CAIRO: Sudan’s strongman fired at least six ambassadors, including the envoys to the US, the European Union and France, after they condemned the military’s takeover of the country, a military official said on Thursday. The diplomats had pledged their support for the now-deposed government of Prime Minister Abddalla Hamdok. Their dismissal came hours before the United Nations Security council issued …

LONDON: Lawyers for Julian Assange on Thursday dismissed US assurances about the treatment awaiting the WikiLeaks founder if he is extradited from Britain, as two days of hearings wrapped up in London. Britain’s High Court said it would issue a ruling at a later date, after Washington appealed against a lower court’s decision to block Assange’s extradition to face a …

KARACHI: Demolition of Nasla Tower seems to be imminent in line with an order of the Supreme Court with almost all families living in the multi-storey building having vacated their respective apartments. They are shifting to somewhere else to leave the building at the disposal of the district administration, which took over the 15-storey structure under escort of personnel from …

MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) cabinet on Thursday approved an ordinance to repeal a law, enacted by the previous (PML-N) government, whereby an unspecified number of ad-hoc, temporary and contractual employees were regularised in the name of humanity. At a media briefing, Minister for Information Sardar Faheem Akhtar Rabbani said it was a discriminatory law aimed at benefitting …

LONDON: Private channel New Vision TV, the broadcaster of ARY UK, has issued an apology to London-based PML-N leader Nasir Butt for airing a programme in which he was called a “criminal, a multiple murderer and a member of a drug cartel”. Just weeks after issuing an apology to former finance minister and PML-N leader Ishaq Dar, it emerged that ARY UK has apologised to Mr …

ISLAMABAD: The state of digital media freedom in Pakistan remained weak during 2020-21 due to regulatory pressures and threats against online expression. At the same time, the general public was exposed to alarming levels of online disinformation, including false messages about Covid-19 origin and treatment, which put their health and safety at risk. These were the crux of a report, …

Facebook Inc is now called Meta, the company said on Thursday, in a rebrand that focuses on building the “metaverse”, a shared virtual environment that it bets will be the successor to the mobile internet. The name change comes as the world’s largest social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of …

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued its positive momentum on Thursday amidst encouraging corporate results. The benchmark index of the PSX closed at 45,985.41 points, up 193.49 or 0.42 per cent from a day ago. According to Topline Securities, major positivity came from Lucky Cement Ltd, Colgate-Palmolive Pakistan Ltd, Fauji Cement Company Ltd, Pakistan State Oil Company Ltd and …

KARACHI: Foreign exchange reserves of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell by almost $2 billion in the last two weeks to settle at $17.146bn until Thursday. The SBP reported that the foreign exchange reserves fell by $346 million during the week ended on October 22. Last week the reserves fell by $1.6bn. The foreign exchange reserves of the State …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday directed the authorities concerned to expedite the process of privatisation of loss-making state-owned enterprises (SOEs). According to the Prime Minister House, Mr Khan issued the directives during a meeting with Minister for Privatisation Mohammadmian Soomro and Finance Adviser Shaukat Fayaz Tarin wherein they discussed the matters pertaining to the privatisation of loss-making national …