Japan to offer India USD 42bn in investments during Fumio Kishida's visit: Report
Tokyo, Mar 19: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to announce a plan to invest 5 trillion yen (USD 42 billion) in India over the next five years during his visit to the country on Saturday, according to a media report.
The 5 trillion yen goal exceeds the 3.5 trillion yen in investment and financing over the five years that the then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced during his 2014 visit to India, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported.
Japan is currently supporting India's urban infrastructure development as well as a high-speed railway based on Japan's shinkansen bullet train technology.
Prime Minister Kishida is due to reveal the public-private funding during an economic forum. He is expected to pledge growth in direct investment in terms of value, as well as an increase in Japanese companies expanding into India, the prominent business newspaper said.
Kishida is also poised to agree to an approximately 300 billion yen loan during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. An energy cooperation document concerning carbon reduction is expected to be signed between the two sides, it said.
During Saturday's public-private forum, Kishida is also expected to express his support to further infrastructure development in India with the goal of drawing Japanese companies to build factories, the paper said.
India represents the first leg of Kishida's three-day tour. He is scheduled to visit Cambodia on Sunday to meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen.
Japan and India are party to the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a security framework known as the Quad that includes the US and Australia. Cambodia serves as this year's chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Kishida plans to confirm the strengthening of security arrangements with Russia's invasion of Ukraine in mind.
In 2020, Japan and India signed an acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, which allows for reciprocal provisions of food, fuel and other supplies between the Indian army and Japan's Self-Defense Forces. Kishida and Modi are to reaffirm that they will push that deal forward, the paper said.
Kishida and Modi are expected to agree to convene a two-plus-two meeting between the two countries' diplomatic and defence chiefs at an early date.
This will be Kishida's first overseas trip as prime minister since he traveled to Great Britain in November.
Kishida, 64, is the president of the Liberal Democratic Party since 2021.
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Viral video claiming Australian PM cancelled Pakistani visas after Bondi Beach attack is fake
New Delhi: A video circulating on social media claiming that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the cancellation of all Pakistani visas following the recent terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach has been found to be false and digitally manipulated.
The six-second clip was widely shared on X and Facebook. The video allegedly showed Albanese making the announcement in the aftermath of the December 14 attack.
An X user Tyagi (@mktyaggi) had shared the video on December 14. He claimed that the Australian government had decided to revoke all Pakistani visas after the incident and the post received nearly 50,000 views. A similar claim was amplified by another X account, Tiger Raja Satire (@TigerRajaSinggh), whose post garnered over 82,000 views and without verification, the video was also shared by multiple Facebook users
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A closer examination of the clip by Alt News revealed that the visible lip-sync discrepancies and suspicion about its authenticity. No credible reports of any Australian government decision to cancel Pakistani visas following the attack were found on any platforms.
To verify the source of the visuals, a reverse image search was conducted by Alt News, using key frames from the viral video. This led to several news reports published in August 2022 by The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times and The Age, which featured Anthony Albanese wearing the same attire and standing against the same backdrop. Those reports related to a parliamentary discussion on the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament and had no connection to the Bondi Beach incident.
There was no announcement regarding Pakistani visa holders during the press conference and authorities have also clarified that no link to Pakistan has been established in connection with the attack.
Police said, with roots in Tolichowki in Hyderabad, the attacker Sajid Akram had Indian lineage and had migrated to Australia in 1998 on a student visa. He had visited India only on a few occasions for family-related reasons. Officials further stated that the factors leading to the radicalisation of Sajid and his son did not appear to have any connection with India or local influences in Telangana. While Sajid held an Indian passport, his children were born in Australia and were Australian citizens.
