asia
India's foreign exchange reserves dip to 4-month low
India's foreign exchange reserves dipped by 860 million U.S. dollars to 593.037 billion dollars during the week ended Sept. 15, showed data released by the country's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Friday.
Bangladeshis facing travel disruptions abroad can take foreign exchange
This was the second consecutive week when the South Asian country's forex reserves declined. During the week ended Sept. 8, the forex decreased by 4.99 billion dollars to 593.90 billion dollars.
Market-based foreign exchange rate may be introduced soon: Finance Minister
The current value of forex reserves is said to be a four-month low.
The fall in forex reserves is attributed to the steps taken by the RBI to defend the Indian rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments since last year.
Foreign exchange rate stable after Bangladesh Bank tightens spending
The foreign currency assets, a major component of the forex reserves, also decreased by 511 million dollars to 525.915 billion dollars, showed the Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI.
India suspends visa services for Canadians amid diplomatic row
India has suspended issuance of visas to Canadian citizens "till further notice.”
BLS International — a private service provider hired for initial scrutiny of visa applications — published a notice on its website saying the visa services have been suspended till further notice “due to operational reasons,” reports NDTV.
Also read: How India’s relations with Canada hit rock bottom
This comes as India and Canada are locked in a diplomatic row over Ottawa's claim that it has "credible” evidence linking New Delhi to the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a pro-Khalistan Sikh separatist.
Also read: India asks citizens to be careful if traveling to Canada as rift widens over Sikh leader’s death
The Indian foreign ministry has rejected the allegation as "absurd" and "motivated".
It is not yet clear if the suspension of visas is linked to that row, according to NDTV.
Also read: Who was Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the Sikh activist whose killing has divided Canada and India?
Bashar Assad arrives in China on first visit since the beginning of Syrian war
Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in China on Thursday on his first visit to the country since the start of Syria’s 12-year conflict during which Beijing has been one of his main backers.
IS claims responsibility for an attack that killed 20 Syrian soldiers, and vows to keep fighting
China’s foreign ministry said Assad would attend the opening ceremony of the Asian Games, an international sports event beginning Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou.
Assad’s office said earlier that the Syrian leader was invited by Chinese President Xi Jinping for a summit and would bring with him a high-ranking Syrian delegation.
Gunmen ambush a bus carrying Syrian soldiers, killing 20 in the country's east
China has been expanding its reach in the Middle East after mediating a deal in March between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and it continues to support Assad in the Syrian conflict, which has killed half a million people and left large parts of the nation in ruins.
Traditional friendship between Bangladesh, China blooms with light of youth in new era
China could play a major role in the future in Syria’s reconstruction, which is expected to cost tens of billions of dollars. Syria last year joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative in which Beijing expands its influence in developing regions through infrastructure projects.
Assad’s last and only visit to China was in 2004, a year after the U.S.-led invasion of neighboring Iraq and at a time when Washington was putting pressure on Syria.
Modi introduces historic bill guaranteeing third of parliament lower house seats for women
The Indian government has put forward a bill ensuring a third of seats for women in the lower house of the parliament and state assemblies.
The bill, which was initially presented in 1996, has been in the works for decades, amidst objections from various political parties, reports BBC.
Also read: Modi opponents boycott opening of new parliament building as PM reshapes India’s power corridor
Its return is likely to bolster the chances of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) luck in national elections next May, it said.
The bill was introduced during the first session of the new Indian parliament, but it is still a long way from becoming law.
It would need the consent of both houses of the parliament and a majority of state legislatures, as well as the signature of the Indian president.
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The reported proposals to raise the total number of seats might complicate implementation even further, the report said.
Indian Prime minister Narendra Modi lauded the proposed law and said it was a historic occasion for the country in his inauguration speech at the new parliament building.
"The world understands that only talking of women-led development is not enough. This is a positive step taken on that front," he told politicians as he appealed to them to support the bill.
He also took a shot at the opposition, claiming that the past Congress-led administrations had failed to pass the measure while they were in office.
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"There have been discussions around women's reservations for years. We can say with pride that we have scripted history," he said.
Modi opened the new parliament building in May, but no business has been conducted there until now.
He convened a five-day special session, which began on Monday but was held in the old parliament building on the first day.
Members of the two houses gathered for a picture session in the old building on Tuesday morning, followed by a ceremony commemorating parliament's history in the Central Hall of the British-era structure.
They subsequently relocated to the new parliament, which was formally named as the Parliament House of India by the office of the lower house of parliament.
What to know about the Sikh movement at the center of the tensions between India and Canada
Tensions between Canada and India have reached new heights with dueling diplomatic expulsions and an allegation of Indian government involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil.
The row centers around the Sikh independence, or Khalistan, movement. India has repeatedly accused Canada of supporting the movement, which is banned in India but has support among the Sikh diaspora.
On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Parliament described what he called credible allegations that India was connected to the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June. The Indian government denied any hand in Nijjar’s killing while also saying Canada was trying to shift the focus from Khalistan activists there.
Here are some details about the issue:
WHAT IS THE KHALISTAN MOVEMENT?The Sikh independence movement began as an armed insurgency in the late 1980s among Sikhs demanding a separate homeland. It was centered in northern Punjab state, where Sikhs are the majority, though they make up about 1.7% of India’s total population.
The insurgency lasted more than a decade and was suppressed by an Indian government crackdown in which thousands of people were killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
Read: Canada expels Indian diplomat as it investigates Sikh activist's killing
Hundreds of Sikh youths also were killed in police operations, many of which were later proven in courts to have been staged, according to rights groups.
In 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, Sikhism's holiest shrine, in Amritsar to flush out separatists who had taken refuge there. The operation killed around 400 people, according to official figures, but Sikh groups say thousands were killed.
The dead included Sikh militant leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, whom the Indian government accused of leading the armed insurgency.
On Oct. 31, 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who ordered the raid on the temple, was assassinated by two of her bodyguards, who were Sikh.
Her death triggered a series of anti-Sikh riots, in which Hindu mobs went from house to house across northern India, particularly New Delhi, pulling Sikhs from their homes, hacking many to death and burning others alive.
IS THE MOVEMENT STILL ACTIVE?There is no active insurgency in Punjab today, but the Khalistan movement still has some supporters in the state, as well as in the sizable Sikh diaspora beyond India. The Indian government has warned repeatedly over the years that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
Read: India dismisses allegations of killing Sikh activist in Canada as 'absurd', expels senior Canadian diplomat
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has also intensified the pursuit of Sikh separatists and arrested dozens of leaders from various outfits that are linked to the movement.
When farmers camped out on the edges of New Delhi to protest controversial agriculture laws in 2020, Modi’s government initially tried to discredit Sikh participants by calling them “Khalistanis.” Under pressure, Modi government later withdrew the laws.
Earlier this year, Indian police arrested a separatist leader who had revived calls for Khalistan and stirred fears of violence in Punjab. Amritpal Singh, a 30-year-old preacher, had captured national attention through his fiery speeches. He said he drew inspiration from Bhindranwale.
HOW STRONG IS THE MOVEMENT OUTSIDE INDIA?India has been asking countries like Canada, Australia and the U.K. to take legal action against Sikh activists, and Modi has personally raised the issue with the nations' prime ministers. India has particularly raised these concerns with Canada, where Sikhs make up nearly 2% of the country's population.
Earlier this year, Sikh protesters pulled down the Indian flag at the country’s high commission in London and smashed the building’s window in a show of anger against the move to arrest Amritpal Singh. Protesters also smashed windows at the Indian consulate In San Francisco and skirmished with embassy workers.
India’s foreign ministry denounced the incidents and summoned the U.K.’s deputy high commissioner in New Delhi to protest what it called the breach of security at the embassy in London.
The Indian government also accused Khalistan supporters in Canada of vandalizing Hindu temples with “anti-India” graffiti and of attacking the offices of the Indian High Commission in Ottawa during a protest in March.
Last year, Paramjit Singh Panjwar, a Sikh militant leader and head of the Khalistan Commando Force, was shot dead in Pakistan.
UNICEF calls for more investment as South Asia remains a global epicentre for undernourished, anaemic adolescent girls, women
UNICEF on Monday kicked off a three-day regional conference on nutrition in Kathmandu, Nepal with the aim of scaling up equitable nutritional care for girls and women in South Asia.
Organised by UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, the conference is being attended by government representatives, development partners, researchers, jurists and stakeholders from South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka). Over the next three days, experts will reflect on the nutrition situation of adolescent girls and women in the region and exchange innovative solutions to counter this crisis preventing generations of girls and women from reaching their full potential.
Women’s nutrition is central to breaking the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition in South Asia.
The region is the home to one third of the world’s undernourished children, according to the UNICEF report Undernourished and Overlooked.
UNICEF calls for more investment as South Asia remains a global epicentre for undernourished, anaemic adolescent girls, women
Likewise, one in five women in South Asia are underweight, and one in two are anaemic.
UNICEF’s research also shows that the regions with the highest levels of maternal undernutrition also contain the highest numbers of child undernutrition.
“Good nutrition is essential to help girls and women thrive and succeed in life. At the same time, a mother’s nutrition health has a direct and critical impact on her child. This is why the child undernutrition crisis in South Asia can’t be solved without addressing girls' and women’s undernutrition. We need to work collectively and make sure that the nutrition of women and children is at the centre of the national development agenda,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, Regional Director of UNICEF South Asia, at the inauguration of the conference.
In recent years, national governments across all countries of South Asia have made concerted efforts to address undernutrition among children and women. However, the progress is too slow, successes have been uneven and not shared equally among and within countries.
UNICEF and Sweden partner to improve the lives of children in Bangladesh
The situation was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the incessant and escalating conflicts and natural disasters and the current economic downturn.
“Incorporating the delivery of nutrition interventions within health, food and social protection systems has the potential to achieve maximum impact. Only in this way can we address under-nutrition in children together with malnutrition in adolescent girls, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers,” Sanjay added. He urged countries to allocate adequate resources and investment in adolescent girls’ and women’s nutrition.
One out of every four women (307 million) of reproductive age suffers from micronutrient deficiencies in South Asia. Around 63% of children under the age of five experience stunted growth during the first six months of life.
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This is the critical period, known as the first 500 days of a child’s life, when a child is entirely reliant on the mother for nourishment.
Adolescent girls and women from the poorest households are twice as likely to suffer from underweight as those from the wealthiest households.
The disparities among urban and rural poor families are the worst.
Capitalizing on this important regional moment, UNICEF is calling upon governments in South Asia to:
·Improve access to affordable nutritious foods – including fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, meat and fortified foods.
· Implement policies and mandatory legal measures to protect from nutrient-poor and unhealthy ultra-processed foods and beverages.
· Improve access to essential nutrition services before and during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, including in humanitarian crises.
· Expand access to social transfer programmes, including in fragile settings and humanitarian crises.
· Implement gender-transformative policies and legal measures that strengthen social and economic empowerment.
Cow waste to be transformed into rocket fuel for space startup
A Japanese chemical manufacturing company has been working on creating liquid biomethane from cow waste to be used as rocket fuel, potentially providing a solution for dairy farmers grappling with disposal challenges.
Air Water Inc. said it would begin conducting trials in the fall, with the fuel to be loaded on a rocket created by space startup firm Interstellar Technologies Inc. based in Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido.
Read: India launches spacecraft to study the sun after successful landing near the moon's south pole
Air Water has been manufacturing liquid biomethane in Hokkaido since 2021. It ferments the dung and urine in a plant constructed on a dairy farm in the town of Taiki before transporting the generated biogas to a factory in Obihiro.
The methane is then separated from the product, cooled and made into liquid biomethane.
Rockets require liquid fuel to generate enough power to blast off into space. While high-purity methane is usually manufactured using liquid natural gas, the company has been working on creating methane of a similar quality through waste-sourced biogas.
Read: The Russian space agency says its Luna-25 spacecraft has crashed into the moon.
Interstellar Technologies will conduct tests to confirm the fuel created from cow waste can be used for its devices and aims to utilize it for its "Zero" rocket with a small satellite payload.
"We want to send the rocket up using carbon-neutral energy," a representative from Air Water said.
1 in 10 Japanese aged 80 or above as elderly ratio hits record high
One out of 10 people in Japan is now aged 80 or older, while the ratio of elderly to the total population rose to a record high, ministry data showed Sunday.
Japan's elderly citizens, defined as those aged 65 and above, saw their percentage in the overall population at a historic high of 29.1 percent, according to the demographic statistics announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications a day before the country's Respect for the Aged Day holiday.
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It made Japan the country with the highest percentage of elderly citizens among 200 nations and regions worldwide.
Elderly numbers, however, saw the first drop since records became comparable in 1950, falling by about 10,000 from last year to 36.2 million as of Friday, the data showed.
The number of individuals aged 75 and above has surpassed 20 million for the first time. Those aged 80 or older rose by 270,000 from last year to a record 12.5 million, or more than 10 percent of Japan's population.
On a different note, the working population among the elderly has continued to rise, increasing for the 19th consecutive year in 2022 to a total of 9.12 million.
The employment rate among the elderly has also climbed to 25.2 percent. With nearly one out of every seven people employed in the country considered elderly, Japan's ratio of working elderly is the highest among the major economies.
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As the country grapples with declining birthrates and labor shortages in an aging society, the ministry said these ratios are expected to continue to rise.
Eminent Indian author, 1971 war correspondent Gita Mehta dies
Eminent Indian author, filmmaker, and journalist Gita Mehta died at her Delhi residence on Saturday, She was 80.
She is survived by her son.
Mehta, a war correspondent for a foreign television channel during 1971, had extensively covered the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh.
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Mehta, the elder sister of Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, was married to renowned American publisher late Sonny Mehta, who passed away in Manhattan in December 2019 at the age of 77, report Indian media.
In 1979, Gita wrote her first book ‘Karma Cola’, a collection of essays on Indian spirituality and the perception of the Western world about it.
During the years 1970–1971, she was a television war correspondent for the US television network NBC and produced four documentaries.
Ex-state minister for relief Ebadur dies at 85
Her film, a compilation of the Bangladesh revolution, Dateline Bangladesh, was shown in cinemas both in India and abroad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled her death, with a post on X: "I am saddened by the passing away of noted writer Smt. Gita Mehta Ji. She was a multifaceted personality, known for her intellect and passion towards writing as well as film making. She was also passionate about nature and water conservation. My thoughts are with @Naveen_Odisha Ji and the entire family in this hour of grief. Om Shanti."
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North Korean state media says Kim Jong Un discussed arms cooperation with Russian defense minister
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held discussions with Russia’s defense minister on strengthening “strategic and tactical coordination” between the countries’ militaries, the North's state media said Sunday, as Kim continued a visit to Russia’s Far East that has raised concerns about an arms alliance that would fuel Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The talks with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came after Kim on Friday was shown some of Russia’s most advanced weapons systems deployed for its war on Ukraine, including nuclear-capable bombers and hypersonic missiles, and a key warship of its Pacific fleet, the Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim’s trip, highlighted by a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, has underscored how their interests are aligning in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the West. U.S. and South Korean officials have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Putin’s war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would advance Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
While his predominant focus is on military cooperation, Kim also appears to be using his trip to encourage broader exchanges between the countries as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation.
The governor of Russia’s Primorye region, which includes Vladivostok, said he plans to meet with Kim on Sunday. Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako said on his messaging app channel they would discuss exchange programs for schoolchildren to attend summer camps in one another's country and other ways to cooperate in sports, tourism and culture. Russian media said Kim may also visit food industry businesses in Primorye.
A day after visiting an aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia’s most powerful fighter jets, Kim on Saturday traveled to an airport near the port city of Vladivostok, where Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia’s strategic bombers and other warplanes.
All the Russian warplanes shown to Kim were among the types that have seen active use in the war in Ukraine, including the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles.
Read: North Korea's Kim vows full support for Moscow at a summit with Putin in Russia
During Kim’s visit, Shoigu and Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash, the commander of the Russian long-range bomber force, confirmed for the first time that the Tu-160 had recently received new cruise missiles with a range of more than 6,500 kilometers (over 4,040 miles).
Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July, also showed Kim another of Russia’s latest missiles, the hypersonic Kinzhal, carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, that saw its first combat during the war in Ukraine.
Kim and Shoigu later traveled to Vladivostok, where they inspected the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate. Russia’s navy commander, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, briefed Kim on the ship’s capabilities and weapons, which include long-range Kalibr cruise missiles that Russian warships have regularly fired at targets in Ukraine.
KCNA, which has reported Kim’s activities in Russia a day late while crafting the details to meet government propaganda purposes, said Kim was accompanied on Saturday’s visits by his top military officials, including his defense minister and the top commanders of his air force and navy.
Following a luncheon, Kim and Shoigu talked about the regional security environment and exchanged views on “practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries,” KCNA said.
In their July meeting, Kim gave Shoigu a similar inspection of North Korean weapons systems before inviting him to a massive parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where he rolled out his most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the United States.
Kim’s visits to military and technology sites this week possibly hint at what he wants from Russia, perhaps in exchange for supplying munitions to refill Putin’s declining reserves as his invasion of Ukraine becomes a drawn-out war of attrition.
Read: Kim Jong Un's trip to Russia provides window into unique North Korean and Russian media coverage
Kim's meeting with Putin was held at Russia’s main spaceport, a location that pointed to his desire for Russian assistance in his efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance assets and missile technologies.
Experts have said potential military cooperation between the countries could include efforts to modernize North Korea’s outdated air force, which relies on warplanes sent from the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Kim in recent months has also refocused on strengthening the country’s navy, which analysts say could be driven by ambitions to obtain Russia’s sophisticated technologies for ballistic missile submarines and nuclear-propelled submarines as well as to initiate joint naval exercises between Russia and North Korea.
Later Saturday, Kim visited a local theater to watch Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet performance. KCNA said Kim received a rousing ovation by people at the theater and expressed “deep thanks to the performers and the theater for their impressive and elegant ballet of high artistic value.”
Read more: North Korea's Kim vows full support for Russia’s 'sacred fight' after viewing launchpads with Putin
Russia's RIA Novosti state news agency said Kim left after the first act.