JERUSALEM: Israeli forces rai­ded the biggest functioning hospital in Gaza on Thursday, as footage showed chaos, shouting and gunfire in dark corridors filled with dust and smoke. Israel’s military claimed the raid on Nasser Hospital was based on information that Hamas fighters were hiding and had kept hostages in the facility, claims which Hamas called “lies”. But according to the …

SHAMBHU: Protesting Indian farmers relaxed inside their tractors on Thursday as they awaited orders from leaders to advance on the capital, vowing they’d last longer than the police currently blocking their route. “We are here for the long haul,” said Mela Singh, a 70-year-old from Punjab state’s Mansa district, one of the thousands of farmers setting up camp on the …

India’s main opposition Congress party said on Friday that its bank accounts had been frozen by the tax department just weeks before the expected announcement of national elections. Critics and rights groups have accused India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government of using law enforcement agencies to selectively target its political foes. Congress spokesman Ajay Maken said the action against his …

ISLAMABAD: The Sup­reme Judicial Council (SJC) — a body empowered to hear cases of misconduct against judges — was told on Thursday that a private developer, Lahore Smart City (Pvt) Ltd, issued one of the two banker cheques of Rs50 million each for buying a residential plot in favour of a former Supreme Court judge, Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi. …

GILGIT: Protest demonstrations broke out across Gilgit-Baltistan on Thursday against prolonged electricity load-shedding, paralysing routine life in the region. Most areas in the region have been enduring 22 hours of outages in a day for a long time. People of Kashrote Gilgit area, incl­uding women and children, took to streets aga­inst prolonged outages. Enraged people, carrying banners inscribed with their …

PESHAWAR: Awami National Party on Thursday ruled out negotiations with Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, claiming it had stolen ANP’s mandate. In a statement issued here, ANP central general secretary Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that PTI senior leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser had contacted the party leadership. However, Mr Hussain said that ANP was of the view that under the …

KARACHI: Democratic standards across the world fell in 2023 amid the spread of wars, authoritarian crackdowns and declining levels of trust in mainstream political parties, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) said on Thursday. Titled Age of Conflict, the study provides a snapshot of the state of democracy in 165 independent states and two territories, and basing its scores on a range …

LAHORE: As the PTI initiates talks with its bitter rival JUI-F, a faction within PML-N has also advised the Sharif family to extend an olive branch to Imran Khan’s party, a party leader has told Dawn. However, any thaw in the animosity between the two parties is unlikely in the near future as the leadership is “in no mood” to extend any friendly …

QUETTA: PML-N leaders in Balochistan have said that no decision has so far been taken about the upcoming chief minister’s slot, which will be annou­nced after consultation with the would-be coalition partners. Former chief minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani told a joint press conference on Thursday evening that the party’s central leadership would take a decision about forming a government …

ISLAMABAD: PTI founder Imran Khan on Thursday nominated Omar Ayub as the party nominee for the post of prime minister as he instructed his party leaders to make contact with other aggrieved parties to put up a joint front against alleged rigging on Feb 8. This was revealed by PTI leader Asad Qaiser, who was allowed to meet the former …