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The Hindu, April 29,2019 A S Panneerselvan Sri Lankans are unable to find out the truth about what is happening in their country Following the  terror attacks on multiple sites on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka , it was commendable to see the country’s leaders take responsibility for the tragedy and the failure of the state in protecting its citizens, especially since no one in India has taken responsibility for recent attacks, including in Pulwama in February. The Sri Lankan leaders also went a step further. On April 28, in a fine gesture of unity, which is absent in the polarised polity of India, President Maithripala Sirisena from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, Prime Minister Ranil Wickermesinghe from the United National Party, and Opposition leader Mahinda Rajapaksa from the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna attended a Mass led by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the archbishop of Colombo. A strategy learnt from India However, what the Sri Lankan authorities did not do right was to b...

The Quint  April, 28, 2019 Pakistan's relationship with India remains the "only problem" for peace and stability in the region, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said and expressed hope of establishing a "civilised relationship" with New Delhi after the Lok Sabha elections are over. Unless there is peace and stability in region, economic prosperity is difficult for Pakistan, and that is what right now the Pakistan government is working on, Khan who is in China to take part in the 2nd Belt and Road Forum, (BRF) said while addressing China International Cultural Communication Centre on Friday, 26 April. Khan said Pakistan hopes that the political solution in Afghanistan will succeed and the war-ravaged country attains stability. "Whatever happens in Afghanistan affects the Pakistan's bordering areas. So we are working for a peaceful region. We have decent relationship with Iran and we are trying to strengthen them," he was quoted...

Business Standard April 27,2019 The US has imposed sanctions on  Pakistan  after  Islamabad  refused to take back its citizen deportees and visa over-stayers from America, warning that it may withhold visas of Pakistanis beginning from its senior officials. The State Department on Friday said that consular operations in  Pakistan  remain “unchanged” as of now but as a result of such a sanction mentioned in a Federal Register notification dated April 22, the US may withhold visas of Pakistanis beginning with its senior officials. Pakistan  is the latest to join the list of 10 nations that have been imposed with sanctions under a US law according to which countries refusing to take back deportees and visa over-stayers will be denied American visas. Notably eight of these countries have been slapped with such visa sanctions under the  Trump administration.  Two of them Ghana and Pakistan have been included in the list this year....

Business Standard, April 29,2019 The  Central  Drugs  Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has seized 2,350 kg of bulk drugs, allegedly illegally imported from China. The cost of the seized material is estimated at Rs 1.5 crore but could be worth much more in the open market. The total value of such illegal transactions would be even higher, said the authorities. The raid was on Thursday at the premises of a Kawarlal & Co, by inspectors from the CDSCO’s head office in  Delhi  and of its south zone, with those from the  drugs  control department of the state government. Co. These bulk  drugs  were sold to formulation makers as if they had been legally registered. Some of the labels also claimed the drug in question met pharmacopoeial specifications. "Import of unregistered drugs without quality evaluation is a major health hazard to patients using formulations made from these," went the official statement. The joint inspection...

The Indian Express, April  30, 2019 Aimed at providing relief to subsidiaries of US multinationals and ensuring a check on cross-border tax evasion, India has notified the inter-governmental agreement with the United States for exchange of country-by-country (CbC) reports filed by multinational enterprises (MNEs) regarding income allocation and payment of taxes. This follows the two nations signing a pact in March for sharing the CbC reports by the ultimate parent corporations based in either of the countries. Advertising As per the agreement, it is intended to provide relevant and reliable information to perform an efficient and robust transfer pricing risk assessment analysis. The agreement was signed by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman P C Mody and US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster in March, and was notified by the Revenue Department on April 25. This agreement for exchange of CbC reports, along with the Bilateral Competent Authority Arrangem...

H industan Times, April 30, 2019  By Shishir Gupta China is expected to lift its hold on blacklisting Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar at a UN sanctions committee on May 1, paving the way for further global financial sanctions against the banned group, people familiar with the development said. Azhar’s designation as a global terrorist would be a major diplomatic victory for the Narendra Modi government, which has been pushing for the move particularly since the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama. “May Day is going to be the death knell for Masood Azhar, as he will be designated as a global terrorist by the UN’s Islamic State and al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee, with Beijing caving in to the global demand led by the US, France and the UK that the main orchestrator of the Pulwama attack be brought to book,” said a senior official who asked not to be named. “China is expected to lift the technical hold which it had placed on March 13 on the prop...

Dawn,  April 30, 2019 By  Mubarak Zeb Khan P akistan and the International Monetary Fund kicked off on Monday technical level talks to sort out details of the proposed bailout package over the next 10 days. The visiting IMF mission will stay in Islamabad to conclude the technical details by May 6, while the policy level understanding will be reached over the next three days, a source at the finance division told  Dawn . The proposed bailout package is expected to be $6-8 billion. The source said that after the successful technical level talks Pakistan would sign an agreement with the IMF latest by May 10. The agreement would then be sent to the IMF board, the source said. The understanding on a broader framework had already been reached between former finance minister Asad Umar and top IMF officials in Washington. Now, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Hafeez Shaikh will lead the technical level talks with the visiting IMF mission. The government de...

Dawn, April 30, 2019 Top Pakistani and US officials in two meetings on Monday held talks to promote economic and business relations between the two countries and also agreed to continue their cooperation for Afghan peace and reconciliation. At one of the meetings, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh informed the delegation led by US principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs Ambassador Alice Wells that Pakistan valued its ties with the United States and both countries needed to create an environment to move forward for mutual benefits. An official statement issued after the meeting said that matters pertaining to promotion of economic and business relations between the two countries were discussed. The participants underlined the need to deepen the engagements between the two countries in the areas of trade, economy and energy. Dr Hafeez said that both countries had shared concern about militancy and extremism. ...

Deccan Chronicle, April 30, 2019  By Kaniza Garrar i The Malaria Elimination Research Alliance, a branch of the Indian Council of Medical Research, has been set up to prioritise, plan and scale up relevant research in malaria and bring down the number of cases with the target of eliminating this vector born disease by 2030 in India. Ongoing biomedical research is going to play a major role with the introduction of the first malaria vaccine in three countries of Africa, setting a new benchmark to fight the disease. The first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/ASOI, will be administered to 3.5 lakh children in Malawi, Ghana and Kenya. It protects against the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite. The research for RTS,S vaccine was going on for 20 years and in 2001 the development of the vaccine was given to GSK along with partnership with PATH. The booster dose of the strain which was used in the controlled trials in 2014-15 has shown ‘substantial level of efficacy’ according to ...