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PM Shehbaz calls for comprehensive strategy to boost SMEs’ access to financing

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday directed that a comprehensive strategy be formulated to improve small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) access to financing. He made these remarks while chairing a review meeting of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) in Islamabad. According to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the premier directed the authority to formulate a comprehensive strategy, in coordination with the State Bank of Pakistan and commercial banks, to improve SMEs’ access to financing. He stressed that greater facilitation should be provided for extending loans to SMEs to boost the country’s exports. He also directed that they be supported in enhancing their productive capacity, particularly by providing awareness and access to financing for farmers processing agricultural produce. The prime minister further directed that commercial banks be encouraged to develop dedicated financia...
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Indonesia to buy BrahMos missiles, Indian govt official says as Modi kicks off 2-day Jakarta visit

India will supply BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and Astra air-to-air missiles to Indonesia, an Indian government official said on Tuesday, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started a two-day visit to Jakarta. Indian sources earlier told Reuters that the deal, worth around $630 million, would likely be signed during Modi’s visit. Indonesia would be the third country to sign an agreement to buy the missiles, which are manufactured by BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited. The deal would mark a major expansion of India’s defence exports and deepen strategic ties with Southeast Asia’s largest economy at a time of growing competition with China for influence in the Indo-Pacific. BrahMos missiles, jointly developed by India and Russia, are among the world’s fastest cruise missiles and can be launched from land, sea and air platforms. The Astra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles can be integrated on Russian-made Sukhoi fighter...
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China says test fired missile in Pacific Ocean, alarming regional powers

A Chinese submarine test fired a missile in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, Beijing said, after nations in the region warned that China was planning to test an intercontinental ballistic missile. It was a rare show of Beijing’s military might in the strategically important South Pacific region, where the US, Australia and New Zealand have long been the security partners of choice. The launch drew immediate condemnation from nations in the region, including Japan, which said it had urged China to reconsider proceeding with the launch. “At 12:01 pm on July 6, a strategic nuclear submarine of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy successfully launched a … strategic missile carrying a training simulation warhead into the relevant high seas of the Pacific Ocean, accurately landing in the designated sea area,” spokesperson Wang Xuemeng said in a statement posted on a Chinese navy WeChat account. “This missile test launch is a routine arrangement of China’s annual military training, and rele...
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11-year-old to face trial for igniting Gul Plaza fire in Karachi

• Another prosecutor greenlights IO to file charge sheet in court without including judicial commission’s report • Four members of shopping plaza’s management committee and owner of artificial flower shop will also face trial KARACHI: An 11-year-old boy is set to be tried in a court of law for igniting a fire at the Gul Plaza Shopping Centre on Jan 17 that resulted in the deaths of 72 persons. This was stated in a charge sheet filed in court by the investigating officer of the Gul Plaza fire case through in charge district prosecutor Abdul Razzaq Gujjar on Saturday. Only on Friday, another prosecutor had returned the charge sheet to the IO, asking him to remove certain defects he pointed out and include the report of a judicial commission. However, prosecutor Gujjar gave the go-ahead to the IO to file the charge sheet as the judicial commission’s report can be filed at a later stage. According to the charge sheet, 72 people had lost their lives, eight sustained injuries and 1,153...
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MQM-P warns of protest if Centre does not ensure implementation of 2022 agreement with PPP

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday warned of issuing a protest call if the Centre did not ensure that the party’s 2022 agreement with the PPP on various provincial issues was implemented. The MQM-P and PPP had signed an 18-point agreement on March 30, 2022 — just before the two joined hands with other parties to remove PTI’s Imran Khan as the prime minister. The MQM-P’s demands ranged from municipal government structure to future power-sharing formula and recruitment policy in Sindh to local policing system. Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Farooq Sattar referred to that deal as the “last agreement between the MQM-P and PPP”. He stressed that his party had not demanded to be included in the provincial government or sought authority over Sindh’s resources. Sattar claimed that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari held “no meeting despite repeated reminders from the MQM-P” on the agreement to implement a Supreme Court order regarding local governments...
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Ghotki resident arrested for forging letter claiming to be National Assembly employee

The National Assembly (NA) Secretariat said on Saturday that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had arrested a resident of Ghotki who had forged an appointment letter and used it to “obtain undue privileges”. In a statement, the NA Secretariat said that a person named Abdul Wajid, a resident of Ghotki, falsely represented himself as a Grade-17 employee and used a forged appointment letter issued in the name of the secretariat, which also bore forged signatures of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq. “According to reports, the said individual not only misled government officials and police authorities by claiming this fake status and allegedly obtained undue privileges and protocol, but was also reportedly involved in harassing and pressuring citizens through various means, causing concern and unrest among the public,” it said in the statement posted on the social media platform X. It clarified that the person in question had no connection with the ...
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Billboards, cologne and flowers: Turkye's capital Ankara gets Nato makeover

Along the highway from Ankara airport to the city centre, municipal workers have been planting flowers and installing giant billboards to shield views of dilapidated homes and poorer neighbourhoods. Ahead of a high-stakes Nato summit that begins on Tuesday, the Turkish capital has had a facelift to burnish its image for the 32 heads of state who will fly in, among them US President Donald Trump. But the makeover and the strict security measures put in place — which will shut down several major roads, forcing shops to close — will make life difficult for residents and business owners in this city of nearly six million people, drawing sharp criticism from locals and opposition politicians. Police officers on horses patrol the historical part of the city ahead of the Nato summit in Ankara, Turkey, July 3, 2026. —AFP “Ankara has practically become an open-air prison … The entire capital has been brought to a standstill to facilitate the movement of a few offi...
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