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ISLAMABAD: The Centre will have to face serious challenges to support day to day expenditures after paying defence and debt servicing bills from available resources, as the fiscal budget 2020-21 is...

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday expected that the caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan will comprise highly respected persons with proven integrity, impartiality, and competence and will...

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ISLAMABAD: The Centre will have to face serious challenges to support day to day expenditures after paying defence and debt servicing bills from available resources, as the fiscal budget 2020-21 is...

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ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms, and Special Initiatives Asad Umer Friday said Pakistan would be manufacturing its own ventilators in next two months.Talking in a...

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday expected that the caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan will comprise highly respected persons with proven integrity, impartiality, and competence and will...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday expected that the caretaker government in Gilgit-Baltistan will comprise highly respected persons with proven integrity, impartiality, and competence and will...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

LAHORE: The Pakistan Medical Association has expressed serious concern over the increasing number of coronavirus patients and rising death toll of Covid-19 patients in the country.“We are very...

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BEIJING: China should expand its stock of nuclear warheads to 1,000 soon, Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin said on Friday, even as US President Donald Trump repeats his call for China to join an...

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ISLAMABAD: The Centre will have to face serious challenges to support day to day expenditures after paying defence and debt servicing bills from available resources, as the fiscal budget 2020-21 is...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Adele got accused of getting her weight reduced cosmetically

BEIJING: China should expand its stock of nuclear warheads to 1,000 soon, Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin said on Friday, even as US President Donald Trump repeats his call for China to join an arms control treaty, foreign media reported.The Global Times is published by the People’s...

PARIS: A host of state intelligence services warned early of a new coronavirus with the potential to wreak havoc worldwide, yet many governments failed to heed the warnings — a mistake that experts say they are unlikely to make again.The scramble to contain the outbreak has underscored for...

PARIS: In his ninth-floor office on Paris’s Avenue Montaigne, Europe’s wealthiest man, Bernard Arnault, is spending long hours plotting a post-virus future for his luxury goods empire, LVMH. At 71, the billionaire has lived through several crises, but none quite like this one, with his...

BEIJING: China should expand its stock of nuclear warheads to 1,000 soon, Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin said on Friday, even as US President Donald Trump repeats his call for China to join an arms control treaty, foreign media reported.The Global Times is published by the People’s...

GENEVA: The UN on Friday accused the Islamic State group and others in Syria of exploiting the Covid-19 pandemic to step up violence on civilians, describing the situation as a “ticking time-bomb”.United Nations rights chief Michelle Bachelet lamented a surge in violence in the country...

Britain plans to introduce a 14-day mandatory quarantine for most international arrivals, reports said Saturday, despite growing pressure on the government to relax virus lockdown measures.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said out-of-box solutions were needed to meet the present day economic challenges in the wake of COVID-19 situation.He was chairing a meeting to review the economic situation and future outlook of economy in the wake of COVID-19 situation. A detailed...

RAWALPINDI: US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad Friday called on Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa here on Friday. During the meeting, issues of mutual interest and overall regional security situation, including Afghan reconciliation process, came...

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah declared that the Sindh government will work alongside the Centre to implement the new lockdown measures for the mitigation of the coronavirus outbreak."We will implement the federal government's lockdown decisions to the extent of 99pc if not...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said out-of-box solutions were needed to meet the present day economic challenges in the wake of COVID-19 situation.He was chairing a meeting to review the economic situation and future outlook of economy in the wake of COVID-19 situation.A detailed...

RAWALPINDI: US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad Friday called on Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa here on Friday.During the meeting, issues of mutual interest and overall regional security situation, including Afghan reconciliation process, came under...

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah declared that the Sindh government will work alongside the Centre to implement the new lockdown measures for the mitigation of the coronavirus outbreak. “We will implement the federal government’s lockdown decisions to the extent of...

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms, and Special Initiatives Asad Umer Friday said Pakistan would be manufacturing its own ventilators in next two months. Talking in a private news channel programme, he said Pakistan had taken all possible measures to fight against the...

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday said out-of-box solutions were needed to meet the present day economic challenges in the wake of COVID-19 situation.He was chairing a meeting to review the economic situation and future outlook of economy in the wake of COVID-19 situation.A detailed...

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah declared that the Sindh government will work alongside the Centre to implement the new lockdown measures for the mitigation of the coronavirus outbreak. "We will implement the federal government's lockdown decisions to the extent of 99pc if...

RAWALPINDI: US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad Friday called on Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa here on Friday.During the meeting, issues of mutual interest and overall regional security situation, including Afghan reconciliation process, came under...

Simmering trade disputes are decreasing the beneficial effects of free trade and could in the long-term damage the rules-based order upon which global commerce is based.

ISLAMABAD: As many as 1.6 billion of the world’s 2bn informal economy workers are affected by Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures, a new briefing paper issued by the International Labour Organi­sation (ILO) said.

Most are working in the hardest-hit sectors or in small units more vulnerable to shocks including workers in accommodation and food services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and the more than 500 million farmers producing for the urban market, the report says. Women are particularly affected in high-risk sectors, it adds.

The Covid-19 lockdown and containment measures threaten to increase relative poverty levels among the world’s informal economy workers by as much as 56 percentage points in low-income countries.

In high-income countries, relative poverty levels among informal workers is estimated to increase by 52 percentage points, while in upper middle-income countries the increase is estimated to be 21 percentage points.

In addition, with these workers needing to work to feed their families, Covid-19 containment measures in many countries cannot be implemented successfully. This is endangering governments’ efforts to protect the population and fight the pandemic. It may become a source of social tension in countries with large informal economies, the report says.

More than 75 per cent of total informal employment takes place in businesses of fewer than ten workers, including 45pc of independent workers without employees.

With most informal workers having no other means of support, they face an almost unsolvable dilemma: to die from hunger or from the virus, the briefing says. This has been exacerbated by disruptions in food supplies, which has particularly affected those in the informal economy.

For the world’s 67 million domestic workers, 75pc of whom are informal workers, unemployment has become as threatening as the virus itself. Many have not been able to work, whether at the request of their employers or in compliance with lockdowns. Those who do continue to go to work face a high risk of contagion, caring for families in private households. For the 11 million migrant domestic workers the situation is even worse.

The countries with the largest informal economies, where full lockdowns have been adopted, are suffering the most from the consequences of the pandemic. Informal economy workers significantly impacted by lockdown vary from 89pc in Latin America and the Arab states to 83pc in Africa, 73pc in Asia and the Pacific, and 64pc in Europe and Central Asia.

Countries need to follow a multi-track strategy that combines several lines of actions relating to both the health and economic impacts of the pandemic, the ILO said.

Among its recommendations, the report highlights the need for policies that reduce the exposure of informal workers to the virus; ensure that those infected have access to health care; provide income and food support to individuals and their families; and prevent damage to the economic fabric of countries.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2020

NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government is set to substantially ease norms for foreign investment in the construction sector, hoping to drum up interest in the prime minister’s plans for 100 smart cities as well his affordable housing initiative. The government is seriously considering the removal of all restrictions on size and minimum capitalisation for the smart cities as well as affordable housing projects. “The discussions are on for exempting smart cities from all FDI conditionalities. We need to give them a push by making it attractive for investors,” said a government official. The new policy is also expected to provide easier exit windows.The proposal could be moved for the […]

NEW DELHI: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the real estate sector could jump over two-fold in the next one year with easing of FDI rules in the construction sector, realtors’ body NAREDCO said today. Real estate developers and consultants were of the view that this move would give fillip to cash-starved realty sector, which is reeling under a slowdown since last 2-3 years. It will help developers in raising funds to complete projects. Yesterday, the Cabinet relaxed FDI rules in construction sector by reducing minimum built-up area as well as capital requirement and easing the exit norms. “Reduction in minimum built-up area to 20,000 sq meters from 50,000 sq meters […]

The Chinese government policy of racial and religious profiling has forced young Uyghurs to leave China and remain in exile.

East Africa's "triple threat" — the coronavirus, locusts, and floods — are not mutually exclusive. In fact, each is inextricably linked.

The project aimed to construct the Fiu River hydropower plant and extend the distribution grid to peri-urban households in the main provincial center of Auki in Solomon Islands. Hydropower generation was to benefit the economy by reducing fossil fuel imports and lowering the cost of power generation. Likewise, it was intended to improve energy security and minimize tariff volatility. The use of renewable energy was also aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. This report validates the completion report's assessment of the project. IED overall assessment: Unsuccessful. 

This publication provides essential information on the planning, implementation, and management of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools, particularly for small and isolated rural settlements in Mongolia.

A major focus of the Phuentsholing Township Development Project is to provide a safer space in which the town can grow by helping develop a new urban center with raised ground levels in an area sheltered by the embankments.

Banking integration lowers bank default risk in recipient countries.

East Asia is setting the pace for the recent trend in regional and interregional integration, which is associated with multilateral infrastructure connectivity initiatives.

High labor productivity, a large firm size, foreign ownership, and high technological capability are important for a firm to participate in global value chains.

Foreign-currency exposures on an economy’s external balance sheet may jeopardize financial stability when the exchange rate depreciates.

Financial constraints are a significant barrier for India's SMEs participating in global value chains.

The European experience could be useful to inspire the future evolution of the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization in the ASEAN+3 membership.

This publication provides essential information on the planning, implementation, and management of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) in schools, particularly for small and isolated rural settlements in Mongolia.

The global financial architecture should focus on providing short-term lending facilities to improve the efficiency of developing projects.

Banking integration lowers bank default risk in recipient countries.