RjNews

• Critical Minerals Forum chief meets Aurangzeb • Islamabad welcomes move; asks team to revert with a detailed framework for collaboration ISLAMABAD: A leading US delegation met with Pakistani officials in Islamabad on Friday, seeking to build secure and transparent mineral supply chains for American industry amid Washington’s growing concerns over China’s upper hand in global rare earth materials. The delegation led by Robert Louis Strayer II, president of the US government-funded Critical Minerals Forum (CMF), “discussed avenues of cooperation in the minerals and mining sector, strengthening supply-chain security, and encouraging responsible and sustainable investment in Pakistan’s critical minerals landscape” with a Pakistani team headed by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, according to an official statement. The meeting took place as the US and India announced a 10-year defence framework agreement. The CMF’s focus is driven by the strategic threat posed by Beijing’s c...

The federal government on Friday night increased the price of petrol by Rs2.43 per litre and that of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs3.02 per litre for the next fortnight. In a late-night announcement, the Ministry of Finance said the revision followed movements in international markets and recommendations from the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) and relevant ministries. According to the notification, the price of petrol now stands at Rs265.45 per litre from Rs263.02 per litre. Meanwhile, the price of diesel has increased to Rs278.44 per litre from Rs275.42 per litre. Most of the transport sec­tor runs on HSD and its price is considered inflationary as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles, trains and agricultural engines like trucks, buses, tractors, tube-wells and threshers and particularly adds to the prices of vegetables and other eatables. Petrol is primarily used in private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws, and two-wheelers, and directly impacts the budgets o...

Senior PTI leader and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was hospitalised at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute in Lahore for gallbladder stone complications, his daughter stated on Friday. Shah Mahmood has been indicted in multiple cases pertaining to the May 9, 2023 riots and has remained behind bars since August 2023. In July 2024, the PTI leader was indicted by a Lahore anti-terrorism court in a case registered by the Shadman police over allegedly attacking and burning the police station. Meher Bano Qureshi took to X today to announce that the PTI leader was undergoing baseline tests for the stones, which he had “lived with … for years”. “In 2023, while incarcerated in Adiala Jail, doctors had advised surgery after his condition deteriorated. He chose not to undergo any procedures, then unwilling to do so while in solitary confinement,” she wrote. “Since then, the stones have increased in size and surgery is now unavoidable. We await the doctors’ final report...

Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed early Friday morning to continue the ceasefire in place following a rapid deterioration of ties between the two neighbours and a brief conflict along their shared border earlier this month. Discussions between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban delegations had begun in Istanbul on Saturday, but Islamabad’s long-standing concern of terror attacks emanating from Afghanistan had been a bone of contention, resulting in a stalemate . A joint statement released after the conclusion of the latest round of dialogue stated “further modalities of the implementation will be discussed and decided” during a Principal level meeting in Istanbul on November 6. More to follow from Dawn - Home https://ift.tt/o34w9Nr

Posts from multiple social media users, including PTI supporters, shared an image on social media platform X on October 29, 2025, allegedly showing a ‘Move on Pakistan’ banner of Field Marshal Asim Munir with text referring to his tenure. However, the poster is doctored. In September 2025, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan said that the tenure of the army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, would end in 2027 and a decision whether to extend it or not will be taken at that time. He said that earlier, the army chief’s term comprised four years, and it was reduced to three years before it was extended to five years. The army chief’s tenure and extension have been under discussion for a while. In 2024, the government extended the tenure of the chiefs of the army, navy and air force from three to five years under the Pakistan Army Amendment Act 2024. The hasty passage of the law was severely criticised by opposition parties such as the PTI and Jamaat-i-I...

US President Donald Trump WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has at least “25 times” cited claims that five to seven “brand new, beautiful” planes were shot down during the May conflict between Pakistan and India, according to Indian media tracking. The actual number of losses remains disputed, but Trump’s remarks have helped validate Pakistan’s version of events and strengthened its diplomatic position. Speaking at a regional meeting in South Korea on Wednesday, Trump again credited himself with preventing a full-scale war by threatening both India and Pakistan with 250 per cent tariffs — the highest he has mentioned for any country. “If you look at India and Pakistan … they were going at it,” he said. “Seven planes were shot down. They were really starting to go.” Trump also praised Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir, calling him a “great fighter”. Asserts ‘brand new, beautiful’ planes shot down during conflict “I’m doing a trade deal with India and I ha...

• PPP keeps cards close to chest as PML-N’s backing raises number of votes to 36 • ‘N’ vows to support the motion, not PPP’s candidate ISLAMABAD: While a joint no-confidence motion against Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq — signed by PPP and PML-N members — has been finalised, the former has yet to announce its nominee to succeed him. Informed sources told Dawn that although only 14 signatures are required to submit a no-confidence motion, the number of signatories is much higher. Those who have signed include PML-N’s AJK chief Shah Ghulam Qadir, its parliamentary leader in AJK Legi­s­lative Assembly Raja Far­ooq Hai­der, and all six members of the forward bloc aligned with AJK Pr­e­sident Barrister Sultan Mehmood. The PML-N has agreed to support the motion but, according to party sources, will not vote for the new prime minister from the PPP. The party’s ministers are expec­ted to resign after submission of the motion, and will sit on the oppositio...

At least 13 people, including two police officials, were injured as two separate attacks were reported in Balochistan on Wednesday, according to local officials. A grenade attack on a police mobile was reported along the national highway in the province’s Dera Murad Jamali area, which injured 13 people, including 2 officers. According to police officials, unknown suspects attacked the vehicle while it was patrolling along the highway. Immediately after the attack, police and law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area and started an investigation into the incident, while security in the area was tightened. Civil Hospital Dera Murad Jamali Medical Superintendent Dr Naseer Ahmed Imrani confirmed that 13 people, including two policemen, were injured in the attack and transported to the facility. “A woman and two children are also among the injured, who are being provided medical assistance,” Imrani said. “The police have started investigating the incident.” Meanwhile, Nasirabad S...

• Premier says Pakistan has learned from mistakes of the past; rues ‘disaster-recovery-disaster’ cycle country finds itself trapped in • Islamabad, Riyadh sign Economic Cooperation Framework to launch ‘strategic and high-impact projects’ • Energy, industry, mining, IT, tourism, agriculture and food security sectors to be main focus ISLAMABAD: Ruling out loans as a driver of economic recovery, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called for mutual cooperation to support countries like Pakistan that are battered by climate catastrophes. Speaking during a high-level roundtable discussion at the 9th Future Investment Initiative Conference 2025 in Riyadh, PM Shehbaz said that repeated loans would erode the economic might of such countries, stagnating economic development. “If humanity had to move forward, it should proceed in unison, share its bounties and grievances together and extend modern technologies with those countries which can use it to grow its production in the areas o...

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said early on Wednesday that the latest round of talks between Islamabad and Kabul in Istanbul “failed to bring about any workable solution”. He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X, saying: “Over the last four days of dialogue, the Afghan Taliban delegation repeatedly agreed to Pakistan’s logical and legitimate demand for credible and decisive action against [militant] organisations and terrorists. “Sufficient and irrefutable evidence was provided by Pakistan which was acknowledged by Afghan Taliban and the hosts, however, regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurance,” the minister said. “The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue, evading the key point upon which the dialogue process was initiated. Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses. The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution,” he said. More to ...

The United Nations’ migration agency on Tuesday said that 18 people were killed when a wooden vessel carrying dozens of migrants capsized off the coast of Libya on Tuesday, while 64 people — including 12 Pakistanis — were rescued. The vessel “capsized only a few hours into its journey due to high waves”, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said in a statement , adding that the accident had occurred off the coast of Surman, Libya. “Among the survivors are 29 Sudanese men, one Sudanese woman, and one Sudanese child; 18 Bangladeshi men; 12 Pakistani men; and three Somali men,” it said. No information was yet available about the nationalities of those who died. “This latest shipwreck is a stark reminder of the grave dangers faced by people undertaking perilous sea journeys in search of safety and opportunity,” the IOM said. It said the central Mediterranean route from northern Africa across to Europe remained “one of the world’s deadliest migration corridors”. The agen...

The Sindh government has introduced a new e-challan system that aims to improve the city’s traffic while minimising the traffic police’s interaction with the public. Under the new system inaugurated recently, at least 5,500 challans have already been issued to traffic rule violators throughout the city. Here is what you need to know about the system. What is the e-challan system? Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Admin Karachi Traffic Police Kashif explained that the system has been introduced as part of the Karachi Safe City Project. A total of 1,076 cameras have been installed on main thoroughfares in the first phase. When phase 2 and 3 of the initiative are completed, up to 12,000 cameras will have been installed in all areas of Karachi as well as on toll plazas. Once a challan is initiated, it will be sent via Pakistan Post to an address linked to the number plate issued by the Sindh Excise and Taxation Department. While the total time to pay off the challan is 21 days,...

• PML-N to support PPP in potential no-trust vote against AJK premier, but won’t join govt • Insiders say Haq likely to resign seeking ‘honourable exit’, sit on opposition benches ISLAMABAD: Azad Jammu Kashmir Prime Minister Anwarul Haq’s days seem to be numbered, as the coalition partners in the federal government — the PPP and the PML-N — ratchet up pressure on the embattled premier to step down from the post, or face a no-confidence motion in the assembly. The coalition partners met at the Presidency on Monday to discuss possible options for the formation of the AJK government to be led by the PPP. The PML-N panel, led by Ahsan Iqbal and comprising Rana Sanaullah and Amir Muqam, called on President Zardari to discuss the AJK affairs with the PPP in light of the current situation. Talking to reporters after the meeting, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal said his party would support the no-trust motion against the AJK PM but would not become part of the government. He said the PPP will fo...

The 9th Session of the Pakistan-Bangladesh Joint Economic Commission (JEC) was convened in Dhaka on Monday, after a hiatus of 20 years, marking another important milestone in strengthening bilateral economic and development cooperation between the two countries. The meeting was co-chaired by Federal Minister for Petroleum Ali Pervaiz Malik and Bangladesh Finance Adviser Dr Salehuddin Ahmed. At the conclusion of the session, both sides signed the Agreed Minutes of the 9th JEC, reflecting “significant progress” in multiple areas of mutual interest, including trade, investment and industries, agriculture, transport and communications, education, information technology, banking, health, tourism, energy, climate change, information and broadcasting, and the textile sector. The two sides emphasised the importance of enhancing cooperation between the national shipping corporations, with Pakistan offering the use of Karachi Port Trust as a gateway for Bangladeshs’s trade with regional count...

President Donald Trump on Monday declined to dismiss speculation that he would seek a third term and said he hadn’t considered whether he would go to court to contest the US constitution’s two-term limit for presidents. Here is a look at the legal barriers Trump faces. What does the US constitution say? The 22nd Amendment states in part: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.” The amendment was ratified in 1951 after President Franklin D. Roosevelt broke with a self-imposed two-term limit set by presidents since George Washington, the nation’s first. Roosevelt, a Democrat who was president during the Great Depression and World War Two, served a third term and then died months into his fourth term in 1945. Wayne Unger, a law professor at Quinnipiac University, said the Constitution was clear that presidents are limited to two terms of four years each. He said that while that had not been tested in court, any challenge by Trump would likely be ...

Sindh Home Minister Ziaul Hasan Lanjar on Sunday ordered a judicial inquiry into the custodial death of a teenager in Karachi due to alleged torture. The teenager, 18-year-old Muhammad Irfan, was arrested by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of police along with three of his friends on October 22. SIU Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Amjad Ahmed Shaikh told Dawn that they were taken to the SIU/ CIA Centre in Saddar at around 5:30pm the same day, and 15 minutes later, the health condition of Irfan deteriorated. He was taken to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), where doctors pronounced him dead on arrival, he said. The police claimed that the boy died of a heart attack, while his relatives allege that he was tortured to death. Preliminary findings from his post-mortem examination — conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate at JPMC — suggested the presence of multiple injuries on the teenager’s body, according to doctors and the police. In a statement issue...

Top Chinese and US economic officials on Sunday hashed out the framework of a trade deal for US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to decide on later this week that would pause steeper American tariffs and Chinese rare earths export controls, US officials said. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the talks on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur had eliminated the threat of Trump’s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports starting November 1. Bessent said he expects China to delay implementation of its rare earth minerals and magnets licensing regime by a year while the policy is reconsidered. Chinese officials were more circumspect about the talks and offered no details about the outcome of the meetings. Trump and Xi are due to meet on Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea to sign off on the terms. While the White House has officially announced the highly anticipated Trump-Xi...

WASHINGTON: Early voting for New York City’s mayoral election began on Saturday, with Zohran Mamdani — a 34-year-old state lawmaker of South Asian origin and self-described democratic socialist — emerging as the surprise frontrunner. Once a political outsider, Mamdani’s campaign has surged , powered by young progressive volunteers and growing frustration over the city’s soaring cost of living. His pledge to freeze rents for two million New Yorkers in rent-stabilised properties has resonated in a city where affordable housing is increasingly out of reach. If elected, Mamdani would be New York’s first Muslim mayor — a historic milestone. Observers, however, note that his popularity stems primarily from his progressive and socialist positions rather than his faith. If elected, the lawmaker of South Asian origin would be NYC’s first Muslim mayor Mamdani champions labour unions, wealth taxation, expanded public transit, and climate-friendly housing. He also emphasises social inclus...

ISLAMABAD: More than 140,000 candidates are competing for 22,000 seats in medical and dental colleges today (Sunday) as the mandatory Medical and Dental Colleges Admission Test (MDCAT) is being conducted nationwide at 32 venues, including an international centre in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Several institutions are organising the test, including the Uni­ver­sity of Health Sciences in Lahore, Suk­kur IBA University, Khyber Medical Uni­versity in Peshawar, Bolan Uni­versity of Medical and Health Scie­nces in Quetta, and Shaheed Zulfi­qar Ali Bhutto Medical University in Islamabad. Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) President Dr Rizwan Taj said that all participating universities had assured him that the necessary arrangements for the test have been made. “All universities conducting the MDCAT were advised to thoroughly review and implement all required arrangements to ensure the fair, tr­­a­­­nsparent, and secure conduct of the examination,” Mr Taj said. He added that security me...

• PPP lawmakers from Kashmir separately meet Zardari, Bilawal to ‘discuss political situation’ • Insiders say decision ‘almost finalised’, incumbent premier may be given choice of ‘honourable exit’ ISLAMABAD: As the PPP plans to install its own prime minister in Azad Jammu Kashmir, the party lawmakers from the region separately met party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and President Asif Ali Zardari to mull options for the removal of the incumbent PM Chaudhry Anwarul Haq. Only a picture of Mr Zardari’s meeting with the lawmakers was issued by Saturday night, while a handout issued by the PPP regarding the meeting with Mr Bhutto-Zardari also did not mention the possibility of a no-confidence motion against the AJK premier. The party leaders discussed the AJK’s “political situation” in the meeting, said the official statement. Sources, however, claimed the party meeting considered names for Mr Haq’s successor. They said the PPP had “almost finalised” the decision to oust the AJK p...

• Citywide AQI hits 412; PM2.5 concentrations far above safe limits • Citizens urged to wear masks, avoid unnecessary outdoor activity • PDMA says smog intensity expected to rise from Nov to mid-Dec • Govt imposes blanket ban on stubble, solid waste, plastic burning LAHORE: Lahore has ranked as the world’s most polluted city for the past three days, with air quality plummeting to hazardous levels as smog blanketed the city and the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) hitting 412, prompting health warnings and a province-wide crackdown on pollution sources. Data revealed that Lower Mall was the worst-affected neighbourhood, with an AQI of 680, followed by Iqbal Town (577), Syed Maratib Ali Road (543), Shadman (507), the Punjab University area (506), and Shalimar (495). Environmental experts have urged residents to avoid unnecessary outdoor activity, particularly in the morning and evening, and to wear masks when outside. PM2.5 concentrations in Lahore’s air are multiple times above gl...

• Adequate water availability anticipated in Punjab, Sindh • Sugarcane output estimated at 84.7m tonnes, rice at 9.4m tonnes ISLAMABAD: The federal government has set a wheat production target of around 30 million tonnes for the Rabi season 2025-26, banking on adequate water availability in Punjab and Sindh — the two main wheat-producing provinces. The wheat production target for the Rabi season 2024-25 was set at 27.92m tonnes, but the government exceeded it by achieving 28.42m tonnes. The target for 2025-26 was approved at a meeting of the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA), which also finalised the wheat policy to ensure farmers receive fair support prices, enabling them to cover production costs and earn reasonable profit margins, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of National Food Security and Research on Friday. In light of recent floods, the FCA recommended launching a campaign for early wheat sowing, ensuring the availability of quality certified seed of i...

Three separate controversies involving leaked text messages from private online group chats have rocked US political circles this month, revealing racist, anti-semitic and violent statements from figures across the ideological spectrum. The messages — sent privately but now public — include racial slurs, praise for Nazis, and threats of political violence, raising questions about why those involved felt comfortable expressing such views despite the risk of exposure and censure. The online posts have also deepened concern among civil society groups and political language experts that violent rhetoric and racist hate speech are becoming normalised in America, particularly after decades of hard-fought civil rights victories that sought to dismantle such ideologies. People have long expressed violent or racist views in private settings, but experts say the leaks of the text messages are noteworthy because they surfaced the unfiltered — and to many shocking — views of political figures. ...

Multan Sultans owner Ali Tareen hit out at the Pakistan Super League (PSL) management late on Thursday, stating he is “unhappy at their mediocre mindset”, after his franchise was issued a legal notice threatening suspension over breach of contractual obligations. Earlier in the day, the PSL management had acted following repeated public statements by Tareen criticising the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and PSL, and had sought a public apology if the latter wished to avoid legal proceedings. The move marked a significant escalation in the simmering tensions between the board and the Multan franchise. Tareen then posted a video on social media platform X on Thursday night, in which he could be seen holding what seemed to be the legal notice sent by the PSL management, saying he wanted to apologise but demanded better of the league organisers. Making sharp remarks targeted the PSL management, he ended the video by tearing up what seemed to be the legal notice he had received. Tar...