PESHAWAR: A Task Force under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur has been set up to reform the health sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a notification issued here on Saturday. Dr. Nizam Ud Din, MD Diplomate American Board Medicine Consultant also included in the members and all the other members of the 10-member Task Force are post-doctoral graduates abroad. The Task Force will act as an advisory body under the Health Sector Reforms and for the provision of medical equipment, up-gradation and improvement of management in government hospitals. The Task Force will prepare recommendations to develop the…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
ISLAMABAD: A new case of polio has been reported in Pakistan, bringing the total number of cases in the country to five in 2024. According to sources, the latest case is a two-year-old child from Quetta, Balochistan, who tested positive for wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1). The National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the fifth polio case reported in Pakistan this year. This is the fifth polio case in 2024 as Pakistan had earlier reported four cases. One case was from Sindh whereas the three cases reported were from Balochistan. The country reported six polio cases last year, with…
PARIS: As the countdown to the Olympics passed the 50-day mark, Paris hoisted its rings on the Eiffel Tower overnight and showed them off on Friday morning. Workers assembled the prefabricated steel rings and after dark on Thursday lifted the logo, weighing 30 tonnes and 29 metres long, into place between two legs of the tower just above its first level. Pierre Engel, an engineer at ArcelorMittal, the steel company that manufactured the rings from recycled material, said tests and studies had been carried out for many months to ensure the success of the operation. The rings, each nine metres…
PARIS: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz recovered from a woeful start to beat an inconsistent Jannik Sinner 2-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 and qualify for his maiden French Open final after a see-saw encounter on Friday. The third seed was a shadow of his brilliant self in the opening set before making the most of his Italian opponent’s premature cramps to level before the bizarre match went into a decider. Australian Open champion Sinner, who will take over as world number one next week, bowed out when he returned a massive forehand down the line wide on the third match point on…
BRIDGETOWN: Captain Richie Berrington upstaged his Namibian counterpart in leading Scotland to a table-topping, five-wicket victory in Group B at the T20 World Cup on Thursday at Kensington Oval in Barbados. Thwarted by the weather in their opening fixture against England two days earlier at the same venue, Berrington’s composed unbeaten 47 off 36 balls (two fours, three sixes) and the timely support of the aggressive Michael Leask (35 off 17 balls, four sixes) paced the Scots to a winning total of 157 for five with nine balls to spare. Their combined effort in a fifth-wicket partnership of 74 rendered Gerhard…
NEW YORK: Canada won their first-ever Twenty20 World Cup match with a stunning 12-run victory against Ireland in a Group ‘A’ game in New York on Friday. Defending a target of just 138, the non-Test nation bowled and fielded expertly to hold Ireland to 125 for the loss of seven wickets from their full 20 overs. After a cautious start of 26-0, Ireland lost six wickets for the addition of just 33 runs as they slumped to 59-6. George Dockrell (30 not out) and all-rounder Mark Adair (34) revived Irish hopes during a notable partnership of 62 in seven overs.…
Afghanistan’s bowlers exploited a pitch assisting both pace and spin to the full at the Providence Stadium on Friday as they skittled New Zealand for just 75 from 15.2 overs and bowled their team to an 84-run run victory in the T20 World Cup. Afghanistan captain and spin bowler Rashid Khan took four for 17 in his team’s second decisive victory in the tournament; they defeated Uganda by 125 runs at the same venue on Tuesday and are on top of Group C. After New Zealand captain Kane Williamson elected to field first, Afghanistan reached a respectable 159 for six from their…
ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), is on the rise for the second week in a row ahead of the upcoming federal budget, official data showed on Friday. The SPI-based inflation increased by 21.69 per cent year-on-year in the week ending June 6, mainly due to surging prices of vegetables and pulses. It witnessed a 0.45pc week-on-week increase. According to early reports on the proposed tax measures in the upcoming budget 2024-25, there appears to be a strong emphasis on indirect taxes, particularly sales tax. This is expected to contribute to an increase in inflation in the coming weeks. Furthermore,…
ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Friday notified up to Rs3.23 per unit additional increase in electricity rates for consumers of K-Electric for four months — June to September — to clear a nine-month backlog of fuel cost adjustments (FCA). KE had sought about Rs18.6 per unit cumulative FCA for three quarters (July 2023 to March 2024) of the outgoing fiscal year to extract up to Rs26billion from the consumers at varying rates ranging between an increase of Rs4.96 to 96 paise per unit for seven months and a reduction of Rs1.28 to 1.48per unit for two months. Nepra…
LONDON: The United Nations world food price index rose for a third consecutive month in May, as higher cereals and dairy product prices outweighed drops in prices for sugar and vegetable oils. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation’s price index, which tracks the most globally traded food commodities, averaged 120.4 points in May, up 0.9pc from its revised April level, the FAO said on Friday. The May reading was nonetheless 3.4pc below the level seen a year earlier. The FAO index hit a three-year low in February as food prices continued to ease off from a record peak set in March 2022, following…
