ISLAMABAD: The government has made privatisation its key priority, and, in this regard, the Islamabad International Airport will be outsourced first. In his budget speech, Finance Minister Mohammad Aurangzeb said the government should not be in business. “The prime minister strongly believes in reducing government interference in the commercial space and promoting the private sector; that is why we have made privatisation a …

KARACHI/ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Businessmen and industrialists initially on Wednesday appeared unsatisfied with the budgetary measures proposed for 2024-25, which appear anti-industry and more IMF-friendly. Trade and industry leaders have termed the budget a burden on the existing taxpayers, and no serious efforts have been made to broaden the tax base or promote industrial production and commerce in the country. Addressing a press …

KARACHI: In a bid to appease the local assemblers, the government has abolished customs duty on the import of hybrid cars and luxury electric vehicles (EVs). The decision has irked used car importers, who said that it would benefit the assembler of these vehicles rather than consumers. On the other hand, the local assemblers of hybrid vehicles must be satisfied …

A fire that erupted in a building housing workers in the Kuwaiti city of Mangaf early on Wednesday has killed at least 41 people, the country’s deputy prime minister Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah said during a visit to the site. The deputy prime minister accused real estate owners of violations and greed, saying those factors contributed towards the incident. …

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have flocked to the Saudi holy city of Makkah for the Haj pilgrimage unfolding this year in the shadow of the Gaza conflict. One of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings officially begins on Friday, and Saudi officials are trying to keep the focus on prayers. The Gulf kingdom’s minister in charge of religious pilgrimages, …

VEJLE: Under a white tent on the shores of a polluted Danish fjord, volunteers and researchers prepare slender green shoots of eelgrass to be planted on the seabed to help restore the site’s damaged ecosystem. Denmark generally has a strong track record on environmental issues, but only five of its 109 coastal zones are considered healthy, according to the Danish …

COPENHAGEN: Danish investigators tracking an alleged bicycle theft stumbled upon works of art stolen from a Copenhagen gallery in late March, police said on Wednesday. With more than 17,000 bicycles stolen in the Danish capital last year, some worried cyclists have taken to fitting their bikes with GPS trackers to help find them after a theft. One such tracker led …

WILMINGTON: Elon Musk made billions of dollars by selling Tesla stock using insider information, an institutional shareholder accused in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, asking the court to direct the Tesla CEO to return “unlawful profits.” The lawsuit comes two days before a critical vote by Tesla shareholders on whether to reinstate Musk’s $56 billion pay package after a Delaware …

COPENHAGEN: The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday blamed four major industries — tobacco, ultra-processed foods (UPFs), fossil fuel and alcohol — for 2.7 million deaths a year in Europe, accusing them of obstructing public policies that could hurt their profits. “[These] four industries kill at least 7,000 people in our region every day,” Hans Kluge, the director of the …

RIYADH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, Saudi state media reported, his latest visit to the Gulf kingdom which has sought to stay neutral in Ukraine’s war with Russia. Zelensky landed in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah for the unannounced trip and was greeted by Saudi officials including the national security adviser and ambassador to …