NEW DELHI: The United States has warned against travel to India, where authorities on Tuesday imposed tighter restrictions to combat an explosion of Covid-19 cases. India has recorded more than three million new infections and 18,000 deaths this month, bringing its caseload to the world’s second-highest, after the United States. The updated US travel advisory comes after the State Department …

Chad’s President Idriss Deby, who ruled his country for more than 30 years and was an important Western ally in the fight against Islamist militants in Africa, has been killed on the frontline in a battle against rebels in the north. His son, Mahamat Kaka, was named interim president by a transitional council of military officers, army spokesman Azem Bermendao …

Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted on Tuesday of murdering African-American George Floyd after a racially charged trial seen as a pivotal test of police accountability in the United States. The jury deliberated less than 11 hours before finding 45-year-old Chauvin guilty of all three charges against him: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter. A crowd gathered outside …

The United Arab Emirates has warned it could impose restrictions on people who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 as the region’s business and tourism hub pushes its immunisation campaign. The country of some nine million, which has widened the campaign to those aged 16 and above, has vaccinated about 65 per cent of the eligible population, the National Emergency …

Pakistan has secured the membership of three key United Nations panels, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Wednesday. In a statement, FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that Pakistan had secured the membership of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Commission on Population and Development. “These commissions play a …

RAWALPINDI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Monday issued new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for inbound travellers that will remain effective until April 24. According to a fresh notification issued by the CAA, 20 countries are now in category A and 23 in category C. With reports of new coronavirus variants spreading in India it was placed in category C. …

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah approved on Tuesday Rs17.7 billion to buy eight snorkels, fire tenders, refuse trucks, tractors and trolleys for Sindh’s local bodies. He took this decision while presiding over a meeting here at CM House. The meeting was attended by Local Government Minister Nasir Husain Shah and relevant officials. The local government department presented a …

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday passed the proposed Civil Servants (Amendment) Act, 2021, to reverse a three years increase in the age of superannuation for the provincial government’s employees. The provincial government had increased the retirement age to 63 years in the 2019-20 budget claiming the move will save Rs20 billion every year. However, it was declared unconstitutional …

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday censured the Punjab government for making citizens stand in long queues to buy sugar at subsidised rate at Ramazan bazaars. “The government has turned the people (into) beggars in the name of Rs15 discount on sugar price,” Justice Shahid Jamil Khan regretted while hearing petitions of sugar mills against the government’s decision …

ISLAMABAD: The cabinet on Tuesday consented to the decisions taken on March 31 by the cabinet committee on institutional reforms about the rationalisation of manpower running the federal government machinery. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms Dr Ishrat Hussain presented the recommendations of the committee regarding the volume of the federal government in terms of employees, working …