LONDON: Ethnic minorities in Britain are paying with their lives after years of government neglect left them uniquely vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report on Tuesday by a racial justice campaigner whose son was murdered in a hate crime. Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people are more likely to suffer from obesity, heart disease and diabetes. …

KHOST: An hours-long attack on a base of Afghan police special force involving car bombs and an intense firefight killed five policemen and wounded dozens of people, officials said on Tuesday, as violence continued to surge in the war-weary country. Three suicide bombers detonated their explosives-laden vehicles targeting the base in Khost near the Pakistan border, Khost police chief Ghulam …

LONDON: Antibodies against the novel coronavirus declined rapidly in the British population during the summer, a study found on Tuesday, suggesting protection after infection may not be long lasting and raising the prospect of waning immunity in the community. Scientists at Imperial College London have tracked antibody levels in the British population following the first wave of Covid-19 infections in March and …

DHAKA: Tens of thousands of protesters marched through the Bangladesh capital on Tuesday in the biggest anti-France rally since President Emmanuel Macron defended publication of sketches depicting Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Muslims across the world have reacted furiously to Macron’s defence of the right to mock religion following the murder of a French schoolteacher who had shown his …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday repeated its fears about regional strategic stability being disturbed by the advanced military hardware and technologies shared with India by the West as Washington signed a major pact with Delhi allowing sharing of top-secret satellite data. The agreement called Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) was signed at the third edition of India-US 2+2 talks held in Delhi. …

KARACHI: Saudi Arabia plans to cancel a foreign worker sponsorship system, known as kafala, and replace it with a new form of contract between employers and employees, a Reuters report said on Tuesday. Quoting Maaal, the Arabic language online economic newspaper, the report said that the kafala system — that generally binds an expatriate worker to one employer — had been in place for …

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday appreciated Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “concrete” stance on rising Islamophobia in a call with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu. In their wide-ranging telephonic discussion, the two foreign ministers talked about bilateral relations and matters of mutual interest, according to a statement from the Foreign Office. Qureshi offered felicitations to Cavusoglu on Turkey’s 97th Republic …

Top Turkish officials condemned a caricature scorning President Tayyip Erdogan in the French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, calling it a “disgusting effort” to “spread its cultural racism and hatred”. Turkish anger at the caricature added fuel to a row between Turkey and France about blasphemous sketches of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which flared after a …

ISLAMABAD: The law ministry will establish 30 accountability courts across the country in the first phase as Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved phase-wise establishment of 120 such courts to expedite disposal of corruption references. Pursuant to the Supreme Court’s orders dated July 8 and Oct 21, Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Farogh Naseem briefed the prime minister on establishment of …

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) said on Tuesday that it was necessary to introduce a uniform syllabus for the Medical and Dental College Admission Test (MDCAT) to provide a level playing field to students across the country. In a statement, the ministry also said that students who are not sufficiently equipped with the requisite knowledge to pursue …