ISLAMABAD: Comm­erce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar on Thursday stressed the need to exploit the potential for boosting trade volume between Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In a meeting with UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salem Al-Zaabi, the commerce minister highlighted the huge potential for cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable energy, agriculture, …

A Quetta judicial magistrate on Friday approved the bail plea of Balochistan Communications and Works Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran in the Barkhan killings case. The grisly murders and subsequent discovery of corpses from a well of three people — a woman and two young men — in a remote Balochistan district triggered protests and highlighted the inhumanity of illegal prisons. The …

RAWALPINDI: The military restored the properties of a retired major general confiscated by the government of former president Pervez Musharraf after a lawyer informed the Lahore High Court on Thursday that his client and the General Headquarters had “resolved the issue amicably”. Subsequently, the LHC’s Rawalpindi bench disposed of the petition of Ahsan Ahmed, who had served as Sindh’s health …

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have increased to $4.3 billion after the inflows of $500 million from China, but the currency market reacted negatively as the dollar appreciated by more than Rs3 in the interbank on Thursday. The SBP reported that its reserves increased by $487m during the week ended on March 3 to …

POMPEII: A flock of grazing sheep is helping archaeologists to preserve the ancient ruins of Pompeii, the Roman city that was buried under metres of pumice and ash in the calamitous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Archaeologists have uncovered only around two-thirds of the 163-acre site at Pompeii since excavations began 250 years ago. Preserving the unexplored sections …

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minis­ter Ishaq Dar on Thursday blamed a delay in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme on the previous government, whose “failure to meet commitments” created a trust deficit that has continued to bite. However, he said the current government was trying its best to put the economy back on track and complete the IMF programme at any cost. …

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday refused to entertain a request of PTI chairman Imran Khan for the facility of attending proceedings of cases against him through a video link; however, sought replies from the federal and provincial governments on the provision of a foolproof security to him. Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh observed that the relief to the …

LAHORE: PTI worker Ali Bilal, also known as Zille Shah, was laid to rest on Thursday as a high-powered fact-finding committee constituted to probe his death remained on the hunt for the two suspects who brought him to Services Hospital. Headed by Punjab Police Elite Force DIG Sadiq Ali, the committee visited the hospital, reviewed CCTV footage and questioned medics …

Several people have been killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness centre in Hamburg, with the gunman believed to be among the dead, German police said on Thursday. Police have not given a death toll, but multiple local media outlets reported that the shooting had left seven dead and eight seriously injured. The first emergency calls were made around …

SURABAYA: An Indo­nesian court handed prison sentences to two football match officials on Thurs­day after finding them guilty of negligence over one of the world’s deadliest stadium stampedes. The October 2022 derby match in Malang, East Java, between Arema FC and Persebaya Surabaya ended in chaos with 135 spectators killed, many crushed as they fled for exits after police fired …