World News : Behind the curtain

                 Venezuela is rich in oil but has plunged into economic crisis, suffering hyperinflation andshortages of food and basic goods. Washington and its allies support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido and recognise his claim to be acting president in defiance of Maduro.

Socialist leader Maduro retains the support of Russia and China, US rivals who have offered him political and economic support Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States of plotting a "coup" against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in a dispute over Russian military assistance for the crisis-hit country.

Lavrov said "attempts by Washington to organise a coup d'etat in Venezuela" such moves "constitute violations of the UN charter and undisguised interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state". Russian state news agency Sputnik reported that two Russian military planes delivered troops and equipment to Venezuela over the weekend. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier warned Russia that the United States will not "stand idly by" as Moscow inserts military personnel into Venezuela to support Maduro.  Pompeo said Russian military reinforcements were prolonging the political crisis in the South American country. 

             Former Nepal Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal  - "The people of Nepal have friendly relations with both India and China that are the emerging super  powers in the  world. Socialism is the  future of the world one of the main goals in the Nepali constitution is to strive to achieve socialism. The people of Nepal had over thrown monarchy and had opted for people’s government. Communist parties have bright future everywhere in the world".

"Certain groups calling for reverting to the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ concept in Nepal, those calling for is a minority in the country. The country is a secular country.The State is above everything".

                           U.S. administration official said “We need to see Pakistan taking concrete and sustained action to rein in the terrorist groups, mainly Jaish-e-Muhammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba in order to ensure that we don’t have re-escalation (of tensions) in the region”. a senior Trump administration official said. 

“If there’s any additional terrorist attack without Pakistan having made a sustained, sincere effort against these groups, it would be extremely problematic for Pakistan and it would cause re-escalation of tensions, which is dangerous for both countries”. a senior Trump administration official said.

“The terrorist leaders are sometimes still allowed to travel around the country, hold rallies, “the official said. “Expressing China has a responsibility to not shield Pakistan and join the global community in calling on Pakistan to take action against terrorists operating from its soil”. a senior Trump administration official said.

          “When Pulwama happened, I felt that Modi’s government used that to build this war hysteria.” Pak PM Imran Khan told the Financial Times.  “The Indian public should realize that this is all for winning the elections.  It’s nothing to do with the real issues of the subcontinent.”

“There is Jaish-e-Mohammad in India, the boy who blew himself up, the 19year old boy, was a Kashmiri-Indian boy,” Khan said.  “His parents said he was radicalized bys ome abuse by the security force.  So it was an Indian boy, Indian operation, Indian car, Indian explosive.  Why was Pakistan blamed?”

“We cannot take the stance any more where you have these armed groups in our country.”  “We cannot afford being blamed for any terrorist activity like Pulwama.”