Category: English

Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Thursday that visa-free entry arrangements with 25 countries would be finalised within the next six months. “The value of the green passport is currently improving, and its rating will advance further over the next six months,” he said while briefing the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior. The meeting was chaired by MNA Raja Khurram Shahzad Nawaz. Naqvi said that the matter required a collective decision by parliament in view of visa-exemption negotiations, international commitments, and the planned transition to e-passports. Visa-free entry arrangements…

Read More

Security forces have foiled an attempted drone attack on a check post in Kharan district of Balochistan, shooting down all five drones before they could reach their target, according to security sources. The drones were reportedly launched by the terrorist organisation referred to by security sources as “Fitna-ul-Hindostan” to target a security forces’ check post in Albat. Security personnel responded swiftly and destroyed all five drones, preventing the attack. Security sources said no casualties or property damage were reported in the incident. Security forces reiterated their commitment to eliminating terrorism…

Read More

A Russian drone strike killed at least 14 people on a crowded rail platform in the Ukrainian ‌city of Dnipro on Thursday, while five died in daytime strikes on two other provincial cities and a late-evening missile strike killed one person in the capital, Kyiv, officials said. The string of attacks jolted Ukrainian cities as a local truce in the southern region of Kherson raised cautious hopes for a resumption of diplomacy. “Russia is deliberately hunting civilians: on trains, at stations, in residential buildings,” ​Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi said…

Read More

The United States plans to soon ban Chinese telecom firms ‌from direct access to US phone numbers on national security grounds — a measure designed to prevent scam-related robocalls. The US Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday that it will vote on November 19 on a proposal ​to ban China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom and other IP-enabled service providers ​, from direct access. For telecom firms providing Voice over Internet Protocol — technology that ⁠converts voice into digital data and transmits it over broadband connections — direct access…

Read More

An Australian woman convicted of murdering three of her estranged husband’s relatives with a meal laced with deadly mushrooms lost an attempt on ​Friday to appeal her conviction, with a court also quashing her chances of ‌parole. Erin Patterson, 51, was found guilty last year of murdering her three elderly in-laws by serving them Beef Wellington contaminated with poisonous death cap mushrooms, in a case that captivated Australia. She was sentenced to life in ​prison with a 33-year non-parole period, among the longest terms ever handed to a ​woman in…

Read More

The Pentagon is ​treating the spate of mysterious freezer malfunctions that spoiled food at military bases across the United States in August as a suspected hack, according to four officials familiar ‌with the matter. One of the officials said the military investigators were in touch with their French counterparts about a similar cyberattack on commercial freezers that disrupted supermarkets there earlier this month. Reuters was not able to ascertain how far along the Pentagon’s investigation was or whether it had reached any conclusions about what happened or who might be…

Read More

US President Donald Trump on Thursday cancelled planned weekend campaign stops in Kansas and Iowa, and his allies said ​he would instead phone in to rallies nationwide after four weeks ‌of travel to boost Republicans’ election chances. Trump told reporters he did not “feel like I have to go to Kansas,” a Midwestern state where Senator Roger Marshall, a fellow Republican, is ​in an unexpectedly competitive race with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton. “He is doing very ​well,” Trump said of Marshall. “We are going to have a strong ⁠Tuesday night.”…

Read More

South Korea will respond firmly to ​protect the military border with North Korea ‌despite claims by Pyongyang that it is conducting operations on its side of the line, Seoul’s national ​security adviser Wi Sung-lac said on Friday. Tensions have spiked ​since a landmine blast inside the Demilitarised ⁠Zone (DMZ) border seriously wounded several South Korean ​soldiers on a reconnaissance mission last month, which Seoul ​has said was caused by a North Korean mine. The UN Command, which oversees the DMZ, has said a ​North Korean mine across the line violated…

Read More

An Italian military helicopter operating with the EU peacekeeping mission in Bosnia ​and Herzegovina crashed on Thursday, killing four people and injuring ‌11 others, Italy’s defence ministry said. Two of those killed were members of the Italian army, and two belonged to the Italian Red Cross’s Volunteer Military ​Corps, the ministry said. It added that all 11 injured ​were receiving treatment and none was in a life-threatening condition. ⁠A total of 15 people were on board. “At this moment ​of immense grief, my thoughts go first and foremost to the…

Read More

Patrick Stewart, who rose from poverty in England to become an accomplished Shakespearean stage actor and then achieved global stardom as the erudite Captain Jean-Luc Picard in TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and the telepathic Professor Charles Xavier ​in the “X-Men” movies, has died at the age of 86. Stewart, knighted in 2010 by Queen Elizabeth II for his contributions to drama, died at his home in Los Angeles, according to a statement on ‌his X account. “We announce with great sorrow the passing of Sir Patrick Stewart yesterday…

Read More