ASHDOD: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday he has still not seen a plan for Israel’s planned offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that would protect civilians, repeating that Washington could not support such an assault. Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Jerusalem for two-and-a-half hours, after which Israel repeated that the …

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday that “xenophobia” from China to Japan and India was hobbling their growth, as he argued that migration has been good for the US economy. “One of the reasons why our economy’s growing is because of you and many others. Why? Because we welcome immigrants,” Biden said at a Washington fundraising event for his 2024 re-election …

ISLAMABAD: The FDE-run schools have been facing shortage of ninth class books, though the session has begun on April 22. The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE), however, said books would be provided to students on Thursday (today). But teachers fear any further delay in provision of books would affect the students results as the negligence of the authorities concerned has …

RAWALPINDI: A doctor of a private hospital, who treated one of the ‘suspected extremists’ involved in the shootout with the police on Tuesday, has been taken into custody after the case was transferred to the Counter-Terrorism Department CTD for further investigation. According to sources, no ‘identification detail’ of the two suspects arrested by the police was found in the official record. The …

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur on Wednesday said he was part of the committee nominated by detained PTI founder Imran Khan to hold dialogue with the security establishment. “We won’t keep anything [regarding negotiations with the establishment] secret,” Mr Gandapur told reporters after attending a Labour Day function at a hotel here. The chief minister said former prime …

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), a body that plays a key role in appointing judges, is set to review proposed amendments to its 2010 rules that would change the traditional approach to selecting judges for the Supreme Court and high courts. The proposed changes, scheduled for discussion at a JCP meeting tomorrow (Friday), aim to end the automatic …

QUETTA: Highways in Balochistan remained blocked for the 10th consecutive day as transporters went on with their strike against a government decision to set up more check posts on major roads to provide safety to passengers in the wake of the Noshki killings. The transporter union has been protesting for over a week against the new SOPs for the transporters issued …

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ambitious plan to privatise loss-making public enterprises faced a first setback on Wednesday when his key ally in the Centre, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), opposed the idea and suggested that the federal government go for public-private partnerships to restore institutions like PIA and Steel Mills instead of selling them to private businesses. The PPP …

PESHAWAR: A full court meeting of Peshawar High Court has proposed enactment of laws by federal government for stipulating the respective mandate of intelligence agencies so as to protect judges of superior courts from harassment and intimidation. Like rest of the high courts, PHC has submitted a five-page report to Supreme Court of Pakistan in the ongoing suo moto case about meddling by intelligence …

ISLAMABAD: Following a brief lull in March, militant attacks in the country surged once again in April, with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly its southern districts, bearing the brunt. These findings were released by an Islamabad-based think-tank, Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), in its monthly security assessment report. According to statistics, the country experienced at least 77 verifiable militant attacks …