Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and others in response to applications seeking suspension of sentences awarded to PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the £190 million corruption case. An IHC division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sardar Mohammad Sarfaraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif directed the case be fixed for hearing next week following a request by senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa. The courtroom witnessed the presence of a high-profile legal team of the PTI, including Salman Akram Raja, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, Niazullah Khan Niazi and Shoaib Shaheen, as well as PTI leaders Aleema Khan, Asad Qaiser, Shandana Gulzar, Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry and Nadia Khattak. An accountability court in Islamabad had sentenced the former prime minister and Bushra Bibi to 14 and seven years in prison, respectively, on Jan 17 this year. Directs case be fixed for hearing next week In their appeal against the conviction, the fo...

• Overhaul aims to cut customs, regulatory duties • Reforms expected to boost exports by $5bn in five years • Simple average tariff to fall from 19pc to 9.5pc ISLAMABAD: In a major policy shift, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved a comprehensive five-year tariff reform plan to be announced in the federal budget 2025-26, aiming to drastically reduce customs duties, additional customs duties, regulatory duties on raw materials and semi-finished goods, and a phased reduction in overall tariff protections for select industries. The first phase of the reform, set to be launched with the next budget, introduces a simplified customs duty structure with slabs of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 per cent. The existing 16pc slab will be reduced to 15pc, while the 11pc rate will drop to 10pc. The 3pc slab will be abolished, with products either moved to a zero-duty category or the new 5pc slab. The proposed tariff overhaul, seen by Dawn, is set to eliminate the additional customs duty of 2pc on 4,294 tariff lines in the upc...

• In a house of 336, treasury had only 67 members against the required 84 • PTI facing blackout in coverage by official media ISLAMABAD: The government faced an embarrassing situation in the National Assembly on Thursday when the opposition cleverly blocked the passage of an important money bill in the middle of the process. It was after facing a 67-32 vote defeat on the motion tabled by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to present the Income Tax (Amendment) Bill 2024 for its passage that opposition members belonging to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) realised that their absence could prevent the government from maintaining quorum for which the presence of 84 members is required in the 336-member house. As soon as Deputy Speaker Ghulam Mustafa Shah declared the result of the headcount on the motion, the PTI members strategically walked out, leaving behind their colleague Aamir Dogar to point out lack of quorum at a time when the chair had already got approval of two clauses of the three-clause bill throu...

ISLAMABAD: For the third time in two months, the government on Thurs­day did not pass on the full impact of lower international oil prices to consumers and kept the price of petrol unchanged and reduced that of high-speed diesel by Rs2 per litre for the current fortnight ending May 31. The government incre­ased the Inland Freight Equalisation Margin (IFEM) on both petrol and diesel to clear about Rs34 billion loss to the oil industry owing to a tax loophole in the Finance Bill 2024-25. In a late-night announcement, the Ministry of Fina­nce said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) had reviewed and adjusted prices for petroleum products in view of the fluctuations in the international market. The ex-depot price of high-speed diesel was reduced by Rs2 per litre to Rs254.64 per litre for the current fortnight from Rs256.64. Most of the transport sector runs on high-speed diesel. Its price is considered inflationary as it is mostly used in heavy transport vehicles, trains and agricultural engines like truc...

• Rejects New Delhi’s call for agency’s oversight of Islamabad’s nuclear arsenal • India says water treaty to remain suspended until end to ‘cross-border terrorism’ ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to investigate the ‘nuclear black market’ in India and repeated incidents of theft and illicit trafficking of radioactive material, as it rejected a call by India’s defence minister for the nuclear watchdog to monitor Islamabad’s nuclear programme. Pointing to multiple incidents of radioactive material theft in India and other security lapses, the Foreign Office said, “Pakistan urges a thorough investigation of these incidents and calls upon India to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear facilities and arsenal.” “If anything, the IAEA and the international community should be worried about the repeated theft and illicit trafficking incidents involving nuclear and radioactive material in India,” the statement added. The Foreign Office was responding to comme...

• Military contacts lead to extension of ceasefire till 18th; US wants both nations to uphold truce • Dar says ultimately ‘political dialogue’ will take place to address all issues; reiterates opposition to Indian move to end Kashmir’s autonomy • Senate resolution condemns India for unprovoked strikes against Pakistan • Trump claims hostilities between nuclear neighbours ‘settled’, asks both to focus on trade ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan and India extended the nascent ceasefire till May 18, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday informed the Senate that Pakistan sought a “composite dialogue” with New Delhi to put all contentious matters to rest. According to the foreign minister, the ceasefire was extended through military-to-military communication, but a political dialogue will ultimately have to take place to resolve the problems between the two neighbours. “We have told the world that we will hold a composite dialogue,” he informed the Senate. The FM said Pakistan had never accepted the unilateral revocation of ...

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ISLAMABAD: The federal government announced to keep the petrol price unchanged for the next fortnight in Pakistan, ARY News reported. According to a notification issued here, the petrol price has been kept unchanged at Rs 252.63 per litre. However, the high-speed diesel price has decreased by Rs 2 per litre as the new price is fixed […]

FLORIDA:  A strange incident was captured on viral video when a Florida alligator got stuck in a lawn chair and was spotted roaming a front porch, showing the reptile moving about with the chair wrapped around its head. The incident took place in Tortuga, a nearby area in Fort Myers, where residents faced unusual surprise. […]

Star Pakistan batter Babar Azam has addressed his batting struggles ahead of the resumption of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 10. The former Pakistan captain has been facing scrutiny over a dip in his form in recent times in international games. In the PSL 10, he has scored 178 runs in eight innings, at an […]

President Vladimir Putin on Thursday sacked Russia’s chief of land forces, General Oleg Salyukov, the Kremlin said, in the latest removal of a high-profile military establishment figure amid the offensive on Ukraine. Salyukov, 70, will become a deputy to ex-defence minister Sergei Shoigu, who was removed from last year and made Secretary of the Security […]

Justin and Hailey Bieber are reportedly living separately as emotional struggles and marriage issues take a toll.