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, …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

PARIS: The world experienced an average of 26 more days of extreme heat over the last 12 months that would probably not have occurred without climate change, a report said on Tuesday. Heat is the leading cause of climate-related death and the report further points to the role of global warming in increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather …

Temperatures in India’s capital New Delhi have soared to a record-high 49.9 degrees Celsius as authorities warn of water shortages in the sprawling mega-city. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), which reported “severe heat-wave conditions”, recorded the temperatures on Tuesday at two Delhi suburbs stations at Narela and Mungeshpur. The weather bureau said the temperatures were nine degrees higher than expected. …