Moscow's relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would go sour if they join NATO: Putin
BJP's National Executive Meeting to be held in Hyderabad on Saturday and Sunday
Budget Session of Punjab Vidhan Sabha adjourned sine die
Environment Ministry organises a meeting with Municipal Commissioners from 82 cities over elimination of Single Use Plastic
Interest rates on Small Savings Schemes unchanged for July-September
Government authorises SBI to issue and encash Electoral Bonds from tomorrow
Eknath Shinde takes oath as the new CM of Maharashtra; BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis also sworn-in as Deputy CM
Core Industries Output posts a robust growth of 18.1 per cent in May this year against 16.4 last year
PM Modi launches several schemes and programmes at Udyami Bharat Programme in New Delhi; Gives away National MSME Awards
Ladakh: SSC extends the window for date for Application Form Correction upto 5th of July
NAMASKAR! A warm welcome to 'World News: an Indian perspective on All India Radio. This is VAIBHAV J.SRIVASTAVA and with me is SAIRA MUJTABA bringing glimpses of the major developments of the day from across the globe. Over the next half an hour, we shall bring you the latest from the world of politics, economy, sports, entertainment and more.
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Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said that India strongly supports a robust WTO reforms and modernization agenda that is balanced, inclusive and preserves the core principles of the current multilateral system. Addressing 12th Ministerial Conference of the WTO in Geneva during the Thematic Session on WTO Reform, Mr Goyal said, we should also agree to address the existing asymmetries implicit in the Uruguay Round agreements. He said, we are all agreed that the primary objective of the WTO is to serve as the mechanism through which international trade can become the means for supporting economic development of Members, particularly the developing countries and the LDCs. The Minister said, we need to accord priority to the reform needs especially to the crisis at the Appellate body, whose functioning should become more transparent and effective, the number of suggestions for reforming the WTO could result in fundamental changes in the institutional architecture thereby, running the risk of skewing the system against the interest of developing countries. He said, the principles of non-discrimination, predictibilty, transparency very importantly, the tradition of decision making by consensus and the commitment to development underlying the multilateral trading system are sacrosant. Mr Goyal said, in all such reforms, we must ensure that multilateral rule making processes are neither bypassed nor diluted.
He said, Special and Differential Treatment S&D is a treaty-embedded and non-negotiable right for all developing members. Mr Goyal said, the gaps between the developing and developed members have not narrowed down in decades but in fact, have widened in many areas. He said, S&D provisions, therefore, continue to be relevant.
In today's HOTSPOT section, we bring you a Discussion on News Commentary: India makes a strong case for agriculture and food security in the developing countries at WTO.
India’s overall exports in May this year are estimated to be over 62 billion dollars, exhibiting a positive growth of over 24 per cent over the same period last year. Commerce and Industry Ministry said, the merchandise exports have grown by 20 per cent and Services exports by over 30 per cent in May, 2022. It said, Petroleum products, Electronic goods, Leather products, coffee, cereal preparations and oil meals lead the way in the growth of exports.
India's External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, José Manuel Albares Bueno on Wednesday held meeting in New Delhi. They discussed the growing engagements in political, defense, economic and cultural domains. This is the first official visit of the Spanish Foreign Minister to India.
In a tweet, Dr Jaishankar said, they exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific, the Ukraine conflict, Afghanistan, North Africa and South Asia. He said, both the countries have also agreed to work closely in multilateral forums.
India and Spain enjoy close and friendly relations. The bilateral ties got a fresh impetus after Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Spain in 2017.
India will host two-day Special ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' meeting starting on Thursday. This will be the first meeting hosted by India in New Delhi. It will be accompanied by 12th Edition of Delhi Dialogue. The theme of Delhi Dialogue is 'Building Bridges in the Indo-Pacific'. The Ministerial Session will be attended by External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and ASEAN's Foreign Ministers. External Affairs Spokesman Arindam Bagchi termed the ASEAN, central to India’s Act East Policy. Mr. Bagchi said, ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers' meeting will mark the 30th Anniversary of dialogue relations and the 10th Anniversary of strategic partnership with ASEAN. Mr Bagchi said, 2022 has been designated as the ASEAN-India friendship year.
French President Emmanuel Macron has said, Europe needed to send a strong signal to Ukraine as he sought to assuage concerns in Kyiv and among some European allies over his previous stance towards Moscow. He delivered a statement during his visit to NATO forces at the Mihail Kogalniceanu Air Base, near the city of Constanta, Romania on Wednesday. Mr Macron reached Romania on Tuesday for a three-day trip to Ukraine's eastern neighbours including Moldova. He is expected to visit Kyiv on Thursday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. The visit would come a day before the European Commission makes a recommendation on Ukraine's status as an EU candidate.
A successful training launch of a Short-Range Ballistic Missile, Prithvi-II was carried out Wednesday evening from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur in Indian state Odisha. The missile is a proven system and is capable of striking targets with a very high degree of precision. The user training launch successfully validated all operational and technical parameters of the missile.
The Government of India has said that the 5G spectrum auction will commence on 26th of next month. Communications Ministry has said that the Department of Telecom has issued notice inviting applications to facilitate roll-out of 5G. The Ministry said, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, government is committed to provide affordable, state-of-art high quality telecom services to all the citizens. It said, with considerable success in rolling out widespread 4G services, India is now ready to introduce 5G telecom services in the country.
The successful bidders will be allowed to make payment in 20 equal annual installments, at the interest rate of 7.2 per cent. The Ministry said, spectrum acquired through this auction can be surrendered after a minimum period of ten years. There will be no Spectrum Usage Charges for spectrum acquired in this auction.
The Election Commission of India has issued notification for the election of the 16th President of India. Nomination can be filed by the candidates till 29th of this month. The poll for the Presidential Election will be held on 18th of next month and counting will take place on 21st of July. The term of office of President Ram Nath Kovind is ending on 24th of July.
The Presidential election will be held by secret ballot in accordance with system of proportional representation as per the Constitution.
All India Radio and Doordarshan enjoy highest trust and it has been corroborated again by a recent report of the Reuters Institute. The Digital News Report 2022 of the Reuters Institute said, India registered a small increase in news trust, improving its overall position among the 46 markets. The report said, legacy print brands and public broadcasters, such as All India Radio and DD News continue to enjoy high trust among the survey respondents, while 24-hour television news channels are less well trusted along with newer digital-born brands.
The survey of the Indian News brands by the Reuters Institute shows that Sabka Vishwas on the authenticity and accuracy of News by All India Radio stands at 72 per cent and DD News 71 per cent.
According to the report, apart from the high level of trust in DD News and AIR News which continues to grow, even the reach of both DD News and All India Radio has increased.
This continued trust 'Sabka Vishwas' in DD and AIR has strengthened further, thanks to the contribution of the robust digital presence of DD and AIR built lately.
The Reuters Institute claims that its Digital News Report 2022 measured the digital news consumption based on a YouGov survey of over 93 thousand online news consumers in 46 markets, covering half of the world's population.
The 12th meeting of BRICS National Security Advisors (NSA) was held virtually on Wednesday.
India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval emphasized the need for urgent reform of the multilateral system in order to address global issues with credibility, equity, and accountability. He also stressed on the need to bolster cooperation against terrorism without any reservations and welcomed the cooperation ongoing in the BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group. He also pressed on the need to continue cooperation against the challenges of pandemics and climate change.
Egypt is hosting the Eighth Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians in Sharm El Sheikh which began on Wednesday. The two-day conference is jointly organized by the House of Representatives and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Nagaland's first woman elected as Member of Parliament to Rajya Sabha S. Phangon Konyak is representing India at the Conference. She, along with two other young Lok Sabha MPs from India, will be sharing her thoughts on the 'Young MPs for Climate Actions'.
The 8th Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians provides a platform for young MPs from across the world to exchange learn and define common and innovative strategies to advance youth empowerment. This year in Egypt, around 200 young MPs, from 60 countries are participating to discuss strategies to mitigate the impact of climate change and ensure that global warming does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius in line with the Paris Agreement. According to official information shared by IPU, there are 35,177 Parliamentary seats globally but just 2.66 per cent of these are held by young MPs.
In Bangladesh, the 6th population and housing census started today with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formally launching the weeklong exercise from her official residence Ganabhaban in Dhaka. The census is being held after a delay of more than one year from the scheduled time due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It will conclude on 21st of this month. It is the first time Bangladesh is conducting the census digitally.
The census will collect demographic and socio-economic data like number of households, ownership of homes, income, source of drinking water, toilet facilities, religion, marital status, age, gender among other kinds of data. Besides, basic data from the non-resident Bangladeshis would also be collected in the census. Some 2,000 hot spots both in the urban and rural areas have already been identified to collect the data from the homeless people.
The country's first Population and Housing Census was held in 1974 followed by the 2nd census in 1981, the 3rd one in 1991, the 4th census in 2001 while the 5th one was conducted in 2011.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Yoga’s beauty is in it’s simplicity. In a tweet on Wednesday, Mr Modi said that Yoga can be done at home, during work breaks or in a group. He added for Yoga anyone needs a Yoga mat and some empty space. The Prime Minister hoped that people would practise Yoga regularly.
15th June is World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. It is observed on this day every year to raise awareness about abuse and neglect of older persons and raise awareness of the cultural, social, economic, and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect. It was officially recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolution in December 2011. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day highlights the plight of elders at the hands of their relatives or society.
Elder abuse is a problem that exists in both developing and developed countries. According to United Nations, between 2019 and 2030, the number of persons aged 60 years or above is projected to grow by 38 per cent i.e. from one billion to 1.4 billion, globally outnumbering youth. The 2020 National Commission on Population report estimates that there will be nearly 138 million elderly persons in India in 2021, comprising of 67 million males and 71 million females. Greater attention needs to be paid to the specific challenges affecting older persons, including in the field of human rights. World Elder Abuse Awareness Day is marked as an idea where people around the globe will come together and lend their voices against elderly abuse. With P.V. Varughese's report, Manal Saeed, AIR News, Delhi.
India's External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar and Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur inaugurated the Squash Courts at the Major Dhyanchand Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. These are the first-ever Squash courts opened by the Sports Authority of India in any centre across the country.
Addressing the event, Dr Jaishankar who is also an avid Squash enthusiast, said, Ministry of Sports is solely responsible for the entire project and making the facilities available. He said, many sports now are getting recognition and the message sent out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inculcate a lifestyle of fitness and give chance to talents, is being resonated everywhere. Dr Jaishankar said, Mr Modi has always stressed on physical fitness, competitiveness and mental strength, which is needed for New India.
Dr Jaishankar also mentioned that the Government of India will do everything possible to create more such sports facilities in the country.
Sports Minister Anurag Singh Thakur reiterated the vision of the Prime Minister and said, Mr Modi has always wanted increasing strength and competitiveness in sports as well as mental belief. He said, having this facility at the national capital is another way of achieving that aim. The Minister said, he has full belief that having such a world-class Squash infrastructure will definitely target more such promising champions in the coming years and we are ready to support them through our Target Olympic Podium Scheme and Khelo India Scheme. He said, India has bagged a total of 3 medals at the Commonwealth Games over the years and 13 medals at the Asian Games in the sport of Squash. He added that this tally will keep increasing.
Tokyo Olympics gold medalist ace Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra set a new national record of 89.30 metres at Paavo Nurmi Games in Finland. Chopra's earlier national record was 88.07 metres which he had set in Patiala in March last year. Neeraj won the silver medal with his throw at the event. This was Neeraj's first competitive outing since winning the historic gold medal at the Tokyo Games. Finland's Oliver Helander won the gold medal at the event with a throw of 89.83 metres
Neeraj had won the Tokyo Olympics gold with a throw of 87.58 metres on August 7, 2021.
Indian para-powerlifters Manpreet Kaur and Parmjeet Kumar have won bronze medals on the first day of World Para-powerlifting 2022 Asia Oceania Open Championships at Pyeongtaek in South Korea.
Manpreet Kaur, won the bronze medal in the 41 kg category. She had the best lift of 88kg and the total lift of 173 kg.
In men's category , Parmjeet Kumar, also won the bronze medal in 49 kg category. Kumar lifted 160 and 163 kilograms in two rounds which were his lifetime best lifts.
Bhubaneswar will host India's group stage matches of FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup Football in October this year. Matches will be held at Kalinga Stadium. The fixtures list for the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup has officially been announced on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Goa will play home to both semi-final matches and the final will be played at Navi Mumbai on October 30.
The Sensex tumbled 152 points, or 0.29 percent to finished at 52,541 while the Nifty fell 40 points, or 0.25 percent, to end at 15,692. At global stock markets, Asian shares traded mixed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.1 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite index surged half a percent. On the other hand, South Korea’s KOSPI lost 1.8 percent and Japan's NIKKEI-225 fell 1.1 percent. Singapore’s Straits Times ended marginally down by 0.1 percent. European shares were up in intra-day trade. The crude oil prices fell around half a percent in intra-day trade. Brent crude was trading at around 120 dollars and 70 cents. Back Home, Gold prices surges 570 rupees at Multi Commodity Exchange for August contracts. The precious metal was trading at 50,770 rupees per 10 gram. Silver prices also gained 1245 rupees to 60,745 rupees per kilogram for July Contracts when reports last came in. And In the forex market, the rupee weakened seven paise against the US dollar. The rupee closed at 78 rupees and seven paise against the US currency. Nishit Kumar for World News, All India Radio.
And now, before we end, let us listen to Mahatma Gandhi's favourite bhajan Vaishnav Jan, by artists from zimbabwe.
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AND WITH THAT, WE END THIS BULLETIN. WE'LL BE BACK AT THE SAME TIME TOMORROW WITH THE NEXT EDITION OF WORLD NEWS.