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Mideast outreach

OVER the past few days, Pakistan has been going the extra mile to assure Iran that the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement it signed last week with Saudi Arabia and Turkiye poses no threat to Tehran. In a recent telephone call, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi that the pact is “not an instrument of confrontation”. Moreover, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the cabinet that the agreement is “entirely for defence purposes”. Tehran seems to have understood the messaging, as the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said his country had no reason to believe the pact was aimed at encircling it, and that it showed that countries of the region could not depend on the American security umbrella. Perhaps the reason for speculation surrounding the deal was the mutual defence component, which says that an attack on one signatory is an attack on all. Considering the targeting of US military assets in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf st...
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Why the Middle East war still convulses the oil market

After more than five months of conflict, oil markets continue to surge and tumble over the latest developments in the US-Iran clash, including United States President Donald Trump’s shifting pronouncements. What is behind the market’s volatility? The ‘shock’ of Hormuz While the potential vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz has long been viewed as a risk, oil markets have still been caught off guard by Iran’s ability to largely close the crucial waterway . “What really shakes the market are surprises… and the Hormuz closure was a shock,” said Jim Burkhard, head of global energy crude oil research at S&P Global. Brent oil prices surged more than 13 per cent in the immediate aftermath of the US-Israeli siege against Iran on February 28. Since that time, prices have been jolted in both directions as the conflict has dragged on. “Number one, it’s the complete unexpectedness, unfamiliarity with what we are seeing,” Bob McNally, president of the Rapidian Energy Group and a forme...
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DawnMedia to host ‘Act for Nutrition’

KARACHI: As Pakistan faces one of the gravest development challenges of our time, DawnMedia is set to host a landmark national conference on malnutrition and stunting. ‘Act for Nutrition’ will be held on Sept 2 and 3 at the Serena Hotel, Islamabad, to shed light on “the emergency we can no longer ignore”, DawnMedia said in a statement. According to the statement, about 40 per cent of children in Pakistan under the age of five are stunted, while the country has one of the highest child malnutrition numbers in the world. “Maternal malnutrition, widespread micronutrient deficiencies, food insecurity, poor infant feeding practices, rapid population growth and persistent poverty continue to reinforce a cycle of deprivation that spans generations,” the statement said. According to recent estimates, Pakistan loses nearly $17 billion annually due to the economic consequences of malnutrition and undernutrition. Recognising nutrition as fundamentally an economic, governance and develop...
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Govt leaves petrol, diesel prices unchanged for Aug 11

The government on Monday kept the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel unchanged as Platts prices were not published on August 10. Petrol will continue to be sold at Rs327.62 per litre, while HSD will cost Rs380.86 per litre. The government continues to levy Rs114 per litre in taxes and duties on petrol and Rs100 per litre on HSD. According to the Petroleum Division’s notification, the new prices will be applicable on August 11. The price of HSD has come down from a peak of Rs520.35 recorded on April 3. Its price had started rising from Rs281 per litre after the US-Iran war broke out on February 28. The petrol price had peaked at Rs458.41 on April 3 after beginning its upward trajectory from Rs266 in the first week of March. Earlier, Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik announced that fuel prices would now be fixed on a daily basis due to fluctuations in international market prices following renewed hostilities between Iran and the US. The government had been announcing w...
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Revival of SME credit

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Between July and August, things are brought to almost a halt across much of Europe. Italy shuts down for Ferragosto, the French vanish on les grandes vacances, and the German offices empty out. During this window, everything — deadlines, emails, occasional sovereign crisis — can wait. For Pakistani economy nerds, late summer means something completely different, though no less exciting if you are warped enough. It’s because by this time, the data for fiscal year-end starts being released, giving a complete picture of how things panned out. Of all the numbers that land in this season, it is banking that appeals to me the most for a multitude of reasons. For starters, it has had quite an enviable run the past few years and remains highly profitable even as other parts of the economy struggle. Second, its data reporting is relatively richer and granular than most other sectors. Starting with the liabilities side, total deposits reached Rs39.8 trillion by FY2...
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Movement restricted under Section 144 in some areas of South Waziristan, Tank on Monday

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN: The administrations of Lower South Waziristan, Upper South Waziristan and Tank have imposed Section 144 in several areas of the three districts for August 10 (Monday), citing security concerns and directing residents to avoid unnecessary movement during the specified hours. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is a legal provision that empowers district administrations to prohibit an assembly of four or more people in an area for a limited period. The deputy commissioners (DCs) of the three districts issued separate notifications on Sunday evening, imposing restrictions on movement between 6am and 7pm, as well as ordering the closure of markets and business centres in the specified areas. The administrations of Upper and Lower South Waziristan have also directed motorists to stop their vehicles at least 50 metres before reaching security personnel and for all passengers to get out of the vehicles. They warned that unauthorised movement or violation...
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Anger mounts in US over vast network of car license plate cameras

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In only a few years, the surveillance start-up Flock has installed more than 100,000 license plate reader cameras across the United States. But a grassroots movement upset over privacy concerns is fighting back — even going so far as systematically vandalising the equipment. The first time he decided to trash one of the cameras, a self-styled vigilante wearing all black and known as Nomark says he was “super nervous”. Now, after disabling about 30 of the devices near his home in the Minneapolis area, he told AFP : “I’m not really as scared anymore.” Flock cameras are installed by police departments, homeowners’ associations and businesses, ostensibly to catch criminals in the act. Data is uploaded to Flock’s cloud and can be shared with subscribers. But opponents are outraged at what they say is a dangerous tool that can be used to infringe on American privacy and civil liberties. At just 20 years old, Nomark offers his 500,000 Instagram followers a ho...
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