ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib on Friday said the government had so far disbursed soft loans amounting to Rs17 billion among over 14,000 young entrepreneurs under the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme (YES) of Kamyab Jawan Programme (KJP). Addressing the second batch of KJP’s National Youth Council (NYC), Mr Habib said the prime minister’s Kamyab Jawan Programme had marked …

WASHINGTON — Five low-vaccinated clusters — including two in Texas — could put the entire country at risk for spreading new variants of COVID-19, according to a new analysis out of Georgetown University. The areas with concentrations of unvaccinated residents 12 and older encompass Texas’ western Panhandle and eastern Piney Woods regions — and are a major cause for concern …

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said Friday that he expected the Legislature to approve an elections bill in short order, with the Senate passing its version of the controversial legislation next week. Patrick defended what he called Republican efforts to secure Texas elections, saying that critics of the legislation were distorting the issue. He insisted that most Texans agreed with GOP …

Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t at CPAC in Dallas this weekend, but his dad was working the crowd Friday at the Hilton Anatole, shaking hands outside the main ballroom. “You’re our local celebrity!” one woman told Rafael Cruz, an 82-year-old pastor. Cruz told  that he was at the Conservative Political Action Conference to network with fellow conservatives “and make them understand …

Developer William Lewald “Bill” Hutchinson, who was arrested this week on a charge of sexually assaulting a teenager in Highland Park, now faces criminal charges in California as well as a lawsuit in Dallas County related to allegations of sexual misconduct. A warrant has been issued in Orange County, Calif., for the arrest of the 63-year-old, who is accused of …

Calling the president who ousted his dad a “dolt” whose aides reward him with ice cream when he doesn’t fumble his lines, Donald Trump Jr. whipped activists into an anti-Joe Biden frenzy on Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas. He trolled Biden’s son Hunter Biden, an admitted cocaine addict, as a “total piece of garbage.” And he …

Texas lawmakers are acting fast to get an additional pension check to the state’s 440,000 retired teachers. Just two days into the special session, committees in the Texas House and Senate both advanced legislation to provide a one-time additional payment, called by teachers and lawmakers as a “13th check,” of up to $2,400 to retirees no later than January 2022. …

po Cedar Hill police are asking for the public’s help finding a missing man who has autism. An endangered missing persons alert has been issued for Khoryn Williams, 21, who left his home in the 200 block of Patton Drive about 5:30 a.m. Friday. Williams is described as Black, 5-6 and about 180 pounds, with brown eyes, black hair and …

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is ordering Plano-based Allied BioScience to cease all distribution of its SurfaceWise2 product, an antimicrobial surface coating the government previously authorized for emergency use as a COVID-19 germ killer. The order came from an investigation that followed Oklahoma’s request to revoke the product’s emergency authorization on the grounds that the emergency situation was no longer …

AUSTIN — Senate Democrats offered up their own elections overhaul legislation Friday that aims to make voting more accessible, a counter to the GOP’s priority bills that they say would suppress votes, especially those of Black and Latino Texans. Named for Barbara Jordan, the state’s first Black female senator, the Democrats’ bill would usher in online and same-day voter registration, allow all …