PM steps in to break deadlock with IMF
Sources told The Express Tribune that the prime minister urged the IMF managing director to review the condition about imposition of new taxes. These remain the major stumbling blocks in reaching an initial understanding for a staff level visit by the IMF to Pakistan. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz also made a call to his Chinese counterpart, Li Keqiang, seeking Beijing’s help to avert a looming default. The prime minister’s call to the IMF head indicates that the finance ministry could not break the gridlock in the past over three months. The UN secretary-general will deliver remarks at the opening session and is scheduled to hold a joint media encounter with the Prime Minister Shehbaz from a stake-out position.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 07, 2023 03:25 UTC
Pakistani entrepreneur conferred with UK’s MBE award
Faraz Khan, founder of Karachi-based venture capitalist firm SEED Ventures, has been awarded United Kingdom’s MBE title — Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Khan was conferred with the prestigious award by UK’s King Charles III for his services to strengthen Pakistan-UK bilateral ties. The MBE is awarded in recognition of contribution to arts, sciences, charitable work, welfare work, and public service. Honour to present pakistan story of enterprise chalange to HRH pic.twitter.com/G6kRwFBokf — Faraz Khan MBE (@fksquared) April 20, 2018Khan is the founder of Social, Entrepreneurship & Equity Development (SEED) Ventures which is an investment and impact development organisation in Pakistan. “He has spearheaded impact programmes & collaborations between UK & Pakistan in the space of inclusive education, enterprise, social enterprise for youth, women and Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) segments impacting and engaging over 100,000 people.”
Source:The Express Tribune
January 07, 2023 02:22 UTC
Death of Meta-Narratives and Postmodern Era
We live in a postmodern time; era of death of meta narratives. We challenge and criticize the veracity of these claims and look at these belief systems with skepticism during these postmodern times. We live in these postmodern times and see its true manifestation unfolding in front of us. ‘Pastiche,’ ‘Distortion of Time,’ and ‘Hyperreality’ are also some of the interesting characteristics of postmodern era. The digital media platforms, technological advancements and our ever-growing independence on them are the real manifestations of postmodern era.
Source:The Nation
January 06, 2023 20:34 UTC
Public debt surges to record Rs51tr
A consequence of the mounting debt pile is a huge increase in the cost of debt servicing. It has created default risk and is diverting half of the budget to debt servicing. But when he left office in April 2022, his government had added over Rs19 trillion to the total debt stock. Lower-than-targeted tax collection, steep currency devaluation, higher interest rates, high expenditures along with losses incurred by state-owned companies and debt mismanagement were the main reasons for the surge in public debt during the PTI’s tenure. A direct consequence of the mounting debt pile is a huge increase in the cost of debt servicing.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 19:58 UTC
Djokovic advances to face Medvedev in Adelaide semis
North Andover, MA (01845)TodaySnow this evening will taper off and give way to cloudy skies late. Winds light and variable. About one inch of snow expected..TonightSnow this evening will taper off and give way to cloudy skies late. Winds light and variable. About one inch of snow expected.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 19:06 UTC
Chytil scores twice, Rangers beat skidding Canadiens 4-1
North Andover, MA (01845)TodaySnow this evening will taper off and give way to cloudy skies late. Winds light and variable. About one inch of snow expected..TonightSnow this evening will taper off and give way to cloudy skies late. Winds light and variable. About one inch of snow expected.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 17:31 UTC
White papers and lies
In the first six months of its ouster from power, PTI’s one-point agenda was early general elections at all costs. These pages had noticed a shift in “PTI returns to economy” on November 25, 2002. This is why PTI’s white paper on economy challenges, in terms of numbers, each and every official claim to improvement. Number by number, he declared the PTI’s white paper as a pack of white lies. He had passed on a high-growth, low inflation economy to the PTI.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 15:41 UTC
CCTV shows how video of Imran’s attacker was recorded
Screengrab from alleged CCTV clip doing the rounds on social media. A purported CCTV footage surfaced on Thursday allegedly showing police officers recording a video confession of the alleged gunman who shot at PTI chairman Imran Khan during a protest rally last year. He had claimed in his confessional video statement that he shot the PTI chief as he was "misleading" the nation, which he could not tolerate. The alleged CCTV footage shows the date November 3, 2022 and timestamp of 5:28 PM. "After failure of the first plan, plan B was made under which Salman Taseer type murder plot was hatched so that they could put a blame of my murder on religious fanatics," he said.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 08:51 UTC
Number of Sasta Atta points increased to 74 in district
Share:FAISALBAD - The district administration has increased the number of Sasta Atta sales points to 74 to supply cheap wheat flour to the consumers. As many as 63,948 wheat flour bags of 10 kg, at the rate of Rs 648 per bag, were being supplied at the sales points on a daily basis, said a spokesperson for the district administration here on Thursday. He said that the objective of increasing the number of sales points was to provide cheap flour to maximum people. The PFA teams got cases registered against 94 food outlets on serious nature violations and closed down production of 258 units till improvement. 43,000 kg Murabajat; 800 kg sweets, 50,000 sachets of Gutka besides 6,000 broken eggs were also disposed of during the period.
Source:The Nation
January 06, 2023 08:11 UTC
Magnitude 5.9 earthquake jolts northern Pakistan
A strong earthquake jolted parts of northern Pakistan on Thursday evening, with tremors felt in various cities including Peshawar, Charsadda, and the mountainous Swat valley of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. According to the United States geological Survey (USGS), the magnitude on the Richter scale was recorded at 5.9, with the epicentre of the earthquake recorded 43 kilometres southwest of Jurm in neighbouring Afghanistan at a depth of 193.8 kilometres. In Pakistan, the earthquake tremors were reported from Peshawar, Takht Bai, Dir Bala, Landi Kotal, Swat, Swabi, Hangu, Charsadda, and surrounding areas. Also read: Earthquake jolts various cities of Punjab including LahoreNo casualties or loss of life was reported so far. Severe earthquake tremors were also felt on Wednesday in various cities of Punjab including Lahore.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 05:54 UTC
Backgrounder: ISI officers killing shocked nation
ISLAMABAD; The killing of two senior officers of the Counter-Terrorism Wing on Tuesday shocked the nation, leaving family members and colleagues in mourning. Both the officers were part of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and had served their country with grit, bravery and dexterity. Officers like Inspector Nasir Abbas operate behind the scenes and their invaluable services to their country are often hidden from the public. Like Director Sadiq, Inspector Abbas took these threats in stride and remained unshakeable in his resolve. Both the officers will be deeply missed by the families and their colleagues and the nation will remain indebted to their tremendous services.
Source:The Nation
January 06, 2023 05:23 UTC
Pakistan, United States have shared interests: State Department
Share:US State Department spokesperson Ned Price, while briefing the newsmen in Washington on Wednesday, said that Pakistan and United States do indeed have a shared interest in ensuring that the Taliban live up to the commitments and that terrorist groups like ISIS-K, like the TTP, like al-Qaida are no longer able to threaten regional security. Ned Price said that in the U.S.-Taliban agreement, the Taliban made a commitment to see to it that international terrorists would not operate freely within Afghanistan. Taliban are unwilling to fulfill the commitments they had made, he said. He said Pakistan, of course, has suffered tremendous violence owing to the threats that have in many cases emanated from Afghanistan. The threats that emerge in Afghanistan present a threat to the United States and our allies, he said.
Source:The Nation
January 06, 2023 02:05 UTC
Al Nassr was dubbed the "Global" club even before Ronaldo
North Andover, MA (01845)TodayPeriods of rain and snow. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precip 100%. Snow accumulations less than one inch..TonightMainly cloudy with snow showers around this evening. Chance of snow 40%.
Source:The Express Tribune
January 06, 2023 00:16 UTC