Pakistan's Federal #Budget 2025-26: A first quick look.

A full house, and getting fuller, at #BU2025 #Commencement. A beautiful day to send beautiful wishes to graduates @bupardeeschool.bsky.social, all of @bostonu.bsky.social, and beyond!

#RIP #AgaKhan A life well lived. إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ In education, in health, in development, in the arts and architecture, and in much more, he used the resources entrusted to him to bring bring dignity and empowerment to so many. Thank you, #AgaKhan.

The #TarriffWars of 2025. We cannot say how what was unraveled this weekend will eventually sort itself out. But, of this we can be sure: What was, will not be. Every country, every company, that trades, is drawing up contingency plans right now: Who to sell to, to buy from, what, how and when.

As a new semester begins @BUPardeeSchool, ready & eager to go off and teach my first class. Few things as magical as that ‘new class’ feeling: to be amongst the enthusiasms of the young, to explore together, and, if lucky, to discover. Teaching classes on #SustainableDevelopment & #NGOmanagement.

Thoughts on my way back from #Davos #WEF25 on early morning flight to make it to my class: When so many people (me included) are trying so hard to find reason for hope, to make a case for optimism; well, things must really be bad. Time, I argued, for introspection; step up on action, not rhetoric.

A moment to appreciate the mohawk on this Adélie penguin. #PenguinAwarenessDay

A rather depressing thought, on which I very much hope I am wrong: The two great 'wins' of the early 21st century for the global environment - the #ParisAccords and #SDGs - are both unravelling before our eyes. Both based on the mistaken principle of "commitments without consequence".

Days from Trumps's second inauguration, let's not forget that he is the first person since Roosevelt to have totally defined, dominated and, in many ways, decided THREE U.S. elections in a row. Here is something I wrote in 2020. It seems to have aged well enough, I think. www.dawn.com/news/1590458

At some point we will have to confront the reality that the #ParisClimateAccord framework of “commitment without consequence” that we were in such a hurry to celebrate may have less to show for itself than we expected. theconversation.com/paris-agreem...

Southern Africa is in the midst of its worst drought in at least a century, with 27 million people affected and 21 million children suffering from malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

SCHOLAR’S PRAYER Shield me from the sins of arrogance. Spare me the scourge of certitude. Bestow on me curiosity, the excitement of learning, a respect for the learned. Grant me patience with those who know not what they do not know. Give others the humor to be patient with myself.