Anantjeet Singh won Paris 2024 quota after securing silver in the men’s skeet final event. This would be India’s 19^th quota at the Paris Olympics. Teenager Raiza Dhillon secured India’s 18th quota place for the Paris Games with a silver medal in women’s skeet event of the Asia Olympic Qualification for shotgun in Kuwait city on Saturday.

Dhillon dominated the competition as she was leading until the midway point. But the 19-year- old shooter suffered a slight setback as she missed two-three targets. This allowed her chinese counterpart Jinmel Gao to take the lead in the contest.

Gao went on to clinch the gold medal scoring 56 targets out of 60 in the final. Dhillon secured the second position hitting a total number of 52 targets. Both athletes secured a Paris quota each for their respective countries.

Maheshwari Chauhan finished in the third place winning the bronze medal. Ganemat Sekhon finished in the 4^th place with 30 hits. In the starting of the event Dhillon was leading the contest hitting six out of six targets. The Indian was ahead of Gao with 14 hits.

The turning point to the contest came when Dhillon missed two of her targets and Gao overtook the lead for the first time in the contest. Dhillon missed her hit yet again as her chinese counterpart maintained her lead. Chauhan and Dhillon were left behind to fight for the second place.

Dhilon survived to enter the race for the gold medal, as Chauhan left the contest at the third position with a bronze. Dhillon missed two more times in her contest for gold, as Gao went forward to win the competition.

Earlier Sekhon was in second place in the Olympic qualification with a total score of 117. Chauhan was placed third with 115 points after prevailing in the shoot off with Qatar’s Al Sharshani Reem, while Dhillon qualified for the final in sixth place, completing the top six lineup.   

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Akshay Kumar’s recently released film Bell Bottom has been banned in three gulf nations including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar. These countries have denied the facts shown in the film. Film Certification Authority says Bell Bottom has been tampered with historical facts. Bell Bottom is a spy thriller film. Kumar plays a RAW agent in the film, based on the true incident of plane hijacking that took place in the 1980s. As per reports, in the second half of the film, Akshay and his team negotiate and fight with hijackers to rescue 210 people trapped in the plane.

However, the case of plane hijacking in Real was handled by UAE Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum himself in 1984. He had caught the hijackers of the plane that reached Dubai from Lahore. It is believed that due to these wrong facts in the film, the film has been banned in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.

Meanwhile, Bell Bottom was released worldwide on August 19 amid the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic. The film has made a box office collection of Rs 4.40 crore on the fourth day on Sunday. The film got a good benefit of Rakshabandhan due to which the total collection of first four days of Bell Bottom has become around Rs 13 crores.

Read Also: Aligarh Airport to be named after Kalyan Singh? Yogi Adityanath says…

Bell Bottom is a spy thriller based on a true event that took place in 1984 when an Indian aeroplane was hijacked with all of its passengers taken hostage. Apart from Akshay Kumar, Lara Dutta, Vaani Kapoor and Huma Qureshi are also seen in lead roles in the film. The film is directed by Ranjit M Tewariand.

Watch trailer here:

In other India news, the hashtag #BoycottMyntra and #UninstallMyntra is trending on Twitter on Monday.

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Amid worsening Covid-19 situation in India, Kuwait on Saturday suspended all direct commercial flights coming from India until further notice. The decision came after instructions from health authorities.

Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said that it had suspended all direct commercial flights coming from India. The suspension will be effective from April 24. The DGCA, Kuwait said in a statement on Twitter that all passengers arriving from India either directly or via another country will be banned from entering unless they have spent at least 14 days out of India.

Over one million Indian live in Kuwait, the largest expatriate community in the country. Earlier, the UK, the UAE and Canada announced ban flights from India amid the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.

In another dreadful record, India on Saturday reported the highest gush in the world with 3.46 lakh Covid-19 cases which takes India Covid caseload to 1.66 Crore with 2,624 deaths. This is the third consecutive day that over 3 lakh cases have been reported in the country.

The United Arab Emirates General Authority of Civil Aviation and the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) announced an update on regulations with the clarification that entry from India will be suspended for all incoming flights on national and foreign carriers. The statement, however, said that the flights between the two countries will continue to operate allowing the transportation of passengers from the UAE to India.

The United Arab Emirates on Friday, updating its travel ban for India, said all incoming flights on national and foreign carriers from the country will be suspended, while transportation of passengers from the Gulf country to India will be allowed. Earlier on Thursday, the UAE banned travel from India for 10 days from Sunday due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the country.

Read Also: Uttar Pradesh government launches Oxygen Monitoring System to fulfill rising demand

The exemptions will be applicable for those who undertake preventive measures that include quarantine for 10 days after a PCR test at the airport. The required PCR test period has also been reduced from 72 hours to 48 hours prior to travel from accredited laboratories that issue test results carrying a QR code. These regulations will apply for a period of 10 days, which can be extended, while cargo flights continue to operate between the two countries.

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Mekkah emergency summit held Monday morning

Three Arab monarchs including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE, all US allies, have come together to defuse financial crisis in Jordan by pledging $2.5 billion for stabilizing the kingdom facing the worst protests over government austerity plans, proposed IMF-tax bill and the price hikes.

According to Al-Jazeera, the aid will go towards a deposit in Jordan’s Central Bank, cover World Bank loan guarantees for the kingdom, direct budget support in the form of cash deposits and finance other development projects.

The five year aid package is critical to ease Jordan’s current budget deficit, which amounts to about $700m.The package, which is similar to the  move taken  by Gulf states in 2011, will help Jordan come up with a new, more-palatable austerity plan to satisfy international lenders and its protesting public.

The decision was taken at an early morning meeting in holy city of Mekkah  which was attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, and Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also UAE’s vice president and prime minister. Earlier meeting was supposed be held on Sunday. However, supposedly, it dragged to Monday morning due to Ramadan schedule.

Read More: Jordan: Protests may force King Abdullah II to remove PM Mulki

Saudi Arabia official news agency SPA statement quoted Jordanian King Abdullah II as saying he hoped the aid would help his country overcome its fiscal crisis. Due to consistent protests by Jordanians throughout the country for several days Prime Minister Hani al-Mulki was asked by to King to resign.

The protesters blamed the outgoing PM for country’s economic mismanagement.King Abdallah II then asked education minister Omar al Razzaz to form the new government. He later pledged to scrap the proposed IMF-Tax bill and engage in dialogue to reach a new consensus on important issues including a new tax and economic reform.

Read More: Mekkah to host four nations meet on Jordan crisis

The 2011 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pledge was to last five years, which expired last year. Any additional funding by the GCC could not be decided due to ongoing Gulf crisis blockading Qatar by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt .

Jordan receives over $1bn a year from the US, as well as aid from Europe and elsewhere. Jordan and Egypt are the only two Muslim countries having peace accord with Israel. Despite non-existent formal ties, Saudi Arabia and UAE have been improving their ties with Israel.

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Saudi taunted against Kuwaiti minister’s visit to Qatar

Another crack among Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries was revealed on Wednesday when Kuwait protested to Saudi Arabia over “insulting tweets” made by a senior adviser to the Saudi royal court against its commerce minister, Khaled al-Roudhan, who had recently paid a visit to Qatar.

According to AFP, Kuwait Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled al-Jarallah said that he had conveyed his country’s complaint to the Saudi ambassador in Kuwait. This was followed by an insulting tweet post by Saudi adviser, Turki al-Shaikh against Kuwaiti Commerce Minister Khaled al-Roudhan.

Kuwait’s Commerce Minister, who is also minister for youth affairs, has recently visited Doha to express thanks for helping lift international ban on Kuwait’s football.

The Saudi adviser, who also heads the country’s sports authority, had described Roudhan as a “mercenary” in a Twitter post a few days ago.

Kuwait’s Deputy foreign Minister said, “We have expressed our regret and blame over the insult against Khaled al-Roudhan, a minister who enjoys the full trust of all in Kuwait.”

However, Kuwait’s official news agency KUNA has downplayed the diplomatic crisis. It dismissed reports that Saudi Ambassador to Kuwait Abdulaziz al-Fayez was summoned for meeting with Deputy foreign minister Jarallah over the tweets.

Jarallah said the tweet could undermine “the close and distinguished ties” between Kuwait and Riyadh.

In early June last year, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE and Egypt, suddenly severed ties with Qatar alleging its support to terrorism and asking to cut diplomatic ties with Iran. They blockaded air, land and sea routes to the tiny country. Kuwait and Oman did not heed to the appeal made by Saudi King Salman to “brotherly” countries to isolate Qatar by discontinuing their ties.

Later, Saudi led quartet presented Qatar with a list of demands, including closing down of Aljazeera network, downgrading its ties with Iran and close new Turkish army base in its territory.

However, Kuwait’s emir Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah tried to mediate between Qatar and Saudi led quartet. Kuwait and Oman are considered to be nursing closer ties with Iran as well.

Qatar had denied it support to terror groups and refused to meet the demands and saying it will not surrender its sovereignty.

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Saudi Arabia-UAE forms separate military-trade partnership

In a fast moving development in Middle East, the much awaited GCC summit was cut short by a day due to ongoing diplomatic rift on Tuesday while rulers of three boycotting countries Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE skipped the event. Moreover Saudi Arabia and UAE have formed a new military and trade partnership separate from GCC.

Aljazeera reports that all the delegates will be leaving Kuwait after a closed door session on Tuesday. Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was the only head of state touching down at Kuwait airport on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, Oman’s Deputy PM for cabinet affairs Fahad bin Mahmoud Al-Saeed and Bahrain’s Deputy Pm Sheikh Mohammad bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa reached Kuwait for participating in the summit on Tuesday. This marked the lowest attendance at any GCC summit since its inception in 1981.

The preparatory ministerial level meeting could not set the agenda and priorities on Monday for the summit meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

The announcement of UAE and Saudi Arabia forming a new military and trade partnership separate from GCC came early on Tuesday ahead of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit. The statement issued by UAE foreign ministry said that country’s ruler and president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has approved the proposal.

The UAE foreign ministry statement says that the new committee “is assigned to cooperate and coordinate between the UAE and Saudi Arabia in all military, political, economic, trade and cultural fields, as well as others, in the interest of the two countries”.

However, Saudi authorities have not yet announced about the new joint move with UAE.

The Kuwait’s official news agency KUNA carried a curtain raiser on Tuesday morning saying that “GCC will kick off its summit amid aspirations to maintain further stability, security and integration amongst its member nations.”

It further elaborated that “participants are set to discuss several matters at the two day session, including regional and international developments, particularly political and security challenges.”

The GCC, which was established in the early years of Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-88), has been passing through unprecedented crisis after June 5, when Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed their ties with Qatar.

Jaman Elshayyal, Aljazeera correspondent reports from Kuwait that the new partnership “would be seen a very antagonising towards the GCC as an organisation, an organisation that has been under threat very much because of the actions of Saudi Arabia and the UAE in terms of imposing a blockade which has gone on for six months now”.

Volatile relationship among Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman were felt once again on Monday evening while Yemen’s Ansarullah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned foreign investors to leave Saudi Arabia and UAE and advised them to invest in Kuwait, Oman and Yemen’s capital Sana’a for conducting secure business.

Houthis were facing aerial campaign from Saudi-led coalition for over two years and are considered to be pro-Iran and Hezbollah. Houthi leader’s recommendation in favor of Kuwait and Oman carry lot of meaning in the regional diplomacy.

In October, Kuwait’s emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who was engaged in mediating in the Qatar crisis, warned of the potential collapse of the GCC.

Around the same time, Bahrain’s King al Khalifa had indicated that his country would not take part in any summit or meeting attended by Qatar unless it “corrects its approach”.

Despite that Qatar’s emir had agreed to resolve the crisis through dialogue but blockading Saudi-led quartet did not accept the proposal.

Killing of Saudi ally and former president of Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh at the hands of Houthis has also created new complex situation in the region. Saudi sponsored resignation of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri could not get the desired result as well.

Washington Post, while reporting the developments surrounding the summit says, that only organizing summit won’t be enough “to salvage the GCC, a group of American allied Gulf Arab nations formed in part in 1981 as a counterbalance to Shiite power Iran.”

It also indicated that US and its European allies have told GCC members that region remains stronger with them working together as a whole, while “the countries themselves still appear divided” over their future.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Defence Secretary James Mattis in Islamabad

At a time when Hafiz Saeed has announced to enter politics, US have accelerated pressure on Islamabad to contain terrorists and  destroy their “safe heavens” in the country. U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa in Islamabad on Monday.

Hours before landing at Islamabad, US Defence Secretary James Mattis said that he intends to work hard to find common ground with Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. He believes that this was necessary to restore the level of stability in South Asia.

Mattis is the first top U.S. official to visit Pakistan after August 21, when Preident Trump had announced his new South Asia Strategy. He is currently on a five day four nation tour visiting Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan and Kuwait.

Mattis is visiting Islamabad about a week after White House asked Islamabad to immediately charge and arrest Hafiz Saeed, the 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind and warned of repercussions.

Mattis was responding to questions of the reporters travelling on his way to Pakistan from Egypt. He said, “The first thing I’m going to do is do some listening, like I always do. My goal is to find common ground. I need to go, to sit down and listen to them, start there, start by listening.”

While discussing on the larger issue Mattis said, “These are 39 of the most economically powerful, generally speaking, most long-term democratic institutions in the world. These are powerful nations morally, economically and diplomatically, and certainly militarily,” he said.

He asserted that it was essential in South Asia that all countries work together saying,  “I mean, can you imagine a border between Pakistan and India where economic trade is not ongoing to the benefit of people on both sides of that border. We can not only imagine it; it’s a reality right now.”

US Defence Secretary said that we have got to work together and there’s a sense of urgency. He said, “There’s people who are living below the poverty line in both those countries. So as you look at this problem, if you’ll expand the problem you can understand the sense of urgency to move beyond violence and get back to the normal order of things,” he said.

Mounting further pressure on Pakistan CIA Director Mike Pompeo has also recently  warned Pakistan that if it does not eliminate the alleged safe havens inside its territory, the United States will do “everything we can” to destroy them.

Pompeo was asked at the Reagan National Defence Forum in Simi, California on Saturday, on how US administration would persuade Pakistan to adhere to its new Afghan policy, Mattis said, “You begin by seeking their assistance.”

The CIA director said that Secretary Mattis, while travelling to Pakistan, will “make clear the president’s intent” and “will deliver the message that we would love you to do that. And that the safe haven inside of Pakistan has worked to the detriment of our capacity to do what we needed to do in Afghanistan”.

On November 30, Reuters carried a story that President Donald Trump was considering plan to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo within weeks. However, it was later denied by Washington officials.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Sixty percent population facing famine

In a rare gesture towards the war torn Yemeni people, the victims of US supported Saudi Arabia led coalition’s ongoing bombing for more than two years, United Nations has warned that the catastrophic situation in the country is turning into a combination of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

The World Health Organization (WHO), UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and World Food Program (WFP) in a joint statement on Wednesday said that Yemen is grappling with “the world’s worst cholera outbreak in the midst of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.”  

It further said that 400,000 cases of suspected cholera and nearly 1,900 associated deaths have been recorded in the last three months. Vital health, water and sanitation facilities have been crippled by more than two years of hostilities and created the ideal condition for diseases to spread, the statement added.

“The country is on the brink of famine, with over 60 per cent of the population not knowing where their next meal will come from. Nearly 2 million Yemeni children are acutely malnourished. Malnutrition makes them more susceptible to cholera; diseases create more malnutrition. A vicious combination,” the statement added.

The Executive Directors of the WHO, UNICEF and WFP arrived in Yemen on Monday visiting the southern province of Aden and the capital Sana’a.

Meanwhile International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called on Western and regional countries to use their influence towards ending the Saudi led war on Yemen.

Peter Maurer, the President of ICRC, while visiting Sana’a, the Yemeni capital on Wednesday said, “Definitely we would hope that Western countries understand the deep crisis, the risk of this enormous crisis for international stability, for the stability of the region.”

He further said, “I came here to urge the international community to take action and step up its response to this outbreak, which is – let’s be very clear – a man-made outbreak. It’s largely the consequence of warfare and destruction of public services.”  

The ICRC President urged the Saudi Arabia’s authorities to allow delivery of the aid supplies through Sana’a airport, which is under Houthi Ansarullah movement control. He said that the country’s health system is in shambles, salaries have not been paid for at least ten months, rubbish is piling up in the streets and hospitals, water stations and other vital infrastructure have been attacked and destroyed by the Saudis.

Cholera infection first became epidemic in Yemen last October-December while the second outbreak began in late April this year.

According to Yemeni sources, the total death toll caused by Saudi led war against Yemen has crossed 12,000, including many women and children.

Saudi Arabia, along with some of its allies, has been pounding Yemen since March 2015 in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and reinstate resigned President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is now living in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition receives US arms and logistical support. It includes Egypt, UAE, Bahrain , Kuwait and Jordan. The same groups of countries, except Kuwait, are now engaged in isolating Qatar. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The move comes as a major shock in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has also accused Qatar of supporting terrorists

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations with Qatar on Monday and announced the withdrawal of their diplomatic staff from Doha within the next 48 hours. Qatari forces will also be pulled out of the ongoing Saudi Arabia-led war against Yemen.

Riyadh has closed border, air and sea traffic with Qatar, urging “all brotherly countries and companies to do the same”.

Egypt’s foreign ministry accused Qatar of taking an “antagonist approach” towards Egypt and said “all attempts to stop it from supporting terrorist groups failed”. Cairo announced the closure of its airspace and ports for all Qatari transportation “to protect its national security”.

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain gave two weeks to Qatari visitors and residents to leave their countries. This will effectively cut off Qatar from the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.

Kuwait and Oman, considered closer to Iran, have not yet followed the Saudi diktat on Qatar. All these countries are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which is yet to come up with its decision on Qatar’s continued membership of the council.

According to statement issued by the Saudi Press Agency, Riyadh took the decision to cut diplomatic ties due to Qatar’s “embrace of various terrorist and sectarian groups aimed at destabilizing the region” including the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, the Islamic State and groups supported by Iran in the kingdom’s restive eastern province of Qatif.

Shias in the eastern region have been demanding their religious and political rights where Riyadh has accelerated demolition of some Shia neighbourhoods. A large number of casualties and fatalities were recently reported from the region. A revered Shia leader, Sheikh Baqar al Nimr, was executed in January 2016.

Etihad Airways, the UAE’s flag carrier, said it would suspend flights to and from Qatar beginning Tuesday morning.

Bahrain’s foreign ministry also issued a statement saying it would withdraw its diplomatic staff from Qatari capital Doha within 48 hours and all Qatari diplomats should leave Bahrain within the same period.

The fast changing developments were witnessed after the recent visit of US President Donald Trump to Saudi Arabia where he addressed heads of 55 Muslim states. According to Al Jazeera, the Doha-based TV channel, Qatari Foreign Ministry regretted the measures by the Arab nations calling the decision “unjustified.” The Foreign Ministry statement said that “the measures are unjustified and are based on claims and allegations that have no basis in fact.”  However it said that the decisions would “not affect the normal lives of citizens and residents”.

Criticising Saudi Arabia’s big brotherly behaviour Qatar said “the aim is clear, and it is to impose guardianship on the state. This by itself is a violation of its (Qatar’s) sovereignty as a state,” it added.

The dispute between Qatar and Gulf Arab countries was escalated after a recent hacking of Qatar News Agency when it falsely attributed a statement to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani expressing support to Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel. It had also reportedly suggested that US President Donald Trump may not last in office.

Qatar’s government, however, categorically denied the comments were ever made. On Wednesday, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani was quoted as saying “there are international laws governing such crimes, especially the cyber attack. (The hackers) will be prosecuted according to law.”

Meanwhile, on May 27, Qatar’s Emir called Iranian President Hasan Rouhani to congratulate him on his re-election. Qatar shares a massive offshore gas field with Iran. Saudi Arabia sees Iran as its enemy number one and a threat to regional stability.

Moreover, the Saudi-supported Yemen’s government headed by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi also announced cutting ties with Qatar, accusing it of working with its enemies in the Iran-aligned Houthi movement, state news agency Saba reported. Hadi and his cabinet colleagues mostly stay in Riyadh and Yemen is virtually ruled by Al-Houthis headed by Abdul Malik al-Houthi. Saudi Arabia blames Iran of supporting them.

Senior Iranian official Hamid Aboutalebi, the deputy chief of staff of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, tweeted that the measures by the Arab nations would not help end the crisis in the Middle East.  “The era of cutting diplomatic ties and closing borders … is not a way to resolve crisis … As I said before, aggression and occupation will have no result but instability.”  He was referring to the Saudi-led coalition’s involvement in Yemen.

Qatar is home to the sprawling al-Udaid Air Base which hosts the US military’s Central Command and some 10,000 American troops. Bahrain, one of the countries severing ties with Qatar, hosts the US Navy’s 5^th fleet.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who is currently visiting Australia, said he did not believe the diplomatic crisis would affect the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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