Nor th Korea fires t wo ballistic missiles towards eastern waters

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North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Monday, South Korea s military said, the latest in its flurry of weapons tests in recent weeks

The launch comes as Seoul and Washington are carrying out a joint amphibious landing exercise, just days after wrapping up their largest combined military drills in five years Thursday

North Korea views all such exercises as rehearsals for invasion and has repeatedly warned it would take overwhelming action in response Our military detected two shortrange ballistic missiles fired from around Junghwa area in North Hwanghae province from 07:47 am (2247 GMT) towards the East Sea,” South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan

“Our military has strengthened surveillance and vigilance against additional launches, while maintaining a full readiness posture through close cooperation between South Korea and the

United States it added Japan s defence ministry also confirmed the launch, with Japanese media citing officials as saying both missiles are believed to have flown on an irregular trajectory before falling outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone e x c u s e F o r m o r e m i s s i l e s : O n F r i d a y, N o r t h K o r e a s s t a t e m e d i a c l a i m e d t h e j o i n t t r a i n i n g b e t w e e n Seoul and Washington was practice for o c c u p y i n g N o r t h K o r e a w h i c h called for stronger war deterrents inc l u d i n g “ t h e m o r e d e v e l o p e d , m u l t i - f a c e t e d a n d o ff e n s i v e n u c l e a r a t t a c k c a p a b i l i t y Pyongyang has carried out military drills of its own in response including test-firing a new nuclear-capable underwater drone and conducting its second intercontinental ballistic missile launch this year

Analysts previously said North Korea would likely use the exercises as an excuse to carry out more missile launches and perhaps even a nuclear test North Korea s state media said Friday the “underwater nuclear attack drone” drill which was personally overseen by leader Kim Jong Un was staged to alert the enemy to an actual nuclear crisis”

The weapon’s mission is to “stealthily infiltrate into operational waters and make a super-scale radioactive tsunami to destroy naval striker groups and major operational ports of the enemy the Korean Central News Agency reported

The agency also said Pyongyang had fired strategic cruise missiles tipped with a test warhead simulating a nuclear warhead” on Wednesday ‘irreversible’ nuclear power: Analysts questioned North Korea s claims, saying that they were not the same as a credible demonstration of capability

But they added that Pyongyang was moving on from simply stockpiling nuclear warheads and attempting to advance and diversify launch mediums

After a record-breaking year of weapons tests and growing nuclear threats from Pyongyang in 2022 Seoul and Washington have ramped up security cooperation on the sidelines of the forum noting that China will continue to contribute its wisdom and strength to promote the recovery and development of the global economy cooperation not decoupling’: More than 100 representatives of overseas multinationals, leaders of international organizations and well-known scholars are attending the CDF with a strong presence of US firms despite a rising tech rivalry between the world’s two largest economies Prominent US business leaders such as Apple CEO Tim Cook billionaire investor Ray Dalio, Cristiano Amon, CEO of US chip giant Qualcomm Albert Bourla CEO of Pfizer and Jon Moeller CEO of consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, were all in attendance

“It is hoped that the US will abandon its zero-sum mentality stop using unscrupulous means to contain and suppress China, and work with China to push China-US relations to overcome current difficulties and return to a healthy and stable track Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang said as he welcomed US business representatives to Beijing on Saturday

Participants refuted the China decoupling” push at the forum as some foreign media have been hyping so-called China threats in order to kick China out of the industrial chain

Foreign direct investment in China and Europe links our economies and is a significant counter to the notion of decoupling Oliver Zipse, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG told the forum on Sunday

Saudi Authorities Plan Expansion In Grand Mosque To Ser Ve Visitors

Saudi Arabia s General Presidency of the Grand Holy Mosque and the Prophet s Holy Mosque, represented by the Northern Expansion Agency, has provided 120 praying areas in the new expansion of the Grand Holy Mosque that offer services and equipped with plans automated equipment and human cadres who work round the clock to ensure the comfort and safety of Umrah performers and worshippers during the holy month of Ramazan The presidency also allocated a number of entry and exit doors the main gate of King Abdullah No 100 and gates No 104 106 112 173 175 and 176 from the north gates No 114 116 119 121 and 123 from the west, and gates No 162, 165 and 169 from the east which, according to Assistant Undersecretary of the Northern Expansion for Management Affairs Eng Walid Al-Masoudi facilitate the arrival of worshippers to the praying areas Al-Masoudi said: As worshippers arrive in Ramazan, the agency ensures quality services, from their arrival to their entry from the main or subsidiary gates of the building in coordination with the competent agencies of the presidency and the authorities concerned with the expansion of the operation of the escalators in all available spaces SPA reported There are 362 escalators and 26 elevators; moreover, all praying areas have been provided with 22,000 carpets, and over 12 000 containers with Zamzam water ”

Ar Tists Fight Ai Programs That Copy Their St Yles

sAn FRAnciscO A F P

Artists outraged by artificial intelligence that copies in seconds the styles they have sacrificed years to develop are waging battle online and in court Fury erupted in the art community last year with the release of generative artificial intelligence (AI) programs that can convincingly carry out commands such as drawing a dog like cartoonist Sarah Andersen would, or a nymph the way illustrator Karla Ortiz might do Such style-swiping AI works are cranked out without the original artist s consent credit or compensation the three C s at the heart of a fight to change all that In January, artists including Andersen and Ortiz filed a class-action lawsuit against DreamUp Midjourney and Stable Diffusion three image-generating AI models programmed with art found online Andersen told AFP she felt “violated” when first she saw an AI drawing that copied the style of her Fangs comic book work She fired off an indignant reaction on Twitter; it went viral, and other incensed artists reached out to her with stories of their own Backers of the suit hope to establish legal precedent governing generative AI models that copy artists’ styles Artists want AI creators to be required to secure permission for works used in training software with an option to remove it

Pakistan- origin Humza Yousaf wins race to become S cotland ’s new leader

Agencies

Scottish nationalists picked Humza

Yousaf to be the country s next leader on Monday after a bitterly fought contest that exposed deep divisions in his party over policy and a stalled independence campaign

The 37-year-old practicing Muslim succeeds Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the governing Scottish National Party (SNP) and will take over as head of the semi-autonomous government once he wins an approval vote in the Scottish parliament Setting out his goals Yousaf said he would concentrate on tackling the cost of living crisis ending the divisions in the party, and making a renewed push for independence The people of Scotland need independence now more than ever before and we will be the generation that delivers independence ” he said in a speech in Edinburgh after the results were announced Yousaf ’s victory was confirmed at the country’s national rugby ground after a six-week campaign where the three candidates spent much of the contest criticising each other ’s record in a series of personal attacks The SNP s unity, which had been one of its strengths broke down over arguments about how to achieve a second independence referendum and the best way to introduce social reforms such as transgender rights Yousaf takes over a party with an overriding objective to end Scotland s three-centuries-long union with England His predecessor stepped down after the British government repeatedly blocked a route to a new vote on independence

While about four in 10 Scots support independence, according to a poll this month the departure of Sturgeon a charismatic and commanding leader may ini- tially slow some of the momentum behind a break up of the United Kingdom The often bad-tempered leadership contest has relieved some pressure on British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who is dealing with divisions in his own party, waves of industrial action and high levels of inflation

Frontrunner: Yousaf won 52 per cent of the vote of SNP members in the second round of counting beating Kate Forbes the finance secretary, who got 48pc Ash Regan, who had quit the government because of her opposition to proposed changes to gender recognition, was eliminated in the first round of counting Coree Brown Swan a lecturer in politics at Queen s University Belfast, said it would be difficult for the party to unite after a divisive leadership contest It s a broad church of a party, which incorporates lots of different ideologies and opinions on things beyond independence, she said “How do you get everyone moving in the same direction again?”

The frontrunner to replace Sturgeon, Yousaf has stressed continuity with her record, including her push to make it easier for transgender people to gain official recognition to change their gender

Corporate Corner

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S ta g f l at i o n : a c h a l l e n g e f o r

p o l i c y m a k e r S i n pa k i

Islamabad N E W S D E S K

2016-17 & 201718 Both students were awarded Gold Medals Students graduated with distinction were also awarded Medals and Certificates Students who stood First Second and Third were also awarded Cash prizes amounting to Rs 3 2 and1 lac respectively Major General Abdul Khaliq HI(M) (R) Principal Wah Medical College while addressing the ceremony, lauded the efforts of Faculty in educating and training students in professional manners, and appreciated their hard work and dedication He said Wah Medical College has been utilizing latest techniques to promote Research Culture in the institution as quality education is our hallmark Wah Medical College always encourages co-curricular activities alongwith Training & education, he added In this regard teachers and students are engaged in mobilizing Social Health including School Health Program Anti-Polio campaign and health related issues WMC is playing vital role in Cancer Awareness program as well Moreover Department of Bio-Chemistry has started MPhil and PhD programs Lt Gen Wasim Alamgir, HI(M), Vice Chancellor National University of Medical Sciences congratulated the successful students and their parents He noted that environment in Wah Medical college was suitable for curricular & co-curricular activities and lauded professional expertise of Wah Medical College faculty members p r

A sk ari Bank elec ts new direc tors

WR I T I n G for The Express Tribune, author Fahd Rehman explains that Pakistan is currently experiencing political turbulence that is causing economic uncertainty

According to the author the lingering political situation is leading to a cat and mouse game between opposing political parties further exacerbating the already fragile political landscape The government s temporary pause in dialogue with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is also contributing to the economic uncertainty The IMF plays an important role in stabilizing Pakistan s economy, and any delays or standoffs in dialogue can have significant consequences

Furthermore the dwindling foreign exchange reserves which are hovering around $4 6 billion are posing a significant challenge to the government To maintain a minimal level of reserves the government has imposed import curbs, which have slowed down the economy

As a result, a significant number of large-scale manufacturing plants are bound to shut down due to the shortage of raw materials and intermediate inputs Pakistan s economy has become increasingly dependent on imports as critics have come down hard on the import substitution strategy and pushed for export-led growth Proponents of exportled growth have been maintaining this position since the 1990s when a policy shift was taken to orient the economy towards the so-called export-led growth However, they may not have anticipated the current situation where business firms need to compete on price and quality, requiring time and effort to achieve mastery The process of learning by doing is essential for businesses to become competitive but it requires an enormous amount of effort where firms act in small steps and these steps are combined to achieve mastery Unfortunately many firms fail to achieve this mastery, and only a few firms become successful in this vein

Business firms must plough back to expand and remain competitive in the globalized world This requires industrial capitalists to focus on their core business and stay away from speculative business activities

However the country's industrial capitalists engage in real estate and other speculative activities and even invest their profits in buying stocks These quick capital gains divert their attention from their core business resulting in a mushroom growth in housing schemes

The unplanned growth of housing schemes has already started to create havoc for the metropolitan cities The cities are experiencing water, noise, and air pollution, and green land is being converted into brown land in haste There is a need to properly assess the cultivated area as food grains are not meeting the domestic needs In addition there is a shortage of food grains which is making them more expensive day by day For instance the support price of wheat was fixed at Rs2,200 per 40 kg in 2022, which has been jacked up to Rs4,000 per 40 kg in 2023 as the impact of devaluation of the rupee played a major role in it The expensive food grains increase the money wage of the working class In a labor-intensive industry high money wages make products expensive As a result expensive products lose their competitiveness in a tough competitive environment In short Pakistan s economy is experiencing stagflation where unemployment increases along with acceleration in prices This is a complicated situation for policymakers to address, and it remains to be seen how the government will deal with this situation in the coming months It is clear, however, that the government will need to take a comprehensive approach to address the country s economic challenges including the need to shift towards more sustainable and competitive business practices To re a d t h e f u l l a r t i c l e v i s i t www tribune com pk

Evolution of data protec tion laws and regulations

Islamabad N E W S D E S K

P e r s o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n i s a v a l u a b l e asset in today s world and protecting it i s c r u c i a l A c c o r d i n g t o t h e a r t i c l e i n T h e E x p r e s s Tr i b u n e , t h e a u t h o r b elieves that data privacy is an evolving c o n c e r n , w i t h t h e r i s e o f t h e i n t e r n e t a n d i n c r e a s i n g o n l i n e s h a r i n g o f p e rsonal information The definition of personal data has expanded to include sensitive informa- tion such as biometrics and location making it difficult to determine what is protected by law L a w s a n d r e g u l a t i o n s g o v e r n i n g d a t a p r i v a c y a r e c o n s t a n t l y e v o l v i n g , and the increasing use of artificial intelligence makes it more complicated H o w e v e r, s t e p s s u c h a s c r e a t i n g a w a r e n e s s , i m p l e m e n t i n g s e c u r i t y

Tamasha launches ‘Family Bizniss ’ , featuring struggles of a middle - class Pakistani family

Islamabad p r of the Bank for a period of next three years w e f March 29 2023 subject to the clearance of the State Bank of Pakistan Further Mr Atif R Bokhari President & CEO of the Bank shall continue to be a deemed director in terms of Article 131 of the Articles of Association of the Bank read with Section 188 (3) of the Companies Act, 2017 p r

Indus Hospital & Childlife Foundation sign MoU

Karachi: Indus Hospital Health Network (IHHN) & ChildLife Foundation have signed an MoU for both leading nonprofit health organizations to share best practices particularly Telemedicine Moreover both organizations will also collaborate and develop a mechanism for patient referral at each other s facilities The MoU was signed by Dr Zafar Zaidi CEO Indus Hospital and Dr Ahson Rabbani CEO ChildLife Foundation, on behalf of their organizations This collaboration is a testimony of the innovative Telemedicine services ChildLife team has developed and scaled to 130+ government hospitals We are honored to partner with Indus Hospital to share our telemedicine practices and experience, to save lives with this virtual emergency care model throughout the country The initiative of building a process for patient-referral with IHHN is really a moment of pride as this will allow us to spread the cause of providing free-of-cost healthcare services throughout Pakistan said Dr Ahson Rabbani This partnership covers sharing best practices on Telemedicine Referral and Quality of Care Indus Hospital provides quality healthcare absolutely freeof-cost to millions of deserving patients through its countrywide network of hospitals in Pakistan In partnership with ChildLife Foundation, we aim to extend our reach to the untapped geographic areas of Pakistan through telemedicine p r

NUST ranks No 160 globally, No. 1 among Pakistani Engineering & Technology varsities islamabad: The National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) Pakistan has ascended 19 positions in Engineering & Technology to stand at #160 globally, and retained #1 position in Pakistan for the 7th consecutive year as per QS World University Ranking by Subject 2023 Overall, NUST has stood first in Pakistan across 6 subject areas including Electrical & Electronics Engineering; Computer Science; Mechanical Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Chemical Engineering; Civil & Structural Engineering; and Material Science NUST currently stands at #334 in the World University Rankings, #67 in Asia University Rankings and #41 in World Young University Rankings besides being number 1 in Pakistan in all three categories As a comprehensive university, NUST focuses on an array of disciplines viz , Engineering, Information Technology (IT), Applied Biosciences, Management Sciences, Social Sciences etc while ensuring quality at all tiers in line with the university s vision to develop as a progressive fourth generation university p r

Pakistan s largest homegrown OTT platform, Tamasha, has launched its first-ever original series, “Family Bizniss”, in collaboration with Big Bang Entertainment The launch event was recently held at the Jazz Digital Headquarters attended by Kaan Terzioglu CEO of VEOn Group; Aamir Ibrahim CEO Jazz; Aamer Ejaz Chief Digital Officer Jazz; and leading actor and producer of the series Fahad Mustafa The series dives into the struggles of a middle-class family while also exploring the relationship between coming-of-age children and their parents Staying true to its values, Tamasha has also attempted to educate the audience about entrepreneurship and digital inclusion in a comical way as the characters are shown hustling to establish an online business in an attempt to help

KarachI p r

Engro Foundation, the social investment arm of Engro Corporation, has announced national Disability & Development Forum (nDF) and ConnectHear as the two recipients of I Am The Change (IATC) Impact Awards 2022

Initiated in 2012 IATC is the flagship initiative of Engro Foundation to recognize and reward philanthropic and social enterprises that are creating an impact in the development sector The IATC Impact Awards 2022 attracted more than 100 entries in the categories of Social Development and Social Enterprise The entries were adjudicated by the IATC team at Engro Foundation, along with an independent jury comprising Laila Jamil (Director, British Council), Madiha m e a s u r e s c o n d u c t i n g r i s k a s s e s sm e n t s a n d p r o v i d i n g t r a i n i n g c a n b e taken to protect personal data P a k i s t a n h a s t a k e n s t e p s t o w a r d s d a t a p r o t e c t i o n , b u t c o n c e r n s r e m a i n about the effectiveness of measures in practice Future developments in pers o n a l d a t a p r o t e c t i o n m a y i n c l u d e s t r e n g t h e n i n g r e g u l a t i o n s , i n c r e a s i n g their retiring father and also to escape their socioeconomic class

Family Bizniss will star one of the country s most renowned artists Asim Azhar which will be his acting debut for OTT alongside Mah-e-nur Haider, Saife Hasan, Salma Hasan, Bushra Habib, and Hussain Moshin However, what truly sets this show apart is its comedic approach towards otherwise serious themes, such as socio-economic class differences and generation gaps, and this is something that appeals to youngsters as well as mature audiences

“The global streaming platforms focus on larger market segments which is why they don’t take Pakistan s multiethnic and multilingual demographic into account said Aamer Ejaz Chief Digital Officer of Jazz Cultivating a culture of pocket-friendly local content that promotes digital inclusion as shown in Family Bizniss is what Tamasha plans on achieving

Rehman (Co-Founder & CEO Phygital)

Muhammad Waqas (Co-Founder & CEO WonderTree) Zehra Mehdi Aneek (Director ESG and Sustainability K-Electric) and Fauzia Viqar (Chair, SPDC) Following an extensive review of the applications, national Disability & Development Forum (Social Development) and ConnectHear (Social Enterprise) were selected as the award recipients Each of these recipients will be given a cash prize of PKR 2 5 million in recognition of their efforts and support to scale up their initiatives

Since 2014 national Disability & Development Forum (nDF) has been striving to empower people with disabilities through awareness and skill development while also focusing on disability rights health environment poverty reduction and gender mainstreaming in underprivileged communities t r a n s p a r e n c y a n d g r e a t e r c o n s u m e r awareness A s i n d i v i d u a l s a n d o rg a n i z a t i o n s b e c o m e m o r e a w a r e o f d a t a p r i v a c y and security, efforts to protect personal data will increase To read the full article visit www tribune com pk

NdcTech Modernizes core banking platform for S amba Bank

i s l a m a b a d: NdcTech a premium technology services firm transforming banks and financial institutions globally has successfully modernized the core banking system of Samba Bank onto the latest release of Temenos Transact Samba Bank Limited is a subsidiary of Saudi National Bank (SNB) KSA in Pakistan offering personal and corporate banking services including current and savings accounts loans investments and a host of digital services The bank serves a sizable customer base and has a branch network across 14 major cities in Pakistan Over the years Samba Bank has fostered a longterm partnership with NdcTech and Temenos to fulfill their vision of hyper-scaling the bank s presence through digitization rather than traditional channels The bank needed to upgrade to a modern, flexible, and scalable core banking system that could support its business growth objectives Moving onto the latest release of Temenos Transact is a steppingstone for the bank to harmonize its IT infrastructure and speed up digitization The flexible, modular, and scalable platform by Temenos is API driven making it capable to fulfil the complex needs of banks and financial institutions NdcTech unique implementation methodology incorporating innovative tools and techniques accelerated this transformation for the bank The team successfully upgraded all modules for Samba bank including Core, Retail, Lending, Deposits, FCM, and Trade finance to the latest release of Temenos Transact NdcTech combined the use of the latest version of Pakistan Model Bank to meet the local regulatory requirements, update tax changes, and modernize trade processes for the bank NdcTech also incorporated an Image-Based Cheque clearing system and low balance alert system for the bank to reap benefits of the modern functionalities for seamless banking operations Samba Bank is now on the path to realize the benefits of the dynamic and efficient platform to achieve long term growth The bank has gained greater product agility, improved timeto-value and accelerated speed of innovation to make business decisions rapidly The new system enables faster transaction processing times, automates several manual processes and reduces operational costs, resulting in improved efficiency and productivity It also allows the bank to develop and market new products easily and rapidly This flexibility enables the bank to respond quickly to the changing market dynamics and enhance competitiveness in the banking industry On this occasion, Ahmad Tariq Azam, President & CEO (Acting), Samba Bank Limited said: We are pleased to announce that Samba Bank has successfully modernized its Core Banking Platform onto the latest release of Temenos Transact with NdcTech as the strategic partner p r

Ufone 4G launches WhatsApp ser vice for hassle-free customer experience