ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday lauded the inclusion of Karachi’s coastal development plan in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and said the move would bring the city on a par with developed port cities of the world. Calling the initiative a “game-changer”, the prime minister through his official social media account on Twitter said the coastal development project would clean …

ISLAMABAD: Traders have postponed a countrywide strike announced for Sept 27 (today) after the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) gave an undertaking that small traders would not be deprived of electricity and gas supply and mobile phone services on the application of new tax laws introduced through a recent presidential ordinance. The decision was announced at a news conference here …

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has reported fresh 110 cases of dengue fever during the past 24 hours.  According to the Khyber Teaching Hospital, as many as 879 tests were conducted to detect dengue fever over the past 24 hours. Out of 879 tests, 110 remained positive, while 769 were negative. The hospital administration said that majority of the infected persons …

BIDDU: Israeli forces clashed with Hamas militants in the West Bank on Sunday in several fierce gun battles that left five Palestinians dead and two Israelis seriously wounded, officials said. The violence started after Israeli army troops and special police units launched an overnight operation reportedly to dismantle a Hamas cell and arrest suspected militants, Israel’s army said. The raids, …

WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department has issued licenses to facilitate humanitarian aid and financial assistance to the people of Afghanistan, while upholding sanctions on the Taliban. “Treasury is committed to facilitating the flow of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan and other activities that support their basic human needs,” Andrea Gacki, director of the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign …

UNITED NATIONS: Russia, China, Pakistan and the United States are working together to ensure that Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers keep their promises, especially to form a genuinely representative government and prevent extremism from spreading, Russia’s foreign minister said on Saturday. Sergey Lavrov said the four countries are in ongoing contact. He said representatives from Russia, China and Pakistan recently travelled …

BERLIN: Germany’s Social Democrats came first by a narrow margin in Sunday’s national election, projected results showed, putting them in pole position to lead a government for the first time since 2005 and to end 16 years of conservative-led rule under Angela Merkel. The centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) were on track for 25.5 per cent of the vote, ahead of …

GENEVA: Nearly two-thirds of Swiss voters backed the government’s plan to introduce same-sex marriage in a referendum held on Sunday, with campaigners calling it a historic day for gay rights in Switzerland. With results in from 20 of the wealthy Alpine nation’s 23 cantons, 64 percent of voters backed the move, on a 52 percent turnout. Switzerland was one of …

TUNIS: About 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Tunis on Sunday under a heavy police presence to protest against Tunisian President Kais Saied’s seizure of governing powers in July and called on him to step down. Saied this week brushed aside much of the 2014 constitution, giving himself power to rule by decree two months after he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and …

LONDON: The deputy leader of Britain’s main opposition party refused on Sunday to apologise for calling the governing Conservatives “scum”. Labour Party lawmaker Angela Rayner called members of the government “a bunch of scum homophobic, racist, misogynistic (persons)” during a reception on Saturday at the party’s annual conference. The comment drew a reprimand from Labour leader Keir Starmer, who said …