LIVE updates: Prisoner van reaches Pakistan Parliament; security deployed

Imran Khan, speaker and deputy speaker risk arrest if vote not held today. Stay tuned for LIVE updates

3:10 PM

India Meteorological Department's Twitter account hacked

India Meteorological Department's Twitter account hacked

3:06 PM

Pakistan National Assembly session will likely continue till 12 am: Geo News

3:01 PM

National Assembly session for voting on no-confidence motion against PM Imran resumes

The proceedings of a crucial session of the National Assembly for voting on the no-confidence motion against embattled Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan resumed on Saturday after Iftar.

 

The National Assembly has suspended its proceedings till 7:30 pm (IST 8:00 pm) for Iftar, the meal eaten after sunset during Ramzan to break the day's fast. Voting on the no-confidence motion is expected after 8 pm (IST 8:30 pm).

 

The crucial session of the National Assembly to decide the fate of Prime Minister Khan began on Saturday morning.

 

Shortly afterwards, Speaker Asad Qaiser decided to adjourn the session when Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif took the floor on a point of order and made a small speech reminding the Speaker that he was bound to go ahead as per the apex court's order.

2:43 PM

Pakistan National Assembly session to continue till 12 am: Report

Pakistan National Assembly session to continue till 12 am: Report

 

2:43 PM

Supertech twin towers demolition: Test blast on Sunday, residents advised to stay indoors

Edifice Engineering and Jet Demolitions, which has been roped in by the Noida authority to demolish the illegally built Supertech twin towers, will carry out a test blast Sunday afternoon, and has asked residents of nearby societies to stay indoors during that period.

 

The test blast would be carried out at 2.30 pm on Sunday in the society in Noida's sector 93-A, according to an advisory issued by the firm.

 

According to officials, the actual demolition of Supertech's Apex and Ceyane towers will take place on May 22 but the test blast will be carried out to ascertain the amount of explosives needed for the demolition.

2:36 PM

Army could enter Parliament if trust vote is blocked, says TV channel

A television channel reported on Saturday that the Pakistan Supreme Courtc could invoke the provisions of the country's Constitution and call upon the army to enter Parliament in case the no-trust vote against PM Imran Khan is blocked.

 

In essence Pakistan's top court can use Article 184 of the Constitution to enforce the confidence motion.

2:32 PM

US asked Pakistan not to proceed with PM Imran Khan's visit to Russia: Qureshi

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday told Parliament that the US national security adviser telephoned his Pakistani counterpart and "categorically asked us not to proceed with the Russia tour" of Prime Minister Imran Khan in February.

 

In a lengthy address to the National Assembly, ahead of a vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Khan, Qureshi talked major foreign policy issues, especially the alleged regime change being plotted by the US in Pakistan.

 

"Today Pakistan is standing at a historic juncture and the people need to decide whether they want to live in an independent state or become slaves [to the West], the 65-year-old politician said, acknowledging that today might be his last day as the foreign minister of Pakistan.

2:31 PM

British PM Boris Johnson meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv

British PM Boris Johnson meets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, reports AFP news agency quoting Ukraine presidency

2:30 PM

Pak PM Imran Khan calls cabinet ministers' meeting on Saturday night

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of his cabinet ministers late on Saturday night, even though his government is expected to lose the no-confidence motion scheduled to take place later in the evening, according to local media reports.

 

Khan has summoned the Cabinet Meeting at 9.00 PM at the Prime Ministers' House here. Important decisions are expected in the meeting, Geo News reported quoting high-level sources.

 

However, the meeting has taken many by surprise as the no-confidence vote is expected to be completed by around 8.00 PM and Khan has little chance of surviving it. READ MORE...

2:27 PM

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Visits Kyiv, meets Ukraine President Zelensky

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson Visits Kyiv, meets Ukraine President Zelensky

 

2:05 PM

YouTube bans Russian parliament channel

YouTube has banned the channel of Russia's lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, prompting government officials to renew longtime threats against the platform.

 

The Duma TV channel reported the ban on the messaging app Telegram, noting that it had 145,000 subscribers and over 100,000 million total views.

 

In comments to the Russian news agency Interfax, Google didn't give an exact reason for the move, but said the company follows all applicable sanction and trade compliance laws.

1:44 PM

Imran Khan set to resign as Pak PM, list three conditions to quit: TV Report

A television channel reported on Saturday that Pakistan Prime Minister is now more or less ready to resign, but has imposed three conditions before he makes the move. The first of these is that he will not be arrested upon putting in his papers. The second is that none of his ministers will be arrested either. The third is that someone other than Shehbaz khan should assume the mantle of the country's prime minister.

At the time of filing this report, Imran Khan was on his way to Shaukat Khanum Hospital to make an announcement.

1:23 PM

Decade after hepatitis outbreak, medical registry might end

The medical technician who drew blood from New Hampshire Rep. Peter Schmidt after he broke his leg in February was registered with the state, thanks to a 2014 law enacted after a travelling medical technician infected dozens of people with hepatitis C.

But by the time Schmidt was back on his feet, colleagues had hijacked his bill aimed at improving the registry. House lawmakers passed a bill last month eliminating the registration requirement altogether, and Schmidt is now urging senators to reject it.

Please do not pass this, this is a terrible idea, Schmidt said.

I think we need to continue to register these medical technicians, otherwise we are opening ourselves up to a potential repeat of the Exeter experience.

New Hampshire created the Board of Registration for Medical Technicians in response to David Kwiatkowski, who is serving 39 years in prison for stealing painkillers and replacing them with saline-filled syringes tainted with his blood.

At the time, officials hoped the board would become a model for other states, but that hasn't happened.

And those who want to ditch it say it creates unnecessary bureaucracy at a time when health care facilities are struggling to hire workers.

The actions of one bad actor, however heinous, are not reason to require thousands of technicians to register and pay fees, said Rep. Carol McGuire, R-Epsom, when the House passed the bill last month.

But Linda Ficken, a Kansas woman who contracted hepatitis C from Kwiatkowski in 2011, said she believes any medical worker with access to drugs should be registered and should undergo frequent drug testing.

Every time I go into the hospital, I can't help but wonder, is this a repeat? she said. Cured or not, the thoughts and anxiety are still there.

Despite being fired numerous times over drug allegations, Kwiatkowski had worked in 18 hospitals in seven states before being hired in at Exeter Hospital in New Hampshire.

After his arrest in 2012, 46 people in four states were diagnosed with the same strain of the hepatitis C virus he carries, including one who died in Kansas.

 

1:07 PM

Imran's pro-Russia, anti-West slant may blunt his political edge: Report

Imran Khan's support for Russia is rooted in his antagonism towards the West, however, with the Pakistan army unwilling to alienate the West and the US, the premier will have to play a very delicate balancing act between the two sides to win the elections in the country, according to a media report.

Notably, Imran Khan visited Russia in February despite being asked by the Western states to reconsider his trip and later rejected their message to call out Moscow in the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict asking if they considered Pakistan their "slave", however, the Pakistan army condemning Russia's aggression in Ukraine came as a blow to Khan's government, reported a UK-based media outlet.

Pakistan has accused the West of "double standards" in its reaction to the Ukraine conflict citing the catastrophic wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with the underlying narrative of the West standing up for "white Ukrainians" and not for other victims of conflict, purely because of their ethnicity. The narrative has also been incorporated into Imran Khan's populist rhetoric.

However, the Pakistan army undid Khan's efforts of friendship with Russia as Army chief General Qamar Bajwa unequivocally condemned Russia's aggression in Ukraine, satisfying the Western states pressing Islamabad to condemn the invasion.

Referring to free speech laws allowing satire against Islam, Imran Khan has been consistent in saying that there's an ongoing "genocide" of Muslims in the West, clearly demonstrating his desire to suppress this freedom by exporting murderous Islamic blasphemy laws, reported the UK-based media outlet.

However, he has been quiet on Russia's own anti-Muslim policies or even China's treatment of Uyghur Muslims because like Pakistan's subservience to China, Khan's shift towards China is rooted in economic and geopolitical gains rather than ideological affinity.

However, according to the media outlet, the condemnation of satire against Islam is likely to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin space to push his nationalist, autocratic, agenda in the Muslim-majority areas such as Tatarstan where he is unlikely to face any resistance over the war in Ukraine because much of the narrative here is likely to remain on wars elsewhere, not perpetuated by Moscow.

12:58 PM

Pak PM Khan calls cabinet ministers meeting late Saturday night

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of his cabinet ministers late on Saturday night, even though his government is expected to lose the no-confidence motion scheduled to take place later in the evening, according to local media reports.

Khan has summoned the Cabinet Meeting at 9.00 PM at the Prime Ministers' House here. Important decisions are expected in the meeting, Geo News reported quoting high-level sources.

However, the meeting has taken many by surprise as the no-confidence vote is expected to be completed by around 8.00 PM and Khan has little chance of surviving it.

Khan, who has been saying that he will fight till the last ball, may delay the Opposition parties' no-confidence vote by making his Members of National Assembly make lengthy speeches on the purported "foreign conspiracy" in bringing down his government, the sources said.

Khan has been claiming that the Opposition's no-confidence motion against him was the result of a foreign conspiracy because of his independent foreign policy and funds were being channelled from abroad to oust him from power. In an address to the nation on Friday, the 69-year-old prime minister reiterated his allegations that a senior US diplomat threatened regime change in Pakistan.

The US has bluntly rejected the allegations.