01🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated ex-prime minister Imran Khan’s sister, Noreen Niazi, met him on Tuesday after being allowed entry into Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, after the Supreme Court (SC) ruled that the PTI founder be allowed weekly meetings with his family. Imran — imprisoned since Aug 5, 2023, for concealing details of Toshakhana gifts — is serving a 14-year sentence at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail in a £190 million corruption case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case. Despite an order by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) allowing him twice-a-week meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays with his family, lawyers and other associates, Imran has been restricted from meeting visitors for several months. On Tuesday, however, Noreen Niazi was allowed to proceed to the jail and meet with Imran for the first time this year, being sent by the police to Gate no. 5 upon her arrival. Jail sources said that the two met in the jail’s conference room, where they discussed his health and other issues. Noreen also informed the ex-premier about the SC’s earlier order to have him taken to Shifa International Hospital for a medical checkup, they added. Meanwhile, the ex-premier’s other sisters — Aleema Khanum and
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 5:46 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has been ruled out of the first Test against England at Headingley starting Wednesday, with Salman Ali Agha taking over as skipper. Azam has been unable to overcome an injury to his right hand after being struck by England Under-19 paceman Manny Lumsden during Pakistan’s warm-up game last week against a County Select XI. He promptly retired hurt in what a team spokesman said was a “precautionary measure”. It is the same hand he was struck on during the second Test against the West Indies earlier this month. Azam batted briefly in the Headingley nets on Monday but, while he has been cleared of a broken middle finger, he has not been passed fit to lead the side in the first of a three-Test series. “Babar Azam is not available, Salman will be captain for the first Test,” Pakistan coach Sarfaraz Ahmed told reporters at Headingley on Tuesday. “It’s not broken, there is a little bit of swelling on the finger. “Hopefully he will be available for the second Test match.” Azam’s absence is a major blow to Pakistan as they begin their quest to win a Test series in England for the first time in 30 years given he is also one of their leading batsmen, with nine Test h
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 5:29 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
Google, the US-based technology giant, on Tuesday inaugurated its local office in Pakistan. According to state-run PTV, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met a Google delegation led by the company’s Global Affairs Vice President Wilson L. White at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad. US Chargé d’Affaires in Pakistan Natalie Baker also attended the meeting. Speaking on the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz said there was “great scope” for a fruitful partnership with Google and for strengthening bilateral ties in various areas. “Pakistan is going through a major digital transformation. In many areas of our governance, there is a youth bulge and we can really turn around Pakistan’s fortunes,” he said. “We are doing a lot and a lot more needs to be done.” Meanwhile, Google’s vice president described his visit as a “big milestone”. “Google has been investing in and committed to Pakistan for over a decade, and today we have reached a milestone where we are opening a local office in Pakistan,” White said. He appreciated PM Shehbaz’s vision of turning Pakistan into a $30 billion IT export hub. White added that Google was partnering with Pakistan to advance this vision in three ways: by inve
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 5:12 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
Lahore’s 2027 Basant festival will be held from March 12 to 14, 2027, following its “successful” return last year after an 18-year hiatus, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said in a post on X on Tuesday. “Lahore will once again come alive with colour, culture, festivity, music, energy and legendary hospitality,” she wrote. In December 2025, the Punjab government lifted an 18-year ban on the historic festival, subject to strict regulations under the Punjab Kite Flying Ordinance, 2025. Under the ordinance, police officers of the rank of sub-inspector were empowered to make arrests and conduct searches without warrants based on credible information. The festival was banned in 2007 following an increase in deaths and serious injuries caused by sharp kite strings, particularly among motorcyclists and pillion riders, as well as by celebratory gunfire. In her post, CM Maryam said the celebration is for “the youth of Punjab and Pakistan”, inviting them to “come together, create memories, and make Lahore shine with your energy and spirit”. “To our overseas Pakistanis and international guests, mark your calendars and come home to the warmth, colours and festivities of Lahore,” she w
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 3:29 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
Firefighters launched a potentially decisive push Tuesday to encircle Belgium’s largest wildfire in a century, despite wind and rain hampering air support operations over the High Fens nature reserve. The blaze charring the vast expanse of boggy peatlands, pine trees and hiking trails grew over the weekend to 7,500 acres with hundreds of firefighters working night and day to wrestle it under control. “We are trying to definitively encircle the fire today,” regional government spokesperson Nicolas Yernaux told AFP. In areas where firefighters could operate, he confirmed the fire was “under control and contained.” Smoke billows from a burned land near the Signal de Botrange during a wildfire at the High Fens nature reserve, Belgium on August 18, 2026. —AFP But a hard-to-access front towards the German border remains a concern — with residents in the border town of Monschau already under evacuation orders due to the smoke hazard. Firefighters worked through the night to make a crucial link-up between the eastern and northern fronts, under very difficult access conditions. “We’re talking about one or two kilometres, and we’re on the verge of achieving it,” Yernaux told AFP, despite “su
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 3:09 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
ISLAMABAD: Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday said that hepatitis C screening had been made compulsory for all employees of his ministry and the salaries of untested employees would be withheld next month onwards. Kamal was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis C Elimination Programme in Islamabad, where he too got tested for hepatitis C, with his result coming out negative. The programme was jointly launched by the World Health Organisation and the health ministry in May with the aim of ending the disease by 2030. Kamal said on the occasion that hepatitis C screening was being made mandatory for the employees of other ministries as well, adding that letters would be sent in this regard. He said the programme for the elimination of hepatitis C would be rolled out in phases, beginning with Islamabad where the government had set up 17 centres for screening. Meanwhile, testing facilities would also be made available at private hospitals, he said, according to state broadcaster Radio Pakistan. The government was providing gadgets and testing kits to private hospitals as well, he added. According to Radio Pakistan, he said the spread of hepatitis C in
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 3:04 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
The White House on Monday lashed out at a CNN reporter after she asked a question about US President Donald Trump’s relationship with an aide, in the latest in a series of attacks on female journalists. During an event in the Oval Office, reporter Kristen Holmes asked Trump to respond to comments by a Democratic lawmaker about the president’s executive assistant Natalie Harp, 35. “Someday, your children will come across your disgusting and inhumane question,” the White House’s “Rapid Response” team said in an X post directed at Holmes and linking to a video of Trump’s response. The US president later berated Holmes as “very disrespectful” as she asked a question on North Korea. The event was to honour a teenage lifeguard who saved a child from swells, but the president opened the floor to questions on unrelated issues, as he regularly does. “You’re a loud, boisterous person, you’re fake news, be quiet,” Trump said to Holmes. CNN said the attacks on Holmes were “beneath the office”. “We stand firmly behind Kristen and reject these attacks in the strongest possible terms,” it said in a statement. Natalie Harp has been the subject of recent internet commentary after it emerged she was
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 1:13 PM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
• Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujrat at risk of urban flooding • PDMA warns of continued rains across region through Aug 21 • Chenab, Ravi and Kabul rivers near low-level thresholds • Dera Ghazi Khan hill torrents pose risk of flash floods LAHORE: Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) of the Pakistan Meteorological Department on Monday warned of urban flooding due to possible torrential rains in six major cities of Punjab during the next 24 hours. The cities for which urban flooding has been predicted are Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Sialkot and Gujrat. The FFD said that the Indus river at Kalabagh is likely to remain in low to medium flood, while low-level flooding was expected at Tarbela, Chashma, Taunsa and Guddu. The river Chenab at Marala, Khanki and Qadirabad is expected to experience low-level flooding. The river Kabul at Nowshera is also likely to reach the low-flood level. The forecast said that the river Ravi at Sidhnai is expected to attain low-flood level, while at Balloki, it is likely to remain in the same category. For the next four days (August 18 to 21), the FFD forecast that the Jhelum River at Mangla is likely to attain
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 5:54 AM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | global
ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan took the presidency of the United Nations Conference on Disarmament (CD) on Monday, it vowed to act impartially in steering the body’s concluding work for the year, drawing a clear distinction between its role as chair and its longstanding national positions on contentious arms control issues. Ambassador Tahir Hussain Andrabi, who is presiding over the CD meetings in Geneva, told Dawn that Islamabad’s responsibility as the final chair of the 2026 session was to ensure that the body’s annual report “reflects the discussions that took place, faithfully and in a balanced way”, even on issues where Pakistan has strong and clearly articulated positions. “I would draw a clear distinction between Pakistan’s national position and Pakistan’s role as president,” Andrabi said. “In the Chair, our task is to reflect the discussions that took place, faithfully and in a balanced way.” The distinction is significant because Pakistan has long been an active proponent of legally binding arrangements on issues including negative security assurances (NSAs) for non-nuclear weapon states and the Prevention of Arms Race in Outer Space (PAROS), while maintaining a longstanding objec
Dawn | discovered by Dawn | Aug 18, 2026, 5:51 AM
🇵🇰 Pakistani
me_economy/PK | middle_east
ANKARA, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call to pursue talks with Iran to de-escalate tensions between the two countries, and offered Ankara's support for peace efforts, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday. Turkey, which has NATO's second-largest army and borders Iran, has repeatedly called for an end to the war. It has maintained close contact with the United States, Iran, and mediators such as Pakistan and Qatar, while also acting as an intermediary between the parties.
Al-Monitor | discovered by Al-Monitor | Aug 18, 2026, 2:46 AM
