Afghanistan
MoHE Forms Directorate of Academic Curriculum: Tolo News
The Ministry of Higher Education said that the leader of the Islamic Emirate has created the “directorate of academic curriculum” in the ministry. According to Ahmad Taqi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, the establishment of this directorate is aimed at reviewing and developing the academic curriculum of the nation's universities in light of Islamic laws and will have six directors and fifty-two employees. Click here to read...
Ghani Should Have Apologized to Afghan People: Afghan Envoy to UN: The Khaama Press
In reaction to the interview of the exiled president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Chargé d’Affaires of Afghanistan Permanent Mission to the United Nations, Naseer Ahmad Faiq, stated that Ashraf Ghani should have apologized to all people of Afghanistan, but he did not. Click here to read...
Bangladesh
Dhaka, Delhi agree to strengthen defence cooperation: Dhaka Tribune
Bangladesh and India on Thursday expressed commitment to elevating engagements between their armed forces and reviewed the progress of bilateral defence cooperation initiatives. Click here to read...
Bangladesh receives $813 million in remittances in 10 days of August: Dhaka Tribune
Bangladeshi expatriates sent out $813 million in the first 10 days of August, Bangladesh Bank said on Thursday. Converted to taka, the remittances add up to around Tk7,804 crore (Tk96 per dollar). Click here to read...
India and Bangladesh in talks for major river agreement ahead of PM Hasina’s visit:The Hindu
India and Bangladesh are likely to ink at least one major river agreement later this month, The Hindu has learned. The planning for the agreement is being tightly guarded by officials on both sides as water sharing between the two countries is considered to be a sensitive subject given the fact that it often takes political meaning. Click here to read...
Bhutan
Government of Japan and UNDP launch new project to address unprecedented rise in health care waste management in Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives - UNDP
The Government of Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launched a new project that will support the national health agencies and other key stakeholders in Bangladesh, Bhutan and the Maldives to address the unprecedented rise in infectious health care waste caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that is overwhelming waste treatment facilities. Click here to read...
The World’s ‘Happiest Country’ Needs a Peace and Reconciliation Process
In 2021, approximately 6,300 Bhutanese refugees still languished in two refugee camps in Nepal. Many of the over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees resettled in eight western countries, even if they have not been able to return ‘home’, feel an intense love for their country of birth. That is what catalysed the movement Peace Initiative Bhutan, started in 2020 by diasporic Bhutanese whose families are divided between Bhutan and the countries they settled in. Peace Initiative Bhutan currently functions under the auspices of Global Citizens Circle, founded in 1974 in the US. Click here to read...
Maldives
HRW calls for repeal of Maldives laws criminalizing homosexuality - La Prensalatina
Nonprofit Human Rights Watch on Thursday urged Maldives authorities to revoke the laws that criminalize sexual relations between people of the same sex, in the backdrop of four people, including the brother of former president Mohamed Nasheed, being arrested under the legislation. Click here to read...
Maldives to welcome one-millionth tourist on Friday - Avas
This is the first time the Maldives will host over a million tourists since the tourism industry recovered from the challenging period that followed the COVID-19 pandemic and the first time in its history that a million tourists traveled to the country so early in the year. Click here to read...
Maldives Can Seize Opportunities to Boost Public Revenue, Make Public Spending More Efficient - Modern Diplomacy
Maldives’ economy is on the road to recovery following the unprecedented shocks of COVID-19. Key reforms can enhance the quality of public spending, strengthen debt management and debt transparency and collect more revenues to finance the country’s development needs, according to the World Bank’s Maldives Public Expenditure Review (PER) launched today. Click here to read...
Myanmar
Myanmar Battalion Commanders, Other Officers Killed in Clashes With Resistance Forces - The Irrawaddy
At least 80 Myanmar regime forces including three battalion commanders and some army captains were killed in recent firefights with People’s Defense Force groups and ethnic armed organizations in Chin, Kachin and Karen states and Sagaing and Magwe regions. Click here to read...
Myanmar’s Sanctions-Hit Junta Still Netting Vast Oil, Gas Profits - VOA News
Vast oil and gas profits continue flowing to, and propping up, Myanmar’s military junta a year and a half into its bloody crackdown on nationwide resistance to the February 2021 coup, opposition and rights groups say. Click here to read...
Singapore Told to Clampdown on Companies Supplying Myanmar Military - The Irrawaddy
Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a group of activists monitoring the business interests of the Myanmar military, has called on Singapore to take immediate action against companies that broker the supply of arms and equipment to the junta. Click here to read...
What’s Behind the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor ‘Plus’ Initiative - The Diplomat
Just over a month after China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar and announced that a China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) Plus initiative would be explored at a proper time, there have unsurprisingly been no further details released by Chinese officials or Myanmar’s military-led State Administration Council (SAC) on just what the “plus” would entail. More surprisingly, there has been little media or expert commentary on this either. Click here to read...
Ward and village administrators prepared to resign amid military tensions in Maungdaw Twsp - BNI Online
unta-appointed ward and village administrators in Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, where junta troops and the Arakan Army (AA) have exchanged fire in recent weeks, say they are prepared to resign amid rising military-AA tensions. U Kyaw Nyunt, the administrator of Minkhamoung village, and U Maung Thein Nyunt, the administrator of Tamanthar village, reportedly already tendered resignation letters to the township administrator for safety reasons on August 2 and 5 respectively. Click here to read...
Nepal
China, Nepal vow to step up cooperation - China Daily
China will use its aid funds for Nepal to support the feasibility study of a China-Nepal cross-border railway and will send experts to Nepal to conduct surveying work within this year, according to the Foreign Ministry. Click here to read...
No critical examination of flawed environmental assessments in Nepal, experts say - MongaBay
When Nepal’s Supreme Court recently canceled government plans to build an international airport in Nijhgad in the country’s south, the project’s environmental impact assessment report, or EIA, was one of the reasons cited in the decision. Click here to read...
Digital Currency Lands in The Country of Nepal - The Coin Republic
The monetary authority would be able to produce a digital version of the nation’s fiat currency, the Nepalese rupee, if the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) were to amend the statute defining its powers and responsibilities. The report comes after a research that found a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be a workable initiative. The head of the bank’s currency management division, Revati Nepal, claims that a task team has already created an amendment bill. Click here to read...
Nepal’s Ambassador to Pakistan meets Pak NA member Alam - Khabar Hub
Ambassador of Nepal to Pakistan Tapas Adhikari held talks with Romina Khursid Alam, Member of National Assembly and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister/Minister of State Convener Parliamentary Task Force on SDG at the Embassy. Click here to read...
Pakistan
Islamabad court rejects police request to extend Shahbaz Gill’s physical remand: Dawn
Gill was arrested on Tuesday afternoon at Banigala Chowk in the capital after a video clip of his remarks made about the army, aired on ARY News, went viral on social media. He was subsequently booked under charges of sedition and inciting the public against the state institutions. Click here to read...
SBP’s forex reserves fall to near 3-year low of $7.4bn: The News
The State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) foreign currency reserves fell to their lowest level in almost three years at $7.83 billion as of August 5 from $8.385 billion a week earlier on debt payments, data from the central bank showed on Thursday. Click here to read...
Govt cobbles up plan to tackle TTP resurgence: The Express Tribune
Although the government has been holding talks with the TTP for months to broker some kind of a deal, prospects of such an agreement are grim, sources familiar with the development told The Express Tribune on Thursday. Click here to read...
Sri Lanka
Govt. directly handles matter with Chinese Embassy: Daily Mirror
The government has reportedly taken over the handling of the diplomatic issue regarding the Yuan Wang 5 ship directly through the Chinese Embassy in Colombo instead of going through the Sri Lankan mission in Beijing, Daily Mirror learns. Sri Lanka asked China to postpone the port call of this ship following security threats cited by India. Click here to read...
India plans investments across sectors to strengthen link with Sri Lankan economy: Economic Times
New Delhi plans to invest in Sri Lanka across sectors through both private and public firms and interconnect the Lankan economy with the Indian economy to boost the sagging fortunes of the island nation. Click here to read...
