Author: admin

Recent climate shocks, including widespread flooding, are expected to trim Pakistan’s GDP growth by around 0.5%, said Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Monday, highlighting the economic vulnerability to extreme weather events. Aurangzeb also underscored that climate change is an urgent economic reality for Pakistan, reaffirming the government’s commitment to advancing sustainable finance, green taxonomy implementation, and climate-aligned disclosure frameworks. He made these observations during a call-on meeting with him by a delegation led by Jean Bouquot, President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), accompanied by Ashfaq Yousaf Tola, President of the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), Humayun Kabeer,…

PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Monday at the Elysée presidential palace in Paris to hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, part of a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at brokering the terms for a potential ceasefire in the nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine. Zelenskyy’s visit to Paris came on the heels of a meeting between Ukrainian and U.S. officials in Florida on Sunday which Secretary of State Marco Rubio described as productive. The two sides have worked to make revisions to a proposed U.S.-authored plan that was developed in negotiations between Washington and Moscow but criticized…

Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan held a productive meeting today with Eng. Ahmed Elsewedy, President and CEO of Elsewedy Electric, one of Egypt’s leading multinational industrial groups, read a statement on Monday. During the meeting, Eng. Ahmed Elsewedy expressed satisfaction with the company’s current investment in Pakistan. The minister apprised the Elsewedy leadership of the significant growth potential in Pakistan’s mining sector, highlighting policy reforms, investor-friendly frameworks, emerging public–private partnership opportunities, and the growing interest from major domestic and international players. He also briefed them on the wide spectrum of opportunities in Pakistan’s rapidly expanding IT and technology…

Rupee’s Performance Against US Dollar Since 04 March 2025 ———- The Pakistani rupee saw marginal improvement against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Monday. At close, the local currency settled at 280.51, a gain of Re0.01 against the greenback. During the previous week, the rupee extended its upward momentum, recording a marginal gain against the dollar, appreciating by Re0.10 or 0.04% in the inter-bank market. The local unit closed at 280.52, against 280.62 it had closed the week earlier against the greenback, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).Pakistan’s headline inflation clocked in at 6.1% on a…

LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC. This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy…

The equities staged a swift recovery on Monday morning, rebounding from an early dip as investor sentiment steadied and volumes picked up on the first trading session of December. At 9:45am, the benchmark index was hovering at 166,972.83, an increase of 295.14 points or 0.18%. Buying was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, fertiliser, oil and gas exploration companies and OMCs. Index-heavy stocks, including MARI, OGDC, PPL, PSO, SNGPL, WAFI, MCB, MEBL and NBP, traded in the green. The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the previous week on a strong upward trajectory, with the benchmark KSE-100…

Crypto exchange operator HashKey Holdings has cleared its Hong Kong listing hearing after an earlier confidential filing, paving the way for a deal that will test investor confidence in the digital asset sector amid evolving regulation.The operator of Hong Kong’s biggest licensed crypto exchange did not disclose the size or the timing of its initial public offering (IPO) in a filing on Monday. It was reported in October that HashKey could raise as much as US$500 million in a listing this year.Hong Kong has established regulatory regimes for exchanges, stablecoin issuers, dealing service providers and custodians, in moves that proactively…

Crypto exchange operator HashKey Holdings has cleared its Hong Kong listing hearing after an earlier confidential filing, paving the way for a deal that will test investor confidence in the digital asset sector amid evolving regulation.The operator of Hong Kong’s biggest licensed crypto exchange did not disclose the size or the timing of its initial public offering (IPO) in a filing on Monday. It was reported in October that HashKey could raise as much as US$500 million in a listing this year.Hong Kong has established regulatory regimes for exchanges, stablecoin issuers, dealing service providers and custodians, in moves that proactively…

India and Indonesia are close to finalising a US$450 million sale of BrahMos missiles, in a deal analysts say could give Southeast Asia a long-sought alternative to dependence on the US or China.The deal, discussed last Thursday during the third India–Indonesia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue co-chaired by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Indonesian counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, would make Indonesia only the second Southeast Asian country after the Philippines to acquire the missile system.Negotiations between New Delhi and Jakarta have been completed, with only Moscow’s formal approval pending – a necessary step given Russia’s 49.5 per cent stake in the…

In an escalation of Beijing’s campaign against perceived pro-independence agitators, mainland Chinese authorities have issued arrest warrants and offered hefty rewards for two Taiwanese social media influencers accused of “inciting secession”.The public security bureau in Quanzhou, Fujian province announced on November 13 a bounty of 50,000 to 250,000 yuan (US$7,040 to US$35,200) for tips leading to the capture of 25-year-old Chen Po-yuan, known online as “Minnan Wolf”, and his collaborator, Wen Tzu-yu.Minnan refers to Southern Min, a group of Chinese dialects spoken in Fujian and Taiwan.The notice, featuring their photos, Taiwanese ID numbers and birth dates, accuses the pair of…