Daily News Pakistan

Pakistan has reported 56 deaths in the last 24 hours by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 1,246,538. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 27,785 on Friday.According to the latest figures issued by the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), 1,411 persons tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Province-wise Details: Punjab remains the worst-hit province in terms of deaths followed by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Till now 12,595 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in Punjab 7,379 in Sindh 5,525 in KP, 922 in Islamabad, 737 in Azad Kashmir, 348 in Balochistan, and 184 in GB. Furthermore, 457,928 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 431,666 in Punjab 174,017 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 105,516 in Islamabad, 34,157 in Azad Kashmir, 32,926 in Balochistan and 10,328 in Gilgit-Baltistan.   Tests and Recoveries Pakistan has so far conducted 19,435,155 coronavirus tests and 49,049 in the last 24 hours. ...

A Pakistan Army captain was martyred during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday. In a statement, the military's media affairs wing said that security forces conducted an operation after receiving information about the presence of terrorists in the area. During the exchange of fire, Captain Sikander — who was 27-years-old and hailed from Pakpattan — was martyred, the statement said. "TTP terrorist commander Khawaza din alias Sher Khan was killed. Weapons and ammunition [were] recovered from the hideout," the statement added. On Tuesday, security forces killed 10 terrorists in a similar operation in the South Waziristan tribal district. The ISPR said security forces conducted the operation after receiving information that terrorists were present at a hideout in the area. During intense exchange of fire, 10 terrorists, includi...

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday announced that fresh restrictions will be applicable from October 1 (tomorrow) for non-vaccinated individuals. According to sources, people won't be allowed to use railway and airline services without showing their vaccination cards. In addition, people who do not get vaccinated will not be able to enter wedding halls, shopping malls, hotels and guest houses from tomorrow. The NCOC further announced that vaccination certificates will be made "mandatory for domestic travellers from October 1." Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson said: "From October 1, only vaccinated passengers will be able to travel on all domestic and international flights of PIA." "Vaccination certificates will be checked at the airport upon receipt of the boarding card," he said. The spokesperson added that the administration of the national carrier has issued instructions to all concerned department...

Prime Minister Imran Khan assured on Thursday of expeditious progress on projects falling under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), despite some relevant departments having faced difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the past. The prime minister, who was addressing a ceremony held in Islamabad to mark the inauguration of a 600 kilovolt (kV) transmission line running between Matiari and Lahore, pointed out that the pandemic had stalled communications in many areas, led to travel bans and affected supply chains across the world. Consequently, difficulties were also faced in the execution of CPEC projects, PM Imran explained, adding that the setback, however, was "temporary". He expressed the hope that with vaccinations against the coronavirus picking up pace across the world, the coming waves of the pandemic would not be as intense as earlier ones and in turn, the work on CPEC projects would not be affected but expedited instead. Earlier th...

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Thursday issued an alert for a tropical cyclone, predicting torrential rain and squally winds along the Sindh-Makran coast. The PMD, also known as the Met Office, stated that a previously "well-marked low pressure" over Indian Gujarat had intensified into a depression after moving over the northeast Arabian Sea and now stood at a distance of about 340km from Karachi. "The system is likely to intensify further into a cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours and move northwestwards," the alert said. Under the influence of the system, widespread rain, wind thunderstorms with scattered heavy to very heavy rainfall and squally winds were likely in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Thaparker, Umerkot, Sanghar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Nausheroferoz, Tando Muhammad Khan, Tando Allayar, Dadu, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Larkana, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Ghotki districts from Thursday afternoon till late evening on Oct 2 (Sa...

PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Wednesday said that senior PML-N leader and former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair had been "receiving threats for a while". Maryam, in an informal conversation with the media, referred to an objectionable video that allegedly featured Zubair, saying that “the matter is between Zubair and the Almighty and only they know what the reality is”. Despite all the controversies, “Zubair will remain my spokesperson”, Maryam added. She did not elaborate any further as to the nature of the threats received by Zubair. Commenting on former accountability judge Arshad Malik’s video and audio clip that the PML-N vice president had released in 2019 — alleging that Malik was confessing that he convicted Nawaz Sharif of corruption charges under "duress" — she said that she “doesn’t have anyone’s private video”. “The video of Judge Arshad Malik made by Nasir Butt was a national level matter,” said Maryam. Moreover, while speaking about the M...

In a stark admission during a hearing, the top US military official admitted that America "lost" the 20-year in Afghanistan and the "corrupt" Ashraf Ghani regime had lost people's trust and collapsed sooner than expected. "It is clear, it is obvious to all of us, that the war in Afghanistan did not end on the terms we wanted, with the Taliban in power in Kabul," General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee. "The war was a strategic failure," Milley told a committee hearing about the US troop pullout from Afghanistan and the chaotic evacuation from the capital Kabul. "It wasn’t lost in the last 20 days or even 20 months," Milley said. "There’s a cumulative effect to a series of strategic decisions that go way back," said the general, the top military advisor to President Joe Biden, who ordered an end to the 20-year US troop presence in Afghanistan. "Whenev...

Reacting to the UK court’s verdict about the unfreezing of his and his family's bank accounts, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) could not prove corruption of even a single penny against him and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Shehbaz Sharif said that the ruling PTI’s ministers have been levelling allegations of corruption worth billions of rupees but could not prove any wrongdoing against him and his family. The PML-N president said that he was sent to jail twice during the last three years. He said that when the government failed to prove corruption against him and his children they approached the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCA had conducted a probe in which it examined his financial transactions over the past 20 years and found no evidence of money laundering or criminal activities against him, the PML-N leader said, adding...

Global shoppers face possible shortages of smartphones and other goods ahead of Christmas after power cuts to meet official energy use targets forced Chinese factories to shut down and left some households in the dark. In the northeastern city of Liaoyang, 23 people were hospitalised with gas poisoning after ventilation in a metal casting factory was shut off following a power outage, according to state broadcaster CCTV. No deaths were reported. Factories were idled to avoid exceeding limits on energy use imposed by Beijing to promote efficiency. Economists and an environmental group say manufacturers used up this year’s quota faster than planned as export demand rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic. A components supplier for Apple Inc.’s iPhones said it suspended production at a factory west of Shanghai under orders from local authorities. The disruption to China’s vast manufacturing industries during one of their busiest seasons reflects the ruling Communist Party’s struggle...

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been tasked with investigating which individuals had siphoned funds from road construction projects in the country. Addressing a groundbreaking ceremony in Islamabad for the rehabilitation and upgradation of Balochistan's Jhaljao-Bela Road, the prime minister said the per kilometre cost for the project was cheaper than the cost in the PML-N's tenure despite inflation since then. "I am thinking if we had made roads at the same rate as today, how much money we would have saved for more roads. This is the loss to the nation that when corrupt people come [in power], they actually steal the nation's wealth. "I have tasked my team to fully investigate money stolen on [construction of] roads [...] I have also given the FIA the mandate to investigate and bring before the nation who is responsible and who made so much money," the prime minister said. He added that people shoul...

The government has announced a new strategy via which cities with low vaccination rates will have to undergo "higher restrictions", said National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) chief Asad Umar. Flanked by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, Asad Umar said that the government had decided to vaccinate cities and areas where coronavirus positivity ratios were higher. "Vaccination is the only way forward, as the world knows very well, to battle the coronavirus," he said. "Getting the most people vaccinated is the fastest way to get rid of the problems of coronavirus otherwise, we will have to depend on closures," he added. He said lockdowns and closures usually meant economic losses and business setbacks. Umar clarified that increased vaccination rates will not, however, mean that coronavirus will be totally eliminated across Pakistan. "However, it ensure that people are able to spend their lives normally," ...

American senators have tabled a bill in the US Senate, demanding a deeper investigation into the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan and sanctions on the group as well as those who assisted them in driving out the Ashraf Ghani-led regime. The 'Afghanistan Counterterrorism, Oversight, and Accountability Act' seeks to establish a task force that will focus on continued evacuation of American citizens, legal permanent residents and Special Immigrant Visa holders from Afghanistan. Introduced by 22 American Republican senators, the bill seeks to tackle issues related to the Afghan withdrawal, such as counterterrorism strategies and sanctioning the Taliban for alleged human rights abuses in the country. "Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, and not less frequently than annually thereafter, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Director of National Intelligence, shall submit to the appropriate congressi...

Pakistan reported less than 2,000 coronavirus cases in a single day for the fourth consecutive day Wednesday morning.A day earlier, the data from the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) showed that the daily COVID-19 case count went below 1,500 for the first time in more than two months after the country reported 1,400 fresh cases Tuesday morning. The country last reported less than 1,500 cases on July 23 at 1,425 cases. The country also reported 52 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the national death tally to 27,690. With 2,970 recoveries in the same period, the tally for recoveries now stands at 1,167,189, NCOC's data showed. The daily positivity rate stands at 3.19%. It has been less than 3% for the last four days. The number of active cases went to the lowest level since the last two months at 48,506 cases. The active cases, along with the positivity rate, have been consistently falling since the last month with new recoveries surpassing fresh cases reported a...

A man hit French President Emmanuel Macron with an egg while he was visiting Lyon on Monday to promote French gastronomy. Footage from Lyon Mag showed the egg bouncing off the president's shoulder area, without breaking, as he walked through a crowd while a protester shouted "Vive la revolution" (long live the revolution). A man was arrested after the incident at the international catering, hotel and food trade fair in the city, French media said. A spokeswoman for Macron's office did not answer a request for comment. In June, a man slapped Macron in the face during a walkabout in southern France. The man was ordered to serve four months in jail. Eggs from irate protesters are a common occupational hazard for French politicians, and Macron is no exception. When he was still a candidate for the presidency in 2017, an egg exploded against his head during a crowd visit at the national agriculture fair in Paris. Macron’s security detail is expected to be on high ...

The PTI-led government on Tuesday welcomed the Opposition's readiness to discuss electoral reforms with the Centre, days after a committee from both houses was formed to address the matter. Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry, addressing a post-cabinet press conference in Islamabad, said the committee should move in the right direction to resolve the matter and not waste time. The information minister said the electronic voting machine (EVM) and i-voting were a crucial part of the reforms. "If we exclude overseas Pakistanis from the voting process [...] it will be an injustice with them." Chaudhry said Prime Minister Imran Khan, during the cabinet meeting, directed Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan, Advisor to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan, and others who oversee parliamentary matters that these two elements — EVMs and i-voting — be discussed as a necessity with the Opposition. The information minister said a majority of the c...

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday lashed out at the government, saying that it had embarrassed itself in front of the world with the British National Crime Agency (NCA)'s probe against PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif. In a hard-hitting press conference, flanked by Rana Sanaullah and Ahsan Iqbal, Abbasi said the government's claims that it was not involved or pursuing money laundering cases against Shahbaz had been exposed. He said that the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) and, as per the PML-N's sources, even Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials, used to go to London to meet NCA officials. "The standard set by this government, when it comes to lying, is totally unique," he said. "The prime minister of this country, in his own office, creates an Asset Recovery Unit that has no legal basis. And what has that ARU done?" he questioned. He referred to the papers in his hand, saying that they were official documents submitted by the ...

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar announced on Tuesday that the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had decided to start inoculating children who are 12 years and older. "A special drive will be run for vaccination at schools to make it easier for children to be vaccinated," he said. According to NCOC statistics, the country administered 961,340 Covid-19 doses on September 27. So far, Pakistan has administered 79,531,641 doses. "Non-vaccinated people will be facing various restrictions from October 1! Get yourself completely vaccinated immediately!" the NCOC warned earlier today. The government had allowed citizens above the age of 17 to get vaccinated from Sept 1. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan, during a press conference, had announced that these adolescents would have to be fully vaccinated by Oct 15 in order to enter educational institutions. Shortly after, the governme...

In a major relief for PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, a British court has ordered the unfreezing of the Opposition leader's bank accounts and those belonging to his son, Suleman Sharif Monday. The decision was taken by the court after the UK's top anti-corruption body, the National Crime Agency (NCA) concluded there was no evidence of money laundering, fraud and criminal conduct against the two, according to evidence seen by The News exclusively. The Westminster Magistrates Court’s Judge Nicholas Rimmer set aside the two accounts freezing orders (AFO) against Shahbaz Sharif and his son related to a December 2019 case filed by the NCA at the Pakistani government's request. The UK's top anti-corruption agency filed a unilateral application before Judge Rimmer to declare that its two-year high-profile investigation in the jurisdictions of Pakistan, UK and Dubai found no evidence of money laundering and criminal conduct on part of the two Sharifs who were investigated....

The Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (FBISE) will announce the results of the Higher Secondary School Certificate (Part II) examinations for 2021 today (Monday). According to a FBISE statement, the exam results will be made public at 2pm during a special ceremony. The chief guest will be Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood. He will give away cash prizes and certificates to high-achievers.

The COVID-19 positivity rate has dropped down to 3.6 per cent in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, quoting National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC). As per the latest figures released by the NCOC, 31 more people lost their lives due to COVID-19, lifting the overall death toll to 27,597.  

Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has stressed the need for the world to recognise that the “only way” forward when it comes to Afghanistan is to “strengthen and stabilise the current government”. Addressing the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) via video link, he said if the world community incentivises the new Afghan government, it will be a win-win situation for everyone. He said that the Taliban have promised to respect human rights, have an inclusive government and not to allow their soil to be used by terrorists. The premier pointed out that this is a critical time for Afghanistan. If we neglect Afghanistan right now, according to the UN, half the people of Afghanistan are already vulnerable, and by next year almost ninety per cent of the people in Afghanistan will go below the poverty line. PM Khan said there is a huge humanitarian crisis looming ahead and this will have serious repercussions not just for the neighbours of Afghanistan but everywhere. H...