Delhi hospitals issued desperate appeals for oxygen on Friday and 13 Covid patients died in a fire, as India’s healthcare system buckles under a new wave of infections. The surge in cases, blamed on a new virus variant and the government allowing “super spreader” public events to go ahead, saw another 330,000 new infections and 2,000 deaths reported in the …

KARACHI: Pregnant women who contract Covid-19 are 22 times more likely to die and 50 per cent more likely to experience pregnancy-related complications than expecting women unaffected by Covid-19, says a global study of over 2,100 pregnant women across 18 countries, including Pakistan, published in JAMA Paediatrics. AKU faculty Prof Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Dr Shabina Ariff, Dr Ghulam Zainab, Dr …

The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Lahore High Court (LHC) and Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected on Friday separate petitions challenging the physical presence of students in O and A levels exams and seeking a switch to school-assessed grades. The petitions were filed by students in each of the three high courts against the CAIE’s decision and the government’s approval for …

RAWALPINDI: The district police and intelligence agencies have recommended placing 14 activists of the banned Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on the fourth schedule of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 due to their alleged involvement in recent violent protests in the district. According to sources, the recommendation would be placed at the district intelligence committee’s meeting and later the home department will issue a …

GWADAR: People blo­cked the CPEC Highway in the Hoshab area in protest against alleged sexual assault on a boy by a solider of the Frontier Corps. Members of civil society and leaders of all political parties working in Kech district have endorsed the allegation and demanded an inquiry into the incident. Federal Minister for Defence Production Zobaida Jalal said that …

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser on Thursday sent letters to parliamentary leaders of all parties having representation in the National Assembly to suggest names of their members for inclusion in the proposed special committee of the house to take up the resolution on the issue of French envoy’s expulsion from Pakistan, which was tabled in the assembly on April …

RAWALPINDI: Afghan Ambassador Najibullah Ali Khil on Thursday called on Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa at the General Headquarters (GHQ). During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security situation, including Afghan peace process, enhanced bilateral security and defence cooperation and effective border management between the two brotherly countries were discussed, said an Inter-Services Public Relations …

ISLAMABAD: A committee headed by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Establishment Division Shehzad Arbab has started reviewing the performance of several ministries and divisions during the third quarter of the fiscal year 2020-2021. The committee will submit its report to Prime Minister Imran Khan. The performance review of ministries and divisions has been initiated with a series …

RAWALPINDI: Scores of people have been seen standing in lines outside sugar and wheat flour stalls in Ramazan bazaars and utility stores as commodities in these government-run facilities are being sold at lower prices. A10-kg bag of wheat flour is available in the market at Rs850-900 whereas in the Ramazan bazaar, it is being sold at Rs375. Similarly, sugar is …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that reduction of poverty and uplift of poor people’s living standard would be real success of his government. “Our struggle for reduction of poverty is going to complete 25 years and if we manage to do so, it will be the real success of my five-year government,” he said, pointing out that …