The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), an autonomous government organisation in India, removed references to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination and the 2002 Gujarat riots from school history textbooks. While NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani told The Telegraph that the content had been “uniformly” deleted, “without any selective approach,” commentators have accused the government of “whitewashing” history.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) chief, Kristalina Georgieva, warned on Thursday that the pandemic and Ukraine conflict would further detrimentally impact the world economy in 2023. However, she added that developing countries would provide the necessary momentum, with India and China accounting for half the growth of the global economy in 2023.
Chinese telecom firms are building a $500 million underwater fibre optic internet cable that would link Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, Reuters reported on Thursday. Officials told the outlet that the project would rival a similar US-backed project, escalating the tech rivalry between Beijing and Washington.
In a diplomatic breakthrough, the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia — Hossein Amirabdollahian and Prince Faisal bin Farhan — met in China to discuss restoring ties and reopening their respective embassies. It was the first time in seven years that the two countries’ foreign ministers held a face-to-face meeting. The meeting occurred weeks after the Chinese government brokered a normalisation deal between Tehran and Riyadh.
Ukraine and Poland agreed on Thursday to jointly develop 125mm ammunition for Soviet-era tanks. The deal was signed between Ukroboronprom, Ukraine’s state-owned arms producer, and Polish arms maker Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Poland this week. According to Ukroboronprom officials, only Polish cities are being considered as sites for new manufacturing facilities due to the high possibility of Russian long-range air strikes in Ukraine. Poland would be the second NATO member to assist Ukraine in the production of munitions.
China’s foreign ministry stated on Thursday that there was “no such thing as illegal fentanyl trafficking between China and Mexico.” China’s response came after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador confirmed that he had asked Beijing to assist in limiting the illicit flow of the drug. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Mao Ning stated at a press conference that China had not been notified of any fentanyl seizures by Mexico. She went on to say that the US must face its problems and take steps to “strengthen domestic regulation.”
On Thursday, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples José Francisco Calí Tzay hailed the Vatican’s rejection of the ‘Doctrine of Discovery.’ The doctrine had been used by colonial powers to seize indigenous lands in regions across Africa, the Americas, and Asia based on perceived civilisational and religious superiority. Noting that the Pope’s call to abandon this mentality is “part of a reconciliation process between indigenous peoples and colonial states,” Tzay urged other governments to follow the Holy See’s lead.