Caretaker Minister for Finance, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, has outlined Pakistan’s financial projections for the current fiscal year (2023–24), highlighting an anticipated mobilisation of approximately $4.5 billion from both multilateral and bilateral sources, excluding the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Minister Akhtar disclosed that the government foresees receiving over $1.6 billion in the second quarter (Q2) from sources such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
She clarified that these inflows encompass funds allocated to both project-based and programme-based initiatives.
Highlighting progress in negotiations, the minister revealed the completion of discussions for certain programme loans, with impending disbursements expected.
She reassured that Pakistan remains committed to meeting its debt obligations promptly, both currently and in the future.
Regarding the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme, Minister Akhtar reported the successful conclusion of the first review of the Standby Agreement, resulting in the attainment of a Staff Level Agreement (SLA).
Pending approval by the IMF’s Executive Board, this agreement will grant Pakistan access to $700 million.
Commenting on the prevailing economic situation, Minister Akhtar acknowledged the challenges faced domestically and globally during FY2023.
Despite these hurdles, she asserted that fiscal and external sector stability have been achieved through the implementation of various stabilisation measures and structural reforms.
Fitch Ratings, a US-based credit rating agency, has maintained Pakistan’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘CCC,’ according to a statement released on Wednesday.
The ‘CCC’ rating indicates significant external funding risks due to elevated medium-term financing requirements, notwithstanding some stabilisation and Pakistan’s commendable performance on its current standby arrangement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as explained by Fitch.
While anticipating scheduled elections in February and prompt negotiation for a subsequent IMF programme after the SBA concludes in March 2024, Fitch cautioned about potential delays and uncertainties regarding Pakistan’s ability to achieve this.
Fitch emphasised the potential vulnerability of recent reforms and the prospect of renewed political volatility in the wake of the upcoming elections. Regarding the ongoing IMF programme, Fitch expressed confidence in the unproblematic approval of the recent staff-level agreement (SLA) by the IMF board.
Fitch’s assessment highlighted the positive outcomes of the programme review, including sustained fiscal consolidation, energy price reforms despite public backlash, and strides towards adopting a more market-driven exchange rate regime.
However, Fitch also pointed out risks associated with policy implementation, citing a historical pattern of parties across the political spectrum in Pakistan failing to implement or reversing reforms agreed upon with the IMF.
Jungkook from BTS just achieved a HUGE milestone in the music world! His new solo song, ‘Standing Next To You’ is now at the top of the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart in the United States.
Jungkook has been making waves as a solo artist since 2023, proving himself to be a major player in the industry. His debut album, “GOLDEN,” dropped on November 3, and the lead track from that album snagged the number one spot on the Billboard chart. It’s a big deal because last week, Taylor Swift was holding the top position with her song “You’re Losing Me.”
Jungkook’s solo success is making headlines as he surpasses well-known artists and establishes himself as a major force in the music industry.
South African singer Zahara, who rose from an impoverished rural background to find rapid fame with multi-platinum selling albums and delivered her unique version of wistful Afro-soul in her country’s isiXhosa language and in English, has died, her family said Tuesday. She was 36.
Zahara, whose real name was Bulelwa Mkutukana, died Monday, her family said in a statement posted on her official page on X, formerly Twitter. It gave no cause of death. The family said last month that Zahara had been admitted to a hospital with an undisclosed issue and had asked for privacy.
“She was a pure light, and an even purer heart, in this world,” her family said in Tuesday’s statement.
Zahara’s debut 2011 album “Loliwe” — meaning “The Train” — was certified double platinum and became South Africa’s second-fastest selling album after the 1997 record “Memeza” by Brenda Fassie, an icon of South African music.
Just 23 when “Loliwe” was released, Zahara was a sensation and immediately compared with Fassie, who also died young at 39.
Zahara won 17 South African music awards, was also recognized in Nigeria and was included on a list of the 100 most influential women in the world in 2020 by the BBC. She released four more albums — one of them triple platinum and one platinum.
Zahara’s death prompted reaction from across South Africa, including all major political parties and South Africa’s Parliament, which said in a statement “it was difficult to accept the news of Zahara’s passing” at such a young age.
Zahara became known as South Africa’s “Country Girl,” a testament to her upbringing in the rural Eastern Cape province, but also how her award-winning music came with a highly-effective simplicity; through her voice and an acoustic guitar. Her songs were marked with references to her Christian religion but also to South Africa’s painful history of apartheid, even if she was only a young child when it ended.
In the single “Loliwe” — from the same album — “Loliwe” was the train that carried fathers, brothers and sons to the big city of Johannesburg to find work during the time of racial segregation. Many didn’t return and their families were left to wonder what had happened to them. The song was about “lingering hope,” Zahara said in 2012. But the lyrics also included the phrase “wipe your tears,” which she said urged those left behind to “pick yourself up and look forward.”
It resonated with a new generation of post-apartheid South Africans.
“She inspired us with Loliwe,” South African Music Awards spokesperson and former music journalist Lesley Mofokeng told TV channel Newzroom Afrika. “You could not ignore Loliwe. Her voice could reach the heavens.”
In an interview published by her record label after Loliwe’s release, Zahara said she began playing guitar on her own and wrote the songs for her first album without knowing what the chords were called.
The United States vetoed a United Nations resolution on Friday, December 8, backed by almost all other Security Council members and dozens of other nations, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. In this emergency meeting, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99, a rare move to force a vote on the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, where two million people are displaced and more than 18,000 people have been killed.
Calls are growing for the UN Security Council to be reformed after the US used its veto power to block a Gaza ceasefire resolution, a move welcomed by Israeli PM Netanyahu ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/MvnplAht8z
The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining.
The US is facing criticism from all over the world and domestic backlash, but there is a way to sign a petition to appeal to the respective ambassador to the UN asking them to invoke article 377 A to get around the US Veto and call for a permanent ceasefire.
What is Article 377 A?
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 377 A is known as the ‘Uniting for Peace Resolution’ states that in any case where the Security Council, because of a lack of unanimity among its five permanent members (P5) fails to act as required to maintain international security and peace, the General Assembly shall consider the matter immediately and may issue appropriate recommendations to the UN members for collective measures, including the use of armed forces when necessary, to maintain or restore international security and peace.
Using social media is effective but there are other concrete ways to invoke Article 377 A.
EVERYONE: write to your country’s UN Ambassador and demand that they invoke UNGA resolution 377A to get around the US Veto and call for a permanent ceasefire. You can find a template letter here https://t.co/sfH8WMUjdo then post and tag your country’s ambassador online. pic.twitter.com/DX3auIZw70
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) former chairman Imran Khan and the party’s vice chairman, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, were indicted again in the cipher case on Wednesday.
A special court established under the Official Secret Act 2023 indicted both PTI leaders with Judge Abdul Hasnat Zulqarnain announcing the decision.
Both leaders were found guilty of misusing a diplomatic cable issued by the Pakistan embassy in Washington DC for political purposes.
During the hearing, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Special Prosecutors Shah Khawar and Zulfiqar Abbas Naqvi appeared in court, while Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi were represented by their lawyers.
The regular trial of the cipher case against the former prime minister and ex-foreign minister will begin in Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi.
A hearing was also held on Tuesday, where family members of PTI leaders were also present. Some journalists were also present to witness the proceedings.
Earlier, after Khan and Qureshi challenged their indictment in the case, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared their jail trial “null and void” while allowing intra-court appeals in the case.
Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday acquitted three convicts serving life imprisonment in the Kasur child abuse scandal of 2015.
The scandal came to light eight years ago when a gang was arrested for involvement in making videos of the sexual abuse of at least 280 children. The criminals were accused of blackmailing the families of the kids, threatening them to leak the videos unless they paid ransom.
The acquittal of the convicts was announced by a bench of two judges, led by Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry.
One of the counsels, Abid Hussain Khichi while speaking to Dawn, said that the court had released his clients after accepting their pleas.
According to the council, a total of six primary suspects had been implicated in the case, with three having been released earlier, while the remaining three were acquitted today.
Khichi further explained that his clients (convicts) serving in jail have not been identified in the video examination conducted by the authorities. He also contended that certain sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act applied to the accused were not truly applicable, and the medical reports did not substantiate the presented evidence.
The present order by the court substantiates the narrative of the lawyer.
The three men — Haseem Amir, Wasim Sindhi, and Aleem Asif — were handed punishments in one of the nine cases police had registered against them. ATC judge Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas had also imposed a fine of Rs300,000 on each of the three convicts.
Ganda Singhwala police had registered a first information report against the three convicts on charges of abducting and sexually assaulting children in Kasur.
It was reported that the men had also been blackmailing the families of the boys since 2009 and even sold video clips of the assault. In 2018, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore sentenced the three men to life in prison after finding them guilty.
Kasur is a district plagued by such incidents. According to a report by Pakistan Observer Kasur stood first in child sexual abuse and pornography with 298 cases out of 2275 across the country during the year 2021.
Nepali influencer Anjana Aryal went from homemaker to entrepreneur by sharing recipes on TikTok, but her lucrative business collapsed last month when the Himalayan republic banned the Chinese-owned short video app.
Filming with her mobile phone in one hand and cooking with the other, Aryal rapidly became a social media star in Nepal last year, garnering millions of views from a following of nearly 600,000 people.
That all came to a sudden halt when Nepal banned TikTok to protect “social harmony”, following similar restrictions imposed in other countries on concerns over data security, obscene content and its owner’s alleged ties to the Chinese government.
“My life changed a lot because of TikTok, a lot,” Aryal, 39, told AFP from her home in Kathmandu. “So many recognise me because of TikTok wherever I go.” She earned nearly $3,000 from endorsement deals just in October, more than double Nepal’s average yearly income.
Encouraged by her audience, Aryal also started a business selling her own brand of pickles, which saw her inbox flooded with orders.
But since the ban, Aryal and other prominent Nepali content creators have seen their revenue streams dry up, jeopardising their livelihoods. “People were earning, running businesses or just being entertained on TikTok. Everyone has been affected now and they don’t know what to do,” she said. Owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, TikTok is one of the most popular social media platforms on the planet with more than one billion users. Its explosive growth has given its content creators and influencers an immense audience, and its editing features and AI-powered algorithm have proved particularly attractive.
But the algorithm is opaque and often accused of putting users into content silos, and the platform has also been blamed for spreading disinformation. It has faced intense scrutiny in the United States and other nations over user data security and the company’s alleged ties to Beijing. TikTok announces $1.5bn deal to restart Indonesia online shopping business
Multiple countries have sought to tighten controls on TikTok, and the platform has been banned in neighbouring India. ‘Start from zero’ Growing criticism of the app has worried influencers around the world. Others in the United States have voiced fears to local media about losing thousands of dollars in income if bans are enforced. Nepal’s government justified its ban on the platform by accusing it of damaging the Himalayan republic’s social fabric. It came days before a huge rally called by a prominent businessman who was using TikTok to organise a campaign demanding the reinstatement of Nepal’s monarchy.
Dozens of content creators staged a rally in Kathmandu demanding the ban be lifted last month. Advocate Dinesh Tripathi, who is challenging the decision in court, said the ban was an attack on people’s freedom of speech because the government was fearful of “dissenting voices”.
Manish Adhikari, who uses TikTok to discuss cars and Nepali start-ups, said he had several endorsement deals scuttled by the ban. “Brands started to call me… and I wondered if I was getting out of business, is my work going to stop?” Adhikari said. Adhikari has shifted to Instagram but the views and followings are a fraction of his earlier audience.
“I lost all my audience because I was not as active on any other platform,” he said. “Now I have to start from zero.” There are around 2.2 million TikTok users among Nepal’s 30 million people, according to the Internet Service Providers Association. But Monayac Karki, founder of Nepali influencer marketing agency Uptrendly, said TikTok’s popularity had been rising exponentially.
He added that the ban had torpedoed a market with an estimated worth in excess of $5 million each year for advertisers and content creators, and which was set to grow rapidly. “I really hope this ban is a temporary one and it will be lifted soon,” he said.
The final list for admission to MBBS and BDS in Punjab has been released by the University of Health Sciences on its website.
A spokesperson for the UHS has stated that a merit list has been put up on the website, comprising 4485 candidates, reports Geo.
UHS released a provisional merit list on December 8, after which two days were given to candidates to register any complaint via the online portal. 1159 complaints were received in 48 hours and after reviewing all of them, a final list has been released.
A total of 3389 students will be given admission to seats available all over the province. The first merit list will be released on December 15.
