Dubai's rapid expansion in recent years provided jobs for millions. But the global financial meltdown has abruptly ended the dream for many people as more and more firms sack staff to cut costs.
Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia raised its official selling prices for February for light crude oil to customers in the United States and Asia, state oil firm Aramco said on Sunday.
Iran's oil minister said Opec member states needed to show determination to prevent oil prices from falling further, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) website reported on Sunday.
Russia on Sunday asked the European Union to provide monitoring of Ukraine's gas transit system and charged Ukraine was stealing gas bound for Europe, as Kiev hit back with its own charges.
China's trade surplus was about $290 billion in 2008 as total foreign trade reached $2.55 trillion, rising 18 percent from 2007, Xinhua said on Sunday, citing a report by the General Administration of Customs.
Major Japanese companies are bearish over the prospects for the country's crisis-hit economy, with a majority of them seeing a recovery as unlikely until 2010, surveys showed on Sunday.
The parties in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government clashed on Sunday over new measures to shield Europe's largest economy from what threatens to be its deepest recession since World War Two.
Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said on Sunday that passing legislation to rescue the economy from recession took priority over calling an early election, which surveys suggest his ruling bloc could well lose.
French tax revenue for 2008 will be between 10 billion euros ($13.riginal plans, Budget Minister Eric Woerth said on Sunday. Speaking on Europe 1 radio, Woerth noted the original 2008 budget had forecast 271 billion euros in tax revenue. "In fact, I think
British finance minister Alistair Darling refused Sunday to rule out fresh government action to help struggling banks although he said it was "not your first port of call."
Democrats in Congress hope to approve a massive economic stimulus plan backed by president-elect Barack Obama by early February, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Sunday.
Toronto's main stock index climbed nearly 2 percent on Friday as early broad-based weakness started to reverse, led by strength in resources, despite underlying softness in commodity prices.
Hong Kong stocks will likely lower after an initial, short period of modest gains next week, dealers said. For the week ending January 2, the benchmark Hang Seng Index closed at 15,042.81, rising 858.67 points, or 6.10 percent over the week. The market wa
Malaysian shares may have put the worst behind them and the bourse could rally in the new year, analysts said on Friday as trading got off to a positive start. The first session of the year saw prices rise 2.0 percent as blue chip stocks were snapped up o
Euro zone government bond futures fell at the start of the first trading day of the new year, tracking US Treasuries lower as risk appetite improved and stock markets gained.
Euro zone government bond futures fell at the start of the first trading day of the new year, tracking US Treasuries lower as risk appetite improved and stock markets gained.
Sri Lanka has downgraded its growth forecast for 2009 in line with a global meltdown, but the local markets are hoping a quick end to the drawn-out separatist war will restore confidence.
Asian currencies were mixed against the dollar during the week as attention turned to economic data due out in the recession-hit United States, dealers said.
Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said that a failure to address the rise of emerging markets and resulting imbalances was partly to blame for the global financial crisis, according to an interview published Friday.
Outgoing US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said that a failure to address the rise of emerging markets and resulting imbalances was partly to blame for the global financial crisis, according to an interview published Friday.
Australian share prices were likely to remain within a tight range in the coming week in the absence of new data as the market gears back up after the holiday break, dealers said. For the week ending January 2, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index gained 131.6
South Korea's stock market is likely to see modest gains in the coming week on hopes of ffurther stimulus measures, an analyst said. Over the week to January 2 the KOSPI gained 39.54 points or 3.5 percent to close at 1,157.40 on Friday.
Singapore shares could trade higher after an encouraging showing on the first day of the year, dealers said. "It's a good start to the year. It looks increasingly likely we'll see a bit of a rally in January," said a trader at a local brokerage.
The London stock market will look to extend its recent rally next week, when the Bank of England is expected to again slash interest rates as Britain stands on the brink of recession. The FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed Friday at 4,561.79 points,
Wall Street's bid to rally from its worst year since the 1930s will be tested next week by the year's first wave of likely dismal corporate news and possible roadblocks to President-elect Barack Obama's stimulus plan. Investors will also contend with a sp
Former President George H.W. Bush said on Sunday he'd like to see his second son, Jeb, become President of the United States some day. Interviewed on Fox News Sunday, Bush said his second son, a former Governor of Florida, had all the qualifications to se
Impoverished Tajikistan said Sunday it had stopped receiving electricity from energy-rich Turkmenistan due to problems with transit country Uzbekistan, deepening a winter energy crisis.
US Vice President Dick Cheney said on Sunday the United States was close to achieving its aims in Iraq. Interviewed on CBS's "Face the Nation," Cheney offered another spirited defence of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, of which he was a key proponent and ar
US forces put the Iraqi government in charge of tribal guards in one of the country's most restive provinces on Sunday, another step in the US military's gradual disengagement from day-to-day combat. The tribal guard units, known as "Awakenings" and made
Thailand's new premier has vowed to tackle a separatist insurgency raging in the south, but the Muslim region on Sunday marks five years of bloodshed with little end in sight to the daily violence.
At least 29 people were missing after a crowded boat sank in the Kosi river in east Nepal on Sunday, police said. The incident took place in Sunsari district, 200 km (125 miles) south-east of Kathmandu.
A former Japanese MP who resigned after making accusations of government corruption that were never proven has jumped to his death from an apartment block, a police source said Sunday. Hisayasu Nagata, once a rising star in the opposition Democratic Party
The US space agency's Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity this month mark their fifth anniversary on the Red Planet, where they have endured harsh conditions and revealed a deluge of information.
Somali kidnappers have freed two foreign journalists abducted last November in the northern port of Bosasso, local officials said on Sunday. Briton Colin Freeman, a correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph, and Spanish freelance photographer Jose Cendon wer
A series of powerful earthquakes off the northern coast of West Papua, Indonesia, early on Sunday killed four people, injured several others and flattened buildings, officials and local television said.
A French court will begin the trial of two suspected lieutenants of Osama bin Laden and a third man on Monday for their part in a 2002 bomb attack in Tunisia that killed 21 people including two French nationals.
Bangladesh's Awami Party, which is poised to form a new government, named Zillur Rahman as the country's next president, media reports said Sunday quoting party chief Sheikh Hasina Wazed."The party will nominate its presidium member Zillur Rahman as head
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has issued at least 4,000 notices to non-filers of tax in the corporate sector in wake of a considerable revenue shortfall during the first half (July-December) of the current fiscal year, Business Recorder learnt
The All Parties Hurriyet Conference leader and Jammu provincial president of Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mohammed Shafi Rangrez and four other Hurriyet activists were released after over a three-month illegal detention in Doda Jail in occupied Kashmir
The All-Pakistan CNG Association (APA) Multan Chapter on Wednesday threatened to close gas stations in the country from January onwards if gas price is increased and brought at par with that of petrol.
Provincial Finance Minister Tanveer Ashraf Kaira has said that tight security measures have been taken for maintaining law and order situation during Muharram in all parts of the Punjab. In order to monitor overall law and order of the province a special
I did my B.Sc and M.Sc in Organic Chemistry, having first class first position and with gold medals, in 2005. Then I joined PCSIR (Karachi) as a Scientific Officer in Polymer Division on daily wages. Meanwhile, I had been asked to submit my application fo
For the past five years, the KSE-100 index has been the best performing stock exchange in the Asia's emerging economies. Declared as the Asia's best performing market for the year 2002, the KSE-index has shed 34.7 percent since the beginning of 2008.
When the sun was setting on 2008, I was groping for some light through the dark clouds that hang over 2009. The trouble is each glimmer of hope, is defused by the harsh realities. I have asked a number of friends to give some redeeming points, which can h
Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has - once again - delivered a maestro performance in energy politics, deftly playing on fears of a pan-European natural gas crisis to leave her Russian opponents flatfooted, and her domestic rivals waiting to see
The year 2008 was marked by a major political upheaval in Pakistan. Musharraf, who had ruled absolutely for over nine years, though he considered it politic to surround himself with some easily refutable trappings of democracy post 9/11, was ousted from p
The United States administration is said to have asked Pakistan to try and punish the perpetrators of Mumbai carnage on its own instead of handing over the suspects to India. The prosecution should be initiated with "sufficient efforts to ensure convictio
To gain self-sufficiency in food items has always been an important objective of government policy in Pakistan. However, the matter seems to have assumed greater urgency after acute shortage of wheat and sharp increase in its prices in the recent past.
The Provincial Secretary, Department of Culture, Shams Jafrani has said that his Department has planned to celebrate the 265th three-day annual urs of saint poet, Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai(RA)in a befitting manner and will introduce new changes in t
Sugar and barley rose while plastic mouldings depicted mixed pattern and the remaining commodities shed quite in time with world trend during the week ended on January 3, 2009.
Sindh Minister for Excise and Taxation, (E&T), Mukesh Kumar Chawla has directed the Divisional Directors, E & T to ensure their attendance in their offices during the duty timings.
The Institute of Sindhology University of Sindh has organised an exhibition of rare photographs, paintings and letters of Benazir Bhutto at Benazir Bhutto Gallery. Provincial Minister for Culture and Tourism Sindh Sassui Palejo and Sindh University Vice C
Director National Commission for Child Welfare and Development (NCCWD), Ministry of Social Welfare & Special Education Pakistan, Sajjad Ahmed, has said that present government was giving priority to the protection of child rights.
Controller General of Accounts of Pakistan S.M. Arif has congratulated to the management of District Accounts Office (DAO) Hyderabad for completing their target for preparation of finance accounts of 2007-2008 by December 31, 2008 and termed DAO Hyderabad
According to periodical cotton arrival reports of Pakistan Cotton Ginners' Association, total seed-cotton equivalent of 9.745 million running bales reached ginneries as on 1st January,09, against 6.866 million bales arrived same period last year - increas
According to periodical cotton arrival reports of Pakistan Cotton Ginners' Association, total seed-cotton equivalent of 9.745 million running bales reached ginneries as on 1st January,09, against 6.866 million bales arrived same period last year - increas
Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) entry, fine weather and smooth supplies, besides reports about bumper cotton crop, were factors that led to good but often cautious buying by wills and spinners on cotton market during the week ending on January 3, 20
Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) entry, fine weather and smooth supplies, besides reports about bumper cotton crop, were factors that led to good but often cautious buying by wills and spinners on cotton market during the week ending on January 3, 20
President PPP Punjab Rana Aftab Ahmad Khan has convened a party meeting on Monday, January 5 at 10:30am here at Faisal Town. According to party sources, Minister Information Technology Punjab, Farooq Yousaf Ghurki and other high ranking office bearers wou
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader and close associate of late Benazir Bhutto, Naheed Khan, has urged the PPP leadership to implement and follow the Charter of Democracy (CoD). Addressing a press conference here she said that by implementing and acting
Imamia Students Organisation Pakistan (ISO) on Sunday took out a protest rally against Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip. ISO Central President, Hassan Zaidi led the rally, which started from outside of Lahore Press Club and ended peacefully in front of
Tehrik-e-Insaf Punjab (PTI) President Ahsan Rasheed and Multan leader Major Mujib Ahmed Khan (Retd), while condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza, urged the Muslim countries to immediately convene the meeting of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and ta
The Central Secretary Finance, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Muhammad Pervaiz Malik has said that the crisis in the country has deepened due to the federal government's defective polices and poor planning.
PPP Co-Chairman, President Asif Ali Zardari, has said that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto will always be remembered as a legend who brought power to the masses and fought for the rights of dispossessed.
Awami Muslim League (AML) chief and former Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Sunday cautioned both PPP and PML-N of being sufferers if they did not show wisdom in their deliberations. Addressing a press conference here he both the parties are up
Former Federal Minister and veteran Muslim Leaguer Lieutenant General Abdul Majeed Malik (Retd) said on Sunday that the alliance of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) was in the interest of the country in the prevail
Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussein on Sunday said that his party is ready to work with all the parties for the country's solidarity and integrity as well as eradication of lawlessness, price hike, load shedding and foreign
For making citizens feel secured on the during Muharram-ul-Harram, police and rangers held a flag march in the city. Heavy contingents of police and rangers patrolled important roads here on Sunday. Flag march is a message for the people that the police a
Torrential rain and snowfall have claimed two lives left many people injured when their mud houses collapsed in different parts of the district. Death of a female and a child occurred when a heavy rain lashed all parts of the Hazara region and the area al
The domestic consumers of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) should ensure prudent use of precious commodity as the gap between supply and demand has reached upto 900 million cubic feet per day.
Chief of Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman has said here on Sunday that JUI-F would take a decision whether to support the 18th Amendment Bill only after clause by clause reading of the draft to be filed in the parliament.
Pakistan Muslim League-N has said that the move of the government to exempt politicians from accountability process under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is against the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed by the leaders of two major political parti
Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Sunday said load shedding would be exterminated completely from the country from February 2009 up to the advent of summer season. Talking to a private TV channel, he said the shortfall of 4,500MW has bee
Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration and Capital police have finalised the security arrangements and the level of security in the Federal Capital is further up-graded in the wake of Ashura processions and Majalis.
The Urdu translation of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto's last book, "Democracy, Islam, Reconciliation and the West" has been published under auspices of Benazir Bhutto Democratic and Leadership Studies Center.
Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, the 18-year-old daughter of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, has poured out her anguish at the death of her mother by writing and performing a rap song in her memory.
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has decided a total of 9,105 cases in 2008, after formally started its functioning in the same year. A total of 10,498 new cases were instituted during last ten months whereas backlog stood at 8,094 on January 1, 2009. After
Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday strongly condemned the bomb blast near Polytechnic College, D.I Khan. In their separate condemnation statements, both the PM and President expressed deep grief and sorrow over
Pakistan's Ambassador at Large, Javed Malik is organising a visit of British Members of Parliament (MPs) and the delegation comprising on MPs James Devine, Mark Fisher, James McGovern, and Mohammed Sarwar would arrive here next week.
Owing to unavailability of funds, the Higher Education Commission (HEC) has closed down a wing meant for looking after projects that were to be implemented with the help of foreign support, an official in the commission said on Sunday.
Sindh Minister for Information Shazia Marri on Sunday said that people who want to use media or pressurise it for their own interests would not be allowed to do so in the tenure of the present government.
Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) leader Senator Safdar Abbasi has said no one could expel him from PPP. Addressing a press conference at the residence of Abdul Qadeer, Secretary General of ARD here on Sunday, Safdar Abbasi criticised the statements of the Pu
One day workshop on 'Sanitary and phyto-sanitary standards for quality control of fruits and vegetables produce and marketing' on Monday (today) at seminar room of AARI, Faisalabad. CABI being partner in fruit and vegetable development project, Punjab is
The Prisons Department on the special directive of the Chief Minister Punjab in a crackdown has recovered more than 1,500 cell phones from prisoners in jails and 37 from the secret body parts while another 7 were retrieved after proper surgery in Services
Senior Minister Raja Riaz Ahmad, while terming the promotion of education as top most priority of the provincial government, added that a sum of Rs 30.13 billion is being spent on educational development during the current fiscal year. He was talking to a
A crack down is being launched throughout Faisalabad Division to curb the menace of cattle theft on the directives of Chief Minister Punjab Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif. Tahir Ahmad Sindhu Chairman Task Force against Cattle Theft in Western Punjab while c
Gas crisis in Multan and rest of the country continued unabated widening the gap between supply and demand up to 700mmcfd (million, million cubic feet per day at country level). Intensifying shortage of gas supply has now hit over 2,500 industrial units i
The Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) has strongly opposed the decision of Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Federal Cabinet to allow export of live animals describing it harmful to the country's economy.
The Chairman All Parties Hurriyet Conference in occupied Kashmir, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has said that India cannot suppress Kashmiris' sentiments for liberation by its military might. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq while addressing Awami action Committee workers in oc
Punjab Labour Minister Muhammad Ashraf Khan Sohna has said that the industrial workers' children will be given scholarships for getting education abroad.
Pakistan Cotton Ginners Association (PCGA) has said till January 1, 2009 about 974,000 bales of cotton have reached in the ginning factories whereas last year during the same period only 911,000 bales had reached the ginning factories. So an increase of 6
President of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) Anis Ahmed Sheikh has said that state bank quarterly report had confirmed that industrialists were rightly making hue and cry on the grim industrial situation due to power load shedding, suspensi
The control rooms have been established in the DCO office of all the main cities of southern Punjab to ensure the situation of law and order during Ashura. The control rooms would remain functional for 24 hours to tackle any untoward situation. Revenue of
Following days of violent protest demonstrations against unannounced prolonged load shedding, the situation in Faisalabad remained calm on Sunday. However, local Police conducted raids at different places to arrest labour leaders, traders and office-beare
The Overseas Employment Promoters (OEPs) in private sector are playing a vital role in promoting employment and in enhancing the export of our manpower.
Sindh Minister for Rural Development, Zubair Ahmed Khan will receive public grievances on January 5, at Chief Minister's Complaints Cell, at CM House, here. The Sindh Minister will receive the complaints from 1pm to 5pm, said an announcement issued here o
Ulema and mashaikh Pakistan (UMP) president Chiragh Din Shah has asked the government to immediately stop military operations in tribal areas and elsewhere in the country. This he stated at a news conference here on Sunday. He also called for implementati
The present government is fully aware of the energy crisis and it is making sincere efforts to solve this issue at the earliest on war footing basis. Federal Minister for Textile Industry Rana Farooq Saeed Khan said this while addressing a gathering of tr