The Awami National Party Sindh chapter has decided not to hold a gathering to commemorate the May 12 carnage because of the coronavirus outbreak.ANP Sindh president Shahi Syed said that the May 12, 2007, tragedy was unforgettable for them and the party would continue to commemorate it until those...

A anti-terrorism court on Saturday adjourned the hearing of cases pertaining to anti-state and hate speeches against leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and London factions without any proceedings because of the coronavirus lockdown.The hearings of as many as 27 identical cases was...

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Karachi president and MPA Khurrum Sher Zaman on Saturday said that one of his Friday statements had been misrepresented and therefore he tendered his apologies if it had hurt anyone’s sentiments.Zaman came under severe criticism by a section of activists on...

A minor boy feared to have died while bathing in a storm water drain in the Khamiso Goth area on Saturday.According to the New Karachi Industrial Area police, the incident took place when 11-year-old Hamza was bathing in the storm water drain along with some other kids near his residence. Rescuers...

Strongly opposing federal and provincial governments’ decision to ease the lockdown, senior health experts and medical associations on Saturday warned that the number of COVID-19 cases was already on the rise and if restrictions were further lifted, the outbreak could get out of control in...

Five people associated with the Sindh chief minister’s secretariat are reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus.A source privy to the affair told The News on Saturday that one of the five people had already recovered from the coronavirus.The source said all other media reports...

Four more COVID-19 patients in Sindh lost their lives on Saturday, raising the novel coronavirus death toll in the province to 180, which is around 1.7 per cent of the total number of cases of the virus.Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said in a video message released by the CM House that 8,571...

Former President Barack Obama harshly criticized President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as an "absolute chaotic disaster" during a conversation with ex-members of his administration, according to a recording obtained by Yahoo News.

BEIJING: “We have received critical medical supplies worth millions of RMBs from Chinese donors including major SOEs, entrepreneurs engaged in several projects in Pakistan, provincial governments of China and also from private individuals. These donations have reinforced Pakistan’s...

NEW DELHI: An Indian pharmacist died and his boss was left hospitalised after the pair drank a chemical concoction they had developed in an effort to treat coronavirus, police said Saturday. The men worked for a herbal medicine company and were testing their treatment — a mix of nitric oxide...

BRUNSWICK: Many people saw more than the last moments of Ahmaud Arbery’s life when a video emerged this week of white men armed with guns confronting the black man, a struggle with punches thrown, three shots fired and Arbery collapsing dead.The Feb. 23 shooting in coastal Georgia is drawing...

NEW YORK: Little Richard, whose outrageous showmanship and lightning-fast rhythms intoxicated crowds in the 1950s with hits like “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally,” has died. He was 87 years old. Citing the rock ´n´ roll pioneer´s son, Rolling Stone...

MINSK: Thousands of troops paraded before crowds of spectators in Minsk Saturday to mark 75 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany as Belarus held a celebration of Victory Day despite the coronavirus pandemic.Neighbouring Russia cancelled its Victory Day parade over the pandemic and Belarus was...

TUNIS: Jet fuel tanks at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport were targeted in an attack on Saturday that caused a large fire, Libya’s National Oil Corp said.Mitiga is the last functioning airport in the Libyan capital, though civilian flights stopped in March because of repeated shelling even...

NEW DELHI: An Indian pharmacist died and his boss was left hospitalised after the pair drank a chemical concoction they had developed in an effort to treat coronavirus, police said on Saturday.The men worked for a herbal medicine company and were testing their treatment -- a mix of nitric oxide...

NEW YORK: Little Richard, whose outrageous showmanship and lightning-fast rhythms intoxicated crowds in the 1950s with hits like "Tutti Frutti" and "Long Tall Sally," has died. He was 87 years old.Citing the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer’s son, Rolling Stone magazine said on Saturday the...

LONDON: More suspected migrants have been spotted at Dover in Kent on Saturday as the huge increase in crossings since lockdown was imposed continues. Pictures taken at the busy trade port show people wearing face masks being processed by officials.It follows reports of another large influx of...

A total of 14 positive coronavirus cases were detected on the May 8 expat return flights, the state-run National News Agency said Sunday.

Rawalpindi : City Police in a crackdown against mobile snatching gang arrested two members of the gang who use to rob people with mobile and cash on gunpoint.Police also recovered 30 mobile phones, Rs113,000 and weapons from them.City Police stated that detainee culprits use to make mobile...

Islamabad :” The Patron-in-Chief of Supreme Shia Ulema Board and Quaid-i-Millat Jafariya Agha Syed Hamid Ali Shah Moosavi has said that enemies of the religion are looting the wealth of Muslims by creating differences amongst them and by sowing the seeds of hatred, says a press release.He...

The real principle of any democracy is choice, equity and inclusion; by echoing the populist-political demand for single national curriculum, standardized exams, regimented testing regimes and uniform text books, we shall sponsor a polarized nation-state and thus imposing one size fit all, which...

Islamabad: The Diabetes Centre and Islamabad Capital Territory Administration have collaborated to deliver much-needed and life-saving medicines to deserving diabetes patients free of cost under prevailing difficult circumstances after Coronavirus outbreak and lockdown.Hamza Shafqaat, Deputy...

Islamabad : Reduced human activities outside due to COVID-19 lockdown has not only contributed to the revival of nature through lowering pollution level and limiting human interference but also provided an opportunity to the migratory birds to fly freely without any threat of poaching.World...

Islamabad : Parliamentarians and civil society representatives while participating in a virtual conference urged the government to urgently develop an integrated mechanism engaging different stakeholders and active civil society organizations to reach out to a variety of daily workers and...

Rawalpindi : Another two patients died of coronavirus illness, COVID-19 in town in last 24 hours taking total number of deaths so far caused by the disease to 46 in the district while four have already lost their lives due to the illness in the federal capital.Data collected by ‘The...

LAHORE: The Covid-19 is proving more lethal when it comes to male patients as compared to women virus carriers as an analysis of official data shows that 69 of its victims in Punjab were men, while the remaining 31 per cent women. Only two transpersons died from the pandemic in the province.

A senior official told Dawn that Punjab reported 1.82 per cent virus death rate, while 40pc of carriers recovered from the disease across the province so far.

Meanwhile, the Punjab government issued new guidelines for the treatment of severe and critical Covid-19 patients to keep the death toll low.

Recommended by Corona Experts Advisory Group (CEAG), the guidelines had been dispatched to all the vice-chancellors of the medical universities, principals of medical colleges and the heads of the teaching and other government hospitals, keeping in view recent surge in the death rate in Punjab.

According to an age-wise analysis, the virus proved most fatal for those in 50-60 year age bracket as such patients make 32pc of the total victims. The patients between 61 to 70 years of age were the second-most vulnerable group as 27pc of those who died from Covid-19 fall in it.

Those in 50-60 age bracket ‘most vulnerable’

Similarly, 16pc of the patients who died were between the age of 41 and 50 years, and 13pc between 71 to 80.

Interestingly, only two percent of Covid-19 patients were 80 years old or above, while 10pc of the deaths occurred among those who were 40 or below.

Another alarming factor the data analysis revealed was that most of those who died had no other disease or co-morbidity.

The gender-wise analysis further revealed that of the 31pc females who died, 66pc had no co-morbidity, while of total 69pc male victims, 67pc were having no other disorder.

Similarly, the recovery ratio among young Covid-19 patients is the highest, as compared to others.

According to the analysis, out of total patients who got recovered, 23pc were in 24-34 age group, 17pc in 35-44 group, 15pc in 18-24, 14pc in 45-54, 13pc in 55-64, eight percent in 65-74 and only one per cent of recovered patients were in 75 years and above age bracket.

The analysis was conducted by experts of the both health departments and shared in an official meeting in order to devise future strategies to curtail the pandemic, accordingly.

Meanwhile, eight more critical patients of Covid-19 died at various hospitals of the province during the last 24 hours, as per official data shared on Saturday, taking the death toll to 191 in Punjab.

Most of these deaths occurred in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

The total number of confirmed patients reached to 10,471 in Punjab, when 438 more tested positive for the virus on Saturday.

According to the official figures, 228 fresh cases were reported from Lahore, 58 from Gujranwala, 28 from Gujrat, and 11 from Rawalpindi, besides some other cities.

With the new cases, total number of confirmed patients in Lahore has jumped to 4,084, the highest in Punjab, followed by Rawalpindi 592 and Gujranwala reporting 480 cases so far.

The health department spokesperson said the number of critical virus patients in the province has jumped to 41. The number of Covid-19 critical patient in Punjab was 22 on Friday.

The spokesperson said no new case was reported from the quarantine centres housing the pilgrims returning from Iran and the Tableeghi Jamaat members.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) under its ‘Supply Chain Finance Programme’ has dedicated $200 million to support companies that make and distribute medicines and other items needed to combat coronavirus in the developing member countries of the Bank.

The programme aims to stabilise the supply chain for products such as N95 marks, test kits, gloves, personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare providers, ventilators, hygiene items, and other critical goods.

The ADB assistance is targeted at channeling fund to manufacturers, their suppliers, and the distributors of critical goods through post-shipment post-acceptance finance, pre-shipment loans, and distributor financing.

Export bans of key materials have worsened the shortage of face masks in 22 economies, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Poland, China, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, Taipei, Thailand and Ukraine. The export bans are in place in these economies since March 18.

Pakistan among nations that faced shortage of masks due to ban on export

A $800m increase in ADB’s Trade Finance Programme will also be mobilised and along with the increase in capital comes flexibility to support domestic and cross-border trade in times of emergency. The programme is an effective crisis response vehicle because it has strong relationships with many banks, both inside developing Asia and globally, the latter particularly helpful to mobilise co-financing, involving private sector resources to leverage the impact of ADB’s direct support.

An ADB report says that surging demand, partly joined with panic buying, hoarding, and misuse of PPE amid the Covid-19 pandemic, is disrupting global supplies and putting lives at risk. Demand has surged, overwhelming global production capacity.

The dramatic rise in demand for surgical masks, goggles, gloves, and gowns has depleted stockpiles, prompted significant price increases, and led to production backlogs of 4 to 6 months in fulfilling orders.

The most significant challenge is to ensure that critical PPE products are sourced and allocated to frontline health workers and other responders in affected countries, especially those most vulnerable to the spread of coronavirus.

The global market for PPE in the health sector was estimated to be worth $2.5 billion in 2018. Gloves have the highest share of sales revenues at 25 per cent, followed by suits or coveralls at 22pc. Face masks and hats came in third with a share of 14pc.

By region, the United States had the largest market share (33pc), followed by Asia and the Pacific (28pc), and Europe (22pc) in 2018.

The PPE supply chain has not been properly functioning to meet a surge in demand due to the constraints in production and logistics. Prices of PPE products have risen dramatically since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak: a six-fold increase for surgical masks; threefold for respirators; and a doubling in the price of gowns.

Among the major sources of the identified backlogs in the production and distribution of PPE, with a focus on face masks, are transport and shipping constraints caused by roadblocks and quarantine measures, and lower availability of transportation and freight containers, hoarding, profiteering, and limited workforce capacity due to illness, also contribute to the shortage.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020

Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui on Sunday said that Pakistan rejects the "baseless and inaccurate" allegations by Harish Salve, India's legal counsel in the Kulbushan Jadhav case.

In an online lecture on May 3, Salve, who had represented India in the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleged that Pakistan refused to respond to Indian queries about how it would carry out the ICJ's judgement and review and reconsider Jadav's case.

"We have written four to five letters to Pakistan [...] but they just keep on denying. I think we have reached a point where we have to now decide whether we want to go back to ICJ for consequential directions because Pakistan has not moved ahead," Tribune India quoted Salve as saying.

He also alleged that Pakistan granted consular access to Jadhav "too late" and refused to share details of the case with India.

The Foreign Office, while refuting the allegations, said that Pakistan has "fully complied" with the international court's judgement. "Pakistan has granted India consular access to commander Jadhav and is processing measures for effective review and reconsideration as per the guidelines provided by ICJ in its judgment," a statement from the FO read.

The Foreign Office also said that Salve's statements were "regrettable and a misrepresentation of facts", adding that Pakistan followed "all its international obligations".

Read: Timeline: How the Kulbhushan Jadhav saga unfolded

The ICJ in its verdict in July 2019 had ruled that Jadhav be allowed consular access immediately and asked Pakistan to ensure "effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences".

The ICJ had, however, rejected all other remedies sought by India, which included the annulment of the military court decision convicting Jadhav, restricting Pakistan from executing the sentence, securing Jadhav's release and ordering his return to India.

Arrest of Indian spy

Jadhav — a serving commander of the Indian Navy associated with Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing — was arrested on March 3, 2016, from Balochistan on allegations of espionage and terrorism.

Read: Transcript of RAW agent Kulbhushan’s confessional statement

In his subsequent trial at a military court, Jadhav had confessed to his involvement in terrorist plots.

The spy was subsequently sentenced to death in 2017. However, India insisted that Jadhav was not a spy and said he was kidnapped from Iran.

On April 10, 2017, Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa had endorsed the death penalty for Jadhav. In June 2017, the Indian spy had filed a mercy petition against the death penalty, in which he again confessed to his involvement in terrorist activities.

However, before Pakistani authorities could make a final decision, the ICJ, after being approached by India, had ordered a stay in his execution through an interim order.

Palo Alto, CA – Aha™ by HARMAN announced today that it has partnered with Fishidy and has rolled out ParkVisitor’s services, expanding its already robust content pipeline. Aha uses the HARMAN Cloud Platform to enable Web-based entertainment and information in vehicles using a radio-like format that is familiar to drivers. More than 40,000 music and non-music programs that span from live radio stations to podcasts and audiobooks from the Web are delivered straight to the car's dashboard through a seamless connection with an Aha smartphone app for iOS and Android systems.

CES 2014, LAS VEGAS – HARMAN, the premium global audio and infotainment group (NYSE:HAR), unveiled two new services for the automotive market that leverage the Aha by HARMAN Cloud Platform and HARMAN’s infotainment system design leadership to ensure safe, personalized and connected driving experiences throughout the life of the vehicle. Extending beyond the popular Aha Radio interactive content service, the new Aha Updates and Aha Analytics services take HARMAN’s expertise and investments in cloud infrastructure into new directions.

CES 2014, LAS VEGAS, NV – HARMAN announced today that its Aha Radio service has partnered with Univision Radio, the leading Hispanic radio group that owns and operates 69 broadcast radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. markets, to integrate more than 65 radio stations from the Uforia digital music service into Aha-enabled vehicles and mobile apps.This partnership represents a continuing effort by Univision Radio to provide Hispanic audiences with high-quality content across all its platforms. For Aha, this is another step to further expand its content offerings and specifically, to provide high-quality content to Hispanic audiences in the U.S.

CES 2014, LAS VEGAS -- HARMAN announced today that it is working with Emmis Communications, Salem Communications and MediaTracks Communications, integrating top radio stations and digital content into its Aha Radio platform. The arrangements further expand Aha Radio content offerings to its global user base, delivering an extensive and diverse mix of terrestrial and digital radio content. Drivers outside major U.S. cities can now tune in to these top radio stations and digital content in their car through the Aha app.

CHICAGO, IL –HARMAN and Hyundai Motor America today announced the 2015 Genesis will offer the Aha Radio service in the North American market. Aha Radio will be a part of the next generation infotainment systems also debuting in the 2015 Genesis. Hyundai Motor America has integrated the Aha Radio service into Genesis to give its U.S. drivers the ability to access over 100,000 music, entertainment and news stations as well as location-based services in an intuitive manner using their connected iPhone.

GENEVA – HARMAN, the premium global audio and infotainment group (NYSE:HAR), is making one of its strongest showings ever at this year’s Geneva Autosalon, demonstrating infotainment and audio solutions in vehicles from an impressive range of manufacturers. Also testifying to the company’s strength as an industry innovator, HARMAN is showcasing, together with Rinspeed, a new concept car for mobile connectivity within urban spaces. In total, technology and solutions by HARMAN are present in stands throughout the show, demonstrating the predominant role that HARMAN has come to play across the auto industry.

Palo Alto, CA – August 12, 2014– HARMAN announced today that its Aha Radio service has integrated Radio Disney, the #1 radio network for kids, tweens and families, into today’s two million Aha-enabled vehicles. This alliance represents the continuing effort of Aha by Harman to further expand its content offerings and specifically, provide an enjoyable experience for all users, regardless of age or taste in music.

Palo Alto, CA – HARMAN announced today that its Aha Radio service will be a standard feature in all Subaru models and trims starting with the 2015 Legacy. Subaru of America, Inc. was one of the first automotive manufacturers to integrate the Aha Radio service into its vehicles. A partnership that was established through the availability of the service in 2014 Subaru Forester’s top trim levels has been consistently growing since then.

Professional sound systems like those used in performance venues such as stadiums, theaters, cinemas and night clubs need tremendous power to amplify sound to their audiences. In these instances, did you know HARMAN offers audio solutions that reduce...

With the championship race in Brooklyn, New York over the weekend of July 14-15, Harman Kardon recently wrapped a second successful season partnering with BMW i and the MS&AD Andretti Formula E team. The ABB FIA Formula E Championship began in 2014 ...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Saturday it would allow state health departments to distribute Gilead Sciences Inc's remdesivir drug to fight COVID-19, and the United States would receive about 40% of the drug maker's global donation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned on Saturday that if provinces move too quickly to reopen their economies, a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic could send Canada "back into confinement this summer."

Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "architect of rock 'n' roll" who built his ground-breaking sound with a boiling blend of boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues and gospel, died on Saturday at the age of 87.

China and the United States both supported a draft United Nations Security Council resolution confronting the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday and it was "shocking and regretful" that Washington changed its mind on Friday, a Chinese diplomat said.

A major U.S. airline trade group on Saturday said it backed the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checking the temperatures of passengers and customer-facing employees during the coronavirus pandemic.

Venezuela's military said it seized three abandoned Colombian light combat vessels that soldiers found on Saturday while patrolling the Orinoco river, several days after the government accused its neighbor of aiding a failed invasion.

Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada.

Australia's most populous state, home to Sydney, will allow restaurants, playgrounds and outdoor pools to reopen on Friday as extensive testing has shown the spread of the coronavirus has slowed sharply, New South Wales state's premier said on Sunday.