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US and UK hint at military action after largest Houthi attack in Red Sea

Current Affairs, News Update, Politics

US and UK hint at military action after largest Houthi attack in Red Sea

Two figures stand in a room of the HMS Diamond, looking out at a fiery scene
The UK’s Ministry of Defence shared images of the HMS Diamond deploying Sea Viper missiles and guns

The US and UK have hinted they could take military action against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, after they repelled the largest attack yet on Red Sea shipping.

Carrier-based jets and warships shot down 21 drones and missiles launched by the Iran-backed group on Tuesday night.

The UN Security Council passed a resolution on Wednesday demanding an immediate end to the Houthi attacks.

The text endorsed the right of UN member states to defend their vessels. The Houthis reacted scornfully to it.

Their spokesman Mohammed Ali al-Houthi called the resolution a “political game”. They claim to be targeting Israeli-linked vessels, in protest at Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

The UN resolution demanded “that the Houthis immediately cease all such attacks, which impede global commerce and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security”. Eleven nations voted for it, but Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria abstained.

Earlier, the US and several allies warned of “consequences” for the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. Asked about potential strikes in Yemen, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: “Watch this space.”

The International Chamber of Shipping says 20% of the world’s container ships are now avoiding the Red Sea and using the much longer route around the southern tip of Africa instead.

The Houthis said they targeted a US ship on Tuesday providing support to Israel. It was the 26th attack on commercial shipping in the Red Sea since 19 November.

The US military said Iranian-designed one-way attack drones, anti-ship cruise missiles and anti-ship ballistic missiles were launched from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen at around 21:15 local time (18:15 GMT).

Eighteen drones, two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile were shot down by F/A-18 warplanes from the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower, which is deployed in the Red Sea, and by four destroyers, the USS Gravely, USS Laboon, USS Mason and HMS Diamond.

HMS Diamond shot down seven of the Houthi drones using its guns and Sea Viper missiles, each costing more than £1m ($1.3m), a defence source said.

No injuries or damage were reported.

Later, Houthi military spokesman Yahya al-Sarea confirmed its forces had carried out an operation involving “a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones”.

“It targeted a US ship that was providing support for the Zionist entity [Israel],” he said.

“The operation came as an initial response to the treacherous assault on our naval forces by the US enemy forces,” he added, referring to the sinking of three Houthi speed boats and killing of their crews by US Navy helicopters during an attempted attack on a container ship on 31 December.

He added that the rebels would “not hesitate to adequately deal with all hostile threats as part of the legitimate right to defend our country, people and nation”.

Mr Sarea also reiterated that the Houthis would continue to “prevent Israeli ships or ships heading towards occupied Palestine from navigating in both the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea until the [Israeli] aggression [on Gaza] has come to an end and the blockade has been lifted”.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “very concerned” because of the risks the situation posed to global trade, the environment and lives, as well as the “risk of the escalation of the broader conflict in the Middle East”.

File handout photo showing HMS Diamond (14 October 2020)
The UK’s HMS Diamond and three US warships helped shoot down the Houthi drones and missiles

Mr Shapps warned on Wednesday that the UK and its allies had “previously made clear that these illegal attacks are completely unacceptable and if continued the Houthis will bear the consequences”.

“We will take the action needed to protect innocent lives and the global economy,” he added.

Later, the defence secretary said in a TV interview that Iran was “behind so much of the bad things happening in the region” and warned the Islamic Republic and the Houthis that there would be “consequences” if the attacks on shipping did not stop.

Asked if there could be Western military action against Houthi targets in Yemen, or even targets inside Iran, he replied: “I can’t go into details but can say the joint statement we issued set out a very clear path that if this doesn’t stop then action will be taken. So, I’m afraid the simplest thing to say [is] ‘watch this space’.”

He was referring to a statement put out a week ago by the UK, US, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Singapore, who launched “Operation Prosperity Guardian” last month to protect Red Sea shipping.

They said the attacks posed “a direct threat to the freedom of navigation that serves as the bedrock of global trade in one of the world’s most critical waterways”.

It may not have had the bravado of Mr Shapps’ “watch this space” warning, but US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also clear in his condemnation of the incident.

A map showing the Bab al-Mandab strait, which sits between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea on the African coast

Speaking to reporters at an airport in Bahrain during a Middle East tour, he was pressed by BBC North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher about whether it was time that talk of consequences turned to US action.

Mr Blinken responded that he did not want to “telegraph” a US military move, but that he had spent the past four days in the region warning the Houthis to cease their aggression.

They have not only refused, but after this latest strike have claimed they are specifically targeting US ships.

Almost 15% of global seaborne trade passes through the Red Sea, which is linked to the Mediterranean by the Suez canal and is the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia.

The fear is that fuel prices will rise and supply chains will be damaged.

The Houthis say they have been targeting Israeli-owned or Israel-bound vessels to show their support for the Iran-backed Palestinian group Hamas since the start of the war in Gaza in October.

Formally known as the Ansar Allah (Partisans of God), the Houthis began as a movement that championed Yemen’s Zaidi Shia Muslim minority.

In 2014, they took control of the capital, Sanaa, and seized large parts of western Yemen the following year, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in support of the international-recognized Yemeni government.

The ensuing war has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and left 21 million others in need of humanitarian assistance.

Saudi Arabia and the US have accused Iran of smuggling weapons, including drones and cruise and ballistic missiles, to the Houthis in violation of a UN arms embargo. Iran has denied the allegation.

 

 

Source:- https://www.bbc.com/news

Swedish alarm after Defense chiefs’ war warning

Current Affairs, GENERAL STUDIES & GK, Politics

Swedish alarm after defense chiefs’ war warning

A soldier from the Swedish Amphibious Corps is pictured on board the CB90-class fast assault craft, as they participate in the military exercise Archipelago Endeavor 23 on Mallsten island in the Stockholm Archipelago on September 13, 2023The warnings from Sweden’s defense leaders are being seen as a wake-up call

A warning to Swedes from two top defense officials to prepare for war has prompted concern and accusations of alarmism.

Civil Defense Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told a defense conference “there could be war in Sweden”.

His message was then backed up by military commander-in-chief Gen Micael Byden, who said all Swedes should prepare mentally for the possibility.

However, opposition politicians have objected to the tone of the warnings.

Ex-prime minister Magdalena Andersson told Swedish TV that while the security situation was serious, “it is not as if war is just outside the door.”

Children’s rights organisation Bris said that its national helpline did not usually receive calls about the possibility of war. But this week, it had seen an increase in worried calls from youngsters who had seen news reports or posts on TikTok talking about it.

“This was well prepared, it wasn’t something blurted out,” Bris spokeswoman Maja Dahl told the BBC. “They should have provided information meant for kids when they come out with this kind of information for grown-ups.”

Despite the starkness of the messaging, the remarks from the civil defence minister and military chief are being seen as a wake-up call.

Sweden's Commander-in-Chief Micael Byden speaks during his talk at today's program at the Society and Defense Conference in Salen
Gen Micael Byden said Swedes on an individual level had to prepare themselves mentally

After more than two centuries of peace, Sweden is a few steps from joining the Nato defensive alliance, waiting for a green light from Turkey’s parliament and then from Hungary.

The commander-in-chief said his remarks were nothing new.

He visited Ukraine’s eastern front a month ago and Sweden is one of a group of countries training Ukrainian pilots. Stockholm is also said to be considering sending advanced Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine.

“My ambition with this is not to worry people; my ambition is to get more people to think about their own situation and their own responsibilities,” Gen Byden later told Aftonbladet newspaper.

Finland has already joined Nato, and Russian officials have suggested it will be “the first to suffer” if tensions with Nato escalate.

Sweden’s civil defence minister said his aim was not for people to lose sleep, but to gain awareness of what was really going on. He appealed to local authorities, emergency planners and individuals to respond.

“If there is one thing that keeps me awake at night, it is the feeling that things are moving too slowly,” Mr Bohlin told the Society and Defence conference on Sunday.

Sweden's Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin
Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin told his audience there could be war in Sweden

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Sweden during the conference to work with his country and others to manufacture weapons and “get stronger together”.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson added that in 2024, Sweden would meet Nato’s target of spending 2% of economic output (GDP) on military defence, doubling its spending since 2020.

Defence specialist Oscar Jonsson said the tone of the warnings from defence chiefs was something of a storm in a teacup and that 90% of what had been said arose from frustration that too little was being done to build civil and military defence.

“Time is limited and it was aimed at being a wake-up call for agencies, individuals and departments,” he told the BBC.

“The Swedish armed forces are incredibly competent, but the scale is nowhere near. The latest defence bill says we should set up 3.5 brigades, whereas Ukraine had 25 when the war started.”

Gen Byden’s warning to prepare mentally for war comes hard on the heels of a warning a month ago from the head of Poland’s National Security Bureau (BBN), Jacek Siewiera, who said that “to avoid war with Russia, countries on Nato’s eastern flank should adopt a three-year time horizon to prepare for confrontation”.

He said a German Council on Foreign Relations report suggesting Germany and Nato should prepare their armed forces to be able to fend off a Russian attack in six years was “too optimistic”.

Oscar Jonsson, a specialist from the Swedish Defence University, said that while war was a possibility, it would require several factors to fall into place: Russia’s war in Ukraine coming to an end, its military having the time to rebuild and rearm its fighting force and for Europe to lose US military support.

All of which were within the realms of possibility, he added.

 

 

 

Source:- https://www.bbc.com/news

Children now ‘biggest perpetrators of sexual abuse against children’

Education at School, Psychology

Children now ‘biggest perpetrators of sexual abuse against children’

Police data shows 52% of alleged offenders in England and Wales are minors – a situation exacerbated by ‘accessibility of violent porn’

Boys are watching violent porn on their smartphones then going on to attack girls, police have said, as new data showed children are now the biggest perpetrators of sexual abuse against other children.

Police data shows there has been a quadrupling of sexual offences against children, in what officers say is the most authoritative analysis of offending against youngsters.

The report from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said the offending by adults against children was usually more serious, but said they were alarmed by the growth of sexual offending by those aged 17 or under.

In one case a child of four was referred to police after allegedly using a smartphone to upload an indecent image of a sibling. Police declined to give any more details.

In 2022 a total of 107,000 reports were made to police in England and Wales alleging sexual offences against children, ranging from rapes and, in a quarter of cases, to the making and sharing of indecent images.

The NPCC said 52% of alleged offenders were children, compared with around one third a decade ago.

Police received reports of 14,800 rapes and sexual assaults against children aged 10 to 17 where the suspect was classed as a child, the overwhelming majority being boys.

Ian Critchley, the NPCC lead for child protection, said: “This is predominantly a gender-based crime of boys committing offences against girls.

“I think that is being exacerbated by the accessibility of violent pornography and the ease with which violent pornography is accessible to boys and, therefore, a perception that is [normal] behavior, and that person can carry out that behavior that they are seeing online in the most violent way against other peers as well.

“Clearly the accessibility to smartphones has just rocketed, not just in relation to 11- to 16-year-olds, but in relation to under-10s as well. That accessibility has really exacerbated that and I think this is a debate that does need to be had in our society.”

A third of attacks take place within the family, the most common setting for abuse, and eight out of 10 victims knew their attacker.

Police said it is estimated as few as one in six offences are reported to them.

Critchley said the clear-up rate – where someone is charged or cautioned – was 12% where a child is physically attacked and 11% for indecent images offences. The clear-up rate for child-on-child attacks is 15% for sexual assault and 12% for rape.

He said offences involving AI were already being reported to police. These include “nudification” where the photo of a person – usually female – is digitally stripped of clothing to make it appear as if they are naked.

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) announced it was increasing the capacity and raising awareness of its helpline through which adults can report suspicions about child abuse. The charity last month said it was taking 14 months for a defendant in a child abuse case to stand trial after being charged, placing a greater strain on victims.

Wendy Hart, the deputy director for child sexual abuse at the National Crime Agency, said about 830,000 adults in the United Kingdom are estimated to pose a danger to children. “The severity of offending has increased, as have the complexities faced by law enforcement in tackling it,” she added.

“We are now seeing hyperrealist images and videos of abuse being created using artificial intelligence, for example, while the rollout of end-to-end encryption by technology platforms makes it a lot more difficult for us to protect children.”

How some Indian hospitals are cutting cancer drug costs

Current Affairs, Science & Tech

How some Indian hospitals are cutting cancer drug costs

People waiting at Cachar Cancer Centre in Assam, India.
People waiting at Cachar Cancer Centre in Assam, India

Scores of patients quietly fill a modest tin shed which serves as a waiting area at a cancer hospital in Silchar, in north-eastern India.

Over the last few months, Cachar Cancer Centre in the state of Assam has seen an unusually high number of patients from nearby towns and villages.

The reason: a quiet revolution that is making cancer drugs more affordable.

The hospital is part of the National Cancer Grid, a group of treatment centres that have clubbed together to bulk buy drugs and bring down costs by more than 85%.

It is a modest start but, literally, a lifesaver for some of the country’s poorest people.

Expensive, protracted treatments often put families under immense financial strain or are simply out of reach.

For example, breast cancer treatments can extend for over 10 cycles and cost more than $6,000 (£4,719). In a country where the average monthly salary is less than $700, that is beyond many household budgets.

Cancer patient Baby Nandi.
Baby Nandi has been receiving chemotherapy to treat breast cancer

Baby Nandi, 58, is waiting for her next chemotherapy session at the Cachar hospital clinic. Previously, she had to travel 2,000km (1,242 miles) for breast cancer treatment. The drugs alone cost $650 for one treatment cycle. She needed six cycles. Along with the travel and accommodation costs, her family’s finances were pushed to the brink.

Thanks to the new initiative, those drugs are now available in her home city, Silchar, at a third of the cost.

Baby’s husband Narayan Nandi said: “We don’t have so much money at a go. I had to sell land and borrow from my relatives to take her to Chennai. At least now we can afford her full treatment and be home.”

Nearly two million cancer cases are reported a year in India, but consultancy firm EY says that the actual figure could be up to three times as high.

Most people in India have to pay for healthcare themselves. Even for those with insurance or on government schemes, cancer care costs are often not fully covered.

Amal Chandra, the owner of a small shop in rural Assam, knows the problem well. Last year his wife’s government health card, which covered $1,800 of health expenses, expired midway through her breast cancer treatment. “I had to borrow $250 to pay for her remaining chemotherapy injections,” he told the BBC.

Amal and his wife are now back at the hospital as her cancer has returned but at least now the whole cost of her treatment is covered after the prices of drugs was brought down.

Oncologist Dr Ravi Kannan, who leads the Cachar Cancer Hospital's operations.
Oncologist Dr Ravi Kannan leads the Cachar Cancer Hospital’s operations

A major issue is that most of India’s cancer patients live in towns and rural areas, while the bulk of healthcare resources are in larger cities. This means that patients, like Mrs Nandi, and their families face the added burden of having to travel long distances to access treatment.

Healthcare experts say that getting cancer drugs to these parts of the country is one of the healthcare system’s biggest problems. Cachar Cancer Hospital, the only facility of its kind in India’s North-eastern hills, is trying to meet that challenge.

It treats 5,000 new patients a year and manages the ongoing treatment of another 25,000 people, who are mainly low-paid workers unable to afford the cost of cancer treatment and travel.

The intense pressure this puts on the not-for-profit organisation’s funding means it faces a budget deficit of more than $20,000 a month.

Oncologist Dr Ravi Kannan, who leads the hospital’s operations, told the BBC that the initiative to cut cancer drug prices has helped him to buy quality medicines and treat more patients for free.

It has also helped hospitals in smaller towns avoid another serious problem – running out of cancer drugs. Previously, drug supplies outside large urban centres were erratic due to the low numbers of patients and limited funds.

“Now smaller hospitals don’t have to get into the negotiation table at all. The price is already decided and comes with a commitment to supply to all hospitals at par,” Dr Kannan said.

A woman collects a prescription.
A woman collects a prescription

The initiative to bulk-buy drugs is led by the country’s largest cancer centre, Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH) in Mumbai. The initial list had 40 common off-patent generic drugs, covering 80% of their pharmacy costs, saving the group $170m.

The success of the scheme has attracted interest from hospitals and state governments across the country.

The next round will expand to over 100 drugs, while broader cancer care purchases like supplies, diagnostics and equipment are also being considered. However, more expensive patented treatments are currently not part of the plan.

“I think what pharmaceutical companies need to understand is in a market like India, unless you bring costs down, you’re not going to get the volumes and it’s a chicken and the egg phenomenon,” according to Dr C S Pramesh, Director of TMH and the Convenor of National Cancer Grid.

Dr Pramesh also says that with around 70% of global cancer deaths projected to be in lower and middle income countries, like India, initiatives similar to the National Cancer Grid could be key to helping patients around the world.

 

Source:- https://www.bbc.com/news

TB Joshua: Megachurch leader raped and tortured worshippers

GENERAL STUDIES & GK, Politics, Spiritualism

TB Joshua: Megachurch leader raped and tortured worshippers 

TB Joshua
TB Joshua founded the hugely popular Synagogue Church of all Nations

Evidence of widespread abuse and torture by the founder of one of the world’s biggest Christian evangelical churches has been uncovered by the BBC.

Dozens of ex-Synagogue Church of all Nations members – five British – allege atrocities, including rape and forced abortions, by Nigeria’s late TB Joshua.

The allegations of abuse in a secretive Lagos compound span almost 20 years.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations did not respond to the allegations but said previous claims have been unfounded.

TB Joshua, who died in 2021, was a charismatic and hugely successful preacher and televangelist who had an immense global following.

The BBC’s findings over a two-year investigation include:

  • Dozens of eyewitness accounts of physical violence or torture carried out by Joshua, including instances of child abuse and people being whipped and chained
  • Numerous women who say they were sexually assaulted by Joshua, with a number claiming they were repeatedly raped for years inside the compound
  • Multiple allegations of forced abortions inside the church following the alleged rapes by Joshua, including one woman who says she had five terminations
  • Multiple first-hand accounts detailing how Joshua faked his “miracle healings”, which were broadcast to millions of people around the world

One of the victims, a British woman, called Rae, was 21 years old when she abandoned her degree at Brighton University in 2002 and was recruited into the church. She spent the next 12 years as one of Joshua’s so-called “disciples” inside his maze-like concrete compound in Lagos.

“We all thought we were in heaven, but we were in hell, and in hell terrible things happen,” she told the BBC.

Rae says she was sexually assaulted by Joshua and subjected to a form of solitary confinement for two years. The abuse was so severe, she says she attempted suicide multiple times inside the compound.

The Synagogue Church of All Nations [Scoan] has a global following, operating a Christian TV channel called Emmanuel TV and social media networks with millions of viewers. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, tens of thousands of pilgrims from Europe, the Americas, South East Asia and Africa travelled to the church in Nigeria to witness Joshua performing “healing miracles”. At least 150 visitors lived with him as disciples inside his compound in Lagos, sometimes for decades.

More than 25 former “disciples” spoke to the BBC – from the UK, Nigeria, US, South Africa, Ghana, Namibia and Germany – giving powerful corroborating testimony about their experiences within the church, with the most recent experiences in 2019. Many victims were in their teens when they first joined. In some of the British cases, their transport to Lagos was paid for by Joshua, in co-ordination with other UK churches.

Rae and multiple other interviewees compared their experiences to being in a cult.

Jessica Kaimu, from Namibia, says her ordeal lasted more than five years. She says she was 17 when Joshua first raped her, and that subsequent instances of rape by TB Joshua led to her having five forced abortions while there.

“These were backdoor type… medical treatments that we were going through… it could have killed us,” she told the BBC.

Other interviewees say they were stripped and beaten with electrical cables and horse whips, and routinely denied sleep.

A shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying abuse perpetrated by one of the most powerful religious figures of the 21st Century

A nine-episode season – a shocking journey into a maze of manipulation and terrifying abuse

On his death in June 2021, TB Joshua was hailed as one of the most influential pastors in African history. Rising from poverty, he built an evangelical empire that counted dozens of political leaders, celebrities and international footballers among his associates.

He did, however, attract some controversy during his lifetime when a guesthouse for church pilgrims collapsed in 2014, killing at least 116 people.

The BBC’s investigation, which was carried out with international media platform Open Democracy, is the first time multiple former church insiders have come forward to speak on the record. They say they’ve spent years trying to raise the alarm, but have effectively been silenced.

A number of our witnesses in Nigeria claim they were physically attacked, and in one case shot at, after previously speaking out against the abuse and posting videos containing allegations on YouTube.

A BBC crew that attempted to record footage of the church’s Lagos compound from a public street in March 2022 was also fired at by the church’s security, and was detained for a number of hours.

The BBC contacted Scoan with the allegations in our investigation. It did not respond to them, but denied previous claims against TB Joshua.

“Making unfounded allegations against Prophet TB Joshua is not a new occurrence… None of the allegations was ever substantiated,” it wrote.

Four of the British citizens who spoke to the BBC say they reported the abuse to the UK authorities after escaping the church. They say no further action was taken.

In addition, a British man and his wife emailed eyewitness accounts of their ordeal and video evidence – including recordings of being held at gunpoint by men describing themselves as police who are also members of Scoan – to the British High Commission in Nigeria in March 2010 after fleeing the church. In his email, the man said his wife had been repeatedly sexually assaulted and raped by Joshua. He warned the commission that other British nationals were still inside the compound facing atrocities.

He also says no action was taken.

The UK Foreign Office did not respond to these claims, but told the BBC that it takes all reports of crime, including sexual assault and violence against British nationals overseas, very seriously.

Scoan continues to thrive today, under the leadership of Joshua’s widow, Evelyn. In July 2023, she led a tour of Spain.

Anneka, who left Derby in the UK to join Scoan at the age of 17, told the BBC she believes there are many other victims who have yet to speak out. She hopes further steps will be taken to uncover Joshua’s actions.

“I believe the Synagogue Church of All Nations needs a thorough investigation into why this man was able to function for so long the way he did,” she said.

 

Source:-https://www.bbc.com/news

Aditya-L1: India’s Sun mission set to reach destination in hours

News Update, Science & Tech

Aditya-L1: India’s Sun mission set to reach destination in hours

Aditya-L1 lifted off from the launch pad at Sriharikota on Saturday morning

India’s first solar observation mission is set to reach its final destination in a few hours.

On Saturday, the space agency Isro will attempt to place Aditya-L1 in a spot in space from where it will be able to continuously watch the Sun.

The spacecraft has been travelling towards the Sun for four months since lift-off on 2 September.

It was launched just days after India made history by becoming the first to land near the Moon’s south pole.

India’s first space-based mission to study the solar system’s biggest object is named after Surya – the Hindu god of the Sun, who is also known as Aditya. And L1 stands for Lagrange point 1 – the exact place between the Sun and Earth where the spacecraft is heading.

According to the European Space Agency, a Lagrange point is a spot where the gravitational forces of two large objects – such as the Sun and the Earth – cancel each other out, allowing a spacecraft to “hover”.

L1 is located 1.5 million km (932,000 miles) from the Earth, which is 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. Isro recently said that the spacecraft had already covered most of the distance to its destination.

An Isro official told the BBC that “a final maneuver” will be performed on Saturday at around 16:00 India time (10:30 GMT) to place Aditya in L1’s orbit.

Isro chief S Somanath has said they will trap the craft in orbit and will occasionally need to do more maneuvers to keep it in place.

Once Aditya-L1 reaches this “parking spot” it will be able to orbit the Sun at the same rate as the Earth. From this vantage point it will be able to watch the Sun constantly, even during eclipses and occultations, and carry out scientific studies.

Aditya-L1's trajectory
Presentational white space

The orbiter carries seven scientific instruments which will observe and study the solar corona (the outermost layer); the photosphere (the Sun’s surface or the part we see from the Earth) and the chromosphere (a thin layer of plasma that lies between the photosphere and the corona).

After lift-off on 2 September, the spacecraft went four times around the Earth before escaping the sphere of Earth’s influence on 30 September. In early October, Isro said they had done a slight correction to its trajectory to ensure it was on its intended path towards the final destination.

The agency says some of the instruments on board have already started work, gathering data and taking images.

Just days after lift-off, Isro shared the first images sent by the mission – one showed the Earth and the Moon in one frame and the second was a “selfie” that showed two of its scientific instruments.

And last month the agency released the first-ever full-disk images of the Sun in wavelengths ranging from 200 to 400 nanometers, saying they provided “insights into the intricate details of the Sun’s photosphere and chromosphere”.

Scientists say the mission will help them understand solar activity, such as the solar wind and solar flares, and their effect on Earth and near-space weather in real time.

The radiation, heat and flow of particles and magnetic fields of the Sun constantly influence the Earth’s weather. They also impact the space weather where nearly 7,800 satellites, including more than 50 from India, are stationed.

the agency released the first-ever full-disk images of the Sun in wavelengths ranging from 200 to 400 nanometre, saying they provided "insights into the intricate details of the Sun's photosphere and chromosphere".
Presentational white space

Scientists say Aditya can help better understand, and even give a forewarning, about solar winds or eruptions a couple of days ahead, which will help India and other countries move satellites out of harm’s way.

Isro has not given details of the mission’s cost, but reports in the Indian press have put it at 3.78bn rupees ($46m; £36m).

If Saturday’s maneuver is successful, India will join a select group of countries that are already studying the Sun.

The US space agency Nasa has been watching the Sun since the 1960s; Japan launched its first solar mission in 1981 and the European Space Agency (ESA) has been observing the Sun since the 1990s.

In February 2020, Nasa and ESA jointly launched a Solar Orbiter that is studying the Sun from close quarters and gathering data that, scientists say, will help understand what drives its dynamic behavior.

And in 2021, Nasa’s newest spacecraft Parker Solar Probe made history by becoming the first to fly through the corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun.

 

Source:- https://www.bbc.com/news

The Indian-American rift ever widens

GENERAL STUDIES & GK, News Update, Uncategorized

The Indian-American rift ever widens

Here are 5 reasons why:
  1. Joe Biden saying no to attending India’s Republic Day Parade.
  2. The US making a big fuss over the Khalistani radical, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, in the recently concluded 2+2 ministerial dialogue between the two countries.
  3. India continuing to buy oil from Russia and growing ever closer to a country which is arguably America’s number one enemy.
  4. India and China mending their dispute, which is not to America’s liking.
  5. India keeping its options open regarding the 100+ jet aircraft that it has to buy from abroad, which again irks America.

1. In 2023, India’s Republic Day parade fell on 26 January. The US President’s State of the Union (SOTU) address to the US Congress fell on 7 February, 2023. In 2024, India’s Republic Day parade will fall on January 26. In 2024, the SOTU is slated for February or March. There really should be no conflict between the parade and the address.

Modi had extended the chief guest invite to Biden during the G-20 summit in November. Biden sat over the invite. It’s only now that we have learnt that Emmanuel Macron is coming. He was extended the invite and he accepted within the day.

India has awarded its highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna, to only two foreigners—Abdul Ghaffar Khan of Pakistan and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. These are steep hills to climb for any foreigner. In lieu of the Bharat Ratna, India felicitates foreign leaders by calling them to the Republic Day parade. It’s a military parade, yet Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama chose to attend it in 2015. He was looking to sell US arms to India then.

So if you want to be friends with India, you don’t reject an honour such as being the chief guest at the parade, unless you want to miff the Indians. Perhaps Biden has some other meetings lined up, but so must have Macron. Macron is not a small leader. Certainly the Indians are not happy about Biden saying no and will in all likelihood hesitate to call him again in case he wins reelection. That means a US president could go about 15 years before being invited to India’s prestigious parade. This is certainly not how friends treat each other.

2. Pannun is a US citizen. The US cares about the lives of its citizens. But what if that citizen promotes the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Canada as Pannun has done? What if he dares to down Indian civilian planes and storm our new Parliament, really a bastion of our democracy? I saw a state-run bus in Canada with a placard imploring Khalistanis to kill 50,000 Hindus.

Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs, has said that India has constituted a high-level commission of inquiry to go into the US allegations over the alleged foiled plot on Pannun, but he added that it was Khalistani separatism and terrorism in the US and Canada that was of greater concern to India. The US is not treating India like a strategic partner here, like it would treat the UK. The breach between the US and India widens.

3. As if the above was not enough, India continues to buy Russian oil. This irks the US no end. India saved $2.7 billion in the first three quarters of 2023 by buying Russian oil compared to what it would have paid if it had bought Iraqi oil (which is of similar quality to Russian crude) instead.

Putin has showered plaudits on Modi for his US-independent policy in buying oil. S Jaishankar has called Russia an all-weather friend of India which has been there to save India at its times of need. How can India be allies with two visceral enemies, the US and Russia? India has shown that if push comes to shove, it will choose Moscow over Washington.

4. Galwan—the clash between India and China—happened in 2020. The US must have hoped that the situation would escalate. But India and China are deescalating. The Quad focuses on the Indo-Pacific but India’s navy is not strong enough to take on the Chinese one. The US perhaps hopes that if war comes to China, say over Taiwan, then India would attack China from up north in Ladakh. That may be a pipedream. India may not get involved in any war at all. Plus it is best friends with Russia and so is Russia with China, so Russia can be expected to pull India and China apart in case of a scuffle between them.

5. India has to buy some 100 fighter jets from abroad. When Modi visited the US in June, it seemed that the US had sewn up the deal. But that is not the case. India is still talking to the French and the Russians. That must make the Americans see red.

All in all, India and the US are not moving closer but moving apart.

Source:- Times of India

Bangladesh elections: 7th January 2024

News Update, Politics

Bangladesh elections: Why India matters across the border

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh's prime minister, right, along with Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, speaks to the media during a ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022

As Bangladesh gets ready to hold general elections on 7 January, the role of its giant neighbor India is being intensely discussed in the country.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is seeking a fourth consecutive term and her win looks inevitable as the main opposition parties are boycotting the election.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its allies say they have no faith that Ms Hasina will hold a free and fair election. They asked her to step down and allow the polls to be held under a neutral interim government – demands she rejected.

The Muslim-majority nation of about 170 million people, Bangladesh is almost surrounded on three sides – barring a 271km (168-mile)-long border with Myanmar in the southeast – by India.

For India, Bangladesh is not just a neighboring country. It’s a strategic partner and a close ally, crucial to the security of its north-eastern states.

So, Indian policy makers argue that Delhi needs a friendly regime in Dhaka. Ms Hasina has forged close ties with India since she was first elected in 1996 and it’s no secret that Delhi wants to see her return to power.

Ms Hasina has always justified Dhaka’s close relationship with Delhi. During a visit to India in 2022, she said Bangladesh should not forget India, its government, people and armed forces as they stood beside the country during the independence war in 1971.

This backing for her Awami League party has triggered sharp criticism from the opposition BNP.

“India should support the people of Bangladesh and not a particular party. Unfortunately, Indian policy makers don’t want democracy in Bangladesh,” Ruhul Kabir Rizvi, a senior BNP leader told the BBC.

Mr Rizvi said Delhi was “alienating the people of Bangladesh” by openly rooting for Ms Hasina and backing what he called a “dummy election”.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesperson refused to comment on the BNP’s allegations on Delhi’s alleged interference in Bangladesh polls.

“Elections are a domestic matter to Bangladesh. It’s for the people of Bangladesh to decide their own future. As a close friend and partner of Bangladesh we would like to see peaceful elections there,” the spokesperson said in response to a question by the BBC.

Supporters and opponents of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rally in front of the World Bank on 1 May 2023 in Washington DC.

India is also concerned that the return of BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami party could pave the way for the return of Islamists in Bangladesh, as it had happened when the coalition was in power between 2001 and 2006.

“They gave rise to so many of these jihadi groups which were used for various purposes, including the 2004 assassination attempt on Ms Hasina and the capture of 10 trucks full of arms that came from Pakistan,” Pinak Ranjan Chakravarty, a former Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka told the BBC.

Soon after coming to power in 2009, Ms Hasina also won favor with Delhi after acting against ethnic insurgent groups of India’s northeast, some of which were operating from Bangladesh.

India and Bangladesh share close cultural, ethnic and linguistic ties. Delhi played a key role in Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 by sending in troops in support of the Bengali Resistance Force.

Dhaka depends on Delhi for the supply of many essential commodities like rice, pulses and vegetables. So, India is influential in Bangladesh from the kitchen to the ballot.

India has also offered more than $7bn Line of Credit to Bangladesh since 2010 for infrastructure and development projects.

But over the decades, there have been irritants in relations ranging from disputes over sharing of water resources to accusations of meddling in each other’s internal affairs.

“India has an image problem in Bangladesh. It comes from the perception that Bangladesh is not getting the best of the good neighbor, whether it comes to Delhi’s support for the government that possibly doesn’t enjoy full democratic legitimacy or in deals where we seek equitable share,” Debapriya Bhattacharya, distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue in Dhaka, told the BBC.

Ms Hasina came to power for a second time in January 2009 and her party has since won two more elections, although there have been accusations of widespread vote-rigging. The Awami League has denied the allegations.

Though India has gained road, river and train access via Bangladesh to transport goods to its north-eastern states, critics say Dhaka is still not able to do full-fledged overland trade with landlocked Nepal and Bhutan across the Indian territory.

India also has other strategic reasons to have a friendly government in Dhaka.

Delhi wants road and river transport access for its seven north-eastern states through Bangladesh.

Now the road and train connectivity from the Indian mainland to its northeast is through the “chicken’s neck” – a 20km (12 mile) land corridor that runs between Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Officials in Delhi are afraid this stretch is strategically vulnerable in any potential conflict with India’s rival, China.

While several Western governments had wanted to impose additional sanctions on Bangladeshi officials over alleged human rights violations and extra-judicial killings, India has been resisting the move calling it counterproductive. More so, since Beijing is keen to extend its footprint in Bangladesh as it battles for regional supremacy with India.

Bangladesh's Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as she arrives for a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on 5 July 2019 in Beijing, China

“We have conveyed to the West that if you push Ms Hasina, she will go into the Chinese camp, like other countries have done. That will cause a strategic problem with India,” the former Indian diplomat, Mr Chakravarty, said. “We can’t afford that,” he added.

Despite close ties between the two governments there is suspicion among some Bangladeshis when it comes to India.

“I don’t think Indians are friendly in all the areas. We are always having a problem with India as we are a Muslim nation,” Zamiruddin, a vegetable merchant in Dhaka, said.

“We will have to safeguard ourselves first and then rely on others. Otherwise, we will be in trouble,” he added.

While Delhi is concerned about the possibility of an Islamist regrouping, many in Bangladesh are worried about what’s happening across the border.

Rights groups say since the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014 in India, discrimination against religious minorities, particularly Muslims, has increased – an allegation the BJP denies.

Indian politicians also talk about alleged infiltration by “Bangladeshi illegal immigrants’ – seen as a part reference to Bengali Muslims who live in states like Assam and West Bengal.

“The maltreatment of Indian Muslims creates high potential possibility of maltreatment of the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh,” Mr Bhattacharya said.

Hindus constitute nearly 8% of Bangladesh’s population.

Delhi is clear that Sheikh Hasina at the helm will suit its interests. But the challenging part will be reaching out to the people of Bangladesh.

 

Source:-https://www.bbc.com/news/

Life Is Death, Death Is Life

Psychology, Spiritualism

Life Is Death, Death Is Life

Death is separation of the soul from the physical body. Death becomes the starting point of a new life. Death merely opens the door to a higher and fuller form of life. Birth and death are jugglery of Maya. He who is born begins to die. He who dies begins to live. Life is death and death is life. No one comes, no one goes. Brahman or the eternal alone exists.

Just as you move from one house to another, the soul passes from one body to another to gain experience. Just as a man casting off worn-out garments takes new ones, so the dweller in this body, casting off worn-out bodies, enters into others which are new.


Life is a continuum. Death is necessary for further evolution. Dissolution of the body is no more than sleep. Birth is like waking up. Death brings new life. A man of discrimination is not afraid of death. Death unlocks the door to a wider existence. The soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere but its Centre is in the body. Death means the change of this center from one body to another.

The supreme soul or paramatman is deathless, decayless, timeless, causeless and spaceless. It is the source and substratum for body, mind and world. There is death for the physical body, a compound of five elements. The eternal soul is beyond time, space and causation.


To free yourself from birth and death, you must become body-less. Body is the result of karmas or actions. If you free yourself from raga-dvesha, or likes and dislikes, you will be free from karma. If you annihilate ignorance through knowledge of the imperishable, you can annihilate the ego. The root cause for this body is ignorance. He who realizes the eternal soul, which is formless and attribute less, infinite and unchanging, frees himself from death.

The individual souls or jivas build various bodies to display their activities and gain experience from this world. They enter the bodies and leave them. The process goes on. This is known as transmigration of souls. The entrance of a soul into a body is called birth. The soul’s departure from the body is death.


Man has always tried to know what happens after the death of an individual. Science has been struggling to unravel the mystery of what lies beyond death. Experiments have yielded many interesting facts. Natural death, it is said, is unknown to unicellular organization. When life on earth consisted of these creatures, death was unknown. The phenomenon appeared only when from unicellular the multicellular evolved.

Laboratory experiments have shown that whole organs such as thyroid glands, the ovary, suprarenal gland, the spleen, heart and kidneys isolated from the body of a cat or a fowl, can be kept alive in vitro to show increase in size or weight due to the appearance of new cells or tissues.

It is also known that after the cessation of an individual parts of the organization can continue to function. The white corpuscles of the blood, if cared for, can live for months after the body from which they were withdrawn has been cremated. Death is not the end of life. It is merely cessation of an individuality. Life flows on to achieve the universal till it merges in the eternal.

Courtesy: The Divine Life Society Trust

Pakistan commission rejects Imran Khan’s bid to overturn election ban

Current Affairs, GENERAL STUDIES & GK, Politics

Pakistan commission rejects Imran Khan’s bid to overturn election ban

Former prime minister is barred from standing in elections after being jailed for unlawfully selling state gifts while in office

Pakistan’s election body has rejected former prime minister Imran Khan’s nomination to contest the 2024 national elections in two constituencies, officials and his party’s media team said on Saturday.

The 71-year-old former cricket star has been embroiled in a tangle of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister in April 2022. He has not been seen in public since he was jailed for three years in August for unlawfully selling state gifts while in office from 2018 to 2022.

Khan was disqualified from contesting the national elections scheduled for 8 February because of the corruption conviction, but he nevertheless filed nomination papers for the elections on Friday, his media team said.

In a list of rejected candidates from Lahore, the election commission of Pakistan said Khan’s nomination was rejected because he was not a registered voter of the constituency and because he was “convicted by the court of law and has been disqualified”.

His media team said the commission had also rejected his nomination to contest the elections in his home town, Mianwali.

Khan, who is widely seen as the country’s most popular leader, says he is being targeted by the military, which wants to keep him out of the polls. The military denies this.

Last week, a high court refused to suspend Khan’s disqualification from contesting the elections.

In addition to Khan, the election commission has also rejected nomination papers submitted by other senior party members, including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, vice-chairman of Khan’s party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Meanwhile, the election commission accepted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s nomination from two constituencies for the 2024 elections, weeks after a court overturned two graft convictions.

But Sharif still needs a life ban on holding any public office to be removed to qualify to stand, so it was not immediately clear how his nomination was accepted. A hearing on that ban will be held in January.

Sharif was banned from running in elections in 2017 by the supreme court, which declared him dishonest for not disclosing income from a company owned by his son.

Sharif, who arrived back home in October from four years of self-imposed exile in Britain, is bidding for a fourth premiership in the February elections. His biggest challenge will be to wrest back his support base from Khan.

 

Source:- https://www.theguardian.com/world