Author: Himalaya Post

BEIJING, Nov. 3 – Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met with his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang in Beijing Saturday, as he seeks aid and investment from the world’s second largest economy in hopes of staving off a financial crisis. Before travelling to China — one of Pakistan’s firmest allies — Khan said he was striving to obtain financial aid from two unnamed countries after Pakistan secured $6 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia. His government has also entered talks with the International Monetary Fund over a potential bailout as it grapples with a balance of payment crisis and current account deficit. China is already a major investor in Pakistan, where the two countries are building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a multi-billion-dollar project at the heart of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, an ambitious, globe-spanning trade infrastructure programme. The corridor aims to increase energy and transport links between the western Chinese region of Xinjiang and the Arabian Sea via Pakistan. However, given Pakistan’s deteriorating finances, there have been concerns in recent months that portions of the agreement may have to be scaled down. In his meeting with Li, Khan invited the Chinese premier to visit Pakistan and see for himself the difference the mega-project has made in the country. “CPEC in 2013 was just an idea. Now it is on the ground. And it has caught...

COLOMBO, Nov. 3 – Sri Lanka’s sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has warned time is running out to avert a “bloodbath” while voicing hope that parliament will resolve a damaging constitutional crisis in the coming days. Wickremesinghe, who has been holed up at the prime minister’s official residence for more than a week as thousands of supporters gather outside, told AFP in an interview that “desperate people” could cause chaos on the Indian Ocean island. The 69-year-old was sacked out-of-the-blue on October 26 by President Maithripala Sirisena, with domineering former president Mahinda Rajapakse named in his place. However Wickremesinghe refused to accept his dismissal and has not left the sprawling colonial-era Temple Trees residence — where Buddhist monks now chant prayers outside — since. Sirisena also suspended parliament in an apparent bid to prevent opposition to his move, deepening the turmoil that has seen at least one man killed in a shooting last weekend linked to the power struggle. “We will be calling on our people not to resort to violence,” Wickremesinghe said late Friday. “But you don’t know what arises in a situation like this. “A few desperate people can start off a bloodbath.” His comments echoed the fears of parliament speaker Karu Jayasuriya who warned of bloodshed on the streets if a vote is not held by lawmakers to decide between the two leaders. Wickremesinghe, head of...

TEHRAN, Nov 3, 2018 – Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saturday that President Donald Trump has “disgraced” US prestige and would be the ultimate loser from renewing sanctions on the Islamic republic. “This new US president… has disgraced the remnant of America’s prestige and that of liberal democracy. America’s hard power, that is to say their economic and military power, is declining too,” he said on his Persian Twitter account, quoting a speech in Tehran. A defiant Khamenei dismissed the renewed US sanctions — including an oil embargo — that take effect on Monday. “The challenge between the US and Iran has lasted for 40 years so far and the US has made various efforts against us: military, economic and media warfare,” he said. “There’s a key fact here: in this 40-year challenge, the defeated is the US and the victorious is the Islamic republic.” Trump announced in May he was withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions, sparking outrage among world powers who say Iran has been complying with commitments to restrict its atomic programme. Washington says it wants a new deal with Iran, curtailing its regional interventions and missile programme — demands which have been flatly rejected by...