BERLIN: Olaf Scholz’s hopes of forming Germany’s next coalition government were given a boost on Wednesday with congratulations from outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and his main rival after his weekend election win. Merkel’s CDU-CSU conservative bloc slumped to its worst ever result in Sunday’s general election with 24.1 percent of the vote, behind Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) at 25.7 …

The Taliban on Thursday violently cracked down on a small women’s rights demonstration, firing shots into the air and pushing back protesters, AFP journalists witnessed. A group of six women gathered outside a high school in eastern Kabul, demanding the right for girls to return to secondary school after the group excluded them from classes earlier this month. The women unfurled a banner that read …

SEOUL: North Korea has successfully tested a new hypersonic gliding missile, state media reported on Wednesday, in what would be the nuclear-armed nation’s latest advance in weapons technology. Tuesday’s launch was of “great strategic significance”, the official Korean Central News Agency said, as the North seeks to increase its defence capabilities a “thousand-fold”. Hypersonic missiles move far faster and are more agile …

KARACHI: A reputable international watchdog has criticised the government’s new draft media law and pointed out that if passed without changes it would lead to imposition of a tribunal capable of issuing arbitrary decisions with no possibility of appeal. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that along with its Pakistani partner, the Freedom Network, …

ISLAMABAD: Justice Yahya Afridi withdrew himself from a three-judge bench on Tuesday while expressing his inability to hear suo motu cases unless proper rules are framed by the Supreme Court aimed at regulating the exercise of powers under Article 184(3) of the Constitution. Headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, the bench, consisting of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Mohammad Amin …

LAHORE: While the number of Covid cases is on the gradual decline, the dengue virus is spreading fast in Punjab. The Wednesday’s official figures showed the infectivity ratio of the coronavirus which was reported above 10 per cent during the last five days or so in Lahore, has dropped to 7.8pc during the last 24 hours. Similarly, the Covid positivity …

LAHORE: PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif says Prime Minister Imran Khan has destroyed the country as well as its culture and politics with his abusive language. “It was a grave misfortune for Pakistan that this person was brought and placed in government’s highest office,” he said. Addressing his party leaders and workers from Lahore division through video-link from London on Wednesday, …

KARACHI: The weather scenario for both Sindh and Balochistan remains critical as remnants of Cyclone Gulab currently existing in the form of a well-marked low pressure area over Indian Gujarat head towards the Arabian Sea where they might intensify and turn into Cyclone Shaheen by Friday, a meteorological department official stated on Wednesday. The system is likely to emerge in …

A Pakistan Army captain was martyred during an intelligence-based operation (IBO) in Tank, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday. In a statement, the military’s media affairs wing said that security forces conducted an operation after receiving information about the presence of terrorists in the area. During the exchange of fire, Captain …

Prime Minister Imran Khan assured on Thursday of expeditious progress on projects falling under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), despite some relevant departments having faced difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic in the past. The prime minister, who was addressing a ceremony held in Islamabad to mark the inauguration of a 600 kilovolt (kV) transmission line running …