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Pakistani traders have staged strikes across the country against the soaring cost of living, including higher fuel and utility bills and record depreciation of the rupee against the dollar

JF-17 Thunder, supplied to Myanmar by Pakistan were declared unfit and the military junta has sent a «stern message» to Islamabad to answer for the mess, Myanmar-based Narinjara News reported citing sources. Pakistan supplied many JF-17 Thunder combat aircraft to Myanmar between 2019 and 2021 and all have been declared «unfit for operations.» The delivered planes were part of a deal that the Burmese military junta signed in 2016 to purchase JF-17 produced jointly by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex and Chengdu Aircraft Industries Corporation of China. But soon after the delivery of the aircraft, the Burmese Air Force was forced to ground the planes as malfunctions and structural flaws were detected. The failure of JF-17 appears to be shimmering tensions between Islamabad and Naypyidaw and somehow compelled China to intervene. A recent visit by Myanmar's Chinese envoy to Naypyidaw is said to have carried a message from the CCP's top leadership to Gen Min Aung Hlaing, as per Narinjara News. According to sources, Pakistan is trying hard to renegotiate the deal with newer versions of the JF-17s.

Pakistan's headline inflation persisted at 27.4 percent year-on-year in August, official data showed, as a tumbling rupee and soaring bills blamed on an IMF bailout package hampered government efforts to rein in prices. Pakistan was on the brink of default this summer, before the International Monetary Fund agreed to a lifeline deal on condition that the government cut subsidies that had cushioned living costs. Since then, the rupee has crossed an historic threshold of 300 to the dollar, whilst Islamabad has hiked petrol prices and electricity costs have spiked, sowing widespread discontent. Prices rose 1.7 percent month-on-month in August, according to government statistics released Friday, and the year-on-year figure of 27.4 percent was only one point shy of July's, signalling little relief. In August, motor fuel cost eight percent more than July, whilst water bills in urban areas rose more than 11 percent and the price of tomatoes was up as much as 82 percent. Pakistan's retailers said they will keep shops shuttered Saturday in protest over the soaring costs which have become a lightning rod for public anger ahead of forthcoming general elections.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s judicial remand in connection to the alleged disclosure of state secrets extended till September 13 by a special court on Wednesday, PTI reported.

Imran Khan's recent conviction on corruption charges, his lawyer Naeem Panjutha said, but it will not lead to his release as a judge has ordered his detention in another case. The 70-year-old former cricket hero has been at the centre of political turmoil in the crisis-ridden nuclear-armed state since his ouster in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April 2022, and his relations with Pakistan's powerful generals have deteriorated badly over the past year. Khan was imprisoned on Aug. 5 after being sentenced to three years jail for unlawfully selling state gifts during his tenure as prime minister from 2018 to 2022.

Islamabad High Court on Tuesday suspended former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan's conviction and three-year sentence in the Toshakhana corruption case. A division bench comprising Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri announced the much-anticipated reserved verdict. On Monday, the IHC reserved the verdict on Khan's plea challenging his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. A trial court in Islamabad convicted and sentenced the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman to three years in prison on August 5. The cricketer-turned-politician was sentenced on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts acquired by him and his family during his 2018-2022 tenure.

PTI, the announcement of this long-awaited verdict was made by a division bench led by Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamir Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri. IHC had kept its decision pending on Monday regarding Imran Khan's appeal contesting his conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. "Our application has been accepted, and the sentence has been suspended," Panjutha said on messaging platform X (formerly Twitter).

Indian government has appointed Geetika Srivastava, joint secretary (Indo-Pacific) in the external affairs ministry, to head the post of chargé d’affaires in the Indian high commission in Islamabad, said a report by Hindustantimes.com citing people familiar with the matter. She will be the first woman diplomat to hold this post in the Indian high commission in Islamabad.

Ukraine-Pakistan ties have gradually deepened amid the ongoing war with Russia. Islamabad started importing wheat from Kyiv earlier this year and is reportedly shipping weapons and other defence items to the war-hit nation. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba had also made a day trip to Pakistan last month - the first ministerial visit from Ukraine since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1993.

Imran Khan, his lawyer said. «God be praised,» said the lawyer, Naeem Panjutha on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, adding the charges related to the murder of a lawyer in southern city of Quetta had been dismissed by a court. Khan, who was charged for the murder in June, has been facing over 100 cases since his ouster in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April, 2022, after he fell out with the country's powerful military. A high court in Islamabad is also due on Monday to give a ruling on an appeal filed by Khan seeking to suspend his conviction in a graft case.

PTI leaders for an alleged false campaign against the state institutions. Islamabad High Court on Saturday dismissed nine bail applications of Imran Khan.

Pakistan has tried to downplay the snub from the BRICS, saying it has not yet made a formal request to join it after the bloc ignored Islamabad when it announced its major expansion in years. On August 24, The leaders of the BRICS nations decided to admit Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the new members of the grouping, sealing a long-drawn process. Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch issued the details of her weekly briefing on Friday night, a day after the bloc of developing countries added new countries. «We will examine the latest developments and make a determination about our future engagement with BRICS,» Baloch said. To a query, if Pakistan was ignored by the bloc, she said Pakistan followed BRICS' developments in its latest summit in South Africa and also noted its openness to inclusive multilateralism. «Pakistan is an ardent supporter of multilateralism and as a member of several multilateral organisations it has always played an important role in global peace and development,» she said. The spokesperson termed Pakistan as an important developing country that has made «important contributions to promote peace, solidarity and cooperation among countries of the South». «We shall continue our efforts at the international fora for fostering the spirit of international cooperation and revitalisation of inclusive multilateralism,» she said. BRICS initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has undertaken major expansion taking its members to eleven, making it more representative of the Global South. Reportedly several countries are queuing up to join the group but Pakistan may face a challenge due to the presence of India which enjoys

Pakistan's SereneAir is offering additional 10 kg baggage allowance on its flights operating from UAE to Pakistan. This special offer is valid till 30 Sept 2023 only.

ALSO READ: Pakistan in BRICS? China pushes for expansion; India stands firm against Islamabad’s inclusion PM Modi even mentioned that India fully supports the expansion of BRICS, adding, it welcomes moving forward with the consensus on BRICS. Addressing a plenary session at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, PM Modi said, “India fully supports the expansion of BRICS and welcomes move to move forward on this based on consensus." “In around two decades, BRICS has undertaken a long and magnificent journey. In this journey, we made numerous achievements," he added.

BRICS summit in South Africa later this year. The motivations behind this inclination toward BRICS are rooted in developing nations' dissatisfaction with the stringent conditions imposed by Western-dominated institutions.

Pakistan's cash-strapped national carrier has grounded 11 aircraft, including three of its Boeing 777s, due to unavailability of funds to carry out replacement of parts. An official in the Pakis-tan International Airlines (PIA) said the top management has grounded 11 planes in the last three years as there was a financial crisis prevailing in the airline and the increase in dollar rates and petroleum products had not helped the situation. The official, who didn't want to disclose his name, said that 11 out of 31 aircraft operated by the PIA on international and domestic routes were grounded at the Karachi and Islamabad airports. «The financial crisis has meant the airlines are not in a position to purchase spare parts since last year leading to the grounding of these aircraft gradually,» he disclosed. The previous government led by Shahbaz Sharif had appointed a new MD in PIA and unveiled its plans to privatise the national airline, an announcement which has been met with fierce resistance from the various unions in the airline. Some of the unions have gone on a strike and the official said this had not helped matters as well. Two of the three wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft were grounded in 2020 and one in 2021.

Eleven labourers were killed in a bomb attack in Northwestern Pakistan, caretaker prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on Sunday in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The device exploded after being attached to a truck carrying the workers to a construction project in Waziristan, near the Afghan border. "They were working at an army post that is under construction ...

Khan's life is still in danger and he can be poisoned in Attock jail, his wife Bushra Bibi has said as she demanded better prison facilities for the incarcerated former Pakistan prime minister. In her letter to the Punjab home secretary on Saturday, the 49-year-old wife of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman wrote that the court had directed the authorities concerned to shift her husband from Attock jail in Punjab to Adiala prison in Rawalpindi. «My husband has been imprisoned in Attock jail without any justification.

Reality is much more prosaic. Mr. Khan and Gen.

Reuters. Yasin Malik, the chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), had been found guilty by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in terror funding cases and was sentenced to life imprisonment on May 25, 2022. Mishaal Hussain Malik, a Pakistani national, is married to Yasin Malik who is the chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) in India.

Kakar will stay in power till the general elections are conducted and will ensure a seamless transition of power. On Thursday, Pakistan president Arif Alvi administered an oath to the caretaker Cabinet at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the presidential house. According to an official statement, 16 federal ministers and 3 advisers are part of the Cabinet.