KABUL: The US military will hand over its main Bagram Air Base to Afghan forces in about 20 days, an official said on Tuesday, as Washington presses on with withdrawing the last of its troops from the country. The vast base, built by the Soviets in the 1980s, is the biggest military facility used by US and Nato forces in …

JERUSALEM: Israeli politicians battling to unseat veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were racing against the clock on Tuesday in talks to build a “change” coalition spanning the political spectrum. They have until a minute before midnight Wednesday to cobble together an alternative governing alliance that would bring down the right-wing leader known as Bibi, who has ruled Israel for the …

RAWALPINDI: Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has exempted diplomats, their staff and families from rapid antigen testing (RAT) on arrival in Pakistan. “Rapid Antigen Testing will not be mandatory on arrival there, however, diplomats, diplomatic staff and their families opting for RAT and testing negative, will be exempted from mandatory home quarantine requirement in the future,” a notification issued by the …

RAWALPINDI: As vaccination drives across the country continue amid the third wave of Covid-19, a shortage of the Sinopharm vaccine has been reported in several vaccination centres of Rawalpindi. Mohammad Rafiq, 45, a resident of Yousaf Colony, visited the vaccination centre established at Jan Marriage Hall on Chaudhry Bostan Khan Road for the second dose of Sinopharm but he was …

LAHORE: Top PML-N leaders presented views both in favour and against initiating talks with all stakeholders, including the establishment, in a meeting with its Quaid Nawaz Sharif. “In a recent internal meeting of the party bigwigs, the PML-N outrightly rejected the PTI government’s plan to introduce electronic voting machines in the 2023 election. With regard to Shehbaz Sharif’s proposal to …

KARACHI: Media organisations representing publishers, journalists, broadcasters, editors and news directors have rejected the proposed Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) Ordinance, describing the concept as an unconstitutional and draconian law against freedom of press and expression and a step towards imposing state control to regulate all segments of media. The representative media bodies including All Pakistan Newspapers Society (APNS), Pakistan …

The federal government on Wednesday withdrew its appeal in the Supreme Court against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) May 7 decision to grant PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif conditional permission to travel abroad for his medical treatment. Attorney General for Pakistan Khalid Jawed Khan informed the court that the government was withdrawing its appeal as Shehbaz had decided to take back …

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday stressed the need to improve defence ties with Tajikistan, as the two countries signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in various sectors, including the sale of Pakistan-manufactured arms to the Central Asian country. The MOUs were signed on the occasion of Tajik President Emomali Rahmon’s visit to Pakistan, who earlier arrived in Islamabad …

At least nine people were injured on Wednesday when a security guard opened fire on the set of a television drama at a residence in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority neighbourhood, police said. The security guard stationed at the bungalow where the shooting was taking place, identified as Gul Bhai, opened fire after an argument with the producer of the drama, …

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has constituted a committee to liaise and discuss the Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA) — a proposed media regulatory body — with relevant stakeholders. In a notification issued on Wednesday, the ministry said State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib would head the committee that would comprise three other members – Press Information …