India
U-19 World Cup: Bangladesh to play India Saturday
Defending champions Bangladesh will play four times champion and last times runners-up India in the super league quarterfinal of the ICC Under-19 World Cup Cricket at North Sound in West Indies on Saturday.
The match will kick-off at 7 pm (Bangladesh time).
Read: U-19 World Cup: Bangladesh march to Super League Quarter Finals
The Young Tigers, led by Akbar Ali, clinched their first ever Under-19 World Cup crown beating India by three wickets in the final in South Africa in 2020.
But, the performances of Rakibul Hasan- led Bangladesh team was not up to the mark this time as they were miserably eliminated from the Youth Asia Cup Cricket losing to India by 103 runs in the semifinal in Sharjah, just ahead of the ongoing U-19 World Cup.
Moreover, they made a frustrating start in the ongoing U-19 World Cup losing to England by seven wickets in the opening match.
However, Bangladesh reached the quarterfinal as the group runners-up beating Canada by eight wickets and the UAE by nine wickets.
Read:U-19 World Cup: Big win for Bangladesh against Canada
The encouraging side of Bangladesh team is that they emerged unbeaten champion in the three- team youth cricket of India held in Kolkata few months back. Moreover Bangladesh team got enough time for preparations ahead of Saturday's quarterfinal.
In the Under-19 Cricket, Bangladesh and India played each other on 24 occasions where India in upper hand by winning 19 matches against Bangladesh’s four .
The rest match ended in no result.
India calls for 'peaceful resolution' of Ukraine crisis
India has called for a "peaceful resolution" of the Kyiv crisis, amid simmering tensions between Russia and the US-led West over Ukraine.
"We have been closely following the developments relating to Ukraine, including the ongoing high-level discussions between Russia and the US," Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi told the media in the national capital on Friday.
Read: Russia says it won’t start a war as Ukraine tensions mount
"Our Embassy in Kyiv is also monitoring local developments. We call for a peaceful resolution of the situation through sustained diplomatic efforts for long term peace and stability in the region and beyond," he said.
Moscow has deployed 120,000 soldiers near the Russia-Ukraine border, triggering fears among NATO members that President Vladimir Putin may invade the country to annexe its eastern parts which are home to a large ethnic Russian population.
Cases plateauing in parts of India but omicron still surges
Indian health officials said there were signs of COVID-19 infections plateauing in some parts of the country but cautioned that cases were still surging in other states, linked to a new, stealthier version of the omicron variant.
Most of the cases were concentrated in 10 states, where over 90% of patients had mild symptoms and were being treated at home, Lav Agarwal, a federal health official, said at a media briefing.
The rate of infection in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in the north, Maharashtra on the western coast, and West Bengal, Odisha in the east has begun dipping, he said. However, cases are still rising in the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu along with Gujarat and Rajasthan in the northwest.
“Early indication of a plateau in cases are being reported in certain geographies,” Agarwal said Thursday.
He said that the number of people who needed oxygen support or had to be hospitalized during the current surge was lower than in the one fueled by the delta variant last year, which capsized India’s public health system.
There are only a few states in India where the delta variant is still circulating. Genetic sequencing indicates that the initial spike in cases in December was powered by an early version of the omicron variant. But most new cases are now linked to a different version called BA.2 — a stealthier version of the omicron, which some scientists worry may also be more transmissible.
Read: Biden says Russian invasion in Feb. ‘distinct possibility’
The dip in cases has prompted some local authorities to relax restrictions. In New Delhi, restaurants, bars, and movie theaters can now run at half capacity.
Health experts cautioned that with restrictions loosening, infections were likely to increase.
“This is a balance that we always have to play with,” said Dr. Jacob John, who studies viruses at the Christian Medical College in southern Vellore city.
Over half of India’s population is fully vaccinated. And around 20% are waiting for a second shot. India started giving a booster shot to some vulnerable groups earlier in January, but health officials said that there has been no discussion about whether booster shots were necessary for the wider population.
The country detected over 250,000 new infections on Friday, but Dr. Vineeta Bal, who studies immune systems at the Indian Institute of Science Education Research in Pune city, warned that these were definitely an undercount.
She said that India’s pandemic efforts were still being marred by chronic issues like under-reporting of infections and patchy data, but minimizing the number of people who needed to be hospitalized was key.
“And fortunately, so far, even in the good, the bad and the ugly ... it hasn’t gone out of hand,” she said.
UK PM highlights launch of free trade deal talks, Covid vaccine bond in R-Day message to India
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has extended greetings to the people of India on the Republic Day as he focussed his message on the launch of free trade agreement (FTA) talks and the India-UK vaccine partnership, reports The Print.
Johnson said he is proud of the friendship shared by the two “diverse democracies” and looked forward to fortifying the strong bond over the next 75 years and beyond.
Read: India's 1st woman Rafale pilot participates in R-Day
He said, "The UK and India are tied by deep bonds that span through the generations and across some of the greatest modern day challenges we have faced. That is why I want to send my best wishes on behalf of the United Kingdom to the people of India, and to all the British Indians in the UK, on India’s Republic Day."
“As two diverse democracies, I am proud of our strong friendship, demonstrated by the launch of free trade negotiations this month and our partnership manufacturing the Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine. I look forward to fortifying those bonds as we bring our ambitions, people and economies together to prosper for the next 75 years and beyond.”
Anglo-Swedish biopharma major AstraZeneca is in a manufacturing tie-up with Serum Institute India (SII) for the production of Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine, known in India as Covishield.
Earlier this month, the UK’s Department of Trade (DIT) confirmed the first round of FTA talks are being held virtually and expected to last into this week.
An India-UK FTA is billed in the UK as creating huge benefits for both countries, with the potential to boost bilateral trade by up to GBP 28 billion a year by 2035 and increase wages by up to GBP 3 billion across the UK.
Read: India reports 286,384 new COVID-19 cases
A deal with India is also pegged as a “big step forward” in the UK’s post-Brexit strategy to refocus trade on the Indo-Pacific, home to half of the world’s population and 50 per cent of global economic growth.
The DIT has said the UK wants an agreement that slashes barriers to doing business and trading with India’s GBP 2 trillion economy and market of 1.4 billion consumers, including cutting tariffs on exports of British-made cars and Scotch whisky.
India's 1st woman Rafale pilot participates in R-Day
The country's first woman Rafale fighter jet pilot Shivangi Singh was part of the Indian Air Force tableau at the Republic Day parade on Wednesday. She is only the second woman fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau.
Last year, Flight Lieutenant Bhawna Kanth became the first female fighter jet pilot to be part of the IAF tableau, reports Rediff.com.
Singh, who is from Varanasi, joined the IAF in 2017 and was commissioned in the IAF's second batch of women fighter pilots. She had been flying MiG-21 Bison aircraft before flying the Rafale.
Read: India reports 286,384 new COVID-19 cases
She is part of the IAF's Golden Arrows squadron based out of Ambala in Punjab.
The IAF tableau was based on the theme -- 'Indian Air Force transforming for the future'. Scaled down models of Rafale fighter jet, indigenously developed light combat helicopter (LCH) and 3D surveillance radar Aslesha MK-1 were part of the float.
It also featured a scaled down model of MiG-21 aircraft that played a major role in the 1971 war in which India defeated Pakistan, leading to the creation of Bangladesh, as well as a model of India's first indigenously developed aircraft Gnat.
Read: India marks 73rd Republic Day with pompous parade
The first batch of Rafale fighter jets arrived on July 29, 2020, nearly four years after India signed an inter-governmental agreement with France to procure 36 aircraft at a cost of Rs 59,000 crore.
So far, 32 Rafale jets have been delivered to the IAF and four are expected by April this year.
India reports 286,384 new COVID-19 cases
India's COVID-19 tally rose to 40,371,500 on Thursday, as 286,384 new cases were registered during the past 24 hours across the country, showed the Health Ministry's latest data.
Besides, as many as 573 deaths due to the pandemic since Wednesday morning took the total death toll to 491,700.
There are still 2,202,472 active COVID-19 cases in India despite a fall of 20,546 active cases during the past 24 hours.
Read: India reports 258,089 new COVID-19 cases
A total of 37,677,328 people have been successfully cured and discharged from hospitals so far, out of which 306,357 were discharged during the past 24 hours.
India marks 73rd Republic Day with pompous parade
India on Wednesday celebrated its 73rd Republic Day with a pompous parade displaying its military might and cultural diversity on the ceremonial Rajpath in the heart of Delhi.
January 26, a national holiday, marks the anniversary of India officially adopting its Constitution in 1950, replacing the 1935 Government of India Act, over two years after gaining independence from Britain.
However, this year, only 5,000 people were allowed to gather on an iconic boulevard at Rajpath to witness the grand parade amid tight Covid-safety protocols.
As many as 75 military planes and choppers flew over Rajpath in an aerial display, which was the highlight of the parade this year -- the 75th anniversary of India's Independence.
While the country's military displayed its weaponry, missiles and uniforms, police personnel performed motorcycle stunts in the parade that began at 10.30am.
Missing World War II aircraft found in India after 77 years
A missing World War II plane has been identified in India’s remote Himalayas nearly 80 years after it crashed with no survivors, following a search in a treacherous high-altitude area, reported Khaleej Times.
The C-46 transport aircraft was carrying 13 people from Kunming in southern China when it disappeared in stormy weather over a mountainous stretch of Arunachal Pradesh state in the first week of 1945.
“This aircraft was never heard from again. It simply disappeared,” said Clayton Kuhles, a US adventurer who led the mission after a request from the son of one of those on board the doomed flight.
The expedition saw Kuhles and a team of guides from the local Lisu ethnic group ford chest-deep rivers and camp in freezing temperatures at high altitudes.
Also read: Why investors fleeing Chinese property market see India as an opportunity
It was a potentially lethal mission: In 2018 three Lisu hunters had died of hypothermia in the same area when they were caught in an unseasonal September snowstorm, Kuhles said, while two others “barely escaped alive”.
“My Lisu guides and porters were very uneasy about our high camp location,” he added.
But the team finally located the plane on a snow-clad mountain top last month, where they were able to identify the wreckage by the tail number.
There were no human remains in what was left of the craft.
Kuhles was tasked with conducting the search by Bill Scherer, whose officer father was aboard the plane when it crashed.
“All I can say is that I am overjoyed, just knowing where he is. It is sad but joyous,” Scherer told AFP by email from New York.
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“I grew up without a father. All I can think of is my poor mother, getting a telegram and finding out her husband is missing and she is left with me, a 13-month-old baby boy.”
Hundreds of US military planes went missing around the theatre of operations in India, China and Myanmar during World War II.
While hostile fire from Japanese forces did account for some aircraft losses, Kuhles said the majority are believed to have been brought down by ice damage, hurricane-force winds and other severe weather conditions.
Why investors fleeing Chinese property market see India as an opportunity
Investors have been taking refuge from the Chinese real estate debt crisis in pockets of the broader Asian credit market, and cite India among opportunities that are relatively insulated from the historic turmoil, reported Business Standard.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has recently adopted a positive stance on Asia high-yield bonds. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. data indicate South Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Japan all recorded capital inflows into corporate debt in the three months through Jan. 18, while China experienced outflows.
Rising inflation means there have still been losses for broader Asian bonds-- as there have been in many parts of credit markets globally -- but they’ve been much milder. Dollar notes of all ratings from Chinese issuers have lost about 3.7% in 2022 even after a rally in recent days for property developer securities sparked by policy support.
That compares with just 1.5% for Indian borrowers, 0.8% for South Korean firms and 0.7% for Philippine credits, according to a Bloomberg index.
Also read: India is world's top exporter of cucumber and gherkins
“Investors have been hiding in Indian investment-grade and high-yield credit, and other parts of Asia outside of China, as a means to reduce their exposure to China property,” said Wai Mei Leong, a portfolio manager at Eastspring Investments.
One recent example of a money manager to have cut exposure to Chinese bonds is BDO Capital & Investment Corp., which sold its holdings of such securities, President Eduardo Francisco said last week.
Both Goldman and CreditSights consider Indian companies attractive. The U.S. bank recommends high-yield renewables, while the latter considers financial firms to be best shielded from the troubles in the world’s second-largest economy.
Still, there are plenty of risks for the broader Asian credit market. Because of demand from investors seeking to diversify, CreditSights said valuations for Asian credit outside of China have already been driven tighter. That means many South and Southeast Asian names warrant only a market perform rating, despite good fundamentals, it said.
Having taken a beating last year and for the first couple weeks of 2022, Chinese property dollar bonds have rallied in recent sessions thanks to a string of policy steps to ease restrictions on the real estate industry and broader monetary stimulus. But the outlook is highly uncertain, with more defaults expected, according to Goldman.
If the failures don’t get out of control, that may sustain interest in other pockets of the Asian market, but any prolonged crisis would cause an economic slowdown that would have ripple effects across Asia. Chinese debt constitutes an outsized share in regional indexes. Investors could decide to pull out entirely.
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Facing requests for redemptions, bond fund managers “have to sell a bit of everything,” said Jean-Louis Nakamura, chief investment officer for Lombard Odier in Asia Pacific. “I’m afraid that this kind of indirect weakening of the Asia credit market will continue for some time.”
But for now the Asian credits outside China are offering lower volatility and some country-specific shifts have encouraged investors.
When it comes to tapping global financial markets, India trails economies like Brazil and South Africa, not least because the country’s central bank has historically been wary of hot money inflows. Yet the past few weeks have seen a surge of dollar-denominated issuance, with Reliance Industries raising $4 billion earlier this year in India’s biggest-ever foreign currency bond deal.
There’s also been an increase in green- and sustainability-bond sales, bringing it more in line with the trend elsewhere.
“We quite like the India space because there is a lot of ESG bond supply coming from those companies and they aren’t quite expensive compared with other Asian peers,” said Paula Chan, a senior portfolio manager at Manulife Investment Management (Hong Kong) Ltd. “Supply from there also offers quite a good diversification
India is world's top exporter of cucumber and gherkins
India has emerged as the largest exporter of gherkins in the world with outbound shipments worth $114 million from April-October 2021 compared to $200 million of exports in full FY21, reported The Economic Times.
"India has exported cucumber and gherkins to the tune of 1,23,846 metric tonne," commerce and industry ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Also read: Strong fundamentals and reforms helped India attract highest FDI
India has crossed the $200 million mark of export of agricultural processed product, - pickling cucumber, which is globally referred as gherkins or cornichons, in the last financial year, it said.
In 2020-21, India had shipped 2,23,515 metric tonne of cucumber and gherkins with a value of $223 million.
Gherkins are exported under two categories-cucumbers and gherkins, which are prepared and preserved by vinegar or acetic acid and those which are provisionally preserved.
Also read: India test-fires latest version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile