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Kashmir parliamentary committee chairman requests meeting with Achakzai to discuss AJK situation

ISLAMABAD: The chairman of the National Assembly’s (NA) Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, has requested NA Opposition Leader Mahmood Khan Achakzai to spare the time for a meeting discussing the situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), it emerged on Monday. The regional administration and the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) remain at odds over various issues, most notably the committee’s demand to abolish the 12 seats in the region’s Legislative Assembly that are reserved for refugees from Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir who settled in mainland Pakistan after 1947. In a letter addressed to Achakzai, Qasim wished to meet him at the earliest, citing the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) leader’s role in Pakistan’s political landscape and his continued engagement on matters of national importance. He stated that the proposed meeting would focus on the Kashmir dispute, the prevailing volatile situation in the region, and ways to strengthen Pakista...
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India likely won't export sugar for years as El Niño, ethanol squeeze supply

India, once the world’s second-largest sugar exporter, is expected to have little surplus for export for at least three more seasons as El Niño weather conditions threaten cane production and rising ethanol demand squeezes supply. The twin pressures are poised to keep millions of tonnes of sugar off the world market, tightening supplies for importers across Asia, Africa and the Middle East and supporting benchmark prices in London and New York. A prolonged absence by India from export markets would remove a key balancing supplier as weather risks and biofuel policies reshape global sugar trade flows. Interviews with over a dozen trade and industry executives, government sources and farmers show that lower cane availability and rising ethanol demand will leave little for exports for several years, prompting dealers at global houses to warn head offices of shrinking opportunities in India, trade sources said. Government expected to curb imports season by season Sugar is politically...
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Punjab’s planned PIVOT

Every Punjab budget in recent years has followed the same script: bigger numbers and the same line items inflated to keep pace with political optics. Education gets more, health gets more, the development programme gets a headline figure, and a finance minister stands up in the assembly to call it historic. This year’s Rs5.9 trillion budget does more or less the same. But buried in it is something the province’s budgets have not really attempted before: an actual strategy for what Punjab’s economy is supposed to become. The strategy called PIVOT — or Punjab Innovation for Value, Opportunity and Transformation — is the one part that makes this budget more than a routine fiscal housekeeping exercise. PIVOT is structured as a three-year plan through FY29 worth close to Rs2tr, split between roughly Rs1.1tr in public investment and upward of Rs905 billion the government expects to leverage from the private sector. Within that, Rs193bn has been set aside as subsidised financing for specif...
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Iran frustrate star-studded Belgium to steal another World Cup point

Belgium were held to a scoreless draw by Iran in a frustrating encounter Sunday that saw the Red Devils reduced to 10 men and facing the possibility of group-stage elimination for a second straight World Cup. A star-studded though ageing lineup including Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku was if anything fortunate to leave Los Angeles with a point, controlling possession yet ceding the game’s best chances to a resolute Iran team. Iran’s Mehdi Taremi had the ball in the net from a well-worked first-half free kick that was overturned for offside by VAR, while Nathan Ngoy was sent off after the break for hauling down the striker after a badly mis-hit backpass. The result means all three games so far in Group G have ended in draws. Stuck on two points, Belgium at least have the comfort of playing the tournament’s lowest-ranked team, New Zealand, in their final group game. Iran will also need at least a point against Egypt next Friday. Having been frustrated by visa issues as they trav...
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Several reported injured after 'technical accident' causes explosion at Qatar factory

Qatar’s interior ministry said an explosion resulting from a “technical accident” occurred on Sunday at a factory in Ras Laffan, an industrial city north of the capital Doha and site of the country’s core LNG processing operations. It said several injuries were reported but no leak that “threatens safety”. The ministry did not give the exact location of the explosion. But, QatarEnergy confirmed that the operational incident during the start-up of operations at Ras Laffan Industrial City, saying it resulted in an explosion at its Barzan gas supply facility. QatarEnergy said fire at the factory was under control after the deployment of emergency response teams to contain the blaze. From 20 kilometres south of Ras Laffan on Qatar’s north coast, an AFP journalist saw flames illuminating the night sky and a plume of smoke rising from the area, home to the world’s largest liquefied natural g...
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TTAP demands removal of IT Minister over 'anti-people' telecommunication bill

ISLAMABAD: The opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP) on Sunday demanded the removal of Minister of IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja over a controversial telecommunication bill and sought representation in an inquiry committee investigating the matter “to ensure impartiality”. The Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) (Amendment) Bill 2026 , which seeks changes to a 1996 act and was tabled by the IT minister, was approved by the National Assembly (NA) on June 11 by a majority vote. It is currently pending before the Senate Standing Committee on IT and Telecommunication, where it was referred on June 15. The proposed changes have been the subject of discussion on social media, with some users voicing concerns over provisions relating to the use of private property for infrastructure such as telecom towers. TTAP spokesperson Akhunzada Hussain Ahmad Yousufzai said the bill — presented in Senate for final approval after passage through the cabinet an...
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Unquiet Lebanon

THE fate of Lebanon could determine whether the recently signed MoU between the US and Iran survives. True to form, Israel is doing all possible to ensure the nascent peace deal is destroyed before the proverbial ink dries, as it continues to mercilessly pound Lebanon . While a supposed ceasefire was announced on Friday, Israeli attacks in Lebanon continued yesterday, with a large number of casualties reported, as the Zionist state hit both the southern and eastern parts of the Arab state in apparent pursuit of its arch-foe Hezbollah. Tragically, a large number of non-combatants have also been killed in Tel Aviv’s murderous forays, with even steadfast supporters like US President Donald Trump expressing displeasure over its bloodstained tactics. But the Israeli leadership seems very clear on what it wants to do. For example, the Israeli prime minister has refused to end the occupation of southern Lebanon, while the extremist national security minister...
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