HONG KONG: The US sanctioned an additional 24 Chinese and Hong Kong officials over Beijing’s ongoing crackdown on political freedoms in the semi-autonomous city, just ahead of the Biden administration’s first face-to-face talks with China. The step reflects Washington’s deep concern about the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy following changes to its election system endorsed by China’s ceremonial legislature last …

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that it would be “tough” to withdraw the remaining US troops in Afghanistan by May 1, as was agreed to by the Trump administration. In an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America, Mr Biden said he was still “in the process” of determining when the forces should leave. “The fact is that this was …

YANGON: Protesters in Myanmar fired slingshots and threw Molotov cocktails towards lines of security forces after apparently coming under fire on Wednesday, a rare incidence of anti-coup demonstrators fighting back against a relentlessly violent crackdown. The growing resistance comes after one organisation said that more than 200 people have been killed since the Feb 1 takeover. At least two people …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Peoples Party (PPP) on Wednesday criticised the government for demanding resignation of the Chief Ele­c­tion Commissioner (CEC) and other members of the Election Commission of Pak­­is­tan and said it was an unprecedented and inexplicable attack on the ECP’s authority and independence. Reacting to the government’s announcement of initiating the contempt of court proceedings against the CEC and …

KARACHI: Recently re-elected Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Wednesday said there was no legal ground for challenging proceedings of parliament, including election for its upper house in court, and expressed the resolve to run the house in line with the defined rules. Speaking to journalists after visiting and offering Fateha at Mazar-i-Quaid along with Deputy Chairman Senate Mirza Mohammad Afridi, …

eg RAWALPINDI: Body parts of a woman, whose head was found from a garbage dump in Dhoke Chiragh Din on Tuesday, were recovered on Wednesday. The woman, tentatively in her late 20s, was yet to be identified. Police, however, released a picture of her head to trace her family. Police and rescue services said the body parts were found lying …

t ISLAMABAD: Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Wednesday cautioned the fellow Supreme Court judges that it was not him alone but files were ready against each of them. “I can honestly say that files are ready against each one of you and it could be the turn of any one of you against whom it could be said that he …

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the Punjab government to `continue its crackdown’ on hoarders, profiteers and land mafia besides resolving the issues of price hike, joblessness and law and order in the province. On his brief visit to the city on Wednesday, the prime minister held meetings with the chief minister and a delegation of lawyers belonging to …

• Privately-imported Russian jabs arrive in Karachi • Minister says vaccination process has gathered pace • Coronavirus slogan changed at suggestion of Council of Islamic Ideology ISLAMABAD / KARACHI: As the vaccination process gains momentum, China on Wednesday gifted another 500,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Pakistan while the first consignment of the privately-imported Russian vaccine reached Karachi. Meanwhile, Minister …

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Thursday that lasting peace in the sub-continent will remain elusive until the resolution of the Kashmir issue, stressing that it was time for India and Pakistan to “bury the past and move forward”. Addressing the audience on day two of the first-ever Islamabad Security Dialogue, Gen Bajwa noted that stable …