Chandrayaan-3: India lunar rover Pragyaan takes a walk on the Moon
India's Moon rover has taken first steps on the lunar surface a day after the country made history by becoming the first to land near the south pole.
Chandrayaan-3's rover "ramped down" from the lander and "India took a walk on the Moon!", the space agency said.
The Vikram lander successfully touched down as planned on Wednesday evening.
With this, India joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China.
The 26kg rover called Pragyaan (the Sanskrit word for wisdom) was carried to the Moon in the Vikram lander's belly.
After the dust raised by last evening's landing had settled, panels on one side of Vikram opened to deploy a ramp to enable Pragyaan to slide down to the lunar surface.
It will now roam around the rocks and craters, gathering crucial data and images to be sent back to Earth for analysis.
Pragyaan is carrying two scientific instruments which will try to find out what minerals are present on the lunar surface and study the chemical composition of the soil.
Pragyaan will communicate only with the lander which will send the information to the orbiter from Chandrayaan-2 - which is still circling the Moon - to pass it on to the Earth for analysis.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has said that the rover will move at a speed of 1cm per second - with each step it will also leave on the Moon's surface the imprint of Isro's logo and emblem embossed on its six wheels.
The landing coincides with the start of a lunar day - a day on the Moon equals a little over four weeks on Earth and this will mean the lander and rover will have 14 days of sunlight to charge their batteries.
Once night falls, they will discharge and stop working. It is not yet clear whether they will come back to life when the next lunar day starts.
The lander is also carrying several scientific instruments which will help find out what goes on the Moon's surface and above and below it.
Moon is thought to hold important minerals but one of the major goals of Chandrayaan-3 is to hunt for water - scientists say the huge craters in the south pole region which are permanently in shadow hold ice which could support human habitation on the Moon in future.
It could also be used for supplying propellant for spacecraft headed to Mars and other distant destinations.
Sixty Afghan girls hospitalised after school poisoning, says police
KABUL,
June 5 (Reuters) - Around 60 Afghan girls were hospitalised after being
poisoned at their school in northern Afghanistan, police said on Monday.
The poisoning, which targeted a girls' school in the Afghan province of Sar-e Pol, comes after intense scrutiny of girls' education in the war-torn nation since the Taliban took over and barred most teenage female students and after a wave of poison attacks on girls' schools in neighbouring Iran.
"Some unknown people entered a girls' ... school in Sancharak District .. and poisoned the classes, when the girls come to classes they got poisoned," said Den Mohammad Nazari, Sar-e-Pol's police spokesperson, without elaborating on which substance was used or who was thought to be behind the incident.
Nazari said the girls had been taken to ho.spital but were in "good condition." No one had been arrested.
In neighbouring Iran, poisoning incidents at girls' schools sickened an estimated 13,000 mostly female students since November.
During Afghanistan's previous foreign-backed government, several poisoning attacks, including suspected gas attacks, on girls' schools had taken place.
The Taliban administration has prevented most female students from attending highschool and university since taking over in 2021, sparking condemnation from international governments and many Afghans.
Taliban authorities have kept primary schools open for girls, up until the age of around 12 and say they are in favour of female education under certain conditions.
New US video showing close-call
in Taiwan Strait with Chinese destroyer.
The United States military released a video Monday of what it called an “unsafe” Chinese manoeuvre in the Taiwan Strait on the weekend, in which a Chinese navy ship cut sharply across the path of an American destroyer, forcing the US vessel to slow to avoid a collision.
The incident occurred Saturday as the American destroyer USS Chung-Hoon and Canadian frigate HMCS Montreal were conducting a so-called “freedom of navigation” transit of the strait between Taiwan and mainland China.
China claims the democratic self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its own territory, and maintains the strait is part of its exclusive economic zone, while the US and its allies regularly sail through and fly over the passage to emphasise their contention that the waters are international.
During the Saturday transit, the Chinese guided-missile destroyer overtook the Chung-Hoon on its port side, then veered across its bow at a distance of some 137 meters, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command. The American destroyer held its course, but reduced speed to 10 knots “to avoid a collision,” the military said.
The video released Monday shows the Chinese ship cutting across the course of the American one, then straightening out to start sailing in a parallel direction.
The Indo-Pacific Command said the actions violated maritime rules of safe passage in international water.
The Chinese ship did not attempt a similar maneuver on the Canadian frigate, which was sailing behind the American destroyer. “Chung-Hoon and Montreal’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the combined US-Canadian commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the Indo-Pacific Command said. “The US military flies, sails, and operates safely and responsibly anywhere international law allows.”
The US recently accused China of also performing an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” in the air, saying a Chinese J-16 fighter jet late last month flew directly in front of the nose of a US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.
The close-calls have raised concerns of a possible accident that could lead to an escalation between the two countries’ militaries at a time when tensions in the region are already high.
The incident in the Taiwan Strait came on a day when both US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu were in Singapore for an annual defense conference. Li on Sunday suggested that the US and its allies have created the danger with their patrols, and was intent on provoking China.
“The best way is for the countries, especially the naval vessels and fighter jets of countries, not to do closing actions around other countries’ territories,” he said through an interpreter. “What’s the point of going there? In China we always say, ‘Mind your own business.’”Austin had invited Li to talk on the sidelines of the conference; Li refused.
Police detain 23 people in Hong Kong on
Tiananmen crackdown anniversary.
Police in Hong Kong have detained several pro-democracy activists on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Authorities have banned public commemoration of the 1989 incident, which saw China crush peaceful protests in Beijing with tanks and troops.
However, candlelight vigils have been taking place in other cities worldwide.
Among those detained was 67-year-old Alexandra Wong, a prominent campaigner nicknamed "Grandma Wong".
Amid a tense evening in Hong Kong, she was arrested while carrying flowers near Victoria Park, where vigils had been held for decades.
The leader of one of Hong Kong's main opposition parties was among those arrested. Chan Po Ying, a veteran pro-democracy activist who heads the League of Social Democrats party, was holding an LED candle and two flowers.
Mak Yin Ting, former head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, was also detained and subsequently released. Police later said they had made one arrest and taken 23 people to police stations for investigation.
The UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Volker Turk, said on Twitter that he was alarmed by the detentions and called for the release of "anyone detained for exercising freedom of expression and peaceful assembly".
Events to mark the 1989 massacre in Beijing are banned in mainland China.
For decades, Hong Kong was the only Chinese city where these commemorations were allowed, under the city's semi-autonomous economic, political and legal set up - known as "one country, two systems" - established when the city handed over to China by the UK in 1997.
But public events to mark the anniversary have since been outlawed, after the Chinese government imposed a strict national security law outlawing many forms of dissent in 2020.
The annual commemorations have not been held since 2019, after being initially banned under Hong Kong's Covid regulations.
This year, a pro-Beijing carnival is being held in Victoria Park instead.
Ms Wong was quickly surrounded by police and driven away on Sunday in the city's Causeway Bay area.
Nearby Victoria Park has hosted annual candlelit vigils to mark Tiananmen Square since 1990, often drawing tens of thousands of people to mark the day, known as June Fourth in much of China.
Hong Kong Police have deployed thousands of officers at key sites in the city, stopping people to search and question them.
Officers set up booths outside the metro station near Victoria Park to search passers-by, including journalists.
Two Chinese-made "Sabre-tooth Tiger" armoured vehicles have also be stationed in the area in what appears to be a show of force by police.
Ahead of anticipated protests, the city's government has also removed books on the Tiananmen crackdown from public libraries.
One of those detained was a woman who shouted "Raise candles! Mourn 64!" while another was a man carrying a book with the title "May 35th" - both references to the 4 June date of the killings.
Others have been detained while holding unlit candles or wearing yellow clothing, the colour of the now-dismantled pro-democracy movement.
On Saturday, four people were arrested on suspicion of disturbing order in a public place or acting with seditious intent - both new offences under the controversial 2020 law.
What happened in the Tiananmen Square protests?
What is Hong Kong's national security law?
Dozens of candlelight vigils have been taking place around the world on Sunday to remember those killed by the Chinese military in response to the crackdown.
In Taiwan, the democratic, self-governing island China claims as its territory and has vowed to take control of by force if necessary, hundreds of people gathered to mark the anniversary.
Chants of "fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong" were heard from the crowds in the capital, Taipei, who had set up a replica of the "Pillar of Shame" - a famous statue at the University of Hong Kong commemorating the dead at Tiananmen Square that was removed in 2021.
Many involved also hope the vigils will continue the spirit of Hong Kong's once-vibrant civil society and political community, which has now largely fallen silent because so many have been imprisoned under the national security law, or have left Hong Kong altogether.
The Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing became the focus for national demonstrations calling for greater political freedoms in 1989.
Thousands of people - the majority of which were students - camped for weeks in the iconic Beijing square before the military moved in on 4 June and opened fire.
One unidentified protester became an international symbol of protest for blocking an advancing column of tanks in footage that was seen around the world.
The Chinese government says 200 civilians and several dozen security personnel died. Other estimates have ranged from hundreds to as many as 10,000.
The actions of the authorities have been seen by activists as part of China's broader agenda to snuff out political dissent in Hong Kong.
Plane over Washington causes military jet to scramble; later crashes in Virginia.
A
wayward and unresponsive business plane that flew over the nation's capital on
June 4 afternoon caused the military to scramble a fighter jet before the plane
crashed in Virginia, officials said. The fighter jet caused a loud sonic boom
that was heard across the capital region.
The Federal Aviation Administration says the Cessna Citation took off from Elizabethtown, Tennessee, on June 4 and was headed for Long Island’s MacArthur Airport. Inexplicably, the plane turned around over New York’s Long Island and flew a straight path down over D.C. before it crashed over mountainous terrain near Montebello, Virginia, around 3:30 p.m.
It was not immediately clear why the plane was nonresponsive, why it crashed or how many people were on board. The plane flew directly over the nation's capital, though it was technically flying above some of the most heavily restricted airspace in the nation.
A U.S. official confirmed to The Associated Press that the military jet had scrambled to respond to the small plane, which wasn't responding to radio transmissions and later crashed. The official was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the military operation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Flight tracking sites showed the jet suffered a rapid spiralling descent, dropping at one point at a rate of more than 30,000 feet per minute before crashing in the St. Mary’s Wilderness.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command later said in a statement that the F-16 was authorized to travel at supersonic speeds, which caused a sonic boom that was heard in Washington and parts of Virginia and Maryland.
“During this event, the NORAD aircraft also used flares— which may have been visible to the public – in an attempt to draw attention from the pilot,” the statement said. “Flares are employed with the highest regard for the safety of the intercepted aircraft and people on the ground. Flares burn out quickly and completely and there is no danger to the people on the ground when dispensed.”
Virginia State Police said officers were notified of the potential crash shortly before 4 p.m. Police were still working to find the plane on Sunday evening but hadn’t located it, police spokesperson Corinne Geller said.
The plane that crashed was registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne Inc, which is based in Florida. John Rumpel, who runs the company, told The New York Times that his daughter, 2-year-old granddaughter, her nanny and the pilot were aboard the plane. They were returning to their home in East Hampton, on Long Island, after visiting his house in North Carolina, he said.
Rumpel, a pilot, told the newspaper he didn't have much information from authorities but hoped his family didn't suffer and suggested the plane could've lost pressurization.
“I don’t think they’ve found the wreckage yet,” Mr. Rumpel told the newspaper. “It descended at 20,000 feet a minute, and nobody could survive a crash from that speed.”
A woman who identified herself as Barbara Rumpel, listed as the president of the company, said she had no comment on June 4 when reached by The Associated Press.
The episode brought back memories of the 1999 crash of a Learjet that lost cabin pressure and flew aimlessly across the country with professional golfer Payne Stewart aboard. The jet crashed in a South Dakota pasture and six people died.
President Joe Biden was playing golf at Joint Base Andrews around the time the fighter jet took off. Anthony Guglielmi, spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service, said the incident had no impact on the President’s movements Sunday. Mr. Biden was playing golf at the Maryland military base with his brother in the afternoon.
A White House official said the President had been briefed on the crash and that the sound of the scrambling aircraft was faint at Joint Base Andrews.
Sambalpur, Odisha3 Killed As Auto-Rickshaw Hits Truck Parked On Roadside In Odisha.
The
accident happened near the Padhanpali toll plaza on the Sambalpur-Rourkela Biju
Expressway in the Sason police station area, they said.
Sambalpur, Odisha: Three people were killed and five others injured after their auto-rickshaw hit a truck parked on the roadside in Odisha's Sambalpur district on Sunday, police said.
The accident happened near the Padhanpali toll plaza on the Sambalpur-Rourkela Biju Expressway in the Sason police station area, they said.
The dead were identified as Punam Bag, 13, her sister Nemsika Bag, 8, and their relative Benudhar Bag, 19. They were residents of Bhamarmal village in Kesinga police station area of Kalahandi district.
Police said eight people on the auto-rickshaw were going towards Khetrajpur railway station in Sambalpur from Nua Khurigaon in the Sason police station area.
After the accident, the injured persons were rushed to the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR) in Burla. However, three persons succumbed to their injuries at the hospital, police said.
The injured persons, including the driver of the auto-rickshaw, were undergoing treatment at VIMSAR.
The truck and the auto-rickshaw were seized, and the driver of the truck was detained, police said.
Further investigation into the incident was underway, they said.
Mumbai Decomposed Body Of Man Found Inside Mumbai Flat: Police.
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Mumbai
man found dead: The man's family has alleged that his wife murdered him, and
fled away. An investigation in the matter is underway
Mumbai man found dead: The decomposed body of a 23-year-old man was found at his residence in Mumbai's Sakinaka area on Tuesday. The man's family has alleged that his wife murdered him, and fled away. An investigation in the matter is underway, and the body has been sent for postmortem, informed Mumbai Police.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The decomposed body of a 23-year-old man was found at his residence in Mumbai's Sakinaka.
- The man's family has alleged that his wife murdered him, and fled away.
- The body has been sent for postmortem, informed Mumbai Police.
Mumbai Gold Worth Rs 6.2 Crore Seized At Mumbai Airport, 4 Arrested.
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By Divyesh Singh: More than 10 kg of gold worth nearly Rs 6.2 crore was seized by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) at Mumbai airport in two separate cases on June 3 and 4. Four air passengers were arrested in the operation.
In the first case, acting on specific intelligence info, the DRI officials intercepted two passengers who arrived from Sharjah to Mumbai on Air India Express Flight No. IX 252 on June 3. During the examination of the two passengers, eight gold bars of 24-karat having foreign markings, weighing 8 kg and valued at Rs 4.94 crore, were found hidden around their waist, in their clothing. Another aide of the passengers was frisked following further intelligence. The gold was seized and the trio arrested.
In the second case, an Indian national coming from Dubai was intercepted and frisked at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International (CSMI) Airport, Mumbai on June 4. The baggage of the passenger was examined and during the search, 56 ladies' clutches (purses) were recovered. All the purses were found to have ingenious concealment of 24-carat gold in the form of silver colour metal wires under the metallic strips of the clutches.
Railway Minister Prays As
Movement Resumes At Train Crash Site.
Odisha Train Accident: Videos showed the first train movement in the section as Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw prayed on the side-lines.
Restoration of the tracks where the worst train crash that India witnessed in decades occurred has been completed, 51 hours after the tragedy unfolded. Videos showed the first train movement in the section as Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw prayed on the side-lines.
"Everyone has done a great job. I feel great sadness for the affected families but we will get to the root cause of the incident and whoever is responsible will be severely punished," the Railways Minister said.
Earlier today the Railways ministry sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the three-train pile-up in Odisha's Balasore. More than 270 people have died in Friday's accident, which is being described as one of the worst in the country.
"Keeping in mind all that happened, the information that the administration has, the Railways board has made a recommendation that the investigation be handed over to the CBI," Railways minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters.
The Railways said due to a "signalling interference", the Coromandel Express met with an accident and its engine and coach crashed into a goods train laden with iron ore stationed on one of the loop lines. Critics, though, have flagged an audit report of railways which cited several serious lapses in rail safety. The report was tabled in the Parliament in September last year.
Post a comment On Sunday, the Odisha government revised the number of fatalities in the triple train accident, bringing it down to 275 from 288, and put the number of injured at 1,175. The figures indicate that it is the third worst rail disaster in the country.
233 dead, 900 injured as Coromandel, Yeswanthpur Express trains derail in Odisha
Coromandel Express accident Updates, June 3, 2023: At least 233 people are feared dead and more than 900 injured after 10-12 coaches of the Chennai-bound Coromandel Express derailed and fell on an adjacent track in the path of another train from Yeswanthpur to Howrah near Balasore in Odisha late last night. Scroll down for latest updates!
A massive rescue operation is underway at the accident site in Bahanaga Bazar near Balasore to retrieve people trapped in the derailed coaches. This is considered one of the deadliest train crashes in India in recent times.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw ordered for a high-level probe into the incident and announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh in case of death, Rs 2 lakh for the grievously injured and Rs 50,000 for those with minor injuries. Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has announced a one-day state mourning due to the accident.
Emergency helpline numbers: The Odisha government has also issued an emergency contact number — 06782-262286.
Trump blasts GOP rival DeSantis over his 'one-term' claim for ex-president.
The
Florida governor has repeatedly pitched voters that by backing him Republicans
could get a conservative president for two terms.
Donald
Trump is pushing back on Ron DeSantis for telling voters he is
preferable to the former president who can only serve one more term if elected.
The
Florida governor, Trump’s chief rival for the GOP nomination, has repeatedly
pitched voters that by backing him Republicans could get a conservative
president for two terms.
“When he says eight years, every time I hear it, I wince,” Trump, 76, told a standing-room only crowd Thursday at a Westside Conservative Club meeting near Des Moines, Iowa.
“Because they say if it takes eight years to turn this around, then you don’t want him as your president,” he added. Trump said it would only take him six months to get significant results.
Trump is following DeSantis, 44, on a campaign trip to Iowa, home to the first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses. DeSantis held five events across the state on Tuesday and Wednesday to officially kick off his presidential campaign.
DeSantis, dressed in jeans and a blue fleece vest Wednesday, told Iowa Republicans that they should nominate him because “it really does take two terms as president to be able to finish this job.”
Trump, dressed in his signature blue suit and red tie, is meeting privately with faith leaders on Thursday in Des Moines and also taping a Fox News town hall in Iowa that will air later Thursday.
He predicted during his speech at the Westside Conservative Club meeting that it would be a “nasty race.” He said in an interview on a Des Moines radio station on Wednesday that he’s attacking DeSantis because the governor is in second place and was disloyal. “This is a war of a certain kind,” Trump said in the interview.
Trump, who enjoys a 22-point advantage in the Real Clear Politics average of Iowa polls, predicted his campaign would have to “do some really bad things” to lose the state at this point. He bragged about the relief money he secured for farmers when he was in office.
The former president also answered questions at the meeting and took an implicit jab at DeSantis, who didn’t take audience questions during his events in Iowa and snapped at an Associated Press reporter who asked him about that.
“I see these politicians, they all don’t want to take questions. They read a speech,” Trump said.
Rishi Sunak's office declines to hand over WhatsApp chats for UK's Covid inquiry.
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Government
has refused for days to hand over the documents, arguing they are
“unambiguously irrelevant” to the official probe.
Rishi
Sunak’s administration refused a demand from the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry to hand
over former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and pandemic
diaries, setting up a legal battle that risks amplifying accusations of a
cover-up.
The
Cabinet Office on Thursday said it’s filing for a judicial review into the
request by Heather Hallett, the retired judge appointed by the government
itself to lead the inquiry for the documents.
The government has refused for days to hand over the documents, arguing they are “unambiguously irrelevant” to the official probe into how ministers and officials handled the coronavirus outbreak. The approach has opened Sunak up to accusations he is attempting to cover up sensitive information, and even some members of his governing Conservative Party have urged him to comply.
But shortly before the deadline to comply on Thursday, Sunak told reporters he was “confident” in the government position.
The Tories’ preferred line about the pandemic is to focus on the roll-out of vaccines that ended lockdowns and allowed the economy to re-open. But that ignores more controversial aspects, including testing shortages, allegations of corruption and the deaths of thousands of older Britons in care homes despite government assurances that measures were in place to protect them.
Both Johnson and Sunak — who was then Chancellor of the Exchequer — were fined for breaking rules imposed to slow the spread of Covid-19, while the former was also widely criticized for missing early emergency meetings about how the UK should respond to the crisis.
Meanwhile Sunak’s signature “Eat Out to Help Out” program to encourage people back into restaurants triggered a backlash from health experts, who said it helped to spread coronavirus.
Bloomberg reported this week that the government’s top lawyer, James Eadie, had advised it not to share information with the inquiry by default, and to block the release of “politically sensitive” material about the pandemic.
The Cabinet Office said this week it has provided upwards of 55,000 documents, 24 personal witness statements and eight corporate statements to the inquiry, and that Heather Hallett, a retired judge appointed by Johnson to lead the probe, does not have the power to request the information she had demanded.
White House announces sanctions in Sudan as warring sides fail to abide by cease.
The
White House announced Thursday that it will levy sanctions against people
"who are perpetuating the violence" in Sudan as warring sides fail to
abide by a cease-fire agreement.
The
United States is imposing visa restrictions on specific people in Sudan,
including officials from the warring Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid
Support Forces and leaders from the former Omar al-Bashir regime, who are
“responsible for, or complicit in, undermining Sudan’s democratic transition,”
according to the State Department.
President Joe Biden on May 4 laid the groundwork for the sanctions when he issued an executive order that expanded U.S. authorities to respond to the violence and help bring an end to the conflict.
“These measures are intended to hold accountable those responsible for undermining the peace, security, and stability of Sudan,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that four companies are being designated: Al Junaid Multi Activities Co. Ltd., which is controlled by RSF Commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo and his brother RSF Deputy Commander Abdul Rahim Dagalo; Tradive General Trading LLC, a front company controlled by RSF Major Algoney Hamdan Dagalo, who also is a brother of the RSF commander; Sudan’s largest defense company, Defense Industries System; and the arms company Sudan Master Technology, which is linked to the SAF.
“Through sanctions, we are cutting off key financial flows to both the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, depriving them of resources needed to pay soldiers, rearm, resupply, and wage war in Sudan,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said. “The United States stands on the side of civilians against those who perpetuate violence towards the people of Sudan.”
The United States urged Sudan’s warring sides on Thursday to return to cease-fire talks and make a concerted effort to abide by a lasting truce after peace efforts collapsed yet again.
The appeal from the U.S. State Department came after Sudan’s military on Wednesday suspended its participation in the talks, hosted in Saudi Arabia, with a rival paramilitary force.
The fighting between the Sudanese military, led by Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Dagalo, broke out in mid-April. The violence has killed at least 866 civilians, according to a Sudanese doctors group, though the actual toll is likely much higher.
On Wednesday, heavy shelling near a market in a neighborhood in the south of the Sudanese capital of Khartoum killed at least 17 civilians, the Sudan Doctor’s Syndicate said.
“The
scope and scale of the bloodshed in Khartoum and Darfur, in particular, is
appalling,” Sullivan said. “And, the failure of the Sudanese Armed Forces and
Rapid Support Forces to abide by the cease-fire only further deepens our
concern that the people of Sudan will once again face a protracted conflict and
widespread suffering at the hands of the security forces.”
The Sudanese military’s withdrawal from the talks is a setback for Washington and Riyadh, which have been mediating between the two sides.
“Once the forces make clear by their actions that they are serious about complying with the cease-fire, the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prepared to resume facilitation of the suspended discussions,” the State Department said.
Washington and Riyadh brokered a cease-fire on May 21, to allow for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and restoration of vital services. There have been seven declared cease-fires since the conflict broke out and all have been violated.
Later Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Oslo, Norway, that both sides were continuing to violate the cease-fire agreement that was renewed last Monday.
“We will continue to be engaged. At the same time, we’re also looking at steps that we can take to make clear our views,” Blinken said.
In late May, Blinken threatened Sudan's warring generals with possible sanctions in the event of cease-fire violations.
Last week, Riyadh and Washington accused the military of continuing to carry out airstrikes, while condemning the RSF for occupying people’s homes and seizing property. Theft was occurring in areas controlled by both forces, it added.
The nearly seven weeks of fighting has reduced the Sudanese capital of Khartoum to an urban battlefield, with many districts without electricity and running water. The conflict has also stoked ethnic violence in the western Darfur region, killing hundreds there.
The biggest obstacle to saving rainforests is lawlessness.
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The pickup trucks left before dawn. Their occupants—six military police and nine agents from Brazil’s national parks service—wore bulletproof vests.
Their target was an illegal gold mine deep in the Amazon. To save the rainforest, Brazil’s new government is trying to catch the criminals who cut it down.
Bhuttavi, who founded LeT headquarters in Muridke in Punjab, was deputy to the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. The JuD is the front organisation for the LeT.
“Bhuttavi, 77, was incarcerated at District Jail Sheikhupura, some 60 kms from Lahore, since October 2019 in a terror financing case. On May 29, he felt severe pain in his chest and was shifted to hospital where he was pronounced dead (due to cardiac arrest) on arrival,” a JuD official told PTI.
His funeral was held at the LeT/JuD headquarters in Muridke in which a large number of the supporters of the banned organisation participated amid high security.
A source in the Punjab government told PTI that JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, who is lodged at the Kot Lakhpat jail since 2019 serving multiple sentences in terror financing cases, had requested the government to allow him to attend Bhuttavi’s funeral but permission was not granted.
An Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore had given Bhuttavi a jail term of 16 years in a terror financing case in 2020. A close aide to Saeed, Bhuttavi faced sanctions from the US treasury department in 2011.
The UN Security Council’s ISIL (Daesh) and Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee added Bhuttavi to its list of designated terrorists in March 2012.
Bhuttavi was designated a terrorist by the UN Security Council for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing, or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf of, or in support of” or “otherwise supporting acts and activities of” LeT.
A summary by the UN committee described him as a founding member of LeT who served as the acting emir of the LeT and the JuD on at least two occasions when Saeed was detained.Saeed was detained days after the 2008 Mumbai attacks and held until June 2009.
“Bhuttavi handled the group’s day-to-day functions during this period, and made independent decisions on behalf of the organization,” according to the summary. Saeed was also detained in May 2002.
Bhuttavi was also a scholar who issued fatwas authorising LeT/JuD operations.”Bhuttavi helped prepare the operatives for the November 2008 terrorist assault in Mumbai, India, by delivering lectures on the merits of martyrdom operations,” the summary says.
Born in August 1946 in Pattoki, Kasur district of Punjab, Bhuttavi was the head of 150 JuD seminaries in Pakistan. His native town is Dipalpur, Okara district of Punjab, from where the lone captured LeT attacker Ajmal Kasab hailed.
Since 1992, he was looking after the affairs of the LeT/JuD headquarters in Muridke before the government took over its charge four years ago.
The LeT was responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai terror attack that killed 166 people, including six Americans. The US Department of the Treasury designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, and the US, since 2012, offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice. He was listed under the UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
Germany orders
closure of four out of five Russian consulates in tit-for-tat move.
The German government said Wednesday that it has told Russia to close four out of its five consulates general in Germany in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow set a limit for the number of staff at the German Embassy and related bodies in Russia. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Christofer Burger told reporters in Berlin that the measure was intended to create a "parity of personnel and structures" between the two countries.
The Russian government recently said that an upper limit of 350 German government officials, including those working in cultural bodies and schools, can remain in Russia.
Burger said that this means Germany will have to shut its consulates in Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Kaliningrad by November.
Only the embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg will
remain open, he said.
He said that Russia will be allowed to continue operating the embassy in Berlin and one further consulate after the end of the year.
The move reflects a new low in relations between Moscow and Berlin since
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Burger said that the move was regrettable, but added that the war meant there was "simply no basis" for numerous bilateral activities between the two countries anymore.
"But it is the behaviour of the Russian side that has brought us into this
situation," he said.
Qatar Prime
Minister, Taliban chief hold secret Afghan talks.
The Qatari prime minister held secret talks with the supreme leader of the Taliban this month on resolving tension with the international community, a source briefed on the meeting said, signaling a new willingness by Afghanistan’s rulers to discuss ways to end their isolation.
The May 12 meeting in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar between Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Haibatullah Akhunzada is the first the reclusive Taliban chief is known to have held with a foreign leader.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration was briefed on the talks and is “coordinating on all issues discussed” by the pair, including furthering dialogue with the Taliban, said the source.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said other issues Sheikh Mohammed raised with Haibatullah included the need to end a Taliban bans on girls’ education and women’s employment.
The
meeting represents a diplomatic success for Qatar, which has criticized Taliban
restrictions on women while using long-standing ties with the Islamist movement
to push for deeper engagement with Kabul by the international community. The
United States has led demands for the Taliban to end the bans on girls’
schooling and women working, including for U.N. agencies and humanitarian
groups, to restore their freedom of movement and bring Afghans from outside
Taliban ranks into government.
The source’s comments suggested that Washington supported elevating what have been unproductive lower-level talks in the hope of a breakthrough that could end the world’s only bans of their kind and ease dire humanitarian and financial crises that have left tens of millions of Afghans hungry and jobless.
The
White House declined to comment on the talks. The State Department and the
Qatar embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. The
Taliban did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The restrictions on women’s schooling and work have stymied humanitarian aid and are key reasons why no country has recognized Taliban rule since they seized power in August 2021, after the Western-backed government collapsed as the last U.S.-led international troops departed following two decades of war.
The treatment by the Taliban of women and girls could amount to a crime against humanity, according to a U.N. report presented in March at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The Taliban say they respect women’s rights in line with their interpretation of Islamic law and Afghan customs.
Haibatullah, a hardline Islamist, has shown little willingness to compromise on his edicts.His meeting with Sheikh Mohammed, however, suggests that he is open to exploring avenues for ending Afghanistan’s isolation and boosting relief programs as the country sinks into hunger and poverty.
“It was a very positive meeting,” said the source. Haibatullah was “very interested” in continuing a dialogue with the international community.
But eventual recognition by other countries of the Taliban administration, senior members of which remain under U.S. and international sanctions, is far from assured given their treatment of women and poor human rights record.
Sheikh Mohammed raised with Haibatullah the need to lift the bans on women’s education and employment, including the bar on them working for U.N. agencies and other humanitarian groups, the source said.
The
Taliban administration has been promising since January written guidelines
allowing aid groups to operate with female staff.
The Taliban in March 2022 barred girls from high schools and extended the ban
to universities in December.
They
say they will reopen secondary schools to girls when “conditions” have been
met, including devising an Islamic syllabus.
Sheikh Mohammed and Haibatullah also discussed efforts to remedy Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis, the source said.
The United Nations says nearly three-quarters of Afghanistan’s 40 million people need help and it has warned that funding is drying up.
Sheikh Mohammed, the source said, raised with Haibatullah the “continued
efforts on the ground” by the Taliban on counterterrorism, an apparent
reference to Kabul’s drive to crush an Islamic State affiliate.
The main ideological foe of the Taliban is based mostly in eastern Afghanistan but has targeted minorities and embassies in Kabul.
The U.S. and its allies say the Taliban harbor members of al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban. The Afghan Taliban deny that.
Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as Qatar’s foreign minister, met publicly in Kandahar with Mullah Hassan Akhund, the Taliban prime minister, on the same day he met the supreme leader. He was accompanied by Qatar’s intelligence chief.
Neither side, however, revealed the talks with Haibatullah.
He
almost never leaves Kandahar but has been the paramount religious, political
and military leader of the Taliban since 2016, guiding the movement to victory
over the Western-backed Kabul government.
Qatar allowed the militants to open a political office in Doha in 2013 and facilitated their talks with Washington that led to the 2020 deal for a withdrawal of the U.S.-led international force that they fought for 20 years.
While the tiny Gulf monarchy has no formal diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, its Kabul embassy is open and represents U.S. interests there.
Qatar has long pressed the international community to agree a “roadmap” of steps for the Taliban to gain recognition, arguing that isolating Afghanistan could worsen regional security.
Drones attack
Russian oil refineries near major oil port, officials say.
There
was no immediate information on who launched the drone but Russia has accused
Ukraine of increased attacks on targets inside the country, including on Moscow
Tuesday.
Moscow: Drones attacked two oil refineries just 40-50 miles (65-80 km) east of Russia’s biggest oil export terminals on Wednesday, sparking a fire at one and causing no damage to the other, according to Russian officials.
At around 0100 GMT a drone struck the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia’s Krasnodar region, causing a fire which was later extinguished, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said.
The Afipsky refinery lies 50 miles east of the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, one of Russia’s most important oil export gateways.
Novorossiisk, together with the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal, bring about 1.5% of global oil to market.
Another drone crashed into the Ilsky refinery, which lies around 40 miles east of Novorossiisk, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing local officials.
There was no immediate information on who launched the drone but Russia has accused Ukraine of increased attacks on targets inside the country, including on Moscow on Tuesday.
Ukraine almost never publicly claims responsibility for attacks inside Russia or on Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine.
Elizabeth Holmes
reports to prison to begin more than 11-year sentence
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Federal judge denies Theranos founder’s request to remain free while she appeals her conviction of fraud and conspiracy
Elizabeth Holmes must begin her more than 11-year prison sentence on 27 April after a federal judge denied the disgraced Theranos founder’s request to remain free while she appeals her conviction.
Holmes, who was convicted on four counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the failed blood-testing startup in January 2022, is “not likely to flee or pose a danger” to the public, US district court judge Edward Davila wrote in his ruling. However, the San Jose-based judge found that her appeal was unlikely to result in a reversal of the verdict or a new trial – a requirement for a defendant to remain free post-conviction.
Prosecutors had attempted to argue that Holmes did pose a flight risk, revealing that her partner had bought her a one-way flight to Mexico shortly before the verdict was returned. While Davila called the travel plans a “bold move” and Holmes’s failure to cancel the ticket post-conviction a “perilously careless oversight”, he accepted her assertion that she was not trying to flee the country.
Attorneys defending Holmes have raised a number of evidentiary and procedural issues with the trial in their appeal to the federal ninth circuit court of appeals. But Davila wrote that even if the appeals court agrees with Holmes that the lower court had made errors, the issues were not “substantial” enough to merit a reversal or new trial.
Holmes’s incarceration will mark an extraordinary fall from grace for the one-time Silicon Valley magnate.
A college dropout, Holmes was hailed as a visionary for her promise to revolutionize blood-testing with technology that could carry out hundreds of tests on a single drop of blood.
The startup attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment and soared to a $9bn valuation before critical reporting by the Wall Street Journal revealed that the underlying technology did not work.
Holmes’s former business and romantic partner Sunny Balwani must also report to prison this month, after the ninth circuit rejected his request to remain free pending an appeal. Balwani was convicted on 12 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
After its unusually quick admission of failure, North Korea vowed to conduct a second launch after learning what went wrong with its rocket liftoff. It suggests Kim remains determined to expand his weapons arsenal to apply more pressure on Washington and Seoul while diplomacy is stalled.
A satellite launch by North Korea is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from conducting any launch based on ballistic technology. Observers say North Korea's previous satellite launches helped improve its long-range missile technology, though the latest launch likely was more focused on deploying a spy satellite. North Korea has already shown it may have the ability to strike all of the U.S. mainland after years of intercontinental ballistic missile tests.
The newly developed Chollima-1 rocket, which was carrying the Malligyong-1 satellite, was launched at 6:37 a.m. at the North’s Sohae Satellite Launching Ground in the northwest. The rocket crashed off the Korean Peninsula’s western coast after it lost thrust following the separation of its first and second stages, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said.
It said the country's space agency will investigate defects revealed in the launch, take urgent measures to overcome them and conduct the second launch as soon as possible through various part tests.
Wednesday's launch prompted brief evacuation alerts in South Korea and Japan. Seoul's military said it boosted military readiness in coordination with the United States, and Japan said it prepared to respond to any emergency.
South Korea’s military said the rocket had “an abnormal flight” before it fell in the waters. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that no object was believed to have reached space.
Adam Hodge, a spokesperson at the U.S. National Security Council, said in a statement that Washington strongly condemns the North Korean launch because it used banned ballistic missile technology, raised tensions and risked destabilizing security in the region and beyond.
Hodge said the United States urges North Korea to return to talks and cease its provocative actions. He said the U.S. will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of the American homeland and the defense of South Korea and Japan.
The U.N. imposed economic sanctions on North Korea over its previous satellite and ballistic missile launches. But China and Russia, permanent council members now locked in confrontations with the U.S., have blocked attempts to toughen sanctions over Pyongyang’s recent tests.
Matsuno said North Korea’s repeated missile launches pose serious threats to the peace and safety of Japan, the region and the international community.
Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan plans to keep the missile defense systems deployed to Japanese southern islands and in the southwestern waters in place until June 11, which is the end of North Korea's stated launch window. “We’ve made preparations to respond to any possible emergency,” Hamada said.
The South’s capital city of Seoul issued alerts over public speakers and cellphone text messages telling residents to prepare for evacuation after the launch was detected. Japan activated a missile warning system for Okinawa prefecture in southwestern Japan, in the rocket's suspected path.
“Please evacuate into buildings or underground,” the alert said. Both the alerts in Okinawa and Seoul were later lifted
South Korea's Defense Ministry later Wednesday released photos of a white, metal cylinder it described as a suspected rocket part. The South Korean military earlier said it was salvaging an object presumed to be part of the crashed North Korean rocket in waters 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of the southwestern island of Eocheongdo.
The North’s Korean Central News Agency said authorities would thoroughly investigate “the serious defects revealed” in the launch, overcome them and conduct a second launch as soon as possible.
KCNA didn’t provide details of the rocket and the satellite beyond their names. But experts earlier said North Korea would likely use a liquid-fueled rocket as most of its previously tested long-range rockets and missiles have done.
The North’s National Aerospace Development Administration attributed the failure to “the low reliability and stability of the new-type engine system applied to (the) carrier rocket” and “the unstable character of the fuel,” according to KCNA.
A top North Korean official had said Tuesday that the country needed a space-based reconnaissance system to counter escalating security threats from South Korea and the United States.
However, the spy satellite disclosed in the country’s state-run media earlier didn’t appear to be sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery. Some outside experts said it may be able to detect troop movements and big targets, such as warships and warplanes.
Recent commercial satellite imagery of the North’s main rocket launch center showed active construction indicating North Korea plans to launch more than one satellite.
And in his statement Tuesday, Ri Pyong Chol, a close associate of leader Kim Jong Un, said the country it would be testing “various reconnaissance means.” He said those surveillance assets are tasked with “tracking, monitoring, discriminating, controlling” and responding, both in advance and real time, to moves by the United States and its allies.
During his visit to the country’s aerospace agency earlier this month, Kim emphasized the strategic significance a spy satellite could have in North Korea’s standoff with the United States and South Korea.
With three to five spy satellites, North Korea could build a space-based surveillance system that allows it to monitor the Korean Peninsula in near real-time, according to Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute.
The satellite is one several high-tech weapons systems that Kim has publicly vowed to introduce. Other weapons he has pledged to develop include a multi-warhead missile, a nuclear submarine, a solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile and a hypersonic missile.
Denuclearization talks with the U.S. have been stalled since early 2019. In the meantime, Kim has focused on expanding his nuclear and missile arsenals in what experts say is an attempt to wrest concessions from Washington and Seoul. Since the beginning of 2022, North Korea has conducted more than 100 missile tests, many of them involving nuclear-capable weapons targeting the U.S. mainland, South Korea and Japan.
North Korea says its testing activities are self-defense measures meant to respond to expanded military drills between Washington and Seoul that it views as invasion rehearsals. U.S. and South Korean officials say their drills are defensive and they’ve bolstered them to cope with growing nuclear threats by North Korea.
After repeated failures, North Korea successfully put its first satellite into orbit in 2012, and the second one in 2016. The government said both are Earth-observation satellites launched under its peaceful space development program, but many foreign experts believed both were developed to spy on rivals.
Observers say there has been no evidence that the satellites have ever transmitted imagery back to North Korea.
Dahal will be heading a 88-member delegation, half a dozen of them federal ministers, and a huge business delegation, indicating that the two sides will hold wider discussions on multi-sectoral cooperation, mainly on power trade, road connectivity and new energy projects.
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal is embarking on a four-day “historic” visit to Delhi on Wednesday. This will be his first visit abroad since assuming prime ministerial office in December.
Dahal
will be heading a 88-member delegation, half a dozen of them federal ministers,
and a huge business delegation, indicating that the two sides will hold wider
discussions on multi-sectoral cooperation, mainly on power trade, road
connectivity and new energy projects. He will have a one-on-one talk with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on June 1 at Hyderabad House for a review of the
bilateral relations and cooperation.
The
two sides are likely to sign agreements for developing two hydropower
projects—Lower Arun and Phukot in western Nepal (Karnali) —by Indian public
sector companies.
On Tuesday, Dahal assured a parliamentary committee that he will not sign any deal that cannot be implemented or ‘goes against our interest’. Before his Delhi visit, the PM has also put on hold a USD6 billion contract for military purchases from China apparently after weighing its implications.
Dahal
assured the parliament to take up with Indian authorities some contentious
issues including territorial disputes along the Nepal-Uttarakhand border.
Former Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli said Dahal ‘must protest’ against the inclusion of Lumbini (Buddha’s birthplace) and Kapilvastu in the ‘Akhand Bharat’ murals at the newly built Indian Parliament. “You should not undertake this trip if you cannot raise it,” Oli said. Earlier, Energy Minister Shakti Basnet, who will accompany Dahal to India, said “the government has taken note and is ascertaining facts”.
Building
a cross-border electricity transmission line, power trade with Bangladesh
through Indian grid, and supply of chemical fertilisers will be top on Nepal
agenda for discussion, an official said.
Nepal, it is learnt, will also invite investments from Indian industrialists as he is scheduled to address an assembly jointly organised by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
The official said agreements on construction of a new integrated check post in Bhairahawa-Gorakhpur, a dry port in Chandani-Dodhara in western Nepal and inauguration of an integration check post in Nepalgunj as well as that of a rail yard in Biratnagar-Jogbani will be formalised during the visit.
Dahal will wind up his visit on June 3 after visiting Indore and Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh.
Casteless
utopia: California religious group backs bill to ban caste discrimination.
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FRESNO,
California (AP) — For decades, worshipping in temples, Ram Asra has sung
spiritual songs known as kirtans.
He did so on a recent Sunday at the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha in Fresno, California, seated cross-legged on a dais in the temple’s prayer hall playing a harmonium. Devotees closed their eyes and swayed to the calming melody.
But not all of Asra’s experiences in sacred spaces have been so sublime. He is a member of the former untouchable caste in India, and recounted a time when he was pulled aside at another U.S. temple and told not to enter the kitchen.
Asra feels much more secure at the Fresno Ravidassia temple. Congregants follow Guru Ravidass, a 14th century Indian teacher who also belonged to the former untouchable caste whose members are also known as Dalit, which means “broken” in Hindi.
Several congregants, who say equality is at the heart of their faith, are now championing a bill which aims to outlaw caste discrimination in California. Caste is a division of people based on birth and descent.
If the legislation passes, California will become the first state to add caste to its nondiscrimination laws. In February, Seattle became the first U.S. city to pass a similar law.
There are about 20,000 members of the Ravidassia community in California’s Central Valley — a vast majority of them with roots in Punjab in northwestern India. There are five Ravidassia temples in California alone — in Fresno, Pittsburg, Rio Linda, Selma and Yuba City — with a sixth under construction in Union City.
Signs supporting the bill grace the walls of the Fresno temple. Annihilating caste is intrinsic to the Ravidassia ethos, said Amar Daroch, president of the Fresno temple. He said Guru Ravidass envisioned a classless, casteless utopia he called “Begampura,” which means “a land without sorrow” in Hindi.
“Our goal is to create Begampura right here,” he said.
The legislation has been met with strong opposition from groups who say it will lead to discrimination against Hindu Americans and those of Indian descent. Several Dalits have also spoken against it, saying they do not wish to be burdened with a caste identity that they feel is irrelevant in this country.
But many in the Ravidassia community believe this law would bring attention to a problem they say does affect their lives.
In California, members of the Ravidassia community come from Hindu, Indigenous and Sikh backgrounds. Their temples have the appearance and feel of a Sikh gurdwara, with the sacred text, the Guru Granth Sahib, installed as the focal point in the main prayer hall. The text includes 40 verses of Guru Ravidass, in addition to other spiritual leaders.
Ravidassia religious practices vary from Sikhism. However, many in the community do identify themselves as Sikh and have much in common with the Sikh community including dress, food, language and other customs.
The principle of equality also forms the basis of Sikh theology, said Opinderjit Kaur Takhar, associate professor of Sikh Studies at the University of Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, a city that has a sizeable Punjabi population including a large Ravidassia community. Takhar said the Golden Temple in Amritsar, India, the most significant shrine in Sikhism, was designed with four doors, sending the message that “everyone from all walks of life, all corners of the world and all castes are welcome to come in and be together.”
She mentioned the importance of a post-worship community meal known as langar, saying its purpose “is to sit down as equals and share food with everyone regardless of caste, which used to be taboo."
Vinod Kumar Chumber, chairman of the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha in Union City, California, said those teachings on equality have not translated into reality in the U.S. and beyond. In Punjab, Chumber said each village has gurdwaras led by dominant-caste members and those run by Dalits.
“Things are improving, but people are still not being treated equally,” he said, adding that members of his community are rarely found in leadership positions at mainstream U.S. Sikh temples. “We figured it was best for us to have our own places of worship where we can freely practice our customs and celebrate our festivals.”
Members of the Fresno Ravidassia community say fighting for equality is part of their history and their spiritual DNA, which has motivated them to come forward with their stories despite the potential repercussions of being exposed to the larger community as “lower-caste.” Community members say they still experience discriminatory treatment from people who share otherwise share everything from culture and food to language and national origin.
Harbhans Singh said his friend opened a grocery store in a largely South Asian neighborhood in Central California that did well in the beginning, but “his business flopped” once customers learned his caste.
“He had to shut down his business,” he said. “How can this still happen in the United States?”
Harblas Singh, who worked at a poultry plant near Fresno, said his Punjabi colleagues refused to sit with him at lunch after learning he was Dalit.
“I came to this country hoping that I can break away from the chains of caste,” he said. “But it seems as if we cannot accomplish that as human beings. We need the law to do that for us.”
Rajinder Ganger, who used to run a trucking company in Selma, said one of his upper-caste drivers quit after learning Ganger’s caste identity.
“He said his relatives were berating him for working with me,” he said.
Rajinder Kumar, whose family operates a business in Bakersfield, said the answer to caste bias is education and an enforceable anti-discrimination law that names caste as a protected category. He says categories such as “ethnicity” or “national origin” will still not cover the type of discrimination he and the others in the Ravidassia community frequently face.
“Whether you are a cashier, a business owner, a professor, or a doctor — in 2023 — you are still an untouchable,” he said. “When does that stop? How much money do you have to make? How many degrees do you have to get to make it stop?”
After the recent Sunday worship at the Fresno temple, Kumar took the microphone in the prayer hall, urging members to speak up for the caste bill. Footage of community members testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee looped on a screen behind him.
During the April hearing, elderly community members who couldn’t speak English showed up, and made their views known to the committee with a simple “vote yes.” Kumar said such courage is no longer an option but an imperative for the community.
“There is no need to hide,” Kumar said. “We have hundreds of stories to share. We all need to come forward and make our voices heard.”
The caste bill has given members of the larger Sikh community an opportunity to show solidarity with the Ravidassia community and to uphold the tenets of their faith, said Kashmir Singh Shahi with the Gurdwara Sahib in Fremont, a Sikh congregation. He said his temple is diverse and free from discrimination and stereotyping.
“That’s the way it should be,” he said, adding that while caste discrimination may be “less prevalent” in the United States, some still suffer because of it and that alone justifies the need for such a law.
Gurbachan Singh, a community elder in Fresno who has founded several Ravidass temples, said he would like to see people start having those conversations, challenging as they may be.
“If we don’t go to the other gurdwaras, talk to them and speak the truth, that’s on us,” he said. “I hope to see a day when all our temples stand together on the foundation of truth.”
US teen murders
parents, siblings, alleges they were plotting to eat him. ...
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The
co-worker told police that Olalde said “he had killed his family because they
were cannibals, and they were going to eat him,” the affidavit states.
An 18-year-old teenager was apprehended in United States' Texas, for the tragic killings of his own family members. Cesar Olalde claimed that he carried out the killings, as he believed that his family members were “cannibals” and “posed a threat of consuming him”. The victims include his parents and two siblings, one of whom was just five years old, CBS News reported.
The police received a call on Tuesday regarding a man, who had reportedly caused harm to his family and was contemplating suicide. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered Olalde barricaded within his residence.
Olalde later told police that he had pulled the trigger, and shot his family. The officers persuaded Olalde to surrender and then found the bodies of his parents, Reuben Olalde and Aida Garcia, older sister Lisbet Olalde and younger brother Oliver Olalde in a bathroom.
“It appeared as if the victims had been shot at various places in the residence and drug to the bathroom,” according to the affidavit. “Multiple spent cartridge casings” were found on the floor of the home, and there was “blood spatter on multiple surfaces,” it said.
The affidavit said a co-worker of Lisbet Olalde had gone to the home because the woman had failed to arrive at work and, with a family member, forced his way inside where he was confronted by Cesar Olalde, who pointed a firearm at him.
The co-worker told police that Olalde said “he had killed his family because they were cannibals, and they were going to eat him,” the affidavit states.
Olalde was taken into custody and now faces charges of capital murder on multiple people.
Is Princess Anne
Prince Harry's unexpected ally in the royal family drama? ...
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Princess
Anne might be a bridge that will help Prince Harry to improve his relationship
with his father – King Charles III, amid the Royal family drama.
It seems that Prince Harry has found an unexpected ally in the royal family amidst all the drama. Princess Anne, King Charles’ sister who is known as ‘most hardworking royal’ is often praised for her strong willed nature, might have a soft spot for her estranged nephew – Prince Harry.
The Daily Mail previously reported that since Princess Anne seems to have a soft spot for her nephew. The report mentioned that Princess Anne and Harry’s bond might play an important role to repair the strained relationships within the royal family. Here is everything to know about the same.
Princess Anne has a soft spot for her nephew Prince Harry
At King Charles III's coronation ceremony, the bond between Prince Harry and Princess Anne was quite visible. The warmth between Princess Anne and her nephew during the ceremony left the onlookers astonished, given the tension between Sussexes and other members of the royal family. Even with Anne’s past remarks about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, she seems to be quickly becoming their pillar of support within the royal family.
The royal expert Kate Mansey revealed in the Daily Mail that Prince Harry and Princess Anne might be deeper that what was seen at King Charles III coronation ceremony. Kate thinks that the Duke of Sussex might use Princess Anne to improve his relationship with his father, King Charles III.
The report stated that the connection between Princess Royal and Duke of Sussex runs beyond the sense of humor. Reportedly, Princess Anne always had a deeper connection with Prince Harry, given her own experiences of being a second born child in the royal family along with the challenges that she faced while carving out her own path within the monarchy.
During the King Charles’ coronation ceremony held during the first week of May, Prince Harry for the first time appeared alongside King Charles III and his brother – Prince Williams, since the release of bombshell memoir, Spare. It was noted that Prince Harry maintained a reserved presence during the coronation ceremony, where he mostly interacted with Princess Anne, cousins Beatrice and Eugenie and their spouses.
Child sets home
on fire in West Virginia; stepfather detained for child abuse. ...
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7-year-old
sets home on fire in West Virginia; stepfather arrested for child abuse
Disturbing incident unfolds in West Virginia as 7-year-old sets home ablaze; stepfather arrested for child abuse.
In a shocking turn of events, a 7-year-old child from West Virginia is at the center of an arson investigation after allegedly setting a home on fire while the child's parents were inside. The incident took place in Jackson County, located approximately 40 miles northwest of Charleston. The child's parents, who were asleep at the time of the incident, sustained minor burns. However, what makes this case even more disturbing is the subsequent arrest of the child's stepfather on suspicion of child abuse.
The Jackson County Sheriff's Department initiated the investigation following the home fire incident. According to a news release posted on the department's Facebook page, the fire occurred while the child's parents were sleeping. The authorities took the child into custody and charged them with first-degree arson. As the investigation unfolded, the delicate nature of the case prompted officials to limit the information disclosed.
A
photograph shared on the department's Facebook page revealed the devastating
sight of the engulfed home, further highlighting the seriousness of the
incident.
However, the distressing revelations did not end there. The following day, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department made an additional announcement stating that the child's stepfather had been arrested on suspicion of child abuse. It is believed by investigators that the stepfather was subjecting the child to abuse, leading to the child's alarming actions of setting the home on fire.
The incident raises numerous concerns about the safety and well-being of the child involved. While the details of the abuse allegations are not disclosed, it underscores the importance of recognizing and addressing potential signs of abuse within households. Child abuse is a grave issue that demands immediate attention and intervention to ensure the safety and welfare of vulnerable individuals.
As authorities delve deeper into this distressing case, it serves as a reminder of the responsibility society bears in safeguarding the welfare of children. Incidents like these should prompt us to remain vigilant and attentive to the well-being of children in our communities. Identifying signs of abuse, reporting suspicions, and supporting organizations dedicated to protecting children can make a significant difference in preventing such tragic incidents from occurring.
Iconic Beirut
museum reopens three years after massive damage from port blast.
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Two
months after the explosion, then-museum director Zeina Arida launched a
fundraising campaign, estimating the damages to be around $3 million at the
time.
The reopening Friday night offered Beirut residents a rare bright spot in a country reeling from a crippling economic crisis that has left around three-quarters of Lebanon's population of 6 million in poverty.
Originally built as a private villa in 1912 on a hilltop overlooking the city’s Achrafieh neighborhood, the opulent residence integrated Venetian and Ottoman styles. Its owner, famed Lebanese art collector Nicolas Ibrahim Sursock, bequeathed his beloved home to his people, to be tuned into a contemporary art museum upon his death in 1952.
The museum housed Lebanese art dating back from the late 1800s, including the work of distinguished painter Georges Corm and Fouad Debbas’ library of 30,000 photographs — one of the largest private photo collections. The photos are from across the Levant, a region encompassing countries along the eastern Mediterranean, from Turkey to Egypt, from 1830 until the 1960s. In 2008, a seven-year project renovated and expanded the museum, relaunching it in 2015.
But the Aug. 4, 2020 blast in Beirut's port — only about 800 meters (875 yards) away — hit the museum fully front on. Its stained glass windows were shattered, doors were blown out, and almost half the artwork on display was damaged. The explosion ripped through much of Beirut, killing more than 200 people and injuring over 6,000.
The destruction was unprecedented, said museum director Karina El Helou, a level unseen even during Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war. Seventy percent of the building was badly damaged, as were 66 of the 132 art pieces on display, she said. Glass shards tore through Dutch artist Kees Von Dongen’s portrait of Nicolas Sursock.
Two months after the explosion, then-museum director Zeina Arida launched a fundraising campaign, estimating the damages to be around $3 million at the time. The museum eventually raised over $2 million to restore the building and the artwork with support from Italy, France, UNESCO and various private organizations.
The restoration was long and painstaking work. Sursock's portrait was taken to Paris, along with two other art pieces, and restored there. Experts from Lebanon and abroad flocked to the museum to piece together damaged terracotta sculptures and fix tears and scratches that had marred the paintings. Dust and debris from the explosion were carefully removed to bring back the splendor of many items.
“White powder from the blast that we saw everywhere in Beirut even reached our storage room four stories underground," El Helou said. She hopes the reopening will boost the morale of many Lebanese amid the country's economic meltdown — and offer a “safe space” for free expression.
Art is now more important than ever, she added. “In the face of darkness, (artists) fought through art and culture," she said.
Dozens gathered in Sursock's large, tree-lined courtyard on Friday evening, serenaded by a choir and a band performing on the entrance stairs for the reopening. The museum, looking almost exactly as it did before the blast, drew sighs of appreciation. Others remembered how much Beirut has withered since then and how scores of artists have left the country.
“I now hope all the friends of the Sursock who may have left Lebanon in recent years at least come back to visit us,” the museum's chairman, Tarek Mitri, told The Associated Press as he greeted guests.
The Sursock Museum was not the only art space damaged in the port explosion and restored in the years since.
Marfa Projects, a gallery close to one of the port's entrances, was eventually rebuilt and reopened. Others, like the Saifi Urban Gardens, a family run hostel that over the years has became a vibrant cultural hub with art studios and an exhibition space, were destroyed and closed for good.
Without financial support, many heritage buildings, including Ottoman-era houses built in the 19th century and damaged in the blast, could ultimately be sold to developers. Lebanon's cash-strapped government has been unable to fund major restoration projects.
Mona Fawaz, professor of urban studies and planning at the American University of Beirut, said the Sursock Museum's ability to raise funds through its networks and management is a valuable lesson for others.
“I think it's good to think of it as potentially one of our rare success stories,” Fawaz said.
At
Friday's reopening, visitors could view five new exhibitions of both classical
and modern art — a testament to Lebanon's artistic and cultural history and the
perseverance of its people despite the country's troubled past.
One of the exhibits, titled “Ejecta,” is set up in a darkened room where a video and an audio recording reflect on the port blast. Zad Moultaka, the artist behind the installation, said he hoped it would inspire people to turn their dark thoughts about that day into hope for the future.
“Throughout the days of the civil war, we always found a way to rise up," he said.
"But
my initial feeling after the blast was doubt. I wondered if we will be able to
persevere after what happened," Moultaka added. "It’s important today
to take this violence and transform it into something positive.”
Indian Govt
Introduce 30% Subsidy for Sustainable Shipping Construction
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The
Indian government has taken a major stride in promoting sustainable practices
in the shipping sector by announcing a new subsidy scheme for the construction
of sustainable ships. This initiative aims to encourage shipbuilders and
shipping companies to embrace eco-friendly technologies and practices,
fostering a more sustainable and greener future for maritime transportation.
Under the subsidy scheme, shipbuilders and shipping companies in India will be eligible to receive a 30% subsidy on the construction cost of sustainable ships. The objective is to offset the higher initial investment required for adopting environmentally friendly technologies and practices, making sustainable shipping more economically viable.
This move by the government reflects a growing recognition of the urgent need to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions in the shipping industry, which is a significant contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. By incentivizing the construction of sustainable ships, the government aims to accelerate the adoption of energy-efficient technologies, alternative fuels, and emission reduction measures.
The subsidy scheme is expected to have multiple benefits. Firstly, it will stimulate the growth of sustainable shipbuilding in India, driving innovation and technological advancements in the sector. This will not only create job opportunities but also enhance the country’s competitiveness in the global shipbuilding market. Moreover, the increased production of sustainable ships will help to replace older, less efficient vessels, resulting in a significant reduction in carbon emissions.
The introduction of the subsidy scheme aligns with the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) goals and global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry. It also reinforces India’s commitment to the Paris Agreement and its pledge to contribute to the global fight against climate change.
To ensure the effective implementation of the subsidy scheme, the Indian government will collaborate with relevant stakeholders, including shipbuilders, shipowners, and industry experts. The scheme will include stringent criteria for eligibility, focusing on factors such as fuel efficiency, emission reduction technologies, and compliance with international environmental standards.
The subsidy scheme for sustainable shipping construction marks a significant step forward in India’s efforts to promote eco-friendly practices in the maritime sector. By incentivizing the adoption of sustainable technologies and practices, the government aims to reduce the environmental impact of shipping while supporting the growth of a sustainable and competitive shipbuilding industry in the country.
This initiative not only contributes to India’s commitment to sustainable development but also sends a positive signal to the global shipping industry, encouraging other countries to adopt similar measures and work collectively towards a more sustainable and climate-resilient future for maritime transportation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi informed that a new consulate would be constructed in Brisbane during his address at the Community Event in Sydney. He announced that India will establish a new consulate in Brisbane, Australia which aims to fulfill a long-standing demand of the Indian diaspora in Australia. It was announced during the address of Narendra Modi at a packed stadium at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena which was attended by more than 21,000 people across Australia along with the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese.
PM Modi Announced India to open new consulate in Brisbane: Key Points
Narendra
Modi informed that was it an absolute delight to connect with the Indian
diaspora at the community program, where he also thanked his Australian Prime
Minister for supporting him in the unveiling foundation stone of “Little India;
a suburb of Sydney.”
As
Prime Minister Albanese welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he also
announced Harris Park as “Little India”.
Harris
Park is a hub in Western Sydney where the Indian Community celebrates the
Indian festival and events including Diwali and Australia Day.
The
Prime Minister of India stated that there was a time when 3Cs were used to
define relations between India and Australia which were Commonwealth, Cricket,
and Curry.
The
audience busted into loud applause after he stated that the strongest and
biggest foundation of trust between the countries is mutual trust and mutual
respect.
India
and Australia have also joined hands to facilitate the movement of students,
academics, and professionals along with its current consulates in Perth,
Melbourne, and Sydney.
Ministry of
Ayush and Minority Affairs Collaborate for Development Unani Medicine System
Ministry
of Ayush and Minority Affairs have joined hands to promote and help the
development of the Unani System of Medicine in India. The Ministry of
Minorities Affairs has granted RS 45.34 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Jan
Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK), which is a centrally sponsored scheme. Unani Medicine
will be upgraded with the support of this scheme in Hyderabad, Chennai,
Lucknow, Silchar, and Bengaluru. The grant approved by the Ministry of
Minorities will help in the establishment of various facilities of Unani
Medicine in the mentioned locations.
Key Points Related to Ministry of Ayush and Minority Affairs Collaborate for Development Unani Medicine System
The
Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM) has sanctioned a grant
of Rs 35.52 crore and the National Institute of Unani Medicine (NIUM) Bengaluru
has sanctioned Rs 9.81 crore.
A
center will be established in Hyderabad for the fundamental research in Unani
Medicine at the National Research Institute of Unani Medicine for Skin
Disorders at a cost of Rs 16.05 crore.
A
preclinical laboratory facility has been proposed by the Ministry at the
Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine, Chennai, at a cost of Rs 8.15.
Rs
8.55 crore has been allotted for a center of Ilaj bit Tadbeer for
musculoskeletal disorders at the Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine,
Lucknow and Rs 2.75 has been allotted for a center of Ilaj bit Tadbeer for skin
and lifestyle disorders at the Regional Research Institute of Unani Medicine,
Silchar.
The
NIUM Bengaluru has been allotted Rs 5.55 crore for the establishment of a
Vishram Girah for patient attendants and Rs 4.26 crore for a skill center of
model Unani Cosmetics care, small-scale Unani pharmacy, and Unani crude drug
storage.
A
meeting was held on 2nd March 2023, in which the proposals were considered
by the Employment Committee of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and an amount
of Rs 4.86 crore has been released to the CCRUM as the first installment or 25
percent of the total sanctioned cost of its three projects.
The
CCRUM grant for the Hyderabad and NIUM projects will be released after the DPRs
are approved and the other technicalities are finalized.
About Unani Medicine
Unani
medicine is a traditional system of healing and health maintenance observed in
South Asia. The origins of Unani medicine are found in the doctrines of the
ancient Greek physicians. As a field, it was later developed and refined
through systematic experiments by the Arabs.
The Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), an undertaking of the Government of India, facilitated the translation of classical heritage, the organization of clinical trials, the improvement of drug standardization, and the investigation of toxicological and phytopharmacological properties of natural products that had long been used by Unani doctors.
Giriraj Singh
Launches SAMARTH Campaign to Promote Digital Transactions at Gram Panchayat
Level
The SAMARTH Campaign launched by Union Minister Giriraj Singh aims to promote digital transactions in rural areas, with a focus on empowering women.
The Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Shri Giriraj Singh, recently launched the ‘SAMARTH Campaign on Promoting Digital Transactions in 50,000 Gram Panchayats’ under the AzadiKaAmritMahotsav in Lucknow. This campaign, initiated by the Ministry of Rural Development, aims to promote digital transactions in rural areas, with a particular focus on empowering women. The launch event witnessed the participation of various dignitaries, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Minister of State Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti.
Promoting Digital Transactions in Rural Areas
Under the SAMARTH Campaign, the government seeks to foster the adoption of digital transactions in 50,000 Gram Panchayats across India. This initiative aligns with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s AzadiKaAmritMahotsav, which commemorates 75 years of India’s independence. The campaign commenced on February 1, 2023, and will continue until August 15, 2023
Recognition of Self-Help Groups and BC Sakhis
During the launch, Minister Giriraj Singh commended the remarkable achievement of Self-Help Groups (SHGs), highlighting their reduction in non-performing assets (NPAs) from 9.58% in 2013 to below 2% at present. He urged banks to acknowledge the outstanding credit performance of SHG members and facilitate loans to them, recognizing their splendid performance. The Minister also applauded the contribution of BC Sakhis in the digital economy, emphasizing India’s global leadership in women empowerment.
Role of BC Sakhis in Digital Transformation
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath emphasized the significant role played by BC Sakhis in Uttar Pradesh, enabling over 5 crore 57 lakh digital transactions and providing doorstep banking services to the last mile of the population. These empowered women have not only served the underserved citizens but have also helped banks save costs on low volume transactions. The government of Uttar Pradesh is further integrating banking services into digital Gram Sachivalays in villages, enhancing accessibility.
Empowering Women and Transforming Lives
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Minister of State for Rural Development, Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution, lauded the women of India for their multitasking abilities, acknowledging their contributions in managing households as well as bringing banking services to underserved citizens across the country. Deputy Chief Minister K P Maurya acknowledged the transformational impact of BC Sakhis, highlighting their increased earning capacity and the resulting empowerment of women in rural areas.
Inspirational Tales and Testimonies
The launch event witnessed the unveiling of a compendium comprising 75 inspirational tales of BC Sakhis, showcasing their remarkable achievements. Several BC Sakhis shared their success stories, narrating how their lives have been transformed through their involvement in the digital transactions ecosystem. The event also included the distribution of Biometric Point of Sale (PoS) machines and appointment letters to newly appointed BC Sakhis.
Nationwide Participation and Webcast
Approximately 1000 BC Sakhis from all over India participated in the event held in Lucknow. State Rural Livelihood Missions (SRLMs) and stakeholders from across the country joined the event through webcasts and live streaming on social media platforms. The involvement of senior officials from the government and the banking sector showcased the comprehensive support for the SAMARTH Campaign.
Historic Scepter
‘Sengol’ Finds Home in New Parliament Building
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Historic
Scepter 'Sengol' Finds Home in New Parliament Building: Prime Minister Narendra
Modi will place a significant golden sceptre near the Speaker's seat in the new
Parliament Building.
Historic Scepter ‘Sengol’ Finds Home in New Parliament Building
The upcoming inauguration of the new parliament building will feature an important addition, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi will place a significant golden sceptre near the Speaker’s seat, announced Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
According to Mr. Shah, this sceptre holds historical significance as it was originally presented to India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, symbolizing the transfer of power from the British to the Indian people. The Home Minister explained that the sceptre, known as “sengol,” derives from the Tamil word “semmai,” meaning “righteousness.”
About Historic Scepter ‘Sengol’
The origins of the sengol can be traced back to a series of events that began with a question posed by Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of British India, to Prime Minister Nehru.
Historical
accounts and news reports reveal that Mountbatten inquired about the
symbol that would commemorate the transfer of power upon India’s independence.
In
response, Prime Minister Nehru consulted C Rajagopalachari, the last
Governor General of India, for advice.
Rajagopalachari,
also known as Rajaji, informed Nehru about the Tamil tradition of the high
priest presenting a sceptre to a new king upon assuming power.
He
mentioned that this practice was followed during the Chola dynasty and
suggested that it could symbolize India’s liberation from British rule. Rajaji
took on the responsibility of procuring a sceptre for this historic moment.
Tasked
with the challenge of arranging the sceptre, Rajaji contacted the
Thiruvaduthurai Atheenam, a prominent religious institution in present-day
Tamil Nadu.
The
head of the institution at that time accepted the responsibility.
The
sengol was crafted by Vummidi Bangaru Chetty, a jeweler in the former Madras.
It
stands at a height of five feet and features a ‘nandi’ bull atop it,
representing justice.
As
per reports, a senior priest from the institution initially presented the
sceptre to Lord Mountbatten before retrieving it. It was then
ritually purified with gangajal (holy water from the Ganges) and carried in a
procession to Prime Minister Nehru, who received it approximately 15 minutes
before midnight, signifying the moment of India’s independence. A special song
was composed and performed during the handover of the sceptre to Nehru.
Historic Scepter ‘Sengol’ in New Parliament Building
Highlighting the lesser-known history and significance of the sengol, the Home Minister emphasized that its inclusion in the new parliament aimed to bridge cultural traditions with modernity. Mr. Shah commended Prime Minister Modi’s foresight in proposing the installation of the sengol, which will be relocated from its current display at a museum in Allahabad to its new residence within the parliament building.
Addressing questions from the media, Mr. Shah stressed that the sengol should not be associated with politics. He expressed the desire for the administration to be guided by the rule of law, with the sceptre serving as a constant reminder of this principle. The installation of the sceptre in parliament sheds light on a forgotten chapter of history.
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