The global head of Human Rights Watch said he was denied entry on Sunday to Hong Kong, where he was scheduled to launch the organisation’s latest world report this week. Kenneth Roth, the group’s executive director, said he was blocked at Hong Kong airport from entering for the first time, having entered freely in the past. During seven months of …

Red-hot lava gushed out of a Philippine volcano on Monday after a sudden eruption of ash and steam that forced villagers to flee and shut down Manila’s international airport, offices and schools. There were no immediate reports of casualties or major damage from Taal volcano’s eruption south of the capital that began on Sunday. But clouds of ash blew more than 100 …

Iran has signalled it favours a de-escalation after 10 days of heightened tensions with the United States during which both sides fired missiles and Tehran accidentally shot down a passenger aircraft. Security was stepped up in Iran’s capital Sunday after a vigil the previous night for those killed in the air disaster turned into an angry protest and police temporarily …

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has warned that military confrontation with Iran will impact global peace and stability, as he visits the Middle East hoping to ease tensions spiked by the US killing of a top Iranian general. His comments came at the start of a five-day Gulf tour that had been thrown into doubt after Tehran responded to the …

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo early Monday morning said he was“outraged” by the rocket attack targeting Al-Balad, an airbase just north of Baghdad where US forces have been stationed, which wounded two Iraqi officers and two airmen. “Outraged by reports of another rocket attack on an Iraqi airbase,” he tweeted. “I pray for speedy recovery of the injured and call on …

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to establish an engineering and technology university in Swat with the initial estimated cost of Rs4 billion that would produce market-oriented graduates. The planned Swat University of Engineering and Technology (SUET) would be run on triple helix model to connect government, industry and academic with each other. “Unlike other universities in the province …

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry says “slaps” cannot be ruled out until defamation laws are reformed and implemented in letter and spirit. A session on “Where is Pakistan heading in the next 10 years?” at ThinkFest on Sunday opened with a lively discussion on the controversy Fawad Chaudhry was involved in. The minister took flak for …

HYDERABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmad has urged “all those, who matter in the country, to ensure people are delivered what they are entitled to under law and disparity between haves and haves-not be immediately addressed”. The apex court judge said in his address at an annual dinner given in his honour by Hyderabad District Bar Association (HDBA) …

ISLAMABAD: More than 60 medicines categorised by the World Health Organisation as ‘essential medicines’ are not available in the Pakistani market or are in short supply because of pricing issues, delays in approval to buy controlled raw material or international alerts to stop using the drugs. Pharmaceutical manufacturers have also said that some of the medicines are not available because …

KARACHI/HYDERABAD: Police are investigating the kidnapping and murder of a Hyderabad trader, whose bullet-riddled and trussed-up body was found in a gunny bag in Surjani Town on Saturday and identified as that of the trader on Sunday. Stuffed in a gunny bag, the body was found in a storm-water drain in Khuda Ki Basti near the 4-K bus terminus. The …