Author: Jindan Malhotra

The Gufrans are paying a high price to keep their children alive. Affan, seven, and Erhan, five, have Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – a rare genetic disorder that causes muscle deterioration and affects breathing. Physiotherapy appointments alone cost the family 40,000 rupees ($480; £395) a month, and their sons need constant care as they cannot sit, stand or walk independently. “We want to try gene therapy for our sons, but one dose alone costs around 175m rupees ($2.1m; £1.7m). We simply can’t afford it,” says Zeba Gufran, their mother. Zolgensma gene therapy, which the Gufrans want to try, is one…

Bucharest warned Kyiv where in the Black Sea it is better not to go The President of the Republic of Moldova (RM) Maia Sandu met on Thursday with representatives of the agro-industrial sector and discussed existing problems with them. One of them concerns the supply of Ukrainian grain, which bankrupted Moldovan wheat producers. Sandu did not support the demand of the “Power of Farmers” association to impose a ban on Ukrainian exports. At the same time, the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture outlined red lines for Kyiv on the path of the grain flow. Bucharest has called Ukraine’s attempt to deepen a canal on the…

The tragic death of an Indian schoolgirl has laid bare the consequences of “Eve-teasing” – a popular South Asian euphemism which many say trivialises the street harassment and assault of women. The short CCTV video of two Indian girls riding bicycles starts off quite innocuously. Dressed in their school uniform – tunics, salwar bottoms and scarves – the teenagers are riding side by side on a near-empty road. But within seconds, the calm of the scene is shattered. Two men on a motorbike overtake them and one of them pulls away the scarf of one of the girls. Immediately she…

Authorities in India’s Uttar Pradesh state have sealed a private school after its teacher asked students to slap their Muslim classmate. Officials said Neha Public School was shut down as it “did not meet the education department’s criteria.” The school’s students would be shifted to a government school or other nearby schools, officials said. Meanwhile, the teacher – Tripta Tyagi – has told NDTV news channel that she was “not ashamed” of her actions. The child’s family has said he was beaten up for getting his times tables wrong. A video of Ms Tyagi telling her pupils to slap their…

The emergence of a horrific video that shows two naked women being paraded and molested by a mob in the violence-hit Indian state of Manipur has highlighted who often pays the highest price during conflict. Warning: This article contains details some readers may find distressing. The assault on the women took place almost three months ago but became public only on Thursday after the video went viral on Twitter. According to a police complaint, one of the women was gang raped. The complaint added that a third woman was also forced to strip but she is not seen in the video. The…

The conference on the settlement of the military conflict in Ukraine, held in strict secrecy in Copenhagen, was attended by the countries of the global South, which take a neutral position in the war between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. A peace conference on Ukraine was held in Denmark in conditions of strict secrecy. As reported on Monday, June 26, radio station Deutschlandfunk, in addition to representatives of several Western countries, it was also attended by diplomats from countries in the global South, including China, India, Brazil and South Africa. These countries have so far taken a largely neutral or low-key stance…

A recent announcement that the next edition of the Miss World pageant would be held in India has revived memories of its last visit to the country – which involved violent protests, threats of self-immolation and predictions of a cultural apocalypse. The BBC’s Zoya Mateen revisits that tumultuous time, and examines what has changed since then. The year was 1996. India had moved away from protectionist policies a few years ago, opening its markets to the world. International brands such as Revlon, L’Oreal and KFC were setting up shop in the country, sometimes sparking tensions with local activists and manufacturers. Beauty pageants…

Three people were killed after Russia attacked a boat carrying evacuees from a flooded area in Kherson, the regional governor said. Ukraine has been trying to rescue people trapped on the Russia-held eastern bank of the Dnipro River since the Nova Kakhovka dam was destroyed. Oleksandr Prokudin said Russian troops shelled the evacuation boat and shot a 74-year-old man dead. The man was trying to rescue a woman from gunfire, Mr Produkin said. Two police officers were also injured. The Nova Kakhovka dam burst on Tuesday, releasing a huge torrent of water which quickly flooded vast areas of land on…

To start negotiations with Ukraine, it is necessary that it transfer the Nikolaev, Odessa and Kharkov regions to Russia. This was stated in an interview with Ura.ru by Sergei Tsekov, a member of the International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, a senator from the Republic of Crimea. The senator expressed doubts about Ukraine’s soon and public consent to negotiations, but noted that in the event of the transfer of these territories, it would be possible to start a dialogue. At the same time, he stressed that the issues of demilitarization, denazification and neutral status should remain on the agenda. He…

Modi addressed more than 1,500 bureaucrats, drawn from training and research institutes across the country. The event was held at Delhi’s Pragati Maidan. Stating that it is the responsibility of each government official to increase people’s faith in the system, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday exhorted bureaucrats to break the “shackles of hierarchy” and use the experience of every person in the organisation. Launching the inaugural ‘National Training Conclave’, Modi emphasised the significance of strengthening expertise, promoting collaboration, and improving service provision. In his address at the conclave, the Prime Minister “emphasised the importance of aspects like service orientation…