India
Grand alliance announces Bihar seat sharing deal
A decision on seat sharing among INDIA bloc allies took place here on Friday.
Out of total 40 seats , RJD will fight on 26 seats , Congress has been given nine seats while five seats have been distributed among CPI ( ML ) , CPI , CPI ( M ).
In last lok sabha elections out of total 40 seats Congress had won 1 seat only . 39 seats was with BJP and it’s alliance partner JDU and LJP .
The seat distribution among NDA alliance this time is.: BJP – 17 , JDU – 16 , LJP ( Ramvilas ) – 5. , HAM – 1 , RLM – 1 .
Congress unleashed BJP of unleashing ‘ tax territorism ‘
Accussing Union Government of “tax Terrorism” , against principal opposition party to deny level playing field in Lon Sabha , Congress on Friday said that income tax department had demanded a fresh amount of ₹1823 .04 crore from them .
Earlier Income Tax department had frozen ₹115 crore of fund of Congress party for repeatedly defaulting IT returns filing for 2018-19 .
Discussed ‘peace formula ‘ with India : Ukraine Foreign Minister
Ukrianian Foreign. minister Dmhtro Kuleba is in India . On Friday he had bilateral talk with EAM S. jaishankar .
He described Russian campaign in Ukraine as a “ full scale war “ while arguing for energizing India Ukraine relations with New Projects .
He urged India to play a “ more proactive role “ in upcoming peace summit .
Global peace summit
Switzerland will be hosting Peace Summit possibly in mid June . The aim of the summit is to end Russia Ukraine war among others .
But the summit got a jolt on Friday when Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova dismissed the possibility of Russian participation .
Notify norms to make movies accessible to disabled persons : HC
The Delhi High Court has given center time till July 15 to notify the guidelines for making film accessible to persons with hearing and visual disabilities .
The court said that accessibility was enforceable as a legal right and that even private parties have to take measures for greater accessibility for persons with hearing and visual disabilities .
Indian Navy seized hijacked vessel , rescues crew
Indian Navy ship intercepted and freedom hijacked Iranian fishing vessel ( FV ) , AlKamabar after forcing the pirates to surrender , the Navy said late on Friday .
“ After more than 12 hours of intense tactical coercive tactical measures as per as per Standard of Procedures , the pirates on board ( the ) hijacked FV were forced to surrender . The crew composing 23 Pakistani nationals have been successfully rescued . “ Navy Spokesperson said .
Al Kambar was 90 nautical miles from the southwest of Socotra . INS Sumedha intercepted the ship , later INS Trishul joined the operation .
‘GeM may offer work contracts ‘
The Government e Marketplace ( GeM ) the online platform for procurement of goods and services , plans to seek center’s approval to enable work contracts for construction and building projects to also bid out through the platform .
Currently the rendering process is often time consuming taking more than six months in many cases . Also only local contractors get work through the current process .
With linking of construction bidding with GeM , the process will be fast , a contractor in Kerala will be able to bid for a project in Rajasthan , means it will expand the horizon of contractors . These will increase transparency .
GeM portal is used for procurement of Goods and Services by the Government . Currently it is even used for procurement of defense related bodies . Total Gross Merchandise value ( GMV ) of procurement in 2023-24 crossed 4 lakh crore . It was 2.01 lakh crore the previous year .
World
Israel airstrike near Syria’s Aleppo kills 42 , war monitor
An Israel air strike on Aleppo has killed or wounded “ a number of people “ , it was informed by the Syrian army .
Another Britain based Observatory of human riots , an opposition war monitor said , Israeli strikes hit Hezbollah’s missile depot in Aleppo and nearby town Safira .
The observatory said 36 Syrian troops and six Syrian fighters died ,and dozens of people were wounded .
No confirmation has come from the Israel military .
Israel has been launching such attacks on pro Iran forces in Syria .
Hezbollah, which is fighting against Israel at the Lebanon border, has increased its armed presence in Syria since Israel started its military operations in Gaza .
Russia strikes Kyiv’s energy infra with drones , missiles
Moscow has launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure on Friday , with a massive barrage of 99 drones and missiles hitting regions across the country , Ukraine’s armed forces said .
The attack deliberately targeted thermal and hydroelectric power plants across central and western regions .
Russia has escalated its strike on Ukraine in recent days . An attack on March 22 caused 7 lakh people to lose power .
Following UN veto , Russia says big power need to stop ‘ strangling ‘ North Korea
Russia vetoed an annual renewal of sanctions on North Korea in the UN Security Council ( UNSC ) . The sanctions were put over North Korea because of its Nuclear and ballistic missiles program .
Russia accused the US and other countries of stoking military tension in Asia and seeking to strangle a “ reclusive “ state . Russia further said that the UNSC can not use the old formula in relation to the problems in the Korean Peninsula .
Russia in recent times has come closer to North Korea after Kim Jong Un’s visit to Russia
. Speculation was there that Russia is buying missiles and drones to be used in the Ukraine war from North Korea.
Many International Sanctions were imposed on North Korea after its first nuclear test in 2006 .
North Korea is one of Nuclear powers in the world .
US , China , Russia , UK , France , India ,
and Pakistan are other nuclear weapons containing states .
US President assures Pakistan PM Shahbaz of continuous support
Marking the first official communication with Pakistan , US President Joe Biden had penned a letter to Pakistan PM Shahanaz Sharif . The letter was released by the US embassy in Islamabad .
In the letter Mr. Biden has expressed continuous support to Pakistan , and has said that the ties between the two countries are critical for bilateral and regional peace and security .
Musk’s Grok 1.5 AI chatbot will be available on X starting next week
Elon Musk said his AI startup Grok 1.5 chatbot will be available on his platform next week .
Earlier this month Musk had said that Open AI would open Source Grok .