WASHINGTON: US authorities announced sanctions on Tuesday on parties associated with Intellexa Consortium, citing their role in making and distributing commercial spyware used to target US officials, journalists and others. Commercial surveillance tools “increasingly present a security risk to the United States and our citizens,” said Treasury Under Secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson. In particular, the Intellexa …

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, has invited UAE investors to invest in Pakistan’s real estate, energy, agriculture, information technology and various other sectors which offer immense business opportunities. Speaking at the Business Opportunities Conference in Dubai on Tuesday, Ambassador Tirmizi said the Pakistan government deeply encourages business-to-business collaboration among the business community of both …

BEIJING: China will boost its defence spending by 7.2 per cent this year, fuelling a military budget that has more than doubled under President Xi Jinping’s 11 years in office as Beijing hardens its stance on Taiwan, according to official reports on Tuesday. The increase mirrors the rate presented in last year’s budget and again comes in well above the …

FORT WORTH: Donald Trump aimed to deliver a Super Tuesday knockout blow to his lone challenger for the Repub­lican US presidential nomination, Nikki Haley, as 15 states hold Republican contests on the biggest voting day of the primary season. The former president, who has dominated the Republican campaign from the start despite his litany of criminal charges, has swept all …

JERUSALEM: Israel will allow as many worshippers to access Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem during the first week of Ramazan as in previous years, the prime minister’s office said on Tuesday. “In the first week of Ramazan, worshippers will be allowed to enter the Temple Mount, in similar numbers to those in previous years,” the statement said, using the Jewish …

MOSCOW: Russia and China are considering putting a nuclear power plant on the moon from 2033-35, Yuri Borisov, the head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos said on Tuesday, something he said could one day allow lunar settlements to be built. Borisov, a former deputy defence minister, said that Russia and China had been jointly working on a lunar programme and …

WASHINGTON: Ama­zon founder Jeff Bezos has taken back his spot as the world’s richest man, dethroning Elon Musk on the Bloomberg Billion­aires Index. Bezos’ net worth stands at $200 billion, according to the tracker, surpassing the Tesla chief’s $198bn. Musk, who also heads X (formerly Twitter) and SpaceX, has seen his riches fall by more than $30b as Tesla’s share …

CAIRO: Hamas negotiators stayed in Cairo for a third day of ceasefire talks on Tuesday in an attempt to halt the fighting in the Gaza Strip in time for the fasting month of Ramazan, free Israeli hostages and stave off famine. A 40-day ceasefire in the conflict would allow some hostages captured by Pales­ti­nian fighters in the October attack, while aid to Gaza …

KARACHI: With the beginning of new parliamentary term, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) found itself embroiled in a controversy on Tuesday when the Election Commission of Pakistan’s move to suspend the membership of its MNA on reserved seat of minority attracted immediate reaction from the deposed legislator, who claimed that he hadn’t rendered any resignation accusing his party of ‘faking’ …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed the authorities concerned to formulate proposals for reducing government expenditures and overhauling the country’s economic structure. He also directed the authorities to immediately initiate the process of complete digitisation and automation of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), which he himself would oversee. Presiding over a high-level meeting at the Prime Minister …