Foreign ministers of four European countries and Canada joined Washington on Tuesday in opposing a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to authorise nine Jewish settler outposts in the occupied West Bank. The foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the United States issued a joint statement voicing concern over the plans announced by Israel on Sunday. …

Indian tax officers searched the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai for a second day on Wednesday, two sources said, as controversy swirled over a BBC documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s role in deadly riots two decades ago. The searches resumed Wednesday morning after they went on until late in the night on Tuesday, a government source and …

NORTH WAZIRISTAN: Seven militants of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pak­­istan (TTP) were killed when cops repulsed an attack on a police van carrying three detained militants to Bannu from North Waziristan, the Cou­n­t­er­terrorism Department (CTD) said on Tuesday. The three detained militants were also among those killed in the Monday night clash, the CTD said. The CTD said its officials were …

PESHAWAR: Former provincial health minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra on Tuesday said that he had stood by his words when he had written a letter to the incumbent federal government, in which he had hinted at withdrawing from a commitment his province had made with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of the loan programme. The former finance minister …

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Mian Riaz Hussain Pirzada on Tuesday said the lynching of a man accused of blasphemy in Nankana Sahib was tragic and highly condemnable. “No one should be allowed to take law into their hands. Blasphemy laws are framed for deterrence and punishment is rigorous in such offences but the misuse of these laws can only be averted …

LAHORE: A former Lahore Development Authority (LDA) chief engineer, who previously became an approver of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a reference to the Ashiana-i-Iqbal Housing Scheme against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and others, retracted his prior statement on Tuesday. “My prior statement was made under duress,” Israr Saeed responded to PM Shahbaz’s counsel’s inquiries during the cross-examination before …

An anti-terrorism court in Peshawar on Wednesday acquitted social activist Gulalai Ismail’s parents in a case registered by the counter-terrorism department on the charges of sedition, terror financing and facilitation. Pronouncing the reserved verdict, ATC Judge Fazal Sattar declared that charges against Professor Mohammad Ismail and his wife could not be proven. Talking to Dawn.com after the judgment was issued, Prof Ismail …

LAHORE: PML-N chief organiser Maryam Nawaz has alleged that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan is making efforts to return to power “riding the judiciary”. “Imran Khan is desperate and he wants to return to power riding the judiciary. Imran again needs crutches to come to power,” Ms Nawaz said while talking to the party’s young leaders in Model Town …

LAHORE: A “consultative meeting” between Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman and officials of the Election Commission on Tuesday failed to agree on a date for elections to the Punjab Assembly, as they decided to approach the Lahore High Court for “clarification and interpretation” of its ruling pertaining to immediate elections in Punjab. The high court, which had asked ECP to consult …

Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial on Wednesday asked why the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) was consulting with the governor on dates for the Punjab Assembly elections as the court heard petitions filed by dissident PTI MPAs against their disqualification. The ECP had disqualified 25 dissident MPAs of the PTI on May 20, 2022 on the grounds that they had voted for PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz …