Pakistan Financial News

mpox were reported in Africa since the beginning of the year, including 1,200 cases in one week alone, the African Union health agency said Saturday. The figure accounts for three strains of the virus, of which one is the new more deadly and more transmissible Clade 1b which prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday to declare an international health emergency — the agency's highest alert.

Africa but now reported outside the continent. While Mpox spreads more slowly than the novel coronavirus, it can still be lethal, depending on the strain. Cases detected in Sweden, Pakistan Sweden said a person who had got back from Africa has tested positive for mpox. The case was identified a day after World Health Organization (WHO) declared the latest outbreak of the disease as a public health emergency of international concern and warned that Europe could see more imported cases. On Friday, Pakistan became the second country outside Africa to report a positive case. The patient had returned from a Gulf country. Pakistani health authorities said tests were underway to determine the variant involved.

Mpox by health officials in the region.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reports that crypto mining and data centres together account for 2% of global electricity. This figure is expected to rise to 3.5% within the next three years, raising concerns about the environmental impact of these energy-intensive industries.

mpox cases are now being reported outside Africa too. Sweden has confirmed its first case of mpox on Thursday just as Pakistan reported three cases. China's customs administration said it will monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox for the next six months. Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said Thursday it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of its vaccine targeting mpox by 2025, The WHO’s declaration of mpox as a global health emergency aims at galvanizing action and resources to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Pakistan government has confirmed that it was upgrading its «web management system» to cope with cyber security threats amid speculation about the installation of a so-called 'firewall' that could be leading to internet disruptions in the country, according to a media report on Friday. Millions of people across Pakistan have been facing trouble accessing internet services for some time now due to limited connectivity, particularly while using mobile data in some regions. So far, official stakeholders in Pakistan have either been feigning ignorance in response to public outcry and media queries, or claiming that the problems were because of telecom and internet service providers, or even Meta.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami are planning to approach Bangladesh's interim government to secure bail for two former deputy ministers and some senior army officers convicted for their role in the 10-truck arms smuggling case, considered the biggest arms haul in the history of Bangladesh. BNP and Jamaat played a key role in the recent student protests in the country, which led to the ouster of Sheikh Hasina as Bangladesh PM. Sources said the two parties are likely to seek bail for former deputy home minister Lutfuzzaman Babar and former deputy education minister Abdus Salam Pintu, despite their conviction in anti-terror cases.

Remnants of a Separation. Malhotra, a descendant of ‘Partition refugees’ herself, reiterates that the event's memory does not end with those who lived it, but passes down through generations in many “incarnations." "The house of the past may not even exist anymore, it is entirely conjured up from memory," she adds. “There is a place somewhere that does not belong to us, but we belong to it, and I always wonder, is it waiting for us?" Also read: Partition food memories that travelled Chaitanya Seth, who recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, recalls many conversations with his beloved grandfather. “With every story, he travelled back to Lyallpur, a place which was his entire childhood," he says.

Poorna Swaraj, as was the goal of the Indian National Congress, on August 15, 1947. Jawaharlal Nehru's famous uttering in his Independence Day speech, «At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom», was only partially accurate in describing the occasion. Also Read: Videshi to Swadeshi: Brands that propelled journey towards Atmanirbharta Instead of Poorna Swaraj, India got the dominion status which did not mean an independent country as most of us believe India to have become in 1947. Though India became a self-governing entity, it was still under British control in several ways. Interestingly, the Congress had been against the dominion status yet accepted it, ostensibly because it was to lead to complete independence later but also because the dominion status could have helped the first government, which was not directly elected, take hold of society and economy with the help of prevailing British laws which gave it more power of people.

IMD. Delhi has experienced light to moderate rainfall across various parts this week. According to IMD data, Safdarjung had accumulated 220.8 mm of rainfall in August by Tuesday evening, approaching the monthly average of 233.1 mm. The current weather patterns include a monsoon trough near its usual position and a cyclonic circulation over northeast Rajasthan extending up to mid-tropospheric levels. This system, along with another cyclonic circulation over southeast Pakistan and adjoining Rajasthan, is contributing to rainfall in northwest India.

India Independence Day: Partition of India, which marked the end of the British Raj, was a hasty, if not botched, affair, so it may sound strange to know Lord Mountbatten, who literally took Partition through, said he wanted an unified India. He said he tried everything to stop the partition. He even said that he regretted it but had no choice. Speaking to veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, the last British Viceroy and Governor-General of India accepted that he could not «hold» the country and had to hasten the Independence process, leading to a massacre that killed nearly two million people. Also Read: How a multinational company captured a whole country

As we celebrate Independence Day, let’s look back at the distance we have traversed in 77 years. This was India in 1947: Life expectancy was 32 years. Literacy was 18%.

Pakistan-Bangladesh Test series has generated a lot of buzz. With ticket prices starting as low as PKR 50 or Rs 15, some netizens are saying that Pakistan Cricket Board should have distributed tickets for free, instead of pricing it at the rate of a samosa. This two-match Test series is a key fixture in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. The series kicks off with the first Test at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium (RCS) from August 21-25. The second Test will be held at the National Bank Stadium (NBS) in Karachi from August 30 to September 3.

AFTER A FORTNIGHT featuring 329 competitions, the battle for Olympic supremacy came down to the last event on the final day of the Paris games. When America’s women’s basketball team beat France’s in the final on August 11th, they also helped their country equal China’s tally of 40 golds at these games. As a result, America retained its position at the summit of the official medal table—which ranks countries based on the number of golds they win—thanks to a greater haul of silvers (44 compared with China’s 27).

At present, there are 1,504 air monitoring stations in 543 cities across the country. The government has entrusted the job of updating NAAQS to IIT Kanpur, which has set up a panel comprising experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other institutions. “Work on the new NAAQS is ongoing.

Paris 2024 Olympics witnessed a historic showdown between two of the world’s leading javelin throwers, Arshad Nadeem from Pakistan and Neeraj Chopra from India. The intense rivalry between these athletes, both hailing from South Asia, has been closely followed in recent years, and their latest encounter did not disappoint. Arshad Nadeem made history by winning Pakistan's first-ever individual Olympic gold with a record-breaking throw of 92.97 meters. Neeraj Chopra, the defending Olympic champion from Tokyo 2020, put up a strong fight with a season-best throw of 89.45 meters, earning him the silver medal. Nadeem’s final throw in the competition was also an impressive 91 meters, further solidifying his victory. Neeraj Chopra's Rise to Stardom

Pakistan Army on Monday took former General and former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Faiz Hameed into military custody and initiated court martial proceedings against him, said the army's media wing. This move follows a detailed inquiry mandated by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to investigate allegations made in the Top City Case. This is the first time in Pakistan's history that a court martial has been initiated against a former intelligence chief, local media said. According to a statement from the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military has acted on the findings of the inquiry to address the complaints against Lt Gen Faiz Hameed (Retd). The court martial proceedings are being conducted under the provisions of the Pakistan Army Act.

Bangladesh will travel to Pakistan ahead of schedule to hold practice sessions in Lahore before their two-test bilateral series, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said late on Saturday. Ongoing political turmoil in Bangladesh has disrupted the team's training, local media reported. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country following weeks of protests, with an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus taking charge. The Bangladesh Cricket Board did not immediately reply to a request for comment on reports practice session has been disrupted by the unrest.

India's former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh passed away late Saturday in Gurugram at the age of 93 after a prolonged illness. Singh, Congress veteran, was born in Bharatpur, Rajasthan in 1931. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1984. Singh, who was the foreign minister in UPA-I and also served as India's Ambassador to Pakistan besides holding other senior diplomatic positions. Singh worked in former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's office from 1966 to 1971 as a civil services officer before joining the Congress in the 80s and becoming a minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) leader and PM-in-waiting Tarique Rahman allegedly held meetings with Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in a Gulf nation where a plan was hatched to organise a campaign for ousting the Sheikh Hasina government, said people in the know. Rahman allegedly travelled to the Middle Eastern country a few months ago for meeting the ISI officials where the plot was hatched for launching the campaign and creating conditions in Bangladesh for ousting Hasina, ET has reliably learnt. ET had reported last week how the Pakistan Embassy in Dhaka allegedly played a role in instigating the move to hijack the student movement.

Protesters carried American and Bangladeshi flags and held posters demanding that Bangladeshi minorities be «saved.» They chanted slogans of «We want justice» and called for peace amid the recent surge in violence. The crowd, which included activists from various human rights organizations, members of the Bangladeshi diaspora and Indian-American Hindu allies, came from Washington, Maryland, Virginia, and New York.