Lebanon marked 76 years of self-rule Friday, with nationwide festivities by protesters taking centre stage in place of the traditional military parade to mark a first year of “real independence”. An unprecedented protest movement has gripped the small Mediterranean country since October 17, demanding the complete overhaul of politicians deemed inept and corrupt. In central Beirut, protesters organised a civil …

Social media was set ablaze with praises on Friday for a ‘Muslim hero’ who interrupted an anti-Islam rally last week to stop another man from burning a copy of the Holy Quran in Norway. A scuffle broke out after the leader of the ‘Stop Islamisation of Norway (SIAN)’ rally, Lars Thorsen, tried to burn a copy of the holy book …

ANKARA: Turkey condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran in Norway on Friday, calling on western countries to counter the rise of Islamophobia. A video started doing the rounds on the internet of an anti-Islam rally in which a man belonging to an anti-Islam organisation started burning the Holy Quran. A man jumped in and tried to save the Holy …

A US court on Thursday handed down a four-year prison term to a former American Idol contestant for conspiring to distribute drugs. Antonella Barba, 32, was convicted by US District Court in Norfolk, Virginia months after she pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute more than 400 grams of fentanyl. Barba, who had finished in the top 16 on …

WASHINGTON: The top White House spokeswoman on Thursday accused Democrats running the impeachment probe into Donald Trump of a “sick” and “rabid” desire to take down the president. “The Democrats are clearly being motivated by a sick hatred for President Trump and their rabid desire to overturn the 2016 election,” Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement as impeachment …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is the ‘most weaponised political party’ in the legislature as out of 100 lawmakers to have declared owning firearms, as many as 50 are from the party. An analysis of the statements of assets and liabilities of lawmakers for the year 2018 shows that the PPP is the only party with members possessing weapons …

ISLAMABAD: After the dramatic departure of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif to London for medical treatment, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has also initiated efforts to seek some kind of a relief for ailing former president Asif Ali Zardari who is currently undergoing treatment at Islamabad’s premier public sector hospital. Though various PPP leaders, including party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, for …

Police arrested nine more men in a case pertaining to the alleged rape and murder of a five-year-old in Kurram district’s Peewar area, District Police Officer (DPO) Rahim Shah said on Friday. Shah added that police have sent DNA samples to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency in Lahore and expressed hope that the case will be solved soon. The recent arrests bring …

WASHINGTON: The United States on Thursday warned Pakistan that it faced long-term economic damage with little return if China keeps pursuing its giant infrastructure push. The top US diplomat for South Asia said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor — heralded as a game-changer by both Asian countries — would profit only Beijing and said that the United States offered a better …

LAHORE: Unidentified persons shot dead a girl on Lahore’s Gurumangat Road in Gulberg police limits Thursday night. The victim was identified as Hira, who was to marry three days later. According to details, few armed men entered the house and took away the girl with them and shot her dead from some distance of her house. They also tortured her …