Pakistan’s upper house of parliament saw a heated debate between the treasury and the opposition members on Friday over Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s remarks. Heading a bench hearing an appeal against the amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws, Chief Justice Bandial observed that the problems facing the country could only be addressed […]Read More

Pakistan has received the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) related to the completion of the ninth review of a $7 billion loan programme, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has said. The minister made these remarks after an IMF delegation that left Pakistan after holding talks with the government […]Read More

Differences between the two major parties—the CPN-UML and the CPN (Maoist Centre)—in Nepal’s ruling coalition resurfaced at a meeting of the High-level Political Mechanism (HLPC) on Friday. At the heart of the disagreement is UML chair KP Sharma Oli’s insistence that he will not accept a consensus candidate for President. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal […]Read More

The Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States for days before being shot down could monitor communications signals, a U.S. official says. “High resolution imagery from U-2 flybys revealed that the high-altitude balloon was capable of conducting signals intelligence collection operations,” an official with the State Department, speaking on condition of anonymity, told […]Read More

The Sri Lankan government will decriminalise same-sex relationships, says Foreign Minister Ali Sabry. “There is a Private Member Bill initiated by Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Premnath C. Dolawatte. The government will support its position of decriminalising same-sex relationships. We are, however, not legalising same-sex marriage. But we would decriminalise it. I think that […]Read More

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has banned popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia in the country for not “blocking/removing sacrilegious content” within the 48-hour deadline given to the website. On Wednesday, the services of the free, crowdsourced, editable online encyclopedia were degraded across Pakistan. PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid told Dawn said the ban had primarily been imposed […]Read More

After the first round of technical talks between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team and the Pakistani government concluded on Friday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif observed that the lender was imposing conditions that were ‘beyond our wildest dreams’. Sharif said the IMF delegation was giving Finance Minister Ishaq Dar a tough time. “Our economic challenges […]Read More

Former Pakistani Prime Minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said he resigned as party senior vice president because of Maryam Nawaz. Party supremo Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam was promoted to the position of party’s senior vice president in January—a position she would have shared with Abbasi. “Maryam has become […]Read More

The United States is aware “as a matter of intelligence” that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has ordered his military to be prepared to invade Taiwan by 2027, CIA Director William Burns has said. Burns said that Xi’s order to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) military may not represent his timeline for the CCP’s invasion of […]Read More

Myanmar’s military government has imposed martial law in 37 townships across the country, including in the resistance strongholds of Sagaing and Magwe regions. This comes a day after the regime extended emergency rule for six more months, two years since the coup on February 1, 2021, signaling more oppression. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing told […]Read More