Posts

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia reaffirm 'brotherly ties' as Mideast tensions heat up with Houthi involvement

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia on Saturday reaffirmed their "close and brotherly ties" while underscoring the importance of diplomacy amid escalating tensions in the Middle East involving the United States, Iran and Yemen's Houthi movement. The development came as Yemen's Houthis launched attacks on Saudi oil installations at two Red Sea ports on Saturday, raising concerns that the conflict disrupting energy supplies from the Gulf could spread to another major shipping route and further intensify Yemen's long-running conflict. According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50 spoke with the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia, His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud @FaisalbinFarhan. The two leaders exchanged views on the la...

Trump warns China, Russia against involvement in Iran war

United States President Donald Trump said on Friday that he does not believe China or Russia are “participating” in the ongoing Iran conflict but warned that any involvement would be “very bad for them”. “President Xi, at our recent meeting in Beijing, China, told me that he would not, under any circumstances, give or sell weapons to the Islamic Republic of Iran — and that statement included Chinese companies,” he wrote on Truth Social. https://ift.tt/g4VyZEO Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had also told him that Moscow would not sell weapons to Iran, adding that he believed Russia and China were not involved in the conflict. Read More: Iran rejects temporary ceasefire until Strait of Hormuz demands met “If they did, it would be very bad for them — certainly not in their best interests,” Trump posted. The United States and Iran have been at war since the US and Israel launched strikes in February that...

Karachi police kill suspect in alleged encounter over six-year-old girl's murder

The police on Thursday killed a man suspected of kidnapping and murdering a six-year-old girl in an alleged encounter in Karachi's Jackson area. The girl, identified as a resident of Baba Bhit Island, had gone missing a day ago. Her body was found in the bushes near Kachhi Line in Manora today According to police, investigators obtained CCTV footage from multiple locations during the probe into the kidnapping and murder. The footage allegedly showed the suspect wearing a red cap, a black-and-white shirt and blue jeans while carrying a sack on his shoulder at the jetty. Read: Girl found dead in tuition centre washroom Police said the footage also showed him boarding a launch with the sack, which allegedly contained the girl's body. Jackson Station House Officer (SHO) Inayatullah Marwat said the suspect was identified through the CCTV footage, after which police launched a search operation. He said police later received information from intelligence sources that a man ...

US says interim trade deal with India 'almost complete'

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday agreed on the importance of finalising the "almost complete" interim trade deal between the two countries during a meeting in Manila, the US State Department said. According to State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott, Rubio and Jaishankar also discussed recent developments in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. The meeting took place in Manila, where the two sides reviewed progress on bilateral cooperation and discussed defence and trade-related issues. Read: Trump likely to visit India early next year, Rubio says "The secretary and minister Jaishankar discussed finalising key defence agreements in fulfilment of commitments made between President Trump and Prime Minister Modi last year," Pigott said in a statement. He said the two leaders also "agreed on the importance of finalising the interim trade deal, which is almost complete". ...

Hitler's birthplace begins new life as a police station

The building where Adolf Hitler was born, near the Austrian border ​with Germany, officially began a new life as a police station on Wednesday, a conversion Austria's government hopes will prevent it ‌from serving as a place of pilgrimage for neo-Nazis. After years of debate about the large, traditional terraced house in the town of Braunau am Inn, which was in private ownership and had housed a charity for people with disabilities, Austria made a compulsory purchase in 2017 and announced in 2019 it would be remodelled and turned into a police station. Even before ​the conversion, the only sign of its historical significance was a rock on the pavement from the Mauthausen concentration camp with the inscription "Never ​again fascism" that does not mention Hitler. The rock remains in place. The only sign added to the white ⁠facade reads "Police". "The aim was to prevent any association with Adolf Hitler, to strip it of that mystique," the hea...

Delayed justice

Justice delayed may not always amount to justice denied, but it inevitably comes at a cost that no court order can fully repair. More than three decades after a Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC) bus struck and permanently disabled a young pedestrian, a civil court has finally ordered the Sindh government to pay Rs10 million in compensation to the victim. The verdict is significant because it sends a clear message that negligent driving and institutional irresponsibility carry consequences. The judgment is important because it reinforces the principle of accountability. Reckless driving is frequently dismissed as an unfortunate accident rather than the predictable outcome of negligence. Every year, countless families lose loved ones or see them permanently disabled. Yet meaningful accountability remains rare. Criminal prosecutions are often delayed and civil claims languish for years while victims are left to shoulder the financial and emotional burden alone. A substantial compe...

Govt raises petrol price by Rs4.93, HSD by Rs7.15 per litre for July 22

The federal government on Tuesday increased the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs4.93 and Rs7.15 per litre, respectively, for July 22. According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Petroleum, the price of petrol has been fixed at Rs320.73 per litre, while HSD will now cost Rs367.21 per litre. Amid volatility in global oil rates on the back of renewed hostilities in the Middle East, the government decided to switch to a daily fuel price review mechanism on Friday. The daily pricing is based on a seven-day weekly average of international market prices to align with international standards. Read: Govt shifts to daily POL pricing amid global headwinds On Monday, the government raised the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs5.71 per litre while cutting the price of petrol by 35 paisas per litre for one day. The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority will update petroleum product prices daily on its website to ensure transparency...