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Govt admits up to seven hours of power outages

• Duration nearly three times more than what was announced earlier • Minister cites LNG import disruption, Middle East crisis as key factors • Shortfall estimated at 3,400MW • Demand spikes from 9,000MW to 20,000MW in days • Nuclear plant maintenance postponed to boost supply ISLAMABAD: Power Minister Awais Leghari on Thursday confirmed six to seven hours of load management — almost three times higher than the government’s public commitment — citing a sudden surge in demand, non-availability of imported gas and lower water discharges for irrigation. Speaking at a news conference, the minister said power shortfalls had been caused by disruptions to LNG imports due to the Middle East crisis and by lower provincial irrigation water requirements, both of which he said were beyond the government’s control. However, he insisted that the government was making every possible effort to minimise both outages and potential tariff increases arising from the use of expensive alternative fue...
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8 killed, 11 injured as gas supply line catches fire in KP’s Haripur

HARIPUR: At least eight people, including children, were killed and 11 others were injured after a Sui Northern Gas supply line located near a factory burst and caught fire in the Hattar Industrial Estate of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Haripur district, officials said. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Dr Munawwar Afridi from Haripur district headquarters hospital (DHQ), who is also associated with the rural health centre (RHC) in the Kot Najibullah union council, told Dawn that three of the bodies were brought to the DHQ and five others to the RHC. Haripur Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waseem Ahmed told Dawn it appeared that the deaths were mainly caused by suffocation. He separately told the media that the fire had engulfed three to four nearby houses located within a radius of 200 kilometres of the factory had been affected by the fire. Muhammad Amir, an official of the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL), told Dawn that the affected pipeline had a diameter of 16 inch...
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Five miners killed in Duki coalfield accidents

QUETTA: Five coal miners were killed in two separate mine accidents that took place in the Bolan and Duki coalfield areas of Balochistan, while another miner was injured, officials said on Wednesday. Officials said several miners had entered a coal mine in the Bolan coal mining field near the Mach area when methane gas accumulated inside the mine, trapping three miners deep underground. Other miners managed to escape from the affected mine and informed the local administration and relevant authorities about the incident. Rescue teams from the Mines and Minerals Department, along with local workers, launched an operation and reached the trapped miners. However, they were found dead due to suffocation caused by inhaling methane gas. The bodies were retrieved from deep inside the mine and shifted to Mach Hospital. “We received three bodies of coal miners who died from inhaling poisonous methane gas,” hospital officials said. The deceased were identified as Murad Bakhsh, Ali Hassan, an...
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Amid Lebanon truce talks, Israel kills 3 paramedics

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Wael Sabbagh, whose mother Afaf Sidaoui and brother Hassan were killed in an Israeli strike on an apartment building, stands outside the site of the attack in Beirut.—Reuters BEIRUT: Amid efforts of a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel continued its attacks and targeted paramedic teams on Wednesday in southern part of the country, killing at least three of them. “The Israeli enemy targeted paramedic teams in the town of Mayfadoun, Nabatiyeh district, three consecutive times,” the Lebanese health ministry said in a statement. “This resulted in the martyrdom of three paramedics and the injury of six others, while one paramedic remains missing,” it said. The Israeli military renewed an order for people to leave a swathe of southern Lebanon as it intensified the attacks on Wednesday, a day after talks with a Lebanese government envoy in Washington, which Hezbollah condemned and termed the Lebanese government move “a national sin” that would widen divisions in a deeply polarised Lebanon. ...
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Punjab mining bills draw flak for targeting forests

• PA panel approves three bills to permit mining in protected areas • WWF-P says biodiversity loss will be irreparable, move against climate pledges LAHORE: Serious concerns emerged over potential damage to protected forests and wildlife habitats after the Standing Committee on Forests and Wildlife of the Punjab Assembly unanimously approved three similar amendment bills that would permit mining activities in protected areas. The committee approved the Punjab Protected Areas (Amend­ment) Bill 2026, the Forests (Amendment) Bill 2026, and the Punjab Wildlife (Protection and Management) (Amendment) Bill 2026 during a meeting chaired by acting chairperson Chaudhry Akhtar Abbas Bosal. Under the proposed legislation, the Punjab government decided to promote the mining sector by allowing mineral extraction even in protected forests and designated conservation areas. The amendments aim to revise existing laws, including the Forest Act 1927, the Punjab Protected Areas Act 2020 , and the Pu...
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Trump eyes round two of Islamabad talks within days

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Workers and journalists stand in front of a building in Tehran, which was hit by US-Israel air strikes days before a ceasefire took effect last week.—AFP • Says dialogue with Iran may resume within two days as diplomatic efforts intensify • PM Shehbaz set to visit S. Arabia, Turkiye as Dar meets top diplomats • China warns naval blockade of Hormuz to aggravate confrontation • Iranian president praises states for stance against ‘warmongering’ Israel • Macron urges Trump, Pezeshkian to resume talks, include Lebanon in ceasefire • Xi meets UAE leadership, puts forward four-point proposal WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump on Tuesday hinted at a possible second round of talks with Iran in Islamabad within days, even as Washington stepped up military pressure by enforcing a naval blockade on Iranian ports following the failure of weekend negotiations . Speaking to the New York Post in a phone interview, Trump said fresh talks could take place in Pakistan “over the ...
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Lebanon, Israel agree to direct negotiations after Washington talks

Israel and Lebanon agreed to direct negotiations following talks in Washington on Tuesday that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had hailed as a “historic opportunity” for peace. The two countries have technically been at war for decades, and Tuesday’s talks have been vehemently opposed by Hezbollah, which announced that it had fired rockets at more than a dozen northern Israeli towns just as the meeting was getting under way. The United States is pressing for a halt to the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, fearing it could derail the two-week ceasefire in Washington’s war with Iran after talks with Tehran in Pakistan failed to achieve a breakthrough. Tuesday’s meeting in Washington, the first high-level direct talks since 1993, was mediated by Rubio and involved the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States. “This is a historic opportunity,” Rubio said as he welcomed the ambassadors, acknowledging the “decades of history” complicating the process. “The hope toda...
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