NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on Sunday for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern. His office said he would appoint a 71-member cabinet, including 11 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally ministers. Modi’s Hindu-natio­nalist BJP ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide …

An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others has gone missing, Malawi’s presidency said on Monday. “All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet said in a statement. Chilima, 51, was aboard a Malawi Defense Force …

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday thanked the Sharif brothers for their congratulatory messages on him becoming the premier for a third time. Modi was sworn in on Sunday at a ceremony attended by leaders from Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. However, China and Pakistan were not present. Earlier today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered a brief congratulations to his …

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday retained Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar in charge of the four high-profile ministries — Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs — respectively in his new government. The four ministers in charge of these portfolios make up the crucial Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the prime minister. Among new …

UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting a ceasefire plan in Gaza, as Washington leads an intense diplomatic campaign to push Hamas to accept the proposal. The text — passed with 14 votes in favour and Russia abstaining — “welcomes” the truce and hostage release proposal announced on May 31 by President Joe Biden, and …

LONDON: The United Kingdom and Schengen countries raised millions of pounds and euros in fees from rejected visa applications from Pakistan, new research published this month shows. The analysis released by Lago Collective, a community of researchers, policymakers and designers, shows that Pakistanis spent £5.3 million on rejected UK visa applications, with close to 40 per cent applications rejected from Pakistan …

MUZAFFARABAD: Rescuers faced immense challenges on Monday as they attempted to recover the bodies of the 10 missing persons and locate the wreckage of the vehicle that plunged into Neelum River, but there was no success, officials said. The tragic accident occurred on Sunday when a Taobutt-bound Land Cruiser jeep carrying at least 24 people — 18 inside, including the driver, …

ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Health (NIH) has issued an advisory regarding the Primary Amoebic Meni­ngoencephalitis (PAM) also called Naegleriasis, or brain-eating amoeba, an infectious disease of the central nervous system. Deaths related to PAM have regularly been reported from some hospitals in Karachi during summers since 2008. According to advisory, high temperatures associated with poor chlorinated water during early …

RAWALPINDI: Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Khawaja Imran Nazir on Monday said the government has allocated Rs7 billion for provision of free medicines in the healthcare centres of the province. “In the last few months, shortage of medicines was created many times deliberately. The health department has identified around 375 corrupt employees involved in this practice and action …

QUETTA: Security forces arrested 85 Afghan nationals in the border district of Chagai district for allegedly crossing into Pakistan illegally, officials said on Monday. The Afghan nationals were found on the Pakistani side near the border without legal travelling documents. According to sources, the Afghan nationals entered Pakistan illegally to cross into Iran for further journeys. A senior security official …