ISLAMABAD: After a gap of almost one year, Pakistan on Wednesday received three bids for two additional liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes needed for the peak winter demand at a significantly higher premium over the prevailing spot market. Petroleum Minister Muhammad Ali later announced in the evening that the government had accepted two lowest evaluated bids to minimise winter gas …

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday stated that bank deposits in the country were “perfectly safe owing to a sound banking system in Pakistan under a robust regulatory and supervisory framework”. A press release issued by the central bank said that certain sections of the media had implied as if “bank deposits above Rs500,000 in the banking system in …

LONDON: Oil prices settled down more than $5 on Wednesday as fuel demand destruction and a bleaker macroeconomic picture took centre stage in the day’s trade. Brent crude oil futures settled down 5.11, or 5.6 per cent, to $85.81 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell $5.01, or 5.6pc, to $84.22. At their session lows, both benchmarks …

The rupee extended its gains for the 21st consecutive session on Thursday, appreciating by a further Rs1.06 against the US dollar in the interbank market. According to the Forex Association of Pakistan, the greenback was changing hands for Rs283.50 at 9:44am in the interbank market, which is buoyed by the recent crackdown on the informal currency market. By the closing …

PESHAWAR: With a looming deadline to repatriate more than a million undocumented Afghans and other foreigners by the end of this month, federal and provincial authorities are scrambling to put together a viable plan to undertake what could safely be described as one of the biggest deportation operations in modern times. Following up on the recommendations of the apex committee of Khyber …

CAIRO: US President Joe Biden called Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to thank him for Doha’s mediation that resulted in the release of a number of Americans from Iran, the Amiri Diwan and the White House said on Tuesday. Last month, with Doha’s mediation, Iran freed five Americans as part of a prisoner swap for five Iranians held …

LOS ANGELES: The man accused of murder in connection with the gang-feud slaying of rapper Tupac Shakur a quarter of a century ago appeared in a US court Wednesday. Duane “Keefe D” Davis, 60, was charged last week over the killing, despite not being the man wielding the weapon in Las Vegas in 1996. Davis was brought into court in …

BANGKOK: Humans are increasingly settling in areas highly exposed to dangerous flooding, a study warned on Wednesday, with China helping drive the rise in risky urban expansion into exposed areas. The research, led by a World Bank economist, warns that settlement growth in flood zones has vastly outpaced growth in safe areas since 1985. “In a time when human settlements …

ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Wednesday launched fresh strikes against Kurdish targets in Iraq and warned of more intense cross-border air raids after concluding that militants who staged a weekend attack in Ankara came from Syria. Turkiye convened a national security meeting involving top defence and intelligence chiefs to prepare its response to Sunday’s attack on the capital’s government district. Police shot …

JERUSALEM: Hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli women rallied in Jerusalem and the Dead Sea in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, calling for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “We want peace,” chanted the demonstrators, many dressed in white and holding placards that read “Stop killing our children”. “Our message is that we want our kids to be alive rather …