KARACHI: Unlike foreign sales of soft drinks, mineral water, and fast food, which have been negatively impacted by consumer boycotts in response to the massacre of thousands of Palestinians by Israeli forces over the past year, Pakistani manufacturers of essential foreign goods have not experienced significant declines. For instance, Nestlé Pakistan’s sales for the nine months ended September 30 were Rs149.2 billion, a measly 1.3 percent decrease from Rs151 billion during the same time last year. However, the business’s profit-after-tax (PAT) decreased by 29.50 percent to Rs12.2 billion from Rs15.8 billion the year before. According to Nestle, this decline was…
Author: Raja Zahid Khanzada
WASHINGTON: The details of a $50 billion loan to help Kyiv have been finalized by G7 leaders. The loan is backed by profits from Russian sovereign assets that were frozen after its invasion of Ukraine. The wealthy democracies that make up the Group of Seven have stated that they “have reached a consensus on how to deliver” the loans totaling approximately $50 billion, with the intention of beginning to distribute funds by the end of this year. The leaders of the G7 went on to say that “the loan proceeds will be disbursed through multiple channels to support Ukraine’s budgetary,…
TOKYO: On Saturday, candidates in Japan’s extremely close election made last-minute appeals to voters, as opinion polls suggested that the ruling coalition might not win a majority. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) would suffer its worst result since 2009 and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba would likely suffer a devastating blow in the event of such a shocking outcome in Sunday’s election. Ishiba, who has been a fan of trains, pop idols from the 1970s, and building model ships and planes, just took over as leader of the LDP, which has been in charge of Japan for nearly seven decades. On…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has received funding in the amount of $50 million from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for a project that will use the country’s dynamic and expanding start-up ecosystem to develop domestic climate solutions. GCF and the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) in Pakistan are utilizing Pakistan’s dynamic and expanding start-up ecosystem to support locally developed climate solutions. As an anchor investor in the Climaventures Fund, GCF will also make a first-loss equity commitment and provide funding for a venture accelerator. At its meeting in Songdo, Incheon, South Korea, the GCF executive board approved this as one of 16…
ISLAMABAD: Israel’s missile strikes on Iran on Saturday were harshly criticized by Pakistan, which characterized them as a “grave violation” of the country’s sovereignty and international law. The attacks posed a significant threat to peace and stability in an already volatile region, the Foreign Office stated in a statement. “Israeli military strikes against Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are a serious violation of international law and the UN Charter.” The FO stated, holding Israel accountable for an “escalation and expansion of the conflict,” stating that “these strikes undermine the path to regional peace and stability and also constitute a dangerous…
QUETTA: Officials reported that a bomb exploded near a vehicle on Saturday in the Duki district of Balochistan, injuring four members of the Frontier Corps (FC). The FC patrol was passing through the Mandaytak area when the improvised explosive device (IED) was detonated by unknown criminals at the roadside. A senior security official stated, “Four FC soldiers were injured in the blast,” adding that they were working to ensure the safety of trucks transporting coal from the Duki coal fields to Punjab. The injured were transported to the district hospital in Duki by FC and police personnel upon their arrival…
Pakistan• Militants target the residence of a former JUI-F senator in the North Waziristan/Peshawar region: Officials reported that a suicide bombing at a joint police and security forces checkpoint in the Eidak area of the North Waziristan district on Saturday resulted in the deaths of at least eight people, including four police officers and two security officials. They claimed that the suicide bomber, who was traveling in a rickshaw, blew himself up at the Aslam checkpoint. They added that the attack occurred while personnel were inspecting vehicles. An official stated, “Four policemen, two security personnel, and two civilians have been…
BEIRUT: Saturday, more than a month into the all-out war, Israel said it used 400 tonnes of explosives to destroy a Hezbollah tunnel, while Lebanese state media reported that the Israeli army dynamited houses in border villages. “The army of the Israeli enemy has since dawn blown up and destroyed houses” in the border village of Adaisseh, according to the official National News Agency. The NNA also reported “large explosions” in the border village of Kfar Kila, claiming that smoke columns rose above the area and could be heard to the south. A “strategic underground facility” in southern Lebanon was…
CAIRO: Activists claim that Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) killed at least 124 people on Friday in a village in El Gezira State. This was one of the deadliest incidents in an 18-month war and the largest of a series of attacks in the state. Pro-democracy activists claimed that the RSF had carried out retaliatory attacks in the farming state where Abuagla Keikal was from, killing and detaining civilians and displacing thousands, following the high-ranking RSF officer’s surrender to the army on Sunday. Residents in Gezira claim that the RSF carried out a months-long rampage that resulted in the…
IRAN: Israel’s forces struck Iranian military facilities in Tehran as well as the provinces of Ilam and Khuzestan, which border Iraq, early on Saturday, the latest exchange between Israel and Iran, a shadow war that came to light following the events of October 7, 2013. Israel’s aggression has been downplayed by Iran, which claims that it caused “limited damage” and that four Iranian troops were killed. It would appear that the extremists in Tel Aviv have heeded American pleas not to strike Iranian nuclear and oil facilities; The entire region would have suffered terrible consequences had these kinds of facilities…
