North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared an end to moratoriums on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests and threatened a demonstration of a “new strategic weapon” soon. Analysts said the announcement, reported by state media on Wednesday, amounted to Kim putting a missile “to Donald Trump’s head” — but warned that escalation by Pyongyang would probably backfire. Washington …

LAHORE: The Pakistan Railways (PR) and its huge number of passengers found the year 2019 worst as a number of accidents, including the horrible Tezgam fire tragedy in October, exposed wrong decision-making and incompetence allegedly on the part of the management while dealing with the department’s operations. “If we recall major happenings in 2019, you may find railways its worst ever as …

RAWALPINDI: As many as 77,513 kanals Benami (unregistered) properties worth Rs7.384 billion have been detected in the Rawalpindi division and their cases referred to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for further investigations in the light of Benami Act 2017. Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Rizwan Qadeer told Dawn that Rawalpindi had become the first division in the country to initiate action against Benami …

LAHORE: The Punjab Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution asking the federal government to make new or improve existing laws to sternly punish blasphemers and set up a Saudi Arabia like central screening or filtration system to intercept blasphemous material on social media. The session of the Punjab Assembly prorogued sine die when PTI and PML-N members were hurling …

PESHAWAR: Lack of support by law enforcement agencies hampers the efforts of health department to prevent sale of fake, spurious and unregistered drugs in the province, according to sources. They said that health department conducted raids at markets and warehouses and seized fake medicines but the perpetrators often remained unpunished and as a result the business of counterfeit and fake …

ISLAMABAD: A new model of non-formal education that combines literacy and labour and market skills for illiterate children and youth is being developed and will be piloted in selected districts of Punjab and Sindh provinces with World Bank assistance. The World Bank has agreed to provide $2.73 million for the pilot project, which is expected to be implemented in partnership …

RAWALPINDI: Regional Police Officer (RPO) Dr Sohail Habib Tajik on Tuesday said a crime App was being launched besides installing a “helper” button in police stations to facilitate citizens in registering complaints about any criminal activity. In case of failing to get the police response, the complainant will press the button which will automatically forward an emergency call to all …

ISLAMABAD: The government has defended the necessity of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority which enhanced scope after inclusion of socio-economic, agriculture and industrial development, and third party participation. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning and Development met here on Tuesday to discuss the need for the government’s bill regarding the CPEC Authority, which was set up through a presidential …

Justice Mamoon Rashid Sheikh was sworn in on Wednesday as the 49th chief justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC). Justice Sheikh, who will retire on March 18, 2020, succeeds Justice Sardar Mohammad Shamim Ahmed Khan, who completed his tenure after a year at the helm on December 31, 2019. Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar administered oath to Justice Sheikh …

QUETTA: The ruling party in Balochistan on Tuesday suffered a big jolt as the Balochistan Election Tribunal declared the election of two MPAs belonging to Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) null and void and ordered re-election in both the constituencies of the provincial assembly. The election tribunal headed by Justice Nazeer Ahmed Langove of the Balochistan High Court after completing hearing …