Dr Aftab Husain in his essay critiques South Asian literates’ response to catastrophe and epidemics and how writers in Pakistan react to COVID-19   There is a proverb in Persian and Urdu that could be roughly translated thus — ‘A collective death has an air of festivity’. The great Urdu poet, Ghalib, however, would have not subscribed to this notion …

GlacierHub celebrated five stories of women in the cryosphere as part of the celebrations of ‘Women’s History Month’   Junko Tabei, Japanese climber On May 16, 1975, Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei became the first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain at 8,848 m. Tabei is also the first woman to climb the Seven Summits, the …

By Yuval Noah Harari Humankind is now facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics, and culture. We must act quickly and decisively. We …

Herald Report   For Dr Shobha Luxmi, life has completely changed since she was appointed head of an isolation ward for the coronavirus patients at the government-run Dow University of Health Sciences Hospital in Karachi. She is one of the thousands of medical professionals at the forefront of Pakistan’s battle against a formidable coronavirus outbreak, which has left millions under …

To our healthcare workers: we are grateful for your service and sorry for our collective inaction. by Faizaan Qayyum The Covid-19 crisis is here and with our healthcare systems choked beyond capacity, we don’t seem to be doing very well. This is when the full force of the pandemic hasn’t hit us yet. To make it more complicated, social (or …

When Saadat Khan, 50, returned to Pakistan on March 9 from a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, he was greeted in his village with a rousing welcome and a grand feast attended by more than 2,000 people, many of whom embraced him warmly. On March 18, less than 10 days later, Khan died at an isolation centre for coronavirus patients in …

PARIS: The hunt for masks, ventilators and other medical supplies consumed the US and Europe on Monday, as new coronavirus infections soared and political paralysis stalled efforts for a quick aid package from Congress. On the financial markets, US futures jumped and global stock benchmarks trimmed their losses after the US Federal Reserve said it will lend to small and …

by Suwaibah Bilal It was a chilly January night. Dinnertime in Wuhan had just acquired a new hint of umami. News of a certain virus wafted through re gan mian (hot dry noodles) stands and hot pot restaurants, resonating through the clinking of stoneware and china, resonating deeper than anyone could hear. Alleged to have originated in a wet market …

  For some people, social distancing means being trapped indoors with an abuser. As more cities go under lockdown, activists are worried that attempts to curb coronavirus will inadvertently lead to an increase in domestic violence, writes Arwa Mahdawi in The Guardian, London   Home is supposed to be the safest place any of us could be right now. However, for people …

From the National Geographic archives, a look back at the Citroën-Haardt Trans-Asiatic Expedition. By BILL JONES   GEORGES-MARIE HAARDT was one of those latter-day explorers who completed the first journey on wheels across Central Asia. Covering 8,000 miles, the trip’s purpose was to open up the Silk Road to cars. “Across desert wastes and windswept plateaus, over snow-clad mountain passes, …