De-escalating trade war: Xi promises lower tariffs, opens economy further

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday promised to open the country's economy further and lower import tariffs on products including cars, in a speech that comes amid rising trade tensions between China and the United States.

Xi also said China would raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile sector "as soon as possible" and push previously announced measures to open the financial sector.

"This year, we will considerably reduce auto import tariffs, and at the same time reduce import tariffs on some other products," Xi said at the Chinese Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan province.

The comments sent U.S. stock futures, the dollar and Asian shares higher.

They come amid rising trade tensions between China and the United States following a week of escalating tariff threats sparked by U.S. frustration with China's trade and intellectual property policies.

Suicide bomber strikes Kabul's Shiite area; 7 killed, 22 injured

At least seven people were killed and 22 others injured in a suicide attack in western Kabul near where thousands of members of the Shia Hazara minority had gathered.

An Interior Ministry official told TOLO news that the explosion took place near the Mosalla-e-Mazar area in Police District 6.

Meanwhile, Afghan Public Health Ministry spokesman Wahidullah Majroh told EFE news that the toll could rise.

The gathering, which was attended by senior government officials, marked the death anniversary of Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan's former leader Abdul Ali Mazari.

China forges 'strategic' ties with Djibouti after opening base, grants aid

China on Thursday offered loans to Djibouti, the site of its first overseas military base, as the Horn of Africa state's leader told President Xi Jinping he considered himself a great friend of the Asian giant.

With a population of less than one million, Djibouti has long punched above its weight, thanks to a strategic location on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping routes linking Europe to Asia and the Middle East.

China formally opened the base, which it calls a logistics facility, on August 1, the 90th birthday of the People's Liberation Army. Djibouti also hosts large US and French bases.

Djibouti was politically stable, Xi told its president, Ismail Omar Guelleh, at a meeting in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"China sets great store by its relations with Djibouti," he added.

Guelleh, who has been in power since 1999, said he considered himself a "great friend of China's" and could not count the number of times he had visited.

"Djibouti is known for being a country of peace, exchanges and meetings," Guelleh said.

"I would like to recall the geostrategic position of Djibouti and its importance in this part of the world as an island of stability for Asia, Africa and the Middle East."
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Pentagon must show Pakistan consequences of supporting terror: US lawmakers

The Pentagon must "demonstrate" to Pakistan the "consequences" of continued support to terrorists, US Congressional leaders have said as they came out in support of President Donald Trump's new South Asia policy.

Trump in August unveiled America's new policy for South Asia and Afghanistan, criticising Pakistan for providing safe havens to terrorists.

The bipartisan group of Congressional leaders, reconciling the differences between the House and Senate versions of the 2018 National defense Authorisation Act (NDAA), also urged the Department of Defense to closely monitor US security assistance to Pakistan and ensure that the country does not use it to support terrorist groups.

The lawmakers, in a joint report of the Senate and House Armed Services committees released yesterday, asked the Pentagon to "demonstrate to Pakistan the consequences of continued support to terrorists".

Such a demand from lawmakers comes days after the Indian security forces recovered US-made rifle meant for Pakistan from terrorist in Jammu and Kashmir.
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Nepal's central bank issues alert as hackers target major pvt bank

Cybercriminals reportedly hacked into the electronic fund transfer system of a major private sector bank in Nepal, prompting the country's central bank to issue an alert, officials said on Tuesday.

According to the officials of the Nepal Rastra Bank, the country's central bank, hackers tried to make illegal payment worth millions of rupees from the bank accounts of NIC Asia Bank Ltd using the SWIFT electronic money transfer system.

The NRB, they said, has asked foreign central banks not to make any payments sought.

"It has been found that transactions of NIC Asia Bank have been carried out from various banks in six countries by hackers using SWIFT, an international banking network," said Rajendra Pandit, deputy spokesperson of the NRB.

"We have already requested the central banks in those countries to stop processing payments to the parties requested by the hackers. Even payments which have already been made are likely to be retrieved," Pandit said.

The hackers reportedly broke into the SWIFT system of the NIC Asia Bank and siphoned off an undisclosed amount last week during the Diwali holidays.

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Don't seek material or money, treat us with respect: Pak Army chief to US

Pakistan is not seeking material or financial help from the US, but Washington must trust and treat it with respect, Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday told the US envoy in Islamabad, a day after President Trump asked Islamabad to stop providing safe havens to terrorists.

While announcing America's new Afghanistan and South Asia policy — which calls for greater US troop deployment and Indian involvement in Afghanistan — Trump had hit out at Pakistan for offering sanctuaries to "agents of chaos."

The US Ambassador David Hale met General Bajwa at the Army's Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where the latter was briefed on the US's new South Asia policy announced by President Trump, according to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — the Pakistani military's media wing.

"We can no longer be silent about Pakistan's safe havens for terrorist organisations," the US president had said.
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South China sea: US & China return to 'business as usual' over war ship

The South China Sea is a volatile place – or rather, its politics are.

China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have been fighting over this azure stretch of the Pacific for more than a century. But tensions increased markedly in recent years as China, claiming the South China Sea as its own, has built on and militarised some 250 islands off the coasts of Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, along with an arbitration tribunal, are now challenging the legitimacy of China’s presence there.

Meanwhile, the United States continues to insist that the sea remains under international control. Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping were supposed to discuss the situation during their first meeting at Mar-a-Lago on April 5, 2017. But the launch of 59 Tomahawks in Syria and growing tensions on the Korean peninsula completely overshadowed the maritime issue.

Two months after that meeting, the US triggered a classic confrontational cycle in the South China Sea. On May 24, the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey passed through the contested waters and sailed close to Mischief Reef, in the Spratly archipelago.

The island, controlled by China, has become a symbol of the country’s assertiveness since it was occupied in 1995.

The operation was the first military maritime exercise in eight months and the first of Trump’s presidency. Under the Obama administration, starting in 2015, American patrols in the South China Sea were regular practice.
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