WORLD

At least four people were killed in the Bangladeshi city of Chittagong on Friday after police fired rubber bullets at protesters during a demonstration against the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a police official said.

"We had to fire teargas and rubber bullets to disperse them as they entered a police station and carried out extensive vandalism," Rafiqul Islam, the police official told Reuters, referring to protesters.

Protests against Modi's visit were also flared in the capital Dhaka, where dozens of people, including two journalists, were injured in clashes with police, witnesses said.

India has had a longstanding relationship with Russia for security cooperation and for armaments and the Biden administration should encourage New Delhi to move away from Moscow rather than take the route of sanctions for the purchase of major defence equipment like the S-400 missile system, a top US admiral has told lawmakers.

Admiral John Aquilino, during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday to be the next commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command or INDOPACOM, was responding to a question from Senator Jeanne Shaheen on India's decision to purchase the S-400 missile system from Russia.

"Should we sanction India if they acquire the S-400?" Shaheen asked.

"I would leave that to the policymakers to determine... I think we certainly should understand where we are with India and I think potentially the encouragement angle in providing alternatives might be a better approach," Aquilino replied.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will testify as a witness before a long-running corruption inquiry for four days late next month, the presidency said on Wednesday. 

Ramaphosa will give evidence to the inquiry, chaired by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo and established to test allegations that former President Jacob Zuma allowed three businessmen, who were close to him to plunder state resources and influence government appointments while he was in power. 

Zuma was ousted by the governing African National Congress (ANC) in February 2018, and his successor Ramaphosa has been battling to revive investor confidence dented by widespread corruption implicating senior politicians. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday pledged to rebuild and revitalise the transatlantic military alliance after a bruising four years when Washington portrayed NATO as outdated, divided and in crisis.

The first top US official to visit NATO since President Joe Biden took office in January, Blinken said the alliance was at a pivotal moment but could emerge stronger after internal disputes over Turkey and Russian gas. 

"I've come here to express the United States' steadfast commitment (to NATO)," Blinken told reporters as he met NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. "The United States wants to rebuild our partnerships, first and foremost with our NATO allies, we want to revitalise the alliance." 

The Tatopani crossing in the east, similarly, opened up in October 2020 after several months of shutdown, but here, too, traders reported similar problems as in Rasuwa.

The closure of the borders—despite the damage wrought by the pandemic and because of China’s insistence that Nepal had not established adequate screening procedures—once again highlighted the unequal nature of bilateral relations. Nepal was unable to convince China about its safety processes, and the latter ignored the fact that the Tatopani and the Rasuwa crossings had emerged as important trade routes for Nepali entrepreneurs and transporters in the aftermath of the 2015 Indian blockade.