ISLAMABAD, 06 June 2021, (TON): The Asia Pacific Group (APG) Laundering has improved Pakistan’s rating on 21 of the 40 technical recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) against money laundering and terror financing, but retained it on ‘Enhanced Follow-up’ for sufficient outstanding requirements.

The second Follow-Up Report (FUR) on Mutual Evaluation of Pakistan released by the APG, a regional affiliate of the Paris-based FATF, also downgraded the country on one criteria. The report said Pakistan was re-rated to ‘compliant’ status on five counts and on 15 others to largely compliant and on yet another count to partially compliant.

Overall, Pakistan is now fully compliant with seven recommendations and largely compliant with 24 others. The country is partially compliant with seven recommendations and non-compliant with two out of total 40 recommendations. All in all, Pakistan is now compliant or largely compliant with 31 out of 40 FATF recommendations.

The reporting date for this evaluation was October 1, 2020, which means Islamabad may have made further progress since then that would be evaluated at a later stage.

The APG said “Pakistan will move from enhanced (expedited) to enhanced follow-up, and will continue to report back to the APG on progress to strengthen its implementation of anti-money laundering and combating financing terror (AML/CFT) measures,”.

Pakistan submitted its third progress report in February 2021 and is yet to be evaluated.

KABUL, 06 June 2021, (TON): As part of the implementation of the Asian strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kuleba had a phone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Mohammad Haneef Atmar. This was the first contact between the Ukrainian and Afghan foreign ministers since 2008.

Kuleba said “Ukraine and Afghanistan are united by long-term friendship and mutual respect. Ukrainians support Afghans in their efforts to restore peace in the country and build an inclusive society. The time has come to open a new page in bilateral relations for the benefit of our peoples”.

In turn, Atmar supported Kuleba's proposal to hold consultations between the Foreign Ministries this year in order to discuss practical steps for the development of cooperation between Ukraine and Afghanistan in the political, trade, security and educational spheres.

The ministers noted the significant opportunities for the participation of Ukrainian companies in the implementation of infrastructure projects in Afghanistan, in particular in the regions affected by the armed conflict.

Kuleba further said that last year, trade between Ukraine and Afghanistan amounted to USD 7.17 million. This figure absolutely does not correspond to the potential of the two countries. We should jointly make sure that the volume of trade increases significantly in several years.

NEW DELHI, 06 June 2021, (TON): India and Pakistan seem close to resolving the thorny issue of assignment visas that has plagued bilateral ties for well over 2 years. The 2 countries have arrived at an agreement that, on 16 June 2021, they will approve all pending assignment visas for diplomats and other staff members.

As per the understanding, both countries will approve the pending visas at the same time on the aforementioned day.

CAIRO, 05 June 2021, (TON): Egyptian state television reported that Egypt has sent a convoy of engineers and building equipment to Gaza to begin reconstruction in the Palestinian enclave after the recent Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Dozens of bulldozers, cranes and trucks flying Egyptian flags lined up along the border to begin crossing into the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians lined the street on the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing to welcome the convoy as it rumbled into the small coastal enclave.
A Palestinian border official said 50 vehicles had crossed.
Egyptian truck driver Mahmoud Ismail “We rushed with all our money, equipment, and what we owned to join the Palestinians in the rebuilding. Every Muslim and every Egyptian wishes to take part in the reconstruction”.

COLOMBO, 05 June 2021, (TON): The ship’s operator said Foreign experts have been deployed to help Sri Lanka contain a potential oil leak from a burnt-out container ship partially sunk off Colombo.

Representatives from the International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) and Oil Spill Response (OSR) were onshore monitoring the MV X-Press Pearl, X-Press Feeders said.

“They continue to coordinate with MEPA (Marine Environment Protection Authority) and the Sri Lankan navy on an established plan to deal with any possible spill of oil and other pollutants,” the company said. Its chief executive, Shmuel Yoskovitz, apologised to Sri Lanka for the disaster, which saw the ship burn for 13 days and inundated the island’s beaches with huge amounts of plastic pellets.

Yoskovitz told media “I’d like to express my deep regrets and apologies to the Sri Lankan people for the harm this incident has caused to the livelihood and to the environment of Sri Lanka”.

Sri Lanka’s Harbour Master Nirmal Silva said Thursday that no oil had leaked so far.

DHAKA, 05 June 2021, (TON): The finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal faced questions about the issue at a virtual post-budget news conference for the fiscal 2021-22 after he unveiled the outlay a day earlier without the option.

Kamal said that the government would review the option after gathering the data.

When the government presented a number of ways in the budget for 2020-21 fiscal to legalise undisclosed income by paying certain amounts of tax amidst the COVID-19 crisis, many feared they would encourage corruption and frustrate taxpayers.

Analysts and activists have welcomed Kamal’s decision to drop the provision in the new budget for the financial year starting on Jul 1. But they expressed concerns over possibilities that the government may reintroduce the option in a separate order later.

Hinting that the government Kamal said “many also support the option because it can be profitable if the undisclosed income is taxed and invested.”

The minister had said last month that the option would continue until all the undisclosed incomes are added to the financial system.

He further said “We didn’t have enough data when I had said it (the option would continue) two weeks ago. We need to see how profitable the option would be if we want to have a discussion about whether to continue it.”

KABUL, 05 June 2021, (TON): The United States announced more than $266 million in new humanitarian aid for Afghanistan as part of what it called an enduring U.S. commitment to the war-torn country.

With the U.S. troop withdrawal well under way, the announcement comes amid unrelenting violence and a stalled peace process that are fueling fears that the departure of U.S.-led international forces is putting Afghanistan on a path to all-out civil war that could restore Taliban rule two decades after the Islamists were driven from power.

Officials of the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, who ordered an end to the 20-year U.S. troop presence by Sept. 11, have vowed to continue U.S. military and civilian aid to Kabul. But they warned it could be suspended if there is backtracking on progress made in human rights, especially those of women and girls.

The State Department said in a statement “As the United States withdraws military forces from Afghanistan, our enduring commitment is clear. We remain engaged through our full diplomatic, economic, and assistance toolkit to support the peaceful, stable future the Afghan people want and deserve.”

The statement said that the $266 million in new assistance brings to nearly $3.9 billion the total amount of such aid provided by the United States since 2002.

KABUL, 05 June 2021, (TON): As foreign forces pull out The Taliban seized a district in southern Afghanistan without facing any resistance from Afghan government security forces, bringing to seven the number of districts the insurgents have overrun since the United States and its NATO allies began withdrawing their troops from the country a month ago.

Separately, an overnight roadside bombing of a vehicle in the national capital, Kabul, killed a young female Afghan television anchor and her mother, and wounded her sister. Mina Khairi was working for the Ariana News channel for the past three years, her employer said.

The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee said “AJSC is deeply saddened to hear Mina Khairi, TV presenter at Ariana News and her mother are among the victims of yesterday’s blast in district 6 of Kabul city. We strongly condemn the attack & call on the government to seriously investigate the case.”

Head of Ariana news, Sharif Hassanyar, said in a video statement that while we are deeply saddened by the loss of Mena Khairi, Ariana News will not back away from freedom of the press and will continue its work for the freedom of the press in Afghanistan.

MOSCOW, 05 June, 2021 (TON):  Russia and the United States must try to find ways to mend their relations, which are at an extremely low level, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

"To a certain extent, Russian-American relations have become hostage to internal political processes in the United States. But I hope this will end someday," he said while talking in a plenary session of the forum.

"Fundamental interests in the fields of security, strategic stability and arms reduction are still more important than the current domestic political situation in the United States," Putin stressed.

At the 24th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin said that he plans to discuss strategic stability, international conflict settlement, cooperation against COVID-19, arms control, anti-terrorism, and climate change with U.S. President Joe Biden during their first summit in Geneva.

The face-to-face meeting scheduled to take place in Geneva on June 16 amid deeply strained relations between the United States and Russia.

Tensions are running high over a litany of issues including the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny and the conflict in Ukraine, as well as allegations of hacking and election meddling.

NEW DELHI, 05 June, 2021 (TON):  The Indian Navy deployed the naval teams for the Karnataka Naval Area on Friday to ensure sustained functioning of medical Oxygen infrastructure at designated COVID-19 hospitals in all 12 Talukas of Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka over the past one month.

The Indian Navy says that the initiative has been taken as part of the ongoing assistance to the state administration by the Indian Navy for COVID-19 management amongst the civilian population.

"In early May, the teams undertook an audit and functional checks of Oxygen system at 23 hospitals in Uttara Kannada district. Over the past three weeks, specialist personnel of Indian Navy have attended to defects including leakages in Oxygen distribution systems at various hospitals in the district," Indian navy said.

Karnataka state now has 2,80,186 active cases whereas the total number of patients discharged stands at 23,58,412.

The efforts of the Indian Naval teams from the Karnataka Naval Area have contributed to the overall effort of state administration in ensuring sustained availability of Oxygen in rural areas of the State.