• Pakistan secured a $6 billion IMF bailout package on Monday after the International Monetary Fund approved a revised structural adjustment program focused on tax increases and subsidy reductions.
• The agreement requires Islamabad to implement value-added tax increases and privatize state-owned enterprises within the next 18 months, measures intended to stabilize the country's external account deficit.
• The U.S. welcomed the agreement, with Treasury officials noting that Pakistan's fiscal stabilization is important for regional economic security and counterterrorism financing oversight.
Aldeas, The Final Dream of Pope Francis is being screened to commemorate the first anniversary of Francis’s deathMartin Scorsese’s documentary about Pope Francis is to have its world premiere in the Vatican today as one of a set of events commemorating the first anniversary of Francis’s death.The screening of the film, titled Aldeas, The Final Dream of Pope Francis, is being staged by Scholas Occurrentes, an international organisation aiming to “to encourage social integration and the culture of encounter through sports, arts and technology”, which was set up in Argentina by Francis in 2001 while he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, and made into a foundation when he became pope in 2013. Continue reading...
Coal Australia denies its donations to the ‘community-driven association’ amount to astroturfing, but critics accuse the group of misleading the publicGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn “independent, community-driven association” that ran anti-Labor adverts during the last federal election was entirely funded by a coal industry lobby group, the Guardian can reveal.Energy for Australians accepted more than $1m from Coal Australia – a group advocating for coal whose members include major miners Yancoal, Peabody, New Hope and Whitehaven. Continue reading...
• Elijah Dottery, diagnosed with sickle cell anemia as a baby, became the first U-M patient to receive the newly FDA-approved stem cell therapy.
• The treatment uses patient's own stem cells edited via CRISPR to produce functional hemoglobin, administered at Michigan Medicine.
• This breakthrough matters for over 100,000 U.S. sickle cell patients, offering potential cure where prior therapies only managed symptoms.
Cody Roberts received widespread opprobrium for his ‘disturbing’ treatment of gray wolf but avoided jail timeSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA grisly encounter in which a Wyoming hunter ran over a gray wolf, took pictures of the creature at a bar and then killed it has ended with the hunter avoiding prison but facing probation, fines – and widespread outrage.A state judge in Pinedale, Wyoming, handed down an 18-month probation sentence to Cody Roberts, 44, about two years after he hit the wolf with a snowmobile, restrained the wounded animal by taping its mouth shut, brought it into a rural bar and ultimately killed it. Continue reading...
Billionaire claims world’s biggest music company has suffered due to postponement of US listingBusiness live – latest updatesBillionaire Bill Ackman’s hedge fund has offered to buy Universal Music Group (UMG) in a deal that values the world’s biggest music company at more than €50bn (£44bn).Pershing Square, the New-York based hedge fund, has offered to buy the business, which is home to artists including Taylor Swift and Elton John, in a cash and stock deal. Continue reading...
• Philadelphia Eagles star wide receiver A.J. Brown subject of intensifying trade discussions as contract tensions rise.
• Reports indicate multiple teams inquiring, with Brown's 1,400+ yard seasons making him prime target.
• Trade could reshape Eagles' offense and signal rebuild if executed before deadline.