A heat wave in Pakistan has triggered temporary school closures and power problems, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.
“The debilitating heat wave will continue this month,” said Zaheer Ahmed Babar, a senior member of Pakistan’s Meteorological Department. Temperatures could exceed the monthly norm by six degrees Celsius, he said. It will exceed 40 degrees Celsius in many parts of the country this week.
In Punjab, the country’s most populous province, all schools will not be open this week because of the heat wave, and about 18 million students will stay at home. Some parts of the country are experiencing hours-long power cuts.
On Monday, it was reported that the abnormal heat wave is also observed in neighboring India. In Delhi and areas adjacent to the Indian capital, temperatures have exceeded the 47 degrees Celsius mark in the last 24 hours. Authorities have declared a red, maximum, level of weather danger in the capital, as well as in the states of Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, where the previous day the temperature ranged from 43 to 46 degrees Celsius.
The heat wave is expected to continue in India for at least five more days.
India will participate in the upcoming Peace Summit to be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said, The Siasat Daily reports.
“India will participate in all important summits that advance the agenda of global peace, security and development,” Modi said, as quoted by The Siasat Daily.
According to the newspaper, this refers to the G7 summit, which will be held in Italy on June 13-15, as well as the Global Peace Summit, which will be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.
Modi noted that India will “be the voice of the Global South” at these summits to shape the global discourse and promote a vision of people-centered development and a prosperous and peaceful world. “The level of participation will depend on time, logistics and concurrent commitments,” said the Indian Prime Minister in response to a question about whether he would attend the meetings. According to Modi, India’s invitations to these summits demonstrate the importance of the country and the weight of its contribution to international affairs.
Source: https://www.siasat.com/india-to-participate-in-g-7-ukraine-peace-summits-pm-modi-3029281/
France, India and Greece are openly arming Armenia, and Baku will take serious measures if the situation poses a threat to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has said.
“We cannot just sit and wait. We have clearly communicated our position to the Armenian government and the parties that are trying to take care of Armenia today. If we see a serious threat to ourselves, we will have to take serious measures,” Aliyev said on Tuesday at a meeting in Baku with participants of the international forum “COP29 and Green Vision for Azerbaijan” organized at the ADA University.
The President noted: “France, India and Greece are openly arming Armenia and are trying to prove something to Azerbaijan in this way.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank created a video analysis of the post-war situation in the Caucasus – https://youtu.be/reyUMjFBFhU?si=qpqLleFVqZJ30GuV
During a visit to India, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pointed to positive changes in bilateral relations between Ukraine and India, Interfax-Ukraine reports, citing the Foreign Ministry’s press service.
Kuleba emphasized that India is gradually changing its understanding of Russia’s war against Ukraine and clearly realizes that Ukrainian-Indian relations have a great future.
“If we compare the state of our relations in the first year of the war and now, we can observe important positive changes. New Delhi has seen Ukraine as an important partner,” he emphasized.
The minister emphasized that Ukraine appreciates India’s desire to establish sustainable peace in our country and its comprehensive participation in meetings on the implementation of the Peace Formula of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to him, Ukraine is working together with India and other countries to involve them in the Global Peace Summit to be held in Switzerland.
Summarizing, Kuleba named three key tasks for the development of relations between Ukraine and India.
“The number one task is to return the level of cooperation in trade and politics to the pre-war level. The pre-war level means multibillion-dollar trade between our countries, which means, first of all, attracting money to the Ukrainian economy, creating jobs, selling Ukrainian goods in the world; it means promising joint developments in high-tech industries; it means the arrival of Indian companies to the Ukrainian market,” the minister explained.
The second task is to work on new projects and programs that should bring Ukrainian-Indian relations to a new level, he said.
“Task number three is the Peace Formula. India’s further participation in the implementation of the Peace Formula will be an important signal to many countries in the region that are focused on New Delhi, convincing them to join this initiative of President Zelensky,” the minister emphasized.
Kuleba also said that Ukrainian diplomacy is working to organize visits by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Ukraine and by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to India.
In a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured that India will continue to provide humanitarian aid to Kyiv and support efforts to restore peace in Ukraine.
“Had a good conversation with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy on strengthening the India-Ukraine partnership. He expressed India’s consistent support for all efforts to establish peace and bring an early end to the ongoing conflict. India will continue to provide humanitarian assistance, guided by our people-centered approach,” Modi wrote on the social networking site X.
India imported $6.15 billion worth of gold in February 2023, according to the country’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
This is 2.3 times more than in February last year, 3.2 times more than in January this year and in general about twice the traditional average monthly levels.
That said, India Bullion and Jewellers Association president Prithviraj Kothari predicts that imports may not be significant in March due to record high gold prices. “Consumers cannot digest the current price level. If prices remain this high, it will affect demand in the current wedding season,” he told Reuters. – It makes no sense for banks and refiners to import.”
In January-February, India’s gold imports totaled $8.06 billion, 2.4 times the result of the corresponding period last year.
By the end of 2023, India imported almost 744 tons of gold worth $42.58 billion. In physical terms, the volume increased by 4%, in value terms – by 16%.
India is one of the largest consumers of gold in the world, practically not producing it itself.
Earlier, the analytical center Experts Club presented an overview of world economies over the past decades. More video analysis is available here – https://youtu.be/w5fF_GYyrIc?si=vsiB0zGYh0NI2tu0
