Malaysia’s on-again-off-again political partners Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim said “it’s time” to restore an election mandate that they won two years ago, issuing a statement together for the first time since internal bickering in February led to the collapse of their ruling coalition. The two leaders – now in the opposition – said the current government led by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin wasn’t the choice of voters at ballot boxes and does not have a mandate to rule. The statement…

Agricultural insurance has the potential to add immense value to agriculture value chains by facilitating access to means of production and changing behaviour by reducing uncertainty.

She takes over the Public Affairs Department at a time when the military is slowly embracing openness.

Police dispersed lunchtime protesters with pepper spray in an upscale Hong Kong shopping centre just 12 hours after the government relaxed some coronavirus social-distancing measures and allowed people to gather in groups of eight on Friday.Shortly after dozens of anti-government demonstrators began yelling slogans and belting out their anthem, officers entered the IFC Mall in Central to cordon off their protest site, forcing the Apple store to lower its shutters.Later, police used pepper spray…

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Director, Division on International Trade and Commodities, UN Conference on Trade & Development (UNCTAD)

The post Impact of COVID-19 on Tourism in Small Island Developing States appeared first on Inter Press Service.

As the sun sets over the hills, Prafulla Debbarma, a small tea grower in Dhanbilash village in north eastern India, walks along the labyrinth path of his farm and past a thick blanket of well-grown tea plants. In the fading light, the farmer appears deeply worried. This tea farm, the sole source of his livelihood, […]

The post Has COVID-19 Reversed Progress for India’s Small Tea Growers? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Bhumi Pednekar believes female representation in cinema is extremely important to her

Gigi Hadid was seen snubbing Harry Styles while embracing other bandmates after Zayn Malik’s ‘One Direction’ exit

Marriage is not too unlikely for Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid, as per a source

LILONGWE: Malawi´s top appeals court on Friday rejected President Peter Mutharika´s bid to scrap the annulment of controversial elections last May which he narrowly won, paving the way for a rerun in July. Mutharika had appealed a landmark decision by the Constitutional Court to...

MALE, Maldives: India’s navy on Friday began evacuating from the Maldives around 750 of the hundreds of thousands of Indian nationals stranded worldwide because of coronavirus.The operation by two warships in Male forms part of an initial operation to repatriate almost 15,000 Indians from 12...

LILONGWE, Malawi: Malawi’s top appeals court on Friday rejected President Peter Mutharika’s bid to scrap the annulment of controversial elections last May which he narrowly won, paving the way for a rerun in July.Mutharika had appealed a landmark decision by the Constitutional Court to...

EDINBURGH: The number of cases of Covid-19 needs to come down “substantially” and consistently before there can be any return to normality, a disease expert has said.Professor Hugh Pennington said that while “we may be past the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of...

ISLAMABAD: Eight out of 10 coronavirus patients didn’t have symptoms but found positive only after they were tested, countrywide data obtained by The News has determined.Similarly, local transmission of pandemic has considerably increased as around nine in 10 patients have contracted virus...

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan’s Refinance Scheme for Small Businesses has so far failed to take off due to multiple reasons as the commercial banks are not designed and fully equipped to provide credit line to Small and Medium Enterprises .“The SBP’s Refinance Scheme for...

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan’s Refinance Scheme for Small Businesses has so far failed to take off due to multiple reasons as the commercial banks are not designed and fully equipped to provide credit line to Small and Medium Enterprises .“The SBP’s Refinance Scheme for...

ISLAMABAD: Eight out of 10 coronavirus patients didn’t have symptoms but found positive only after they were tested, countrywide data obtained by The News has determined. Similarly, local transmission of pandemic has considerably increased as around nine in 10 patients have contracted virus...

ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan’s Refinance Scheme for Small Businesses has so far failed to take off due to multiple reasons as the commercial banks are not designed and fully equipped to provide credit line to Small and Medium Enterprises .“The SBP’s RefinanceScheme for...

Millions of Asia’s informal workers – such as vendors, day laborers, and others – are left out of national pension systems. Here’s what we can do to help them in their later years.

Despite decreases in hunger due to economic growth, millions in Asia remain malnourished and without direct action the situation could get worse.

Climate-smart and resource-saving farming technologies could be one way to address hunger in Asia.

The transmission channels of perishables like fruits and vegetables from producers to consumers in developing countries need a revamp to provide benefits to all involved.

The idea that rural water schemes are only sustainable if small, simple and locally managed is a bias that must be overcome to get more clean water to the people who need it.

Complex, carefully managed financing structures can provide the funding needed for island states and others seeking to develop energy projects.

Hunger and malnutrition were an increasing problem worldwide before the pandemic. Restrictions imposed to curb disease spread have disrupted local and international food supply chains, making the problem even more urgent.

До начала пандемии голод и неправильное питание становились все более серьезной проблемой во всем мире. Ограничения, введенные для обуздания распространения болезни, разрушили местные и международные цепочки поставок продовольствия, что делает проблему еще более актуальной.

Crafting small business support efforts to specific country circumstances could help save millions of livelihoods in poor communities and fortify economies against future shocks.

A gender-sensitive response is crucial to this global health emergency.

Despite the global outcry against animal sacrifice in Nepal, the tradition persists.

Colorado Springs is the beachhead. But it's always been clear In-N-Out Burger planned to feed its fanatical following along the Front Range by building more than just the one restaurant coming to that city in 2020.

Protect Against Rootkit and Bootkit Malware in Systems that Boot from External SPI Flash Memory

Life returned to normal Saturday in the Rashidiyeh Palestinian refugee camp, south of Tyre, after a night of clashes that left one person dead and five others injured.

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

The project aimed to improve access of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to commercial financing and market opportunities, thereby fostering growth, competitiveness, and employment creation in India. There were three targeted outputs. First was enhance credit delivery through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and participating financial institutions in the MSME subsector. Second was increased SME productive and managerial capacity and related new jobs created for new markets.

The Second Investment Climate Improvement Program has included help for the government in constructing the policy, legal, and financial framework needed to encourage, negotiate, and close agreements for sound PPPs.

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

Regulatory reforms should focus on building up market competition, which indirectly forces state-owned enterprises to improve their operation toward efficiency.

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

Regulatory reforms should focus on building up market competition, which indirectly forces state-owned enterprises to improve their operation toward efficiency.

The passage of contentious Telangana bill in the Lok Sabha may not have much impact on investment sentiment in realty sector across Hyderabad, as the city has already been planned to serve as a joint capital for next 10 years, according to property consultant Jones Lang LaSalle. “The Bill is being viewed with mixed feelings by various stakeholders, but it is still too early to gauge its impacts on the real estate industry. That said, it is likely to end the political uncertainty that Hyderabad has been facing for the past few years. “The outcomes are still unclear, but Brand Hyderabad is not likely to be overly affected as it […]

Few that have bought or even rented real estate in India would be surprised by a recent survey showing the property market here can be maddeningly murky. Jones Lang LaSalle’s Global Real Estate Transparency Index showed that while things have improved, Indian cities still have to work on transparency. The Chicago-based real-estate consultant said India needs to go further to create more clarity on the rules connected to property purchases and real estate prices. “India still scores among the lowest in the transparency of its transaction process,” the report said. Jones Lang LaSalle looked at just over 100 markets around the world and rated them on a dozen parameters ranging […]

Embedded connectivity is one of the latest technological trends that has been enthusiastically embraced by the automotive industry. As the modern car becomes increasingly connected, the number of vehicle radio services for aviation, infotainment, ADAS...

As Thailand's capital cautiously reopens many restaurants shuttered over coronavirus fears, the feline "employees" of the Caturday Cafe are back at work.

Josh Beasley and his fiancé bought Houston's Body3 Personal Fitness on July 1, less than two months before Tropical Storm Harvey swamped the gym with a foot of water and left behind the dank stench of fetid mildew.

The exhibition Animalesque celebrates what we share with Earth's other species – and offers hope for reforming our relationship with the natural world

We know viruses invaded animals’ genomes in the ancient past, but only now have we actually witnessed it happening and the DNA being passed to offspring

Genetically modified diamondback moths designed to replace pesticides by wiping out female moths have been released in New York state

The earliest cave-dwelling animal identified from the dinosaur era is a ghostly white cockroach with tiny eyes and wings that was preserved in amber