Author: Theph

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday called for grant-based climate financing and a significant increase in funds for resilience and adaptation, saying vulnerable countries needed timely financial assistance that did not add to their debt burden.

Addressing a high-level session of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye, he advocated greater international solidarity with countries bearing the brunt of climate change, particularly developing nations.

“When climate disasters strike, vulnerable countries need timely assistance and financing that does not deepen their debt. We call for grant-based finance, including public-private partnerships, alongside a significant increase in resilience and adaptation funds, which are essential for the survival of struggling economies,” he said.

“Climate change knows no borders. No nation can face it alone,” the prime minister added.

Recalling Pakistan’s devastating 2022 floods, Shehbaz said nearly one-third of the country had been submerged, standing crops had been washed away and millions of acres of land inundated.

He said the floods affected 33 million people, claimed more than 1,700 lives and caused economic losses exceeding $30 billion.

The prime minister also recounted the story of a man who was preparing for his wedding when floodwaters swept through his home, turning what should have been a celebration into a scene of mourning.

He said the incident reflected the suffering of millions of people in Pakistan and across the developing world who had borne the consequences of climate-related disasters.

“Four years ago at the UN, I warned that what happened in Pakistan would not stay in Pakistan. Unfortunately, that warning has become a stark reality. The future we feared has become the present we are living,” he said.

Shehbaz acknowledged the Turkish leadership’s support for Pakistan during the devastating floods of 2010 and 2022.

He also stressed that water should never be used as a weapon, saying no country should be allowed to put the lives and livelihoods of downstream populations at risk.

“Water should never be weaponised. No nation should be allowed to put the lives and livelihoods of people downstream at risk. Water-sharing agreements must be honoured in letter and spirit,” he said.

Meeting with Sudanese leader

Separately, PM Shehbaz met General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, president of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereignty Council, on the sidelines of the COP31 high-level segment in Antalya.

During the meeting, Shehbaz reaffirmed Pakistan’s longstanding ties with Sudan and reiterated Islamabad’s support for the country’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity.

He also expressed solidarity with the Sudanese people amid the challenges facing their country.

The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations in various areas of mutual interest. They also exchanged views on climate change and emphasised the need for greater international cooperation to address its impact, particularly on developing countries.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining close coordination at multilateral forums.

Source: brecorder

After opening on a positive note, selling pressure returned at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), with the benchmark KSE-100 Index shedding over 1,200 points during the trading session on Thursday.

At 12:50pm, the benchmark index was hovering at 177,871.25, up 1,212.55 points or 0.68%.

Selling was observed in key sectors, including automobile assemblers, cement, commercial banks, oil and gas exploration companies, OMCs and power generation. Index-heavy stocks, including HUBCO, PPL, OGDC, PSO, SSGC, SNGPL, HBL, MCB, MEBL and UBL, traded in the red.

On Wednesday, PSX closed marginally lower as late-session profit-taking pared gains. The benchmark KSE-100 Index shed 251.44 points, or 0.14%, to close at 179,083.80 points.

Internationally, global stocks wobbled at the start of Asian trading on Thursday, while Nvidia shares plunged in after-hours trading on news that its board may oust longtime CEO ​Jensen Huang.

Nvidia’s board is meeting late Wednesday to decide whether to oust Huang, ‌a source familiar with the matter said, as the world’s dominant supplier of AI processors grapples with the fallout of allegations that he had an affair with a suspected spy for China.

The New York Times has also ​reported that Huang had had an affair with a company executive who reported to ​him.

Shares in Nvidia slid more than 8% after the bell, weighing on S&P 500 e-mini futures, which slipped 0.4%.

Regional indexes fared better ​after a choppy start. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.2%, Taiwanese shares gained 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ​climbed 0.5%, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.1% lower, weighed down by shares ‌in Hong ⁠Kong.

Stocks on Wall Street made gains on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 rising 1.3% and coming close to retracing all of the losses since last week’s US midterm elections.

Fed funds futures are pricing an 87.3% chance of a 25-basis-point ⁠hike ​at the US central bank’s next two-day meeting on December ​9, compared to a 12.7% chance of a larger 50-basis-point hike, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

This is an intraday update

Source: brecorder

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s Saqib Khan took seven wickets on debut as Sri Lanka collapsed from their overnight 404-4 to 446 all out on the fourth morning of the first Test in Rawalpindi on Thursday, a first innings lead of 12.

Saqib shone on an overcast morning to grab a remarkable 7-130 in his first Test appearance and Pakistan soon wiped off the deficit to be 39-1 at lunch, losing opener Tayyab Arif for 11.

Azan Awais, on 16, and Mohammad Taha with 12 were the unbeaten batsmen at the interval as Pakistan edged into a 27-run lead.

Saqib started the collapse in the first over of the day when he bagged the prize wicket of centurion Dhananjaya de Silva, caught behind by Ghazi Ghori without adding to his overnight 167.

De Silva hit 20 fours in a 405-minute marathon knock and was soon joined back in the pavilion by Sri Lanka captain Kusal Mendis, who had also reached his hundred on day three.

Kusal, who added an 249 runs for the fifth wicket with De Silva, fell to Saqib for 119 in the fifth over after adding just two to his overnight score. He hit 10 fours and four sixes in five hours at the crease.

Sri Lanka lost their last six wickets for 42 runs and Saqib took his fifth wicket when Sonal Dinusha (20) edged to slip.

De Silva, Kamindu fifties guide Sri Lanka to 221-4 in first Test

Saqib then mopped up tailenders Lahiru Kumara (0) and Asitha Fernando (four) to become only the fourth Pakistani to take seven wickets in an innings on debut.

The others were pace bowler Mohammad Zahid (7-66), off-spinner Mohammad Nazir (7-99) and leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed (7-114).

Source: brecorder

Actor Stacy Keach, who portrayed rugged characters such as fictional detective Mike Hammer and legendary American novelist Ernest Hemingway, died on Tuesday at the age of 85, his wife said in a statement to Hollywood trade publication Variety.

Keach died in Poland “after a long and difficult battle with a serious heart condition and heart failure,” ​Malgosia Tomassi said in a statement to Variety.

“Stacy was not only a legendary actor, admired and loved by audiences the world over, but also ‌my beloved husband, my companion and the heart of our family,” Tomassi said.

Keach stood out in dozens of starring and character actor parts on television and in films in roles as diverse as Barabbas (the TV miniseries “Jesus of Nazareth”) and Richard Nixon (the play “Frost/Nixon”). He also had a busy stage career, often starring in Shakespearean works such as “King Lear” and “Hamlet.”

His performance as the latter in 1972 inspired a New ​York Times critic to label Keach “the finest American classic actor since John Barrymore.”

Keach’s most prominent role was Mike Hammer, the hard-boiled detective, clad in fedora and ​trenchcoat, in television adaptations of the works of suspense writer Mickey Spillane.

“The New Mike Hammer” ran from the mid to late 1980s ⁠and Keach revived the character in the “Mike Hammer, Private Eye” series from 1997-98. He also played Hammer in four made-for-television movies and narrated audio versions of Spillane’s books.

Nicolas Cage transformed ‘from within’ for ‘Madden,’ co-star Kathryn Hahn says

“I have ​been and always shall be Mike Hammer,” Keach wrote in his 2013 autobiography, “All in All: An Actor’s Life on and off the Stage.”

He added, “Certain roles stick to you and I’m ​happy that Hammer is mine.”

The first Hammer series was interrupted when Keach went to prison for six months in England in 1985 after more than 30 grams of cocaine were found in his possessions at London’s Heathrow Airport. In his book he said he had been addicted and in 2013 Keach told Fox News that getting caught “saved my life, actually.”

Keach had a history with Hemingway, the complex Nobel ​Prize-winning author and adventurer.

His portrayal of the writer in “Hemingway” in the 1988 television miniseries earned him a Golden Globe award and an Emmy nomination.

Keach was born June 2, ​1941, in Savannah, Georgia, and grew up in Southern California. As a child he underwent several surgeries for a cleft lip and cleft palate.

“Only when I was maligned and teased by kids ‌did it bother ⁠me,” Keach told Fox News. “I became an overachiever as a result of that. I had to excel in sports to make up for that. It was a motor. It gave me an incentive to do better.”

For some roles the scar on his lip was concealed by a mustache but in a 2016 interview with the Cleft Palate Foundation Keach said he preferred to let it show when he was in a tough-guy role, such as a mobster, or playing a vulnerable character.

Keach’s father, Stacy Sr., was a director and actor ​who worked steadily in television from the ​1950s through the ’80s. His brother James ⁠Keach was also an actor.

Keach graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and also studied at the Yale School of Drama and was a Fulbright Scholar at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

In the foreword of “All in All,” actor Alec Baldwin described ​Keach as “a miraculous hybrid of the hyper-masculinity of a Brando or Robert Mitchum and the classical training of Richard Burton or ​Kevin Kline.”

Keach’s movie work ⁠included John Huston’s “Fat City,” “The New Centurions,” “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean,” “American History X,” “The Long Riders” with his brother, “That Championship Season,” and the Cheech and Chong comedies “Up in Smoke” and “Nice Dreams.”

His regular television roles included “Titus,” “Prison Break” and “Two and a Half Men.” On Broadway he starred in “Other Desert Cities” in 2011-2012, “The Kentucky Cycle” and “Solitary Confinement” in the ’90s and “Deathtrap” in the ’70s.

Keach suffered an apparent ⁠heart attack ​on stage in May 2017 on opening night of “Pamplona,” a one-man play about Hemingway in his later ​years, that forced the cancellation of the show’s run. He also suffered a mild stroke in 2009 during a run of “Frost/Nixon” but returned to the stage 10 days later.

Keach is survived by Tomassi, a Polish-born actress who ​appeared with him in various “Hammer” shows. He was married three times previously and had a yearslong relationship with singer Judy Collins in the ’70s.

Source: brecorder

Chief Minister of Punjab Maryam Nawaz Sharif said on Thursday there was significant evidence of placer gold in all five rivers of Punjab, particularly in Mianwali and Attock districts, and invited international investors to help develop the resource.

Speaking at Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026 (PMIF26) in Islamabad, Sharif held up what she described as a sample of pure gold recovered from river sand and said surveys were still underway to quantify the deposits.

“We have significant evidence that there is sufficient quantity of placer gold,” Sharif said. “It is pure gold, literally flowing in all five rivers, especially Mianwali and Attock, north and south of Punjab.”

“However, we are conducting surveys to see the amount of gold that we have in the rivers. We are also looking for international partners and can turn this opportunity into shared prosperity,” she said.

Placer Gold Discovered Near Attock

• Placer gold is secondary gold that has broken loose from a primary hard-rock source (like a quartz or sulfide vein) through natural weathering and erosion, and has been transported and re-deposited by water, ice, or wind.

Maryam said the gold was found alongside sand and gravel containing rare earth and precious minerals that could be equal in value to the gold itself.

“There is so much that we can do with this wealth,” she added.

She linked the claim to a broader push to formalise Punjab’s mining sector, saying revenue from the provincial Mines and Minerals Department had risen from Rs10 billion when she took office to Rs40 billion in two and a half years.

“Pakistan is a pot of gold,” she said. “All we need to do is to unearth it, to explore it and to turn it into tangible wealth.”

Pakistan is hosting the Pakistan Minerals Investment Forum 2026 (PMIF26) in Islamabad to attract foreign investment, promote global partnerships and unlock the country’s vast mineral potential.

The two-day forum would bring together Pakistan’s leadership, international mining executives, investors, policymakers and industry experts to explore investment opportunities in the country’s minerals sector.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar and Chief of the Army Staff & Chief of Defence Forces (COAS & CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir are among the key speakers.

Organised by the government of Pakistan, in collaboration with the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the forum aims to promote domestic and foreign investment by highlighting Pakistan’s extensive mineral reserves and opportunities across the sector.

The forum would spotlight critical minerals, sustainable mining practices, and policy frameworks designed to enable transparent, responsible, and long-term sector growth. Through high-level dialogues, strategic partnerships, and an international exhibition, PMIF26 aims to position Pakistan as a competitive and trusted destination for global mineral investment.

Source: brecorder

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday condemned a terrorist attack in Kohat that left 10 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police personnel martyred, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP).

In separate statements, both leaders expressed grief over the loss of lives, paid tribute to the martyred personnel and extended condolences to their bereaved families.

President Zardari said the sacrifices made by the KP Police in the fight against terrorism were a source of pride for the entire nation. He said such attacks could not weaken the country’s resolve to eliminate terrorism.

The president also acknowledged the services and sacrifices of police and other law enforcement personnel in protecting the lives and property of citizens. He wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the attack.

Prime Minister Shehbaz paid tribute to the 10 policemen, including DSP Haider Zaman, who lost their lives while fighting the attackers in the Darra Bokak area of Kohat.

He said the police personnel had demonstrated courage, dedication and commitment by sacrificing their lives for the country’s peace and security. He also described them as national heroes.

The prime minister said the killing of 18 terrorists during the police operation reflected the KP Police’s professional capabilities, bravery and determination in the fight against terrorism.

According to the Director Public Relations of the KP Police, 18 terrorists belonging to Fitna al-Khawarij were killed during an exchange of fire with police in Kohat district.

The police said the incident occurred after a police contingent completed an operation against elements involved in illegal gold mining in Darabokach, near Kohat, in coordination with the local civil administration.

As the contingent was returning, terrorists acting at the behest of criminal elements attacked the police party. The police repulsed the attack, killing 18 terrorists, while 10 police personnel were killed during the encounter.

The police stated that criminal elements and terrorists belonging to Fitna al-Khawarij maintained organised links and had coordinated the attack. It warned that facilitators of the terrorist group and criminal networks would not be spared.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said criminal elements and terrorists were attempting to spread unrest in the country, adding that they would not be allowed to achieve their objectives.

He said the entire nation stood alongside security forces and law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorism, adding that the government would not compromise on the country’s peace and stability and remained committed to eliminating terrorism.

Source: brecorder