"Two months after he failed to win a badly needed easing of sanctions from President Donald Trump, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is travelling to Russia in a possible attempt to win its help as the US-led trade sanctions hurt his country’s already-struggling economy.

The sanctions, toughened over the past several years, are gradually drying up Kim’s foreign currency reserves and he is desperate to find ways to bring in hard currency.  His propaganda service is already saying that Koreans can survive with only “water and air”.

Russia, along with China, has called  for the easing of the sanctions, though both are members of the UN Security Council, which has approved a total of 11 rounds of sanctions on North Korea since 2006."                                    Bloomberg

      "70% of Australia’s print circulation “is on one person’s hands”, citing “the power of the Murdoch media” as a cause of leadership instability.“[Rupert] Murdoch – who I’ve met many times – is ideologically, deeply conservative, deeply protective of his corporation’s commercial interests and, therefore, prosecutes a direct agenda through his newspapers which I’ve been on the receiving end. Australians – including in the recent Wentworth by-election – were “enraged by politicians focusing on themselves and their own internals”.

Removing the focus on internal party dynamics would help create clear air for Australia to take international leadership on issues including climate change and refugee resettlement, he suggested.                                           Kevin Rudd,  former Australian pm

            "The Easter attacks in Sri Lanka that killed more than 350 people in churches and hotels showed how the warnings went largely unheeded.  It also exposed how a legacy of civil war, marginalization, political disarray and security lapses cultivated fertile ground for the militants to carry out their attacks. 

Bruce Hoffman, a senior fellow for counter terrorism said as far back as 22 years ago on his first visit to Sri Lanka,  there were Muslims who were concerned about people being radicalised. He said,  Easter attacks would have likely required an elaborate process of recruitment, radicalization and then sequestration to prepare suicide bombers for their mission." 

               "In January 1933, Adolf Hitlar was appointed Chancellor of Germany.  Within two months, the Nazis had passed the Enabling Act of 1933, which allowed Hitlar’s cabinet to pass laws without parliamentary consent.  Six years later, this culminated in World War II, but one of its first major impacts was to put into effect an anti-Semitic policy.  The result, as we all know, was a genocide that claimed millions of lives, and changed many more.....perhaps for generations to come."    Madhulika Liddle

      " China’s military expenditure is almost four times that of India, with the latter’s armed forces also getting hobbled by a ballooning revenue expenditure and pension bill.  The US, of course, is the world’s largest spender on defence, with a military expenditure almost equal to the next eight countries combined.

Latest data released by global think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show the total world military expenditure rose by 2.6% to  $1,822billion in 2018.  “The five biggest spenders in 2018 were the US($649billion), China($250billion), Saudi Arabia($67.6billion),  India(66.5billion) and France($63.8billion), which together accounted for 60% of the global military spending.”"                              Rajat.Pandit

       "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. 

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