Asia

British built East China museum to open to public on October 1

Liangzhu Culture Museum, ChinaHangzhou (China), Aug. 30: A British architect has completed the Liangzhu Culture Museum in east China's Zhejiang Province and it will open to the public from October 1.

The museum will contain relics of ancient villages, nobles' tombs with exquisite jade burial artifacts, imperial graveyards, sacrificial altars and large-scale mountain structures in Liangzhu Town marks essential evidence of China's 5,000 years of history," China News quoted Zhang Zhongpei, the ex-curator of the Forbidden City Museum in Beijing, as saying.

Indo-Bangladesh Home Secretary level talks to begin today

Indo-BangladeshDhaka, Aug 30: The ninth Home Secretary level talks between India and Bangladesh will begin here today.

The Indian delegation will be headed by the Union Home Secretary, Madhukar Gupta and the Bangladesh delegation by their Secretary, Ministry of Home Affair, Mohammad Abdul Karim.

The meeting is expected to discuss various security related issues, border management issues as well as ways of enhancing cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both sides.

Asian Development Bank issues 1.25-billion-dollar global bonds

Manila - The Asian Development Bank said Friday that it returned to the US dollar bond market with a 1.25-billion-dollar five-year global benchmark bond issue.

The Manila-based bank said the proceeds of the issue would be used to finance its non-concessional operations.

It added that it plans to raise about 9 billion dollars in 2008.

Thursday's issue was lead-managed by BNP Paribas, JP Morgan and Nomura. The bonds are to mature on September 5, 2013, and were priced at 99.552 per cent to yield 67.25 basis points over the 3.375 per cent US Treasury note.

"We are very satisfied with the transaction and the robust demand from investors, which resulted in an oversubscribed book," bank treasurer Mikio Kashiwagi said.

India offers help to Nepal to cope with floods

Nepal's Foreign Affairs Upendra YadavNew Delhi, Aug 29: Nepal's Foreign Affairs Upendra Yadav has said that India has offered to help his country in tackling floods.

Yadav, the chief of the debutant Terai party, Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, discussed issues of mutual importance to both countries with his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday and was happy to receive help from India.

"We talked about solving the problem of floods and related problems faced by Nepal. Pranab Mukherjee said the Indian Government will help us in that," Yadav said.

Indo-Bangladesh Home Secretary level talks to begin today

Indo-BangladeshDhaka, Aug 29: The 9th Home Secretary level talks between India and Bangladesh will begin here today.

The two-day meeting is expected to discuss various security related issues, border management issues as well as ways of enhancing cooperation between the law enforcement agencies of both sides.

The Indian delegation is led by the Union Home Secretary, Madhukar Gupta and the Bangladesh delegation by their Secretary, Ministry of Home Affair, Mohammad Abdul Karim.

The last meeting was held at Delhi on August 2-3, 2007.

Philippine military vows not to hamper Ramadan despite offensive

Philippines MilitaryManila - The Philippine military on Friday vowed not to hamper the observance of Ramadan by Muslims in the country's southern region despite rejecting calls to halt an offensive against Muslims rebels during Islam's holy month.

Government troops have been conducting airstrikes and ground assaults against Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in various areas in the southern region of Mindanao since earlier in the month when the guerrillas launched a spate of deadly attacks.

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