KARACHI: The advent of Naya Pakistan seems to have set off a real estate gold rush as the number of newly registered companies in the land development segment grew 132 per cent in 2020-21. As many as 1,794 real estate development companies were incorporated in the last fiscal year, up 2.3 times from 773 companies registered in 2019-20, according to …

KARACHI: The stock market managed to bounce back in the outgoing week with the KSE-100 index locking in gains of 241 points, or 0.5 per cent, to close at 47,198 points. The early days of the week witnessed extension of the bearish spell of last week as investors remained spooked by a volley of bad news including the huge trade …

KARACHI: The Islamic banking industry (IBI) has achieved the highest year-on-year growth in assets and deposits since 2015 increasing the market share in the overall banking industry to 17pc and 18.7pc, respectively. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its latest bulletin for April-June quarter reported that assets and deposits of IBI grew 32 per cent and 29.7pc, respectively. The …

LAHORE: In a bid to revive the Istanbul-Tehran-Islamabad (ITI) road corridor, the National Logistic Cell (NLC) is all set to perform the first commercial run by transporting high-value products from Pakistan to Turkey in the last week of this month. The revival of the ITI road corridor will improve and strengthen the regional connectivity of Pakistan with Iran and Turkey, Dawn has …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will start staff-level discussions with the International Monetary Fund by end of the current month for the release of sixth tranche under the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), a top official confirmed on Saturday. The IMF board has a scheduled a meeting later this month to conduct its sixth review of Pakistan programme. “Our technical team will …

WASHINGTON: NASA’s Perse­ve­rance Mars rover has now collected two rock samples with signs that they were in contact with water for a long period of time, boosting the case for ancient life on the Red Planet. “It looks like our first rocks reveal a potentially habitable sustained environment,” said Ken Farley, project scientist for the mission, in a statement on …

The Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) on Sunday issued a hot and humid weather forecast for Karachi till Sept 14, predicting that temperatures could rise up to 39 degrees Celsius. In its weather outlook, the PMD said, “yesterday’s low over Rajasthan has shifted to east with its trough extending westwards.” As a result, isolated rains, along with thunderstorms, were likely to …

KABUL: Afghanistan marked the 20th anniversary of 9/11 in muted fashion on Saturday with the Taliban firmly in charge, two decades after being ousted from power. The Islamist group retook power on August 15, after a lightning offensive that capitalised on the chaotic last weeks of the 20-year US-led occupation that followed the 2001 attacks. Hundreds of fully veiled women …

DUBAI: The US has removed its most advanced missile defence system and Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, even as the kingdom faced continued air attacks from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, satellite photos show. The redeployment of the defences from Prince Sultan Air Base outside of Riyadh came as America’s Gulf Arab allies nervously watched the chaotic withdrawal of …

WARSAW: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday that she found it unacceptable that refugees were being used to apply pressure to Poland and other European Union members on the border with Belarus. Speaking at a news conference during what she said she expected to be her last official visit to Poland as chancellor, Merkel appealed to Belarus, but also …