Afghanistan
UK Donates £24M to UNICEF to Help Afghan Children: Tolo News
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has contributed an additional GBP 24 million towards UNICEF’s $2 billion Humanitarian Action for Children appeal for Afghanistan, UNICEF said in a report.The funds will help UNICEF provide “lifesaving nutrition, water and sanitation, and child protection services to over 1.6 million people affected by the country’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. Around 1.3 million – 77 per cent – are children.” Click here to read...
Afghanistan Tipping 'Towards Authoritarianism' Says UN Rights Expert: Tolo News
A UN expert said on Monday that human rights had deteriorated under the Islamic Emirate, describing a "staggering repression" of women and girls and a "descent towards authoritarianism", while Afghan women urged the global body to act. Click here to read...
Pakistan Seeks Taliban to Arrest JeM Jihadist Militant Group Chief: The Khaama Press
Pakistan, in a letter to the Taliban in Afghanistan, demanded the arrest of Maulana Masood Azhar, the leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a Jihadist militant group based in Pakistan, hinting that he is in Afghanistan, Pakistani media reported. Click here to read...
US Transfers $3.5 Billion in Afghan Assets to Swiss Trust: The Khaama Press
The US reportedly says it would transfer $3.5 billion in Afghan Central Bank assets frozen when the Taliban took power last year to a new Swiss-based trust fund. According to international media reports, Afghan central bank assets will be moved to a new Swiss-based trust fund that will be protected from the Taliban and utilized to assist stabilize Afghanistan’s collapsing economy. Click here to read...
Bangladesh
PM Hasina leaves Dhaka to attend 77th UNGA: Dhaka Tribune
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka on Thursday for the United Kingdom en route to New York to attend the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Click here to read...
Bangladesh, Bhutan to finalize transit agreement, protocol: Dhaka Tribune
The two-day commerce secretary level meeting between Bangladesh and Bhutan ended today in the capital with a set of decisions including to finalize transit agreement and protocol in a bid to strengthen implementation of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) signed between the two countries. Click here to read...
Bhutan
PM Modi meets Bhutan King - Tribune India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and the two dignitaries discussed various ideas to further strengthen the close and unique India-Bhutan friendship. Click here to read...
Transit deal with Bhutan edges closer to reality - The Daily Star
A transit agreement between Bangladesh and Bhutan was finalised yesterday with senior officials of both countries agreeing to draft terms and conditions at a secretary level meeting in DhakaClick here to read...
Maldives
Bangladeshi Workers in the Maldives: The Thin Line between Migration and Trafficking - Asia Foundation
Dreaming of better fortune for his family, “Hasan” left his remote Bangladeshi village for a job in Saudi Arabia. To pay for his trip, his family sold their only resource, a small piece of land, and borrowed from relatives and a local welfare association. They handed the money—roughly 5,500 U.S. dollars—to a local dalal (broker) who promised Hasan an office job for 50,000 Bangladeshi taka per month. Click here to read...
Health Sector: Good performance, high costs, says the World Bank - Avas
The World Bank's Maldives Public Expenditure Review (PER) shows that infant mortality in the Maldives fell by 2.8 percent from 2014 to 2019. The report said maternal mortality was also reduced by three percent during the period. Click here to read...
Myanmar
An illegitimate junta can’t fix Myanmar’s broken economy - Frontier Myanmar
The country’s economic predicament is inseparable from its political crisis. To help resolve it, foreign nations must go beyond the old playbook of symbolic sanctions and empty statements. Click here to read...
Myanmar Military Must Stop Shelling at Bangladesh Border - Daily Times
Myanmar’s Rakhine state, bordering Bangladesh and India, has been in conflict for two months, affecting neighbouring countries as well. Especially, the residents of Ghumdhum and Tambru border areas of Bandarban are in a panic. On the other hand, many people of these states fled and took refuge in India. Ammunition from the Myanmar army is coming to our borderClick here to read...
RI confirms Myanmar's absence from upcoming New York meeting - Jakarta Post
Myanmar will not participate in the upcoming ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with the United Nations secretary-general and the president of the 77th UN General Assembly (AUMM), Indonesia says. Click here to read...
Junta arrests 15 demanding UN extend term of Myanmar rep - RFA
Authorities in Myanmar’s commercial capital Yangon arrested 15 people on Tuesday evening after breaking up an anti-junta protest calling on the United Nations to extend the tenure of the shadow National Unity Government’s (NUG) envoy to the world body. Click here to read...
Myanmar’s workers left vulnerable as junta crushes unions - RFA
Myanmar’s labor unions have been all but crushed amid a crackdown by the junta in the more than 19 months since the military seized power in a coup, according to union officials and the workers who they represent. Click here to read...
Nepal
Vacancies for Nepalese under Agnipath may be withdrawn for time being if Kathmandu does not act soon: Army chief - Times of India
India may be forced to withdraw vacancies for enlisting soldiers from Nepal under its new Agnipath scheme in the ongoing recruitment cycle if the landlocked country does not take a decision in time, Army chief Gen Manoj Pande said on Wednesday. Click here to read...
EAM Jaishankar meets Nepal's foreign secretary for bilateral cooperation - Business Standard
Nepalese Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday and apprised him of his talks with his Indian counterpart, Vinay Kwatra. "Pleased to receive Nepal's Foreign Secretary Bharat Raj Paudyal. Glad to learn from him that his discussions in India have been productive," Jaishankar said in a tweet. Click here to read...
Is Nepal on track to attract climate finance to meet the challenge - My Republica
Endorsed by the cabinet in October 2021, Nepal's national adaptation plan that covers the period of 2021 to 2050 has identified various adaptation programs to be implemented under three phases--immediate, mid-term and long term. Click here to read...
United States on mind, China steps up bid to cultivate ties with Nepal's parliament - Dajji World
In a bid to cultivate ties with Nepal's parliament, China's top legislator Li Zhanshu signed an agreement with Agni Prasad Sapkota, speaker of the House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament, on Monday. Li and his Nepali counterpart Sapkota inked the six-point Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) following their hour-long delegation-level talks at the Federal Parliament Building, New Baneshwar. Click here to read...
Pakistan
$150m pledged, but only $38m received so far: Dawn
Responding to a flash appeal jointly launched by Pakistan and the United Nations for an initial funding of $160 million, pledges amounting to $150 million have been made and, so far only $38.35 million of this amount has been converted into assistance, the United Nations’ Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Julien Harneis said on Wednesday. Click here to read...
Even friendly countries ‘fatigued’ by our aid seeking: PM: Dawn
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday presented a dismal picture of the country’s economy and regretted that friendly countries had started looking at Pakistan as a country that was always asking for money. Click here to read...
India concerned about US package for Pakistan F-16 jets: The Express Tribune
India is concerned about a US decision to provide a sustenance package for Pakistan's fleet of F-16 fighter aircraft, the Indian defence minister told his US counterpart on Wednesday. Click here to read...
Panic grips Swat after spurt in TTP activities: The Express Tribune
The scenic Swat valley remained tense on Wednesday after a sudden spurt in the attacks by the militants from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the latest being an attack on a police post in the Matta Tehsil of the district. Click here to read...
Sri Lanka
Leading US Senators unveil a resolution calling for int’l approach to address SL’s crisis: Daily Mirror
Leading US senators, including the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez have introduced a Senate resolution calling for a comprehensive international approach to address Sri Lanka’s current political and economic crisis, including challenges related to poor governance and economic policy under the Rajapaksa family’s ruleClick here to read...
Sri Lanka's economy at ‘absolute bottom’ after debt default, political tailspin: Hindustan Times
Sri Lanka’s economy likely shrank the most in two years amid a debt crisis that triggered a default and widespread protests that brought the nation to a standstill leading to the ouster of the president. Click here to read...
