ISLAMABAD: The salaried class emerged as the third-largest contributor to income tax collection in the outgoing fiscal year (FY24), following closely behind banks and petroleum products, and still surpassing the country’s affluent textile exporters. The banking sector contributed Rs946.08 billion to income tax collection in FY24, a significant 66 per cent increase, from Rs568.68bn in FY23. This represents a substantial rise in the sector’s share of income tax collection, from 17.39pc in FY23 to 20.88pc in FY24. This trend suggests that higher bank profits lead to a greater contribution to income tax revenue. However, it’s worth noting that banks contribute relatively little…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: The electronic media regulator has directed all TV channels not to portray the police in a satirical manner in their shows. A recent directive by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) said TV channels are featuring characters in police uniforms in a derogatory manner during comedy skits and satirical programmes. “It has been observed with grave concern that satellite TV channels while airing and producing programmes based on satire are using uniforms of state institutions/law enforcement agencies in disgraceful manner,” it added. According to Pemra, it has received several complaints from viewers on this issue. The regulator advised…
GWADAR / QUETTA: The distrust between the government and Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leadership has further deepened after fresh recriminations over the killing of a protester in Noshki. Protests, roadblocks and sit-in continued to disrupt life across the province on Saturday as both BYC and the government accused each other of not honouring the agreement reached after negotiations to end the demonstrations. The situation has again reached a tipping point as BYC accused security forces of killing one of its supporters, Hamden Baloch, and injuring two others in Noshki the other day. The group claimed security forces opened fire on a peaceful…
GILGIT: After almost a week-long heatwave in Gilgit-Baltistan, several streams traversing through the mountainous region are experiencing flooding due to a rapid melting of glaciers, with many a road and public and private property swept away. The localities situated downstream of these rivulets are living in a state of uncertainty due to a rise in water level which officials attributed to the melting of glaciers due to persistent heatwaves in the region. A flash flood in the Beraldu River in Shiger caused by a melting Baltoro glacier eroded agricultural lands, trees, and a road linking the region with Testun village.…
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday said that Pakistan fully supported Iran’s call for an “extraordinary meeting” of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after the killing of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in a strike in Tehran, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a press release. The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had earlier threatened a “harsh punishment” for Haniyeh’s killing, led prayers for the Palestinian leader’s burial in Qatar on Thursday. Haniyeh had been visiting Tehran for Pezeshkian’s inauguration ceremony when he was killed. Thousands of mourning crowds carrying posters of Haniyeh and Palestinian flags gathered for the…
An Al-Shabaab suicide bomber and gunmen attacked a busy beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu, killing 32 people and wounding scores more, in one of the deadliest attacks in months, police said on Saturday. The Al-Qaeda-linked militants have been waging an insurgency against the internationally backed federal government for more than 17 years and have previously targeted the Lido beach area, popular with business people and officials. Unverified videos shared online in the immediate aftermath of the attack showed people scattering along a street, with a number of clips purporting to show bloodied bodies lying on the beachfront. “More than…
British police are putting more officers on the streets amid warnings of more violent disorder this weekend and mosques have tightened security after anti-immigration protesters torched cars following the murder of three young girls. Riots involving hundreds of people — or thousands in one protest in London — have erupted this week, after false information spread rapidly online that the suspect in the killings in the northwest town of Southport was a radical Muslim migrant. Police have said the suspect, Axel Rudakubana, is a 17-year-old who was born in Cardiff, Wales. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, facing his first big test since being elected a…
US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has agreed to an offer from Fox News to hold a debate with Democratic US Vice President Kamala Harris on September 4, he said in a post on Truth Social late on Friday. “Rules will be similar to the rules of my debate with Sleepy Joe, who has been treated horribly by his party, but with a full arena audience,” Trump said, referring to President Joe Biden, who has since dropped his re-election bid. The post was removed for a few minutes before being reposted, with Trump deleting his proposal for a “major” town hall gathering on the…
UNITED NATIONS: Opponents of deep sea mining suffered a serious setback on Friday when they failed to take a first step towards an international moratorium on the controversial practice. Until now, those in favour of such mining — which would deliver minerals key to the green transition but with a potentially high environmental cost — have managed to prevent the International Seabed Authority (ISA) from even taking up any debate on the subject. This time, the debate took place, but a draft calling for a “dialogue” towards “the development of a general policy […] for the protection and preservation of the marine…
BEIJING: Swathes of eastern China baked under a scorching heat wave on Saturday, with temperatures in some areas reaching record highs, weather authorities said. China is enduring a summer of extreme weather, with unseasonable heat searing parts of the north and east while torrential rains have triggered floods and landslides in central and southern regions. The country is the world’s largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists say drive global warming and make extreme weather more frequent and intense. The mercury rose to 41.9°C in the eastern city of Hangzhou at around 2:30pm on Saturday, according to a report…
