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  • PM lauds Info Secretary’s role in promoting Pakistan’s narrative global level – RADIO PAKISTAN

    1. PM lauds Info Secretary’s role in promoting Pakistan’s narrative global level  RADIO PAKISTAN
    2. PM Shehbaz commends Ambreen Jan for outstanding public service  Daily Times
    3. Federal Secretary Information and Broadcasting, Ms. Ambreen Jan paid a…

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  • Study reveals minimum steps for longevity and heart health benefits in older women

    Study reveals minimum steps for longevity and heart health benefits in older women

    Tracking daily steps has become a staple exercise metric as smart devices keep count with ease. This physical activity stimulates bodily repair and maintenance, which is especially important as we age. But how many steps do you need…

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  • Barclays plays down £20bn exposure to private credit industry | Barclays

    Barclays plays down £20bn exposure to private credit industry | Barclays

    Barclays has insisted it has the right controls in place to manage a £20bn exposure to the under-fire private credit industry despite warnings from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank of England.

    The bank’s chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, said it ran a “very risk-controlled shop” and was comfortable with its lending standards for the private credit industry.

    That was despite taking a £110m loss over the US sub-prime auto lender Tricolor, which collapsed amid fraud allegations last month.

    Losses stemming from the dual collapse of Tricolour and the US auto parts company First Brands have raised fears over potentially weak lending standards in the private credit industry. There are concerns that the potential fallout could destabilise traditional banks that issue loans to the shadow banking sector.

    The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said this week that the recent failures had worrying echoes of the sub-prime mortgage crisis that kicked off the global financial crash of 2008. Last week the IMF warned that a downturn could have ripple effects across the financial system, given banks were increasingly exposed to a largely unregulated private credit industry.

    The chief executive, CS Venkatakrishnan, says Barclays runs a ‘very risk-controlled shop’. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

    Venkatakrishnan said: “There are obviously connections between what non-bank financial institutions do and what banks do.” However, he suggested that the IMF report was pointing out probabilities and was ultimately “subjective”.

    When asked whether he agreed with the JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, who said last week that more “cockroaches” could emerge from the private credit sector, the Barclays boss quipped: “I’m not an entomologist.”

    He said: “Whatever forms of lending you do, you should do it carefully and with the right controls.” When it came to private credit, he said Barclays limited lending to private credit loan portfolios “constructed by some of the largest, most experienced managers with a strong track record.

    “We have controls over them … [and] we think we run … a very risk-controlled shop when it comes to it, and that’s something we’ve instituted for a long, long time.”

    Venkatakrishnan said Barclays even turned down potential exposure to First Brands despite being approached multiple times.

    Venkatakrishnan said the loss on Tricolor itself was not a surprise. He said: “The surprise was the fraud. Now fraud is no excuse; we take our credit risk management very seriously at all points in the cycle.” However, he said lenders always had to be prepared for “all outcomes including fraud”.

    While Barclays revealed a £20bn exposure to the private credit sector, Venkatakrishnan noted it was a “relatively small” compared with the £346bn of loans currently issued to consumers and business customers across the bank.

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    His comments came as Barclays reported a 7% drop in pre-tax profits to £2.08bn in the three months to the end of September, down from £2.2bn during the same period last year.

    Alongside the Tricolor loss, Barclays’ earnings were also hit by a £235m provision to cover compensation over the car loan commissions scandal. It makes it the latest high street bank to put aside extra cash in response to the Financial Conduct Authority’s proposed £11bn redress programme.

    It takes Barclays’ total compensation pot to £325m. The company no longer provides car finance but is dealing with the fallout for the remaining loans on its books

    However, that did not stop the bank from announcing fresh payouts for investors – another £500m worth of share buybacks. The bank also plans to switch to quarterly payouts for shareholders, rather than waiting for half-year and end-of-year earnings.

    “I continue to be pleased with the ongoing momentum of Barclays’ financial performance over the last seven quarters,” Venkatakrishnan said, adding that he was upgrading the profitability guidance – under a measure known as return on tangible equity – for the full year.

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  • Louvre Museum director to face French lawmakers after jewel heist – live updates

    Louvre Museum director to face French lawmakers after jewel heist – live updates

    What was taken and how much was it worth?published at 14:42 BST

    Image source, Louvre Museum

    Eight items of jewellery were stolen in total, including an emerald and diamond necklace that Napoleon gifted his wife, Empress Marie Louise…

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  • How to watch Black Friday Football on Prime Video

    How to watch Black Friday Football on Prime Video

    “We are thrilled to expand our relationship with the NFL and present Black Friday Football to the millions of fans we serve around the world,” Jay Marine, head of Prime Video U.S., global sports, said. “Black Friday is becoming one of the…

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  • Prescription drug advertising proves more effective in reducing smoking rates

    Prescription drug advertising proves more effective in reducing smoking rates

    A new peer-reviewed study in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science finds that direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising for prescription smoking-cessation drugs meaningfully reduces cigarette use. At the same time, the research found…

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  • Jaguar Land Rover hack has cost UK economy £1.9bn, experts say | Jaguar Land Rover

    Jaguar Land Rover hack has cost UK economy £1.9bn, experts say | Jaguar Land Rover

    The hack of Jaguar Land Rover has cost the UK economy an estimated £1.9bn, potentially making it the most costly cyber-attack in British history, a cybersecurity body has said.

    A report by the Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) said losses could be higher if there were unexpected delays to the return to full production at the carmaker to levels before the hack took place at the end of August.

    JLR was forced to shut down systems across all of its factories and offices after realising the extent of the penetration. The carmaker, Britain’s biggest automotive employer, only managed a limited restart in early October and is not expected to return to full production until January.

    As well as crippling JLR, the hack has affected as many as 5,000 organisations across Britain, given the wide extent of the carmaker’s complex supply chain. While JLR has been able to rely on its large financial buffers, smaller suppliers were immediately forced to lay off thousands of workers and contend with a painful pause in cashflow.

    “This incident appears to be the most economically damaging cyber event to hit the UK, with the vast majority of the financial impact being due to the loss of manufacturing output at JLR and its suppliers,” the CMC’s report said.

    The CMC is an independent non-profit organisation made up of industry specialists including the former head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre, Ciaran Martin. Martin said it looked like the most costly UK attack “by some distance”, and added that organisations needed to work out how to react if vital networks were disrupted.

    JLR, which is owned by India’s Tata Group, will report its financial results in November. A spokesperson for the carmaker declined to comment on the report.

    The luxury carmaker has three factories in Britain that together produce about 1,000 vehicles a day. The incident was one of several high-profile hacks to affect large UK companies this year. Marks & Spencer lost about £300m after a breach in April forced the retailer to suspend its online services for two months.

    JLR, which analysts estimated was losing about £50m a week from the shutdown, was promised a £1.5bn loan guarantee by the UK government in late September to help it support suppliers. However, before receiving that cash, the carmaker launched its own efforts to support its supply chain, paying for parts upfront.

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    The CMC, which is funded by the insurance industry and categorises the financial impact of significant cybersecurity incidents affecting British businesses, ranked the JLR hack as a category 3 systemic event, out of a scale of five.

    The £1.9bn estimate “reflects the substantial disruption to JLR’s manufacturing, to its multi-tier manufacturing supply chain, and to downstream organisations including dealerships”, the report said.

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  • Quantum Science Information | AZoQuantum.com

    Quantum Science Information | AZoQuantum.com

    While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena
    answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses.
    Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or

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  • Security forces killed 6 indian backed terrorists in Dalbandin, Baluchistan

    Security forces killed 6 indian backed terrorists in Dalbandin, Baluchistan

    DALBANDIN: Security forces successfully eliminated six Fitna-al-Hindustan terrorists during an operation in Dalbandin, Chagai district, Balochistan.

    As per security forces sources, the terrorists had taken refuge in a cave under continuous aerial…

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  • Pakistan to launch new passport design soon

    Pakistan to launch new passport design soon

    The Pakistan government has decided to completely revamp the design of the national passport, introducing a modern look that highlights the country’s cultural and architectural heritage while adding advanced…

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