KABUL: Women television presenters on Afghanistan’s leading news channels on Sunday vowed to speak up for their rights after being forced by Taliban authorities to cover their faces on air. Since seizing power last year, the Taliban have imposed a slew of restrictions on civil society, especially on women and girls to comply with the group’s austere brand of Islam. …

WASHINGTON: Many soldiers of the former Afghan government fled to Pakistan after the fall of Kabul, says an official US report while pointing out that the fall of border crossings into Pakistan and Iran also contributed to the collapse of the former Afghan government. The office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction reported this week that in July …

ISLAMABAD: The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) has listed 12 countries of the region, including Pakistan, which are classified as countries in special situations, and are deemed more exposed to the ongoing war in Ukraine than others. A policy brief on “the War in Ukraine: Impacts, Exposure and Policy Issues in Asia and …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China on Sunday reiterated commitment to cementing bilateral relations in the fields of defence, trade, economy, investment, health, agriculture, science and technology and CPEC to the mutual benefit of the two counties. The two sides made these commitments at a meeting of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during the former’s maiden visit …

US President Joe Biden said on Monday he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan, in a series of critical comments about China he made in Tokyo that an aide said represented no change in US policy on the self-ruled island. Biden’s comment, made during his first visit to Japan since taking office, and as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida …

ISLAMABAD / HYDERABAD: The Islamabad High Court will take up a petition on Monday (today) seeking protective bail for journalist Arshad Sharif in the FIRs registered against him in several cities over the last couple of days. Through an interim order passed late on Saturday night, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had granted protective bail to Mr Sharif. Since Mr …

RAWALPINDI: Police on Sunday said they have arrested three men for their alleged involvement in the murder of a retired naval official during a robbery in Bahria Town Phase VII in April. The arrests came about after City Police Officer (CPO) Omer Saeed Malik constituted three teams ­— one led by the CIA, the second by the SP investigation and …

ISLAMABAD: Member National Assembly (MNA) Noor Alam Khan has submitted a bill to repeal the Medical Teaching Institution (MTI) Act 2021, alleging that former prime minister Imran Khan wanted to introduce American policies/system which were not feasible in Pakistan. The Act was passed during the tenure of the PTI government and has been introduced at the Pakistan Institute of Medical …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Irfan Siddiqui on Sunday appealed to Islamabad High Court (IHC) Chief Justice Justice Athar Minallah to order a judicial inquiry into his arrest, handcuffing and imprisonment in the High Security Block (HSB) cell of Adiala jail. In one of his tweets, Senator Irfan Siddiqui said: “Honorable Chief Justice, Athar Minallah Sahib! Court order regarding …

ISLAMABAD: Amid rising oil consumption and import bill owing to higher international prices, the government is examining the possibility of fuel conservation through reduced working days a week. It hopes to save an estimated annual foreign exchange of up to $2.7 billion. The estimates are based on three different scenarios in terms of working days and fuel conservation prepared by …