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US President Donald Trump met with Field Marshal Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Syed Asim Munir in the White House’s Cabinet Room on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, President Trump was asked whether the discussions included the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict.

In response, he said: “They [Pakistan] know Iran very well, better than most, and they’re not happy about anything. It’s not that they’re bad with Israel. They know them both, actually, but they know Iran better. He [Field Marshal Munir] agreed with me.”

President Trump also thanked Field Marshal Asim Munir for not going to war with India, and expressed similar gratitude to Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, whom he said had met with him “a few days ago.”

“These two very smart people decided not to keep going with a war that could have been a nuclear war. Pakistan and India are two big nuclear powers,” he added.

President Trump also reveal that the US is working on a trade deal with Islamabad and New Delhi.

Field Marshal Asim Munir has become the first serving Chief of Army Staff (COAS) to hold a one-on-one meeting with a sitting US president. It also marks the first time a serving Pakistani army chief, without holding political office or ruling under martial law, has been formally received at this level.

Meanwhile, just hours after Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri stated in a video message that Prime Minister Modi had a 35-minute phone call with the U.S. president, during which Modi reportedly said the US had no role in mediating between Pakistan and India, President Trump dismissed the claim.

Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn later that day, Trump asserted that it was, in fact, he who had stopped the war.

He said, “Well, I stopped a war … I love Pakistan. I think Modi is a fantastic man. I spoke to him last night. We’re going to make a trade deal with Modi of India. But I stopped the war between Pakistan and India.”

After almost 10 years of operations, ride-hailing app Careem is shutting down its services in Pakistan in July this year but has said that it will stick around in a “different role.”

Mudassir Sheikha, co-founder and CEO of Careem, took to LinkedIn to post about “a new chapter” for the company. 

“It is with a heavy heart that I share this update: Careem will suspend its ride-hailing service in Pakistan on July 18,” Sheikha said, adding that it was “an incredibly difficult decision.”

“The challenging macroeconomic reality, intensifying competition, and global capital allocation made it hard to justify the investment levels required to deliver a safe and dependable service in the country.

“In the end, the Careem Rides team had to make this tough call,” he wrote.

He referred to the ride suspension as “the end of an ironic chapter — one built with purpose, grit and a ton of relentless hustle”.

Sheikha pointed out several remarkable accomplishments of Careem while functioning in Pakistan, such as providing safe rides on demand, allowing women to travel with strangers, and promoting the use of smartphones and digital payments in daily life.

He praised his team for creating a service that millions of people in Pakistan depend on “to move and earn”.  

Sheikha mentioned that while ride-hailing is finishing, Careem’s presence in Pakistan will persist in a new capacity.

“Careem Technologies (the spinout building the Everything App) will continue to build from Pakistan for the region.”

Sheikha mentioned that around 400 Careem employees from various departments, including engineering, are working on developing the Everything App and its range of services (food and grocery delivery, payments, etc.).

Careem officially entered the Pakistani market in October 2015, providing a website, an app, and a helpline for customers to request rides. It currently operates in 12 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Turkiye and Pakistan.

An explosion on the railway track in Jacobabad has derailed five coaches of the Jaffar Express.

According to Railways Police, five coaches of the train derailed following the explosion near Jacobabad’s vegetable market.

No casualties have so far been reported, police said, adding that operations had however been suspended since after the explosion.

Jacobabad Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Saddam Hussein Khaskhaili said that bomb disposal squad was determining the nature of the explosion and an investigation into the incident was underway.

It merits a mention that while the nature of the explosion remained unknown by the time this report was filed, the incident comes months after armed men attacked Jaffar Express in Balochistan.

In March 2025, a group of terrorists launched an attack on a train en route to Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), from Quetta, the capital of Balochistan, carrying over 400 passengers. Following the assault, the terrorists took passengers hostage.

In a statement, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that intelligence reports have unequivocally confirmed that the attack was orchestrated and directed by terrorist ringleaders operating from Afghanistan, who remained in direct communication with the attackers throughout the incident.

Director General (DG) ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, while speaking to a private media channel minutes after the completion of the rescue operation, claimed that security forces had eliminated all 33 Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) terrorists who had hijacked the Jaffar Express. However, 21 passengers were martyred by the terrorists before the clearance operation commenced, he said.

The military’s media wing spokesperson detailed that the army, air force, Frontier Corps (FC), and Special Services Group had participated in the operation and successfully recovered the hostages.