LUCKNOW: Lawmakers in a central Indian state controlled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party approved legislation on Tuesday that would make pressuring a woman to convert to their husband’s religion a crime punishable with imprisonment. Although no religion is specified in the legislation, critics say it is aimed against the country’s Muslim minority. Hardline Hindu groups have accused …

BHASHAN CHAR: Four Bangladesh navy ships on Tuesday took the second and biggest group of Rohingya Muslims yet from crowded refugee camps to an uncertain future on a bleak island three hours from the mainland. The government insisted that the 1,800 refugees, who have been in camps since fleeing a Myanmar military clampdown, want to start new lives on Bhashan …

Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan on Tuesday thanked essential workers and offered encouragement to people who suffered during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in their first podcast released on Spotify. During the 33-minute episode, the couple thanked healthcare and frontline workers and others who made sacrifices during a challenging year. Harry and Meghan, known officially as the Duke and Duchess …

A new variant of the novel coronavirus does not appear to cause more severe illness than other variants, according to a matched study by Public Health England. Scientists say the new variant can spread more rapidly. It was found in England in mid-December and led to other countries imposing travel restrictions to the United Kingdom. Several other countries have reported variants, including Pakistan, …

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of 3,000 precision guided munitions to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a deal valued at up to $290 billion, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. The sale comes in the final days of US President Donald Trump’s term. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to halt arms sales to Saudi Arabia, the …

rus LAHORE: The ventilator occupancy rate reached a worrying level on Tuesday in the Punjab’s government-run hospitals after as many as 181 critical Covid-19 patients were shifted to these facilities during the last 24 hours. The sudden influx of critical patients of the infection in the state-run hospitals of the province has alarmed their respective managements who apprehend that they …

Talks between India and China have yet to make headway to end a standoff on a disputed section of their Himalayan border, India’s defence minister said on Wednesday, as thousands of troops from both sides faced a freezing winter in the mountains. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said there had been “no meaningful result” from several rounds of diplomatic and military …

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the director general of Pakistan Rangers Sindh and the provincial police officer to provide assistance to Pakistan Railways to retrieve its land from encroachers. The three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed was hearing various cases at the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry. The other members of the bench were Justice Sajjad Ali …

RAWALPINDI: A senior government official committed suicide by shooting himself in his house in Bahria Town Phase VIII in the limits of Rawat police on Tuesday. SP Saddar Ziaul Haq told Dawn that the man was driven by some domestic issues to take his life. He said circumstantial evidence and statements of the inmates showed that it was a suicide case, though …

GILGIT: Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted a 12-member committee to make recommendations for granting Gilgit-Baltistan the status of a provisional province of Pakistan. Federal minister for Kashmir affairs and Gilgit- Baltistan Ali Amin Gandapur heads the committee, which also comprises GB Chief Minister Mohammad Khalid Khurshid, the attorney general of Pakistan, federal secretaries for finance, defence, foreign affairs, parliamentary …