NEW DELHI, 28 November 2022, (TON): Police said "Assam lifted travel restrictions to Meghalaya, six days after being imposed in the aftermath of violence in a disputed area along the inter-state border."
A senior police officer said "vehicles from Assam are now allowed to enter Meghalaya."
He said "wherever necessary, vehicles are being escorted. In other vulnerable areas, police patrolling has been provided."
An advisory was issued by the Assam Police, asking people to avoid travelling to the neighbouring state following the incident.

DHAKA, 28 November 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sunday said that after helping Sri Lanka with a currency swap, many countries communicated with her to get the same kind of assistance from Bangladesh.
She said “we have assisted Sri Lanka from our (forex) reserves. After that, I received requests from many countries."
In May 2021, Bangladesh cleared a $200 million currency swap for Sri Lanka to help boost its economy. It was the first-ever loan to any country from Bangladesh, given under the currency swap agreement inked by the Bangladesh Bank and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

DHAKA, 28 November 2022, (TON): A further 400MW of electricity have been added to the national grid by the new Ashuganj Power Station project, which has begun commercial operation.
With this, the capacity of Ashuganj Power Station Company stands at 1800MW.
Ashuganj Power Station Company Managing Director Engineer AMM Sajjadur Rahman confirmed this information on Sunday, reports Bangla Tribune.

DHAKA, 28 November 2022, (TON): Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina once again directed authorities concerned to reduce imports of luxury items and place more emphasis on importing essential products, including food and fertilisers.
The PM also directed authorities to properly carry out feasibility studies and other preparatory works before taking on a project, so that costs do not escalate midway.
She also asked that more emphasis be placed on projects being implemented with foreign loans.
The prime minister gave the directives at the secretary-level meeting held at the PMO.

By Afshain Afzal
Recently, an interesting development took place as the Indian Navy has displayed show of its fleet at Indian Navy’s Southern Naval Command at Kochi and Forward Operating Base (FOB) of the Indian Navy in Porbandar, Gujarat as well as at extreme opposite at Bay of Bengal to impress the foreign investors including France. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu is on visit at New Delhi on 27 – 28 November 2022 to attend  4th India-France Annual Defence to boost military ties. He along with French Ambassador Emmanuel Lenain would visit Headquarters Southern Naval Command at Kochi and some facility at Eastern Naval Command. His visit at Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) at Kerala is in connection with signing of Memorandum of Understanding with Indian Navy's Warship Design Bureau for the defence collaboration. He will also visit Indian Navy Ship (INS) Vikrant aircraft carrier which can carry a crew of 1,600 and operate a fleet of 30 fighter aircraft.
Currently, a number of submarines are being built in this yard with the collaboration of France. There are still may Indian national who belong to France and Portugal and these nations own them. Former French territories in India are still remembered by the policy makers in France who are thinking of a federal union of its former territories, but it is not easy and Russia is equally a competitor. Similarly, Goa remained a Portuguese colony and some analysts are of the view that European Union has eye on the specific part of India. Another controversy still exists that here are many in Pakistan who do not accept the coercive annexation of Goa and Gujarat in 1954 as an illegitimate action and demand either a plebiscite or it should be under international supervision.
If we recall, few days back the United States Secretary of Navy, Carlos Del Toro was on a five-day official visit to India from 17-21 November 2022. Secretary Toro also visited Indian Navy’s Southern Naval Command at Kochi. Back in 2016, Washington announced awarding India as major ‘Defence Partner Status’. It was after signing of Defence Framework Agreement in 2015, which paved way for collaboration between the defence establishments of both countries, the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) signed in 2016, which is a foundational agreement facilitating reciprocal logistics support between the Armed Forces of both countries, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) signed in 2018, the Basic Exchange Cooperation Agreement (BECA), which enables sharing of geo - spatial information between Ministry of Defence and National Geospatial Agency (NGA), USA. More recently, the Navies of India, the US Navy and partner nations participated in Exercise MALABAR - 2022, held from 09 – 15 November 2022 off Yokosuka, Japan and earlier RIMPAC 22. In addition, exchange of White Shipping Information was quite encouraging for India.
There is no doubt that the world Navies must interact and carryout joint training and exercise for peace and self defence. However, India is playing a role which may turn the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) a battle ground for frictions and hostilities. The US military commitment in the region is claimed largely to be pitched against rise of China and Russia but engaging other countries, especially in the Bay of Bengal and Strait of Malacca is threat to the world peace. It is likely to be a multiplayer battle ground with each nation having her own objective and ambitions. The tri-services conference of 7 November 2022, held at New Delhi exposed much of the Indian ambitions when Admiral R Hari Kumar, Chief of the Indian Naval Staff shared future plans of Indian Navy’s international role as policeman of Indian Ocean, checkmating all Navy and commercial movements in the Indian Ocean Region. The increased activities of Indian Navy with interception and signal facilities especially Chahbahar, Ad-Duqm Seychelles, Maldives and Strait of Malacca is part of Indo-US strategy to control whole region of Africa and Asia. No doubt, Washington is using New Delhi as front man while the actual ambitions is to make the Indian Ocean Region a multi-battle ground of world Navies. One wonders, knowing well the hegemonic designs, especially the US and India, the nations of this region must not fall into the trap and remain non-allied by refusing signing of any mutual defence agreement. No matter what… sovereignty is the only and everything.

DHAKA, 27 November 2022, (TON): Russian Ambassador to Bangladesh Alexander Mantytskiy has said they are looking for opportunities to support the countries in the region in terms of energy and food security despite "artificial restrictions" imposed on Russia.
He said "Russia and IORA Member States not only share civilizational values, but also pursue quite pragmatic interests."
Russia is one of the world's top three oil exporters and it ranks first in natural gas reserves and second in gas production, and this year's grain harvest could reach a record high of 150 million tons, including about 100 million tons of wheat.
The ambassador said "maritime security and combating piracy is an important area of common interests."

TAIPEI, 27 November 2022, (TON): Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen resigned as head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party following local election losses on Saturday suffered by her party.
Voters in Taiwan overwhelmingly chose the opposition Nationalist party in several major races across the self-ruled island in an election in which lingering concerns about threats from China took a backseat to more local issues.
Experts said "Tsai had spoken out many times about opposing China and defending Taiwan in the course of campaigning for her party."
But the party’s candidate Chen Shih-chung, who lost his battle for mayor of Taipei, only raised the issue of the Communist Party’s threat a few times before he quickly switched back to local issues as there was little interest.

LONDON, 27 November 2022, (TON): Thousands of marchers will descend on London on Sunday to demand that the UK government create a safe asylum route for Afghan women and girls at risk.
Organized by the campaign group Action for Afghanistan, Sunday’s March for Freedom for Afghan Women and Girls follows MPs’ demands that Foreign Secretary James Cleverly renew the government’s focus on those left at risk after Britain’s 20-year military endeavor.
The Afghan relocations and assistance policy isn’t working, and there isn’t a dedicated route for women and girls.

ADDIS ABABA, 27 November 2022, (TON): The World Food Programme said "aid deliveries into Tigray were not matching the needs of the stricken region even as a ceasefire takes hold in war-torn northern Ethiopia."
Restoring aid deliveries to Tigray was a key part of an agreement signed on Nov. 2 to end a two-year war that has killed untold numbers of people and unleashed a humanitarian crisis.
The WFP said "all four road corridors into Tigray had reopened since the ceasefire and humanitarian flights were flying into major cities, allowing a significant uptick in aid supplies reaching the region."

DHAKA, 27 November 2022, (TON): Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh Li Jiming said that China was ready to join hands with the international community, including member states of the IORA, to contribute to global development, shoulder the responsibilities for unity and progress and create a better future for the world.
He stressed that in face of various risks and challenges, president Xi Jinping put forward the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, offering Chinese solutions and Chinese wisdom to world peace and development.
Ambassador Li attended the 22nd Indian Ocean Rim Association Council of Ministers meeting held in Dhaka.