India pakistan ceasefire

India ’s move, with a little help from Japan , to develop a strategically located island chain near the mouth of Southeast Asia’s main shipping lane is part of a broader plan by New Delhi to keep a closer watch on China ’s naval assets, say analysts and former Indian officials – especially its submarines. The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago of 524 islands, only 38 of which are inhabited, stretches across some 1,000km (620 miles) of Indian Ocean by the western entrance to the Malacca Strait, through which an estimated 80 per cent or more of China’s seaborne trade passes. “It is like a [permanent] aircraft carrier,” Kanwal Sibal, a former foreign secretary of India, told This Week In Asia , “that gives India very extensive control over maritime space and sea lanes of communication to monitor shipping and naval vessels.” Long considered an underutilised security asset, the islands have come into sharper focus amid rising India-China tensions following last year’s deadly flare-up ... » Learn More about Is India planning to spy on Chinese submarines from the Andamans, with a little help from Japan?

NEW DELHI: India is to fast-track emergency approvals for COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorised by Western countries and Japan, paving the way for possible imports of Pfizer-BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Novavax and Moderna shots. The move, which will drop the need for companies to do small, local safety trials for their vaccines before seeking emergency approval, came following the world's biggest surge in cases in the country this month. READ: India overtakes Brazil as world's second worst-hit country by COVID-19 Vaccines authorised by the World Health Organization (WHO) or authorities in the United States, Europe, the United Kingdom and Japan "may be granted emergency use approval in India, mandating the requirement of post-approval parallel bridging clinical trial", the health ministry said in a statement. "The first 100 beneficiaries of such foreign vaccines shall be assessed for seven days for safety outcomes before they are rolled out," it said. India, the ... » Learn More about India, overwhelmed by COVID-19 surge, fast-tracks approval for foreign vaccines

NEW DELHI: India reported 161,736 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday (Apr 13), as hundreds of thousands gathered for a ritual bath in the Ganges river. The new infections bring the country's case tally to 13.69 million, health ministry data showed. Deaths rose by 879 to 171,058. Numbers typically fall on Tuesdays because of delayed results from tests done on weekends. READ: Businesses in India's richest state choke under new COVID-19 curbs Over the past week, India averaged more than 130,000 cases per day, pushing its toll past Brazil's and making it second only to the United States' , though both countries have much smaller populations. Nearly all states are showing an uptick in infections and the country now faces the mammoth challenge of vaccinating millions of people, while also contact-tracing the tens of thousands getting infected every day and keeping the health system from collapsing. A full opening of India's economy after last year's crippling lockdown, mass ... » Learn More about India records more than 161,000 new COVID-19 cases as people gather for ritual bath

A policeman throws a stone at Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan supporters during protests in Lahore. LAHORE, Pakistan: Thousands of supporters of a Pakistan Islamist party who blocked major roads to protest the arrest of their leader also disrupted critical oxygen supplies for Covid-19 patients, health officials said Tuesday. Major intersections remained closed in Lahore, Pakistan's second-biggest city, after the arrest on Monday of Saad Rizvi, the leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). The party has led calls for the expulsion of the French ambassador, after the government of President Emmanuel Macron expressed support for a magazine's right to republish cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed -- an act deemed blasphemous by many Muslims. Yasmin Rashid, a leading health official in Punjab, said the disruption of oxygen supplies during protests Monday night had been a "crisis". "Please do not block roads for ambulances and for visitors to the hospitals. Some ambulances are ... » Learn More about Pakistan anti-France protests disrupt Covid-19 oxygen, say officials

Tensions continue to simmer along the disputed border between India and China after the latest round of talks ended with no sign of progress. The latest negotiations between the two militaries took place at the Mordor/Chushule meeting point on the Indian side on Saturday and, unlike previous rounds of talks, ended without a joint statement playing up the prospect of disengagement. Chinese diplomatic observers said this is an indication that the latest talks did not make much progress, and both sides appeared unwilling to compromise. Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge , our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team. The two sides agreed to disengage their troops around Pangong Tso two months ago, but points of friction remain, including Hot Springs, Gogra and Depsang in eastern Ladakh. Zhu Yongbiao, a professor ... » Learn More about China-India border dispute: latest round of talks fail to ease tensions

Pakistani Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, right, presents the Tamgha-i-Quaid-i-Azam, or Quaid-i-Azam Medal award to Senator Anumat Amat for his exemplary public service, social work and the promotion of Pakistan-Thai relations.Pakistani Embassy to Thailand Senator Anumat Amat has been awarded the Tamgha-i-Quaid-i-Azam, or Quaid-i-Azam Medal for his exemplary public service, social work and promotion of Pakistan-Thailand relations. It's a presidential award which Pakistan's president himself confers but the senator could not travel to Pakistan due to travel restrictions imposed by Thailand during the spread of Covid-19. As a result, Pakistani Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad presented the award to the senator at a ceremony on April 9 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok. Quaid-i-Azam, or the Great Leader, is the title used by the people of Pakistan for Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the country's founding father. President of Pakistan, Arif Alvi, announced the Pakistan civil awards for 184 ... » Learn More about Pakistan confers civil award on senator

Anti-coup demonstrators, many with signs showing support for a civilian-formed federal army, hold candles and sing protest songs as they sit in the streets of Yangon, Myanmar, on April 3, 2021. (New York Times photos) Late last month, foreign officials in army regalia toasted their hosts in Naypyitaw, the bunkered capital built by Myanmar’s military. Ice clinked in frosted glasses. A lavish spread had been laid out for the foreign dignitaries in honor of Myanmar’s Armed Forces Day. That very day, the military, which had seized power Feb 1, gunned down more than 100 of its own citizens. Far from publicly condemning the brutality, the military representatives from neighbouring countries — India, China, Thailand and Vietnam among them — posed grinning with the generals, legitimizing their putsch. The coup in Myanmar feels like a relic of a Southeast Asian past, when men in uniform roamed a vast dictators’ playground. But it also brings home how a region once celebrated for its ... » Learn More about Myanmar coup puts seal on autocracy’s rise in SE Asia

19 new Covid-19 cases were detected in quarantine with 2 apparent reinfections, according to the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration. The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is raised to 3,998 with 3,803 recoveries and 60 deaths. 135 people are currently receiving medical treatment for the coronavirus. A 20 year old Thai woman travelling from Switzerland tested positive for Covid-19. She arrived on November 22 and tested positive 5 days later at a quarantine hotel in Bangkok. She was first infected with the coronavirus on November 11. A 20 year old Thai man travelling from the United States tested positive for Covid-19. He arrived on November 22 and tested positive 5 days later. He was first infected with the coronavirus on November 4. A 35 year old Thai man travelling from India with a layover in the United Arab Emirates tested positive for Covid-19. He arrived on November 15 and tested positive 8 days later while at a quarantine hotel in Bangkok. A 39 year old ... » Learn More about 19 new Covid-19 cases detected in quarantine, 2 apparent reinfections

People drink in the street in the Soho area of London, on April 12, 2021 as coronavirus restrictions are eased across the country in step two of the government’s roadmap out of England’s third national lockdown. Britons on Monday toasted a significant easing of coronavirus restrictions, with early morning pints — and much-needed haircuts — as the country took a tentative step towards the resumption of normal life. Businesses including non-essential retail, gyms, salons and outdoor hospitality were all able to open for the first time in months in the second step of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown. (Photo by Tolga Akmen / AFP) GENEVA, Switzerland  – Europe passed the grim milestone of one million coronavirus deaths on Monday, as the World Health Organization warned that infections are rising exponentially despite widespread efforts aimed at stopping them. The death toll across Europe’s 52 countries, compiled by AFP from official sources, totalled at least 1,000,288 by 1830 ... » Learn More about Pandemic hits ‘critical point’ as Europe deaths top one million

Indonesia is a maritime super power. It is time to acknowledge it beyond the notion of Indonesia as a “global maritime fulcrum”. To begin, Indonesia is sixth in terms of the size and scale of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Ahead of Indonesia are respectively France; United States; Australia; Russia; and United Kingdom. Regardless of who will be the top dog in the post COVID-19 world order, be it the US or Group of 7, or, perhaps China in combination with Russia, Indonesia's EEZ's numerical superiority and advantages will forever remain unchallenged. The key is to understand deep-sea drilling as the EEZ extends out to 200 nautical kilometers; create a strictly well managed Indonesian sovereign wealth fund that can protect the revenues drawn from the EEZ, which Indonesia seems to be doing with the help of Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and International Private Investment Cooperation (IPIC); the latter a private arm of the US State Department. Should Indonesia ... » Learn More about Indonesia is a Pan Indo-Pacific super power