Category Archives: India

Engine fuel switches cut off before Air India crash that killed 260, preliminary report finds

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Early investigation into accident in Ahmedabad in June also contains details of pilots discussing the switches

Fuel to both engines of the Air India plane that crashed and killed 260 people last month appears to have been cut off seconds after the flight took off, a preliminary report has found.

Air India flight AI171, bound for London, crashed into a densely populated residential area in the Indian city of Ahmedabad on 12 June, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground. It was India’s deadliest air crash in almost three decades.

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Dozens missing after flash floods and landslides in Himachal Pradesh

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Hundreds of homes, bridges and roads washed away in north Indian state after unusually heavy rainfall

India’s mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh has been left reeling after it was hit by rainstorms, flash floods and landslides, with dozens of people reported missing.

Hundreds of homes, bridges, roads and electricity pylons in the north Indian state were washed away after 23 flash floods and 16 landslides caused by unusually heavy rainfall over the weekend. There were also 19 cloudbursts, in which an enormous amount of rain falls in a sudden deluge, according to a report by the Himachal Pradesh state government.

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Pakistan to nominate Donald Trump for Nobel peace prize

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Islamabad says US president helped resolve India conflict but critic says ‘Israel’s sugar daddy in Gaza’ not candidate for any prize

Pakistan has said it will recommend Donald Trump for the Nobel peace prize for his work in helping to resolve the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.

The move, announced on Saturday, came as the US president mulls joining Israel in striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

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India illegally deporting Muslim citizens at gunpoint to Bangladesh, say rights groups

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There are fears the crackdown against ‘outsiders’ is driving widespread persecution as expelled Indians are returned by Bangladesh border guards

The Indian government has been accused of illegally deporting Indian Muslims to Bangladesh, prompting fears of an escalating campaign of persecution.

Thousands of people, largely Muslims suspected of being illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, have been rounded up by police across India in recent weeks, according to human rights groups, with many of them deprived of due legal process and sent over the border to neighbouring Muslim-majority Bangladesh.

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Canadian intelligence accuses India over Sikh’s killing as Carney meets Modi

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Killing of Canadian national was ‘significant escalation in India’s repression efforts’ but leaders shake hands at G7

Canada’s spy agency has warned that the assassination in British Columbia of a prominent Sikh activist signaled a “significant escalation in India’s repression efforts” and reflects a broader, transnational campaign by the government in New Delhi to threaten dissidents.

The report was made public a day after Mark Carney shook hands with Narendra Modi at the G7 and pledged to restore diplomatic relations in a very public attempt to turn the page on the bitter diplomatic row unleashed by the murder of the Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

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Monday briefing: How the Air India ​crash ​happened​ and why ​it ​raises ​questions ​about ​aviation ​safety

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In today’s newsletter: ​With just one survivor emerging from the wreckage​, investigators work to uncover the cause

Good morning. An Air India plane bound for London Gatwick took off from Ahmedabad, India, at 1.38pm local time last Thursday. On board were 242 people. Within moments of takeoff, the airliner crashed, sending up a fireball of exploding jet fuel.

Initial reports suggested all passengers and crew had perished. Then, miraculously, there was one survivor – a British man, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who while badly injured was able to walk out of the wreckage by himself. Ramesh, who was returning to his family in London, told the Hindustan Times: “I don’t know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes – the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me … I walked out of the rubble.”

Middle East | Israel and Iran broadened their strikes against each other in an escalating war that has killed and injured hundreds of people. Donald Trump called for an end to the conflict and warned Tehran against striking US targets in the region.

UK news | The government’s welfare plans have to be pushed through, Keir Starmer has said, indicating that there will be no further concessions over cuts to disability benefits.

UK news | Thousands of university students in the UK have been caught misusing ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools in recent years, while traditional forms of plagiarism show a marked decline.

UK news | China and Russia are stepping up sabotage operations targeting undersea cables and the UK is unprepared to meet the mounting threat, according to new analysis.

Greenland | Emmanuel Macron has criticised Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland as he became the first foreign head of state to visit the vast, mineral-rich Arctic territory since the US president began making explicit threats to annex it.

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‘We needed somewhere to mourn’: Indians in London keep vigil for victims of air disaster

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Gujarati communities in the capital gather to commemorate more than 270 victims who died in Ahmedabad air crash

As the late afternoon sun streamed into a small square behind the Indian High Commission in London on Sunday, a crowd of 200 people gathered for a vigil – one of several held around the UK this weekend to remember those who died in the Air India disaster.

Candles were placed beneath a bust of Jawaharlal Nehru and attenders listened to inter-faith leaders and members from the Gujarati community who had come to reflect on a shocking week of loss.

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Canada and India to share terrorism intelligence despite 2023 murder plot, says report

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Accord comes as Mark Carney seeks shift in Ottawa’s relationship with New Delhi after long diplomatic spat

Canada and India plan to share intelligence in an effort to combat the rising threat of international crime and extremism, according to a new report from Bloomberg, days before a meeting between the two countries’ leaders.

Canadian officials declined to comment on the report, which, if confirmed, would represent a dramatic shift in relations between the two countries which for nearly two years have been locked in a bitter diplomatic spat after Canada’s federal police agency concluded that India planned and ordered the murder a prominent Sikh activist on Canadian soil.

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India to send first astronaut on mission to International Space Station

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Shubhanshu Shukla will be first Indian to reach orbit in more than 40 years as country works to join global space race

The first Indian astronaut to visit the International Space Station is due to blast off as part of an effort by the world’s most populous nation to catch up with the US, Russia and China in human space flight missions.

Shubhanshu Shukla, a 39-year-old air force fighter pilot, is one of a four-person mission launching on Tuesday from the US with the private company Axiom Space, which is using a SpaceX capsule.

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Canada’s PM faces backlash for inviting India’s Narendra Modi for G7 summit

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Mark Carney declined to answer if he believed Indian PM had a role in murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, has defended his decision to invite India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, to the upcoming G7 summit in Alberta, despite the conclusion of Canada’s federal police’s that the murder of a prominent Sikh activist in British Columbia was orchestrated by the “highest levels” of the Indian government.

Carney declined to answer reporters’ questions over whether he believed Modi had a role in the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar – a killing on Canadian soil that shattered relations between the two countries.

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Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say

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Incident next to Gujarat border occurs weeks after four-day conflict between countries

Indian border troops have shot dead a Pakistani man they say crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged.

The shooting occurred two weeks after conflict erupted between the two nuclear-armed countries that led to four days of violence and more than 70 people being killed before a ceasefire was agreed.

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Indian troops shoot dead Pakistani man crossing frontier, officials say

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Incident next to Gujarat border occurs weeks after four-day conflict between countries

Indian border troops have shot dead a Pakistani man they say crossed the international frontier and did not stop when challenged.

The shooting occurred two weeks after conflict erupted between the two nuclear-armed countries that led to four days of violence and more than 70 people being killed before a ceasefire was agreed.

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Trump threatens 25% tariff on Apple and Samsung phones not made in US

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Announcement wipes about $70bn off Apple shares amid pressure on company to build smartphones in US

Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on iPhones if they are not made in the United States, as he stepped up the pressure on Apple to build its signature product in the country.

The president wiped approximately $70bn (£52bn) off the company’s shares with a post on the Truth Social platform that said iPhones sold inside the US must be made within the country’s borders.

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Pakistan blames India for suspected suicide attack on school bus

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Three children and two adults killed in attack on bus en route to army public school in Balochistan province

Pakistan has blamed India for a suspected suicide attack on a school bus in its south-western province of Balochistan on Wednesday morning that killed three children.

The bus was en route to the army public school in the city of Khuzdar. According to local officials, an attacker drove a vehicle into the bus and then detonated explosives.

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Uneasy India-Pakistan ceasefire holds but is a return to war inevitable?

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Trump’s interventions have infuriated India, which has emerged from conflict not as triumphant as it had hoped

Against the odds, the ceasefire that followed Indian and Pakistan’s almost-war has held; fragile, uneasy but still unbroken. Yet in the aftermath of four days of cross-border drones and missile strikes – the most technologically advanced conflict either side has ever engaged in – the question remains: what now?

While both India and Pakistan have claimed victory, some experts fear that a return to hostilities is almost inevitable.

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India has only ‘paused’ military action against Pakistan, Modi says

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Indian PM says he is ‘monitoring every step of Pakistan’ as ceasefire holds

Narendra Modi has said India has only “paused” its military action against Pakistan and would “retaliate on its own terms” to any attacks, after a ceasefire brought escalating hostilities between the two countries to a standstill at the weekend.

In his first address since attacks began between India and Pakistan – culminating in both sides launching missiles at each other’s key military bases and airfields on Saturday – the Indian prime minister said he was “monitoring every step of Pakistan”.

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Amid fragile ceasefire, Trump promises to boost trade with India and Pakistan

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Truce agreement was reached after diplomacy and pressure from US but within hours there was cross-border shelling

A fragile ceasefire was holding between India and Pakistan on Sunday, after hours of overnight fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours, as US president Donald Trump said he would work to provide a solution regarding Kashmir.

The arch-rivals were involved in intense firing for four days, the worst in nearly three decades, with missiles and drones being fired at each other’s military installations and dozens of people killed.

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‘We share a history and the future’: diaspora communities in UK decry Kashmir conflict

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At a demonstration in Westminster, people from both sides of India-Pakistan divide call for more than mere ceasefire

People around the world held their breath this week as India and Pakistan appeared to edge closer and closer towards war.

For diaspora communities with family in the region, especially in Kashmir and along the border between the two countries, recent days in particular have been filled with fear and anxiety.

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Rubio offers US help to secure peace in escalating India-Pakistan conflict

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US secretary of state urged both sides to de-escalate as he leads efforts to secure a solution to the deepening crisis

US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has offered US assistance in starting “constructive talks” to end the conflict between India and Pakistan, as the two states traded heavy missile fire on Saturday, prompting concerns over wider military escalation.

Rubio has been engaged in back-and-forth diplomacy between the two countries in recent days, calling for de-escalation as India and Pakistan have been engaged in daily clashes since Wednesday.

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India and Pakistan accuse each other of cross-border attacks on military bases

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Claims of missile attacks on targets deep inside both countries marks the steepest escalation in confrontation yet

India and Pakistan have accused each other of cross-border missile strikes against major military targets, the most significant escalation so far in the brewing conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

On Saturday, India accused Pakistan of launching strikes on dozens of airbases and military headquarters across north India, using long-range weapons, drones and fighter aircraft. The accusations came a few hours after Pakistan said India had fired six surface-to-air missiles targeting three of Pakistan’s most important military bases early on Saturday morning.

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