Author: Starvision News Desk

Washington, July 8 (IANS) The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy is under tremendous pressure between former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as the two will spar off in Iowa setting the temperature high within the party before the primaries kickoff.McCarthy is unrelenting and a truce could be short lived as the Speaker’s allies understand why he is not offering an formal endorsement toTrump, media reports said.The pressure on McCarthy to choose sides will only keep growing throughout the summer as the former President locks down support across the House Republicans, says Politico,…

Islamabad, July 8 (IANS) Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has constituted a 14-member committee, headed by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, to consider the the country’s cricket team’s participation in the World Cup to be held in India in October.The committee, after going through all the relevant factors, will finalise its recommendations for the premier’s consideration and approval, The News reported.The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in its June 27 letter addressed to the Sharif, bypassing all the laid down protocols, has sought the federal government’s clearance before giving the green light to the organisers for the national team’s participation in the…

Moscow, July 8 (IANS) Russia’s federal budget deficit for the first half of this year stood at 2.59 trillion rubles ($28 billion ), the Ministry of Finance announces.According to preliminary estimates released by the Ministry, revenues of the Russian budget in the first six months of 2023 amounted to 12.38 trillion rubles, down by 12 per cent year on year, reports Xinhua news agency.Government spending in the January-June period was 14.97 trillion rubles, up by 19 per cent on a year-on-year basis.Non-oil-and-gas revenues for the six-month period amounted to 8.99 trillion rubles, an increase of 17.8 per cent compared to…

Ottawa, Julu 8 (IANS) Canada’s employment increased by 60,000, or 0.3 per cent, in June, driven by gains in full-time work, the national statistical institute said.Statistics Canada said on Friday that the employment gains in June were concentrated among young men aged 15 to 24 and men aged 25 to 54, reports Xinhua news agency.Employment among women of all age groups was little changed in June, the national statistical institute said.Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 5.4 per cent in June, the highest level in over a year, as more people searched for work.The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points…

Istanbul, July 8 (IANS) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reaffirmed that his country would not green-light Sweden’s accession to NATO unless the Nordic nation adopted a firm stance against “terror groups”.”How can a state that doesn’t distance itself from terror organizations contribute to NATO?” Xinhua news agency quoted Erdogan as saying at the graduation ceremony of the National Defense University in Istanbul on Friday.He said his government expected Sweden to abide by its promise of taking into account Turkey’s security concerns.The President further said that he would bring that to allies’ attention at the NATO summit held in Vilnius,…

Rome, July 8 (IANS) The world Food Price Index of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) continued to fall in June, with the downward trend being driven by a drop in the prices of sugar, vegetable oils, cereals and dairy products, the Rome-based organisation said.The index, which tracks the most globally-traded food commodities, averaged 122.3 points in June, and it is now 23.4 per cent below an all-time peak reached in March 2022, reports Xinhua news agency citing the FAO as saying.In June, the index slipped by 1.4 per cent compared to May.Four of its five sub-components dropped in…

Istanbul, July 8 (IANS) At a joint press conference with his visiting Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative which will expire on July 17.”We are making efforts to extend the duration of the Black Sea grain deal,” Erdogan at the press conference on Friday night.The Turkish leader noted that almost 33 million tonnes of grain have been delivered to those in need under the deal.The UN and Turkey had brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food…

Hyderabad, July 7 (IANS) Organ donations usually refers only to adults but the kidney of a 14-month-old baby, who was brain-dead, has been donated to a 58-year-old woman in Hyderabad.Overcoming the grief, the baby’s parents donated the kidney for a woman who was on dialysis for the last seven years. The 58-year-old is also on a pacemaker for a heart problem. The rare surgery was performed at KIMS Hospital, Secunderabad.As the organs of young children are relatively small, there are complications in implanting them in elderly people. However, in this case it was possible due to the presence of highly…

Islamabad, July 7 (IANS) The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday raised concerns over a potential cyber security breach after numerous employees reported receiving suspicious emails from unidentified senders, media reports said.In response to the alarming development, the ECP swiftly issued a cyber security alert cautioning its officials against opening any such emails, suspecting a ransomware attack aimed at unauthorised data acquisition, Samaa TV reported.A statement released by the Commission urgently called on all employees to exercise extreme caution, advising them to disregard and report any emails from unknown or anonymous sources, the report said.The message explicitly labeled the emails…

Karachi, July 7 (IANS) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seeking the support of Pakistan’s major political parties, including Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), for a recently-announced $3 billion bailout programme, the lender said on Friday, media reports said.The IMF’s resident representative Esther Perez Ruiz said in a statement that the meetings with political parties were to “seek assurances of their support for the key objectives and policies under a new IMF-supported program ahead of the approaching national elections”, Geo News reported.The official added that they will also meet Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). However, there is…