2002 riots victim Bilkis Bano to get Rs. 50 lakh compensation: Top court

  • Bilkis Bano was gang raped and her family massacred became one of the worst instances of the brutality of the 2002 riots in Gujarat. She will receive a compensation of Rs. 50 lakh from the state government, the Supreme Court ordered today.
  • Post-Godhra riots: The Supreme Court also directed the Gujarat government to provide Bilkis Bano with a government job and accommodation.

‘Robust plan’ in place, India responds to US ending Iran sanctions waiver

  • India on Tuesday said it is “adequately prepared” to deal with the situation after the US ended waivers on Iran sanctions. The waivers had allowed India and a few other countries to buy oil from Iran.
  • The Trump administration announced the US will not grant any more waivers from sanctions to countries such as India and China that import Iranian crude in a bid to increase pressure on Tehran.

India shows intent to resolve Azhar issue with China to bolster “Wuhan spirit”

  • India on Monday signaled its urgency to resolve differences with China on listing Masood Azhar as a global terrorist, to substantiate the “Wuhan spirit,” emerging from last year’s informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in the central China city.
  • In his opening remarks during “bilateral consultations,” visiting foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale who arrived in Beijing on April 21 said that India and China should remain “sensitive to each other’s concerns”.

Myanmar’s top court rejects final appeal by jailed Reuters journalists

  • Myanmar’s Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the final appeal of two Reuters journalists and upheld seven-year prison sentences for their reporting on the military’s brutal crackdown on Rohingya Muslims.
  • Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo earlier this month shared with their colleagues the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting, one of journalism’s highest honors.

New Earthquake of magnitude 6.4 strikes as Philippines hunts for survivors

  • Philippine rescuers were scrambling Tuesday to reach some two dozen people feared buried under a building near Manila that collapsed a day earlier in a strong earthquake, as a powerful new tremor hit the nation.
  • The US Geological Survey said the earthquake hit near Tutubigan, which is hundreds of kilometres south of the quake that hit near Manila. USGS downgraded the magnitude of the fresh quake after initially recording it at 6.6.