JERUSALEM: A party representing Arab citizens of Israel has for the first time joined an Israeli coalition to form a government, but many doubt the move can end decades of political marginalisation. Arab Israeli Mansour Abbas, the head of the conservative Islamic Raam party, on Wednesday signed onto an eleventh-hour deal hoping to oust the country’s longest-serving premier, Benjamin Netanyahu. …

LONDON: Senior aides to Queen Elizabeth II barred the hiring of “coloured immigrants or foreigners” in office roles at Buckingham Palace until at least the late 1960s, a media report said on Thursday. The Queen and Britain’s royal household also negotiated an exemption from 1970s-era laws on race and sex discrimination that still exists today, The Guardian reported. Citing historical papers it …

LONDON: Like thousands of Afghan translators who served with Nato forces, Nazir Ahmad fears for his life as the US-led alliance scrambles to pull out of the country in the coming weeks. “The situation is deteriorating now as foreign forces leave,” he said in Kabul. “We are scared of the insurgents. They know our faces.” Afghans who worked for international …

NEW DELHI: Days after India abstained at the UN Human Rights Council on a resolution proposing to set up a Commission of Inquiry into violations related to Israel’s recent bombardment of Gaza, the foreign minister of the Palestinian National Authority has complained that New Delhi’s abstention “stifles the important work of… advancing human rights for all peoples, including those of …

WASHINGTON: Presi­dent Joe Biden announced on Thursday that the United States would dispatch seven million Covid-19 vaccines to South and Southeast Asia to help regional governments overcome the pandemic. India, however, will get its share from another tranche of six million vaccines kept aside for the countries experiencing surges, the White House said. Pakistan and Bangladesh will get their shares …

National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yusuf said on Wednesday that the sudden withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan was not ideal, adding that any shifting of blame on Pakistan for “facesaving” would be unacceptable. Speaking on DawnNewsTV show ‘Live with Adil Shahzeb’, Yusuf said international media had been biased against Pakistan in the past and it was the same today. “[The] …

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court observed on Thursday that Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, a leader of the Peoples Party, cannot plead for bail now on the ground cited since he did not make the same argument during hearings in the Sindh High Court. But Makhdoom Ali Khan, representing Khurshid Shah, explained that his client did not file a bail application with …

PESHAWAR: For the first time in 1,000 days of the current Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, eight private member bills, including one seeking restrictions on commercial development of agricultural land, were tabled in the house on Thursday. During the session chaired by Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, member of the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Inayatullah Khan introduced the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Protection of Agricultural Lands …

KARACHI: The violence allegedly perpetrated by the so-called nationalist groups has recently overtaken the violence committed by religious and sectarian outfits in Sindh. However, the situation may reverse if Afghanistan faces instability after the withdrawal of the US forces from there, said Counter-Terrorism Department DIG Omar Shahid Hamid on Thursday. He was talking to the media at his office after …

ISLAMABAD: Two policemen were shot dead in Shams Colony area of the federal capital on Thursday night, sources said. According to police, Constables Ishtiaq Ranjha and Bashir Shah, who were on a routine patrol in Shams Colony on a motorcycle, were shot dead. A senior police officer said that there were reports of firing in the area, near the Construction …