Day: June 1, 2020

For the first time in nearly seven decades, Pakistan’s economy is expected to post a negative growth rate of about 1.6% this fiscal year, the finance ministry said on Tuesday, confirming the recession forecasts by leading global financial institutions because of the coronavirus pandemic. The ministry warned against relaxing the ongoing lockdown in the country, which is in its sixth week. It cautioned that this could increase the infection rate and put unbearable burden on the already exhausted health system. “In the worst-case scenario, the growth rate could remain negative,…

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The Times has reconstructed the death of George Floyd on May 25. Security footage, witness videos and official documents show how a series of actions by officers turned fatal. On May 25, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, after a deli employee called 911, accusing him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. Seventeen minutes after the first squad car arrived at the scene, Mr. Floyd was unconscious and pinned beneath three police officers, showing no signs of life. By combining videos from bystanders and…

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AGRA: A deadly thunderstorm that rolled across parts of northern India damaged sections of the Taj Mahal complex, including the main gate and a railing running below its five lofty domes, officials said on Sunday. One of the New Seven Wonders of the World, India’s top tourist attraction has been shut since mid-March as part of measures to try and combat the coronavirus pandemic. Images showed workers assessing the railing of the main mausoleum, after the storm on Friday night battered Agra city in northern Uttar Pradesh state. “One sandstone…

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PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Housing Minister Dr Amjid Ali on Monday inaugurated the tree plantation campaign in Jalozai Housing Scheme Nowshera by planting a sapling. About 300 employees of the Housing Ministry took part in the plantation campaign and met the target of planting 10,000 trees in one day. Dr Amjid Ali said on the occasion that the process of tree plantation is going on with rapid pace under the Clean and Green Pakistan program. He said 10,000 trees have been planted in Jalozai within a single day. Over all, he…

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KARACHI: A cluster of coal-fired power plants in the Thar desert, some of which are already operational, could expose around 100,000 people to harmful acidic gases exceeding safe limits established by the World Health Organization and 29,000 people could die from air pollution related causes over the 30-year operating life of the plants, a new study by an independent research organization shows. The study was released in an online presentation on Friday by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), which describes itself as “an independent research…

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