WASHINGTON: Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday debunked conspiracy theories promoted by right-wing supporters of former President Donald Trump, saying there was no evidence that leftist extremists disguised themselves as Trump supporters to storm the US Capitol. In testimony to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Wray also told lawmakers that the Federal Bureau of Investigation views the …

ISLAMABAD: The government on Tuesday announced the Afghan refugees whose ‘Proof of Registration’ (PoR) cards had expired in 2015 would be given new smart cards after verification this year. The Chief Commissione­rate for Afghan Refugees in the Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (Safron) and the National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra), with the support of the United Nations High …

GUSAU: Hundreds of girls who were kidnapped from a boarding school in northwestern Nigeria last week have been freed, the local governor said on Tuesday. President Muhammadu Buhari expressed “overwhelming joy” at their release and called on the security forces to hunt down their abductors, after Nigeria reeled from its fourth mass abduction in less than three months. “I am …

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday underscored the “vitality and depth” of Pak-China bilateral ties and said that “strategic and political cooperation” between the two countries had gone from strength to strength. He was speaking at a virtual ceremony held to launch commemorative ceremonies for the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Pak-China diplomatic ties. Chinese foreign minister …

WASHINGTON: The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on seven senior Russians as it said its intelligence concluded that Moscow was behind the poisoning of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. In action coordinated with the EU, the United States renewed demands that Russia free Navalny, who was arrested in January upon his return to Moscow as he spurred massive rallies …

KEREM SHALOM: Israel intends to develop a “special security arrangement” with its new Arab allies, who share common concerns about Iran, Defence Minister Ben­ny Gantz said on Tuesday. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain established formal relations with Israel last year. As part of their US-backed rapprochement, Israel and the UAE have proposed defence and military cooperation. The UAE’s first …

ISLAMABAD: The capital police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested two persons involved in two separate murder cases reported in 1994 and 2003. A deputy director of the CDA was gunned down on Feb 17, 1994, near his house in G-6/4 while a student of Quaid-i-Azam University was killed over a hostel room dispute on Feb 23, 2003. The police …

Outrage rippled through Afghanistan on Wednesday as funerals were held for three female media workers gunned down in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the latest assassinations to rack the war-weary country. Journalists, activists and judges have recently been ambushed by gunmen or killed by explosives attached to their vehicles as surging violence forces many into hiding — with some leaving Afghanistan. The …

QUETTA: Balochistan Nat­­ional Party-Mengal (BNP-M) president Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has claimed that the opposition alliance will give surprise to the BAP-led coalition government in the province. He said he had doubts about the victory of the ruling parties in the Senate election. He was speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in which former senator Nasima Ehsan Shah announced …

ISLAMABAD: About 850 union council polio officers, whose contracts expired on Feb 28, continued their protest outside the office of the World Health Organisation (WHO) here on Tuesday. During negotiations, WHO country director Dr Palitha Mahipala refused to give assurance that the officers would be rehired. These officers had been hired by the WHO to manage anti-polio drives at the …