Iran's president Raisi begins a rare visit to Africa 'to promote economic diplomacy' 2
Iran’s president has begun a rare visit to Africa as the country, which is under heavy US economic sanctions, seeks to deepen partnerships around the world.
President Ebrahim Raisi’s visit to Kenya on Wednesday is the first to the African continent by an Iranian leader in more than a decade. He is also expected to visit Uganda and Zimbabwe and meet with the presidents of all three countries.
Raisi’s visit is meant to “promote economic diplomacy, strengthen political relations with friendly and aligned countries, and diversify the export destinations,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement upon his arrival.
Last month, Iran’s leader made his first visit to Latin America, stopping in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua.
In March, Iran and Saudi Arabia agreed to re-establish diplomatic ties in a major diplomatic breakthrough.
Iran is in a growing standoff with Western nations over its nuclear programme, which has made major advances in the five years since then-US President Donald Trump withdrew his country from an international agreement that restricted it. Trump also restored sanctions on Iran that have contributed to a severe economic crisis.
The US last month accused Iran of providing Russia with materials to build a drone manufacturing plant as Moscow seeks weaponry for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine. Iran has said it provided drones to Russia before the start of the war but not since.
Kenya is East Africa’s economic hub and an ally of the US, with President Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, visiting the country early this year.
Under new President William Ruto, Kenya is struggling with debt and rising cost of living, with more protests expected on Wednesday in the capital, Nairobi, and elsewhere.
Few details have been released about the Iranian leader’s visit to Uganda and Zimbabwe.
Last month, the US imposed visa restrictions on some officials in Uganda after the passage of a widely criticised anti-LGBTQ+ law.
China lashes back at NATO criticism, warns it will protect its rights 4
Beijing lashed back at NATO’s accusation that China challenges the bloc’s interests and security, and opposed any attempt by the military alliance to expand its footprint into the Asia-Pacific region.
In a strongly worded communique issued midway into a two-day summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Tuesday, NATO said the People’s Republic of China (PRC) challenged its interests, security and values with its “ambitions and coercive policies”. “The PRC employs a broad range of political, economic, and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up,” NATO heads of state said in their communique.
“The PRC’s malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target Allies and harm Alliance security.” The Chinese mission to the European said in a statement on Tuesday the China-related content of the communique disregarded basic facts, distorted China’s position and policies, and deliberately discredited China.
“We firmly oppose and reject this,” it said. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters at the summit that while China was not a NATO “adversary”, it was increasingly challenging the rules-based international order with its “coercive behaviour.”
“China is increasingly challenging the rules-based international order, refusing to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine, threatening Taiwan, and carrying out a substantial military build-up,” he said. However, NATO made no mention of Taiwan in its communique.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it was “very meaningful” for Stoltenberg to once again clearly express his concern for security in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan is a responsible, democratic member of the Indo-Pacific region, and is willing to work with like-minded partners such as Europe and the United States to jointly combat coercion by and challenges from authoritarian regimes, it added.
‘SPREADING ITS TENTACLES’
Attendance at the two-day summit also includes some Asia-Pacific leaders.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, joining for a second time, aimed to remind the military alliance to pay heed to East Asia risks, while South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol sought deeper international security cooperation amid rising North Korean threats and tension over China. In May, Kishida said Japan had no plans to become a NATO member, even though NATO was planning a Tokyo office, its first in Asia, to facilitate consultations in the region.
The Chinese mission said China resolutely opposed NATO’s “eastward movement into the Asia-Pacific region” and warned any action threatening Beijing’s rights would be met with a resolute response. “Any act that jeopardises China’s legitimate rights and interests will be met with a resolute response,” it said.
In the communique, NATO said China sought to control key technological and industrial sectors, critical infrastructure, and strategic materials and supply chains, and that Beijing also used its economic leverage to create strategic dependencies and enhance its influence. China’s state-run Xinhua news agency hit back, saying in a report that the wars and conflicts involving NATO states suggest the bloc is a “grave challenge” to global peace and stability.
“Despite all the chaos and conflict already inflicted, NATO is spreading its tentacles to the Asia-Pacific region with an express aim of containing China.”
Why did you give Mishra third extension: Sibal on Shah's 'who is ED director not important' remark 6
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Wednesday took a swipe at Home Minister Amit Shah over his remarks that it is not important who the director of the Enforcement Directorate is, asking why did the government then give a third extension to the probe agency’s chief Sanjay Kumar Mishra.
Sibal’s remarks came a day after the Supreme Court held as ”illegal” two successive extensions of one year each granted to Enforcement Directorate chief Mishra, ruling that the Centre’s orders were in ”breach” of its mandamus in its 2021 verdict that the IRS officer should not be given further term.
After the Supreme Court ruling, Shah said who the ED director is not important because whoever assumes this role will take note of the rampant corruption of a cozy club of entitled dynasts who have an anti-development mindset.
In a tweet, Sibal said, ”Sanjay Mishra (ED) Chief. Supreme Court held extension till November invalid. Amit Shah: ‘ED is an institution which rises beyond any one individual…’ Then why did you give him a 3rd extension?” ”Some individuals serve the political interests of the party in power!” the senior advocate and former Union minister said.
The order of the top court in which it also curtailed Mishra’s extended tenure to July 31 came as a setback to the Centre, even as it upheld the amendments under which a maximum of five-year tenure can be given to directors of the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The amendments were made to the Central Vigilance Commission (Amendment) Act, 2021 and the Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Act, 2021 as well as to the Fundamental (Amendment) Rules, 2021.
Mishra, 62, was first appointed the ED director for two years on November 19, 2018. Later, by an order dated November 13, 2020, the central government modified the appointment letter retrospectively and his two-year term was changed to three years.
Woman killed, 19 injured as bus falls into gorge in Nashik district 8
A woman was killed and 19 persons were injured when a bus operated by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) fell into a deep gorge in Nashik district on Wednesday morning, an official said.
The injured have been rushed to a state-run hospital, the official said.
The incident took place around 5.45 am near a Ganesh temple at Vani on the Saptashrungi Garh ghat section in Kalwan taluka, the official said.
On Tuesday night, the MSRTC bus had come to Saptashrungi Garh from Khamgaon in Buldhana district. The bus was going back on Wednesday morning when the driver lost control of the vehicle and it fell into a 150-foot-deep gorge, the official said.
Local residents, police and other agencies reached the spot and started rescue and search operations, he said.
A woman died and 19 persons, including the driver and conductor of the bus, sustained injuries in the accident, he said.
Sources said district guardian minister Dada Bhuse was on his way to the accident spot.
TMC dominates Bengal rural polls by bagging over 12,518 seats, maintains strong lead 10
According to the latest declarations by the State Election Commission, the TMC has won in 12,518 gram panchayat seats and is leading in 3,620 seats. Its nearest rival BJP has won in 2,781 seats and is leading in 915 seats out of 63,229 seats as of 3.30 pm.
The Left Front has won in 959 seats out of which the CPI(M) alone has won in 910 seats. The party is curently leading in 550 seats. The Congress won 625 seats and is leading in 276.
Other parties which included the newly formed ISF won 219 seats and led in 70 seats, while independents which included TMC rebels won 718 seats and led in 216 seats. Counting of votes for the three-tier panchayat polls to nearly 74,000 seats which besides the gram panchayat seats, also includes 9,730 panchayat samiti seats and 928 zilla parishad seats, began at 8 am on Tuesday peacefully amid tight security, officials said.
There are around 339 counting venues spread across 22 districts. The maximum number of counting centres is in South 24 Parganas at 28, while the minimum is in Kalimpong at four. Some northern districts are also facing inclement weather.
”Counting began at 8 am and is likely continue for the next two days. It will take time for the ballots to be counted and the results to be compiled,” an SEC official said.
In Darjeeling hills, out of the 598 seats in Darjeeling and 281 in Kalimpong, the BGPM was leading in 21, whereas the BJP was head in one, and the independents were leading in four.
All the counting venues are manned by armed state police personnel and central forces, with prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC being imposed outside the venue to avoid any untoward incidents. There are a total of 767 strong rooms across 22 districts.
Large crowds of supporters of various candidates gathered at various centres to ensure that counting was conducted correctly.
In various districts, TMC supporters celebrated their victory by dancing and smearing each other with green gulal.
As initial trends started pouring in, a war of words broke out between the TMC and the BJP, with the latter accusing the ruling party of ”making last desperate attempts to loot votes by blocking opposition agents from entering counting centres.” ”TMC goons are making desperate attempt to steal the elections by obstructing the counting agents and candidates of the BJP and other opposition political parties from entering counting centres. They are being restricted from going towards the venue, and bombs are being hurled to intimidate counting agents,” leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said.
Refuting the allegations, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, ”sensing defeat, they are making baseless allegations.” ”Rejected by people and sensing humiliating defeat, this is BJP’s last attempt to come up with lame excuses to make up for its own organisational failures,” he said.
Violence had rocked West Bengal’s rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.
Of those killed, 11 were affiliated with the TMC. The total death toll in the state since the poll process began on June 8, when the dates were announced, has crossed 30.
A voter turnout of 80.71 per cent was recorded on Saturday, whereas a vote percentage of 69.85 was recorded till 5 pm in 696 booths across West Bengal, where re polling was held on Monday.
The decision for re polling was taken after reviewing reports of violence and tampering with ballot boxes and ballot papers on Saturday.
A total of 5.67 crore people living in the state’s rural areas were eligible to decide the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates in 73,887 seats of the panchayat system.
Saturday’s violence was in keeping with the state’s history of violent rural elections, including the 2003 panchayat polls, which gained notoriety for its cumulative death toll of 76 during the poll process, with nearly 40 killed on the day of polling.
This year, with more than 30 killed since polls were announced earlier last month, the toll remained almost equal to that of the previous panchayat elections in 2018.
However, this time, the Opposition had fielded candidates in more than 90 per cent of seats, unlike in 2018 rural polls, when the ruling TMC had won 34 per cent of the seats uncontested.
In the 2018 rural polls, the ruling TMC had emerged victorious in 90 per cent of the panchayat seats and all the 22 zilla parishads. The elections were marred by widespread violence, with the Opposition alleging they were prevented from filing nominations in several seats.
Monsoon fury in HP: 20 people stranded in Manali rescued, about 300 stuck across state 12
Twenty people stranded in Himachal Pradesh’s tourist town of Manali were rescued but about 300 others were stranded across various parts of the hill state on Monday as heavy rain wreaked havoc for the third day on Monday.
The state is bracing for another day of downpour with the meteorological department issuing a ”red” alert for ”extremely heavy rain” on Monday, a day after heavy rain pounded the state, triggering landslides, damaging houses and leaving several people deal.
Using anchored rope, harness and crane, a team of the 14th battalion of the NDRF rescued six people stranded in Nagwayin village due to the rise in the water level of Beas River in a late-night operation on Sunday, officials said.
In another operation, the Home Guards rescued 20 people from Manali on Monday, officials said, adding around 300 persons were stranded in various parts of the state.
Officials said rail operations on the Shimla-Kalka route, a UNESCO world heritage site, have been suspended till Tuesday as landslides blocked the track at several places while educational institutions across the state were ordered to remain shut on Monday and Tuesday.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, in a video released on Monday morning, appealed to the people to avoid venturing out in heavy rains, especially near rivers and nullahs, and remain vigilant for the next 24 hours as the Met department has warned of heavy rains.
He also asked all the MLAs to stay in their respective constituencies and help the people in this hour of distress.
He said that the state government has released three numbers – 1100, 1070 and 1077 — to help people in distress.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri informed that 4,680 schemes of the Jal Shakti Department have been damaged and the loss is estimated at Rs 323.30 crore.
The Chandigarh-Manali National Highway is blocked due to landslides and flooding at several places and Shimla-Kinnaur road is also closed for vehicular traffic due to slides and falling of rocks.
As many as 876 bus routes of Himachal Road Transport Corporation were affected and 403 buses were stuck at different places due to heavy rains.
Superintendent of Police Mayank Chaudhary, who is on the spot, said that all the people are safe and food and essential medicines have been arranged. They would be rescued soon as the road is restored, he said.
Himachal received 271.5 mm average rains during the current monsoon season from June 1 to July 9, against normal rainfall of 160.6 mm, an excess of 69 per cent.
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar files nomination papers for Rajya Sabha polls from Gujarat 14
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday filed his nomination papers for elections to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and BJP Gujarat unit president C R Paatil accompanied Jaishankar to the state Assembly complex where he submitted the nomination papers to Returning Officer Rita Mehta.
The last date for filing nominations is July 13 and the deadline for withdrawal of nominations is July 17. Polling will be held on July 24 if required.
Four years ago, Jaishankar had filed his nomination for the first time from Gujarat for the Rajya Sabha.
Out of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat, eight are currently held by the BJP and rest by the Congress.
Of the eight seats held by the BJP, the terms of S Jaishankar, Jugalji Thakor and Dinesh Anavadiya will end on August 18. Polls will be held for these three seats.
The Congress on Friday said it would not field candidates for polls to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat as it did not have enough MLAs in the 182-member state Assembly.
The BJP won a record 156 seats in the Gujarat Assembly polls held late last year, while the Congress saw its worst performance since the state was formed by managing to get just 17 seats.
It's a 'trishul' of development now, says Maha DyCM Fadnavis on Ajit Pawar joining Shinde-led govt 16
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said with NCP leader Ajit Pawar joining the Eknath Shinde-led dispensation as deputy CM, the government has now become a ”trishul” (trident) of development, which will remove poverty and backwardness from the state.
Fadnavis was speaking at ‘Shasan Aaplya Dari’ programme in Gadchiroli district of the state.
”Since the last one year, CM Eknath Shinde and I have been working together. But with Ajit Pawar joining the government, it has now created a ‘trishul’ of development, which will remove poverty and backwardness from the state,” Fadnavis said. ”This ‘trishul’ is like Lord Shiva’s third eye which will reduce to ashes those who work against the common man,” he added. Ajit Pawar last week took oath as deputy chief minister, while eight MLAs of his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were inducted as ministers into the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Shinde.
Talking about the ‘Shasan Aaplya Dari’ (government at your doorstep) initiative, Fadnavis said, it was started with a vision of taking the government schemes to the doorstep of the common people.
Around 6.70 lakh beneficiaries from remote areas of Gadchiroli have received benefits of various government schemes in the form of tractors, cycles, godowns, caste certificates, among other things, he said. Talking about the various development works carried out by the government, he said about Rs 20,000 crore of investment is being brought into the steel industry in Gadchiroli. ”The state government is working on making Gadchiroli a steel city, which will provide huge employment opportunities to the local residents,” he said.
Many big industrial houses are investing in Gadchiroli, he said.
The government is transforming Gadchiroli without disturbing its culture, tradition and forest resources, the deputy chief minister added. ”By taking everyone along and keeping the environment in mind, we are going to develop Gadchiroli in such a way that there will be no backwardness and unemployment anywhere. Every youth in the district, be it tribals or OBCs, will get employment,” Fadnavis said.
The government has identified 146 acres of land for an airport in Gadchiroli and a proposal for it has been sent to the Airports Authority of India for approval, he said. ”The work of laying railway lines is also underway in Gadchiroli,” he said, adding that it will be transformed into a progressive district from an aspirational district.
BRS hits back on PM Modi's remarks on KCR govt, says 'pot calling kettle black' 18
Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks on the BRS Government, Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao on Saturday said the PM has insulted the people of the state by setting up a Rs 520 crore wagon factory while ”taking away” a Rs 20,000 crore rupees locomotive factory to Gujarat.
Referring to PM’s comments that there are thousands of teacher posts vacant in Telangana, KTR said it is like ”pot calling the kettle black” as the centre is not filling more than 16 lakh central government jobs and is permanently privatising jobs in public sector organisations.
”Before speaking about the vacancies in state universities, the PM should fill all the vacancies in the central universities across the country. The prime Minister should respond to the issue of the Governor not clearing the legislation brought out by our government on the filling of jobs in universities,” the minister said.
KTR said Modi did not say a single word about the Bayyaram steel factory which was mentioned in the AP Bifurcation Act aiming to provide employment to 15,000 locals.
He further alleged that it has become a habit of Modi to come to Telangana and lash out at the BRS government here, speak lies, and give a lecture before leaving with ”empty hands.” KTR said that the PM, who spoke about the Telangana government school education system, should remember that the BRS regime is spending Rs 1.25 lakh on each student annually to impart quality education which nowhere in the country is done.
KTR said people of Telangana are observing the negligence and discrimination shown towards Telangana and warned that BJP will be taught a lesson at the right time.
Answering to the claims made by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray that Eknath Shinde’s chief ministerial post may be in jeopardy and he is asked to resign from CM post, Shinde’s Shiv Sena veteran leader said, Shinde would be CM in 2024 too.
Aaditya is making all baseless claims and trying to gain media headlines his predictions are childish said the Shiv Sena veteran.
His guesses on ‘changes in the government’ comes as reports emerged of trouble brewing in the Shinde camp over fears of being sidelined by the BJP and Pawar’s elevation. Ajit Pawar currently shares the deputy chief minister post with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis.
Ajit split the NCP as he joined the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance and took oath as the state’s deputy chief minister for the fifth time. Later, Shiv Sena (UBT) faction’s Sanjay Raut announced that around 20 MLAs from Shinde’s faction were in contact with his party since Ajit’s rebellion.
Aaditya even stepped up his attack against Shinde by saying that Mumbai was facing water-logging from the first monsoon rains as nine municipal wards are without Assistant Commissioners (Ward Officers).
Adding that Mumbai’s infrastructure had “completely collapsed”, he accused the Shinde government of playing favourites, Aaditya wrote, “Gaddars have chosen their favourite junior officials not from the AO cadre to run their corrupt will in the ward, under obligations. Mumbai is facing dual robbery under the khoke regime, loot of its money and reputation.”
