ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s trade deficit widened by 21.57% to $39.471 billion in the fiscal year that ended in June, as exports fell and imports climbed, official data showed on Thursday, missing the government’s export target by more than $5 billion and adding fresh strain to the country’s external finances.
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PEMRA seeks Islamic council’s opinion on Geo News suspension
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s media regulator has asked the country’s top Islamic advisory body to determine whether the punishment already imposed on Geo News, one of the country’s largest private television broadcasters, is sufficient over a Muharram broadcast that authorities said risked offending religious sentiment, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters and officials.
Relative of senior politician among five charged in kidnapping and sexual assault of two foreign women in Lahore
LAHORE: Police in the Pakistani city of Lahore registered a criminal case on Thursday against five suspects accused of kidnapping two foreign women for ransom and subjecting them to sexual assault, an incident that has drawn direct intervention from the top elected official in Punjab province.
Pakistan restores internet service after subsea cable fault disrupts traffic
ISLAMABAD: Internet services across Pakistan returned to normal on Friday after engineers repaired a fault in an international submarine cable system that had disrupted connectivity for users nationwide over the preceding two days, the country’s telecommunications regulator said.
PM Sharif to attend Khamenei funeral, then head to Turkey for trade talks
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will travel to Iran this week to attend the funeral of assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before continuing to Turkey for talks on trade and regional security, the Pakistani foreign ministry said on Thursday.
Pakistan doubles climate levy on fuel, cuts petroleum levy to hold pump prices steady
ISLAMABAD: The government has doubled a climate-related levy on petrol and diesel while cutting a separate petroleum levy by the same amount, a revenue manoeuvre that leaves retail fuel prices unchanged even as the tax structure underpinning them shifts.
US, Iran report ‘positive progress’ in Doha talks, next round to follow Khamenei funeral
ISLAMABAD: Iran and the United States made ‘positive progress’ in two days of indirect talks in Doha this week aimed at shoring up a fragile ceasefire, mediators Qatar and Pakistan said on Thursday, though officials on both sides gave no indication the broader dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program had moved closer to resolution.
Pakistan tax revenue nearly doubles in two years, finance minister says
ISLAMABAD: Finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday that the country’s tax authority had met its revised revenue collection target for the fiscal year that ended this week, crediting administrative reforms and staff at the agency for what he called a landmark result in the government’s push to overhaul the tax system.
NDMA raises alert for GLOFs and flash floods across northern, central Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: The disaster management authority warned on Wednesday of an elevated risk of glacial lake outburst floods, flash floods, landslides and urban flooding across the country’s northern and central regions over the next four days, as rising temperatures and an active monsoon system combine to accelerate glacier melt and trigger heavy rain.
Seven dead as tourist boat capsizes on Pakistan’s Saifullah Lake
MINGORA: A boat carrying tourists capsized on a lake fed by Swat River on Wednesday, killing seven people, rescue officials said, the latest in a series of drowning accidents that have plagued the popular summer tourist destination.