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The HIndu June 24, 2020 Pakistan received another extension on the “greylist”, as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) plenary session on Wednesday decided to continue all countries under scrutiny for Terror Financing and Money Laundering until October 2020. However, Islamabad faced setbacks on other fronts, with the United States slamming its record on terrorism, including its failure to act against groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), and received a U.S. veto against its joint effort with China to list an Indian engineer on the UN Security Council (UNSC)’s 1267 list. Reference:  https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/pakistan-to-remain-on-greylist-of-terror-financing-watchdog-fatf/article31908685.ece

The Indian Express June 25, 2020 India on Wednesday said the “continuing conflict and instability in Libya is a matter of international concern”, and that it supports “efforts towards immediate cessation of all hostilities in Libya”. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said: “The continuing conflict and instability in Libya is a matter of international concern. We support efforts towards immediate cessation of all hostilities in Libya.” “We acknowledge the recent international efforts in this direction, including the Berlin International Conference held on 19 January 2020 and the Cairo Declaration of 6 June 2020, and hope that these initiatives will promote the peaceful resolution of the conflict through an intra-Libyan dialogue taking into account the legitimate aspirations of the Libyan people, while preserving Libya’s sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” he said. Libya is witnessing tension between warring parties and their foreign bac

The Indian Express June 25, 2020 Posted by  Karunjit Singh   The price of diesel in New Delhi  surpassed the price of petrol  for the first time with OMCs hiking the price of diesel by 48 paise per litre to Rs 79.88 even as the price of petrol was at Rs 79.76, not hiked for the first time in 18 days. The price of diesel has traditionally been lower than that of petrol and continues to be lower in other parts of the country. The price of petrol has risen by Rs 8.5/litre and the price of diesel has increased by Rs 10.5 per litre since June 7 when oil marketing companies began revising the prices of petrol and diesel after an 82-day hiatus during which the international price of crude oil fell to below $20/barrel. The price gap between petrol and diesel in the national capital was Rs 7.3 on May 5 when the Delhi government increased the VAT on diesel to 30% from 16.75% and that on petrol to 30% from 27%. Diesel also attracts an additional air ambience levy of Rs 250/kilolitre

The Print June 24, 2020 Posted by  SNEHESH ALEX PHILIP   Fresh satellite images have emerged Wednesday, raising concerns of increased Chinese troop build-up in the Galwan Valley, even as India and China deploy additional troops in the Depsang plains near the northern-most part of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).  The new images emerged on a day when China launched a twin verbal onslaught against India, with its foreign and defence ministries  blaming New Delhi  for the deadly Galwan Valley clash on 15 June, and for violating bilateral agreements, international rules and provoking the clash. The satellite images of Galwan Valley, dated 22 June and put out by Twitter handle @detresfa_, which has been releasing images since the tensions began building in early May, show a massive build-up of China’s People’s Liberation Army troops since the 15 June clash, in which 20 Indian soldiers lost their lives near patrol point 14 on the Indian side of the LAC. Although the Arm

The Greatgame India June 23, 2020 Iran has announced its intention to establish a permanent Naval Base in the Indian Ocean by March next year. The commander of the Naval Forces, Ali Reza Tungsiri, said that the Guards have directives from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, to be present on the high seas permanently. Iran has announced its intention to establish a permanent Naval Base in the Indian Ocean by 2021.Iranian fishermen and merchant ships were exposed to harassment by pirates in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, says Commander of the Iranian Naval Forces Permanent presence of the guards in those areas would prevent any future attacks according to the official.Iran possesses the strategic port of Chabahar on the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Sea of ​​Oman.The port is intended to provide an alternative for trade between India and Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan’s Karachi port.However, India’s involvement in the port infrastructure development has been minima

The Telegraph June 24, 2020 The Narendra Modi government is tightening the screws on Chinese companies. The government has winched up its economic retaliatory response by making it mandatory for sellers to declare the country of origin of the goods and services on the government procurement portal, GEM. The Government e-Marketplace (GEM) portal has also enabled a filter that requires sellers to declare the percentage of local content in the products they sell through the platform, ostensibly in a bid to promote the Make in India movement. A Make in India filter will ensure that the government and its agencies only pick products that contain a minimum of 50 per cent local content, the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement. Total purchases through the GEM portal are expected to increase to Rs 3 lakh crore from a mere Rs 50,000 crore in the last fiscal — and the latest changes will raise protectionist barriers against imported goods.The notice does not single out Ch

The Hindustan Time June 24, 2020 Posted by VS Pandey There are no permanent friends or enemies in international relations, only self-interest determines the scope of relationships. History is witness to numerous instances when countries ignored this dictum and were shocked beyond belief to find their best friends betraying their trust to further their own self-interest. It is China today but there was another country yesterday. This is how it goes. It is not a surprise that they betrayed, the surprise is that they were trusted. So every country should keep their eyes and ears open, remain vigilant, watch closely actions of others, look at their-self interest, assess their own actions and policies as perceived by others and then determine the depth or otherwise of a relationship. The annexation of Tibet, asylum to Dalai Lama, establishment of Tibet’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, then the 1962 war and consequential loss of India’s territory are still f

The Hindustan Times June 24, 2020 Posted by Niyati Singh India on Tuesday announced it will contribute $10 million over the next two years to a key UN agency working for Palestinian refugees as part of efforts to ensure sustainable and predictable funding for the body.  Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan announced India’s contribution for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) while participating in an extraordinary virtual ministerial pledging conference convened by Jordan and Sweden.  UNRWA needs continued support since “sustainability and predictability of funding is imperative for any agency or organisation to carry on its mandate without interruption”, he said.  “When certain countries withdrew funding, we had stepped up our annual pledge from $1.25 million to $5 million in 2018. For this year, we have already disbursed $2 million and will soon be remitting the balance $3 million. I am pleased to a

The Hindustan Times June 24, 2020 Posted by Aparajita Sarangi As our country goes through one of the toughest crises, it is expected that there would be political consensus, not political mudslinging, around our response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Right from upgrading hospital infrastructure, developing emergency beds and ICUs to economic measures. It was interesting to see Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in a recent newspaper article, taking umbrage at PM Modi’s ‘monumental failure’ expression for MGNREGS in 2014. However, the entire discourse, carried on by many opposition leaders, amounts to ‘missing the wood for the trees’. The recent announcement of an additional Rs 40,000 crore under MGNREGS to mitigate rural distress could not have come at a more appropriate time. This has further been supplemented by the “PM Garib Kalyan Rozgar Yojna” that aims at providing Rs 50,000 crore worth of work to 69 lakh migrant workers in 116 districts. While the naysayers are recollecting PM Modi’

The Dawn June 24, 2020 The Climate Pledge Fund will back efforts by startups and other firms in multiple sectors to “facilitate the transition to a zero carbon economy”, Amazon said in a statement.  The initiative “will look to invest in the visionary entrepreneurs and innovators who are building products and services to help companies reduce their carbon impact and operate more sustainably”, said Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos.  “Companies from around the world of all sizes and stages will be considered, from pre-product startups to well-established enterprises. Each prospective investment will be judged on its potential to accelerate the path to zero carbon and help protect the planet for future generations.” The move follows an announcement by Bezos last year that Amazon would accelerate its own efforts to cut its carbon footprint while encouraging others to join his “Climate Pledge” aimed at meeting goals of the Paris accord on climate ahead of schedule.  S