TEHRAN: An earthquake struck early Friday near Iran’s highest peak and jolted Tehran, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20 as people ran for their lives. The shallow 4.6 magnitude quake hit at 00:48 am near the city of Damavand, about 55 kilometres east of Tehran, the US...

Two policemen and four other people were killed in Afghanistan Saturday after a deadly clash at a public food donation in central Ghor province, officials said.

Pakistanis crowded markets Saturday after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown was eased, despite the country declaring its second highest daily infection toll.

PESHAWAR: Over 240 Pakistanis stranded in Qatar landed at the Bacha Khan International Airport here on Friday.Upon landing at the Peshawar airport, Qatar Airways flight was disinfected and the passengers went through a screening process and later shifted to a quarantine facility.Earlier, at least...

Public work programs can build much-needed infrastructure while helping lift people out of poverty and shield them from the effects of natural disasters and economic crises

Carefully designed social programs offer the best chance to avoid corruption, inefficiency and other governance problems. 

Millions of Asia’s informal workers – such as vendors, day laborers, and others – are left out of national pension systems. Here’s what we can do to help them in their later years.

Global supply chains link the welfare of disaster-hit companies and their surrounding communities to a network of corporations that have an economic incentive to help them bounce back. 

COVID-19 is uncharted territory but development professionals bring a wealth of experience from past crises to rebuild lives, livelihoods, and economies. 

Millions of families who were already poor and vulnerable before the COVID-19 outbreak face impossible decisions about food, healthcare, and survival. We have a responsibility to act immediately and protect those most in need.

A new program will help provide food to thousands of poor households in the Philippines.

მილიონობით ოჯახი, რომელიც კოვიდ-19-ის გავრცელებამდეც ღარიბი და დაუცველი იყო, ახლა დილემის წინაშე დგას — როგორ იკვებონ, იმკურნალონ და უბრალოდ გადარჩნენ. ჩვენ ვალდებულნი ვართ დაუყოვნებლივ ვიმოქმედოთ და დავიცვათ ისინი, ვისაც ახლა ეს ყველაზე მეტად სჭირდება.

Despite the global outcry against animal sacrifice in Nepal, the tradition persists.

A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in the "Bridgegate" scandal that ultimately derailed the 2016 presidential bid of then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The justices found evidence of deception, corruption and abuse of power in the sch...

Criticising the Sindh government for “playing politics” over the holding of mourning religious congregations by issuing a notification to ban such congregations, the Majlis-e-Wahdat Muslimeen announced on Friday that the Yaum-e-Ali procession would be organised on Ramazan 21 after...

Providing safely managed sanitation services for all requires extending the partnership between the public and private sectors.

The ADB Sanitation Dialogue 2020, to be held on 29 June to 1 July 2020 in Manila, engages ADB's developing members and other development partners toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 on sanitation for all.

ISLAMABAD: Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Friday said that the National Council for Minorities nominated through a notification after a considerable delay was illegal because it had been formed in violation of a judgement announced by the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Tasaduq Hussain Jilani on June 19, 2014.

“The said act of violating the judgement of the Supreme Court is condemned,” the PPP leader said in a statement.

Mr Rabbani said that the Supreme Court’s judgement had come in the wake of a bomb blast in a Peshawar church in 2013 which left over a hundred members of the Christian community dead.

In a suo motu case, the then Chief Justice of Pakistan, in paragraph 37(iv) of the judgement, had ordered the setting up of the National Council for Minorities to monitor practical realisation of the rights and safeguards of members of minority communities provided in the 1973 Constitution.

The council was supposed to be mandated to frame policy recommendations for safeguarding and protecting minorities’ rights by the federal and provincial governments.

The judgement clearly mentioned eight steps that the governments were to take, including (i) reservation of quota in services, (ii) a special police force to protect places of worship, (iii) steps to discourage hate speeches, and (iv) revision of school curriculum to promote cultural and religious tolerance.

The PPP leader said that none of the steps had been taken so far by the governments.

He said that the federal government had, after the approval of the cabinet, constituted the council through a notification and the body had become controversial even before its birth and as a result the religious affairs ministry had to amend its summary.

The PPP leader said that the council should be constituted through an act of parliament.

Mr Rabbani said that the importance given to safeguarding the rights of the minorities in the country was evident from the fact that the white colour portion of the national flag represented minorities and in over 20 Articles of the Constitution, 1973, the rights of minorities had been guaranteed.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

The government of Pakistan has decided to bring back via special flights its students stuck in Wuhan, China, ground zero of the novel coronavirus.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari tweeted the development on Friday night, referring to those stranded there as "the bravest soldiers".

Pakistan International Airline (PIA) has been tasked to bring the first batch of Pakistanis – mostly students – beginning May 18, when around 250 individuals are expected to return.

Pakistanis who had been studying in Wuhan and other cities in the Chinese province of Hubei – first region in the world to be put under a strict lockdown on Jan 20 after being declared a virus epicenter – had appealed at the time to be evacuated.

Multiple requests for evacuation were made not only by the stranded students but also by their families back home. However, the government said it would not repatriate them immediately and would follow guidelines and processes put in place by China in this regard.

To allay the fears of the students and their families, the Foreign Office in February sent two of its officials from the Beijing embassy to Wuhan while the strict lockdown was still in place. The FO said the staffers were to remain in Wuhan till the lockdown ended and would meet students in different universities to get an update on their well-being and safety.

In March, President Arif Alvi and Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited China and interacted with Pakistani citizens there via video link.

Upon returning from the trip, both the foreign minister and President Alvi briefed the media and said that the students were in a good condition and had only requested that Pakistani food be provided to them.

On March 28, China began lifting the lockdown in Wuhan. By April 8, the restrictions were completely lifted and some of the the students celebrated by cooking themselves a meal.

A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday threw out the convictions of two political insiders involved in the “Bridgegate” scandal that ultimately derailed the 2016 presidential bid of then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. The justices found evidence of deception, corruption and abuse of power in the scheme, but said “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime.”

An earthquake struck early Friday near Iran's highest peak and jolted Tehran, killing at least one person and injuring more than 20 as people ran for their lives.

As Asia rapidly urbanizes, providing water and sanitation services has become problematic.

This working paper proposes flood footprint and accountability to coordinate risk management projects through appropriate spatial planning at river basin scale.

This publication provides essential information on the planning, implementation, and management of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools, particularly for small and isolated rural settlements in Mongolia.

Providing safely managed sanitation services for all requires extending the partnership between the public and private sectors.

The ADB Sanitation Dialogue 2020, to be held on 29 June to 1 July 2020 in Manila, engages ADB's developing members and other development partners toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 on sanitation for all.

Visiting the frontline of the Bayan Bayanihan emergency food program, ADB President Masa Asakawa lent a helping hand to deliver needed supplies to poor homes in Metro Manila.

ADB's food distribution program for Metro Manila and nearby areas reaches more than 100,000 needy households. affected by community quarantine due to COVID-19.

This publication provides essential information on the planning, implementation, and management of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools, particularly for small and isolated rural settlements in Mongolia.

Providing safely managed sanitation services for all requires extending the partnership between the public and private sectors.

Providing safely managed sanitation services for all requires extending the partnership between the public and private sectors.

CES 2020 - LAS VEGAS, NV - JANUARY 6, 2020 – HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets, today launched the HARMAN ExP Integrated Solution Suite,...

Rethinking Design for Man & Machine: Q&A with Huemen’s Stephanie Tuttle Design has an instrumental role in delivering powerful experiences. HARMAN’s mission to unlocking and elevating experiences for a wide range of stakeholders, from automakers and...

Brian Greene's new book argues that life is rare and extraordinary, probably transient, and that in the search for purpose, the only significant answers are ones we create  

Can creative sparks fly through plexiglass? Is the water cooler chat a thing of the past?

The remote Fijian island of Cicia has launched a novel business in organic produce that could prove to be a template for other developing communities around the world. The island declared itself chemical free and fully organic eight years ago and is now producing food that's attracting the interest of foreign buyers. Tara Cleary reports.

Olivia Colman and Helen Mirren have teamed up with the creators of Wallace & Gromit in a film called Turtle Journey to raise awareness about climate change and ocean pollution

Since the discovery of Asgard archaea in 2015, evidence has mounted that these peculiar single-celled organisms could be the source of all complex life – including us

The exhibition Animalesque celebrates what we share with Earth's other species – and offers hope for reforming our relationship with the natural world

We know viruses invaded animals’ genomes in the ancient past, but only now have we actually witnessed it happening and the DNA being passed to offspring

Puzzling, slow-living microbes named after Loki, the trickster of Norse mythology, are helping solve one of evolution's biggest mysteries: the origin of complex life

The earliest cave-dwelling animal identified from the dinosaur era is a ghostly white cockroach with tiny eyes and wings that was preserved in amber

All animals rely on oxygen at least at some stage of their life, but a parasite that infects fish seems to have completely lost the ability to use it – where it gets its energy from is still a mystery

A worm-like creature from 518 million years ago evolved to lose its back legs, the earliest known example of an animal losing body parts it no longer needed

It’s 2038 and Earth's trees are dead, bar some firs on a tiny island. The tale of what happened is an epic combining sci-if, mystery and an exposé of capitalism, says Sally Adee

Humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and bats have evolved to be good at metabolising alcohol, according to a study that suggests many mammals can get drunk

Self-educated ice sage James Croll cracked the conundrum of why Earth periodically freezes over. He was feted in his time, so why did the world forget him?

The weird ‘Ediacaran’ fossils have stumped scientists for decades - now fatty molecules found inside some of them confirm they are the most ancient animals we know

Armed with drones, helicopters and military-grade software, a British photographer has developed a new way to remember glaciers

Many people assume an asteroid triggered the mass extinction that killed the dinosaurs, but geologists say massive volcanic eruptions occurred at the same time