FBR Officers’ Surprise Competency Tests Spark Serious Questions Over Legality, Transparency and Credibility

NEWSBEAT · pakistanVERIFIED EDITION

Islamabad will become Pakistan's first fully cashless city by December 31, with cash payments set to be discontinued in all departments of the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) after November 30.

NEWSBEAT · pakistanVERIFIED EDITION

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) a fortnight to submit the federal government’s formal written request for local government elections in cantonment boards, warning that it would be constrained to pass appropriate orders in case of no response.

NEWSBEAT · pakistanVERIFIED EDITION

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday called for Pakistan's mineral resources to be developed alongside environmental protection, stressing that mining projects must follow international standards and use modern technology to safeguard water resources and workers' health and safety.

NEWSBEAT · pakistanVERIFIED EDITION

Pakistan on Friday announced over a dozen mineral cooperation agreements with foreign companies and countries, declaring that it would move away from exporting raw materials and unprocessed minerals as it seeks to reshape its economic and development priorities.

NEWSBEAT · businessVERIFIED EDITION

The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) surprise competency tests for officers have sparked serious questions over their legality, transparency and credibility.

NEWSBEAT · businessVERIFIED EDITION

Pakistan will offer investors clear and uniform fiscal terms for mining projects, without requiring "case-by-case" negotiations, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik said on Friday, as the government sought to attract long-term investment in the country's mineral sector.

NEWSBEAT · businessVERIFIED EDITION

Iran's Revolutionary Guards navy said a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas struck a naval mine and suffered an explosion in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday while using what they described was an "unauthorised and dangerous route", state media reported.

NEWSBEAT · businessVERIFIED EDITION

Pakistan LNG Limited (PLL) has invited international suppliers to bid for two liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes scheduled for delivery in December 2026 and January 2027 as the country prepares for higher winter gas demand.

NEWSBEAT · technologyVERIFIED EDITION

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday blamed the Commerce Department for failing to blacklist Megaspeed, the Singapore company at the centre of a scandal that prompted Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang to resign .

NEWSBEAT · technologyVERIFIED EDITION

Microsoft 365 users around the world are struggling to access Outlook, Teams, and other services as Microsoft deals with a major outage.

NEWSBEAT · technologyVERIFIED EDITION

Pakistani startups using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve people’s finances can now apply for grants of up to £250,000 under a new GSMA Innovation Fund for AI-Enabled Financial Health .

NEWSBEAT · technologyVERIFIED EDITION

The European Space Agency has released its first big collection of data from the orbiting Euclid telescope’s mission to map the universe’s large-scale structure, including observations of more than 900 million galaxies, as scientists investigate the puzzling cosmic components dark matter and dark...

NEWSBEAT · worldVERIFIED EDITION

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a nationwide ground stop for all departing flights after serious communications problems disrupted the country’s air traffic control system.

NEWSBEAT · worldVERIFIED EDITION

Russian negotiators have put forward far-reaching demands during Abu Dhabi talks to end the war in Ukraine, including Finland leaving NATO and a ban on any NATO military bases in the Baltic states, the German newspaper Bild reported on Friday.

NEWSBEAT · worldVERIFIED EDITION

The US military denied Iran's claim on Friday to have attacked a US early-warning radar in Bahrain, saying its forces had shot down two one-way attack drones launched by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps toward Bahrain with no harm ⁠caused.

NEWSBEAT · worldVERIFIED EDITION

Turkiye and Qatar signed a defence agreement on Friday that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said would further strengthen ties between the regional allies, his office said.

NEWSBEAT · sportsVERIFIED EDITION

Pakistan will host a major International Hockey Federation (FIH) event after a gap of 24 years, with the fifth edition of the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup scheduled to be held in Lahore from February 19 to 28, 2027.

NEWSBEAT · sportsVERIFIED EDITION

Matt Henry took six wickets and Will Young struck a century as New Zealand thrashed a ragged India by 244 runs in the fourth ODI at Mount Maunganui on Friday.

NEWSBEAT · sportsVERIFIED EDITION

The investigation into senior cricketers Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) is nearing completion, while the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is also set to announce new central contracts for its players, chairman Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday.

NEWSBEAT · sportsVERIFIED EDITION

Australia captain Pat Cummins has again denied any involvement in the plot to use sandpaper on the ball in a 2018 Test against South Africa, calling the allegations in Usman Khawaja’s autobiography “utter nonsense”.