World News Headlines

DG ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar is holding an important press conference on the coronavirus situation in Pakistan. "To help the civil government and assist law enforcement agencies is the primary purpose of the deployment of troops [to battle coronavirus]," said the DG ISPR during a news conference. The DG ISPR said that the positivity ratio had shot up to over 5% in 91 cities of Pakistan, adding that the healthcare infrastructure was under "immense pressure" as critical care patients were increasing daily. Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar said if the current coronavirus situation persisted, then oxygen supply will be diverted from other industries to the health sector. He said the Pakistan Army had brought about "enhanced deployment" of its troops in Islamabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Nowshera, Charsadda, Swabi, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Gujrat, Karachi, Hyderabad, Quetta and Muzaffarabad, adding that these cities were reporting a high numb...

The Supreme Court on Monday accepted all review petitions challenging the court's judgement in the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa except the one filed by the judge himself. A 10-member bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, was hearing review petitions filed against the court’s June 19, 2020, judgement on the presidential reference in which the court had empowered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to conduct an inquiry into offshore assets of his spouse. The court's short order stated that "directions contained in paras 4 to 11 in the impugned short order dated 19.06.2020 ... alongwith supporting detailed reasons given in the majority judgement of the same date are recalled and set aside. "All the subsequent proceedings, actions, orders, information and reports in pursuance of the directions contained in the short order dated 19.6.2020 and the detailed reasons thereof, are declared to be illegal and without any legal effect." The ...

Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that the Kisan (farmer) Card was a step in moving towards modern agriculture and would "transform and change" Pakistan. The prime minister was addressing the distribution ceremony of the Kisan Cards in Multan where he said that time would prove that this was a step towards modern agriculture. He hailed the Kisan Card as an "amazing concept" and said that the help that farmers would receive through it would "transform and change Pakistan because farmers are actually the backbone of Pakistan". The prime minister was in Multan on a one-day visit to distribute the cards among the farmers and also "lay the foundation stone of the South Punjab Secretariat", said the Prime Minister's Office. "The prime minister will also launch public welfare and development projects in Multan." Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed on the importance of farmers and said: "The more we strengthen our farmers,...

Pakistan has witnessed a decline in coronavirus-related deaths and cases, as the country has reported 70 deaths during the past 24 hours,reported on Monday. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) data, 70 people died of Covid-19 in a single day, pushing the national tally to 17,187. As many as 4,825 new infections surfaced during the past day. The national tally of confirmed cases currently stands at 800,452. The country’s overall positivity ratio of new cases witnessed a minor decline was recorded at 9.61%, according to the NCOC. Pakistan has overall conducted 11,588,932 tests to diagnose coronavirus with 50,161 in the past 24 hours. 694,046 people have recovered their health back. Yesterday, three planes of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying a consignment of one million COVID-19 vaccine doses had arrived in Islamabad. According to a National Health Ministry official, three PIA Boeing 777 aircraft have brought one million Sinopharm Covid-19 ...

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday lauded his party and said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf is the only political entity in the country's history to launch a campaign against corruption. The premier was speaking via a video link on the occasion of PTI's 25th Youm-e-Tasees (foundation day) and said that more than two decades ago, he formed the party in view of the fact that corruption was damaging the country. "I had studied political science in the university and had played professional cricket in Britain, therefore, I had realised it early on that nations don't move towards destruction due to a lack of resources or because of bombings or war," he said. "It is corruption which pushes a country towards decline." The premier said that when people in power resort to corrupt practices, then a nation is destined to face a decline. He said that twenty-five years ago, he and his friends named the party after the concept of Insaf (justice) because, without...

A fire sparked by an oxygen tank explosion killed at least 82 people and injured 110 at a hospital in Baghdad that had been equipped to house Covid-19 patients, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Sunday. "We urgently need to review safety measures at all hospitals to prevent such a painful incident from happening in future,” spokesman Khalid al-Muhanna told state television, announcing the toll. The fire erupted on Saturday at the Ibn Khatib hospital in the Diyala Bridge area. Ali Bayati, a member of Iraq’s semi-official High Commission for Human Rights, had said earlier a final death toll had not yet been officially announced but it could be between 30 to 45. Patients' relatives scrambled during the blaze to save their loved ones. A man who had been visiting his brother described people jumping out of windows to escape. "The fire spread, like fuel ... I took my brother out to the street, next to the checkpoint. Then I came (back) and went up from there. To th...

Technology mogul Elon Musk has a lined up a new gig in addition to his jobs as CEO of electric car maker Tesla and spaceship maker SpaceX. He is going to host the iconic TV show Saturday Night Live. Musk’s scheduled May 8 appearance builds upon his recent run of success. Tesla’s stock is worth nearly six times more than it was before the pandemic started, leaving Musk with an estimated fortune of $177 billion, according to Forbes magazine. And SpaceX just a launched a mission that sent astronauts to the International Space Station. Saturday Night Live doesn’t make a habit of having business executives host its show, but Musk is far from a stuffy corporate type. He regularly jokes around on Twitter, where he has nearly 52 million followers and has gotten into legal trouble for making disparaging remarks about critics and hinting that he might lead a buyout of Tesla that resulted him getting fined $20 million by stock market regulators. Miley Cyrus will be the musical guest on the n...