New Delhi, May 14,2024: India sent a second tranche of humanitarian assistance to Kenya, including medicines, tents, sleeping bags/mats, blankets, power generation sets, and ready to eat meals, in the wake of the devastation caused by floods that have hit the country.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on X: “The second tranche of HADR material containing 40 tonnes of medicines, medical supplies and other equipment to assist flood victims leaves for Kenya.
“Standing up for a historical partnership, a Vishwabandhu to the world.”
An official statement said that A relief consignment is being airlifted today on an Indian Air Force plane that comprises of 22 tons humanitarian assistance and disaster relief items (HADR) including tents, sleeping bags/mats, blankets, power generation sets, ready to eat meals, basic sanitary utilities and hygiene kits to provide immediate succor to the people of Kenya.
The consignment also contains about 18 tons of medical aid, comprising essential life-saving drugs and surgical equipment required for critical care and wound management. It also includes items required for baby food, water purification, menstrual hygiene, repelling mosquitoes, along with malaria and dengue diagnostic kits, anti-venom treatment and several types of testing kits that can be readily deployed on the ground.
Indian Naval ship INS Sumedha had earlier reached Mombasa on 10th May to extend immediate relief comprising one HADR pallet and two medical pallets.
The assistance to Kenya is a reiteration of our strong and friendly relations with the country, in the spirit of South-South cooperation and our commitment to keep Africa on top of our priorities, as spelt out by PM Narendra Modi.
India also extends deep sympathies to the government and people of the Republic of Kenya for the damage and destruction caused by the floods, it said.
The floods in Kenya have affected 38 out of 47 counties, and an estimated 267 people have died, 188 injured and over 2,80,000 displaced.
Moscow, May 10,2024: Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted a proposal to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia, to appoint Mikhail Mishustin as Russia’s Prime Minister, State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Friday.
“President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin has submitted a proposal to the State Duma on the candidacy of Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin for the post of Prime Minister,” Volodin said on Telegram.
The Russian official added that it is important to receive answers to questions about demography, technological sovereignty, economic development, and defense capability when discussing the candidacy for the post of prime minister.
The discussion of the candidacy for the post of Prime Minister will take place in all factions of the parliament, and the State Duma’s session will begin at 2 p.m. Moscow time (11:00 GMT), Volodin said.
He added that Mishustin will first report to the lower house and answer questions raised by lawmakers, and the vote on the candidacy will follow.
Putin was sworn in as the Russian president in the Kremlin on Tuesday. The Russian President will hold office for the next six years until 2030. After the inauguration, the Russian cabinet headed by Mishustin resigned in accordance with the law. The candidacy for the post of Prime Minister will be approved at the State Duma’s session later on Friday.
New Delhi, May 7,2024: India on Tuesday called on Canada “to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space” after Khalistani elements brought out a religious procession in Malton, in Ontario, Canada, that saw the chanting of anti-India slogans and Khalistani leaders delivered inflammatory statements against India.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, in response to media queries regarding the float in the Nagar Kirtan parade in Malton, Canada, said:
“As you are aware, we have repeatedly raised our strong concerns regarding the violent imagery being used by extremist elements in Canada against our political leadership.
“Last year, a float depicting the assassination of our former Prime Minister was used in a procession. Display of posters of Indian diplomats have also been put out across Canada threatening violence against them.
“Celebration and glorification of violence should not be a part of any civilized society. Democratic countries which respect the rule of law should not allow intimidation by radical elements in the name of freedom of expression.
“We continue to remain concerned about the security of our diplomatic representatives in Canada and expect the Government of Canada to ensure that they are able to carry out their responsibilities without fear.
“We again call upon the Government of Canada to stop providing criminal and secessionist elements a safe haven and political space in Canada.”
The statement comes as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that Canada has been welcoming a number of gangland people with organised crime links from Punjab and ignoring Indian warnings against giving them visa, which has resulted in the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
He also said that the Khalistani elements have organised themselves politically in Canada and become a political lobby.
“And in some of these democratic countries the politicians of those countries are made to believe that if they defer to these people or pander to these people, these people have some ability to get the community to support them,” he said, in reference to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, who has taken the support of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who is a Khalistan sympathiser. Canada is known to have the second highest Sikh population in the world, after India, at over 770,000, or about two % of its total population.
EAM said these separatist elements “have tried to create space for themselves in the politics of these countries”.
“At this time, I would say it is not so much of a problem in the US; our biggest problem right now is in Canada. Because in Canada, actually, the party in power in Canada, other parties in Canada, have given these kinds of extremism, separatism and advocates of violence a certain legitimacy, in the name of free speech.”
May 07,2024: The United States and most European Union nations have said they will not send envoys to Tuesday’s inauguration of Vladimir Putin as Russian president.
Putin, 71, secured a fifth term in office in a March election that critics said lacked democratic legitimacy.
He gained 87.28 percent of the vote, weeks after the sudden death of his most vocal critic, Alexey Navalny, in an Arctic prison.
“We will not have a representative at his inauguration,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters. “We certainly did not consider that election free and fair but he is the president of Russia and he is going to continue in that capacity.”
The United Kingdom and Canada said they would not send anyone to the ceremony, while a spokesperson for the European Union told the Reuters news agency the bloc’s ambassador to Russia would not attend the inauguration, in keeping with the position of most of the EU’s member states.
The three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – which have withdrawn their ambassadors from Moscow – ruled out attending the inauguration.
“We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued,” Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.
“Participation in Putin’s inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression.”
The Czech Republic is also expected to snub the ceremony, while Germany’s Foreign Office said its representative would not attend – it earlier recalled its ambassador over alleged Russian cyberattacks.
An aide to Putin said the heads of all foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow including those from “unfriendly states” had been invited to attend the inauguration, which starts at noon (09:00 GMT) and will be broadcast live on Russian television.
Srinagar, May 7,2024: Sporadic gunfire continued in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday as the operation to flush out militants entered the second day. There is so far no report of any casualties.
The gun battle erupted on Monday night at Redwani Payeen village of Kulgam after security forces launched an operation in the area following an input about militant presence.
“As the joint team of security forces approached towards the suspected spot, the hiding militants fired indiscriminately upon them, which was retaliated effectively leading to an encounter,” a security official said, adding that additional forces were rushed to the area to ensure a tight cordon.
After the initial exchange of fire, there was a lull for most part of the night.
“The operation resumed this morning and there was a fresh exchange of fire in the area,” the official said.
The gun battle in Kulgam broke at a time when Kashmir is in the middle of its general elections. The first Lok Sabha seat in Kashmir going to polls is Srinagar.
Srinagar parliamentary constituency will go to polls on May 13, while Baramulla north Kashmir and Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency will go to polls on May 20 and 25 respectively.
Male [Maldives], May 4,2024: India and Maldives held the 4th meeting of the bilateral High-Level Core Group on Friday and reviewed the replacement of Indian military personnel from the Island nation by May 10 and noted that government will replace military personnel before the noted time.
Earlier, the Mohamed Muizzu-led Maldives government formally requested that India withdraw its troops from Male.
Maldives foreign ministry said in a press release that both sides reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation. “Discussions were held on a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including development and defence cooperation.”
“Both sides noted with satisfaction that the Government of India will replace military personnel at the last of the three aviation platforms by May 10, and all the logistical arrangements are going ahead as per schedule,” the press release added.
It was further agreed that the fifth meeting of the High-Level Core Group will be held in Male’ on a mutually agreeable date during the month of June/July.
Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the first batch of Indian personnel in the Maldives had been replaced by technical personnel.
The external affairs ministry earlier informed that both India and the Maldives have agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives.
Last month, the MEA said that the first batch of Indian technical personnel reached the Maldives to replace the defence personnel.
India and the Maldives have held two high-level core group meetings, and the third one is expected to take place soon.
The removal of Indian troops from the country was the main election campaign of Muizzu’s party. Currently, there are around 70 Indian troops, along with Dornier 228 maritime patrol aircraft and two HAL Dhruv helicopters, stationed in the Maldives.
New Delhi, May 2,2024: The Government on Wednesday began the online nominations / recommendations for Padma Awards 2025 to be announced on occasion of Republic Day, 2025.
The last date for nominations for Padma Awards is September 15 and will be received online on the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal (https://awards.gov.in), an official statement said.
The Padma Awards, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri, are amongst the highest civilian awards of the country.
Instituted in 1954, these Awards are announced on the Republic Day every year.
The award seeks to recognise ‘work of distinction’ and is given for distinguished and exceptional achievements in all fields such as Art, Literature and Education, Sports, Medicine, Social Work, Science and Engineering, Public Affairs, Civil Service, Trade and Industry, etc.
All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these Awards. Government servants, including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for Padma Awards.
The Government is committed to transform Padma Awards into “People’s Padma”. All citizens are, therefore, requested to make nominations / recommendations, including self-nomination.
Concerted efforts may be made to identify talented persons whose excellence and achievements really deserve to be recognised from amongst women, weaker sections of the society, SCs and STs, divyang persons and who are doing selfless service to the society.
The nominations / recommendations should contain all relevant details specified in the format available on the above said portal, including a citation in narrative form (maximum 800 words), clearly bringing out the distinguished and exceptional achievements / service of the person recommended in her / his respective field / discipline.
Details in this regard are also available under the heading ‘Awards and Medals’ on the website of Ministry of Home Affairs (https://mha.gov.in) and on the Padma Awards portal (https://padmaawards.gov.in).
April 25,2024: Burkina Faso’s military forces “summarily executed” 223 civilians, including at least 56 children, in two villages in February, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a new report.
The mass killings took place on February 25 in the northern villages of Nondin and Soro, according to the report published on Thursday.
The international rights group said the massacre appeared to be part of a widespread military campaign against civilians accused of collaborating with armed groups.
Soldiers killed at least 44 people, including 20 children, in Nondin, and 179 people, including 36 children, in nearby Soro.
HRW said it interviewed dozens of witnesses between February and March and analysed videos and photographs shared by survivors. It also reportedly obtained lists of the victims’ names compiled by survivors, and geolocated eight mass graves based on satellite imagery from March 15.
On February 24 and 25, armed groups carried out attacks across the country on military targets, including barracks and bases, and on civilian infrastructure, such as religious sites, killing scores of civilians, soldiers and militia members.
While Defence Minister Mahamoudou Sana denounced what he described as “simultaneous and coordinated” attacks, he did not mention the mass killings of civilians in Nondin and Soro.
Civilians have been caught in the middle of and displaced by the fighting between armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), and security forces.
About half of the country is outside government control. The violence has killed almost 20,000 people and displaced more than two million.
The West African country is run by a military government led by captain Ibrahim Traore who seized power in a coup in September 2022, eight months after an earlier military coup had overthrown the democratically elected President Roch Marc Kabore.
Beirut, April 25,2024: Hezbollah has launched 1,650 military operations against Israeli targets since the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, leaving more than 2,000 Israeli personnel dead or wounded, according to data released by the Shiite military party on Wednesday.
Hezbollah said that the operations used different types of weapons including 352 artillery shelling, 727 ground-to-ground missiles, 50 air defense, 55 air attacks, 77 sniper rifles, 546 guided missiles, 136 direct weapons, and 17 engineering weapons.
Israel incurred losses including 344 raids and fortifications, 328 pieces of technical equipment, 92 military vehicles, 67 command centers, 722 settlement units, 33 artillery positions, five Iron Dome platforms, and five drones, it said.
On Wednesday, exchanges of fire across the Lebanese-Israeli border saw an unprecedented escalation, with intense Israeli air strikes and artillery shelling confronted with a series of Hezbollah rocket shells and drones.
Tensions along the Lebanon-Israel border escalated on Oct. 8, 2023, following a barrage of rockets launched by Hezbollah towards Israel in solidarity with Hamas’ attack on Israel the day before. Israel then retaliated by firing heavy artillery towards southeastern Lebanon.
April 24,2024: A Myanmar rebel group has withdrawn its troops from a town along the Thai border following a counteroffensive by soldiers of the ruling junta from whom the rebels had this month wrested the key trading post, an official said on Wednesday.
The Karen National Union (KNU) made a “temporary retreat” from the town of Myawaddy, a spokesperson said, after the return of junta soldiers to the vital strategic area that is a conduit for annual foreign trade of more than $1 billion.
“KNLA troops will … destroy the junta troops and their back-up troops who marched to Myawaddy,” Saw Taw Nee said, referring to the group’s armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army, one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic fighting forces.
He did not say what its next move would be.
Fighting had flared as recently as Saturday in Myawaddy, forcing 3,000 civilians to flee in a single day as rebels fought to flush out stranded Myanmar government troops holed up at a border bridge crossing.