Asia

China backs New Delhi’s hosting of BRICS summit; Xi Jinping may visit India
24Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

China backs New Delhi’s hosting of BRICS summit; Xi Jinping may visit India

After months of tension between India and China due to the standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Beijing has said that it supports India’s chairmanship of the BRICS summit this year.India has assumed chairmanship of the annual summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) grouping of emerging economies.Chinese President Xi Jinping may visit India later this year for the summit.Asked about Xi’s possible attendance at the summit and whether the border tension would affect their multilateral cooperation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said BRICS had become an influential grouping and Beijing supported New Delhi’s efforts as host.“China attaches great importance to the BRICS mechanism,” Wang said at a regular press conference.“The Chinese side ...
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Sri Lanka seeks India’s support ahead of UNHRC session
23Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Sri Lanka seeks India’s support ahead of UNHRC session

Ahead of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in March, Sri Lanka has sought India’s support in UNHRC’s probe in Colombia’s record in human rights and related accountability.According to media reports, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has written to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking support during the upcoming session of the UNHRC.Foreign Secretary Jayanath Colombage said that it was part of the president’s efforts to secure the support of the member states.“We made the first request from India. When he (Rajapaksa) meets with the envoys of the respective countries, he hands over these letters to be sent to their leaders,” the Foreign Secretary said.The core group of countries that work on Sri Lanka’s issue at the UNHRC has indicated that it will move a ...
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Relationship with China ‘complex’; ties cannot be normal without peace in border areas: Indian Foreign Secretary
19Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

Relationship with China ‘complex’; ties cannot be normal without peace in border areas: Indian Foreign Secretary

The relationship with China is “complex”, there cannot be a normal bilateral relationship if there is no peace and tranquillity in border areas, said Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla at the Diplomatic Academy of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday.“The relationship with China is complex. It was in the 1980s where both countries decided that they would set aside our differences on the boundary,” he said.He said developments last year, in terms of the “very large number” of troops amassed on the border area, multiple transgressions along the Line of Actual Control, did create a situation that impacted the “larger relationship”.“As we mentioned to our friends in China, we cannot have (a) normal bilateral relationship if there is no peace and tranquillity in our bor...
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Mountain rescue team trains J&K police to help victims of natural disasters
12Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Mountain rescue team trains J&K police to help victims of natural disasters

The Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) is currently providing 15-day training to around 50 Jammu and Kashmir police personnel near Nad village in Samba to help them equip in helping victims of natural disasters."Initially the trainees had some fear but it was overcome when they were convinced of the sophistication of the equipment we use in the training. They get training on how to ascend and descend the mountain with or without a victim. They are also trained on how to search for a person who is lost in an avalanche. We also give them training on zip-lining and river crossing," said Mohammad Salim, instructor MRT J&K Police."Some trainees requested to be sent to the flood-affected area of Uttarakhand to be part of the rescue team there. That shows the confidence they have gained during the tr...
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Indian govt’s scheme helping youth in business, generating employment in J&K’s Pulwama
12Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Indian govt’s scheme helping youth in business, generating employment in J&K’s Pulwama

The youth of Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir now have plenty of opportunities to create employment opportunities for the people of the Valley with the help of the Indian government’s Prime Minister's Employment Guarantee Program (PMEGP).A prime example of the benefit of the scheme is young entrepreneur Muhammad Asgar Bhat from Wahibugh from the district of South Kashmir who has started a unit of shoe, slippers or Chappal making under the Centre sponsored scheme."PMEGP gave me Rs 25 lakh loan to start my business and I have completed five to six months. Over 20 people work in this unit. I appeal to the people who are unemployed to take benefit of the scheme like me," said Bhat, the owner of the Shoe/Slipper manufacturing unit.Bhat further said that he was grateful to the Centre's sche...
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Commentary: Implications of ‘long COVID’ mean faster vaccination programmes needed now
12Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, World

Commentary: Implications of ‘long COVID’ mean faster vaccination programmes needed now

We need to spend whatever it takes on wartime-style mobilisation to make, distribute and inject vaccines, says the Financial Times’ Simon Kuper. LONDON: When I listen to scientists talk about where we might be a year from now, two main scenarios emerge. The first one is good: COVID-19 keeps circulating but loses its sting. Most people in rich countries, and the most vulnerable in developing countries, get vaccinated in 2021. The vaccines prevent disease caused by all strains. COVID-19 weakens. Once it finds potential victims protected either by vaccination or past infection, it becomes at worst a nasty cold. “The most likely thing is that it will mutate into a more benevolent form. That may solve the problem,” says Anthony Costello, a former director at the World Health Organizatio...
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Former PTI lawmaker confesses to accepting bribe ahead of Pak 2018 Senate polls
11Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia

Former PTI lawmaker confesses to accepting bribe ahead of Pak 2018 Senate polls

Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Ubaid Ullah Mayar has confessed to taking bribe worth Rs 10 million before the Senate elections of 2018.This comes after a video went viral on social media on Tuesday that showed Imran Khan-led PTI lawmakers receiving bribes ahead of the 2018 senate elections. The video showed a couple of PTI Members of National Assembly (MNAs) taking money from Mohammad Ali Bacha, former MPA of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) before the Senate elections in 2018.In the video, stacks of currency are seen in the video atop a table in front of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs).Speaking to the media, Mayar said that he took the money on the directives of then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, adding that the PTI-led ...
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South Korea needs more babies and immigrants
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants

South Korea greeted the new year by recording its first annual population decline. Unfortunately, the go-to solutions are meeting some practical challenges in the COVID-19 era. Headcount dwindled slightly to 51.8 million last year, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said Sunday. The retreat was the product of a 10.6% slide in births, coupled with a 3.1% increase in deaths. South Korea now joins neighboring Japan in suffering an actual fall in population, as opposed to the diminishing rates of growth that characterized past years. The ministry called for “fundamental changes,” national news agency Yonhap reported, without offering details. South Korea’s demographic challenges partly stem from family-planning measures imposed by military-backed administrations in the 1960s, which aimed to...
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Escaping COVID-19 lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, World

Escaping COVID-19 lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai

DUBAI: As much of the world tightens lockdowns to stem coronavirus, Dubai has flung its doors open, branding itself as a sunny, quarantine-free escape - despite a sharp rise in cases. While mask-wearing and social distancing are strictly enforced, life in the tourism-reliant emirate looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business. Images of sports stars and television personalities enjoying life at beach clubs and cocktail bars have flooded social media - sometimes to disapproval back home. Emirates, which restored its network to about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, is again operating A380 super-jumbos - the world's largest commercial airliner - ferrying in visitors from Britain and Russia. Russian tourist, Dmitriy Melnikov, said he cam...
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Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars
10Feb By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars

Tencent looks set to grow to a US$1 trillion market capitalisation given its diversified revenue sources, its strong growth strategy premised on e-sports and live-streaming, says IMD Business School’s Mark Greeven. SINGAPORE: Tencent is poised to join the trillion dollar club. After a whopping 11 per cent rally in stock price and an equally whopping tumble of about 5 per cent last week, the question is whether we are seeing the global tech bubble expanding to Asia. Certainly, the Hong Kong market generally was in a positive mood on the day of the 115 per cent jump. And over this past year, Tencent’s stock price has risen by 85 per cent in value. Nevertheless, a trillion dollars is a lot of money. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are all well into their first trillion-dollar market cap...
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