Global Indian News
Amidst media reports about China’s stepped-up activities in the Doklam plateau, India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is currently on a visit to the country’s Northeastern states to review defence preparedness …
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In a world where border walls are becoming the norm and doors are being shut to keep ‘the others’ out, the ASEAN-India music festival is aiming to do just the opposite – making borders translucent, even irrelevant with the power of music and free flow of ideas.
The first ever edition of the unique festival being organised by India’sMinistry of External Affairs, in collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Seher, an NGO, aims to initiate a new musical dialogue to celebrate cultural diversity and foster a spirit of collaboration and ever-more connectedness between India and 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The three-day festival (Oct 6-8), to be held in New Delhi’s iconic 16th century fortress Purana Qila, is part of a series of special events being organised to commemorate 25 historic years of India’s dialogue partnership with the ASEAN, themed around ‘Shared Values, Common Destiny’.
Surprised by the Brexit vote in the UK, the victory of Donald Trump and the strong showing of the far-right AfD party in the German elections? Well, you won’t be, …
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India’s Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba is on a five-day visit to Vietnam to step up defence and security cooperation with the South Asian nation which has emerged as a pivot of India’s Act East policy.
Given the fast changing geo-strategic dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region, marked by China’s increased assertiveness in the region, the Navy Chief’s visit is being watched closely in Beijing.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to Hanoi in September 2016 was transformational and placed the expanding India-Vietnam ties on a new footing. During his visit, the Indian leader pledged $500 million in Lines of Credit for a host of development and defence-related projects in the Southeast Asian nation.
India’s President Ramnath Kovind, who is on his first state visit abroad to the strategically significant countries of Ethiopia and Djibouti, has said that choosing Africa for his first visit …
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As Bangladesh reels under the massive influx of Rohingya refugees fleeing the violence in Rakhine state, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister A.H. Mahmood Ali said that Myanmar has made a proposal to take back about half a million refugees. His remarks came after his meeting in Dhaka with a Myanmar delegation headed by Kyaw Tint Swe, a minister in State Counsellor’s office.
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The carnage in Las Vegas has plunged the US into a deep shock. Authorities and eyewitnesses are still trying to come to terms with the massacre that left 59 people dead and 527 injured at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music event outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino Hotel in Las Vegas on Sunday night. In what is termed as a lone wolf attack the gunman, identified as 64- year-old Stephen Paddock, fired indiscriminately at the people gathered below from the 32nd floor of a hotel before killing himself.
When the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team broke into Paddock’s hotel room they found 23 guns that have been there since September, raising disturbing questions regarding hotel security. 18 additional guns and thousands of rounds of ammunitions and explosives were recovered from his home on October 2.
At a time when the world is grappling with voices of polarization and Islamophobia, and when the ultranationalist rhetoric of several world leaders has done little to mitigate the situation, the rise of the Canadian Sikh man Jagmeet Singh on a slogan of ‘love and courage’ and a vision for an inclusive society has generated much curiosity and interest the world over. In just a span of a few years, the 38-year-old suave former lawyer has taken the Canadian political scene by storm, emerging as a strong rival to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
With his election as the leader of the left-leaning New Democratic Party on October 1, securing a clear victory with nearly 54 per cent votes, racing way ahead of more experienced contenders, Mr. Singh has become the first non-white to be elected for the top job of a prominent Canadian political party. This makes his rise all the more important. A visibly jubilant Mr. Singh officially launched his campaign to contest the federal election next year. “The run for prime minister begins now,” he tweeted.
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India’s quest to broad-base its energy security received a major boost after the first shipment of 1.6 million barrels of crude oil arrived at Paradip port in Orissa on October 2, following US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s agreement on a strategic energy partnership in June this year. The shipment is part of a cumulative order of 3.9 million barrel placed by the Indian public sector refiner Indian Oil.
Crude oil exports from the US were banned for nearly four decades, starting from the 1973 OPEC (Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries) oil embargo to late 2015 when the then President Barack Obama signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act. Since 2017, crude oil exports have surpassed more than one million barrels per day (BPD) on multiple occasions.
Mr. Sanjay Sudhir, joint secretary (International Cooperation) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, hailed the shipment as a “new chapter in the history of Indo-US trade” that will be able to guide price stability and energy security in India. He was present along with Ms. Katherine B Hadda, US Consul General in Hyderabad, and other officials from the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Oil at the ceremony to welcome the cargo. “MT New Prosperity, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), of capacity 2 million barrels of crude, left US Gulf Coast on 19th August and arrived at Paradip port today. Indian Oil will process the crude at its East-Coast base refineries, located at Paradip, Haldia, Barauni and Bongaigaon,” the press release said.
With the launch of direct flights connecting New Delhi with Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat, following the Indo-Afghan trade show and Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah’s visit to India, the India-Afghan partnership look set to get new wings. While security and trade cooperation remain high on the agenda, connectivity is a key concern and this recent announcement will give a major boost to people-to-people connect between the two nations.
The private airlines, owned by the Kamgar Group, will operate twice a week from the two cities. A full inaugural flight from MaulanaJalalludinBalkhi airport inMazar-e-Sharif to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, is a good sign of the success of this initiative. At the joint inauguration event attended by Dr. Mohammad Afzal Hadeed, chairman of the Provincial Council of Balkh Province, India’s Consul General Manjish Grover expressed his hopes that the new flight service will ease trade and travel between northern Afghanistan and India.