life-roadside-killings-says-wajahat-rauf</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615645/shandaar-inspired-by-real-life-roadside-killings-says-wajahat-rauf#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:01:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Qaisar Kamran]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615645</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Director describes his crime thriller set to air soon on Express Entertainment]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Director Wajahat Rauf says his upcoming crime thriller Shandaar, set to air soon on Express Entertainment, takes inspiration from a number of real-life roadside killing cases that have sparked public debate in Pakistan.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Rauf said the 16-episode series is not based on one specific incident but weaves together elements from several cases.

&quot;These days we often hear about people being killed on the road. Later, reports emerge that influential people were allegedly involved, and the cases become widely discussed on social media,&quot; he said.

According to Rauf, these incidents served as the starting point for Shandaar, which he describes as a fast-paced crime thriller rather than a direct retelling of any single event.

The series features a large ensemble cast, including Shamoon Abbasi, Shahzad Sheikh, Areeka Haq, Ali Dayan, Ahsan Afzal Khan, Laila Wasti and several other actors.

Actor Shamoon Abbasi recently shared a few pictures from the drama&#39;s set on his social media, giving fans a glimpse into the making of the upcoming series.

Actor Shamoon Abbasi Said &quot;My character in this drama is completely different from the roles I&#39;ve played in the past. It was also my first experience working with Wajahat Rauf and I truly enjoyed every moment of it.&quot;

Asked what distinguishes Shandaar from the many dramas currently on television, Rauf pointed to its grounding in real-life events and its realistic performances.

&quot;I think the fact that it is inspired by true stories sets it apart. Besides that, we have a stellar ensemble cast, and the actors have portrayed their characters very realistically,&quot; he said.

Rauf added that the makers have aimed to present a gripping crime story with a fast-moving narrative while keeping the treatment as realistic as possible. The 16-episode series is expected to premiere on Express Entertainment soon.]]>
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			<title>Zara Noor Abbas hits back at tabloids for pitting women against each other</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615554/zara-noor-abbas-hits-back-at-tabloids-for-pitting-women-against-each-other</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615554/zara-noor-abbas-hits-back-at-tabloids-for-pitting-women-against-each-other#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 08:03:15 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Life And Style Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615554</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor addresses speculation after liking post comparing Sajal Ali, Sahar Hashmi's performances in 'Zanjeerain']]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Actor Zara Noor Abbas addressed the online trend of comparing women, criticising tabloids for pitting female actors against one another for the sake of entertainment.

Zara reportedly came under scrutiny after recently liking a social media post comparing the performances of Sajal Ali and Sahar Hashmi in the drama Zanjeerain. After many viewers interpreted the interaction as Zara criticising Sajal, she took to her Instagram story to put the speculation to rest.

In a message aimed at tabloids and online trolls, Zara wrote, &ldquo;Go ahead and put women against each other. Catcall. Label. Take things out of context. Make views and money out of these stupid narratives.&quot; The actor added, &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be more than happy to have someone pay their bills because of me-us or whatever&rdquo;.



Screengrab: zaranoorabbas.official/Instagram

Through her statement, Zara took aim at the culture of manufacturing unnecessary rivalries between women, arguing that social media often takes minor incidents out of context and turns them into click-driven narratives.

The actor also remarked that if false stories involving her helped people earn money, she was more than happy to let them do so.&nbsp;Her statement resonated with many social media users, reigniting conversations about the media&#39;s tendency to fuel unnecessary rivalries between female celebrities.

Zara has remained vocal regarding issues facing women, challenging societal norms. In a previous interview, the actor highlighted the double standards for working women, discussing the misconception that women cannot manage both their career and personal life. Zara has also been vocal regarding&nbsp;depression&nbsp;and anxiety, often stressing self-care on her Instagram and urging her followers to prioritise their mental health.]]>
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			<title>Indian filmmaker reveals how he spotted Deepika’s superstar potential before her Bollywood debut</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615568/indian-filmmaker-reveals-how-he-spotted-deepikas-superstar-potential-before-her-bollywood-debut</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615568/indian-filmmaker-reveals-how-he-spotted-deepikas-superstar-potential-before-her-bollywood-debut#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 09:44:43 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Life And Style Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615568</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Indrajit says he, Shah Rukh believed actor was destined for stardom]]>
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				<![CDATA[Indian filmmaker Indrajit Lankesh revealed&nbsp;how he discovered Deepika Padukone before she became one of India&#39;s biggest stars, admitting that Shah Rukh Khan saw the&nbsp;same potential in her.

Featuring on a podcast,&nbsp;Lankesh opened up about discovering Deepika, reflecting on her journey from being a promising badminton player to entering the world of modelling. The filmmaker also recalled how Shah Rukh recognised the same star quality before the release of Om Shanti Om.

Discussing her transition into the entertainment industry, Lankesh revealed that he noticed Deepika while she was working as a fashion model in Bangalore. &quot;At that time, I didn&#39;t look back. I called her after she moved to Mumbai following the Bangalore fashion show,&quot; he said, adding, &quot;Immediately, I wanted that kind of girl for my film Aishwarya.&quot;

The filmmaker recalled,&nbsp;&quot;Shah Rukh came to Bangalore for an event where Deepika was playing the lead in&nbsp;Aishwarya. One of the journalists asked him about casting her in his new film Om Shanti Om and whether he knew that Aishwarya had become a viral hit. He replied in a witty way, saying, &#39;I heard it&#39;s a big hit. That means I&#39;ll have to pay her more.&#39;&quot;

Within a year, Deepika made her Bollywood debut opposite Shah Rukh in Om Shanti Om, which became one of the biggest blockbusters of the year and launched her career.

Reflecting on Deepika&#39;s rise, Lankesh said she always possessed the qualities of a true superstar. &ldquo;She has the charisma, the presence in itself was so engaging. She was five-foot-nine, tall with a sports body. She was an amazing world champion badminton player,&quot; Lankesh said, revealing his first impression of the actor.

The filmmaker also acknowledged that he was not solely responsible for Deepika&#39;s success. &quot;Pooja Dadlani deserves a lot of credit for helping shape Deepika&#39;s career. She did a lot of the work,&quot; he said, referring to the actor&#39;s manager at the time.

Further, Lankesh added that he had always believed Deepika had the rare qualities that separated stars from actors. &quot;Deepika was a star from day one. It&#39;s easy to say it now, but nobody believed me. I knew she was a star,&quot; he said, adding &quot;There are some people who are actors, and some who are stars.&quot; According to the filmmaker, &quot;Deepika had that screen presence. I could tell she was destined to become a superstar.&quot;

Recalling Deepika&#39;s first experience in front of the camera, Lankesh admitted that, like any newcomer, she initially found acting intimidating. &quot;In Aishwarya, I remember she was acting opposite a young boy named Kishan, who had already done around 40 films as a child actor. He knew everything,&quot; he said, explaining that the young actor was already familiar with camera equipment and filmmaking techniques.

&quot;It was very intimidating for any new actor. Her facial muscles started reacting, and as a director I noticed that. My job was to make a new actor feel comfortable on the first day,&quot; he said. Lankesh added,&nbsp;&quot;Once she understood what acting required, she found her rhythm. After that, there was no looking back.&quot;]]>
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			<title>Ali Fazal reveals his most memorable celebrity encounter was with Al Pacino</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615553/ali-fazal-reveals-his-most-memorable-celebrity-encounter-was-with-al-pacino</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615553/ali-fazal-reveals-his-most-memorable-celebrity-encounter-was-with-al-pacino#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 07:47:52 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Life And Style Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Life &amp; Style]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615553</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Actor says meeting Pacino was first time he had truly been starstruck]]>
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				<![CDATA[Indian actor Ali Fazal became one of the biggest names in the country&#39;s entertainment industry to work with Hollywood stars including Dame Judi Dench in Victoria &amp; Abdul, Vin Diesel in Furious 7, and Gerard Butler in the action thriller Kandahar. Yet, the actor said his most memorable moment was when he came face-to-face with Al Pacino.

Terming Pacino his cinematic idol, Fazal admitted that he was awestruck upon meeting the Hollywood icon.





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After years of admiring the actor, Fazal found himself living a scene straight out of a movie while in London shooting for Death on the Nile.

The actor shared that he was in the United Kingdom when there was a premiere for The Irishman. Fazal said he mixed up the dates and realised 20 minutes before the premiere opened, running to the event. &quot;I couldn&rsquo;t get a cab but luckily, it was in the vicinity. I wore my suit, and I ran,&quot; the actor said. Making it to the venue in time, Fazal stated, &quot;I went straight to the bar because I needed water. I stop there, I turn to my right, and he&rsquo;s [Pacino&#39;s] right in front of me. He&rsquo;s just looking at me, smiling.&rdquo;

The actor added that the interaction was the first time he had truly been starstruck by someone. &quot;When you&rsquo;re working with somebody, it&rsquo;s fine, it&rsquo;s enriching. It&rsquo;s like, &lsquo;This is me, and I take whatever you&rsquo;re going to give.&rsquo; But here, I wasn&rsquo;t working with him. I was just a fan,&rdquo; Fazal said.

He further noted that he spoke to Pacino, discussing his theatre work. Sharing the Hollywood star&#39;s reaction, Fazal said, &ldquo;He was like, &lsquo;Oh!&rsquo; because he&rsquo;s also very big on theatre. He&rsquo;s always been a big champion of Shakespeare and has a big body of work apart from the cinema he does.&rdquo;

Joking that he&#39;s like an encyclopedia on Pacino and would answer every question about him during trivia games with friends, Fazal said, &ldquo;I used to talk about all the things that he had gone through, like the number of auditions Pacino had done for The Godfather. I was really obsessed with him.&rdquo;

Recently, Fazal featured in the investigative crime thriller series Raakh. In the eight-episode drama, he plays Sub-Inspector Jayprakash, a police officer investigating the disappearance and murder of two teenagers in 1978 Delhi.]]>
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			<title>High receivables weigh on gas utility</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615670/high-receivables-weigh-on-gas-utility</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615670/high-receivables-weigh-on-gas-utility#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:31:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[ZAFAR BHUTTA]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615670</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[SNGPL conveys to govt its inability to retire bank loans of Rs50 billion]]>
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				<![CDATA[The freezing of gas prices and diversion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by different governments have put a financial burden of Rs819 billion on state-run gas utility Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL).

The public utility has expressed its inability to repay bank loans of Rs50 billion taken to clear receivables of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) on account of LNG supplies.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the gas sector had been facing the accumulation of circular debt since financial year 2013 owing to inadequate or no increase in consumer prices by the government from time to time, preventing Sui companies from recovering the full cost of gas purchased from producers.

The addition to the gas-sector circular debt has been largely curbed since November 2023 owing to consistent price revisions. However, the interest cost or late payment surcharge has continued to increase. As of December 2025, SNGPL had receivables of Rs1,095 billion and late payment surcharge of Rs931 billion.

The Petroleum Division had informed the economic decision-making body that primary receivables of Rs819 billion were on account of tariff differential due to the government&#39;s decision not to revise consumer prices and the diversion of expensive re-gasified LNG to the domestic sector at lower tariffs. Now, SNGPL has conveyed to the government its inability to retire a Rs50 billion loan and has requested an extension in sovereign guarantee till June 30, 2030.

According to sources, the Petroleum Division with the assistance of the Task Force on Power Reforms and KPMG had developed the Gas Circular Debt Management Plan (GCDMP), which was presented to the International Monetary Fund in March 2026 and again in May 2026. Subsequent queries from the IMF have also been responded to and the final response is awaited. The third review of the IMF&#39;s Extended Fund Facility says the Petroleum Division has developed a gas CDMP expected to be rolled out in FY27 after necessary approvals.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet, while considering a summary submitted by the Petroleum Division in 2023, agreed that the Finance Division would provide the sovereign guarantee along with a Letter of Comfort in favour of SNGPL for commercial borrowing of Rs50 billion on an immediate basis.

Pursuant to the ECC decision, the Finance Division issued the sovereign guarantee in July 2023 to Allied Bank, Faysal Bank and the National Bank of Pakistan amounting to Rs20 billion, Rs20 billion and Rs10 billion respectively against running finance facilities obtained by SNGPL for making RLNG payments to PSO and Pakistan LNG Limited.

The ECC approved the validity period of the guarantee up to June 2026 with the stipulation that it would be a new facility and the Petroleum Division would comply with guidelines of the Finance Division. It further directed the Petroleum Division to provide cash-flow projections to ascertain SNGPL&#39;s capacity to retire the loans on expiry of their term.

Later, the Finance Division was informed that reportedly one of the consortium members, Faysal Bank, had requested SNGPL for early settlement of its share of financing.

SNGPL initiated discussions with multiple banks and subsequently Meezan Bank showed its willingness to acquire the entire Rs50 billion financing at improved terms of three-month Kibor minus 30 basis points as compared to the existing one-month Kibor, resulting in estimated annual savings of Rs150 million in finance cost for the company.

Accordingly, the Finance Division was requested to issue a Letter of Comfort and sovereign guarantee in compliance with the ECC decision.

The Petroleum Division informed the Finance Division about the financial viability of SNGPL whereby the company had reported that the revision in consumer gas prices by the government helped contain the circular debt but it did not have the required funds to retire the previously accumulated debt.

Besides, the RLNG diversion to the domestic sector and demand destruction in the captive power sector put financial constraints on SNGPL, making it difficult to pay off liabilities. Therefore, the company could not provide any viable mechanism to retire the Rs50 billion loan. Now, the gas utility is seeking an extension in the sovereign guarantee issued to Meezan Bank.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan, Italy sign Rs6.3b concessional loan agreement for agriculture skills project</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615591/pakistan-italy-sign-rs63b-concessional-loan-agreement-for-agriculture-skills-project</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615591/pakistan-italy-sign-rs63b-concessional-loan-agreement-for-agriculture-skills-project#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 13:53:46 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615591</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Project aims to strengthen Pakistan's TVET system, with focus on agriculture by enhancing professional skills]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan and Italy on Monday signed a concessional loan agreement worth approximately Rs6.3 billion&nbsp;to support a project&nbsp;aimed at strengthening agricultural skills development and vocational education in the country.

The agreement was signed by Economic Affairs Secretary&nbsp;Muhammad Humair Karim and Ambassador of Italy&nbsp;Marilina Armellin in the presence of senior officials from the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Ministry of National Food Security and Research&nbsp;and provincial departments for the&nbsp;Professional Capacity Building and Extension in Agriculture project under Pakistan&rsquo;s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) National Reform Programme.

The project aimed to strengthen Pakistan&rsquo;s TVET&nbsp;system, with a particular focus on the agriculture sector, by enhancing professional skills, improving technical certification&nbsp;and promoting innovation across agricultural value chains.

The initiative was designed to build the capacity of farmers, extension workers, trainers, and other stakeholders through modern, demand-driven training programmes that contributed to increased productivity, sustainable agricultural practices, and improved livelihoods.



پاکستان اور اٹلی کے درمیان 20 ملین یورو (6.3 ارب روپے) کے رعایتی قرضے کے معاہدے پر دستخط

قرض کے زریعے زیتون، پستہ، کھجور، مشروم، چیری، انگور، آڑو اور بادام جیسی فصلوں پر توجہ دی جائے گی

42 ماہ پر مشتمل اس پروگرام کے دوران مجموعی طور پر 720 زرعی تربیتی کورسز منعقد کیے جائیں گے pic.twitter.com/5GhyxZ2x1o
&mdash; Khurrram Shahzad (@KhurramShahzPK) June 29, 2026


Under the programme, emphasis would be placed on the development of high-value crops and the strengthening of agro-food value chains. Dedicated training facilities would support stakeholders engaged in horticulture production, processing, and marketing, while fostering product diversification and value addition.

The project would focus on crops including olives, pistachios, dates, mushrooms, cherries, grapes, peaches, and almonds, drawing upon Italian expertise in modern agronomic practices and Pakistan&rsquo;s significant agricultural potential.

Over a period of 42 months, the programme would deliver 720 training courses benefiting an estimated 18,398 participants, including farmers, women, youth, and trainers, supported by the development of 11 standardised training curricula.

Read More: Pakistan, Italy sign diplomatic visa waiver

Infrastructure investments would include the establishment of 12 model orchards and nurseries, eight eco-villages equipped with climate-resilient technologies, five agro-food processing units, and two National Centres of Excellence for citrus and date crops in Sargodha and Turbat.

The project would be implemented by the Pakistan Oilseed Department in coordination with Provincial Agriculture Departments and was expected to generate rural employment, enhance producer incomes, reduce post-harvest losses, strengthen farmer cooperatives, and improve the competitiveness of Pakistan&rsquo;s agriculture sector.

A press release said the signing of the&nbsp;agreement reflected the strong and longstanding development partnership between Pakistan and Italy and underscored their shared commitment to promoting sustainable agricultural development, skills enhancement, and inclusive economic growth through strengthened bilateral cooperation.]]>
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			<title>SBP repays $1.3b in external debt</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615671/sbp-repays-13b-in-external-debt</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615671/sbp-repays-13b-in-external-debt#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:31:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Usman Hanif]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615671</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Total forex reserves stand at $21.5b; gold drops amid US-Iran tensions]]>
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				<![CDATA[The State Bank of Pakistan&#39;s (SBP) foreign exchange reserves decreased by $1.305 billion and reached $15.916 billion during the week ended June 19, 2026. The decline was mainly due to external debt repayments.

In the following days, however, the government received fresh inflows that are expected to significantly strengthen the central bank&#39;s reserves position. The SBP has received $0.7 billion from a multilateral institution and approximately $1.7 billion as refinancing of a government commercial loan. &quot;These inflows will be reflected in the SBP&#39;s foreign exchange reserves as on June 30, 2026,&quot; said the central bank in a statement on Monday.

Pakistan&#39;s total liquid foreign reserves stood at $21.485 billion as of June 19, 2026. Of these, the foreign reserves held by the State Bank were $15.916 billion, while the net foreign reserves with commercial banks stood at $5.568 billion.

Furthermore, the Pakistani rupee appreciated 0.01% against the US dollar, closing at Rs278.17 on Monday compared to Rs278.20 on Wednesday last week.

Meanwhile, gold prices in Pakistan declined, tracking losses in the international market as fresh US-Iran tensions boosted oil prices and stoked inflation fears, raising expectations of higher interest rates.

In the local market, the price of gold per tola stood at Rs428,936 after a drop of Rs2,300, according to rates shared by the All-Pakistan Gems and Jewellers Sarafa Association. Similarly, the 10-gram gold was sold for Rs367,743 after falling by Rs1,972. The price of silver decreased by Rs69 to Rs6,324 per tola. On Saturday, the per-tola gold had closed at Rs431,236 following a decline of Rs1,000.

Internationally, spot gold slid 1.5% to $4,025.83 per ounce by midday ET, after dipping more than 2% earlier and hitting a more than seven-month low last week, according to Reuters. US gold futures for August delivery fell 1.4% to $4,040.70.

Interactive Commodities Director Adnan Agar noted that gold prices came under pressure. &quot;The low was $4,000, the high was $4,090 and the market closed at $4,024. Right now, gold prices are under pressure,&quot; he said. Agar suggested that the market could test lows around $3,600 to $3,900 in the coming days before any potential upside. He highlighted the linkage with oil. &quot;If oil goes up from here, which has a very high chance, then the stories of a gold reversal will start again.&quot;

With US-Iran issues persisting, including Iran&#39;s strikes on US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday, &quot;gold is expected to remain under pressure for one to two months&quot;, he said.

Market participants are also eyeing key US data this week, including the ADP employment report and non-farm payroll figures, which could further influence rate expectations and the dollar&#39;s strength.]]>
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			<title>Govt, exporters discuss tax regime, trade schemes</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615672/govt-exporters-discuss-tax-regime-trade-schemes</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615672/govt-exporters-discuss-tax-regime-trade-schemes#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:31:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615672</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Meeting underlines need for facilitative measures, improving ease of doing business]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Bilal Azhar Kayani chaired a consultative meeting at the Ministry of Finance with representatives of the business and export sectors to discuss measures aimed at further improving the tax regime, enhancing export facilitation, and promoting a more enabling business environment.

The meeting reviewed various policy and administrative measures to facilitate trade, strengthen industrial competitiveness, and support export-led growth. Discussions also covered the implementation of programmes such as the Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL), the Technology Upgradation Fund (TUF), and the Export Facilitation Scheme (EFS), with participants exchanging views on ways to further improve their effectiveness and facilitate timely implementation.

The representatives of the business community shared their perspectives on enhancing the ease of doing business, improving operational efficiency, and strengthening Pakistan&#39;s export competitiveness. The meeting reaffirmed the importance of continued public-private dialogue in support of sustainable economic growth.

The minister of state reiterated the government&#39;s commitment to maintaining close engagement with the business community and to pursuing policies that promote investment, industrial development, exports, and economic growth. He noted that the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Board of Revenue, and the Ministry of Commerce would continue to work closely with all stakeholders to ramp up trade and further lift the country&#39;s export sector.

The meeting was attended by a delegation of business leaders, including Jawed Bilwani, former president Karachi Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry, Syed Ahtisham Mazhar, President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce &amp; Industry, Zubair Motiwala, former president KCCI, Khurram Mukhtar, Patron-in-Chief Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, and Aslam Pakhali, CEO FA International. Dr Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, Member Sales Tax, Federal Board of Revenue, and Ashhad Jawwad, Member Customs Policy FBR also attended the meeting.]]>
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			<title>Apparel sector joins global green drive</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615673/apparel-sector-joins-global-green-drive</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615673/apparel-sector-joins-global-green-drive#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:31:00 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[SHAHRAM HAQ]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615673</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Stakeholders say outdated estate rules may slow investment, exports]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Pakistan&#39; apparel industry has joined the global drive towards sustainable manufacturing by becoming only the third country to establish a national chapter of the Apparel and Textile Transformation Initiative (ATTI), with industry leaders saying the move could strengthen export competitiveness, attract climate finance and improve access to international markets.

Manufacturers, however, say international recognition must be matched with domestic policy reforms, warning that outdated industrial estate regulations continue to discourage investment and limit the sector&#39;s export potential.

The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) has formally committed to establishing the Pakistan National Chapter of ATTI, a global manufacturer-led platform jointly launched by the International Apparel Federation (IAF) and the International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF). Under the collaboration, the association will develop a Pakistan Transformation Plan focusing on decarbonisation, energy efficiency, water stewardship, climate finance, resource efficiency and sustainable manufacturing. The initiative is expected to provide technical support, particularly to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while helping exporters meet increasingly stringent environmental and compliance requirements of international buyers.

Pakistan is the third country to join the initiative after Bangladesh and T&uuml;rkiye. The announcement was made during London Climate Action Week 2026, where manufacturers, global brands, investors and development partners discussed climate finance and sustainable transformation of the apparel sector.

Dr Muhammad Ayyaz Uddin, convener of PRGMEA&#39;s Decarbonisation Committee, said joining ATTI marks an important milestone that will accelerate sustainability efforts and strengthen collaboration across the industry. PRGMEA North Zone Chairman Imran Salahuddin said the partnership would improve the competitiveness of Pakistani manufacturers by promoting innovation and practical decarbonisation solutions, enhancing the country&#39;s standing as a preferred global sourcing destination. PRGMEA has maintained close ties with the IAF over the years, having hosted the federation&#39;s World Fashion Convention in Lahore in 2019.

While welcoming Pakistan&#39;s inclusion in the global initiative, the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PHMA) has urged the Punjab government to revise its industrial estate policy, arguing that existing regulations are slowing industrial relocation and reducing export competitiveness.

Zonal Chairman Abdul Hameed said the requirement for manufacturers to install entirely new machinery before relocating to industrial estates is impractical, particularly when many factories already possess underutilised production capacity. He called for a relocation policy allowing existing factories to shift operations with installed machinery instead of making fresh investments that increase financial pressure on exporters. Hameed welcomed the Punjab government&#39;s proposed Rs13.3 billion plug-and-play garment factory parks, describing the initiative as a positive step towards value-added industrialisation. However, he stressed that the project would only succeed if existing manufacturers are allowed to relocate without replacing operational machinery.

He also highlighted growing compliance challenges, noting that export markets, particularly the European Union, now require manufacturers to meet strict environmental, labour and supply-chain standards. Dyeing and processing units, he said, face increasing scrutiny under evolving regulations.

Representatives of PRGMEA supported PHMA&#39;s recommendations and called for greater industry participation in policymaking. They proposed that both associations be included in decisions relating to industrial park development and export facilitation, while recommending integration of the commerce ministry&#39;s National Compliance Centre with Punjab&#39;s garment industrial parks to improve technical support and regulatory compliance.

PHMA representatives said weak implementation and poor coordination have historically undermined industrial estates. They also highlighted labour shortages in remote industrial zones and suggested transport facilities and workers&#39; housing to ensure a stable workforce.

PRGMEA representatives also expressed concern that some plots in Quaid-e-Azam Business Park were reportedly being used for speculative real estate activity instead of manufacturing, undermining the objective of industrial development.

Industry leaders warned that unless issues relating to machinery relocation, compliance infrastructure, labour availability and land-use enforcement are addressed, industrial estates may continue to underperform despite significant public investment.]]>
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			<title>US, Iran head to Doha for de-escalation talks</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615698/us-iran-head-to-doha-for-de-escalation-talks</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615698/us-iran-head-to-doha-for-de-escalation-talks#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:30:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[agencies]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Trump confirms high-level meeting in Qatari capital
 White House says Witkoff and Kushner to join talks
 Tehran denie]]>
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				<![CDATA[The United States and Iran are set to hold high-level talks in Doha on Tuesday (today) in an effort to preserve a fragile ceasefire after days of renewed military exchanges threatened to derail an interim peace agreement reached earlier this month, even as the two sides offered conflicting accounts over the scope of the discussions.

US President Donald Trump confirmed that a meeting would take place in the Qatari capital, telling reporters in the Oval Office that it would be &quot;perhaps important, perhaps not&quot;. Earlier, he had said on social media that Iran had requested the meeting, while the White House announced that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would lead the US delegation.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the high-level discussions would be held alongside technical talks on implementing the June 17 memorandum of understanding that halted four months of conflict.

&quot;Special Envoy Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be flying to Doha for high-level meetings this week... On the sidelines of those high-level talks, will be the technical talks,&quot; she said, adding, &quot;As far as we&#39;re concerned, we&#39;re holding up our end of the ceasefire. Violence will be met with violence.&quot;

Tehran, however, denied that technical working group meetings had been scheduled for this week. Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said consultations with Qatar on implementing the agreement were continuing, while a senior Iranian source maintained that a meeting was expected on Tuesday with the focus shifting from previous technical discussions to managing the Strait of Hormuz and reducing tensions.

Sources familiar with the negotiations said that mediators had established communication channels to prevent further escalation and deal quickly with any incidents that could undermine the interim accord.

Signed on June 17, the 14-point memorandum of understanding ended four months of conflict, restored navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and opened a 60-day window for negotiations on more contentious issues, including Iran&#39;s nuclear programme and the phased implementation of the agreement.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described the accord as &quot;a great victory for the Iranian people&quot; and announced that $6 billion of Iran&#39;s $12 billion in frozen assets held in Qatar would be released under the agreement. A senior Iranian source said Doha and Tehran were finalising technical arrangements for the transfer of the funds in two instalments.

The planned talks follow several days of tit-for-tat attacks after an Iranian projectile struck a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz last Thursday, prompting both Washington and Tehran to accuse each other of violating the ceasefire.

Iran later launched missiles and drones at US military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain, while its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused the United States of breaching the truce and warned that American bases in the region would &quot;experience hell in the coming days&quot;.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France was working with Oman to help de-escalate regional tensions and would cooperate with partners to clear mines from the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of commercial shipping.

The uncertainty surrounding the US-Iran ceasefire has also cast a shadow over a separate US-brokered agreement between Lebanon and Israel. Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri rejected the proposed arrangement, warning that it could divide Lebanon and declaring that it would not be implemented.

Tehran has insisted that ending the conflict in Lebanon and securing the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon remain integral to any broader settlement with the United States.]]>
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			<title>South Africa repatriations top 25,000</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615705/south-africa-repatriations-top-25000</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615705/south-africa-repatriations-top-25000#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:42:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[South Africa&#39;s security forces said Monday that more than 25,000 people have been repatriated in recent weeks ahead of planned anti-immigrant protests, with many others still awaiting departure.

The outflows come as thousands seek to leave over safety fears after citizen-led groups issued an unofficial ultimatum for undocumented foreigners to exit the country by June 30.

Several governments, including Nigeria, Malawi, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, have organised voluntary repatriation flights and buses after weeks of protests, looting and attacks targeting foreigners that have left four people dead.

&quot;To date, more than 25,000 foreign nationals have been repatriated,&quot; the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS), which coordinates between the police, military and intelligence agencies, said.

The latest figures mark a sharp increase from last week, when authorities said 15,000 Malawians had been processed. At least 988 Ghanaians and about 600 Nigerians left by plane earlier this month.

&quot;This is an ongoing process,&quot; NATJOINTS said, adding that specialised units, including K9 teams and the Air Wing, have been deployed.]]>
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			<title>Floods paralyse Ghana capital, kill three</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615706/floods-paralyse-ghana-capital-kill-three</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615706/floods-paralyse-ghana-capital-kill-three#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:42:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Torrential rains sparked flooding across Accra on Monday, killing at least three people, authorities and local media reported, with the president blaming climate change and unchecked urbanisation.

Flooding is common during Ghana&#39;s rainy season, but residents say inundations in the capital have become worse in recent years due to rapid urbanisation, the building on and blocking of waterways, and a lack of investment in drainage infrastructure.

Some 140 millimetres of rain fell on the city in a single day, &quot;the highest experienced in several years&quot; and nearly triple last year&#39;s high, President John Mahama said. &quot;That aspect of the problem is beyond our control because it is driven by changing climatic conditions,&quot; he said on X.

But he also warned of &quot;the issue of human behaviour&quot;.

&quot;Whenever government begins removing structures built in waterways, some people accuse us of being inhumane,&quot; he said. &quot;Yet when disasters such as today&#39;s flooding occur, the consequences affect everyone.&quot;

In the eastern suburb of Tse Addo, emergency responders and local volunteers used boats to rescue at least 15 children and an infant after rains that started lashing the city at 3:00 am flooded the area.]]>
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			<title>Doctors in England accept pay deal to end strikes</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615707/doctors-in-england-accept-pay-deal-to-end-strikes</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615707/doctors-in-england-accept-pay-deal-to-end-strikes#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:42:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Doctors in England have voted to accept a pay and conditions offer, the UK government announced on Monday, bringing to an end a year of strike action.

The so-called resident doctors -- those below consultant level -- have accepted an average 6.6 percent pay uplift to be implemented by April 2027.

The deal will mean medics&#39; pay will be more than 35 percent higher on average than it was four years ago, the Department of Health said.

It will also see 4,500 extra specialty training places being established over the three years.

&quot;This is very good news for resident doctors, patients and the NHS as a whole, allowing us to draw a line under the disruption of previous months and focus on getting on with the job of rebuilding our health service,&quot; said Health Secretary James Murray.

Resident doctors have taken part in 21 days of strike action since July last year.

In total, they have walked out 15 times in just over three years.

Labour ousted the Conservatives from power in July 2024, vowing to end the strikes.

But the government and the doctors remained in deadlock over the medics&#39; demand for a pay hike to compensate for what they say is a real-time loss of earnings due to inflation.

Thousands of doctors were set to stage a four-day walkout on June 15, which would have been the 16th round of strike action since 2023.

But it was called off on June 13 after the latest offer was made.

Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his resignation last Monday and is expected to step down in mid-July.]]>
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			<title>Venezuela quake death toll tops 1,700</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615694/venezuela-quake-death-toll-tops-1700</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615694/venezuela-quake-death-toll-tops-1700#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:02:22 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Aftershock hits Caracas as rescue efforts enter critical hours]]>
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				<![CDATA[The death toll from last

week&#39;s twin earthquakes in Venezuela has risen to more than 1,700 people, top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez said on Monday.

More than 5,000 were wounded in the disaster, and more than 15,000 left homeless, Rodriguez added in an address on state television.

Residents of Caracas woke up to an aftershock that rocked their houses, while rescue teams continued their fourth day of round-the-clock work in the areas affected by last week&#39;s powerful earthquakes in Venezuela.

A 4.6-magnitude aftershock centered at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) hit north of the Venezuelan capital Caracas early on Monday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

No damage was immediately

reported from the aftershock,

the president of the National As-sembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said on social media.

Rescue efforts have been focusing particularly on La Guaira, the hardest-hit state of a country long mired in a deep political and economic crisis.

Wednesday&#39;s twin earthquakes have left close to 1,500 people confirmed dead and hundreds of collapsed buildings.

The international community has rallied to help Venezuela in the wake of the disaster. The country has received support from 24 countries, which have sent over 500 metric tons of sup-plies, more than 2,700 rescue and support personnel and about 86 canine teams, according to Venezuelan authorities.

National and international rescue teams continued their efforts throughout the night, while the families of the missing remain hopeful that survivors will be found.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele shared the rescue of 21-year-old Aaron Levi in a collapsed building in the disaster-stricken state of La Guaira.

&quot;This rescue was made

possible thanks to the coordinated efforts of rescue teams from Vene-zuela, Mexico, and El Salvador,&quot; he said on X.

Venezuela&#39;s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, also echoed Levi&#39;s story, explaining that he was pulled out after 106 hours trapped under the rubble through a rescue operation that lasted 43 hours.]]>
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			<title>Apple accuses India of 'copy-pasting' rivals' claims in antitrust investigation</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615613/apple-accuses-india-of-copy-pasting-rivals-claims-in-antitrust-investigation</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615613/apple-accuses-india-of-copy-pasting-rivals-claims-in-antitrust-investigation#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 17:26:02 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Senior officials from the CCI are due to hold a closed-door hearing with all parties in the case on July 21]]>
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				<![CDATA[Apple has accused Indian antitrust investigators of &quot;copy-pasting&quot; its rivals&#39; claims and failing to properly conduct its own investigation in concluding the United States&nbsp;tech giant breached competition laws, ​calling for the findings to be quashed, regulatory papers reviewed by Reuters showed.

The June 25 Apple&nbsp;submission, being reported for the first time, marks the sharpest escalation &zwnj;yet in Apple&#39;s fight with the Competition Commission of India (CCI), where Tinder-owner Match&nbsp;and Indian startups are among its opponents.

In 2024, CCI investigators privately issued a report saying Apple engaged in&nbsp;&quot;abusive conduct&quot;&nbsp;on the app platform of its iOS operating system, and wrongly mandated the use of its payment system.

Apple has denied the allegations. It said in its submission that it was a &quot;minuscule player&quot; with an under 6% share of India&#39;s smartphone market, ​and the investigation&#39;s conclusions were built on rivals&#39; claims rather than on the CCI&#39;s independent analysis.

Apple said any &quot;forced alterations to Apple&#39;s carefully designed App Store could disrupt its ​integrated business model&quot;, and argued against any penalties and behavioural remedies that could force it to change its approach.

&quot;The imposition of remedies would ⁠create regulatory uncertainty and could deter investments in India&#39;s digital economy,&quot; the company added.

The CCI and its head of investigations did not respond to Reuters queries. Apple also did not respond ​to requests for comment.

Similar arguments by other big companies have failed to sway the CCI. In 2023, Alphabet&#39;s Google argued in its antitrust case that CCI&#39;s order risked stalling its growth, but ​the company was later&nbsp;forced to make changes&nbsp;to the way it promoted its Android system, which dominates the Indian smartphone market.

Senior officials from the CCI are due to hold a closed-door hearing with all parties in the case on July 21.

&#39;Copy-pasting&#39; allegations

In its submission, Apple drew up tables to argue the CCI investigation team had not done its own analysis and instead indulged in &quot;copy-pasting&quot; many submissions from opponents in the case, such ​as Match, Walmart&#39;s Indian payments app, PhonePe, and Indian rival Paytm.

&quot;The DG (director general) made no effort whatsoever to independently verify or critically assess these statements, often parroting them verbatim,&quot; Apple ​said.

Match, Paytm and PhonePe did not respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Apple also said the CCI investigation reports &quot;blindly replicated&quot; a graphic on worldwide consumer spending on mobile apps and games from an EU ruling against &zwnj;Apple in ⁠2024, even though India faced different market conditions.

A Reuters review of footnotes of the EU order and Indian investigation report showed both referenced data from Statista, an online research website.

In 2023, Google also&nbsp;argued&nbsp;Indian investigators copied parts of a European ruling. &quot;We have not cut, copy and pasted,&quot; CCI said at the time.

Watchdog says Apple stalling case

Apple is facing antitrust challenges around the world, from&nbsp;Europe&nbsp;to the&nbsp;United States.

The Indian case, however, is progressing at a time when Apple faces many supply chain issues, including a&nbsp;data breach&nbsp;at its Indian contract manufacturer Tata.

The watchdog has accused Apple of&nbsp;stalling&nbsp;​the case for more than two years ​by not submitting responses to the investigation ⁠findings and pursuing a&nbsp;parallel challenge&nbsp;to India&#39;s antitrust penalty law, which allows for potential fines of up to 10% of company turnover in the previous three years. The CCI has not said which Apple revenues might be considered but any fine could potentially run into millions of dollars.

Apple submissions show ​it has submitted the &quot;relevant turnover of Apple in India&quot; for fiscal years 2022-24 as required &mdash; typically used by the watchdog for penalty ​calculations.

In the submissions, Apple is also ⁠arguing officials failed to grant the tech firm &quot;a single opportunity to record its statements and provide oral evidence&quot; during the probe.

Google was provided several opportunities to defend itself and explain its business model during its Android case, according to the Apple submission.

&quot;While desirable, the CCI&#39;s investigation team is under no legal obligation to give an oral hearing if it feels it has conclusive evidence,&quot; said Gautam ⁠Shahi, an Indian ​antitrust lawyer at Dua Associates.

&quot;CCI&#39;s members will now decide if Apple should have been given that opportunity.&quot;

As Apple ​diversifies iPhone manufacturing beyond China, India is a key market &mdash; the country is set to make 26% of the world&#39;s iPhones in 2026, up from 6% four years ago, according to Counterpoint Research.

If CCI does consider penalties, Apple said ​mitigating factors should be considered, including its &quot;unblemished record&quot; and the fact that it has exported iPhones worth $51 billion from India over the past five years.]]>
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			<title>AI-powered bicycles aim to revive the cycling industry</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615433/ai-powered-bicycles-aim-to-revive-the-cycling-industry</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615433/ai-powered-bicycles-aim-to-revive-the-cycling-industry#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 26 14:49:45 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[With algorithm and smart sensors, the innovation makes the ride easier and safer without having to think about it]]>
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				<![CDATA[Artificial intelligence, long used in cars and smartphones, is now entering the cycling world in areas ranging from electric motors to safety and services.

At the stand of Avinox, a manufacturer of motors for electric bicycles, the DNA of the parent company and Chinese drone specialist DJI has been transposed to cycling.

The motor on display features sensors that continuously monitor the cyclist&#39;s movements and terrain conditions, allowing AI to automatically adjust the motor&#39;s assistance to the pedal drive.

This makes the ride &quot;easier and safer without having to think about it,&quot; Avinox developer Ferdinand Wolf said.

The system even allows a rider to transmit their real-time heart rate so that the e-bike motor modifies the level of assistance as needed.

Safety alerts

Elsewhere at the show, there is technology that aims to keep cyclists alive and injury-free.

At Germany&#39;s Canyon, a racing bike equipped with cameras and radars promises to alert cyclists &quot;to the presence of elements they do not necessarily perceive&quot;, company spokesman Ben Hilldson said.

&quot;If a car is parking, the system can anticipate the opening of a door and warn the cyclist,&quot; he said.

The rider would then be alerted via either visual signals on the frame, vibrations in the handlebars or through technology inside their helmet.



The AI bike equipped with smart sensors and batteries for better ride. PHOTO: AVINOX

Canyon is presenting a helmet fitted with a large visor capable of displaying real-time alerts or receiving an audio signal, depending on the user&#39;s preference.

The products are for now in the prototype stage, Hilldson said.

Canyon is also working with carmaker Volkswagen on a communication system that would allow the bicycle to interact with surrounding cars and other infrastructure, with the launch expected in about three years.

The main obstacle: almost all vehicles currently on the road are not yet equipped to exchange such data.

Smart networks

Artificial intelligence is also shaking up services in the cycling industry.

At insurer Linexo, &quot;around 90 per cent of claims will be handled entirely automatically by the end of the year&quot;, head of the bicycle division Soeren Hirsch said.

Read More: Google limits Meta&rsquo;s use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports

Automation handles standard cases, while experts review complex claims and detect fraud, &quot;the only way to keep insurance premiums stable&quot;, he added.

Start-up Wunderfix, meanwhile, offers repair services linking retailers, customers and shops via an application that allows cyclists to diagnose and, where possible, repair their bicycles themselves.

Some 3,000 service requests have already been recorded this year, the company says.&nbsp;The rise of AI-enabled and smart bikes has fuelled hopes of a rebound for the business.

The European bicycle market shrank in 2025 for the third year in a row, with sales dropping four per cent to 15.2 million units, according to consultants EY-Parthenon.

&quot;After the boom during the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector has been going through a painful consolidation since 2023: lower sales, high inventories and strong pricing pressure have weighed heavily on many players,&quot; EY-Parthenon analyst Constantin Gall said.

The market is nevertheless expected to stabilise this year before slowly recovering, with revenue forecast at 21.2 billion euros for 2031 -- on a par with the record-breaking sales of 2022.

Alongside infrastructure investment, &quot;digital and data-driven offerings&quot; will be a growth driver, the consultancy said.]]>
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			<title>In Idaho, the next generation of US nuclear reactors nears reality</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615427/in-idaho-the-next-generation-of-us-nuclear-reactors-nears-reality</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615427/in-idaho-the-next-generation-of-us-nuclear-reactors-nears-reality#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 26 13:17:14 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP .]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[At Idaho National Laboratory, Antares ran the first new-design US nuclear reactor in nearly 50 years]]>
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				<![CDATA[A new generation of small nuclear reactors is up and running -- or nearly so -- in the United States, in what backers are calling a turning point for the industry.

The milestone, made possible by billions in private and government funding, was on display in the middle of the Idaho desert, where a cluster of drab hangars might otherwise go unnoticed.

But the presence of heavily armed soldiers, security checkpoints, and signs warning of radioactivity is anything but ordinary.

It was here, at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), that startup Antares on June 4 became the first company to run a new-design nuclear reactor in the US in nearly 50 years.

&quot;This is the first real moment in this new nuclear renaissance,&quot; said Jordan Bramble, CEO of Antares.

Aalo Atomics, another participant in the program launched in 2025 under President Donald Trump, is set to do the same in the coming days -- also here in Idaho, just hours before a presidential target date: July 4 and the nation&#39;s 250th anniversary.

Read More: World&#39;s largest particle smasher halts for upgrade to boost hunt for dark matter

Meanwhile, on June 18, another startup, Valar Atomics, hit the same milestone in Utah, reaching what is known as criticality -- the point at which a reactor can sustain its own nuclear chain reaction.

After developing more than 50 reactor prototypes -- including the world&#39;s first to feed electricity into the grid, in 1951 -- INL had pressed pause following accidents at Three Mile Island in the US and Chornobyl in current-day Ukraine.

Then came the war in Ukraine, followed by the AI boom -- putting the energy sector under severe strain and leading both Joe Biden and Donald Trump to revive civilian nuclear power.



Aalo Atomics is set to run a new-design nuclear reactor ahead of July 4 Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP

Billions of dollars in both private and public funding have already been mobilised to develop these small modular reactors (SMRs) -- compact enough that one was transported to the site, towed by a pickup truck.

SMRs promise cheaper, faster-to-build nuclear power that can go almost anywhere -- from remote military bases to power-hungry data centres. But they have yet to be proven at commercial scale, and some analysts doubt they can compete on cost with wind and solar.

Beyond financial support, the government has put INL&#39;s facilities and staff -- who have accumulated nearly 80 years of experience -- at the disposal of the selected companies.

The new reactors also use different technology from conventional plants, ruling out the kind of cascading disasters seen at Three Mile Island and Chornobyl, and allowing for far simpler, cheaper construction.

&quot;The whole plant can get simpler. We don&#39;t need to have several feet thick of concrete and steel line containment,&quot; said Yasir Arafat, President and CTO of Aalo Atomics.

Even as the pace has sharply accelerated, Tori Shivanandan, President and COO of Radiant Nuclear, does not want regulatory shortcuts.

The team at the lab, &quot;they hold the line, and we want them to, because ultimately, if we don&#39;t make safe products, we&#39;ll never sell reactors,&quot; she said.

Reaching criticality is not the same as being ready for commercial use.

The reactor designs -- whose prototypes operate under a special government waiver -- still need to be cleared by the US nuclear regulator, the NRC.

But Energy Secretary Chris Wright, speaking to AFP at a &quot;celebration of the golden age of nuclear energy&quot; in Idaho Falls, was bullish on the timeline.

&quot;We&#39;ll have hundreds by the end of the decade. In fact, our aggressive goal is that we will have some of these reactors producing electricity for beneficial use next year,&quot; he said.

If all goes according to plan, Radiant&#39;s first SMRs will go to US military sites, as will Antares&#39;s, while Aalo is targeting data centres.

Nuclear power is also positioning itself as a tool for American influence abroad, with China the only other country operating an SMR.

&quot;Every country I go to asks about the next-generation American nuclear technology. I say...it&#39;s happening right now,&quot; Wright said.

&quot;This will be a massive American export a decade from now,&quot; he added.]]>
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			<title>Google limits Meta’s use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615410/google-limits-metas-use-of-its-gemini-ai-models-ft-reports</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615410/google-limits-metas-use-of-its-gemini-ai-models-ft-reports#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 26 08:48:53 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615410</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Capacity shortfall disrupts some of Meta's internal AI projects, with several other Google clients also affected]]>
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				<![CDATA[Google&nbsp;has put&nbsp;limits&nbsp;on Meta&rsquo;s use&nbsp;of&nbsp;its&nbsp;Gemini&nbsp;AI&nbsp;models&nbsp;after the social media company sought more computing capacity than the rival tech group could provide, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

Google, owned by Alphabet, told Meta around March it could not meet the full&nbsp;Gemini&nbsp;capacity the company had sought to purchase, the newspaper said, adding that the shortfall disrupted and delayed some of Meta&rsquo;s internal&nbsp;AI&nbsp;projects.

Read:&nbsp;Italian mother takes on Meta, TikTok after daughter&#39;s death

Several other&nbsp;Google&nbsp;clients have also been affected, though to a lesser extent, according to the report. Meta has been particularly impacted due to&nbsp;its&nbsp;exceptionally high demand for&nbsp;Google&rsquo;s&nbsp;models, the&nbsp;FT&nbsp;said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report, which cited people familiar with the matter.&nbsp;Google&nbsp;and Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours.

Due to the restrictions, Meta has encouraged staff to be more efficient with&nbsp;AI&nbsp;tokens, the units&nbsp;that measure&nbsp;AI&nbsp;usage, the&nbsp;FT&nbsp;report said.

Read More:&nbsp;Meta launches cheaper range of AI smart glasses starting at $299

Even as companies continue to spend billions on chips and data centres, they are still struggling to secure enough computing power to support the growing demand for&nbsp;AI&nbsp;services.

Revenue at&nbsp;Google&nbsp;Cloud grew to $20 billion&nbsp;in the first quarter ended March, but CEO Sundar Pichai&nbsp;said computing power constraints prevented even higher growth and contributed to the cloud unit&#39;s backlog nearly doubling quarter on quarter.]]>
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			<title>Austria urges Europe to host Anthropic following US curbs on AI access</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615450/austria-urges-europe-to-host-anthropic-following-us-curbs-on-ai-access</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615450/austria-urges-europe-to-host-anthropic-following-us-curbs-on-ai-access#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 26 16:38:30 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Technology]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615450</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Urges the EU to ensure Europe stays connected to major AI innovations despite US access restrictions]]>
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				<![CDATA[Austria has proposed that the European Union should consider hosting Anthropic within ​the bloc&#39;s borders in order to counter efforts &zwnj;by the United States to block foreigners from using the AI company&#39;s most advanced models.

In a letter to EU Technology Commissioner Henna ​Virkkunen released by the Austrian government, Austria&#39;s State ​Secretary for Digitalisation, Alexander Proell, wrote it was ⁠important that Europe was not cut off from major ​innovations.

&quot;Let us jointly explore the strategic establishment and participation of ​Anthropic within the European Union. With legal certainty, market access, capital and a set of values that suit this company,&quot; Proell ​said in the letter.

Read More: Google limits Meta&rsquo;s use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports

He did not say how the ​step could be taken and acknowledged there would be scepticism about whether &zwnj;it ⁠was possible.

&quot;The real question is not whether it is easy,&quot; Proell wrote. &quot;The question is whether we Europeans are prepared to be the architects of our technological future, ​or whether we ​wish to ⁠remain mere administrators of decisions made elsewhere.&quot;

Anthropic did not immediately reply to a request ​for comment on the Austrian proposal.

Earlier this month, ​the ⁠European Commission proposed laws to boost domestic cloud, AI and semiconductor industries and cut reliance on US Big Tech, defying ⁠US ​government criticism of the bloc&#39;s crackdown ​on its industry.]]>
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			<title>Germany dumped out by Paraguay</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615709/germany-dumped-out-by-paraguay</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615709/germany-dumped-out-by-paraguay#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 23:48:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615709</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[They were beaten 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw]]>
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				<![CDATA[Germany crashed out of the World Cup at the hands of Paraguay in the last 32 after losing 4-3 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Foxborough on Monday.

It marks the first time that Germany have ever lost a penalty shootout at a World Cup.

Julio Enciso headed Paraguay into a shock lead before half-time, but Kai Havertz levelled for Germany on 54 minutes with his third goal of the tournament.

Jonathan Tah saw a goal disallowed after a VAR review in extra time, before Paraguay held on to shock Germany in a wild, nerve-jangling shootout as the momentum swung back and forth.

Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill saved from Havertz and Nick Woltemade, but his teammates blew two chances to win it before Jose Canale blasted in the winning spot-kick after Tah had blazed his effort over the bar.

It marked another premature exit for Germany who were playing in their first knockout-stage appearance since winning the 2014 World Cup.

Paraguay celebrated arguably their greatest win at the tournament, but they face the daunting prospect of running into an in-form France next should Les Bleus beat Sweden.

Julian Nagelsmann handed Deniz Undav his first start of the tournament, after the Stuttgart striker scored three times in the opening two games as a substitute.

He came in for Jamal Musiala as Nathaniel Brown returned at left-back, having missed the Ecuador loss as a precaution due to a minor injury.

Miguel Almiron was recalled by Paraguay following a one-match ban after becoming the first player to be sent off for covering his mouth during an on-field confrontation under new FIFA rules.

Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro had urged his players to grasp the opportunity of a lifetime, and they came close to scoring barely a minute into the game.

Junior Alonso found space at the back post from a corner but was unable to beat Manuel Neuer.

Germany&#39;s 7-1 win over Curacao in their opener offered a glimpse of their attacking firepower, but it papered over what has otherwise been an often blunt forward line.

Undav floated an effort wide as Germany struggled to break down a compact Paraguay defence, and they paid the price when they lost their shape before half-time, allowing Enciso to head home.

Paraguay recycled possession after Neuer punched clear a corner, working it out wide on the right for Matias Galarza to fizz in a cross that picked out a completely unmarked Enciso.

Remarkably, it was Paraguay&#39;s first goal in the World Cup knockout stage, having failed to score in their previous five matches, including a 1-0 defeat by Germany in the last 16 in 2002.

Germany, toothless in the first half, brought Leon Goretzka on at the break but almost conceded again when an under-hit backpass from Joshua Kimmich forced Neuer to race out and stop Enciso doubling the lead.

However, they at last breached Paraguay&#39;s dogged rearguard when Florian Wirtz cut in from the left and delivered a cross that Havertz glanced into the far corner to ease Germany&#39;s nerves.

Paraguay lost Enciso to injury, and with it their main outlet, leading to a growing sense of inevitability that Germany&#39;s pressure would eventually tell.

But Orlando Gill reacted sharply to claw away Havertz&#39;s header from another Wirtz cross and Paraguay bravely clung on to send the match into extra time.

Tah thought he had put Germany in front with a powerful back-post header from Nathaniel Brown&#39;s looping corner, but the goal was disallowed after a VAR review for a foul by Waldemar Anton on the goalkeeper.

Anton headed straight at Gill from another corner, but Paraguay withstood Germany&#39;s set-piece barrage and then kept their cool to spring a monumental World Cup upset.]]>
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			<title>Ancelotti hopes to see more of Neymar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615628/ancelotti-hopes-to-see-more-of-neymar</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615628/ancelotti-hopes-to-see-more-of-neymar#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:48:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615628</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[He has ?been working his way back to fitness from a calf injury]]>
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				<![CDATA[Coach Carlo Ancelotti is hopeful he will have Neymar available for more minutes in Monday&#39;s World Cup round of 32 fixture against Japan in Houston, and believes his Brazil side are ready for anything in what will be a tough knockout fixture.

Neymar has ?been working his way back to fitness from a calf injury and managed a little over 15 minutes in the 3-0 victory over Scotland last time out.

&quot;In the last week his progress has been significant,&quot; Ancelotti told reporters on Sunday. &quot;Unfortunately he could not play longer than 15 minutes before, but he is now doing well enough to play more.&quot;

Japan beat Brazil 3-2 in a friendly clash in Tokyo in October, and Ancelotti said that game has given him excellent insight into what to expect in Houston, knowing that failure will send his side home early in the tournament.

&quot;It was a good experience to know that Japan are one of the best teams in the world,&quot; he said. &quot;We have full respect for them and will prepare for the game like it is a final, because to us it is a final.

&quot;We need a strong mind and strong hearts. We have to be ready for anything that could take place in a knockout match, such as extra-time or ?penalties.

&quot;The team is ready, motivated and confident. But every match in this competition is very difficult.&quot;

The game will kick off at noon Houston time, something Brazil have not experienced yet in the competition. But Ancelotti is unfazed.

&quot;I don&#39;t think there will be a lot to change, this is always the time of day that we train. At the end of the day we are going to play a football match.

&quot;We need to remain focussed. We are going to play against a very tough opponent, very well organised, and we need to be clear what we want to do on the pitch.

&quot;The players will sleep very well. Much better than the head coach, I can tell you.&quot;

The experienced Italian said as far as he is concerned, there is no clear favourite to win the World Cup.

&quot;It might be that some teams did better than others in the group stage, but I don&#39;t think a clear favourite has come up yet. This should be a very hard-fought and balanced tournament,&quot; he said.

&quot;We need to remain focussed. We are going to play against a very tough opponent, very well organised, and we need to be clear what we want to do on the pitch.

&quot;The players will sleep very well. Much better than the head coach, I can tell you.&quot;

The experienced Italian said as far as he is concerned, there is no clear favourite to win the World Cup.

&quot;It might be that some teams did better than others in the group stage, but I don&#39;t think a clear favourite has come up yet. This should be a very hard-fought and balanced tournament,&quot; he said.

Moriyasu vows to pick penalty shootout

Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said he will likely decide who takes penalty kicks if the round of 32 World Cup clash against Brazil ends up going to a shootout rather than let the players decide for themselves.

Japan crashed out ?of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after three players missed their spot kicks against Croatia in the last 16. If the match against Brazil in Houston Stadium on Monday ends in a draw, Moriyasu pledged to take a big decision off the shoulders of his players.

&quot;This time when the moment comes for the penalty kick shootout is probable I would like to decide the order of the kickers rather than players volunteering like last time,&quot; Moriyasu said. &quot;I think I am going to make the decision and decide who is going to kick.&quot;

The Japanese squad travelled to North America withambitions of a run to a first-ever final and high-profile wins over Germany, Spain and England over the last four years have added weight to the argument that the squad could excel.

Japan defeated Carlo Ancelotti&#39;s Brazil 3-2 in a friendly in Tokyo in October, giving the Brazilians extra incentive for the match, said Moriyasu, who added that winger Takefusa Kubo will not feature after picking ?up an injury in the group stage. REUTERS]]>
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			<title>Martinelli sends Brazil into World Cup last 16</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615617/martinelli-sends-brazil-into-world-cup-last-16</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615617/martinelli-sends-brazil-into-world-cup-last-16#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:15:41 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[He scored a 95th-minute winner to beat Japan 2-1]]>
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				<![CDATA[Substitute Gabriel Martinelli scored deep in injury time as Brazil beat a stubborn Japan 2-1 on Monday to roll into the World Cup last 16.

Arsenal winger Martinelli struck in the 95th minute in Houston to break Japanese hearts in the most dramatic fashion.

The five-time champions will face either the Ivory Coast or Norway in New Jersey on Sunday after edging a captivating knockout encounter.

Japan midfielder Kaishu Sano scored a classy solo goal after 29 minutes following a Brazil mistake to stun the huge numbers of fans decked out in yellow.

Carlo Ancelotti&#39;s men hit back 11 minutes after half-time with a header from veteran Casemiro as Brazil dominated the second period.

Then up popped Martinelli right at the death to settle it and send the Brazil fans wild.

History was against Japan: they had never won a knockout game at the World Cup while Brazil were record five-time champions.

But this is not a vintage Brazil side, even with Ancelotti at the helm, while Japan have been talked of as dark horses.

With the Brazil fans&#39; drums providing a constant rhythmic backdrop, Ancelotti&#39;s side were on top early on in front of a crowd of 68,777,

Images of Neymar on the bench popped up on the big screens, the noise from the Brazil fans going up another notch.

Defensive midfielder Sano was booked for crunching in on Vinicius Junior, then Brazilian attacker Matheus Cunha forced goalkeeper Zion Suzuki to turn the ball wide.

Japan, who beat Brazil 3-2 in October in a home friendly for their first victory over the South Americans, then enjoyed a spell in the ascendancy.

Just before the half-hour mark Hajime Moriyasu&#39;s team took the lead, and it stemmed from an error by Danilo as he gave the ball away with a sloppy pass.

Sano, one of four changes from Japan&#39;s 1-1 draw with Sweden at the end of the group phase, picked the ball up in the centre circle and got away from the 34-year-old Casemiro -- who was on a booking -- with ease.

Sano, who plays for Mainz in Germany, drove upfield before sweeping the ball past goalkeeper Alisson. It was his first goal for his country.

Now the Brazil supporters were edgy, groaning when a move broke down or a pass went backwards.

Brazil, whose last World Cup triumph was in 2002, looked unconvincing at the back and ineffective in attack.

Ancelotti was forced into a change at the break, an emotional Lucas Paqueta limping off in distress with the attacking midfielder replaced by 19-year-old striker Endrick.

Japan, who thrashed Tunisia and held the Netherlands and Sweden to reach the last 32, had Brazil where they wanted them.

Brazil ramped up the pressure to start the second half and Japan defender Takehiro Tomiyasu twice kept the ball off the line, not that he knew much about it.

Brazil were soon level, Arsenal defender Gabriel sending in an inviting cross for midfielder Casemiro to head in unmarked at the back post.

The danger man Vinicius, well stifled up until then, turned the Japan defence inside out and stabbed the ball towards Suzuki, who directed it onto the post.

It was all Brazil as they pushed for a late winner, with Vinicius -- who scored four times in the group stage -- increasingly in the thick of it.

Then came Martinelli&#39;s late intervention.]]>
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			<title>West Indies beat Sri Lanka in first Test</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615632/west-indies-beat-sri-lanka-in-first-test</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615632/west-indies-beat-sri-lanka-in-first-test#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:48:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615632</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Kemar Roach reached 300 Test wickets]]>
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				<![CDATA[Kemar Roach reached the landmark of 300 Test wickets in leading the West Indies to an innings and 217-run demolition of Sri Lanka on the fourth day of the first Test of a two-match series at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Sunday.

Trailing on first innings by 318 runs, the visitors were routed for just 101 half-an-hour after lunch as Roach led the fast bowlers&#39; assault on Sri Lanka.

His international career seemed over a year ago, only to be recalled to West Indies service amid a fast bowlers&#39; injury crisis for the tour of New Zealand at the end of 2025.

In his first Test since returning, the 37-year-old took second-innings figures of four for 51.

He became just the fifth West Indian to claim 300 wickets in the traditional format of the game when he bowled Asitha Fernando comprehensively to put his team one wicket away from victory.

&quot;It&#39;s been a long journey,&quot; said a relieved Roach in reflecting on his Test debut 17 years earlier.

&quot;It took a lot to be here, a lot of people supporting me, especially (physiotherapist) Dennis Byam. It took a lot of effort from him to get me back on the park coming back from injury.&quot;

When asked if the second and final Test, starting on Friday at the same venue, might be his farewell performance, Roach said: &quot;Check me in the morning. Right now, we just want to celebrate this win... and then discussions will be had.&quot; AFP]]>
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			<title>New Zealand eye England series win</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615634/new-zealand-eye-england-series-win</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615634/new-zealand-eye-england-series-win#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:48:33 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615634</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[New Zealand were just three wickets away from a rare series win in England after Mitchell Santner struck shortly before lunch on the final day of the third Test at Trent Bridge.

England had collapsed to 116-6 chasing a target of 373, with Emilio Gay and Joe Root dismissed in the space of five balls.

In a three-match series locked at 1-1, it now seemed England captain Ben Stokes was all but assured of a losing farewell after dramatically announcing Sunday he would retire from international cricket at the end of this match.

But a stubborn partnership of 75 in 23 overs between the Surrey duo of Jamie Smith, still there on 47 not out, and Gus Atkinson checked an injury-hit New Zealand attack&#39;s progress.

Left-arm spinner Santner, however, broke the stand when he had Atkinson lbw for 19 with a ball that kept low.

England were 191-7 at lunch, still needing a further 182 runs for an unlikely win.

England resumed on 103-4 following a day of extraordinary drama where a &quot;burnt out&quot; Stokes announced his impending exit from international duty.

The all-rounder then opened the innings, even though he is normally a middle-order batsman, as England set off in pursuit of a stiff victory target after New Zealand batsman Daryl Mitchell&#39;s gutsy 100 not out.

Stokes blazed his way to 30 before he holed out, with England losing a flurry of wickets Harry as they slumped to 103-4 at Sunday&#39;s close.

And they were in an even worse position early in Monday&#39;s play.

Nathan Smith had Gay caught behind for 10 and, four balls later Root, one of England&#39;s greatest batsmen, was run out for 18 by Henry Nicholls&#39;s brilliant direct hit from backward point, the fielder on target despite losing his footing and falling backwards.

New Zealand came into this match without injured paceman Matt Henry, their 11-wicket hero in a seriesl-levelling win at Oval, and in-form towering quick Kyle Jamieson, rested as a fitness precaution.

And in Nottingham, Blair Tickner could only manage three overs before pulling out with concussion suffered when the tailender was hit flush on the helmet by a Jofra Archer bouncer.

New Zealand suffered further bowling disruption just 35 minutes into Monday&#39;s play when fast bowler Will O&#39;Rourke left the field with a hamstring injury. AFP]]>
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			<title>HRCP slams Punjab's habitual offenders bill</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615600/pti-hrcp-slam-punjabs-habitual-offenders-bill</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615600/pti-hrcp-slam-punjabs-habitual-offenders-bill#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 15:21:34 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615600</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Government claims the bill aims to combat hooliganism and online abuse by replacing the outdated 1959 law]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)&nbsp;on Monday expressed deep concern over and slammed the proposed Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, warning that it appeared to grant sweeping powers to the executive without adequate judicial oversight or due-process safeguards.

The Punjab Assembly on Sunday witnessed a stormy session dominated by sharp criticism of the proposed bill. The proceedings were overshadowed by Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan&#39;s surprise expression of ignorance about the proposed bill. The controversy erupted after opposition MPA Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan argued that the proposed legislation violated fundamental human rights and could affect future generations.

The speaker had voiced serious concern over the bill&#39;s procedural handling, saying no bill could be referred to a committee without the speaker&#39;s signature and termed the revival of colonial-era legislation unacceptable.

In a statement issued on X today, the HRCP said the proposed legislation could allow authorities to impose intrusive restrictions on individuals, including surveillance, limits on freedom of movement, interference with property, and curbs on freedom of expression and speech.

The commission said such measures, which directly affect fundamental rights, must comply with constitutional principles of legality, necessity and proportionality rather than reflecting archaic and repressive colonial-era laws.

HRCP further announced that it planned to hold consultations with multiple stakeholders, including lawmakers, to build strong opposition against the proposed bill and other similar legislative measures.



HRCP is deeply concerned by the recently proposed Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, which appears to confer sweeping powers on the executive to impose intrusive restrictions on individuals without adequate judicial oversight or due-process&hellip;
&mdash; Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (@HRCP87) June 29, 2026


Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary Information Sheikh Waqas Akram had also condemned the proposed bill in a post on X on Saturday.

&ldquo;PTI vehemently condemns the Punjab government&#39;s Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill 2026 as a repressive colonial relic and a grave assault on fundamental rights, due process, and democratic governance.&rdquo;

He noted that the bill was headed towards a vote in the provincial legislature.

Outlining PTI&rsquo;s apprehensions regarding the bill, Akram said the proposed law grants committees open-ended authority to add new categories of anti-social behaviour without legislative oversight.

&ldquo;The bill is a profound affront to constitutional guarantees of due process, presumption of innocence, security of person, freedom of expression, and the right to property,&rdquo; the party&rsquo;s information secretary underscored.



June 27, 2026
Sheikh Waqas Akram, Secretary Information, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Vehemently Condemns the Punjab Government&rsquo;s Punjab Control of Habitual Offenders and Anti-Social Behaviour Bill, 2026 as a Repressive Colonial Relic and a Grave Assault on Fundamental Rights, Due&hellip;
&mdash; PTI (@PTIofficial) June 27, 2026


He contested that a judicial system already plagued by delays and police overreach allowed punitive administrative sanctions based on unproven allegations, inverting justice and enabling political victimisation of opponents, journalists, activists, and citizens.

Comparing it to the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871, Akram said the bill revived &ldquo;colonial instruments&rdquo; of repression.

&ldquo;It intensifies these legacies under the guise of tackling modern challenges.&rdquo;

Akram rubbished the stance of the PML-N government that the proposed legislation aimed at combatting hooliganism and online abuse by replacing the outdated 1959 law.

He called out the provincial government for &quot;covertly introducing surveillance and pre-emptive punishment while maintaining the guise of progressive governance&quot;.

Akram said the PTI viewed this as another example of the PML-N&#39;s authoritarian drift in Punjab to stifle dissent and bypass constitutional protections.

&ldquo;The party rejects the legislation and calls on the legal fraternity, civil society, human rights defenders, journalists, and citizens to oppose its passage. Genuine security requires accountable institutions, fair trials, and respect for rights-not recycled colonial tools of repression.&rdquo;

He further stressed that Pakistan had endured &ldquo;enough&rdquo; arbitrary power; therefore, PTI reaffirmed its commitment to a democratic, constitutional, rights-based order where no citizen faces punishment without due process.

The controversial bill

The bill, based on stricter punishments and heavy fines, has been approved by the Punjab Assembly&#39;s Standing Committee on Home Affairs. Once passed by the Punjab Assembly, it will be enforced immediately.

Under the proposed law, strict punishments have been included.

A first-time conviction may result in imprisonment ranging from three to five years. Habitual offenders and repeat violators may face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to Rs2 million.

National identity cards and bank accounts may also be blocked. Law enforcement agencies will be empowered to freeze and block the CNICs and bank accounts of anti-social elements.

Police will also be authorised to carry out digital monitoring of criminals. Modern electronic surveillance will be permitted, while biometric and digital data of suspects will be collected.

Those displaying weapons on social media, resorting to aerial firing, impersonating government officials or harassing others will also face strict punishment under the law.

Supreme Court Advocate Saeed Yousaf Khan, an expert in criminal law, said amendments to the 1959 Goonda Act were aimed at making the law more effective. He said the legislation would enable strict action against hooliganism, extortion, gang-related crimes and the display of weapons at any place, including on social media.

Police would now be able to digitally monitor criminals. A first offence would carry a sentence of three to five years, while repeat offenders could face seven years in prison, a Rs2 million fine, blocking of CNICs and freezing of bank accounts.]]>
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			<title>Afghan envoy demarched over Karachi terrorist attack</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615701/afghan-envoy-demarched-over-karachi-terrorist-attack</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615701/afghan-envoy-demarched-over-karachi-terrorist-attack#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:30:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Kamran Yousaf]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615701</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Foreign Office protests use of Afghan soil for cross-border terrorism]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan summoned the Afghanistan&#39;s charg&eacute; d&#39;affaires and lodged a strong protest over the latest terrorist attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi, the Foreign Office said on Monday, hours after Islamabad conducted retaliatory strikes against terrorist hideouts across the border.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Afghan diplomat was called to the Foreign Office and handed a formal demarche over the continued use of Afghan soil for orchestrating terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.

&quot;A similar demarche was conveyed by Pakistan&#39;s Ambassador Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs,&quot; Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said in a statement.

The spokesperson said the protest was issued in light of evidence that Afghan nationals, including one terrorist apprehended alive, had participated in the Karachi attack.

&quot;These facts prove yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan,&quot; the statement added.

The diplomatic move came hours after Pakistan announced a major intelligence-based military operation and precision strikes against terrorist hideouts belonging to the banned Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al Khawarij in areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

According to Information Minister Atta Tarar, security forces first conducted a ground operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur district on June 28. The operation resulted in the killing of a high-value commander, Khan Farosh alias Zabal, along with three other terrorists linked to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar.

&quot;In continuation of Operation Ghazb Lil Haq, based on credible intelligence, precise targeting of terrorist camps and hideouts belonging to outlawed Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al Khawarij was carried out on the night of June 28 and 29,&quot; Tarar said.

He said that three targets in Afghanistan&#39;s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces were destroyed during the strikes, killing 25 terrorists and destroying large quantities of weapons and ammunition stored at the facilities. Combined with the Bajaur operation, Pakistani authorities said a total of 29 terrorists were killed.

The military action followed a string of terrorist incidents in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and the attack on the Pakistan Rangers camp in Karachi, which officials described as a coordinated campaign by foreign-sponsored militant groups.

Pakistan reiterated that while it remained committed to regional peace and stability, it would not compromise on the safety and security of its citizens. The latest escalation is likely to further strain already tense relations between Islamabad and Kabul, with Pakistan repeatedly accusing the Afghan Taliban administration of failing to prevent terrorist groups from using Afghan territory to launch attacks inside Pakistan. The Afghan authorities, however, have consistently denied such allegations.]]>
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			<title>PM stresses innovation-led agriculture growth</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615702/pm-stresses-innovation-led-agriculture-growth</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615702/pm-stresses-innovation-led-agriculture-growth#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:30:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615702</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Shehbaz orders early formulation of comprehensive National Agriculture Policy]]>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday directed the early formulation of a comprehensive National Agriculture Policy in consultation with the provinces and ordered the establishment of an &#39;Agriculture Apex Forum&#39; for an effective implementation of the agriculture innovation and growth plan.

Chairing a review meeting on the transformation of the National Food Security Ministry and the reforms in the agriculture sector, the prime minister also directed the launch of a nationwide awareness campaign for the &#39;Zarkhez-e Agricultural Loan Programme&#39; to improve farmers&#39; access to affordable financing.

According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister&#39;s Office Media Wing, the prime minister underscored the need to promote value addition in agricultural produce, improve warehousing facilities and develop modern storage systems.

Emphasising the importance of agricultural research, the prime minister directed that the Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC) be developed into a genuine centre for agricultural innovation and research, the statement said.

He said that Pakistan&#39;s agriculture sector had the potential to drive sustainable economic growth and stressed that improved seed quality, modern farming technologies, and the timely availability of water and fertilisers would significantly enhance per-acre crop yields.

The meeting was attended by federal ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Attaullah Tarar and Shaza Fatima Khawaja, besides Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani, Special Assistant Haroon Akhtar, the prime minister&#39;s Coordinator on Agriculture Ahmad Umair and others.

The participants presented proposals for reforming the agriculture sector. The meeting was informed that the National Credit Guarantee Company Limited would provide financial support to improve farmers&#39; access to agricultural loans.

The prime minister was informed that the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) was producing multi-grain flour on a pilot basis and also briefed him on the development of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based application to help farmers identify and effectively manage crop pests and diseases.

Officials told the meeting that the National Seed Policy and the National Agriculture Biotechnology Policy had recently been approved, while consultations on the Pakistan National Olive Value Chain Policy had been completed and the policy would soon be submitted for approval.

The meeting was also informed that consultations were under way on a National Wheat Policy as well as several livestock-related policies.

(WITH INPUT FROM APP)]]>
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			<title>UN must blacklist global terror threat BLA</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615703/un-must-blacklist-global-terror-threat-bla</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615703/un-must-blacklist-global-terror-threat-bla#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:42:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615703</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA['BLA does not represent Balochistan. It weaponises Balochistan's deprivation']]>
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				<![CDATA[I belong to Balochistan. I have spent my political life in its dust, in its mountains, and among its people. I have listened to mothers who do not know where their sons went, and sat across from families grieving children who were recruited, radicalised, and destroyed by an organisation that does not care about Baloch rights; it cares about chaos. That organisation is the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and I have raised my voice against it in the Senate of Pakistan with a consistency I will not abandon, because the people whose lives it destroys deserve nothing less.

I write today not only as a senator but as a Baloch woman who refuses to allow the suffering of her people to be exploited by a terrorist outfit whose leadership sits comfortably abroad while young Baloch men and women die in operations they never fully understood they were joining. The world must designate the BLA and its elite suicide unit, the Majeed Brigade, under the United Nations Security Council&#39;s 1267 sanctions regime. The Pakistan-China proposal has not been accepted, the 1267 Committee citing unmet technical thresholds, a determination that, however procedurally grounded, did not occur in a geopolitical vacuum.

&quot;The BLA does not represent Balochistan. It weaponises Balochistan&#39;s deprivation.&quot;

Balochistan is Pakistan&#39;s largest province, and among its most underdeveloped; the multidimensional poverty index exceeds seventy per cent. It is into this void that the BLA inserts itself with deliberate precision. This is not opportunistic radicalisation. It is the systematic weaponising of deprivation. Recruiters present themselves as champions of Baloch identity, using the language of nationalism to target youth between fifteen and twenty-five. Through encrypted platforms and sophisticated propaganda, they romanticise armed struggle, isolate recruits from family and moderate voices, and condition teenagers to see violence as obligatory. Many who end up as Majeed Brigade suicide operatives entered that pipeline as boys who were told they were freedom fighters. They were not. They were instruments of an organisation whose leadership has never lived in the suffering it exploits. These are not statistics. These are the children of Balochistan, consumed by an organisation that calls itself their liberator.

The scale of violence should alarm every responsible government. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, Baloch insurgent groups carried out 938 attacks in 2024, a fifty-three per cent increase from 2023, with fatalities surging eighty per cent to more than 1,002. The BLA alone claimed 302 attacks and over 580 deaths. In March 2025, it hijacked the Jaffar Express, killing at least thirty-one people and holding over three hundred passengers hostage. The Majeed Brigade, its dedicated fidayeen unit, carried out six major suicide missions in a single year, operating on a decentralised, networked model that makes it resilient against standard counterterrorism disruption. These are not the numbers of a grievance movement. These are the numbers of an organised terrorist enterprise.

The BLA is not a domestic challenge. It is an instrument of regional destabilisation with documented external sponsorship, including the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian naval officer arrested in Balochistan in 2016, who confessed to financing and organising Baloch militant groups on behalf of Indian intelligence. Growing evidence of tactical cooperation between the BLA and the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, a transnational jihadist network, further dismantles any argument that this is a local separatist movement with no connection to global terrorism.

&quot;Young Baloch people are not the authors of these attacks. They are the raw material, processed through a pipeline of radicalisation and deployed by leaders who remain safely abroad.&quot;

The United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia have each designated the BLA and Majeed Brigade under their own domestic counterterrorism laws. The United States went further, issuing a Foreign Terrorist Organisation designation in August 2025 and citing direct threats to American national and economic interests. Those interests are concrete: Washington has identified Balochistan&#39;s vast reserves of copper, gold, and rare earth minerals as a strategic priority. A BLA emboldened by the absence of a UN listing, free to move across borders, access financial systems, and recruit internationally, is a direct threat to any American commercial or strategic engagement in the region. The gap between America&#39;s domestic FTO designation and its position at the UN&#39;s 1267 Committee is one that American policymakers must close. The same moral contradiction applies equally to London.

The danger to regional connectivity is no less severe. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment and Balochistan&#39;s greatest development opportunity, is a declared BLA target. But this is not merely a Pakistan-China concern. Every attack on a road, port, or energy pipeline is an attack on South Asia&#39;s broader economic future and a signal to terrorist organisations worldwide that critical infrastructure can be targeted with impunity. The international community cannot afford to send that signal.

The UN&#39;s 1267 Sanctions Committee proposal was not accepted on legal grounds that the regime targets Al Qaeda and ISIL affiliates, and evidence of such affiliation was insufficient. That threshold must be met, and Pakistan is committed to strengthening its evidentiary case. But the broader legal obligation of UNSC Resolution 1373, which requires all member states to deny support to any entity engaged in terrorism, regardless of ideology, has not been suspended. And reports that India played an active diplomatic role in maintaining the hold mean the UN&#39;s counterterrorism architecture may have been shaped by regional rivalry rather than by the merits of the threat.

I began where I must end, with the young people of Balochistan. The BLA claims to speak in their name. It does not. It speaks for armed leaders in comfortable exile directing teenagers into suicide operations, and for external actors who view Baloch lives as expendable instruments of geopolitical strategy. Lasting peace in Balochistan requires governance reform, political inclusion, economic investment, and the resolution of historical grievances. But designation is an essential part of the answer; it cuts off funding, restricts leadership mobility, and removes the implicit legitimacy the absence of a UN listing currently provides. Every day the world delays, another young person is recruited. Another family loses a child. The international community has the legal tools and the moral obligation to act. The question is whether it has the political will. I am a Baloch woman and a senator of Pakistan. I will keep asking that question until the answer is yes.

The writer is a senator]]>
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			<title>Dialogue only solution to AJK crisis: JI chief</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615704/dialogue-only-solution-to-ajk-crisis-ji-chief</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615704/dialogue-only-solution-to-ajk-crisis-ji-chief#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:42:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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			<description>
				<![CDATA[Hafiz Naeem urges govt to avoid use of force in the region]]>
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				<![CDATA[JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said meaningful negotiations are the only solution to the ongoing situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). He urged the government to avoid using force and immediately engage with the proscribed Joint Awami Action Committee (Jaac).

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Monday, Naeem said the JI has accepted the responsibility of mediation and is playing its role in restoring trust between the government and the committee to prevent &quot;bloodshed and unrest&quot;.

JI AJK chief Dr Mushtaq Khan, former AJK chief Dr Khalid Mahmood, JI Deputy Secretary General Syed Farasat Shah and Islamabad chief Nasrullah Randhawa were also present.

&quot;Jaac has expressed complete confidence in the JI and postponed its long march, sending a positive message,&quot; he said. He urged the government to act seriously and begin negotiations to resolve the people&#39;s legitimate demands.

&quot;The AJK situation should not reach a point where India could exploit it for propaganda against Pakistan and the Kashmir cause,&quot; the JI emir said.

&quot;The JI&#39;s mediation with Jaac is within the constitutional and national framework of Pakistan and the Kashmir issue. As long as this framework remains intact, every possible effort will be made to resolve the matter,&quot; he added.

Rejecting the impression that the situation had reached a &quot;point of no return,&quot; Hafiz Naeem said the door for negotiations was still open.

A day earlier, on Sunday, the JI chief and JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman urged the government to resolve the ongoing crisis in the AJK through dialogue instead of force, warning that any action leading to bloodshed would further aggravate the situation.

Hafiz Naeem called on Fazl at his residence in Islamabad to discuss the prevailing situation in AJK. After the meeting, the two leaders addressed a joint press conference. Naeem said the developments caused concern across the country, describing the issue as highly sensitive.]]>
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			<title>New era as PIA passes into private hands</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615699/new-era-as-pia-passes-into-private-hands</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615699/new-era-as-pia-passes-into-private-hands#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:30:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615699</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Arif Habib Consortium takes over national carrier]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Monday marked a historic milestone in its aviation journey as the national flag carrier officially transitioned to the new management under the PIA Equity Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of the Arif Habib Consortium.

This takeover is the culmination of a rigorous privatisation process designed to breathe fresh life into the airline, said a statement issued here on Monday. &quot;This defining moment signifies a bold step forward in modernising the national carrier and restoring its legacy of excellence on the global stage,&quot; it added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed this important milestone in the country&#39;s economic reform journey. &quot;The successful First Financial Closing of the PIA privatisation transaction, and the transfer of management control to the investor consortium, marks the beginning of a new chapter for our national carrier,&quot; the prime minister wrote in a post on X.

&quot;With a transformational investment to modernise and strengthen PIA, we are laying the foundation for its revival while reinforcing investor confidence in Pakistan,&quot; he said, adding: &quot;We will continue to pursue bold reforms that strengthen our economy, create opportunities for our people, and secure a more prosperous future for Pakistan.&quot;

Shehbaz commended Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, and paid special tribute to Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir and his dedicated team, as well as Adviser to the Prime Minister on Privatisation Muhammad Ali, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the Privatisation Commission, and all those whose professionalism, commitment and tireless efforts made this landmark achievement possible.

The PIA Equity Ltd &ndash; an SPV of the winning consortium led by Arif Habib Corporation &ndash; has consolidated 100% private ownership of the airline, executing a comprehensive transaction valued at approximately Rs180 billion, according to the statement.

It said that the reins of the PIACL have been handed over to the consortium after completion of all the local and international regulatory approvals, including permissions from global lenders and specialised tax concessions.

Composed of Arif Habib Group, Fatima Fertilizer Company Ltd, Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd, Lake City Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, The City School (Pvt) Ltd and AKD Group Holdings, this strategic alliance represents an unprecedented alignment of industrial, financial, and institutional strength.

&quot;This private equity model removes bureaucratic friction, paving the way for streamlined, agile corporate decision-making,&quot; the statement by the PIA Equity Ltd said.

&quot;In a masterful structuring of the deal, Rs55 billion constitutes direct divestment proceeds to the Government of Pakistan, while a massive Rs125 billion is being injected directly into PIACL as fresh equity to aggressively fund operational restructuring, fleet renewal, route expansion and product improvement initiatives.&quot;

Speaking on the occasion of the handover, the chairman of the new ownership emphasised that while the corporate structure has evolved, the airline&#39;s fundamental responsibility to the people of Pakistan remains paramount.

&quot;As the new ownership officially takes over today, we deeply understand that the trust of a nation isn&#39;t simply transferred on a document. Trust is earnedmile by mile, smile by smile, year by year. We know this. And we accept the challenge wholeheartedly.&quot; he continued.

&quot;As the airline enters this promising chapter under the new banner, the underlying promise to our passengers stays resolute. PIA will continue to honor its deep-rooted heritage while building a premium, modern aviation experience,&quot; he added.

&quot;The journey ahead is a collective commitment to excellence, proving once again why we are, and always will be, &#39;Great People to Fly With&#39;.&quot;

With the legacy liabilities managed and operating rights seamlessly transferred, the incoming management consortium is fully capitalised and prepared to elevate PIA&#39;s service standards to compete with international benchmarks.]]>
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			<title>Fresh monsoon spell set to drench Pakistan</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615700/fresh-monsoon-spell-set-to-drench-pakistan</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615700/fresh-monsoon-spell-set-to-drench-pakistan#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 21:30:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615700</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Fresh monsoon spell set to drench Pakistan]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Monday said a fresh monsoon spell is set to begin in the country from the first week of July.

In an advisory, the department said a westerly wave is likely to enter the upper parts of the country from June 30. At the same time, &quot;moist currents from the Arabian Sea are continuously penetrating the eastern and central parts of the country.&quot;

It said moist currents from the Bay of Bengal were expected to reach the upper parts from July 2. Under the influence of this system, scattered rain, windstorm/thundershower, accompanied by isolated heavy falls, are expected in Neelum, Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot, Poonch, Hattian, Bagh, Haveli, Sudhanoti, Kotli, Bhimber, and Mirpur from July 1 to July 6.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, scattered rain, windstorm/thundershower (with isolated heavy falls) are expected in Dir, Chitral, Swat, Kohistan, Malakand, Nowshera, Charsadda, Karak, Tank, Lakki Marwat, Swabi, Shangla, Battagram, Buner, Kohat, Kurram, Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Peshawar, Mardan, Hangu, Waziristan, Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan from July 1 to July 5 with occasional gaps.

Rainfall is also predicted from July 1 to July 6 in Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Murree, Galliyat, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Wazirabad, Faisalabad, Khushab, Sargodha, Lahore, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, and Narowal.

Sahiwal, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Pakpattan, Nankana Sahib, Chiniot, Okara, Kasur, Noor Pur Thal, Bhakkar, Layyah, Mianwali, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, DG Khan, Multan, Khanewal, Lodhran, Muzaffargarh and Rajanpur are slated to receive rain from July 3 to July 5.

In Gilgit-Baltistan, rain and thunderstorms are expected in Diamir, Astore, Ghizer, Skardu, Hunza, Gilgit, Ghanche, and Shigar from July 1 to July 5 with occasional gaps.

In Balochistan, rainfall is expected in the northern and northeastern parts of the province, including Zhob, Sherani, Kohlu, Naseerabad, Harnai, Sibbi, Barkhan, and Dera Bugti from July 1-4.

In Sindh, rain is predicted in Sukkur, Larkana, Dadu, Jacobabad, Shaheed Benazirabad, Kashmore, Shikarpur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Qambar Shahdadkot, and Naushahro Feroze on July 3 and July 4.

The department warned that the weather may damage infrastructure, such as solar panels, electric poles and billboards. It also indicated a possibility of landslides in vulnerable areas of upper K-P, G-B, and Kashmir from July 1 to July 6.

The PMD also warned of flash flooding in local streams and nullahs of Kashmir, K-P, G-B and hill torrents of DG Khan from July 2 to July 5.

It further warned of urban/flash flooding in Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Nowshera, Sialkot, Narowal, Gujranwala, Lahore and Faisalabad from July 1 to July 4.

It advised tourists to remain cautious and avoid travel during the forecast period. It further advised farmers to manage their crop activity accordingly and added that prevailing hot and humid conditions would likely subside during this period.]]>
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			<title>SC returns Imran appeal against IHC order</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615680/sc-returns-imran-appeal-against-ihc-order</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615680/sc-returns-imran-appeal-against-ihc-order#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:50:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Hasnaat Malik]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615680</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Registrar raises objection, says remedy lies before FCC]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Supreme Court has returned appeals filed by former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, challenging an Islamabad High Court (IHC) order that declined to decide their applications for suspension of sentence on merit in the &pound;190 m case.

It is learnt that the Supreme Court Registrar returned the appeals after raising objections, holding that the appropriate remedy against the IHC order lay before the Federal Constitutional Court (FCC).

However, counsel for Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi, Salman Safdar, has contested the objection, maintaining that the appeals are maintainable before the Supreme Court under Article 185(3) of the Constitution.

According to the petition, Article 175A(1)(a) of the Constitution provides that an appeal to the FCC lies only where it is expressly provided by law.

The petition states that Section 32A of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, provides a second appeal to the FCC against a decision of a high court under Section 32 of the ordinance.

However, it argues that the NAO does not expressly provide an appeal to the FCC against an order passed on a bail application under Section 9(b) of the NAO read with Section 497 of the CrPC, or against an order on an application for suspension of sentence, even where such an application is filed in a criminal appeal under Section 32 of the ordinance.

&quot;Consequently, in the absence of any specific statutory remedy of appeal under the NAO, 1999, the impugned order is assailable before the Hon&#39;ble Supreme Court of Pakistan under Article 185(3) of the Constitution,&quot; the petition states.

The IHC had disposed of the sentence suspension pleas in early May, observing that since the principal appeals had already been fixed for hearing, there was no justification for separately taking up the suspension applications.

In his appeal, Imran Khan submits that he developed an eye condition during his imprisonment and had to be shifted outside jail for medical treatment.

He argues that his continued incarceration despite serious health issues is unjust and contends that prolonged solitary confinement has caused him exceptional mental distress.

The petition further alleges that the application for suspension of sentence was deliberately delayed and notes that Imran Khan had been granted bail during the trial after the allegations against him were found to be without basis.

It argues that courts are legally empowered to examine the merits of a case while deciding applications for suspension of sentence and maintains that dismissing the plea without a preliminary assessment of the evidence was erroneous.

The appeal also accuses NAB of repeatedly seeking adjournments, delaying the proceedings and denying the petitioners timely justice.

It further alleges that Imran Khan&#39;s arrest was unlawful and politically motivated, adding that a higher court had previously ordered his release over the manner of his arrest.]]>
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			<title>PM vows stronger democratic institutions</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615684/pm-vows-stronger-democratic-institutions</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615684/pm-vows-stronger-democratic-institutions#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:50:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has reaffirmed Pakistan&#39;s commitment to strengthening democratic institutions, constitutional supremacy, parliamentary governance, transparency, accountability, the rule of law, and meaningful public participation in decision-making.

In a message on the observance of the International Day of Parliamentarism on June 30, the premier noted that the Constitution guarantees a democratic system of government founded upon the principles of representative governance.

&quot;In accordance with the spirit of the Constitution, sovereignty belongs to the people, and their elected representatives exercise this authority as a sacred trust for the service, welfare, and prosperity of the nation,&quot; the PM Office Media Wing, in a quote, quoted the prime minister as saying.

On the International Day of Parliamentarism, the prime minister called upon to renew their unwavering commitment to the supremacy of the constitution, parliamentary democracy, federalism, inclusivity, the rule of law, transparency, accountability, and public welfare.

He further said that parliament served as the principal constitutional forum through which the aspirations and concerns of the people were articulated and translated into legislation.

&quot;It is the institution where laws are enacted, national issues are deliberated upon, and oversight is exercised to ensure the prudent utilization and protection of public resources,&quot; he added.

The prime minister further said Pakistan&#39;s parliamentary democracy has also made significant progress in promoting inclusivity and effective representation, adding as a truly representative institution, parliament provided a meaningful voice to women, minorities, smaller provinces, and other historically underrepresented segments of society.

He said &quot;Constitutional safeguards have been established to ensure their participation and to protect their legitimate rights and interests. The reserved seats for women and non-Muslim citizens in the National Assembly and Senate stand as a testament to this constitutional commitment. The Senate, by providing equal representation to the federating units, further strengthens the federal character of Pakistan and contributes to national cohesion and unity.&quot;]]>
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			<title>Arif Habib Consortium takes over PIA management as govt formally completes privatisation process</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615595/arif-habib-consortium-takes-over-pia-management-as-govt-formally-completes-privatisation-process</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615595/arif-habib-consortium-takes-over-pia-management-as-govt-formally-completes-privatisation-process#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 14:41:24 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Business]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615595</guid>
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				<![CDATA[PIA says the transition marks 'bold new chapter of modernisation and global excellence' for the national flag carrier]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Monday that it officially transitioned to new management under PIA Equity Ltd, a special purpose vehicle of the Arif Habib Consortium.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir were also present at the occasion.

In a statement, PIA said the transition marked &ldquo;a bold new chapter of modernisation and global excellence&rdquo; for the national flag carrier.

The airline said a Rs125 billion equity injection had fully capitalised PIA, positioning it to modernise operations, improve service standards and preserve its legacy.

&ldquo;As the new ownership officially takes over today, we deeply understand that the trust of a nation isn&rsquo;t simply transferred on a document. Trust is earned&mdash;mile by mile, smile by smile, year by year. We know this. And we accept the challenge wholeheartedly,&quot; the press release quoted the chairman of PIA Equity Ltd as saying.

PIA said the new chapter would focus on modernisation, service improvement and honouring the airline&rsquo;s heritage as it moves under the new ownership structure.



Today, #PIA officially transitions to new management under PIA Equity Ltd (a SPV of Arif Habib Consortium), marking a bold new chapter of modernization and global excellence. With a massive Rs125B equity injection, PIA is now fully capitalized and ready to modernize the airline&hellip; https://t.co/hrcGwu4QZC
&mdash; PIA (@Official_PIA) June 29, 2026


The Ministry of Privatisation, in a statement, said that the Privatisation Commission had completed the first financial close of PIA&#39;s privatisation, marking what the ministry described as the country&rsquo;s largest privatisation transaction.

The statement further stated that the milestone reflected Pakistan&rsquo;s commitment to structuring complex transactions through a transparent, fair and competitive process.

&quot;The transaction brings a total investment commitment of Rs180 billion, including Rs125 billion in fresh capital to transform PIA and Rs55 billion payable to the Government of Pakistan,&quot; it added.



Today, Privatisation Commission has successfully completed the largest privatisation transation - First Financial Close of the PIA&rsquo;s privatisation.
This milestone demonstrates Pakistan &amp; Privatisation Commissions&rsquo;s committement to structure complex transactions through a&hellip;
&mdash; Ministry of Privatisation, Government of Pakistan (@PrivComPakistan) June 29, 2026


PM Shehbaz congratulated everyone involved and said it marked another &quot;important milestone&quot; in Pakistan&rsquo;s economic reform journey.

&quot;The successful first financial closing of the PIA privatisation transaction, and the transfer of management control to the investor consortium, marks the beginning of a new chapter for our national carrier. With a transformational investment to modernise and strengthen PIA, we are laying the foundation for its revival while reinforcing investor confidence in Pakistan.&quot;



Alhamdulillah! Today marks another important milestone in Pakistan&rsquo;s economic reform journey.

The successful First Financial Closing of the PIA privatisation transaction, and the transfer of management control to the investor consortium, marks the beginning of a new chapter for&hellip;
&mdash; Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) June 29, 2026


FM Dar said the &quot;complex transaction&quot; was completed through hard work, sincerity, efficiency and close coordination across government institutions, reinforcing the government&rsquo;s &quot;commitment to transparent governance, economic reforms and investor confidence&quot;.



I congratulate the Prime Minister and the entire Nation for first successful Financial Close of the PIA privatisation transaction which is in itself a landmark achievement for Pakistan.

This complex transaction was completed through hard work, sincerity, efficiency and close&hellip;
&mdash; Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) June 29, 2026


Last year in December, the government sold its 75% stake in PIA for Rs10.1 billion cash to a consortium, marking the completion of the first major privatisation transaction in two decades by offloading the white elephant.

The consortium of Habib, Fawad Ahmed Mukhtar, Gohar Ejaz and Aqeel Karim Dhedhi &mdash; Pakistan&#39;s renowned businesspersons, placed the highest bid of Rs135 billion for the 75% shares in the 13th round of open auction. It beat another cash-rich consortium led by Muhammad Ali Tabba.

It was the second attempt to sell the PIA in over one year and marked the first successful transaction since 2005 when the government had sold K Electric, the country&#39;s largest power distribution company. PM Shehbaz had desired that the PIA should be sold for Rs200 billion.

Read More: Govt finally cuts loose &#39;white elephant&#39; PIA

From the start, the Arif Habib Group took an aggressive approach compared to the only competitor, which was initially conservative and added Rs250 million in each of the first eight rounds of the auction. After the eighth round, the Tabba group sought a half-hour break to internally consult before finally &quot;congratulating Arif Habib&quot; when he raised the price tag to Rs135 billion.

To make the second attempt successful, the government had also waived 18% sales tax on aircraft lease, given Rs36 billion tax credit to the bidders and extended the timeframe to clear the current over Rs33 billion liabilities of the Federal Board of Revenue and the Civil Aviation Authority.]]>
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			<title>AJK court freezes PTI registration relief</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615681/ajk-court-freezes-pti-registration-relief</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615681/ajk-court-freezes-pti-registration-relief#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:50:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615681</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Full court to take up party's application on July 2]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Supreme Court has suspended the AJK High Court order granting interim relief to the PTI in its dispute with the AJK Election Commission over the party&#39;s registration until July 2.

On June 23, the AJK High Court directed the polls oversight body to provisionally register PTI as a political party, effectively suspending the commission&#39;s May 16 decision rejecting the party&#39;s registration application.

A three-member bench headed by senior puisne judge Syed Shahid Bahar and comprising Justices Sardar Muhammad Ejaz and Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry issued this order.

The commission challenged the order in the AJK Supreme Court whose chief justice, Raja Saeed Akram, suspended the high court order through an interim order on Monday.

Earlier, PTI counsel Yasir Safeer Mughal appeared before the court and sought an adjournment, submitting that he was unable to prepare the case properly. The court accepted the request, and directed the registrar&#39;s office to fix the application for hearing before the full court on July 2.

Pending the hearing, the chief justice ordered that the operation of the high court&#39;s June 23 order, to the extent that it granted interim relief, would remain in abeyance.

The order stated that the court considered the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the settled principles governing the grant of interim reliefincluding the existence of a prima facie arguable case, the balance of convenience and the likelihood of irreparable loss - as well as the affidavit filed in support of the application.

Election Commission counsel Tahir Aziz Khan, Advocate General Raja Nadeem Khan and others were present during the proceedings.

On May 16, the commission rejected PTI&#39;s application for registration, citing the alleged non-fulfilment of Rule 121 of the Election Rules concerning the applicant party&#39;s financial affairs and account details.]]>
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			<title>Minister challenges AGP report on railway losses</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615682/minister-challenges-agp-report-on-railway-losses</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615682/minister-challenges-agp-report-on-railway-losses#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 20:50:55 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Our Correspondent]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Abbasi says revenues top Rs115b; announces outsourcing of schools and hospitals]]>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan Railways achieved a record revenue of Rs115 billion, the highest in its 178-year history, Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi revealed on Monday, while formally declaring that all railway schools and hospitals would be outsourced as part of the organisation&#39;s privatisation process.

Speaking to the media after inaugurating newly-constructed running rooms for guards and locomotive pilots at the Rawalpindi Railway Loco Shed, the minister said Pakistan Railways was undergoing wide-ranging reforms, including digitisation, right-sizing in various departments and the outsourcing of schools and hospitals under a public-private partnership model.

Abbasi said the railway had reduced operational costs by Rs3.6 billion within four months after he assumed office, adding that the organisation was on course to meet its current revenue target by July 6. He said five trains had already been outsourced, freight revenue had increased by 32% and land earnings across railway divisions had risen by more than 50%.

The minister said Pakistan Railways was earning record profits and rejected the Auditor General of Pakistan&#39;s report as &quot;misleading&quot;, claiming the reported 19% loss was incorrect and an attempt to undermine the department&#39;s progress.

Abbasi said the newly inaugurated running rooms, equipped with air conditioning, improved accommodation and solar-powered uninterrupted electricity, were the first such facilities provided to guards and locomotive pilots in 36 years. He thanked the Director General of the Frontier Works Organisation for upgrading the rooms and said similar facilities would be established in other major cities.

The minister also announced plans to upgrade the exterior of Rawalpindi Railway Station on the pattern of Lahore, saying the project had been planned in consultation with the Rawalpindi Station Commander and was expected to be completed by December.]]>
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			<title>Irrefutable evidence</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615619/irrefutable-evidence</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615619/irrefutable-evidence#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:38:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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				<![CDATA[It has been proven beyond doubt that terror activities inside Pakistan are sponsored and planned in Afghanistan. The arrest of an Afghan national in Karachi, who was among those who rammed an explosives-laden van into a Sindh Rangers camp office in Karachi, was enough to serve a demarche to the Afghan authorities. The Foreign Office on Monday summoned the Afghan charg&eacute; d&#39;affaires to register its protest over Kabul&#39;s inaction regarding the verifiable fact that Afghanistan&#39;s soil is being used for cross-border terrorism. A similar demarche was conveyed by Pakistan&#39;s Ambassador in Kabul to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

A number of Afghans have been found involved in terrorist attacks in recent times. Apart from the bomber arrested on Saturday, The attacker in February&#39;s Islamabad Imambargah suicide bombing also originated from Afghanistan. The evidence thus establishes a definitive case of cross-border subversion inside Pakistan. A number of Indian proxies are operating at the behest of Afghan authorities in Pakistan. The Karachi bomber&#39;s confession regarding his ties to Nangarhar-based Jamaat-ul-Ahrar substantiates Pakistan&#39;s claims of a unified militant network &ndash; comprising TTP, BLA, ISKP and Al-Qaeda remnants &ndash; operating from the Afghan soil.

Pakistan&#39;s retaliatory operation along the border in Bajaur represents a legitimate security response to cross-border threats, aligned with the right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. These calibrated strikes targeting Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khawarij safe havens aim to eliminate a persistent threat - a security responsibility the Afghan authorities were obligated to fulfill under the Doha Accord. Repeated diplomatic engagements alongside kinetic enforcement under Operation Ghazab-Lil-Haq underscore the urgency for the Taliban leadership to take decisive action. Left unchecked, these extremist elements pose a mutual existential threat, requiring a sincere, coordinated eradication effort from Kabul.]]>
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			<title>Challenges to digital security</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615620/challenges-to-digital-security</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615620/challenges-to-digital-security#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:38:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[As the world races toward an interconnected, hyper-technological future, the digital frontier is expanding faster than the guardrails designed to protect it. Recent data released by Pakistan&#39;s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency is an unsettling reminder of this discrepancy as it outlines over 77,000 cybercrime complaints logged in just the first five months of 2026. While over 58,000 cases were verified and 520 arrests were made, the paradox of Pakistan&#39;s digital age clearly shows that growing advancements are actively putting more and more vulnerable users at risk of privacy breaches and scams.

What&#39;s more, the already-low number of arrests - 520 from 77,000 complaints - eventually leads to an even lower conviction rate and victims are often left to fend for themselves with little to no support from official channels. As a natural result of this administrative complacency, many victims hesitate to even report the crime in the first place. They fear repeated yet meaningless visits to cybercrime officers and quietly digest what is most often a financial loss on their own.

But silent acquiescence becomes much harder in the face of blackmail and social media hacking, which women and minors are often subject to. These cyberattacks put their victims into intensely vulnerable positions, making it harder to speak out and report.

The uncomfortable truth is that technology has democratised vulnerability. Cybersecurity experts highlight that the most successful cybercrimes exploit basic failures, including weak passwords, suspicious links, absence of two-factor authentication and publicly shared personal information. Every single internet user, regardless of age, must be well-versed in basic security measures to be taken online before they build an inviting profile for hackers. And the government must enforce strict punishments for cyberattacks, while treating digital education as an essential infrastructure to be embedded in schools, banks and public institutions.]]>
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			<title>Women's cricket failure</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615621/womens-cricket-failure</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615621/womens-cricket-failure#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:38:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[editorial]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Editorial]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Seventeen years is long enough. Pakistan&#39;s women have now competed in every edition of the ICC Women&#39;s T20 World Cup since the tournament&#39;s inception in 2009 and have failed to advance past the group stage in each one. The 2026 edition in England has produced a similar result with the women in green suffering three heavy defeats leading to their elimination in the group stage, and a consolation win over debutants Netherlands.

The margin of defeats - 113 runs against Australia, 64 against India, 23 against Bangladesh - speak adequately for themselves. What demands examination is why, after nearly two decades, the answer to that question remains unchanged. PCB will offer its customary explanations. The team is young. The conditions in England were unfamiliar. The opposition were better prepared. All of this is true, and none of it is the point. Youth and unfamiliarity are consequences of decisions made long before the first ball is bowled at a World Cup. They are the product of a domestic programme that has never been built to produce internationally competitive women cricketers. PCB has long treated women&#39;s cricket as a secondary obligation, something to be fulfilled rather than invested in. While the men&#39;s programme cycles through high-performance camps and a domestic T20 circuit calibrated to international demands, the women&#39;s side plays a fraction of the competitive cricket required to harden a squad for a major tournament.

This country does produce talented women cricketers. The problem is that talent, without the infrastructure to develop it, produces nothing sustainable. A genuine commitment to women&#39;s cricket means a proper bilateral fixtures programme with genuine investment and a domestic competition calibrated to international conditions. Pakistan&#39;s women have earned better than this. Seventeen years of the same result is not misfortune. It is policy.]]>
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			<title>Adaptation needs standards, not just urgency</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615623/adaptation-needs-standards-not-just-urgency</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615623/adaptation-needs-standards-not-just-urgency#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:38:04 +0500</pubDate>
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				<![CDATA[Mirza Mujtaba Baig]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Every summer, a familiar chorus rises from Pakistan&#39;s climate commentariat. Heatwaves bake Karachi, floods swallow Sindh, and glaciers retreat above Gilgit, and someone, somewhere, asks the question designed to silence all opposition: &quot;Should Karachiites be left at the mercy of heatwaves until adaptation SOPs are developed?&quot; It is a rhetorically devastating question. It is also an intellectually dishonest one, and it deserves a direct answer.

Start with what most people discussing climate change in Pakistan actually understand about it. The honest answer is: very little. Walk into any seminar, any NGO townhall, any government briefing, and you will find the same pattern. Awareness campaigns celebrate solar panels and tree plantation drives. Carbon footprint calculators circulate on social media. Commentators praise this organisation or that outlet for &quot;raising climate awareness&quot;. Mitigation, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, dominates the room, the budget, and the conversation. Adaptation, the set of measures that protect communities from climate impacts that are already happening and cannot be reversed, is treated as an afterthought, mentioned at the end of a presentation slide, funded from whatever remains after the mitigation projects are approved.

This is a profound misallocation of intellectual and financial energy for a country in Pakistan&#39;s position. Pakistan contributes less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, yet it consistently ranks among the ten most vulnerable countries to climate change impacts. Pakistan&#39;s mitigation ambitions, however sincere, will not move the needle on global warming trajectories. The atmosphere does not negotiate on equity. What Pakistan does or does not emit has essentially no bearing on whether temperatures rise another half degree. What does bear directly on Pakistani lives is whether communities have functional early warning systems, flood-resistant housing standards, heat action plans with defined thresholds, drought-responsive agricultural protocols, and water management systems built for the climate that is coming rather than the one that has passed.

This is adaptation, which unfortunately still occupies the last slot on climate debate agendas, burdened by ambiguous connotations. It is not disaster response, and the confusion between the two is damaging. Disaster management involves rescue, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction after an event has struck. Adaptation is anticipatory. It reduces vulnerability before the disaster arrives. Conflating the two is not a semantic error. It produces policy failure. A country that confuses adaptation with relief distribution will perpetually find itself spending billions on recovery while investing almost nothing in prevention.

Now, back to the activists who insist that frameworks can wait. Their argument rests on a false binary: either act now without standards, or do nothing while policymakers write documents. This is not a choice that serious policy practitioners recognise. The real question is whether adaptation interventions can be scaled, financed, monitored and replicated without institutional architecture. The answer is no, and the evidence for this is extensive.

Consider the measurement problem. In mitigation, success is quantifiable. A renewable energy project displaces a calculable number of tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Investors, auditors and regulators can verify the number. Carbon markets, whatever their current inefficiencies, operate on this verifiability. In adaptation, no equivalent standard metric exists. Measuring and evaluating adaptation is complicated because reductions in climate vulnerability and increases in resilience can only be observed through outcomes or impacts, and most current monitoring frameworks focus on outputs instead, meaning that policies remain disconnected from their stated goals and progress toward effective adaptation cannot be properly measured. An adaptation project that installs cooling centres in low-income neighbourhoods cannot easily demonstrate how many heat-related deaths it prevented. Counterfactuals are difficult to construct. Attribution is contested.

This measurement vacuum has direct consequences for finance. UNEP&#39;s 2024 Adaptation Gap Report estimates that the adaptation finance gap stands at between 187 and 359 billion dollars per year, with public budgets alone unable to address the challenge. The adaptation finance needs of developing countries by 2035 are at least twelve times greater than current international public adaptation finance flows. The gap is not primarily a problem of donor generosity. It is substantially a problem of investability. Private capital, development banks, and even multilateral climate funds require defined methodologies, measurable indicators, verification mechanisms and governance structures before committing substantial resources to any intervention. Without these, adaptation projects are, from a financier&#39;s perspective, simply spending money in the dark and hoping something improves.

Pakistan is attempting to access this finance system with limited institutional preparedness. The UN Common Country Analysis 2024 Update identifies limited institutional capacity, slow disbursement rates and reliance on debt-based climate finance as key barriers to accessing international climate funds. These barriers will not be cleared by passionate advocacy alone. They require the very frameworks, standards and governance architecture that critics dismiss as bureaucratic delay.

None of this is an argument for inaction. Communities facing heatwaves need relief now. Flood-prone districts need embankments now. But immediate, localised interventions and the construction of durable adaptation governance are not competing priorities. They must proceed simultaneously. The activists who frame standards as obstacles to action have confused the scaffolding for the building.

Adaptation without standards is not boldness. It is improvisation dressed as strategy, and improvisation does not survive contact with the scale of what Pakistan faces. The country cannot afford to keep responding to climate disasters with the same institutional vacuum that made them disasters in the first place. Building adaptation frameworks is not preparation for action. It is the action.]]>
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			<title>FIFA World Cup: the team that wasn't really welcome</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615624/fifa-world-cup-the-team-that-wasnt-really-welcome</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615624/fifa-world-cup-the-team-that-wasnt-really-welcome#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:38:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Faisal Kutty]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The FIFA World Cup is marketed as a celebration of global unity. Every four years, nations set aside their differences, athletes become ambassadors, and football is supposed to remind us of our shared humanity.

Yet Iran&#39;s opening World Cup match against New Zealand in Los Angeles exposed a less comfortable reality: in today&#39;s world, some nations are welcomed more enthusiastically than others.

Before a ball was kicked, before supporters entered the stadium, and before television cameras began broadcasting images of cheering fans, politics had already shaped Iran&#39;s tournament.

Unlike most participating teams, Iran reportedly was unable to establish a normal training base in the United States. Instead, players and staff remained in Mexico until shortly before the match and were expected to depart almost immediately afterward. Iranian officials complained of visa complications, ticketing disputes and restrictions affecting supporters. Coaches expressed concerns about unequal treatment.

Whatever explanation one accepts, the practical consequences are difficult to ignore.

Elite athletes depend upon preparation, routine and recovery. Teams normally arrive days before major matches to acclimatise, train and adjust to local conditions. They recover after matches before traveling onward. Such routines are not luxuries; they are part of modern elite sport.

Iran, however, found itself operating under different conditions.

The issue is not whether one supports or opposes the government in Tehran. People of good faith can disagree profoundly about Iranian politics.

The issue is whether international sporting events should be governed by principles of equality or by geopolitical calculations.

The symbolism matters because the World Cup is about more than football. It is one of the few events where nations encounter one another outside the framework of diplomacy, war or economics. When unequal treatment becomes visible, it sends a message that extends far beyond sport.

Inside SoFi Stadium, those geopolitical tensions were mirrored within the Iranian diaspora itself.

The overwhelming support for Team Melli was unmistakable. Iranian flags filled the stadium. Every attack generated excitement, and every goal was met with thunderous applause. Yet beneath that support lay deep divisions.

One of the most visible flashpoints involved the lion-and-sun flag associated with pre-revolutionary Iran. Although FIFA had prohibited the flag, it was visible throughout the venue. Security personnel repeatedly approached spectators carrying it and asked them to remove it. Many refused.

More troubling, however, was the hostility directed at spectators carrying Iran&#39;s official national flag.

My eight-year-old son was among them.

Several adults confronted him because of the flag he carried. Other children and women carrying the same flag appeared to face similar hostility. Security personnel intervened on multiple occasions.

The irony was striking. Many of those objecting to Iran&#39;s official flag were openly displaying a flag that FIFA itself had prohibited.

For many members of the Iranian diaspora, opposition to the government is deeply personal. Some have experienced imprisonment, exile, or the loss of loved ones. Their grievances are real and deserve recognition.

Yet opposition to a government is not the same as opposition to the people.

That distinction is increasingly being lost - not only in discussions about Iran but throughout international politics.

We have seen it in attitudes toward Palestinians, Israelis, Russians, Chinese, and others. Governments become conflated with populations. Citizens become extensions of state policy. Entire peoples become judged through the actions of rulers they may neither support nor control.

Once that happens, collective punishment becomes easier to justify.

The logic is familiar. Restrictions on mobility become acceptable. Unequal treatment becomes understandable. Human rights become conditional.

This is where the broader significance of Iran&#39;s World Cup experience emerges.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Western media and governments devoted enormous attention to labour rights, freedom of expression and discrimination. Much of that scrutiny was justified.

Yet consistency remains elusive.

Many who spoke passionately about human rights in Qatar have been noticeably quieter about immigration restrictions, political vetting, visa denials and growing limitations on dissent within Western democracies.

The issue is not whether Qatar deserved criticism. It did. The issue is whether the same standards are applied when similar concerns arise closer to home. Human rights lose their moral force when they become selective.

Sport cannot solve geopolitical conflicts. Nor should it pretend to. But international sporting events should aspire to principles of fairness, dignity and equal treatment.

Iran&#39;s World Cup experience serves as a reminder of how far we remain from those ideals.

A nation is not its government. People are not their rulers. The moment we forget that distinction, we begin abandoning the very values that international sport claims to celebrate.]]>
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			<title>Of teaching and reading</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615618/of-teaching-and-reading</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615618/of-teaching-and-reading#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 19:38:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Muhammad Hamid Zaman]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Opinion]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[The reading habits, or perhaps abilities, of university students is often a topic of debate and discussion these days. Professors are wondering if the students are reading at all or as some would pose more provocatively, are they even able to really read. I too worry about this in the world of declining attention spans, dependence on smart phones, reliance on questionable internet content for information, and tools for quick summary generators. But I also wonder about the role of the professor in this moment.

In this debate on students and reading, when professors talk about the problem, by and large, they talk about students in social sciences and humanities, or at the very least, talk about courses in those subjects. As someone who teaches a general education class, and an engineering elective, I find that framing problematic. Why is it that we assume that reading is, or should, only be an expectation in humanities and social sciences? Why should science or engineering students not read deeply? Do we not expect our scientists to think critically, develop an ability to engage with open ended problems, question their assumptions, challenge their conclusions, or more significantly learn to appreciate creativity? Assuming that science and engineering students only need to understand numbers, equations and figures is both inaccurate and na&iuml;ve. Additionally, we should hope that all students, regardless of their intended field of learning and practice, will turn out to be citizens who live by the ideals of integrity, decency, kindness and respect. Reading alone may not create ethical citizens but not expecting them to read is certainly going to make things worse.

So now, the question I want to focus on is: what happens when we ask students to read? I have long been interested in this question &ndash; and this past semester I tried to incorporate more reading in my upper-level engineering class that focuses on engineering approaches to improve refugee health. Not only would I assign readings (from a variety of academic publications and long-form essays) ahead of class and ask them to write short pieces of reflection in class (which was graded), where they had to write on paper and could not use computers, I also told them that for extra credit they could read one of four books. Three out of four books were fiction (they all focused on refugees) and the fourth one was a memoir by a Pulitzer Prize winning author (also focused on displacement and return).

I bought the books for the students (which they had to return after reading), and to get extra credit they had to come in person into my office and discuss the book. I would ask them lots of questions about the themes of the book, the imagery, the nature of dialogues and the characters, and the questions were fairly diverse to ensure that they had actually read the book and were not relying on an AI-summary that they had memorised. The experience was extraordinary. Nearly two-thirds of the students took up my offer of reading a book, and every single discussion was nuanced, rich and often touched on personal experiences and ideas. There were times when the students disagreed with my analysis and pushed back, and there were instances when I took notes for additional books my students recommended during the discussion. My experiment went so well this year that I am going to make this as a permanent part of this course.

I recognise that not all classes are the same and that my students are perhaps a self-selected group who know what they are getting into. I also know that I have created an incentive for students to read (and in the case of pre-class readings, a penalty for not reading). But that is exactly my point &ndash; given the world that we live in, with distractions and declining attention spans all around us, are the professors doing all they can to get students to read?

Some of my students were avid readers, others hadn&#39;t read a book in years. But by the end of the experience, everyone who read a book seemed eager to pick another one right away.]]>
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			<title>We have to keep Netanyahu 'a little bit sane', says Trump</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614354/we-have-to-keep-netanyahu-a-little-bit-sane-says-trump</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614354/we-have-to-keep-netanyahu-a-little-bit-sane-says-trump#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 21 Jun 26 02:21:50 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[US President Donald Trump delivered a blunt critique of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press interview, stating their relationship is &quot;good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane&quot;

The remark came when Trump was asked by Axious, an American media outlet, about his ties with the Israeli premier amid ongoing efforts to end fighting in Lebanon.

Trump asserted he can control Israeli military actions in Lebanon because officials there &quot;do as I say.&quot;

He highlighted American military superiority, saying that the US provides &quot;the guns&quot; and &quot;B-2 bombers,&quot; and claimed that without his intervention, Israel would have been &quot;eviscerated,&quot; echoing his remarks earlier this week asserting: &quot;Without the United States, there would be no Israel.&quot;

Earlier this week, the US president said he advised Netanyahu to use a &quot;softer touch&quot; in Leb-anon, saying Israel does not have to &quot;knock down a building every time somebody walks into it that&#39;s from Hezbollah,&quot; referring to frequent Israeli bombing of Lebanon, including many residential areas.]]>
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			<title>Five dead in South Korea aerospace plant blast</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2611013/five-dead-in-south-korea-aerospace-plant-blast</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2611013/five-dead-in-south-korea-aerospace-plant-blast#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 26 22:32:55 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Five people have died and two others were injured on Monday after an explosion and fire on a South Korean production line for rocket propellant at a factory operated by Hanwha Aerospace in the city of Daejeon, officials said.

The two survivors, including one who was badly burned, had escaped from the facility themselves, a fire official told a briefing.

&quot;Authorities have yet to identify the victims because their bodies were severely damaged,&quot; a health official told the same briefing.

A fire official said that an explosion had triggered the blaze, though the cause of the blast was still being investigated. The blast appeared to have occurred while water was being used to clean explosive material from tools making rocket propellant, a Hanwha official told a company briefing.

&quot;We bow our heads in apology to the victims and their bereaved families,&quot; said Chief Executive Officer Son Jae-il, pledging to cooperate fully with authorities to determine the cause of the accident.

The five dead included two temporary workers in their 20s and all were employed by Hanwha, the company said.]]>
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			<title>Israeli strikes kill seven in Gaza</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2610261/israeli-strikes-kill-seven-in-gaza</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2610261/israeli-strikes-kill-seven-in-gaza#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 May 26 18:45:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[Israeli strikes killed at least seven Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday including five in a refugee camp and two in a car, health officials said.

Medics and residents said an Israeli drone fired a missile at people who came out of their homes when an Israeli-backed Palestinian militia tried to storm an area east of Maghazi camp.

As well as at least five fatalities, several people were injured.

The Israeli military, which has been fighting Hamas in the Palestinian territory since October 2023, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that incident.

Incursions by Israeli-backed armed gangs, whom Hamas brands &quot;Israeli collaborators&quot;, have escalated in past weeks.

Leaders of those groups, who operate in areas under Israeli control, say they aim to topple Hamas rule.

Later on Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike struck a vehicle in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing two people and wounding several others, medics said.

The Israeli military told Reuters it was a &quot;targeted strike&quot; and provided no further details.]]>
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			<title>US, Armenia sign partnership agreement</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2610262/us-armenia-sign-partnership-agreement</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2610262/us-armenia-sign-partnership-agreement#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 May 26 18:45:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
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			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan signed a strategic partnership agreement in Yerevan on Tuesday, less than two weeks before parliamentary elections in the South Caucasus country.

Rubio&#39;s visit comes as Russia has threatened to exert economic pressure on Yerevan for its growing ties to the West by raising prices Armenia pays for Russian gas if the country turns away from integration with Moscow

On June 7, Armenia votes in an election pitting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan&#39;s Civil Contract party against an array of opposition parties, many of which are pro-Russian.

Rubio and Mirzoyan

also signed a framework agreement on critical minerals and another on cooperation on a proposed 43-km (27-mile) transit corridor across southern Armenia

that would give Azerbaijan a direct route to its

exclave of Nakhchivan

and into Turkey, Baku&#39;s closest ally.

Dubbed the &quot;Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP)&quot;, the corridor is a key part of a peace agreement reached last August between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been at war on-and-off since the late 1980s. No formal peace deal has been signed.

The route would better connect Asia to Europe - bypassing Russia and Iran - at a time when U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed interest in critical minerals deals with resource-rich Central Asian countries to the east of the South Caucasus region. The mining of iron, copper and zinc and other minerals is also a major sector of Armenia&#39;s economy.

&quot;We are going to be able to work together to make sure that both of our

countries, both of our economies, are going to have reliable access

to these critical minerals,&quot; Rubio said at the

signing ceremony on Tuesday.]]>
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			<title>Medical check up went 'perfectly' says Trump</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2610265/medical-check-up-went-perfectly-says-trump</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2610265/medical-check-up-went-perfectly-says-trump#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Tue, 26 May 26 18:45:11 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[Donald Trump said an annual medical check-up had gone &quot;perfectly&quot; Tuesday, as the health of the oldest US president ever to take the oath faces growing scrutiny with the approach of his 80th birthday.

It was Trump&#39;s third medical examination since returning to office last year and follows mounting speculation about issues including bruising on his hands and apparent sleepiness during meetings.

&quot;Everything checked out PERFECTLY,&quot; Trump posted on his Truth Social network as he drove back to the White House from the Walter Reed Military Hospital near Washington.

But Trump has long been accused of a lack of transparency about his health -- and the chronology of his various check-ups during his second term has added to the confusion.

He referred to Tuesday&#39;s check up as a &quot;six-month physical,&quot; despite the White House billing it as an annual dental and medical examination when it announced it earlier this month.

Trump&#39;s last scheduled annual check up was in April 2025. But it was followed by an unannounced hospital visit that October, which the White House then also described as an annual physical.]]>
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			<title>Trump envoy arrives for Greenland visit</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2608753/trump-envoy-arrives-for-greenland-visit</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2608753/trump-envoy-arrives-for-greenland-visit#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 18 May 26 02:04:09 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
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				<![CDATA[.]]>
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				<![CDATA[US President Donald Trump&#39;s special envoy to Greenland landed in Nuuk on Sunday for a visit of several days to the autonomous Danish territory, local media reported.

Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry arrived for his first visit in the role and is due to take part in an economic forum in the Greenlandic capital on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Organised by the employers organisation Gronlands Erhverv, the Future Greenland event will bring together investors, political and business leaders to try to encourage investment there.

Landry&#39;s visit comes after international tension over Trump&#39;s repeated claims to the territory, which sparked alarm not just in Greenland and Denmark but across western Europe.

Landry arrived accompanied by around 10 other people and drove off in a convoy of five cars, the local daily Sermitsiaq reported.

The US ambassador to Denmark is due to fly in to Greenland on Monday.

&quot;Together, they will meet with a wide range of Greenlanders to listen and learn with a goal of expanding economic opportunities, building people-to-people ties, and increasing understanding between the United States and Greenland,&quot; said a US embassy statement sent to AFP.

Trump appointed Landry to the post on December 22.

In January, Trump backed down from his repeated threats to seize Greenland, after which Copenhagen and Nuuk held a first meeting in Washington.

Trump has repeatedly argued the US needs to control Greenland because of national security concerns, claiming that if the US does not take the Arctic island then it would fall into the hands of China or Russia.

Last Tuesday, Greenland&#39;s prime minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said talks between the territory, Denmark, and the United States had yet to produce an agreement, even if there had been progress.]]>
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			<title>Trump rules out any deal except ‘unconditional surrender’ as Iran vows to defend its ‘dignity and sovereignty’</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2596085/trump-says-not-currently-considering-us-ground-forces-in-iran</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2596085/trump-says-not-currently-considering-us-ground-forces-in-iran#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 06 Mar 26 05:23:32 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2596085</guid>
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				<![CDATA[Iran says some countries have begun mediation efforts amid retaliatory strikes]]>
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				<![CDATA[United States President &zwnj;Donald Trump demanded Iran&#39;s &quot;unconditional surrender&quot; on Friday and ruled out any deal, a dramatic escalation of his demands a week into the war he launched alongside Israel.

Trump made the remarks on social media just hours after Iran&#39;s president announced that unspecified countries had ​begun mediation efforts in one of the first signals of any diplomatic initiative to end ​the conflict.

&quot;After ⁠that, and the selection of a great and acceptable leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful ​and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of ​destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.&quot;



https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/116182551337254643



On Thursday, Trump had told Reuters in a telephone interview that he was demanding the right to help select Iran&#39;s new supreme leader, to replace Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed ​in the war&#39;s first day.

Israel pounded the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday after ordering an unprecedented evacuation ​of the entire southern suburbs of the city, in a major expansion of the war.

It carried out heavy air strikes on Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut and started a &quot;broad-scale&quot; wave of attacks against infrastructure in Tehran, while Iran said it targeted the heart of Tel Aviv with missiles.

Explosions and flashes lit up the night sky over Beirut&#39;s southern suburbs. The Israeli military said it had carried out 26 waves of strikes overnight in the southern suburbs, saying targets included Iran-backed Hezbollah militia command centres and weapons storage facilities.

It also launched a new &zwnj;wave ⁠of attacks on Iran, saying 50 of its warplanes had struck a bunker beneath the destroyed Tehran compound of Khamenei, still being used by Iran&#39;s leadership after he was killed.

Iran says some countries have begun mediation efforts amid retaliatory strikes

Earlier, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian revealed that some countries had begun mediation efforts as the Islamic Republic continued its retaliatory strikes against Israel and US military bases in the Gulf region.

&ldquo;Some countries have begun efforts at mediation,&rdquo; Pezeshkian wrote in a post on his official X handle.

&ldquo;Our response to them is clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region, but we have not the slightest doubt in defending the dignity and sovereignty of our country,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;The intended audience for mediation should be those who, by underestimating the Iranian people, have stoked the flames.&rdquo;



Some countries have begun mediation efforts. Let&#39;s be clear: we are committed to lasting peace in the region yet we have no hesitation in defending our nation&#39;s dignity &amp; sovereignty. Mediation should address those who underestimated the Iranian people and ignited this conflict https://t.co/MxWCuNYOYR
&mdash; Masoud Pezeshkian (@drpezeshkian) March 6, 2026


Iran&rsquo;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Kheibar missiles were fired towards Tel Aviv as part of the 21st wave of its &ldquo;Operation True Promise 4&quot;. In a statement, the IRGC said the wave began with a combined missile and drone operation targeting sites in the heart of Tel Aviv.

Overnight, Iranian drones attacked the US Al Udied airbase in Qatar, the biggest US base in the Middle East, Qatari officials said. There were no reported casualties.

The IRGC said Iranian forces had targeted the Ramat David air base and a radar site in Israel, the Al-Adiri camp in Kuwait where US forces are stationed, and a drone attack on a base hosting US troops in Erbil, Iraq.

A Guards spokesperson said new initiatives and weapons would soon be deployed to confront Israeli and U.S. aggression, without giving details.

&quot;This was an &#39;existential war&#39; for Iran, leaving us with no choice but to respond wherever American attacks originate from,&rdquo; Iran&rsquo;s Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh said at the Raisina Dialogues conference in New Delhi on Friday.

Hezbollah, in a message published in Hebrew on its Telegram channel early on Friday, warned Israelis to leave towns within five kilometres of the border.

&quot;Your military&#39;s aggression against Lebanese sovereignty and safe citizens, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the expulsion campaign it is carrying out will not go unchallenged,&quot; Hezbollah said.

At least 1,230 people have been killed in Iran since the fighting began a week ago, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society.

The Lebanese health ministry has reported 123 people have been killed and another 683 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks this week. Its figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. There have been no reported fatalities in Israel as a result of Hezbollah attacks.

Azerbaijan was preparing unspecified retaliatory measures on Thursday after it said four Iranian drones crossed its border and injured four &zwnj;people in the Nakhchivan exclave. Iran, which has a significant Azeri minority, denied it targeted its neighbour.

Ground troops in Iran

Trump said on Thursday it would be a &quot;waste of time&quot; currently to consider sending US ground troops into Iran, NBC News reported, dismissing the Iranian foreign minister&#39;s warning that such a move would spell disaster for invaders.

&quot;It&#39;s a waste of time. They&#39;ve lost everything. They&#39;ve lost their navy. They&#39;ve lost everything they can lose,&quot; he told NBC by telephone, adding that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi&#39;s earlier remark that Iran was ready for a US or Israeli ground invasion was a &quot;wasted comment&quot;.



US President Trump said Iran is being demolished &ldquo;ahead of schedule and at levels people have never seen before&rdquo;, claiming the country now has &ldquo;no air force, no air defence&rdquo; and the air force is &ldquo;gone&rdquo;.

🔴 Follow our LIVE coverage: https://t.co/q1Q18tbGFl pic.twitter.com/ILTEFBYY5m
&mdash; Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 6, 2026


Trump also indicated he is keen to see Iran&#39;s leadership structure removed and that &quot;we want to go in and clean out everything&quot; quickly.

&quot;We don&#39;t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period,&quot; he said. He added that he had ideas for a new leader but declined to name anyone.

Trump said earlier he would &quot;have to be involved&quot; in the appointment of Iran&#39;s next leader after US-Israeli strikes killed Khamenei when the conflict began on Saturday. He rejected the possibility that Khamenei&#39;s son Mojtaba could succeed his slain father, dismissing him as a &quot;lightweight&quot;.

Heavy attacks were reported in Tehran after Israel said it was hitting &quot;regime infrastructure&quot; in a &quot;new phase&quot; of the war it launched with the US against Iran.

Read: Middle East war spreads to Lebanon, Iraq as Israel attacks Tehran

The conflict, now in its seventh day, has seen Iran target Israel, the Gulf states, Cyprus, Turkey, and Azerbaijan. The violence has also spread to the Indian Ocean, where a US submarine sank an Iranian naval ship off the coast of Sri Lanka.

The Iranian ship was invited to take part in the International Fleet Review 2026 in India. The strike killed around 87 sailors.



Welcome! | خوش آمدید!

🇮🇳🤝🇮🇷 Indian Navy welcomes IRIS Dena, of the Iranian Navy, on her arrival at #Visakhapatnam to participate in #IFR2026_India and #MILAN2026, reflecting long-standing cultural links between the two nations.@India_in_Iran #BridgesOfFriendship&hellip; pic.twitter.com/O77v2qNJHJ
&mdash; Eastern Naval Command 🇮🇳 (@IN_HQENC) February 17, 2026


According to former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal, he wrote in a post on X that, &quot;I am told that as per protocol for this exercise, ships cannot carry any ammunition. It was defenceless.&quot;



The Iranian ship will not be where it was if we had not invited it to talk part in our Milan exercise.

We were the hosts.

I am told that as per protocol for this exercise ships cannot carry any ammunition. It was defenceless.

The Iranian naval personnel had paraded before&hellip; https://t.co/3r8bWFJn8d
&mdash; Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) March 5, 2026


Araghchi has rejected calls for a ceasefire and stated there was no reason to negotiate with the US. Despite the challenges, Iranian forces continue to retaliate against Israel and its allies. According to Drop Site News, Iran warns that it has not begun using their &quot;new&quot; weapons.

IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini said, according to Mehr News Agency, &ldquo;The enemy should expect painful blows in every operational wave,&rdquo; he said, adding that Iran&rsquo;s &ldquo;new innovations and weapons&rdquo; have not yet been used on a large scale.



⭕️ Iran warns new weapons have not yet been used

Iran is prepared for a prolonged war and has not yet deployed many of its newest weapons systems, IRGC spokesman Brig. Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini said, according to Mehr News Agency.

➤ &ldquo;The enemy should expect painful blows in&hellip; https://t.co/54Lc5YXOFe
&mdash; Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 6, 2026


US-Israeli escalation

On Friday morning, Iranian media reported heavy strikes in Tehran shortly after Israel&rsquo;s announcement that it was targeting Iran&rsquo;s &quot;regime infrastructure&quot;.

Israel&rsquo;s military chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, warned that the US-Israeli campaign had entered the next phase and would &ldquo;further dismantle the regime and its military capabilities&rdquo;.

Zamir also hinted at &quot;additional surprises&quot; to come, but declined to disclose further details. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that &ldquo;firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically&quot;.



🚨Important: IDF Chief of Staff outlines next phase of war against Iran and Lebanon

▪️On Iran, Israel will escalate strikes aimed at weakening the Iranian state:

&ldquo;We will intensify the blow to the foundations of the regime and its military capabilities. We still have additional&hellip; pic.twitter.com/rJdN0O3UmB
&mdash; Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 5, 2026


Iran&rsquo;s Revolutionary Guards responded by launching missiles toward Tel Aviv after an earlier explosion in central Israel caused a fire at a residential building. AFP journalists reported hearing simultaneous explosions in Tel Aviv, while rocket trails lit up the sky in Netanya, further north.

Trump backs Kurds

In the midst of the escalating conflict, Trump expressed support for Iranian Kurdish militias in Iraq, encouraging them to intensify their attacks against Iran.

Speaking to Reuters, Trump stated, &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s wonderful that they want to do that, I&#39;d be all for it.&rdquo;

These militias, based along the Iran-Iraq border in Iraqi Kurdistan, have been in consultations with the US on launching attacks on Iran&rsquo;s western security forces.

Read more: Iran hits CIA site in Riyadh as US seeks to arm Kurdish forces against Tehran

Security sources reported two Iranian drone strikes on an opposition camp in Iraqi Kurdistan on Thursday, underscoring the rising violence. Iranian Kurdish forces have been preparing for such operations to weaken Iran&rsquo;s military while US and Israeli airstrikes target Iranian installations.

Iran&rsquo;s future leadership

Meanwhile, Hegseth sought to clarify that, despite Trump&rsquo;s comments, there were no changes in the US military&rsquo;s objectives in Iran. &quot;There&rsquo;s no expansion in our objectives. We know exactly what we&rsquo;re trying to achieve,&quot; Hegseth said.

Also read: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say

Azerbaijan prepares retaliation

Azerbaijan has vowed to retaliate after &quot;Iranian&quot; drones crossed its border and injured four people in the Nakhchivan exclave. President Ilham Aliyev condemned the attacks as an &ldquo;unprovoked act of terror and aggression&rdquo; and vowed to take action.

Hezbollah responds

Hezbollah, an armed force fighting against Israeli aggression in Lebanon, launched missiles in retaliation for the war.

Displaced families are seeking shelter on a beach, facing dire conditions.

Attacks across region

US forces sank an Iranian frigate off the coast of Sri Lanka that had travelled to India to take part in a parade, while Azerbaijan threatened retaliation after a drone attack on an airport. Iran also targeted US bases inside Gulf countries, including Qatar, which intercepted a drone targeting a US base in Al-Udeid. Bahrain reported an alleged attack on a hotel and residential buildings, while Saudi Arabia intercepted three ballistic missiles.

Casualties mount in Iran, Lebanon

In Lebanon, 77 have died. Thousands have fled southern Beirut, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis. Additionally, two paramedics have been killed in Shiraz, Iran, according to Al Jazeera.



UPDATE: Two paramedics killed in Shiraz, Iran: Report

🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/C3iSVX4pRP pic.twitter.com/CXHJVw5D20
&mdash; Al Jazeera Breaking News (@AJENews) March 6, 2026


More than 3,000 homes in Iran were damaged by US-Israeli attacks, according to the Red Crescent.

Pir Hossein Kolivand, president of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, says the US-Israeli attacks have damaged 3,643 civilian sites, including 3,090 homes. Also damaged are 528 commercial and service centres, 14 medical or pharmaceutical facilities and nine Red Crescent facilities, he said.

Most of the targets, he added, were in &ldquo;densely populated residential areas&rdquo;.

Drop Site News reports that 20 more Iranian civilians were killed and 30 injured after US&ndash;Israel strikes hit the Zibashahr residential area of Shiraz, a major city in southwestern Iran about 420 miles south of Tehran, the acting head of the political deputy office of the Fars Province governorate said, according to Islamic State News Agencies.



🚨 New: 20 Iranian civilians killed in U.S.&ndash;Israel strikes on residential area in Shiraz

At least 20 civilians were killed and 30 injured after U.S.&ndash;Israel strikes hit the Zibashahr residential area of Shiraz &ndash; a major city in southwestern Iran about 420 miles south of Tehran &ndash;&hellip; https://t.co/TRKWPIvfDd
&mdash; Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) March 6, 2026


Prolonged conflict preparation

US officials, including Admiral Brad Cooper, head of Central Command, confirmed that strikes from Iran have significantly diminished, with ballistic missile attacks decreasing by 90% and drone attacks down by 83%. However, Pentagon officials reaffirmed their commitment to the ongoing campaign, emphasising the availability of sufficient munitions for a sustained effort.

Global disruptions

The conflict has disrupted global markets, energy supplies, and travel. While oil prices have surged, global logistics and air transport have been heavily affected. Iran claims control over the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy chokepoint, but the US has signalled it may escort ships through the area if necessary.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan seeks urgent LNG cargo as Hormuz tensions disrupt supplies</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615594/pakistan-seeks-urgent-lng-cargo-as-hormuz-tensions-disrupt-supplies</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615594/pakistan-seeks-urgent-lng-cargo-as-hormuz-tensions-disrupt-supplies#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 14:39:09 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Anadolu Agency]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615594</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[State-owned Pakistan LNG opens tender for spot LNG cargo for delivery between June 30 and July 4]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[Pakistan has launched an urgent tender to buy a liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo for delivery this week, as renewed tensions in the Strait of Hormuz disrupt energy flows through one of the world&rsquo;s most important shipping routes.

The state-owned Pakistan LNG Limited invited international suppliers to bid for one LNG cargo on a delivered ex-ship basis at Port Qasim, according to a tender document published by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.

Read: Trump says Iran requested meeting, set to take place tomorrow in Doha

The cargo is scheduled for delivery between Tuesday and Saturday. The tender seeks 140,000 cubic metres of LNG, with a tolerance of plus or minus 10%.

The Strait of Hormuz is a key route for global LNG shipments, particularly from Qatar, one of Pakistan&rsquo;s main suppliers. Any interruption to vessel traffic through the waterway can force buyers to turn to the spot market, where cargoes are often more expensive and harder to secure at short notice.

Read more: Iran and US agree to halt attacks and renew talks, US official says

Pakistan has faced repeated energy supply pressure since the conflict in the region affected LNG flows, prompting the government to seek additional spot cargoes to cover domestic demand.

The latest tender follows attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, which have raised concerns among shipowners, insurers and energy buyers over the safety of transits through the waterway.

On June 11,&nbsp;Pakistan opted to purchase LNG from the spot market to meet the demand of power producers. Earlier, the government had secured gas cargoes from Qatar.

Pakistan&#39;s local gas production is shrinking every year and its reliance on imported gas is increasing. Pakistan has a long-term LNG supply contract with Qatar, but cargo deliveries were suspended due to the US-Iran conflict.]]>
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			<title>Pakistan summons Afghan envoy over terrorist attack on Rangers camp in Karachi</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615566/pakistan-summons-afghan-envoy-over-terrorist-attack-on-rangers-camp-in-karachi</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615566/pakistan-summons-afghan-envoy-over-terrorist-attack-on-rangers-camp-in-karachi#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 09:09:24 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Islamabad]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615566</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says Karachi attack proved that Afghan soil continued to be used for terrorism inside Pakistan]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Monday that the Afghan charg&eacute; d&rsquo;affaires was summoned and issued a strong demarche over the terrorist attack on the Rangers camp in Karachi.

On Saturday, security forces foiled a terrorist attack in Karachi, in which three Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) personnel embraced martyrdom and four others were injured. The attack, according to the military&rsquo;s media wing, was launched by &ldquo;Khwarij belonging to Indian proxy, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar&rdquo;. The assailants, after a blast at the main gate at the Rangers camp, attempted to breach the perimeter security but were pushed back by personnel who killed three Kharjis and captured one, identified as an Afghan national, in an injured condition.

According to Andrabi, &quot;the Afghan charg&eacute; d&rsquo;affaires was summoned to the MoFA last night, and a strong demarche was issued regarding the Karachi terrorist attack. A similar demarche was conveyed by Pakistan&rsquo;s Ambassador, Mr Ubaid-ur-Rehman Nizamani, to the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.&quot;

He said the demarche &quot;was issued in light of the fact that Afghan nationals, including one apprehended alive, participated in this attack, proving yet again that Afghan soil and Afghan nationals continue to be used to orchestrate terrorist attacks inside Pakistan.&quot;



🔊PR No.1️⃣5️⃣6️⃣/2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣6️⃣

Statement by the Spokesperson https://t.co/eI70LICLBM

🔗⬇️ pic.twitter.com/QNdPCZk15B
&mdash; Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) June 29, 2026


Earlier, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said security forces had carried out precision strikes on terrorist camps and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khawarij in Afghanistan&rsquo;s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces, killing 29 terrorists.&nbsp;The strikes were conducted under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq&nbsp;on the night of June 28-29 after an attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi.

Operation Ghazab Lil Haq&nbsp;was&nbsp;launched around the end of February, followed by renewed clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, with the Afghan Taliban forces firing on multiple locations, prompting swift military retaliation by Islamabad. The clashes intensified after Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to Pakistani air strikes targeting terrorist positions.

Read More: Undocumented Afghans to face immediate arrest

In May, Pakistan had summoned the Afghan charg&eacute; d&rsquo;affaires and issued a &ldquo;strong d&eacute;marche&rdquo; over a vehicle-borne IED attack carried out by Fitna al-Khawarij on a police post in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa&rsquo;s Bannu District, which martyred 15 police constables.

Terrorists had rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the Fateh Khel police checkpoint, martyring 15 personnel and injuring three others. The attack triggered a massive blast that destroyed the checkpoint and left several personnel trapped under the debris.

The demarche &quot;conveyed that a detailed investigation into the incident, along with evidence and technical intelligence, indicated that the attack was masterminded by terrorists residing in Afghanistan,&quot; MoFA had said.

It added, &quot;Reiterating Pakistan&rsquo;s grave concern over the continued use of Afghan soil for terrorist attacks against Pakistan, it was impressed upon the Afghan side that Pakistan reserves the right to respond decisively against the perpetrators of this barbaric act.&quot;]]>
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			<title>29 terrorists killed in 'calibrated strikes' along Pak-Afghan border, says Tarar</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615551/pakistan-strikes-jamaat-ul-ahrar-fitna-al-khawarij-camps-in-afghanistan-under-ghazab-lil-haq</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615551/pakistan-strikes-jamaat-ul-ahrar-fitna-al-khawarij-camps-in-afghanistan-under-ghazab-lil-haq#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 06:30:07 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615551</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Tarar says strikes on Paktia, Paktika and Kunar follow recent terrorist attacks in K-P, Balochistan, Sindh]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Monday that&nbsp;security forces had carried out precision strikes&nbsp;on terrorist camps and safe havens of&nbsp;Jamaat-ul-Ahrar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Fitna al-Khawarij&nbsp;in Afghanistan&rsquo;s Paktia, Paktika and Kunar provinces, killing 29 terrorists.&nbsp;

The strikes were conducted under Operation Ghazab Lil Haq&nbsp;on the night of June 28-29 after an attack on a Rangers camp in Karachi. In a post on X, Tarar said the strikes eliminated terrorists and destroyed weapons and ammunition stockpiles.



Under Operation Ghazb Lil Haq, security forces precisely struck terrorist camps and safe havens of Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and Fitna al-Khwarij in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar, eliminating terrorists and destroying weapons and ammunition stockpiles on night 28/29June. https://t.co/UV2lqXir7I pic.twitter.com/Xfdgtob2Ca
&mdash; Attaullah Tarar (@TararAttaullah) June 29, 2026


In a statement on Sunday, Tarar said that security forces continued Operation Ghazab Lil Haq after a series of terrorist attacks in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Balochistan, and on a Sindh Rangers camp in Karachi.

Two days ago, security forces foiled a terrorist attack on a Sindh Rangers camp in Karachi&#39;s Gulistan-e-Jauhar area. Three Rangers personnel were martyred and four others were injured during the assault, while three terrorists were killed and another, identified as an Afghan national, was captured in an injured condition. The military attributed the attack to Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and vowed to continue operations against those responsible.

Tarar&#39;s statement on Sunday stated that security forces first conducted an intelligence-based ground operation near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Bajaur district on June 28, killing four militants, including alleged high-value commander Khan Farosh alias Zabal. Several other terrorists were injured.

Read: Captured terrorist lifts lid on cross-border plot

It added that the operation was followed by precision strikes on three terrorist targets in Paktia, Paktika and Kunar during the night of June 28-29. According to Tarar, 25 terrorists were killed in those strikes, bringing the total number of militants killed during the operation to 29. The statement also noted that large quantities of weapons and ammunition stored at the targeted camps and hideouts were destroyed.

&quot;Pakistan has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region, but at the same time shall not compromise on the safety and security of our citizens, which remains our top priority,&quot; Tarar said. He added that Pakistan&#39;s counterterrorism campaign under the Azm-e-Istehkam strategy would continue &quot;at full pace to wipe out the menace of foreign-sponsored and supported terrorism from the country.&quot;

Fitna al-Khawarij is the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is one of the group&#39;s breakaway factions.

Read More: EU, UK envoys back Pakistan in fight against TTP

Fighting ​between Pakistan and Afghanistan started in October, ⁠killing scores on both sides, with Afghans taking the brunt. Islamabad accuses the Afghan Taliban of harbouring ⁠militants ​who launch attacks in Pakistan, ​although Kabul denies this, calling the militancy Islamabad&#39;s domestic problem.

Operation Ghazab Lil Haq was launched around the end of February following renewed clashes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, after Afghan Taliban forces fired on multiple locations, prompting swift military retaliation by Pakistan.

The clashes intensified after Afghanistan launched a border offensive in response to Pakistani air strikes targeting terrorist positions. The two sides had agreed to a week-long ceasefire on the eve of Eidul Fitr on March 18 following requests from T&uuml;rkiye, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Pakistan in April put forth three core demands to the Afghan Taliban during peace talks in Urumqi, China, including Kabul formally declaring the TTP a terrorist organisation, dismantling its infrastructure, and providing verifiable proof of the action. The demands form the basis of Pakistan&#39;s negotiating position, which sources say has hardened amid persistent security concerns.

In the most recent development, Pakistan carried out &ldquo;precision strikes&rdquo; along the border targeting terrorist hideouts, killing 26 Fitna al-Khawarij terrorists in response to recent terrorist attacks in the country.]]>
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			<title>Fact check: Viral video of woman shooting harasser on motorcycle is AI-generated</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615590/fact-check-viral-video-of-woman-shooting-harasser-on-motorcycle-is-ai-generated</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615590/fact-check-viral-video-of-woman-shooting-harasser-on-motorcycle-is-ai-generated#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 13:44:15 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Fact Check By iVerify]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615590</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[AI-detection tools noted that the video was 94-97% AI-generated]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Multiple users on several social media platforms were sharing a video since Sunday showing a woman opening fire after a man on a motorcycle allegedly tries to approach her. However, the video is AI-generated.

How it started

On Sunday, a social media user shared a video on X showing a man on a motorcycle approaching a woman walking on the street. He closes in with a 180-degree drift, after which the woman, clad in a burka, pulls out a gun and fires in the man&rsquo;s direction, prompting him to flee from the scene.

The post attracted 333,000 views.

An Indian account shared the same video on Instagram in a similar context. The post garnered about 171,000 likes.

Another Instagram user shared the same video in a similar context, gaining 34,300 likes.

Another Indian user shared the viral clip with the caption: &ldquo;When a Karan Johar&rsquo;s movie hero meets Anurag Kashyap&rsquo;s movie heroine&rdquo;. The post gained 170,000 views on X.

Similarly, the video was shared by several other users on social media platforms Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, here and here; collectively gaining 10,000 views.

Methodology

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to its high virality and keen public interest in the video.

Analysing the video frame by frame to identify visual discrepancies showed that the man appears to stop the motorcycle in a stunt-like 180-degree drift that is unusually smooth, while no skid marks were seen on the road.

Secondly, at the 1-second mark, the gun suddenly appears in the woman&rsquo;s hand, as if it morphs into the video.

At the 4-second mark, the dust cloud produced after the woman fires at the road appears unusually large and thick, despite the road being made of asphalt. An asphalt road would not normally produce such heavy dust from a simple gunshot.



Similarly, when the man flees on the motorcycle, the rear wheel appears to produce a similarly large amount of dust on an otherwise clean asphalt road.



The video was further analysed using AI-detection tools with Hive Moderation labelling the video as 94.2 per cent AI-generated, while Deepfake Detection labelled it 97pc AI-generated.



X too marked the video as AI-generated content on one post that had shared the clip.



Furthermore, a reverse image search revealed that the same video was originally posted by an Instagram account which repeatedly shares similar AI-generated videos, as seen from its past posts. The video was shared on June 27, 2026, and it was the oldest found on the internet.





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Fact-check status: false

The claim that a viral video shows a woman shooting a harasser on a motorcycle is false.

The video is AI-generated.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan &mdash; a project of CEJ-IBA and UNDP.]]>
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			<title>5 days after Venezuela's earthquakes, some communities still await help</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615615/5-days-after-venezuelas-earthquakes-some-communities-still-await-help</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615615/5-days-after-venezuelas-earthquakes-some-communities-still-await-help#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 18:14:51 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Reuters]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615615</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[The South American country has received support from 24 nations, which have sent over ‌500 metric ⁠tonnes of supplies]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[Some areas in Venezuela devastated by twin earthquakes last Wednesday have yet to receive government aid to help with &zwnj;rescue and recovery efforts, residents in some hard-hit towns said on Monday.

In El Junquito, a small mountainous region about 33 kilometres west of Caracas, where Venezuelans often vacation on weekends, residents say they have seen few public officials, while farmers and other residents have been providing basic supplies to the community.

&quot;We are waiting for answers, for debris to ​be cleaned up, for inspections, for people who have been really affected to be helped,&quot; said Keily Ibarra, a 33-year-old manicurist leading citizen ​complaints to authorities. She called on the government to do &quot;what needs to be done.&quot;

El Junquito&#39;s commercial centre was largely ⁠destroyed by the quakes, with collapsed buildings visible during a Reuters visit. Several residents with nowhere else to go have set up tents in an ​open field, despite the risk posed by damaged and collapsed buildings nearby.

&quot;We don&#39;t know where we are going to be located or how long we are ​going to be here,&quot; said Tony Abreu, the owner of a local sweet shop who has been living in a tent since the quakes because his home and business are not safe to return to.

There have been unofficial reports of deaths after some houses and buildings collapsed in the surrounding neighbourhoods as well.

While several international aid and rescue groups ​have mobilised to Venezuela, most of the help has been focused on La Guaira, the hardest-hit state of a country long mired in a deep ​political and economic crisis.

The international community has rallied to help Venezuela deal with the disaster. The South American country has received support from 24 nations, which have sent over &zwnj;500 metric ⁠tonnes of supplies, more than 2,700 rescue and support personnel and about 86 canine teams, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Wednesday&#39;s twin earthquakes&nbsp;have left close to 1,500 confirmed dead and hundreds of collapsed buildings.

Search for survivors amid aftershocks

Residents of Caracas woke up on Monday to an aftershock that rocked their houses, while rescue teams continued their fifth day of round-the-clock work.

The 4.6-magnitude aftershock hit north of Caracas early on Monday at a depth of 10km, according to ​the US&nbsp;Geological Survey.

No damage was immediately ​reported from the aftershock, the ⁠president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said on social media.

There have been hundreds of aftershocks since last Wednesday, rattling national and international teams conducting rescue efforts, each rescue sparking hope as the window to find survivors dwindles.

Salvadoran President ​Nayib Bukele noted the rescue of 21-year-old Aaron Levi in a collapsed building in the disaster-stricken state of ​La Guaira.

&quot;This rescue was ⁠made possible thanks to the coordinated efforts of rescue teams from Venezuela,&nbsp;Mexico&nbsp;and El Salvador,&quot; he said on X.



Despu&eacute;s de intensas horas de trabajo conjunto, Aaron Levi Cantillo Vargas, de 21 a&ntilde;os, ha sido rescatado con vida del edificio OPP 25, en el sector Tanaguarena, parroquia Caraballeda, estado de La Guaira.

Este rescate fue posible gracias al esfuerzo coordinado de los equipos de&hellip; https://t.co/Q365IECCUV pic.twitter.com/NTeqQWCNKr
&mdash; Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) June 29, 2026



Venezuela&#39;s interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, also commented on Levi&#39;s story, explaining that he was pulled out after 106 hours trapped under the rubble through a rescue operation that lasted 43 hours.

A senior US&nbsp;administration official said ⁠three US&nbsp;​citizens are known to have died and 12 are missing since the earthquakes, and that ​a State Department task force has fielded more than 300 inquiries from Americans seeking advice. A second official said they estimate there are approximately 5,000 US&nbsp;citizens in Venezuela.]]>
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			<title>US Supreme Court rejects Trump appeal over $5m sexual abuse, defamation verdict</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615612/us-supreme-court-rejects-trump-appeal-over-5m-sexual-abuse-defamation-verdict</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615612/us-supreme-court-rejects-trump-appeal-over-5m-sexual-abuse-defamation-verdict#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 17:03:04 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Anadolu Agency]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615612</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[President labels proceedings as 'weaponisation and lawfare', vows to fight against it]]>
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				<![CDATA[The United States&nbsp;Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear President Donald Trump&#39;s appeal of a $5 million jury verdict in a civil case brought by writer E&nbsp;Jean Carroll.

The justices denied the petition for a writ of certiorari without comment, leaving the lower court&#39;s ruling in place.

The decision preserved&nbsp;the outcome of the 2023 trial, in which a federal jury found the US president liable for sexually abusing and defaming Carroll following an encounter in a Manhattan department store in the mid-1990s.

The $5m award stemmed from a civil proceeding rather than a criminal prosecution.

A denial of certiorari means the Supreme Court has refused to review a case brought before it. The appellate court&#39;s decision is considered final and does not endorse the lower court&#39;s decision; it simply indicates that the criteria for bringing the case to the Supreme Court&#39;s attention have not been met.

Carroll also filed a separate lawsuit against Trump, and a jury ordered that Trump compensate Carroll $83.3m&nbsp;for making defamatory statements about her in 2019.

Trump vows to fight &#39;lawfare&#39;

Trump reacted sharply to the Supreme Court&rsquo;s refusal to review his appeal in the civil case, which he has referred to as a &quot;fake case&quot;.

&ldquo;I will continue the fight against this weaponisation and lawfare case against me, including the ridiculous claim of defamation, with all of my power and strength,&rdquo; Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.

The US president maintained that he had never met the plaintiff and argued that the legal challenge was actually an assault on the nation&rsquo;s foundations.

He alleged that New York State has enacted a &quot;tailor-made&quot; law specifically to target him, asserting that such an &quot;injustice&quot; should never be permitted against any future president or candidate.



pic.twitter.com/vyCrGghtbZ
&mdash; Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 29, 2026



&nbsp;]]>
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			<title>Stokes to retire from international cricket</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615608/stokes-to-retire-from-international-cricket</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615608/stokes-to-retire-from-international-cricket#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 16:29:28 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[AFP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Sports]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615608</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[He helped England win 2019 World Cup with an unbeaten 84 in the final]]>
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				<![CDATA[England test captain Ben Stokes will retire from international cricket after the third test against New Zealand, bringing the curtain down on a career that included the 2019 World Cup triumph and one of the most famous Ashes innings of &zwnj;all time.

When the news was announced at Trent Bridge on Sunday it drew a standing ovation from the crowd.

The timing may have been intended to inspire his teammates to deliver one last win for him, with England&rsquo;s backs to the wall in the deciding third match of the sereies, and Stokes, playing in his 122nd test, took a wicket with his first ball afterwards.

Stokes, who had only opened twice before in his England career, then strode out with Ben Duckett to spearhead England&rsquo;s pursuit of a victory target of 373 - through a guard of honour formed by the New Zealand fielders and the umpires.

He got them away to a flying start with two sixes in the first five overs in front of a crowd willing him on to produce one last heroic ⁠innings before he holed out for 30 and left the field to one last standing ovation.

Stokes, who will continue to play for Durham, said the responsibility of the England captaincy had burned him out.

&quot;It&#39;s the best thing that I&#39;ve ever been asked to do captaining this team, captaining this country,&quot; he told Sky Sports.

&quot;It&rsquo;s the greatest honour that can ever be put on your shoulders as a player but there&#39;s another side to it that people don&#39;t see and don&#39;t understand. Only the people close to you can really see what you do go through emotionally.

&quot;As good as it is there are bits that do get you, do drain you and do affect you in a negative way but overall for four and a half years, or whatever it&#39;s been, I&#39;ve loved every single moment of it.&quot;

In a video shared by the ECB, Stokes told his teammates: &quot;The only thing that I want is to be able to walk off the end of that field, regardless of the result, knowing that I&#39;ve had this group... give everything for the last two days.

&quot;All the emotion, all that kind of stuff, please can we just wait for the end of the game?&quot;

GUARD OF HONOUR

There was another ovation for Stokes as &zwnj;he led ⁠England off the field at tea and one more &ndash; plus a guard of honour from his teammates and New Zealand&rsquo;s batters &ndash; as he led them back on for the final session of the day.

The 35-year-old, who made his international debut in 2011, has captained England&#39;s test team since 2022.

Known for his fearless batting and defiant leadership, Stokes helped England win their first 50-over World Cup seven years ago with an unbeaten 84 in the final.

His 135 not out at Headingley the same summer, which guided England to a one-wicket win over Australia after they had been bowled out for 67 in the first innings, is widely regarded as one of the greatest test innings of all ⁠time.

&#39;LOSING A TALISMAN&#39;

&quot;We are losing a batsman, a bowler, a captain and a talisman,&quot; said ECB chair Richard Thompson in a statement.

&quot;His performances under pressure, his relentless competitiveness and his ability to produce the extraordinary when it matters most have given me and millions of other fans memories that will endure forever.&quot;

Stokes had been dropped from the second test against New Zealand this month amid an investigation into a nightclub incident where he and teammate Gus Atkinson ⁠were alleged to have broken curfew. He was later cleared to return to the side.

In 2017, Stokes was arrested over a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub and was indefinitely suspended by the ECB. His court appearances were followed closely in the media, and he eventually accepted a misconduct charge and returned to cricket in February 2018.

Despite the off-field controversies, Stokes has also had a huge on-field influence, helping implement ⁠a cultural reset in the England team, partnering with coach Brendan McCullum to introduce an aggressive brand of cricket quickly nicknamed &quot;Bazball.&quot;

Adopting this swashbuckling approach, England in 2022 chased down a record target of 378 against India in 76.2 overs and swept a series 3-0 against reigning world test champions New Zealand.

The same year, Stokes delivered a player-of-the-match performance at the T20 World Cup final to help England win the tournament for the second time.]]>
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			<title>Six killed in shooting at mother-and-child shelter in northern Germany</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615593/5-people-killed-in-shooting-in-northern-germany-two-suspects-detained</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615593/5-people-killed-in-shooting-in-northern-germany-two-suspects-detained#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 26 14:25:57 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[REUTERS]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615593</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Incident occurred at a ​youth welfare facility in Stade, a town of nearly 50,000 people to the west of Hamburg]]>
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				<![CDATA[Six people were killed in a shooting at a shelter for mothers and children in northern Germany.

Police said three people were detained, including the suspected shooter, and ​that all the fatalities were adults. Footage released by the Bild newspaper showed police ​surrounding and detaining two people from a car that was driving ⁠down a road with a flat tyre.

Police called the incident a homicide with multiple ​victims in the town of Stade near the port city of Hamburg. They did not ​give a motive. The Spiegel news outlet, citing information it obtained, said it was likely a personal rather than political or extremist matter.



Members of emergency services work at the scene of what the police said was a deadly shooting in the town of Stade, Germany, June 29. &mdash; REUTERS

Police had warned people to stay away from the ​area where the incident took place, but later said there was no danger ​to the general public.

German media reports initially said four women and one man had been killed. Police &zwnj;later ⁠said a sixth adult had died in hospital of wounds.

Footage posted by Bild showed a car with a flat right tyre slowing to a halt in a tree-lined road. Police with guns then ran towards the car and detained two people who were ​made to lie flat ​on the ground.

Police ⁠cordoned off the area near the facility in a cobbled street with red brick homes, and forensic experts in white ​suits and plainclothes police were at the scene.

Mass shootings are relatively rare in Germany, especially when compared to the United States, but ​it has seen a spate of high-profile cases.

In ​2023, ⁠a gunman in Hamburg shot dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah&#39;s Witness worship hall. In 2016, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man ⁠who ​was obsessed with mass killings killed at ​least nine people in Munich.

Also Read: Former &#39;Mr Germany&#39; on trial for shooting police officer]]>
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			<title>NDMA issues nationwide alert ahead of pre-monsoon rains, warns of hazards</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615432/ndma-issues-nationwide-alert-ahead-of-pre-monsoon-rains-warns-of-hazards</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2615432/ndma-issues-nationwide-alert-ahead-of-pre-monsoon-rains-warns-of-hazards#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 26 14:34:40 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[APP]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2615432</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Says intermittent pre-monsoon rains expected from June 28 to July 3]]>
			</description>
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				<![CDATA[National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Sunday advised citizens to stay alert as intermittent pre-monsoon rains were expected across Pakistan from June 28 to July 3.

According to NDMA&nbsp;officials talking to media channels, a dangerous combination of intense heat and expected pre-monsoon rainfall was likely to accelerate glacier melting, triggering a sharp rise in water levels in rivers and streams across Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B), Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), and Azad Jammu and&nbsp;Kashmir.

The authority warned that vulnerable mountainous regions face heightened risks of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), flash floods, and landslides during the forecast period due to rapidly changing and unstable weather conditions.



NDMA issues strong countrywide alert ahead of pre-monsoon rainfall spell, warns of hazards pic.twitter.com/JuCxbEGIZu
&mdash; APP (@appcsocialmedia) June 28, 2026


Residents, tourists and travellers have been strongly advised to exercise extreme caution in high-risk districts, including Hunza, Nagar, Ghizer, Skardu, Shigar, Ghanche, Kharmang, Astore, Diamer, Upper and Lower Chitral and Swat, where sudden weather shifts could create life-threatening situations.

NDMA further urged the public to strictly avoid unnecessary movement near rivers, streams, glacial lakes and riverbanks, stressing the importance of immediate reporting of any unusual or hazardous conditions to local authorities to prevent loss of life and property.

Read More:&nbsp;Lahore swelters before monsoon

Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) have been placed on high alert with strict instructions to ensure full emergency preparedness, rapid response capability and coordinated action in case of any disaster triggered by the expected weather system.

Overall, NDMA&nbsp;stressed that timely precautions, strict adherence to safety advisories, and coordinated preparedness at all levels were essential to minimise risks, protect lives and reduce potential damage from the expected weather-related hazards.]]>
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			<title>Govt decides to end fuel subsidies after sharp decline in global oil prices</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614572/govt-decides-to-end-fuel-subsidies-after-sharp-decline-in-global-oil-prices</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614572/govt-decides-to-end-fuel-subsidies-after-sharp-decline-in-global-oil-prices#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 26 17:51:19 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2614572</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Committee agrees to withdraw fuel subsidies after benefit already passed on to consumers]]>
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				<![CDATA[Owing to a sharp decline in global fuel prices, the government on Monday decided to discontinue fuel subsidies provided to motorcyclists, small farmers and public transport.

The development comes after recent reductions in petroleum prices, under which petrol was cut by Rs74 per litre and diesel by Rs67 per litre, bringing them down to Rs299 per litre and Rs311 per litre respectively, following a decline in the international market after the US and Iran reached an agreement to end a conflict that had lasted over three months.

The decision was taken during the seventh meeting of the National Steering Committee on Fuel Subsidy, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.



Deputy Prime Minister &amp; Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 chaired the 7th meeting of the National Steering Committee on Fuel Subsidy.

The Committee reviewed the rollout of fuel subsidy for motorcyclists, small farmers, public transport &amp; goods transport in&hellip; pic.twitter.com/I4X55tPKNV
&mdash; Ishaq Dar (@MIshaqDar50) June 22, 2026


The committee reviewed the rollout of fuel subsidy for motorcyclists, small farmers, public transport and goods transport across all provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Noting the sharp decline in global fuel prices and that the benefit had already been passed on to consumers, the committee agreed to discontinue the subsidy, with the prime minister&rsquo;s approval.

While appreciating the committee&rsquo;s work marked by sustained interprovincial coordination, the deputy prime minister directed that lessons learnt from the exercise be documented and gaps in data and delivery be addressed to strengthen future initiatives aimed at improving public service delivery.

Also Read: Govt disburses Rs38b in fuel subsidy

The meeting was attended by SAPM Tariq Bajwa, federal secretaries of petroleum and IT, the State Bank of Pakistan governor and senior representatives from all provinces, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

Following the oil price surge in the global market after the US-Iran conflict, the government significantly increased petroleum product prices after initially deciding to absorb the burden.

At one point, petrol prices had reached Rs458 per litre in April this year. However, days later, the prime minister announced an immediate Rs80 per litre reduction in the petroleum levy to provide relief to the public.

While announcing the relief, the prime minister also unveiled a fuel subsidy package aimed at shielding the public from rising fuel costs triggered by tensions in the Gulf region.

Under that initiative, motorcyclists were to receive a subsidy of Rs100 per litre, while goods transport, public transport and freight vehicles were also provided support for one month.

Under the same relief measures, small trucks were given Rs70,000 per month, large trucks Rs80,000 and public transport buses Rs100,000 as monthly subsidies.

The initiative also included support for small farmers, who were provided Rs1,500 per acre in assistance.]]>
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			<title>Govt moves to fully digitise passport issuance system</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614022/passport-system-to-go-fully-digital-with-e-passport-rollout</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2614022/passport-system-to-go-fully-digital-with-e-passport-rollout#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Fri, 19 Jun 26 07:45:38 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category><category><![CDATA[Islamabad]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2614022</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Preparatory work for home delivery of passports in Pakistan, abroad completed, service will be launched soon]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[The government on Friday decided to transition its passport issuance system to a complete e-passport framework as part of sweeping reforms aimed at modernising immigration services and eliminating fraud.

According to the Interior Ministry, a high-level meeting on Passport and Immigration was held at the headquarters under the chairmanship of Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, where key decisions regarding the digital overhaul of the system were approved.

A principal decision was taken to fully shift passport issuance to e-passports, with the move aimed at reducing fraud and forgery in the passport system. However, no deadline has been announced for the phase-out of existing passports.



وزیر داخلہ محسن نقوی کی زیر صدارت پاسپورٹ اینڈ امیگریشن ہیڈکوارٹرز میں خصوصی اجلاس
ڈی جی پاسپورٹس اینڈ امیگریشن محمد علی رندھاوا نے وفاقی وزیر داخلہ کو تفصیلی بریفنگ دی
پاسپورٹ کے اجراء کو مکمل طور پر ای پاسپورٹ پر منتقل کرنے کا اصولی فیصلہ
ای پاسپورٹ پر منتقلی سے فراڈ اور&hellip; pic.twitter.com/UlOOovm4Yv
&mdash; PTV News (@PTVNewsOfficial) June 19, 2026


The Director General of Passports and Immigration, Muhammad Ali Randhawa, briefed the minister on ongoing reforms and plans. Officials said premium service applicants will now be charged according to the actual cost of passport services.

According to the briefing, preparatory work for home delivery of passports within Pakistan and abroad had been completed, and the service will be launched soon.

From July 1, a cashless payment system will be introduced at passport offices across the country, and online passport applications will also be shifted to the Pak-ID platform.

The meeting also decided to finalise a policy for business passports in consultation with the Federal Board of Revenue.

Also Read: Public cautioned over multiple passports

The ministry said the reforms are part of broader efforts to make the passport system more efficient, transparent, and citizen-friendly.

According to the Ministry of Interior, the e-Passport is a highly secure travel document. It has an electronic chip embedded in one of the passport pages, which will be used to store biometric information about the holder.

The chip contains data that will verify the passport holder&rsquo;s identity and will include the biometrics of the passport holder, the personal data found on the data page of the passport, a unique identification number, and a digital signature.

An e-passport has a contactless chip on it which means that those passports can be read electronically. The newly launched e-Passports in Pakistan are in compliance with the United Nations&rsquo; ICAO standards.]]>
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			<title>PMD forecasts drizzle, light showers in Karachi till Friday</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2613639/pmd-forecasts-drizzle-light-showers-in-karachi-till-friday</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2613639/pmd-forecasts-drizzle-light-showers-in-karachi-till-friday#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Wed, 17 Jun 26 09:51:47 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Aftab Khan]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[Pakistan]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2613639</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Predicts thunderstorms and heavy showers in the northern districts of Sindh]]>
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				<![CDATA[The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Wednesday forecast dusty winds and light rain in Karachi till Friday, along with thunderstorms and heavy showers in the northern districts of Sindh, as a westerly weather system continued to affect the region.

The Met Office predicted intermittent drizzle, light showers and scattered rainfall in parts of Karachi during the night as the westerly system maintained its intensity.

It added that Jacobabad, Kashmore, Qambar Shahdadkot, Shikarpur and Ghotki were likely to experience dusty winds, windstorms and moderate rain with thunderstorms until June 20.

The weather department also forecast light to moderate rain in Sukkur, Dadu, Khairpur, Sanghar, Naushahro Feroze, Shaheed Benazirabad and Jamshoro during the forecast period.

Authorities advised residents, particularly those living in areas prone to strong winds and thunderstorms, to remain cautious and stay updated on the latest weather advisories.



Weekly Weather Outlook (17&ndash;23 June 2026)#WeatherUpdate #WeeklyWeather #PakistanWeather #RainAlert #Thunderstorm pic.twitter.com/OOUbIecnr0
&mdash; Pak Met Department محکمہ موسمیات (@pmdgov) June 17, 2026



Earlier in the week,&nbsp;PMD&nbsp;forecast widespread dust storms, windstorms and rain-thunderstorms across several parts of the country from June 16, as moist currents from the Arabian Sea were expected to penetrate upper and central regions of Pakistan.

According to the Met Office, the incoming westerly wave was likely to trigger scattered dust storms, windstorms and rain-thunderstorms, accompanied by isolated heavy rainfall and hailstorms in various parts of Punjab between June 16 and 20.

Read More:&nbsp;Pakistan braces for widespread dust storms, thunderstorms from June 16

The Met office said Karachi and its surrounding areas may also experience dust storms accompanied by light rain.

It&nbsp;warned that strong winds, hailstorms and lightning could damage vulnerable infrastructure, including solar panels, electric poles and billboards.]]>
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			<title>Yemen's 'Spider-Man' climber dies after fall into volcanic crater</title>
			<link>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2613104/yemens-spider-man-climber-dies-after-fall-into-volcanic-crater</link>
			<comments>https://tribune.com.pk/story/2613104/yemens-spider-man-climber-dies-after-fall-into-volcanic-crater#comments</comments>
			<pubDate>Sun, 14 Jun 26 10:08:39 +0500</pubDate>
			<dc:creator>
				<![CDATA[Web Desk]]>
			</dc:creator>
			<category><![CDATA[World]]></category>
			<guid isPermaLink="false">https://tribune.com.pk/?p=2613104</guid>
			<description>
				<![CDATA[Civil defence teams recovered his body after nearly 24-hour search and recovery operation]]>
			</description>
			<content:encoded>
				<![CDATA[A Yemeni free climber who gained social media fame for scaling sheer rock faces without ropes or safety equipment died after falling into a volcanic crater on Friday, according to reports by Al Jazeera

Al-Qa&rsquo;qa&rsquo; bin Antar, 30, also known as Qaqaa Antar al-Absi and dubbed the &quot;Spider-Man of Yemen&quot; online, reportedly fell on Friday while attempting to climb the 120-metre (394-foot) Haradhat Damt volcano crater in Yemen&rsquo;s southern province of Al Dhale, according to Al Jazeera.

He had become widely known for videos showing him climbing steep cliffs and volcanic formations without protective gear, sometimes marking high points on rock faces with white chalk writing.



Yemen&rsquo;s &#39;Spider-Man&#39; has died after falling while climbing the 120-metre Haradhat Damt volcanic crater without equipment.

Tributes have poured in from fans of Al-Qa&#39;qa&#39; bin Antar, who became famous for his videos attempting daring climbs. pic.twitter.com/gazsdVovGQ
&mdash; Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 13, 2026


Civil defence teams recovered his body on Saturday after a nearly 24-hour search and recovery operation, Yemen Monitor reported.

Read: Yemen&rsquo;s Houthi leader says group ready for escalation

Footage circulating online appears to show the moment he lost his grip and fell into the crater.



افضل مقطع قد تشاهده
مقطع اسطوري ومرعب للقعقاع 🫣

وهو يمارس هوايته في التسلق ويظهر فيه شجاعته وقوة تركيزة وثقته بنفسه

مقطع يخليك تخاف وانت في غرفتك فوق فرشك ويخلي أعصابك تنهار من شدة التوتر

مقطع سيجعل كبار المتسلقين في العالم يقفون مذهولين pic.twitter.com/CBLXjk3JGP
&mdash; فرفشة٢٤ farfasha24 (@MjhrMwq84778) June 13, 2026


According to Yemen Online, rescue teams deployed diving units, water rescue equipment and lighting systems to reach the difficult terrain inside the crater, where steep rock faces and hazardous conditions significantly hampered efforts.

Yemen Online also previously reported that bin Antar had cited poverty as a motivation for undertaking the dangerous climbs in an attempt to earn income.]]>
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