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As Pakistan elects new PM, crowds root for Imran Khan

Agencies
July 31, 2017

Islamabad, Jul 31: Pakistan’s parliament will meet Tuesday to elect a new prime minister after the disqualification of three-term prime minister Nawaz Sharif, as thousands gathered in the capital Islamabad Sunday to voice support for opposition leader Imran Khan.

Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League party, which enjoys a comfortable majority in parliament, nominated Sharif’s longtime loyalist Shahid Khaqan Abbasi for the top slot on Saturday. Sharif proposed Abbasi as interim prime minister until his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is the chief minister of Punjab province, can contend in a by-election for the seat left vacant by his brother’s disqualification.

The opposition is expected to name a candidate to challenge Abassi in a vote in parliament, but the six-time lawmaker is expected to win.

Sharif’s party holds 188 of 342 seats in parliament’s lower house and with additional votes from its allies is expected to obtain 214 votes. To win the top slot, Abbasi needs only 172 votes.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court disqualified Sharif from office on Friday for not being honest and concealing assets. The probe against him began after his children were named in the leaked so-called Panama papers for owning off-shore accounts and properties.

Sharif’s party has resolved to file a review petition in the Supreme Court to reverse the disqualification.

The probe was triggered by petitions filed by the conservative Jamaat-e-Islami party and cricket player-turned-politician Imran Khan.

Celebrating the Supreme Court verdict of ousting Sharif from premiership, Khan said Sunday in Islamabad that the court verdict has given the nation hope and “laid the foundation for a new Pakistan”.

Thousands of Khan’s jubilant supporters, chanting slogans and dancing to drum beats at a vast arena, raised placards reading ‘Prime Minister Imran Khan’.

Addressing the crowd, Khan said: “This nation is awakening now and determined to make Pakistan a great country free of corruption.”

Sharif has had a history of rocky relations with Pakistan’s powerful military and he has been removed from office three times.

He was first elected as prime minister in 1990 and was hardly half way through his five-year tenure when he was removed from office by the army’s hand-picked president in 1993. Sharif made a comeback in the 1997 elections but again his government was toppled by then-army chief Gen. Pervez Musharraf in a bloodless coup in October 1999. Sharif was tried for alleged hijacking, convicted and given a life prison sentence but later was exiled to Saudi Arabia. He returned to the country in 2007 after Benazir Bhutto struck a deal with Musharraf and returned from exile. She was assassinated in December 2007 after an election rally in Rawalpindi.

In seven decades, no civilian government has ever completed its term in Pakistan. The country has been ruled by military generals for more than half of its 70-year history and the military unwilling to see its influence challenged.

 

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Agencies
August 7,2020

Moscow, Aug 7: Russia will register its first vaccine against the coronavirus on August 12, Deputy Health Minister Oleg Gridnev said on Friday.

The vaccine has been developed jointly by the Gamaleya Research Institute and the Russian Defence Ministry.

"The vaccine developed by the Gamaleya centre will be registered on August 12. At the moment, the last, third, stage is underway. The trials are extremely important. We have to understand that the vaccine must be safe. Medical professionals and senior citizens will be the first to get vaccinated," Gridnev told reporters at the opening of a cancer centre building in the city of Ufa.

According to the minister, the effectiveness of the vaccine will be judged when the population immunity has formed.

Clinical trials of the vaccine began on June 18 and included 38 volunteers. All of the participants developed immunity. 

The first group was discharged on July 15 and the second group on July 20.

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News Network
April 26,2020

Apr 26: The Chinese city of Wuhan, where the global coronavirus pandemic began, now has no remaining cases in its hospitals, a health official told reporters on Sunday.

"The latest news is that by April 26, the number of new coronavirus patients in Wuhan was at zero, thanks to the joint efforts of Wuhan and medical staff from around the country," National Health Commission spokesman Mi Feng said at a briefing.

The city had reported 46,452 cases, 56% of the national total. It saw 3,869 fatalities, or 84% of China's total.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Apr 12: India and other South Asian countries are likely to record their worst growth performance in four decades this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, the World Bank said on Sunday.

The South Asian region, comprising eight countries, is likely to show economic growth of 1.8 per cent to 2.8 per cent this year, the World Bank said in its South Asia Economic Focus report, well down from the 6.3 per cent it projected six months ago.

India's economy, the region's biggest, is expected to grow 1.5 per cent to 2.8 per cent in the fiscal year that started on April 1. The World Bank has estimated it will grow 4.8 per cent to 5 per cent in the fiscal year that ended on March 31.

"The green shoots of a rebound that were observable at the end of 2019 have been overtaken by the negative impacts of the global crisis," the World Bank report said.

Other than India, the World Bank forecast that Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh will also see sharp falls in economic growth.

Three other countries - Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Maldives - are expected to fall into recession, the World Bank said in the report, which was based on country-level data available as of April 7.

Measures taken to counter the coronavirus have disrupted supply chains across South Asia, which has recorded more than 13,000 cases so far - still lower than many parts of the world.

India's lockdown of 1.3 billion people has also left millions out of work, disrupted big and small businesses and forced an exodus of migrant workers from the cities to their homes in villages.

In the event of prolonged and broad national lockdowns, the report warned of a worst-case scenario in which the entire region would experience an economic contraction this year.

To minimize short-term economic pain, the Bank called for countries in the region to announce more fiscal and monetary steps to support unemployed migrant workers, as well as debt relief for businesses and individuals.

India has so far unveiled a $23 billion economic plan to offer direct cash transfers to millions of poor people hit by its lockdown. In neighbouring Pakistan, the government has announced a $6 billion plan to support the economy.

"The priority for all South Asian governments is to contain the virus spread and protect their people, especially the poorest who face considerable worse health and economic outcomes," said senior World Bank official Hartwig Schafer.

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