Pakistan News

HYDERABAD: Several policemen, including SHOs and incharges of various cells have expressed their inability to perform duties in protest over lawyers’ barging into SSP’s office on Tuesday, and sought 30-day leave for “recovery from this shock”. The policemen gathered in SSP office on Wednesday to submit their leave applications amid reports that agitating lawyers have demanded transfer of SSP Dr Farrukh Ali for his refusal to remove Bhitai Nagar police station’s SHO who had booked Advocate Ali Raza Bozdar on Monday for using tinted glasses and fancy number plates. Hyderabad Range DIG Tariq Razzaq Dharejo rushed to the SSP office to calm the police officials down and persuaded them to resume duties. They included; incharge CIA Karim Abbasi, incharge investigation cell at SSP office, Kashif Bajwa; SHO Pinyari Sajid Arain, incharge 15 City, Raja Sohail, Cantonment police station SHO Abdul Razak, Market police station SHO Munir Abbasi etc. They said in their applications that Tuesday’s ...

Thousands of protesters set fire to the home of Bangladesh’s founding leader, as his daughter, ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina delivered a fiery social media speech calling on her supporters to stand against the interim government. Witnesses said several thousand protesters, some armed with sticks, hammers, and other tools, gathered around the historic house and independence monument, while others brought a crane and excavator to demolish the building. The rally was organised alongside a broader call, dubbed “Bulldozer Procession”, to disrupt Hasina’s scheduled 9pm online address on Wednesday. Protesters, many aligned with the “Students Against Discrimination” group, had expressed their fury over Hasina’s speech, which they viewed as a challenge to the newly formed interim government. Tensions have been escalating in Bangladesh since August 2024, when mass protests forced Hasina to flee to neighbouring India. The interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus...

President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday held a bilateral meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, with the two sides vowing to strengthen the Pakistan-China strategic cooperative partnership, according to a statement from the President’s House. The development comes during President Zardari’s ongoing visit to China along with a delegation comprising senior ministers. A day prior, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping, as both sides noted the “positive trajectory” of their bilateral relations. According to the statement, during his meeting with the Chinese prime minister, President Zardari highlighted the “enduring and deep-rooted China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership, nurtured by successive generations of the leaders of both countries.” He reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to further strengthening bilateral ties, emphasising the time-tested, deep-rooted, and enduring partnership between the two countries. Zardari also talked about the “pivotal role of t...

Samuel Montembeault slid across his crease, sprawled out on his belly, extended his leg and glove and not only saved consecutive shots from Macklin Celebrini but also saved his Montreal Canadiens from a sixth straight loss. It was pure desperation, and there was nothing pretty about it, and it preceded the shorthanded break Jake Evans started and Joel Armia finished to put a bow on this ugly win. Yeah, this was far from a Picasso from the Canadiens. It wasn’t even a piece of high-quality graffiti on the side of a rundown building. But the Canadiens didn’t need to post art on this night, they needed to post a win and find their footing in an Eastern Conference playoff race that was speeding away from them. It didn’t matter that it came against the 32nd-placed San Jose Sharks. No opponent would be a walkover for the Canadiens — with their confidence plundered by habitually finding ways to lose over the last two weeks — and the Sharks were anything but one at SAP Center....

ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: Enormous burden of patients has failed a new automated system at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims). The system called ‘one patient one identity’ has been introduced with good intention as it is being implemented in most of the private hospitals of federal capital. Muhammad Naeem, a resident of Islamabad, said that he went to the hospital along with his wife and managed to get the outpatient department (OPD) slip but after reaching in the OPD he came to know that a doctor will have to type details of the patient and then will print the prescription. “It was quite impressive for me as it is practiced in private hospitals. However soon my excitement turned into disappointment as almost 10 patients were in the room of the doctor and he was looking puzzled as he had to enter the identity number of each patient and then type medicines for them,” he said. “In the meantime, attendants of two patients argued with the doctor that he was taking too much ti...

US tech giant OpenAI on Monday unveiled a ChatGPT tool called “deep research” that can produce detailed reports, as China’s DeepSeek chatbot heats up competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) field. The company made the announcement in Tokyo, where OpenAI chief Sam Altman also trumpeted a new joint venture with tech investor SoftBank Group to offer advanced artificial intelligence services to businesses. Altman and SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son will meet the Japanese prime minister later on Monday and will reportedly announce plans to boost Japan’s AI infrastructure. It comes as AI newcomer DeepSeek has sent Silicon Valley into a frenzy , with some calling its high performance and supposed low cost a wake-up call for US developers. OpenAI, whose ChatGPT led generative AI’s emergence into public consciousness in 2022, said its new tool “accomplishes in tens of minutes what would take a human many hours”. “You give it a prompt, and ChatGPT will find, analyse, and synthesi...

Bears took hold of the trading floor on Monday at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as shares proceeded to decline 1,300 points in intraday trade. The benchmark KSE-100 index declined 1178.46, or 1.03 per cent, to stand at 113,077.26 points at 12:50am from the last close of 114,255.72 points. After robust performances in the last five months, the PSX turned bearish in the first month of 2025 due to uncertain global and internal political scenarios after the execution of Donald Trump’s America First Policy , which includes boosting the US manufacturing sector by imposing import tariffs on its major trade partners. The Trump administration has imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, effective Feb 1, which may trigger a trade war, disturbing the global trade balance and causing a fallout. However, the Pakistani shares remained depressed in the last two weeks of January, pushing the stock exchange into the red zone. Amid the situation, nervous investors continued offloading thei...

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Deputy Commissioner (DC) Khurram Parvez has ordered an inquiry into the actions of Sadiqabad Municipal Committee (MC) employees after a viral video surfaced on social media. The video showed four MC employees, under the supervision of Sadiqabad Assistant Commissioner (AC) Raashid Iqbal Maywati, puncturing the tyres of cars, rickshaws and motorcycles on various roads in Sadiqabad. In the video, the AC can be seen leaving his official vehicle and instructing the MC employees to puncture the tyres of cars, despite the drivers being present in the vehicles, parked along or on the roads. Following his orders, the employees used bodkins to puncture all the tyres of some cars. Later, the AC directed the employees to puncture the tyres of motorcycles parked outside a commercial centre, as well as a rickshaw and a loader. DC orders probe The public criticised the district administration, questioning which law permitted an AC to damage vehicles under the guise of an anti-e...

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq met in Islamabad on Sunday, with the PTI’s “attitude” during the recent talks with the government coming under discussion. After more than a year of heightened tensions between the government and the PTI, the two sides commenced dialogue in the last week of December to bring down political temperatures. But despite weeks of negotiations , the dialogue process stalled on major issues — the formation of two judicial commissions and the release of PTI prisoners. The PTI boycotted the fourth meeting this week, calling off talks over a delay in the government forming judicial commissions to probe the protests of May 9, 2023 and Nov 26, 2024 . While the government renewed the invitation to the PTI to rejoin the negotiation process by proposing a parliamentary committee, the latter rejected the offer. Naqvi met with the NA speaker today, where both discussed matters of mutual interest and the overall sit...

India coach Gautam Gambhir said Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have much to offer the team despite their poor run of form in recent matches, stressing the veteran duo will play a key role in this month’s Champions Trophy. Captain Rohit and batter Kohli were both part of the test team that suffered a 3-0 series sweep at home by New Zealand followed by a 3-1 hammering in Australia which ended their decade-long hold on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Following the defeat to Australia, both players returned to domestic cricket in a bid to rediscover their best form. “I think both Rohit and Virat, they add so much value to the dressing room. They add so much value to Indian cricket as well. They’ve got to play a massive role (in the Champions Trophy),” Gambhir told reporters on Saturday. “And I’ve said it before as well, those guys are so hungry, they want to play for the country. They have the passion to play for the country and deliver for the country.” India are in Group A in the Champ...

Afghanistan’s Taliban government took over management of Kabul’s famed Serena hotel on Saturday, a hotel statement said, a luxury property targeted by Taliban attacks during their insurgency. The Kabul Serena Hotel was run for nearly 20 years by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development in the Afghan capital and was popular with business travellers and foreign guests. “Kabul Serena Hotel shall be closing its operations effective February 1, 2025,” a statement from Serena on Friday night said. Hotel operations are now handled by the Hotel State Owned Corporation (HSOC), the statement added. “Since opening in 2005, Kabul Serena Hotel has been an integral part of Kabul’s social fabric, an iconic presence in the city, and a symbol of our unwavering commitment to the people of Afghanistan,” the statement said. Taliban government spokesmen did not immediately respond to requests for comment and AFP journalists were not allowed onto the property on Saturday morning. On Saturday, the h...

LAHORE: Despite completing the extensive reconstruction of three major stadiums in Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi within a record 90-day timeframe, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has faced cost overruns, prompting the board to seek financial assistance from the International Cricket Council (ICC). Addressing a press conference here on Friday following the completion of the Gaddafi Stadium’s renovation, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi explained that the increased expenses stemmed from additional upgrades such as sound systems, screens, and LED lights. To offset the costs, Mohsin revealed that the PCB had negotiated an agreement with the ICC. Under this deal, the ICC will compensate the PCB with an amount three times the expected revenue from ticket sales for the upcoming Champions Trophy matches. Though the chairman refrained from revealing specific details of the financial arrangement, sources confirmed that the agreement would significantly ease the PCB’s financial burden. When press...

A medical jet with six Mexican nationals on board crashed into a busy Philadelphia neighbourhood on Friday, authorities said, marking another US aviation disaster after a passenger plane and a military helicopter collided midair in Washington earlier this week. Video footage appeared to show the twin-engine plane descending at a sharp angle towards a residential area, sparking a huge fireball upon impact and showering wreckage over homes and vehicles. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft was a Learjet 55 — an American-French business jet — that had taken off shortly before from Northeast Philadelphia Airport bound for Branson, Missouri. The crash happened just after 6pm (4am PKT). A young girl who had been in the United States for medical care, her mother, and members of the flight and medical crews accompanying her onboard were killed in the crash, the children’s hospital that treated her told AFP . “The patient had received care from Shriners Children’...