INTERNATIONAL

A special task force team rescued 18 children who were forced into begging or labour in Jammu city, officials said. The Children in Street Situation (CISS) task force, carried out the rescue operations in the last few days. “We have rescued 18 children, including two girls below the age of 14 years, from different hotspot areas in the city over the past couple of days,” Arti Choudhary, the Protection Officer of the Social Welfare department’s Mission Vatsalya was quoted as saying. “The children were then presented before the Child Welfare Committee to facilitate their proper rehabilitation.” The rescue took place at various bustling marketplaces, religious sites, traffic signals, and upscale neighbourhoods like Gandhi Nagar, Vikram Chowk, and Bohu Plaza. The children have be...

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed for national unity Monday after winning a historic runoff election that extended two decades of his transformative rule until 2028. The 69-year-old overcame Turkey's worst economic crisis in a generation and the most powerful opposition alliance to ever face his Islamic-rooted party on his way to his toughest election win. Streets erupted in car-honking jubilation and tributes poured in from across the world as Turkey's most important leader in modern history led a sea of supporters in celebratory song outside his presidential palace in Ankara. "We should come together in unity and solidarity," Erdogan told the chanting and flag-waving crowd. "We call for this with all our heart." Near-complete results showed Erdogan beating se...

Constant inflation has pushed Germany into recession in the first three months of the year, BBC reported. Europe's largest economy has also been hit after Russian gas supplies dried up after the invasion of Ukraine. The economy contracted by 0.3% between January and March, the statistics which was followed by a 0.5% contraction in the last three months of last year. A country is deemed to be in recession when its economy shrinks for two consecutive three-month periods, or quarters. "Under the weight of immense inflation, the German consumer has fallen to his knees, dragging the entire economy down with him," said Andreas Scheuerle, an analyst at DekaBank. Germany's inflation rate stood at 7.2% in April, above the euro area's average but below the UK's 8.7%.

Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar Thursday congratulated the security forces for conducting incident free and successful G20 summit in Kashmir. Kashmir zone police, while quoting ADGP Kumar on its official Twitter handle, as per the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), wrote "ADGP Kashmir congratulates officers and jawans of JKP, CRPF, Army, BSF, SSB, NSG, MARCOS, NDRF & intelligence agencies for conducting incident free & successful G20 Summit." The 3-day Summit started on May 22 in Srinagar, in which around 57 foreign delegates participated amid three-tier security cover. The J&K administration is hopeful that the event will help explore the eco and green tourism and pave way for the livelihood opportunities for the youth, besides boosting tourism sector and econo...

The London-based organization of Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) admitted that British special forces have secretly participated in killing operations since 2011 in at least 19 countries, including Syria, Iraq and other countries. “Those forces carried out deliberate killings of British citizens in Syria and Iraq and covered up massacres against civilians in Afghanistan,” NOVOSTI news agency quoted the Organization as saying in a report. According to the report, those forces trained terrorists in Syria and provided them with information and helped plan terrorist operations and actively participated in the events in Libya in 2011. It also noted that in Ukraine, British experts carried out reconnaissance missions and worked with the Americans in training Ukrainian forces. The rep...

As the G20 Summit in Srinagar has begun, expectations among local artisans have reached a feverish pitch. Apart from tourism, handicrafts is another sector which will be taken up in the crucial deliberations among nineteen major countries and the European Union. Handicrafts have been the backbone of the Kashmir economy since immemorial times. But the sector has been on the receiving end due to some wrong reasons. The world-famous Kashmiri shawls, carpets, paper machines, wood carving and so on were world beaters and others stood distant second always. A local artisan said, "G20 meeting will have a positive impact on our livelihoods. After the summit, our exports will increase further and this could pave the way for more nations to start importing our handicrafts produce. We hop...

An Arab influencer, Amjad Taha, posted a video and teased his fans, saying that this is not Switzerland or Austria but Kashmir, where the G20 will take place. Ahead of the G20 meeting in Srinagar which is scheduled for May 22-24, describing the Kashmir beauty as a "paradise on Earth," an Arab influencer said that this place has protected the Earth and may be the answer to climate change. "This is not Switzerland or Austria; this is India, and this is Kashmir where the G20 will take place. It's called the 'paradise on Earth,' a place that has preserved the Earth and can be the solution for climate change. In Kashmir, we see Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians all living in peace and enjoying their diverse land while contributing to world innovation and development for the future," ...

The G20 Working Group meeting on Tourism, scheduled to take place in Srinagar, is just two days away. Srinagar is gearing up for the event. Wall paintings and renovations have come up and security has been tightened across the Kashmir capital, However, there have been recent developments regarding the attendance of certain countries. China has officially pulled out of the event stating that Kashmir was a "disputed" territory, while the Indian government has disclosed that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt are yet to confirm their attendance, reported The Hindu. “A total of 60 international delegates have registered so far for the Third working group meeting to be held from May 22-24,” Union Tourism Secretary Arvind Singh as per The Hindu said on May 19, briefing the media in Delhi. ...

A shocking report has revealed that the Indian government-owned companies and private firms have supplied Rs 421 crore ($51 million) worth of arms, dual-use items, and raw materials to the military junta in Myanmar since generals staged their coup in February 2021. The report released by the UN-appointed independent expert monitoring and investigating human rights abuses in the country states that some UN Member States are enabling this trade through a combination of outright complicity, lax enforcement of existing bans, and easily circumvented sanctions, according to a news release from the UN rights office OHCHR. Tom Andrews, the country's UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, claimed that the junta and government-approved arms dealers had brought in $1 billion (8256 INR) worth of...