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United States And Pakistan Launch Women’s Economic Empowerment Activity

PESHAWAR, June 24, 2021 : The United States government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), today launched the Women’s Economic Empowerment Activity (WEEA). This five-year initiative supports the Government of Pakistan’s efforts to promote women’s social and economic empowerment through safe and dignified access to income opportunities, information, resources, and services.

The WEEA program offers solutions for women, communities, and governments to address structural and socio-economic barriers that prevent women from fully participating in their communities.  It also aims to reduce economic gaps and make progress toward gender equality, at both the community and institutional levels.  In accordance with Pakistan’s national strategy, WEEA demonstrates the United States’ commitment to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment by helping women and girls attain their full potential in every aspect of society.

 “USAID proudly partners with the Government of Pakistan to promote peaceful communities, increase economic growth, and strengthen global health security capacities,” said USAID Mission Director Julie Koenen.  “The Women’s Economic Empowerment Activity is yet another manifestation of our commitment to enabling women-led business that will play an important role in Pakistan’s economic growth.”

“A nation is considered on the path to prosperity if all its citizens are empowered,” said Akbar Ayab Khan, Minister for Local Government, Election, and Rural Development in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  “Women’s empowerment has been one of my government’s top priorities and an essential part of our governance.  Our vision is to elevate women’s labor force participation by 45 percent by 2025.  We thank USAID for partnering with us and taking our work forward.”

A component of this project will facilitate the Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) registration of 1.25 million women in 49 districts across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Punjab provinces.  The initiative complements the Election Commission of Pakistan’s efforts to bridge the gap between male and female voters in Pakistan, which focuses on increasing women’s participation in the electoral process by mobilizing unregistered women to acquire CNICs.

Ivorian ex-PM rejects life sentence

Former Ivorian prime minister Guillaume Soro has rejected a verdict that sent him to prison for life.

“I totally reject these unfair verdicts, which have been handed down in violation of all the rules of law, and which are solely based on political reasons,” he said, in a statement published on Twitter.

He also said the aim of the trial had been to put an end to his political ambitions.

According to him, the trial showed how the Ivorian judiciary could easily be manipulated by the executive branch of government.

He vowed to continue with his fight against the capture of the Ivorian state and the control of all its institutions.

The sentence, passed by the criminal court in the capital, Abidjan, on Wednesday sentenced Mr Soro in absentia. He has been living in exile for the last two years.

He and others faced charges of conspiracy and undermining national security by plotting a coup.

Mr Soro was barred from running for president in last year’s election over a previous conviction in absentia for money laundering.

Aisam, his partner to face Djokovic, Gomez in ATP’s Mallorca semi-final

Karachi: Pakistan’s Tennis star Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and his Austrian partner Oliver Marach will face World No.1 Novak Djokovic and Carlos Gomez-Herrera in the Mallorca ATP semi-final.

The match is scheduled to take place at 4.30 pm. Aisam and Marach defeated duo of Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela and Adrian Mannarino by 6-3, 6-4.

Meanwhile, Djokovic and Gomez-Herrera defeated top seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 10-8.

China strongly rejects USA’s investigation linking China with coronavirous

BEIJING, June 24 : China is furious at President Biden’s request that the CIA investigates China’s link to the virus.

According to a report carried by Gwadar Pro, Shabana Syed a print and TV journalist based in Britain in an article referred to a writeup published in China’s ‘Global Times’, that has likened Biden’s search for origins of the pandemic to the US’s efforts to find Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, though fabricated dossiers.

The report says, China has accused the US of taking a ‘dangerous stance’ and warned Washington ‘could meet its Waterloo in this battle’.

In retaliation, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian has also called on the US to give a full clarification on its bio-military activities.

Since the outbreak of Coronavirus in late 2019, the internet is rife with questions regarding the origin of the virus, and three scenarios could be a probability: it was natural from bats to humans; it occurred because of leaks from a Wuhan lab in China; it was a biological warfare attack.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) affirmed the first theory and discredited the second one after it investigated and affirmed it was “extremely unlikely” that the Virus was from a lab leak in Wuhan China.

However, the last one needs an examination of the possibility of Coronavirus being part of biological warfare, a notion continually ridiculed by western media.

If any scientist or medical expert suggested biological warfare, especially in the early days of the outbreak, all posts were deleted from social media networks like Twitter and Facebook to keep the public ‘safe’. Journalist Eva Bartlett states “Twitter isn’t censoring to keep users ‘safe’, rather it is using its power to spoon-feed the world establishment narratives”.

However, the mere fact that Biden wants to re-investigate the Wuhan lab leak theory because new information has been unearthed by US intelligence agencies, has inadvertently reignited the biological warfare attack theory.

A theory that mainstream media has ridiculed, especially after Iran and Russia have stated it as a “possibility”. Iran’s General Salami claimed “it was possible that the global coronavirus outbreak was the result of a US biological warfare attack on China” by the US spreading to the rest of the world.

General Salami may have a point since no logical explanation has been given to the fact that if the Virus was natural and spread through human contact, how, after an outbreak in China the virus instead of spreading to the nearest country, jumps over Afghanistan,  Pakistan, Turkmenistan and maybe a few other countries and made a deadly attack on Iran?

It should also be noted the first two countries, the worst hit, where the outbreak took place, are the US’s main perceived enemies, China, and Iran. While Iran was battling the virus in January 2020, the US looked on imposing the worst forms of medical sanctions, so more Iranians died.

According to reports, there are over 100 or so CIA, Pentagon-sponsored clandestine and secret laboratories spread out globally which fabricate and test agents for biological warfare.

Western mainstream media is rife with China’s lab leak stories with little mention of Wuhan Institute of Virology’s strong ties to the Galveston National Laboratory in the United States.

Zhao also called on Washington to open its hundreds of labs for investigation, suggesting that the virus may have originated from a US army base in Maryland. Also the fact that US Pentagon gave USD $39 million to Dr Peter Daszak’s Eco Health Alliance, an NGO which funded coronavirus research at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Apparently, there was a leak, but not in Wuhan. According to The New York Times on 8th August 2019, a “Deadly Germ Research is Shut Down at Army Lab over concerns.” The lab was US Military’s main bio-lab at Fort Detrick, Maryland.

According to a physician in Taiwan, in August of 2019, the US had an outbreak of pneumonia and lung issues which the Americans blamed on “’vaping’ from e-cigarettes” or influenza.

Later Robert Redfield Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) admitted the US had several deaths from Covid-19 which had been misdiagnosed as influenza. However, after this outbreak, the US did send its soldiers to Wuhan Military Games for the October 2019 games.

At the same time, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, where experts agreed that it is only a matter of time before one of these epidemics become global with catastrophic consequences.

According to an article on March 4th 2020 by Professor Larry Romanoff, titled “Did the Virus originate in the US”, “epidemiologists and pharmacologists from Japan and Taiwan, China have determined that the new coronavirus could have originated in the US since that country is the only one known to have all five types – from which all others must have descended.

Wuhan in China has only one of those types, rendering it in analogy as a kind of ‘branch’ which cannot exist by itself but must have grown from a ‘tree’.

China’s remarks that the US is taking a ‘dangerous stance’ and ‘could meet its Waterloo’ in this battle’ was a warning to Biden. Chinese officials state that by attempting to politicize the outbreak and malign China, the US is opening a pandora’s box.

The US has been developing germ warfare for decades according to a report in September 2016 in ‘Business Insider’, which states the US military has conducted dangerous biowarfare experiments on Americans for the past twenty years. Dr Leonard Cole documented over 239 of these tests on Americans in his book “Clouds of Secrecy: The Army’s Germ Warfare Tests Over- Populated Areas”.

Stephan Ledman’s article published on 28 July 2008 and reported by the London Guardian states that the Fort Detrick facility is a “vast germ warfare laboratory”, which produces and “stockpiles the world’s most lethal bacteria and viruses” forbidden by the 1989 US Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act.

Zhao may have a point when he states “the US’s one aim is to use the pandemic to pursue stigmatisation and political manipulation to shift the blame. They are being disrespectful to science, irresponsible to people’s lives, and counterproductive to concerted global efforts to fight the virus.”

The hybrid trade war against China by the US cannot be ignored, while Biden awaits the CIA report highlighting China’s link to the outbreak of the virus.

Countries closely allied to the US, Saudi Arabia, and the European Union have barred travellers vaccinated with Chinese vaccines. Saudi Arabia has declared that Muslims going to hajj can only enter if they have been vaccinated by Pfizer, pressuring countries like Pakistan to not use Chinese vaccines.

There are rising suspicions that this decision by the US’s allies is based on the US’s containment of China policy and nothing to do with Chinese vaccines.

China has successfully controlled the spread of Coronavirus; the country has had no further lockdowns and its economy has bounced back stronger than before.

While western countries have three lockdowns a year, high rates of Coronavirus, and their economies are in shambles with mass protests and riots in the streets, the report added.

Ali Muhammad expresses Govt’s commitment to make Pakistan strong country

Islamabad : Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan has expressed the government’s commitment to make Pakistan a strong country.

Participating in the budget debate in the National Assembly on Thursday, he said the economic indicators are improving with agriculture, industries and services sectors witnessing growth.

The Minister of State said Ehsaas program is aimed at realizing the vision of transforming Pakistan into a welfare state. He said the health card initiative is helping the underprivileged segments of the society to get free of cost medical treatment. 

Ali Muhammad Khan said the present government has also started construction work on major dams such as Diamer Basha, Dasu and Mohmand which will help irrigate our land.

The Minister of State said Prime Minister Imran Khan has set an example of across the board accountability under which those belonging to the ruling party are also facing cases.  He said both the government and the opposition parties should work together to establish an Islamic economic system. He said we have to free the country of interest based system in order to take the country forward.

Marriyum Aurangzeb, in her budget speech, said the government has failed to fulfill the promises made for construction of five million houses and provision of ten million jobs to the youth.

Efforts continuing to achieve polio-free Pakistan despite COVID-19 challenges: PM

Islamabad : Prime Minister Imran Khan says earnest efforts are continuing to further intensify the anti-polio campaign across the country despite the COVID-19 challenges to achieve a polio-free Pakistan.

In a telephonic conversation with Co-Chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates, he reaffirmed that polio eradication remains a key national priority for the government.

Recalling that a special polio eradication campaign was launched in the country earlier this month, during which vaccine drops were administered to over 33 million children under five years of age, Imran Khan expressed his satisfaction over the substantive progress in cutting the transmission of the poliovirus in the country.

He hoped that polio will be eradicated soon with the support of all partners.

The Prime Minister appreciated the work of BMGF for the socio-economic uplift of the most disadvantaged people around the globe, especially for promoting universal access to health services and combating of infectious diseases.

He expressed gratitude, in particular, for BMGF’s partnership with Pakistan to rid the country of polio.

Bill Gates expressed his appreciation for the Prime Minister’s leadership for this national cause. He said while progress is encouraging, keeping up pressure will be the key to ending transmission for good.

The Prime Minister also highlighted Pakistan’s efforts to overcome the third wave of Coronavirus in the country.

Alluding to Pakistan’s potential in the Information Technology sector and the government’s business friendly IT policy, the Prime Minister encouraged Microsoft to further expand its footprint in Pakistan.

Punjab CM visits Jinnah Hospital to inquire after injured of blast incident

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar visited Jinnah Hospital to inquire after the injured of Johar Town blast incident.

The chief minister went to the injured individually and inquired about the treatment facilities.

He directed the hospital administration to ensure provision of every possible medical facility to the injured.

He also announced financial assistance for the deceased families and the injured of the incident.

ECC approves Rs 300 mln supplementary grant for border markets

The Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet has approved a supplementary grant of 300 million rupees for establishment of joint border markets at Mand in district Kech, Gabd in district Gwadar and in district Panjgur of Balochistan. 

The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee held in Islamabad with Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin in the chair.

The meeting also approved a supplementary grant for Covid-19 response and other natural calamities control programme for Sindh worth 9393.2 million rupees.

The ECC also approved a supplementary grant of 98.7 million rupees to meet the requirements of Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  

World powers meet in Berlin to discuss Libya crisis

The UN-sponsored Berlin Conference on Libya has renewed commitment to hold elections in the war-torn country in December this year.

Addressing the conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urged the withdrawal of all foreign fighters taking part in the war in Libya.

Later, talking to media, Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush also optimized for an early withdrawal of foreign fighters from the country after peace talks with world powers. 

President calls for holding donors’ conference on population control

Islamabad : President, Dr. Arif Alvi has emphasized the need for holding a donors’ conference on population to help the government in stemming the rising tide of population.

He expressed these views while chairing a meeting of Federal Task Force on Alarming Population Growth in Pakistan at in Islamabad.

The President called for special efforts to arrange national and international finances for promoting family planning and checking the growing population of the country.

During the meeting, the representatives of all federating units and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, briefed the participants about the measures taken by their respective governments for promoting family planning services.

On the occasion, Minister for Religious Affairs, Dr. Noorul Haq Qadri said rapidly growing population is the greatest challenge and it could only be controlled with the active support of Ulema, media and civil society.

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