Venezuelan oppn leader Machado presents Nobel medal to Trump at White House

IANS | January 16, 2026 6:25 AM

Washington, Jan 16 (IANS) Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado said she presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump during a closed-door meeting at the White House, framing the gesture as a historic symbol of shared struggles for freedom between the two nations.

IMF signals upgrading India’s growth forecast

Lalit K Jha | January 16, 2026 6:14 AM

Washington, Jan 16 (IANS) The International Monetary Fund (IMF) signaled that it is likely to upgrade India’s growth forecast after the country’s economy expanded more strongly than expected in the latest quarter, reaffirming India’s role as a key driver of global growth.

India-funded school building opens in Nepal's Baitadi

IANS | January 15, 2026 11:39 PM

Kathmandu, Jan 15 (IANS) A school building built with a grant from the Indian government was inaugurated on Thursday in Patan Municipality of Baitadi district in Nepal's Sudurpaschim Province, the Indian Embassy said.

Jets, gas and economic fragility — high-risk Pakistan is badly trapped

Vivek Y Kelkar | January 15, 2026 8:45 PM

New Delhi: Pakistan is trying to sell two futures at once — and neither is guaranteed. Even as Islamabad markets the JF-17 as a “budget multirole” fighter to cash-strapped air forces, it is simultaneously advertising its coastline as the next energy frontier, awarding offshore oil and gas blocks after years of exploration disappointment. The spectacle is revealing: a state scrambling to monetise both defence and geology because it lacks the one commodity that matters most — a strong economy.

Blaming IMF bailouts an attempt by Pak to gloss over its own dereliction of duty: Report

IANS | January 15, 2026 7:36 PM

New Delhi, Jan 15 (IANS) Pakistan’s current state of affairs cannot drive the 250 million-strong population towards sustained progress due to cross-cutting constraints affecting all 20 priority export products and six export drivers, a media report has stressed, highlighting that blaming the IMF will not do any good for the country, which is massively suffering across economic parameters.