6. WB-funded Punjab Family Planning project gets nod
• As the 7th census put the country`s population growth rate at 2.8pc, family planning initiatives have started to get traction, beginning with a project costing over Rs35bn for implementation in 10 critical districts of Punjab.
• Sources told Dawn that the five year Punjab Family Planning project, sponsored by the World Bank, involving a $130 million loan, including substantial technical grants, was presented in a meeting of the Central Development Working Party with very aggressive targets, like reducing the total fertility rate (TFR) from 3.4pc to 2.5pc and decreasing unmet need from 17pc to 7pc till 2027.
• The planning commission has raised certain questions before formally approving the project
7. Iran loses five guards in clashes with `terrorists` in Saravan
• Five Iranian border guards were killed on May 21, 2023 during clashes with an armed group in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, state media reported.
• Earlier, the judiciary`s Mizan Online website had quoted local prosecutor Mehdi Shamsabadi as saying that six border guards were killed but later the number was revised down to five.
• Sunday`s attack was carried out by `a terrorist group that was seeking to infiltrate the country` but whose members `fled the scene after suffering injuries`, IRNA said. Iran foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani condemned the attack saying Iran expects Pakistan to `crack down on terrorist groups` and `try to improve the security of the common borders`
8. UN chief says it`s time to reform Security Council
• UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on May 21, 2023 that it was time to reform both the Security Council and Bretton Woods to align with the `realities of today`s world`.
• Speaking at a press conference in Hiroshima, Japan, where the Group of Seven summit meeting had been held, Guterres said both institutions reflected the power relations of 1945 and needed to be updated.
• `The global financial architecture became outdated, dysfunctional and unfair,` he said. `In the face of the economic shocks from the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it has failed to fulfil its core function as a global safety net
9. Sudan ceasefire deal raises hopes for relief
• Air strikes and clashes between Sudan`s warring factions could be heard in the capital Khartoum on May 21, 2023, residents said, after a Saudi and US-brokered deal for a week-long ceasefire raised hopes of a pause in the five-week conflict.
• The deal, signed on Saturday by the army and the rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) after talks in the Saudi city of Jeddah, is due to come into effect on Monday evening with an internationally-supported monitoring mechanism. It also allows for the delivery of humanitarian aid.
• Repeated ceasefire announcements since the conflict started on April 15 have failed to stop the fighting, but the Jeddah deal marks the first time the sides have signed a truce agreement after negotiations.
10. G7 seeks to de-risk, not decouple from China, says Biden
• Just a day after China expressed strong dissatisfaction over G7 `insistence on manipulating China related issues`, US President Joe Biden on May 21, 2023 said the Group of Seven nations agreed a united approach to China that called for diversifying supply chains to reduce dependence on one country, and hinted that he could speak with China`s president soon.
• `We`re not looking to decouple from China. We`re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,` Biden clarified at a presser before his departure after attending a three-day summit with G71eaders.
• However, he said G7 nations were more unified than ever in terms of `resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers`. Biden also suggested a shift in US-China relations could occur soon, echoing his comment to reporters. `In terms of talking with them, I think you`re going to see that thaw very shortly,` he said.
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