President Joe Biden has nominated Indian American Puneet Talwar as Ambassador of Morocco as part of some key nominations for his administration. Talwar will have to be confirmed by the Senate. Talwar has held senior national security and foreign policy positions in the State Department, White House, and the Senate. He is currently a Senior Advisor at the State Department.
Previously, he has served as the Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director at the National Security Council, and as a Senior Professional Staff Member at the Committee on Foreign Relations in the United States Senate.
Indian-origin author shortlisted for kids’ book award
Indian-origin author Manjeet Mann has been shortlisted for her children’s book ‘The Crossing’, a tale of a little girl’s friendship with an Eritrean refugee, for the UK’s prestigious Yoto Carnegie Medal. Mann, a UK-based author, has been previously shortlisted for the prize for her debut children’s novel ‘Run, Rebel’. ‘The Crossing’ is her second novel and recently won the 2022 Costa Children’s Book Award. The judges described Mann's novel as a “poignant story of shared humanity, with the stories of two teenagers – one a refugee and the other grief-stricken – cleverly entwined”. There are seven other authors on the shortlist. The winner will be announced on June 16.
Temple attacked by mob in Dhaka
An Iskcon-affiliated Radhakanta Jeev temple in the Wari area of Dhaka, Bangladesh was attacked on March 17, sources said. Sources said around 150-200 people were involved in the violence at the Iskon temple, in which three Iskcon members were injured. Some damage was caused to the property. According to sources, the High Commission of India is in touch with Bangladeshi authorities. The cause of the trouble, according to authorities, is a longstanding dispute over the land on which the Iskcon temple exists.
Germany hits record Covid infection rate
Germany has recorded its highest rate of Covid-19 infections since the start of the pandemic, as mask-wearing mandates in shops, restaurants and schools will come to an end in many parts of the country. The country’s disease control agency reported a record incidence rate of 1,607 new infections per 100,000 people over the past seven days, one of the highest in Europe. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute has recorded a total of 262,593 confirmed new cases and 269 new deaths in the same period. Experts say the true number of cases could be even higher as testing facilities have reached full capacity and those who test positive with a lateral flow test are no longer required to carry out a PCR test that would show up in the statistics.
Kenya to receive $750 mn aid from World Bank
The World Bank has approved a $750 million loan for Kenya, aimed at supporting the East African country's 2022 budget. Kenya would have to carry out some necessary reforms in its public procurement procedures, aimed at curtailing corruption as a condition to for the approval of the money. The world bank recommends that Kenya establishes an electronic platform for public procurements. The goal for this is to encourage transparency, thus limiting corruption. The $750 million loan that has been approved is the second tranche of a credit facility that was launched for Kenya in 2020, after the East African country qualified for the World Bank's Development Policy Operations (DPO).
Politicians seek Nobel prize for prez Zelenskyy
Several current and former European politicians addressed the Norwegian Nobel Committee with a request to nominate Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, and for this reason extend the nomination procedure until March 31. “We therefore humbly call upon you, the Committee, to consider: Extending and thereby re-opening the nomination procedure for the Nobel Peace Prize until March 31, 2022 to allow for a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine,” the statement said. The politicians also called on the committee “to re-open and reconsider the 2022 nomination procedure for the Nobel Peace Prize,” according to the statement.
132 feared dead in China plane crash
A Chinese passenger aircraft with 132 people on board crashed in a mountainous area of southern China on Monday, likely killing all passengers and crew. The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737 flying from Kunming in southwest China to southern China’s Guangzhou city descended in freefall before crashing in the Guangxi autonomous region, igniting a forest fire, state media reports said. It is feared that there were no survivors among the 123 passengers and nine-member crew. China Eastern, one of China’s three major carriers, said the cause of the crash, just before which the aircraft descended at a final rate of 31,000 feet a minute according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, was under investigation.
China reports 2 Covid deaths in more than a year
China’s health authorities reported two Covid-19 deaths last week, the first since January 2021, as the country battles its worst outbreak in two years driven by a surge in the highly transmissible Omicron variant. The deaths, both in northeastern Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638. Both fatalities occurred in elderly patients and were the result of their underlying conditions, Jiao Yahui, an official with the National Health Commission, said. One of them had not been vaccinated for Covid, she said. The majority of new 2,157 community transmissions came from Jilin. The province has imposed a travel ban, with people needing permission from police to travel across borders.
Mysterious 'furry green snake' found in Thailand
A creature that can best be described as a furry green snake was found in a swamp in Thailand, baffling locals who had never seen such an animal before. The furry snake was found in the Sakhon Nakhon province of Northeast Thailand by a local man. The man spotted the creature while walking home carried it back in a jar to show it to his family members. The family kept two-feet-long snake in a container filled with water and fed it small fish while they waited for authorities to identify it. Sam Chatfield, who is snake species coordinator at Wildlife ARC agreed that the creature could be a puff-faced water snake with algae growing on its scales.
N Korean missile exploded in air
A North Korean missile fired from its capital region exploded soon after liftoff in an apparent failed launch, South Korea's military said, amid speculation that the North is preparing to launch its longest-range weapon in the most significant provocation in years. Details of the missile explosion and the possibility of civilian damage weren't immediately known. But the launch, the 10th of its kind this year, shows North Korea is determined to press ahead on its push to modernize its arsenal and pressure rivals into making concessions while denuclearization talks are frozen. The missile blew up as it was flying at an altitude of less than 20 km, a South Korean military official said.
Finland crowned world’s happiest nation
Finland has been named the world’s happiest country for the fifth year running, in an annual UN-sponsored index that ranked Afghanistan as the unhappiest, closely followed by Lebanon. The latest list was completed before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia recorded the biggest boosts in wellbeing. The largest falls in the World Happiness table came in Lebanon, Venezuela and Afghanistan. Lebanon, which is facing economic meltdown, fell to second from last on the index of 146 countries, just below Zimbabwe.
