President Asif Ali Zardari addressing the Second Golden Panda Awards international Culture Forum VEHARI: President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday predicted that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would return to power in the next term, and party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari would become prime minister with a two-thirds majority in parliament. Speaking at a dinner … Read more

VIENNA/ ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday extended warm greetings to China on the occasion of Chinese New Year 2026, reaffirming the depth of the longstanding ‘iron-clad’ friendship and pledging to further strengthen their all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. The two leaders issued separate messages marking the beginning of the … Read more

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. Photo: X GUJRAT: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Monday lambasted the PTI-led Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, accusing it of leaving the province “in the stone age” while Punjab moves ahead with technology-driven development initiatives. Addressing a laptop distribution ceremony at a university in Gujrat, Maryam contrasted what she described as … Read more

RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir said on Monday that the security and stability of the UAE was integral to Pakistan’s own security, given the enduring historical relationship and strong strategic partnership between the two nations. Field Marshal Syed Asim met with the Deputy … Read more

PARIS: Social media platform X briefly suffered what monitors described as “international outages” on Monday, disrupting access for users across multiple countries before services were restored later in the afternoon. The Elon Musk-owned network began functioning normally again around 1530 GMT, with posts reappearing and users able to log in and publish content, after outage-tracking … Read more

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf founder Imran Khan. Photo: Reuters/file ISLAMABAD: The federal government’s constituted medical board reported an improvement in former prime minister Imran Khan’s right eye vision. The medical board, comprising two senior ophthalmologists—Dr Nadeem Qureshi and Dr Arif—examined Imran Khan at Adiala Jail on Sunday. According to their two-page report, unaided vision in Imran’s right … Read more

Shehbaz meets Austria’s chancellor in Vienna Talks focus on trade, development, migration Pakistan commits to c ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday pushed for deeper engagement with Europe on diplomacy, development and migration as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif held high-level talks with Austria’s Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker in Vienna. During the meeting at the Chancellery in historic … Read more

MIRANSHAH/ SHANGLA: Three police personnel were martyred and three terrorists killed in a fierce exchange of fire during a large-scale operation in the Shangla district, while a separate motorcycle bomb blast near a police station in Bannu claimed two lives, including a child, and left 14 others injured. According to the Counter Terrorism Department Khyber … Read more

. Market analysts caution that IMF-related measures in the upcoming FY2026 budget—particularly new taxes and adjustments in energy prices—may lead to a renewed spike in inflation. PHOTO: FILE The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Monday slammed the federal government over the latest increase in petroleum prices, accusing it of dropping a “petrol bomb” on citizens … Read more

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the Netherlands have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen technical capacity and cooperation in water resources planning, development and management, following a high-level meeting in Islamabad on Tuesday. The MoU was signed between the Ministry of Water Resources and the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education during a 2–3 day … Read more