TUNIS: Tunisia lurched further into political uncertainty on Wednesday, as President Kais Saied sacked more officials, days after he suspended parliament and assumed executive powers in what opponents labelled a “coup”. Key civil society groups warned against any “illegitimate” extension of Saied’s 30-day suspension of parliament, and demanded in a joint statement a timeline for political action. After suspending parliament …

BEIJING: A top-level Taliban delegation visiting China on Wednesday assured Beijing the group would not allow Afghanistan to be used as a base for plotting against another country. The delegation is in China for talks with Beijing officials, as the insurgents continue a sweeping offensive across Afghanistan — including in areas along their shared border. Their frontier is just 76 …

Pakistani badminton player Mahoor Shahzad has apologised for her comments accusing her rival players of being “jealous” of her and calling them out as “Pathans”, while clarifying that her remarks were never meant to hurt the “Pathan community”. Shahzad’s video had gone viral on social media on July 27, in which she lashed out at rival players and called them …

ISLAMABAD: Under public criticism over opting for temporary legislation, the government on Wednesday assured the Islamabad High Court that the practice of frequent promulgation of presidential ordinances was about to come to an end. During the hearing of a petition filed by a number of eminent academicians, rights activists and scholars against the promulgation of HEC Ordi­nance that reduced the term of …

ISLAMABAD: While Pakistan reported more than 4,100 cases after a gap of over two months and PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz became the latest victim of Covid-19, a record number of people i.e. 778,000 were vaccinated in a single day. Vice Chancellor of the University of Health Scien­ces Dr Javed Akram suggested that the pace of vaccination should be expedited to …

KARACHI: A key member of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s cabinet claimed on Wednesday that the people of Pakistan Peoples Party-governed Sindh wanted change, predicting alternative leadership here in the next general election for which the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf would be campaigning aggressively in every town and district of the province. The sketchy plan of the PTI for Sindh was shared by …

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar on Thursday said that closing down entire cities for weeks was not the solution to curbing the spread of the disease. Pakistan is currently experiencing a fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has seen the number of infections as well as fatalities jump up steadily across the country, but …

KARACHI: A Chinese national who had recently arrived here was shot at and wounded in a moving car by gunmen riding a motorbike in the SITE area on Wednesday where he was supposed to repair imported machinery, officials said. Another Chinese man and a local driver remained unhurt in the incident. Late in the evening Counter-Terrorism Department’s senior official Raja …

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary body on Wednesday cleared “The Islamabad Capital Prohibition of Corporal Punishment Bill 2021”, which bans aggressive behaviour with children not only in educational institutions but in workplaces as well. Senate standing Committee on Human Rights, however, made some amendments to the bill. The bill protects children against corporal punishment by any person, at workplace, in all types …

MANAMA: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi held talks with Deputy Prime Minister of Bahrain Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa here on Wednesday. During the meeting, the two sides agreed to work in close collaboration in areas of mutual interest, the foreign minister said in a Twitter posting. The foreign minister, who arrived in Bahrain on a two-day official visit …