KARACHI: The lack of clarity following the Feb 8 general elections has businessmen shaking in their boots, with many expressing the fear that they would not be able to sustain more political instability and economic turbulence, while the incoming government may find it hard to restore some semblance of order, in the shadow of IMF conditions. “I do not think …

Bitcoin spiked above $50,000 on Tuesday for the first time in more than two years as investors grow optimistic that US approval of broader trading in the unit will ramp up demand. The cryptocurrency has enjoyed a strong run in recent months, fuelled by expectations US lawmakers would allow the creation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the price and …

Shares at the Pakistan Stock Exchange recovered their losses from the previous two sessions on Tuesday as the benchmark index gained 161 points. According to the PSX website, the KSE-100 index was down 1121.24 points, or 1.84 per cent, to stand at 59,944.07 points shortly after trading began. However, after noon, the shares reversed the trend and shed their losses. The …

DUBAI: A top Emirati diplomat on Monday defended her country’s decision to maintain ties with Israel despite its mounting concern over the situation in Gaza Strip. The United Arab Emirates and Israel established diplomatic ties in 2020 as part of the US-brokered Abraham Accords, making it one of the few Arab countries to recognise Israel. Despite maintaining its ties with …

GENEVA: The United Nations said Monday the prospect of a full Israeli incursion into the crammed Gaza town of Rafah was “terrifying” and risked an “extremely high” number of casualties. UN human rights chief Volker Turk urged world powers to “restrain rather than enable” as fears of a looming ground incursion grew among more than one million Palestinians trapped in …

ATHENS: A former employee of a Greek shipping company shot dead three people including its owner before killing himself on Monday in a coastal suburb of Athens, police said. The shooter, 70, broke into the company’s building in Glyfada and killed two men and a woman on the first floor before barricading himself inside. “We heard gunshots and I hid …

WASHINGTON: Shahbaz Gill, former chief of staff to ousted prime minister Imran Khan, extended an olive branch to the establishment during a Sunday rally near the White House. In a 27-minute speech at the protest rally, he stressed the army’s role in defusing political tensions in Pakistan, declaring, “It’s our army, our army chief; we love them.” Mr Gill emphasised …

A plane carrying four Canadian skydivers made an emergency landing on a beach in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca on Sunday, the state civil defence’s office said, resulting in the death of a 62-year-old man who was on the beach at the time. The plane was forced to land on a populated section of Bacocho beach in the popular …

JERUSALEM: Israel announced on Monday a visa ban on the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories over recent comments denying Hamas’s Oct 7 raid was “anti-Semitic”. The UN-appointed independent expert, Francesca Albanese, said last week she disagreed with French President Emmanuel Macron’s description of the attack as “the biggest anti-Semitic massacre of our century”. “No”, Albanese wrote …

DUBAI: The IMF and World Bank warned on Monday that the Gaza conflict and the related attacks on shipping through the Red Sea pose threats to the global economy. The conflict in Gaza, raging since October, has already hit the Middle East and North Africa region’s economy, said the International Monetary Fund’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva. Its knock-on effects could …