Author: ALJAZEERA

Islamabad, Pakistan — In a series of trips over the past three months, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has tried to convince the debt-strapped country’s three closest allies — China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — to invest in the nation, as its precariously positioned economy looks for green shoots. In June last year, under Sharif’s first tenure as prime minister, the government formed a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a high-powered body comprising Pakistani civilian and military leaders, to promote investment in Pakistan. Following the tours to Beijing, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the Sharif government is pointing…

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City leader John Lee says move will strengthen competitiveness of the Asian financial hub.Hong Kong is set to end its decades-long practice of shutting the stock market during typhoons and extreme weather. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said the change was widely supported by the financial sector and would bring the financial hub in line with other markets, including mainland China. “Shenzhen and Shanghai are now trading in bad weather. There is no reason why Hong Kong, as an international financial centre, should not follow suit,” Lee told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday. “Non-stop trading in inclement…

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All the fatalities from the blaze at Qaem Hospital were in the intensive care unit, according to local authorities.Tehran, Iran – Nine patients have died after a fire broke out in the basement of a hospital in the city of Rasht in northern Iran. The six women and three men killed were in the intensive care unit of Qaem Hospital, local authorities said. All the patients in the facility were evacuated. Mohammad Taghi Ashoubi, the head of the Gilan University of Medical Sciences, told reporters on Tuesday that an intubated patient who was in the intensive care unit had died,…

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Malaysian leader criticises ‘Western narrative’ around Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.Malaysia is planning to join the BRICS grouping of emerging economies, the Southeast Asian country’s leader has said. In an interview with Chinese media outlet Guancha, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government would soon begin the process of joining the bloc, once it had received feedback from South Africa. “We have made our policy clear and we have made our decision. We will start the formal process soon. As far as the Global South is concerned, we are fully supportive,” Anwar said, according to the Shanghai-based outlet.…

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PodcastPodcast, The TakeWe visit southern Lebanon and hear what escalating violence means to people who have lived through war before. United Nations officials warn of the possibility of a wider war as fighting intensifies along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel. Each side says it is responding to attacks by the other, but could the situation spin out of control? And what does that mean for the people who live there? In this episode:  Episode credits: This episode was produced by Khaled Soltan, David Enders and Ashish Malhotra with Chloe K Li, Mohammed Zain Shafi Khan and our host Natasha Del…

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Islamabad, Pakistan – The Pakistani government will present its annual budget on Wednesday, seeking to balance domestic commitments to the country’s 240 million people and demands of fiscal prudence from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – a key source of loans. Aiming to increase its gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to more than 3.5 percent from 2.38 percent in the outgoing fiscal year, the country is looking to revive its economy, which has faced a nearly two-year slump following political volatility. Pakistani authorities have held multiple meetings with the IMF recently. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who came to power…

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Israeli forces battled with Palestinian groups in Rafah and elsewhere in southern Gaza despite the Israeli military’s announcement on Sunday of tactical pauses in operations to allow humanitarian aid to enter, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticised plans announced by the military to hold daily pauses in fighting along one of the main roads into the besieged Palestinian enclave that has been under relentless Israeli bombardment for more than eight months. Lazzarini, commissioner general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the main organisation delivering humanitarian aid…

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The spat over EVs is part of a wider trade dispute over Chinese state support for green technologies.The European Union will hike tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) on July 4, unless Beijing fail to agree a “solution” to subsidies that the bloc says are distorting its markets. The European Commission said on Wednesday that it would raise tariffs on Chinese carmakers to 38 percent, up from the current level of 10 percent, on July 4, unless talks with China can resolve the subsidies issue. The argument over EVs is the latest in a series of trade spats between the…

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