KARACHI: The country’s current account deficit almost doubled in March to $1 billion compared to the preceding month, taking the total gap during the first nine months (July-March) of the ongoing fiscal year to over $13 billion. The latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday could be shocking for the new government, which is in negotiations with …

ISLAMABAD: The fate of the Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) chairman hangs in the balance in the wake of a change in government, with reports swirling in the capital that he could be replaced or get an extension in the next few days. FBR Chairman Ashfaq Ahmed was elevated to the post on Aug 25, 2021 by the previous government, replacing Asim …

ISLAMABAD: Comprehensive econ­­omic reform strategy should be on top of the agenda of the new coalition government, former finance minister Dr Hafeez A. Pasha said on Saturday. “For the first time, we have such a broad-based national consensus government. An opportunity has presented itself to correct the economy and rationalise the taxation system,” Dr Pasha said. He was delivering a …

BAGHDAD/DUBAI: Iran and Saudi Arabia have resumed key talks after negotiations were suspended last month, a senior Iraqi official told AFP on Saturday. “Talks resumed last Thursday in Baghdad,” the official said, without giving further details. Iran’s Nour news agency confirmed a meeting attended by “senior officials from the secretariat of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and the head of the Saudi intelligence service”. …

JERUSALEM: Israel said it will close its only crossing from the Gaza Strip for workers on Sunday in response to overnight rocket fire, stopping short of conducting retaliatory strikes in an apparent bid to ease tensions. The rocket attacks on Friday night and Saturday morning followed days of clashes at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound and a month of deadly …

TOKYO: Rescuers in Japan were searching on Saturday for a sightseeing boat carrying 26 people, hours after it sent a distress signal warning it was sinking, the country’s transport minister said. The “Kazu 1” was sailing off the northern tip of Japan’s Hokkaido prefecture when it issued the signal, Transport Minister Tetsuo Saito told reporters in a late-night press conference. …

NEW YORK: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres will visit Moscow next week to meet Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and then head to Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Guterres will head to Moscow on Tuesday and meet Putin as well as having a working meeting and lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Eri Kaneko, Guterres’ associate spokesperson, …

WASHINGTON: A gunman opened fire on random victims from a sniper’s nest in an apartment building near an elite prep school in the nation’s capital on Friday, wounding four people, before taking his own life as police closed in, officials said. Police said the suspect, Raymond Spencer, 23, of suburban Fairfax, Virginia, was initially identified from video he had posted …

ZAPORIZHZHIA: Ukraine said it would make a fresh attempt on Saturday to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, the devastated port city largely controlled by Russian forces, as hopes for a weekend truce faded. Separately, a Russian strike in the Black Sea city of Odessa killed at least five people, including a baby, and wounded 18 others on Saturday, Kyiv said. The …

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s beleaguered prime minister came under increased pressure to step down on Satu­rday, as a cabinet minister and other senior party members backed street protests calling for resignations over a worsening economic crisis. Media minister Nalaka Godahewa announced his support for the thousands outside President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office who are demanding he and other members of his powerful …