Bangladesh to import rice from Vietnam and India to replenish reserves

The price for the parboiled rice from Vietnam will be $521 a ton and white rice $494 a ton. (Reuters)
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Updated 29 August 2022
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Bangladesh to import rice from Vietnam and India to replenish reserves

DHAKA: Bangladesh is finalizing deals with Vietnam and India to import a total of 330,000 tons of rice as it races to replenish reserves and cool domestic prices, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday.

Soaring prices of the staple grain for the country’s 165 million people pose a problem for the government, which plans to expand cut-price rice sales to help people hard-hit by high costs.

The south Asian country will buy 100,000 tons of parboiled rice from an Indian public sector firm and 200,000 tons of parboiled rice and 30,000 tons of white rice from Vietnam, the government officials said.

The price for the parboiled rice from Vietnam will be $521 a ton and white rice $494 a ton, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deals have not been made public.

The price for rice from neighboring India will be $443.50 per ton via seaports and $428.50 per ton via railways, the officials said. All the prices included freight, insurance and unloading costs, they said.

“Preparations are underway to sign the deals soon,” one of the officials said, adding the rice would be delivered within two to three months after the signing.

The Bangladesh government is also holding talks with Myanmar to import rice, the officials said, putting aside a rift over the Rohingya refugee crisis.

Bangladesh this week slashed import duty on rice to 15 percent from 25 percent, cutting it for the second time since July in a bid to boost private imports.

Its private rice import plan, however, faces a setback with only 36,000 tons bought since July, after the government allowed private traders to import nearly 1 million tons of the staple grain after slashing duty to 25.0 percent from 62.5 percent.

The government will begin selling rice at a cheaper rate for 5 million poor families and expand such sales from September, in an effort to rein in surging domestic prices, which saw yet another uptick after it hiked domestic oil prices early this month.

Bangladesh, traditionally the world’s third-biggest rice producer with around 35 million tons annually, uses almost all its production to feed its people. It still often requires imports to cope with shortages caused by floods or droughts.


South Korea prosecutors file request to detain ex-president Yoon

Updated 56 sec ago
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South Korea prosecutors file request to detain ex-president Yoon

  • Former leader facing charges related to insurrection from when he declared martial law last year
SEOUL: South Korean special prosecutors on Sunday filed a request to detain former President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to insurrection from when he declared martial law last year, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
“Detention request is related to allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice,” the statement from the special counsel of prosecutors investigating the December 3 incident said.
Yoon’s martial law decree was lifted about six hours after it was announced when lawmakers, who had been forced to scale the walls of the assembly building to make it through a ring of security forces, voted the decree down.
Yoon was summoned on Saturday for hours of questioning by the special counsel as part of the probe over the insurrection charges, according to the counsel officials.
Yoon’s lawyer was not immediately available for comment on Sunday.

Switzerland reopens its embassy in Tehran after two-week closure

Updated 14 sec ago
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Switzerland reopens its embassy in Tehran after two-week closure

VIENNA: Switzerland, which also represents US interests in Iran, has reopened its embassy in Tehran after a closure due to the air war between Israel and Iran, the Swiss foreign ministry said on Sunday.
“Ambassador Nadine Olivieri Lozano and a small team returned to Tehran yesterday overland via Azerbaijan. The embassy will gradually resume operations,” the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. It had been closed since June 20.


Taiwan says China opening flight path raises regional unease

Updated 06 July 2025
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Taiwan says China opening flight path raises regional unease

  • Chinese civil aviation authority opened another west-to-east connecting route above the sensitive waterway
  • Statement: China ‘unilaterally violated the consensus’ three times by launching the routes without consulting Taiwan

TAIPEI: Taipei condemned Sunday China’s move to open a sensitive aviation route that runs through the Taiwan Strait, warning the change could increase tensions between the two sides and “regional unease.”

Taiwan’s top China policy body criticized Beijing after its civil aviation authority opened another west-to-east connecting route above the sensitive waterway.

China has shown “complete disregard for the consensus of both sides and Taiwan’s public opinion, using unilateral actions to change the status quo and increase cross-strait and regional unease,” Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said.

Beijing adjusted the M503 north-to-south route through the Taiwan Strait in January 2024 and opened two west-to-east connecting flight paths months later.

The newly-activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua said Sunday, quoted by state news agency Xinhua.

But Taipei’s Mainland Affairs Council denied there had been an increase in air traffic.

It said China had “unilaterally violated the consensus” three times by launching the routes without consulting Taiwan and urged Beijing to engage in negotiations.

“The current cross-strait and Asia-Pacific situation is complex, the Mainland’s unilateral actions will escalate regional tensions, which no party wishes to see,” the Council said.

Beijing insists democratic Taiwan is part of its territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the self-ruled island under its control.

Beijing regularly deploys fighter jets, warships and coast guard ships near Taiwan, and has held several major military exercises around the island in recent years.


Japan PM says won’t ‘easily compromise’ to Trump on tariffs

Updated 06 July 2025
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Japan PM says won’t ‘easily compromise’ to Trump on tariffs

  • American President Trump has said he was going to write a letter to Japan, asking it to “pay a 30 percent, 35 percent or whatever the number is that we determine,” and called the bilateral trade relation “unfair”

TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday he won’t “easily compromise” in talks with Washington as Tokyo seeks to avert President Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs of up to 35 percent on Japanese goods.
“We will not easily compromise. That’s why it is taking time and why it is tough,” Ishiba told a television talk show.
His comments came as Japan rushes to negotiate with the Trump administration before the Wednesday deadline for trade deals.
While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 percent tariff on imports from most trading partners in April, he unveiled — then paused — higher rates on dozens of economies including Japan to allow room for negotiations.
This pause will expire July 9, meaning the elevated rates are due to kick in if countries fail to reach agreements with Washington to avert them.
Trump has said he was going to write a letter to Japan, asking it to “pay a 30 percent, 35 percent or whatever the number is that we determine,” and called the bilateral trade relation “unfair.”
He has particularly pressed Japan to accept more US automobiles and rice.
Ryosei Akazawa, Tokyo’s trade envoy, held telephone calls with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday and Saturday.
In the Sunday television show, Ishiba reiterated that Japan, as the biggest investor nation in the US economy, should be treated differently from other countries.
“What is unfair? How is it unfair? We need to examine each one” of the US claims, he said.
“We are allies, but we have to say what we have to say. We are the world’s largest investor nation and the largest job creator (in the US). We are different,” he said.
On another Sunday television show, Ishiba said Japan was “preparing to deal with all kinds of situations,” when asked about how he plans to deal with Trump’s letter.


Colombia arrests man suspected of organizing hit on politician

Updated 06 July 2025
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Colombia arrests man suspected of organizing hit on politician

  • Arteaga Hernandez, who has a long criminal record and a file with Interpol, coordinated the attack, hired the shooter and provided him with a gun, police said

BOGOTA: Colombian police probing the attempted assassination of a prominent right-wing presidential candidate arrested on Saturday a man they believe hired the teenager accused of pulling the trigger.
Elder Jose Arteaga Hernandez was described by police as a key planner of the June 7 attack on conservative senator Miguel Uribe, who remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Arteaga Hernandez organized “the before of the attack, the during, and the after,” said police chief Carlos Fernando Triana Beltran.
Uribe, 39, was shot three times, including twice in the head, during a campaign rally in a park in Bogota.
Police have now arrested five suspects, including the 15-year-old alleged hitman.
Arteaga Hernandez, who has a long criminal record and a file with Interpol, coordinated the attack, hired the shooter and provided him with a gun, police said.
The shooter is believed to belong to a network of contract killers.
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said that Arteaga Hernandez “had allegedly negotiated the execution of the crime” for the equivalent of about $250,000.
“He planned the cover, the movements, and even ordered one of his accomplices to be silenced after the incident,” Sanchez posted on X.
Uribe’s attorney, Victor Mosquera, has said the probe had revealed a “structured organization” with a “history of attacks on right-wing leaders.”
Uribe, a member of the Democratic Center party, announced his intention last October to run in the May 2026 presidential election.