ISLAMABAD: The World Bank, in its latest report, has observed that Pakistan’s inability to allocate all its talent and resources to the most productive uses has stunted the economic growth. Pakistan’s economy can grow sustainably only if the country introduces productivity enhancing reforms that facilitate a better allocation of resources into more dynamic activities, and of talent to more productive …

KARACHI: Sovereign bonds slumped on Friday after Pakistan’s bailout talks with the IMF ended without an agreement. The country’s bond due for repayment the soonest, in April 2024, tumbled 4.6 cents on the dollar or roughly nine per cent. Other bonds with longer repayment dates fell between two and three cents to leave them at less than half their face value. …

WASHINGTON: While US lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution “condemning the Chin­ese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory as a brazen violation of US sovereignty”, the state of Texas is considering barring Chinese citizens from buying property on ‘national security grounds. The Texas proposal also would bar Russians, Iranians and North Koreans from owning real …

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong woman trying to adopt a kitten online has lost more than $770,000 in a crypto ruse, police said, as figures obtained on Friday showed a sharp rise in scams in the city involving digital currencies. The Chinese finance hub has been encouraging investment in virtual assets to bolster its fintech credentials, but the anonymous nature …

THE 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkiye and Syria, which has claimed over 23,000 lives so far, is producing wider geological implications that may have long term consequences, with flooding and landslips being the most immediate ones. According to a Guardian report, subsidence has caused flooding, while hillsides are at risk of landslip, which means roads may need to be rerouted …

WASHINGTON: Hund­reds of friends, family, and fellow officers gathered at New York’s Makki Masjid Muslim Communi­­ty Cen­tre on Thursday for Pakistani-American Off­i­cer Adeed Fayaz’s funeral. Adeed, 26, a married father of two young children, was shot and killed last week during an atte­mpted robbery in Broo­klyn, New York. He had gone there with his brother-in-law to buy a car on cash. The alleged robber, …

HELSINKI: Finnish parliamentary groups said on Friday they may ratify Nato’s founding treaties in the coming weeks, a key step that could lead the country to proceed with membership of the Western military alliance ahead of neighbouring Sweden. The two Nordic countries sought Nato membership shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and have said they want to join …

UK lawmakers have admitted that thousands of Afghans who had helped British forces were left stranded as the country rushed to evacuate its personnel after the Afghan Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in August 2021. The admission was made in a new report prepared by the House of Commons Defence Committee, led by Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, according to the BBC. Calling the …

LONDON: Ambulance workers in the UK on Friday staged the latest in a string of strikes over low pay, as university staff also stopped work. The walkout follows on Monday’s biggest round of health service strikes yet when nurses and ambulance staff walked out for the first time on the same day. The strikes are part of a wave of …

WADDUR: Three weeks after he laid down his tools and took up arms, Kashmiri carpenter Mukhtar Ahmed was killed in a firefight with Indian government forces, who buried his remains in an unmarked grave hours from his family home. Mukhtar is among hundreds of people who were killed in combat and hastily interred by police in remote parts of India-held …