Tue, 21-Oct-2025

Romania, Poland hopeful for Sweden, Finland NATO bids

NATO

Romania and Poland hope Sweden and Finland will be able to join NATO despite Turkey’s reluctance, the country’s foreign ministers said Friday during a visit to Ankara. Stockholm and Helsinki submitted their bids to join NATO last week, reversing decades of military non-alignment, after political and public support for membership soared following Russia’s invasion of … Read more

High stakes as Hungary eyes Russian oil ban exemption

With EU leaders set to meet Monday to try to seal a sixth Russia sanctions package that includes an oil embargo, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has mounted his latest show of defiance. The package proposed earlier this month by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, requires unanimous backing from all 27 EU member … Read more

Covid cases in Singapore

On Friday, Singapore reported 3,830 new cases of COVID-19, increasing the total number of cases to 1,290,046. According to figures issued by the Ministry of Health, 418 new cases were discovered by PCR (polymerase chain reaction) testing and 3,412 through ART (antigen rapid test) tests. There were 404 local transmissions and 14 imported infections among … Read more

Dozen journalists held in Ethiopia crackdown

Ethiopia

At least a dozen journalists have been detained in a wave of arrests in Ethiopia, media workers and a rights group said Friday, in a crackdown that has sparked international concern. Authorities in the Amhara region said more than 4,000 people had been detained in an anti-crime operation but press watchdogs and rights groups reported … Read more

Ukraine centre stage as Prague recalls Nazi assassination

ukraine

The war in Ukraine loomed large over a ceremony in Prague on Friday commemorating the assassination of a key Nazi official by Czechoslovak paratroopers 80 years ago. British Foreign Minister Liz Truss attended the event in honor of the UK-trained paratroopers who killed Reinhard Heydrich, one of the architects of the Holocaust. “The bravery of … Read more

Russian soldiers to seize control of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv

Ukrainian soldiers have repelled 11 enemy strikes in the Donetsk and Luhansk areas over the past few days

Shelling has increased in Severodonetsk, one of the few portions of the Luhansk region in Donbas still under Ukrainian control. Russian soldiers are striking from three directions in an attempt to encircle Luhansk and neighbouring Lysychansk, knowing that if they fall, Russian forces will control practically all of Luhansk. The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Gaidai, … Read more

Azfar Ahsan receives Global Visionary Award

DUBAI: Nutshell Group Founder and Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, received the “Global Visionary Award for Global Connectivity of Businesses and Communities” by the BSV Blockchain Association, a statement said. Ahsan, who is also the founder of Corporate Pakistan Group, is the first Pakistani businessman to have received this recognition at the Global Blockchain … Read more

Foreland’s Field of Dreams initiative receives gift from builder

Foreland

A housebuilder has contributed money to the Foreland Fields Charity in Ramsgate to assist them establish a ‘Field of Dreams’ for the special school’s students. Vistry Kent, which is building homes nearby at Linden Homes’ Westwood Point development, has donated £750 to the charity in order to help it generate funding for an outdoor sports … Read more

Thailand’s export growth slowed

Thailand’s exports, which are a major engine of the country’s economic development, increased 9.9% year on year in April, according to figures released on Friday. According to figures issued by the country’s Ministry of Commerce, growth slowed from an increase of 19.5 percent in March, falling below market expectations of 14.6 percent. According to the … Read more

Hindi-language ‘Tomb of Sand’ wins International Booker prize

Tomb of Sand

The International Booker Prize has been awarded to Indian author Geetanjali Shree and her American translator Daisy Rockwell for their Hindi novel “Tomb of Sand,” a first for a book written in an Indian language. The prestigious £50,000 ($63,000, 59,000-euro) prize is awarded to fiction from around the world that has been translated into English … Read more

Nepal to reduce tax on petroleum products

Due to growing gasoline costs, the Nepali government has decided to reduce taxes on petroleum goods, a minister declared on Friday. Dilendra Prasad Badu, minister for industry, trade, and supply, told the House of Representatives that a cabinet meeting on Monday backed a plan to alter existing tariffs on petroleum products to reduce gasoline prices. … Read more

Climbers from Kyrgyzstan remove the Ukraine flag

ukraine

Kyrgyzstan’s climbing federation stated Friday that it had removed a Ukraine flag from a mountain named after Russian President Vladimir Putin, following a police probe. A climber identified on Twitter earlier this week released a video of a Ukrainian flag flying next to a monument identifying the peak as Peak Putin, 4,446 metres (14,587 feet) … Read more

UN Security Council fails

The UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution aiming at imposing further sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Thursday (DPRK). The proposal, which was approved by 13 Security Council members, was vetoed by China and Russia. While explaining China’s vote, Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, stated, “China … Read more

CJP Ata Bandial raises questions on amendment in ECL rules

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday sought a report on the procedure for amending the Exit Control List (ECL) Rules. At present, the government’s decisions regarding the ECL rules were not being annulled, it further added raising questions on amendments in the rules by somebody whose name was placed on the no-fly list. The … Read more

Protesters in Iran want justice as death toll from building collapses rises

iran

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in southern Iran on Friday to demand justice after a tower block collapse killed 24 people, according to Iran news reports. On Monday, a huge piece of the 10-story Metropol building in Abadan, Khuzestan province, collapsed, resulting in one of Iran’s biggest construction catastrophes in years. Hundreds of … Read more

Rupee recovers Rs 2.25 against dollar

US Dollar plunges to all time high

KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee gained Rs 2.25 to reach Rs199.76 on Friday as the government met the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) condition of slashing the subsidy on the prices of fuel. The local unit recovered Rs2.25 to close at Rs199.76 to the dollar from Thursday’s closing of Rs202.01 in the interbank foreign exchange market. The … Read more

Heavy rain in southwest China kills four people

china

Persistent heavy rain that began hammering Qiubei County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province on Thursday has claimed four lives and left four people missing as of 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to the county govt. More than 120,000 people in 12 townships have been impacted, with communications and electricity facilities seriously destroyed and 27,000 houses without … Read more

Heavy rain in southwest China

According to the county authorities, persistent heavy rain that began hammering Qiubei County in southwest China’s Yunnan Province on Thursday has claimed four lives as of 4:30 p.m. Friday, with four people still missing. More than 120,000 people were affected in 12 townships, and communications and electrical facilities were badly destroyed, with 27,000 families enduring … Read more

‘I’m relieved & so is Shah Rukh Khan, future is bright,’ says Aryan Khan’s lawyer Mukul Rohatgi

The Narcotics Control Bureau has handed Aryan Khan a clean chit in the cruise narcotics case, some eight months after he was originally detained. The NCB did not find any evidence against Aryan Khan and he has thus been cleared  Mukul Rohatgi, the lawyer for Shah Rukh Khan and Gauri Khan’s sons, told NDTV that he is happy that NCB has accepted their mistake.

Rohatgi said, “I’m relieved, and so must my clients be, including Shah Rukh Khan. The truth has prevailed. Ultimately, there was no material to charge this young man (Aryan Khan) or arrest him. He was not found with any drugs and I had clearly indicated to the court that the arrest was completely meaningless.”

“I’m happy that the NCB has acted professionally. At least at the time of filing the charge sheet, admitting and realizing that there was no reason to proceed against this young man. They have admitted their mistake.”

He said, “All is well that ends well. Once you forget the dark chapter of 26 days and the anxiety which it caused to the accused and to his parents and well-wishers, I think we should look at the future. Now, the future is bright and the chapter should be closed.”

Rohatgi said, “It was a harrowing experience for him and the family. I’m happy that all this is done.”

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Third degree fire erupted in Baldia Town godown

In the Baldia Town region, a chemical and foam plant burst into massive flames. From a considerable distance, the flames are readily visible. Fire brigade vehicles approached as the flames began to ignite. The fire department rescued all of the persons trapped inside the godown and took every precaution to put out the fire. Due … Read more

Relief camp established in Cholistan on directives of COAS Bajwa

Completion of FATF

RAWALPINDI: On the directives of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Bahawalpur Corps has devised a comprehensive plan to provide medical and relief facilities to drought affected people of Cholistan in coordination with the civil administration. As per details, a free medical and drought relief camp has been established by Bahawalpur Corps … Read more

Meeting on transfer of FIA officers

FIA

The meeting on the First Information Report (FIR) regarding the transfer of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officers in connection to the case of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief Minister of Punjab Hamza Shehbaz. As per the FIA report, many cases were covered through frivolous measures. Justice Ejaz-ul-Haq said the … Read more

Pro-Russia separatists say have captured Ukraine’s Lyman

ukraine

Separatist forces in Ukraine supported by Moscow said on Friday that they had taken Lyman, a major town on a route linking to important eastern towns still under Kyiv’s control. Separatist forces, working with Russian soldiers, have “liberated and taken full control of 220 settlements, including Krasny Liman,” the breakaway province of Donetsk claimed on its … Read more

Australia bids Andrew Symonds farewell, after tragic car accident

Andrew Symonds

SYDNEY: Andrew Symonds, an Australian former all-rounder who died at the age of 46, was remembered as a superbly skilled cricketer with “a pure heart” at a funeral service on Friday. Following the untimely losses of greats Shane Warne and Rod Marsh, Symonds was murdered in a single-vehicle accident in northern Queensland earlier this month, … Read more

Asitha Fernando leads Sri Lanka to Test series victory over Bangladesh

Sri Lanka

DHAKA: Sri Lanka beat Bangladesh by 10 wickets in the second Test on Friday to clinch the series 1-0. Asitha Fernando had a career-best 6-51. At Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium, the visitors knocked Bangladesh out for 169 runs in their second innings, with the 24-year-old playing a key role. “We knew we needed a … Read more

China activates Level-IV emergency

On Friday, China’s Ministry of Water Resources declared a Level-IV emergency reaction for flood management due to the flooding of many rivers in southern Yunnan Province. The water level measured at a hydrological station in Qiubei Region this morning surpassed the stipulated level by 1.48 metres, according to the government, after severe rains pummelling the … Read more