KARACHI: Pakistan and Iran aim to boost trade to $10 billion, but the bilateral trade plummeted to almost zero during the first 10 months of the outgoing FY24. The State Bank’s latest trade data showed a decade-long trade decline between the two countries, with exports and imports hitting zero in FY22. Trade picked up slightly in FY23 when exports were $75,000, but imports were zero, showing no interest from both sides despite great potential for trade. Exports dropped to just $11,000 during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to $74,000 in the same period last year. The…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
KARACHI: The Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) has approached the Sindh government for grant of funds required for its ambitious Rs12 billion project for construction of a new canal to supply water to the metropolis from Hub Dam and rehabilitation of the existing one, it emerged on Tuesday. Recently, the board of the KWSC had approved the project to build another canal and rehabilitate the existing one with an estimated cost of Rs12bn. Officials said that the provincial government would release Rs700 million, under the annual development programme of the current fiscal year, shortly for the project after the…
KARACHI: Pakistan and Iran aim to boost trade to $10 billion, but the bilateral trade plummeted to almost zero during the first 10 months of the outgoing FY24. The State Bank’s latest trade data showed a decade-long trade decline between the two countries, with exports and imports hitting zero in FY22. Trade picked up slightly in FY23 when exports were $75,000, but imports were zero, showing no interest from both sides despite great potential for trade. Exports dropped to just $11,000 during the first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to $74,000 in the same period last year. The…
NEW YORK: Defence lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial made their final pitch to the jury on Tuesday, insisting the first ever criminal prosecution of a former US president was based on “lies”. Meanwhile, a federal judge refused a request by prosecutors to impose a gag order barring Trump from making inflammatory comments about law enforcement, after his campaign falsely claimed the FBI was authorised to assassinate him during its search of his Florida estate. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to reimburse his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, when her…
LAMPEDUSA: The body of a five-month-old baby was found on Tuesday when some 85 migrants heading for Italy from Tunisia were rescued from distress at sea, according to a witness. The infant girl, her mother and 4-year-old sister were in an unseaworthy boat laden with migrants that had set off from Sfax in Tunisia two days earlier bound for Italy, according to charity group SOS Humanity. SOS Humanity workers aboard its “Humanity 1” vessel found many of the migrants exhausted and suffering from seasickness and fuel burns as they were rescued before dawn on Tuesday, the group said in a…
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis, widely quoted as having used a highly derogatory word to describe the LGBT community, did not intend to use homophobic language and apologises to anyone offended by it, the Vatican said on Tuesday. “The Pope never intended to offend or express himself in homophobic terms, and he apologises to those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others,” Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in an emailed statement. Italian media had reported on Monday that Francis used the Italian term “frociaggine”, roughly translating as “faggotness” or “faggotry”, as he told Italian bishops he…
GENEVA: A World Health Organisation official said on Tuesday the last hospital in Rafah could stop functioning and a substantial number of deaths could be expected if Israel launches a “full incursion” into the southern Gaza city. “If the incursion would continue, we would lose the last hospital in Rafah,” Richard Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Gaza and the West Bank, said on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, as Israeli tanks were reported to have advanced into the centre of Rafah. He said that in the case of a “full incursion”, a contingency plan involving treating patients in…
WASHINGTON: Urging Israel to conduct a thorough investigation into a tent city bombing and uphold its obligations under international humanitarian law, the US on Tuesday said it didn’t believe a major ground operation in Rafah was warranted. White House spokesperson John Kirby maintained that the Israeli strike that killed dozens of Palestinians in Rafah did not cross a “red line” set by President Joe Biden. “We still don’t believe that a major ground operation in Rafah is warranted. We still don’t want to see the Israelis, as we say, smash into Rafah with large units over large pieces of territory. We still…
JOHANNESBURG: South Africans on Tuesday braced for an ‘evenly matched’ general election, which may loosen the ruling ANC’s 30-year grip on power. Numerous voters now seem to be fed up with unemployment, crime and corruption. For the second day running, 1.6 million “special voters” including the elderly, essential workers, police and prisoners, were permitted to cast early ballots. The rest of South Africa’s 27-million-strong registered electorate will be called forth on Wednesday, to elect the provincial legislatures and a new national parliament. The national parliament will then hand-pick the countries new president. For the first time since the advent of…
RAFAH: Another strike on a camp for displaced Palestinians claimed 21 lives on Tuesday, tanks rolled through the centre of the southern Gaza city, which has been a refuge for those fleeing Israeli bombardment. The tank strike in Al Mawasi came a day after a similar deadly attack on a separate tent city in Rafah set off a fire that killed 45 people, incinerating many. Sunday’s strike had prompted global outrage and even let to Israeli leaders expressing some remorse about their actions. However, Tuesday’s attack indicated that Israel has no intention of changing course or abiding by an International Court of…
