Witches’ hats, superheroes and flashcards: Islamabad children learn English at a Halloween party
Games, stories and trick-or-treating at the Berlitz Language Institute came with new English words and a glimpse of other cultures
Top stories
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INTERNATIONAL
US midterms: The Pakistani-Americans on the ballot on Tuesday, from Texas to Connecticut
Candidates of Pakistani origin are running in at least six states, most of them for state legislatures rather than Congress
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INTERNATIONAL
Karl Bushby walks home to Hull after 28 years and 50,000km around the world: ‘Is that it, is it done?’
He left Chile in 1998 with a tent and a few hundred dollars, crossed the frozen Bering Strait and swam the Caspian and the English Channel
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INTERNATIONAL
US midterms: Trump vows to be ‘Mr Veto’ if Democrats win, as both parties make their last push
He was due to close at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. A judge was also hearing a challenge over immigration agents at polling places
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INTERNATIONAL
Russian bombs kill at least 24 people at Ukrainian school used for aid, as fighting resumes after the war’s longest truce
Rescuers and police officers are among the dead in Komyshuvakha, and people are still under the rubble. Zelensky says a second wave of bombs hit the shelter where people had taken cover
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NATIONAL
Gunmen fire on polio team and abduct four workers in KP’s Tank as national vaccination drive begins
Two more team members were taken and later freed in South Waziristan, where sources blame the terrorist group TTP
US midterms 2026
Polls open TuesdaySenate51 for control, 50 for Republicans
34Democrats
31Republicans
House218 for control
0Democrats
0Republicans
The seven Senate toss-ups
Michigan6am
Abdul El-Sayed
Mike Rogers
Texas6am
James Talarico
Ken Paxton
Maine6am
Troy Jackson
Susan Collins
Ohio5:30am
Sherrod Brown
Jon Husted
Iowa7am
Josh Turek
Ashley Hinson
Kansas6am
Adam Hamilton
Roger Marshall
Alaska10am
Mary Peltola
Dan Sullivan
Seats follow race calls by US election desks and are not official results. The Senate count starts from the 65 seats not on the ballot. Democrats include independents who sit with them. Poll-closing times are Pakistan time, Wednesday. Full results and coverage
Ask Pakistan. Get the proof.
- What did the budget change for salaried workers?
- Why did the State Bank hold the rate?
- How much have remittances risen?
Every answer from Thursday Times reporting and the official record. On WhatsApp too.
Featured
‘Come if you have the guts’: Rahul Gandhi dares Modi to open debate and says he became PM ‘because of foreign help’
The challenge answers BJP charges that he is working for foreign powers. Amit Shah says even a party youth leader would beat him
Imran Khan’s lawyer says he met him and Bushra Bibi in Adiala jail for 40 minutes, the first meeting in seven months
Barrister Salman Safdar says the session was not enough to cover all the cases, and that the couple gave him fresh instructions
US midterms: Justice Department heads to Supreme Court over California ballots a day before the vote
It wants the ballots of people it calls likely noncitizens held back. Two lower courts have refused, and officials say many on its list of 20,000 were never mailed a ballot
Four fiefdoms and a flag
Pakistan's four provinces are not an administrative map. They are four estates, kept intact by the men who profit from the distance between citizens and the state.
“He does not need you educated. He needs you to need him.”
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The Thursday Times targeted in major cyberattack by Indian hackers
An extensive security investigation uncovered a sustained Indian intrusion into the publication’s digital infrastructure. With normal operations restored, The Thursday Times says its commitment to independent journalism remains unchanged.
8 min read
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Why Pakistan doesn’t need a treaty to defend Makkah
Pakistan's commitment to defending Makkah predates the pact it just signed, and its silence on specifics isn't hesitation, it's strategy.
5 min read
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How Pakistan overtook India in global diplomacy
What does it take to go from an unanswered White House phone call to a UN Security Council seat in two years? Ask Pakistan. The Makkah Defence Pact. US-Iran mediation. An invite from Damascus. India lost Washington's favor in the same stretch.
7 min read
Why Afghanistan is called a global hub of terrorism
UN monitors, US intelligence and Russia all warn of terrorist groups operating from Afghanistan, as Pakistan becomes the country most affected by terrorism.
“Provided by the de facto authorities in conjunction with weapons permits and travel documents.”
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Through the Maldives, Pakistan stakes a claim to a bigger Indian Ocean role
A maritime security pact signed during President Muizzu’s visit gives Islamabad a foothold in waters New Delhi has long treated as its own backyard.
4 min read
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With Badr, four Muslim powers bet on building their weapons together
Signed in Doha with little fanfare, the Badr memorandum joins Turkish factories, Qatari capital, Pakistani scale and an Indonesian market. Read as industrial policy rather than a pact, it may matter more than it looks.
7 min read
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Inside the Makkah alliance: DG ISPR on expansion, legal basis and the Muslim world’s test
DG ISPR Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry details the Makkah alliance's secretariat, its Article 51 legal basis, and a maritime coalition spanning Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, in an interview with Independent Arabia.
2 min read
Words by
Dr Muhammad Bux Dharejo
Sehat Dehleez is Balochistan’s healthcare breakthrough
Free consultations, e-prescriptions, referrals and family health records on one public platform: Balochistan has built a model the rest of Pakistan can learn from.
Words by
Abdullah Esquire
Rethinking Musharraf
I grew up in a PML-N house where the general was the villain of every story. Fifteen years on, I've stopped believing it.
Words by
Raza Butt
Fazl’s quarrel with the establishment: principle, or political exclusion?
He spent a career negotiating at the table of power. Now, locked out of the room, Maulana Fazlur Rehman has begun to sound like the man he helped remove.
Words by
Raza Butt
The politics of collective security
The strongest defence of the Haramain would be one that keeps the turbulence of the region far from their gates. That is more than deterrence; it is stewardship of a trust larger than any single state.
Pakistan in Numbers
The prices and figures behind your bills and savings, kept up to date.
See all the numbers- InflationHow fast prices are rising, over a year10.3%Down from 11.1%Sep 2026
- PetrolPrice of a litreRs 377.91No change31 Oct 2026
- Foreign reservesDollars the State Bank holds$21.52bnUp from $21.49bn23 Oct 2026
- Dollar rateRupees for one US dollarRs 276.66Down from Rs 276.702 Nov 2026
- Stock marketThe KSE-100 index166,564Up from 166,4092 Nov 2026
- Load-sheddingPower shortfall, as reported4,000 MWUp from 3,600 MW6 Oct 2026
How Pakistan lives.
HEALTH Need blood in a hurry? Punjab’s government hospitals are getting QR emergency buttons that connect you to help
From Shah Alam Market to all-black menswear: what stood out at LAAM Fashion Week’s second season
Is your tikka spot allowed to stay open? What Lahore’s smog rules mean for the city’s barbecue
Going to Murree this winter? Here’s what the new safety plan means for you, from 19 help centres to fixed hotel prices
Westline
How markets and wars dictate society.
Read Westline
The backlog Britain built
Ministers of both parties have spent a decade blaming the people in the queue. The numbers point at the people running it.
Abdullah Esquire
The Tories edge past Reform, but credibility is the real fight
Abdullah Esquire
Trump’s infatuation with Munir is a love letter to charisma
The Editorial Desk
Every Starmer stumble brings Kemi closer
TT Monitoring Desk
Hormuz crisis has drained nearly a billion barrels from world oil stocks, ADNOC chief says, as shipping hits 30% of a barrel’s cost
“The world has eroded its supply buffers,” Sultan Al Jaber tells the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi, with diesel stocks at a 35-year seasonal low in some markets
AI now ‘mostly smarter’ than top scientists, Sam Altman tells ADIPEC as ADNOC signs OpenAI deal
OpenAI chief says there must be “no room for debate” over human control, and names energy as the one challenge he faces today
Binance freezes assets after $6.3 billion breach in what may be biggest crypto heist ever
The exchange suspended deposits and withdrawals and says it will cover all losses, as an analytics firm blames North Korea’s TraderTraitor unit and bitcoin slides to a six-week low.
Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi ballistic missile after strikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa port, as Houthis threaten Aramco
Civil defence alerts were issued and lifted across southern Saudi cities, while Houthi media say seven people were wounded in coalition strikes in Hodeidah province.
Huge fire at Dammam industrial complex after reported Yemeni strike, Iranian state media says
Saudi authorities have not commented on the claim about a strike in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province.
Saudi Arabia downs Houthi drone aimed at Makkah region as Pakistan condemns attacks at UN
The Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed a Houthi drone heading for the Makkah region and a cruise missile aimed at western Saudi Arabia, as Pakistan told the UN it stands in complete solidarity with the kingdom.
Gunmen fire on polio team and abduct four workers in KP’s Tank as national vaccination drive begins
Two more team members were taken and later freed in South Waziristan, where sources blame the terrorist group TTP
Pakistan cuts petrol by Rs3.40 and diesel by Rs7.76 a litre from Tuesday as oil falls 6%
Petrol drops to Rs374.51 and diesel to Rs395.20, the regulator says, hours after the minister announced a Rs15 billion a month burden on refineries
Field Marshal Munir and China’s Liu Haixing vow to strengthen ‘all-weather’ partnership at GHQ talks on regional security
The senior Communist Party official also met Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, who sent greetings to President Xi Jinping
Asim Munir and Maldives’ Muizzu agree to deepen defence cooperation
The army chief met the Maldivian president in Islamabad on the second day of the first visit by a Maldivian head of state in 11 years, as the two countries signed a defence and maritime security pact.
Makkah defence pact text shows a ten-year lock-in and a Pakistani first in line to run its secretariat
The 16-article agreement between Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia treats an attack on one as an attack on all, bars withdrawal for a decade and gives Pakistan the first turn as secretary-general.
Türkiye plans parliamentary mandate to deploy military personnel to Saudi Arabia
An AK Party lawmaker told Reuters the request would follow ratification of the Makkah defence pact, which Ankara sent to parliament on Tuesday. There has been no official confirmation from Ankara, Riyadh or Islamabad.
Quetta’s Abida Batool becomes first Pakistani woman to win a WIBA world boxing title
The 26-year-old took the vacant atomweight belt in Thailand on the judges’ scorecards after a headbutt left her with a fractured nose
Chinese state TV keeps Real Madrid off air despite Mbappe’s apology for Mao joke as La Liga blackout continues
CCTV did not show Real’s 3-0 win at Racing Santander, and it is unclear whether talks to end the dispute have begun.
Kimi Antonelli becomes Formula One’s youngest world champion at 20 as Verstappen wins dramatic Mexico City Grand Prix
The Mercedes driver breaks Sebastian Vettel’s record and becomes Italy’s first champion since 1953 after finishing third in a red-flagged race.
From the paper’s own studio
Campaigns, films, adverts and launches, made in-house by the people who make the paper. Brands, causes and institutions can hire the same team.
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The names and the hits
The people who have written for The Thursday Times, and the stories readers came for most.
Written for The Thursday Times
Reham KhanBroadcaster, formerly of the BBCCelebrity sufferings
Mohammad Ishaq DarDeputy Prime Minister and Foreign MinisterPurchasing power is being squeezed from the common man
Mian Javed LatifPML-N member of the National Assemblyعمران خان کا ایجنڈا
Absar AlamFormer PEMRA chairmanجنرل باجوہ کا بیٹا اور میرا بیٹا
Hina Parvez ButtPML-N, Punjab Assemblyلوٹ کے بدھو گھر کو آ رہے ہیں
Ahmad JawadFormer PTI information secretaryقیامت سے قیامت تک
Ammar MasoodChief editor, WE Newsاک نئی قرداد پاکستان
Hammad HassanColumnist, Jangثاقب نثار کے جرائم
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- TORQUEPlanning a motorway trip? Here’s how to get your M-Tag, and what happens if you don’t
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