ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s oil marketing companies are running into foreign-exchange bottlenecks as soaring international crude and product prices, coupled with higher insurance, import premiums and freight costs triggered by the US-Israel conflict with Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, more than double the financing required for cargoes.
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President Zardari mourns Iranian Larijani death in Israeli strikes, calls for immediate ceasefire talks
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari expressed profound condolences to Iran on Wednesday following the killing of the country’s top national security official in Israeli airstrikes and offered Islamabad’s assistance in diplomatic efforts to defuse escalating tensions across the Middle East.
Pakistan pauses anti-Taliban border operation for Eidul Fitr at request of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan announced a temporary halt in its military campaign against Afghan Taliban targets on Wednesday, a move framed as a goodwill gesture ahead of Eidul Fitr and prompted in part by appeals from three major Muslim allies.
Pakistan’s top diplomat arrives in Riyadh to push for de-escalation as Iranian strikes roil the Gulf
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar landed in the Saudi capital on Wednesday to join an emergency gathering of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers, where he is expected to press for an immediate halt to the widening Middle East conflict triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran last month and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks on American and Gulf targets.
Imran Khan’s sons offered visa-free entry on identity cards to Pakistan as ex-wife pleads for family visit amid jailed ex-PM’s declining health
ISLAMABAD: The information minister said on Wednesday that the two sons of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan are welcome to visit their father without visas by using their National Identity Cards for Overseas Pakistanis, responding directly to a public appeal from Khan’s ex-wife that highlighted months-long delays and the politician’s deteriorating health.
ADB to provide Pakistan $10 billion over five years in push for private-sector growth
ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank plans to extend about $10 billion in financing to Pakistan over the next five years under a new country partnership strategy that puts private-sector development at the center of efforts to secure sustainable and inclusive growth.
Suspected female suicide bomber arrested in Balochistan; officials warn of militants’ exploitation of women
By Staff Reporter QUETTA: Security forces in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province arrested a young woman they described as a would-be suicide bomber, foiling what authorities
Missile debris kills Pakistani national in Abu Dhabi, third such death in UAE
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani national was killed on Tuesday after falling debris from an intercepted ballistic missile struck a residential area in Abu Dhabi, the third such fatality involving Pakistanis in the United Arab Emirates amid escalating Iranian retaliation against US and Israeli strikes on Tehran.
Pakistan says diplomacy only viable path to end Middle East conflict
ISLAMABAD: The deputy prime minister and foreign minister said on Tuesday that dialogue and diplomacy are the only realistic way out of the widening Middle East conflict, a stance the government has repeated since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began more than two weeks ago.
Pakistani tanker navigates Iranian coastline in rare Hormuz transit with Tehran approval signals
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani-flagged tanker has transited the Strait of Hormuz by hugging the Iranian coastline, the latest sign that safe passage through the vital oil chokepoint may now depend on approval from Tehran amid the ongoing US-Israeli conflict with Iran, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.