The 6th India-Arab Partnership Conference on “New Horizons in Investment, Trade & Services” was held in New Delhi on 11-12 July with the participation of ministers, senior officials, and businesspersons from Arab States and India. The Conference is the flagship initiative of both sides to provide an institutional platform for robust engagement between the business communities and was held under the aegis of the Arab-Indian Cooperation Forum.
The Indian government is in talks with Elon Musk-led electric car manufacturer Tesla to discuss an investment proposal to set up a car factory in the country with an annual capacity of as many as 500,000 electric vehicles with prices beginning from Rs 20 lakh (~$24,400). According to government sources, the company is also considering using India as an export base to ship cars to countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
Former Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has paid the first instalment of 15 million Sri Lankan Rupees (~$48,000) as compensation to the victims of the Easter Terror Attacks in 2019, ahead of a deadline set by the country’s Supreme Court. Sirisena was asked to pay a sum of 100 million Sri Lankan Rupees (~$325,000) as compensation to the victims for his negligence in preventing the terror strikes despite having credible information of an imminent attack. Sirisena was the country’s president and defence minister when nine suicide bombers linked to ISIS carried out a series of devastating blasts in Sri Lanka on 21 April 2019, killing nearly 270 people and injuring over 500.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres suggested on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin extend a deal permitting safe Black Sea grain exports from Ukraine in exchange for joining a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system. The reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT is a key demand from Moscow. The EU had cut it off in June 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
The European Parliament decided to address the violence in Manipur at a Wednesday session in the French city of Strasbourg, following which Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra claimed that the issue is India’s internal matter. Six parliamentary groups have proposed an urgent discussion on the situation in Manipur at a plenary session in Strasbourg from 10-13 July.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet on Wednesday against freelance journalist Vivek Raghuvanshi and former Navy commander Ashish Pathak for allegedly collecting sensitive defence-related information and sharing it with foreign intelligence services. The CBI listed Raghuvanshi and Pathak as the accused in the alleged breach of the Official Secrets Act and related offences in its charge sheet submitted before a special court.
Severe sand and dust storms (SDS) are on the rise, and according to UN climate experts, this increase can be attributed to human activities such as climate change and unsustainable farming practices. Recognising the situation’s urgency, the UN established 12 July as the International Day of Combatting Sand and Dust Storms. Additionally, representatives from the 19 SDS Coalition Members, which include agencies like WHO and the World Bank, gathered on Wednesday to commemorate the day by exploring avenues for enhancing cooperation with regional initiatives to address the global impact of SDS.