India, China join ranks to negotiate with oil producers for better bargain
Published: Business Standard
13 Apr 2018
Two of the world’s top three oil consumers, China and India, have decided to jointly draw up a strategy for sourcing crude oil from the international market. This grouping could expand, with South Korea and Japan as the other participants.
India and China have questioned on international platforms the practice of charging an Asian Premium by the oil producing nations. According to the plan, the two countries might source crude oil jointly from the West Asian region. Click here to read...
IMF head warns China on exporting debt through ‘Silk Road’
Published: livemint
12 Apr 2018
International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Thursday warned China about saddling other countries with a “problematic increase in debt” through its ambitious global trade infrastructure project. Lagarde made the comments at a Beijing forum on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s signature Belt and Road initiative, a $1 trillion road, rail and construction project spanning dozens of countries—from Asia to Africa and Europe. Click here to read...
Sri Lanka president suspends parliament until May 8
Published: Channel NewsAsia
13 Apr 2018
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Thursday (Apr 12) suspended parliament until next month in a shock move amid a deepening power struggle between him and his unity government's prime minister. A government decree quoted the president as stating that he had halted parliament's meetings "with effect from midnight" on Thursday under article 70 of the constitution. Click here to read...
Corralled and constrained, Pakistan struggles to find feet against US
Published: The Times of India
13 Apr 2018
Ties between US and Pakistan continue to spiral down with reports suggesting both countries are poised to constraint diplomats from the other side from free movement. The situation has been aggravated by what some sections of the Pakistani media saw as humiliating treatment of Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during a recent visit to the US. Click here to read...
India rejects proposal to create Saarc Police
Published: Hindustan Times
12 Apr 2018
India has rejected Nepal’s proposal to create the “Saarc Police”, a regional body to counter terrorism, narcotics and human trafficking, cyber crimes and other criminal activities. The proposal was floated during a meeting of senior police officers and officials responsible for countering drug and narcotics trafficking from the eight Saarc countries that concluded in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Click here to read...
How Nepal’s media landscape is being transformed
Published: Nepali Times
13 Apr 2018
Some 4,145 respondents in 38 sample districts of all seven provinces were surveyed in January and February this year to measure their ownership of communication devices, mass media consumption patterns, and their views on the press itself.
The exercise was undertaken by Sharecast Initiative Nepal, and the 2018 survey was the third in a series supported by multiple Nepali organisations. The study also explores most popular radio and tv programs and stations, and current trends in social media engagement and Internet usage. Click here to read...
Indian engineer in US pleads guilty to raising money for top al-Qaeda leader
Published: Hindustan Times
12 Apr 2018
A 38-year-old Indian engineer in the US state of Ohio, accused of funding a top al-Qaeda leader, has pleaded guilty to concealing financing terrorism. Ibrahim Zubair Mohammad is accused of sending money to Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen. Mohammad is to receive an agreed-upon prison sentence of 60 months, although he would receive credit for the 30 months he has already spent in the Lucas County jail awaiting trial, The Blade newspaper reported on Wednesday. US District Judge Jeffrey Helmick told him that due to his plea and conviction, he would be deported to India. Click here to read...
Rohingya terror suspect reveals al-Qaeda's India plan
Published: India Today
12 Apr 2018
Samiun Rahman, a 28-year-old British Rohingya terror suspect serving al-Qaeda in Syria, was sent to India to recruit and mobilise youth to fight for the cause of the stateless Muslim community, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) says. He was allegedly planning to make his way into Myanmar through Mizoram and then Chittagong in Bangladesh. Click here to read...
