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☆ Factbox: Deadly aircraft crashes common in mountainous Nepal
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 15 (Reuters) - Mountainous Nepal, where at least 40 people were killed on Sunday when a plane crashed in the tourist town of Pokhara, has a history of deadly air crashes. FEB. 27, 2019A helicopter crashed in bad weather in eastern Nepal, killing all seven people on board, including the tourism minister. FEB. 26, 2016Two people were feared dead after a small plane crashed in western Nepal's Kalikot district. DEC. 16, 2010A small plane crashed in the Himalayan foothills of remote east Nepal, killing all 22 people onboard. JULY 27, 2000A Twin Otter passenger plane crashed in western Nepal on Thursday, killing all 25 people on board.

☆ India's coal imports directive to power plants a precautionary step, official says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, Jan 12 (Reuters) - India's recent coal imports directive to power plants was a precautionary measure as the country is expecting high electricity demand to continue in the coming months, a top government official said on Thursday. India this week asked all power plants to import and blend 6% of their coal requirement as domestic coal availability is expected to fall short due to high consumption. "It is a matter of abundance caution," Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena told reporters on Thursday. Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh, writing by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistan seeks $8 bln in three years for flood recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres attend a summit on climate resilience in Pakistan, months after deadly floods in the country, at the United Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland, January 9, 2023. REUTERS/Denis BalibouseJan 9 (Reuters) - Pakistan needs $8 billion from its international partners over the next three years to rebuild the country that is reeling from last year's devastating floods, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said in Geneva on Monday. The floods, blamed on climate change, dealt a severe blow to Pakistan's strained economy while displacing some 8 million people and killing at least 1,700. Rebuilding efforts are now estimated to cost more than $16 billion. Reporting by Gibran Peshimam and Asif Shahzad, writing by Shivam Patel; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Delhi fog delays flights, cold wave closes schools
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

"Due to dense fog, flight operations at Delhi Airport may get affected," it said on Twitter. It also said power lines could trip in areas with dense fog. Many private schools were to reopen on Monday. The lowest for Sunday was 3.8 degrees Celsius, which the IMD said was 3 degrees below normal for this time of year. A cold wave is declared in the plains of India when the minimum temperature dips to 4 degrees Celsius or falls 4.5 degrees below normal to 10 degrees Celsius or below.

☆ NDTV founders resign from board after India's Adani takes control
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] A microphone of New Delhi Television (NDTV) is placed on a tripod along a roadside in New Delhi, India, August 26, 2022. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File PhotoNEW DELHI, Dec 30 (Reuters) - India's New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV.NS) said on Friday its founders Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy had resigned as directors after billionaire Gautam Adani's conglomerate took majority control of the media company. Adani Enterprises Ltd (ADEL.NS), through subsidiaries RRPR Holding and Vishvapradhan Commercial, now owns 64.72% of NDTV, which runs three national channels. There are no other material reasons for my resignation," Prannoy Roy, one of India's best-known journalists, said in his letter to the company resigning as executive co-chairperson. Adani Group would "strengthen and invest in the NDTV newsroom to be a multi-faceted multi-media digital platform", the statement added.

The free food programme, however, cost the government around $47 billion, worsened the fiscal deficit and reduced wheat stocks in government warehouses to multi-year lows. The government expects to save nearly $20 billion a year by ending the COVID free food scheme. MODI TRUSTED BY VOTERSSome economists had wanted the food programme gone months ago as COVID curbs eased. Had the trust not been there, and for any other leader, it would have been difficult to end such a food programme ahead of elections." But senior BJP leader and former minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the decision to reduce food aid should not be linked to elections or politics.

☆ India inspects drug factories as Gambia controversy lingers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

India is known as the "pharmacy of the world" and its pharmaceuticals exports have more than doubled over the past decade to $24.5 billion in the past fiscal year. The deaths of at least 70 children in Gambia has dented the industry's image, though India says the drugs made by New Delhi-based Maiden Pharmaceuticals Ltd were not at fault. "Joint inspections are being conducted all over the country as per standard operating procedures," the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said in a statement. Some health experts say India's drug regulations are lax, especially at the level of states where thousands of factories operate. But India's main drugs officer told the World Health Organization this month that tests of samples from the same batches of syrups that Maiden sent to Gambia were compliant with government specifications.

☆ India finance minister hospitalised but fine - source
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 26 (Reuters) - India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been admitted to the AIIMS hospital in New Delhi, a source with knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Monday. She is fine," the source said on the condition of anonymity. It was not immediately clear why she was hospitalised. The finance ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reporting by Nikunj Ohri and Shivam Patel in New Delhi; writing by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/2] Rohingya refugees rescued by fishermen are seen on a boat behind a patrol boat near the coast of Seunuddon beach in North Aceh, Indonesia, June 24, 2020. In Buddhist-majority Myanmar, most Rohingya are denied citizenship and are seen as illegal immigrants from South Asia. Nearly 200 Rohingya are feared dead or missing at sea this year already. "We hope against hope that the 180 missing are still alive somewhere out there", said UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch. Two boats carrying a total of 230 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, landed on the shores of Indonesia's Aceh province in November, while this month, Sri Lanka's navy rescued 104 Rohingya adrift off the Indian Ocean island's northern coast.

☆ Nepal's new govt seeks to balance its ties with India, China in growth pursuit
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

UML's leader and Nepal's former prime minister, Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli, is believed to be pro-China. Nepal is one of several South Asian countries where India and China seek influence. India has long considered Hindu-majority Nepal, a Himalayan country of 30 million, as a natural ally based on their close historical ties and long open border. Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, which is Nepal’s biggest trade and economic partner, was one of the first foreign leaders to wish Prachanda, who has been prime minister twice before. "The unique relationship between India & Nepal is based on deep cultural connect & warm people-to-people ties," Modi said on Twitter.

☆ Pakistan suicide car bombing kills one police official, injures others
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Police officers and rescue workers gather at the site of a suicide car bombing in Islamabad, Pakistan December 23, 2022. "Our initial information says that there was a man and a woman in the car," Islamabad operations police chief, Sohail Zafar, told reporters. "Had the car reached its target, it would have caused heavy losses," Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah told Geo News TV. Pakistani Taliban claimed the car bombing, saying it was revenge for the killing of one of their leaders. The bombing came two days after a Pakistani military operation killed 25 TTP militants after a standoff at a counter-terrorism facility.

☆ India tweaks gas procurement norms for fertiliser units - sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 22 (Reuters) - The Indian government has tweaked the gas procurement policy for fertiliser companies, enabling them to purchase about a fifth of their gas needs through spot markets, two government sources told Reuters. Reporting by Sarita Chaganti Singh in New Delhi; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ World Bank approves $1.69 bln for Pakistan flood relief projects
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Dec 20 (Reuters) - The World Bank has approved financing of $1.69 billion for flood relief projects in Pakistan, it said in a statement on Monday. Pakistan's already stressed economy took a further hit after severe floods earlier this year submerged large swathes of the country, killing nearly 1,700 people, damaging farmlands and infrastructure. The World Bank financing is aimed at relief projects in the south-eastern Sindh province, which it said was worst-affected by the floods. Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi; Editing by Krishna N. DasOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Pakistani Taliban militants detained at the centre had snatched interrogators' weapons and taken them captive on Sunday. Asif did not say how many militants were killed or how many hostages they had held. Residents said they heard explosions coming from the vicinity of the centre on Tuesday as helicopters hovered overhead. The army operations forced the militants and their leaders to flee to neighbouring Afghan districts. There, Islamabad says, they set up training centres to plan and launch attacks inside Pakistan, a charge Afghan authorities deny.

☆ Maiden Pharma hopes to reopen plant as Indian lab clears syrups suspected by WHO in Gambia deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Krishna N. Das | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

I have not done anything wrong," Maiden Managing Director Naresh Kumar Goyal told Reuters. "We will now try to request the authorities to reopen the factory. Somani, said that tests on samples of Maiden's products had "been found to be complying with specifications" and no ethylene glycol or diethylene glycol was detected in them. A spokesperson for India's health ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The tests were carried out by the state-run Regional Drug Testing Laboratory in the northern city of Chandigarh, the government said earlier.

☆ Sri Lanka's economy shrinks 11.8% in second-worst quarterly performance
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

COLOMBO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's economy shrank 11.8% in the July-September quarter from a year ago, government data showed on Thursday, the second-worst quarterly contraction ever for the country going through a severe financial crisis. Economic mismanagement and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic have left Sri Lanka short of dollars for essential imports including food, fuel, fertilisers and medicine. "This is the second-worst contraction Sri Lanka has experienced in a quarter after a 16.4% contraction in the second quarter of 2020," said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at First Capital. Sri Lanka's central bank estimates the economy will contract by about 8% in 2022. The economy had contracted 8.4% year-on-year in the second quarter, one of the worst performances in the island of 22 million people.

☆ Nepal to end eight-month ban on imports of cars, phones as reserves rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Nepal will end an eight-month ban on the import of cars, expensive mobile phones and liquor on Friday as the country's foreign currency reserves have increased, officials said on Thursday. The Himalayan nation, tucked between China and India, restricted imports of cars, gold and cosmetics in April saying its reserves could barely support imports for fewer than seven months. But the central bank said on Thursday that reserves had increased 1% to $9.63 billion as of mid-November from $9.54 billion in mid-July – sufficient to cover imports for 8.4 months. "The government feels that the reserves are in a comfortable position now," Commerce Ministry spokesperson, Narayan Prasad Regmi, told Reuters. Imports of seven other items, including cosmetics, were eased in September.

☆ India's wheat stocks to fall further but sufficient, government says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW DELHI, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Wheat stocks in India's government warehouses will fall by about 13% by early next month from current levels but will be sufficient for welfare schemes of the country, the ministry of consumer affairs and food said on Thursday. Wheat stocks in government warehouses for December fell to the lowest in six years, as prices jumped to a record high on rising demand and falling inventories. The statement comes as wheat prices in the country have seen a surge due to a drop in yields. Wheat reserves in state stores fell to 19 million tonnes on Dec. 1 from 37.85 million tonnes a year ago, government data showed. The last time stocks for December were this low was in 2016, when droughts in the previous two years had hit wheat output.

☆ Exclusive: Sri Lanka expects up to $8 bln more in loans, asset restructuring
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Ali Sabry speaks during an interview with Reuters at his office, in Colombo, Sri Lanka December 14, 2022. Sabry said Sri Lanka was still waiting for "letters of assurance" for debt restructuring from its largest bilateral creditor China, as well as India. The two countries have backed the restructuring efforts and Sri Lanka has shared documents and data with them, he said. Overall, Sri Lanka's economy has improved with essential imports such as fuel and food becoming regular, Sabry said. "So that should start in the next quarter of next year with the IMF loan coming in, other multilateral agencies coming in.

NEW DELHI, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will not hold an annual in-person summit this year, an Indian government source said on Friday, after the two held discussions on the sidelines of an event in September. Bloomberg News reported earlier in the day that the decision to cancel the summit was taken after veiled threats by Putin to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war. The government source, who declined to be named citing the sensitivity of the matter, said the decision not to hold a summit was taken much earlier and that the nuclear angle was not a factor. Putin visited New Delhi in December last year for the 21st India–Russia annual summit. A Russian official told Bloomberg that India’s decision not to hold a summit was clear at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, where Modi told Putin that this was "not an era of war".

☆ Lightning kills 907 in India as extreme weather surges in 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A policeman jumps off a makeshift raft after wading through a flooded area of a slum on the banks of the river Yamuna in New Delhi, India, September 28, 2022. REUTERS/Anushree Fadnavis/File PhotoNEW DELHI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - India saw a big jump in extreme weather events such as heatwaves and lightning strikes this year and related deaths rose to their highest in three years, government data showed on Wednesday, with scientists blaming climate change for the heavy toll. There were nearly eight times as many heatwaves, 27 in all, and lightning strikes rose more than 111 times, killing 907 people, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said in a report to parliament. Lightning and floods and heavy rains accounted for 78% of the deaths this year, the data showed. India is the world's third-largest carbon polluter, though its per-capita emissions are much lower than many developed countries.

☆ China wants US not to interfere in ties with India - Pentagon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Krishna N. Das | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - China has warned the United States to not interfere in its relationship with India following deadly border skirmishes between the Asian giants in 2020, the Pentagon said in a report. Ties between India and China have nosedived since the worst border clashes between them in 45 years killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. India is part of the so-called Quad alliance with the United States, Japan and Australia that aims to keep China's influence in the Indo-Pacific region in check. "The PRC seeks to prevent border tensions from causing India to partner more closely with the United States. PRC officials have warned U.S. officials to not interfere with the PRC’s relationship with India."

☆ India's population growth slows as world reaches 8 billion
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Krishna N. Das | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Nov 15 (Reuters) - As the global population reaches 8 billion, India, formerly a powerful driver of the number of people on the planet, is experiencing a marked slowdown. The world's population is estimated by the United Nations to have hit 8 billion on Nov. 15, with China and India accounting for more than a third of the total. India estimates its population at 1.38 billion, slightly lower than the 1.4 billion that the World Bank estimates for China. But India's annual population growth has averaged 1.2% since 2011, compared with 1.7% in the 10 years previously, government figures show. That indicated that India's national population policies and health systems were working, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said in comments shared with Reuters.

His trip comes as U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visits New Delhi this week to hold talks with Indian officials, including possibly on capping Russian oil prices. India has become Russia's largest oil customer after China, as its refiners snap up discounted cargoes shunned by Western buyers. Russia's share of India's oil imports surged to an all-time high of 23% in September, from just about 2% before the invasion. Jaishankar said India needed to boost its exports to Russia to balance bilateral trade that is now tilted towards Russia. Reporting by Shivam Patel in New Delhi, Editing by Louise Heavens and Tomasz JanowskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Aam Aadmi party set for big gains in Modi's home state
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Sumit Khanna | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SURAT, India, Nov 4 (Reuters) - India's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), formed only a decade ago and having claimed power in Delhi and Punjab state, is set to be the biggest gainer in assembly elections in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat next month. AAP boss and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is known to have national ambitions. "Ninety-nine per cent I am going to vote for Aam Adam Party," said diamond worker Bharat Patel. "It looks like the surge of the Aam Aadmi Party is not going down," Yashwant Deshmukh, founder of polling agency CVoter, told Reuters. With pictures of Modi, the ruling party is underlining the advantages of having a BJP government at the state and nationally.

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