RjNews

The government is set to hold a signing ceremony today for a financing facility agreement to reduce the circular debt in the power sector, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). A letter from the Central Power Purchasing Agency to all banks and power sector entities invited their chief executive officers and heads to attend the event. It said the event will be held at the PMO and PM Shehbaz Sharif will also virtually address the event as he is currently in New York for the UN General Assembly session. Pakistan’s debt burden has become the defining constraint of its fiscal and economic future. According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan, the total government debt (excluding the International Monetary Fund) increased from Rs69 trillion in June 2024 to Rs78tr by June 2025. The public debt (including the IMF debt) increased to Rs80.5tr from Rs71.2tr in June 2024. Both the numbers understate the full level of the government’s indebtedness. Developments suggest ...

THE world’s battle against polio is stuck on a glass mountain. After 37 years and $22bn, the Independent Monitoring Board has declared that conventional strategies are running out of road. Its latest assessment , The Glass Mountain, places Pakistan centre stage. The country has reported 27 new cases this year — small in absolute terms, but large enough to confirm what the IMB calls “resurgence” in one of the last reservoirs of wild poliovirus. The board’s findings are uncomfortable. It argues that Pakistan’s claims that transmission had been interrupted between 2021 and 2023 were an illusion created by Covid-19 restrictions. Lockdowns, not stronger campaigns, suppressed spread. That temporary reprieve has ended. With new infections surfacing, confidence in the programme’s direction is ebbing. Eradication in Pakistan has long suffered from predictable failings: financing that rewards effort rather than outcomes, superficial ties to routine immunisation, accountability systems that c...

• Justice Aminuddin Khan issues detailed reasoning, says Oct 23 order by five judges more akin to ‘legislation than interpretation’ • Civilians’ trials in military courts ‘long understood as valid and operative’, says Justice Mazhar ISLAMABAD: Justice Aminuddin Khan has said that though the procedural framework under the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 includes due process protections, the absence of an independent right of appeal to a civilian court has rendered its application to civilians constitutionally incomplete. He made these remarks in a 68-page judgement to justify the May 7 short order on a set of 38 intra-court appeals, which challenged the Oct 23, 2023, order on military trials of the civilians. Justice Khan explained that this deficiency required legislative intervention, urging parliament to do the needful in 45 days. According to Justice Khan, the Constitutional Bench had referred the matter to parliament for the enactment of appropriate amendments, with the expectati...

Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati won the Women’s Ballon d’Or at an awards ceremony in Paris on Monday, the third consecutive year she has taken the prize. Bonmati edged out Mariona Caldentey, her teammate in the Spain side beaten on penalties by England in the Women’s Euro 2025 final in July. The 27-year-old midfielder also lost the Women’s Champions League final with her club last season, at the hands of Caldentey’s Arsenal. Bonmati was named player of the tournament at the Euros, despite not starting either of Spain’s first two matches as she recovered from a bout of viral meningitis. Alessia Russo, one of the nominees from the triumphant England European Championship team, came in third place. The Ballon d’Or is the most prestigious individual prize in both men’s and women’s football, and Bonmati’s run of three in a row follows back-to-back victories for her Barcelona and Spain teammate Alexia Putellas. Norway’s Ada Hegerberg and USA star Megan Rapinoe are the only o...

Pakistan twice came from behind in an enthralling South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Under-17 Championship clash against India, only for their arch-rivals to go ahead for a third time and eventually clinch a 3-2 victory at the Colombo Racecourse Stadium on Monday that secured top spot in the group. Goals in each half by Pakistan’s Mohammad Abdullah, from the penalty spot, and Hamza Yasir had levelled the Group ‘B’ clash at 2-2 by the 70th minute but India’s substitute Rahan Ahmed found the winner in the 73rd to take his side through to a semi-final against Group ‘A’ runners-up Nepal. Pakistan, meanwhile, take on Group ‘A’ winners Bangladesh with both last-four clashes to be held on Thursday. Both teams had already secured semi-final berths and heading into the final group game, Pakistan held the advantage by the barest of margins — on goals scored — and a draw would’ve sufficed for Nasir Ismail’s side to avoid Bangladesh, who have ousted them in the semi-final stage of each o...

WORLD leaders are making their way to New York as the 80th session of the UN General Assembly kicks off this week. Among other global crises, the Gaza genocide will top the agenda. Yet it will be a massive disappointment if the global elite continue to simply offer their condolences to the besieged people of Gaza, instead of coming up with solid plans to end Israel’s butchery . The international community’s track record in this regard is quite poor, but the UNGA session offers a chance for the comity of nations to help end the slaughter. As these lines were being written Israel was busy exterminating the population of Gaza City. Half a million Palestinians have reportedly been ethnically cleansed from the area, told to ‘leave’ by the Israeli military. But there is nowhere to go, as even overcrowded ‘safe zones’ in the occupied Strip are not safe from Israel’s predatory behaviour. The paralysis of the international community, including the UN, is astounding, as states have been u...

• Floodwaters pass through breaches at Noraja Bhutta, rising around motorway • NHA says four of six lanes damaged but denies complete washout • NDMA reports 1,006 deaths; over 3m rescued in flood-hit areas • Millions displaced, infrastructure in ruins LAHORE: The Sutlej River continued to maintain a med­ium-level flood at Ganda Singh Wala and Sulemanki headworks on Sunday, with authorities monitoring its steady rise as waters inundated areas across Lodhran, Multan and Bahawalpur districts. According to a Provincial Disaster Management Auth­ority (PDMA) report, the river flowed at 95,000 cusecs at Ganda Singh Wala and 82,000 cusecs at Sulemanki, with the latter volume expected to reach Jalalpur Pirwala within the next day or two, potentially raising water levels further in already affected regions. Meanwhile, flood levels in the Chenab and Ravi rivers were reported as normal, with key readings showing 43,000 cusecs at Marala, 38,000 cusecs at Khanki Headworks, and 37,000 cusecs a...