। ओडिशा के बालासोर में तीन ट्रेनों की भीड़ंत में लगभग 288 लोगों की मौत और 1000 से अधिक लोगों के घायल होने के बाद एक बार फिर से उसी ट्रेक पर ट्रेन शुरू हो चुकी है। हादसे के लगभग 51 घंटे बाद ट्रैक पर फिर से ट्रेन रवाना हुई। इस मौके पर रेल मंत्री अश्विनी वैष्णव ने भावपूर्ण तरीके से हाथ जोड़कर ट्रेन को विदा किया।
जानकारी के अनुसार घटनास्थल पर देर रात 11 बजे तक खुद रेल मंत्री अश्विनी वैष्णव मौजूद रहे। उन्होंने कहा कि पूरी टीम ने तत्परता से काम करके दोनों पटरियों को रीस्टोर कर दिया है और एक बार फिर से उसी ट्रेक पर मालगाड़ी को रवाना किया गया है। रेल मंत्री कहा कि हमें हादसे का दुख है। लेकिन इस मामले की गहराई तक जांच की जाएगी। जो भी दोषी पाया जाएगा, उसे सख्त से सख्त सजा दी जाएगी।
इस हादसे के बाद रेल मंत्री ने हादसे की जांच सीबीआई से कराने की सिफारिश की है। लेकिन साथ ही रेलवे सुरक्षा आयोग की जांच भी जारी रहेगी। रेल मंत्रालय के सूत्रों ने कहा कि सभी एंगल से जांच की जरूरत है।
Being on social media has become synonymous with living in the 21st century. Year after year, we see new platforms and smarter algorithms roping us into highly addictive online worlds.
Now, a growing number of people have noticed this trend and are actively making an effort to resist it.
Anecdotally, a case can be made for quitting social media, and there are myriad reasons why someone might want to. But is there evidence that doing so is good for you in the long term?
Although there are too many social media platforms to name, most people tend to think of the “big five”: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Research has found people have various reasons for quitting one or more of these apps. Many quit over concerns about negative impacts on their mental and physical health. For example, studies have shown adolescent girls in particular can experience negative body image as a result of viewing manipulated selfies on Instagram.
People also choose to quit due to disliking ads, feeling like they’re wasting time, or if they’re worried about their privacy. The question then is: does quitting social media resolve these concerns?
Mixed research outcomes
It’s difficult to determine whether there are clear and lasting benefits to quitting social media – and a look at the research.
इंटरेनट डेस्क। राजस्थान के मुख्यमंत्री अशोक गहलोत की ऐसी योजनाए है जो दूसरे राज्य भी अपना रहे है ताकी प्रदेश की जनता तो खुश रहे ही साथ ही लोगों को फायदा भी मिलता रहे। ऐसे में अब राजस्थान के बाद कर्नाटक में कांग्रेस सरकार ने फ्री बिजली देने का ऐलान किया है।
हाल ही में राजस्थान सरकार ने 100 यूनिट बिजली फ्री देने का ऐलान किया है। उसके साथ ही 101 से 200 यूनिट तक के सभी चार्ज माफ करने का ऐलान किया है। इसके बाद कर्नाटक के मुख्यमंत्री सिद्धारमैया ने कैबिनेट बैठक की और कहा कि कैबिनेट ने चालू वित्त वर्ष में सभी पांच गारंटी को पूरा करने का फैसला किया है।
गारंटी में से एक में 200 यूनिट मुफ्त बिजली शामिल है, जिसको लेकर उन्होंने कहा कि 1 जुलाई से ये प्रदेशभर में लागू किया जाएगा। हालांकि उन्होंने कहा कि बकाए का भुगतान ग्राहकों को करना होगा। सीएम सिद्धारमैया ने कहा 200 यूनिट बिजली मुफ्त होगी।
Siddhartha Deb returns to fiction after over a decade with The Light at the End of the World (Context/Westland). Like a hall of distorted mirrors, the book reflects in intriguing, unsettling ways the contemporary reality of India – and traces it back to many moments of apocalypse in the nation’s history.
In a conversation with Scroll, Deb, who teaches journalism for a living, spoke of arriving at the form of the novel, what fiction allows him to do, and his ambivalent relationship with the news. Excerpts from the interview:
What was the original impulse for writing this novel? How long did it take you? I wanted to read a big South Asian novel that engaged with the strangeness of our times in a formally inventive manner. I did not think that the realism dominating literary fiction was capable of quite handling this. I wanted something weird, something crossing over from literary fiction to genre fiction and back, something that moved between past, present, and future, and because this book didn’t seem to exist, I just began writing it.
It took seven years, but the writing was mostly done during my summer breaks from a full-time teaching job, in between parenting and journalism. It was finished, with a terrible sense of timing, just…
Whenever the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the US takes place, parents and children may wonder: What does it take to become a champion? Is it worth the effort?
As just about any former Scripps champion could tell you, the contest – which took place from May 31 to June 1 – involves a fair amount of luck, so preparation does not guarantee a victory. There’s simply no way a contestant can know which word awaits them from the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary. But if young people find enjoyment in learning how to spell words, as well as understanding the origins and meanings of these words, then they will feel proud of what they accomplished.
Still, as I state in my book, Hyper Education: Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough, there are certain practices that can greatly boost a child’s chances of becoming an excellent speller. I observed these practices among families who assist their children in competitive academics.
Invest in study materials
Rather than just open the dictionary, contestants study word lists, including the 4,000 words in the free official study guide provided by Scripps. Some parents create their own word lists based on observing past bees.
But to the extent possible, competitive spellers, including several previous Scripps National Spelling Bee winners, have purchased special…
नयी दिल्ली। रक्षा मंत्री ने हॉलीवुड की सफल फिल्म ;स्पाइडमैन के प्रसिद्ध संवाद का जिक्र करते हुए शुक्रवार को कहा कि ;;ताकत के साथ जिम्मेदारी भी बढ़ती है और भारत के वैश्विक स्तर पर बढ़ते कद के साथ-साथ उसकी जिम्मेदारी भी बढ़ेगी।
सिंह ने एक समारोह के दौरान कहा कि जब भारत एक महाशक्ति के रूप में उभरेगा, तो उसे यह सुनिश्चित करना होगा कि लोकतंत्र, धार्मिक स्वतंत्रता, मनुष्यों की गरिमा और वैश्विक शांति जैसे सार्वभौमिक मूल्य दुनिया में सभी जगह स्थापित हों।
रक्षा मंत्री ने कहा कि सरकार 2047 तक एक विकसित भारत के निर्माण की दिशा में काम कर रही है और देश के लगभग सभी क्षेत्रों पर ध्यान केंद्रित कर रही है।
सिंह ने देश में राजनीतिक परिदृश्य को लेकर कहा कि राजनीतिक दल लोकतंत्र के लिए अहम हैं और यह इन दलों के बिना बरकरार नहीं रह सकता।
उन्होंने खेद जताया कि भारत में ;;कई राजनीतिक दल किसी विचारधारा के आधार पर काम नहीं करते और उनकी राजनीति किसी एक व्यक्ति या एक परिवार या एक जाति के चारों ओर घूमती है।उन्होंने एक मीडिया समूह द्वारा आयोजित ;इंडिया इकोनॉमिक कॉनक्लेव (भारत आर्थिक सम्मेलन) में कहा, ;;मुझे लगता है कि विकसित भारत में इस प्रकार की राजनीति के लिए कोई जगह नहीं होनी चाहिए। राजनीति विचारधारा और मूल्यों पर आधारित होनी चाहिए, न कि परिवार, धर्म और जाति पर।
“I think the economics of the world, the politics of the world, and the demographic of the world is making the world more multipolar.”
“The world is moving towards greater multi-polarity through steady and continuous re-balancing.”
“The Indo-Pacific is at the heart of the multipolarity and rebalancing that characterizes contemporary changes.”
“The United States is moving towards greater realism both about itself and the world. It is adjusting to multipolarity and rebalancing and re-examining the balance between its domestic revival and commitments abroad.”
Those are all comments by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar over the last few years. Indeed, Jaishankar is a big votary of the concept of multipolarity – the idea that the world is not dominated by just one power (the United States), or two (the US and China, just as it was the US and the United Soviet Socialist Republic during the Cold War), but is instead now seeing a global order with a number of powers that are somewhat equally matched in terms of economic and military capacity and influence.
Jaishankar sometimes speaks of the need for establishing a multipolar world. And sometimes his comments seems to suggest the world is already multipolar or will soon be there.
One after another, bright flashes pierced through Kyiv’s night skies early on Tuesday morning, as Russia launched an “exceptional” aerial assault against the Ukrainian capital.
Most Kyiv residents would have had no way of knowing for sure that the sudden, terrifying loud bangs were the Ukrainian air defense systems taking down Russian missiles, rather than rockets hitting their city.
Liudmyla Kravchenko, her husband and their two children spent most of the night hiding in their corridor.
“There’s no bomb shelter nearby, the underground station is quite far from us … I think it’s even more dangerous to try to get there during the bombardment,” she told CNN.
Ukraine’s women break down gender norms in service to their country
Kravchenko said that while her family doesn’t always take shelter during air raid alarms, last night was different. “It was very scary, so after we heard the first explosions we rushed to the corridor … of course in case the missile hits our house directly, none of this will save our lives – not two walls, not three, not even five,” she said, pointing to the guidance that people unable to reach shelters should stay inside and try to be separated from a potential impact zone by two walls.
She said her one year old son Artem slept in her arms as they were waiting for the attack to end. Her nine-year-old daughter is now so used to air raids that she knows to “to drop everything and take cover” when her parents tell her to.
Liudmyla Kravchenko said her family hid in the corridor during the attack on Tuesday.Yulia Kesaieva/CNN
“My wife counted over 30 explosions and we saw dozens of launches by the Ukrainian air defense from our balcony. It was so fast, we didn’t even have time to get to a shelter,” Tymofiy Mylovanov, a presidential adviser and head of the Ukrainian School of Economics, said on Twitter.
Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a Telegram post that the barrage of missiles on Tuesday was the eighth assault on the Ukrainian capital this month. He said the attack came from multiple directions and was “exceptional in its density, with the maximum number of attacking missiles in the shortest time possible.”
Despite the intensity, most of the Russian munitions failed to hit their marks after being detected and destroyed by Ukraine’s defense systems, Popko added.
The falling debris caused some – although limited – damage on the ground. At least three people were injured, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Authorities said early reports of damage were minor, with a building and several vehicles catching fire from falling debris in one area of the capital.
Klitschko said some debris fell within the grounds of the Kyiv Zoo, damaging some green spaces but not causing any injuries to the animals. The mayor added the zoo would be open as normal on Tuesday.
Air defenses hard at work
Ukrainian Armed Forces chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the attack, which started at about 3:30 a.m. local time, was launched from the north, south, and east.
“Six Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missiles were fired from six MiG-31K aircraft, nine Kalibr cruise missiles from ships in the Black Sea, and three land-based missiles (S-400, Iskander-M),” Zaluzhnyi said on Twitter, adding that Moscow also launched attack drones, all of which were destroyed.
While the Ukrainian military refused to comment on the type of weapons it used on Tuesday, two US officials and a Western official familiar with the matter told CNN that Ukrainian forces have begun using long-range Storm Shadow missiles provided by the UK to strike Russian targets.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed later on Tuesday that it destroyed a US-made Patriot air defense system in Kyiv on Tuesday – despite the Ukrainians saying all 18 Russian missiles launched at the country in the early hours of Tuesday morning were intercepted and destroyed.
The Ukrainian military has declined to comment on the claim by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Expert says the Patriot missiles are ‘not a game changer.’ Hear why
But a US official later told CNN that a US-made Patriot system was likely damaged, but not destroyed, as a result of Monday’s Russian missile barrage.
The US is still assessing to what degree the system was damaged, the official said, adding that will determine whether the system needs to be pulled back entirely or simply repaired on the spot by the Ukrainians.
Britain has delivered long-range ‘Storm Shadow’ cruise missiles to Ukraine ahead of expected counteroffensive, sources say
Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Minister of Defense, said on Telegram that Tuesday marked “another unbelievable success for the Ukrainian Air Forces” with all six of the Kinzhal missiles shot down.
“Thank you to our Air Force service members and our partner states, who invested in securing the skies over Ukraine and all of Europe,” he said.
Kyiv resident Oleksandr Kravets, 50, said he saw the air defenses work first hand on Tuesday.
“I live on the 13th floor … I saw the missile wreckage falling. Our air defense are real heroes. I think they get better each month, the percentage of downed targets increases each time. I think it’s both – the experience and the new air defense systems we got,” he told CNN.
Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin have repeatedly talked up the hypersonic Kinzhal missiles for their ability to evade Ukraine’ original air defense systems.
However, that has changed since Ukraine received at least two US-made Patriot missile defense systems, one from Germany and one from the US, making it possible for Ukraine to intercept more modern Russian missiles such as the Kinzhal.
Earlier in May, Ukrainian and US officials said Russia had tried to destroy a Patriot battery with a Kinzhal air-launched ballistic-missile strike, but Ukraine Patriot operators were able to intercept the Russian weapon.
The Patriot systems, coupled with Ukraine’s other air defense systems, have been able to deal with most of what Russia has challenged them with in recent months – but Ukraine has been warning that its ammunition stocks are getting depleted.
Last week the Ukrainian capital was targeted by what Klitschko called Russia’s “most massive” drone attack, in which 36 Iranian-made Shahed were fired on the city. All 36 were intercepted and damage from falling debris was light, the mayor said.
An explosion is seen in the sky over Kyiv during a Russian missile strike on May 16, 2023.Gleb Garanich/Reuters
Ukrainian intelligence claims
The strikes on Kyiv came a day after Ukrainian intelligence claimed Russian forces are no longer capable of large-scale offensive action and faced a shortage of some missiles, such as the Kalibr.
However, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence spokesperson Andriy Yusov said Moscow still had enough missiles to sustain its current rate of air attacks.
He estimated Moscow has large stockpiles of S-300 missiles, which are capable of considerable destruction. The S-300 was designed as an anti-air weapon but Russia has frequently used it in a ground-to-ground mode, which makes it less accurate.
Zelensky signals long anticipated Ukraine counteroffensive will begin soon
Ahead of a much anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, Yusov said Russia “is on the defensive” along “the entire front line” and lacked the resources “to repeat large-scale offensive actions.”
“They have been preparing for defense all this time, and this is a serious factor that the Ukrainian command certainly takes into account when preparing for the de-occupation of Ukrainian territories,” he said.
In recent days, Ukraine’s military says it has gained an advantage in some areas near the embattled eastern city of Bakhmut, but officials have been reluctant to provide specific dates for when the counteroffensive will begin.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in England Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv is “preparing very important counteroffensive steps.”
“We really need some more time,” he said, but added: “Not too much.”
Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who was accused of raping a nun in Kerala, resigned from his post on Thursday, reported PTI.
Apostolic Nunciature to India, which is the Vatican mission in the country, said that the Roman Catholic Church sought Mulakkal’s resignation not as a disciplinary measure but for the “good of the diocese” that needs a new bishop given the divisive nature of the case against him, reported PTI.
The development comes more than a year after Mulakkal was acquitted in the rape case by a sessions court in Kerala. However, the complainant has moved the Kerala High Court challenging the order.
“In this regard, the Apostolic Nunciature wishes to specify that the Holy See [governing body of Catholic Church] respects the verdict of the Additional District and Sessions Court, Kottayam, Kerala, acquitting Bishop Mulakkal from the allegations concerning him, as well as the appeal against the acquittal, which has been admitted by the Kerala High Court,” the diplomatic mission of Vatican said, reported PTI.
On Thursday, Mulakkal announced his resignation in a video message, reported The News Minute.
“The Holy Father Pope Francis has accepted my letter of resignation as Jalandhar Bishop, which I had written after detailed discussions with my superiors,” he said.
नयी दिल्ली। टाटा मोटर्स की कुल बिक्री मई में 1.62 प्रतिशत घटकर 74,973 इकाई रही है। कंपनी ने पिछले साल समान महीने में 76,210 वाहन बेचे थे।
कंपनी ने बृहस्पतिवार को बयान में कहा कि घरेलू बाजार में उसकी कुल बिक्री दो प्रतिशत घटकर 73,448 इकाई रह गई, जो एक साल पहले समान महीने में 74,755 इकाई रही थी।
घरेलू बाजार में कंपनी की यात्री वाहन बिक्री छह प्रतिशत बढ़कर 45,878 इकाई पर पहुंच गई, जो पिछले साल मई में 43,341 इकाई रही थी।यात्री इलेक्ट्रिक वाहन (अंतरराष्ट्रीय कारोबार सहित) 66 प्रतिशत बढ़कर 3,505 इकाई से 5,805 इकाई पर पहुंच गई।कंपनी ने कहा कि मई में उसकी कुल वाणिज्यिक वाहन बिक्री 12 प्रतिशत घटकर 28,989 इकाई रह गई।
The missile cruiser Peter the Great, part of the Russian Navy’s northern fleet, at its Arctic base in Severomorsk in 2021. Russia, China and the West are all seeking to expand their military presence in the Arctic. Credit…Emile Ducke for The New York Times
As polar ice melts, Russia, already a major Arctic power, wants to make the region its own. China has ambitions for a “Polar Silk Road.” And NATO is embracing Finland — and Sweden too, Washington hopes — giving the alliance new reach in the Far North.
Climate change is accelerating and amplifying competition in the Arctic as never before, opening the region to greater commercial and strategic jostling just at a moment when Russia, China and the West are all seeking to expand their military presence there.
The rising importance of the region is underscored by the travels of Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, who will attend an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Norway on Thursday.
Mr. Blinken is making a point of visiting Sweden and Finland as well, meeting the leaders of all three countries as they press Turkey to ratify Sweden’s quick entry into NATO. He is scheduled to deliver a major speech on Russia, Ukraine and NATO on Friday in Helsinki, the capital of NATO’s newest member.
For a long time, countries were reluctant to discuss the Arctic as a possible military zone. But that is quickly changing.
Russian aggression plus climate change make “a perfect storm,” said Matti Pesu, an analyst at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. There is a new Cold War atmosphere, mixed with melting ice, which affects military planning and opens up new economic possibilities and access to natural resources.
Tobias Billstrom, the foreign minister of Sweden, welcoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. Credit…TT News Agency/via Reuters
“So all these are connected and are magnifying each other,” Mr. Pesu said. “It makes the region intriguing.”
While NATO has been cheered by Russia’s difficulties in Ukraine, the alliance in fact has significant vulnerabilities in the north.
Russia remains a vast Arctic power, with naval bases and nuclear missiles stationed in the Far North but also along Russia’s western edge: in the Kola Peninsula, near Norway, where Russia keeps most of its nuclear-armed submarines, and in Kaliningrad, bordered by Poland and Lithuania.
change, shipping routes are becoming less icebound and easier to navigate, making the Arctic more accessible and attractive for competitive commercial exploitation, as well as military adventurism.
Russia has said it wants to make the Arctic its own — a fifth military district, on a par with its other four — said Robert Dalsjo, research director at the Swedish Defense Research Agency.
The State of the War
Moscow Drone Attack: Explosions were reported in Moscow, with Russia’s Defense Ministry saying that at least eight drones had targeted the capital and the surrounding region. The attack was the first strike to hit civilian areas in Moscow since the start of the war.
Kyiv Attack: Russia targeted the Ukrainian capital with drone attacks and a barrage of missiles that sent residents running for shelter as explosions echoed across the city.
Ukraine’s Counteroffensive: Ukraine’s top military commander signaled that the nation’s forces were ready to launch their long-anticipated counteroffensive after months of preparations.
Putin’s Strategy: President Vladimir Putin of Russia looks like a commander in absentia, treating the war as unfortunate but distant. His options have narrowed, but he is still betting on outlasting his foes.
China has also been busy trying to establish itself in the region and use new unfrozen routes, one reason the NATO considers China a significant security challenge.
In its most recent strategy paper, adopted last summer in Madrid, NATO declared Russia to be “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and to peace and stability,” but for the first time addressed China, saying that its “stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values.”
How to create a “northern bubble” to deter Russia and monitor China is one of NATO’s newest and biggest challenges.
In response to NATO’s enlargement, “Russia is putting increasing emphasis on the Arctic, where they’re stronger and less surrounded by NATO,” said Mr. Pesu of the Finnish Institute. Russia may have drawn down its troops to fight in Ukraine, but retains its air power, northern fleet, nuclear submarines and nuclear-armed missiles in the northern realms.
Image
Longyearbyen, Norway, in 2022. Fearing the Russian threat, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark are merging their air forces, creating one with more planes than either Britain or France.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times
“So it remains a pretty urgent concern,” he said. Finland, Sweden and Norway “see this most urgently,” even if some in NATO do not, he said. As a consequence, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have decided to merge their air forces, creating one with more planes than either Britain or France.
Until now, competition in the region was largely mediated through the Arctic Council, founded in 1996, which includes Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, and promotes research and cooperation.
But it does not have a security component, and soon all members but Russia will be NATO members. The council has been “paused” since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. When Russia’s chairmanship ended in May, Norway took over, so activity may pick up again.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 caused rethinking throughout NATO, and there was new anxiety about the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — combined with submarine hunts in Sweden and more serious war gaming, said Anna Wieslander, the director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research institution.
Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, then the supreme allied commander Europe, called for “an anti-access area denial” — to deny Russia entry to the Baltic Sea from Kaliningrad, the isolated Russian toehold with access to the sea.
China started making inroads around 2018, trying to buy ports in Finland and mines in Greenland, opening scientific research stations as it pursues its “Polar Silk Road,” Ms. Wieslander said, prompting former President Trump to offer to buy Greenland.
Image
Swedish Army conscripts during a training exercise on the island of Gotland, Sweden, last year. A NATO command created in 2018 defends the Atlantic sea routes, Scandinavia and the Arctic.Credit…Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
Washington started reinvesting militarily in the Arctic then with more ships, planes and military exercises, as did other NATO countries in the region. In 2018 NATO went so far as to set up a new operational command — a kind of regional headquarters that plans and conducts military operations to defend specific areas of NATO. The new command, based in Norfolk, Va., is navy-focused and defends the Atlantic sea routes, Scandinavia and the Arctic.
There remains a concern that China, which now has even closer ties to Russia, remains active in the Far North, building big icebreakers. “China will reach Europe through the Arctic,” Ms. Wieslander said.
One main question is whether the real Russian threat to Scandinavia will come from the sea, as Norway fears, or from the land, with a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States or Finland, then a move westward.
Both Finland and Sweden, when it joins, want to be part of the same NATO operational command, given their long history of defense cooperation.
Norway belongs to the Norfolk command, and there is a logic to making both Finland and Sweden part of that command, since reinforcements would likely come from the West, across the Atlantic.
But there is perhaps more logic, given the current threat from Russia, for them to join the land-oriented command based in Brunssum, the Netherlands, which is charged with defending Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic nations.
Image
Icebergs near Kulusuk, Greenland, in 2019. Climate change is opening new sea routes and economic possibilities in the Arctic. Credit…Felipe Dana/Associated Press
“There is logic for both,” said Niklas Granholm, deputy director of studies at the Swedish Defense Research Agency. “It’s not yet resolved.”
According to the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, NATO is recommending putting both countries in the Brunssum command, despite Finland’s early interest in being part of Norfolk, which Sauli Niinisto, Finland’s president, visited in March.
That’s because it is easier for Finland to be reinforced from Norway and Sweden, Mr. Pesu, the Finnish Institute analyst, noted.
The fear is that a modernized Russian Northern Fleet could swing down through the straits between Greenland, Iceland and Britain, a move known in NATO as a “red right hook,” to cut sea lanes and underwater cables and threaten the American East Coast with cruise missiles.
Mr. Dalsjo of the Swedish Defense Research Agency, calling himself a heretic, cautions in a recent paper that this threat is real but may be overblown, especially after Russia’s losses in Ukraine.
Russia is predominantly a land power, and its northern fleet is considerably smaller than it was during the Cold War, when there were worries about the kind of major Soviet naval attack depicted in the Tom Clancy novel “Red Storm Rising.”
“If they didn’t do it then with 150 ships,” Mr. Dalsjo asked, “why would they do it now with 20?”
NATO and the War in Ukraine
If a Divided Germany Could Enter NATO, Why Not Ukraine?
May 26, 2023
Russian Invasion of Ukraine Revolutionizes NATO Military Strategy
April 17, 2023
Finland Joins NATO in a Power Shift and Rebuke to Putin
Police officers stood outside several apartment buildings damaged after a drone attack in Moscow on Tuesday. Credit…Kirill Kudryavtsev/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A day after a drone strike on Moscow, Kremlin officials jumped on the refusal of Ukrainian allies to denounce the attack as proof that Russia’s real war was with the West.
The Kremlin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, said Russia “would have preferred to hear at least some words of condemnation” from Western capitals.
“We will calmly and deliberately think how to deal with this,” he said.
While none of Ukraine’s allies went so far as to endorse the drone attack, Britain’s foreign secretary said on Tuesday that Kyiv had “the right to project force beyond its borders.”
The U.S. response was more circumspect, but it stopped short of criticizing the first military strike to hit civilian areas in the Russian capital since the start of the war. Ukraine officials have said they were not “directly involved” in the drone strike.
From the outset of the conflict, Russia has portrayed the invasion of Ukraine as a defensive war provoked by the West, and on Wednesday it seized on the attack.
Dmitri A. Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s national security council and a former president, said Britain “de facto is leading an undeclared war against Russia” by providing Ukraine with military aid and called it “our eternal enemy.”
Known since the war began for staking out extreme positions, Mr. Medvedev argued that now any British official “can be considered as a legitimate military target.”
Image
Dmitri A. Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s national security council, accused Britain of “leading an undeclared war against Russia.”Credit…Ekaterina Shtukina/Sputnik
The Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, called the U.S. refusal to condemn the attack “an encouragement for Ukrainian terrorists,” his embassy said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia has repeatedly hit civilian areas of Ukraine over the course of the war, though it has denied targeting nonmilitary sites. And in recent weeks it has turned up the barrage of missiles and attack drones aimed at Kyiv, the capital. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including children, have been killed in Russian airstrikes and artillery bombardments, U.N. officials say.
Updates: Russia-Ukraine War
Struggle for control of the Arctic looms as Blinken tours NATO’s north.
Macron urges West to give Ukraine ‘tangible and credible’ security guarantees.
U.S. promises more military aid to Ukraine, including ammunition for air-defense systems, drones and artillery.
Though the drone strike on Tuesday was unusual, it was not the first one on Russian soil since the war began. Drones have hit military air bases deep inside Russia, as well as an oil facility near an airfield in the province of Kursk. And this month, drones exploded over the Kremlin.
The incursions continued on Wednesday, when, the Russian authorities said, Ukrainian drones attacked two oil refineries in the region of Krasnodar. They also said that four people had been injured by shelling in the border region of Belgorod.
Russia has long accused the West of waging a proxy war against it. Those claims grew louder this month when a group of Ukraine-based Russian paramilitary members staged a multiday raid in Russia’s Belgorod border region — apparently with U.S. armored vehicles.
A New York Times analysis found that at least three of what appeared to be American-made MRAPs had been part of the attack. A leader of one of the groups claimed the weapons had not been provided by the Ukrainian military.
Image
The aftermath of a cross-border raid in Russia’s Belgorod region last week. The image was released by the Russian military.Credit…Russian Defense Ministry Press Service
Russian officials have said that NATO’s decision to send weapons, which have become increasingly advance as the war has worn on, raises the risk of a direct confrontation and a potential nuclear war.
On Tuesday, President Vladimir V. Putin also made an oblique reference to this threat, calling the drone strike on Moscow an attempt “to create a response reaction from Russia.” He accused unspecified forces of trying to sabotage a Ukrainian nuclear plant occupied by Russia or to use “a type of a dirty bomb related to the nuclear industry.”
Although Western governments initially focused their military support for Ukraine on bolstering its defenses, over time, the desire to hasten an end the war has led to growing deliveries of offensive weapons to Kyiv.
Tensions between Moscow and Western capitals have worsened since the invasion, as have the economic sanctions imposed on Russia as penalty.
Image
President Vladimir V. Putin said the drone strike in Moscow was an attempt “to create a response reaction from Russia.”Credit…Mikhail Metzel/Sputnik
At a security conference on Wednesday in Slovakia, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said that Western allies must give Ukraine “tangible and credible” security guarantees in its battle against Russia.
“If we want a credible, durable peace, if we want to hold our own against Russia, if we want to be credible with the Ukrainians, we must give Ukraine the means to prevent any new aggression and to include Ukraine in any new security architecture,” he said in a speech.
Mr. Macron was criticized early in the war over his insistence on not antagonizing Russia, but his approach toward Mr. Putin has hardened. He also expressed regret that France and other Western European countries had failed to heed warnings from countries on the European Union’s eastern edge about Russian belligerence.
On Wednesday, Germany said it had ordered four of the five Russian Consulates in the country to close after Moscow limited the number of German diplomatic staff allowed in Russia, the latest in an escalating tit-for-tat diplomatic dispute between the two countries.
The Russian Foreign Ministry was told to start shutting down its consulates in Germany immediately and to finish by the end of the year, said Christofer Burger, a spokesman for Germany’s Foreign Ministry.
One Russian Consulate and the Russian Embassy in Berlin will be allowed to remain open.
In Sweden, the U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken met with European officials on Wednesday to discuss trade and technology issues, cracking down on exports that could aid Russia.
On Thursday, Mr. Blinken is scheduled to meet with NATO foreign ministers to discuss the alliance summit planned for July, as well as the war in Ukraine and the prospects for Swedish membership in the alliance.
In February, an oil tanker transmitted a signal showing it was sailing west of Japan.
But the tanker’s path was highly unusual. Over the course of a day, its signals showed erratic behavior as the ship rapidly changed position.
A satellite image, taken during this time, deepened the mystery: There was no ship there at all.
The Cathay Phoenix was sending a fake location signal. This is known as “spoofing.”
In reality, the ship was 250 miles north loading oil at the Russian port of Kozmino, part of a journey to China that likely caused a breach of U.S. sanctions.
The Cathay Phoenix is not a lone rogue ship, but one of at least three tankers identified by The New York Times taking extraordinary steps to hide their true activity, a practice that helps them to elude U.S. government oversight and puts their American insurer at risk of violating recent sanctions on Russian crude oil.
For years, ships wanting to hide their whereabouts have resorted to turning off the transponders all large vessels use to signal their location. But the tankers tracked by The Times go beyond this, using cutting-edge spoofing technology to make it appear they’re in one location when they’re really somewhere else.
During at least 13 voyages, the three tankers pretended to be sailing west of Japan. In reality, they were at terminals in Russia and shipping oil to China.
The vessels are part of a so-called dark fleet, a loose term used to describe a hodgepodge array of ships that obscure their locations or identities to avoid oversight from governments and business partners. They have typically been involved in moving oil from Venezuela or Iran — two countries that have also been hit by international sanctions. The latest surge of dark fleet ships began after Russia invaded Ukraine and the West tried to limit Moscow’s oil revenue with sanctions.
“The type of spoofing we are seeing is uncommon and sophisticated,” said David Tannenbaum, a former sanctions compliance officer at the U.S. Treasury, referring to the tankers identified by The Times. “It definitely looks like evasion on all parts.”
To date, it’s been rare to prove the true location of a ship pretending to be somewhere else. But a Times analysis of publicly available shipping data, satellite imagery and social media footage helped clearly establish that the tankers were not where they claimed to be.
The ships most likely sell their Russian oil to China above a price limit set by the sanctions. Since neither country recognizes the sanctions, the tankers themselves are not in violation by spoofing or carrying the oil.
But the tankers still have motive to spoof: to maintain their insurance coverage, without which they cannot operate in most major ports. The only insurers financially able to cover tankers are mostly based in the West and bound by the sanctions. If a client ship were to carry Russian oil that’s sold above the price limit, the Western insurer would be in violation of the sanctions and must drop its coverage.
“It’s significant when you look at dollar terms,” said Samir Madani, co-founder of TankerTrackers.com, which monitors global shipping, who first alerted The Times to several of the suspicious ships. “It’s around $1 billion worth of oil that is going under the radar while using Western insurance, and they’re using spoofing in order to preserve their Western insurance.”
In addition to the three tankers transporting oil, Times reporters tracked another three vessels spoofing while off the coast of Russia, though it’s unclear what cargo they carried.
All six tankers are insured by a U.S.-based company, the American Club. The Times provided the company with the names of the tankers, as well as details about the voyages on which they spoofed.
In an emailed response, Daniel Tadros, the American Club’s chief operating officer, said he could not comment on any potential investigations because of legal and privacy requirements. “Insurance cover is automatically excluded in the event of sanctions’ violations,” he said.
The U.S. has also created so-called safe harbor provisions to protect insurers from liability if they inadvertently cover ships violating sanctions. As of May 30, a regularly updated list of American Club’s clients posted on its website showed the company is most likely still insuring the six tankers.
There has been at least one change since The Times approached the company with evidence of spoofing. The website had said the Cathay Phoenix’s current policy would expire in February 2024. But recently, the expiration date suddenly shifted much earlier to June 2023. The company would not comment on the reason for the change.
A Chhattisgarh government official has been fined Rs 53,000 after he pumped out 21 lakh litres of water from a reservoir to recover his phone, reported The Times of India on Wednesday.
After the incident on May 21, Rajesh Vishwas, a food inspector in Koilibeda block of the North Baster Kanker district, was suspended from his post on May 26. Now, Vishwas has been ordered to pay the fine in 10 days.
Superintendent engineer of the Indravati project – under which the reservoir functioned – had written last week to the Sub Divisional Officer RK Dhivar, asking why the cost of wasted water should not be recovered from Vishwas, reported NDTV. The letter stated that the water was meant for irrigation and other purposes during the summer.
“Since the officer has drained lakhs of litres of water using diesel pump from the weir without official permission, in order to search his mobile phone, it is illegal and is a violation of Chhattisgarh Irrigation Act,” an official of the state Water Resource Department said in a letter to Vishwas, while imposing the fine.
The pumps ran continuously for four days and emptied out 21 lakh litres of water – enough to irrigate 1,500 acres of farmland.
India’s gross domestic product grew at 6.1% in the fourth quarter (January-March) of the fiscal year 2022-’23 and by 7.2% for the full financial year, government data showed on Wednesday.
The growth rate of 7.2% in the previous financial year is lower than the 9.1% India had recorded in 2021-’22. However, the numbers are higher than the government’s estimate of 7% growth.
On a quarter-to-quarter basis too, the growth rate of 6.1% is higher than the 4.5% recorded in the third quarter (October-December) of the financial year 2022-’23, the Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation said.
In the March quarter, the manufacturing sector output rose to 4.5% as compared to 1.1% contraction in the previous quarter, it said. In the food sector, the output increased to 5.5% in fourth from 4.7% in the third quarter.
Last week, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das had said that India’s GDP growth could be above 7% for the financial year 2022-’23. Das had said that nearly all high-frequency indicators showed that there was sustained momentum in the final quarter of the previous financial year.
The chief of the central bank had also said that in the financial year 2023-’24, growth in the gross domestic product is expected to be at 6.5%. Last month, the International Monetary Fund had.
अजमेर। प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी बुधवार को अजमेर जिले के पुष्कर पहुंचे और ब्रह्मा मंदिर में पूजा अर्चना की।
राजस्थान विधानसभा में नेता प्रतिपक्ष राजेंद्र राठौड़ ने बताया कि प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी हेलीकॉप्टर से तीर्थ नगरी पुष्कर पहुंचे।इससे पहले मोदी नई दिल्ली से विशेष विमान से किशनगढ़ हवाई अड्डे पर उतरे और वहां से वह हेलीकॉप्टर के जरिये तीर्थ नगरी पुष्कर पहुंचे।
प्रधानमंत्री मोदी ने पुष्कर में ब्रह्मा मंदिर में पूजा अर्चना की। वह पुष्कर से हेलीकॉप्टर से जयपुर-अजमेर राजमार्ग पर स्थित कायड़ विश्राम स्थली जाएंगे, जहां वह जनसभा को संबोधित करेंगे।
बीजिंग। चीन की सत्तारूढ़ कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी ने कृत्रिम मेधा (एआई) के क्षेत्र में प्रगति से उत्पन्न जोखिमों को लेकर राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा उपाय मजबूत करने का आह्वान किया है।
सरकारी समाचार एजेंसी शिन्हुआ ने कहा कि मंगलवार को पार्टी नेता एवं राष्ट्रपति शी चिनफिंग की अध्यक्षता में हुई एक बैठक में राजनीतिक सुरक्षा और इंटरनेट डेटा एवं कृत्रिम मेधा संबंधी सुरक्षा में सुधार के लिए ठोस प्रयास किए जाने का आह्वान किया गया।सेना के सर्वोच्च कमांडर और पार्टी के राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा आयोग के अध्यक्ष शी ने “राष्ट्रीय सुरक्षा के समक्ष आने वाली जटिल और चुनौतीपूर्ण परिस्थितियों से अवगत रहने” पर विचार-विमर्श के लिए इस बैठक का आयोजन किया।
शिन्हुआ ने शी के हवाले से कहा कि चीन को “नए सुरक्षा ढांचे के साथ विकास के नए तरीकों” की जरूरत है।उल्लेखनीय है कि चैटजीपीटी जैसे अत्यधिक सक्षम एआई चैटबॉक्स के चलते चीजों के इंसान के नियंत्रण से बाहर होने जैसी कई तरह की चिंताएं बढ़ी हैं।माइक्रोसॉफ्ट और गूगल के उच्चस्तरीय अधिकारियों सहित वैज्ञानिकों और प्रौद्योगिकी क्षेत्र के लोगों ने मंगलवार को कृत्रिम मेधा के मानव जाति के लिए खतरा होने संबंधी एक नई चेतावनी जारी की।
इससे संबंधित बयान में कहा गया, “महामारी और परमाणु युद्ध जैसे अन्य सामाजिक-स्तर के जोखिमों के साथ एआई की वजह से विलुप्ति के जोखिम को कम करना एक वैश्विक प्राथमिकता होना चाहिए।”
नयी दिल्ली फ्रांसीसी वाहन कंपनी रेनो भारत में पिछले 11 साल में नौ लाख वाहनो की बिक्री का आंकड़ा पार कर लिया है। कंपनी ने बुधवार को यह जानकारी दी।
भारत में 2012 से ;मेक इन इंडिया (भारत में बने) वाहन बेचना शुरू करने वाली कंपनी इस समय शुरुआती स्तर की क्विड, कॉम्पेक्ट एसयूवी (स्पोर्ट्स यूटिलिटी व्हीकल) काइगर और बहुद्देशीय वाहन ट्राइबर की बिक्री कर रही है।
रेनो इंडिया के मुख्य कार्यपालक अधिकारी (सीईओ) और प्रबंध निदेशक (एमडी) वेंकटराम मामिलपल्ले ने बयान में कहा, “रेनो के लिए भारत रणनीतिक और शीर्ष पांच बाजारों में है। यहां के लिए हमारे दिमाग में एक स्पष्ट दीर्घकालिक रणनीति है।
हमने भविष्य के उत्पादों के लिए स्थानीयतकरण पर जोर देते हुए मजबूत योजना बनाई है।”भारतीय बाजार के लिए दीर्घकालिक प्रतिबद्धता के साथ मामिलपल्ले ने कहा, “ग्राहकों की नई जरूरतों और वरीयताओं को पूरा करने के लिए रेनो अपने उत्पादों और सेवाओं में कई नए नवाचार लाने की योजना बना रही है।”
दमिश्क (सीरिया)। पूर्वी लेबनान में बुधवार को सीरिया समर्थित फलस्तीनी समूह के ठिकानों को निशाना बनाकर किए गए इजरायली हवाई हमले में पांच फलस्तीनी लड़ाकों की मौत हो गई और 10 अन्य घायल हो गए। समूह के एक अधिकारी ने यह जानकारी दी।
पॉपुलर फ्रंट फॉर द लिबरेशन ऑफ फलस्तीन-जनरल कमांड (पीएफएलपी-जीसी) के अधिकारी अनवर राजा ने कहा कि सीरिया से लगी सीमा के निकट पूर्वी लेबनान के कुसाया शहर में स्थित ठिकानों पर इजरायल ने हमला किया।
उन्होंने कहा कि हमले में घायल दो व्यक्तियों की हालत गंभीर है।लेबनान-सीरिया सीमा पर पीएफएलपी-जीसी के कई ठिकाने हैं और दोनों देशों में सैन्य मौजूदगी भी है। समूह पहले इजरायल के खिलाफ हमले कर चुका है।
। एशिया कप को लेकर खबरों का बाजार गर्म है, पाकिस्तान इस बार एशिया की मेजबानी कर रहा है लेकिन भारतीय टीम वहा जाकर खेलने को तैयार नहीं है। ऐसे में खबरें है की भारतीय टीम के मैच किसी न्यूट्रल वेन्यू पर कराए जा सकते है। इसकों लेकर बीसीसीआई की और से भी कहा गया था की आईपीएल के फाइनल के दिन इस पर चर्चा होगी।
लेकिन इस बीच खबर यह है की बीसीसीआई ने पाकिस्तान क्रिकेट बोर्ड के हाइब्रिड मॉडल को खारिज कर दिया था। जिसके बाद अब माना जा रहा है कि एशिया कप 2023 की मेजबानी पाकिस्तान से छीन सकती है।
वहीं, एशिया कप की मेजबानी श्रीलंका को मिल सकती है। मीडिया रिपोर्ट्स की माने तो कहा जा रहा है कि श्रीलंका क्रिकेट बोर्ड एशिया कप की मेजबानी के लिए तैयार है। साथ ही इस पर जल्द ही बड़ा एलान भी संभव है।
World No 2 Daniil Medvedev was knocked out in the first round of the French Open after losing to world No 172 made it through to the second round with straight-sets win.
Jose Mourinho is eyeing a sixth European title when his Roma side take on six-time winners Sevilla in the final of the Europa League.
Finals debutants Denver Nuggets take on underdogs Miami Heat for the NBA Championship. Nuggets, led by two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, made it to the final after beating LeBron James’s Los Angeles Lakers. Jimmy Buttler’s Heat stunned the Milwaukee Bucks before beating the Boston Celtics over seven games.
Here’s a look at the key stories from international sporting events through the day for 31 May, 2023:
Medvedev ousted; Swiatek, Rybakina win
World number two Daniil Medvedev was knocked out of the French Open in the first round on Tuesday, losing in five sets to 172nd-ranked Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil as Roland Garros attempted to move on from Novak Djokovic’s Kosovo controversy.
Seyboth Wild, who came through the qualifiers and had never previously won a Grand Slam match, triumphed 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (6/8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.
It was Medvedev’s fifth loss in the opening round at Roland Garros…
The National Council for Educational Research and Training on Tuesday said it has removed references to Khalistan from the Class 12 political science textbook. Khalistan refers to an independent Sikh state sought by some groups.
The changes to the textbook were made after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee last month raised objections about the content.
It had alleged that the NCERT misrepresented historical details about Sikhs in the textbook. The Sikh body had particularly objected to the mentioning of the Anandpur Sahib resolution in the textbook, Politics In India Since Independence.
The Anandpur Sahib resolution was a document adopted by the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1973. The resolution affirmed the party’s commitment to the Sikh religion and demanded greater autonomy for Punjab. It also demanded that the city of Chandigarh should be handed over to Punjab and that Punjabi should be given second-language status in neighboring states.
In the textbook, a passage about the resolution read: “The resolution also spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh community and declared its goal as attaining the ‘bolbala’ [dominance] of the Sikhs. The resolution was a plea for strengthening federalism, but it could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation.”
On Tuesday, the NCERT said that the sentence – “but it could also be interpreted…
It was the summer of 2014. I was on a bus with a group of young students headed to Kapashera, where we hoped to meet some apparel industry workers. We were going on a Sunday because it was a weekly holiday for most workers. Halfway through the journey (more than an hour from the starting point of the bus at ISBT, Kashmiri Gate), we realized that some of our co-passengers were garment workers.
I heard my young friends squealing in delight when they realized that these workers produced garments for Abercrombie & Fitch, a high-end casual wear brand. I was tutored about the details and nuances of this brand.
Amongst those on the bus was Ramesh, a 35-year-old worker. He and the other workers were returning from Chor Bazaar (a well-known flea market in old Delhi). They had used their holiday to travel more than 30 km to the flea market to buy second-hand clothes for their children. The irony of the situation was not lost on us. Having spent their lives draping the world in some of the most famous brands, these workers could only afford old T-shirts worth Rs 35 for their children.
