Rawalpindi : Once more, a 13-year-old rape victim has been left with no other options but to move mountains in pursuit of seeking justice against the culprits who had ruined her life and are now taking every advantage with illegal support of some police officials in twisting facts and realities in...

People across Pakistan crowded markets on Saturday after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown was eased, despite the country recording its second-highest daily infection toll.

The government has allowed businesses to reopen in phases from the weekend, citing the economic havoc the virus restrictions have wreaked on citizens.

In Rawalpindi, thousands of shoppers were preparing for Eidul Fitr, with many flouting social distancing rules and advice to wear masks.

In Karachi, shopkeepers set out their wares of shoes, clothes, bangles and fabrics, while in the capital Islamabad shoppers stood in tightly-packed queues as they waited for stores to open.

Similar scenes were played out in Lahore, Quetta and Peshawar.

Omar Shirazi, a banker shopping for clothes with his daughter in Rawalpindi, welcomed the move.

“Eid is approaching,” he said. “We have to buy new garments for our children. It's the responsibility of people to comply with rules and wear safety gear.”

Tehmina Sattar, who was shopping with her sister and sons, was more cautious.

“We are happy with this decision but at the same time I have a fear in my heart that if this disease spreads it could be devastating. People here are not taking preventative measures.”

Information Minister Shibli Faraz warned earlier in the day that the lockdown on businesses would be reimposed if safety guidelines were not followed, after authorities reported more than 1,700 new cases in the past 24 hours.

Infections have been rising steadily as testing has increased, with more than 28,000 cases and more than 600 deaths recorded.

The easing comes as many across the country have openly ignored restrictions on gatherings in public during the past month, especially during the evenings as people observe Ramazan.

Schools will remain closed until mid-July however, while there are no immediate plans to restart public transportation or domestic flights.

ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) under its ‘Supply Chain Finance Programme’ has dedicated $200 million to support companies that make and distribute medicines and other items needed to combat coronavirus in the developing member countries of the Bank.

The programme aims to stabilise the supply chain for products such as N95 marks, test kits, gloves, personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare providers, ventilators, hygiene items, and other critical goods.

The ADB assistance is targeted at channeling fund to manufacturers, their suppliers, and the distributors of critical goods through post-shipment post-acceptance finance, pre-shipment loans, and distributor financing.

Export bans of key materials have worsened the shortage of face masks in 22 economies, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Poland, China, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, Taipei, Thailand and Ukraine. The export bans are in place in these economies since March 18.

Pakistan among nations that faced shortage of masks due to ban on export

A $800m increase in ADB’s Trade Finance Programme will also be mobilised and along with the increase in capital comes flexibility to support domestic and cross-border trade in times of emergency. The programme is an effective crisis response vehicle because it has strong relationships with many banks, both inside developing Asia and globally, the latter particularly helpful to mobilise co-financing, involving private sector resources to leverage the impact of ADB’s direct support.

An ADB report says that surging demand, partly joined with panic buying, hoarding, and misuse of PPE amid the Covid-19 pandemic, is disrupting global supplies and putting lives at risk. Demand has surged, overwhelming global production capacity.

The dramatic rise in demand for surgical masks, goggles, gloves, and gowns has depleted stockpiles, prompted significant price increases, and led to production backlogs of 4 to 6 months in fulfilling orders.

The most significant challenge is to ensure that critical PPE products are sourced and allocated to frontline health workers and other responders in affected countries, especially those most vulnerable to the spread of coronavirus.

The global market for PPE in the health sector was estimated to be worth $2.5 billion in 2018. Gloves have the highest share of sales revenues at 25 per cent, followed by suits or coveralls at 22pc. Face masks and hats came in third with a share of 14pc.

By region, the United States had the largest market share (33pc), followed by Asia and the Pacific (28pc), and Europe (22pc) in 2018.

The PPE supply chain has not been properly functioning to meet a surge in demand due to the constraints in production and logistics. Prices of PPE products have risen dramatically since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak: a six-fold increase for surgical masks; threefold for respirators; and a doubling in the price of gowns.

Among the major sources of the identified backlogs in the production and distribution of PPE, with a focus on face masks, are transport and shipping constraints caused by roadblocks and quarantine measures, and lower availability of transportation and freight containers, hoarding, profiteering, and limited workforce capacity due to illness, also contribute to the shortage.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020

NEW DELHI: Nepal has protested to India over a border road, which it claims traverses its territory, a charge New Delhi has denied, The Wire news portal said on Saturday. It said the protest also flowed from a new map of the region India drew after the bifurcation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories in December last year.

“Rumblings in Nepal about the boundary with India have now resulted in a full-scale eruption since India inaugurated a new road in Uttarakhand which leads to territory that is claimed by Kathmandu, near the border with China,” The Wire said.

On Friday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated by videoconference the road between Dharchula and Lipu Lekh, which will reduce the length of the Hindu pilgrimage of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra inside China by several days.

Nepalese opposition leaders immediately raised the pitch, asking for the government to clear its public stance. A day later, Nepal’s foreign ministry expressed “regret” at India’s “unilateral act” and called upon India to refrain from carrying out any activity on Nepalese territory, portal said.

A new map of the region drawn by India after the bifurcation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir also behind the controversy

In a lengthy statement, Nepal’s foreign ministry reminded that Nepal claims all territories east of Mahakali river, “including Limpiyadhura, Kalapani and Lipu Lekh” as per the 1816 Sugauli Treaty”.

“This was reiterated by the Government of Nepal several times in the past and most recently through a diplomatic note addressed to the Government of India dated 20 November 2019 in response to the new political map issued by the latter,” the statement said.

“The context of the last diplomatic note is that months ago, India had issued a new political map to show the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two new Union Territories. In it, it depicted Kalapani as part of Indian territory, which led to a strong objection from Nepal,” The Wire said.

It further pointed out that when India and China had agreed to include Lipu Lekh pass as a bilateral trade route in a May 2015 joint statement, Nepal had issued separate diplomatic protest notes to the two Asian giants for not obtaining Kathmandu’s consent.

On the latest move, Nepal stated: “This unilateral act runs against the understanding reached between the two countries including at the level of prime ministers that a solution to boundary issues would be sought through negotiation.”

Stating that Nepal sought a diplomatic solution in the spirit of friendly relations, its foreign ministry asserted: “In light of this development, the Government of Nepal calls upon the Government of India to refrain from carrying out any activity inside the territory of Nepal.”

The Kathmandu Post had reported that Nepalese Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi spoke to Indian Ambassador Vinay Kwatra on Friday.

The statement issued in Kathmandu also reiterated that Nepal had twice proposed dates for holding meeting between the foreign secretaries of the two sides after the Kalapani controversy gathered momentum last year.

Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali had told visiting Indian journalists in February that if India could solve longstanding and complex boundary disputes with Bangladesh, then it should be able to do so with Nepal. He had also highlighted that India had still not given a concrete response for a meeting of the two foreign secretaries.

On Friday evening, India’s Ministry of External Affairs responded that the road section “lies entirely within the territory of India”. “Under the present project, the same road has been made pliable for the ease and convenience of pilgrims, locals and traders,” The Wire quoted MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava as saying.

He added that both countries had an established mechanism on boundary matters and that the delineation of the boundary was still an “ongoing process”. “India is committed to resolving outstanding boundary issues through diplomatic dialogue and in the spirit of our close and friendly bilateral relations with Nepal,” said Srivastava.

On the demand for a meeting of foreign secretaries, he said that the meeting would be held “once the dates are finalised between the two sides after the two societies and governments have successfully dealt with the challenge of Covid-19 emergency”.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2020

Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui on Sunday said that Pakistan rejects the "baseless and inaccurate" allegations by Harish Salve, India's legal counsel in the Kulbushan Jadhav case.

In an online lecture on May 3, Salve, who had represented India in the case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleged that Pakistan refused to respond to Indian queries about how it would carry out the ICJ's judgement and review and reconsider Jadav's case.

"We have written four to five letters to Pakistan [...] but they just keep on denying. I think we have reached a point where we have to now decide whether we want to go back to ICJ for consequential directions because Pakistan has not moved ahead," Tribune India quoted Salve as saying.

He also alleged that Pakistan granted consular access to Jadhav "too late" and refused to share details of the case with India.

The Foreign Office, while refuting the allegations, said that Pakistan has "fully complied" with the international court's judgement. "Pakistan has granted India consular access to commander Jadhav and is processing measures for effective review and reconsideration as per the guidelines provided by ICJ in its judgment," a statement from the FO read.

The Foreign Office also said that Salve's statements were "regrettable and a misrepresentation of facts", adding that Pakistan followed "all its international obligations".

Read: Timeline: How the Kulbhushan Jadhav saga unfolded

The ICJ in its verdict in July 2019 had ruled that Jadhav be allowed consular access immediately and asked Pakistan to ensure "effective review and reconsideration of his conviction and sentences".

The ICJ had, however, rejected all other remedies sought by India, which included the annulment of the military court decision convicting Jadhav, restricting Pakistan from executing the sentence, securing Jadhav's release and ordering his return to India.

Arrest of Indian spy

Jadhav — a serving commander of the Indian Navy associated with Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing — was arrested on March 3, 2016, from Balochistan on allegations of espionage and terrorism.

Read: Transcript of RAW agent Kulbhushan’s confessional statement

In his subsequent trial at a military court, Jadhav had confessed to his involvement in terrorist plots.

The spy was subsequently sentenced to death in 2017. However, India insisted that Jadhav was not a spy and said he was kidnapped from Iran.

On April 10, 2017, Army Chief Gen Qamar Bajwa had endorsed the death penalty for Jadhav. In June 2017, the Indian spy had filed a mercy petition against the death penalty, in which he again confessed to his involvement in terrorist activities.

However, before Pakistani authorities could make a final decision, the ICJ, after being approached by India, had ordered a stay in his execution through an interim order.

Washington has yet to respond to Iran about a prisoner swap, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the government's website on Sunday, reiterating that Tehran was ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States without preconditions.

Palo Alto, CA – Aha™ by HARMAN today announced new content available via the free Aha Radio app for Android and iOS and included in the in-vehicle infotainment system in over 40 models of cars. With the addition of self-improvement publisher Hay House, live podcast network BlogTalkRadio and leading national broadcasters American Public Media (APM) and CBC/Radio-Canada, Aha adds thousands of new programs, across a multitude of genres, extending its content library of 40,000 audio and non-audio programs to include exactly what consumers want to hear in the car, at home, and on the go.Specific offerings include APM’s business and economic news program Marketplace, AAA station The Current, Classical Minnesota Public Radio and regional news from Southern California Public Radio and Minnesota Public Radio.

CES 2014, LAS VEGAS, NV – HARMAN announced today that its Aha Radio service has partnered with Univision Radio, the leading Hispanic radio group that owns and operates 69 broadcast radio stations in 16 of the top 25 U.S. markets, to integrate more than 65 radio stations from the Uforia digital music service into Aha-enabled vehicles and mobile apps.This partnership represents a continuing effort by Univision Radio to provide Hispanic audiences with high-quality content across all its platforms. For Aha, this is another step to further expand its content offerings and specifically, to provide high-quality content to Hispanic audiences in the U.S.

China and the United States both supported a draft United Nations Security Council resolution confronting the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday and it was "shocking and regretful" that Washington changed its mind on Friday, a Chinese diplomat said.

Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada.

Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Sunday the government is looking to lift the state of emergency in "many of 34 prefectures" that are not among the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic before the nationwide deadline of May 31.

Former President Barack Obama described President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as "chaotic" in a conference call with former members of his administration, a source said on Saturday.

Three senior officials guiding the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic were in self-quarantine on Saturday after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for the disease, their agencies and spokesmen said.

Australia's most populous state, home to Sydney, will allow restaurants, playgrounds and outdoor pools to reopen on Friday as extensive testing has shown the spread of the coronavirus has slowed sharply, New South Wales state's premier said on Sunday.

China's National Health Commission reported 14 new confirmed coronavirus cases on May 9, the highest number since April 28, including the first for more than a month in the city of Wuhan where the outbreak was first detected late last year.

The British government wants to slowly and cautiously restart the economy, housing minister Robert Jenrick said on Sunday ahead of a televised address from the prime minister to set out plans to begin easing the coronavirus lockdown measures.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will set out a five-tier warning system for the coronavirus in England on Sunday when he outlines the government's plans to begin slowly easing lockdown measures, British media reported.

Former President Obama, who has largely kept out of the fray even as President Trump has blamed his Democratic administration for a variety of problems related to the pandemic, described Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as "chaotic" on a call, a source said. Colette Luke has more.

Kirk Cousins knows a thing or two about playing under the franchise tag, having done so in the 2016 and 2017 seasons before signing a lucrative three-year, $84 million contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

The Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, will use high-tech radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in tournament badges to ensure social distancing is maintained at the July 16-19 PGA Tour event, Golf Digest reported on Saturday.

The PGA of Australia tour will be extended from this season with tournaments staged well into the new year, the governing body of professional golf in the country announced on Sunday.

Justin Gaethje put on a striking masterclass to score a surprise knockout victory over Tony Ferguson and win the interim lightweight title at UFC 249, which took place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday.

Tired of carrying hundreds of business cards? What you only needed to carry one? That's the idea behind this Moo card with embedded NFC tag inside it. You just tap it to a phone with NFC-capabilities and it share just about any information you want.

Professor Ashutosh Varshney of Brown University analyzes the current state of India's democratic system as well as the strengths and challenges in this rapidly growing nation. Full interview.

Amid a dispute with local officials over stay-at-home orders, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that Tesla will move its headquarters and future programs to Texas or Nevada from California immediately. Colette Luke has more.

Former President Obama, who has largely kept out of the fray even as President Trump has blamed his Democratic administration for a variety of problems related to the pandemic, described Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic as "chaotic" on a call, a source said. Colette Luke has more.

The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Saturday approved emergency use authorization (EUA) to Quidel Corp for the first COVID-19 antigen test.

Tesla Inc's chief executive Elon Musk tweeted https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1259162367285317633 on Saturday that Tesla will move its headquarters and future programs to Texas or Nevada from California immediately.

Tesla Inc sued local authorities in California on Saturday as the electric carmaker pushed to re-open its factory there and Chief Executive Elon Musk threatened to move Tesla's headquarters and future programs from the state to Texas or Nevada.

A WB Games leak that has so far proved accurate suggests Injustice 3 will introduce even more extended universe characters

NASA is asking people to refrain from traveling to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, to witness the historic launch May 27.

Although finding the source wouldn't necessarily help scientists develop vaccines or other direct treatments, it could provide crucial pieces of information on how it emerged and evolved.

"It is important that individuals still do what they can to protect themselves and others," said Emory University health expert Robert A. Bednarczyk.

"The fact that they are not alive means they don't have to play by the same rules that living things play by," a virologist said.

Greta Dargie was deep in a forest in the Democratic Republic of the Congo when her university sent a speed boat to get her out.

Most experts anticipate that coronavirus precautions could be necessary for many months, and many scientists also expect that their work could be disrupted.

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देश में तीन दिन में कोरोना संक्रमितों की संख्या दस हजार के पार पहुंच चुकी है। लगातार तीसरे दिन 3,300 से ज्यादा कोरोना संक्रमित मरीज सामने आए हैं।

Ryzen CPUs are some of the best on the market, and thanks to Newegg, could be yours for a discounted price.

Octavius was almost a "Big Lebowski type dude."

Here are the latest coronavirus updates from around the world.

The test can rapidly detect fragments of virus proteins in samples collected from swabs swiped inside the nasal cavity, the FDA said in a statement.

One attendee joked that, because she was coughing, she probably had the virus, a city of Pasadena spokeswoman said.

The former president was also critical of the Justice Department directing prosecutors to drop their case against Michael Flynn, warning that the “rule of law is at risk.”

Lori Vallow, the Idaho mother jailed in connection to the disappearance of her two missing children, is also under investigation with her current husband in the death of his former wife.