JAKARTA: Pakistan has called for the inclusion of People’s Republic of China in the Asian Development Bank. Speaking [at] … the annual meeting of the Bank here today [April 23], Rana Mohammad Hanif Khan, Pakistan Federal Minister of Finance, said that the membership of China will make the Bank more effective. [He] further said that China, being an important country in the region, can play a vital role in the smooth functioning and operation of the Bank. — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by news agencies from Beirut,] with Lebanon’s 28th ceasefire being broken hourly Syria’s peace initiative crumbled … and leftists took the first move to assume direct control of their own areas. Mortar bombs and machine gun fire erupted sporadically throughout Beirut after a day of fighting that killed more than 100 persons. … The leftists had threatened to establish a “Revolutionary Government” … if a new President was not elected by May 2. The rightists have already set up their own administrative machinery in the Christian areas of Beirut and Mt. Lebanon. … Meanwhile US Special Envoy Dean Brown wound up his mediation mission… .

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2026