In Pakistan, sixteen died, and ten others were injured during tribal clashes on Monday in Darra Adam Khel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering Afghanistan. Two tribes clashed over a historic disagreement over the ownership of a coal mine. They have agreed to halt the violence after a ceasefire agreement negotiated by a local tribal council.
Indian PM Narendra Modi will visit Japan from 19 to 21 May to address the G7 summit and discuss issues such as energy security and development cooperation. Thereafter, PM Modi will visit Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Australian PM Anthony Albanese said the leaders of the Quad — Australia, the US, India, and Japan — will not be going ahead with their Sydney meeting next week, as US President Joe Biden had to cancel his trip to Sydney due to the debt ceiling crisis. However, they will hold a discussion on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Japan over the weekend.
During a visit to the country’s aerospace agency, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, examined a finished military spy satellite and approved an unspecified “future action plan” in preparation for its launch, which is expected to happen in the coming weeks.
Although the US-made Patriot missile system employed by Ukraine had likely suffered damage from a Russian strike, it is not destroyed completely, two US officials said Tuesday. The Patriot anti-missile system is one of the several sophisticated air defence units provided by the West to Ukraine. The US is considering a way to repair the damaged surface-to-air missile defence system, which will not require it to be removed from Ukraine. On Tuesday, the Russian Defence Ministry claimed that it had destroyed the Patriot defence system with the hypersonic Kinzhal missile in an overnight strike on Ukraine.
India is considering testing cough syrups at government labs before exporting to prevent poor-quality exports from denting India’s image. A proposal was sent in this regard by the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. India has faced allegations from importers like Uzbekistan, Gambia, the Marshall Islands, and Micronesia, where Indian cough syrup manufacturers were found to have used lethal toxins. Consumption of Indian-made cough syrups led to 70 casualties in Gambia and 19 in Uzbekistan last year.
On Tuesday, the US, Japan, and Australia welcomed the UK to the Blue Dot Network’s Steering Committee. The Blue Dot Network certification will be recognised internationally as a sign of high-quality infrastructure initiatives. Blue Dot Network members collaborate to ensure that infrastructure meets fiscal, social, environmental, and governance criteria that benefit all community users and stakeholders.
The UK government declared on Tuesday that PM Rishi Sunak and his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte agreed to establish an “international coalition” to assist Ukraine in acquiring F-16 fighter jets. Sunak reiterated his belief that “Ukraine’s rightful place [is] in NATO,” and the leaders emphasised the importance of partners giving long-term security assistance to Ukraine to ensure that attacks are deterred. The announcement was made a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Kyiv would soon get F-16 fighter fighters, adding that he hoped the UK would help with “very important” decisions.
The Kremlin announced on Tuesday that its intelligence agencies are closely monitoring espionage activities conducted by Western entities. This statement comes in response to the release of a video by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) urging Russians to establish contact through a secure online channel. The brief video, presented in Russian, included a message from the CIA expressing their interest in engaging with military officers, intelligence experts, diplomats, scientists, and individuals possessing knowledge about Russia’s economy and leadership.