Gaza, May 14 (IANS) Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamic Jihad movement, announced on that it had launched rocket attacks on Israeli cities in response to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis, south of the Gaza Strip.”We attacked Ashdod, Ashkelon, Sderot and Israeli settlements adjacent to Gaza with rocket barrages in response to the Israeli massacres against our Palestinian people,” al-Quds Brigades said in a press statement.A source in the movement said the attack aimed to demonstrate “the resistance’s ability to respond decisively to Israeli attacks.”Israeli media outlets, reported that sirens sounded in several cities and towns in southern Israel, including Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Sderot.Avichay Adraee, the Israeli military spokesperson, said in a statement that two rockets fired from the Gaza Strip were intercepted, while a third landed in an open area, without causing casualties or significant material damage.Following the rocket attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Tuesday night ordered residents of the Jabalia city and refugee camp, and other surrounding neighbourhoods in the central Gaza Strip, to immediately evacuate ahead of an Israeli strike, Xinhua news agency reported.The residents were instructed to relocate immediately to the shelter centers in Gaza City.The rocket attack came hours after intensive Israeli airstrikes targeted the vicinity of the Gaza European Hospital, which Palestinian sources said resulted in widespread destruction and heavy human losses.At least six Palestinians were killed and 40 others injured in the Israeli airstrikes, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Tuesday.According to the IDF, the strike was aimed at an underground Hamas command and control center. The military accused Hamas of continuing to use hospitals in Gaza to conceal militant infrastructure.Israeli state broadcaster Kan and other media outlets reported that the strike targeted Hamas figure Mohammed Sinwar, the younger brother of former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces in southern Gaza in October last year. It remained unclear whether Mohammed Sinwar was among the casualties.–IANSint/rs

Kyiv, May 14 (IANS) Ukraine delivered to the United States an official note confirming the completion of its internal procedures for a bilateral natural resources deal, which would establish a joint investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction.Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko handed over the note to Julie Davis, charge d’affaires a.i. at the US embassy in Kyiv, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the Interfax-Ukraine news agency .The agreement to establish the fund, which will be partially financed by new royalties on Ukraine’s mineral resources, gas and oil, was signed on April 30 in Washington by Svyrydenko and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.According to Svyrydenko, both countries will co-manage and co-finance the fund, while Ukraine would maintain ownership and complete control over its mineral and energy resources.Earlier the US State Department has approved an F-16 fighter jet training and sustainment package worth $310 million for Ukraine, the Pentagon announced.The package included aircraft modifications, flight training, maintenance support, spare parts, ground handling equipment, and specialised software systems, according to the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, BAE Systems and AAR Corporation are the deal’s principal contractors. However, This package contained no actual aircraft, as the jets would be provided by NATO allies rather than directly from the United States, said the DSCA.The support package followed an earlier $266.4 million F-16 sustainment agreement approved in December 2024 under the administration of Joe Biden, which provided mission planning systems and key maintenance equipment, Xinhua news agency reported.–IANSint/rs

Washington, May 14 (IANS) The United States urged India and Pakistan to maintain direct lines of communication in the interest of preserving regional stability and reiterated that the Donald Trump administration stands ready to help keep peace in the region.“We urge both sides to maintain direct communication to preserve regional stability,” Tommy Pigott, a statement department spokesperson, said at the daily briefing.He welcomed the “ceasefire” between India and Pakistan and commended Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for “choosing the path of peace” and showing “strength, wisdom, and fortitude”.Pigott repeatedly stressed that the US is focused on two things regarding the India-Pakistan situation: the ceasefire and direct communications between the two countries.Earlier, US President Donald Trump spoke on the issue in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he is the first of this three-leg tour of West Asia. He repeated once again how he had used the lure of trade with the US to persuade the two countries to end hostilities.Asked if Secretary of State Marco Rubio had received any commitments from Pakistan in his calls with Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Army Chief Asim Munir on rooting out terrorism, Pigott said, “I’m not going to talk about private diplomatic conversations. What I can say is to reiterate what we’ve been saying for a couple of days now is that we welcome the ceasefire reached between India and Pakistan this weekend, and we commend both prime ministers for choosing the path of peace. The President was very clear in terms of that. We also want to encourage direct communication between the parties. That is something we’ve also been clear about as well.”On India’s refusal of the American offer of mediation, Pigott said, “Well, I’m not going to speculate on that. What I can say is that we encourage direct communication. We have been clear on that. We continue to encourage direct communication. The President has been clear on that. And the President, as I said, has also been clear in praising both prime ministers for choosing the path towards peace and the wisdom and fortitude that shows.”He also offered no comments on reports of radiation leakage at Pakistani nuclear sites.–IANSyrj/rs

Ottawa, May 14 (IANS) Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney has appointed Anita Ananda to the powerful post of Foreign Minister in his new cabinet charged with fulfilling the “mandate for change”. He also appointed Maninder Sidhu as the international trade minister, and two others of Indian descent as secretaries of state – the equivalent of ministers of state.One of Anand’s missions will be to pilot the reset of the almost ruptured ties with India that Carney signalled, while managing the delicate relations with President Donald Trump’s America.Announcing the new cabinet of 28 ministers, he instructed them to “bring new ideas, a clear focus and decisive actions to their work”.Ruby Sahota, who was the minister of democratic institutions, has been downgraded to a secretary of state and put in charge of combating crime.Randeep Sarai is another of the ten secretaries of state and will deal with international development.Anand, who was the transport minister and had earlier held the defence portfolio, said in January that she was leaving politics and returning to academia.But Carney persuaded her to return to the cabinet and take the foreign affairs portfolio after she was re-elected in last month’s election.Carney, who inherited former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet, now has a chance to put his mark after having led the Liberal Party to victory, beating the odds in last month’s election.He cut the number of ministers from 39 in Trudeau’s cabinet to 28, and three politicians of Indian origin in the last cabinet do not find a place now.What is probably the most important portfolio during the tariff war with the US has been assigned to Dominic LeBlanc, who will be the minister responsible for Canada-US trade.Chrystia Freeland, who had earlier been the deputy prime minister with the finance portfolio and had challenged Carney for the party leadership, industry portfolio.Anand replaces Melanie Joly, who has been shunted to the transport and internal trade ministry that she had held.Joly ratcheted up the tensions with India, expelling six Indian diplomats last year, alleging that they were “persons of interest” in the assassination of Khalistan leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.India has denied any involvement in the murky case where there were signs of gang warfare and expelled Canadian diplomats in retaliation.Carney, who has called relations with India “incredibly important”, said of the ties with India on the eve of the elections that “there is a path forward to address those with mutual respect and to build out.”The relations spiralled under former Trudeau, who depended on the New Democratic Party led by Jagmeet Singh, an alleged Khalistan sympathiser, to stay in power.David McGuinty, who was the public safety minister, takes over defence.The new cabinet has fewer Canadians of Indian descent.Harjit Singh Sajjan, who was a former defence minister and held the Emergency preparedness portfolio in the last cabinet, did not seek re-election to the House of Commons and left.From the last cabinet, Arif Virani, who was the justice minister and attorney-general, and Kamal Khera, who held the diversity and inclusion of persons with disabilities portfolio, have been dropped by Carney.–IANSal/rs

United Nations, May 13 (IANS) With the ceasefire between India and Pakistan holding, “we’re in…

Washington, May 13 (IANS) US President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, reiterated the US’ role in…

Cairo, May 13 (IANS) The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) announced on Tuesday a 15 per…

Beijing, May 13 (IANS) Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Beijing on Tuesday.Li said that under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China-Brazil relations have entered into a golden period of growth. China is willing to work with Brazil to maintain high-level exchanges, deepen political mutual trust, constantly enrich the strategic connotation of bilateral relations, comprehensively expand mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides, and walk side by side and achieve mutual success on the road of modernization, he added.Noting the current international situation is complex and volatile, Li said that as major developing countries and important emerging economies in the world, China and Brazil should unite, cooperate more closely and join hands in the face of risks and challenges.China is willing to enhance the alignment of development strategies with Brazil, give full play to the complementary advantages of industrial structures, explore more points of convergence of interests, deepen cooperation in areas such as finance, trade and investment, infrastructure, industrial chains, and the green transformation, and create more flagship projects, Li said, Xinhua news agency reported.He called on both sides to enhance cooperation in areas such as artificial intelligence, the digital economy, advanced manufacturing and biomedicine, to continuously expand the innovative impetus for practical cooperation between the two countries.China is willing to maintain close multilateral communication and coordination with Brazil, continue to firmly safeguard the central role of the United Nations, practice true multilateralism, promote an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, advance the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, and contribute important strength to maintaining world peace and stability, Li said.Lula said Brazil attaches great importance to developing relations with China and is willing to further enhance high-level exchanges with China, strengthen the alignment of Brazil’s development strategy with the Belt and Road Initiative, and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.Brazil is willing to maintain close multilateral communication and cooperation with China, support multilateralism, jointly resist unilateralism and protectionism, safeguard national sovereignty, and promote the common development of the Global South, Lula said.–IANSint/as

London, May 13 (IANS) Britain’s labour market showed further signs of cooling in early 2025, as wage growth slowed, unemployment edged higher, and job vacancies continued to decline, according to official data released Tuesday.Although the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that the employment rate stood at 75.0 per cent in the first quarter of 2025, which was slightly higher than a year earlier, the unemployment rate was also higher than a year ago.The number of employees on British company payrolls dropped by 47,000 between February and March, with early estimates indicating a further decline of 33,000 in April. Last month, the total number of payrolled employees stood at 30.3 million.Meanwhile, wage growth in Britain has continued to moderate. Average weekly earnings excluding bonuses increased by 5.6 per cent in the three months to March compared with the same period last year, down from 5.9 per cent in the previous quarter, Xinhua news agency reported. Including bonuses, total pay rose by 5.5 per cent year-on-year. After adjusting for inflation, real regular pay grew by 1.8 per cent.The number of job vacancies fell by 42,000 in the three months to April, marking the 34th consecutive quarterly decline. The total number of vacancies now stands at 761,000, slightly below pre-pandemic levels.Economists attributed the labor market slowdown to multiple factors, including higher payroll taxes and a recent increase in the minimum wage. The retail and hospitality sectors, in particular, saw increased job cuts in March and April.Despite signs of weakening demand for labour, analysts noted that wage growth remains elevated, posing challenges for the Bank of England’s efforts to control inflation.The Bank of England lowered its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.25 per cent earlier this month. However, policymakers have stressed the need for more evidence of easing inflation before further rate cuts.The ONS also acknowledged improvements in its Labour Force Survey data collection, though response rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, limiting the granularity of some estimates.Analysts believe that the cooling job market in the country reflects pressures from both domestic policy adjustments, and global trade uncertainties weighing on business confidence.–IANSint/as

Thimphu, May 13 (IANS) Honouring the contribution of Indian teachers in Bhutan, a book titled ‘Lopons from India: Glimpses of their Life and Work in Bhutan’ authored by Thakur S Powdyel, Former Bhutanese Minister of Education, was launched on Tuesday at the Nehru-Wangchuck Cultural Centre in Thimphu.Powdyel, while introducing the book to the audience, highlighted the contribution of Indian teachers in laying a strong foundation of formal education in Bhutan.With more than 20 heartwarming memoirs, the book vividly captures the experiences of several Indian teachers who started arriving in Bhutan in the 1960s and contributed significantly to the growth of the education system in Bhutan.The book launch was followed by a sharing of experience by Indian teachers currently working in Bhutan, enduring the Bhutan India Education Partnership.The launch ceremony was attended by the Ambassador of India to Bhutan Sudhakar Dalela; Lyonpo Yeezang de Thapa, Bhutan’s Minister for Education and Skills Development; Justice Sonam Tobgye, Former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Bhutan; and Dasho Arun Kapur, Director, Royal Academy, Bhutan.Celebrating India-Bhutan partnership in Education, on April 30 Indian Embassy in Bhutan organised an outreach programme to celebrate the partnership in the area of education and skill development.Recalling the longstanding partnership between India and Bhutan, Ambassador Sudhakar Dalela highlighted new bilateral initiatives for faculty and student exchanges, upgradation of infrastructure, teachers’ training, and STEM education being undertaken through the 13th FYP.Over 10,000 Bhutanese students have availed of Indian Government scholarships in the last 10 years to study in academic institutions in India in the areas of science, technology, engineering, medicine, law, agriculture, humanities, music and commerce.Several alumni from Bhutan shared their experiences relating to their academic and professional exposure, as well as lifelong friendships and rich cultural immersive experience of their stay in India.India and Bhutan share unique and exemplary bilateral relations, which are based on mutual trust, goodwill, and understanding. India’s development support to Bhutan is an important pillar of close and enduring ties between both nations.–IANSint/scor/as