RAMALLAH: The majority of Palestinian Olympic hopefuls are counting on wildcards from the International Olympic Committee to take part in the Paris Games amid the ongoing fighting in Gaza, Jibril Rajoub, president of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, said on Wednesday. One Palestinian athlete — in taekwondo — has qualified in his own right while others are training to meet the IOC standards in their sports to have priority for wildcards. Wildcards are part of the IOC’s universality rule for all national Olympic committees to be present at the Games. The Paris Olympics starts on July 26. “We have one athlete…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
LAUDERHILL: Heavy rain and a waterlogged outfield led to the abandonment of the T20 World Cup match between Sri Lanka and Nepal on Tuesday in Florida. The result meant that Group ‘D’ leaders South Africa, who have won all three of their games, became the first team to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the tournament. Rain had poured down for most of the day, with flood warnings in place around the region, but a break in the weather led ground staff to begin the task of trying to dry the field. However, to the disappointment of the large and lively…
NORTH SOUND: Australia marched into the Super Eights of the T20 World Cup with a nine-wicket demolition of Namibia at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Tuesday. Adam Zampa led the rout of an outclassed Namibia with figures of 4-12, becoming the first Australian man to reach 100 T20I wickets. The southern Africans were bundled out for just 72 off 17 overs after batting first. With victories under their belt over Oman and arch-rivals England, Australia then sped to the target in just 5.4 overs for the loss of one wicket. Travis Head finished unbeaten on 34 and captain Mitchell Marsh…
Bulls returned to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday — a day after the government proposed its budget for FY2024-25 — as shares saw a massive gain of more than 2,700 points in intraday trade. The KSE-100 index gained 2735.07 points, or 3.75 per cent to stand at 75,579.23 at 12:17pm, the PSX data portal showed. It then receded to stand at 75,493.82 points at 12:22pm, up by 2696.39 points or 3.7pc, from the previous close of 72,797.43. Mohammed Sohail, chief executive of Topline Securities, attributed the upward trajectory to “no increase in tax on dividend and capital gain [tax] (CGT)…
ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to enhance the subsidies to merged districts of former Fata in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, mainly in the power sector, while increasing the food subsidies to the Gilgit-Baltistan region. The federal government has decided to grant Rs86 billion in power subsidy arrears for erstwhile Fata in the budget, and Rs65bn has been allocated in power subsidy for the upcoming federal budget 2024-25. The power subsidy for former Fata in the outgoing fiscal year was Rs25bn, but the government paid Rs39bn under this heading. The government has allocated Rs1.36 trillion in subsidies for the next fiscal year, compared to…
ISLAMABAD: The government has made privatisation its key priority, and, in this regard, the Islamabad International Airport will be outsourced first. In his budget speech, Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb said the government should not be in business. “The prime minister strongly believes in reducing government interference in the commercial space and promoting the private sector; that is why we have made privatisation a key priority.” The government will not only accelerate the ongoing privatisation of institutions like the Pakistan International Airport (PIA), the Roosevelt Hotel, the House Building Finance Corporation, and First Women’s Bank, but will also launch a concrete programme offering other state-owned enterprises (SOEs)…
KARACHI/ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Businessmen and industrialists initially on Wednesday appeared unsatisfied with the budgetary measures proposed for 2024-25, which appear anti-industry and more IMF-friendly. Trade and industry leaders have termed the budget a burden on the existing taxpayers, and no serious efforts have been made to broaden the tax base or promote industrial production and commerce in the country. Addressing a press conference at the Chamber House, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari said that instead of broadening the tax net, the government has fixed an ambitious tax target of Rs12.97 trillion, which would increase the burden on…
KARACHI: In a bid to appease the local assemblers, the government has abolished customs duty on the import of hybrid cars and luxury electric vehicles (EVs). The decision has irked used car importers, who said that it would benefit the assembler of these vehicles rather than consumers. On the other hand, the local assemblers of hybrid vehicles must be satisfied as their meeting with Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif a few days before the new budget paid off. The government gave concessions on the import of hybrid vehicles in 2013 to end the huge price difference between hybrid and fossil fuel vehicles. Now, the price…
A fire that erupted in a building housing workers in the Kuwaiti city of Mangaf early on Wednesday has killed at least 41 people, the country’s deputy prime minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah said during a visit to the site. The deputy prime minister accused real estate owners of violations and greed, saying those factors contributed towards the incident. “Unfortunately, the greed of real estate owners is what leads to these matters,” said Sheikh Fahad, who also runs the interior and defence ministries. Major General Eid Rashed Hamad said the fire was reported to authorities at 6am local time.…
Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have flocked to the Saudi holy city of Makkah for the Haj pilgrimage unfolding this year in the shadow of the Gaza conflict. One of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings officially begins on Friday, and Saudi officials are trying to keep the focus on prayers. The Gulf kingdom’s minister in charge of religious pilgrimages, Tawfiq al-Rabiah, warned last week that “no political activity” will be tolerated. The Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam, must be performed at least once by all Muslims with the means, and as of Wednesday around 1.2 million…
