Tagged: Pakistan

Flags of the competing political parties whip in the wind of seaside Karachi. But little else is stirring in this city of 18 million this day.

The MQM, a leading political party in the megacity, has shut Karachi down with a general strike in response to a deadly bombing at its election office. But as soon as the strike ends, the streets spring to life as if nothing were amiss.

Some critics say that ending polio has become Bill Gates' "white whale."

Why not just settle for the huge drop in polio cases that we've seen over the past decade and then spend money on other things that kill so many more kids, like diarrhea and malnutrition?

"Polio is special," Gates tells NPR's Robert Siegel on All Things Considered. "Once you get it done, you save $2 billion a year that will be applied to those other activities. There's no better deal economically to getting to zero."

Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khan is said to be OK after he fell from a lift during a campaign rally in Lahore on Tuesday.

Al-Jazeera reports that Khan "fell 14 feet as he was stepping off an improvised forklift that was raising him to the top of the platform."

Khan, who heads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or PTI, party, was shown bleeding from the head after the fall.