Modi, Mattis pledge to continue strong US-India strategic partnership
India and the United States have pledged to continue their strong bilateral strategic partnership, the Pentagon said after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis.
Mattis met the prime minister on the sidelines of the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ 17th Asia Security Summit — also known as the Shangri-La Dialogue — in Singapore on Saturday.
“The two discussed the importance of the US-India relationship, and the role of both nations in cooperating to uphold international laws and principles, and to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific,” defence spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis said here yesterday.
The two leaders “pledged to continue the strong US-India strategic partnership and affirmed their commitment to maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” Davis said in a readout of the meeting. — PTI
RFID chips for keeping track of organoids
Researchers in the U.S. and Japan plan to use Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips for keeping track of organoids, samples of human tissue that mimic pieces of organs and are grown from stem cells. The organoids the researchers embedded with RFID chips functioned normally and withstood extreme conditions, suggesting that they could be a useful way to organize and identify the large quantities of organoids that are often needed in experimental situations.
Human organoids are a promising avenue for research into human development and disease because they replicate the structure, function, and phenotype of our organs in miniature in the lab. Grown from human induced pluripotent stem cells, they divide, differentiate, and self-assemble according to the growth programs of their corresponding organs. And particularly in medicine, they can illustrate the effects of certain drugs on our organs in ways that more traditional cell cultures cannot.
More work needs to be done to scale up the production of these hybrid organoids, and the research team is currently working to develop a system that could scan the radio frequency and fluorescence of an organoid at the same time. The team also hopes that other kinds of microchips could be integrated into organoids in the future and that RFID chips with sensing technologies could be used to record real-time data about the organoids.
biospectrumasia.com
13 Indian beaches will get the Blue Flag certification.
Environment-friendly, clean and equipped with amenities of international standards for tourists, 13 Indian beaches will soon get the Blue Flag certification. These beaches of Odisha, Maharashtra and other coastal states will be the first in not just India, but in Asia, to get the Blue Flag certification.
The Indian beaches are being developed by the Society for Integrated Coastal Management (SICOM), an environment ministry’s body working for the management of coastal areas.
Project Head of SCIOM Arvind Nautiyal said that to make the beaches environment and tourist-friendly in accordance with the Blue Flag standards, a beach has to be plastic-free and be equipped with a waste management system.
They also have to ensure availability of clean water for tourists, have amenities of international standards for tourists and be equipped with facilities for studying environmental impact around the beach, he said.
Mr Nautiyal was speaking at a five-day conference, which was organised to commemorate the World Environment Day, about making the beaches pollution free.
He said that according to the Blue Flag standards, a beach has to strictly comply with 33 environment and tourism related conditions. There is not a single Blue Flag beach in Asia so far, he added.
The Blue Flag beach standards were established by Copenhagen-based Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in 1985. The Blue Flag programme, which requires 33 standards in four areas to be met to make beaches environment-friendly, first started from Paris.
Within the next two years, almost all beaches in Europe were accorded the Blue Flag certification. This campaign spread outside Europe, to South Africa, in 2001.
Asia remains untouched by it till date. The environment ministry started a pilot project to develop the Indian beaches according to the Blue Flag standards in December 2017.
A senior ministry official said that 13 beaches from the coastal states had been chosen for the Blue Flag certification under the project. For this, these beaches are being developed in accordance with the Blue Flag beach standards under a Unified Coastal Areas Management Programme.
This project has two main aims. Firstly, to improve the aquatic habitat by cleaning the growing pollution and garbage in the Indian beaches. Secondly, to develop ecological tourism with constant progress and development of tourist facilities.
According to ministry sources, Chandrabhaga beach of Odisha’s Konark coast was the first to complete the tag certification process. It will be awarded the honour on the World Environment Day tomorrow.
Maharashtra’s Chiwla and Bhogave beaches are also being made a part of this initiative. Apart from these, one beach from Puducherry, Goa, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Andaman and Nicobar Islands each has been chosen as Blue Flag beach.
Met Dept advisory
Met department has issued a weather warning of thunderstorm, gusty winds and lightning at various places in the country today. According to the advisory, thunderstorm accompanied with gusty winds and lightning are very likely at isolated places over Gangetic West Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Vidarbha, Konkan and Goa, Madhya Maharashtra, Marathawada, Tamilnadu, Telangana, Rayalaseema and Interior Karnataka and Coastal Andhra Pradesh.
Heavy rain is also expected at isolated places over Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam and Meghalaya, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura, Telangana, Rayalaseema, Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
The advisory further said, heat wave conditions are very likely to occur at one or two pockets over West Rajasthan.
Indian Navy evacuated stranded Indians from Socotra island
Indian Navy today evacuated 38 stranded Indians from Socotra island in Yemen where they got stuck after cyclone Mekunu hit the area 10 days ago, forcing India to launch an operation to rescue them.
Indian Navy Spokesperson Captain D K Sharma said, the Navy evacuated the Indians as part of operation ‘NISTAR’ carried out off the coast of Socotra early today and embarked them at Indian Naval ship INS Sunayna to bring them back to India.
He said, the evacuated Indians were immediately provided with medical care, food, water and telephone facilities to call and reassure their families and all have been reported to be safe. He said, post evacuation, the ship is proceeding towards Porbandar.
Myanmar: Ready take back 700K Rohingya Muslim refugees
Myanmar today said it will take back all 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to Bangladesh if they volunteer to return.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Myanmar’s National Security Adviser Thaung Tun said, if you can send back 700,000 on a voluntary basis, we are willing to receive them.
Mr. Thaung Tun said Myanmar does not deny that what is unfolding in northern Rakhine is a humanitarian crisis. He said that while the military had the right to defend the country if investigations showed they had acted illegally, action would be taken.
Since August 2017, about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a military crackdown in the country.
Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in January to complete the voluntary repatriation of the refugees within two years.
Myanmar signed an agreement with the United Nations on Thursday aimed at eventually allowing the Rohingya sheltering in Bangladesh to return safely and by choice.
Madrid’s direct rule ends with new Catalan regional government in place
A new regional government has been formed in Spain’s Catalonia region, ending 7 months of direct rule by the central government in Madrid. After months of tension with the central government, a new cabinet led by separatist Quim Torra was sworn in yesterday.
It came as Spain’s new prime minister took office the same day. Socialist Pedro Sanchez replaced Mariano Rajoy, who had been ousted following a corruption scandal.
Last October, the Spanish government withheld Catalonia’s autonomy, after the region unilaterally declared independence from Spain. The Catalan parliament was dissolved and its leader, Carles Puigdemont, was dismissed.
In December, pro-independence parties won a majority in the regional parliamentary election. The new government was formed after several failed attempts.
G7 FMs ask Trump no tariffs on Steel-Al imports
Finance Ministers of Group of Seven nations have urged US President Donald Trump to reverse his decision to impose new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. The group has ended it’s annual meeting at Whistler in Canada.
US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin faced sharp criticism from the Finance Ministers of other G-7 nations over the issue. The group that inculdes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, expressed unanimous concern and disappointment to the US President. United States is also a part of this group.
Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau said, discussions should continue at the G7 leaders’ summit beginning on Friday in Quebec. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said, the participants had tense discussions, describing the meeting as far more a G6-plus-one than a G7.
Germany Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said, US tariffs were a very severe problem for transatlantic relations. After Mr Mnuchin faced criticism over the US decision, US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that Washington cannot afford to lose a trade war when it is being ripped off.
Finance leaders of the closest US allies vented anger over the Trump administration’s metal import tariffs but ended a three-day meeting in Canada on Saturday with no solutions, setting the stage for a heated fight at a G7 summit next week in Quebec.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to soothe the frustrations of his Group of Seven counterparts over the 25 percent steel and 10 percent aluminium tariffs that Washington imposed on Mexico, Canada, and the European Union (EU) this week.
“Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors requested that the United States Secretary of the Treasury communicate their unanimous concern and disappointment,” the group said in a summary statement written by Canada.
“Ministers and Governors agreed that this discussion should continue at the Leaders’ Summit in Charlevoix (Quebec), where decisive action is needed,” the statement said.
All six of the other G7 countries are now paying the tariffs, which are largely aimed at curbing excess production in China. The topic dominated discussions at the finance meeting in the Canadian mountain resort of Whistler, British Columbia.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the US has only a few days to avoid sparking a trade war with its allies and it is up to the US to make a move to de-escalate tensions over tariffs.
Speaking after the meeting, Le Maire said the EU was poised to take counter-measures against the new US tariffs.
The meeting of top economic policymakers was seen as a prelude to the trade disputes that will dominate the two-day G7 summit that begins on Friday in Quebec.
Mnuchin is regarded as one of the more moderate voices on trade in the Trump administration,
The US steel and aluminium tariffs were imposed early on Friday after Canada, Mexico and the EU refused to accept quotas in negotiations with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Japanese metal producers have been paying the tariffs since March 23.
Officials at the G7 meeting said the tariffs made it more difficult for the group to work together to confront China’s trade practices, especially when Beijing, like most G7 members, supports the current World Trade Organization-based trade rules and the US is seeking to go around them.
Hodeidah in Yemen under seige
Saudi-led coalition is reportedly seeking direct US support to recapture the port city of Hodeidah in Yemen. The battle for the humanitarian lifeline would spell disaster for the locals, human rights agencies warn.
Saudi-led coalition forces have been preparing to launch a large-scale offensive on Hodeidah, the fourth-largest city in Yemen, with a population of 400,000 people, in an effort to recapture the city’s port which currently serves as one of the remaining humanitarian lifelines in the war-stricken country.
United Arab Emirates approached Washington with the request. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is now waiting for a “quick assessment” of the UAE’s plea, which seeks US intelligence capabilities, mainly drone overflights, to help a Saudi-led coalition retake Hodeidah. Washington’s potential involvement has excited a number of US officials and has left others worried about the potential consequences of such an operation. While the US is weighing its options, the UAE and Saudi Arabian officials have allegedly assured the US that they will stay clear of the port.
Recapturing Hodeidah and its port is crucial for Saudi Arabia. Over the course of the conflict, Riyadh has repeatedly tried to blockade the docks, claiming that the port is being used to smuggle arms for the Houthi rebels. Repeated calls from human rights groups and the UN have kept the port open, on and off, so that vital aid can be delivered to the country.
While human rights groups warn that the battle to retake Hodeidah would spell humanitarian disaster.
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