Reacting strongly to Pakistan’s inclusion in the Child Soldiers Prevention Act (CSPA) list by the United States, the Foreign Office on Friday said the move depicted “a factual error and lack of understanding”, and urged Washington to review the “baseless assertions” made against the country in the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, 2021. The US added Pakistan and Turkey …

LUSAKA: African leaders and diplomats on Friday joined Zambia in mourning its founding president and liberation hero Kenneth Kaunda, who died last month aged 97 after a bout of pneumonia. “KK”, as he was affectionately known, ruled over Zambia from 1964, when the southern African nation won its independence from Britain, until losing an election in 1991. He died on …

Turkey’s foreign ministry has slammed a United States report on human trafficking that criticised Ankara for providing “operational, equipment, and financial support” to an armed militia in Syria that recruits child soldiers. In a statement late on Friday, the Turkish foreign ministry said it “completely rejects” the claim and its record is clean. The statement also accuses Washington of “double standards and …

NEW DELHI: Tens of millions of people in India were suffering on Friday under a severe heatwave that has pushed the temperature to a nine-year high in New Delhi as monsoon rains run behind schedule. Heatwaves have killed over 6,500 people in India since 2010, and scientists say climate change is making them harsher and more frequent. Daytime temperatures were …

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had so far recovered Rs33 billion in the fake accounts case involving former president Asif Ali Zardari, adding that the actual financial irregularities in the case amounted to around Rs5,000bn. In a veiled criticism at the provincial government of Sindh and the PPP leadership, …

ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Meteoro­logical Depart­ment (PMD) has warned that heatwave conditions may arise in major cities of Sindh and south Punjab during July. In its latest issue of Drought Bulletin, the meteorological department stated that near normal rainfall is expected over the country during the current month. Rise in temperatures in high altitudes are likely to cause snowmelt in northern …

RAWALPINDI: Minister for Interior Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Friday said that 40 per cent work on fencing along the Pakistan-Iran border had been completed. Addressing a public meeting outside his secretariat, Lal Haveli, in connection with Azad Jammu and Kashmir elections, the minister said that peace and progress in Pakistan were linked with stability in Afghanistan. He said that 88pc …

In the latest easing of coronavirus-related restrictions, the Sindh government on Friday extended the closing time for businesses to 10pm and allowed indoor dining for fully vaccinated people. According to a notification shared by the information cell of the Sindh government: Businesses are allowed to remain open till 10pm. Bakeries and dairy shops are allowed to remain open till 12am. …

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday issued a notice to the attorney general of Pakistan in relation to a matter about acquisition of land for development of residential sectors in the federal capital. IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, on a petition filed by 15 land owners against authorities of the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation Authority (FGEHFA), observed that …

ISLAMABAD: The military and intelligence leadership took a more nuanced approach at the meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security on the future of ties with the United States than some of the recent government statements. Some of the parliamentarians who attended the meeting, in their background discussions with on Friday, said the military and intelligence leadership emphasised that …