VIF Information Alerts - 21 November 2019

Hong Kong human rights bill clears US Congress, is sent to Donald Trump to sign into law
Published: South China Morning Post

21 Nov 2019

The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the Senate’s version of legislation that could pave the way for diplomatic action and economic sanctions against Hong Kong, moving the bill to US President Donald Trump. He is expected to sign the bill into law, Bloomberg reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.Click here to read... [2]

More countries affected by terrorism even as deaths fall
Published: The Straits Times

21 Nov 2019

The number of global deaths from terrorism fell 15.2 per cent last year, even as the number of countries affected by extremist violence continued to grow, the 2019 Global Terrorism Index showed. From a high of 33,555 deaths in 2014, when the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) lured tens of thousands of extremists to the Middle East, terrorism deaths more than halved to 15,952 last year, the index published by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) showed.Click here to read... [3]

Pakistan with China tries to put 4 Indians on UN terror list
Published: Hindustan Times

21 Nov 2019

Officials in the national security agencies and South Block are now convinced that Pakistan has embarked on a tit-for-tat designation of Indian nationals as terrorists under the UN Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaida sanctions committee as a response to India’s success, with assistance from the US and France, in having got Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Masood Azhar designated as a global terrorist on May 1.
Last week, Pakistan, with the support of UN Security Council permanent member and its all-weather ally China moved the 1267 Al Qaida sanctions committee to designate two Indians global terrorists after accusing them of past terror attacks in Balochistan and Peshawar, and even registered FIRs against them.Click here to read... [4]

US okays sale of naval guns worth $1 bn to India, focus on supremacy in Arabian Sea
Published: The Economic Times

21 Nov 2019

The US has approved the sale of 13 naval guns and related equipment worth $1 billion to India to help it "meet current and future threats, according to the Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
The DSCA said on Wednesday that the State Department approved the sale of the anti-surface warfare and anti-air defence MK 45 5 inch/62 calibre (MOD 4) naval guns and the agency notified Congress about it on Tuesday, clearing the way for the deal to go through.Click here to read... [5]

India, Singapore agree to hold trilateral maritime exercise annually
Published: The Hindu

20 Nov 2019

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held wide-ranging talks with his Singapore counterpart Ng Eng Hen in Singapore on November 20 during which the two sides agreed to conduct the trilateral maritime exercise involving Singapore, India and Thailand annually from next year. The first Singapore-India-Thailand maritime exercise (SITMEX) was held in the Andaman Sea in September as part of the security and safety of Indo-Pacific sea lines.Click here to read... [6]