ISLAMABAD: Vivek Ramaswamy, US President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to co-lead a new government department, on Sunday criticized a deal by the New York City government to rent the Pakistan-owned Roosevelt Hotel for a whopping $220 million for what he said were “illegal migrants.”
Cash-strapped Pakistan rented out its iconic Roosevelt Hotel to the New York City government for three years, as per an agreement reached last year. 
Pakistan’s then aviation minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the New York administration would pay a rent of as much as $210 for each of the 1,025 rooms of the century-old hotel owned by the state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). 
The New York City administration has repurposed the Roosevelt Hotel as an arrival center for migrants where they can get access to vaccines, food and other resources. 
“A taxpayer-funded hotel for illegal migrants is owned by the Pakistani government which means NYC taxpayers are effectively paying a foreign government to house illegals in our own country,” Ramaswamy wrote on social media platform X, responding to a post by American author John Lefevre. 
“This is nuts.”
Roosevelt Hotel was closed by Pakistani authorities in October 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, as the country’s economy weakened and the aviation sector faced significant losses.
However, the facility accumulated liabilities of around $25 million in taxes and other overheads.
Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, will co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency with billionaire Elon Musk. Trump has indicated the department will operate outside the confines of government.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for strengthening health systems throughout the country and for sustainable interventions as the international community marks World AIDS Day today, Sunday.
Every year on Dec. 1, the international community marks World AIDS Day to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The day is marked to show strength and solidarity against Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and to remember the lives lost to the disease. 
HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells (CD4 T lymphocyte) of the immune system while AIDS is its most advanced form. People with HIV who are not on medication and do not have consistent control of their HIV can transmit it through sexual intercourse, sharing of needles, pregnancy and breastfeeding. If HIV is controlled, the risk of transmission is close to zero.
“By working together, we will continue to strengthen our health systems and expand access to essential services for our citizens,” Sharif said in a statement. 
The Pakistani premier noted that HIV/AIDS remains a global health challenge and a significant socio-economic issue that threatens livelihoods, disrupts families and deepens inequalities.
“Despite our collective efforts, the HIV epidemic in Pakistan continues to grow, underscoring the need for bold, innovative, and sustainable interventions,” Sharif noted. “It is only through the strategy rooted in equality and inclusion that we can halt the spread of HIV.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 88.4 million people have been infected with the HIV virus since the beginning of the epidemic and about 42.3 million people have died of HIV in total. 
Globally, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023. An estimated 0.6 percent of adults aged 15–49 years worldwide are living with HIV, although the burden of the epidemic continues to vary considerably between countries and regions.