KARACHI: Pakistan's central bank held its main policy rate at 13.25% on Friday, taking a second consecutive pause from a series of previous hikes as data pointed to a stabilizing inflation rate.
The bank last lifted rates in July by 100 basis points, raising the interest rate to 13.25%, its ninth cut since the start of 2018, as it faced rising inflation, a substantial current account deficit and downward pressure on the rupee currency.
The decision comes at a time of scrutiny for Pakistan's economy by the International Monetary Fund, which is reviewing progress on reforms agreed as part of bailout package in July.
Pakistan's central bank holds key interest rate at 13.25%
Pakistan's central bank holds key interest rate at 13.25%
- SBP last lifted rates in July by 100 basis points
- The decision was taken since official data pointed to a stabilization of inflation rate
Israeli airstrikes kill 20 in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
- In Deir Al-Balah, a town in central Gaza about 14 km (8.6 miles) south of Gaza City, the sounds of explosions mixed with thunder, and rain added to the miseries of displaced families in tent camps
CAIRO: Twenty Palestinians were killed in the early hours of Tuesday in Israeli air strikes on Rafah and central parts of the Gaza Strip, Gaza health officials said.
In the southern Gaza city of Rafah near the Egyptian border, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought shelter, 14 people were killed and dozens others wounded in strikes that hit several houses and apartments, Gaza medical officials said.
Six more people died in another air strike on a house in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza Strip, they added.
In Deir Al-Balah, a town in central Gaza about 14 km (8.6 miles) south of Gaza City, the sounds of explosions mixed with thunder, and rain added to the miseries of displaced families in tent camps.
“We are no longer able to distinguish between the sounds of thunder and bombings,” Shaban Abdel-Raouf, a father of five in Deir Al-Balah, said via a chat application.
“We used to await the rain and pray to God if it was late. Today we pray it doesn’t rain. The displaced people have enough miseries,” he added.
The conflict, now in its sixth month, began when Hamas fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 253 hostages according to Israeli tallies. Since then, Israel’s assault has killed more than 31,000 Gazans, according to Palestinian health officials.
Negotiations for a ceasefire in the war were due to resume on Monday with an Israeli delegation heading to Qatar.
“We are looking forward to the good news from Qatar. Will it happen this time? Will they seal a deal? Over 2 million people in Gaza are praying they do,” said Abdel-Raouf.
UN chief warns against ‘sequel to ‘Oppenheimer“
- Israel, the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power albeit an undeclared one, has been at war since an October 7 attack by Hamas militants
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Oscar-winning film “Oppenheimer” on Monday as he warned that the world faced the highest risk of nuclear war in decades.
At a Security Council session called by Japan, Guterres said that the biopic about the morally conflicted father of the atomic bomb “brought the harsh reality of nuclear doomsday to vivid life for millions around the world.”
“Humanity cannot survive a sequel to Oppenheimer,” Guterres said.
“We meet at a time when geopolitical tensions and mistrust have escalated the risk of nuclear warfare to its highest point in decades,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons as he warns the West against its support for Ukraine, which Moscow invaded more than two years ago.
Without naming Putin, Guterres said, “Nuclear saber-rattling must stop.”
“Threats to use nuclear weapons in any capacity are unacceptable,” he said.
Elsewhere in the world, tensions surrounding nuclear-armed North Korea have continued to rise and Iran has been enriching uranium closer to the level needed if it decides to build an atom bomb.
Israel, the Middle East’s only nuclear-armed power albeit an undeclared one, has been at war since an October 7 attack by Hamas militants.
Guterres called on the United States and Russia to resume negotiations, at a standstill since the Ukraine war, on a successor to the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty which expires in early 2026.
He also called for progress on other initiatives including the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which entered into force in 2021 but has little practical effect as no nuclear-weapons states are party to it.
“Investments in the tools of war are outstripping investments in the tools of peace. Arms budgets are growing, while diplomacy and development budgets are shrinking,” Guterres said.
The United States, the only country to have used nuclear weapons in warfare, said it would work on one area with ally Japan, whose cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devastated by atomic weapons in 1945.
The United States as well as France said they would join Japan in a coalition to push through the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, which would ban production of plutonium and highly enriched uranium, the key ingredients in nuclear weapons.
Most nuclear states have already stopped production. Discussions on a treaty have been blocked by Pakistan, which believes it would fall behind rival India and which enjoys diplomatic support from China.
“To forestall a potential arms race, we need to see an end to the production of fissile material for use in nuclear weapons, and continue pursuing negotiations on a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty,” said the US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who led the meeting, vowed that Tokyo “will further increase international and political attention” toward the treaty.
Kamikawa also called for work to ensure that nuclear weapons are not placed in space.
The United States said last month that Russia was developing a system to send nuclear weapons to space, an assertion denied by Putin.
“During the Cold War, despite the confrontational environment at that time, the international community established legal frameworks to ensure the peaceful and sustainable use of outer space, which prohibit placing nuclear weapons or any other kinds of weapons of mass destruction in outer space,” Kamikawa said.
“Even now, Japan firmly believes that outer space must remain a domain free of nuclear weapons,” she said.
Saudi Crown Prince, UN secretary general discuss Gaza situation
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has received a phone call from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, the Saudi Press Agency said early Tuesday.
The pair discussed the latest developments in Gaza and efforts towards achieving peace and stability.
An Afghan refugee has been convicted of murder in a case that shocked Albuquerque’s Muslim community
An Afghan refugee has been convicted of murder in a case that shocked Albuquerque’s Muslim community
- Syed, who speaks Pashto and required the help of translators throughout the trial, settled in the US with his family several years before the killings
- Defense attorneys said the conviction would be appealed once the other two trials are complete
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.: An Afghan refugee was found guilty Monday of first-degree murder in one of three fatal shootings that shook Albuquerque’s Muslim community during the summer of 2022.
Muhammad Syed faces life in prison for killing 41-year-old Aftab Hussein on July 26, 2022. He also will stand trial in the coming months in the other two slayings.
During the trial, prosecutors presented cellphone data that showed his phone was in the area when the shooting occurred, and a ballistics expert testified that casings and projectiles recovered from the scene had been fired from a rifle that was found hidden under Syed’s bed.
Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors had no evidence that Syed was the one who pulled the trigger. They said others who lived in his home could also access his phone, the vehicle and the rifle.
The defense called no witnesses; Syed tearfully declined to testify in his own defense.
Prosecutors on Monday said they were pleased that jurors agreed it was a deliberate killing. However, they acknowledged that no testimony during the weeklong trial nor any court filings addressed a possible motive or detailed any interactions that Syed might have had with Hussein before the killing.
“We were not able to uncover anything that we would indicate would be a motive that would explain this,” Deputy District Attorney David Waymire said outside the courthouse. “As best we can tell, this could be a case of a serial killer where there’s a motive known only to them and not something that we can really understand.”
Defense attorneys said the conviction would be appealed once the other two trials are complete. They too said a motive has yet to be uncovered.
The three ambush-style killings happened over the course of several days, leaving authorities scrambling to determine if race or religion might have been behind the crimes. It was not long before the investigation shifted away from possible hate crimes to what prosecutors described to jurors as the “willful and very deliberate” actions of another member of the Muslim community.
Syed, who speaks Pashto and required the help of translators throughout the trial, settled in the US with his family several years before the killings. Prosecutors described him during previous court hearings as having a violent history. His public defenders argued that previous allegations of domestic violence never resulted in convictions.
Syed also is accused of killing Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, a 27-year-old urban planner who was gunned down Aug. 1, 2022, while taking his evening walk, and Naeem Hussain, who was shot four days later as he sat in his vehicle outside a refugee resettlement agency on the city’s south side.
Muhammad Afzaal Hussain’s older brother, Muhammad Imtiaz Hussain, was there Monday to hear the verdict. He has been following the cases closely and like others in the community is troubled that there’s still no answer as to why his brother and the others were targeted.
A student leader at the University of New Mexico who was active in politics and later worked for the city of Española, Muhammad Afzaal Hussain had a bright future, his brother said. They had come to the United States from Pakistan for educational and economic opportunities.
He said the life they had planned was just starting to come to fruition when his brother was killed.
“It was a big loss,” he said.
Police also identified Syed as the suspect in the killing of another Muslim man in 2021, but no charges have been filed in that case.
Authorities issued a public plea for help following the third killing in the summer of 2022. They shared photographs of a vehicle believed to be involved in the crimes, resulting in tips that led to Syed.
Syed denied involvement in the killings after being stopped more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from Albuquerque. He told authorities he was on his way to Texas to find a new home for his family, saying he was concerned about the killings in Albuquerque.
The judge prohibited prosecutors from directly introducing as evidence statements Syed made to a detective while being questioned. Defense attorneys argued that Syed’s rights were violated because the detective, through an interpreter, did not adequately inform Syed of his right to a court-appointed attorney.
During the trial, prosecutors gave jurors a rundown of what happened the night of the first killing: Hussein parked at his apartment complex at around 10 p.m. and had just stepped out of his vehicle with his keys still in his hand when gunfire erupted.
“He stood no chance,” prosecutor Jordan Machin said during closing arguments. Machin said Syed had been lying in wait and that he continued to shoot even as Hussein lay on the ground.
Officers found Hussein with multiple wounds that stretched from his neck down to his feet. Investigators testified that some of the high-caliber rounds went through his body and pierced the car.
Prosecutors showed photos of Hussein’s bullet-riddled car and said the victim was killed nearly instantly.
New research shows a surge in popularity of Shisha across the globe as demand for cleaner experiences grows
- This rising popularity of shisha not only mirrors a shift in smoking preferences but also reflects a broader societal move toward sustainability
- Advanced Inhalation Rituals is the market leader in the $19 billion global shisha market, with an aim to provide superior physical, emotional and mental benefits through inhalation
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates: New research reveals a significant decline in cigarette smoking and a substantial surge in shisha users over the past 12 months in the USA, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Iraq.
The data from AIR Global’s latest research in these markets has found cigarette smoking has decreased by a fifth (21 percent), signalling a shift in preferences toward alternative options. This decline aligns seamlessly with an increasing interest in shisha:
This surge in demand for shisha is fueled by a growing appetite for more innovative and cleaner products.
OOKA, launched last year by AIR Global, is the world’s first charcoal-free, pod-based shisha device. It eliminates carbon monoxide production and offers a 94 percent reduction in harmful chemicals, making it a reduced-risk product for users and the environment. The success of OOKA since its launch in UAE in May 2023 is evident, with the first devices selling out in under a month and sales continuing to outperform expectations, highlighting the strong consumer demand for this revolutionary product.
Ronan Barry, Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer at AIR Global added:“We’re seeing a huge surge in popularity of shisha, and a key part of this growth is down to people wanting to enjoy cleaner, sociable experiences. We’re also seeing a heightened awareness of eco-conscious choices among consumers which is underscoring the evolving landscape of inhalation preferences. Shisha is the emerging frontrunner in meeting these demands of a more health-conscious and environmentally aware global population.
“As shisha market leaders, AIR Global is dedicated to redefining the shisha experience which led to the launch of OOKA – the world’s first charcoal-free pod-based shisha device. This innovation, a result of years of hard work by the AIR Global R&D team, removes harmful toxicants and streamlines setup. OOKA is a game-changer, offering a sleeker, cleaner, and more enjoyable shisha experience to meet the needs of this growing market.”
This rising popularity of shisha not only mirrors a shift in smoking preferences but also reflects a broader societal move toward sustainability. The creation of OOKA is a transformative milestone for both AIR Global and the wider shisha industry, aligning with global endeavours for cleaner and more responsible consumption.