Covert, Author at COVERT - Page 122 of 164

High Commissioner Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri presents credentials to Australian Governor General Expresses Pakistan’s desire to strengthen relations with Australia

Newswire Canberra: High Commissioner for Pakistan to the Commonwealth of Australia Zahid Hafeez C presented his credentials to the Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Sir David Hurley this week. The ceremony was held in a virtual mode due to Covid-19 related restrictions. During the ceremony, the High Commissioner conveyed to the Governor General […]

For Afghanistan, even the west must be self-critical: Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo

Newswire Rome: Nobody expected a vertical collapse of Afghan institutions, but the international community must also make a profound reflection on what happened after 2011. Stefano Pontecorvo, Senior Civilian Representative of NATO in the land of kites, thinks of the last dramatic days he lived in Kabul and entrusts his analysis to Famiglia Cristiana, which […]

Imran Khan tasks FIA to probe ‘high-cost’ road construction projects during PML-N tenure

Islamabad: Prime Minister Imran Khan this week said he had given mandate to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to probe the exorbitant cost incurred on the road construction projects undertaken by the government of Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz). Addressing at the upgradation of Balochistan’s Jhaljao-Bela Road at an event held here at the PM House, […]

Xi calls for bolstering confidence, jointly addressing global challenges

China Economic Net Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping this week proposed a Global Development Initiative, calling for bolstering confidence and jointly addressing global threats and challenges to build a better world for all. Xi made the remarks at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) via video, as […]

Russia will never revise its stance on Crimea at all, insists Kremlin

Newswire Moscow: Russia will never revise its stance on Crimea and there is no going back on this topic since it’s a done deal, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained to the media this week. “There is no chance the Russian side might revise its stance on Crimea,” Peskov said. “By and large, Crimea is a […]

Bilawal Bhutto turns 33

‘If all you have to criticise me on is my age or my accent, then you really can’t defeat me on the issues’ Islamabad: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of the Muslim world’s first female Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, turned 33 this week. Born on September 21, 1988, to Benazir Bhutto and Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal […]

TikTok launches Urdu safety centre in Pakistan

Gwadar Pro Islamabad: Chinese tech giant TikTok, the global platform for creating and sharing short videos, this week launched a localised Urdu version of its Safety Centre in Pakistan. The Safety Centre is a one-stop online source that provides access to TikTok’s safety policies, tools and resources to equip users with product education and protection […]

Pakistan in contact with Chinese and Korean investors consortium to discuss investment: Privatisation Minister

China Economic Net Islamabad: Federal Minister for Privatisation Mohammed Mian Soomro said this week that meetings with renowned investors consortium from China and Korea had been held to discuss investment. “So far leading investors consortium from China, Korea and Russia have been interacted with, who have shown keen interest in the investment potential of Pakistan […]

Pakistan

China’s Tianjin Municipality named sister-city to Karachi, Islamabad

Gwadar Pro Beijing: China’s Tianjin Municipality was declared as sister cities to Karachi and Islamabad respectively and sister-province to Punjab to further enhance the bond of friendship between China and Pakistan. Pakistani Ambassador to China, Moin ul Haque and Mayor of Tianjin Municipality, Liao Guoxun, signed a ‘Letters of Intent’ for establishment of sister-city and […]

Australian wildfires triggered massive algal blooms in Southern Ocean

Clouds of smoke and ash from wildfires that ravaged Australia in 2019 and 2020 triggered widespread algal blooms in the Southern Ocean thousands of miles downwind to the east, a new Duke University-led study by an international team of scientists finds. The peer-reviewed study, published September 15 in Nature, is the first to conclusively link […]

Reforestation could help save coral reefs from catastrophe

Increasing reforestation efforts in coastal regions could substantially reduce the amount of sediment run-off reaching coral reefs and improve their resilience, a University of Queensland-led study has found. The study analysed more than 5,500 coastal areas from around the world and found that nearly 85 per cent of them leached sediment to coral reefs, the […]

A possible new pathway for treating epileptic seizures in patients with autism

Autism affects about 2% of children in the United States, and about 30% of these children have seizures. Recent large-scale genetic studies revealed that genetic variants in a sodium channel, called voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.2, is a leading cause of autism. Overactive sodium channels in the neuron cause seizures. Doctors often treat seizures by giving […]

Taliban should not be isolated: Rehman Malik

Newswire Islamabad: Former Interior Minister and Chairman Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) Senator A. Rehman Malik said this week that it is unfair at the present to keep Taliban isolated as they need to be brought into the mainstream and be made a part of the international community. “Let us see how the international […]

Italy supports Pakistan’s efforts on health: Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese

Newswire Islamabad: Italy’s Ambassador to Pakistan Andreas Ferrarese said this week that health was an important component of social life and his country supported Pakistan’s efforts in this regard. “Italy had initiated health diplomacy with Pakistan by assisting the country in the health sector. He underscored the importance of global health collaboration and knowledge-sharing,” he […]

Guinness World Records: Japanese sisters certified world’s oldest twins

Newswire Tokyo: Two Japanese sisters have been certified by Guinness World Records as the world’s oldest living identical twins at over 107 years and 300 days. Umeno Sumiyama and Koume Kodama have broken the record set by late Japanese twin sisters Kin Narita and Gin Kanie. Umeno and Koume, both described as sociable people, were […]

Study rewrites understanding of modern Japan’s genetic ancestry

Tokyo: An analysis of ancient DNA is transforming the understanding of the genetic ancestry of Japan’s modern-day population, identifying a crucial contribution from people who arrived about 1,700 years ago and helped revolutionize Japanese culture. Research published this week showed that the people of Japan bear genetic signatures from three ancient populations rather than just […]

Sports
Woman

Italy’s Jasmine Paolini claims maiden WTA title

Portoroz, Slovenia: Italy’s Jasmine Paolini claimed her maiden WTA title this week with a straight-sets victory over third seed Alison Riske of the United States in the Portoroz final. The 25-year-old Italian, 87 in the world, triumphed 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 over her 38th-ranked opponent after an hour and 45 minutes of play. Paolini knocked out […]

Lasith Malinga announces retirement from all forms of cricket

Sri Lanka pacer Lasith Malinga has decided to hang up his boots in T20I cricket, bringing an end to one of the great careers in the sport. The pacer made this announcement on his social media channels. Malinga played 30 Test matches, 226 ODIs and 84 T20Is for Sri Lanka, picking up 546 wickets. Malinga […]

The Mid-Autumn Festival: What it is and how it’s celebrated

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival or the Moon Cake Festival, is the most important festival after the Chinese New Year. Celebrated in China and other Asian countries, it’s more than 3,000 years old and dates back to when the Chinese emperors worshipped the moon, praying for a bountiful harvest. It’s celebrated […]

British govt didn’t advise against Pakistan tour: Christian Turner

Newswire Islamabad: The British High Commission did not advise against England cricket’s tour of Pakistan next month on security grounds, the top British diplomat in Pakistan said this week. In a video message, British High Commissioner Christian Turner said the BHC had supported the tour and “our travel advice for Pakistan has not changed.” He […]

UK’s first green gilt draws record $137 billion demand

David Milliken and Yoruk Bahceli London: Britain sold 10 billion pounds of its first ‘green’ government bond on Tuesday after attracting over 100 billion pounds ($137 billion) of demand from investors, a record high which shows the clamour for assets which can be marketed as good for the planet. Proceeds from the sale will be […]

US knows it cannot benefit at China’s expense. But will it stop?

Ding Gang On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of 9/11 attacks, many academic institutions in China and the US held seminars to summarize the changes in the US, China and the world in the past two decades. There was an argument that after the 9/11 terror attacks, the US no longer saw China’s rise […]

Mainland stops importing two Taiwan fruits, and DPP authority is howling

Hu Xijin The Chinese mainland announced on Sunday suspension of imports of cherimoya and wax apples from the island of Taiwan due to the discovery of a known pest in recent shipments. This has led to bitter complaints from some politicians on the island. The leader of the Taiwan region Tsai Ing-wen pecked at the […]

UN efforts stymied by discord among its members

Dr Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg For the second year in a row, the UN General Assembly’s high-level general debate is being held under a thick COVID-19 cloud. UN officials admit that the pandemic has slowed down their work, with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres saying on Saturday: “We were not able to make any real progress in relation […]

Corporate capture of the UN food summit

Sofia Monsalve When I visited my parents in Bogota last month, I witnessed how people in their neighborhood went up and down the streets begging for help to survive. Since the end of April, Colombia has experienced one of its biggest waves of social unrest in recent times — and hunger is at the core […]

Ambassador Stefano Pontecorvo’s childhood in Kabul and 60 years later!

Newswire For two crucial weeks in August, Stefano Pontecorvo was the world’s eyes and ears inside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. And although it wasn’t visible to the global public, the Italian diplomat was also the nerve center of the airlift that took place during those frantic weeks. As NATO’s senior civilian representative in […]

Pakistan and Australia are close friends: Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri

Canberra: Pakistan’s High Commissioner-designate to Australia Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri has said that Pakistan and Australia are close friends and there is a lot of potential to enhance the cooperation further. Speaking to Covert from Canberra, the senior diplomat said Pakistan gives a special importance to its ties with Australia. “Our relationship has traditionally been good […]

Let’s jointly build BRI: Xi Jinping

Xu Wei President Xi Jinping reiterated this week China’s commitment to championing the principles of equality, mutual learning, dialogue and inclusiveness in exchanges between civilizations and working with different nations to jointly build the Belt and Road. Xi made the remark in a congratulatory letter to the 2021 Belt and Road-The Great Wall International Folk […]

Democracy guarantor of progress: Bilawal Bhutto

Newswire Karachi: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has termed democracy as an unquestionable guarantee of security and progress of the country.He said that two Pakistans, instead of one, will continue to exist unless the constitution is not followed as per its spirit besides maintaining the supremacy of Parliament. In a statement, the […]

UK PM Johnson reshuffles top team

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson reshuffled his senior ministers this week, appointing his party’s first female foreign secretary, as he urged his government to get on with the job of tackling economic inequality after COVID-19. Ending regional inequality is key to the agenda set in 2019 when Johnson won the biggest Conservative Party parliamentary […]

Pakistan following China to achieve 100 percent vaccination target against the Covid-19: Planning Minister

Gwadar Pro Islamabad: Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said that Pakistan was following Iron Brother China to achieve 100 percent vaccination target against the Covid-19. Speaking to Gwadar Pro here, he said that China had been helpful in both providing the vaccines and guidelines.“We are following China. The way they […]

China to issue commemorative coins for 70 years of China-Pak ties

China Economic Net Beijing: China’s central bank issued a set of commemorative coins on September 16 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the of diplomatic ties between China and Pakistan.The set contains one gold coin and one silver coin, both legal tenders, according to a statement from the People’s Bank of China (PBC). Both coins […]

Top Karachi universities to get Chinese hybrid buses

Gwadar Pro Karachi: Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi said this week that Port Qasim will gift Chinese hybrid buses to the University of Karachi, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Sindh Medical College (SMC) and NED University. Speaking to journalists here, he remarked that the government wanted to facilitate the top educational […]

S & Tech

Cold planets exist throughout our galaxy

Although thousands of planets have been discovered in the Milky Way, most reside less than a few thousand light years from Earth. Yet our Galaxy is more than 100,000 light years across, making it difficult to investigate the Galactic distribution of planets. But now, a research team has found a way to overcome this hurdle. […]

S & Tech

Will it be safe for humans to fly to Mars?

Sending human travelers to Mars would require scientists and engineers to overcome a range of technological and safety obstacles. One of them is the grave risk posed by particle radiation from the sun, distant stars and galaxies. Answering two key questions would go a long way toward overcoming that hurdle: Would particle radiation pose too […]

Scientists claim that overeating is not the primary cause of obesity

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that obesity affects more than 40% of American adults, placing them at higher risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. The USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 — 2025 further tells us that losing weight “requires adults to […]

War and bullets not solution to any problem Senator Rehman Malik

Newswire Islamabad: Former Interior Minister and Chairman and Institute of Research and Reforms (IRR) said this week that war and bullets are not the solution to any problem. On the occasion of nineteenth anniversary of 9/11, he said, 20 years ago, world was shocked when a major incident took place destroying World Trade Center and […]

Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese hosts former PM Yusuf Raza Gilani

Newswire Islamabad: Italian Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese this week invited Senator Yusuf Raza Gilani, former Prime Minister of Pakistan and Leader of the Opposition in Senate at his residence.Both the sides discussed historical linkages between the two countries and shared perception on broad range of regional and international issues. Italian Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese said that he […]