DUBAI: US-sanctioned former Revolutionary Guards commander Vahid Haghanian was among candidates who registered on Saturday to run for election as Iran’s president after Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash, state media reported. Haghanian, a close aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters after registering that his qualifications were based on “experience from serving 45 years in the presidency and …

At least 33 Indian polling staff died on the last day of voting from heatstroke in just one state, a top election official said on Sunday, after scorching temperatures gripped swathes of the country. While there have been reports of multiple deaths from the intense heatwave — with temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in many places — the dozens of staff …

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe successfully landed on Sunday on the far side of the Moon to collect samples, state media reported — the latest leap for Beijing’s decades-old space programme. The Chang’e-6 set down in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the China National Space Administration. It marks …

LAHORE: Justice Syed Man­soor Ali Shah of the Supreme Court has called for coexistence and tolerance in society, pointing out that Pakistan is among the lowest-ranking countries when it comes to religious freedom. Justice Shah said all non-Muslim communities in Pakistan “are dear to us, and we all love them”, expressing his wish to see elevation of judges in the …

TAXILA: A court sentenced a child molester to five years in jail, besides imposing a fine of Rs50,000 on him in Fatehjang on Saturday. Additional Sessions Judge Umer Rasheed gave the verdict after the prosecution proved charges against him. Fatehjang police have registered the case on the complaint of his father under section 377 and 511 of the PPC. The …

ISLAMABAD: Wife of the Vietnamese ambassador was found at a restaurant four hours after she went missing on Saturday, police said. Police spokesman Taqi Jawad told Dawn that at around 12 noon the ambassador called the police helpline and said his wife was missing for the last an hour. Inspector General of Police Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi and other officers reached the …

LAHORE: Two key PML-N and PPP leaders on Saturday reiterated the desire to hold talks with the PTI, but lamented that the party didn’t intend to have a dialogue with political forces. Talking to the media in Lahore, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said talks with PTI could only take place if the party “apologises for its mistakes”. The …

KARACHI: A senior government official, who has recently been removed by the provincial government from the chairmanship of the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), has alleged that a “system of corruption” in the provincial anti-graft watchdog was being run by a “private person” and that he was sacked only because he refused to become part of the corrupt system. On May 31, …

TAXILA: A milkman was shot dead by armed robbers in Banni mohalla area in the limits of Taxila police station on Saturday. According to the eye witnesses, 21-year-old Habibur Rehman was going to his cattle yard after delivering milk, when three armed robbers intercepted him and tried to snatch his motorcycle and valuables. When he resisted, the robbers shot him …

GUJRAT: Rescue 1122, local administration and the forest department have successfully doused the fires that broke out in various parts of the Pabbi forest area in the last three days. Official sources said the fire first broke out near Mohri village on May 29; however, only grass and bushes were initially burnt as the rescue officials extinguished the fire without …