ADDISABABA: Ethiopia’s state-appointed rights watchdog accused a Tigrayan youth group on Tuesday of killing hundreds of civilians as federal and local forces both claimed advances in a three-week war in the country’s mountainous north. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government said enemy soldiers were surrendering as it advanced towards the regional capital, but the Tigrayans reported they were resisting and had …

India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party has approved legislation in the country’s most populous state that lays out a prison term of up to 10 years for anyone found guilty of using marriage to force someone to change religion. The decree for the state of Uttar Pradesh was passed on Tuesday and follows a campaign by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s …

BANGKOK: Thai police on Tuesday summoned seven leaders of anti-government protests to face charges of insulting the monarchy, a day before a planned demonstration to demand that the king give up control of the royal fortune, a police source and a rights group said. It will be the first time such charges have been brought under so-called lese majeste laws …

KARACHI: Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the chief of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and of his own faction of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), on Tuesday met former president Asif Ali Zardari and discussed “recent political situation” with him, said a brief statement issued by Bilawal House. It said the two leaders held a brief meeting where the current political situation and …

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared on Tuesday that federal Aviation Secretary Hasan Nasir Jami is unlawfully working as acting director general (DG) of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and directed the government to fill the vacant post of CAA DG till Dec 8. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah was conducting a combined hearing of identical petitions seeking appointment …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has described absence of local government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as brazen disregard of law, regretting that neither the KP chief minister nor his cabinet members were abiding by the KP Local Government Act 2013 and the Constitution. To abide by the Constitution and the law was “not optional but obligatory”, declared the apex court in …

To mark the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence this year, the European Union Delegation to Pakistan is launching an online interactive campaign. The campaign #PakistaniSHEro encourages audience to send in pictures and text of women or men they believe are their heroes, who in a positive way have been able to claim space for women in Pakistan. Every year …

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will leave for Niger today where he will lead Pakistan’s delegation at the 47th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers scheduled to take place in Niamey on November 27-28. According to a statement released by the Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday, the foreign minister will highlight the human rights …

Pakistan has reported more than 3,000 daily coronavirus cases and 59 deaths during the last 24 hours. This is the highest daily total of infections the country has reported since July 9. Data from the government’s portal to track the spread of the disease in the country shows that 3,009 infections were reported on November 24, taking the national total …

Pakistan has handed over a dossier on India’s terror campaign to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, urging him to prevail on New Delhi to desist from its illegal and aggressive activities. The secretary general promised to “study the dossier and take appropriate action”, said Pakistan’s envoy to the UN Munir Akram, who presented the dossier to the UN chief on Tuesday afternoon. …