Author: Tulasidas Sivasubramanian

On the afternoon of January 10, Van Bawi Mang, a member of an armed resistance group fighting against the Myanmar military, was resting in his barracks at a camp on the country’s northwestern border with India when a loud explosion jolted him back to the reality of war. He scrambled into a nearby ditch as jet fighters flew overhead, glass shattering with the reverberation of the falling bombs. The camp, known as Camp Victoria, serves as the headquarters of the Chin National Front (CNF), an ethnic armed organisation that resumed its dormant fight for autonomy after the Myanmar military seized…

The entire North Indian belt continued to reel under an intense cold wave on Sunday, with several areas of Rajasthan recording temperatures below freezing point.Shishram Dhaka, the Zonal Director of research at Agricultural Research Station (ARS), Fatehpur-Shekhawati said that -4.7 degree celsius temperature was recorded at Fatehpur-Shekhawati. “For the last two days, the temperature in areas like Sikar, Churu, and Jhunjhunu is going down to minus with a nerve-freezing cold,” he added.As per the data received from the Zonal Director, the temperature recorded on January 15 was -4.7 degrees followed by January 14 recording -3.5 degrees, and January 13 recording…

According to the locals, a cow was killed on Saturday in the paddy field close to the forest when it was let off for grazing and remains of another prey animal were found in a nearby area on Sunday.After a tiger was captured on Saturday in Kerala’s Wayanad district, who mauled a farmer to death earlier this week, another tiger was spotted on Saturday itself in the district’s southwest division which, according to the people, killed a cow and created another round of panic among the villagers. After the villagers spotted the tiger, the district administration called an all-party meeting…

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday said that India tried to defuse the situation around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and quietly helped in the grain deal between Moscow and Kyiv. “India tried to defuse the situation around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Points, we have already helped – very quietly on the grain deal,” Jaishankar said during an interview with a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna Die Presse. Speaking on the Russia-Ukraine war and its aftereffects on global energy and food markets, inflation and international trade, he said, “I wonder what the consequences of this conflict,…

Migration continues to top the Austrian political agenda as the conservatives (ÖVP) gear up for the Lower Austria elections on 29 January. In 2022, the country registered more than 100,000 non-Ukrainian asylum seekers, 18,000 of which were Indian nationals. “The problem is not migration, but illegal immigration,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg on Monday. “Tens of thousands of Indians living in Austria are enriching our society,” he added, speaking alongside his Indian counterpart. The agreement is designed to foster closer cooperation and help funnel skilled Indian migrants into Austria. To that end, young people will receive access to student…

Former Shark Tank India personality Ashneer Grover expressed his desire to join politics, and said that the career transition might happen sooner rather than later. He said that he wants to ‘become a minister’ or participate ‘in nation-building’, and that politics seems to be the only route towards that. In an appearance on The Ranveer Show podcast, Ashneer said that he shouldn’t be perceived as being too young for politics, and cited the example of UK prime minister Rishi Sunak. He said that if people can applaud his achievements, then they can get behind his decision as well. Asked if…