Day: March 11, 2025

Trump doubles down on Canada trade war with major tariff hike

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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump announced sharply higher tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum Tuesday, while threatening to “shut down” its auto industry and saying the best way to end the trade war was for Washington’s ally to be absorbed into the United States. Trump’s shock new threats came hours before a midnight deadline for ramping up the Republican’s increasingly global trade offensive with levies on both metals. On his Truth Social platform, Trump said he would double planned 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum to 50% for imports of…

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Aleema, PTI lawyers engage in verbal spat over ‘unnecessary’ meetings with Khan

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Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khan on Tuesday exchanged hot words with the PTI lawyers outside Central Jail Rawalpindi — also known as Adiala jail. The heated exchange took place when Aleema, after visiting her incarcerated brother, met with the PTI lawyers at the prison’s entrance. Khan’s sister directed the lawyers that only those advocates would meet the jailed PTI founder who were given responsibility by the former ruling party. Following the incident, PTI lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha complained to PTI founder about Aleema’s behavior. Khan has…

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Ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte arrested for crimes against humanity

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MANILA: Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs. The 79-year-old faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs. “Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said…

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More than 120,000 properties still blacked out due to storm in Australia

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SYDNEY: Australian utilities raced to reconnect more than 120,000 homes and businesses on Tuesday, that are still blacked out by gales and floods that bashed the east coast. Before making landfall as a tropical low on Saturday, Cyclone Alfred, which hovered just offshore, battered a 400-kilometre (250-mile) stretch of coast for five days. The wild weather claimed one life when a 61-year-old man driving a four-wheel-drive pickup was swept off a bridge into a flooded river Friday. The wind and rain have since eased across the coastline straddling Queensland and…

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China’s EV company mulls $13.8bn investment in humanoid robots

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The CEO of Chinese electric car manufacturer Xpeng views humanoid robots as a long-term project and is contemplating significant investments that might reach 100 billion yuan ($13.80 billion), the Chinese state media reported on Monday. On the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session, Xpeng CEO He Xiaopeng stated that the company was prepared to make far larger investments, even though its current investment may be viewed as conservative because it was in the initial stages of entering the industry, according to the Securities Times. “Xpeng has been working in the humanoid…

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For first time, sugar exported to Afghanistan via official channels, not smuggling: minister

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Pakistan has, for the first time, exported sugar to Afghanistan through official channels instead of illicit routes, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Tuesday, crediting law enforcement agencies for ensuring a regulated trade at the border. “… we need every single dollar coming in to balance our current account,” the finance minister said speaking at a press conference along with Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar. Elaborating on the implementation and effectiveness of the strict production monitoring system, the country’s top economic manager termed the development as positive. “During this sugar…

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PM announces establishing Daanish University using £190m case proceeds

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ISLAMABAD: In a major development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday announced establishing a state-of-the-art university in Islamabad by utilising £190 million case proceeds that was transferred from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s account in December 2019. Incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were convicted in £190m case in January this year. Accountability Court handed down a 14-year sentence to the PTI founder and a seven-year sentence to his wife, while also slapping heavy fines on them. PM…

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Top court asks whether super tax will ‘continue forever’

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ISLAMABAD: During the Supreme Court hearing on the super tax case, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar raised concerns about the indefinite continuation of the tax, which was originally introduced for a specific purpose. A five-member constitutional bench, headed by Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan, presided over the proceedings, with lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan representing the companies challenging the levy. Khan informed the court that the government had initially implemented the super tax in 2015 to generate funds for rehabilitating areas affected by Operation Zarb-e-Azb. However, he argued that despite being introduced as a…

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Pakistan’s envoy to Turkmenistan deported from Los Angeles by US authorities

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkmenistan KK Wagan was denied entry to the United States as authorities deported him from Los Angeles in a rare incident, The News reported on Tuesday citing diplomatic sources. A senior foreign ministry official said: “Ambassador K K Wagan was deported from the US. He had an immigration objection which led to his deportation.” Ambassador Wagan, who holds a valid US visa and all necessary travel documents, was reportedly travelling to Los Angeles for a personal visit when he was stopped by US immigration authorities upon arrival, the…

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WHO’s pandemic call five years ago turned global health off its axis

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GENEVA: Five years ago, the World Health Organisation (WHO), on a Tuesday announced COVID-19 to be a global pandemic — a moment that shook the world and global leaders to the impending doom. The highest alarm of WHO was sounded five weeks earlier but the warning, excluding the word “pandemic”, was not given due attentions. At a press conference on March 11, 2020, the head of the United Nations’ health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, finally said the worsening outbreak could be “characterised as a pandemic”. Only then did many countries grasp…

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