Strong earthquakes hit central Italy; no deaths reported

Jan 23: Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan called on Wednesday for the United Nations to help mediate between nuclear armed India and Pakistan over the disputed territory of Kashmir.

"This is a potential flashpoint," Khan said during a media briefing at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, adding that it was time for the "international institutions ... specifically set up to stop this" to "come into action".

The Indian government in August revoked the constitutional autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir, splitting the Muslim-majority region into two federal territories in a bid to integrate it fully with the rest of the country.

Kashmir is claimed in full by both India and Pakistan. The two countries have gone to war twice over it, and both rule parts of it. India's portion has been plagued by separatist violence since the late 1980s.

Khan said his biggest fear was how New Delhi would respond to ongoing protests in India over a citizenship law that many feel targets Muslims.

"We're not close to a conflict right now ... What if the protests get worse in India, and to distract attention from that, what if ..."

The prime minister said he had discussed the prospect of war between his country and India in a Tuesday meeting with US President Donald Trump. Trump later said he had offered to help mediate between the two countries.

Khan said Pakistan and the United States were closer in their approach to the Taliban armed rebellion in Afghanistan than they had been for many years. He said he had never seen a military solution to that conflict.

"Finally the position of the US is there should be negotiations and a peace plan."

In a separate on-stage conversation later on Wednesday, Khan said he had told Trump in their meeting that a war with Iran would be "a disaster for the world". Trump had not responded, Khan said.

Khan made some of his most straightforward comments when asked why Pakistan has been muted in defence of Uighurs in China.

China has been widely condemned for setting up complexes in remote Xinjiang province that Beijing describes as "vocational training centres" to stamp out ""extremism and give people new skills.

The United Nations says at least one million ethnic Uighurs and other Muslims have been detained.

When pressed on China's policies, Khan said Pakistan's relations with Beijing were too important for him to speak out publicly.

"China has helped us when we were at rock bottom. We are really grateful to the Chinese government, so we have decided that any issues we have had with China we will handle privately."

Islamabad, May 9: A female doctor posted at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Mother and Child Hospital (MCH), who was tested Covid-19 positive, has exposed Pakistan's mismanagement in handling the patients affected with the deadly virus.

Identified herself as Dr. Sharbat, she made a video of herself locked in an isolated room when the authorities failed to provide any medical assistance to her.

According to Pakistani media, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) Mother and Child Hospital (MCH) and the operating theatre in the Children's Hospital were sealed on Tuesday after 15 people from both facilities were diagnosed with Covid-19.

Dr. Sharbat said that despite having Covid-19 symptoms after her colleague doctor was tested positive, she was forced to perform duty by the hospital authorities.

After she tested positive, Dr. Sharbat has isolated herself in a room and has requested the hospital authorities to provide her a bed in the hospital.

She said, "I am isolated in a small room. There is no toilet and other facilities at this place. I have requested the authorities several times to provide me proper bed because I cannot go home as my son and father is there. I have no other place to go. Its been several hours now and the administration is busy doing meetings. They have no idea about my location. I have called the concerned officials several times and requested for a room in the hospital, but they said that they are looking for it. This is the kind of arrangements we have that a doctor, who was serving the patients, is not able to get proper care".

Dr Sharbat said that she is feeling depressed after seeing the response of authorities tackling with Covid-19 crisis in the country.

She added, "It is unfortunate that the government salutes [health professionals] but is not willing to provide isolation rooms."

Pakistan's position in the global ranking in respect of Covid-19 dropped from 24th to 22nd after the number of positive cases increased to 26,806 (till May 08) with the addition of 1,791 new cases.

However, the National Coordination Committee (NCC), chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, had decided to substantially ease the lockdown from Saturday after detailed deliberations and consultations with the provinces.

Geneva, Apr 23: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday (local time) said that the COVID-19 crisis will not end any time soon, with several countries only in the initial stages of the fight against the virus.

"Make no mistake, we have a long way to go. Coronavirus will be with us for a long time. There is no question that stay at home orders and other physical distancing measures have successfully suppressed transmission in many countries," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press conference.

"Most countries are in the early stages of their epidemics. And some, which were affected early in the pandemic, are now starting to see a resurgence in the number of cases," he added.

COVID-19 has infected more than 2.6 million people around the world and a total of 1,83,027 people have died due to coronavirus, according to data from US-based Johns Hopkins University.