ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s expo­rts to European countries declined 6.27 per cent in the first nine months of the current fiscal year. Exports to the European Union states have begun to dip in the current fiscal year despite a GSP+ status that allows most Pakistani goods a duty-free entrance into European markets. In October 2023, the European Parliament unanimously voted to extend …

KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has endorsed the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) decision to keep the interest rate unchanged despite a sharp deceleration in inflation. The IMF-Pakistan SBA (2nd and Final Review) Country Report made it clear that the Fund was willing to see no change in the interest rate despite demand from the stakeholders in the wake …

PARIS: The hypercolour image of a dark hill and lava flow is pretty enough — but its high-tech artificial intelligence origins make it special. It is the product of the brainwaves of one member of French art collective Obvious, collected in an MRI machine at the Brain Institute of the Pitie Salpetriere hospital in Paris. “I was thinking very hard …

LONDON: Two environmental activists in their eighties have been charged with criminal damage after glueing themselves to a glass case containing the historic Magna Carta document at the British Library in central London, police said on Saturday. Anglican priest Sue Parfitt, 82, and retired teacher Judy Bruce, 85, held up a sign saying “The government is breaking the law” after …

TBILISI: Thousands of protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday at a rally against a controversial “foreign influence” bill backed by the Georgian government and likened to Russian laws silencing dissent. Massive rallies have gripped the Black Sea Caucasus country for almost a month after the ruling Georgian Dream party reintroduced the bill. Demonstrators converged on Tbilisi’s central Europe Square …

UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram asserted on Saturday that the adoption of a resolution advocating Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations by a large majority would ramp up political pressure on the United States to reassess its position within the Security Council. The UN General Assembly adopted the resolution on Friday with 143 votes. The United States …

NEW DELHI: A top opponent of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his compatriots to resist “dictatorship” on Saturday, after the country’s top court provisionally released him from jail to campaign in national elections. Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of the capital Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Modi in the polls, was granted …

RAFAH: The United States has issued a stunning criticism of Israel’s use of American weapons in the Gaza attack, after Israeli forces intensified operations around the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million displaced people are sheltering. Israel’s main international ally said in a report released on Friday that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel has used …

CAIRO: The United Arab Emirates hit out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday after the Israeli leader said the Gulf state could be involved in aiding a future government in Gaza after the war. The prominent and influential Gulf state is one of few Arab states with official diplomatic ties to Israel, which it has maintained through Israel’s …

CAIRO: Israel called on Saturday for Palestinians in more areas of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah to evacuate and head to what it calls an expanded humanitarian area in Al-Mawasi, in a further indication that the military is pressing ahead with its plans for a ground attack on Rafah. In a post on social media site X, a military spokesperson …