Author: Javier Ramirez

Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan over the past week killed at least 50 people across the country, nearly a year after massive flooding killed more than 1,700 people and affected 33 million others. In neighbouring India, about a dozen districts in the northeastern state of Assam were hit by deadly flash floods in June, forcing thousands to flee their homes and seek refuge at makeshift relief camps. The ravaging floods – which killed at least 11 people – meant many faced the daunting task of rebuilding their lives as they returned to destroyed homes and drowned livestock. Climate-change-induced downpours, drought, and soaring temperatures have…

Governments worldwide have used Social Protection Programmes (SPPs) to strategically assist marginalised and vulnerable citizens to cope with hardships and social exclusion. SPPs typically include a mix of contributory schemes, including insurance  pensions and non-contributory schemes, such as cash transfers and subsidies. Advancing SPPs is integral to the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda — Sustainable Development Goal 10 specifically calls for leveraging SPPs to reduce inequality. Less than half of the global population has access to SPPs. The situation in developing economies like Nepal is much worse, where, on aggregate, only one-third of citizens access SPPs. Nepal provides an interesting case because SPPs have been considered instrumental in its…

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has won a vote of confidence from the national assembly, in a major victory for the country’s governing coalition amid persistent opposition calls for a general election. Sharif on Thursday was able to secure 180 votes, against the 172 required to achieve a simple majority in the lower house of the parliament, Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf announced. The vote came three days after the government vehemently denied reports that Sharif was planning to seek a vote of confidence. But in a surprise move after a luncheon thrown by the prime minister on Thursday afternoon, lawmakers gathered in…

Ram Chandra Poudel, leader of the Nepali Congress party, was elected as the third president of Nepal on Thursday. Poudel defeated his rival Subash Chandra Nembang, vice chair of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist), by garnering 33,802 of the 52,628 electoral votes. Nembang got 15,518 votes. “Ram Chandra Poudel has been elected as the president beating Subash Chandra Nembang,” Shaligram Sharma Paudel, spokesperson for the Election Commission, told Xinhua. Poudel, 78, is the candidate of eight ruling parties in the presidential election involving members of the House of Representatives, the National Assembly and the seven provincial assemblies,…

The contentious process of discovery and depositions in the antitrust and countersuit case between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour manifested itself in a revealing dispute this week when the “process broke down,” according to a U.S. District Court judge. The dispute centered on when Thierry Pascal, the senior vice president international media for PGA Tour International, would submit to be deposed by LIV Golf attorneys. LIV had pushed for Pascal to be deposed on March 27 in London, but attorneys for the Tour argued they aren’t available on that date and pressed for the deposition to be taken in…

The Pakistani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, is on a visit to Moscow. Report informs, citing TASS, that he will meet with Sergey Lavrov. The ministers will discuss bilateral and regional issues. They will hold a joint press conference following the meeting.

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday agreed to lend $1 billion to Pakistan and roll over an existing $2 billion loan already in central bank reserves of the South Asian nation, Pakistan’s information minister said, APA reports citing Reuters. Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in the UAE earlier Thursday on a two day visit. Sharif met the UAE’s president Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan before the announcement came, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in a statement. Sharif is also scheduled to meet other UAE officials and business leaders to seek business and economic opportunities. As a ninth IMF review to clear the…

Pakistan and India on Sunday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations that cannot be attacked in case of an escalation in hostilities, a Foreign Office statement said here, as part of an annual ritual that has been in practice between the two neighbours for more than three decades, Report informs via Outlook India. The lists of nuclear installation and facilities were exchanged as per the provisions of the Article-II of the Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and Facilities, signed on December 31, 1988 and ratified on 27 January 1991. According to this agreement, both countries have to inform…