UN condemns killing of peacekeeper in Central African Republic

ISLAMABAD: Zarnab Tahir struggled to catch her breath as the steep incline of the hiking trail at Islamabad’s picturesque Margalla Hills tested her endurance. Hiking can put people through physical exertion, especially when they do it on an empty stomach.

An hour before the sun sets and the call to prayer blares out from various mosques located in Pakistan’s capital city, a group of fitness enthusiasts take to the hiking trails in Margalla Hills National Park.

Islamabad Run With Us — IRU — which describes itself as Pakistan’s “pioneering running community,” is behind the pre-iftar hiking initiative.

“When you engage in pre-iftar (physical) activities during Ramadan, it gives you extra energy, an extra boost,” Qasim Naz, who founded IRU in 2016, told Arab News on hiking trail number three.

“And when someone joins in on an activity once or twice, they figure out it’s not that hard and they can sustain it comfortably.”

Naz stresses that staying active during the holy month is essential. The IRU organizes five activities a week, which include two runs and three hikes.

“Either we can maintain our weight, or if our goal is weight loss, we can achieve it by being in a calorie deficit while eating a healthy diet and exercising,” Naz explained.

Tahir, 22, meanwhile, said that she was committed to reaching the top of hiking trail before sunset. This was the second time she was hiking with IRU.

She agreed with Naz that group activities are “much easier” to sustain.

“I think it is important to go at your own pace and it’s so much easier with the group,” Tahir, a content creator, told Arab News.

“If you go alone, it’s kind of more difficult and you are, like, really slow but if you go with the group you can maintain that pace and I think it’s much easier that way.”

Mahwish Ashraf, a journalist associated with a foreign diplomatic mission in Islamabad, shared how she struggled the first time that she went on a pre-iftar hike with IRU.

“The first time I was hiking, I returned from in between, I couldn’t complete it,” she admitted. “So, this is my second time hiking with the IRU, and gladly, I’m at the main point, the meeting point.”

Eraj Khan, a commercial specialist visiting from Australia to spend Ramadan with his family, said pre-iftar hikes give one “lots of energy.”

“For fat burning, it’s a great activity,” Khan said. “Especially because the last two hours of fasting are the hardest, most people feel really hungry. But so far, I’m loving it.”

As the clock continued to tick and evening settled in, the hikers began to pick up their pace. For Tahir, reaching the top of the trail before sunset was a victory in itself.

She had pushed past exhaustion, embraced the challenge and proved to herself that she was capable of more than she thought she could achieve.

And according to her, hiking with the group made all the difference.

“The energy of the group keeps you going,” she said. “Even when you feel like stopping, you see everyone else moving forward, and you push through.”

GENEVA: The World Health Organization has proposed slashing a fifth of its budget following the US decision to withdraw, and must now reduce its reach and workforce, its chief said in an internal email seen by AFP on Saturday.
The WHO is facing an income gap of nearly $600 million in 2025 and has “no choice” but to start making cutbacks, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the message sent Friday to the UN health agency’s staff.
Besides triggering the US pullout from the WHO after returning the White House in January, President Donald Trump decided to freeze virtually all US foreign aid, including vast assistance toward boosting health worldwide.
The United States was by far the WHO’s biggest donor.
“Dramatic cuts to official development assistance by the United States of America and others are causing massive disruption to countries, NGOs and United Nations agencies, including WHO,” Tedros said in his email.
He said that even before Trump triggered the one-year process of withdrawing from the WHO, the organization was already facing financial constraints, and had begun working on efficiency measures more than nine months ago.
“The United States’ announcement, combined with recent reductions in official development assistance by some countries to fund increased defense spending, has made our situation much more acute,” said Tedros.
“While we have achieved substantial cost savings, the prevailing economic and geopolitical conditions have made resource mobilization particularly difficult.
“As a result, we are facing an income gap of almost $600 million this year alone.”
Last month, the WHO’s executive board reduced the proposed budget for 2026-2027 from $5.3 billion to $4.9 billion.
“Since then, the outlook for development assistance has deteriorated, not only for WHO, but for the whole international health ecosystem,” said Tedros.
“We have, therefore, proposed to member states a further reduced budget of $4.2 billion — a 21 percent reduction from the original proposed budget.”
In the body’s last two-year budget cycle, for 2022-23, the United States pitched in $1.3 billion, representing 16.3 percent of the WHO’s then $7.89 billion budget.
Most of the US funding was through voluntary contributions for specific earmarked projects, rather than fixed membership fees.
“Despite our best efforts, we are now at the point where we have no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce,” said Tedros.
“This reduction will begin at headquarters, starting with senior leadership, but will affect all levels and regions.”