Pakistan has posted its lowest fiscal deficit in nine years, recording a 5.38% deficit for the fiscal year 2025 (FY25). This is an improvement over the government’s revised forecast of 5.6% and the IMF’s projection of 5.6%, surpassing expectations for both, according to Topline Securities.
The fiscal deficit reduction is largely attributed to a 36% year-on-year (YoY) growth in total revenues, which outpaced the 18% growth in expenditures. Notably, non-tax revenues saw a 66% increase, primarily driven by a Rs2.62 trillion dividend from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), up from Rs0.97 trillion in FY24. This was supported by higher interest rates and an expanded balance sheet.
Tax revenues also saw an impressive 26% YoY growth, driven by a 26% increase in Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) collections. Over the past five years, FBR revenues, including Petroleum Development Levy (PDL), have more than tripled, rising from Rs4.3 trillion in FY20 to Rs12.9 trillion in FY25. During the same period, Pakistan’s GDP increased by 2.75 times, from Rs41 trillion to Rs114.6 trillion.
The FBR tax-to-GDP ratio reached a seven-year high of 11.3% in FY25, compared to 9.7% in FY24 and an average of 9.9% from FY20 to FY24. This increase includes the significant rise in PDL, which the government used to replace sales tax to avoid sharing revenue with provinces.
Pakistan also recorded a primary balance surplus of 2.4% of GDP, the highest in recent history. This surplus was achieved as revenue growth outpaced expenditures, surpassing the government’s revised projection of 2.2% and the IMF’s forecast of 2.1%.
Interest expenses as a percentage of FBR taxes fell to 76%, down from 88% in FY24, thanks to controlled interest expenses resulting from lower rates.
Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) spending as a percentage of GDP increased to 2.6% in FY25, up from 1.9% in FY24, though still below the historic high of 5% reached in FY17.
Looking ahead, Pakistan is expected to post its third consecutive year of primary surpluses in FY26, marking the lowest fiscal deficit in two decades, projected at 4.0-4.1% of GDP.
Its diagnostic efficacy is well established, but CT colonography (CTC) — also known as virtual colonoscopy — remains underutilized in many countries, according to an article posted on 31 July by Insights into Imaging.
In the article, a team led by Dr. Mehdi Cadi of the Department of Radiology, Paris Cité University, Assistance Publique Hôpitaux de Paris, and Georges Pompidou University Hospital, Paris, reflects on more than 30 years since CTC was first described. It also summarizes potential and emerging indications for the technique.
Lateral spreading tumors (LSTs). (a–c) Example of LST-non-granular (LST-NG). (a) Sagittal 2D-image with 40–400-HU abdominal window setting indicates a large 5.6-cm lesion with subtle diffuse thickening of the rectal wall (white arrows); the surface is partially covered by a thin layer of orally administered contrast agent. (b) The appearance of the villous mat on the 3D endoscopic view highlights the nodular aspect (white arrows) at the periphery of the lesion. (c) The optical colonoscopy view with the final diagnosis of a carpet villous adenoma with low-grade dysplasia. (d–f) Example of an LST-granular (LST-G) lesion. (d) Sagittal 2D image indicating nodular thickening of the rectum wall with a 10-mm nodule (white arrow). (e) The 3D endoscopic view visualized the irregular LST with a large nodule (white arrow), similar to (f) the endoscopic image obtained the same day after CTC. It confirmed the diagnosis and allowed mucosectomy with a final pathology report of a tubulous lesion with high-grade dysplasia.All images courtesy of Dr. Mehdi Cadi et al and Insights into Imaging
Clinical experience and research have shown that CTC is well-tolerated, minimally invasive, and comparable to optical colonoscopy in performance, the group noted. TC is highly sensitive and specific for detecting colorectal cancer, as well as polyps ≥ 10 mm years before potential malignant transformation.
It is often used as an adjunct to optical colonoscopy: after an incomplete optical colonoscopy (and may even be performed the same day) or when a patient refuses an optical colonoscopy, as well as for elderly and frail patients, for whom optical colonoscopy may not be feasible due to such issues as contraindication to anesthesia.
Furthermore, with its increased clinical use, CTC has come to be used for local colon-cancer staging, the selection of patients with severe diverticular disease for elective sigmoidectomy, and preoperative laparoscopic surgery planning. For the latter, the authors suggest that CTC offers a “one-stop shop” approach for laparoscopic surgery planning, as it enables precise localization and detailed vascular mesenteric mapping.
Primary 3D polyp detection: 3D-2D interaction. (a) 3D-endoscopic view makes detecting a candidate sessile polyp easier. (b) The 2D-axial image confirms the polyp’s soft-tissue value, bookmarking on the 2D image (blue arrow) the specific location shown on the 3D image.
With the rise of neoadjuvant therapies for advanced colorectal cancer, CTC may develop a pivotal role in radiological staging, the authors write.
CTC can also be used to detect extracolonic abnormalities, highlighting its utility beyond colon cancer. Its usefulness for opportunistic screening for cardiometabolic disorders related to chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular diseases, sarcopenia, osteoporosis) has been evaluated, particularly in conjunction with the use of AI algorithms for the quantification of accompanying metrics such as aortic calcification, hepatic steatosis, and bone-mineral density.
CTC is a low-dose procedure, with an x-ray exposure for CTC of 1-3 mSv every three to five years, depending on the surveillance frequency, according to the authors. The low dose used has been attained through technological advances in detectors and iterative, AI-enabled reconstruction filters.
While colorectal perforation is a risk, it is very rare. Contraindications include conditions such as active inflammatory, infectious, or ischemic colitis, bowel obstruction, acute diverticulitis, and nonreducible inguinal hernia, or if the patient has undergone a polypectomy, mucosectomy, or deep biopsy recently. It is also contraindicated if the patient is pregnant or if pregnancy cannot be excluded.
Flat-serrated lesions. This true flat polyp appears as a < 3-mm-high nonpolypoid tissue lesion spreading on the surface at a fixed location on a right lateral decubitus and (b) left decubitus positioning, and covered by a thin film of oral contrast, demonstrating the floating oral contrast-coating sign. (c) The surface of the oral-contrast sign in contact with the polyp is depicted as an undulating red line. The green is an artifice to color liquid in the colon to improve visualization. (d) The stool adhering to the colon wall in another patient appears as the contrast-agent sign in contact with the wall and is seen as a smooth and regular surface with a concave appearance (red line).
“CTC is a minimally invasive and safe examination for patients when its contraindications are respected,” Cadi et al wrote.
The authors also caution that CTC’s equivalent performance with optical colonoscopy only holds true when the radiologists performing CTC are trained adequately in the procedure. They note that training for CTC is offered by professional societies throughout the world. Furthermore, they add that some societies have specific targets for training: The American College of Radiology (ACR) recommends that CTC specialists complete 50 endoscopy-verified cases every two years as continuing education, for example.
CTC offers a complementary approach when used with optical colonoscopy, can be used in situations where optical colonoscopy cannot, and its potential applications continue to broaden with increased clinical use and research.
Tietoevry Tech Services and COSMO CONSULT have formed a partnership to provide enhanced solutions for waste management companies leveraging Microsoft Dynamics 365 as their ERP. This collaboration combines Nordic market understanding and industry-specific expertise to help companies in this sector modernize their operations through digital transformation.
COSMO CONSULT will contribute its COSMO Environmental Services solution, based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management. This solution integrates key waste management processes — from contract management to material flow handling — into a single system. Tietoevry Tech Services complements this with its strong presence in the Nordic region and its expertise in cloud-based ERP transformation and managed services.
“This partnership enables us to provide customers in the waste management industry with customer centric digital transformation advice and support. By combining our ERP and cloud expertise with COSMO CONSULT’s industry-specific capabilities, we can help customers to streamline their operations and gain better control over their complex material flows”, says Peter Andersson, Sales Manager at Tietoevry Tech Services.
‘With Tietoevry Tech Services, we have another partner on our side that understands the Nordic market and shares our commitment to practical, customer-focused digitalization. This collaboration allows us to deliver our industry solution where it’s most needed, helping Nordic waste management companies to operate more efficiently and sustainably,’ adds Matthäus Mayer, Sales Director of Industry Solutions at COSMO CONSULT.
Tietoevry Tech Services is a leading transformation and managed services provider, focusing on Nordic-based private and public customers across various industries. With our full scope of cutting-edge digital solutions, including applications, multi-cloud, data and AI, and security services, we help businesses thrive and keep Nordic societies running. We are a global team of more than 7,000 experts representing over 50 nationalities, delivering services to our customers by combining global capabilities with Nordic proximity. Our annual revenue is approximately EUR 1 billion.
About COSMO CONSULT
Founded in 1996, the COSMO CONSULT Group is one of the world’s leading Microsoft partners for enterprise software and digitalization consulting. With more than 1,600 employees at 52 locations in 20 countries, COSMO CONSULT is also the largest owner-managed partner worldwide.
The digitalization specialist is firmly established in many industries, including waste management, and has a deep understanding of their specific requirements. As a market leader in the German-speaking region, the software and consulting company offers smart industry solutions based on Microsoft platforms. The extensive portfolio includes solutions in the areas of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Data & Analytics and BI, Modern Workplace, Human Resources (HR), Cloud Computing, and Digital Services.
With artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent automation tools, COSMO CONSULT helps companies optimize workflows and build fully integrated, consistently digital processes. Expert teams accompany the digital transformation with tailored consulting services such as Change Management and Customer Strategy Management. The solutions are used by large, medium-sized, and small companies in many industrial and service sectors. Learn more about Cosmo Environmental Services for waste management and recycling companies.
The Reds have already had a taste of what increased preparation time can bring throughout Tour 2025, presented by Snapdragon, where the squad have been together in the United States for couple of weeks, allowing for a broader range of sessions.
“It’s something that [Ruben Amorim] reiterated, that we didn’t have enough time on the training pitch,” Maguire continued. “This pre-season, it’s been tough on the legs, but the majority of it has been tactical.
“So, it’s nice to do the drills that are tactical rather than running around poles and running around the pitch.
“It’s been an enjoyable pre-season, but a pre-season that we’ve all learnt from. We know the system a lot better, and we’ve just got to take that into the games now.”
Nearly a year ago, Jaguar unveiled a refreshed brand identity that was supposed to usher in its future. So far, it’s been mostly a headache.
The 102-year-old luxury automaker, once a head-to-head competitor with brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, had been plagued with problems even before the advertising campaign was released, including leadership changes, declining sales amid a stale lineup and stiff competition from the likes of both German luxury carmakers as well as relative upstarts like Tesla.
Now it can add two more problems: misleading headlines about its sales, and outrage from the political right — most notably the US president.
On Monday, President Donald Trump trashed Jaguar for what he called a “stupid” and “seriously WOKE” ad campaign last year, which featured an avant-garde commercial that featured slogans such as “live vivid,” and what appeared to be gender-fluid models, but zero images of its cars or even concepts of a car.
“Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad,” quipped Trump on Truth Social. “The market cap destruction has been unprecedented with BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SO FOOLISHLY LOST.”
Butthe reality is different.
Jaguar Land Rover has been owned by Tata Motors since 2008, when the Indian company bought it from Ford, which meansJaguar doesn’t have a market cap. And Tata itself is doing fine as a massive multinational conglomerate with a wide variety of operations worth about $28 billion.
Plus, Jaguar’s problems are more fundamental. Although most legacy automakers have tried to manage a smooth transition to fully electric propulsion, Jaguar simply ceased making cars entirely in 2024 pulling all of its products off the market as it tries to reinvent itself as an electric vehicle maker.
But that’s enough to establish a narrative in the minds of many. Headlines swirled last month that Jaguar’s sales across Europe were down 97.5% year-over-year in April, citing data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. That makes sense given Jaguar stopped manufacturing cars but the news was enough to draw the wrath of Trump and some conservatives.
Shortly after the ad was released, Jaguar revealed its Type 00 concept car at Miami Art Week — notably, not at a traditional automotive show. While the concept isn’t intended for production, it is meant to show Jaguar’s general future design direction.
Jaguar didn’t respond to a question from CNN about when it will start production again.
Last week, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell announced he was stepping down after 35 years with the brand. He had a largely successful stint, having helped eliminate billions of dollars of debt and withJLRreporting its ninth consecutive profitable quarter in January on the back of strong SUV sales.
Tata Motors on Monday named P.B. Balaji, currently the company’s chief financial officer, as Jaguar Land Rover’s new CEO. He begins in November.
It’s no secret that stress isn’t good for you. But just how bad is it? Well, in the last few decades, scientists have linked psychological stress to changes in our DNA that look a lot like what happens on the molecular level as we age. Today on the show, host Regina G. Barber talks to freelance science journalist Diana Kwon about the latest research on stress and aging, including a new hypothesis for how your brain handles aging — and what science could do about all of it.
Read Diana’s full piece HERE.
Interested in more aging science? Let us know at shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
Listen to Short Wave on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
This episode was produced by Berly McCoy. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez and fact-checked by Tyler Jones. Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer.
She stands before us in a blue gingham frock, towering wig and a “hideous yet age-appropriate leisure shoe”. She is Dorothy Blawna-Gale and she is a pantomime dame. The creation of Johnny McKnight – Scotland’s finest proponent of the form – she is sharp-tongued, lascivious and bumptiously lovable.
Unlike her usual festive appearances at the Tron in Glasgow and the Macrobert in Stirling, she is here, out of season, not just to entertain – which she does in abundance – but to educate. In a show that grew out of a lecture at the University of Glasgow in memory of the late academic Alasdair Cameron, a champion of popular theatre, McKnight and director John Tiffany throw in songs, sweets and copious audience interaction to celebrate panto’s radical potential.
It is very funny, but the real soul of this tremendous show lies in the personal story McKnight tells. From his earliest memory of seeing Johnny Beattie at the Ayr Gaiety, when he realised “You don’t just see panto; panto sees you,” he takes us through his first tentative steps as an actor playing the comic silly billy role, hiding behind the character’s asexual charm, and then, in 2006, his first dame.
But something was wrong: in sticking so rigidly to tradition, the tired assumptions, the dated jokes, he was repressing his true self and muting the anarchic possibilities of the form.
It was time to kill the old. In the coming seasons, he upended the cliches, corrected the gender balance and acknowledged his own sexuality. By 2018, he was fielding two male romantic leads in Mammy Goose and audiences did not just accept it: they demanded more. Along the way, he faced sectarianism, homophobia and serious ethical questions, but sticking to the principles of always punching up, thinking his choices through and representing the marginalised, he reclaimed panto’s subversive spirit and made it, hilariously, his own. Oh yes he did.
Where is it? Lake Iro, Chad [10.10150087, 19.41766527]
What’s in the photo? Sunlight reflecting off the lake and the surrounding river
Who took the photo? An unnamed astronaut on board the International Space Station (ISS)
When was it taken? Dec. 21, 2024
This stunning astronaut photo shows a rare phenomenon, known as a “sunglint”, transforming a potential meteor crater lake into a giant silver mirror in the heart of Africa.
Lake Iro, known locally as Lac Iro, is an approximately 7-mile-wide (12 kilometers) body of water in Chad, located around 60 miles (100 km) north of the country’s border with the Central African Republic. The lake lies in the heart of Africa’s Sahel region — an extensive savannah that separates the Sahara Desert and the rainforests of Central Africa.
Iro is partly surrounded by Bahr Salamat, a roughly 125-mile-long (200 km) waterway that splits and feeds into the lake. The river is renowned for being exceptionally windy, especially where it bends around Iro’s southern shore, according to NASA’s Earth Observatory.
The lake and large sections of the river shine brightly in the image as sunlight reflects off their watery surfaces, giving them a metallic-like sheen. If you look closely, parts of its surface appear to have a whiter color than the rest. These areas are most likely reflections of the clouds hanging high over the lake.
This phenomenon is known as a sunglint, and only occurs when the observer is perfectly aligned with the sun, relative to the object reflecting the light. As a result, this effect is best observed from space.
Related: See all the best images of Earth from space
Lake Iro and Bahr Salamat are located in the heart of Africa’s Sahel region. Both bodies of water usually have a greenish hue. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Astronauts are particularly well-suited to capturing sunglints because they can alter their angle relative to the reflecting object, unlike satellites that have a fixed view. In recent years, ISS inhabitants have also spotted a massive sunglint around a pair of Greek islands, which revealed several unusual oceanographic phenomena, and another that painted a “sea of clouds” in a volcanic lake nestled between nesting Russian volcanoes.
Get the world’s most fascinating discoveries delivered straight to your inbox.
Suspected impact crater
Recent research suggests Lake Iro may lie within an ancient meteor impact crater leftover from when a sizable space rock slammed into Earth millions of years ago.
This theory was first put forward in the 1980s, when geologists discovered bits of ancient crystal in the rocks surrounding the lake, according to a 2014 study reviewing African impact structures.
In a more recent study, published in 2024, researchers investigated the geological features of Lake Iro. They noted that an impact may have significantly altered the shape and direction of Bahr Salamat, which may explain why there are so many twists and turns to the winding river.
Lake Iro is also highly cyclical, meaning that its depth fluctuates seasonally and can almost completely drain during periods of extreme drought, which is a common characteristic among other impact crater lakes.
Based on this evidence, the researchers of the most recent study wrote that Lake Iro “cannot be readily explained by any process other than [a meteor] impact.”
More research is needed to confirm if this is the case, and this “should be a priority” due to its size. The researchers added that evidence of the impact may have been well preserved by the lake.
As well as stealing metal pipes, vandals smashed glass and poured paint over the floors
A youth club that had its government funding for a £1.4m rebuild project withdrawn has been dealt another blow after the building was broken into and vandalised.
Thieves stole metal pipes and caused damage to toilets, fire doors and windows at the Lifstan Boys Club in Southend-on-Sea.
“They’ve smashed it to bits,” said committee member Danny Neville.
The club has been without a home after moving out in anticipation of the rebuild, as has the Southend Amateur Boxing Club.
Stuart Woodward/BBC
Danny Neville – who is also head coach at Southend Amateur Boxing Club – said the vandalism was “gutting”
“They’ve flooded our disabled toilets, which were still running when we went there,” Mr Neville said.
“They’ve smashed the urinals off the walls, loads of copper has been ripped out – they’ve pulled the water tanks out.
“It’s just gutting, isn’t it? We’re already up against it.”
Other damage included paint thrown over the floors and walls, carpets ripped up and a table football set broken.
The club had been awarded £1.4m of funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Youth Investment Fund to build a new premises at the site.
But after spending £200,000 on preparatory work and surveys, the rest of the funding was withdrawn by Social Investment Business, which distributes the grants on behalf of the government.
Volunteers said they were hopeful the funding would be restored to avoid having to try to renovate the existing building.
Stuart Woodward/BBC
The Lifstan Boys Club building – which the club moved into in the 1960s – was only meant to last 30 years
“The damage they’ve caused is probably going to double the cost of the refurb,” Mr Neville explained.
He added that the response from the local community and tradespeople to the break-in – offering to help clean up the damage – had been “overwhelming”.
“I’ve had so many messages and phone calls, people commenting on the post,” he said.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport previously said it had invested £145m into youth programmes for 2025-26.
Social Investment Business said it had to be confident projects could be delivered on time and represent “good value for money”.
A decade after the onset of a sea star wasting disease (SSWD) epidemic considered the largest ever documented in the wild, researchers have identified the microbial culprit responsible: a strain of the bacterium Vibrio pectenicida.
In 10 years, the bacterium has ravaged sunflower sea stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides), a large sea star or starfish, along the western coast of North America, with a loss of 5.8 billion since 2013 – or 90% of the total global population. The sunflower sea star is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of critically endangered species.
Previous studies had tested for V pectenicida in tissue samples and yielded inconclusive results. Instead, by examining the sea stars’ coelomic fluid, which acts like blood, researchers were able to confirm with certainty V pectenicida’s role in causing SSWD due to its high abundance there.
A sunflower sea star reduced to goo by sea star wasting disease at Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada, in 2015. Photograph: Grant Callegari/Hakai Institute/AP
Infection with the V pectenicida strain FHCF-3 begins with exterior lesions, leading to limb loss and contortion, and ultimately kills afflicted individuals by melting their tissues into a white, mucus-like paste. Identifying the disease in afflicted sea stars was impossible without a known pathogen, as sea stars can respond with similar visual signals to other stressors such as low oxygen, salinity variation and extreme heat. The indirect link between rising ocean temperatures and SSWD remains a key area of interest, since V pectenicida is known to proliferate in warm water during seasonal variations and anomalous marine heating events.
The research, published this week in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, was led by Dr Melanie Prentice and Dr Alyssa Gehman, of the Hakai Institute in British Columbia, Canada, as part of a four-year international collaboration involving the University of British Columbia, the University of Washington and the Nature Conservancy, among other parties.
The decline of sunflower sea stars has ramifications for marine ecosystems beyond the loss of a single species. “Identifying the cause of SSWD is incredibly impactful,” Prentice said. “In the absence of sunflower stars, [kelp-eating] sea urchin populations increase, which means the loss of kelp forests, and that has broad implications for all the other marine species and humans that rely on them.”
Without predatory sunflower sea stars, sea urchins proliferate in Hakai Pass, British Columbia, Canada, in 2019. Photograph: Grant Callegari/Hakai Institute/AP
Kelp forests provide a habitat for thousands of marine creatures, support local economies through fisheries and recreation, and are culturally important for First Nations and tribal communities. They also stabilise sediments, protect coastlines from storms, and are an important carbon sink for sequestering carbon dioxide.
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
Though the epidemic is still ongoing, the hope is that this breakthrough will aid recovery and treatment efforts for various sea star species across the world and the ecosystems affected by their decline. Methods being explored include captive breeding for resistant individuals and developing probiotic solutions that can be introduced to ecosystems.
“Now that we have found the causative agent of disease, it makes me hopeful that we might actually be able to do something for sunflower sea stars,” says Gehman. “We can be really targeted in how we work with them, and I think that’s going to help us move a lot faster and to try to tackle SSWD.”
