at PORTLAND: The cities of Portland and Salem in Oregon, and Seattle, Washington state, set new temperature records on Monday as the US Pacific north-west baked under a heatwave that has shut down much of daily life for residents. In Salem, Oregon’s state capitol, temperatures reached 117 degrees Fahrenheit (47.2 degrees Celsius), the hottest since record-keeping began in the 1890s. …

Pop star Britney Spears is ‘feeling nervous’ as she awaits the ruling in her conservatorship case, days after testifying in court. An insider shared details about what thesinger is up to ahead of the verdict by a judge in her conservatorship case. The source told HollywoodLife: “It’s been years leading up to this moment. She’s really fighting for herself,” they said, …

GHAZNI: Taliban fighters have launched an attack on Ghazni, clashing with Afghan forces and using explosives in an attempt to seize the central Afghan city, local officials said on Tuesday. The assault on Ghazni, on the highway linking the capital Kabul with the southern province of Kandahar, ramps up the Taliban’s offensive against the government and comes as foreign troops …

TAIPEI: The acting chief of Taiwan’s representative office in Macau has returned home after refusing to sign a document recognising China’s sovereignty over the self-ruled island, Taipei said on Tuesday. “The future situation is not optimistic,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement, calling the Macau authorities “disrespectful and unfriendly”. It said four other Taiwanese employees whose visas are …

Just weeks after a Pakistani family was murdered in Ontario, a Muslim migrant was attacked in a Canadian province with a knife by two unidentified assailants, local media reported. In the city of Saskatoon in the Saskatchewan province, Pakistani national Muhammad Kashif was harassed and stabbed on Friday by two attackers. Starphoenix daily reported that Kashif, 32, was assaulted while he was returning …

SUKKUR: The Sindh High Court, Sukkur bench, on Tuesday came down hard on government lawyers and administrator of the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Sukkur, for giving special treatment to Pakistan Peoples Party leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, who is facing trial in a mega-corruption reference. The bench was seized with a petition filed by Syed Tahir Hussain Shah …

SWAT: The police arrested an Afghan national on blasphemy charge in Rega village of Sawari area in Buner district on Monday. The local police said the 27-year-old accused, who was a nanbai, had been shifted to an unidentified location for investigation after the registration of an FIR against him. The villagers claimed that the Afghan national uttered insulting words for …

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly on Tuesday approved the state’s Rs141.4 billion surplus budget for fiscal year 2021-22 within hours of its presentation by Finance Minister Dr Najeeb Naqi while suspending rules governing the issue. The fifth and last budget of the PML-N government estimated an income of Rs114.4 billion from different internal and external resources during …

PESHAWAR: The treasury and opposition benches in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly here on Tuesday reached an understanding to review perks and privileges of cabinet members and lawmakers and set up two committees to finalise recommendations within a fortnight to entitle the people’s representatives to have better facilities. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle termed their current monetary benefits and …

LAHORE: Two persons were critically injured and five shops and 10 vehicles reduced to ashes when several liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders exploded one after another at Garden Town’s Barkat Market on Tuesday. The incident took place at four LPG refilling shops located in the rear of the market famous for food outlets. The blasts and flames created panic in …