Home
India protest with China over map claiming 'India's territory'
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Asia
- Hits: 245
NEW DELHI - India said on Tuesday that it had lodged a strong protest with China over a new map that lays claim to India's territory, the latest irritant in testy ties between the Asian giants.
The protest by New Delhi followed reports in the Indian media that Beijing had released an official "standard map" showing the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin plateau as its official territory.
China claims Arunachal Pradesh in the eastern Himalayas to be a part of southern Tibet and had in April released a map renaming 11 places in the state as being within "Zangnan", or southern Tibet in Chinese.
Aksai Chin is a disputed plateau in the western Himalayas claimed by India but controlled by China.
"We have today lodged a strong protest through diplomatic channels with the Chinese side on the so-called 2023 'standard map' of China that lays claim to India;s territory," the Indian foreign ministry spokesperson said.
"We reject these claims as they have no basis. Such steps by the Chinese side only complicate the resolution of the boundary question," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, India's foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar dismissed China's territorial claims.
"Making absurd claims on India's territory does not make it China's territory," Jaishankar told news channel NDTV.
New Delhi's protest comes days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Johannesburg last week and highlighted concerns about the stand-off on their disputed Himalayan frontier.
Relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbours have plummeted after soldiers from both sides clashed in the Himalayas in June 2020, resulting in the death of 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops.
While the situation on the nearly 3,000-km (1,860-mile)frontier has been calm since, the face-off continues in a few pockets with tens of thousands of soldiers amassed on both sides of the frontier in the western Himalayas.
Pakistan court quashes sedition case against Imran Khan
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Asia
- Hits: 244
By Asif Shahzad
ISLAMABAD - A Pakistani court on Monday quashed a sedition case against former Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday, his lawyer and a court order said, providing some relief for the cricket hero turned politician who was jailed on corruption charges earlier this month.
Khan, 70, had been charged in March with the sedition case registered in southwestern city of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, on a complaint that alleged that one of his speeches amounted to sedition.
Following an appeal by Khan, the Balochistan High Court said prosecutors had failed to obtain the required consent from the federal or provincial government to lodge the charges of sedition.
The charges are "without lawful authority and are of no legal effect," the court ruled, directing authorities to quash the case.
"God be praised," Khan's lawyer Naeem Panjutha said in a post on X, the messaging platform formerly known as Twitter, celebrating the dismissal of the case.
The sedition case was among dozens of cases brought against Khan since he lost power after being defeated in a parliamentary confidence vote in April, 2022.
Later on Monday, a high court in Islamabad is expected to rule on Khan's appeal to suspend his conviction and three-year jail sentence for corruption.
Khan lost power after falling out with Pakistan's influential military, and his attempts to rally popular support have stirred political turmoil in a country already struggling through one of its worst economic crises.
A general election was expected in November, though it is likely to be delayed until at least early next year.
Khan cannot contest and has been barred from holding political office for five years.
India successfully completes historic ‘far side of the moon’ landing
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Asia
- Hits: 245
NEW DELHI - Chandrayaan-3’s lander has touched down on the lunar surface, making India the first country to successfully land a spacecraft near the moon’s south pole.
Millions watched on as the spacecraft landed on Wednesday – an unchartered territory for space exploration.
“This is a victory cry of a new India,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was seen waving the Indian flag as he watched the landing from South Africa, where he was attending the BRICS nations summit.
“India is now on the moon. India has reached the south pole of the moon — no other country has achieved that. We are witnessing history.”
Scientists and officials clapped, cheered and hugged each other as the spacecraft landed.
This was India’s second attempt to land a spacecraft on the moon and comes less than a week after Russia’s Luna-25 mission failed. People across the country were glued to television screens and said prayers as the spacecraft approached the surface.
Scientists believe the “dark side of the moon” could hold important reserves of frozen water and precious elements that could be transformed by future explorers into air and rocket fuel.
A lander with a rover inside orbited before touching down on the lunar surface, after an agonising wait for India’s space scientists in the southern city of Bengaluru.
The craft put down its Vikram lander shortly beforet 1.34pm UK time on Wednesday.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 – “moon craft” in Sanskrit – took off from a launchpad in Sriharikota in southern India on July 14, heading for the far side of the moon.
People crowded around televisions in offices, shops, restaurants and homes to watch the highly anticipated landing. Thousands prayed Tuesday for the success of the mission with oil lamps on the river banks, temples and religious places, including the holy city of Varanasi in northern India.
The successful Chandrayaan-3 landing would be monumental in fueling curiosity and sparking a passion for exploration among youth, the Indian Space Research Organisation said.
“It generates a profound sense of pride and unity as we collectively celebrate the prowess of Indian science and technology. It will contribute to fostering an environment of scientific inquiry and innovation.”
The six-wheeled lander and rover module of Chandrayaan-3 is configured with payloads that would provide data to the scientific community on the properties of lunar soil and rocks, including chemical and elemental compositions.
India was making its second attempt in four years to join the United States, the Soviet Union and China in achieving the landmark landing.
India unexpectedly got into a race with Russia, which had planned to land its Luna-25 spacecraft in the same lunar region on Monday. But Luna-25 crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit. It would have been the first successful Russian lunar landing after a gap of 47 years.
Russia’s head of the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos attributed the failure to the lack of expertise due to the long break in lunar research that followed the last Soviet mission to the moon in 1976.
Numerous other countries and private companies are in a race to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar surface. In April, a Japanese company’s spacecraft apparently crashed while attempting to land on the moon. An Israeli nonprofit tried to achieve a similar feat in 2019, but its spacecraft was destroyed on impact.
With nuclear-armed India emerging as the world’s fifth largest economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist government is eager to show off the country’s prowess in security and technology.
US, South Korea and Japan condemn China, agree to deepen military ties
- Details
- Written by northsouth
- Category: Asia
- Hits: 254
By Trevor Hunnicutt, David Brunnstrom and Hyonhee Shin
CAMP DAVID, Maryland - U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed at Camp David on Friday to deepen military and economic cooperation and made their strongest joint condemnation yet of "dangerous and aggressive behavior" by China in the South China Sea.
The Biden administration held the summit with the leaders of the main U.S. allies in Asia, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a bid to project unity in the face of China's growing power and nuclear threats from North Korea.
In a summit statement the three countries committed to consult promptly with each other during crises and to coordinate responses to regional challenges, provocations and threats affecting common interests.
They also agreed to hold military training exercises annually and to share real-time information on North Korean missile launches by the end of 2023. The countries promised to hold trilateral summits annually.
While the political commitments fall short of a formal three-way alliance, they represent a bold move for Seoul and Tokyo, which have a long history of mutual acrimony stemming from Japan's harsh 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea.
The summit at the Maryland presidential retreat was the first standalone meeting between the U.S. and Japan and South Korea and came about thanks to a rapprochement launched by Yoon and driven by shared perceptions of threats posed by China and North Korea, as well as Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
The leaders' language on China stood out as stronger than expected, and is likely to provoke a response from Beijing, which is a vital trading partner for both South Korea and Japan.
"Regarding the dangerous and aggressive behavior supporting unlawful maritime claims that we have recently witnessed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the South China Sea, we strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific," the statement said.
The spokesperson for China's Washington embassy, Liu Pengyu, said the international community was able to judge who was increasing tensions.
"Attempts to cobble together various exclusionary groupings and bring bloc confrontation and military blocs into the Asia-Pacific are not going to get support and will only be met with vigilance and opposition from regional countries," he said.
It was Biden's first Camp David summit for foreign leaders and he said the woodsy venue had long symbolized "the power of new beginnings and new possibilities."
"If I seem like I'm happy, I am," he told a joint news conference with Kishida and Yoon, calling it a "new era" for the three countries. "This has been a great, great meeting."
'BREATHTAKING' DIPLOMACY
Biden praised the leaders for their political courage in pursuing a rapprochement. He said they understood the world was "at an inflection point, where we're called to lead in new ways, to work together, to stand together."
"Critically, we've all committed to swiftly consult with each other in response to threats to any one of our countries from whatever source it occurs." he said. "That means we'll have a hotline to share information and coordinate our responses whenever there is a crisis in the region, or affecting any one of our countries."
"Together we're going to stand up for international law," and against "coercion," Biden said.
Without mentioning China by name, Kishida said, "Unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force in the East and South China Seas are continuing," while adding that the North Korean nuclear and missile threat was "only becoming ever larger."
Yoon said the summit agreement meant that “any provocations or attacks against any one of our three countries will trigger a decision making process of this trilateral framework and our solidarity will become even stronger and harder."
U.S. officials say lingering historical baggage is among the reasons the three countries are not currently pursing a three-way mutual-defense pact like those Washington has separately with both Seoul and Tokyo - who are not themselves formal allies.
However Kurt Campbell, Biden's coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, said the summit came about thanks to "a breathtaking kind of diplomacy" led by Yoon and Kishida, who had "sometimes gone against the advice of their own counselors and staff."
CHINA VIEWS SUMMIT WARILY
Beijing previously warned that U.S. efforts to strengthen ties with South Korea and Japan could "increase tension and confrontation in the region.
While South Korea, Japan and the United States want to avoid provoking Beijing, China believes Washington is trying to isolate it diplomatically and encircle it militarily.
Asked about charges leveled by China, Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters the aim was "explicitly not a NATO for the Pacific" and also said that a trilateral alliance had not been set as an explicit goal.
The White House, conscious of upcoming elections, wants to make the progress between South Korea and Japan hard to reverse by institutionalizing routine cooperation across the board.
Biden, an 80-year-old Democrat seeking another four-year term in the 2024 presidential election, faces a likely opponent in Republican former President Donald Trump, who has voiced skepticism about whether Washington benefits from its traditional military and economic alliances.
South Korea has legislative elections next year and Japan must hold one before October 2025, and what analysts see as a still fragile rapprochement between the two nations remains controversial among the countries' voters.
Main News
latest news
- Protesters rally in Sweden against Israel’s participation in Eurovision
- UK toddler has hearing restored in world first gene therapy trial
- EU deal will release £2.6bn frozen Russian assets to Ukraine yearly
- Unprecedented flooding displaces hundreds of thousands across East Africa
- Israeli forces bringing war to the West Bank, warns UN rights office
- Another climate record: Extreme heat, hurricanes, droughts ravage Latin America and Caribbean
- No aid getting into Gaza, says UN aid agency
- EU opens data pact talks with Kenya, in first for Africa
- Pro-Palestine student protests turn spotlight on EU research funding for Israel
- Yanis Varoufakis sues the German state
- Niger joins Africa’s oil producer club
- Mozambique’s ruling party picked Daniel Chapo as candidate for president
- Patients in Rafah ‘afraid to seek services’, WHO reports
- Unexploded ordnance leaves dark legacy for Gaza, warn mine action experts
- Israel Starving Gaza, HRW
- Mali: Armed Groups, Ethnic Militias Commit Atrocities
- EU Commission hosts antisemitism seminar as Israel launches Rafah offensive
- US paused bomb shipment to Israel over concerns of Rafah assault
- Russia launches 'massive' missile and drone attack on Ukraine's energy facilities
- Ukraine’s parliament approves plan to recruit prisoners to fight Russia
- Russian defence attaché to be expelled from Britain for spying
- AstraZeneca withdraws Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, citing surplus of newer vaccines
- What happened to the failed Israel and Hamas ceasefire deal?
- Netanyahu denies putting power first, but his actions say otherwise
- UK Students set up encampments on campuses to protest against the war in Gaza
Europe
Protesters rally in Sweden against Israel’s participation in Eurovision
EU deal will release £2.6bn frozen Russian assets to Ukraine yearly
Pro-Palestine student protests turn spotlight on EU research funding for Israel
Yanis Varoufakis sues the German state
EU Commission hosts antisemitism seminar as Israel launches Rafah offensive
Russia launches 'massive' missile and drone attack on Ukraine's energy facilities
Ukraine’s parliament approves plan to recruit prisoners to fight Russia
Russian defence attaché to be expelled from Britain for spying
UK Students set up encampments on campuses to protest against the war in Gaza
Motaz Azaïza, winner of the Freedom Prize 2024
UK Home Office faces fallout from Rwanda roundup
Russia warns Britain it could strike back after Cameron remark on Ukraine
Irish and Spanish premiers discuss recognition of the state of Palestine
Oxford and Cambridge students launch Gaza encampments on university lawns
Russia announces nuclear weapon drills after angry exchange
John Swinney named new leader of SNP
Four men arrested after £40m of cocaine found in pub car park
Europe: Report highlights direct link between pandemic and childhood obesity
UK-Palestinian doctor denied entry to France for Senate meeting on Gaza
Police break up Gaza war protest at Sorbonne University
Universities in UK brace for Gaza solidarity encampments
Students from Africa remain dominant in French universities
New report reveals limited funding for global south organizations
Russia may escalate Ukraine war if Western countries directly involved
British Muslims donate four times more than average UK donors
Asia
Asia is heating up faster than the global average
Scientist who gave world the Covid sequence is locked out of his lab by Chinese
Philippines accuses China of damaging its vessel in disputed South China Sea shoal
Indian Authorities Stop Australian Journalist from Covering Elections
China's Xi to visit France, Serbia and Hungary, aims to boost EU ties
Five killed as tornado strikes Guangzhou in southern China
China skips red-carpet welcome for Blinken
India's poll panel seeks responses to complaints against Modi, Rahul Gandhi
Amid China tensions, India delivers supersonic cruise missiles to Philippines
Asia is most climate disaster-impacted region, UN
India's Modi accused of anti-Muslim campaign hate speech
Nature-based solutions for flood management in Asia and the Pacific
Gunmen kill 7 customs officials in western Pakistan in two attacks
In Modi’s India, opponents and journalists squeezed ahead of election
Vietnamese billionaire sentenced to death for $44 billion fraud
People blown from apartments as typhoon-like winds ravage southern China
North Korea says it tested a new hypersonic intermediate-range missile
Strongest earthquake in 25 years rocks Taiwan, killing 9 people
India rejects China's renaming of 30 places in Himalayan border state
An Indian court sends opposition leader, Arvind Kejriwal, to jail until April 15
Pakistan court grants Imran Khan appeal of graft conviction, sentence suspended
India's Modi questions rival Congress about island ceded to Sri Lanka
India opposition unites over pre-election arrest, blames PM Modi
India advances controversial anti-Muslim citizenship law
Philippines' Marcos vows countermeasures in response to Chinese 'attacks'
Africa
Unprecedented flooding displaces hundreds of thousands across East Africa
EU opens data pact talks with Kenya, in first for Africa
Niger joins Africa’s oil producer club
Mozambique’s ruling party picked Daniel Chapo as candidate for president
Mali: Armed Groups, Ethnic Militias Commit Atrocities
Chad to hold presidential election Monday
UN agencies warn of imminent starvation risk in Sudan’s Darfur region
Attacks on civilians in DR Congo
Niger: Russian military deployed at airbase housing American troops
The world needs Africa’s critical minerals
Kenya’s president is under pressure over flood response
East and Southern Africa: Journalists targeted amid ongoing crackdown on media
US losing influential edge to China in Africa, poll
DR Congo conflict could spell catastrophe
Ecobank Group reports profit before tax of $581 million
AI in Africa opens up new battlefront for China, US
TotalEnergies CEO says Namibia could be next Guyana
Dubai Firm Pledged $13 Billion for 20 Years of South Sudan Oil
IDA Africa lifeline
Namibia's NAMCOR signs deal with Chevron to develop offshore block
Floods kill at least 42 in central Kenya after dam bursts
African leaders seek record World Bank financing to combat climate change
Nigerian oil and gas firm Oando needs $2.5 billion to remain operational
US and Russia vying for contract to build Ghana’s nuclear energy plant
Devastating flooding in east Africa claims dozens of lives
Americas
Another climate record: Extreme heat, hurricanes, droughts ravage Latin America and Caribbean
US paused bomb shipment to Israel over concerns of Rafah assault
Mexico is heading towards its most violent election ever
UNDP's Achim Steiner on why the G20 should care much more about debt
Democratic lawmakers tell Biden evidence shows Israel is restricting Gaza aid
Fresh chaos, arrests on US college campuses as police flatten camp at UCLA
Biden cancels $6.1 billion in debt for 317,000 students
Over 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters arrested across US campuses
2024 US-Africa Business Summit in Dallas 6-9 May
Chinese-owned fintech sees valuation rise
Most Americans see TikTok as a Chinese influence tool, Reuters/Ipsos poll
Police arrest dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University
Pro-Palestinian supporters and counter-protesters clash on UCLA campus over Gaza
Alarming rise in enforced disappearances ahead of Venezuela poll
Ottawa negotiations bring global plastics treaty one step closer
Dozens arrested at Columbia University as New York police disperse Gaza protest
Columbia protesters barricade themselves inside university building
US losing influential edge to China in Africa, poll
UN right chief troubled by treatment of pro-Palestinian protesters at US universities
Protesters take over Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall
USAID officials say Israel breached US directive on Gaza aid
USAID internal memo finds Israel violating White House directive
Nancy Pelosi: Netanyahu ‘couldn’t have done things worse’ in Gaza
US challenges UN's AI vision
How young Jewish people challenging pro-Israel education, marching for Palestine
Australia & Pacific
Australia’s 2024 National Defence Strategy
Sydney rocked by second mass stabbing as knifeman attacks bishop
Three dead, 1,000 homes destroyed in Papua New Guinea quake
Australia and UK sign defense and security treaty
Australia tightens student visa rules as migration hits record high
Global food crisis and the effects of climate change need urgent action, IFAD
Indonesia, Australia to sign defence pact within months
Australia to ban doxxing after pro-Palestinians publish information about hundreds of Jews
Australia launches inquiry into why Cabinet documents relating to Iraq war remain secret
Australia says AI will help track Chinese submarines under new Aukus plan
China warns Australia to act prudently in naval operations in South China Sea
Christopher Luxon sworn in as new prime minister of New Zealand
Australian Intelligence Report Identifies China as Major Backer of Cyber Crime
Thousands in Australia join pro-Palestinian march over Gaza
Australia rejects Indigenous referendum in setback for reconciliation
Qatar Airways CEO says Australian decision to block flights ‘very unfair’
Moroccan Othmane El Goumri wins Sydney marathon
More than half of Australians oppose Indigenous panel in constitution, poll
Three US Marines die in 'tragic' Australia helicopter crash
Australian bus carrying wedding guests rolls over killing 10 and injuring 25
Guam, where America’s next war may begin
Women most victims of islamophobia in Australia
Time to step up investments in rural communities in the Pacific islands
Australia’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach to human rights in India has failed
Public support high in Australia and NZ to accept more Rohingya
MENA
Israeli forces bringing war to the West Bank, warns UN rights office
No aid getting into Gaza, says UN aid agency
Patients in Rafah ‘afraid to seek services’, WHO reports
Unexploded ordnance leaves dark legacy for Gaza, warn mine action experts
Israel Starving Gaza, HRW
What happened to the failed Israel and Hamas ceasefire deal?
Netanyahu denies putting power first, but his actions say otherwise
Israel hits Rafah with air strikes and takes control of border crossing
Hamas 'agrees ceasefire deal' brokered by Egypt and Qatar
Israel tells over 100,000 Palestinians to evacuate eastern Rafah before ground invasion
Palestine: General Assembly discusses failed UN membership bid
Cairo talks continue but hopes for Gaza ceasefire appear slim
Israeli settlers attacked Jordanian aid convoys on way to Gaza
Turkey halts trade with Israel until permanent Gaza ceasefire
Qatar considers future of Hamas office in Doha
Pillay: Israel is helped by ‘powerful States’ in violation of Palestinians’ rights
Over 10,000 people feared buried under the rubble in Gaza
Over 10,000 people feared buried under the rubble in Gaza
Palestine’s economy in ruins, as Gaza war sets development back two decades
Saudi’s Islamic Development Bank grants Uganda $295 million loan
‘Divest from Israel’: Decoding the Gaza protest call shaking US campuses
Israel Uses Foreign Mercenaries in Gaza
US surgeon in Gaza: nothing prepared me for scale of injuries
Gaza destruction impossible to even process, UN humanitarian says
Libya demands improvements for Gadhafi’s son in Beirut cell
Videos
-
Future of car-plane, see it to believe it
-
Mehdi Hasan: Islam is a peaceful religion
-
Python swallows antelope whole in under an hour
-
Sangoku dance
-
flying 3 kites wonder!
-
Korea has talent
-
Paul Potts sings Nessun Dorma
-
Susan Boyle - Britain's Got Talent
-
Twist and Pulse - Britain's Got Talent
-
Shaheen Jafargholi (HQ) Britain's Got Talent
High-Quality clip of 12-year-old singer Shaheen Jafargholi auditioning on Britain's Got Talent 2009. First he sings Valerie by The Zutons, as performed by Amy Winehouse, but, after Simon interrupts him and asks for a different song, he just blew everyone away. -
David Calvo juggles and solves Rubik's Cubes
-
Outdoor 'bubble pod' hotel unveiled