LONDON: The heatwave in Saudi Arabia blamed for the deaths of 1,300 people on the Haj pilgrimage this month was made worse by climate change, a team of European scientists said on Friday. Temperatures along the route from June 16 to 18 reached 47C at times and exceeded 51.8C at Makkah’s Great Mosque. The heat would have been approximately 2.5C (4.5 Fahrenheit) …

At least 30 people died in protests in Kenya this week sparked by a government drive to substantially raise taxes in the East African country, Human Rights Watch said on Saturday. “Kenyan security forces shot directly into crowds of protesters on (Tuesday) June 25, 2024, including protesters who were fleeing,” the NGO said in a statement. “Although there is no confirmation …

Iran will hold a run-off presidential election on July 5 after neither of the top candidates secured more than 50 per cent of votes in Friday’s polls, the interior ministry said on Saturday. The vote to replace Ebrahim Raisi after his [death][13] in a helicopter crash came down to a tight race between the sole moderate in a field of …

ISLAMABAD: The government has extended exemptions in specific sectors while annou­ncing new tax measures in several areas to generate additional revenue in the coming fiscal year to meet the International Monetary Fund’s criteria. Finance Minister Muham­mad Aurangzeb announced the new measures in the National Assembly on Friday. These include introducing a capital value tax on property in Islamabad and implementing new tax measures on …

ISLAMABAD: A day after Omar Ayub Khan stepped down as PTI’s secretary general, the party’s top leaders reposed confidence in him and urged him to continue in the role. A meeting of PTI’s parliamentary party on Friday “unanimously” expressed confidence in Mr Ayub, who is also the opposition leader in National Assembly. “The parliamentary party unanimously resolves that his resignation may not …

ISLAMABAD: As the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) is meeting on July 2 to consider nomination of three judges to become the Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC), six members of the Pakistan Bar Council have expressed the hope that the commission will adhere to the principle of seniority to promote credibility of the judicial system in the …

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rebuked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for its alleged failure to establish the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) despite receiving Rs590 billion over the past 14 years. Responding to a point raised by former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, PM Shehbaz highlighted that under the National Finance Commission (NFC), an additional one per cent share was allocated to …

ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Friday announced the appointment of Rizwan Saeed Sheikh as the new ambassador to the United States and Asim Iftikhar as Pakistan’s additional permanent representative to the United Nations in New York. “The Government of Pakistan has decided to appoint Additional Foreign Secretary (Middle East and SIFC) Ambassador Rizwan Saeed Sheikh as Pakistan’s new ambassador to …

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Friday passed a resolution with a majority vote terming the June 25 resolution adopted by the US House of Representatives — seeking probe into the alleged irregularities in the Feb 8 elections — “an interference” in Pakistan’s internal affairs amid noisy protest by the opposition PTI members who voted against it. After passage of the resolution, the treasury …

ISLAMABAD: Tensions gripped the National Assembly on Friday as the House passed the budget for the next fiscal year with some amendments. The motion, introduced by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, was preceded by fiery speeches from the opposition, who described the budget as unrealistic, anti-people, anti-industry, and anti-agriculture. Opposition lawmakers, particularly from the PTI, criticised the budget, asserting that it was now …