KARACHI: It’s a road Pakistan have never been on; one on which reaching the next destination would be an extraordinary achievement. On Wednesday, the national women’s football team makes its maiden appearance at the Olympic qualifying tournament and the first-round preliminaries for next year’s Paris Games will see it face opponents from Central, Southeast and East Asia for the first …

LAHORE: Status quo will resume when Pakistan host New Zealand in five Twenty20 Internationals and as many one-dayers with Babar Azam set to return as the national side’s captain for the tour starting April 14. Babar was among the senior players rested for what turned out to be Pakistan’s 2-1 loss in the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan under Shadab …

KARACHI: Stock prices swung downwards on Tuesday as investors expected an interest rate hike at the Monetary Policy Committee’s meeting scheduled to take place in the afternoon. Arif Habib Ltd said investors’ participation also remained low due to the Supreme Court’s decision about the provincial elections in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. However, investors showed confidence and chose to add value …

NEW DELHI: The manufacturer of eye drops that have been linked to an outbreak of serious bacterial infections in the US, including at least three deaths, did not follow proper protocol to prevent contamination of its products, according to an inspection report by the US Food and Drug Administration. According to the CNN, the FDA visited a Global Pharma Healthcare …

ISLAMABAD: Smartphones made by Chinese technology giant Huawei are expected to re-enter the Pakistani market soon, company officials have said. Huawei’s executives in Pakistan told the media at a recent event that the re-launch was expected by the end of this year or by early 2024. The ceremony, organised to launch the company’s annual report for 2022, was aired in …

ANKARA: A second-time presidential candidate who lost out to Tayyip Erdogan in a 2018 vote could push Turkiye’s May election to a second round, potentially boosting the president’s prospects of winning, according to analysts and polls. Muharrem Ince, formerly of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), joined the fray last month and secured a spot on the ballot at …

ISLAMABAD: The World Bank on Tuesday projected about four million people falling below the lower middle-income poverty line amid economic growth plummeting to just 0.4 per cent against a budgeted target of 5pc. Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast Pakistan’s economic growth plunging to 0.6pc from 6pc last year owing to the prevailing political crisis, flood-oriented economic losses, …

KARACHI: While slamming another 100 basis points hike in the benchmark interest rate to a record 21 per cent, the business community on Tuesday questioned the government’s approach of fighting inflation by jacking up lending rates saying the strategy has failed to produce desired results but slowed down economic activities. “The entire business community has refused to accept the 100 …

KARACHI: Former central bank chief Dr Reza Baqir said on Tuesday debt restructuring for Pakistan will be “very difficult as a process” given that most of its foreign loans are “very hard to restructure”. “All the warning signs are there that the process will be difficult because of the type of debt that dominates on the balance sheet of Pakistan,” …

KABUL: Afghan women who are United Nations employees have been blocked from work in eastern Nangarhar province, the UN mission said on Tuesday, warning Taliban authorities its aid programmes are impossible without its staff. In December, Taliban officials ordered all foreign and domestic NGOs to stop women personnel working across the crisis-stricken nation. Several suspended their entire operations in protest, …