Pakistan halts overseas payments for online gaming and other apps

Army rejects claims about Gen Bajwa, family's assets; PTI Senator arrested for tweets against military officials

Pakistan has halted payments for in-app purchases including online video games bought by local customers using airtime from telecommunications companies, the latest sign of distress caused by the country’s depleted foreign-exchange reserves.

Telecom service providers were violating regulations by allowing payments to be made for customers under an arrangement with the government that permitted the phone companies to pay for IT-related services for their own use, State Bank of Pakistan said in a statement. The regulator has stopped the transactions and had asked telecom operators to resubmit their requests.

Meanwhile, The Pakistan Army finally broke its silence on Sunday to reject reports