MUSCAT US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Oman on Tuesday aiming to help finalise an estimated $2.1 billion deal to supply a US-made air-defence system to the Gulf nation.One of the main focuses of Kerry’s trip was to applaud the signing of a letter of intent between Muscat and US ...

KARACHI (PR): National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and A.F. Ferguson & Co. (PwC) signed a landmark agreement for BPR & COSO implementation at National Bank of Pakistan Head Office.NBP President, Dr. Asif A. Brohi in his message on this signing ceremony said, “NBP is committed to achieve ...

LALAMUSA/MUZAFFARGARHThe PPP suffered a severe blow as it has lost almost all the seats in Muzaffargarh, Lalamusa and Vehari districts in the May 11 general elections. In Muzaffargarh, Hina Rabbani Khar’s father Malik Noor Rabbani Khar, former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, former ...

LALAMUSA/MUZAFFARGARH - The PPP suffered a severe blow as it has lost almost all the seats in Muzaffargarh, Lalamusa and Vehari districts in the May 11 general elections. In Muzaffargarh, Hina Rabbani Khar’s father Malik Noor Rabbani Khar, former Punjab governor Ghulam Mustafa Khar, former ...

ISTANBUL : Egypt's new planning minister said on Saturday he was confident the country would reach a deal with the IMF on a $4.8 billion loan programme, although the timing of its next visit to Cairo was unclear. The IMF said on Thursday it was not currently planning a new visit to Egypt to discuss ...

karachi - A bilateral Currency Swap Arrangement (CSA) between the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) amounting to Chinese Yuan (CNY) 10 billion and Rs 140 billion is being implemented from Tuesday after issuance of necessary instructions to banks and completion ...

New Delhi - Former prime minister and PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, who is the strongest contender to become the next prime minister, said dialogue and not armed intervention is the answer to deal with terror.In an interview with CNN-IBN, Nawaz said “This problem has to be solved on priority ...

ANKARA :JapanandTurkeyon Friday signed a long-awaited deal to build a sprawling nuclear power plant onTurkey’sBlack Seacoast, a milestone for the Japanese nuclear industry as it recovers from the 2011Fukushimadisaster. Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the $22 billion contract as a ...

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK  - The United States should offer Pakistan a conditions-based civilian nuclear deal as a way to save the relationship, severely tested during the last decade, as well as secure long-term interests with regard to containing militancy and atomic safety, an American analyst on ...

Former President General (retd) Pervez Musharraf has revealed that he had struck deal with Benazir Bhutto before elections 2008 and some key countries and personalities were guarantors of it.Recording his first statement before joint investigation team of FIA, former president said as per the ...

 NEW YORK: Lindsay Lohan has lost an endorsement deal due to her recent legal troubles. The actress landed a lucrative contract with Odaingerous clothing Co but when Lindsay was sentenced to 90 days in rehab after pleading no contest to charges for lying to police about driving during a car ...

ABU DHABI  US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel will meet United Arab Emirates leaders on Thursday to wrap up a major arms deal that both nations see as a way to thwart Iran’s military power.Hagel arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday on the last leg of a six-nation tour of the Middle East in ...

CALIFORNIA: Sharon Osbourne has reportedly negotiated a £2 million deal to return to The X Factor. The former judge, who quit the ITV show in 2007, has finalised the terms of her comeback and will sign the contract next week, The People reports. Osbourne’s salary will make her the ...

TEL AVIV Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel met his Israeli counterpart Moshe Yaalon on Monday to put the finishing touches on a major arms deal and for talks on Syria’s civil war and the Iranian nuclear threat. Speaking at a joint news conference in Tel Aviv, Hagel confirmed the two had ...

BELGRADE (AFP) - Serbia’s government on Monday approved an EU-brokered deal to normalise ties with breakaway Kosovo, a historic agreement aimed at turning the page on the Balkans’ last simmering trouble-spot 14 years after the end of hostilities. The government has accepted the ...

    STUTTGART   German car maker Porsche on Monday made what some might consider to be a surprising announcement. It's first global endorser would be a woman. The brand, which is dominated by male buyers, chose tennis player Maria Sharapova to be the face of its company for the next ...

TEL AVIVA major US arms deal with Israel sends Iran a "very clear signal" that military action remains an option to stop it from going nuclear, US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said in Tel Aviv on Sunday.Hagel's remarks were made shortly before his arrival in the Jewish state at the start of a ...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the agreement between leaders of Serbia and Kosovo in the context of the European Union-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, voicing hoped that the new accord would help usher in a future of peace and stability in the Balkans. “The ...

washington The United States unveiled plans Friday to sell $10 billion worth of advanced missiles and aircraft to Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a bid to counter the threat posed by Iran.It was highly unusual for the Pentagon to announce an arms deal covering three ...

LAHORE - The Pakistan Peoples party (PPP) and the PML-N seem to have struck a covert deal over seat adjustment in respect of at least two constituencies of D.G Khan where the competition appears to be within the Khosa family. The PML-N on Sunday finalised its candidates for DG Khan, but did not ...

LAHORE - The Siemens Pakistan has almost finalised the deal with Pak Elektron Limited (PEL) for the sale of its transformers business.According to industry sources, all the matters in this regard have been finalised between the two companies while some formalities and legal requirements are still ...

HAMBURG - No shipments have been made of wheat from Pakistan to Iran under a one million tonne barter deal, proposed in March last year and agreed in August 2012, as payment issues are still unresolved, trade sources familiar with the situation said on Friday.An initial consignment of 100,000 ...

The latest round of negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 held in the Kazakh capital of Almaty on April 5-6 is said to have been the frankest and most detailed so far. For the very first time, the talks included a direct US-Iranian exchange of some 30 to 40 minutes — between Wendy Sherman, ...

Former President Pervez Musharraf acknowledged his government secretly signed off on U.S. drone strikes, the first time a top past or present Pakistani official has admitted publicly to such a deal.Pakistani leaders long have openly challenged the drone program and insisted they had no part in it. ...

LONDON - An Afghan-led peace deal with the Taliban is needed to stop Afghanistan sliding into civil war after British troops leave, a group of MPs has said, reported BBC on Wednesday.The defence select committee said the UK had a responsibility to ‘make Afghanistan work’ after ...

QUETTA – The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) have agreed to make seat adjustments for the elections, providing Nawaz League a breakthrough in Balochistan.Former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and BNP-M President Sardar Akthar Mengal ...

A secret deal between the ISI and the CIA over drone strikes is the subject of a new book by Mark Mazzeti, “Way of the Knife: The CIA, a Secret Army and a War at the Ends of the Earth”. The Pakistan army would agree to the strikes but first the CIA had to kill their enemy ...

NEW DELHI  - According to latest WikiLeaks revelations, the late Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi may have worked as a middleman for Swedish company, Saab-Scania, which had tried to sell its Viggen fighter aircraft to India in the 1970s. However, Saab-Scania eventually could not seal the ...

NEW YORK - A new book claims that the CIA made a deal with Pakistan that allowed the United States to begin its drone assassination programme in exchange for the murder of an enemy of Pakistan.In an excerpt in Sunday’s New York Times, journalist Mark Mazzetti outlined how Pakistan, which was ...

Benedetta BertiThe uprising in Syria started as a peaceful protest two years ago, but the longer the conflict continues in its violent form, the more intractable it becomes. Indeed, no matter how much the warring sides may struggle for a battlefield win, using force is unlikely to bring either side ...