Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) and the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to promote and develop football in Pakistan, the PFF said in an official statement.&nbsp;The agreement, signed by PFF President Mohsin Gilani and SAFF President Yasser Al-Misehal, aims to strengthen cooperation in youth development, coaching education, and women&rsquo;s football.&nbsp;Under the partnership, both federations will also collaborate on grassroots programs, training exchanges, friendly matches, and joint development camps, giving Pakistani players and coaches valuable opportunities to learn from Saudi expertise.&nbsp;Officials said the agreement reflects a shared commitment to raising football standards and creating new pathways for players, coaches, and administrators across both countries.&nbsp;&ldquo;This collaboration marks a significant step toward revitalizing Pakistan&rsquo;s football infrastructure and fostering closer regional ties through sport,&rdquo; the PFF statement added.&nbsp;The development follows an earlier understanding signed in Riyadh between former PFF Chairman Haroon Malik and the SAFF leadership to enhance mutual cooperation for the growth and success of football in both nations.&nbsp;For a country where football continues to capture the passion of millions, the latest agreement is being seen as the first whistle of a long-awaited comeback for the sport in Pakistan.

Football

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have signed a landmark agreement to advance football development, focusing on youth training, coaching education, women’s football, grassroots programs, and joint camps to strengthen regional sporting ties.

Pakistan, Saudi Arabia sign agreement to boost football development

THE HAGUE: The International Court of Justice said on Wednesday that Israel was obliged to ease the passage of aid into Gaza, stressing it had to provide Palestinians with the &quot;basic needs&quot; to survive.&nbsp;The wide-ranging ICJ ruling, quickly rejected by Israel, came as aid groups scrambled to scale up much-needed humanitarian assistance into Gaza, seizing upon a fragile ceasefire agreed earlier this month.&nbsp;While the UN&#39;s top court&#39;s &quot;Advisory Opinion&quot; is not legally binding, the ICJ believes it carries &quot;great legal weight and moral authority.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;This is a very important decision. And I hope that Israel will abide by it,&quot; UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.&nbsp;ICJ President Yuji Iwasawa said Israel was &quot;under an obligation to agree to and facilitate relief schemes provided by the United Nations and its entities.&quot;&nbsp;That included UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, which Israel has banned after accusing some of its staff of taking part in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.&nbsp;The ICJ ruled that Israel had not substantiated the allegations.&nbsp;Israel did not take part in the proceedings and hit back at the findings.&nbsp;&quot;Israel categorically rejects the ICJ&#39;s &#39;advisory opinion,&#39; which was entirely predictable from the outset regarding UNRWA,&quot; foreign ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein posted on X.&nbsp;&quot;This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of &#39;International Law.&#39;&quot;&nbsp;Iwasawa said the ICJ &quot;rejects the argument that the request abuses and weaponises the international judicial process.&quot;&nbsp;Another Israeli official added that Israel &quot;cooperates with international organizations, with other UN agencies regarding Gaza. But Israel will not cooperate with UNRWA.&quot;&nbsp;Within hours of the ruling, Norway said it would propose a UN General Assembly resolution demanding that Israel lift restrictions on Gaza aid.&nbsp;And the Palestinian delegate to the ICJ, Ammar Hijazi, urged nations to ensure Israel complies with the court to let aid into Gaza.&nbsp;&quot;The responsibility is on the international community to uphold these values and oblige Israel, bring Israel into compliance,&quot; he told reporters.&nbsp;Before the ruling, Abeer Etefa, Middle East spokesperson for the UN&#39;s World Food Program (WFP), said 530 WFP trucks had crossed into Gaza since the ceasefire started on October 10.&nbsp;The trucks had delivered more than 6,700 tons of food, which she said was &quot;enough for close to half a million people for two weeks.&quot;&nbsp;Etefa said around 750 tons a day were now coming through, well below the WFP&#39;s target of around 2,000 tons daily.&nbsp;The ICJ said that Israel, as an occupying power, was under an obligation &quot;to ensure the basic needs of the local population, including the supplies essential for their survival.&quot;&nbsp;At the same time, Israel was &quot;also under a negative obligation not to impede the provision of these supplies,&quot; the court said.&nbsp;The court also recalled the obligation under international law not to use starvation as a method of warfare.&nbsp;&#39;Serious concerns&#39;The UN had asked the ICJ to clarify Israel&#39;s obligations, as an occupying power, towards UN and other bodies &quot;including to ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival&quot; of Palestinians.&nbsp;ICJ judges heard a week of evidence in April from dozens of nations and organizations, much of which revolved around the status of UNRWA.&nbsp;At the hearings, a US official raised &quot;serious concerns&quot; about UNRWA&#39;s impartiality, and alleged that Hamas used the agency&#39;s facilities.&nbsp;The US official, Josh Simmons, said Israel had &quot;no obligation to permit UNRWA specifically to provide humanitarian assistance.&rdquo;&nbsp;Simmons added that UNRWA was not the only option for delivering aid into Gaza.&nbsp;However, the ICJ noted that UNRWA &quot;cannot be replaced on short notice without a proper transition plan.&quot;&nbsp;Hijazi told the April hearings that Israel was blocking aid as a &quot;weapon of war,&quot; sparking starvation in Gaza.&nbsp;The case was separate from the others Israel faces under international law over its Gaza campaign.&nbsp;In July 2024, the ICJ issued another advisory opinion stating that Israel&#39;s occupation of the Palestinian territories was &quot;unlawful&quot; and must end as soon as possible.&nbsp;ICJ judges are also weighing accusations, brought by South Africa, that Israel has broken the 1948 UN Genocide Convention with its actions in Gaza.&nbsp;Another court in The Hague, the International Criminal Court, has issued arrest warrants for Israel&#39;s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.&nbsp;It also issued a warrant for Hamas commander Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was killed in an airstrike.

Middle East

"UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres terms it "very important decision," hopes Israel "will abide by it." 



UN court says Israel must ease aid into Gaza, provide 'basic needs'

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on Russia&#39;s two largest oil companies on Wednesday, complaining that his talks with Vladimir Putin to end the Ukraine war &quot;don&#39;t go anywhere.&quot; The European Union also unveiled a fresh wave of sanctions to pressure Russia to end its relentless, three-and-a-half-year invasion of its neighbor, which is allied with both Washington and Brussels. Trump has held off pulling the trigger on sanctions against Russia for months, but his patience snapped after plans for a fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed. &quot;Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don&#39;t go anywhere,&quot; Trump said in response to a question from an AFP journalist in the Oval Office. But Trump added that he hoped the &quot;tremendous sanctions&quot; against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil would be short-lived. &quot;We hope that the war will be settled,&quot; he said alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Rutte, often dubbed &quot;the Trump whisperer,&quot; said he was confident that &quot;with sustained pressure, we will be able to get Putin to the table to agree with a ceasefire, and then other talks coming after that.&quot; Separately, the EU agreed to impose new measures aimed at crimping Moscow&#39;s oil and gas revenues over the war, a spokesperson for the bloc&#39;s current Danish presidency said. That package &mdash; the 19th from the EU since the Kremlin&#39;s 2022 invasion &mdash; sought to keep the pressure on Russia in light of Trump&#39;s faltering peace push and an escalation of Russia&#39;s offensive. The sanctions came hours after Russia&#39;s latest overnight barrage on Ukraine killed seven people &mdash; including two children &mdash; and ripped into a kindergarten. Not &#39;honest and forthright&#39;&nbsp;The US sanctions represent a major stepping up of its actions against Russia and reflect Trump&#39;s growing frustration at being unable to persuade Putin to end the conflict despite what he calls his personal chemistry with the Kremlin chief. The sanctions involve a freezing of all Rosneft and Lukoil assets in the United States, while barring all US companies from doing any business with the two Russian oil titans. &quot;Given President Putin&#39;s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia&#39;s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin&#39;s war machine,&quot; US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. Bessent later told the Fox Business program Kudlow that it was &quot;one of the largest sanctions that we have done against the Russian Federation. &quot;President Putin has not come to the table in an honest and forthright manner, as we&#39;d hoped,&quot; Bessent said, adding that Trump was &quot;disappointed at where we are in these talks.&quot; Trump this week halted plans to hold talks with Putin in Budapest, saying he did not want a &quot;wasted&quot; meeting. The Kremlin on Wednesday appeared to leave the door open for a summit, saying ahead of the sanctions announcement that preparations were still ongoing. &quot;No one wants to waste time, neither President Trump nor President Putin,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: EU oil and gas sanctions&nbsp;As part of the new EU measures, the 27-nation bloc brought forward a ban on the import of liquefied natural gas from Russia by a year to the start of 2027. It also blacklisted over 100 more tankers from Moscow&#39;s so-called &quot;shadow fleet&quot; of ageing oil vessels and imposed controls on the travel of Russian diplomats suspected of espionage. The package is scheduled to be formally adopted tomorrow, just before Ukraine&#39;s President Volodymyr Zelensky joins EU leaders at a summit in Brussels. Zelensky signed a letter of intent with Sweden earlier on Wednesday to acquire 150 Gripen fighter jets. During the latest Russian strikes, AFP journalists in Kyiv heard the buzzing of Russian drones and explosions throughout the night, and saw a pillar of smoke rising above the capital. &quot;My hands are still shaking,&quot; Kyiv resident Mariana Gorchenko told AFP. &quot;I jumped up, glad that my little one wasn&#39;t in the room where the windows were blown out.&quot; The strikes also damaged a kindergarten in Ukraine&#39;s second-largest city of Kharkiv. Ksenia Kalmykova, whose child was inside the building during the strike, told AFP that she &quot;pushed the emergency services aside and ran over&quot; after arriving at the site. &quot;Someone had cuts, someone had something else. Of course, there were hysterics,&quot; she said of the children&#39;s condition, adding &quot;thank God, everyone is alive and well.&quot;

Americas

Europe

US president says conversations with Vladimir "don't go anywhere," NATO secretary general says "with sustained pressure, we will be able to get Putin to the table to agree with a ceasefire, and then other talks coming after that."


Trump slaps 'tremendous' sanctions on Russian oil for Ukraine war

SAN FRANCISCO: Social media platform Reddit sued the artificial intelligence company Perplexity AI and three other entities on Wednesday, alleging their involvement in an &ldquo;industrial-scale, unlawful&rdquo; economy to &ldquo;scrape&rdquo; the comments of millions of Reddit users for commercial gain. Reddit&#39;s lawsuit in a New York federal court takes aim at San Francisco-based Perplexity, maker of an AI chatbot and &ldquo;answer engine&rdquo; that competes with Google, ChatGPT and others in online search. Also named in the lawsuit are Lithuanian data-scraping company Oxylabs UAB, a web domain called AWMProxy that Reddit describes as a &ldquo;former Russian botnet,&rdquo; and Texas-based startup SerpApi, which lists Perplexity as a customer on its website. It&#39;s the second such lawsuit from Reddit since it sued another major AI company, Anthropic, in June. But the lawsuit filed Wednesday is different in the way that it confronts not just an AI company but the lesser-known services the AI industry relies on to acquire online writings needed to train AI chatbots. &ldquo;Scrapers bypass technological protections to steal data, then sell it to clients hungry for training material. Reddit is a prime target because it&rsquo;s one of the largest and most dynamic collections of human conversation ever created,&rdquo; said Ben Lee, Reddit&rsquo;s chief legal officer, in a statement Wednesday. The lawsuit accuses the companies of unfair competition and unjust enrichment and alleges that some of them violated U.S. copyright laws. Perplexity said it has not yet received the lawsuit but &ldquo;will always fight vigorously for users&rsquo; rights to freely and fairly access public knowledge. Our approach remains principled and responsible as we provide factual answers with accurate AI, and we will not tolerate threats against openness and the public interest.&rdquo; SerpApi&#39;s customer success director, Ryan Schafer, said in an email: &ldquo;We strongly disagree with Reddit&rsquo;s allegations and intend to vigorously defend ourselves in court.&rdquo; Oxylabs said in a statement it was &ldquo;shocked and disappointed&rdquo; and &ldquo;will not hesitate to defend itself against these allegations.&rdquo; &ldquo;Oxylabs&rsquo; position is that no company should claim ownership of public data that does not belong to them,&rdquo; said a statement from Denas Grybauskas, the company&#39;s chief governance and strategy officer. &ldquo;It is possible that it is just an attempt to sell the same public data at an inflated price.&rdquo; AWMProxy could not immediately be reached for comment. Scraping for publicly available online data is a common practice used by businesses and researchers but Reddit compares the companies it is suing to &ldquo;would-be bank robbers&rdquo; who can&#39;t get into the bank vault, so they break into the armored truck instead. The lawsuit alleges they are evading Reddit&rsquo;s own anti-scraping measures while also &rdquo;circumventing Google&rsquo;s controls and scraping Reddit content directly from Google&rsquo;s search engine results.&quot; Lee said that because they&#39;re unable to scrape Reddit directly, &ldquo;they mask their identities, hide their locations, and disguise their web scrapers to steal Reddit content from Google Search. Perplexity is a willing customer of at least one of these scrapers, choosing to buy stolen data rather than enter into a lawful agreement with Reddit itself.&rdquo; Reddit made a similar argument in its lawsuit against Anthropic, alleging that the company ignored Reddit&#39;s appeals to cease using its content. That case was initially filed in California Superior Court but was later moved to federal court and has a hearing scheduled for January. Along with digitized books and news articles, websites such as Wikipedia and Reddit are deep troves of written materials that can help teach an AI assistant the patterns of human language. Reddit has previously entered licensing agreements with Google, OpenAI and other companies that are paying to be able to train their AI systems on the public commentary of Reddit&rsquo;s more than 100 million daily users. The licensing deals helped the 20-year-old online platform raise money ahead of its Wall Street debut as a publicly traded company last year.

Artificial Intelligence

Reddit sued Perplexity AI, Oxylabs, SerpApi, and AWMProxy, accusing them of illegally scraping millions of Reddit comments for AI training data. The lawsuit highlights growing tensions between content platforms and AI firms over data ownership and access

Reddit sues Perplexity for 'industrial-scale' scraping of user comments 

Ibrahim Babakhel

ISLAMABAD: India&rsquo;s ruling party released a music video &ldquo;Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai&rdquo; earlier this month, to promote and celebrate the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, instead, it&rsquo;s become one of the most-rejected videos in recent Indian internet history.&nbsp;The track, produced by the heavyweight label T-Series, has earned an estimated 90 percent dislikes, roughly 440,222 of them by Wednesday, according to independent tracking tools. On YouTube, where dislike counts are hidden, such a ratio is almost unheard of. Even the notorious YouTube Rewind 2018, the most disliked video and long held as the internet&rsquo;s ultimate cringe event, didn&rsquo;t cross the 90 percent mark.&nbsp;In the video, Bollywood regulars such as Rajkummar Rao, Varun Dhawan, and Arshad Warsi, among others featured singling along.&nbsp;Percent-wise, the rejection is extremely rare but not unprecedented. In 2020, Mahesh Bhatt&rsquo;s Sadak 2 trailer suffered a similar digital mutiny, with roughly 95 percent dislikes after calls to boycott &ldquo;nepotism cinema.&rdquo;&nbsp;&nbsp;BJP IT-cell head Amit Malviya dismissed screenshots as fake, arguing that dislike counts are hidden. Yet, multiple third-party audit tools confirm the ratio, revealing one of the largest online disapprovals for any state-endorsed media project. <div class="fr-embed"><div class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" style="display: flex; max-width: 550px; width: 100%; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><iframe id="twitter-widget-1" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="true" title="X Post" src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-1&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1978875505450586259&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fmain.d1wrm1qseko1cp.amplifyapp.com%2Farticles%2F&sessionId=43b92c7a450fb8983d3be099a4d14e04c98508bd&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 648px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;" data-tweet-id="1978875505450586259">&nbsp;</iframe></div></div> Ironically, a parody uploaded just days later: &ldquo;Godi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai&rdquo; by the YouTuber Khota Sikka amassed more likes than the original, turning satire into social commentary. <div class="fr-embed youtube-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d1Jv1Cv3Cv8?si=ImlUCGA_ZOyZhl0u" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="" style="width: 100%; height: auto; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; max-width: 100%; display: block;">&nbsp;</iframe>&nbsp;</div>&nbsp;The episode fits neatly into a decade-long pattern of image-driven politics: hologram rallies, Modi photobooths, seaplane photo-ops, peacock-feeding videos, and the cosmetic &ldquo;city makeovers&rdquo; ahead of global summits. Each spectacle markets Modi as a brand, critics argue that each backlash suggests that brand fatigue has set in.&nbsp;What the BJP framed as a rousing anthem of hope now reads, to many, as a political remix no one asked for. The government&rsquo;s billion-dollar PR machine may still hum, but the audience seems to be reaching for the skip button.

India

India’s ruling BJP’s new promotional music video, “Modi Hai Toh Mumkin Hai,” has backfired spectacularly, drawing nearly 90% dislikes online. Despite official denials, third-party tools confirm massive public rejection, signaling growing fatigue with Modi’s image politics.

From melody to mockery: Modi’s anthem drowns in dislikes

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan&rsquo;s security forces killed six militants affiliated with the group known as &ldquo;Fitna-e-Hindustan&rdquo; during a counterterrorism operation in Dalbandin, Balochistan, security sources said on Wednesday.&nbsp;According to the sources, the operation successfully dismantled a militant network believed to be operating with external support. The group, referred to by Islamabad as Fitna-e-Hindustan, linked to India-sponsored militants operating in parts of Balochistan.&nbsp;The intelligence-led operation was part of ongoing efforts by security forces to eliminate terrorist elements and maintain peace and stability in the province, the sources said.&nbsp;The militants were reportedly hiding in a mountain cave in the Dalbandin region. Security personnel kept the location under aerial surveillance before carrying out a precise strike once confirmation of the targets was obtained.&nbsp;&ldquo;All six militants were neutralized in the engagement,&rdquo; a senior security official said, adding that the operation reflected effective coordination and intelligence-sharing among Pakistan&rsquo;s security and intelligence agencies.&nbsp;The official added that counterterrorism operations will continue across Balochistan until &ldquo;the complete elimination of all terrorist elements from the province.&rdquo;&nbsp;According to Pakistan TV Digital estimates, more than 880 militants have been killed in various intelligence-based operations across the country between January and September 2025.&nbsp;Earlier this week, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, while addressing participants of the 17th National Workshop Balochistan at General Headquarters (GHQ), reaffirmed the state&rsquo;s resolve to pursue terrorists &ldquo;until peace is fully restored.&rdquo;&nbsp;&ldquo;While Pakistan seeks regional peace and stability, any violation of its territorial integrity, direct or indirect, will be met with a firm and decisive response to safeguard the lives and well-being of our citizens,&rdquo; Field Marshal Munir said.&nbsp;Officials said the latest operation in Dalbandin underscores the security forces&rsquo; determination to maintain internal stability and counter external threats aimed at undermining Pakistan&rsquo;s peace and sovereignty.

Security

Pakistan’s security forces killed six militants linked to Fitna-e-Hindustan during a targeted operation in Balochistan’s Dalbandin area. The operation, described as a major counterterrorism success, comes amid continued efforts to eliminate terrorist networks across the province.

Six militants killed in counterterrorism operation in Balochistan: security sources

ISTANBUL: Two of Turkey&#39;s top basketball clubs protested on Wednesday over a EuroLeague decision to once again let Israeli teams host European competition home games in Israel.&nbsp;In a joint statement, Istanbul&#39;s Fenerbahce Beko and Anadolu Efes expressed concern at the decision, questioning how it was reached and saying that they had begun talks with EuroLeague&#39;s management over the issue.&nbsp;Since the Israel&#39;s war on Gaza&#39;s Hamas rulers began in October 2023, Israeli clubs in the Euro League and EuroCup have played their home games abroad.&nbsp;But following the October 10 ceasefire agreement, EuroLeague clubs met on Tuesday and &quot;approved the proposal to return matches to Israel starting December 1, 2025&quot;, the body said.&nbsp;&quot;Fenerbahce Beko and Anadolu Efes have expressed their disapproval of the matter and clearly voiced their concerns about the potential outcome should the decision be implemented,&quot; the clubs wrote on X.&nbsp;Although the EuroLeague press release and statements by its CEO, Paulius Motiejunas, &quot;indicated that all members were unanimous during the decision-making process, no vote was taken at the meeting&quot;, they wrote.&nbsp;Both clubs were in ongoing talks with Turkey&#39;s sporting institutions, &quot;and the EuroLeague management regarding this matter&quot; and would make the outcome known, they said.&nbsp;Both Turkish clubs in the EuroLeague, which only began on September 30, have yet to play away to either Israeli side.&nbsp;In October 2023, EuroLeague shareholders decided that Israeli clubs would play their international matches on safer grounds due to the war between Israel and Hamas.&nbsp;Since then, Hapoel Tel Aviv have made their home in Sofia, while Maccabi Tel Aviv&#39;s home base has been Belgrade.

Turkey’s top basketball clubs, Fenerbahce Beko and Anadolu Efes, protested EuroLeague’s decision to resume Israeli-hosted games from December 1, 2025, citing safety concerns and questioning the decision-making process after talks with EuroLeague management.


Turkish clubs protest as Israel to resume hosting Euro basketball games

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has announced a series of new measures aimed at improving energy efficiency and combating environmental crimes, signaling a stronger national commitment to sustainability and green economic growth, officials said on Wednesday.&nbsp;The National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) has introduced updated energy-saving models targeting both industrial and residential sectors. A key initiative involves the rollout of advanced insulation technology for buildings to stabilize indoor temperatures and reduce power consumption during peak summer months.&nbsp;Officials said the new approach aligns with the Energy Use Building Codes, now being implemented nationwide under federal directives. The initiative is designed to reduce Pakistan&rsquo;s reliance on imported energy and cut carbon emissions in line with global climate goals.&nbsp;Speaking at a meeting with Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan, NTDC Chairman said the modernization of Pakistan&rsquo;s energy sector was essential to sustain economic competitiveness.&nbsp;&ldquo;Improving efficiency and cutting energy costs will have a direct impact on GDP growth,&rdquo; the NTDC chairman said. &ldquo;The Engineering Development Board has been tasked with working closely with NTDC to accelerate the adoption of these initiatives.&rdquo;&nbsp;In a related development, Pakistan has also strengthened its partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to curb environmental crimes, including illegal electronic waste trade, money laundering linked to wildlife trafficking, and illicit logging.&nbsp;Officials said the enhanced cooperation with UNODC aims to improve inter-agency coordination, strengthen legal frameworks, and build capacity among law enforcement agencies to detect and prosecute offenders.

Federal Minister for Climate Change Dr. Musadik Malik met with UNODC Pakistan Country Representative Mr. Troels Vester in Islamabad. (Ministry of Climate Change)

Climate & Environment

Pakistan is advancing energy efficiency through new NTDC-led initiatives and nationwide building codes while expanding its collaboration with UNODC to prevent environmental crimes, marking a comprehensive approach to sustainability and green governance.

Pakistan advances on energy efficiency and environmental crime prevention

DAMMAM/JUBAIL: Chinese Taipei secured a 4-0 victory over Pakistan in their final Group D match of the AFC Futsal Asian Cup Indonesia 2026 qualifiers on Wednesday. The win helped them finish third in the group after earlier losses to Saudi Arabia and Iraq. From the start, Chinese Taipei pressed forward and created several chances. Pakistan struggled to contain their attacks, which mainly came down the flanks. A defensive mistake led to the opening goal in the 10th minute, giving Chinese Taipei the lead at half-time. After the break, Chinese Taipei quickly added a second goal from a set-piece. They then converted a penalty in the 26th minute to increase the margin. Pakistan&rsquo;s decision to use a power play in the 36th minute backfired when Chinese Taipei&rsquo;s goalkeeper scored from his own half into an empty net, sealing the 4-0 win. Pakistan had limited opportunities and found it difficult to break through a disciplined Chinese Taipei defence. The East Asian team controlled the game throughout and saw out the match without conceding. The match took place at Prince Nayef Sports City Hall. Chinese Taipei ended their qualifying campaign on a positive note while Pakistan will look to improve ahead of future contests.

Pakistani futsal team preparing before a match. (PFF)

The win helped them finish third in the group after earlier losses to Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Chinese Taipei beat Pakistan 4-0 in AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2026 qualifiers

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday &ldquo;strongly condemned&rdquo; the latest Israeli attacks in Gaza, terming them a &ldquo;flagrant violation&rdquo; of the Gaza Peace Agreement, and called upon the international community to take immediate and effective measures to halt the aggression. In an official statement, the Foreign Office expressed deep concern over the renewed Israeli airstrikes that have claimed numerous civilian lives in Gaza. &ldquo;Pakistan strongly condemns Israel&rsquo;s violation of the Gaza Peace Agreement and the continued targeting of civilians,&rdquo; the statement said. &ldquo;These actions constitute a serious breach of the understanding reached in Sharm El-Sheikh under the witness of the international community.&rdquo; According to Gaza&rsquo;s Government Media Office, more than 100 Palestinians have been killed and over 230 wounded since the start of the ceasefire. The office accused Israeli forces of breaching the truce more than 80 times through &ldquo;direct gunfire, bombardments, and arrests of civilians.&rdquo; The Israeli military, however, claimed its airstrikes were in response to &ldquo;a blatant violation&rdquo; of the truce following the killing of two Israeli soldiers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset that &ldquo;153 tons of bombs were dropped on Hamas positions last week,&rdquo; insisting the strikes were &ldquo;necessary defensive actions.&rdquo; Hamas denied any breach, slamming Israel for &ldquo;fabricating pretexts&rdquo; to resume hostilities. The exchange of accusations has heightened concerns over the fragile ceasefire, which had allowed thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza to find their homes destroyed. Islamabad and Expatriates of Palestine also denounced what it described as &ldquo;terrorist assaults&rdquo; by Israeli settlers against Palestinian civilians and international solidarity activists during the olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank. The Pakistan Foreign Office echoed this concern, stating: &ldquo;Such actions run contrary to the spirit of the peace agreement signed in Sharm El-Sheikh in the presence of leadership from the Muslim and Arab world, the United States, Europe, and the United Nations.&rdquo; Islamabad urged the global community to intervene decisively to ensure full implementation of the ceasefire and to prevent further loss of civilian life. &ldquo;Pakistan calls for urgent and effective international measures to end these violations and restore peace,&rdquo; the statement read. &ldquo;Pakistan reaffirms its unwavering support for the Palestinian people and calls for the establishment of an independent, sovereign, viable, and contiguous State of Palestine, based on pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.&rdquo; In related developments, Qatar&rsquo;s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday condemned Israel for repeatedly violating the ceasefire in Gaza, calling its recent strikes a &ldquo;flagrant breach&rdquo; of international law and warning that the fragile truce could collapse if such actions continue. Delivering his annual address to the Shura Council, Sheikh Tamim said the humanitarian situation in Gaza had deteriorated despite the US-brokered ceasefire that took effect on October 10. He urged the global community to &ldquo;hold Israel accountable for its actions.&rdquo; &ldquo;We reiterate our condemnation of all Israeli violations and practices in Palestine, particularly the transformation of the Gaza Strip into an area unfit for human life and the continued violation of the ceasefire,&rdquo; the emir said. Qatar, which has served as a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, has been facilitating talks in Doha to prevent renewed hostilities and secure humanitarian access to Gaza. The emir also denounced Israel&rsquo;s &ldquo;genocidal war,&rdquo; its expansion of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, and what he described as attempts to &ldquo;Judaize the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound&rdquo; in East Jerusalem. Referring to an alleged Israeli strike on a Hamas delegation in Doha, Sheikh Tamim said: &ldquo;Israel has violated all international laws and norms governing relations between states by attacking a country that acts as a mediator and by attempting to kill delegation members. We consider this aggression an act of state terrorism.&rdquo;

Islamabad slams Israeli Gaza attacks, urges global action, reaffirms support for Palestine, and calls for an independent state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as capital