17 Indians abroad Israeli Cargo vessel seized by Iran
Iran’s
Revolutionary Guard seized a Israeli affiliated container vessel vessel MSC Aries in Gulf of Homruz on Saturday
.
The container vessel is owned by London
Headquartered Zodiac Maritime , which is owned by Israeli businessman Eyal Ofer
. The vessel was going from UAE to India .
There were a total 25 crew members on board
the vessel that included 17 Indian , four Filipino , two Pakistani , One
Russian and One Estonian .
Indian officials said that they were in touch
with Iranian authorities, through diplomatic channels in Tehran and Delhi .
Also that they were trying fro security , welfare and early release of their
nationals.
Pirate Operation : Israel
Israel Foreign minister Israel Katz in a post
on X termed the seizure a “ pirate operation “ , in violation of international
law . He said “ I call for the European Union and Free world to immediately
declare the Iranian Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization and to
sanction Iran now “ .
Meanwhile, the US has decided to send more
troops to the region .
Iran Israel tension cloud future of Indians hired for Israeli
construction site
Govt of India and Israel govt has
recently signed an agreement in November , the agreement was about to send
Indian workers to work in the Construction sector in Israel .
Israel was facing shortage of workers after it
stopped Palestinian to work in Israel after the October 7 Hamas attack .
The first batch of 64 workers were flown to
Israel on April 2 .
It is expected that 6,000 Indian workers will
fly on to Israel till April May.
Many are questioning govt move in such a
distressed time .
After a rise in tension between Iran and Israel , on Friday the Ministry of
External Affairs issued an advisory to all Indians to not travel Israel and Iran .
Kwatra meet with US officials reviews , reviews progress in
strategic partnershi
Foreign
Secretary Vinay
Mohan Kwatra is on a visit to the US , he held a wide range of meetings with US
officials on Friday .
where he met with US Deputy secretary of
defense Kathleen Hicks and discussed a wide range of issues concerning
bilateral and military engagements .
The two sides discussed how to advance the
coproduction of fighter jet engines and armored vehicles .
Continued success of India US Defense
Acceleration Ecosystem ( INDUS X ) was
also discussed .
Regional issues such as Free and Open Indo
Pacific was also discussed .
Entrepreneur and Pilot , Gopichand Thitakura is aiming for a place in Indian space history
Gooichand Thoktura will be among six crew
members of Blue Origin who will be part of commercial space flight . He will be
second Indian in Space after Rakesh Sharma .
Rakesh Sharma has stayed in space for around a
week on board Russian Soyuz .
Blue Origin is a company by Jeff Bezos for space travel .
Karman line in space which is 80 km above
earth’s sea level divides inner space and outer space . Any person crossing
Karman line is recognised as an
astronaut .
The blue Origin capsule status for few hours
at 100 km and then returns back .
The term “ Astronaut “ is generally used by US
. While Russian use the word “ Cosmonaut “ , Chinese use the word “ taikonauts
“ , and prospective Indians will be using “ vyomanauts “ of “ gaganauts “ .
Remove beverages from ‘ health drinks ‘ category
The government in a recent advisory has asked
all the ecommerce platforms including ‘
Bournvita ‘ to remove drinks and beverages including bournvita from their
portals .
Under laws there is no category such as ‘ health drink ‘ under FSSAI.
World
As Iran seizes container ship , Israel warns of ‘consequences’ of
escalation
Israel warned on Saturday that Iran would
suffer the “ consequences “ for choosing to escalate the situation any further
“. The warning came after Iran seized a
container vessel owned by a Israeli National .
On April 1 , Israeli air force attacked Iranian
consulate in Damascus .
Two days ago Iran’s top military leader
Ayatollah Khameini talked of punishing
Iran.
Since then speculation has been going on over
a possible Iranian attack on Israel .
Germany to send additional Patriot system to Ukraine
Germany said on Saturday that it will send an
additional Patriot air defense system to Ukraine to bolster the hard pressed
military and help in finding an increased Russian aerial attack .
On Saturday German Chancellor Olaf Scholaz
talked with Vladimir Zelensky reaffirming the his unwavering solidarity with
Ukraine .
Terror attacks leaves 11 persons dead in Balochistan
province of Pakistan
At least 11 persons , nine from Punjab
Province were shot dead in two different incidents on Saturday in two separate
incidents in Balochistan, Pakistan .
In the first incident nine passengers were
killed in the Noshaki area of Balochistan .
The passengers’ Identity card was checked and those only from Punjab
Province was killed .
In a separate incident two persons were killed
on a highway in the same are by gunmen.
.
No organizations has claimed
responsibility .
But Baloch nationals often carry such acts of
violence against people from Punjab .
They allege that people from Punjab were involved in extracting mineral wealth
from Balochistan .
Ecuador officials calls officials’ raid in Mexico embassy
‘ illegal ‘ and ‘ arbitrary ‘
Ecuador’s national court ruled on Friday that
the seizure and arrest of former Vice President Jorge Glas from Mexico’s
embassy in Quito was “ illegal and arbitrary “ .
But the high court announced that Mr Glas will
remain behind bars .
Mexico had broken diplomatic ties with Ecuador
following the arrest of Mr Gkas weeks ago . Mexico has moved to International
Court of Justice to suspend Ecuador from the UN .
Several Latin American countries and western
countries have condemned the embassy intrusion as a violation of the Vienna
Convention ,1961 .
Five women among six killed in a knife attack in Sydney
mall
Six person were killed and several others were
injured when a knife wielding attacker rampaged through a busy Sydney mall .
The attacker has not been identified .
FAQ
How did
the law of disclosure of assets evolve
The
story so far :
There have been two recent development that
focussed on disclosure by electoral candidates .
BJP Thiruvananthapuram candidate Rajiv Cha
drashsekhar had allegedly failed to report all the assets he owns in an
affidavit during electoral nominations .
The Supreme Court in a case noted that not
every bit needs to be disclosed as candidate also has a right to privacy .
Law
related to disclosure
Candidates need to disclose their assets and
liabilities , including those of their spouses and their dependents . This was
introduced through a landmark judgment of the Supreme Court .
Section 125 A of the RPA , 1951 prescribes a
six month prison term , or a fine , or both , for any candidate’s failure to
disclose the required information or conceding such information . Under section
100 of RPA ,1951 The election can also
be declared void on charges of “ improper acceptance of any nomination “ or “
any non compliance with the provision of the constitution or of this act or
rules made under this act “ .
Court can also prosecute the candidate over
any omission or false information .
About
the latest court ruling
The case concerned the election of Karikho
kri, an independent candidate who won a seat in Arunachal Pradesh Assembly in
2019 .
His election was challenged by a Congress
candidate on the ground that Mr Krishna had not disclosed some moveable assets
in the name of his wife and children .
The Itangar bench of the High court of Assam.
Nagaland , Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh declared Mr Kri’s election as void on
the grounds that he had not disclosed three vehicles (sold some years ago but
still in his name ) .
The Supreme Court set aside the High Court’s
judgment on the ground that non disclosure was not of a substantial nature .
The court said that It was not necessary to
declare every item of movable property .unless it is of such value to be
sizeable in itself .
However the court said that what omission is
substantial or not will depend on facts of each case .
Why is
there WHO alert on rival Hepatitis
The
story so far :
Recently WHO released the World Hepatities
Report 2024 .
India accounted for 11.6% of total hepatitis
disease globally in 2022 . India stands only after China in number of Hepatitis
deaths .
Highlights
of the report
●
Second leading death causing infections
disease with 1.3 millions deaths globally .
●
83% of the death is caused by
Hepatitis B while 17% by Hepatitis C .
●
Half the burden of Hepatitis B and
C isaming people between 30-54 . 12% of the disease is among the children .
What is
Hepatitis ?
“ Hepatitis is the inflammation of liver that is caused by a range of
infectious diseases .
There are five strains of Hepatitis virus
A,B,C,,DAnd E . Type B and C reema is the most lethal that causes most of the
deaths .
Hepatitis B can be cured from vaccination m
while hepatitis C can be cured through medicines .
In India vaccination for Hepatitis B is
included in childhood immunization programmes .
The
trend in Climate Change Jurisprudence
The
story so far :
In a recent judgment ,the Supreme Court
observed that citizens have a “ right
against adverse effect of climate change “ . The court was giving a verdict in
a case of deaths of Great Indian Bustard due to solar power transmission lines.
What is
the context
The Great Indian Bustard , is an endangered
species found in Kutch Gujarat and parts of Rajasthan . Their numbers were
declinkg due to death by collision with Solar Power lines in the area .
The demand of the petitioners were to
underground the power lines . But power distributing companies said it to be
costly affairs that will undermine India’s energy security and will also hamper
India’s commitment to become a net zero nation .
The court formed a committee in 2021 to look
into which power lines is required to be
underground .
What
does the Judgement say on human rights and climate change ?
The court noted that the Indian government has
formed multiple agencies to combat the problem of climate change . Currently
Rights regarding climate Change is out under Article 14 and Article 21 , which
talks about right to equality and Right
to life respectively .
Court however said that as the problems
related to climate change is increasing , there is need to put “ Right against
adverse effect of climate change “ under a different Rights category .
The court highlighted the need of solar power
for energy security .