DEARBORN: Joe Biden’s campaign and top Democratic officials vowed to double down on efforts to win back former supporters after being hit by a much stronger-than-anticipated protest vote in the Michigan primary over the president’s support of Israel. About 13.2 per cent of Michigan Democrats cast a ballot for “uncommitted” in the nominating contest, following a weeks-long push by activists, …

Australia’s government faced angry demands on Thursday to name a “traitor” former politician accused by Canberra’s top spy of having “sold out” the country to a foreign power. In an extraordinary public revelation, Australia’s director general of security Mike Burgess said a spy team from an unidentified country had cultivated and recruited a former Australian politician. “This politician sold out …

BELFAST: A UK law granting immunity to combatants involved in the decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as “the Troubles” breaches the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), a Belfast court ruled on Wednesday. Victims of the violence challenged the law, which received royal assent in September despite widespread opposition from political parties, victims’ organisations, the Irish government …

ISLAMABAD: Continuing his arguments as amicus curiae for a second day on Wednesday, retired Supreme Court judge Manzoor Malik described the presidential reference seeking an opinion on revisiting the death penalty awarded to former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as “historical question”, saying it’s for the top court to rectify the miscarriage of justice or simply brush it aside on technical grounds. Justice Malik, …

PESHAWAR: Six militants were killed, and a soldier sustained injuries in an exchange of fire between security forces and militants in North Waziristan, the military’s media affairs wing said on Wednesday. An ISPR statement said the security forces conducted an IBO on reported presence of militants, adding that intense firing took place during the operation. The statement mentioned that as …

GILGIT: The Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) has signed a Rs46.5 million cultural preservation agreement for the digitisation and 3D modelling of significant rock carvings within the impact zone of the upcoming Diamer Basha Dam. The eight-month contract, inked in Lahore, encompasses extensive site documentation using terrestrial scanners, alongside the consolidation, archiving, and modelling of scanned data for diverse …

GWADAR: Heavy rains wreaked havoc in Gwadar, Makran and northern and central parts of Balochistan on Wednesday, suspending the normal life and traffic. The 30-hour-long rains triggered flash floods, submerging most of the areas. Paramilitary forces, called in by the local administration, reached the flood-affected areas and launched rescue and relief operations there. The Gwadar district administration declared a state …

ISLAMABAD: The journalistic community took up their grievances with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, contesting “roving inquiries” conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the issuance of summons by a joint investigation team (JIT) on “vague” allegations of conducting a malicious campaign against the superior judiciary. The Press Association of the Supreme Court (PAS) and the Islamabad High Court …

KARACHI: Police claimed to have arrested two college students for their alleged involvement in carrying out aerial firing on Seaview on Wednesday. They said that students of different educational institutes gathered at DHA Phase VIII at around 10am, where some students carried out aerial firing with automatic weapons. The police claimed to have arrested Bilal Akhund and Jabber Khan and …

ISLAMABAD: In a letter to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the PTI has urged the lender to endorse an audit of the 2024 elections for the sake of political stability in the country, before entering into a dialogue with Islamabad for a new bailout package. This was disclosed during a press conference addressed by PTI leaders Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, Omar Ayub, Meher Bano …