Author: Navrang Ramanathan

Russia has trained its troops for a potential attack on Japan and South Korea, according to a report by the Financial Times. Leaked military files show detailed plans for strikes on civilian infrastructure in event of war. The British outlet reviewed 29 Russian military documents and uncovered a strategy devised by Moscow to target the two Asian nations. The email, dated March 17, was sent by the agent, dubbed the Wind of Change, to Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human-rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net, and is now exiled in France. The FSB agent writes regular dispatches to Osechkin, revealing…

Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Sajith Premadasa go forward after no candidates gained 50% in first round. The Sri Lankan presidential election will be decided in a runoff, the country’s election body has said, after the top two candidates failed to win the mandatory 50% of votes to be declared winner. The Marxist-leaning Anura Kumara Dissanayake garnered the most votes in the first round of voting, with 39.5% of the counted ballots, while the opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, finished second with 34%. All the remaining candidates, including the incumbent, Ranil Wickremesinghe, who trailed in third with 17%, have been disqualified, the…

Women’s clothes are high on the government’s agenda once again in Tajikistan, where authorities and Islamic leaders are working on new guidelines on what women should wear to work and during their leisure time. The new dress code — the second of its kind in six years — is expected to be made public in the coming days, and a special event is reportedly being planned for the capital, Dushanbe, in August to showcase compliant clothes. Sulaimon Davlatzoda, the head of the state Committee for Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, told a press briefing in the capital this week that…

Washington/Vienna/Berlin (10/8 – 45.45)After a tip-off by U.S. intelligence officials and only a few hours left Austrian police made swift arrests. The plot seems too bizarre not to be true. Abul Baraa, aka Ahmad Armih, the German based hate-preacher in Berlin radicalized via Tik-tok or Istagram a 19-year Beran A. to swear the oath of alliance to the Islamic State. After a tip-off by U.S. intelligence officials and only a few hours left Austrian police made swift arrests. The plot seems too bizarre not to be true. Abul Baraa, aka Ahmad Armih, the German based hate-preacher in Berlin radicalized via…

Former Russian Deputy Defense Minister Tatyana Shevtsova, who officially was dismissed mid-June, fled to France ‘with hundreds of millions of dollars saved in cryptocurrency.’. Tsargrad and other Telegram channels report this with reference to several sources, although confirmation or refutation of this data has not yet been received. If she fled to France, it must be a deal with the French security service, as she is sanctioned in Europe. There is a version that Shevtsova allegedly cooperated with the investigation against the detained generals, trying to avoid her own charges. According to another version, the generals, to reduce their sentences,…

London (20/5 – 20)One academic was asked about the internet eating their young. This triggered a heated debate about the use of the internet the freedom in presents, the dangers of unfettered go for it all to the public, the rise of the left, the response by the right, and AI, or Artificial Intelligence. The seriousness of the debate can be seen at the UK sponsored conference on AI at Bletchley Park. Following this was the adaptation of the European law on Artificial Intelligence. 28 countries at the summit, including the United States, China, and the European Union, have issued…

India could ease its heightened scrutiny of Chinese investments if the two countries’ border remains peaceful, a senior Indian official said in the first signal that the four-year-old curbs could be lifted. Border tensions, the biggest irritant to relations between the nuclear-armed Asian giants, have eased, which could lead to improved investment ties, top industrial policy bureaucrat Rajesh Kumar Singh told Reuters on Wednesday at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In 2020, India tightened scrutiny on investments from companies based in countries it borders, adding a layer of vetting and security clearances. The move was widely seen as…

Along with a major expansion of renewable energy, India is also pushing for big increases in its coal production, casting doubt on its climate commitments. ndia’s environment and climate change minister Bhupender Yadav affirmed the country’s “trust and confidence” in the Paris Agreement, whilst highlighting the country’s achievements in emissions reduction. But this announcement was seemingly at odds with another made just three days earlier, when coal minister Pralhad Joshi confirmed that India intends to increase production for the fossil fuel. Two weeks later, Joshi told the consultative committee meeting of the coal ministry that seven rounds of coal mine auctions had been completed and another…

As a celebratory atmosphere envelops much of India, many among its 200 million Muslims wonder what’s next for them Wearing her hijab, Yusra Hussain stood in the queue to enter a makeshift temple to the Hindu god Ram in Ayodhya, the northern Indian city believed to be his birthplace. What followed is etched in her mind. “I was jeered [at] and taunted,” the 32-year-old said. “And people started chanting Jai Shree Ram [victory to Lord Ram]. I got a sense of aggressive triumphalism.” That was eight years ago. On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate an incomplete Ram temple built in…

Lack of concrete policy ensures wood-burning bakeries, which impact air quality, still thrive While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has the authority to act against wood-burning bakeries, numerous officials have said that such measures require collaboration and the involvement of multiple departments, which can lead to backlogs. In the end, the buck is just passed on from one department to the other. In the past few days, L ward has served notices to at least 13 polluting bakeries. “The problem has been around for a while. This year, in total, we have taken action against 34 bakeries,” said Nitin Kamble, an official from…