Natural de Sabiñánigo (Huesca), Francisco Martínez Becerra, de 33 años, representa una forma de entender la hostelería en la que técnica y atención al detalle son tan importantes como la empatía y el trato humano. Su triunfo la semana pasada en la Copa Mundial de Maîtres de Hotel 2026 celebrada en Tokio (Japón) supone un reconocimiento a su trayectoria y a una filosofía basada en hacer que el cliente se sienta especial. “Ha sido la mayor alegría profesional en mi vida”, señala de vuelta a España.
O videocast “Boa Governança” tem como convidado o advogado António Lobo Xavier. Tem uma carreira longa na vida pública, foi autarca, deputado à Assembleia da República, conselheiro de Estado. Ao longo das últimas décadas, exerceu funções de administração executiva, não executiva e de supervisão em algumas das mais relevantes empresas e instituições portuguesas. É, desde 2024, Presidente do Conselho Geral e de Supervisão da EDP.
Nas últimas duas décadas, o papel dos acionistas mudou significativamente, em particular com o crescimento dos investidores institucionais. Nesta edição, vamos ter tentar perceber se os acionistas são hoje mais interventivos na gestão das empresas e onde se traçam os limitesda influência dos acionistas e da autonomia da administração.
O “Boa Governança” resulta de uma parceria entre o Jornal Económico e o Instituto Português de Corporate Governance, e é um espaço para debatermos os desafios que as organizações enfrentam na área da governança, com Ricardo Santos Ferreira, diretor-adjunto do JE, e Marta Saldanha, diretora do IPCG.
“He’s working on material for his next special, ‘Hussein in the Membrane,’” Meyers said after the former president ruffled feathers with jokes about the Cheesecake Factory.
Hackers roubaram mais de US$ 6 bilhões em criptomoedas nesta quinta-feira (29), estabelecendo um novo recorde para o maior assalto do tipo já registrado. Diversos investigadores apontaram a Coreia do Norte como possível responsável pelo ataque.
Até a noite de quinta-feira nos Estados Unidos, um grupo de empresas de criptomoedas havia conseguido congelar cerca de US$ 3 bilhões dos valores roubados, em uma corrida frenética contra os hackers para localizar e controlar o dinheiro digital.
Os invasores conseguiram acessar carteiras digitais mantidas na Binance, a maior corretora de criptomoedas do mundo.
A Binance afirmou na noite de quinta-feira que sua investigação preliminar indica que o ataque ocorreu por meio do notebook de um engenheiro, “o que permitiu que um invasor obtivesse acesso a um contêiner de serviço e enviasse transações de saque não autorizadas”.
A empresa afirmou que “cobrirá todas as perdas” com recursos próprios e de um fundo emergencial de ativos, acrescentando que “os fundos dos usuários estão seguros”. A corretora também informou que “suspendeu temporariamente depósitos e saques enquanto as verificações de segurança são concluídas; revogou a autorização do endereço afetado; [e] acionou autoridades policiais e parceiros de inteligência em blockchain para rastrear e recuperar os fundos”.
Analistas ficaram surpresos com o volume de dinheiro envolvido.
“É o maior ataque hacker da história”, afirmou à Reuters Aravind Srinivasan, chefe da área de operações sistemáticas de balcão (OTC) da GSR, uma das principais empresas de formação de mercado de criptomoedas.
A empresa de rastreamento de criptomoedas TRM Labs atribuiu o roubo a uma unidade de elite de hackers norte-coreanos, “com base em informações robustas obtidas dentro e fora da blockchain”.
A Pangolin Intelligence, outra empresa de rastreamento de blockchain sediada em Singapura, também afirmou acreditar que uma unidade de hackers da Coreia do Norte esteja por trás do ataque.
“A análise da atividade na blockchain relacionada a esse ataque, combinada com informações coletadas de incidentes anteriores conhecidos [envolvendo a unidade cibernética norte-coreana]”, levou à atribuição, afirmou um analista da Pangolin Intelligence, que não quis ser identificado por motivos de privacidade.
“Acho que o jogo de gato e rato mal começou”, disse o analista à CNN, acrescentando que a Coreia do Norte provavelmente está preparada para recorrer a uma rede de organizações de lavagem de dinheiro para tentar converter os valores roubados em dinheiro.
A Chainalysis, outra empresa de rastreamento de criptomoedas, afirmou estar monitorando os fundos roubados, que “estão se movimentando por diversas blockchains”, incluindo Bitcoin e Ethereum. Um porta-voz da empresa disse à CNN que havia “alto grau de confiança” de que a Coreia do Norte estava por trás do ataque.
A CNN procurou a missão da Coreia do Norte na ONU para comentar o caso. Pyongyang já negou anteriormente acusações de ataques hacker.
A CNN também solicitou comentários ao FBI e ao Serviço Secreto dos Estados Unidos, que também investiga crimes cibernéticos. Em investigações anteriores sobre grandes roubos de criptomoedas, o FBI contou com uma equipe de analistas de prontidão que trabalhava para congelar parte dos valores.
Caso a responsabilidade da Coreia do Norte seja comprovada, isso não surpreenderia autoridades policiais americanas nem especialistas do setor privado. Hackers norte-coreanos foram responsabilizados pelo recorde anterior de roubo de criptomoedas, quando supostamente furtaram US$ 1,5 bilhão da Bybit, outra grande corretora do setor. Na ocasião, os invasores roubaram, em questão de minutos, um valor equivalente a uma parcela significativa do PIB (Produto Interno Bruto) anual estimado da Coreia do Norte.
As formidáveis equipes de hackers da Coreia do Norte são uma importante fonte de receita para o regime, que possui armas nucleares e enfrenta duras sanções internacionais, segundo autoridades atuais e antigas dos Estados Unidos e da Coreia do Sul. Hackers ligados a Pyongyang roubaram bilhões de dólares de bancos e empresas de criptomoedas nos últimos anos, de acordo com relatórios das Nações Unidas e de empresas privadas.
Uma investigação da CNN publicada em 2023 destacou como o serviço de inteligência sul-coreano trabalhou com especialistas privados em rastreamento de criptomoedas para apreender cerca de US$ 1 milhão em ativos digitais roubados por norte-coreanos de uma vítima.
Diferentemente das plataformas de negociação de ações, as corretoras de criptomoedas costumam manter os ativos digitais em nome de seus usuários, o que as torna mais vulneráveis a ataques hacker e roubos, especialmente diante da falta de supervisão regulatória em um setor relativamente novo.
A Binance foi cofundada em 2017 pelo canadense Changpeng Zhao e se tornou a maior plataforma de negociação de criptomoedas do mundo em menos de um ano após seu lançamento.
No entanto, Zhao deixou o cargo em 2023, após se declarar culpado de violar leis contra a lavagem de dinheiro nos Estados Unidos. Ele foi condenado a quatro meses de prisão federal e recebeu um perdão do presidente Donald Trump em outubro do ano passado.
Zhao, que não administra mais a plataforma, mas continua sendo seu maior acionista, afirmou na rede social X que o incidente aparentemente foi um ataque hacker e que espera que a corretora cubra integralmente os fundos dos usuários.
Os preços do Bitcoin e do Ether, as criptomoedas mais negociadas, despencaram após a notícia da invasão à Binance, mas recuperaram parte das perdas e operavam em queda de cerca de 2% a 3% na tarde de sexta-feira (30), no horário de Hong Kong.
Paul Nowak says ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of employers could sign access agreements as ‘transformative’ rules come into force
The TUC general secretary, Paul Nowak, is predicting a wave of union recognition deals in the private sector over the next year as “transformative” rules on accessing workplaces come into force.
From Friday, as part of Labour’s Employment Rights Act, unions will have the right to enter workplaces or communicate with staff electronically. From January, employers will be obliged to inform workers of their right to join a union.
Hay que espectacularizar la realidad y todo tiene que ser entretenimiento banal y frívolo, incluso obsceno. Y en campaña electoral epatar es lo que importa: hacerse viral, llegar al votante indiferente y al rezagado. Entiendo que la comunicación manda pero ¿no creen ustedes, señoras y señores de la izquierda posmoguay, ecopija y deconstructora, no creen que se están pasando tres pueblos? Mientras las calles arden pidiendo techo, después de ocho años en los que a pesar de tocar algo de poder, aunque fuera de modo tangencial, no derogaron la reforma laboral de Rajoy ni su ley mordaza, ni hicieron nada que cambiara el problema de la vivienda, habiendo destruido la cohesión del feminismo español suplantándolo por una feria de identidades, mientras los trabajadores (rebautizados por ustedes como los de “abajo” o “de la mierda”, expresión que usa Gabriel Rufián para hablar de sí mismo cuando era pobre y currante) sienten sobre el cuello la bota de un sistema que explota cada minuto de su existencia, mientras todo esto pasa, ¿de verdad creen que lo mejor es hablarles a los españoles de comer coños y comer culos? Que no digo yo que el tema no tenga su relevancia pero, señora Montero, ¿acaso va a promulgar usted una ley para que los hombres aprendan el muy noble arte del cunnilingus?
Los derechos y libertades están en retroceso en África occidental. Ocho años después de su abolición, Burkina Faso acaba de reinstaurar la pena de muerte para delitos como la alta traición, el terrorismo o actos de espionaje. Hace un año, incluyó a la homosexualidad en la categoría de delitos con pena de cárcel, mientras su vecino Senegal endurecía hasta los ocho años de prisión los castigos contra los gais. Tanto en Burkina Faso como en Malí y Níger, el arresto y encarcelamiento de periodistas y activistas se ha convertido en moneda corriente. Hace apenas una década, esta región presumía de ser la excepción democrática de África. En la actualidad, nada menos que seis de sus 15 países están gobernados por militares o viven bajo regímenes autocráticos.
Pregunta. Tengo una vivienda alquilada en la provincia de A Coruña. El contrato se firmó en septiembre de 2023. He comunicado (a través de WhatsApp) a mi inquilina la decisión de no prorrogar el contrato una vez finalice el mismo en 2028. ¿Estoy afectado por el real decreto recientemente aprobado? N. Carranza
Andoni Iraola y Mikel Arteta nacieron en Guipuzcoa con cuatro meses de diferencia en 1982. El rumor del Mundial de España fue la música de fondo de su lactancia. La coincidencia maravilla a los aficionados al fútbol. Pero lo que más intriga a los empresarios que pagan sus contratos es aquello que de verdad les motiva como entrenadores. En Boston, sede de Fenway Sports Group, los dueños del Liverpool ansían que Iraola reproduzca la fiebre monomaníaca de Jürgen Klopp por el fútbol de ataque; mientras que en Denver los Kroenke, dueños del Arsenal, se preguntan si por fin Mikel Arteta, una vez conquistada la Premier, ha superado la ambivalencia que tanto le ha desgastado a él y al equipo en los últimos tres años. La 9ª jornada de la Liga inglesa enfrentará a estos paisanos coetáneos este domingo en Anfield (17.30, Dazn) para medir en profundidad el alcance de sus proyectos tanto como el de sus obsesiones.
Singapur, 30 oct (Prensa Latina) El canciller de Singapur, Vivian Balakrishnan, viajará hoy a Pakistán para conmemorar el aniversario 60 del establecimiento de relaciones diplomáticas entre ambos países, informó el Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores.
Caracas, 30 oct (Prensa Latina) El ministro para Relaciones Exteriores y Comercio Internacional Oliver Blanco llamó a construir hoy una Venezuela donde nadie se sienta excluido ni discriminado.
INDIA’S nuclear jingoism was on ample display during Operation Marka-i-Haq in May 2025 when it fired dual-use BrahMos cruise missiles with conventional payload, unmindful of the fact that the dangerous caper could have been misconstrued by Pakistani air defenders as a nuclear attack. Despite an agreement on pre-notification of flight testing of ballistic missiles, the Indians, while testing the Agni V MIRV-capable missile, have shown a blithe disregard for established pre-notification protocols that mandate a 72-hour pre-test notification, a fact pointed out by Pakistan’s Foreign Office in 2024.
While the Indians keep up an implacable momentum of vertical proliferation of nuclear and missile technology, the world indulges them through exceptionalism enshrined in the nuclear waiver for the Nuclear Suppliers Group and membership of the Missile Technology Control Regime.
The Indians have slyly wangled the concession from the USA and IAEA in the civil nuclear deal to keep eight reactors out of IAEA oversight. These pressurised heavy water reactors consume less nuclear fuel than they produce, which can be harvested for strategic military purposes.
It should be remembered that it was the Indians who introduced the nuclear arms race in the subcontinent because of their grandiose big-power pretensions. Their nuclear explosions in 1974 and 1998 forced Pakistan to follow suit out of its security compulsions.
The world indulges India through nuclear exceptionalism.
The Indian nuclear security architecture was provided conceptual ballast by Gen K. Sunderji and Krishna Subramanyam in the 1980s, when they came up with the notion of no-first use of nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear nation, with a caveat of making an exception for biological and chemical attacks. However, India kept developing its conventional forces, especially the armoured and mechanised component, as per the Sunderji doctrine, aimed at tearing Pakistan asunder.
On the geopolitical level the Indians have acquiesced to the status of a regional surrogate to accommodate balancing needs of the US vis-a-vis a rising global competitor, China. While enjoying nuclear exceptionalism the Indians went on a shopping spree for nuclear technology as well as the conventional hardware to operationalise the military strategy that sought an elusive space for conventional wars under the nuclear overhang.
The operational manifestation of these military ambitions was a slew of concepts starting with Cold Start and graduating to proactive operations. The latest manifestation of those concepts is the Dynamic Response Strategy that is based on rapidly deployable all-arms-based integrated battle groups and multidomain-enabled terrain-customised brigade-sized groups called Rudra Brigades.
Pakistan relies on its full-spectrum deterrence, keeping strategic nuclear ambiguity for greater liberty of action to deny India the space for conventional conflict.
While India deploys non-state actors to keep Pakistan destabilised through terrorism, it cleverly conflates Pakistan’s principled support to the victims of Indian state repression in Occupied Kashmir, a UNSC-recognised dispute, with militancy. It has also withdrawn from its international law commitments by illegally holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and imperilling the food security of Pakistan.
India under the BJP and RSS sway has adopted a foreign policy based upon the antiquated notion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ that covets the territories of neighbours based on historical myths. The inflammatory statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Barmer, Rajasthan, during an election rally that “Indian nukes are not kept for Diwali” indicates a bellicose mindset.
It is against the backdrop of the above facts that the notions of nuclear deterrence in the subcontinent have to be understood. Since the stability of nuclear deterrence is based upon nuclear dialectics between two rational actors, Indian irrationality adds dangerous instability to the nuclear equation.
The deployment of canisterised ground-based ready-to-use nuclear missiles and the submarine-launched nuclear ballistic missiles point to an aggressive nuclear intent when viewed in the context of Indo-Pak distrust and irrationality of the ideologically driven BJP leadership.
The well-known military historian Martin Van Creveld had coined a term for wars in the nuclear era: “Non-trinitarian”, where, unlike Clausewitz’s trinitarian wars, the only political objective would be deterring and not winning the wars.
Whether India has strengthened or reduced its strategic deterrence by fielding shallow-range submarine-based missiles is a point to ponder by Indian nuclear strategists.
Marissa Goldstein and her husband moved to Vietnam 10 years ago and are raising two sets of twins in Ho Chi Minh City.
Provided by Marissa Goldstein
Marissa Goldstein and her husband traveled to Vietnam for work in 2016 and decided to move there soon after.
Now, a mother of two sets of twins, Goldstein says her family of six is happily settled in Ho Chi Minh City.
The city's low costs and kid-friendly culture make family life easier — though international school fees are high.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Marissa Goldstein, a 40-year-old entrepreneur from the Boston area who lives in Ho Chi Minh City. It has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2016, my husband and I flew to Vietnam with our 1-year-old twins and two bags. We told everyone we'd be back in three months.
Ten years later, we have four kids — two sets of twins — and a life in Ho Chi Minh City that I wouldn't trade. We've taken our kids to about 50 countries and spend summers with our families in Boston, then come back to the chaos of a city we love.
They are raising four kids — two sets of twins — in Ho Chi Minh City.
Provided by Marissa Goldstein
Asia had my heart long before Vietnam
I grew up outside Boston. I studied communications at the University of Maryland, and a trip to Thailand during my junior year abroad was my first taste of Asia. I fell in love.
My husband and I met in high school and married after I graduated. I worked in PR and sales, then got my MBA at Babson College. Around 2015, there was an opportunity to help US companies diversify their supply chains away from China, so we started The Timroon Group, a manufacturing and sourcing company focused on Vietnam.
Being home with two babies overwhelmed me. Even though we had an incredible support system, living with my parents in a six-bedroom house in the suburbs. I quickly realized that staying home wasn't for me.
When traveling, though, I felt unstoppable. We headed to Ho Chi Minh City the day after their first birthday.
The family travels regularly around Vietnam and the region.
Provided by Marissa Goldstein
Vietnam won me over through my kids
I loved it right away, especially how people treat children. We'd bring the twins to dinners and big brunches, and the staff would take them and play. I felt really safe. Within a month, we had friends from all over the world. Three months turned into 18.
When the twins were 18 months old, we took an overnight train to Sapa in northern Vietnam. Hmong women were selling their textiles, and I decided to start my own travel accessories brand, working with women artisans. On that same trip, we decided to have one more child. Soon after, we found out we were having twins again.
In January 2020, we returned to Boston, where I grew Raffi Nova, my textile accessories brand. But by 2022, my husband's business was picking up, and we had the itch to return to Vietnam.
When she travels back to Boston in the summer, she gets surprised by how expensive things are.
Provided by Marissa Goldstein
Ho Chi Minh City works for a family of 6
We live about 15 minutes from the city center. There are a lot of foreigners living here, several international schools, and everything is within a 10-minute drive.
There are good doctors and hospitals, Michelin Guide-rated street food, French bakeries, and plenty of activities for the kids, from taekwondo to tennis.
The cost of living is much lower, though school and housing add up. Housing in our area ranges from about $1,500 a month for a smaller apartment to around $10,000 for a villa. We're somewhere in between, in a five-bedroom serviced apartment.
We spend about $1,000 a month on groceries, buying fruit and vegetables at the local market, and spending more on meat and imported food. A latte at a cute, bougie café is about $2, so I treat my friends to coffee without thinking twice.
We have a live-out helper who we pay about $900 a month. She cleans, preps groceries, and helps with the kids. Health insurance for our family runs under $10,000 a year.
I get serious sticker shock when I go home in the summer. I take the kids out for bagels, and it's $100 or more.
Schooling is by far our biggest cost. International school fees in the city range from about $8,000 to $30,000 per child per school year. We're at the higher end, but we strongly believe in a good education.
With fees for four kids, we probably spend about the same as we would in the US, where we wouldn't have to pay for school. But there, we wouldn't eat out or travel as much.
Goldstein says she thrives on chaos, so Vietnam is the right pick.
Provided by Marissa Goldstein
Being far away is hard, but travel makes up for it
Both our big families live in the Boston suburbs.
There's also the weather: hot, hotter, and wet. In rainy season, it pours at school pickup every single day, even when you're sure it won't. The upside is that the kids need only one wardrobe all year.
I see Vietnam is our launchpad to the world.
Last spring, we spent a night in the jungle in Phong Nha, home to Vietnam's largest cave. We've been to Thailand about 20 times. Last February, we rented an RV and drove around New Zealand's South Island. On a trip to Sri Lanka, the kids learned to surf, and we stayed at a homestay in the mountains.
Traveling as six is hard. Most hotels don't allow four children in a room, and we can't fit in a regular car. Our best trips have never been at nice resorts. They're homestays, campsites, and RVs.
That's probably why this life suits us. I never wanted to say, "This is the house we'll live in for the next 50 years." Predictability scares me. I thrive in chaos, and with two sets of twins, there's always plenty of it — I wouldn't have it any other way.
La ley contra la compra especulativa no encuentra su espacio en el Parlament de Cataluña. El Govern y Comuns llegan este viernes al final del plazo para presentar enmiendas a la proposición de los comunes sin un acuerdo para dar forma a uno de sus pactos estrella, encallado en la Cámara tras el duro dictamen del Consell de Garanties Estatutàries (CGE). Los comunes acceden a suavizar las restricciones para la compra de vivienda, especialmente en el ámbito de los pequeños propietarios y herederos, pero rechazan los planteamientos del Govern. El Ejecutivo de Illa prefiere evitar toda limitación a la adquisición de inmuebles, incluso a los grandes tenedores, siempre que se destinen a vivienda habitual.
El presidente de la Generalitat, Salvador Illa, durante el debat de política general, con la presidenta de Comuns en el Parlament, Jéssica Albiach, al fondo.
FEW companies are hailed as proof of free-market genius more than Tesla. Yet, at every turn that mattered, it stood on public capital.
In 2010 it borrowed $465m from a US federal programme open to every carmaker building cleaner vehicles, in a country where transport is now the largest source of greenhouse gases. It paid the Treasury’s own cost, roughly one to 3.4 per cent, with principal deferred until production began. One of the smallest borrowers, it became the star, repaying with interest nine years early. Regulatory credits, earned by beating emission rules and bought by those that fall short, then carried it into profit.
Pakistan asks its banks to do alone what no quintessential capitalist economy asks of its own: lend to priority sectors without the state sharing the risk and the price. This is not a lesson taken from state-led economies such as China, where public support is part of the model. It comes from the market economies themselves, which do it openly and without apology. Tesla is not their exception; it is their method.
Look at where they aim interest subsidies, and how deep. Farming comes first: America lends beginning farmers money to buy land at under 2pc and caps their operating microloans at 5pc, while Canada pays the interest on the first C$250,000 of each grower’s cash advance. Housing is next: France gives first-time buyers zero-interest loans and compensates banks through tax credits. Then enterprise: Britain lends start-ups unsecured at a fixed 6pc, with mentoring, and its firms outlive their peers; Germany’s KfW cheapens founders’ loans and absorbs four-fifths of any loss so local banks will lend.
In every case, the taxpayer took the first risk and part of the financing cost, at the stage private finance would not, and demanded performance in return. And the subsidy went to the borrower, the priority-sector player, not the lender: the bank is paid only the market interest the borrower is spared.
Subsidies have built giants, and an emerging economy needs them more, not less.
That is the global norm. Why, then, is Pakistan so averse to it? Here, subsidy for producers is treated as a dirty word, subsidised credit is misread as a benefit to banks, and lenders are blamed for holding back from risks their peers abroad never shoulder unaided. Asking them to match the world’s lending without the world’s toolkit is neither fair nor realistic.
The money exists; its direction is the problem. This year’s federal budget allocates Rs838bn to the Benazir Income Support Programme, up by a sixth, and almost as much to the power sector; provincial budgets add their own spending on wheat, fertiliser and household relief. Little of it is designed to make the poor bankable.
BISP is indispensable. Reaching some 10 million families through a national registry and digital payments, it is one of the country’s institutional achievements, and that safety net must stay. But a stipend, by its nature, protects rather than transforms. A net that never becomes a springboard keeps the poor safe, but poor.
BISP must now be balanced with wealth creation at the lower strata of society, so that families able to work have a path from support to enterprise. Wealth, like subsidy, is not a bad word. It can be created at every level, including the bottom, and it is what keeps incomes rising sustainably. The cliché about wealth must go, just like subsidies.
So add a ramp without lowering the floor: dedicate a tenth of BISP’s allocation to an enterprise window within the programme; that is smaller than this year’s increase, so no family need receive less than last year.
Run it as the world does. Target precisely: older people, persons with disabilities and households with no working member keep their full stipend; working-age households, starting with the women BISP serves, get concessional credit for livestock, horticulture, cottage industry, solar trades and digital work. Price it for the borrower: the first loan interest-free and repeat loans at no more than 5pc, the state paying the difference. Pay for delivery: lenders earn the subsidy only for verified results, and every loan comes with training and a mentor. Build the exit: the stipend tapers only once the business stands, and the subsidy steps down with each cycle.
Even at today’s rates, that tenth could carry some Rs400bn of lending: over a million small businesses. Audit it independently after three years; scale it only if it works.
Two objections deserve answers. Credit alone, global trials show, raises poor families’ incomes only modestly; what lifts them for good is capital paired with training and continued support while the business finds its feet, which is this design. Nor does the window raid BISP: it is paid for from the programme’s growth and serves the same households.
It is time to retire the reflex that subsidies never create wealth or welfare. Bad design is bad; subsidy is not, if it pays for the initial risk rather than permanent inefficiency. Subsidies have built giants, and an emerging economy needs them more, not less.
Washington’s decisive bet on Tesla was not a stipend but a loan, tied to milestones. Pakistan’s Teslas are smaller — a woman’s dairy herd, a tailor’s workshop, a graduate’s laptop — but they deserve the same deal: capital to start, conditions to keep, and a way out. Then the cycle begins again with the next borrower. That is routine in every quintessential capitalist economy, and it should be in Pakistan too.
The writer is a development-focused and impact-oriented banker.
PARLIAMENT has recently been debating the future of Pakistani democracy, but those debates will be for naught unless our leaders also develop the capacity to acknowledge each other’s positions.
The past two days have seen the government and opposition benches trading blame for democracy’s present, rather sorry state.
On Wednesday, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman accused the government of misusing the Constitution and resorting to unconstitutional measures. He also said his party was “prepared to die” resisting the government if the latter continued pursuing a policy of confrontation and violence, and proposed a new Charter of Democracy as the way out.
Regretting that his efforts to mediate between the government and the PTI had failed because the government had changed course and imposed an emergency and governor’s rule in KP, the maulana said the political leadership had grown too intolerant for parliament to do its job.
He was not wrong, though the fault is hardly the government’s alone.
The maulana’s rebuke drew two kinds of response. Minister of Defence Khawaja Asif resorted to personal attacks, insinuating that the JUI-F chief was merely sore at being denied a share of power in KP.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, on the other hand, was more circumspect. Though he, too, laid much of the blame for parliament’s dysfunction on the opposition, he nonetheless urged it to exercise its powers and return to parliamentary committees.
“Those who want this House to remain dysfunctional and do not want the people of Pakistan to benefit from it have succeeded,” he told the opposition benches. “You have played a part in helping these people achieve their objective.” It was a surprisingly candid admission that the House’s dysfunction serves interests other than the people’s, even if the PPP chief left out his own party’s role in getting us here.
They may have yet to come to terms with it, but both ruling and opposition parties have lost credibility and political ground due to their ongoing vendetta. The maulana’s call for a new Charter of Democracy, though welcome, looks difficult to realise when the two sides cannot even agree to sit together in parliamentary committees.
The imposition of emergency and governor’s rule in KP was a gross misstep by the federal government, and it has spoiled the chances of a negotiated settlement. But the opposition, too, has gained little from confrontation.
Unless both sides start to show some flexibility on key matters, make compromises and enter negotiations without preconditions, they risk further deepening this crisis of their own making.
If enough lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are willing to admit that matters have gone too far, there may yet be hope for parliament, and for Pakistani democracy. The question is, are they ready to do so?
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan remained deeply hostile to journalism and its practitioners in 2025-26 despite a decline in documented violations against media workers, according to a new report issued by an Islamabad-based media watchdog.
“About 10 cases a month [against media personnel], their nationwide spread and severity in the period showed that fewer violations did not mean greater safety,” stated Freedom Network’s latest annual Impunity Report 2026, titled “From Violence to Lawfare: Process as Punishment for Journalists”.
Produced with technical assistance from International Media Support (IMS), the report was authored by journalist Adnan Rehmat and Freedom Network Executive Director Iqbal Khattak.
It finds that “impunity has evolved from a failure to punish violence into a broader system of coercion”.
Peca increasingly used to punish dissent, says Freedom Network report
The report was released on Thursday ahead of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, observed worldwide, including in Pakistan, on Nov 2 each year.
“Despite the presence on the statute books of two laws to combat impunity for crimes against journalists, such a finding should be a matter of concern for those at the helm of affairs of the two safety commissions established under these laws,” Mr Khattak said.
Cases documented between October 2025 and August 2026 included one work-related killing, three attempted assassinations, 18 threats of murder or harm, 11 assaults, 13 legal actions and 32 threats of legal action.
Punjab recorded 49 cases, just over half the total, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad and Balochistan. Digital and independent journalists were targeted most often. Victims or their families identified government authorities and officials as alleged instigators in nearly two-thirds of the cases.
The report identifies the controversial Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and its increasing use against journalists by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to punish dissent as “central to this legal siege” of online journalism in the country.
‘Recurring pattern’
A detailed analysis of representative Peca-related cases against journalists reveals a recurring pattern in which allegations of defamation, false information, harassment or reputational harm are channelled through cybercrime procedures, including in cases involving reporting on public expenditure, corruption or official conduct.
Even without a confirmed FIR or conviction, the process itself becomes “punitive” through summonses, device scrutiny, travel, legal costs, detention, repeated hearings, and reputational harm, the report says.
It adds that relief is commonly limited to bail or procedural protection rather than final vindication.
The report also provides guidelines for journalists and other media practitioners facing Peca-related cases to help minimise the harmful effects of legal action.
It expresses concern over the lack of institutional safeguards for media workers despite the establishment of two high-powered safety commissions, one at the federal level and the other in Sindh.
“The federal journalist protection mechanism is effectively dysfunctional, while the Sindh Commission, although more visible, has limited reach and demonstrated protection impact outside Karachi,” it says.
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