News Update

 

 

  ANKARA: Turkey has announced a 2021 public investment programme worth 138.5 billion lira ($18.53 billion), with communication and transportation projects receiving the largest allocation of the investment funds. The programme, published in the Official Gazette, set aside nearly $6 billion for public investments in the transportation and communication sectors in 2021, and another $2.6 billion for education projects. Other investment areas include manufacturing, health, agriculture, tourism and energy. Read  Clock ticking on $1b UAE cash facility Under the programme, Turkey’s Transport and Infrastructure Ministry will receive some $2 billion, while the State Hydraulics Works (DSI) will receive $1.8 billion and the Highways Directorate $1.75 billion. President Tayyip Erdogan, who has been in power for nearly 20 years with five consecutive election victories, had until 2018 enjoyed steady annual growth of around 5% fuelled by cheap foreign credit and “mega projects” ranging from bridges

  In Pakistan, while women are taking active participation in all segments of the economy it is quite unfortunate that many of them go on doing their jobs and day-to-day activities without having access to the internet. A new  study  titled “Women Disconnected: Feminist Case Studies on the Gender Digital Divide Amidst Covid-19” suggests that six in ten women in Pakistan face restrictions from their families when using the internet. The key findings of the study suggest that 4 in 10 of the 115 respondents who took the survey use the internet every day, while 2 in 10 respondents do not use the internet at all. Further, half of the respondents who use the internet daily, come from families with over 60,000 monthly income while 7 in 10 of those who do not use the internet come from families with below 30,0000 monthly income. This shows that affordability contributes largely to women’s use of the internet. Further, the gender divide is also dependent on the region a woman lives in, for exam

  Ten days after rioters breached the US Capitol in a deadly attack that stunned the world, cities nationwide were girding for a potential new wave of violent protests over the weekend, erecting barriers and deploying thousands of National Guard troops. The FBI warned police agencies of possible armed demonstrations outside all 50 state capitol buildings starting Saturday through President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan 20, fueled by supporters of President Donald Trump who believe his false claims of electoral fraud. Michigan, Virginia, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Washington were among more than a dozen states that activated their National Guards to strengthen security. Meanwhile, downtown Washington, DC, was virtually empty, with streets near the Capitol closed and battalions of camouflaged National Guard soldiers taking up positions across the city center. The nationwide security scramble followed the deadly Jan 6 attack on the US Capitol by a mix of extremists and Trump supp

  ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the  Prime Minister  on Power Tabish Gohar said the federal government was all set to raise  electricity  tariff amount to roughly Rs2 from this month. He confirmed that the power tariff “increase is inevitable” in January as it was one of the major conditions laid by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the revival of $6 billion aid programme and the need of the power sector. The premier’s aide disclosed it on Friday in a talk show on Express News, The Review. Hours after the federal government jacked up POL prices for a second time in a month, the SAPM apprised that power tariff would also be increased in January, saying Prime Minister Imran Khan was likely to announce the hike formally. In December 2019, it was reported the premier gave a go-ahead to increase electricity prices whereby they were expected to go up by 25% or Rs3.34 per unit on account of annual base tariff increase of the previous fiscal year. However, Gohar revealed the prices w