Former Pakistan president Mamnoon Hussain passes away in Karachi
Karachi, Jul 14: Former president of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain passed away here on Wednesday after a prolonged illness, according to his family and party leaders. He was 80.
Hussain, who was born in Agra in 1940 and migrated with his parents to Pakistan in 1947, served as the 12th President of Pakistan between September 2013 and September 2018.
The senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader was diagnosed with cancer in February last year and was under treatment at a private hospital here for some days where he breathed his last, Dawn newspaper quoted PML-N Sindh additional secretary general Chaudhry Tariq as saying.
President Alvi expressed sorrow over Hussain's demise, saying he shared the pain of his bereaved family.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif also shared sadness over Hussain's death. "Today, we have lost a valued person who loved Pakistan and had a good character," a tweet by the PML-N president's account quoted him as saying.
"He was Nawaz Sharif's trustworthy, loyal and ideological companion. He steadfastly stood by the party through all the highs and lows.
"His services for the country and the nation will be remembered for long," Shehbaz said.
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tweeted: "My deepest condolences on the passing of former President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain. May Allah grant his family the strength to bear this great loss."
A textile businessman from Karachi, Hussain was associated with the Muslim League through the 70s and 80s and remained an active member of the PML-N since its early days.
He was governor of Sindh from June to October 1999 when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government was overthrown by the then Pakistan Army chief, Gen Pervez Musharraf.
Deeply shocked and grieved to hear that President Mamnoon Hussain has passed away. What an epitome of grace, humility & nobility he was! Pakistan has lost a great public servant and PMLN an elderly statesman. My hearfelt condolences go to his family!
— Shehbaz Sharif (القدس في العيون) (@CMShehbaz) July 14, 2021
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates
New York, May 13: Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and built into one of the world's largest philanthropic organisations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates posted on the X platform on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She praised the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation's board of trustees, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in her statement. She organises some of her investments and philanthropic gifts through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, which is not a nonprofit.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying, “I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her agreement with Gates, which she said would commit to future work focused on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment about whether those assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said that Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the US and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said he knew many had joined the foundation in part because of their admiration for her advocacy, especially around gender equity.
“I know how beloved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023, and announced in January, it planned to spend $8.6 billion through the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce from Pivotal Ventures.
