COLOMBO/NEW DELHI: When Sri Lanka slid into its worst economic crisis in seven decades leading to deadly riots and alarming shortages of fuel, food and medicines earlier this year, its giant northern neighbour stepped into the breach. India provided about $4 billion in rapid assistance between January and July, including credit lines, a currency swap […]
DHAKA: Relatives of around 180 Rohingya refugees adrift on a boat for weeks in the Indian Ocean presume that all those on board are now dead, the UN refugee agency said. Thousands of the mostly Muslim Rohingya, heavily persecuted in Myanmar, undertake risky sea journeys from Myanmar and refugee camps in Bangladesh every year trying […]
KYIV: President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia is ready for talks to end the war in Ukraine even as the country faced more attacks from Moscow — a clear sign that peace wasn’t imminent. Putin said in a state television interview, excerpts of which were released on Sunday afternoon that Russia is “prepared to negotiate […]
Taipei (Taiwan): China’s military sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24-hour display of force directed at the island, Taiwan’s defense ministry said Monday, after China expressed anger at Taiwan-related provisions in a US annual defense spending bill passed on Saturday. China’s military harassment of self-ruled Taiwan, which it claims is its […]
Dhaka: Bangladesh’s friendly ties with India and bilateral cooperation are expected to gain momentum in 2023 despite some pending issues, especially the sharing of river waters, that Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Dhaka believes could be resolved through negotiations. Bangladesh-India relations are multifaceted in nature and rooted in a shared history, geographical proximity and […]
Washington: US President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American lawyer diplomat Richard Verma, also a former US ambassador to India, to a top diplomatic position in the State Department, a move hailed by the Indian diaspora here as a “inspired choice”. The White House in a statement on Friday said that Biden announced his intent to […]
Washington: Military bases that housed tens of thousands of Afghan refugees in the US incurred almost USD 260 million in damages that in some cases rendered buildings unusable for troops until significant repairs to walls and plumbing are made, the Pentagon’s inspector general found. Over the last two weeks of August 2021, the US Air […]
Beijing: China blasted an annual US defence spending bill for hyping up the “China threat” while Taiwan welcomed the legislation, saying it demonstrated US support for the self-governing island that China says must come under its rule. “China deplores and firmly opposes this US move,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted online Saturday, […]
Moscow: A fire on Saturday at a private shelter in the Siberian city of Kemerovo that was operating illegally killed 22 people, Russian officials said. Initial reports described the wooden building in the city 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) east of Moscow as a nursing home, but the country’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, later […]
United Nations: During the 2021-22 tenure as non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, there were instances when India “had to stand alone” but it did not let go of the principles it believed in, New Delhi’s envoy here has said. India assumed the monthly rotating presidency of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on December […]