The sea of Bulgarian buses parked outside a market in Turkey’s historic city of Edirne betrays the scale of the currency crisis impeding President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s path to a third decade of rule. The mosque-filled city on Turkey’s western edge was an early capital of the Ottoman Empire when it was expanding across the … Read more
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced pressure to tighten coronavirus restrictions to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant even how reeling from a rebellion by 100 of his MPs in a parliamentary vote over coronavirus measures after the stunning loss of a 23,000-majority seat in a by-election. Even the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was … Read more
International ratings agency Fitch downgraded cash-strapped Sri Lanka on Saturday by one notch to ‘CC’ due to mounting fears of a sovereign default on its $26 billion foreign debt. The downgrade came a day after Sri Lanka reported a 1.5 per cent contraction in the third quarter of this year, as a foreign exchange crisis … Read more
Archaeologists conducting excavations at the Suyang relics site in Henan Province, central China, have found evidence of exchanges between different cultures in remote antiquity. During the course of six months, relics were unearthed showing that Yangshao Culture was dominant at the site, but the Qujialing Culture and Hongshan Culture were also present, illustrating their interaction … Read more
Iconic singer Atif Aslam is undoubtedly a heartthrob of Pakistani fans as well as fans from across the border. He is widely loved for his flawless singing skills. In a recent turn of events, the Doori crooner wins millions of hearts after a video went viral online. In the video, Atif Aslam was seen riding … Read more
Turkey will send 15 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to Africa, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced at a major summit of the continent’s leaders, adding that the low vaccination rates there were a blot on humanity. Ankara has invested heavily in developing trade and diplomatic ties with the world’s poorest continent during Erdogan’s rule as prime … Read more
Chinese artificial intelligence startup SenseTime said on Monday it will press ahead with its Hong Kong listing, a week after it was blacklisted by the United States over accusations of genocide in Xinjiang. An initial listing earlier this month was pulled when the US Treasury announced new sanctions, saying SenseTime’s facial recognition programmes were designed … Read more
A defiant rejection of his massive social spending bill by a single US senator, a fellow Democrat, and a surge in Covid cases are imperiling Joe Biden less than a year into his presidency. Returning to the White House from a weekend at his family home in Delaware, the 79-year-old president, wearing a black face … Read more
Many centuries ago, silkworm cultivation and silk-making techniques from ancient China reached Bangladesh along the Silk Road, an ancient trade route. For almost all its history, sericulture was confined to the Rajshahi region in the western part of Bangladesh. Today, based in Manikganj to the northwest of capital Dhaka, Aarong, a social enterprise backed by … Read more
LAHORE: Opposition Leader in the National Assembly (NA) Shehbaz Sharif has urged United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and human rights bodies to take notice of the threats of ethnic cleansing of Muslims in India. Read more: Russell Tribunal highlights Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir The opposition leader made this demand in response to a … Read more
Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen has shared a cryptic post after she had parted ways with long-time boyfriend Rohman Shawl mentioning that ‘it takes a risk to be happy and it is not easy’. Taking to Instagram, the Aarya star penned a detailed note that read, ” The actress wrote, “Taking a risk to survive takes … Read more
When he inherited power in North Korea 10 years ago, Swiss-educated basketball fan Kim Jong Un seemed open to foreign ideas and market reforms, but is increasingly shutting down outside influences as he enters his second decade in office. North Korea has long been one of the world’s most isolated countries, with authorities seeking to … Read more
QUETTA: Deputy Speaker National Assembly Qasim Khan Suri on Sunday vowed to end deprivations of people of Balochistan. Qasim Khan Suri said this while addressing media in Quetta. “I will become a voice of Balochistan in the centre. I will try to fetch as much resources from the federal government for Balochistan as possible,” he … Read more
Zong has partnered with the IT support and managed services provider, Smart Future Technologies Pvt Limited, as its connectivity partner, a statement said. The partnership with Smart Future Technologies is in line with Zong’s efforts to help businesses digitalise and streamline their everyday operations for optimal productivity, it added. A spokesperson for Zong said: “Connectivity … Read more
Genocide charges against a Cambodian ex-Khmer Rouge commander were dropped by the United Nations-backed court set up to try leaders of the brutal regime, according to a statement issued last week. The Khmer Rouge, also known as the Communist Party of Kampuchea, sought to transform Cambodia into an agrarian utopia, but instead killed as many … Read more
Bollywood’s legendary actor Salman Khan, who is going to turn 56 on December 27, has been taken to hospital after being bitten by a snake at his farmhouse. The actor often takes time to visit his Panvel farmhouse for some quality time away from the city. But, it turned out unfortunate for him after Salman … Read more
North Korea marked the 10th anniversary of the death of leader Kim Jong Il with a memorial service attended by thousands, including his son Kim Jong Un, state television footage showed. Kim Jong Il ruled North Korea for 17 years until his death in December 2011, passing on power to his son. The current leader … Read more
Leveraging innovation in technology, Telenor Pakistan and Unicef have handed over the digital birth registration (DBR) system to the Sindh government, a statement said. After its successful launch and implementation in three pilot districts, the local government in Sindh is now all set to take over the digital birth registration project and scale it across … Read more
The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and Ufone have welcomed 150 top young talent from across Pakistan as management trainees in its 5th batch of Summit Programme 2021, a statement said. The young graduates were selected from the leading universities from across Pakistan and were hosted at a special ceremony organised at the PTCL headquarter, Islamabad. … Read more
As rescuers comb the ash-covered landscape looking for people after Indonesia’s Mount Semeru erupted earlier this month, volunteers are searching for even more vulnerable survivors: cats, cows and other animals. The disaster killed 48 people, according to the latest toll, and rescuers are still seeking bodies in the mud and rubble. As deadly ash destroyed villages … Read more
Russia space agency to continue growing its tourism mission A Japanese billionaire returned to Earth, after 12 days spent on the International Space Station where he made videos about performing mundane tasks in space including brushing teeth and going to the bathroom. Online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano parachuted onto Kazakhstan’s steppe … Read more
Imagine you go to pay for your morning coffee and your stored-value card returns an error message, or the wallet in the payments app on your phone isn’t opening because the company providing the payment service has gone bankrupt. Worse, what if you live in a rural area and the e-money service provided through your … Read more
Mazen Shaiban has been composing 3D paintings about life in old Damascus for over 25 years. With an aspiration to become an internationally-renowned artist, he began to create artworks about world landmarks, including the Great Wall of China. Over the last two decades, Shaiban has created a remarkable collection of artworks using various materials, such … Read more
Egypt sentenced Alaa Abdel Fattah, a leading figure in the 2011 revolution, to five years in jail, with two others receiving four years, his sister and a judicial source said. A computer programmer, blogger and high-profile activist who mobilised youths in the uprising that unseated autocrat Hosni Mubarak, Abdel Fattah had been in pre-trial detention … Read more
In 2020, we observed the largest one-year debt surge since World War II, with global debt rising to $226 trillion as the world was hit by a global health crisis and a deep recession. Debt was already elevated going into the crisis, but now governments must navigate a world of record-high public and private debt … Read more
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry once again termed the Sharif family a mafia, “which possesses the ability to blackmail institutions including the judiciary.” The minister expressed this in a tweet against the backdrop of a news story asserting that an affidavit by the former chief justice of Gilgit Baltistan (GB) Rana Shamim against … Read more
The World Bank’s board of executive directors has approved $195 million in financing to support Pakistan in improving electricity distribution and implementing energy sector reforms to increase service quality for the consumers. The Electricity Distribution Efficiency Improvement Project (EDEIP) will help the distribution companies improve operations to manage the supply more efficiently and increase the … Read more
Left in ruins by militants, Iraq’s once-celebrated Mosul museum and its 2,500-year-old treasures are being given a second life thanks to restoration efforts backed by French experts. Ancient artefacts in the museum were smashed into little pieces when Daesh group fighters seized the northern city of Mosul in 2014 and made it their seat of … Read more
