India-US partnership cornerstone of free and open Indo-Pacific: Lloyd Austin



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Terming the US-India partnership as the "cornerstone" of a free and open Indo-Pacific, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin on Monday said that both countries have a unique role in preserving the rules-based international order.

Addressing a press conference after holding wide-ranging talks with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Austin said, "I had productive discussions today with Defence Minister Singh and National Security Advisor Doval. As the world's two largest democracies, India and the United States play a unique role in preserving the rules-based international order that keeps us all secure."

He further said, "Since I last visited India in 2021, our global and strategic partnership has continued to rapidly grow. Today, the US -India partnership is a cornerstone of a free and open Indo-Pacific, and our deepening bonds show how technological innovation and growing military cooperation between two great powers can be a force for global good."

The US Defence Secretary said that India and US have taken new measures to strengthen the defence partnership between two countries. He spoke about the establishment of a new roadmap for defence industrial cooperation between India and the US, which will fast-track high priority co-development and co-production projects.

US Defence Secretary said that Rajnath Singh and he also spoke about Indus X that aims to enable partnerships between the US and India in defence innovation sectors.

"On this visit, I am pleased that we have taken new steps to strengthen our defence partnership. We established an ambitious new roadmap for defence industrial cooperation, which will fast track high priority co-development and co-production projects and build closer ties between our defence industries," Austin said.

"We look forward to advancing some of those projects during the upcoming visit between our leaders later this month. We also discussed an important new initiative, Indus X, that aims to jump start partnerships between the US and Indian defence innovation sectors and we're looking forward to the formal launch of Indus X in conjunction with Prime Minister Modi's state visit to Washington," he said.

Austin stated that during his meeting with Singh, he discussed ways to increase information sharing and new initiatives to improve maritime cooperation. He said that India and US are breaking new ground with pace and scope of joint military exercises.

"We're not only sharing technology together, we are cooperating alongside each other more than ever before. We discussed ways to increase information sharing, as well as new initiatives to improve maritime cooperation, including in the undersea domain," the US Defence Secretary said.

"We also recently celebrated the launch of our first defence space and dialogue and that will help us work more closely together in emerging domains. We're also breaking new ground with the pace and scope of our joint military exercises. In this past April, some of America's most advanced and strategic aircraft, the F35 and B1 bombers participated for the first time in the annual Cope India Air Exercises," he added.

Earlier today, Austin who arrived in Delhi a day ago from Singapore inspected a Tri-Services Guard of Honour in the presence of the Defence Minister at the Manekshaw Centre in the city. This is Austin's second visit to India. Previously, Lloyd Austin visited India in March 2021.

Earlier, the US Defence Secretary in a tweet thanked Rajnath Singh for his "unwavering commitment" to defence ties between India and US.

Austin tweeted, "Great to meet again with my friend @rajnathsingh and thank him for his unwavering commitment to US-India defence relations. His leadership has helped paved the way for deeper collaboration, joint exercises, and technology sharing between our two countries." (ANI)

   

Iran is cracking down on women who don't wear Hijab



International Desk, Barta24.com
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Iran is cracking down on women and girls who don't wear Hijab. The country has started a new campaign named 'Noor' from last April 13. Since then, the implementation of the Hijab law has started to become stricter.

Iran has strict laws on wearing the Hijab. Strict action is taken against those who break this law.

Some videos of women being assaulted have gone viral on social media. In them, it is seen that women who go out without Hijab are forcibly picked up in cars by the members of the 'Morality Police'.

A video shows a mother and daughter walking through Tehran's busiest square in the capital. At that time, they were surrounded by five female and two male members of the police. When they tried to evade arrest, they were violently beaten and taken into a car.

Dina Ghalibaf, a female student at Tehran's Shahid Beheshti University, wrote on the micro-blogging site X that she was barred from boarding the metro. When she insisted, she was taken to a room. She claimed that she was beaten and sexually harassed there.

The student was arrested a day after making such a post and taken to Evin prison.

British newspaper The Guardian spoke to some of those arrested. One of them told the media that eight members of the police surrounded her last Saturday. At that time, she was called "prostitute", "naked American prostitute" and insulted her. Apart from this, the young woman claimed that men also touched her during the arrest.



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Boeing incurs huge losses after door open incident



Special Correspondent, Barta24.com, Dhaka
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Boeing lost a huge amount of money due to the opening of the doors of the Boeing aircraft of Alaska Airlines in mid-air. US aircraft manufacturer Boeing reported a loss of US dollar 343 million in the first quarter of this year (January-March).

An unused door on an Alaska Airlines Boeing Max 9 collapsed moments after takeoff from Portland, Oregon last January. Although the Alaska Airlines plane was able to land safely in this incident, questions about Boeing's safety have been raised around the world.

As a result, Boeing reduced the production of the aircraft according to their target. As a result, Boeing is forced to pay huge losses in the first quarter of this year.

After the Alaska Airlines incident, the United States Aviation Agency ordered the grounding of 171 Boeing Max 737 aircraft. In the wake of the incident, Boeing's chief immediately admitted the mistake and promised to fix the problem with 100% transparency. But even this did not save the end. Boeing's CEO was eventually forced to resign.

In order not to cut the heat of this incident, a former Boeing engineer recently talked about the manufacturing defects of the Dreamliner 787. He recommended grounding all Dreamliner aircraft worldwide. In this incident, the safety of Boeing was questioned again.

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Rahul Gandhi sick in heat



International Desk, Barta24.com,Dhaka
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Lok Sabha election campaign is going on in India amid intense heat wave. Political leaders are continuing to campaign despite the unbearable heat.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has fallen ill. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh disclosed the news of Rahul Gandhi's illness on Sunday (April 21).

Jairam Ramesh said that Rahul Gandhi has fallen ill. He cannot leave Delhi right now. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will address the Ranchi rally after attending the Satna meeting.

Rahul was scheduled to attend the opposition camp's mega shows in Satna in Madhya Pradesh and Ranchi in Jharkhand on Sunday.

Ahead of the mega show, Ranchi is decorated with posters of India Alliance leaders. The poster has pictures of Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren.

Apart from Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Kejriwal's wife Sunita and Hemant Soran's wife Kalpana were scheduled to address the meeting. 

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Erdoğan's meeting with Ismail Haniyah



International Desk, Barta24.com Dhaka:
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting with Ismail Haniyah, the leader of the Palestinian independence organization Hamas, who is visiting Turkey. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stressed the importance of Palestinian unity in the meeting.

On Saturday (April 20), the two leaders met in Istanbul for about two and a half hours, Turkish media reported.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was welcomed at Dolmabak Palace in Istanbul. Members of his delegation were also with him at that time. One of the most important leaders of Hamas was Khaled Mashal.

Turkish state media TRT reported that Erdogan and Haniyah discussed a ceasefire and relief in Gaza.

"It is very important that the Palestinians work together in this process," Erdogan said in a statement after the meeting, calling on Palestinians to unite in order to win against occupying Israel. The strongest action against Israel and the path to victory depend on unity and integrity.”

Erdoğan's meeting with Haniyah was not taken well by the occupying Israel. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz condemned the meeting in a post on the micro-blogging site X.

On October 7, the war between the Palestinian armed group Hamas and Israel began. More than 34,000 Palestinians have lost their lives in this war so far. Turkish President Erdogan has been condemning Israel's brutality since the beginning of the war. He said he and his country would side with Hamas in the war against Israel.

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