SKOPJE, Republic of North Macedonia: North Macedonia’s lawmakers are to vote Thursday on a no confidence motion filed by the opposition against Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s government, which has been weakened by poor results in municipal elections. If Zaev loses the vote, which is uncertain, the Balkan nation’s centre-right opposition said they would try to … Read more
KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has welcomed the launching of the SME Policy, a statement said. “The SME Policy has been in the making for many years and the process unfortunately got deferred many times,” FPCCI president Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo said. Financing is the lifeline for the SMEs … Read more
ISLAMABAD: A week after Pakistan announced its decision to not attend regional security dialogue on Afghanistan to be hosted by India, China too has backed out on Tuesday citing ‘scheduling reasons’. “Due to scheduling reasons, it is inconvenient for China to attend the meeting. We have already given our reply to the Indian side,” Chinese … Read more
KARACHI: The coronavirus positivity ratio of the country dropped below one per cent for the first time since March 2020, data showed on Tuesday. The fresh statistics released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) revealed that the Covid-19 positivity ratio during the last 24 hours was 0.94 per cent, with 400 positive cases … Read more
NEW YORK: A Pakistani-American man, Danish Baig, was among the eight people who died in a stampede during rap star Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas on November 5. The deaths happened near the stage when the crowd surged towards it, with some suffering cardiac arrests and other medical trauma, officials said. Houston … Read more
DAMASCUS: Israeli missile strikes on central and western Syria Monday evening wounded two Syrian soldiers, state news agency SANA said, quoting a military source. They targeted “the central and coastal regions… wounding two soldiers and causing some material damage”, it said. “Syrian air defences responded to the enemy’s missiles and shot down several of them,” … Read more
Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced on Monday that a “complete ceasefire” between the government and the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been agreed upon after talks were held between the two parties. “Negotiations between the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan are being held under the Constitution of Pakistan. Under the agreement, a complete ceasefire has been agreed,” … Read more
In an effort to curb the sugar crisis across the country, Prime Minister Imran Khan announced on Monday to bring the entire sugar stock for sale in the market and start sugarcane crushing from November 15. It was further decided that strict legal action will be initiated against hoarding and profiteering. Chairing a meeting on … Read more
ISLAMABAD: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Monday filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking probe against Pakistani nationals named in the Pandora Papers, which like Panama Papers revealed names of owners of offshore companies, secret bank accounts and other assets. JI Ameer Sirajul Haq filed the miscellaneous application in the Panama leaks case and requested … Read more
The top military brass is briefing the lawmakers from the government and the opposition on national security issues at a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) in Islamabad on Monday. The meeting is underway in the capital with the National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair and Chief of Army Staff … Read more
ROME: The UN’s food agency said Monday the number of people on the edge of famine in 43 countries had risen to 45 million, as acute hunger spikes around the world. The jump from 42 million people earlier in the year was largely down to a food security assessment that found another three million people … Read more
DASHTAN, Afghanistan: In the villages that once bore the brunt of Afghanistan’s frontline fighting, the Taliban victory has broken a cycle of airstrikes, gun battles and funerals. The Taliban’s takeover of Kabul and the sudden collapse in August of the US-backed regime shocked the world and upended the freedoms of Afghans, which were particularly enjoyed … Read more
ABU DHABI: Abu Dhabi cricket’s long-serving pitch curator passed away on Sunday but the Twenty20 World Cup match between New Zealand and Afghanistan went ahead as planned. Mohan Singh died on Sunday morning after being in charge of the Abu Dhabi pitches for 15 years. “We are deeply saddened and our thoughts and prayers are … Read more
ROME: Pompeii archaeologists said Saturday they have unearthed the remains of a “slave room” in an exceptionally rare find at a Roman villa destroyed by Mount Vesuvius’ eruption nearly 2,000 years ago. The little room with three beds, a ceramic pot and a wooden chest was discovered during a dig at the Villa of Civita … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday said Pakistan had comparatively managed “much better” than other countries amidst unprecedented price hike of commodities caused by the COVID-19 lockdown. “An unprecedented rise in commodity prices internationally had adversely affected most of the countries in the world as a result of the COVID lockdowns,” PM Imran Khan … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Pointing towards differences among the Pakistan Development Movement (PDM) parties, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain on Sunday said Pakistan’s opposition coalition was fragmented having no similarity in ideology. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is the only national party which has a national agenda,” Fawad Chaudhry tweeted. He said some parties had vote … Read more
KARACHI: Focal Person of the Finance Ministry Muzzammil Aslam has claimed that the country would produce surplus sugar this year. “The crushing of sugarcane begins from October 15 in Sindh but it has not been started so far,” he said blaming the provincial government for the delay in crushing which allegedly created the fresh sugar … Read more
BERLIN: Several people were wounded on Saturday in a knife attack on a high-speed train in Germany’s Bavaria, local police said, adding the alleged perpetrator had been arrested. “According to preliminary information, several people were injured,” police in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz said in a statement, assuring that “there is now no more danger”. The … Read more
KARACHI: Officials of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Sindh Police on Saturday claimed to have arrested a wanted shooter belonging to the Lyari gang war. Acting on a tip-off about the presence of Mairaj alias Chotu, the CTD started a search operation in the city and arrested him. According to the police officials, the … Read more
Four astronauts are scheduled to return to Earth from the International Space Station early Monday after spending more than six months in space, NASA announced. The four members of the Crew-2 mission, including a French and a Japanese astronaut, will therefore return to Earth before the arrival of a replacement crew, whose take-off was delayed … Read more
LAHORE: Pakistani Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to provide immediate relief to the masses by stepping down. “If Imran Khan has no control over [the prices of] flour, sugar, ghee, medicine, electricity, gas, petrol, [failing] economy and [rising] … Read more
MALANG, Indonesia: Indonesian rescuers scrambled Friday to find survivors under mud-swamped hillsides after flash floods on Java island killed at least eight people, the disaster agency said. Torrential rains on Thursday unleashed flash floods in Malang and the highland city of Batu, inundating houses with mud and debris, while a wall of water destroyed local … Read more
RIYADH: The National Observation of Labour (NLO) revealed an increase of one per cent in the Saudisation rate in the private sector, adding around 60,000 more employees to the labour market during the third quarter of 2021. The current rate of Saudisation is 23.6 per cent of the total employees in the private sector, according … Read more
WASHINGTON: China is expanding its nuclear arsenal much more quickly than anticipated, the United States has said, but Beijing on Thursday slammed the Pentagon report as overhyping the threat. The United States has declared China its principal security concern for the future, as Beijing works to build the People’s Liberation Army into “world-class forces” by … Read more
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi clarified on Thursday that his daughters were not on any of the social media platforms. “I would like to clarify that none of my daughters have any social media accounts; please disregard any ‘accounts’ or ‘news’ that are associated with my daughters,” Boom Boom tweeted along with a screenshot of … Read more
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) on Thursday rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ‘biggest relief package’, terming it a ‘bundle of lies.’ The premier announced the country’s biggest-ever subsidy package worth Rs120 billion on Wednesday, providing a 30 per cent discount on ghee, flour and pulses to support 130 million people. The beneficiaries of the package … Read more
LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Thursday condemned political point-scoring by the opposition parties when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was trying to tackle the banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) recently. Rebuking the opposition for not playing their roles in resolving the security crisis amid the TLP protest, Buzdar accused them of playing dirty politics … Read more
Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, the most destructive opening pair at the T20 World Cup, have been described as “unique” by batting coach Matthew Hayden. The Australian legend should know — over a 15-year international career, left-hander Hayden was a fixture at the top of the order, compiling more than 8,000 Test runs and … Read more
