Author: i2wtc

Listen to article A fake officer of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and a former Islamabad police official have been arrested in connection with a kidnapping for ransom case in Rawalpindi, authorities said on Thursday. The suspects, posing as law enforcement officials, abducted Mohammad Nazir, a businessman involved in the oil trade, from the Rawat area, Express News reported. They falsely identified themselves as members of the FIA and Islamabad police while using wireless communication devices. The kidnappers then demanded a ransom of Rs50 lakh for the victim’s release. According to police reports, Nazir’s relatives filed a complaint with the Rawat police,…

United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday paused steep tariffs on America’s trading partners barring China, instead imposing a blanket 10 percent tariff on goods imported from these nations and territories. The 90-day pause came within 24 hours of the duties taking effect. The pausing of most additional tariffs, which had roiled the stock market, sent US major stock indices soaring to one of their biggest single-day gains since World War II, even though they remain nearly 11 percent below their February 19 peak under Trump. Three hours before he announced the pause, Trump encouraged investors to buy stock. In…

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, testifies during the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled Annual Oversight of Wall Street Firms, in the Hart Building on Dec. 6, 2023.Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty ImagesWith each passing day since President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement last week, a growing sense of unease had begun to pervade Wall Street.As stocks plunged and even the safe haven of U.S. Treasurys were selling off, investors, executives and analysts started to fret that a core assumption from the first Trump presidency may no longer apply.Amid the market carnage, the…

LAHORE: Senior Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi criticised his own party’s leadership over disarray in their ranks, saying that those party leaders, who were imprisoned when they saw the leadership outside pointing fingers at each other. Talking to the media persons after hearing of a case in connection with May 9, 2023 violence, said that nothing was being done by the outside leadership, compared to what he was doing from inside the prison. He said that he would lead a protest against the Indus canals in Umerkot on April 14 and 15 from inside the jail. On Tuesday,…

If you listen to President Donald Trump and his allies discuss his sweeping tariff plans, one word pops up a lot: “Cheating”. During his April 2 announcement of what he called “Liberation Day”, Trump released a list of new tariffs of up to 50 percent on virtually every country – a plan that took effect at midnight on April 9 before he abruptly issued a 90-day pause hours later. (His April 9 change in course increased tariffs on China and kept a 10 percent across-the-board tariff on virtually all trading partners.) When he unveiled his initial tariffs plan, Trump said, “For…

Russia’s territorial gains in Ukraine are slowing down dramatically, two analyses have found, continuing a pattern from 2024 at a time when both nations are trying to project strength in the face of United States-mediated negotiations aimed at ending the war. Britain’s Ministry of Defence last week estimated that Russian forces seized 143sq km (55sq miles) of Ukrainian land in March, compared with 196sq km (76sq miles) in February and 326sq km (126sq miles) in January. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based think tank, spotted the same trend, estimating Russian gains at 203sq km (78sq miles)…

Gabby Jones | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesFintech’s relief rally is already losing steam.Shares of Affirm, Toast, Bill.com, PayPal and other consumer-focused fintech firms turned lower Thursday.The retreat followed a powerful bounce Wednesday after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on dramatically higher import tariffs.While the administration simultaneously escalated duties on Chinese goods to 125%, markets took the broader delay as a sign that Washington may soften its stance — at least temporarily — on the more disruptive elements of its trade agenda.The sector still faces longer-term risks, from rising hardware costs to small business credit exposure and macro uncertainty.Affirm…

Noor Zaman stormed to victory on Thursday in front of a full-house crowd as he beat Egypt’s Karim El Torkey 3-2 in the men’s final of the U23 World Squash Championship in Karachi. Zaman defeated Malaysia’s Ameeshenraj Chandran yesterday to reach the final after Chandran retired during the third game of the last-four while trailing 6-11, 2-11, 4-6. Torkey, who defeated seed Ibrahim Elkabbani, was up by two games in the final with Zaman looking for reprieve, narrowly took the game from the Egyptian. Zaman had the upper hand in the fourth set, beating El Torkey 11-5. With the score…

ISLAMABAD: The issue of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award has resurfaced, with the Senate Standing Committee on Finance expected to convene a meeting next week to address provincial concerns over resource distribution, sources have revealed. According to sources, the committee has decided to summon finance ministers from all four provinces to discuss grievances related to the NFC Award. The move comes amid rising tensions between the federal and provincial governments over the allocation of funds and the delay in a new NFC formula. Sources maintained that the federal government is reluctant to provide funds for departments that have been devolved…

Moscow releases US-Russian former ballerina for German-Russian businessman freed by Washington.The United States and Russia have completed a prisoner exchange in the United Arab Emirates with Moscow releasing US-Russian national Ksenia Karelina and Washington freeing German-Russian businessman Arthur Petrov. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Karelina’s lawyer confirmed the release on Thursday of the former ballet dancer, who was charged by Russia with treason. Karelina was arrested in Russia last year and convicted of treason after making a $52 donation to a US charity aiding Ukraine in a case slammed by US authorities as “ludicrous”. American Ksenia Karelina is…