Tag Archives: India

Semafor reports: India said it would stop issuing new visas for Canadians, in the latest escalation of the diplomatic feud that began after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Narendra Modi’s government of being involved in the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. Indian journalist Rahul Kanwal described the move as a “diplomatic ballistic missile,” saying …

Reuters reports: Canada said on Monday it had credible information linking Indian government agents to the murder of a Sikh leader in British Columbia in June and said it had expelled a senior Indian intelligence official. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen was “an unacceptable violation of our …

NBC News reports: India made history on Wednesday by becoming the first country to reach the lunar south pole. NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon, intends to land its Artemis III mission in the south polar region in 2025. An uncrewed robotic moon lander, operated by India’s space agency and known as the Chandrayaan-3, touched …

The New York Times reports: India is on its way back to the moon after a rocket lifted off from Sriharikota, a launch site off the country’s East Coast, on Friday afternoon local time. The mission, Chandrayaan-3, is largely a do-over after the country’s first attempt at putting a robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon nearly four years …

The Guardian reports: India has overtaken China as the world’s most populous country, according to UN population estimates, the most significant shift in global demographics since records began. According to the UN’s projections, which are calculated through a variety of factors including census data and birth and death rates, India now has a population of 1,425,775,850, surpassing China for the …

Reuters reports: The ideological parent of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has backed the government position against recognising same-sex marriage, months after raising hopes with supportive comments on gay rights. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government has opposed recognising same-sex marriage and urged the Supreme Court to reject challenges to the current legal framework lodged by LGBT …

The Associated Press reports: Officials from India’s Income Tax Department searched the BBC’s offices in New Delhi and Mumbai on Tuesday, weeks after it broadcast a controversial documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the British broadcaster said. The BBC said it was cooperating fully. “We hope to have this situation resolved as soon as possible,” it said in a statement. …

Axios reports: India is set to surpass China as the world’s most populous country sometime this year, the UN projects. The milestone could have major economic and societal implications for both countries — and may eventually influence trade flows and upend the global balance of power. India was home to 1.417 billion people as of last year, compared to China’s …

Reuters reports: Four gay couples have asked India’s Supreme Court to recognise same-sex marriages, setting the stage for a legal face-off with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government which has in the past refused to legalise such marriages. The pleas have already triggered a debate on prime-time TV news and generated editorials in newspapers whether the time has come for the …

Bloomberg News reports: India’s Supreme Court has agreed to examine a petition that seeks legal recognition of same-sex marriage, in a development that could build on a string of rulings expanding protection for the LGBTQ community. The petition, which was filed this month by a couple, evoked India’s Special Marriage Act, a law that originally legalized interfaith unions. The petitioners …

Reuters reports: The death toll from a foot bridge collapse in India rose to 134 on Monday, including many children, as police detained nine people as part of a criminal investigation into one of the deadliest accidents in the country in the past decade. CCTV footage from just before the collapse showed a group of young men taking photos while …

NDTV reports: A Parliamentary panel on Friday said the use of ‘GAY’ code for Gaya airport is inappropriate for the holy city and asked the government to make all efforts to change the code. The Committee on Public Undertakings, in its first report tabled in Parliament in January 2021, had recommended changing the code of Gaya airport from ‘GAY’ and …

The Los Angeles Times reports: Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has led the city during a period of booming development, a worsening homelessness crisis and a devastating pandemic, is President Biden’s nominee to become ambassador to India, the White House announced Friday. If confirmed by the Senate, Garcetti would become the first L.A. mayor to voluntarily leave office before …

The BBC reports: India’s government has instructed social media companies to remove any content that refers to the “Indian variant” of Covid-19. The IT ministry said the World Health Organization (WHO) listed the variant as B.1.617 and any reference to “Indian” was false. Geographical terms have been used to describe a number of other variants, including the UK and Brazil. …

The Washington Post reports: India shattered the record for daily cases in the pandemic, reporting more than 400,000 coronavirus cases on Saturday as a devastating surge of infections worsened. The soaring number of cases prompted the United States to restrict travel from India on Friday. Dozens of countries have begun sending aid to bolster hospitals overwhelmed by patients and short …

USA Today reports: President Joe Biden’s administration plans to restrict travel from India to the US beginning Tuesday due to a surge in COVID cases. The move follows a recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants …

Fortune reports: The U.S. government told its citizens to leave India as soon as possible because of the country’s escalating COVID-19 crisis. In a Level 4 travel advisory — the highest issued by the Department of State — U.S. citizens were told “not to travel to India or to leave as soon as it is safe to do so.” There …

The New York Times reports: As a second wave of the pandemic rages in India, which logged more than 300,000 new coronavirus cases for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, countries around the world are trying to help. But their efforts to send oxygen and other critical aid are unlikely to plug enough holes in India’s sinking health care system …

The New York Times reports: The Biden administration, under intense pressure to address the devastating coronavirus crisis in India, intends to share up to 60 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine with other nations, so long as the doses clear a safety review conducted by the Food and Drug Administration, officials said Monday. The announcement came after President Biden spoke …

The Washington Post reports: India on Thursday recorded the world’s highest number of new coronavirus infections in a 24-hour period since the beginning of the pandemic, reporting a staggering 314,835 cases, as a surge tears through communities and inundates the nation’s hospital infrastructure. The single-day case count surpasses a previous record set by the United States, when more than 313,000 …