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 …

ISLAMABAD: Over 70 teaching and non-teaching staff in Federal Directorate of Education (FDE)-run schools and colleges have been vaccinated against Covid-19 after the Ministry of Federal Education directed the educational institutions to submit the certificates by June 11. An official of the FDE said 70.2pc teaching and non-teaching staff in the institutions had been vaccinated. A report has also been …

RAWALPINDI: The Punjab government on Thursday did not allow the mayor of Rawalpindi and union council chairmen to enter Jinnah Hall to hold a meeting and forced them to convene a session of the Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation (RMC) in front of its main gate. But in a rare show of unity, the ruling PTI joined hands with the opposition PML-N …

LAHORE: The Textbook Publishers Association (TPA) on Thursday demanded the government to direct the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) to issue them no objection certificate and withdraw the “hefty fee” for publishing textbooks under the Single National Curriculum (SNC), claiming it will push the book prices up further. TPA President Fawaz Niaz said PCTB had imposed a hefty fee …

LAHORE: Pace of the Covid vaccination drive is ‘dead slow’ in Punjab as the government is vaccinating 51,667 people daily on average against adult population of 0.42m, a daily target set by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to inoculate all 67m ‘eligible’ people by the end of December. The provincial government had started Covid vaccination in the first …