GAZA CITY: Hamas is open to “indirect and rapid” negotiations on a prisoner exchange following its bloody military escalation with Israel in May, the Islamist military group said on Monday. “There is now a real opportunity to move this file forward,” Yahya Sinwar said in response to a query on a potential prisoner exchange. “We are ready for indirect, urgent …

BANGKOK: Two ancient sandstone artefacts believed to have been stolen from Thailand during the Vietnam War were unveiled on Monday at a Bangkok museum, greeted with a fanfare of traditional dancers and an elaborate worship ceremony. The temple support beams — which were returned on Friday — boast exquisite carvings of the Hindu deities Indra and Yama that date back …

ISLAMABAD: A senior member of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) from Balochistan Munir Ahmad Khan Kakar on Monday proposed convening of a meeting of the council to take stock of the federal government’s move to file a curative second review petition in the Justice Qazi Faez Isa judgment. On May 26, the federal government filed a set of review petitions …

The Geo/Jang Group has issued a statement after journalists and rights bodies condemned the move to take veteran TV show host Hamid Mir off air. A day earlier, Mir told BBC Urdu he had been informed by the Geo News management that he would “not go on air on Monday” to host his five-days-a-week show ‘Capital Talk’. In a statement, the Geo/Jang Group said that …

KARACHI: The Sindh health authorities confirmed on Monday four cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus, taking the total number of such cases in the country to five. All patients had returned to Pakistan from Gulf countries and tested positive at Karachi airport. Three of them had come from Iraq while another arrived from Muscat, Oman. “One of them hails …

RAWALPINDI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has issued a new travel advisory for Gilgit-Baltistan and Skardu bound tarvelers. According to the advisory, the travelers above the age of 50 would only be permitted to board aircraft after they have a valid vaccination certificate. The aim to issue a fresh Covid-19 advisory for passengers was to ensure safe tourism in Pakistan …

KHYBER: The Khyber Qaumi Jirga (KQJ), an anti-merger body, observed black day by holding a protest demonstration at the historic Bab-i-Khyber on Monday against the integration of erstwhile Fata into the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The protest was staged on the completion of three years of the merger. Scores of KQJ supporters, mostly tribal elders and a handful of political workers, …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday allowed the Sindh government to extend lockdown restrictions for another week to curb the spread of coronavirus in the province. “Provinces are independent to take their own decisions regarding Covid-19 and Sindh can extend lockdown restrictions for another week if deems appropriate,” the prime minister said while chairing a meeting of the National …