Daily Current Affairs

BEIJING: The first shots have been fired in a trade war between China and the United States that experts say could be damaging for the world economy. The two superpowers imposed on Friday tit-for-tat tariffs on billions of dollars of cross-border trade. While US President Donald Trump has brushed off warnings that trade frictions with powerful partners like China could …

Social media has been playing an active role in shaping the daily lives of many across the globe. According to the 2018 Global Digital Report, there are 3.2 billion people worldwide using social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, WhatsApp and Twitter. In Pakistan, 35 million people, or around 18 per cent of the country’s population, is active on social …

In a simple world of two farmers, one who lived by a pond and the other who lived by a stream, the conflict was not of intents but simple gains necessitated by survival. The one at the pond simply wished it to be full and never dry. But the truth was that slowing down the streams to his choosing also …

High level visits and expanding trade ties between Pakistan and Russia bode well for durable peace and stability in the region in the post-cold war era After years of ups and downs, relations between Pakistan and Russia saw unprecedented improvement over the last few years. Established in 1948, Pakistan and Russia celebrated 70 years of their diplomatic relations in May …

Oh, what a pleasure it was to listen to Dr Tariq Banuri. The new chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) was invited to a reception on June 4 by the Inter-University Consortium for the Promotion of Social Sciences (IUCPSS). The consortium has been working since 2012 to promote not only the social sciences but also arts and humanities. Murtaza …

What happened? Recently, Iran’s government has been revisiting a familiar refrain: the threat to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz. In comments published July 3 on his official website, President Hassan Rouhani issued a vague threat against regional oil exports, saying, “the Americans have claimed they want to completely stop Iran’s oil exports. They don’t understand the meaning of this …

In June 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ranked Pakistan among the top 36 countries in the world facing an acute water shortage. In January 2018, Cape Town became the first city in the world to say that it was running out of water. The government and citizens went to work together to ward this off and instituted water rationing …

India’s prominence in the world continues to grow due to its growing economy and its geostrategic ability to counterbalance China. Such realpolitik considerations have led the international community to brush aside concerns of growing religious intolerance, ultra-nationalism, inequitable growth and state-backed violence across India. It was thus surprising to see the UN’s Office of the High Commission for Human Rights …

ON May 17, 2018, in a weekly media briefing, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Faisal stated that “[t]he United States government has assured [the government of Pakistan] that a probe will be initiated against defence and air attaché Colonel Emanuel Joseph”, the US diplomat who ran a red light to ram into a motorcycle killing one …

American companies, according to their critics, are so focused on making quick profits that they have abdicated building for the long term. That idea has captivated policymakers, commentators and even some leading business executives. The complaint has reached a fevered pitch amid news that companies are diverting much of their proceeds from the recent tax cut into buying back record …