Democrat Raphael Warnock won one of Georgia’s two senate runoffs on Wednesday, becoming the first Black senator in his state’s history and putting the senate majority within the Democrats’ reach. A pastor who spent the past 15 years leading the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler. It was a stinging rebuke of …

Criticism of India’s approval of a local Covid-19 vaccine without proof of its efficacy grew on Wednesday after news that a regulatory panel approved the shot just one day after asking the vaccine maker for more evidence it would work. The recommendations of the Indian drug regulator’s Subject Expert Committee (SEC) released on Tuesday show that the panel asked Bharat Biotech International …

CHARSADDA: Awami Na­tional Party MPA Sha­keel Bashir Khan Umarzai narrowly escaped an am­­b­ush, but his police guard Constable Shehen­shah was killed in the attack on their cavalcade on Ghani Khan road on Tuesday night. According to police, MPA Shakeel Bashir and his brother Afzal Bashir were passing through the Ghani Khan road when their cavalcade was attacked. As a res­u­­­lt …

ISLAMABAD: An ASI was dismissed from police service after he failed to satisfy his seniors about his act of firing a warning shot on the ground when a man resisted body search, sources. The sources in the police said the ASI was stationed at the Industrial Area police station. On Jan 3, he intercepted a car in I-10/3 and asked …

ISLAMABAD: After four years, the city managers on Tuesday restored the only sewage treatment plant (STP) of the city to put it into use for horticulture purposes. The plant was established in 2009 in I-9 at a whopping cost of Rs2.72 billion but later the facility lost its utility due to negligence of the Capital Development Authority (CDA). After remaining …

KARACHI: Amid growing criticism over National Census 2017 mainly by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday asked the party to review its strategy of supporting the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in the centre and think more about its voters in Karachi, which were “deprived of their rights by the federal government.” He …

ISLAMABAD: The absence of a permanent law secretary came to the attention of the Supreme Court on Tuesday when it wondered why the federal law department was not being streamlined. “We note that there is no permanent secretary law and the government should appoint a proper law secretary with career posting forthwith instead of pursuing ad hocism,” ordered Chief Justice …

rya LAHORE: PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz says the Broadsheet case has vindicated former premier Nawaz Sharif. The Broadsheet, the asset-recovery company that was engaged by Gen Musharraf some 20 years ago to investigate the offshore property of Nawaz Sharif, ended up asking the Sharif family for assistance in its desperate bid to secure the outstanding funds owed to the firm …

TAXILA: A Nagar Kirtan was held on Tuesday at the Gurdwara Punja Sahib in Hassanabdal to mark the 354th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh — the 10th spiritual Sikh master — amid strict observance of Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs). A Nagar Kirtan is a Sikh custom involving singing of hymns. A large number of Sikhs from across the …

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet on Tuesday approved the procurement of the anti-Covid-19 vaccine by relaxing the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. There will be no need to fulfil the tender requirement to procure the vaccine, which will be procured from any of the six companies registered with the Ministry of National Health Services (NHS). The cabinet also expressed its …