ROTTERDAM: A gunman dressed in combat gear and wearing a bulletproof vest went on a shooting rampage at a house and a hospital in Rotterdam on Thursday, killing a 14-year-old girl, her mother and a teacher. Dutch police said they were still investigating the motive for the twin attacks by the 32-year-old man, who also set fire to the hospital …

Pakistan and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have concluded the final round of negotiations and inked a preliminary deal on a free trade agreement (FTA) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it emerged on Friday. Pakistan and the GCC finalised the FTA on Thursday after the final round of talks was held from September 26-28, 2023 at the GCC headquarters in Riyadh, …

YEREVAN: Ethnic Armenian separatists in Nagorno-Karabakh on Thursday agreed to dissolve their government by the end of the year and become a full part of Azerbaijan in the wake of Baku’s lightning offensive. The dramatic announcement came moments after it became clear that more than half of the rebel region’s population had fled the advancing Azerbaijani forces. It drew the …

India’s foreign minister on Friday said he spoke to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about Canadian allegations on New Delhi’s possible involvement in the June killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada. Ties between the two countries have been strained after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told parliament earlier this month …

Libya’s prosecutor general has ordered the arrest of four more officials, bringing to 12 the number held as part of an inquiry into this month’s flood that killed thousands. Flooding caused by hurricane-strength Storm Daniel tore through eastern Libya on September 10, leaving at least 3,893 people dead and thousands more missing. The seaside city of Derna was the worst-hit in …

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Apex Committee, a forum of civil and military officials, has decided that the offensive against militants in the province will be expedited. “It isn’t a day’s work and instead, it is a continued exercise. It [offensive against militants] will be sped up and will continue until the menace militancy is eliminated,” caretaker information minister Feroze Jamal …

ISLAMABAD: A Senate panel on Thursday passed a bill by majority vote with some amendments for publicly hanging rapists, despite opposition from the PPP, interior and foreign affairs ministries. The bill, proposed by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed of Jamaat-i-Islami, aims to amend sections 375, 375A, and 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Schedule-II of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrCP). The Senate …

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court of Islamabad on Thursday summoned former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani in Toshakhana vehicles reference. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif is an absconder in this case, and proceedings against him will start upon his surrender. Accountability judge Mohammad Bashir resumed proceedings on this reference, along with other references, against Mr …

LAHORE: Joint investigation teams constituted to investigate the violence following PTI chief Imran Khan’s arrest in connection with a graft case in May have declared more than 900 activists, including the former prime minister and other party bigwigs, prime suspects in a dozen cases and submitted challans (charge sheets) to this effect in an anti-terrorism court on Thursday. According to Lahore police, the PTI …

Caretaker Sindh Chief Minister Justice (retd) Maqbool Baqar on Friday said he has ordered an inquiry into the killing of four villagers in Sakrand a day earlier and summoned a report on the incident within four days. On Thursday, four people were killed and nine others, including four Rangers personnel, were wounded in an operation carried out by law enforcement agencies in …