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Sri Lanka to establish holding company to include all SOEs

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COLOMBO — The Sri Lankan government approved a proposal to establish a holding company which includes all state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that are to be restructured, an official said here on Tuesday.

Government spokesman Bandula Gunawardena said the proposal was presented by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

This holding company will be fully owned by the Ministry of Finance and will fast-track the restructuring of SOEs, Gunawardena said.

“We know that most SOEs are making huge losses and the burden of maintaining these ultimately falls on the taxpayer. The state can’t continue to run these businesses,” he said.

Gunawardena said that in 2022 President Wickremesinghe established a state-owned enterprise restructuring unit (SOERU) to restructure SOEs and allocated funds to implement this proposal.

The SOERU has studied a number of key SOEs and has come up with some recommendations, the spokesman said(Xinhua).

Another firm shuts down in Pakistan due to import ban

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Islamabad [Pakistan] — After Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited, engineering services company KSB Pumps Company Limited also announced that the production plant would shut down due to an import ban, ARY News reported. 
KSB Pumps company announced that it will shut down its Hasanabdal production plant in Pakistan.
The Frankenthal-based multinational engineering services company, KSBP, is a subsidiary of KSB SE and Co. KGaA is a manufacturer of industrial pumps, valves, castings and related parts and after-market services, according to ARY News. 
The company, in the statement, said that this will be a temporary suspension till further notice, due to import restrictions. The company will resume operations as soon as the market situation improves and staff may be readily recalled on short notice, it read.
Earlier, an automobile company, Pak Suzuki Motor Company Limited, announced to shut down its production plant from January 2 to 6.

Pakistan Suzuki Motors wrote a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) that the production process of cars and motorcycles will be completely shut down from January 2 to 6, according to ARY News.
According to the automobile company, the management decided the shut down due to conditional permission for the imports of the auto parts and completely knocked down (CKD) kits. The firm stated that its supply chain is affected due to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) restriction.
The company further added that the restrictions are affecting the export consignments
In December, another automobile firm, Indus Motor Company (IMC), announced to shut down its manufacturing plant for 10 days due to the ban on imports of completely knocked down (CKD) kits by the central bank.
The Indus Motor Company, the maker of Toyota vehicles, has announced the ban on their manufacturing plant from December 20 to 30. It stated that the decision was taken after a ban on the imports of completely knocked down (CKD) kits by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), ARY News reported. (ANI)

120 journalists affected in 45 press freedom violations in a year in Nepal, report says

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Kathmandu —  In the past one year, 2022, total 45 incidents of press freedom violations occurred in Nepal, where 120 journalists were directly affected, according to a report.    


Compared to the previous year, the number of violation has declined, but the number of affected journalists increased, which the report mentioned as a worrying trend.    


Releasing an annual report on press freedom recently, a civil society organization, Freedom Forum, said among the total affected journalists, 109 are male and 11 female. It has further stated that there was little progress in addressing impunity on crimes against journalists while the hostility meted out to journalists went abated. 

“Absence of FoE and press freedom friendly law and policy, interference in media by the constitutional body, increased cyber surveillance against media persons, and flood of fake news were major trends recorded,” the report stated, adding that the year however remained an election year for the successful conduct of election at three tiers of governments.    


The Freedom Forum has categorized the press freedom violations as arrest/ detention, attack/ manhandling, obstruction/ vandalism, threat to life, and misbehavior. The number 0f obstruction and vandalism combined stand highest, 56, which is followed by attack/manhandle, 28. Similarly, 18 journalists were affected with misbehavior while 13 with threat, and five arrest and detention combined.    


The report has also brought forth some examples of intimidations as keeping in detention a journalist and right to information (RTI) activist Kailash Majhi for four days for his critical reporting about local leadership in Saptari. Digital surveillance and cybercrime against journalists has been projected as new and alarming threat to Nepali media by the report. FF writes, “

Original photos and contents published on the news portal www.ukeraa.com were deleted and replaced with irrelevant contents on December 1, while on the run up to November 20 election, senior journalist Kishor Nepal’s mobile phone was blocked and social media accounts hacked. Although the mobile phone was opened after some days, the social media accounts are blocked for long.”    


As per province, the Bagmati Province has highest number journalists affected, 44; which is followed by Madhes Province with 42. The Gandaki and Lumbini Provinces each has the number of journalists affected at 11. 

The last year recorded the least number of journalists affected in Province-1 as it witnessed only two incidents of violations. The Karnali Province and Sudurpaschim Province had the journalists affected 7 and 3 respectively, the annual report revealed.    


The report has welcomed the Janakpurdham High Court’s verdict of life imprisonment to the murder convict of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya as a positive update on long pending case of impunity. The court issued the verdict on September 21, 2022. The High Court sentenced life imprisonment to the suspended lawmaker and former Minister of State Sanjay Kumar Saha who was declared the mastermind of the murder.    


Singhaniya, the then chairman of Janakpur Today Media Group was shot dead on March 1, 2010 at a local Shiva Chowk of Janakpur city.    


Executive Chief at Freedom Forum, Taranath Dahal, observed, “The case of journalists killed and made disappeared during the conflict time could be taken to the regular court under criminal offense rather than transitional justice mechanism, but this demand went unheard this year too.”    


The issues of information disorder with spread of fake news and need of digital capacity building are stressed by the report.    


Dahal points out the need of political tolerance and CSO’s activism to ensure the journalism a safe profession and create safe free-speech environment in society. “Political will and commitment can contribute to FoE friendly media law and policy environment in the federal and provincial levels as per constitutional spirit and international standards,” he said, adding that a balanced approach of fair election and free press could make democracy functional and sustainable.  (RSS)     

Pakistan will default if it doesn’t enter IMF programme, warns Imran Khan

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IANS— Lashing out at the incumbent Pakistan governments economic policies, former Prime Minister Imran Khanhas warned that the country will default if it does not enter into a programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Khan, before coming into power in 2018, had been a severe critic of approaching the IMF and other countries for loans. In November 2015, he said: “I will prefer death over a begging bowl!”, Geo News reported.

Addressing PTI workers and supporters on Sunday via video link, Khan said: “We have no other option but to enter the IMF programme.”

He was flanked by former special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on poverty alleviation, Sania Nishtar.

Hitting hard the PML-N-led government’s economic policies, the PTI chairman said over 0.75 million Pakistanis have left the county during the past seven months.

“Industries are closing down due to the ongoing economic crisis,” he said and warned that inflation will further swell in days to come, Geo News reported.

Khan also urged the people not to leave the country in a difficult time, adding that nations fight together in hard times.

“My life is in danger but I will face (the challenges) by staying in the country,” he vowed, adding that they would fight in union against the “thieves” imposed on the country.

Greeting the entire nation for the new year, the former premier asked people to brace themselves for the difficulties coming ahead.

“Standing up is the only way out of the disaster,” Khan said.

2023 will be tough on global economy, IMF Chief warns

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WASHINGTON: For much of the global economy, 2023 is going to be a tough year as the main engines of global growth – the United States, Europe and China – all experienced weakening activity, the head of the International Monetary Fund said.

The new year is going to be “tougher than the year we leave behind,” IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on the CBS Sunday morning news program “Face the Nation.”

“Why? Because the three big economies – the U.S., EU and China – are all slowing down simultaneously,” she said.

In October, the IMF cut its outlook for global economic growth in 2023, reflecting the continuing drag from the war in Ukraine as well as inflation pressures and the high interest rates engineered by central banks like the U.S. Federal Reserve aimed at bringing those price pressures to heel.

Since then, China has scrapped its zero-COVID policy and embarked on a chaotic reopening of its economy, though consumers there remain wary as coronavirus cases surge. In his first public comments since the change in policy, President Xi Jinping on Saturday called in a New Year’s address for more effort and unity as China enters a “new phase.”

“For the first time in 40 years, China’s growth in 2022 is likely to be at or below global growth,” Georgieva said.

Moreover, a “bushfire” of expected COVID infections there in the months ahead are likely to further hit its economy this year and drag on both regional and global growth, said Georgieva, who traveled to China on IMF business last month.

“I was in China last week, in a bubble in a city where there is zero COVID,” she said. “But that is not going to last once people start traveling.”

“For the next couple of months, it would be tough for China, and the impact on Chinese growth would be negative, the impact on the region will be negative, the impact on global growth will be negative,” she said.

In October’s forecast, the IMF pegged Chinese gross domestic product growth last year at 3.2% — on par with the fund’s global outlook for 2022. At that time, it also saw annual growth in China accelerating in 2023 to 4.4% while global activity slowed further.

Her comments, however, suggest another cut to both the China and global growth outlooks may be in the offing later this month when the IMF typically unveils updated forecasts during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

US economy ‘most resilient’

Meanwhile, Georgieva said, the U.S. economy is standing apart and may avoid the outright contraction that is likely to afflict as much as a third of the world’s economies.

The “U.S. is most resilient,” she said, and it “may avoid recession. We see the labor market remaining quite strong.”

But that fact on its own presents a risk because it may hamper the progress the Fed needs to make in bringing U.S. inflation back to its targeted level from the highest levels in four decades touched last year. Inflation showed signs of having passed its peak as 2022 ended, but by the Fed’s preferred measure, it remains nearly three times its 2% target.

“This is … a mixed blessing because if the labor market is very strong, the Fed may have to keep interest rates tighter for longer to bring inflation down,” Georgieva said.

Last year, in the most aggressive policy tightening since the early 1980s, the Fed lifted its benchmark policy rate from near zero in March to the current range of 4.25% to 4.50%, and Fed officials last month projected it will breach the 5% mark in 2023, a level not seen since 2007.

Indeed, the U.S. job market will be a central focus for Fed officials who would like to see demand for labor slacken to help undercut price pressures.

The first week of the new year brings a raft of key data on the employment front, including Friday’s monthly nonfarm payrolls report, which is expected to show the U.S. economy minted another 200,000 jobs in December and the jobless rate remained at 3.7% – near the lowest since the 1960s.

(VOA/Reuters)

Nepali hospitality entrepreneur, Mahanta Shrestha, awarded OBE 

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London — Mr. Mahanta Bahadur Shrestha, 72,  from Nepalese British community has been awarded OBE for his contribution to the community in the London Borough of Ealing and to the Nepalese community (London, Greater London). Mr Shrestha, a well-known entrepreneur and social worker,  is Nepal Tourism Board’s Honorary Representative to the UK. 

Founding President of  the NRNA UK and Director of the Khukuri Beer UK Ltd., Shrestha  is also founder of popular Nepali restaurant, Monty’s, at the Ealing Broadway. 

“I feel honoured to receive this award from HM The King in the New Year’s Honors’ List,” said Shrestha adding, “I see this as a recognition of the thriving Nepali/Gurkha community in the UK.”

Chairman of the Pasa Pucha Guthi UK Trustees, Mr Shrestha is a member of the London Chamber of Commerce and a Trustee of the Southall Ram Mandir. Living in the UK for more than four decades, Mr Shrestha is a former President of the Ealing Chamber of Commerce.
See : Asians on New Year Honours List 2023

Asians on New Year Honours List 2023

Posted on by SAT News Desk

London — The New Year Honours List 2023 marks the incredible public service of individuals from across the UK.

Recipients in the New Year Honours List have been awarded for their outstanding contributions across all parts of the UK for their work on areas including sustained public service, youth engagement and community work.

Such recipients include 100-year-old Peter Offord Davies from Macclesfield, who has been awarded a BEM for his work as a reading volunteer at Dean Valley Community Primary School in Bollington, Macclesfield.

Pamela Goldsmith from West Sussex is also being awarded an BEM, for raising more than £1.5 million for Macmillan in 20 years of volunteering. Jade Clarke, who represented the United Kingdom at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and glassblower John Reyntiens, who is most well-known for the bespoke stained-glass window at the North End of Westminster Hall which was gifted to Her Majesty the Queen for her 2012 Diamond Jubilee, receive MBEs.

Jawahir Roble, from London, and who grew up playing football in war-torn Mogadishu, has also been awarded an MBE for services to football, after becoming the first black, female, Muslim, hijab-wearing referee in the UK.

Following her commitment to help children and families fleeing Ukraine, Cambridgeshire resident Louenna Hood has been awarded a British Empire Medal. Her voluntary work has seen more than £170,000 raised to help people fleeing the war-torn country and she has helped to organise the delivery of five container loads of essentials directly to people in need.

Asrar Ul-Haq DL was one of the first Asian police officers in Greater Manchester Police and spent his career in policing building a positive relationship between marginalised communities and law enforcement. His work bringing together people from different faiths and backgrounds for a common good has earned him an OBE.

Jim Jones, who is also a police officer in Greater Manchester, has also been recognised with a BEM for his work to improve the way police forces work with military veterans. His close work with the veterans community has seen veterans encouraged to consider jobs within the police force and his approach has been followed by many other police forces across the country.

Key members of the England Lionesses football team are also honoured after their outstanding performance in the summer. Squad captain Leah Williamson receives an OBE, while star player Lucy Bronze, golden boot Beth Mead, and England women’s top international goal scorer Ellen White are all awarded MBEs.

A CBE has been awarded to Pat Jennings, for his football and charity service in Northern Ireland. MBEs go to Scotland’s football captain Andy Robertson for his work with young people and to Chris Kamara for his charity and anti-racism work.

At DBE there is an award for Virginia McKenna, for her work in wildlife conservation and amongst the knighthoods is an award for Robin Millar, for his work in music and disabilities and Grayson Perry for services to the arts.

There is a significant breadth of service recognised across the entirety of the UK. Recipients include MBEs for Gee Walker, founder and patron of the Anthony Walker Foundation; Charles Banks, Chair of the NorthWest Users Group and Secretary, Manchester United Disabled Supporters’ Association; and Judith Backus, the Founder of Hidden Help, a charity helping disadvantaged people in Cornwall.

The youngest recipient in the List is 18-year-old Dara Seamus McAnulty who receives a BEM for his environmental work and for his work with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Asians in the New Year Honours List

Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire

Professor Sir Partha Sarathi Dasgupta – Frank Ramsey Professor Emeritus of Economics, University of Cambridge. For services to Economics and to the Natural Environment (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Professor Robina Shahnaz Shah – Director, Doubleday Centre for Patient Experience. For services to Patient Care (Stockport, Greater Manchester)

Knights Bachelor

Knighthoods

Dr Mayur Keshavji Lakhani – Chair, Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management and General Practitioner, Highgate Medical Centre, Loughborough. For services to General Practice (Rothley, Leicestershire)

Ivan Manuel Menezes – Chief Executive Officer, Diageo PLC. For services to Business and to Equality (London, Greater London)

Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Nadra Ahmed – Executive Chair, National Care Association. For services to Social Care (West Malling, Kent)

Professor Vengalil Krishna Kumar Chatterjee – Professor of Endocrinology, University of Cambridge. For services to People with Endocrine Disorders (London, Greater London)

Dr Ramesh Dulichandbhai Mehta – President, British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. For services to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Bedford, Bedfordshire)

Nageshwara Dwarampudi Reddy – Portfolio Director, Labour Market and Plan for Jobs, Department for Work and Pensions. For Public Service (Lytham St Anne’s, Lancashire)

Dr Gurdial Singh Sanghera – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc. For services to the Technology Sector (Oxford, Oxfordshire)

Jatinder Kumar Sharma – Principal, Walsall College. For services to Further Education (Perton, Staffordshire)

Jasvir Singh – Chair, City Sikhs. For services to Charity, to Faith Communities and to Social Cohesion (London, Greater London)

Professor Keshav Singhal – For services to Medicine and to the community in Wales (Wenvoe, South Glamorgan)

Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Usman ALI Lately – Chair, Black Workers’ Committee, Scottish Trades Union Congress. For services to Equality and Cohesion in Scotland (Thornliebank, Renfrewshire)

Rashid Begum – Lately Acting Deputy Director, Home Office. For Public Service (Chelmsford, Essex)

Professor Nishi Chaturvedi – Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Director, Lifelong Health and Ageing Unit, University College London. For services to Medical Research (London, Greater London)

Professor Peter Ghazal – Sêr Cymru II Professor of Systems Medicine, Cardiff University. For services to Systems Immunology (Cardiff, South Glamorgan)

Ravinder Gill – Founder, College of Accountancy Ltd. For services to Higher Education (Weybridge, Surrey)

Puneet Gupta – Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, PG Paper. For services to Business, to Charity and to the community in Scotland (Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire)

Mouhssin Ismail – Lately Principal, Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre, London Borough of Newham. For services to Education (London, Greater London)

Saika Jabeen – Assistant Chief Officer, Nottinghamshire Probation Service. For Public Service (Littleover, Derbyshire)

Sharon Kaur Jandu – Director, Yorkshire Asian Business Association. For services to International Trade (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Dr Harren Jhoti – Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Astex Pharmaceuticals. For services to Cancer Research and to Drug Discovery (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire)

Dr Krishna Rohan Kandiah – Founder, The Sanctuary Foundation. For services to Refugee Integration (Henley, Oxfordshire)

Fukhera (Frank) Khalid – Managing Director, Elbrook Cash and Carry. For services to Business, to Charity and to the community in North London (Great Warley, Essex)

Professor Kantilal Vardichand Mardia – Senior Research Professor, Leeds University. For services to Statistical Science (Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire)

Hitan Mehta – Executive Director, British Asian Trust. For services to the British Asian Community (Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire)

Gotz Mohindra – Senior Volunteer, Conservative Party. For Political Service (London, Greater London)

Sheikh Aliur Rahman – Chief Executive Officer, London Tea Exchange. For services to the Tea Industry and to Young People (London, Greater London)

Riaz Shah – Founder and Chair of Trustees, One Degree Academy. For services to Education (Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire)

Professor Sunil Shaunak – Emeritus Professor of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London. For services to Infectious Diseases and Drug Discovery (Hertford, Hertfordshire)

Mahanta Bahadur Shrestha – Philanthropist. For services to the community in the London Borough of Ealing and to the Nepalese community (London, Greater London)

Asrar Ul-Haq – For services to the community in Greater Manchester (Rochdale, Greater Manchester)

Members of the Order of the British Empire

Mesba Ahmed – Founder and Chief Executive, London Tigers Charity. For services to the community in London (London, Greater London)

Syed Samad Ali – Lately Teacher, Thornhill Academy, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. For services to Education (Sunderland, Tyne and Wear)

Dr Minal BAKHAI (Minal JAYAKUMAR) – General Practitioner and Director, Primary Care Transformation, NHS England. For services to General Practice, particularly during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Nipa Devendra Doshi – Product and Furniture Designer. For services to Design (London, Greater London)

Saleem Fazal – Co-Chair and Co-Founder, Freehold LGBT+ CIC. For services to Inclusion in the Property Industry (London, Greater London)

Professor Nihal Trevor Gurusinghe – For Charitable Services (Preston, Lancashire)

Shadim Hussain – Chief Executive, My Foster Family. For services to Equality and to the Foster Care System (Bradford, West Yorkshire)

Sarah Johal – Strategic Leader, Regional Adoption Agencies. For services to Adoption and Fostering (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Inderpaul Singh Johar – Co-Founder, Dark Matters Laboratories. For services to Architecture (London, Greater London)

Dr Atiya Kamal – Health Psychologist and Senior Lecturer, School of Social Sciences, Birmingham City University. For services to Health Psychology during Covid-19 (Burton on Trent, Staffordshire)
Mohammed Wakkas Khan – Founder, Young Interfaith. For services to Charity, to Young People and to Interfaith Relations (Whalley Range, Greater Manchester)

Dr Shaid Mahmood – Chair of Governors, Leeds City College Group. For services to Further Education in Leeds (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Jaspal Singh Mann – Director, Simply Shred and Recycle Ltd. For services to the Environment (Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands)

Syed Khaja Mohi Moinuddin – Customs Cooperation Agreements Lead, HM Revenue and Customs. For Public Service (Westcliff on Sea, Essex)

Professor Dr Syed Naseem Naqvi – President, British Blockchain Association. For services to Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (Blackpool, Lancashire)

Bhavena Patel – Senior Relationship Manager, Institute of Apprenticeships and Technical Education. For services to Further Education (Coventry, West Midlands)

Veejaykumar Chimanlal Patel – Founder, Business 2 Business UK Limited. For services to Employment and Training (Leicester, Leicestershire)

Professor Prashant Pillai – Director, Cyber Quarter and Associate Dean, University of Wolverhampton. For services to Cyber Security and to Education (Solihull, West Midlands)

Aneeta Prem – Founder and President, Freedom Charity. For Charitable Service (Norwich, Norfolk)

Dr Mohammed Qasim – Lecturer and Welfare Officer, Gower College, Swansea. For services to Academic Research and to Young People (Swansea, West Glamorgan)

Abdul Aziz Qazi – Imam and Founder, Jamia Islamia Ghousia Trust. For services to the community in Luton (Luton, Bedfordshire)

Zebina Ratansi – Director of Nursing, Whipps Cross University Hospital, Barts Health NHS Trust. For services to Nursing Leadership (London, Greater London)

Dr Jyotiben Shah – Macmillan Consultant Urological Surgeon, University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust. For services to Medicine (Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire)

Keranjeet Kaur Virdee – Chief Executive and Artistic Director, South Asian Arts UK. For services to the Arts, particularly South Asian Music and Dance (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Medallists of the Order of the British Empire

Nura Omar Aabe – Founder, Autism Independence. For services to People with Autism (Bristol, City of Bristol)

Shah Sheikh Shepali Begum – Lately Outreach and Impacts Manager, Commonwealth Games Legacy Team. For services to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (Birmingham, West Midlands)

Dr Wirinder Kumar Amar Nath Bhatiani – Lately Chair, NHS Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group. For services to Health and to Diversity in Greater Manchester (Birchanger, Essex)

Ziana Ayesha Butt – For services to Netball and to Diversity (London, Greater London)

Zakaria Arif Dada – For services to the community in the London Borough of Merton during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Reena Gudka – Senior Executive Officer, Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities. For services to Civil Servants Affected by Eating Disorders (London, Greater London)

Javaid Iqbal – Foster Carer, Birmingham Children’s Trust. For services to Fostering (Birmingham, West Midlands)

Samina Qasim Iqbal – Foster Carer, Birmingham Children’s Trust. For services to Fostering (Birmingham, West Midlands)

Dr Sayyada Mawji – For services to Healthcare during Covid-19 (London, Greater London)

Neil Shonchhatra – For services to the Covid-19 Response (London, Greater London)

Amarjit Singh Soora For services to the community in Ilford, London Borough of Redbridge (London, Greater London)

Jagraj Singh Sran – For services to Charitable Fundraising and to the community in Cranford, London Borough of Hounslow (Middle Green, Buckinghamshire)

ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE

Masood AHMED – President, Center for Global Development. For services to International Development.

Dr Mohamed IBRAHIM – Founder, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. For services to Charity and to Philanthropy.

The Rt Hon Alok SHARMA MP – President, the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26). For services to tackling Climate Change.

OVERSEAS AND INTERNATIONAL LIST

ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE

Sonashah SHIVDASANI – Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Soneva; and Founder, Six Senses. For services to Tourism, to Sustainability and to Charity.

MBE

Vineet BHATIA – Chef. For services to UK Cuisine, to Hospitality and to International Trade.

Faraz KHAN – Founder and Director, Social, Entrepreneurship and Equity Development –SEED-Ventures. For services to UK/Pakistan relations.

KING’S AMBULANCE SERVICE MEDAL

ENGLAND AND WALES

Salman DESAI – Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Director of Strategy, Partnerships and Transformation, North West Ambulance Service

Human trafficking by using Tiktok

Posted on by SAT News Desk

By Govinda Sharma : A popular social site TikTok has been found to be misused for human trafficking lately. 

Especially adolescent girls have been found at risk as they reached into contact with unrecognised people through Tiktok in Nepal. 

A team of Maiti Nepal in Nepalgunj has sent back six girls to their families that were heading towards India through the Jamunah checkpoint with the people who were introduced via Tiktok.

According to the Coordinator of the Maiti Nepal, Nepalgunj, Keshab Koirala, families have submitted applications to search for those 12 girls who left their homes with their friends who were connected via Tiktok by claiming they are at risk of human trafficking, The Rising Nepal Reports.

“Most people use Tiktok these days but by misusing technology risk oriented accidents have also been reported.” Coordinator Koirala said, “We have found more risk in those events where left homes with the person who developed relation through Tiktok.”

Maiti Nepal rescued a total of 529 people who were on risk-oriented travel from the Jamunah checkpoint in 2022. 

India’s exports of agricultural, processed food products rise by 16 percent

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NEW DELHI — India’s exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 16 percent in the first eight months (April-November) of the current financial year 2022-23, in comparison to the corresponding period of the last financial year, said the federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Friday.

The overall exports of agricultural and processed food products rose to 17.43 billion U.S. dollars during April-November from 15.07 billion dollars in the same period a year earlier, data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics showed.

Thus the country has achieved nearly 74 percent of its total exports target for the fiscal year 2022-23 in the first eight months.

“For the year 2022-23, an export target of 23.56 billion U.S. dollars was fixed for the agricultural and processed food products basket,” said the data. (Xinhua)

India’s battle against inflation to continue amid global uncertainties

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PTI , New Delhi — After remaining above the Reserve Bank’s comfort level of 6 per cent for most part of this year, retail inflation is slowly easing, and efforts are likely to continue to further reduce it in the coming months amid global uncertainties.

High prices of crude and edible oils, pulses and vegetables were among the main factors behind the high inflation during the year. This trend came against the backdrop of the Russia-Ukraine conflict that started in February and disrupted the global supply chain and pushed higher prices of many commodities.

Since May, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has hiked the short-term lending rate (repo) by 2.25 percentage points, taking it to a nearly three-year high of 6.25 per cent.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation crossed the RBI’s comfort level of 6 per cent in January itself and thereafter it remained elevated for nine months before slipping to 5.88 per cent in October.

An RBI paper on ‘Anatomy of Inflation’s Ascent in India’ said, “The initial inflationary pressure was delivered by successive supply shocks but as their impact waned, a revenge rebound in spending and especially a swing from goods to contact-intensive services is generalising price pressures and making them persistent”.

Recently, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said uncertainties surrounding the inflation trajectory are sizable, given the geopolitical tensions, global financial market volatility, pending pass-through of input costs to domestic output prices and weather-related disruptions.

“Core inflation (CPI excluding food and fuel) is exhibiting persistence around 6 per cent for the past few months. Hence, there is no room for complacency and the battle against inflation is not over. This necessitates a constant vigil on prices,” he said earlier this month.

During the year, inflation was a major challenge for regulators across the world, including in the US, the UK and Europe, mainly as commodity prices spiked due to supply chain disruptions caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The conflict came at a time when the global economy was slowly recovering after being severely hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

For the first time since the introduction of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in 2016, the RBI submitted a report to the government explaining why it failed to keep inflation within the targeted upper tolerance band of 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters since January.

On the wholesale front, things were no better with inflation remaining in double digits till September before nosediving to 5.85 per cent in November.

The RBI has projected headline inflation averaging at 6.7 per cent in the current fiscal.

In the December quarter, it expects retail inflation to be at 6.6 per cent and decline to 5.9 per cent in the March quarter.

According to rating firm Icra, inflation is likely to ease over the next 12 months on a brisk winter crop sowing, good water levels in the reservoirs alongside the moderation in commodity prices.

“We project the year-on-year inflation for December 2022 at 5.9-6.1 per cent, which would result in an average CPI inflation for Q3 FY2023 of nearly 6.2 per cent, well below the estimate pegged by MPC for the quarter (+6.6 per cent).

“Thereafter, we estimate the average CPI inflation to ease to 5.8-5.9 per cent in Q4 FY2023, before declining to 5.2 per cent in Q1 FY2024, similar to the average we are projecting for FY2024,” Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist at Icra, said.

She also said that the MPC’s decision on the repo rate in February 2023 is likely to be highly data-dependent, taking a cue from the domestic inflation-growth dynamics, including the contours of the Union Budget for FY24.

Nepal’s 3rd international airport to begin operation from 1st of January

Posted on by SAT News Desk

POKHARA: Nepal is planning to inaugurate the Pokhara International Airport on the first day of the English New Year, January 1, 2023.

According to Pokhara International Airport Civil Aviation Office, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel, top leaders of various political parties, industrialists and tourism professionals will participate in the opening ceremony.

All preparations for the opening of the airport have reached the final stage.

The opening ceremony will be special with the participation of Nepal Civil Aviation Authority, the Provincial Government, Pokhara Metropolitan City, Pokhara Tourism Council and other tourism organizations, it said.

According to the Civil Aviation Office of Pokhara International Airport, on the opening day of the airport, the crew and passengers of the aircraft landing at the airport from the first flight in the morning will be welcomed with garlands.

The government has recently started the operation of Gautam Buddha International Airport in Bhairahawa .

Construction work of the airport estimated to cost Rs 22 billion started in July 2017.

Earlier, an aircraft of Aero Thai Company had conducted mechanical test flights (calibration flights) at the PRIA from November 21 to 28.

As Pokhara is one of the most beautiful cities in Nepal and is considered a tourism hub. Tourism entrepreneurs and businesses have hoped the airport will be instrumental in economically developing the city.

Strep A kills around 30 children in the UK since mid-September

Posted on by SAT News Desk

At least 30 children have lost their lives to bacterial infection strep A since September 19, new figures stated.

In the weekly update on strep A, the UKHSA said that in the last four months, there have been scarlet fever’s 3,836 notifications, while 122 people of all age groups have lost their lives due to the illness in the same time period.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) stated that almost 25 people, under the age of 18, have lost their lives to the invasive Strep A, also known as iGAS, in England from September 19 to December 25.

The UKHSA also recorded the death of three children in Belfast and Wales from iGAS, bringing the total number of deaths to 30.

Strep A is a bacterial infection which usually affects the throat and the skin.

The UKHSA stated that the data reflects an “out-of-season increase” in cases of Strep A and scarlet fever infections in one typical year.

Speaking about the lastest figures for Strep A, UKHSA incident director Dr Obaghe Edeghere said: “We are continuing to see a rise in scarlet fever and ‘strep throat’ and this is understandably concerning for parents.”
“However I would stress that the condition can be easily treated with antibiotics and it is very rare that a child will go on to become more seriously ill,” he added.

“Over the winter, there are lots of illnesses circulating that can make children unwell and so it is important to avoid contact with other people if you are feeling unwell, wash your hands regularly and thoroughly and catch coughs and sneezes in a tissue. I would also urge all those eligible for free winter vaccines to take advantage of these,” the doctor stated.

(WION / with inputs from agencies)

Pakistan to seek US help to secure $13 bn loans at Geneva meet for projects

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Pakistan will seek the support of US President Joe Biden’s administration to use its influence on multilateral creditors to provide loans to Islamabad for approximately two dozen projects with an estimated cost of $13 billion.

Pakistan is preparing a document with details of the projects, Geo News reported.

This special document having a picture of the US and Pakistani flags is being prepared and then it will be shared with US authorities on eve of the upcoming donors conference scheduled to be held in Geneva on January 9, 2023, for the reconstruction of flood-affected areas in Pakistan.

Over two dozen infrastructure projects worth $13 billion will be shared that have been cleared by relevant and competent forums and are ready to be invested in at any time.

There is one project known as the Flood Protection Project having an estimated cost of $4 billion and the remaining projects will be related to irrigation and others.

Out of the total reconstruction cost of over $16 billion, the government has prepared a strategy to utilise $8 billion from its own budgetary resources while the remaining $8 billion will be sought from multilateral and bilateral creditors as the financing gap is required for reconstruction in flood-hit areas, Geo News reported.

Keeping in view donors’ fatigue and involvement in other parts of the world, the government devised a strategy to spare 50 per cent of resources from its own kitty for undertaking reconstruction projects over the medium term.

The remaining amount of $8.2 billion will be sought from the communities of donors in this hour of need.

Out of the $8.2 billion identified as a financing gap by Pakistani authorities, the multilateral creditors including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) committed and approved $2 billion projects for the reconstruction phase in flood-affected areas while $400 million were re-purposed by these multilateral financial institutions.

So far Pakistan has received commitments of $2.4 billion. There were expectations that it would get another $1 billion from other

multilateral and bilateral creditors on the occasion of the donors’ conference in Geneva.

There are maximum expectations of commitments of $3.5 to $4 billion from the moot co-hosted by Pakistan and the UN.

Nevertheless, it is yet to be seen how much the international community will do to assist Islamabad in rebuilding flood-affected areas in Pakistan, Geo News reported.

–IANS

US-China Rivalry Increases Tension in Southeast Asia

Posted on by SAT News Desk

Lim Peh Hong

Liam Scott

WASHINGTON, VOA — As the United States and China compete for influence worldwide, tension is rising between the superpowers in Southeast Asia over economic policies, territorial disputes in the South China Sea and Taiwanese independence.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) came into effect on January 1. RCEP is a China-led free-trade agreement among 15 Asia Pacific nations including all 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. It is the largest free trade agreement in the world.

At the 25th China-ASEAN summit last month in Cambodia, China’s Premier Li Keqiang said in a speech that trade volume between China and ASEAN had reached a new high of $798.4 billion in the first 10 months of 2022.

“We have worked together for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to be signed and implemented, and hence built the world’s largest free trade area, taking our open and interconnected development to a new level,” he said in the speech.

However, it might be too early to determine whether RCEP has delivered significant economic benefits to ASEAN, according to Hunter Marston, a doctoral candidate at Australian National University (ANU) studying great power competition in Southeast Asia.

“ASEAN-China trade hit a record high in [the first 10 months of] 2022, which is something to watch, but it’s hard to say whether its trade growth will come mainly from RCEP,” he told VOA Mandarin. “RCEP just lowers barriers and makes trade more efficient, but so far, it is difficult to say that it has brought immediate and clear benefits.”

To counter RCEP, U.S. President Joe Biden launched the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) in May.

With 14 members, including Australia, India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan, the IPEF is intended to reaffirm U.S. economic engagement in the region and provide a Washington-led alternative to Beijing’s RCEP.

“The future of the 21st century economy is going to largely be written in the Indo-Pacific — in our region,” Biden said during IPEF’s launch event in Tokyo. “We’re writing the new rules.”

Ian Chen, a professor at the Institute of Political Science at Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University, questions whether IPEF will be able to have an impact on Southeast Asia’s economic dependence on China anytime soon.

“I think it is unlikely in the short term,” he told VOA Mandarin. “IPEF doesn’t require very strict commitments, so participating countries can actually determine how involved they want to be. With such loose requirements, it can be difficult to achieve the goals you want to achieve.”
Josh Kurlantzick, a senior fellow for Southeast Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, disagrees that Biden’s IPEF was purely in response to China’s RCEP.

“The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is in some ways in response to China’s economic actions in the region, but it’s more generally in response to complaints that the U.S. had no trade policy in the region,” Kurlantzick told VOA Mandarin. “I don’t think the U.S. is just reacting to China.

“The U.S. has abandoned trade leadership and trade participation in Asia for a long time,” Kurlantzick added. But “the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a pseudo economic cooperation thing, doesn’t really do much.”

A lot of IPEF’s details have still not been made public, but ANU’s Marston predicts Biden will announce more about the economic initiative in 2023.

“Although IPEF is more symbolic than substantive, I think seven of the 10 ASEAN countries have been invited and agreed to join, which shows that U.S. economic engagement in the region is still attractive,” Marston said.

Washington still leads in investment in the region — U.S. investments rose by 41% in 2021 to $40 billion — but Beijing’s investments rose by 96% to nearly $14 billion, according to the 2022 ASEAN Investment Report.

“Although the United States still leads in investment, I think ASEAN is becoming a more multipolar competition region,” Marston added.

Economic rivalry between Washington and Beijing has taken center stage this year, analysts told VOA Mandarin, but other flashpoints have arisen, too.

Some Southeast Asian countries worried that U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August visit to Taiwan might make China more likely to take military action, according to Alan Yang, a professor at National Chengchi University in Taiwan.

“From the United States, to China, to the Taiwan Sea, to the South China Sea, it is difficult to separate these issues,” Yang told VOA Mandarin. “There was no major South China Sea action this year. To some extent, it is still subject to two major external forces. One is the U.S.-China rivalry, and the other is the impact of the pandemic.”

Kurlantzick also pointed to China’s ongoing militarization of the South China Sea, as well as Washington’s escalating efforts to block China’s access to highly coveted advanced semiconductor chips. Still, looking ahead to 2023, he added that conflict over Taiwan is perhaps of greatest concern.

“The U.S. and China are engaging in a dance with Taiwan, getting closer and closer to possible conflict,” Kurlantzick said.

India’s 1st COVID-19 nasal vaccine to be rolled out next month

Posted on by SAT News Desk

NEW DELHI — India’s vaccine maker Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) announced the price of newly-developed COVID-19 nasal vaccine iNCOVACC on Tuesday, saying the vaccine would be rolled out from the fourth week of January 2023.

The vaccine would be made available on CoWin, an Indian government’s web portal for COVID-19 vaccination registration. Owned and operated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it displays booking slots of COVID-19 vaccine available in nearby areas.

The nasal vaccine is being described as a booster dose for those aged above 18 years and already receiving two doses of vaccines. “As a needleless vaccination, iNCOVACC will be India’s first such booster dose,” the company said.

BBIL had earlier developed a vaccine named COVAXIN, doses (two per individual) of which were widely administered to Indians and other countries’ nationals staying in the country.

The company said the intranasal vaccine would be priced at 325 Indian rupees (3.92 U.S. dollars) at the government-run hospitals or clinics, but at a price tag of 800 Indian rupees (9.65 U.S. dollars) at private hospitals or clinics.

This vaccine candidate was evaluated in phases I, II and III clinical trials with successful results, it said.

Earlier this month, BBIL received approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) for the use of heterologous booster doses of the nasal vaccine.

Official data showed Tuesday morning that 157 new cases of COVID-19 were reported during the past 24 hours in India.(Xinhua)

China reopens the border with Nepal, congratulates new PM Prachanda

Posted on by SAT News Desk

KATHMANDU — China has opened the Rasuwagadhi border for the first time since the start of the covid-19 epidemic to export Nepalese goods. According to Rasuwa Customs Office, China has opened the border which has been closed for 31 months since Tuesday.

Earlier after the appointment of the Maoist leader Prachanda as the new PM of Nepal, the ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China has congratulated and expected coordination and  collaboration on strategic issues including the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI).

In a regular press briefing held at the ministry in Beijing on Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said China would continue its long friendly cooperation with Nepal.  “We take Nepal-China relations with importance. We will maintain friendly relations and collaboration with the new government,” she shared.

“We congratulate Pushpa Kamal Dahal for his election to the post of the new Prime Minister. We expect strategic collaboration and cooperation between the two countries on various issues including BRI”, said the Spokesperson.

Spokesperson Mao added, “China has given high importance to Nepal-China relations and wishes for long-lasting friendly relations for development and prosperity.”