Browse Category

International

Obama to cut short India trip to visit Saudi Arabia

President Barack Obama will cut short his three-day trip to India to travel to Saudi Arabia to pay respects following the death of King Abdullah, U.S. and Indian officials said Saturday, hours before the U.S. president was to depart for New Delhi. Barack ObamaThe schedule change means Obama will skip plans to visit the Taj Mahal, the white marble monument of love. Pradeep Bhatnagar, a top state official based in the city of Agra, where the Taj Mahal is located, said U.S. security officials informed him of the cancellation Satur...

Saudi King Abdullah dies, Salman new ruler  

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam said in an official statement. King Salman has named his half-brother Muqrin as his crown prince and heir, rapidly moving to forestall any fears of a succession crisis at a moment when Saudi Arabia faces unprecedented turmoil on its borders. [caption id="attachment_12335" align="alignleft" width="300"]abdullah-wb This Reuters photo taken on January 5, 2014 ahows Saudi Arabia's King Abdull...

Pak stranded in Bangladesh: AGP given time to reply

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the government’s top attorney more time to submit a reply regarding the repatriation of 300,000 Pakistanis stranded in some 70 camps in Bangladesh. pakHearing a petition filed by the Stranded Pakistanis General Repatriation Committee of Bangladesh, a three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, gave Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Salman Aslam Butt till February 18 to submit a reply. In a previous hearing, the chief justice had questioned whether the top court had the jurisdiction for asking conc...

Obama to join Modi on radio phone-in during India trip  

US President Barack Obama will co-host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s regular monthly radio phone-in show next week as part of his packed three-day visit to New Delhi. Modi-obamaThe announcement was made in a tweet by Modi, who called on listeners to send in their questions for the January 27 edition of ‘Mann ki Baat’ (‘From the Heart’), which is usually in Hindi. “This month’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ episode will be a special one, where our Republic Day guest @BarackObama & I will share our thoughts together,” Modi said. The prog...

South Asia needs expanded VATs  

In its recent Global Economic Prospects report, published this month, the World Bank has called on countries in South Asia to broaden the scope of their consumption tax regimes, including by removing tax breaks and raising rates. taxThe World Bank report begins by pointing out that average deficits in the region grew by some two percent in 2013. Compared with pre-crisis levels, deficits were as much as six percent higher in some countries in 2013. The report, therefore, says that countries need to identify new revenue streams, to expand their "extreme...

Tributes, protests mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day  

Tributes to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were held nationwide on Monday as protests over the treatment of minorities by law enforcement rolled on across the country. Observers of Martin Luther King Jr. Day have this year linked the federal holiday to a rallying cry in recent months during demonstrations over police brutality: ‘Black lives matter.’ Martin LutherKing’s 1960s dream of racial equality was being viewed through a lens focused on the recent deaths of unarmed black men after confrontations with police, including Eric...
Verified by MonsterInsights