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☆ Thirty-six dead, 16 hurt in India after roof collapse at temple
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Saurabh Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Rescuers conduct an operation at a roof collapse site in Indore, India March 31, 2023 in this still image from video. ANI/Reuters TV via REUTERSLUCKNOW, India, March 31 (Reuters) - Rescuers used cranes and ropes to look for survivors a day after the roof of a well collapsed in a temple complex in central India killing 36 people and injuring 16, a government official said on Friday. Stampedes and accidents in religious places are not uncommon in India, where lack of crowd control and cramped spaces can spell danger. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences and announced compensation for the dead and injured in the incident. Reporting by Saurabh Sharma; writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Stephen Coates, Gerry Doyle, William MacleanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Thirty-five dead, 16 hurt after roof of stepwell collapses in India
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Saurabh Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LUCKNOW, India, March 31 (Reuters) - At least 35 people were killed and 16 were injured after the roof of a stepwell in a temple complex collapsed in central India, a local government official said on Friday. The incident occurred in the central Indian city of Indore after a concrete slab covering the roof of a stepwell in a temple complex collapsed, crushing devotees who had gathered to celebrate the Hindu festival of Ram Navami on Thursday, officials said. Stepwells are a common feature across India, built hundreds of years ago, many of them ornately decorated, with access to a body of water through stairs and niches. "We have rescued 18 people, 35 have been found dead and 16 are injured," Ilayaraja T, a top local government official, told Reuters. Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences and announced compensation for the dead and injured in the incident.

☆ Indian court convicts Rahul Gandhi of defamation, gives two-year sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Gandhi was present at the court in Surat, a city in Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. Gandhi would appeal against the verdict in a higher court, the president of his Congress party said on Twitter, calling Modi's government "cowardly and dictatorial". "The court has found Rahul Gandhi’s comment to be defamatory. Gandhi said in court that he had made the comment to highlight corruption and not against any community. Reporting by Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Earthquake in Afghanistan kills at least 11, nine of them in Pakistan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ISLAMABAD, March 22 (Reuters) - At least nine people were killed and 44 injured in northwest Pakistan by a magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck in neighbouring Afghanistan late on Tuesday, a Pakistani government official said. At least two people were killed in Afghanistan, a disaster agency official there said. The quake was felt over an area more than 1,000 km wide by some 285 million people in Pakistan, India, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said. A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in eastern Afghanistan killed more than 1,000 people last year. In 2005, at least 73,000 people were killed by a 7.6 magnitude quake that struck northern Pakistan.

☆ Sri Lanka receives first tranche of IMF bailout
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Uditha Jayasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

REUTERS/Dinuka LiyanawatteCOLOMBO, March 22 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka has received the first tranche of an IMF bailout programme, President Ranil Wickremesinghe told parliament on Wednesday. "This sets the stage for Sri Lanka to have better fiscal discipline and improved governance," Wickremesinghe said. It clears the way for Sri Lanka to rework a substantial part of its $84 billion worth of public debt. State finance minister Shehan Semasinghe said in an interview that Sri Lanka is ready to engage in restructuring talks with bilateral and private creditors to recover debt sustainability as "soon as possible." This was the 17th IMF bailout for Sri Lanka and the third since the country's decades-long civil war ended in 2009.

[1/5] A general view of a main market is seen, after The International Monetary Fund's executive board approved a $3 billion, in Colombo, Sri Lanka March 21, 2023. REUTERS/Dinuka LiyanawatteCOLOMBO, March 21 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka will receive the first tranche of about $330 million from the International Monetary Fund in the next two days, and, going forward, disbursements would be tied to reviews that take place every six months, an IMF official said on Tuesday. Peter Breuer, Senior Mission Chief for Sri Lanka, Asia and Pacific Department at IMF, said debt sustainability was one of the key criteria for the IMF to approve a bailout for any economy. International dollar bonds issued by the country soared following the IMF package approval. The biggest bilateral creditors, including China, India and Japan, have guaranteed support to Sri Lanka in its efforts to put the economy back on track.

☆ Indian startups have deposits of about $1 billion in SVB, minister says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, March 17 (Reuters) - Indian startups had deposits worth about $1 billion with embattled Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O) and the country's deputy IT minister said he had suggested that local banks lend more to them going ahead. California banking regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10 after a run on the lender, which had $209 billion in assets at the end of 2022. "The issue is, how do we make startups transition to the Indian banking system, rather than depend on the complex cross border U.S. banking system with all of its uncertainties in the coming month?" Hundreds of Indian startups had more than a billion dollars of their funds in SVB, according to his estimate, Chandrashekhar said. Indian banks could offer a deposit-backed credit line to startups that had funds in SVB, using those as collateral, Chandrashekhar said, citing one of the suggestions he had passed on to the Finance minister.

☆ Indians erupt in celebration after two films win at Oscars
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Indians had won Oscars previously, but no Indian film had won an Academy Award before Sunday night in Los Angles. "The popularity of 'Naatu Naatu' is global. They have brought India to the world stage," singer Prudhvi Chandra, one of the singers of "Naatu Naatu," told the India Today news channel. In the film, made in the South Indian language of Telugu, and directed by S.S. Rajamouli, "Naatu Naatu" begins when the two leads, played by Ram Charan and N.T. When a young British man aims racist insults at the leads, they decide to educate him using the song "Naatu Naatu."

☆ Suicide bombing in southwest Pakistan kills nine policemen
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

QUETTA, Pakistan, March 6 (Reuters) - A suicide bomber rammed a motorcycle into a police truck in southwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing nine policemen, a police spokesman said. Spokesman Mehmood Khan Notizai told Reuters the attack took place in Sibbi, a city some 160 km (100 miles) east of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. Hospital officials said at least 7 policemen were wounded in the attack, the latest in a series targeting police personnel in Pakistan. Ethnic Baloch guerrillas have been fighting the government for decades, accusing it of exploiting Balochistan's rich gas and mineral resources. Reporting by Saleem Shahid in Quetta and Asif Shahzad in Islamaba, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Miral FahmyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Lavrov also said the question of when Russia will negotiate an end to the war should be put to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Earlier in the day Blinken had met with his counterparts from the Quad, as the grouping is informally called, and they issued a statement saying "the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible". Late last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended a landmark nuclear arms control treaty and threatened to resume nuclear tests. During their brief exchange on the sidelines of the G20 meeting on Thursday, Blinken told Lavrov to end the war and urged Moscow to reverse its suspension of the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) on nuclear weapons. China has denounced the Quad as a Cold War construct and a clique "targeting other countries".

[1/6] A man arranges the flags kept outside the venue for G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi, India, March 2, 2023. European and U.S. delegates, in New Delhi for the foreign ministers' meeting, have however reiterated that they hold Russia responsible for the conflict, with Germany saying it would use the meeting to counter Russian "propaganda". "You are meeting at a time of deep global divisions," Modi said in a video message as the talks began. The foreign ministers' meeting comes days after a meeting of the G20 finance chiefs that was also dominated by war. The New Delhi meeting is being attended by 40 delegations, including those headed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang.

☆ Top Delhi minister arrested in India liquor probe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - India's federal investigating agency arrested a top local minister in the capital territory of New Delhi late on Sunday in connection with alleged irregularities in a liquor policy, the most high-profile arrest in the case so far. Manish Sisodia, the deputy chief minister in the Delhi government was arrested by India's federal crime agency, the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) late Sunday night and will be produced in a local court on Monday. Sisodia was arrested in an ongoing investigation in "a case related to alleged irregularities in framing & implementation of the excise policy", the CBI said in a release. His arrest is dirty politics," Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's chief minister and head of the Aam Aadmi Party said in a tweet hours after Sisodia's arrest. India's financial crime-fighting agency, the Enforcement Directorate is separately investigating French liquor major Pernod Ricard for allegedly violating the same liquor policy.

Participants at the meeting, however, are likely to focus on the war in Ukraine. The G20 bloc includes the wealthy G7 democracies, as well as Russia, China, India, Brazil and Saudi Arabia. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told Reuters that G20 financial leaders must condemn Russia's aggression against Ukraine and that Europe was working on new sanctions against Moscow. G7 chair Japan's finance minister, Sunichi Suzuki, told reporters that the group would closely monitor the effectiveness of sanctions and "take further actions as needed". German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said the pressure on Russia must be kept high to "completely isolate" Russia's economy.

☆ Indian PM Modi urges G20 to focus on unsustainable debt
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

MUMBAI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - The financial viability of many countries is being threatened by unsustainable debt, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, as he called for the Group of 20 (G20) to focus on the world's most vulnerable citizens. Even the financial viability of many countries is threatened by unsustainable debt levels," Modi said. Many societies are suffering due to rising prices," Modi said in his address to delegates. Reuters reported last week that India is drafting a proposal for G20 countries to help debtor nations by asking lenders, including China, the world's largest sovereign creditor, to take a large haircut, or accept losses, on loans. Reporting by Swati Bhat and Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by Sudipto Ganguly, Robert BirselOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ China lends Pakistan further $700 mln to shore up FX reserves
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Asif Shahzad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

"This amount is expected to be received this week by State Bank of Pakistan which will shore up its forex reserves," Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said on Twitter. A finance ministry official said the loan was in addition to other facilities that China has already extended to Pakistan. China Development Bank did not respond to a faxed request for comment. Addressing his cabinet, he said the government was focusing on austerity as a top priority. China is already Pakistan's single largest creditor with its commercial banks holding about 30% of its external debt.

☆ Pilot of crashed Nepal plane reported no power in engines -preliminary report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The pilot of a Yeti Airlines plane which crashed in Nepal killing 71 people said before the crash there was no power from the aircraft's engines, a preliminary investigation report said on Wednesday. The plane crashed just before landing in the tourist city of Pokhra on Jan. 15 in one of Nepal's worst airplane accidents in 30 years. There were 72 passengers on the twin-engine ATR 72 aircraft operated by Nepal's Yeti Airlines, including two infants, four crew members and 10 foreign nationals. The report said the pilot flying the aircraft handed over the control to the pilot monitoring before it crashed. The information in the preliminary report may change as the investigation progresses, it said.

[1/4] Air India passenger aircraft are seen on the tarmac at Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport in Mumbai, India, February 14, 2023. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasBENGALURU, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Air India has agreed to buy 250 jets from Airbus (AIR.PA), part of a mammoth deal for 470 planes, as the carrier heralds a decades-long transformation under its new owners, Tata Group. The deal is expected to also include an order for 220 planes from Airbus rival Boeing (BA.N), Reuters reported. "We see this moment as the most significant moment for the Tata Group's Air India, Indian aviation and the manufacturing sector in India," he said. Reuters in December reported that Air India was in negotiations for a deal close to 500 planes.

☆ India's HAL in talks on Tejas fighter jet exports, faces Malaysia setback
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

He said in Malaysia there had been a "slight setback" amid stiff competition with a Korean rival. "We have not received anything in black and white, but we are hearing that Koreans will get the order," Ananthakrishnan said. HAL is also in talks with the Philippines to sell its light-combat helicopters, he added. HAL is targeting export sales of 25 billion Indian rupees ($302.15 million) over the next few years, its director of operations Jayadeva EP told Reuters. The Tejas has been beset by design and other challenges, and was once rejected by the Indian Navy as too heavy.

☆ Pakistan approves circular debt management plan, extra surcharge on electricity
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KARACHI, Pakistan, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Pakistan's Economic Co-ordination Committee on Friday approved a plan it is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund to slash its circular debt, a form of public debt that builds up in the power sector due to subsidies and unpaid bills. The committee, led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, also approved an additional surcharge of Rs 1 per unit of electricity for FY 2023-24 to recover an estimated 76 billion Pakistani rupees ($282.81 million) in power sector liabilities. Pakistan and the IMF are to resume talks online next week they said on Friday, after ten days of face-to-face discussions in Islamabad on how to keep the country afloat ended without a deal. ($1 = 268.7300 Pakistani rupees)Reporting by Ariba Shahid, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar editing by Philippa FletcherOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's top court says investor interests must be protected after Adani report
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Arpan Chaturvedi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of the Adani Group is seen on a building, in Mumbai, India, January 27, 2023. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasNEW DELHI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - India's top court, hearing two petitions related to large investor losses following a report by a U.S. short seller on the Adani conglomerate, said on Friday that investor interests need to be protected. The petitions were filed days after the Jan. 24 report by New York-based Hindenburg Research, which accused the Adani group of improper use of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation. The petitions were filed under a provision of Indian law that allows any individual to raise an issue concerning public interest before the Supreme Court. Last week, the group's flagship entity Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) pulled its secondary share offering, India's largest ever, because of the selloff.

☆ Ghana seeks Indian investment in oil and gas sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Companies Aker ASA FollowBENGALURU, India, Feb 8 (Reuters) - Ghana, which is struggling with its worst economic crisis in a generation, is seeking Indian investment in its oil and gas sector, William Owuraku Aidoo, its deputy minister of energy, said on Wednesday. "There are some opportunities in Ghana specially in the oil and gas front. We have some oil blocks available and we came here hoping to attract Indian investments," Aidoo told Reuters after a meeting with Indian oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri at India Energy Week. He said Ghana will award exploration licences through direct negotiations if Indian companies are interested. Apart from offering exploration opportunities, Ghana is also seeking Indian support to build refineries of about 300,000 barrels per day.

☆ Russia ready to meet India's oil needs at 'market price', Rosneft says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, India, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Russia was willing to meet India's oil needs at 'market price', the CEO of top Russian oil major told Reuters on Monday. Russia has emerged as the largest supplier of oil to India, replacing Iraq. When asked if Russia will give an additional stake to ONGC Videsh or other Indian companies in its Sakhalin-1 project, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said the decision to do so lay with the Russian government. Russia last year approved the requests of ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC.NS), and Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co (SODECO), a consortium of Japanese firms, to retain their 20% and 30% stake respectively in the project. Reporting by Nidhi Varma in Bengaluru, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Kim Coghill and Louise HeavensOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Indian police arrest 1,800 men in crackdown on underage marriage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Zarir Hussain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

GUWAHATI, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Police in Assam have arrested more than 1,800 men for marrying or arranging marriages to underage girls, launching what the eastern Indian state's chief minister said on Friday was the start of a sustained crackdown on the practice. "Child marriage is the primary reason behind child pregnancy, which in turn is responsible for high maternal and infant mortality rates," he said. Nearly 1.5 million underage girls get married there every year, U.N. children's agency UNICEF said in a 2020 report. The Assam government has registered cases related to child marriage against 4,004 people, he added. Reporting by Zarir Hussain in Guwahati, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; editing by John StonestreetOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Pakistan mosque bombing death toll rises to 87
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan Asim Munir and Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visit an injured, after a suicide blast in a mosque, at a hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan January 30, 2023. Prime Minister's Office/Handout via REUTERSPESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The death toll in the suicide bombing that tore through a mosque in Pakistan rose to 87 on Tuesday, a hospital official said, a day after the one of the biggest attacks in the unstable South Asian nation. The attack occurred in one of the most fortified areas of the northwestern Peshawar city, which houses offices of the police and counter-terrorism departments. Hospital official Mohammad Asim said that 87 people had been killed, and that 57 people were being treated, seven of whom were in critical condition. Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of Sunni and sectarian Islamist groups, has denied responsibility.

☆ Blast kills at least 19 worshippers at mosque in Pakistan's Peshawar
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Jibran Ahmad | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 30 (Reuters) - An explosion in a mosque killed at 19 worshippers and wounded dozens more in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Monday, a hospital official said, and many of the casualties were police officers who had gathered for daily prayers. The mosque was located close to a police housing block, and there were some 260 people inside when the blast occurred, according to police. A two-storey building has collapsed," an eyewitness told local news channel Geo TV, saying he was just outside the mosque when explosion happened. "We received 19 dead and over 90 injured from the Peshawar Police Lines blast," said Mohammad Asim, a spokesman for the city's Lady Reading Hospital, referring to the neighborhood. "A portion of the building had collapsed and several people are believed to be under it," police official Sikandar Khan said.

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