China says Honduras cuts diplomatic ties with Taiwan
Beijing, March 26: Honduras has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Chinese state media reported Sunday, paving the way for the Latin American country to establish a formal relationship with Beijing. The announcement by Honduras’s foreign ministry on Saturday, which was reported by China’s CCTV, comes amid rising tensions between Beijing and the United States, including over China’s increasing assertiveness toward self-ruled Taiwan. The move leaves Taiwan recognized by only 13 sovereign states. Honduras is the ninth diplomatic ally that Taipei has lost to Beijing since pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen first took office in May 2016. (AP)
Nepal sending team to lay ground for PM’s India visit
Kathmandu, March 26: Nepal government is sending an advance team to New Delhi to lay the ground for Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal’s upcoming visit to India. The team will jointly work with the Indian officials to set bilateral talks agenda even though the dates of Dahal’s trip are yet to be finalised, according to a report published in Kathmandu Post on Sunday. Report stated that in the absence of a designated foreign minister, Prime Minister Dahal aka Prachanda has instructed Chief Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi to coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to dispatch an advance team. Due to the delays in Cabinet expansion, the prime minister himself is in charge of the foreign ministry, besides 15 other ministries. Prachanda could visit India between the second and third week of April, with exact travel dates subject to an official announcement. (IANS)
Kabul rejects Washington’s claim over IS strength in Af
Kabul, March 26: The Taliban-led caretaker government in Afghanistan has dismissed Washington’s claim over the alleged stronger presence of Daesh or Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan as utterly fabricated. “The statements of US officials about the number of IS militants in Afghanistan are not true. Daesh militants have already been reduced in ranks and suppressed,” chief spokesman of the Afghan caretaker administration Zabihullah Mujahid tweeted. US Central Command chief Gen. Michael Kurilla, according to media reports, has said “IS is stronger today in Afghanistan” and warned of a possible IS attack on the interests of US and allied nations within six months, Xinhua News Agency reported. (IANS)