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28 Sep 2022; MEMO: US Ambassador to Khartoum, John Godfrey, yesterday warned the Sudanese government of the repercussions of allowing Russia to build a military base in the Red Sea, the Anadolu news agency reported.

In an interview with the Tayyar newspaper, Godfrey said: "There are some reports that Russia is trying to implement the agreement it signed with ousted President Omar Al-Bashir in 2017 to establish a military base along the Red Sea."

Islamabad, Sep 27 (PTI) The catastrophic floods that hit Pakistan has caused the country a whopping USD 28 billion in damages and it might take 2 to 10 years for the long-term construction of the areas affected by the unprecedented calamity, the media reported on Tuesday, quoting a revised estimate.

Islamabad, Sep 27 (PTI) Ishaq Dar, the former finance minister of Pakistan who is once again set to take charge as the new financial czar, has vowed to take the cash-strapped country out of the economic vortex, the media reported on Tuesday.

The senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Monday returned to Pakistan from London with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who following a meeting with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif, announced the appointment of 72-year-old Dar as the incoming finance minister.

New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) In a significant move, Swedish defence major Saab on Tuesday announced that it will set up a manufacturing facility in India for production of its Carl-Gustaf M4 weapon systems.

It will be the company's first manufacturing facility for the Carl-Gustaf M4 outside Sweden.

The production of the shoulder-fired weapons having a range of 1,500 metres will start in 2024, said Gorgen Johansson, Saab's senior vice president.

26 Sep 2022; MEMO: Lebanon's Parliament passed the 2022 budget on Monday, using an exchange rate for customs tax revenues that lies far below the market value of the Lebanese pound, falling short of economic reform measures that would pave the way for an IMF deal, Reuters reports.

An agreement with the lender of last resort is seen as a first crucial step for Lebanon to begin exiting a three-year financial implosion that has left most people poor and plunged the country into its worst crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War.

26 Sep 2022; MEMO: Turkiye said that Malaysia and Indonesia had expressed keen interest in buying armed drones from Turkish Defence firm, Baykar, Reuters reports.

According to the report, Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, announced Malaysian-Turkish partnership during a press conference in Tokyo.

"Many Asian countries, especially Malaysia and Indonesia, show great interest in our defence industry products. Agreements are being signed," Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said.

New York, Sep 25 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that he had a wide-ranging conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov during which they discussed a number of issues, including bilateral cooperation, the Ukraine conflict, G20 and UN reforms as he described Russia a "major partner in many domains." Jaishankar made the remarks during his interaction with a group of Indian reporters after his meeting with Lavrov on the margins of the UN General Assembly session, just hours before his address to the UN General Debate on Saturday.<

Beijing, Sep 25 (PTI) The countdown for next month's key Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) began as the ruling party on Sunday announced that all delegates totalling nearly 2,300 were "elected" for the once-in-a-five year meeting in which President Xi Jinping is widely expected to get endorsed for a record third term.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) High defaults of about 8 per cent in the education loan portfolio have made banks cautious and go slow on the sanction of such credit.

Non-performing assets (NPAs) in the education loan category including public sector banks' (PSBs) were 7.82 per cent at the end of June quarter of the current financial year. Outstanding education loans were about Rs 80,000 crore at June-end.

New Delhi, Sep 25 (PTI) The Indian rupee sliding to a historic low of 81.09 to a dollar will make import of crude oil and other commodities expensive further fueling inflation which for the past several months has remained above the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance level of 6 per cent.

The pressure on the domestic currency, which is mainly due to repeated hikes in interest rate by the US Fed, is likely to continue with rise in trade deficit and gradual withdrawal of funds by institutional investors.