ISLAMABAD: The government is taking all possible measures to counter the downside risks associated with the economy, which has been facing challenges in sustaining growth achieved during the previous fiscal year, the finance ministry said in a report on Saturday. The challenges include accelerating inflation, high external deficits, exchange rate depreciation, declining foreign exchange reserves and mounting uncertainty. Although economic growth remained …

ISLAMABAD: The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will invest the equivalent of $25 million in Pakistani rupees in one of the country’s top fashion retailers to create jobs, promote gender equality and support the crucial textile sector post-pandemic. This investment is part of a broader effort by the IFC to support the development of Pakistan’s private sector, which is key to …

ISLAMABAD: Pre-empting shortage and rising prices, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Saturday decided to import two million tonnes of wheat on a government-to-government (G2G) basis, while 1m tonnes through an international tendering process under the existing arrangement. The ECC meeting presided over by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail also approved supplementary grants of nearly Rs123 billion including …

REUTERS: The Iranian army has given some details of an underground base for its military drones, state media reported on Saturday. State TV said 100 drones were being kept in the heart of the Zagros mountains, including Ababil-5, which it said were fitted with Qaem-9 missiles, an Iranian-made version of air-to-surface US Hellfire. “No doubt the drones of Islamic Republic …

TOKYO: Fusako Shige­nobu, the 76-year-old female founder of the once-feared Japanese Red Army, wal­ked free from prison on Saturday after completing a 20-year sentence for a 1974 embassy siege. Shigenobu was one of the world’s most notorious wom­en during the 1970s and 1980s, when her radical leftist group carried out armed attacks worldwide in support of the Palestinian cause. She …

SHANGHAI: The Chinese metropolis of Shanghai inched further towards a gradual reopening from two months of grinding Covid-19 lockdown, while officials in Beijing prepared to ease curbs in parts of the capital, saying on Saturday its outbreak was under control. Shanghai aims to essentially end its lockdown from Wednesday after relaxing restrictions over the last week. More people have been …

ISLAMABAD: The International Crisis Group (ICG) has asked the European Union and its member states to build a constructive working relationship with the new government in Pakistan on political, security and foreign policy issues of mutual concern. In its updates on the annual Watch List, the ICG also urged the EU to pursue plans to hold the first official EU-Pakistan …

WASHINGTON: Joe Biden, the consoler-in-chief, will no doubt find exactly the right message on Sunday as he visits Texas to meet the families of children massacred as they celebrated the end of the school year. But Biden, the dealmaker, has remained conspicuous in his absence from the war of words being waged over gun control that has followed the atrocity, …

A passenger plane with 22 people on board went missing in Nepal on Sunday, the operating airline and officials said, as poor weather hampered a search operation. Nepal’s air industry has boomed in recent years, carrying goods and people between hard-to-reach areas as well as foreign trekkers and climbers. But it has a poor safety record. The Twin Otter aircraft …

COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka took delivery on Saturday of Russian oil — which could soon be subject to a European embargo — to restart operations at the country’s only refinery, the energy minister said. The island nation is suffering its worst economic meltdown since independence, with shortages of fuel and other vital goods making life miserable for its 22 million …