WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is close to finalising a treaty with Saudi Arabia that would commit the US to help defend the Gulf nation as part of a deal aimed at encouraging diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing US and Saudi officials. The possible deal, widely telegraphed by US and other officials for weeks, is part of …

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 …

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday offered a brief congratulations to his counterpart Narendra Modi on his re-election in rival India, almost a week after the results came in. “Felicitations to Narendra Modi on taking oath as the prime minister of India,” he posted on X, in the first official comments from Pakistan. Modi was sworn in on Sunday at a ceremony attended by …

ISLAMABAD: In an apparent jibe at PTI, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Sunday called street protests “futile” as parliament was the real forum for strengthening, protecting, and ensuring constitutional supremacy. Mr Sharif made the remarks during a meeting with Senate Deputy Chairman Syedaal Khan Nasar, who called on him in Murree. According to a party spokesman, Mr Sharif congratulated the …

GILGIT: An all parties’ conference (APC) has demanded the determination of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan, holding of the long-delayed local government elections and a share for the region in the NFC award. The conference to make a consensus on constitutional rights was convened by the PPP in Skardu on Saturday. PML-N chapter president and farmer chief minister Hafeezur Rehman, PPP president …

ISLAMABAD: A failure of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to install sewage treatment plants for Rawal Dam has resulted in round-the-clock contamination of the reservoir with untreated sewage and solid waste making its way to the lake via streams, particularly Korang Nullah, in the catchment area. The Rs6 billion project was planned a couple of years ago under the Public Sector …

SUKKUR: The Ghotki police on late Saturday evening claimed to have made a breakthrough in the murder case of Nasrullah Gadani, a journalist associated with a Sindhi-language newspaper, who was shot at and seriously wounded by unknown assailants on May 21 and had succumbed to his wounds on May 24. “We have arrested one of the three main suspects and recovered the crime weapon …

MUZAFFARABAD: At least six people drowned and another 10, mostly women and children, were missing after a passenger jeep plunged into the icy Neelum River in the upper belt of Neelum Valley on Sunday, officials said. The accident occurred at around 1am when a jeep, believed to have been modified to carry more passengers than its normal capacity, fell into …

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Sardar Saleem Haider has said the approval of the controversial defamation law was inevitable as bills automatically become laws 15 days after being sent to the governor, even if they choose not to give assent. “I did not sign the Defamation Bill. However, it was supposed to be passed automatically after 15 days,” he told a private TV channel from the …

LAHORE: The opposition to Punjab’s newly enacted defamation law has become more pronounced as the PTI has announced its intention to challenge it in court, even threatening to join journalists in their agitation. Addressing a press conference on Sunday to chargesheet PML-N’s Punjab government on the completion of its 100 days, PTI leader Malik Ahmed Khan Bhachar said the issue also “exposed” …