India and New Zealand concluded the 11th Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting in New Zealand on Thursday.

Led by Commerce Secretary Sunil Barthwal, the Indian delegation engaged in fruitful discussions with key stakeholders, including New Zealand’s minister for Trade, Todd McClay, and Acting Chief Executive Brook Barrington.

The meeting highlighted the immense potential for collaboration between the two nations, particularly in sectors like pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and food processing. Both sides acknowledged the existing trade complementarities and expressed a commitment to enhancing bilateral trade and people-to-people contacts.

One of the focal points of the discussions was the establishment of robust bilateral economic dialogue architecture, including the formation of working groups in areas such as agriculture, food processing, storage & transportation, forestry, and pharmaceuticals.

These groups aim to facilitate ongoing collaboration and address key trade and economic issues.

India and Indonesia on Friday agreed to enhance collaboration in areas of defence industry, maritime security and multilateral cooperation at the seventh India-Indonesia Joint Defence Cooperation Committee meeting held in New Delhi. It was chaired by Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane and Secretary-General of Indonesia’s Ministry of Defence Air Marshal Donny Ermawan Taufanto.

During the meeting, both sides expressed satisfaction at the expanding scope of defence cooperation between the two countries. The progress made on various bilateral initiatives deliberated in meetings of working groups on defence cooperation and defence industries cooperation was also reviewed by the co-chairs, a Defence Ministry statement said.

A seven-member delegation from India led by Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Shri AmardeepSingh Bhatia, accompanied by High Commissioner of India to Federal Republic of Nigeria,Shri G Balasubramanian and Economic Adviser, Department of Commerce, Ms. Priya P. Nair held a Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting with their Nigerian counterparts in Abuja from 29.04.2024 to 30.04.2024. The JTC was co-chaired by Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Industry Trade and Investment, Nigeria, Ambassador Nura Abba Rimi; and Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce.

In a comprehensive dialogue, both sides undertook a detailed review of recent developments in bilateral trade and investment ties and acknowledged the vast untapped potential for further expansion. To this effect, both sides identified several areas of focus for enhancing both bilateral trade as well as mutually beneficial investments. These include resolving of market access issues of both sides, and cooperation in key sectors such as Crude oil and Natural Gas, Pharmaceuticals, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Local Currency Settlement System, Power Sector and Renewable Energy, Agriculture & Food Processing, Education, Transport, Railway, Aviation, MSMEs, Development etc. Both sides agreed to early conclusion of Local Currency Settlement System Agreement to further strengthen bilateral economic ties.

Solomon Islands lawmakers selected Jeremiah Manele as their new prime minister on Thursday, elevating the former foreign minister who has pledged to continue the Pacific Island nation’s international policy that drew it closer to China.

Manele won 31 votes to Opposition leader Matthew Wales’ 18 votes in the 50-seat parliament, Governor General Sir David Vunagi announced outside parliament house.

A national election last month saw incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s government lose half of its seats but failed to deliver a majority to any political party. The government and opposition parties lobbied intensively for weeks to win support from independents ahead of the vote for prime minister.

Police boosted security in the capital Honiara as newly elected lawmakers arrived at parliament on Thursday to vote in a secret ballot.

The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved one-third of the seats in the executive committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) for women.

Accordingly, a minimum of 3 out of 9 positions in the Executive Committee and 2 of 6 Senior Executive Member posts will be reserved for women, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and K V Viswanathan directed.

It further said “at least one post of the Office-Bearer shall be reserved for women candidates exclusively by turn and on rotation basis” and “in the ensuing election for 2024-2025, the post of Treasurer of the Executive Committee is reserved for women”. The bench clarified that the “reservation is only to guarantee a minimum and women members of the SCBA, subject to their eligibility, shall be entitled to contest the election for all the posts in the Executive Committee”.

The Union Government has rolled out an intensive training strategy for police and prison department personnel across the country on the new criminal laws and to sensitise them to the transition from the colonial legacies to a new system of justice.

In a communication to Heads of Police Forces and Prison Departments, the Ministry of Home Affairs said the Parliament had replaced the three existing laws, namely the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 by three new progressive and modern pieces of legislation, namely the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023 respectively.

Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor today assumed charge as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command. He was commissioned into the Fighter stream of the Indian Air Force on the 06th of December 1986. A Qualified Flying Instructor and a Fighter Combat Leader, he has more than 34 hundred hours of flying experience. In recognition of his meritorious service, the Air Marshal was awarded with Vayu Sena Medal in 2008 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2022.

During his illustrious career, the Air Marshal has held numerous field and staff appointments. His operational tenures include being the Commanding Officer of a fighter squadron in the Central Sector, Station Commander of a flying base in the Western Sector and Air Officer Commanding of a premier air base. He has done instructional tenures as Chief Instructor (Flying) at Air Force Academy and Directing Staff at the prestigious Defence Services Staff College, Wellington. During his tenure at Air Force Academy, the Air Officer was instrumental in the induction and operationalisation of PC-7 MK Il aircraft in the IAF. He has also undertaken a diplomatic assignment as Defence Attaché, Pakistan. His staff appointments include Assistant Chief of Air Staff Operations (Strategy) at Air HQ, Air Defence Commander at South Western Air Command and Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ Central Air Command. Before assuming the present appointment, he served as the  Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel at Air HQ. 

Veteran politician John Swinney is on course to become the head of the Scottish National party and the next first minister of Scotland after his main challenger Kate Forbes said she would not enter the race to lead the party.

If elected SNP leader to replace Humza Yousaf, who resigned this week, Swinney would have to work with other parties to lead the Scottish government, since his party has 63 seats and the opposition has 65.

But Forbes’ decision to stand aside means that the SNP will probably avoid a repeat of last year’s bruising leadership contest, which she narrowly lost to Yousaf.

Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has given its nod for appointment of Hitesh Kumar Sethia as Managing Director and CEO of Jio Financial Services for three years period from November 15,2023.

This approval is however subject to the condition that the appointee holds a valid Employment Visa throughout his tenure in India, said a MCA letter, which has been filed with the stock exchanges by Jio Financial Services Ltd.

The MCA approval is under and in respect of the provisions of the Companies Act 2013 and should not be considered as covering any requirement of security clearance, for which the company/appointee shall be responsible, said the MCA letter.

Renowned playback singer Uma Ramanan, who predominantly sang in Tamil, passed away at 72 in Chennai on Wednesday.

She is survived by her singer-husband AV Ramanan and her son, Vignesh Ramanan.

India Today in a report mentioned that Ramanan was a trained classical singer and appeared in more than 6,000 concerts in 35 years. Song Poongathave Thalthiravai in the Nizhalgal film catapulted her to fame.

Some of her famous songs for Ilaiyaraaja include 'Bhoopalam Isaikkum' from 'Thooral Ninnu Pochchu', 'Aanandha Raagam' from 'Panner Pushpangal, 'Kanmani Nee Vara' from 'Thendrale Ennai Thodu', 'Ponn Maanae' from 'Oru Kaidhiyin Dairy', 'Aagaya Vennilave' from 'Arangetra Velai' and 'Sri Ranga Ranganathanin' from 'Mahanadi', among others.