REHOBOTH BEACH: Joe Biden on Sunday dropped out of the US presidential election and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic Party’s new nominee, in a move that upends the 2024 race for the White House. The 81-year-old Biden stepped aside after weeks of pressure from Democrats following a disastrous debate performance, throwing the election battle against Republican Donald Trump into unprecedented turmoil. “While it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
India has lifted a decades-old ban on civil servants being members of a far-right Hindu nationalist group that is the ideological parent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, according to a government memo made public on Monday. Several top leaders of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including the PM himself, cut their teeth at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), whose millions of members conduct paramilitary drills and prayer meetings. The organisation campaigns for India to be declared a Hindu nation — rather than a secular one, as enshrined in its constitution — and critics accuse it of fomenting sectarian divisions. Since…
More than 500 people, including some opposition leaders, have been arrested in Dhaka over violence that has wracked Bangladesh and killed 163 people since students started protesting against civil service hiring rules, police said on Monday. What began as demonstrations against politicised admission quotas for sought-after government jobs has snowballed into some of the worst unrest of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s tenure. A curfew has been imposed and soldiers are patrolling cities across the South Asian country, while a nationwide internet blackout since Thursday has drastically restricted the flow of information to the outside world. “At least 532 people have been arrested…
ISLAMABAD: Romina Khurshid Alam, the coordinator to the prime minister on climate change and environmental coordination, announced on Sunday that the government will establish a world class mountaineering school in Gilgit-Baltistan to promote sustainable and environment-friendly climbing in the country. The PM’s aide said this institution would offer structured training and educational facilities tailored to mountaineering, Sherpa training and sustainable tourism practices, aiming to promote world-class, environment-friendly mountaineering and tourism in the country’s northern regions. At a meeting of the Prime Minister’s Committee to Establish the Mountaineering School in Gilgit-Baltistan, Ms Alam said the plan is being implemented in close coordination with…
RAWALPINDI: The revised PC-I of Rawalpindi Ring Road is likely to get the nod of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) soon. A senior official of the RDA told Dawn that the provincial planning and development department had approved the revised PC-I, escalating the cost of the project from Rs31.3 billion to Rs38.3 billion. “The revised PC-I has now been referred to CDWP and if it also clears, the PC-I will get approval from Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec),” he said. The provincial government had released Rs6 billion in June for the project. Work on the project continues,…
ISLAMABAD: PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi did not appear before a team of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Sunday, which went to Adiala Jail to investigate them in the fresh Toshakhana case against them. According to media reports, the NAB team, headed by Investigation Officer Mustansar Shah, waited for more than two hours in the prison, but the couple didn’t appear before them. The team then left without recording their statements. Mr Khan and his wife are scheduled to be presented in a court inside the jail in the same case today (Monday). In the case filed by…
LAHORE: The overall cotton production during the current season has dropped by almost half compared to the same period last year, according to the Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association. Experts have said the dip in bale availability was due to erratic weather patterns and the government’s failure to ensure that farmers got good prices for their produce. In its first report of the season about the new crop released on Saturday, the association said around 442,000 bales of phutti or raw cotton were brought to ginning factories up till July 15. The number was 48.48 per cent less than 858,007 bales…
Thirteen mountaineers, most of them foreigners except for two Pakistani nationals, on Sunday morning scaled Gasherbrum-II (8032 metres), which is situated in the Karakoram Range and also known as K-4. The climbers belonged to two expedition teams – Seven Summits Treks and Karakoram Summit. According to the tour organiser, 11 members of Seven Summits Treks scaled Gasherbrum-II on Sunday morning. In a statement, the Seven Summits Treks said: “We are proud to announce the successful ascent of Gasherbrum-II (8034m) by our incredible Seven Summit Treks team members and Sherpas on Sunday! Our team made it to the top while fixing…
LAKKI MARWAT: The protest sit-in staged by the residents of Bannu entered the second day on Sunday as people took to the streets in Mardan, Lakki Marwat and Swabi against the firing on a peace rally in the southern district on Friday, which left one participant dead and several others injured. The sit-in is staged on the call of Bannu Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Leaders of political, nationalist and religious parties visited the protesters, who are camped at the Maulana Abdul Sattar Shah Chowk commonly known as Police Lines Chowk. People from Lakki and other parts of the province also participated…
ISLAMABAD: After several individuals, said to be Afghan nationals, vandalised the Pakistani consulate in Frankfurt, Islamabad urged Germany to take immediate measures to prosecute those involved and hold to account those responsible for the security lapse. According to the Pakistani mission, the incident occurred on July 20, when a “gang of extremists” attacked the consulate and “endangered” the lives of the consular staff on the premises. In a video of the incident which went viral online, scores of protesters carrying placards could be seen gathered outside the consulate. The videos show three men — one of whom is seen clutching…
