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Faced with a shortage of US dollars, Pakistan only has enough foreign currency in its reserves to pay for three weeks of imports. Long lines are forming at gas stations as prices swing wildly in the country of 220 million. Pakistan’s currency, the rupee, recently dropped to new lows against the US dollar after authorities eased currency controls to meet one of the IMF’s lending conditions. The country has been spending more on trade than it has brought in, running down its stock of foreign currency and weighing on the rupee’s value. Pakistan's usually bustling ports, like this one in Karachi, have ground to a halt as the country grapples with a severe shortage of foreign currency.

In protests that followed the killing and the police sweeps, six people were arrested and charged with domestic terrorism. In December, the same charges were filed against five people after law enforcement moved in to clear barricades and confront protesters. But in a number of states, including Georgia, domestic terrorism laws include a wide range of offenses outside those motivated by hate. The Atlanta Solidarity Fund said that the state of Georgia was trying to “set an alarming precedent” with the charges. “If they are successful, protesters across the country could be facing similar speech-chilling ‘domestic terrorism’ charges,'” it said in a statement this week.

"If prices keep increasing, rural consumers will move towards smaller pack sizes since there's a strain on wallets," said Alok Shah, a consumer analyst at India's Ambit Capital. Shah said poorer rural consumers could move to cheaper locally-made products instead of those produced by Unilever. HUL, the biggest consumer company in India by sales, said last January that demand in rural India - where average incomes are lower than urban areas - had begun to slow as prices rose. Unilever did not respond to questions on how much of its revenues come from rural consumers. HUL Chief Executive Sanjiv Mehta said, however, the company had begun seeing signs of a pick up in rural sales as inflation eases and farm incomes rise again.

The Taliban on Tuesday released two Americans who had been detained in Afghanistan, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price. The releases were announced as the United Nations Security Council was meeting about Afghanistan. “Out of respect for the privacy of these individuals and their families, we are not going to confirm names.”The release came the same day the Taliban banned women from private and public universities in Afghanistan. The U.S. "condemns in strongest terms the Taliban's indefensible decision to ban women from universities, girls from secondary schools," Price said. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, it banned female education and most employment.

☆ Bitcoin chart is breaking down, has another 30% downside from here, Canaccord Genuity predicts
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

"The recent breakdown by bitcoin and [ether] below important support near $18,431 and $1,256, respectively, confirms they are in new intermediate-term downtrends," analyst Javed Mirza said in a note Thursday. "This is a strong technical negative and opens the door for a test of major support near $11,918 and $560, respectively, or another 30% and 57% downside from current levels." On Wednesday, bitcoin crossed over the $17,000 level for the first time in two weeks, according to Coin Metrics. That could take bitcoin and ether higher by 27% and 15%, respectively. "The crypto industry is rhyming with the 1990s internet craze," Mirza said.

☆ Explainer: Why Pakistan's army chief matters far beyond its borders
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Even when a civilian government holds power, Pakistan's generals retain a dominant influence over security matters and foreign affairs. He later headed Pakistan's two most influential intelligence agencies - Military Intelligence (MI) in 2017 and then the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 2018. WHY IT MATTERS GLOBALLYPakistan's army chief will play a key role in managing risks of conflict with nuclear-armed rival India on its eastern border, while dealing with potential instability and friction with Afghanistan on its western frontier. The incoming army chief could potentially play a key role in lowering the political temperature as Pakistan attempts to survive an economic crisis and recover from historic floods. He even summoned Pakistan's top industrialists to a meeting at army headquarters to encourage them to pay more tax.

☆ Pakistan Chooses New Army Chief Amid Confrontation With Imran Khan
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Saeed Shah | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Lt. Gen. Asim Munir will be Pakistan’s next chief of army staff, a position widely considered to be the country’s most powerful office. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—A general who was removed from leadership of Pakistan’s spy agency by former Prime Minister Imran Khan will take over as the country’s next army chief. Lt. Gen. Asim Munir will succeed Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa , who will retire next week, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced Thursday. The chief of army staff position is widely thought to be the most powerful office in a country that has seen multiple coups, and where the military exerts massive influence over the government and policy even when not formally in power.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Pakistan on Thursday named Lieutenant-General Asim Munir as chief of the army, an organisation that plays an extraordinarily influential role in the governance of the nuclear-armed nation. Munir, who was also Pakistan's chief spy, will take over from outgoing General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who retires later this month after a six-year term, the defence ministry said. "It is based on merit, law and as per constitution," Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters after announcing the Munir as the new chief. On Wednesday, outgoing army chief Bajwa said the military would have no role in national politics in the future, rejecting as "fake and false" Khan's claims that a U.S.-backed conspiracy topped his government. Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Neil Fullick and Miral FahmyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistan army chief takes on ousted PM Khan over alleged US conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

ISLAMABAD, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Pakistan's outgoing army chief rejected on Wednesday as "fake and false" claims by ousted prime minister Imran Khan that a U.S.-backed conspiracy had toppled his government, and also said the military would play no role in national politics in future. The former premier has also alleged that the military played a role in his ousting, a charge the army has denied. "A state of hysteria was created in the country on the pretext of a fake and false narrative," the army chief said about Khan's main accusation that Washington supported his removal with the help of a local handler. Over the weekend, Khan said that even if the military had not been involved it could still have saved his government. Khan's party spokesman Fawad Chaudhry told Reuters he had no comment on the army chief's remarks.

☆ Explainer: Who Pakistan picks as army chief matters far beyond its borders
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Gibran Naiyyar Peshimam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Even when a civilian government holds power, Pakistan's generals retain a dominant influence over security matters and foreign affairs. BAJWA'S LEGACYAppointed chief in 2016, Bajwa sought to balance ties with China and the United States. He even summoned Pakistan's top industrialists to a meeting at army headquarters to encourage them to pay more tax. WHY IT MATTERS GLOBALLYPakistan's army chief will play a key role in managing risks of conflict with nuclear-armed rival India on its eastern border, while dealing with potential instability and friction with Afghanistan on its western frontier. The incoming army chief could potentially play a key role in lowering the political temperature as Pakistan attempts to survive an economic crisis and recover from historic floods.

There was a lot of bleeding," Fawad Chaudhry, a spokesperson for Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, told Reuters. "I heard a burst of bullet shots after which I saw Imran Khan and his aides fall down on the truck," witness Qazzafi Butt told Reuters. "Later, a gunman shot a single shot but was grabbed by an activist of Khan's party." [1/7] Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan is helped after he was shot in the shin in Wazirabad, Pakistan November 3, 2022 in this still image obtained from video. Her father and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged in the same city in 1979 after being deposed in a military coup.

☆ Former Pakistan leader Imran Khan disqualified from holding office
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s elections commission on Friday disqualified former Prime Minister Imran Khan from holding public office for five years, accusing him of unlawfully selling state gifts and concealing assets, his spokesman and officials said. Chaudhry condemned the move and urged Khan’s supporters to protest publicly. Balkh Ser Khosa, a prominent lawyer, said the commission disqualified Khan from holding public office because he unlawfully sold state gifts given to him by other countries when he was in power. Banaras Khan / AFP via Getty ImagesLaw Minister Azam Nazir Tarar confirmed that the commission found Khan guilty of the charges. Tarar said Khan has been disqualified from holding public office for five years.

☆ Pakistan floods: Children face a new disaster -- diarrhea, dengue and other waterborne diseases
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( Sophia Saifi Rhea Mogul Anna Coren Sandi Sidhu Javed Iqbal Sameer Mandhro | Sophia Saifi | Rhea Mogul | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

A sick baby waits to be seen at the Mother and Child Healthcare Hospital in Pakistan’s Sindh province. Credit: Javed Iqbal/CNNDozens more children sleep cramped together on beds in the facility’s emergency room; some unconscious from their illness, others crying in pain. And then our patients came in like the floods,” said Dr. Nazia Urooj, physician in-charge at the hospital’s children emergency unit. This is the face of a near unprecedented health crisis unfolding across Pakistan – but for many, help is not arriving. In Sindh, one of the worst-impacted provinces, villages have been completely cut off, making it nearly impossible for families to seek help for their sick children.

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