Christmas Day floods in the Philippines forced the evacuation of nearly 46,000 people from their homes, civil defence officials said Monday. Two people were killed and nine others were missing after heavy seasonal rain inundated parts of the southern region of Mindanao, the officials added. The disaster dampened celebrations on the mainly Catholic nation’s most important holiday. “The waters …
BEIJING, dec 23 (Reuters): China is expecting a peak in COVID-19 infections within a week, a health official said, with authorities predicting extra strain on the country’s health system even as they downplay the disease’s severity and continue to report no new deaths. In the face of a surging outbreak and widespread protests against its “zero-COVID” regime of lockdowns …
ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (FD): President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday approved the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill 2022, abolishing the punishment for attempted suicide in the country. According to the announcement issued by the President’s House, President Alvi approved the bill, which repeals Section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, which deals with penalising suicide attempts. It may be recalled …
BEIJING, Dec. 23 (INP): Landing Med, a medical technology company based in Wuhan, China, dispatched three self-developed cervical cancer screening devices along with 5,000 sets of supporting consumable items to Pakistan. With these AI-powered devices, 10,000 Pakistani women will receive free cervical cancer screening and early diagnosis of tumors, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Friday. This is the …
LAHORE, Dec 23 (EW): The Lahore High Court (LHC) will hear a petition filed by PML-Q leader Parvez Elahi challenging the denotification order of Punjab Governor Baligh Ur Rehman today. A five-member bench headed by Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh has been formed by the LHC chief justice. In the petition, Elahi has appealed to the court to declare the …
ISLAMABAD, Dec 23 (EW): A suspected suicide car bomb exploded in Islamabad’s Sector 1-10 on Friday and at least one police official was martyred in the attack. Police sources said the explosion occurred after they stopped a taxi and began searching it. According to preliminary information, at least four other officers were injured in the explosion and have been taken …
New Zealand’s cricket team returned to Pakistan on Thursday to play two Tests and three one-day internationals, a year after abondoning their tour over a security threat. The arrival of the Kiwis comes just days after England whitewashed Pakistan at home in a three-match Test series that has seen the hosts’ cricket board chief sacked. New Zealand sparked deep …
LAHORE, Dec 22 (FD): The political crisis in Punjab has intensified as Federal Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said on Thursday that Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman is likely to issue the notification to denotify Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi today. Talking to media outside Punjab Governor House, Rana Sanaullah said that Pervaiz Elahi was no more the executive of the province …
LAHORE, Dec 21 (EW): PTI leader and former federal minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Wednesday the decision of closing the restaurants at 8pm could harm the hotel industry and its thousands of workers. Taking to Twitter, he said the government on the one hand had no money to buy fuel but, on the other, was squeezing the traders …
MUMBAI, Dec 21 (Reuters): At least 100 ethnic Rohingya are stranded in a boat off India s Andaman Islands and as many as 16-20 may have have died of thirst, hunger or drowned, said two Myanmar Rohingya activist groups. Each year many Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority, risk their lives boarding rickety vessels to escape violence in Myanmar …
