Tag: US

  • American gets modified pig’s heart by Pakistani doctor

    American gets modified pig’s heart by Pakistani doctor

    An American citizen, aged 57, David Bennet received a genetically modified pig’s heart which was implanted successfully by a Pakistani doctor, Dr Mansoor Mohiuddin along with a surgeon team from the University of Maryland in the United States (US).

    A pig’s heart implantation in the human body is a landmark in the field of medical sciences.

    Dr Mansoor Mohiuddin hails from Karachi and is a graduate of the Dow University of Health Sciences.

    While talking to the Geo News, he said, “Experiments have been done on a monkey’s heart for heart transplants for humans in the past, but they did not work out. However, the experiment on a pig’s heart did.”

    He further added, “We examined all animals to find which of them is closest to humans and found a pig suitable for the experiment.”

    While talking about the expenditure he said the main expenses were incurred on the genetical modification of the pig’s heart as it a long procedure and doctors took seven genes from different pigs for modification that cost around $500,000 while the transplant surgery is insured in the US and other foreign countries.

    Meanwhile, doctors are closely monitoring the health of the patient after the pig’s heart was implanted. The surgery took seven hours. Three days have passed and the recipient is doing well.

  • ‘Pakistan is still under influence of the US’: Moeed Yusuf

    ‘Pakistan is still under influence of the US’: Moeed Yusuf

    National Security Adviser (NSA) Dr Moeed Yusuf has made a statement that Pakistan’s foreign policy is still not free from the influence of the United States (US).

    In Geo News programme “Jirga”, the advisor said, “It [Pakistan] is still not [free from US influence] and I doubt that there is any country which is free from it.” He added that Pakistan does not have financial and economic independence as it does not have enough assets to meet the requirements of the increase in population.

    “When we cannot fulfill the demands, we seek foreign loans. When you procure loans, your economic sovereignty is compromised,” the national security adviser said.

    Moreover, he said that this affects a country’s foreign policy and when foreign policy is affected, you cannot run the affairs of the country properly.

    Responding to a query about Pakistan-India relations, he said that Islamabad wants to improve ties with New Delhi, but had to halt diplomatic contacts due to India’s on-seriousness and extremist attitude.

  • Missing infant during United States evacuation from Kabul reunites with family

    Missing infant during United States evacuation from Kabul reunites with family

    A two-month-old baby boy, Sohail Ahmadi who separated from his family during the United States (US) evacuation from Kabul, Afghanistan in August last year has been reunited with his parental grandfather, Mohammad Qasem Razawi.

    The video of the boy went viral when the two-month infant was handed to the US soldier over the fence on August 19, 2021. Due to chaos, the infant was separated from them. However, his father, Mirza Ali Ahmadi desperately searched for his baby boy everywhere in the airport.

    Due to the uproar situation, officials told him that his son might be taken out separately from the country and could be reunited later in the US.

    Other family members including his wife and four other children went inside the plane and successfully landed at the military base in the US state of Texas but they were not able to find their son, Ahmadi for several months.

    When the international media outlet, Reuters covered the story of the missing infant of Ahmadi in November, the 29-years-old taxi driver, Hamid Safi was traced through online posts where his whereabouts got confirmed.

    The grandfather of the baby boy who resides in the north-eastern province of Badakhshan, made a long journey to Kabul to reunite with his grandson.

    The taxi driver, Safi said that the infant baby was found crying on the ground of the airport by him when he dropped off his brother’s family for evacuation to the airport.

    Safi took the baby boy to his home and decided to raise him alone along with three daughters. His mother’s greatest wish was to have a grandson before she died.

    His family also named the baby boy, Mohammad Abed.

    While giving an interview to Reuters in late November, ” I am keeping this baby. If his family is found, I will give him to them. If not, I will raise him myself.”

    Initially, Safi refused to hand over the baby and demanded to evacuate him and his family to the US as well.

    The baby boy was returned to his grandfather after long negotiations. The Taliban police also briefly detained Safi and arranged settlements between the families by the Taliban police to compensate around 100,000 Afghani ($950) to the taxi driver for raising their infant for about five months.

    His parents expressed their happiness while witnessing the reunion of their son through online video chat.

    “There are celebrations, dance, singing,” Mr Razawi said. “It is just like a wedding indeed.”

    His family hoped that the arrangements would soon be made to bring their baby to the US state of Michigan, where they have now settled.

  • World powers unanimously declare nuclear war unwinnable

    World powers unanimously declare nuclear war unwinnable

    The countries widely considered world powers (China, Russia, Britain, the United States, and France) have unanimously agreed to refrain from a nuclear arms race, according to a joint statement by the five nuclear powers published by the Kremlin on Monday.

    These five countries being members of the United Nations Security Council shoulder the responsibility to keep away from war.

    “We affirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” the English-language version of the statement read.

    “As nuclear use would have far-reaching consequences, we also affirm that nuclear weapons — for as long as they continue to exist — should serve defensive purposes, deter aggression, and prevent war.”

    The statement from the so-called P5 group comes as bilateral relations between the United States and Moscow have fallen to their lowest since the end of the Cold War, while relations between Washington and China are also at a low over a range of disagreements.

    The western countries have shown consternation on massive build-up at Ukraine’s border by Russia.

    As Russian forces build at the Ukraine border, last Thursday US President Joe Biden told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that a possible move on Ukraine will draw sanctions and an increased US presence in Europe.

  • America forced IMF to impose strict conditions on Pakistan: Shaukat Tarin

    America forced IMF to impose strict conditions on Pakistan: Shaukat Tarin

    Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin termed the geo-political situation of the region as a reason for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) to impose strict conditions on Pakistan.

    The finance minister spoke about a number of issues, including the Supplementary Finance Bill 2021, inflation, State Bank Amendment Bill, prior actions demanded by IMF, and other core issues related to finance on Geo News‘ programme ‘Naya Pakistan’.

    The minister, terming the geo-political situation of the region as a reason for the IMF being forceful, said that the talks with the lender aiming to restore the United States (US) $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) were not a piece of cake after the US pullout of Afghanistan.

    Tarin admitted that America was behind IMF to impose strict conditions on Pakistan.

    The finance minister said that the petroleum levy in fuel prices has been increased as per the IMF’s demand.

    “We had cut down the sales tax on petroleum products to zero but were compelled to apply the petroleum levy due to IMF’s strict behaviour,” said Tarin, adding that the IMF had lent the country some money back in March 2021 on account of an increase in the petroleum levy.

  • More than 4500 flights cancelled as Omicron impacts flight crews

    Over 4500 flights have been cancelled around the world and thousands more delayed due to the outbreak of the highly infectious Omicron variant of coronavirus, reports Al Jazeera.

    At least 2,000 flights were cancelled worldwide on Christmas Day.

    According to the tracking website flightaware.com, 616 flights originating from or headed to the United States (US) airports were cancelled and more than 8,000 were delayed.

    Pilots, flights attendants and other staff have been calling in sick or having to quarantine after exposure to Covid, forcing international airlines (Lufthansa, Delta, United Airlines) to cancel flights during one of the years peak travel periods.

    United Airlines who cancelled 185 flights on Christmas eve, in a statement, said, “The nationwide spike in Omicron cases this week has had a direct impact on our flight crews and the people who run our operation.”

    Earlier this week, it was reported that the rapidly spreading Omicron variant is the dominant Covid strain in the US, representing 73 per cent of sequenced cases.

  • UNSC adopts resolution to facilitate Afghanistan

    The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) members unanimously adopted a resolution to provide vital support to Afghanistan.

    The resolution states that “payment of funds, other financial assets or economic resources, and the provision of goods and services necessary to ensure the timely delivery of such assistance or to support such activities are permitted.”

    Such assistance supports “basic human needs in Afghanistan” and is “not a violation” of sanctions imposed on entities linked to the Taliban, added the resolution.

    The move came as Afghanistan faces an economic meltdown since the Taliban seized control of the country in August. The crisis has left nearly 23 million people facing acute food insecurity, according to the World Food Programme.

    “Humanitarian aid and life-saving assistance must be able to reach the Afghan people without any hindrance,” China’s UN (United Nation) Ambassador, Zhang Jun, said in a tweet on Monday.

    The decision has been made to limit the scope of the resolution to one year, which only suggests that this aims to satisfy Washington’s European allies.

  • US appoints first-ever Pakistani-American New York inspector

    US appoints first-ever Pakistani-American New York inspector

    The New York Police Department (NYPD) made history by appointing its first-ever Pakistani-American deputy inspector Adeel Rana.

    In a tweet, the Pakistan Embassy in the United States (US) congratulated Rana for the achievement.

    Rana also took to Twitter and shared a video from the ceremony. It can be seen that as his name was called out, many of his colleagues are shouting with joy.

    “What a great moment to hear cheers of coworkers, friends, family & community members when my name was called for promotion to Deputy Inspector. A historical moment indeed!”, he said.

    Last year, Rana made history when he became the first Muslim-American to be appointed as Commanding Officer of a precinct in the force’s history.

  • ‘Thank you Malala for all that you do,’ US State Department

    ‘Thank you Malala for all that you do,’ US State Department

    Malala Yousafzai met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday.

    “Afghanistan right now is the only country where girls do not have access to secondary education. They are prohibited from learning,” said Malala, who works with female Afghan activists, while standing alongside US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

    Blinken in a tweet wrote, “We discussed the role of girls’ education and how investing in women and girls creates a brighter future. Thank you, Malala, for all that you do.”

    Malala also read a letter from an Afghan girl to US President Biden during a meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The letter was written by a 15-year-old Afghan girl named Sotodah. “This is the message of Afghan girls right now: we want to see a world where all girls can have access to safe and quality education,” she said while presenting the letter.

    “We hope that the United States, together with the UN, will take immediate actions to ensure that girls are allowed to go back to their schools as soon as possible,” Yousafzai noted before a private meeting with the secretary.

  • US President Biden invites Pakistan for virtual summit on democracy, leaves China and Turkey out

    United States (US) President Joe Biden has invited 110 countries, including Pakistan, for a virtual summit on democracy. The summit is expected to take place on December 9 and 10.

    According to a list posted on the US State Department website, America’s top rival China and North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) ally Turkey are missing from the list.

    Surprisingly, US traditional Arab allies Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also not invited. From the Middle East region, only Israel and Iraq are excepted to join other countries for the meeting.

    The conference was a campaign pledge by Biden, who has placed the struggle between democracies and “autocratic governments” at the heart of his foreign policy, reports Dawn. However, the second edition of this meeting will take place in person next year.

    While announcing the summit in August, the White House said the meeting would “galvanise commitments and initiatives across three principal themes: defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights”.