Author: Karnavati Bakshi

India’s space agency has released the first images of the Moon taken by the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft, which entered lunar orbit on Saturday. The images show craters on lunar surface getting larger and larger as the spacecraft draws closer. Chandrayaan-3’s lander and rover are due to reach the surface on 23 August. If successful, India will be the first country to perform a controlled “soft landing” near the south pole. It will also become only the fourth to achieve a soft landing on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union and China. After the spacecraft orbited the Earth for…

Brussels (21/08 – 62.50) The theatrical performance, 40 Days of Miracles was shown in the main concert hall of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea by the Republican State Academic Korean Theater of Musical Comedy of Kazakhstan, which is on tour in South Korea. In total, more than 500 spectators attended the event, including the Chairman of the Korea-Kazakhstan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Woo Won Shik, deputies, politicians, the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, cultural and art figures, businessmen, as well as representatives of the…

Chandrayaan-3, India’s latest Moon mission, has entered the lunar orbit, the country’s space agency has said. The spacecraft with an orbiter, lander and a rover lifted off on 14 July. It will try to set the lander and rover on the lunar surface on 23 or 24 August. If successful, India will be the first country to land near the Moon’s little-explored south pole. It will be only the fourth to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, after the US, the former Soviet Union and China. After the spacecraft orbited the Earth for more than a week, it was…

Ethnic violence has plunged the small Indian state of Manipur into what many have dubbed a state of civil war as the two largest groups, the majority Meitei and minority Kuki, battle over land and influence. Shocking video emerged this week of an attack in May when two Kuki women were paraded naked by Meitei men shortly after their village was razed, in the latest use of terror against women in the region. Where is Manipur and who lives there? The hilly north-east Indian state sits east of Bangladesh and borders Myanmar. It is home to an estimated 3.3 million people. More than half…

Nurses and midwives are vital for India’s healthcare system, but it faces challenges due to high demand and limited resources. Kathija Bibi, a recently retired nurse who received a government award for overseeing more than 10,000 successful deliveries, looks back on the changes she saw in attitudes towards women’s healthcare in her 33-year-long career. “I am proud that not a single one of the 10,000 babies I delivered died on my watch,” says Kathija Bibi, 60, who counts this as the highlight of her career. The state’s health minister, Ma. Subramanian, told the BBC that Khatija recently received a government…

Brussels, Frankfurt (15/7 – 56) Bad habits die badly. Three hundred fifty years of Dutch colonial rule, where expatriate European masters professing noble, selfless public service for the Kingdom of the Netherlands were notoriously corrupt; apart from loading up with as much as they could swindle, shake down or steal, why on Earth would any sane Dutchman be adventurous or foolhardy enough to go out to the Indies? The trip out by sailing ship was long and dangerous. Even sailors were in on the game: their coveralls never had pockets, making it difficult to smuggle spices, in an era when…

Paris, Washington (13/7 – 50) Kenes Rakishev (Keñes Hamitūly Raqyşev) aka Kenges Rakishev is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, former special envoy for Kazakhstan, head of the Kazakh boxing federation, a family man, and most importantly, a man of success. Under Kenges Rakishev’s leadership, the Kazakh female and male boxing squad leaped considerable forward and secured the top ranking in the recent boxing championship putting Kazakhstan boxing squarely in the top ranking in the world. A total of 21 medals were won by the Kazakhstan’s boxers – a tally of six gold, seven silver and eight bronze – and all were honoured…

The new package is expected to include armored vehicles, ammunition and other equipment. WASHINGTON – The United States will provide up to $500 million in additional military aid to Ukraine, three federal officials told VOA. The package, which will be made public on tuesday, is expected to include 55 stryker and Bradley armored vehicles.One official, who spoke to VOA on condition of anonymity before the package was released, said the aid would also include ammunition for Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems and additional missiles for HIMARS artillery systems.Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told VOA that the aid package to Ukraine…

The sensational murder of India’s best known crime reporter in June 2011 and the subsequent arrest of a female crime journalist on allegations of being involved in the murder had stunned the country. Jyotirmoy Dey, popularly known as J Dey, was shot dead in Mumbai by men on motorcycles on orders from one of India’s most notorious gangsters, Chhota Rajan – he was convicted in 2018 and is serving a life sentence for the killing. But somehow, Jigna Vora, a newspaper journalist, got caught up in the storm and was charged – falsely – for involvement in the murder. She spent over nine months…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has issued an order to ban suicides, according to several media reports. The dictator called the act “treason against socialism”, and ordered local officials to take preventive measures. The number of North Korean citizens who end their lives has increased by 40% this year compared to last year. “There are a lot of factors of internal unrest in North Korea due to the difficulties people face,” a spokesman for South Korea’s national intelligence service said. The confidential suicide ban order was given in a series of emergency meetings across the country, Radio Free Asia reported. There have been…