Showing posts with label #EU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #EU. Show all posts

Sunday, November 6, 2016

British Prime Minister Theresa May's visit to India - mango and visa on the agenda


British Prime Minister Theresa May is on a visit to India and a couple of sensitive points on her agenda would presumably be visa for Indians and the acceptance of Indian mangoes by Britain. She has been given indirect hints that unless Britain changes its stand on issue of visas to Indians, it could miss out on trade deals.
The clear message to her is - post-Brexit, you need Indians.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 6 November 2016.
Prime Minister May is on a mission to drum up new trade deals with India to cushion the impact of leaving the EU. However, the Indians want a reversal of tough immigration measures that she had imposed on Indians when she was Home Secretary.
Moreover, she will also have to face calls to take a harder line on neighboring Pakistan's alleged link to global terror and also to allow more Indian mangoes to enter Britain. She has chosen India for her first trade mission as Prime Minister because, in the opinion of officials, the historic business links between the two will help British businesses to ride out the turbulence caused by leaving the EU. She will have a team of 33 business representatives with her on the tour.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


Some more interesting links -

Pine needles to produce electricity in Uttarakhand

Lost £250 wedding ring retrieved after the eight million gallon lake was drained

Jakarta to pay $1.5 for every rat caught to contain rat menace


Fuchka Festival in Kolkata and selfies (satire)

Moody fires cannons to eliminate mosquitoes (satire)

Lord Shiva’s Durga puja is about selfish people and selfies (satire)


Carey Mulligan leaves teddy bears outside gates of 10 Downing Street to protest attacks on Aleppo

Battle to liberate Mosul rages and ISIS fighters flee the city dressed as women

Group clashes in prisons in Brazil kill at least 18 inmates


The Guardians of the Galaxy 2 trailer released

Trailer of xXx: Return of Xander Cage starring Deepika Padukone launched in four Indian languages

Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Yoga to release on 28th January 2017

Friday, September 4, 2015

Desperate migrants set to walk 240-Km from Budapest Railway station to Vienna


Migrants from Syria and other countries who have been stuck at a Budapest railway station for days have now decided to walk to Austria in view of non-availability of trains. The Hungarian authorities are trying to prevent them but they are desperate to reach Western Europe.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 4 September 2015.
In the meantime, the EU states are trying to evolve a common strategy to deal with the crisis as the head of the UN refugee agency wants EU nations to mobilize "full force" and accept up to 200,000 refugees.
It is a real chaotic scene in Hungary which is a main transit country for migrants who are seeking to claim asylum in Germany and other countries in north and west Europe. Many of the migrants who had been waiting for days at Budapest's Keleti station have left and plan to walk to Vienna, in the absence of trains, a journey of 240-Km.
The stand-off between police and passengers on a train held at Bicske station continues. Those who have boarded the train do not want to go to a transit camp. Riot police have reportedly entered the station. A large group of migrants are believed to have escaped from the train.
Moreover, hundreds of people have escaped from a refugee camp at Roszke near the Serbian border. They are being pursued by police while thousands more are still inside and are threatening to break out too.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

Some more interesting 'must reads'-

Qatar Airways changes its policy of sacking cabin crew for getting pregnant or getting married

Women’s hockey team into 2016 Rio Olympics after 36-years on Dhyan Chand’s birthday

Mumbai’s 9000-tonnes of daily plastic waste a major environment issue


Tila Tequila evicted from Celebrity Big Brother because of her praise of Hitler

‘Phantom’ – a Saif Ali Khan Katrina Kaif starrer with Mumbai 26/11 as backdrop

Cate Blanchett to be honored with BFI Fellowship at London Film Festival


Foolish robbers caught in London - they wore burqas but did not walk like women!!

Horror of free access to firearms – West Virginia 14-year-old takes 27 classmates hostage at gunpoint

Trained jihadists from Iraq and Syria returning to Europe to strike terror


A street food named jhal muri
A tribute to Kishore Kumar, the legend, on his 86th birthday

Indian kitchens must have ‘besan’

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

EU realizes the curse of plastic carry bags – to banish the bags


#plasticbags #environment #pollution #EU In order to stop environmental pollution due to plastic carry bags that are not bio degradable, a decision by the EU that every nation in the EU would follow Britain’s lead and introduce tough measures to slash the use of plastic bags.
The European Parliament has supported the move to introduce strict new targets to cut plastic bag use by 80 per cent before 2025. This is seen as a huge boost for conservationists who have been fighting for years to stop billions of bags ending up as litter. These not only harm the environment but also put an end to marine life.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 29 April 2015.
It seems instead of supplying the bags free, England has begun to levy a charge of 5p on supermarket carrier bags in England – this would be effective from October. Incidentally, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have already introduced the charge. It has resulted in drastically slashing litter. The rest of Europe will have to introduce similar measures or face large fines.
As per the broad guidelines issue by EU, its 28 members must take action to reduce disposable plastic bag use by 65 per cent by 2019 and 80 per cent by 2025. This would mean a drop in the average number of bags used per person each year from 200 to 40.
The magnitude of the problem can be understood from the fact that an estimated 100billion carriers are used every year in Europe and, nearly eight billion of these end up as litter. They clog the seas and rivers and suffocate thousands of animals every year.

A few more must reads -

Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub

British Army wants computer whizzkids to counter the growing menace of ISIS propaganda

IPL8 – Mumbai Indians break the jinx with first win against Royal Challengers Bangalore

Pattern of death changing in India – heart and lung related diseases are top killers

Stray dogs attend funeral of Mexican woman who fed them

Health tips – lose weight without dieting

Anchovies can boost good cholesterol and reduce risk factors of the heart

Sunday, April 19, 2015

Over 700 migrants killed as their boat overturns off Libya – EU worried about the influx of migrants


#migrantboat #Libya #Italy #EU #DonaldTusk #MareNostrum #triton In one of the worst tragedies in the Mediterranean, over 700 migrants who were traveling from war torn Libya to Europe, were killed when their 20-meter fishing boat overturned off the coast of Libya. As per reports of Italy's coastguard, only 28 people survived. One of the survivors, a Bangladeshi, who was shifted to a Sicily hospital by helicopter has put the number of casualties at 950 which included about 200 women and 50 children.
If the death toll of over 700 is confirmed, it would take the death toll since the start of 2015 to more than 1,600. This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 20 April 2015.
Against this background, EU ministers are entering into crisis talks under pressure to confront the people-smuggling gangs. EU president Donald Tusk is considering holding a special summit on the crisis in Luxemburg because member states Spain, Greece, Germany and France have urged for immediate action. The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is spearheading the calls for a summit by the end of the week.
Rights groups including Amnesty International want the restoration of an Italian navy search-and-rescue operation known as Mare Nostrum that had been suspended at the end of last year. This has been replaced by a much smaller EU-run operation called Triton because of financial constraints.
It is understandable because the influx of migrants into European countries is putting a tremendous pressure on the resources of the countries involved.

A few more must reads -

Nashik Kumbhmela 2015 – a once in 12-years pilgrimage

Trip to Nashik should take in Shirdi and the Ajanta and Ellora caves

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the epic Ramayana

Nashik, a tourist center with links to the Mahabharata

Kumbhmela 2015 in Nashik – guided tours to wineries and vineyards

Nashik transforms from a place of pilgrimage to an industrial hub

British Army wants computer whizzkids to counter the growing menace of ISIS propaganda

Contract bridge is a good option on Sundays

Pattern of death changing in India – heart and lung related diseases are top killers

Stray dogs attend funeral of Mexican woman who fed them

Health tips – lose weight without dieting

Anchovies can boost good cholesterol and reduce risk factors of the heart

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

President Obama says arming Ukraine is an option in case all others fail


#angelamerkel #barackobama #ukraine #EU #francoishollande Ukraine is gradually becoming a major issue between the two super powers and both the US and Russia are snapping at each other’s feet while the whole world waits with bated breath for the outcome. President Obama is, apparently, losing patience and he has confirmed that his administration is examining an alternative like sending arms to Ukraine to help the country beat back Russian-backed separatists, in case diplomacy fails as reported in foxnews.com dated 9 February 2015.
The President made these comments at the time of a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a meeting between the two leaders at the White House.
Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande have been trying to push through a peace plan. They have plans for a summit later this week with the leaders of both Russia and Ukraine and president Obama wants to give sufficient time for those talks space to play out.
He has once again stressed that a diplomatic resolution to this issue must be encouraged – however, lethal military aid is on the table. He has added that he has yet to take a decision on whether to approve such a plan.
Of course, Angela Merkel does not favor the arming of Ukraine by the US and wants to pursue a peaceful solution.
Already plenty of sanctions have been imposed on Russia because of its annexing Crimea and the European Union has decided to temporarily hold off slapping more sanctions on Russians and Ukrainian separatists as they wait for the outcome of the peace talks.
The death toll in the violence in Ukraine ever since the Russian annexation of Crimea is now more than 5,300 as per UN tally and has increased over the past two weeks.