LAHORE: The Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has declared a strike for an unspecified duration to protest against the imposition of withholding tax in budget 2024-25. This was announced at the PFMA’s general body meeting on Saturday, which was attended by office-bearers and members from across the country. The general body unanimously announced the closure of flour mills starting from July 11 (Thursday), until their demands are addressed. The flour millers expressed strong reservations regarding the government’s tax policies and collectively opposed the implementation of withholding tax through their respective businesses. They firmly stated that they are not willing to act as…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
KARACHI: Despite receiving funds from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for reforms, the cumulative debt of public sector enterprises (PSEs) reached Rs1.7 trillion, with an additional borrowing of over Rs43 billion during FY24. The government’s top economic priority is privatising the PSEs and reducing the heavy burden on the budget. This is also a prerequisite for the next IMF loans for Pakistan. Independent economists have revealed that the government allocated Rs1.267tr for the PSEs in 2024-25, a 104pc hike over the outgoing FY24. The largest allocation will come through subsidies and grants. The State Bank’s latest report, issued on July 2, shows that PSE…
US President Joe Biden fended off questions about his mental fitness and electability in a TV interview on Friday meant to draw a line under a disastrous debate performance that triggered calls for him to quit his re-election bid. With rebellion brewing among some nervous Democratic voters, lawmakers and donors, the one-to-one with the ABC network was hyped as the most consequential of the 81-year-old president’s long career. But the 22-minute sit-down appeared to provide little reassurance, as Biden blamed sickness for his sub-par performance and repeatedly dismissed polling and fears within his party that the debate had gravely wounded his prospects.…
ALGIERS: Algeria and Italy on Saturday signed a €420 million ($455m) deal for an agricultural project in the North African country, the Algerian agriculture ministry said in a statement. The scheme, which Italian officials called their country’s largest agricultural investment in the southern Mediterranean, covers 36,000 hectares in Algeria’s Timimoune province. It will produce wheat, lentils and beans, among other foods, in the hopes of increasing Algerian non-hydrocarbon exports, officials said during the agreement ceremony. It is also expected to create 6,700 jobs, they said. The deal came months after Algeria signed a $3.5 billion agreement with Qatar’s largest dairy…
BEIJING: Chinese officials raced on Saturday to stem floods caused by a dam breach in central China, state media reported, as the Asian nation grapples with a summer of extreme weather. State news agency Xinhua said the breach occurred on Friday afternoon in part of an embankment on the shore of Dongting Lake in central China’s Hunan province. No casualties were immediately reported but the 226-metre breach forced nearly 6,000 people to evacuate from nearby areas, according to state broadcaster CCTV. It published footage showing lake water flowing through a yawning gap in a dyke, inundating farmland and lapping at the rooftops of…
NIAMEY: The military regimes of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso marked their divorce from the rest of West Africa on Saturday as they signed a treaty setting up a confederation between them. The first summit of the three countries, who all pulled out of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) earlier this year, also saw calls for greater cooperation across a wide range of sectors. “Our people have irrevocably turned their backs on ECOWAS,” Niger’s ruling General Abdourahamane Tiani told his fellow Sahel strongmen at the gathering’s opening in the Nigerien capital Niamey. The three leaders, who took power through coups in…
PHNOM PENH: Japan will work with Cambodia to remove landmines from Ukraine and other war-torn countries, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said during a visit to Phnom Penh on Saturday. Millions of landmines were laid in Cambodia during the nearly three decades of conflict that ended in 1998, with tens of thousands of people killed or maimed over the years. The Southeast Asian country is widely regarded as a world leader in landmine countermeasures and has been working with Japan to clear the weapons since 1998. “Cambodia is an essential partner in Japan’s global landmine removal efforts,” Kamikawa said at a press conference.…
KURIGRAM: The death toll from floods in Bangladesh this week has risen to eight, leaving more than two million affected after heavy rains caused major rivers to burst their banks, officials confirmed on Saturday. The South Asian nation of 170 million people, crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, has seen more frequent floods in recent decades. Climate change has made rainfall more erratic and melting glaciers upstream in the Himalayan mountains. Two teenage boys were killed when a boat capsized in flood waters in Shahjadur, the northern rural town’s police chief Sabuj Rana said. “There were nine people in the small boat. Seven…
CAIRO: At least 16 people were killed in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinian families in Al-Nuseirat in central Gaza on Saturday, the territory’s health ministry and the official Palestinian news agency said. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report. The health ministry said the attack on the school killed at least 16 people and wounded more than 50. Mahmoud Basal, spokesman for the Gaza Civil Emergency Service, said the number of dead could rise because many of the wounded were in critical condition. The attack on the school meant no place in the…
An elephant went on a rampage during a religious event in southern Sri Lanka, injuring 13 people, local media reported on Sunday. The incident occurred on Saturday night during the Ruhunu Kataragama Mahadevala procession, a major religious and cultural event held at Kataragama, in the Uva province, local English daily The Sri Lanka Mirror reported. The injured are being treated at the local hospital, and no one was critically injured, the police said. Elephant rampages during religious festivals are not uncommon in the country, mainly because of the loud noises made by the attendees. Authorities often urge people to avoid making loud…
