India’s High Commission in Colombo has raised concern about the “use of force and violence” against Indian fishermen by Sri Lankan authorities. It demanded that any issue of incursions by fishermen should be raised diplomatically and in keeping with humanitarian laws.
Over 26 died after two trains collided in Greece early on Wednesday. While reports suggest 85 others were injured, fatalities and injuries will likely surge in the coming hours.
During a meeting with Central Asian leaders in Astana on Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken noted that Washington has been “watching compliance with sanctions very closely” while having discussions with the five former Soviet republics – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan – about “the economic spillover effects” of the Ukraine war. He announced an additional $25 million in new funding to support economic growth, including new trade routes, and assist businesses in finding new export markets in the region.
Scientists from the Moscow Aviation Institute and the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, are working together to build a fixed-wing robotic aerial platform to study the atmosphere and surface of Mars. It is expected to be tested by the end of 2024.
Iran could produce enough fissile material in 12 days to produce one nuclear bomb, US Under Secretary of Defence Colin Kahl told lawmakers on Tuesday. Calling Tehran’s acceleration of its nuclear programme since the US left the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 “remarkable,” Kahl said it would have taken Iran 12 months to produce material for one bomb in 2018. His warning comes days after the International Atomic Energy Agency announced the discovery of near-weapons-grade uranium at a nuclear facility in Iran.
The Ukrainian government announced on Tuesday that it has sent an appeal to the UN and Turkey to start negotiations on extending the Black Sea Grain Initiative. “We have sent a letter requesting that we start dealing with this issue as 18 March is very soon, but we have not had any feedback so far,” a Ukrainian source told Reuters. The grain deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, was agreed to by Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 for the export of millions of tonnes of grains from three Ukrainian ports.
New figures released by the Japanese health ministry on Tuesday showed that the number of newborns fell to 799,728 in 2022, down 5.1% from 2021. This is the lowest birthrate since the country began recording it in 1899. Meanwhile, the number of deaths rose by 8.9% to 1.58 million for the same period, it said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will not attend an upcoming G20 foreign ministers meeting in New Delhi, India, this week. In his stead, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Kenji Yamada will represent the country.
On Tuesday, representatives from the US, the UAE, the UK, Somalia, Qatar, and Turkey met in Washington D.C. to denounce the violence occurring in, and the area surrounding, Laascaanood, a town in Somaliland, a breakaway region in northern Somalia. Earlier this month, at least 34 people were killed in the town as a result of clashes between soldiers and anti-government militants.