PARIS: French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Friday proposed a ban on Muslim headscarves in all public places, seeking to build on a record recent poll putting her almost neck-and-neck with President Emmanuel Macron. The hijab policy, which would be contested in court and would almost certainly be ruled unconstitutional, saw the 52-year-old return to a familiar campaign theme …

ROME: Italy on Friday revoked approval for arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates over the conflict in Yemen, making permanent an 18-month temporary suspension. “Today I am announcing that the government has revoked the authorisations underway for the export of missiles and aircraft bombs to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” Foreign Minister Luigi Di …

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations chief has called for global rules to regulate powerful social media companies like Twitter and Facebook. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he believes it shouldn’t be a company that has the power to decide whether, for example, then president Donald Trumps Twitter account should be closed, as a questioner asked. Rather, he said, a mechanism …

Indian farmers began a one-day hunger strike on Saturday in protest against new agricultural laws after a week of clashes with authorities that left one dead and hundreds injured. Angry at what they see as laws benefiting large private buyers at the expense of producers, tens of thousands of farmers have been camped at protest sites on the outskirts of …

WUHAN: Experts from the World Health Organisation visited a Wuhan hospital on Friday as the fieldwork began in a closely watched coronavirus origins probe that will take in a food market presumed to be “ground zero” of the pandemic. The WHO investigation has been hobbled by delays, and there are fears over access and the strength of evidence a year …

LAHORE: The issue of government’s failure to spend Covid-19 funds reverberated in the Punjab Assembly, when Rabia Nusrat raised it and provincial minister for finance Hashim Jawan Bakhat told the House that the Punjab government was looking at ways to spend it. The minister told the House that Rs1.16 billion had been collected in the fund and the money was …

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has reversed its last week’s decision to refer a case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) about a housing society launched by Punjab senior minister Aleem Khan. The decision came after meetings with the National Assembly speaker on Thursday and in the wake of a ‘stay’ order given by the Supreme Court against the …

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) has decided to extend the ongoing Covid-19-hit academic session till July instead of March with new classes to commence from Aug 2. Through a notification dated Jan 28, the FDE has intimated its 423 educational institutions about the change in the academic calendar. The notification said the summer break this year would start …

RAWALPINDI: While the number of active cases and hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients has significantly dropped in the district, the chief of Rawalpindi Medical University (RMU) and its allied hospitals foresees a surge in cases once universities and other educational institutions open next week. Talking  RMU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mohammad Umer said: “Though the surge will be mild, there is …

ISLAMABAD: An accused in Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) corruption reference has turned approver against the programme’s former chairperson Farzana Raja. The accused Salman Khalid filed an application with the accountability court seeking instruction to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman for giving him pardon on account of his consent to become approver in this case against the other accused. The …