China sourcing fairs

India and Vietnam signed on Wednesday a Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030 and also inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Mutual Logistics Support to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation between the two countries. While the Joint Vision Statement on India-Vietnam Defence Partnership towards 2030 is expected to significantly enhance the scope and scale of existing defence cooperation between the two countries, the logistics support agreement signed by Vietnam with any country is said to be a major step towards simplifying procedures for mutually beneficial logistic support. Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a three-day tour to Vietnam, met his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang in Hanoi during which they agreed on the early finalisation of the $500 million Defence Line of Credit extended to Vietnam. To this effect, the defence ministry said the implementation of the projects will add substantially to Vietnam’s … [Read more...] about India-Vietnam Defence Pacts Aim at Bolstering Maritime Security Amidst China’s Growing Presence in Region

India-mukt Afghanistan, as desired by Pakistan, will be nothing but a recipe for disaster. Even if we forget, for a moment, India’s generous humanitarian aid and infrastructural development assistance to Afghanistan, what New Delhi’s engagement with Kabul underscores is the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Afghanistan. That Pakistan has consistently violated that principle only enhances its value at an epochal moment when the United States, disgraced and defeated, is leaving Afghanistan at the mercy of Pakistan and its patron, the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan does not fritter away any single opportunity to marginalise India in Afghanistan. True to his style, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in an interview with an Afghan television channel, has again accused India of using Afghan soil against Pakistan. He even went to the extent of indirectly questioning Afghan sovereignty in deciding the nature and scope of its bilateral ties with India. Though … [Read more...] about Rollback of Freedoms, Breeding Ground for Jihadi Groups: What India-mukt Afghanistan May Look Like

When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were quitting the Royal Family and moving to the US, there was a lot of interest in how they would make their money and become financially independent. As one of the most talked about couples of the decade, it was hardly surprising that they managed to secure a number of multi-million dollar business deals - but the one that fans were most excited about was their partnership with TV streaming giant, Netflix. While none of their projects have actually made it into our living rooms yet, work is well underway on Harry's Invictus Games documentary. And it's widely reported that they've got something else in the pipeline - a fly-on-the-wall documentary about themselves , with filming having taken place over the last few months. Although not been officially confirmed, camera crews are said to have been following the couple at their California mansion and on their trip to New York last September. So what do we know about the … [Read more...] about Meghan and Harry’s fly-on-the-wall Netflix show – top director, home life and Queen’s ban

The Black Death, the biggest pandemic of our history, was caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and lasted in Europe between the years 1346 and 1353. Despite the pandemic’s immense demographic and societal impacts, its origins have long been elusive. Researchers have now obtained and studied ancient Y. pestis genomes that trace the pandemic’s origins to Central Asia. The origins of the Second Plague Pandemic have long been debated. One of the most popular theories has supported its source in East Asia, specifically in China. To the contrary, the only so-far available archaeological findings come from Central Asia, close to Lake Issyk Kul, in what is now Kyrgyzstan. An international team of researchers analysed ancient DNA from human remains as well as historical and archaeological data from two sites that were found to contain “pestilence” inscriptions ( Science ). Researchers have previously associated the Black Death’s initiation with a massive diversification of plague … [Read more...] about Where did the Black Death pandemic originate?

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday stepped up pressure on the United States to pull out of a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, presenting what he called evidence of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons programme in a prime-time address on Israeli TV. Intelligence experts and diplomats said he did not seem to have presented a "smoking gun" showing that Iran had violated the agreement, although he may have helped make a case on behalf of hawks in US President Donald Trump's administration who want to scrap it. Most of the purported evidence Netanyahu unveiled dated to the period before the 2015 accord was signed, although he said Iran had also kept important files on nuclear technology since then, and continued adding to its "nuclear weapons knowledge". Tehran dismissed Netanyahu as "the boy who cried wolf", and called his presentation propaganda. Trump has threatened to pull the United States out of the international deal unless it is renegotiated by May 12. After … [Read more...] about Israel Says Iran Lied on Nuclear Arms, Tehran Likens Him to ‘Boy Who Cried Wolf’

The Taliban have launched a campaign to end poppy farming in Afghanistan, with the goal of eradicating heroin and opium production in the country, the Associated Press reported Thursday. The new policy, announced in April and going into effect now, could affect the economic welfare of millions in the country where poppy farming is a staple industry. Afghanistan is the world’s biggest opium producer, and is a major source of heroin in Asia and Europe, according to the Associated Press (AP). Sirajuddin Haqqani, once one of the world’s most wanted designated terrorists, turned up today at the Afghan interior ministry for the Taliban’s announcement that they’re banning poppy cultivation. pic.twitter.com/PVxnvYRimW — Sune Engel Rasmussen (@SuneEngel) April 3, 2022 Armed Taliban militants could be seen recently in the southern Helmand province guarding a field as a tractor destroyed a field of poppies, according to the AP. Afghans who violate the ban “will be arrested and … [Read more...] about Taliban Declares War On Drugs, Bans Poppy Farming