KARACHI, SEP 04 (DNA) – An online seminar entitled “COVID-19: 2020 and Beyond” will be held on Saturday (Sept. 5) from 12 Noon to 4 pm.

The spokesman of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi (UoK) said that the registered participants have already been provided the connection details to be connected with the seminar through email.

He said that the seminar is being jointly organized by Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS), Sindh Chapter and LEJ National Science information Center, (ICCBS – UoK).

The names of the speakers included Secretary PAS (Sindh Chapter) Prof. Dr. Khalid Mohammed Khan, President PAS Prof. Dr. Qasim Jan, Gallup Pakistan Chairman Dr. Ejaz Shafi Gilani, National Institute of Health Executive Director Major General Prof. Dr. Aamer Ikram, Prof. Dr. Faisal Mehmood (AKU), Prof. Dr. Mohammad Wasay, Prof. Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, President Pakistan Psychiatry Society Prof. Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Afridi, Ex Federal Secretary of Finance Dr. Waqar Masood Khan, ICCBS UoK Director and Coordinator General COMSTECH Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, Dr. Faisal Sultan Special Adviser to Prime Minister on National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination, and PAS Secretary General Prof. Dr. M. Aslam Baig. =DNA

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ISLAMABAD, SEP 04 (DNA) – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has emphasized the need for deeper cooperation between Pakistan and China in agriculture sector.

Talking to Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing in Islamabad, he said agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy and employs a large part of the country’s productive labor force.

The Foreign Minister said there is a greater need to revamp and modernize agriculture sector with China’s co-operation and unleash the Second Green Revolution in Pakistan.

He said China has introduced wide-ranging reforms in its agriculture sector that has contributed significantly to its GDP and it is imperative for Pakistan to benefit from these experiences.

The Chinese Ambassador expressed his country’s desire to collaborate with Pakistan in setting up Agriculture Technology Centers, Joint Research Centre for Plant Pest and Disease Control, and FMD Zones. =DNA

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Wania Salehyar Janjua

A large blast on the 4th of august was heard by millions of Lebanese citizens followed by a mushroom cloud of smoke. Hospitals were completely overwhelmed by the overflow of patients and lack of corresponding resources.

Over 3000 people have become homeless. The harrowing incident took place at the port where 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate had been stored for 6 years. Port officials were blamed for their severe lack of foresight and downright irresponsible behavior. They are now being kept on house arrest.

The explosion has placed the country at the mercy of humanitarian aid as not only did it obliterate the already struggling capital of the country but also further strained their already tight food and medical supplies including their COVID-19 response.

WHO( World Health Organization) claims that 3 hospitals had to be shutdown due to irreversible damage and 2 have suffered significant impairment. A shipment of COVID- 19 was destroyed at the port as well. Health workforce again comes under pressure to provide aid and medical supplies to citizens whilst their own life hangs in the balance not only due to COVID but also the intense chemical fumes due to the blast.

The preexisting economic crisis has now been made incomprehensibly more difficult. Citizens worried about food safety and a lack of medical supplies before as well but this has proved to be fatal as now thousands struggle.

Morale is understandably low as people struggle to accept the loss of their beloved capital, family and their safety.

The incident ceases to minimize its detrimental effect, as the long term impacts may infact be worse. “The main long term hazard is from combustion products such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are carcinogenic,” Roy Harrison, professor of environmental health at University of Birmingham. And more recently this means that the exposed will experience a reduction in lung function and also worsen symptoms in people with asthma.

American president, Donald trump commented,” Whatever happened, its terrible. But they don’t really know what it is. Nobody knows yet. At this moment, they’re looking. How could you say accident?” he told reporters. “Somebody left some terrible explosive devices and things around, perhaps. Perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was an attack.” This fear mongering behavior is a specialty of the 74 year old who is known for inciting terror. However officials quickly shut it down as the blast was a management failure.

Foreign response has been incredible. Arab countries like Saudia Arabia, Qatar, Tunisia, Egypt and the UAE have all contributed food and medical supplies and pledged aid. Over a billion dollars have been collected in aid in the 5 days following the blast. Including the European Union pledging over 30 million euros over the aid already provided as well as France offering construction materials to rebuild the city.

Over 8 tonnes worth of supplies were sent from Pakistan as a token of Muslim solidarity in difficult times. Prime minister, Imran khan conveyed his sincerest condolences to Lebanese officials in light of the devastating events.

Muhammad Asghar Kaira

Pakistan is a nation which has a rich history when it comes to sports, it has had its fair share of glory in different sports, from bagging in the world championships to being Olympic gold medalist and unlocking achievements as they progressed.

However rather than cementing its position, Pakistan has witnessed a persistent decline in the field of sports, it seems all the glories and achievements are a memory of the past and the recovery from this situation is not in sight anytime soon. The question arises why sports has declined in Pakistan?

After taking a wholistic view a number of reasons can be drawn for this decline. One of the most important reason is the lack of focus in the sports sector by the government; combined with the incompetent management of the federations and boards of the related sports. The result of this can be seen in the national sports of the country, field hockey. There was a time when the national men’s hockey team without a doubt ruled the world and still is the most successful national field hockey team in the world cup, collectively it won four world cups, eight gold medals in the Asian Games, three time winning the champions trophy, three Olympic gold medals and total of twenty-nine official international titles. Having such a glorious past and considering the current position, one can easily say that the mighty have fallen, a world champion team with such great history not even qualifying for the Olympics anymore. The last major achievement the national hockey team had was back in 2010 by winning the Asian Games.

This fall is owed to the government not providing enough funds for the development of the game in the recent years although efforts were made by the governments of Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto by inviting corporate sector to invest in the game and planned to lay down AstrotTurfs, however it was not sufficient enough and presently in a few AstroTurfs are available, in addition to it these efforts were made a good twenty three years go. Along with this the politics and corruption in the Pakistan Hockey Federation have further helped in the deterioration of the facilities provided to the players, plus the national players having low pays, the national team legends and current players having no recognition has led to the point that the national sports is not promoted anymore and the youth has lost interest in this game.

Sadly the same are the reasons for the decline of squash in Pakistan despite dominating the game for good five decades, winning every possible official tittle and arguably producing the best player of the game Jahangir Khan; sadly today hardly anyone knows the players or even the sports of squash.

Moving on to the situation of athletics. Athletics is often termed as the mother of all sports, and nations such as the USA, China and Great Britain are renowned for exceling in this particular area of sports. Countries of the world take athletics seriously, the governments spend a hefty amount on development of players, facilities and winning the gold medal at the Olympics is a matter of prestige. Sadly the conditions are dire in Pakistan. This position can be best explained from the contrast of budget and aim set, Pakistan in the budget of 2019-20 only allocated PKR102.261m for the development of the game with no new projects and PKR339.958m designated in the next fiscal year. Whereas at the same time Australia in 2019 had allocated the fund of $300m over the next two years to physical activity and sports, the mindset behind injecting such huge amount is to facilitate young athletes with aim to win gold medals in Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028. No such planning can be seen on the part of Pakistan and lack of focus can be seen from the fact that Pakistan has not won any medals since the Atlanta Olympics 1996, further to add the number of athletes have shrunken as the years have passed. The Pakistan Olympic Association had been blamed for mismanagement of funds, politics and adding to this misery is the fact that the association has the same president since 2004 with zero success, which clearly indicates seriousness of the association to improve the conditions.

Probably the only sports which is religiously followed in Pakistan is cricket, and our emotions flow with the game performances. However to critic we have not achieved the heights we should have, even though we have won the world cup in the 1992 and recent successes with the 2009 T-20 worldcup and 2017 Champions Trophy, but the national teams performances have been inconsistent. On the other hand the sport has not seen the decline due to the glamour and investment that has been added to the game in the fan-favourite format of T-20 through different leagues such as PSL, IPL and the Big Bash.

Although a lot has been lost but it is still not late, if steps are to be taken with an aim to achieve success in the future in different sports. This can be done through planned focus and an increase in the funds for the development physical sports and forming recreational sports venues where the youth can come and carry out these activities. The youth makes about 64% of Pakistan’s population which indicates ample talent is available, thus a mechanism is required for this to be recovered and furnished. Here the digital media can play its role, The Pakistani digital media mostly only covers cricket and does not cover other sports such as boxing, snooker and athletics. Through an increased coverage and recognition of current players and our national legends, the youth can be attracted to the game and find inspirations. Hence decline can only be curtailed through a collective effort by all stakeholders and clear planning from the government.

The University of Namibia’s School of Veterinary Medicine is training dogs to detect coronavirus.

The plan is to deploy the dogs at airports and borders, the quotes Conrad Brain, a physiology and epidemiology lecturer as saying.

Dogs have been proven 95% accurate at detecting coronavirus, veterinary lecturer Alma Raath adds.

The project started two months ago, the Namibian reports, but it does not say when the dogs will be ready.

The Namibian says this is the first African country to use dogs to sniff out Covid-19.