JERUSALEM: Israel’s top court ruled on Thursday that a Jewish settler group legally purchased an east Jerusalem property from the Greek Orthodox Church, ending a nearly two-decade battle over the old city property. The Ateret Cohanim organisation, which seeks to “Judaise” Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, bought three buildings from the church in a controversial deal struck in secret in 2004. The …

VIENNA: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday that Iran was removing 27 surveillance cameras at its nuclear facilities, warning this could be a “fatal blow” to negotiations to revive a landmark deal. Talks began in April last year to bring the United States back to the 2015 accord, lifting sanctions, and Iran back into compliance, limiting its …

A congressional panel investigating last year’s mob assault on the US Capitol laid out its case on Thursday that Donald Trump and his claims of a stolen election were at the heart of what amounted to an “attempted coup” to remain in power. In a prime-time presentation of its findings from a year-long probe, the special committee sought to persuade a divided country of …

LAHORE: The Ministry of Energy (Power Division) has been asked to appoint one of the three officials, recommended by the Board of Director (BoD), as MD of the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) on a look-after-charge basis as a stop-gap arrangement till the appointment of the regular incumbent. The officers who have been recommended by the BoD to head …

ISLAMABAD: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) on Thursday awarded three contracts of Rs98.5 billion for construction of Phase-I of Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme — also known as K-IV — to supply 260 million gallons per day (MGD) of water to Karachi. The contract signing ceremony between Wapda and three contractors was witnessed by Minister for Water Resources …

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Health Abdul Qadir Patel on Thursday alleged that during the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government the ministry’s departments were run from the United States by a cousin of the then prime minister, Imran Khan, through social media. He hinted that a number of issues related to the health ministry may be referred to an independent …

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was convicted without any oral or documentary evidence that would substantiate his beneficial or real ownership of London’s Avenfield Apartments. This was argued by the defence counsel before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday during the hearing of Maryam Nawaz’s appeal against her conviction in the reference. The case was being heard before …

Pakistan has rejected remarks made by a spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) accusing Islamabad of “systemic persecution of religious minorities” after a Hindu temple was vandalised in Karachi. “They (perpetrators) will not escape justice and the Government will deal with them with the full force of law,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Thursday …

LAHORE: A central figure in the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) Rs16 billion money laundering case against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his son Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz has passed away in Dubai ‘under mysterious circumstances’, prompting the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to demand an independent investigation to ascertain the real cause of the person’s death as well as that …

ISLAMABAD: A day before announcement of first budget of the new coalition government, the ruling allies on Thursday expressed full confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. They expressed their confidence at a dinner hosted by PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari for all political parties in the coalition government. “The current political situation in the country was discussed. …