RIYADH: Oil giant Saudi Aramco said on Sunday that international investors had snatched up the bulk of shares sold in its latest offering, which was set to raise $11.2 billion. The secondary offering was expected to provide a short-term boost to Saudi Arabia’s finances as the Gulf kingdom builds large-scale projects including resorts and stadiums, part of a reform drive to prepare for an eventual post-oil future. “The majority of the shares constituting the institutional tranche of the Offering was allocated to investors located outside of the Kingdom,” the company said in a statement before the Saudi bourse reopened on…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
JERUSALEM: A ban on Al Jazeera‘s operations in Israel was extended for another 45 days by Israel’s telecoms regulator on Sunday after the cabinet agreed its broadcasts posed a threat to security. A Tel Aviv court last week upheld an initial 35-day ban on Al Jazeera operations in Israel, imposed by the government on national security grounds, which ended on Saturday. In a separate ruling on a petition by Al Jazeera against the closure, Israel’s Supreme Court described the measure against the Qatari-backed broadcaster channel as “precedent-setting”. It gave Israel’s government until Aug 8 to offer arguments for “why it should not be determined that the Law…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday offered a brief congratulations to his counterpart Narendra Modi on his re-election in rival India, 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. 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. PM Shehbaz’s brother and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif attended the inauguration of Modi in 2014, a first in the history of the nuclear-armed nations. But the…
ISLAMABAD: In an apparent jibe at PTI, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Sunday called street protests “futile” as parliament was the real forum for strengthening, protecting, and ensuring constitutional supremacy. Mr Sharif made the remarks during a meeting with Senate Deputy Chairman Syedaal Khan Nasar, who called on him in Murree. According to a party spokesman, Mr Sharif congratulated the Senate deputy chairman on assuming his position and expressed hope that he would play an effective role in the upper house to strengthen the federation, national unity and democracy. He said the Senate always played an important role in critical…
GILGIT: An all parties’ conference (APC) has demanded the determination of the constitutional status of Gilgit-Baltistan, holding of the long-delayed local government elections and a share for the region in the NFC award. The conference to make a consensus on constitutional rights was convened by the PPP in Skardu on Saturday. PML-N chapter president and farmer chief minister Hafeezur Rehman, PPP president Amjad Hussain advocate, Ahmed Hussain Turabi from Islami Tehreek Pakistan, Najaf Ali from Awami Action Committee, Skardu district bar association president Mohammad Sherbaz, High Court Bar Association general secretary Shujat Hussain, political leaders Fida Mohammad Nashad, Ibrahim Sanai, Ashraf Saada,…
