SOURCE: PTI

India has enormous respect for the American presidency but New Delhi has never particularly wanted to ask anyone to mediate and no one needed to tell us to stop’, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, amid repeated claims by US President Donald Trump of mediating in the recent military conflict between India and Pakistan.

All I can say is that we have enormous respect for the American presidency and the American president. All we can say for ourselves is that we have never particularly wanted to ask anyone to mediate, said Tharoor, the leader of the all-party parliamentary delegation which arrived here on Tuesday afternoon and began its packed day of meetings with lawmakers and government officials on Wednesday.

SOURCE: IANS

President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday presented Distinguished Service Awards to 92 senior armed forces personnel at the Defence Investiture Ceremony-II held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The recipients, who included serving and retired officials from all three services, included 30 awarded the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM), the highest award for distinguished service during times of peace, and five awarded the Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (UYSM), the second-highest award for distinguished service during conflict.

SOURCE: PTI

The Congress on Thursday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to Jammu and Kashmir and said surely he is aware that the terrorists directly responsible for the Pahalgam attack have still not been brought to justice.

Modi will on Friday launch multiple development projects worth more than Rs 46,000 crore at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir and inaugurate the Chenab bridge, the world’s highest railway arch bridge. He will also flag off Vande Bharat trains between Katra and Srinagar.

SOURCE: PTI

A BSF trooper was allegedly kidnapped by Bangladeshi nationals and taken across the international border in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district, before being released a few hours later, officials said on Wednesday. The incident took place in the early hours near Chandni Chowk, close to the Border Security Force camp in Sutiar, Nurpur in the district, they said.

The jawan was trying to prevent an infiltration bid from the Bangladesh side near Kathalia village, when he was captured by miscreants from Chapai Nawabganj district of Bangladesh, said BSF sources.

SOURCE: PTI

A multi-tier security setup has been put in place for Prme Minister Naredra Modi’s visit to Jammu and Kashmir on Friday to inaugurate the much-awaited Kashmir rail link and also dedicate to the nation multiple development projects worth over Rs 46,000 crore in Katra, officials said.

This will be the first visit of Modi to the Union Territory post Operation Sindoor launched by the Indian Armed Forces in retaliation to the Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 persons, mostly tourists, dead on April 22.

SOURCE: PTI

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted extensive searches at multiple locations across Jammu and Kashmir to probe a terror conspiracy case against overground workers of various terrorist outfits, officials said.

The raids were carried out in Pulwama, Kulgam, Shopian, Baramulla and Kupwara districts, they said.

SOURCE: UNI

The prestigious Axiom-4 AX-4 mission to be piloted by Indian Astronaut to International Space Station (ISS) after1984 has been pushed by two days to June 10 with an additional crew in the form of a swan signalling peace. The mission was ealrier scheduled in the end of May this year, deferred to June 8 and now again pushed by two days to June 10, NASA said on this collaborative mission. The added feature of this deferred mission was Indian Air Force Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla and his three colleagues would be joined by an unllkely and pleasant “fifth crew member” —Joy, a plush version of a swan, which has a cultural significance in all the countries that are part of the mission.

Joy is the mascot of the Mission., which will now take off on June 10 at 5.52 pm IST from the NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Cap Shuka will also be carrying a special souvenir in honour of the contribution of wing commander Rakesh Sharma, his mentor and predecessor in space travel that took placeway back in 1984, becoming the first Indian to travel to space. At an Axiom-4 pre-launch media interaction, the miniaturised plushie representing the swan sat comfortably on Shukla’s lap.

SOURCE: PIB

The Technology Development Board (TDB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has extended financial assistance to M/s Meta Tattva Systems Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi, for the establishment of an Industrial Meta Tattva Facility to fabricate Multi-Spectral Camouflage (MSC) Materials and Shelters for strategic defence applications.

The primary objective of the project is to commercialize the Metamaterial Surface Cloaking System (MSCS)—a critical technological advancement aimed at masking vital defence assets such as tanks, aircraft, and mobile command posts from detection across visual, ultraviolet (UV), and infrared (IR) spectrums. The system significantly reduces the visibility of assets to sensors and surveillance platforms, offering a transformative advantage in battlefield concealment.

SOURCE: PTI

The Centre has defended in the Delhi High Court its decision to cancel the OCI card of US-based journalist Raphael Satter saying he maligned Indian institutions in the international arena through journalistic activities.

The Centre said it was satisfied that Satter conducted journalistic activities without waiting for necessary permission and violated the government’s notification and that a “discreet” lookout circular (LOC) was opened against him.

SOURCE: IANS

 Union Minister of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday held bilateral meetings with his counterparts from Norway on strengthening bilateral cooperation between India and the Scandinavian country in green maritime technologies such as the electrification of ferry systems.

The Minister held meetings with Norway’s Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygard as well as with Minister of Fisheries and Ocean Policy, Marianne Sivertsen, on the sidelines of the Nor-Shipping event being held here.

SOURCE: PTI

Police driver Arun Chitte, martyred during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, has been posthumously promoted to the rank of Assistant Police Sub Inspector (ASI), officials said on Wednesday.

The promotion came into force on June 1, an official said citing the order. Chitte worked as a driver of senior police inspector Vijay Salaskar for a decade. He was killed when terrorists Mohd Ajmal Kasab and Abu Ismail opened fire at police officials.

SOURCE: IANS

 In a significant breakthrough against espionage networks threatening national security, Punjab Police’s State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) SAS Nagar has arrested a YouTube influencer for spying for Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab, Gaurav Yadav on Wednesday.

The arrested accused, identified as Jasbir Singh, alias Jaan Mahal (41), a resident of Mahlan village in Rupnagar, has been operating a YouTube channel ‘JaanMahal Video’ with over 11 lakh subscribers, ostensibly posting travel and cooking vlogs.

SOURCE: IANS

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has found multiple safety violations in Turkish Airlines operations during surprise inspections carried out between May 29 and June 2 at four major Indian airports — Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru, it was announced on Wednesday.

Following the inspections, the DGCA has directed Turkish Airlines to ensure full adherence to ICAO Standards and Recommended Practices as well as Indian civil aviation rules.

SOURCE: PTI

India on Wednesday thanked Iran for safely rescuing its three nationals who went missing in the country last month, saying Tehran’s support reflects the “true spirit of friendship” between the two nations.

They were “freed in a police operation against the hostage takers in Varamin in south Tehran,” the Tehran-based Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday.”The 3 kidnapped Indian citizens have been safely rescued & are now under the care of the Embassy of India, which is facilitating their early repatriation,” the Embassy of India in Iran posted on X.

PTI

Pakistan launched multiple attacks on early May 10 aiming to bring India to its knees in 48 hours, but it had to fold up the offensives in eight hours and reach out to New Delhi for talks seeking an end to the hostilities, Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan said on Tuesday.

In the first detailed account of India’s clashes with Pakistan, Gen Chauhan said India’s response to the Pahalgam terror attack was to draw “limits of tolerance” to cross-border terrorism and not tolerating Islamabad’s nuclear blackmail.