Author: Finance for Sight

DEIR EL-BALAH: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said a foreign UN worker was killed and five others seriously injured Wednesday by an Israeli strike on their headquarters, as the Israeli army denied hitting a UN building. A statement from the health ministry said there was “one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions… due to the bombing of their headquarters by the occupation in the central governorate a short while ago”. It added they had been taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital. AFP has not been able to confirm the information with the United…

The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved $102 million in financing for the Resilient and Accessible Microfinance (RAM) Project in Pakistan on Wednesday. As per a statement, the project aims to enhance access to microcredit and support the resilience of the microfinance sector and its borrowers, particularly in the face of climate-related shocks. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of Finance through the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the World Bank said. The project will be the first in a series of interventions to support the sector, to be designed and phased in close partnership with other international…

ISTANBUL: Turkiye authorities detained President Tayyip Erdogan’s main political rival on Wednesday on charges including corruption and aiding a terrorist group in what the main opposition party called “a coup against our next president”. The move against Ekrem Imamoglu, the popular mayor of Istanbul, caps a months-long legal crackdown on opposition figures across the country which has been criticised as a politicised attempt to hurt their electoral prospects. Turkiye lira currency crashed 12% to an all-time low of 42 to the dollar in response, underscoring worries over the eroding rule of law in the major emerging market and NATO member…

Positive momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining nearly 1,000 points to settle at a new all-time high of 117,974.02 on Wednesday. Positive momentum prevailed throughout the trading session, with the benchmark KSE-100 Index hitting an intra-day high of 118,243.63. At close, the benchmark index settled at 117,974.02, an increase of 972.93 points or 0.83%. Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including PRL, NRL, HUBCO, PSO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, HBL, NBP and UBL traded in…

GAZA CITY: Hamas said it remained open to negotiations while calling for pressure on Israel Wednesday to implement a Gaza truce after its deadliest bombing since the fragile ceasefire began in January. Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, killing 13 people according to the territory’s civil defence agency, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday’s raids were “only the beginning”. The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the high civilian death toll in the renewed strikes, which have killed more than 400 people, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Hamas is open to…

MAZAR-I-SHARIF: Young, urban women in Afghanistan are increasingly ditching the all-enveloping blue burqa with a face mesh that has become a symbol of the Taliban’s oppression of women. Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed an ultra-strict vision of Islamic law, modelled on their previous rule from 1996 to 2001. But while women must still have their bodies and faces covered, restrictions from the feared religious police do not specifically mention the burqa. So young women are instead following fashions seen in many Gulf nations. Many prefer a flowing abaya robe, worn with a hijab headscarf…

Positive momentum continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index gaining over 900 points during intra-day trading on Wednesday. At 12:20pm, the benchmark KSE-100 Index was hovering at 117,925.77, an increase of 924.68 points or 0.79%. Buying was observed in key sectors including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refinery. Index-heavy stocks including PRL, NRL, HUBCO, MARI, OGDC, PPL, POL, HBL, MEBL and NBP traded in green. Market experts attributed the upward trend to multiple positive developments. “Last week, it was reported that progress has been made in…

WASHINGTON: Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University Palestinian graduate student who the Trump administration is seeking to deport for his role in pro-Palestinian protests, called himself a political prisoner on Tuesday, in his first direct comments since his detention. The detention of Khalil, a US permanent resident, has been condemned by multiple human rights groups as an assault on free speech and due process. Over 100 Democratic lawmakers from the US House of Representatives have questioned the detention’s legality in a letter, opens new tab to the administration of Republican President Donald Trump. Justice Department lawyers say Khalil, 30, was subject…

Buying rally continued at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index settling above the 117,000 level amid a gain of over 800 points on Tuesday. Bullish momentum prevailed throughout the trading session, pushing the benchmark index to hit an intra-day high of 117,202.09. At close, the benchmark index settled at 117,001.09, an increase of 801.50 points or 0.69%. Buying was observed in key sectors including oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs, power generation and refineries. Index-heavy stocks including HUBCO, ARL, PRL, PSO, SNGPL, OGDC, POL and PPL settled in the green. In a key development, Business Recorder…

GENEVA: The UN migration agency said on Tuesday that unprecedented cuts in donor funding this year will force it to scale back or shut down projects around the world, resulting in a severe impact on migrants. The International Organization for Migration said it expected funding to be reduced by a record 30% this year due to a major decrease in US-financed projects after President Donald Trump announced a major overhaul of aid funding. This would mean scaling back or ending projects affecting over 6,000 staff worldwide and more than 250 at its Geneva headquarters, IOM said, without giving a full…