ISLAMABAD: Appreciating the Chinese development model, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday Pakistan can become a great nation if it followed that model through hard work and focus on industrial and agricultural growth. “All Pakistanis will also have to pass through this thorny process. There is no other way to earn respect in the world,” the prime minister said at the 4th Pakistan-China Friendship and Business Reception in Beijing. Earlier, PM Shehbaz met the Chairman of China International Cooperation Agency, Ambassador Luo Zhaohui and exchanged views on promotion of cooperation driven by common development, strategic trust and mutual benefit. The prime…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
KARACHI: Since its launch earlier this year, over 50,000 freelancers in Pakistan have signed up with Elevate to receive their earnings from foreign countries. Freelancers are growing rapidly in the country, but most of them complain that banks are charging too much for their services. Elevate, a fintech based in London and Dubai, has secured $5 million in financing to expand further into South Asia. The company has raised a total of $10m in equity and debt from investors. JazzCash users cross 11m JazzCash, a leading mobile wallet and digital financial services platform, has surpassed 11 million active app users. Overall, JazzCash…
KARACHI: Amid growing uncertainty about the economic outlook ahead of the budget unveiling, which has been delayed to June 12, the bearish spell continued at the stock market for the fourth consecutive session on Thursday, dragging the benchmark index below the 74,000 level. Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation stated that stocks closed lower due to concerns about economic uncertainty. Investor expectations for a cautious SBP monetary policy and subdued growth impacted investor sentiment. He said reports of likely harsh conditions in the new IMF programme, such as a hike in power tariffs and fresh taxation measures in the budget 2024-25, contributed to the bearish close.…
MUZAFFARGARH: A woman was allegedly killed and set ablaze by her in-laws in Jatoi Tehsil’s Mouza Junglewala. Complainant Wajid Iqbal, brother of Samina Bibi, stated that his sister had married Muhammad Asif alias Kalu three years ago. On Wednesday night, while sitting with his cousin and uncle, Wajid heard his sister’s cries for help. He and his relatives rushed to the scene to find Samina being tortured by Asif and his brothers Atif, Adeel, and Ansar. They attempted to rescue her but Asif opened fire and threatened them. The assailants sprinkled petrol on her and set her on fire. The…
PORT SUDAN: A Sudanese pro-democracy activists’ committee on Thursday reported “more than 104” dead in a single day when paramilitary forces attacked a village, as the UN warned of mass displacement and starvation. The Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, on Wednesday attacked the central village of Wad al-Noura in al-Jazira state “in two waves” with heavy artillery, the Madani Resistance Committee said. It reported on Wednesday that the feared paramilitaries had “invaded the village”, causing dozens of casualties and widespread displacement. The attack “claimed the lives of more than 104 martyrs”…
WASHINGTON: Boeing’s new Starliner capsule and an inaugural two-member Nasa crew safely docked with the International Space Station on Thursday, meeting a key test in proving the vessel’s flight-worthiness and sharpening Boeing’s competition with Elon Musk’s. The rendezvous was achieved despite an earlier loss of several guidance-control jet thrusters, some of them due to a helium propulsion leak, which Nasa and Boeing said should not compromise the mission. The CST-100 Starliner, with veteran astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams aboard, arrived at the orbiting platform after a flight of nearly 27 hours following its launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force…
Indian actor Kangana Ranaut, who was just elected as a member of parliament on a Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) ticket, was slapped by a security guard at Chandigarh airport on Thursday, Dawn reported. Ranaut was travelling to New Delhi days after her Lok Sabha election win from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency. After the security check, Ranaut went to the boarding gate where she was slapped by the security guard. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) constable, identified as Kulwinder Kaur, has been suspended and an FIR registered against her, reports said. A complaint has also been submitted by the CISF to the…
WASHINGTON: A civil rights organisation urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to “indefinitely” halt all weapons deliveries to Israel and pressure the US ally to end its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, sending a reminder that his support for Israel could hurt him among Black voters in November’s election. The call by the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) was a rare instance of an influential body taking a position on US foreign policy towards a country without a significant black population. It appeared likely to deepen the Democrat president’s election-year challenges as he tries to back a key ally abroad…
Russia alleged on Friday that Ukraine had used US-supplied rockets to kill women and children in a region of southern Russia, and said that Washington was to blame. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the deaths had occurred last week in the Belgorod region after the United States agreed to let Ukraine fire US-supplied weapons into Russian territory for the defence of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. She said statements by Washington giving the green light for such attacks amounted to “a confession…for the murder of children and women in the Belgorod region”. “Fragments of Himars [rockets] will serve as direct proof,” she told…
The number of people internally displaced in Sudan due to conflict could soon exceed 10 million, the United Nations migration agency said on Friday, in the world’s largest displacement crisis. Fighting broke out in the capital Khartoum in April 2023 and quickly spread across the country, reigniting ethnic bloodshed in the western Darfur region and forcing millions to flee. “How much suffering and loss of life must the people of Sudan endure before the world takes notice? Isn’t 10m internally displaced enough to compel urgent global action?” said Mohamed Refaat, Sudan Chief of Mission for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). “Every one…
