Junior Digest

July 13,2023: Approximately 3.3 billion people – almost half of humanity – now live in countries that spend more money paying interest on their debts than on education or health, according to a new United Nations report.

“Half our world is sinking into a development disaster, fuelled by a crushing debt crisis,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told a press conference launching a report on Wednesday on the state of the world’s debt.

“In 2022, global public debt reached a record $92 trillion and developing countries shoulder a disproportionate amount,” the UN chief said.

Because such a “crushing debt crisis” is concentrated mostly in poor developing countries, it is “not judged to pose a systemic risk to the global financial system”, Guterres said.

“This is a mirage,” he said.

Financial markets may seem not to be suffering yet – but billions of people are and the levels of public debt “are staggering and surging”, he added.
According to the report, the number of countries facing high debt levels has increased sharply from 22 nations in 2011 to 59 in 2022. And a total of 52 countries, almost 40 percent of the developing world, are in serious debt trouble, Guterres noted.

“In Africa, the amount spent on interest payments is higher than spending on either education or health. Developing countries in Asia and Oceania [excluding China] are allocating more funds to interest payments than to health,” the report states.

“Similarly, in Latin America and the Caribbean, developing countries are devoting more money to interest payments rather than to investment. Across the world, rising debt burdens are keeping countries from investing in sustainable development,” it adds.

Guterres said a growing share of debt is held by private creditors who charge sky-high interest rates to developing countries.

As an example, he cited African countries that on average pay four times more for borrowing than the United States and eight times more than the wealthiest European countries.
The report says public debt has reached “colossal levels” largely due to two factors: First, countries’ financial needs soared as they tried to fend off the impact of cascading crises including the COVID-19 pandemic, the rising cost of living and climate change; and second, the global financial architecture “makes developing countries’ access to financing inadequate and expensive”.

Guterres told reporters that the International Monetary Fund says 36 countries are on “so-called `debt row’ – either in, or at high risk of debt distress”.

“Another 16 are paying unsustainable interest rates to private creditors [and] a total of 52 countries – almost 40 percent of the developing world – are in serious debt trouble.”

UN trade chief Rebeca Grynspan stressed on Wednesday “the sheer magnitude and speed at which public debt has grown”, pointing to a more than fivefold surge since 2000, “significantly outpacing global GDP [gross domestic product] growth that has only tripled in the same period”.

Regionally, between 2010 and 2022, the amount of government debt increased by almost four times in Asia and the Pacific, three times in Africa, 2.5 times in Europe and Central Asia, and 1.6 times in Latin America and the Caribbean, Armida Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, told reporters.

Milan Kundera, one of the biggest names in European literature in recent decades, has died in Paris aged 94.
His best-known work was his 1984 novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Anna Mrazova, a spokeswoman for the Milan Kundera Library in his home city of Brno in the Czech Republic, said he had died after a long illness.
He was a towering figure in Czech literature but his scathing criticism of Czechoslovakia’s communist regime saw him flee for France in 1975.
A poetic and satirical author, Kundera’s novels won praise for their observation of both politics and everyday life.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said his work reached “whole generations of readers across all continents and achieved global fame”.
“He leaves behind not only notable fiction, but also significant essay work.”
Born in 1929 into an elite Czech family, his father was a piano teacher and a student of the composer Janacek, and ensured Kundera received musical training at an advanced level.
Kundera studied in Prague, becoming a lecturer in world literature. He joined the ruling Communist Party and initially he was an ardent member.
But his writing soon got him into political trouble. His first novel The Joke – a black comedy published in 1967 – led to a ban on his writing in Czechoslovakia.
In 1970 he was asked to leave the party after expressing support for the Prague Spring movement, the period of political liberalisation crushed by the 1968 Soviet invasion.
Kundera’s activism led to his dismissal from his teaching post and his novels were removed from public libraries, while the sale of his work was banned until the fall of the Communist government in 1989.
For a short time he performed as jazz trumpeter, before emigrating to France in 1975 with his wife Vera, settling first in Rennes then Paris. He became a naturalised French citizen in 1981, two years after he was stripped of his Czech nationality, and eventually wrote in French.

New Delhi, July 12,2023: Supreme Court on Tuesday decided to hear on a day-to-day basis from August 2 a batch of petitions challenging the Centre’s August 5, 2019, decision to scrap special status under Article 370 of Jammu & Kashmir.

The hearings will also include the petitions challenging the Centre’s decision taken on the same day to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh.

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chandrachud, scheduled day-to-day hearings from August 2 on 23 writ petitions.

“The hearing of the petitions before the constitution bench shall commence on August 2, 10:30 am and then proceed on day-to=day basis barring miscellaneous days, ie, on Monday and Friday.,” the CJI said in the order.

The apex court also said that the written submissions should be filed on or before July 27 and no more submissions would be allowed thereafter.

The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, senior law officer of the Union of India, submitted that though the Centre has filed an additional affidavit setting out the Central government’s view on post-notification development, it would have no bearing on the constitutional question and it would not be relied upon.

Mehta also said the Centre’s Monday affidavit was to inform the SC about post-August 2019 developments in the UTs/

The issues before the SC relates to the constitutional validity of the scrapping of Article 370 conferring special status on J&K.

Sriharikota (AP), July 14,2023: India’s heavy lift launch vehicle LVM3-M4 on Friday successfully launched third Lunar exploratory mission Chandrayaan-3 in the intended orbit. After a 25.5 hour countdown, the 43.5 m tall launch vehicle, with a lift off mass of 642 tonnes, took off from the Second Launch Pad at 2.35 p.m from the SHAR Range.
Applause and cheers swept through mission control at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, where the ISRO engineers and scientists celebrated as they monitored the launch of the spacecraft.

Thousands of Indians cheered outside the mission control centre and waved the national flag as they watched the craft rise into the sky.

“Congratulations India. Chandrayaan-3 has started its journey towards the moon,” ISRO Director S P Somanath said shortly after the launch.
Only three other space agencies – the United States, the former Soviet Union and China – have touched down a lander on the moon’s surface.

None has landed near the lunar south pole.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is currently visiting France, tweeted that the mission was carrying the “hopes and dreams of our nation”.
The third Chandrayaan includes a two-metre-tall lander designed to deploy a rover near the lunar south pole, where it is expected to remain functional for two weeks running a series of experiments.

New Delhi , July 16,2023: As per Delhi Flood Control Department, the water level in Yamuna was recorded at 206.02 metres at 8 am on Sunday against 207.58 m yesterday morning.
The situation of waterlogging in several low lying areas of Delhi, including on roads from Kashmere Gate to Majnu Ka Tila, has improved today as the water level slowly recedes, it said.
According to the officials, the water level of Yamuna is likely to fall below the danger mark in the next few hours.
The Yamuna River in Delhi crossed the danger mark of 205.33 metres at 5 pm on July 10.
Notably, the Yamuna water level was recorded at 207.58 metres at 8 am on Saturday. At 9 pm on Friday, the water level of Yamuna was recorded at 208.07 metres.
However, Delhi Traffic Police has issued a traffic alert restricting movement on Bhairon marg due to waterlogging under Railway Bridge as water slowly recedes.
Meanwhile, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams carried out rescue operations in the low-lying areas near Pragati Maidan late on Saturday night as the Yamuna River continues to overflow, officials said, adding nearby areas and key roads remain affected due to waterlogging.
New Delhi Municipal Council’s (NDMC) workers conducted a special night drive to flush out water from Mathura Road, near the Supreme Court area as nearby areas and key roads remain inundated due to heavy rains on Saturday.

July 10,2023:President Biden said in an interview that aired on Sunday that Ukraine was not ready for membership in NATO and that it was “premature” to begin the process to allow Ukraine to join the alliance in the middle of a war.

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Mr. Biden said that he did not “think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now,” and that the process could take place only after a peace agreement with Russia was in place.

“If the war is going on, then we’re all in war,” Mr. Biden said, referring to the alliance’s commitment to mutual defense. “We’re at war with Russia, if that were the case.” He added that there would be “other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization,” for Ukraine to be considered for membership.

The president began a trip to Europe on Sunday that will include attending a NATO summit in Lithuania, where Russia’s war in Ukraine — and a decision last week by the United States to supply Kyiv with weapons that are banned by most of its allies — will be a main focus.

Mr. Biden said in the interview that he had warned President Xi Jinping of China about growing too close to Russia. He added that after the Chinese leader met with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in March, Mr. Biden spoke with Mr. Xi and reminded him that scores of American corporations had pulled out of Russia since the war began.

“He didn’t argue,” Mr. Biden said. “And if you notice, he has not gone full-bore” on Russia.

Mr. Biden also defended his decision to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions, which are outlawed by many of America’s closest allies. He said it was a difficult decision, but with artillery supplies dwindling, it was a choice between supplying the weapons or leaving Ukraine defenseless.

Russia has said the latest NATO summit demonstrates that the Western military alliance has returned to “Cold War schemes”, and Moscow is ready to respond to such threats by “all means” necessary.

Russia’s comments came as United States President Joe Biden said at the end of the NATO summit on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a “craven lust for land and power” and had badly misjudged the resolve of the military bloc to support Ukraine.

“When Putin, and his craven lust for land and power, unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, he was betting NATO would break apart … But he thought wrong,” Biden said at the end of the two-day summit in Lithuania’s capital Vilnius.

“NATO is stronger, more energised and yes, more united than ever in its history. Indeed, more vital to our shared future,” he said.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement late on Wednesday that the outcome of the NATO meeting would be “carefully analysed” for the threats posed to Russia’s security.

“Taking into account the challenges and threats to Russia’s security and interests that have been identified, we will respond in a timely and appropriate manner, using all means and methods at our disposal,” the ministry said in the statement.

Western powers were determined to divide “the world into democracies and autocracies”, the ministry said, adding that “the crosshairs of this policy of searching for enemies is aimed at Russia”.
The ministry also said that NATO was continually lowering the threshold for the use of force while escalating political and military tensions by supplying Ukraine with more powerful and sophisticated weaponry.
“Taking the course of escalation, they issued a new batch of promises to supply the Kyiv regime with more and more modern and long-range weapons in order to prolong the conflict as long as possible – to exhaustion,” the ministry said.

Russia would respond by strengthening “the country’s military organisation and defence system”.

The NATO summit, which opened with news that Turkey would approve Sweden’s membership of the military alliance after months of objections, ended on Wednesday with the US and its allies giving Ukraine new security assurances for its defence against Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who attended the summit, was offered long-term security promises, but he was not given a concrete timeline for NATO membership, which he had lobbied for strenuously.

NATO’s courting of Ukraine will likely further anger Putin who has partly portrayed his invasion of Ukraine as a response to NATO’s eastward expansion and to prevent the possibility of Ukraine joining the Western military alliance and the stationing of NATO forces at Russia’s borders.

Washington DC-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Wednesday the NATO summit “demonstrated the degree to which the 2022 Russian invasion has set back the goals for which the Kremlin claims it launched the war” on Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov became on Wednesday the second senior Russian figure in as many days to warn of a military escalation owing to Western support for Ukraine. Lavrov said the West was creating a nuclear threat to Russia by planning to supply Ukraine with US-made F-16 fighter jets.

“The USA and its NATO satellites are creating the risk of a direct military confrontation with Russia and this can have catastrophic consequences,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian online newspaper Lenta.ru.
“The very fact of the appearance of such systems in the Ukrainian armed forces we will consider as a nuclear threat from the West,” he said.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, warned on Tuesday that assistance for Ukraine from NATO members brought the threat of a third global conflict closer.

The training of Ukrainian pilots in the operation of F-16 fighter jets is to begin in Romania in August, officials said on the sidelines of the NATO summit. Kyiv’s military allies have yet to agree on the actual provision of the advanced warplanes to Ukraine.

Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) , July 13 ,2023: As Himachal Pradesh continued to battle nature’s fury and its unforgiving fallout, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said more than 50,000 tourists have been evacuated by rescuers from across the state.
The Himachal CM also lauded officials across various state departments, who are involved in the ongoing rescue and evacuation work.
“We have successfully evacuated over 50,000 tourists from Himachal Pradesh in the last 48 hours, till 8 PM today. I would like to thank our administration and staff across various departments, who are working tirelessly and round the clock to restore our roads, power, water supply, and network connectivity,” tweeted CM Sukhu.
Meanwhile, IPS Satwant Atwal took to her Twitter handle on Wednesday to say that 6 Israeli tourists had been transferred safely to the town of Manikaran, while another 37 were safe and in good health at Barshaini.
“POSITIVE from Manikaran, 6 Israelis have been brought to PP Manikaran and remaining 37 Israeli nationals are at Barshaini and all are safe and in healthy condition,” tweeted IPS Atwal.
The IPS informed further on Twitter that about 95 people, including a foreign national, had been rescued and brought safely at Sangla, Chhitkul and Raksham areas of the state.
“POSITIVE 95 people including a foreign national rescued, and brought to a safe place at Sangla, Chhitkul and Raksham,” tweeted the IPS.
The Himachal government on Wednesday said the state was limping back to normal and the evacuation process was underway amid heavy rainfall.
Speaking to ANI, principal secretary (Revenue and Disaster Management), Onkar Chand Sharma, said, “The situation is slowly returning to normal. Phone connectivity and internet connectivity have been restored in various parts of the state. The electricity situation has also improved. Various link roads have been opened. Evacuations are still underway.”
Earlier, the Himachal CM said about 50 per cent of stranded tourists have been evacuated from the flood-hit regions, adding that the government’s priority was to evacuate all stranded tourists.
“Our priority is to safely evacuate tourists and then focus on the restoration of electricity, power and water supply. Deputy CM and other ministers are also taking care of the situation. We have already evacuated around 50 per cent of the stranded tourists. Around Rs 4,000 crores worth of properties have been damaged,” Sukhu said.
Earlier in the day, Sukhu conducted an aerial survey of flood-affected areas, saying that his government was working hard to restore road transport and power supply at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh Public Service Competitive (Preliminary) Examination was pushed back to August 20 owing to incessant rainfall and damage to roads. The exam had earlier been scheduled on July 23.
As per data shared by the Disaster Management Authority, to date, a total of over 1000 roads are closed, nearly 2,000 electricity schemes affected and 1,200 water supply projects hampered in the state due to rain.
Further, incessant rainfall led to flash floods and landslides, causing significant damage to life and property in Manali.

Moscow,July 14,2023:Russian politicians have adopted a bill outlawing gender-reassignment procedures amid the Kremlin’s push to protect what it views as the country’s “traditional values”.
The toughened version of the bill was passed unanimously on Friday in its third and final reading in Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma.
The bill bans any “medical interventions aimed at changing the sex of a person,” as well as changing one’s gender in official documents and public records.
The only exception will be medical intervention to treat congenital anomalies.
In its second reading on Thursday, clauses were added that annul marriages in which one person has “changed gender” and bar transgender people from becoming foster or adoptive parents.

The bill must be passed by the Federation Council, Russia’s Kremlin-controlled upper chamber that generally rubber-stamps legislation that the Duma has approved, before being signed into law by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It has rattled the country’s transgender community and has drawn criticism not only from LGBTQ rights advocates but from medical personnel as well.

Lyubov Vinogradova, executive director of Russia’s Independent Psychiatric Association, called the bill “misanthropic” in a phone interview with The Associated Press before the final reading.

Gender-affirming procedures “shouldn’t be banned entirely, because there are people for whom it is the only way to “to exist normally and find peace with themselves”, Vinogradova said.

Lawmakers portray the measure as protecting Russia from “the Western anti-family ideology,” with some describing gender transitioning as “pure satanism”.
Chairman of the State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said in a statement on social media: “This decision will protect our citizens and our children.”

He pointed to what he described as a growing trend of gender reassignment in the United States, and claimed this was leading to the “degeneration” of the country.

“This is unacceptable for us,” he added, explaining why the proposed ban had won the backing of the lower house.

The crackdown on LGBTQ people started a decade ago when Putin first proclaimed a focus on “traditional family values”, a move ardently supported – and fueled, to a certain extent – by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In 2013, the Kremlin adopted the first legislation restricting LGBTQ rights, known as the “gay propaganda” law that banned any public endorsement of “nontraditional sexual relations” among minors.

In 2020, Putin pushed through a constitutional reform that outlawed same-sex marriage.

Yan Dvorkin, a 32-year-old psychologist who leads a Russian NGO helping transgender people called “Centre T”, told the AFP news agency prior to Friday’s vote he was concerned about a possible rise in suicides as a result of the bill.
He also said the ban on hormone reassignment therapy – also to be made illegal under the rules – risks “creating a black market in hormones”.

AUCKLAND,July 16,2023: Britain on Sunday formally signed the treaty to join a major trans-Pacific trade pact, becoming the first new country to take part since its inception in 2018 and opening the way for members to consider other applications including from China and Taiwan.

The signing was part of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) commission meeting being held in New Zealand.

Ministers from member countries will meet later on Sunday to discuss a range of topics, including how to move forward with new applications and a review of the agreement itself.

Britain’s Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said at the signing that her country was delighted to become the first new member of the CPTPP.

“This is a modern and ambitious agreement and our membership in this exciting, brilliant and forward looking bloc is proof that the UK’s doors are open for business,” Badenoch said.

The British government still needs to ratify the agreement.

The CPTPP is a landmark trade pact agreed in 2018 between 11 countries including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Britain will become the 12th member of the pact that cuts trade barriers, as it looks to deepen ties in the Pacific after its exit from the European Union in 2020.

China, Taiwan, Ukraine, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Ecuador have also applied to join the CPTPP.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the road to bringing Britain into the agreement had been long and at times challenging, but having major economies inside the partnership would bring the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific in a way that strengthened the rules-based trading system in the region.

Gurugram (Haryana) July 14,2023:: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday raised concern at the two-day G-20 Conference here regarding terrorists using the dark net to hide their identity and spread radical material, and find solutions by understanding pattern of these activities.
The minister also warned of cyber-attack threat which he said is hovering over all the major economies of the world and “many countries of the world have become victims of it”.
To create a “robust and efficient operational system”, Shah said, “Terrorists are using the dark net to hide their identity and spread radical material, and we have to understand the pattern of these activities running on the dark net and find solutions for the same.”
The Home Minister also specified the need to think coherently to crack down on the use of various virtual assets.
Speaking at the G20 Conference on Crime and Security in the age of the Non-Fungible Token (NFT), Artificial Intelligence (Al) and Metaverse’, Shah further said “The Metaverse, once a science fiction idea, has now stepped into the real world.”
He said the metaverse may create new opportunities for terrorist organizations primarily for propaganda, recruitment, and training.
“This will make it easier for terrorist organizations to select and target vulnerable people and prepare material according to their vulnerabilities.”
“The metaverse also creates opportunities for true imitation of a user’s identity, known as “deep-fakes”. Using better biometric information about individuals, criminals will be able to impersonate users and steal their identities,” Shah further said.
The minister also pointed out that incidents ranging from ransomware attacks, the sale of critical personal data, online harassment, and child abuse to fake news and misinformation campaigns with ‘toolkits’ are being carried out by cybercriminals.
At the same time, Shah said, there is also a growing tendency to strategically target critical information and financial systems.
“Such activities are a matter of national concern, as their activities have a direct impact on national security, law and order, and the economy. If such crimes and criminals have to be stopped, then we have to think and also act by rising above the conventional geographic boundaries,” said Shah.
“The targets in digital warfare are not our physical resources, but our ability to act online. Disruption of the online network even for 10 minutes can be fatal.”
Noting that all the governments of the world are promoting digital means in governance and public welfare today, Shah said it is necessary in this direction that citizens have faith in digital platforms.
Insecurity in the digital space also raises questions about the “legitimacy and sovereignty” of the nation-state, Shah said while advising “Our internet vision should neither be one of excessive freedom threatening the very existence of our nations nor one of isolationist structures such as digital firewalls.”
Stating on cyber-attack threat hovering over all the major economies of the world, Shah cited World Bank estimate that “cyber-attacks could have caused losses of around $5.2 trillion to the world during the years 2019-2023.”
He also said the use of cryptocurrency by malicious threat actors further complicates its detection and prevention.
“The government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi has worked towards outlining a uniform cyber strategy, real-time reporting of cyber-crimes, capacity building of LEAs, designing analytical tools and setting up a national network of forensic laboratories, ensuring cyber hygiene, and spreading cyber awareness to every citizen. The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System (CCTNS) has been implemented in all the police stations of the country,” Shah said.
He also said the Government of India has established the Indian Cyber-Crime Coordination Center (I4C) to ensure a comprehensive response against cybercrime.

New Delhi, July 14,2023: The Congress on Friday launched a scathing attack at the BJP-led government over electoral bonds, calling it a scheme of the ruling dispensation that converts “black money into white”.

The statement of the Congress came days after the Association for Democratic Reforms report, which claimed that the BJP received electoral bonds worth Rs 5,271.9751 crore from FY 2016–17 to FY 2021–22. The amount received by the ruling party is over 52 per cent of its total donations.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters, Congress Media and Publicity Department chairman Pawan Khera said, “BJP unleashed the electoral bonds scheme to legitimise its loot through ‘crony capitalism’. Destroying democracy, discarding transparency, and demolishing electoral practises is the sole objective of the (Narendra) Modi government.”

New Delhi, July 14,2023: Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Maharashtra assembly speaker and sought reply on a petition filed by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MLA, Sunil Prabhu against the delay by him in deciding the disqualification petitions against CM Eknath Shinde & MLAs supporting him.

A bench of the Supreme Court, headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr Dhananjaya Yeshwant Chadrachud, issued notice to notice to the Maharashtra assembly speaker and sought reply on a petition filed by Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) MLA, Sunil Prabhu.

Senior lawyer, Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Mr Prabhu, said that the state Speaker has been sitting over and was not taking a decision appropriately in this matter.

“Issue notice, returnable in two weeks,” the CJI, Dr Chandrachud, said, and fixed the matter for further hearing after two weeks, when the State Assembly Speaker completed filing the reply on Prabhu’s petition.

Prabhu had recently moved the Supreme Court seeking direction to the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly to expeditiously decide the disqualification petitions against the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde.

Paris , July 13,2023: Hailing the bilateral ties between India and France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the relationship between the two countries are in an ‘excellent’ space and stood steady and resilient through the ‘darkest storms’.
PM Modi has embarked on a visit to France at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron. His two-day visit, on July 13 and 14, is special as this year marks the 25th anniversary of the strategic partnership between India and France.
In an interview to French newspaper Les Echos before departing for France, PM Modi said, “First of all, on behalf of 1.4 billion Indians, I wish to convey my heartfelt gratitude to France, to its government and personally to President Macron for inviting India to 14th July National day celebrations as Guest of honour. I feel grateful to visit France on this occasion. This is a special year as it marks the 25th anniversary of our strategic partnership. It is an honour for India and a tribute to India-France friendship.”
PM Modi will be the Guest of Honour at the French Bastille Day celebrations at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron, on July 14.
PM Modi stated that the relations between the two countries are currently at a turning point and the success of the strategic partnership has been significant in taking the ties forward.
Delving deeper into the India-France partnership, PM Modi said, “Our partnership in sensitive areas like space and defence go back to five decades and more. It was a phase when the West did not have a friendly disposition towards India. So, it is not a surprise that France was the first Western country with which we declared a Strategic Partnership. That was a difficult time for the world, including for In-dia. Since then our relationship has transformed into a partnership that is important not just for our two countries, but is of great geopolitical consequence.”
Affirming that the relationship between the two countries was in excellent space, PM Modi added, “The relationship is in excellent shape. It is strong, trusted, consistent. It has been steady and resilient in the darkest storms. It has been bold and ambitious in looking for opportunities,” according to English translation of the Interview of PM to French newspaper Les Echos.
“The level of mutual trust and confidence we share is unmatched. It stems from shared values and vision. We share a strong sense of strategic autonomy. Both have deep commitment to international law. We both seek a multipolar world. Both of us carry an unwavering faith in multilateralism,” he added.
To a question on expectations from France with regard to extending strategic support to India amid its frosty equations with China, PM Modi said that India and France have a wide-ranging and comprehensive strategic partnership that includes cooperation in the areas of politics, defence, security, economy, and human-centric development.
“When countries with similar vision and values work together, bilaterally, in plurilateral arrangements or in regional institutions, they can deal with any challenge,” PM Modi told Les Echos.
“Our partnership, including in the Indo Pacific region, is not directed against, or at the expense of any country. Our aim is to safeguard our economic and security interests, ensure freedom of navigation and commerce, advance the rule of international law in the region,” Prime Minister Modi said.
Earlier, on Thursday morning, PM Modi left for France on a two-day official visit.
Ahead of his departure to France, PM Modi, in a statement, said he was looking forward to meeting French President Emmanuel Macron and holding discussions on taking forward the partnership between both nations.
“I look forward to meeting President Macron and holding wide-ranging discussions on taking forward this longstanding and time-tested partnership over the next 25 years. I have had the opportunity to meet President Macron several times since my last Official Visit to France in 2022, most recently in Hiroshima, Japan in May 2023 during the G-7 Summit,” read an official statement released from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Terming his visit to France as “special”, PM Modi informed that an Indian tri-services contingent will take part in the Bastille Day Parade.
He added that the Indian Air Force aircraft will also perform a fly-past on the occasion.

New Delhi, July 15,2023: Congress leader and disqualified Lok Sabha Member of Parliament (MP), Rahul Gandhi Knocked the doors of the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat High Court’s order dismissing his plea for stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case over ‘Modi surname’ remark.

Rahul had moved the Top Court, seeking a stay on Gujarat HC’s verdict dismissing his appeal of stay his conviction in the criminal defamation case over ‘Modi surname.’

Gujarat High Court’s Single-judge Justice Hemant M Prachchhak, which had reserved the judgement on May 02, had pronounced the verdict on July 07.

Justice Prachchhak while pronouncing the verdict had on July 07 said that at least 10 criminal cases pending against him (Rahul Gandhi). Even after the present case, some more cases have also been filed against him. One such is filed by grandson of Veer Savarkar. In anyway, conviction would not result in any injustice. The conviction is just and proper. There is no need to interfere with the said order. Therefore, the application (filed by) is dismissed.

The Gujarat HC had passed the verdict after hearing in deatil the arguments and submissions from Rahul, and the complainant, Purnesh Modi.

“Nobody can suggest that my case falls in moral turpitude or serious category. In fact, my case is a bailable one and it is not against the society at large,” Dr Singhvi had told the Gujarat High Court Judge, Justice Prachchhak.

Dr Sighvi had said that the court has been harsh and handed down the maximum punishment for the first time to the alleged offender (Rahul). Had there been even a day less sentence, disqualification would not have come. So please consider all these.

July 13,2023: Elon Musk’s latest venture xAI says it will seek to ‘understand the true nature of the universe’.
Elon Musk has launched an artificial intelligence (AI) company to challenge ChatGPT creator OpenAI, which the billionaire tech mogul has accused of being “woke”.
On Wednesday, xAI said the goal of the new company would be to “understand the true nature of the universe”.
“What are the most fundamental unanswered questions?” xAI said on Twitter, which is owned by Musk.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said in a tweet that his company would seek to “understand reality”.
xAI’s staff includes former employees of OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Tesla, DeepMind and the University of Toronto, according to the company’s website.
Dan Hendrycks, the director of the Center for AI Safety, is advising the company, according to its website. Hendrycks earlier this year organised an open letter warning that AI could pose existential risks to humanity, a concern echoed by Musk.

Musk helped to co-found OpenAI in 2015 but left the San Francisco-based startup in 2018 over what he has described as a conflict of interest related to his work on AI at electric carmaker Tesla.

Musk, who has taken aim at the “woke mind virus” in society, has since accused the firm’s groundbreaking language bot ChatGPT of being biased in favour of left-wing and politically correct views.

Since buying Twitter for $44bn in October, Musk, a self-described free speech absolutist, has loosened moderation rules and reinstated previously banned right-wing accounts, which critics say has led to a surge in hate speech and extremism on the platform.

In April, Musk expressed his intention to launch a rival chatbot called TruthGPT.
Musk told former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview that the new chatbot would be a “maximum truth-seeking AI that tries to understand the nature of the universe”.

Los Angeles, July 8,2023: US private space company SpaceX launched 48 more Starlink satellites into orbit on Friday.
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 12:29 p.m. Pacific Time from the Space Launch Complex at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Soon after the launch, Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Starlink will deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable, according to SpaceX.