MAKKAH: Saudi authorities have arrested and fined nearly 300 people caught trying to perform Haj without permits, an official said on Monday, as the kingdom prepares to receive one million people for the annual pilgrimage. Some 288 “citizens and residents were arrested for violating Haj regulations,” Lieutenant General Mohammed al-Basami, head of Haj security, told a press conference broadcast on …

Iran has been holding a Belgian man for the past four months under “espionage” charges, Belgium’s justice minister said Tuesday, as his country weighed a controversial prisoner swap treaty with Tehran. The man was seized in Iran on February 24 and has been in “illegal” detention since, the minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, told Belgian MPs without identifying him. Belgium last …

Rain-swollen rivers spilled mud-brown waters across swathes of Sydney on Tuesday, swamping homes and roads while forcing thousands to flee. Emergency services have now instructed about 50,000 people to evacuate or to prepare to escape the rising waters in New South Wales, officials said. Emergency workers carried out 22 flood rescues in Sydney overnight, they said, with the support of 100 army …

Police arrested a suspect on Monday after a mass shooting left six dead at a US Independence Day parade in a wealthy Chicago suburb, casting a dark shadow over the country’s most patriotic holiday. Robert Crimo, 22, was identified as a “person of interest” and became the target of a massive manhunt across the town of Highland Park in Illinois, where a …

LAHORE: US Special Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs Dilawar Syed says his country is keen to enhance bilateral trade with Pakistan besides tapping the investment opportunities in different sectors like textile, renewable energy and agriculture. “I am confident to say that a huge investment in textile sector is expected. And after availing tremendous trade opportunities from the US, Pakistani …

KARACHI: Amid an abrupt boycott of the proceedings by the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, the Sindh Assembly on Monday was told that the province, particularly Karachi, was facing a worst electricity crisis, only due to the ‘incompetence’ of the previous government as well as flaws in the transmission and distribution system of K-Electric. The issue of prolonged power cuts and unannounced …

KARACHI: While sharing the details of investigations into the Karachi University suicide bombing with a visiting Chinese delegation, the Sindh police chief on Monday disclosed that an “important suspect” had been taken into custody. In April, a suicide bomber blew herself up outside KU’s Confucius Institute killing three Chinese teachers and their local driver. On Monday, a 13-member Chinese delegation, led by …

ISLAMABAD: As electioneering picks up steam ahead of by-polls in at least 20 constituencies of Punjab slated to be held on July 17, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has decided to go on a rally spree across the province wherein he would address dozens of public gatherings, including four in Lahore, from July 7-15. According to the schedule issued …

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court Bar Association (IHCBA) President Shuaib Shaheen on Monday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) challenging the recent amendments to the accountability law concerning the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The petition was opposed by the elected representatives of the IHCBA, including the vice president, secretary and finance secretary, who distanced themselves from the petition while calling …

ISLAMABAD: Keeping in view the prevailing situation in the country, the government has planned to expand the scope of the social safety net Benazir Income Support Prog­ram­me (BISP) and increase the number of beneficiaries to 10 million, said Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare Shazia Marri. The minister said that at present, eight million people were enrolled as …