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Islamabad:  Calling the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's son, Hamza Shehbaz a "fake chief minister", Punjab Governor Omer Cheema on Sunday said that his official residence was "captured" on Saturday to hold Shehbaz's oath-taking ceremony. Cheema made the remarks while addressing a press conference in Lahore. He also said that "the oath-taking of Hamza Shehbaz was illegal after I rejected the resignation of Usman Buzdar," reported the Express Tribune. Cheema maintained that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and former CM Buzdar's resignation could not be accepted by the ex-governor as it was addressed to the Prime Minister instead of the governor. Hamza Shahbaz was elected as the new chief minister with 197 votes on April 16, just a few days after the ouster of PTI chairman Imran Khan's government. A day later he was scheduled to take the oath but Punjab Governor Omar Sarfraz Cheema "po...

Beijing:  In a major escalation of COVID-19 restrictions amid a surge in Omicron variant cases, Beijing has banned all restaurant dining, shut down Universal Studios and ordered residents to provide proof of a negative Covid test to enter public venues, a media report said. The restrictions have come as a five-day holiday on the occasion of International Labour Day got underway in the city on Saturday, CNN reported. After several rounds of mass testing, locking down dozens of residential communities and suspending schools, Beijing further tightened the restrictions at the beginning of the holiday, the report said. With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise at an alarming rate, the capital Beijing reported 51 locally transmitted confirmed COVID-19 cases and four asymptomatic cases on Sunday, local media reported citing authorities as saying. Many Beijing residents have rushed to stock up on food and daily necessities over the past week, fearing a Shanghai-style lockdown could cause shor...