KARACHI: Global rating agency Moody’s has upgraded Pakistan’s banking outlook to positive from stable on the back of improved financial performance. “We have changed our outlook on Pakistan’s banking system to positive from stable to reflect the banks’ resilient financial performance as well as improving macroeconomic conditions from very weak levels a year ago,” said…
PARIS: More than a quarter of our planet’s natural “geomorphs” — animals such as beavers and hippos that, collectively, can reshape entire landscapes — are threatened or have shrinking populations, a new study says. The research, by Queen Mary University of London, found the scale of the impact these animals had on habitats — by…
SYDNEY: A trove of fossilised dinosaur footprints has been found on a slab of rock gathering dust inside an Australian school, scientists said on Wednesday. The rock went largely unnoticed for 20 years until the school, in Queensland’s rural Banana shire, asked paleontologist Anthony Romilio to examine a cluster of three-toed track marks. Romilio said…
• UAE presidential adviser delivers Trump’s letter to Tehran• Beijing and Kremlin will hold talks with Iranian officials to discuss the issue DUBAI: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the idea of holding negotiations with the United States over a nuclear deal, as a letter arrived from US President Donald Trump calling…
Santa Barbara: A Nasa telescope was launched into space from California on Tuesday for a mission to explore the origins of the universe and to scour the Milky Way galaxy for hidden reservoirs of water, a key ingredient for life. The US space agency’s megaphone-shaped SPHEREx — short for Spectro-Photometer for the History of the…
SHANNON/PARIS: The United States said on Wednesday it was asking Russia to “unconditionally” agree to a month-long ceasefire in Ukraine, a day after US and Ukrainian officials agreed to put the plan to Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had shown it was ready to embrace the deal to halt the fighting and that…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has offered Oman the use of Gwadar and Karachi ports for greater access to emerging markets in Central Asia. The offer was made during a high-level meeting between Commerce Minister Jam Kamal and his Omani counterpart, Qais Al Yousif in Muscat this week. An official announcement issued by the commerce ministry in Islamabad…
ISLAMABAD: The prices of all petroleum products are estimated to fall by up to Rs14 per litre for the next fortnight, ending March 31, owing to fluctuation in the international market and import premiums. This relief is, however, subject to unchanged tax rates. An official said there were considerations on the part of the government…
LAHORE: PML-N President Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday regretted that the talks between the government and the opposition remained inconclusive due to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s “inflexible and non-serious approach”. In a meeting with National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the PML-N president said: “You had facilitated negotiations between the government and the opposition as the custodian of…
ISLAMABAD: Experts have urged the government not to overburden the formal industry and salaried class, which could lead to increased tax evasion. Addressing the launch of a report titled, Pakistan’s Tobacco Tax Policy Boosts Illicit Trade, Sakib Sherani, former principal adviser to the Ministry of Finance, said that a more balanced, well-enforced tax regime is…