Asia

On March 25 Rs.3,000 crore worth of heroin, ammunition along with AK-47 has been sealed from a Sri Lankan vessel by NIA.The agency has registered an FIR against six Sri Lankan nationals. NIA sources said the agency will be probing the recovery of rifles and ammunition while the seizure of heroin will be probed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).“After the seizure of 301kg of heroin from the boat, Ravihansi, NCB had started a probe. They later reported to the state police regarding the recovery of five AK-47 rifles and 1,000 9mm bullets from the boat. Based on this, Kerala Police filed an FIR at Vizhinjam station on April 5. As the case has international ramifications and is of serious nature, NIA decided to take over the probe. An FIR has been submitted at the NIA court in Kochi,” a so

India deployed comprising T-90 and T-72 CIA (Combat Improved Ajeya) tanks which were air lifted to reach at the frontline by India. Whereas on the other side of border, Pakistan mobilized its Type 15/ VT-5 light tanks in the area.However, the VT-5’s lighter 105mm main cannon could do less damage to a modern Main Battle Tank and could be easily outpowered by the Indian T-90s and T-72CIAs in a head-on firefight.The VT-5s were designed with the assumption that they are less likely to encounter heavy Indian tanks at such high altitudes but the Indian Army surprised the PLA.Still, employing these costly assets to the frontline posed several logistical issues. Thus, the need for a lighter tank was acutely felt. The Indian Army thus floated a Request for Information (RFI) in April to acquire 350

Sri Lanka is going through a debit crisis regarding which they took a loan from China earlier and on Monday the island said they have secured a $500 million loan from South Korea after a month.The government said South Korea agreed to provide the loan at a concessional interest rate of 0.15 to 0.20 percent, repayable over 40 years with a 10-year grace period."The framework arrangement was signed today," the finance ministry said in a statement.Last month Colombo raised another $500 million loan from Beijing in a desperate bid to shore up its dwindling foreign reserves and ease pressure on the local currency.The People's Bank of China also granted a $1.5 billion currency swap to finance imports from China in February as the rupee hit a record low of 202.73 to the dollar.At the end of April...

Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir, India: Serving personnel, ex-servicemen, veer naris and their dependents who are deployed or residing in the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh is being gathered up by Northern command in order to fight with Covid-19. It has also joined hands with the civil administration in building the capacities as a pre-emptive effort anticipating that the severity of the spread of COVID might go up in the next one month or so, an official statement said.The Northern Command is ensuring the twin objectives of "Force Preservation" and "Optimised Utilisation of Medical Resources" for the benefit of serving, retired, their dependants as well as people in far-flung areas.Starting from ramping up its organic assets in terms of holding capacity of COVID patient...

Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir, India: The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) has brought employment opportunity in Rajori’s subdivision Kalakote which brought a smile to people living in these remotest hilly areas.The 15 km PMGSY road stretches from Mathiani to Odhan connecting over 12 villages in this region."People are getting employment. There was no connectivity. Patients used to die before reaching the hospital. Now, vehicles are coming to the doorstep. Due to lockdown and COVID pandemic, people cannot go for work to other places. Not just the locals, but people from Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh also came here for work," Parvinder Singh, a local working as a labourer in the project told ANI.Another labourer Yaspal Singh said, "This area has been very backward. People ha

BRUSSELS- Free trade between India and European Union has been halted since 2013. Both the entities are in the process of relaunching it. The confirmation of it will be done in the virtual summit which is to b organised on Saturday.The draft statement, which must be signed off by EU ambassadors on Wednesday and needs New Delhi's final approval, would bind together two of the world's biggest economies in an alliance seen as a counter to China's power.If approved, the EU and India will say: "We agreed to resume negotiations for a balanced, ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial trade agreement which would respond to the current challenges," according to the draft statement.The draft said that leaders would also seek an investment protection agreement, and a third deal on so-called...

Despite United Arab Emirates suspended flights from India, they stood with the country in its tough times of 2nd wave of pandemicBecause of the surge in COVID-19 infections in India, the United Arab Emirates has extended its suspension of incoming flights from India until May 15. In a phone call earlier this week, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan told his counterpart in India, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, that his government offered its full support and solidarity. The UAE has shipped oxygen concentrators to India.The Indian expatriate community is the UAE's largest foreign-born population, making up about 3.42 million people, or about 30% of the country's total population, according to the International Migrant Stock 2019 report released by the Population Division of ...