LONDON: Stock markets dropped on Tuesday as investors await key US inflation data and track President Joe Biden’s battle with Republicans over the debt ceiling. Wall Street indices were down in morning trading, while major European stocks closed flat or in negative territory. London stocks fell into the red as investors returned from a long holiday weekend marking the coronation …

WASHINGTON: Facing a deep economic crisis, Pakistan has started to buy Russian oil, but the country’s petroleum minister says the future lies in diversified, especially green, energy. Musadik Malik was visiting the United States for talks with corporations as well as with the government, which has led global efforts to choke off Russia’s oil exports that help fund its invasion …

KARACHI: K-Electric Ltd CEO Moonis Alvi said on Tuesday the unusually high loss that the vertically integrated power utility recorded in the first nine months of 2022-23 constitutes no more than a “blip” in the long run. Speaking to economist Ali Khizar on his YouTube channel, Mr Alvi said the company’s lenders, including those from Europe and China, knew in …

KARACHI: Credit to public sector enterprises (PSEs) soared to Rs282 billion in the first 10 months of the current fiscal year compared to just Rs14bn in the same period of last year reflecting the extremely poor financial health of the state-run companies. Data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan on Tuesday showed the growth of credit to PSEs was …

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority on Tuesday confirmed that it had suspended mobile broadband across the country on the interior ministry’s instructions. Meanwhile, Netblocks, an organisation that tracks internet outages, said access to Twitter, Facebook and Youtube was restricted across Pakistan amid PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s arrest earlier today from the Islamabad High Court’s premises in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The organisation further …

CUACOS: UN Chief Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday peace negotiations to end the conflict in Ukraine were “not possible at this moment,” but as China pushes to act as a mediator Foreign Minister Qin Gang is visiting Europe this week. In an interview published by the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Guter­res said he hoped it was possible “in the future” to …

SHANGHAI: China said on Tuesday it was expelling Canada’s consul in Shanghai, in a tit-for-tat move after Ottawa announced it was sending home a Chinese diplomat accused of trying to intimidate a lawmaker. The expulsions have plunged the two nations into a fresh diplomatic row after years of souring relations. They follow an outcry in Canada over allegations that Chinese …

GENEVA: UN human rights chief Volker Turk said on Tuesday that Iran has executed a “frighteningly” high number of people this year, rising to more than ten per week on average. At least 209 people were executed in the country since January 1, primarily for drug-related offences, but a United Nations statement said the actual number is likely much higher. “On average …

HEIROKLIAN: The road to Heiroklian is smooth and freshly laid, with a sign proclaiming it part of an Indian government development initiative. But ethnic violence has reduced the village itself to little more than smouldering ashes. Sanatomba picked through the ruins of his sister’s home in the state of Manipur, trying to salvage anything of value, but could only recover …

KHARTOUM: The war between Sudan’s generals is having increasingly severe consequences for civilians, with a doubling over the past week of the number uprooted from their homes, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Hundreds have already been killed in the fighting but new worries emerged as separate ethnic clashes claimed at least 16 lives in the country’s south, and a …