ISLAMABAD: To meet a “prior action” of the Inter­national Monetary Fund (IMF), the government on Sunday notified an increase of about 9 per cent in gas rates for industrial captive power units with effect from July 1 (today) but blocked about 15pc (Rs133 billion) relief in average gas rates accruing from lower international oil prices for all other consumers. The …

Pakistan’s information and communication technology (ICT) exports are touching record highs every month and recently scaled a fresh peak of $332 million in May. On a trailing 12-month basis, the proceeds now stand at $3.15 billion — finally crossing that $3bn mark. Though this is certainly a welcome development, looking at a longer time horizon reveals a somewhat different picture. In 2023, …

For the last few weeks, global oil prices have been gaining strength. On Friday, the last working day of June, crude oil settled little changed after retreating from a nearly two-month high. However, for the month, both the crude benchmarks, Brent and West Texas Intermediate, registered gains of around six per cent. For a change, market sentiments are in positive territory. …

BRIDGETOWN: Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, strengthened into an “extremely dangerous” Category 4 storm on Sunday as it threatened the southeast Caribbean with potentially life-threatening winds and storm surge, US trackers said. The US National Hurricane Centre (NHC) warned residents that Beryl — currently churning in the Atlantic Ocean about 350 miles (565 kilometres) east of Barbados — …

LONDON: As the United Kingdom draws close to the 2024 general election, a new YouGov poll sheds light on the voting intentions and priorities of ethnic minority groups, showing who ethnically Pakistani voters lean towards politically. The poll indicates a strong preference for the Labour Party among ethnic minority voters, with 53pc intending to vote Labour, though Pakistani-origin voters show an interesting deviation …

WASHINGTON: While Donald Trump’s bid for criminal immunity from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss is set to be decided on Monday, the US Supreme Court already has helped the former president in his effort to avoid trial before the Nov 5 election. The ruling from the court, whose 6-3 conservative majority includes three justices appointed by Trump, will …

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has praised the adoption of a strong outcome document at the end of a conference dedicated to combating illicit small arms and light weapons worldwide, saying it is an important sign of progress. The proliferation, diversion and misuse of small arms and light weapons continue to undermine peace, security and sustainable development around …

PARIS: French voters flocked to the polls in numbers not seen for decades on Sunday for the first round of snap parliamentary elections, which could see the far-right party of Marine Le Pen take power in a historic first. President Emmanuel Macron stunned the nation by calling snap polls after the far-right National Rally (RN) party trounced his centrist forces in European …

The Arab League says it has decided to remove Hezbollah from its blacklist, as conditions for establishing relations with the Lebanese resistance move­ment have been met, Anadolu Agency reported. In a statement aired on Egyptian Al-Qahera News, Arab League assistant secretary-general Hossam Zaki said that the member states “agreed that the label of Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation should no longer …

TEHRAN: The first round of Iran’s presidential election revealed shrinking support for both reformists and conservatives even though some voters are pushing for change by backing the sole reformist candidate, analysts say. Masoud Pezeshkian, the reformist contender, and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili led the polls held on Friday to replace the late ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash last month. Friday’s …