VIF Neighborhood News Digest: February 7, 2020

PAKISTAN

No new taxes, FBR tells IMF as govt. tries to dispel talk of a ‘mini-budget’: Dawn
February 7, 2020

At the conclusion of its performance review with the visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, top officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) have denied all talk of a “mini-budget” to bridge the shortfall in revenue collection posted in the first two quarters of this fiscal year. “We have mostly met our second quarter targets” official sources told Dawn, but added two problematic areas — taxation and electricity — where the focus of the talks lay. Click here to read... [1]
https://www.dawn.com/news/1532994/no-new-taxes-fbr-tells-imf-as-govt-tries-to-dispel-talk-of-a-mini-budget [2]

AFGHANISTAN

IECC’s Decision Made under Political Pressure: Campaigns: Tolo
February 7, 2020

A recent verdict by the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) to send a small percentage of the 300,000 disputed votes for a special audit came under domestic and international pressure, a number of campaign teams said on Thursday as Afghans await the final results of last September’s presidential elections. Reactions from critics came a day after the IECC decided to send the representative samples of a group of 8,400 polling stations for a special audit. Click here to read... [1]
https://tolonews.com/elections-2019/iecc%E2%80%99s-decision-made-under-political-pressure-campaigns [3]

BANGLADESH

PM arrives in Milan: Deccan Herald
February 7, 2020

The prime minister will leave Milan for home on Friday and reach Dhaka on Saturday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has arrived in the Italian city of Milan. The prime minister departed the Italian capital of Rome for Milan by train at 1:20pm on Thursday and reached there at 4:30pm local time. She will stay at the Excelsior Hotel Gallia during her visit to Milan, reports BSS. Earlier in the morning, Sheikh Hasina had an audience with Pope Francis, the spiritual leader of the Catholics of the world, at the Holy See (Vatican City), near the Italian capital. Click here to read... [4]

MYANMAR

China-Myanmar trade slows to a trickle: Myanmar Times
February 7, 2020

The coronavirus outbreak in China has caused trade between Myanmar and its neighbor to slow to a trickle, trade officials say. The clearest example of this is the plunge in the volume of watermelons from Myanmar that are crossing the border to the east. “About 600 truckloads of Myanmar’s watermelons used to cross the border a day in the Muse border trade area in Shan State. Since the outbreak earlier this year, the number of loads has plunged to about 30, a reduction of 95 percent,” said U Naing Win, chair of the Myanmar Melon Producers and Exporters Association. Click here to read... [5]

NEPAL

Home Minister misled Parliament over extrajudicial killing of Kumar Paudel: The Kathmandu Post
February 7, 2020

With the Home Ministry’s directive to the Nepal Police to take action against those involved in the extrajudicial killing of Kumar Paudel, the Sarlahi district in-charge of the Netra Bikram Chand-led Communist Party of Nepal, questions are now being raised about the numerous times Home Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa has misled Parliament. While briefing lawmakers on July 9, amid demands from the opposition parties to form a parliamentary panel to probe Paudel’s killing, Thapa had said that the Chand party member died in a police encounter. Click here to read... [6]

BHUTAN

Wangditse rises to Gyalsey: Kuenselonline
February 7, 2020

Druk Rabgay, also known as Deb Jaaw, had been the Druk Desi for eight years already. Terton Drukdra Dorji had been assassinated. Adversaries now removed, he wanted a palace for himself. He called it Zhabden Lhundruptse. Historical records locate the year around 1715. Now known widely as Druk Wangditse Lhakhang, it became the residence and administrative center of Bhutan’s successive temporal rulers. Click here to read... [7]

Sri Lanka

SL records decline in Chinese shipments following coronavirus outbreak: Daily Mirror
February 7, 2020

Shipments arriving from China at the Colombo Port, have taken a hit following the novel coronavirus outbreak with many local businesses unable to get through to their shippers in China while some have even re-sent their shipments back in fear after they arrived at the Colombo Port, an authoritative source told the Daily Mirror yesterday. Chinese shipments are likely to further decline in the coming weeks with local traders fearing this will create a shortage of some goods in the market. Click here to read... [8]

CHINA

Govt. unveils policies to aid outbreak-hit SMEs: China Daily
February 7, 2020

China's local governments are introducing a number of supportive measures to help small and medium-sized enterprises cope with the impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. More than 10 provincial or city-level governments have rolled out policies since Sunday that focus on financial support and burden reduction to ease the pressure on SMEs from the economic impact of the virus, such as offering fast-track loans with lower interest rates and delaying social security contributions. Click here to read... [9]

Xi urges joint efforts to fight epidemic: China Daily
February 7, 2020

President Xi Jinping said on Thursday that China will continue to work with other countries to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak in an open and transparent manner, and called on countries around the world to abide by the recommendations of the World Health Organization. Click here to read... [10]