Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday changed its outlook on Pakistan’s banking sector from “negative” to “stable” citing its solid profitability, stable funding and liquidity, which it said “provide an adequate buffer’ to withstand the country’s macroeconomic challenges and political turmoil. The international rating agency — one of the top three global rating firms — said that the economic and fiscal pressures were …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram clarified to the UN Security Council on Wednesday that there were no forced deportations of Afghans from Pakistan. Addressing a special Security Council session on Afghanistan, Ambassador Akram emphasised that characterising the protection environment for Afghans in Pakistan as unfavorable is inaccurate and offensive. He stated that after Pakistan anno­unced its plan to enforce laws …

HOULA: Hezbollah on Wednesday held a funeral in southern Lebanon for two of its fighters and a woman, all members of the same family, who were killed in an Israeli strike the day before. A photographer saw hundreds of people turning up for the funeral in Houla, near the border with Israel that has seen deadly exchanges of fire between …

BEIJING/MELBOURNE: China on Wednesday accused the United States of using the Philippines as a “pawn” in the South China Sea, as hostilities between the two Asian nations escalate over their territorial dispute in the region. Manila summoned a Chinese representative on Tuesday after it said China Coast Guard vessels caused two collisions with Philippine boats and water cannoned one of …

WARSAW: Throwing smoke bombs and lighting fires, thousands of angry farmers demonstrated in Warsaw on Wednesday against EU regulation and cheap Ukraine imports, with police reporting that two officers had been injured and a dozen protesters detained. Some demonstrators tried to force their way past security railings onto parliament grounds, according to police. Farmers also organised tractor blockades on roads across the country. …

NEW DELHI: Dozens of protesting Indian farmers were detained en route to New Delhi on Wednesday, forcing them to call off their plan to converge on the capital in their demand for higher crop prices, protest leaders said. Thousands of farmers, mostly from the northern state of Punjab, launched a “Delhi Chalo” (Let’s go to Delhi) march last month demanding higher guaranteed …

NEW YORK: Image creation tools powered by artificial intelligence from companies including OpenAI and Microsoft can be used to produce photos that could promote election or voting-related disinformation, despite each having policies against creating misleading content, researchers said in a report on Wednesday. The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a nonprofit that monitors online hate speech, used generative AI …

OSLO/OTTAWA: Many countries that paused funding to the UN Palestinian refugee agency are likely having second thoughts and payments could resume soon, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said on Wednesday. Several countries, including the United States and Britain, paused their funding to UNRWA after accusations by Israel that a dozen of its 13,000 staff in Gaza took part in …

CAIRO: Talks on a ceasefire and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas were at an impasse on Wednesday, as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepened and the Israelis pushed ahead with plans to build 3,500 settler homes in the occupied West Bank. Negotiators from Hamas, Qatar and Egypt — but not Israel — are trying to secure a 40-day ceasefire in time …

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he was working to “win hearts in [occupied] Kashmir”, on his first visit to the disputed region’s main city since its semi-autonomy was cancelled in 2019. Modi’s government stripped the Muslim-majority territory of its special constitutional status nearly five years ago, splitting the former state into two territories directly ruled from New Delhi. The …