R e d e f i n i n g J o u r n a l i s m ; p o s t - h y b r i d

Or For That Matter From The Society

Pa K i S ta n’S experiences in the development of the media has been invariably influenced by the way the country was governed during its 75 years of bumpy existence With frequent interventions in the form of direct military rule to unspoken arrangements the latest has been the hybrid all these experiences had a deep mark on the way we practice journalism and consequently how public opinion is formulated or has been built up during the seven decades also the way it has become the narrative maker of sorts, not for the society; rather for the ringmaster who can reign it in Consequently the position of an external liaison wing of any influential institution has grown out of its intended mandate, with sometimes the self-proclaimed task of guiding the society itself in the backdrop of the above-mentioned developments the state of journalism in Pakistan is well below the standards it practiced during the first 60 years of its existence the print media which by nature of its 24 hours time lag the privacy of the source the room for the reporting as well as the editorial to synthesize the available information/ news story; the basics which in turn help create a well-moulded opinion the news story or editorial is fast losing its relevance as a credible opinion today, the opinion is influenced by; real-time running commentary, which sceptical analysts rightly call chasing the rearlights of a truck (truck ki bati kay peechhay daurhna) to fill up the intellectual aspect of that opinion; usually the news anchor relies on ‘who said’ or ‘what said’ the four ‘Ws’ of the news story are no longer important for the practitioner of new reporting; the well-oiled anchor nor for the recipient audience the result of that style of journalism has been opinionated news reporting; which in an environment like Pakistan where various pressure groups and institutions would like to be only heard; that sort of compromised journalism is what is sought after here it may be pointed out that Pakistan is not the first laboratory for that sort of journalism the West with all its standards of journalism, has been practising that in the domain of its external environment While the standards of journalism are tol- erated within the society; reflective in the fact that print publications still matter there in the external environment where the military machines as well as the intelligence agencies run supreme the entirely different breed of embedded reporting is groomed

For obvious reasons these models have been adopted in Pakistan; which can be safely termed as hybrid-influenced journalism or fifth-generation journalism the standard model of this type of journalism is the activist-journalist he is not accredited to any particular group or institution in the first place; given the fact that the electronic channel openly or covertly subscribes to the views of a particular political group, institution or a political movement that journalist if he is a ‘senior journalist’ will misuse his stature as a seasoned professional to influence the political opinion for his or her party of choice Given the last five years of Pakistani journalistic experience such a narrative can well be thinly veiled and any person can easily detect the political orientation of the senior sahafi the other commonly available variant of activist journalist or a suicide drone is the one actually trained for fifth-generation warfare however, the experiences after 9 april 2022 show that this variant has been used effectively against the originating infrastructures these variants again include ‘bigger warheads’ means ‘not so senior sahafi’ and also the usual ‘suicide drones’ the medium-category journalist is supposed to paint all the developments because the narrative does not serve the true picture and consequent rational analysis Rather it is designed to serve the party interests the suicide drone activist-journalist is a support wingman of the medium cadre journalist the result of the narrative and counternarrative is a polarized narrative situation in such a situation, rational journalism, or the one aimed at staying away from any particular narrative, runs the risk of not being read or even taken seriously the narratives are well defined and there is no swing vote for any particular narrative today seemingly, the strongest opposition grouping, the Pti has the largest arsenal of well-oiled fifth generation ‘dastangos’ ready to push the party narratives the PdM parties too are catching up with their own arsenal in the process Filtering down to the application of narrative in the social media in the case of Pakistan; twitter the Pakistani handles on either side of the political divide leave no stone unturned to hurl abuses or engage in cryptic or below-the-belt conversation or graphic abuse to make the point Gone are the days when the political and revolutionary narratives rested on a well articulated argument based on ideology and factsheets today, the party journalist is designed only for internal satisfaction of the committed or cult following he or she is not tuned to win over anyone from the other camp

With the political struggle being centred on the war strategy of propaganda where truth is the first casualty followed by objectivity the original proponents of responsible media are few and subdued the more abuse has a greater following anyone who can spin more stories and engage in the most name-calling has a greater chance to have higher ratings in the backdrop of these trends in the society; with serious journalism ceding its space to abuse, we see lesser demand for the printed matter on our market terraces and bookstores the opinion of the common person regretfully is not being framed through reading a wellresearched editorial piece or news story, rather what is the likely wish of the reporter concerned there are many complaints about fake news ghost stories breaking news and so on clouding the objectivity of the news available however it is the marketwise sense of the advertisers which has hit hard at the need to impart quality journalism; which in fact is the best tutor of the public as things stand Pakistan is going into another round of elections which will possibly throw up a new political dispensation are we sure that the electorate has been taught and guided well by the fourth pillar of the state? the answer is regretfully no the political battle lines are very much visible along the cult following of the political parties in the run the resultant governments are expected to follow the beaten tracks of the parties they follow Given the complex problems of governance trade commerce law and order foreign relations and economy cult followings with beaten tracks might not be the scenario the country demands now it seems that the decision of the clever monkey tasked with distributing the spoils of cheese amongst the hungry cats will determine which party will eventually sign the lifesaving deal with the iMF the return of the Pakistani nation state to normalcy will again be decided not by an informative fourth pillar of the society, but a war of narratives the slow death of the traditional opinion-making infrastructures in Pakistan speaks of the future scenarios it is the narrative which sells; not the chronology, timeline and an objective analysis Regretfully, such states can be client ones but not the game changers even for themselves

The writer is a freelance columnist

Ti K t o K is the most successful social media app to emerge in the past decade a huge phenomenon among young people tiktok has established itself as the single most downloaded application in the world becoming a staple in many people s lives in the same way other platforms such as Facebook managed in the past however not everyone is happy one unique characteristic of tiktok is that it s the first non-american social media app to ever gain worldwide ascendancy even more importantly it s Chinese, and as much as the application isn t political, its association with Beijing has landed it in the line of fire a uS house committee has just voted to forward an act which, if signed into law, will give the president power to ban tiktok as he wishes likewise uS President Joe Biden himself has ordered the application removed from all federally owned devices a move which has been copied by some other Western countries the claim is because tiktok is Chineseowned it must be a national security risk the most hawkish uS senators such as Josh hawley and Marco Rubio have never disguised their intentions to have it banned completely in the united States, and who can forget that the trump administration already attempted to do so but was unsuccessful after the move was challenged in court? of course, there isn’t any serious evidence of a “security risk” posed by tiktok – only guilt by association since the app is Chinese the firm has worked hard and devotes enormous amounts of money to lobbying and marketing to prove the opposite apparently that is not enough to stop the tide of paranoia sweeping in its direction the reality? the uS just isn t rational when it comes to dealing with China american political culture is deeply affected by McCarthyist scaremongering, and when there are not enough solid facts available to justify an aggressive political decision, such decisions are made based on emotional statements these emotional statements are most often related to fear or hatred, and trumped up as necessary to manufacture public consent this is a ‘post-truth’ world and China is on the other side of it over the past few years the uS has developed an aversion to anything coming out of China that has attained global success uS foreign policy is now obsessed with trying to contain China at all costs especially in the field of high-end technologies which if Beijing is allowed to succeed, will enormously deplete uS power and influence the uS has subsequently entity listed or blacklisted thousands of Chinese companies Recent measures include targeting Beijing’s entire semiconductor industry this was after Washington set out to cripple huawei as the uS pursues the Chinese companies it seeks to take down it levels the same vague allegations at them claiming that they are a national security threat and that through their associa- tion with the Chinese government there is a risk that the technology will be used to take your data and spy on them these allegations can get as silly as claiming Chinese-made fridges can spy on people n e v e r i n t h i s d e b a t e i s a n y s o l i d e v i d e n c e e v e r p r o v i d e d t h e u S j u s t s i m p l y s a y s s o a g a i n a n d a g a i n , u n t i l i t b e c o m e s a n e s t a blished trope in popular discourse, is parroted by the mainstream media, and steers the public debate in allied countries to get the foreign policy outcomes that Washington wants this is precisely how the uS was able to convince a l l i e d c o u n t r i e s t o e x c l u d e h u a w e i f r o m i t s 5G networks however it still remains unclear if the Biden administration will actually ban tiktok countrywide First it is because as much as it is a hugely successful Chinese application the reality is that the stakes of tiktok s success are not strategic it does not alter the balance of power between the uS or China in a dynamic which can have military implications, at least not in a way that something such as semiconductors can Secondly, such a ban can have shocking reverberations for freedom of speech and there is a serious argument that it may be unconstitutional Case in point the previous attempts to ban Chinese applications by the trump administration including WeChat and tiktok itself were blocked in the courts this sets a precedent regardless of any bill the uS Congress may pass

Gi V e n recent developments in artificial intelligence (ai), it appears that we are now likely on the cusp of economic and societal upheaval akin to, or perhaps even eclipsing what was brought about by the industrial Revolution over the coming decades all aspects of our lives will be affected from health care and education to transportation and communication making it essential that we enter this new era with an appreciation for how impactful today s decisions will be on tomorrow s world Far from being an impartial equalizer ai could well exacerbate and solidify existing inequalities if we aren t careful as such a greatly underappreciated concern when it comes to ai is the presence and impact of developer bias developer bias refers to the unconscious or even deliberate influence that creators have on the ai systems they design this in turn affects the outputs produced by these systems in that they operate on those very biases their creators carried with them Simply put, when the design of a system is biased, the results thereof will reflect it this bias is particularly prevalent in the realm of religion and politics where moral and ideological values are inescapable parts of the equation take for example how ai chatbot ChatGPt has a liberal bias writing poems admiring President Joe Biden on command while refusing to do so for former President donald trump Should large language models writ large carry this same sort of bias and be employed to write the bulk of our news stories, the media landscape would be inexorably tilted in one ideological direction While conservatives could always later build and deploy their own internationally conservative large language models the inertia carried by an initial wave of liberal bots might well make would be competitors about as successful as those companies that have sought to displace the likes of Google in the search engine market or amazon in online retail Beyond simple political tilt, developer bias has the potential to systematically undermine fairness and impartiality across society this is especially true in areas like law enforcement and the criminal justice system, where ai is already being used to make decisions that have life-altering consequences with reliably racist results Results such as this will, deservedly continue to erode public confidence in ai technology and lead to a backlash against its use and development the potential for creativity and progress of ai itself is also at stake When ai algorithms are shaped by the biases of a few individuals they are inherently unrepresentative of the diverse perspectives and experiences of society this can result in ai that is narrow-minded and lacking in imagination greatly limiting its potential the wisdom of the crowd will be what maximizes ai s positive impact on the world, not the genius of a restricted handful of developers in Silicon Valley luckily, developer bias can be overcome the first step is for the architects of ai to be aware of their own biases and to take active steps to mitigate them this can be achieved through regular training, education, and self-reflection intentional neutrality ought to be the ideal we strive for when creating ai and this will never be possible if we allow own personal issues to cloud the code however even if ai developers themselves are totally unbiased they will continue to produce biased systems unless they identify and correct the ways in which the underlying data their algorithms work from are a product of bias algorithms should then be intentionally trained on diverse and inclusive data sets when able Moreover forethought must be placed on how ai can correct for biased data in just the same manner that a human can be taught to identify and correct for misleading information

Nicholas Creel is an assistant professor of business law at Georgia College and State University Gavin Incrocci is an undergraduate student at Georgia College and State University who is studying cryptocurrency and cyber-law under professor Creel

How markets have changed in my 20 years of reporting

Th e R e have been a lot of changes on Wall Street since i first joined Cnn in november 2001 the dow was trading just below 10,000 at the time it’s now a little above 33 000 and some of the companies that were still among that blue chip average are no longer in the dow eastman Kodak (KodK) was a dow stock So were alcoa (aa) GM (GM) and Philip Morris (PM) oil prices were hovering around $18 a barrel more than 21 years ago an unimaginable level given its current price of about $78 and it s been even higher in recent years amazon (aMZn) still was generating the majority of its revenue from the sale of books, Cds and dVds Google (GooGl) was a young, privately held startup in late 2001 and Facebook didn t exist nor did youtube, twitter, Snapchat (SnaP) or tiktok Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were nearly a decade away from being created you get my point the market landscape now is starkly different than it was two decades ago if i’ve learned anything in my nearly three decades as a financial journalist it s that this time is different is perhaps the biggest myth in investing there are variations on that theme but to quote led Zeppelin the song remains the same today s meme stocks may be popular with the Robinhood crowd for example but before individual investors were touting the likes of GameStop (GMe) and aMC (aMC) on Reddit individual investors chatted about hot tech stocks on message boards such as RagingBull com, Silicon investor and yahoo Finance there always have been fads in tech and momentum investing has moved markets for decades traders will always seek to capitalize on headlines over the years i’ve seen dot coms crash and rise again

PAY ATTENTION TO PRICES: that s why investing strategists say most people should continue to invest for the long haul and try to have a truly diversified portfolio hint: if you own big stakes in tesla (tSla) and Ford (F) and not much else, having exposure to both electric vehicles and gas guzzling cars doesn t count as a diversified portfolio Still, experts also remind investors to not be afraid of taking some risks it’s fine to have a lot of your money in S&P 500 etFs and other funds that will track the broader market But it’s also okay to channel your inner Warren Buffett and look for individual winners “Passive investing should be a core of your portfolio but that doesn’t mean there’s not a place for actively picking stocks ” said andrew Patterson senior economist at Vanguard you may be unable to go through a lifetime completely avoiding stocks that totally implode but if you also own big long-time winners (think Buffett s Berkshire hathaway (BRKB) Walmart (WMt) and Microsoft (MSFt)) that can more than make up for any dogs in your portfolio a few very good decisions can make the difference and make up for any duds, said Bill Stone, chief investment officer with the Glenview trust Company you have to have humility and accept you will make mistakes But you have to let your winners win ” this means looking for stocks that are on sale investors sometimes make the error of ignoring stocks that have been beaten up a bit for fear that they will never rebound Stocks that get unfairly punished can wind up as great bargains

CASH IS KING: along those lines i wrote a story in January 2003 about apple (aaPl) Many on Wall Street and Silicon Valley were writing it off as a niche maker of Mac computers and ignoring its newer iPod and itunes digital music businesses i argued that apple wasn t getting enough credit for the tons of cash on its balance sheet and for its expansion into new growth areas (the first iPhone was four years away ) apple’s stock was trading at 23 cents a share (adjusted for splits) at the time – yes, you read that right –and its market value was a trifling $5 4 billion apple shares are now worth more than $145 apiece and the company’s market cap is $2 3 trillion “Valuation always matters ” Stone said “don’t overpay ” another key takeaway for investors? don t sweat what you can t control inflation jitters and worries about Federal Reserve rate hikes rocked the markets last year and have led to more volatility this year as well But it s impossible to time the market you will never pick exactly when a recession begins or ends or whether stocks are at a top or bottom We still continue to believe that over long periods of time, stocks provide a reasonable hedge against inflation, Patterson said Bonds are back, too, given where yields are they provide diversification and income ”

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C h I N A D e B U N kS ‘ D e B T T R A p ’ N A R R AT I v e

p R O j e C T e D B y w e S T e R N C O U N T R I e S

He added that the debt deferral amount China has contributed is larger than that of any other G20 member As the Belt and Road Initiative is entering the 10th anniversary, China stands ready to work with all partners to review achievements, sum up experience, plan for the future and work for new progress in the Belt and Road cooperation,” Wang said african debt a myth?

s e s m a n f o r t h e f i r s t s e s s i o n o f t h e 1 4 t h N a t i o n a l P e o p l e s C o n g r e s s ( N P C ) , m a d e t h e r e m a r k s i n r es p o n s e t o a q u e s t i o n o n S a t u r d a y d u r i n g t h e m u c h - a n t i c i p a t e d p r e s s c o n f e r e n c e that marked the beginning of China’s most i m p o r t a n t p o l i t i c a l s e a s o n C i t i n g s t a t i st i c s f r o m a Wo r l d B a n k ( W B ) r e p o r t t h e s p o k e s m a n c l e a r e d t h e a i r a r o u n d t h e h y p e d c l a i m s a n d m a i n t a i n e d t h a t n e a r l y t h r e e - q u a r t e r s o f A f r i c a s e x t e r n a l d e b t w a s a c t u a l l y o w e d t o t h e m u l t i l a t e r a l i n - s t i t u t i o n s a n d c o m m e r c i a l c r e d i t o r s w h e r e a s B e i j i n g w a s w o r k i n g t o e a s e A f r i c a s d e b t b u r d e n hina never attaches any political strings or seeks any self-seeking political gains Wang asserted and added that the country has actively participated in the debt service suspension initiative under the G20

China’s latest vehement rejection of the “debt trap” narrative came as Beijing faces criticism for “inveigling” poorer countries into taking out loans to build expensive infrastructure only to eventually seize control of assets from borrowing nations – a western claim that is often made as a retort to growing concerns about aid colonisation of the African nations that is blamed for the economic woes

Despite the Asian giant s recent measures to forgive interest-free loans, the US-led western block has claimed that the BRI is in fact a geopolitical strategy to establish Sinocentric world order

However, it may be noted here that ac-

BBC raids show India’s shrink ing media freedom under Modi, journalists say

NEW DELHI r e u t e r s

At around 11 am on February 14 Valentine’s Day some 20 Indian tax officials and police burst into the BBC‘s offices in New Delhi shouting at staff to step away from their computers and hand over their mobile phones according to two people present At the company s bureau in India s financial capital Mumbai tax officials launched a second raid The government said the BBC had failed to respond to repeated requests to clarify its tax affairs related to the profits and remittances from its Indian operations

The BBC has said it is cooperating fully with tax authorities and hopes to resolve matters quickly adding its journalists would continue to report “without fear or favour It declined to comment for this story

Three weeks before the raids which the government called a survey the BBC released a two-part documentary that included an examination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi s role in sectarian riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002 when he was chief minister there The documentary, which was only broadcast in Britain, accused Modi of fostering a climate of impunity that fuelled the violence

Modi s government has called the documentary biased and reflecting a colonial mindset Foreign Minister S Jaishankar told the ANI news agency last week it was politics by another means and suggested its timing was intended to undermine support for Modi The BBC has said it stands by the reporting

The 72-year-old prime minister enjoys high approval ratings and is expected to run for reelection next year for the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) In late January Indian authorities ordered the removal of social media posts sharing the documentary and police detained some Indian students who tried to screen it, saying it would disturb the peace They were released shortly afterwards

The tax inspections at the BBC‘s offices during which officials cloned the mobile phones of some senior staff and searched computers, according to the two people present have highlighted the concerns of some journalists and media rights watchdogs about what they say is a decline in press freedom under Modi

Reuters spoke to eight Indian journalists industry executives and media analysts who said that some media which reported critically on the government have been targeted with inspections by government agencies, the suspension of state advertising, and the arrest of re-

Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed in Februar y

WASHINGTON

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US President Joe Biden, 80, had a cancerous skin lesion successfully removed from his chest in February, his doctor said The lesion, detected during a routine medical examination, was a basal cell carcinoma which “do not tend to ‘spread’ or metastasize ” Biden’s physician Kevin O’Connor said in a report made public by the White House adding that no further treatment is required The lesion was removed during Biden s annual medical checkup on February 16 after which the president was declared fit for duty The site of the biopsy has healed nicely and the president will continue dermatologic surveillance as part of his ongoing comprehensive healthcare, O Connor said in the Friday report He noted that basal cell carcinoma were generally more innocuous than more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma ” “President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency to include those of as Chief Executive Head of State and Commander in Chief ” O’Connor said in February following Biden’s medical examination The checkup was the final one before an expected announcement by Biden the oldest person ever to be US president to declare he is running for reelection in 2024 porters There s never been a golden age of Indian journalism, said Abhinandan Sekhri, chief executive of an independent online media group, Newslaundry, whose offices in New Delhi were surveyed twice by tax officials in 2021 after critical coverage of Modi’s administration “But it has never been like it is now ”

A criminal case filed by the tax department against Sekhri alleging tax evasion and forging a valuation report was thrown out by a judge in Delhi in November Sekhri has sued the government for attacks on his fundamental rights and freedom of expression; the case is being heard in the Delhi High court Modi s government has vigorously denied the BBC tax inspection the first against an international news organisation in decades was a response to the film

“The BBC operates under two private companies in India: like any other foreign company they are open to scrutiny and tax laws apply to them ” said Kanchan Gupta senior adviser to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting The BBC had received more than 10 tax notices before the documentary aired he said Reuters was unable to confirm this independently The tax agency did not respond to requests for comment for this story Since Modi took office in 2014, India

ISLAMABAD

M A n A b r A r

China’s top political advisory body started its annual session on Saturday afternoon in Beijing Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders attended the opening meeting of the first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) held at the Great Hall of the People Wang Yang chairman of the 13th CPPCC National Committee delivered a work report of the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee to the session Uphold the CpC leadership: In the work report, Wang Yang, China s top political adviser, emphasized the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in overall work of the CPPCC in the past five years and vowed to uphold the Party’s leadership in its future work

Focusing on the central tasks of the Party and state the CPPCC has offered its “wisdom and strength” to the realization of Two Centenary Goals and contributed to the formulation and implementation of China s 14th

Five-Year Plan said Wang National political advisers submitted hundreds and has slid from 140th in World Press Freedom Index, an annual ranking by nonprofit Reporters Without Borders, to 150th place last year, its lowest ever Modi’s government rejects the Index’s findings, questioning its methodology, and says India has a vibrant free press The world’s most populous democracy with 1 4 billion people India has thousands of newspapers and hundreds of TV news channels Gupta the advisor to the information ministry denied any government agency had targeted the media in response to coverage or suspended any advertising He said the government had stated repeatedly that harassment of journalists was unacceptable and against the law ChoKinG fUnds: The Editors Guild of India, an industry association, said the BBC raids were part of a trend of “government agencies being used to intimidate and harass news organisations ” It cited four similar tax inspections against media in 2021 In one of those the offices of Dainik Bhaskar one of India s largest newspapers by circulation were raided in July 2021 by tax authorities who alleged it evaded taxes on income worth 7 billion Indian rupees ($84 47 million) The paper has contested the charge and the case is ongoing cording to Debt Justice a UK-based campaigning organisation just 12% of African governments external debt is owed to the Chinese lenders compared to 35% owed to Western private lenders, according to the calculations based on World Bank data Furthermore, interest rates on private loans are almost double than those on Chinese loans, while the most indebted countries are less likely to have their debt dominated by China “Western leaders blame China for debt c r i s e s i n A f r i c a b u t t h i s i s a d i s t r a c t i o n T h e t r u t h i s t h e i r o w n b a n k s a s s e t m a na g e r s a n d o i l t r a d e r s a r e f a r m o r e r e s p o ns i b l e b u t t h e G 7 a r e l e t t i n g t h e m o ff t h e hook Tim Jones head of policy at the org a n i z a t i o n s a i d i n a r e p o r t p u b l i s h e d i n 2 0 2 2 M o r e o v e r C h i n a t o o k p a r t i n t h e G 2 0 s d e b t s u s p e n s i o n s c h e m e d u r i n g t h e p a n d e m i c , b u t p r i v a t e l e n d e r s d i d n o t , J o n e s s t r e s s e d The report went on to state that the average interest rate on private sector loans was 5%, compared to 2 7% on loans from Chinese public and private lenders

UN nuclear chief to meet Raisi during crucial Iran talks

TEHRAN A F P thousands of proposals with the concerns of the people and the country to make practical suggestions and gather consensus In the past five years, a total of 29,323 proposals were received, and 23,818 of them were examined, said Wang Some of the suggestions have already been reflected in relevant policies and initiatives that are now being planned The proposals are related to China’s economic development, building up cultural confidence and people’s livelihoods the construction of ecological civilization as well as epidemic prevention and control in the country among other topics

Implementing the leadership and guidelines of the CPC Wang said the CPPCC has helped promote consensus among the people and cultivate the political and social foundation of the CPC s governance

It has also given full play to its role as the broadest patriotic united front organization at the same time uniting Chinese people at home and abroad in promoting national rejuvenation, Wang said improve the qUality of CppCC ConsUltations: As an important political and organizational platform in China’s political party system, the CPPCC serves as a key mechanism for multiparty cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC

Agony for family of hockey ex-pro feared dead in Italy migrant tragedy

LAHORE

For the family of Shahida Raza the former hockey star feared to be among the dozens of migrants who drowned off southern Italy this week the wait for her body is piling on the agony Raza competed in international championships with the women s team in 2012 and 2013, and was once described as the “linchpin” of the side But a wave of tragedies in recent years left her desperately seeking the money and opportunity to get life-saving treatment for her three-year-old son who was diagnosed with a condition that causes paralysis Her options in Pakistan exhausted, she left her child at home and made her way legally to Turkey last year, her family told AFP On Sunday she boarded the ill-fated wooden boat carrying some 150 passengers on the central Mediterranean migrant route the deadliest in the w orld Shahida was constantly in touch with the family and I even spoke to her at 6:30 in the morning on Sunday, around an hour or so before the tragic incident, her elder sister Sadia Raza told AFP on Thursday at the family home in Quetta “She told me that she was fine and on a boat ” The overloaded vessel broke up and sank in stormy seas, with bodies, shoes and debris washing up along a long stretch of shoreline Nearly 70 people are confirmed dead With the help of an acquaintance who lives in Italy Raza’s body was identified using photographs and a treasured pendant that was still around her neck her family said They have yet to receive official word about her death from Pakistani or Italian authorities or when her body will be repatriated The whole family, particularly our old mother, is experiencing agony with every passing day, her sister said, her fingers tracing the dozens of medals, trophies and team photographs that adorn a cabinet in their home

The UN nuclear watchdog chief was in Iran on Saturday for expected talks with President Ebrahim Raisi and other officials after the discovery of uranium particles enriched to near weapons-grade level The two-day visit by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) comes as the Vienna-based organisation seeks greater cooperation with Iran over its nuclear activities Rafael Grossi arrived in Iran on Friday and a diplomatic source told AFP that he would meet Raisi during his trip to relaunch the dialogue on Iran s atomic work and to reset the relationship at the highest level Grossi had made clear that he was only prepared to go to Tehran if he had an invitation to speak with the president the source added Uranium particles enriched up to 83 7 percent just under the 90 percent needed to produce an atomic bomb had been detected at Iran s underground Fordow plant about 100 kilometres (60 miles) south of the capital, according to a confidential IAEA report seen by AFP this week Tehran denies wanting to acquire atomic weapons, and said it had not made any attempt to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent purity Iran’s government noted that “unintended fluctuations may have occurred during the enrichment process The discovery came after Iran had substantially modified an interconnection between two centrifuge clusters enriching uranium without declaring it to the IAEA Grossi was greeted Friday at Mehrabad International Airport by Behrouz Kamalvandi spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, and later met with its head Mohammad Eslami They were to hold a joint press conference Saturday morning During the visit, the IAEA director general will try to secure “more access to the (Fordow) site, more inspections,” the diplomatic source said France, a signatory to a 2015 deal that promised Iran relief from biting economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear activities described the new enrichment development on Thursday as unprecedented and extremely serious Grossi s visit comes amid deadlock in negotiations on reviving the landmark accord known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA

‘Greater cooperation’: The restrictions set out in the deal, including the 3 67 percent enrichment threshold, were intended to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon

US Open, USTA back Djokovic’s bid to enter US despite unvaccinated status

LOS ANGELES

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Corporate Corner

K arandaaz Pakistan signs data sharing agreement with TASDEEQ Credit Bureau Karandaaz and city level and categorized by type of credit provider Speaking about the partnership and what data access at this scale will mean for Pakistan Mr Waqas ul Hasan CEO Karandaaz said Karandaaz s Data Portal is a state-of-the-art platform through which information on financial inclusion and macro and micro economic indicators can be obtained, layered, analyzed, and shared with relative ease We are constantly adding to the depth and breadth of the data points on this portal and our partnership with TASDEEQ is a testament to these efforts This will be the first time that a private credit bureau in Pakistan will share aggregated information on a wide array of credit indicators on a publicly accessible data portal I am very pleased with this partnership and the countless possibilities it opens up for researchers academics financial institutions and policy makers Karandaaz s interactive Data Portal collates and aggregates financial and economic data for Pakistan from multiple publicly available sources including but not limited to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) reports, several financial inclusion surveys, the Economic Survey of Pakistan, Population Census, Labor Force Surveys, etc The portal provides stakeholders, including policymakers, private sector and public sector institutions and researchers and students a wide range of data that can be layered and customized for analysis As a private credit bureau licensed by SBP, TASDEEQ’s core business is collecting credit data from a wide range of financial service providers TASDEEQ s CEO Mr Mumtaz Syed said on the occasion Our aim is to equip the financial industry within Pakistan with data and insights promoting financial inclusion and our partnership with Karandaaz exemplifies that TASDEEQ is creating an ecosystem to address issues in access to finance by potential borrowers and lenders by leveraging Financial Institutions Data, Utility Data and Alternate Data Talking about the need to improve access to information in Pakistan, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Chairperson Karandaaz, said,

"It is important to realize that development of emerging markets is contingent on the availability of information to support informed decision making and building investor confidence in underdeveloped markets There is a strong need for the adoption of open data practices and to strengthen the right to information which is already available in our laws but not always practiced with the same spirit

Govt committed to extend maximum suppor t to hajj pilgrims, says D ar

ISLAMABAD

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Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on Saturday expressed a firm commitment to extend maximum support and cooperation for facilitating the Hajjis to make the religious event successful The minister chaired a meeting on Hajj Policy-2023 as Mufti Abdul Shakoor Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony SAPM on Finance Tariq

Bajwa Special Secretary of Finance and senior officers from Finance and Religious Affairs ministries were among the attendees The meeting was apprised of the Hajj-2023 policy It was informed that more than 179,000 Pakistanis were expected to perform Hajj this year Minister for Religious Affairs informed the finance minister about certain issues related to foreign exchange and sought his support Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar stated that "Hajj is a sacred religious obligation to be performed by every Muslim and we have to contribute our part for the blessings of Almighty Allah" The minister committed to extending maximum support and cooperation in facilitating the Hajjis to make the religious event successful Minister for Religious Affairs thanked the finance minister for cooperation and support