THE HAGUE: Arab states urged international judges on Monday to rule the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories illegal and Turkiye described the occupation as “the real obstacle to peace” on the final day of hearings in a case examining its legal status. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has been hearing arguments from more than 50 states following a request …

WARSAW: Allies of late Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny said on Monday that a deal to free him as part of a prisoner swap had nearly been reached when he died in prison. The 47-year-old Kremlin critic died on Feb 16 in an Arctic prison after spending more than three years behind bars, prompting outrage and condemnation from Western leaders and his supporters. Russian …

The world’s trade ministers are set for tough negotiations on Tuesday at a World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Abu Dhabi, with fisheries and agriculture taking centre stage. The closed talks will take place on the second day of the WTO’s 13th ministerial conference which is scheduled to run until Thursday but could go into over-time amid divisions. There is …

LAHORE: The inspector general of police (IGP) has recommended Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Syeda Sheharbano Naqvi for the Quaid-i-Azam Police Medal (QPM) for rescuing a girl from a ‘violent mob’ in Ichhra Bazaar of Lahore on Sunday. The girl was wearing a shirt with some Arabic letters printed on it, and the charged mob gheraoed her, saying that her digitally printed outfit …

ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Monday approached the Supreme Court to seek overturning of the Islamabad High Court’s Feb 19 directives of constituting a joint committee of directors general of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter-Service Intelli­gence (ISI), and Military Intelli­gence (MI) for tracing the whereabouts of students from Balochistan who are allegedly missing. Moved by the interior ministry through Attorney General for …

ISLAMABAD: Admitting appeals of ex-premier Imran Khan, his spouse Bushra Bibi and ex-minister Shah Meh­mood Qureshi against their convictions in the cipher and Toshakhana cases, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday requisitioned record related to the trial court proceedings by March 7. The PTI founder and the ex-minister were sentenced to jail for 10 years in cipher case by a special court. In the Toshakhana …

On the fifth anniversary of ‘Operation Swift Retort’, Pakistan’s armed forces have vowed to respond to any aggression against the people of Pakistan, the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity with “full might and without any hesitation”. On February 27, 2019, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) had shot down two Indian planes that had violated Pakistani airspace. One of the Indian …

LAHORE: The PTI has decided to call a Punjab Assembly session to elect its chief minister, speaker and deputy speaker after claiming a strength of 250 members, including reserved seats for women and minorities. On Monday, the party’s central leader, Shaukat Basra, said that PTI members who have won as per Form-45 will attend the session. He was addressing a …

One cop was martyred while three others were injured in an exchange of fire with terrorists in Mardan’s Katlang tehsil during the early hours of Tuesday, according to an official. Speaking to Dawn.com, Mardan District Police Officer (DPO) Najeebur Rehman said that a police team headed by Rural Superintendent of Police (SP) Aijaz Khan Sherpao headed to the Mata Katlang area …

An Islamabad district and session court on Tuesday granted the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) five-day remand of journalist Asad Ali Toor in a case pertaining to an online campaign against the judiciary. In January, the car­e­taker government had formed a five-member joint investigation team (JIT) to “ascertain facts behind a malicious social media campaign” against the judiciary in the aftermath of the Supreme …