Pakistan approved changes to the constitution on Monday, which included empowering parliament to pick the Supreme Court's chief justice, drawing criticism from opposition parties who said it was an attempt to subvert the judiciary.

The constitutional changes were approved in an extraordinary session of parliament which was assembled on Sunday, a public holiday, and ran all night, concluding close to dawn on Monday. "The Chief Justice of Pakistan shall be nominated by the Special Parliamentary

Pakistan's government on Monday narrowly passed a package of constitutional amendments it said would stop the country's courts from issuing rulings that "interfere in parliament".

Polio is once again spreading in Pakistan, where officials say more than 1 million children missed their vaccination doses last month, underscoring the challenges they face in eradicating one of the world’s most intractable diseases.

Polio cases are rising ahead of a new vaccination campaign in Pakistan, where violence targeting health workers and the police protecting them has hampered years of efforts toward making the country polio-free.

Cases of the polio virus – which causes paralysis or even death – have been rising across Pakistan – especially in southwestern Balochistan, southern Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and eastern Punjab provinces,