VIF Neighbourhood News Digest - November 04, 2022

Afghanistan

SIGAR Highlights Afghan Situation in Latest Quarterly Report: Tolo News

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction released its 57th quarterly report, in which it highlighted the political, economic, humanitarian and human rights situation in Afghanistan. The report underlined the establishment of the “The Afghan Fund," saying that the US State Department did so to provide $3.5 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets for the benefit of the Afghan people. Click here to read... [2]

Czechia to Close Embassy in Kabul: Reports: Tolo News

Czechia will close its embassy in Kabul on January 1 this year, as no improvement in the country’s security situation is expected anytime soon, Anadolu Agency reported, citing the country’s local media. The Czech embassy opened in Kabul in 2007, temporarily closed in August 2021, and had to evacuate its staff due to the rapid advance of Taliban forces to the capital, according to Anadolu. Click here to read... [3]

Bangladesh

PM Hasina: Mustaque, Zia were behind Nov 3 jail killings: Dhaka Tribune

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday told Parliament that those who killed Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman committed the November 3 jail massacre in 1975. Click here to read... [4]

Bhutan

India defence secretary, COO Bhutan meet to enhance defence cooperation - Live Mint

India’s defence secretary Giridhar Armane and Chief Operations Officer Lt Gen Batoo Tshering, Royal Bhutan Army, met in New Delhi to enhance bilateral defence cooperation. “During their interaction, they discussed ongoing defence cooperation between the two country’s armies and reviewed areas of mutual interest to increase cooperation," the ministry of Defence said in a press release. Click here to read... [5]

Maldives

Single Use Plastic Waste Threatens Maldives - NTD

Community leaders in the Maldives have called for the world to stop using single-use plastics. The discarded waste often ends up on their picturesque beaches. Click here to read... [6]

Maldives welcomed 153,737 tourists during October - Raajje

In the first two days of November alone, Maldives had welcomed 10,471 tourists. India remains the top source market for the archipelago nation’s tourism. Daily arrivals this ongoing month is much higher than that of September’s. Maldives welcomed a total of 153,737 tourists during October this year. This was revealed by the Ministry of Tourism in its latest weekly statistics, publicized on Thursday. Click here to read... [7]

Myanmar

Myanmar junta responsible for crisis, says Indonesia foreign minister - Reuters

Myanmar's military government is responsible for a lack of progress on a peace plan agreed with ASEAN, Indonesia's foreign minister said on Thursday, adding the regional bloc has done its part in trying to end hostilities in the strife-torn country. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has urged Myanmar to implement a peace plan agreed last year to halt a spiral of violence that has gripped the country since the military overthrew an elected government in Feb. 2021. Click here to read... [8]

Myanmar court sentences ex-politician to 173 years in prison - Aljazeera

A court in military-ruled Myanmar has handed a 148-year prison sentence to a former parliamentarian from the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) party, adding to a previous conviction which will now see Win Myint Hlaing, 52, spend a total of 173 years in prison. The sentence, which was handed down on Monday to Win Myint Hlaing after his conviction on terrorism charges, appeared to be the longest jail term given to any member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s government and NLD party since the military grabbed power in February 2021. Click here to read... [9]

Myanmar: Investigation reveals aviation fuel supply chain linked to war crimes - Amnesty

The international community must urgently prevent shipments of aviation fuel from reaching the Myanmar military, Amnesty International said today, as it published an investigation into the companies involved in the supply chain, as well as shocking new accounts of deadly air strikes on civilians. Deadly Cargo: Exposing the Supply Chain that Fuels War Crimes in Myanmar provides the most detailed look into aviation fuel since the military seized power in the 2021 coup, from the distant port where the fuel originally departed to the unlawful air strikes that killed civilians – and every step in between. Click here to read... [10]

Myanmar could face aid ‘catastrophe’, experts warn, after junta law change - The Guardian

Myanmar’s junta has passed a law that grants it sweeping powers over aid delivery, prompting warnings of a “catastrophic” effect on services to those in need in the crisis-hit nation. Sources inside aid agencies in Yangon, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Guardian that the new rules would severely impact their ability to reach vulnerable communities, likely resulting in wholesale shutdowns of some programmes. Click here to read... [11]

Nepal

India to import 22 megawatt more energy from Nepal - Khabar Hub

The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has received approval from India to export 22 megawatt of power produced from Chilime Hydropower Company. Spokesperson of NEA Suresh Bahadur Bhattarai confirmed that the approval was obtained on October 31 from India’s Central Electricity Authority to export more power to India. With this approval, Nepal now would export 386 MW of power to India, Spokesperson Bhattarai added. Click here to read... [12]

Supreme Court order against extending term of GMR Upper Karnali Hydropower Limited in Nepal - Economic Times

Nepal's Supreme Court on Thursday issued an interim order and asked the government not to implement its decision to extend the term of India's power giant GMR that is developing the Upper Karnali Hydropower Project. The Cabinet had decided to extend GMR's term by two years. A single bench of Justice Ishwor Prasad Khatiwada issued the interim order against the Cabinet's July 15 decision, according to the apex court sources. Click here to read... [13]

Nepal’s Oli vows balanced ties with China, India if returned to power - The Print

Nepal’s main communist opposition party will balance the Himalayan nation’s ties with neighbours China and India for mutual benefit if it is returned to power in a general election this month, its leader said. oth Asian giants have been locked in a high stakes battle for influence in Nepal — sandwiched between the two countries — longing for a friendly government in Kathmandhu. Click here to read... [14]

Pakistan

Attempt on Imran Khan’s life shocks nation: Dawn

In what appeared to be an assassination attempt, former prime minister Imran Khan was shot at and injured on Thursday evening when a suspect, standing in front of the container carrying the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief and senior party leaders, showered a volley of bullets with an automatic pistol when the party’s ‘Haqaaqi Azadi’ march reached Wazirabad’s Allahwala Chowk. Click here to read... [15]

Imran named PM, interior minister, army officer for assassination bid: Umar: The Express Tribune

Umar issued a video statement, accompanied by a fellow party member and provincial minister Aslam Iqbal, wherein he disclosed that both of them had a conversation with Imran after the attack and the PTI chief revealed that he already had information about it. Click here to read... [16]

Sri Lanka

Ban on travelling overseas under tourist visa and finding jobs stays: Daily Mirror

The Foreign Employment Ministry is to take every possible action to prevent all attempts to travel abroad for work under tourist visas. Addressing the media, Minister Manusha Nanayakkara advised the ministry officials to take action to send women abroad for all jobs especially to the countries such as the UAE and Oman under work visa. Click here to read... [17]

Two Russian warships enter territorial waters of Sri Lanka: Daily Mirror

A detachment of Pacific Fleet ships led by the flagship of the Nakhimov Guards missile cruiser Varyag, the large anti-submarine ship Admiral Tributs and the large sea tanker Boris Butoma have entered the responsibility zone of the TOF south of Sri Lanka. Click here to read... [18]