LONDON: Britain’s Conservative government is expected to present on Tuesday (today) a new bill providing for the detention and swift deportation of asylum seekers who illegally enter the country via small boats, according to media reports. Despite Brexit-related promises to tighten control of its borders, Britain has seen a considerable uptick in such arrivals, logging a record 45,000 last year, …

Global progress on women’s rights is “vanishing before our eyes,” UN boss Antonio Guterres warned on Monday, saying the increasingly distant goal of gender equality will take another three centuries to achieve. “Gender equality is growing more distant. On the current track, UN Women puts it 300 years away,” the United Nations secretary-general said in a General Assembly speech ahead …

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on PTI chairman Imran Khan’s plea seeking the cancellation of non-bailable arrest warrants issued last week by a district and sessions court in the Toshakhana reference over his persistent absences. Earlier, IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq — who is hearing the case — had given Imran’s legal team 30 minutes …

The United States should change its “distorted” attitude towards China or “conflict and confrontation” will follow, China’s foreign minister said on Tuesday, while defending its stance on the war in Ukraine and defending its close ties with Russia. The US had been engaging in suppression and containment of China rather than engaging in fair, rule-based competition, Foreign Minister Qin Gang …

ISLAMABAD: A Lahore-based lawyer, who recently moved a reference against a Supreme Court judge, on Monday regretted that the judge concerned was not only heading a bench but also included in a bench presided over by the chief justice of Pakistan instead of facing the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) proceedings. In a two-page letter to CJP Umar Ata Bandial, Advocate Mian Dawood …

KYIV: Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin said his representative had been denied access to the headquarters of Russia’s military command in Ukraine on Mon­day, in a further deepening of his rift with the defence establishment. Prigozhin said the incident came the day after he urgently requested ammunition supplies from the commander of what Russia calls its “Special Military Operation” (SMO). …

ISLAMABAD: The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the federal cabinet on Monday approved the Haj Package 2023 with an increase of 56pc in cost, while around 89,605 Haj seats will be pitched for a sponsorship scheme that may help to shave off $445 million in foreign exchange requirement for the exercise. The ECC meeting, which was presided over by Finance …

JOHANNESBURG: South Africa’s new white-ball coach Rob Walter unveiled his first squads on Monday with Aiden Markram named as the new T20 captain but there was no place for former skipper, Faf du Plessis. Although Walter had talks with Du Plessis, no agreement was reached for the ODI and T20 Inter­national series against the West Indies this month. Cricket South …

LIVERPOOL: The balance of power had supposedly shifted from Liverpool to Manchester United with the arch-rivals heading in opposite directions, but that theory was blown to bits on Sunday. Liverpool have had bragging rights over United pretty much since Juergen Klopp walked into Anfield in 2015, winning the Premier League, Champions League, both domestic cups and more. But this season …

KARACHI: It’s time for the agriculture sector to move away from subsidies to achieve higher productivity through “demand-driven” business models. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Pakistan Agricultural Coalition (PAC) Strategy Adviser Kazim Saeed said the investment in the agriculture sector should purely be on a commercial basis. Sponsored by the country’s leading business groups for developing commercially scalable …