A magnitude 6.3 earthquake shook western Afghanistan on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, wracking the same region where more than 1,000 people were killed in tremors last week. The quake hit just after 8am with an epicentre 33 kilometres northwest of Herat city, the capital of the same-named western province, the USGS said. A magnitude 5.5 aftershock followed 20 minutes later. …

Israel pressed on Sunday with preparations for a ground offensive in Gaza, after giving Palestinians a little more time to flee northern areas it has vowed to target in response to the deadliest attack in its history. The surprise attack by Hamas killed more than 1,300 people in the attack that Israel has compared to 9/11 in the United States, sparking a massive …

RAWALPINDI: Four union councils of the garrison city have stopped screening citizens for hepatitis B and C for want of kits with the Punjab’s health facilities. The screening of citizens was launched by Local Hepatitis Elimination and Prevention (LHEAP) programme launched in Rawalpindi district by District Health Authority in collaboration with Coalition for Global Hepatitis Elimination. The aim of this …

ISLAMABAD: A woman was subjected to gang rape in a factory while armed men looted a female rider of an online delivery service, the capital police said on Saturday. The mother of a two-year-old boy was gang raped by her colleagues at a factory located in the limits of Shams Colony police station, the police said. The woman, who got …

MANSEHRA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Parliamentarians’ chairman Pervez Khattak on Saturday insisted his party would form the next government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Speaking at a public gathering in Pattan, the district headquarters of Lower Kohistan, he claimed he helped Imran Khan establish his party’s government in KP twice. Former chief minister Mahmood Khan and PTI-P Hazara division president Salah Mohammad Khan also …

GILGIT: Babusar Pass has been closed for traffic earlier than usual in the wake of snowfall, officials said on Saturday. Diamer Deputy Com­m­is­sioner Arif Ahmed told that the route has been temporarily closed and can reopen only if the weather improves and snow clears. The route is usually closed for vehicular traffic for eight months from November to June due …

LAHORE: Thousands of teachers across Punjab are resisting the caretaker government’s decision to privatise 1,000 public schools in Punjab and amend the pension regulations. By holding protests and strikes in the major cites as well as the districts, they are demanding the government revoke its decision to hand over the schools to the Muslim Hands Pakistan, a non-governmental organisation (NGO). …

KARACHI: Ending days of speculations that followed the Sindh government’s decision to hold afresh the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) 2023, interim Health Minister Dr Saad Khalid Niaz said on Saturday that the provincial government proposed Nov 19 as the date for re-conducting the exam for which aspiring candidates would not be charged any fee. “November 19 has …

ISLAMABAD: The pendency of criminal cases in the federal capital has exceeded 18,000, with a majority of the suspects going scot-free as a result of archaic laws, weak prosecution, and flawed investigation. According to court statistics, currently, 9,369 criminal cases are pending with the Sessions Division (West) of Islamabad whereas the total pendency of Sessions Division East is 8,660. The …

PESHAWAR: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday said that his party would resist any attempt of keeping it out of politics. Addressing Mufti Mehmood Conference in provincial capital, he said that they wanted to proceed towards elections and strengthen democracy in the country. Without naming anyone, he said warned those, who were trying to “fraudulently keep them …