ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called a meeting of the federal cabinet today (Tuesday) to review the upcoming federal budget, which is expected to be tabled before the National Assembly tomorrow (Wednesday). The huddle will also provide the PM an opportunity to take his aides into confidence over decisions made during his recent visit to China, a source in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. In addition, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will launch the Economic Survey 2023-24 on Tuesday afternoon, which contains a roundup of the country’s economic performance over the past year. Separately, in a meeting with Prince Rahim Aga Khan, the PM invited…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced he was dissolving parliament and called snap legislative elections after the far-right trounced his centrist alliance in EU polls. The first round of elections for the lower house National Assembly will take place on June 30, with the second round on July 7, Macron announced in an address to the nation. The outcome of the EU elections, he acknowledged, is “not a good result for parties who defend Europe”. Macron noted that, including the top scoring National Rally (RN), far-right parties in France managed to take almost 40 per cent of the…
SEOUL: South Korea resumed loudspeaker broadcasts directed at North Korea on Sunday, its military said, following through on a warning demanding Pyongyang stop sending balloons carrying trash into the South. The decision to resume the broadcasts, as a form of psychological warfare, was made after North Korea began launching on Saturday about 330 balloons with trash attached, with about 80 of them dropping over the border, South Korea’s military said. “The measures we will take may be unbearable for the North Korean regime but they will send a message of hope and light to the North’s troops and its people,” South Korea’s…
SRINAGAR: At least nine people were killed and 33 injured when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged into a deep gorge after a suspected attack in the held territory of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said. News of the attack came as Narendra Modi took oath as prime minister for a record-equalling third term and drew criticism from the main opposition Congress party. “This shameful incident is the true picture of the worrying security situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said on X. “Militants ambushed the bus and fired at it indiscriminately. The bus fell into a gorge,…
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration is close to finalising a treaty with Saudi Arabia that would commit the US to help defend the Gulf nation as part of a deal aimed at encouraging diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Israel, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing US and Saudi officials. The possible deal, widely telegraphed by US and other officials for weeks, is part of a wider package that would include a US-Saudi civil nuclear pact, steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state and an end to the Israeli aggression in Gaza, where months of ceasefire efforts have failed to bring peace. Approval of…
NEW DELHI: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was sworn in on Sunday for a third term after worse-than-expected election results left him reliant on coalition partners to govern. His office said he would appoint a 71-member cabinet, including 11 National Democratic Alliance (NDA) ally ministers. Modi’s Hindu-nationalist BJP ruled outright for the past decade but failed to repeat its previous two landslide wins this time around, defying exit polls. He was instead forced into quick-fire talks with the 15-member coalition NDA, which guaranteed him the parliamentary numbers to govern. Flanked by top BJP officials and party leaders of his coalition, Modi vowed in a…
An aircraft carrying Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima and nine others has gone missing, Malawi’s presidency said on Monday. “All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” Malawi’s Office of the President and Cabinet said in a statement. Chilima, 51, was aboard a Malawi Defense Force aircraft that left the capital Lilongwe at 09:17am, it said, adding that search and rescue operations were ongoing. The aircraft had been scheduled to land at Mzuzu International Airport at 10:02am, according to the statement. President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered…
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday thanked the Sharif brothers for their congratulatory messages on him becoming the premier for a third time. Modi was sworn in on Sunday at a ceremony attended by leaders from Bangladesh, the Maldives and Sri Lanka. However, China and Pakistan were not present. Earlier today, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered a brief congratulations to his counterpart on his re-election, almost a week after the results came in. “Felicitations to Narendra Modi on taking oath as the prime minister of India,” he posted on X, in the first official comments from Pakistan. Former PM and PML-N President Nawaz…
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday retained Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar in charge of the four high-profile ministries — Home, Defence, Finance and External Affairs — respectively in his new government. The four ministers in charge of these portfolios make up the crucial Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the prime minister. Among new entrants, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has got Agriculture and Rural Development Ministries, while BJP President J.P. Nadda has returned to the Health Ministry, a portfolio he had held in the Modi government’s first term before he…
UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations Security Council on Monday adopted a US-drafted resolution supporting a ceasefire plan in Gaza, as Washington leads an intense diplomatic campaign to push Hamas to accept the proposal. The text — passed with 14 votes in favour and Russia abstaining — “welcomes” the truce and hostage release proposal announced on May 31 by President Joe Biden, and urges “parties to fully implement its terms without delay and without condition.” The resolution says Israel has accepted the truce plan, and “calls upon Hamas to also accept it”. Hamas in a statement, referring to its demands that include a…
