Indian defense minister visits Russia to strengthen military ties

Special Indian defense minister visits Russia to strengthen military ties
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Updated 08 December 2024
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Indian defense minister visits Russia to strengthen military ties

Indian defense minister visits Russia to strengthen military ties
  • Visit of Delhi’s top defense official comes ahead of Putin’s expected visit to India in 2025
  • Indian minister will commission Russian-made warship for the Indian Navy as part of the trip

NEW DELHI: Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh began a three-day trip to Russia on Sunday, as New Delhi seeks to further strengthen its military cooperation with Moscow.

Russia is India’s biggest crude oil supplier and the main source of its military hardware, with their bilateral ties spanning over seven decades.

During his visit, Singh is set to commission the Indian Navy’s latest warship, a multi-role stealth guided missile frigate INS Tushil in Kaliningrad on Monday, alongside the Chief of the Naval Staff Adm. Dinesh K. Tripathi, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

He will also co-chair with his Russian counterpart, Andrey Belousov, a meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military and Military Technical Cooperation on Tuesday.

“The two leaders will review the entire range of multi-faceted relations between the two countries in the field of defence, including military-to-military and industrial cooperation. They will also exchange views on contemporary regional and global issues of mutual interest,” the statement read.

Singh’s visit follows a series of high-level meetings between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year, which includes their July meeting in Moscow.

Modi and Putin also met in Kazan in October, on the sidelines of the 2024 BRICS summit.

Putin is expected to visit India early next year, according to reports citing the Kremlin.

The Indian defense minister’s visit will “symbolize” how the India-Russia partnership has continued at a time “when other states have turned against Russia,” particularly since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, said Amitabh Singh, associate professor at the Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University.

“This visit is in continuation with the annual meeting that (the defense ministers) have. This becomes all the more relevant in the context of ongoing conflict in West Asia and Ukraine,” he told Arab News.

New Delhi has abstained from publicly criticizing Russia over the Ukraine war and did not join the chorus of international sanctions slapped on Moscow, despite pressure from Western countries.

While India’s dependence on Russian military hardware has decreased over the years as it diversified supply from other countries, Moscow still plays an important role for Indian defense needs, Singh said.

“India has not given up on Russia despite the differences and difficulties that the Russian military supplies are facing,” he added.

“We cannot stop our collaboration. We want to reduce our dependence, but we can’t simply shrug off our dependence on Russia.”


Trump blocked from imposing sweeping federal funding freeze

Trump blocked from imposing sweeping federal funding freeze
Updated 7 sec ago
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Trump blocked from imposing sweeping federal funding freeze

Trump blocked from imposing sweeping federal funding freeze

A US judge on Tuesday extended an order blocking President Donald Trump’s administration from instituting a sweeping freeze on trillions of dollars in federal funding by pausing grants, loans and other financial support. US District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington wrote that while some funds had become unfrozen since she first temporarily blocked the administration’s spending pause, there remained a risk the administration might again try to shut off funding.
The judge, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, said for those reasons she agreed with groups representing nonprofits and small business that a preliminary injunction was necessary blocking a further funding freeze.
“The injunctive relief that defendants fought so hard to deny is the only thing in this case holding potentially catastrophic harm at bay,” she wrote.
Those groups sued after the White House’s Office of Management and Budget on January 27 issued a memo directing federal agencies to temporarily pause spending on federal financial assistance programs.
That memo said the freeze was necessary while the administration reviewed grants and loans to ensure they are aligned with Trump’s executive orders, including ones ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs and directing a pause on spending on projects seeking to combat climate change. OMB later withdrew that memo after it became the subject of two lawsuits, one before AliKhan and another before a judge in Rhode Island by Democratic state attorneys general. But the plaintiffs argued the memo’s withdrawal did not mean the end of the policy itself.
They pointed to a social media post on X by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shortly after the memo was withdawn saying: “This is NOT a rescission of the federal funding freeze. It is simply a rescission of the OMB memo.”


Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US: senior official

Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US: senior official
Updated 25 February 2025
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Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US: senior official

Ukraine has agreed on terms of minerals deal with US: senior official
  • Ukraine and US could sign the deal as early as Friday
  • Washington had cut clauses that would have been unfavorable to Kyiv

KYIV: Ukraine has agreed on the terms of a minerals deal with the United States and could sign it as early as Friday on a trip to Washington by President Volodymyr Zelensky, a senior Ukrainian official said.
US President Donald Trump had demanded that Ukraine give access to its rare earth minerals to compensate for the billions of dollars worth of wartime aid it received under Joe Biden.
The deal would see the United States jointly develop Ukraine’s mineral wealth, with revenues going to a newly created fund that would be “joint for Ukraine and America,” a senior Ukrainian source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“Now government officials are working on the details... As of now, we are considering a visit to Washington for Friday to sign the agreement,” the source added.
Ukraine had asked for security guarantees from the US as part of any agreement.
The source said the draft of the deal includes a reference to “security,” but does not explicitly set out the United States’s role.
“There is a general clause that says America will invest in a stable and prosperous sovereign Ukraine, that it works for a lasting peace, and that America supports efforts to guarantee security.”
The source also said Washington had cut clauses that would have been unfavorable to Ukraine, including that it provide “$500 billion” worth of resources.


Arctic ‘doomsday’ seed vault gets more than 14,000 new samples

A guard stands watch outside the Global Seed Vault before the opening ceremony in Longyearbyen February 26, 2008. (REUTERS)
A guard stands watch outside the Global Seed Vault before the opening ceremony in Longyearbyen February 26, 2008. (REUTERS)
Updated 25 February 2025
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Arctic ‘doomsday’ seed vault gets more than 14,000 new samples

A guard stands watch outside the Global Seed Vault before the opening ceremony in Longyearbyen February 26, 2008. (REUTERS)
  • The new contributions include a sample of 15 species from Sudan, consisting of several varieties of sorghum — a plant that is significant both for the country’s food security and its cultural heritage, the Crop Trust said

COPENHAGEN: A “doomsday” vault storing food crop seeds from around the world in man-made caves on a remote Norwegian Arctic island will receive more than 14,000 new samples on Tuesday, a custodian of the facility said.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, set deep inside a mountain to withstand disasters from nuclear war to global warming, was launched in 2008 as a backup for the world’s gene banks that store the genetic code for thousands of plant species.
Protected by permafrost, the vault has received samples from across the world and played a leading role between 2015 and 2019 in rebuilding seed collections damaged during the war in Syria. “The seeds deposited this week represent not just biodiversity, but also the knowledge, culture and resilience of the communities that steward them,” Executive Director Stefan Schmitz of the Crop Trust said in a statement.
The new contributions include a sample of 15 species from Sudan, consisting of several varieties of sorghum — a plant that is significant both for the country’s food security and its cultural heritage, the Crop Trust said.
The war between the Rapid Support Forces and the army which broke out in April 2023 has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced 12 million, while plunging half of Sudan into hunger and several locations into famine.
“In Sudan ... these seeds represent hope,” the director of Sudan’s Agricultural Plant Genetic Resources Conservation and Research Centre said in a statement.
A total of 14,022 new samples will be deposited at 1430 GMT, including seeds of Nordic tree species from Sweden and rice from Thailand, the Crop Trust said.

 


French fugitive ‘The Fly’ is extradited to France after his arrest in Romania

French fugitive ‘The Fly’ is extradited to France after his arrest in Romania
Updated 58 min 24 sec ago
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French fugitive ‘The Fly’ is extradited to France after his arrest in Romania

French fugitive ‘The Fly’ is extradited to France after his arrest in Romania
  • High-profile search for Mohamed Amra began last May, when armed assailants ambushed a prison convoy in Normandy, killing two guards and seriously wounding three others
  • Emmanuel Macron hailed his capture a ‘formidable success’ and praised European colleagues who had ended the long cross-border hunt

BUCHAREST, Romania: A notorious French fugitive who staged a deadly escape that killed two guards last year was extradited Tuesday from Romania to France, days after his arrest in Bucharest ended a nine-month international manhunt.
Mohamed Amra, nicknamed “The Fly,” was arrested near a shopping center in Bucharest on Saturday after being identified by Romanian police, despite having dyed his hair red, possibly to evade detection. The Bucharest Court of Appeal approved his extradition request on Sunday.
An official at Romania’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the legal case was still ongoing, confirmed to The Associated Press that Amra was handed over to French authorities for extradition Tuesday at an airport near Bucharest — where he arrived in handcuffs, flanked by armed police officers.
Upon arrival in France, he was taken to the main Paris courthouse, the Paris prosecutor’s office said. He will be ordered to carry out the sentence he escaped last year, for burglary, and also face charges in other cases, including murder, attempted murder and escaping from custody.
The high-profile search for Amra began last May, when armed assailants ambushed a prison convoy in Normandy, killing two guards and seriously wounding three others in the process of aiding his escape.
Amra fled after being sentenced for burglary in the Normandy town of Evreux. He was also under investigation for an attempted organized homicide and a kidnapping that resulted in death, French prosecutors said.
The international police organization Interpol issued a notice for his arrest, while French investigators alerted counterparts in other countries after they suspected Amra had left France.
After his arrest on Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron hailed his capture a “formidable success” and praised European colleagues who had ended the long cross-border hunt.
Paris Prosecutor Laure Beccuau has said that Amra had connections with Marseille’s organized crime syndicates and was suspected of heading a drug trafficking network.
As of Monday night, 25 people had been detained in multiple countries suspected of some role in his escape or the aftermath, the Paris prosecutor said.


Pope’s health crisis sparks prayers from thousands outside the Vatican

Pope’s health crisis sparks prayers  from thousands outside the Vatican
Updated 25 February 2025
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Pope’s health crisis sparks prayers from thousands outside the Vatican

Pope’s health crisis sparks prayers  from thousands outside the Vatican
  • The Vatican’s Tuesday noon bulletin announced that Francis had approved decrees for five people for beatification and two for canonization
  • Pontiff meets at the hospital with No. 2 over candidates for sainthood, sets consistory

ROME: Pope Francis, hospitalized in critical condition with double pneumonia, was well enough to meet with the Vatican secretary of state and his deputy to approve new decrees for saints and call a formal meeting to set the dates for their canonization, the Vatican said on Tuesday.

The audience, which occurred on Monday, signaled that the machinery of the Vatican is still grinding on and looking ahead even with Francis hospitalized and doctors warning his prognosis is guarded.
The Vatican’s Tuesday noon bulletin announced that Francis had approved decrees for five people for beatification and two for canonization. The Vatican statement also said that during the audience with Cardinal Pietro Parolin and his deputy, Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra, Francis had “decided to convene a consistory about the future canonizations.”

FASTFACTS

• On Tuesday morning, the Vatican’s typically brief morning update said: ‘The pope slept well, all night.’

• On Monday evening, doctors said he remained in critical condition with double pneumonia but reported a ‘slight improvement’ in some laboratory results.

Such an audience and decision is par for the course when Francis is at the Vatican. He regularly approves decrees from the Vatican’s saint-making office. But the forward-looking sense of the future consistory was significant, given his illness.
On Tuesday morning, the Vatican’s typically brief morning update said: “The pope slept well, all night.”
On Monday evening, doctors said he remained in critical condition with double pneumonia but reported a “slight improvement” in some laboratory results.
In the most upbeat bulletin in days, the Vatican said Francis had resumed work from his hospital room, calling a parish in Gaza City that he has kept in touch with since the war there began.
After night fell, thousands of faithful gathered in a rain-soaked St. Peter’s Square for the first of a nightly ritual recitation of the Rosary. The prayer evoked the 2005 vigils when St. John Paul II was dying in the Apostolic Palace, but many of those on hand said they were praying for Francis’ recovery.
“We came to pray for the pope, that he may recover soon, for the great mission he’s sharing with his message of peace,” said Hatzumi Villanueva, from Peru, who praised Francis’ empathy for migrants.
Standing on the same stage where Francis usually presides, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said that ever since Francis had been hospitalized, a chorus of prayers for his recovery had swelled up from around the world.
“Starting this evening, we want to unite ourselves publicly to this prayer here, in his house,” Parolin said, praying that Francis “in this moment of illness and trial” would recover quickly.
The vigil was to continue Tuesday night, presided over by another senior Vatican official, Cardinal Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who heads the office responsible for the Catholic Church in the developing world.
The Argentine pope, who had part of one lung removed as a young man, has been hospitalized since Feb. 14 at Rome’s Gemelli hospital and doctors have said his condition is touch-and-go, given his age, fragility and pre-existing lung disease before the pneumonia set in.
But in Monday’s update, they said he hadn’t had any more respiratory crises since Saturday, and the flow and concentration of supplemental oxygen has been slightly reduced. The slight kidney insufficiency detected on Sunday was not causing alarm at the moment, doctors said, while saying his prognosis remained guarded.
Francis’ right-wing critics have been spreading dire rumors about his condition, but his allies have cheered him on and expressed hope that he will pull through. Many noted that from the very night of his election as pope, Francis had asked for the prayers of ordinary faithful, a request he repeats daily.
“I’m a witness of everything he did for the church, with a great love of Jesus,” Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga told La Repubblica. “Humanly speaking, I don’t think it’s time for him to go to Paradise.”
Maradiaga, a founding member of Francis’ inner circle of cardinal advisers, said he himself had been near death with COVID-19, on high flows of oxygen like Francis. “I know the pope may be suffering and as a result I feel closer to him in prayer.”
At Gemelli on a rainy Tuesday morning, ordinary Romans and visitors alike were also praying for the pope and reflecting on the teachings he has imparted over nearly 12 years. Hoang Phuc Nguyen, who lives in Canada but was visiting Rome to participate in a Holy Year pilgrimage, took the time to come to Gemelli to say a special prayer for the pope at the statue of St. John Paul II outside the main entrance.
“We heard that he is in the hospital right now and we are very worried about his health,” Nguyen said. “He is our father and it is our responsibility to pray for him.”