Author: i2wtc

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday urged the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow it to cut the tax rates at par with the regional countries to stop the increasing outward flight of money, as the global lender did not see any major progress in tapping true incomes of retailers and real estate dealers. On the second-last day of the talks, the IMF also briefed the foreign diplomats on the outcomes of the first review. The IMF largely showed satisfaction with the implementation of the programme except in the areas of property, real estate and the privatisation, according to the people…

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada Mark Carney signs documents during his swearing-in ceremony as Canada’s next Prime Minister at an event in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 14, 2025. Blair Gable | ReutersEx-central banker Mark Carney was formally sworn in as prime minister of Canada on Friday, putting him in a position to fight tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump that could devastate the trade-dependent Canadian economy.In the presence of Governor General Mary Simon, the personal representative of King Charles, who is Canada’s head of state, Carney took the oath of office.The moment capped a momentous rise for the 59-year-old,…

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: Justice Aminuddin Khan, the head of the Constitutional Bench of Supreme Court agreed with the argument forwarded by the lawyer for the defence ministry that declaring various provisions of the Army Act as null and void was not the correct decision. The seven-member Constitutional Bench held the 46th hearing of the intra-court appeals against a previous verdict by the apex court that barred military courts from trying civilians. Defence ministry’s lawyer Khawaja Haris continued his rebuttal to the arguments by the other side. Haris said that the court martial of civilians was not a matter of the army’s…

Weakness in sentiment reflects a deterioration in expectations for the future across multiple facets of the economy, including personal finances, employment, inflation.Consumer sentiment in the United States has plunged to a nearly two-and-a-half-year low, and inflation expectations have soared amid worries that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, which have ignited a trade war, would boost prices and undercut the economy. The deterioration in sentiment in March and inflation expectations reported by the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers on Friday were across political party affiliations with consumers saying “frequent gyrations in economic policies make it very difficult for consumers to…

The plan calls for a $545bn fund for infrastructure spending.Germany’s likely next chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has announced a deal to drastically overhaul the country’s debt rules to allow a boom in defence and security spending as well as 500 billion euros ($545bn) in infrastructure investment in the next 12 years. Merz’s conservatives and their prospective Social Democratic coalition partners reached an agreement with the Greens party on Friday to exempt spending above 1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence and security – including civil protection, intelligence and “aid to countries under illegal attack” – from the nation’s constitutionally…

President Donald Trump signed several executive orders at the start of his second term that lay out a blanket 25% tariff on Canadian goods imported into the United States, with some exceptions such as energy. Canadian energy will carry a lower tariff of 10%. The bulk of these tariffs went into effect at midnight on Tuesday, March 4, sending U.S. markets into a dramatic sell-off.It’s unclear which tariffs will last; Trump has since altered, paused or canceled some of the tariffs.The tariffs have prompted a strong response from Canadian leadership, including implementing retaliatory tariffs of 25% on $30 billion worth of…

Listen to article ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Thursday said terrorists involved in the hijacking of a train were in “direct contact” with their handlers based in Afghanistan, urging Kabul to cooperate with Islamabad in order to bring perpetrators to justice. A day after Pakistan security forces eliminated all terrorists and rescued passengers following a 30-hour of standoff, the Foreign Office said that there was no doubt the attack was linked to Afghanistan. Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan told the media that the Afghan soil had been used against Pakistan and the latest terrorist attack against Jaffar Express near Sibi in Balochistan was…

Columbia University has expelled, suspended or revoked degrees of students who occupied a campus hall during pro-Palestinian demonstrations in April 2024, the university said on Thursday. Students were issued with punishments based on the “severity of behaviour at these events” and past infractions, if any, a statement from Columbia read. The move is the university’s response to a crackdown on student activists in the United States who led pro-Palestine demonstrations last year amid Israel’s war on Gaza, and called for their schools to cut financial ties with Israel. It also comes after the government cut $400m in federal funding for…

U.S. President Donald Trump sits next to Crypto czar David Sacks at the White House Crypto Summit at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 7, 2025.Evelyn Hockstein | ReutersDavid Sacks, the Trump administration’s AI and crypto czar, sold over $200 million worth of digital asset-related investments personally and through his firm, Craft Ventures, before starting the job, according to a memo from the White House.Of the the assets sold, the documents said that at least $85 million “is directly attributable to Sacks.” The memo, from White House counsel David Warrington, added that Craft remains an investor in some…

Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency in charge of massive government-run health insurance programs, on Friday declined to commit to opposing future cuts to Medicaid when directly asked if he would do so.Instead, the nominee for administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that the way to protect Medicaid is “making sure that it’s viable at every level.” The exchange during Oz’s Senate confirmation hearing raises fresh questions about the fate of Medicaid under a Republican-led Congress and White House, despite Trump’s promises to preserve it and other federal safety-net programs.The nonpartisan…