Pakistani soldiers arrive at the Balochistan Police Training College in Quetta on October 24, 2016. — AFP/VNA Photo Viet Nam News QUETTA, Pakistan — Heavily-armed Islamist militants wearing suicide vests stormed a Pakistani police academy, killing at least 44 people and wounding dozens more, officials said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest extremist attacks this year. Three gunmen from a Pakistani Taliban-linked group burst into the sprawling academy, targeting sleeping quarters that are home to some 700 recruits, sending terrified young men fleeing. "I saw three men in camouflage whose faces were hidden carrying Kalashnikovs," one cadet told reporters. "They started firing and entered the dormitory but I managed to escape over a wall." The attack on the Balochistan Police College, around 20 kilometres east of provincial capital Quetta, began at around 11:10 pm (1810 GMT) Monday, with gunfire continuing to ring out at the site for several hours. Sarfaraz Bugti, home … [Read more...] about Islamist militants kill 44 in Pakistan police attack
Pakistan china economic corridor
Pakistan hands land over to China for economic zone
Pakistan handed hundreds of hectares of land over to China Wednesday for development of a special economic zone in the port of Gwadar, part of a $46 billion project giving Beijing greater access to the Middle East, Africa and Europe. A market is seen in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, whose government handed over about 280 hectares of a 923-hectare swathe of tax-exempt land to China that Beijing will develop under a 43-year lease. The government of Baluchistan province -- Pakistan's poorest -- handed over about 280 hectares of a 923-hectare (2,300-acre) swathe of tax-exempt land that Beijing will develop under a 43-year lease. The rest of the land will be handed over under the agreement with the public China Overseas Port Holding Company "soon", senior Pakistani government officials told AFP. The development is part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, an ambitious $46 billion investment plan linking western China to the Arabian Sea, part … [Read more...] about Pakistan hands land over to China for economic zone
China, India sign border defence agreement
China and India signed an agreement on border defence cooperation after a stand-off along their disputed frontier fuelled fears of conflict between the Asian giants. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) and India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hold a joint news conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on October 23, 2013 (Photo: AFP) China and India signed an agreement Wednesday on border defence cooperation after a stand-off along their disputed frontier in April fuelled fears of conflict between the Asian giants.Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, visiting Beijing to seek a breakthrough in the border row that has soured relations for decades, witnessed the signing of the pact alongside Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.The agreement will "help to maintain peace, tranquillity and stability in our border areas", Li said following the ceremony.No further details were immediately available, but it was expected to include provisions for better communications between the two … [Read more...] about China, India sign border defence agreement
Inside the growing backlash against China
China’s rise over the last generation has been impressive, with the country moving from the periphery to the center of the global system, and climbing from impoverished backwater to a position of substantial wealth and power. But the strategic environment in which China’s “lay low” approach to international affairs has helped to make it the world’s second-largest economy is changing – and a broader backlash against China is beginning. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing has been pushing an increasingly aggressive and high-profile foreign policy, attracting the sort of attention that Xi’s predecessors had carefully avoided. Now, countries that only a few years ago welcomed Chinese investment and engagement are beginning to mobilize against Chinese influence. The global conditions that favored China’s rise began at the end of the Cold War. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the West in general and the United States in particular were eager … [Read more...] about Inside the growing backlash against China
BUSINESS IN BRIEF 25/11
VN group starts huge sugar project in Laos Vietnam’s Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group started work on the construction of a US$100 million sugar and sugarcane industrial cluster in Attapeu province, southern Laos on November 22. The cluster includes a sugar mill with a capacity of 7,000 tons per day, a 30MW thermal power plant, an ethanol plant with a capacity of 30,000 tons per year and a fertiliser plant with a capacity of 50,000 tons a year. These facilities are expected to create 20,000 jobs for local people when they are put into operation. Addressing the ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc thanked the Lao government for their facilitation to Vietnamese businesses and expressed his belief that Lao leaders will continue creating favourable conditions for Hoang Anh Gia Lai and other Vietnamese investors in Laos . On behalf of the Lao government, Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavath praised Vietnam investors in Laos, particularly Hoang Anh Gia Lai and … [Read more...] about BUSINESS IN BRIEF 25/11