TAIPEI: Taiwan called on Saturday for the swift return of one of its military officers who was rescued by Chinese authorities after losing contact during a fishing vacation. Two men from Taiwan’s outlying Kinmen island were found on March 18 by the coastguard of China’s Fujian province after the engine of their boat failed. Chinese authorities said one of the …

MUMBAI: India brought 35 accused Somalis to Mumbai on Saturday, days after they were apprehended when naval commandos recaptured a hijacked bulk carrier and rescued several hostages. The December hijacking of the Maltese-flagged MV Ruen was the first time since 2017 that any cargo vessel had been successfully boarded by Somali pirates. Indian commandos boarded and took control of the …

RAFAH: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on a visit to the doorstep of devastated Gaza, on Saturday said the world has seen enough of its horrors and appealed for a ceasefire to allow in more aid. He spoke at the crossing on the Egyptian side of Rafah, where most of Gaza’s population has sought refuge but Israel vows to send in …

WASHINGTON: The US Congress on Saturday overwhelmingly passed a $1.2 trillion budget bill, keeping the government funded through a fiscal year that began six months ago and sending it to President Joe Biden to sign into law and avert a partial shutdown. The vote on passage was 74-24. Key federal agencies including the departments of Homeland Security, Justice, State and …

Russia will observe a national day of mourning on Sunday after a massacre in a Moscow concert hall that killed more than 130 people, the deadliest attack in Europe to have been claimed by the Islamic State (IS) group. Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to punish those behind the “barbaric terrorist attack”, saying four gunmen trying to flee to Ukraine had …

RAWALPINDI: Shoppers are reluctant to visit Rawalpindi’s main commercial hub in Saddar due to the poor state of roads in the area which were dug up to lay underground electricity cables to turn the shopping hub into a clean neighbourhood. The project started in January and was supposed to take three months to finish, but due to its sluggish pace …

ISLAMABAD: Police officials of the Criminal Intelligence Agency (CIA) along with their retired colleague were booked for kidnapping and illegally detaining a man, besides extorting money from him, sources told Dawn. The case was registered against the serving police officials stationed at the CIA and their retired colleague with Industrial Area police station under section 365, 342 and 506 ii of …

LAHORE: Nearly 10,000 acres owned by Pakistan Railways (PR) is in illegal occupation of people and most of them are using the land for residential purposes across the country. However, despite various issues, the railways hopes to achieve its land revenue collection target of Rs5bn in the current financial year ending on June 30, Dawn has learnt. “As much as 9,644 acres …

ISLAMABAD: While World Tuberculosis (TB) Day will be observed today with the theme ‘Yes We Can End TB’, the cases of drug-resistant TB in Pakistan are going to become a major challenge as “75pc of them are not identified”. With Pakistan ranking fifth among high-burden countries globally, the country witnesses approximately 608,000 new TB cases and 15,000 drug-resistant TB cases …

ISLAMABAD: Presi­dent Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday conferred military awards on officers and soldiers of the Army, Navy and Air Force. One Sitara-i-Basalat, 135 Tamgha-i-Basalat, 45 Imtiazi Asnad, 148 Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Commendation Cards, 23 Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military), 109 Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military) and 137 Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Mili­tary) were awarded to officers and soldiers, said a statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations …