World No Tobacco Day
Signature drive and rallies marked the 'No Tobacco Day' on Friday, May 31, 2019 across the country and world.
The World Health Organization (WHO observes 'World No Tobacco Day'e Every year, on May 31. The annual campaign is an opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form. The Swaminarayan Mandir in Dadar in Mumbai organised “Anti Addiction Rally” along with school childrens.
Cabinet Ministers take charge
Ram Vilas Paswan at his office after taking charge as Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, in New Delhi on Friday, May 31, 2019.
BJP president Amit Shah is the new Union Home Minister and former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman the Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister. Former Home Minister Rajnath Singh takes over Defence and former Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will take care of External Affairs. The allocation of portfolios to newly sworn-in members of the Council of Ministers, announced on Friday, shows more of a juggle in the top four Ministries, with other portfolios largely remaining with those who held them in the outgoing government. Smriti Irani has been allotted Women and Child Development in addition to Textiles which she held earlier. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Dharmendra Pradhan and Piyush Goyal have retained Law, Petroleum and Railways respectively.
Karnataka farmers wait for arrival of monsoon
A farmer is engaged in ploughing activities in anticipation of monsoon in Belagavi .
Even as the farmers in Belagavi, Karnatakak have started farm activities with hopes of good monsoon, Belagavi Zilla Panchayat has begun preparations to handle the dry spell that is expected before the monsoon. It has drawn up plans to help farmers live through the drought, which include water supply, increasing MGNREGA works, setting up fodder banks and distributing seed kits.
After suffering around 30 % deficient rainfall than the annual average, all the 15 taluks of the district have been declared drought-hit in two circulars issued in the last six months.
Pope visits Romania 20 years after John Paul’s historic trip
A gust of wind blows Pope Francis' mantle as he boards the airplane for Bucharest, Romania at Rome's Fiumicino International airport, on Friday, May 31, 2019. Pope Francis is heading to Romania for a three-day, cross-country pilgrimage that in many ways is completing the 1999 trip by St. John Paul II that marked the first-ever papal visit to a majority Orthodox country.
Pope Francis is heading to Romania for a three-day, cross-country pilgrimage that in many ways is completing the 1999 trip by St. John Paul II that marked the first-ever papal visit to a majority Orthodox country.
Francis’ visit starting Friday comes on the heels of the European Parliament elections that hollowed out the political middle in the bloc, and Francis is expected to speak about issues confronting the continent during the trip.
Key moments are Francis’ Mass for the largely Hungarian-speaking Roman Catholic faithful at the country’s most famous Marian shrine, Sumuleu Ciuc, in eastern Transylvania.
He will also beatify seven Greek-Catholic bishops who were martyred during communist rule, when Catholics were brutally persecuted.
Pompeo visits Germany as tensions rise between US, Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo exits his plane upon arrival at Tegel airport in Berlin, Germany, Friday, May 31, 2019. Pompeo is in Berlin for a one day visit and will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel and his counterpart Heiko Maas.
Mike Pompeo is making his first visit to Germany as secretary of state at the start of a four-nation European trip as tensions rise between the U.S. and Iran.
Pompeo was set to meet Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday before continuing to Switzerland, which has long represented Washington’s interests in Tehran and has in the past been an intermediary between the two.
Germany is one of the signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers that is trying to keep it alive after the U.S. withdrew last year.
Pompeo’s stop in Berlin makes up for a visit that he abruptly called off in early May to fly to Iraq. He is also traveling to the Netherlands and Britain.Pompeo visits Germany as tensions rise between US, Iran.
Sirisena at BIMSTEC meeting
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the bilateral Meeting with BIMSTEC Nations at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Friday,May 31, 2019
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the bilateral Meeting with other Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Friday. On Thursday, the Presidents of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kyrgyz Republic and Myanmar and the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Nepal and Bhutan attended the swearing-in function of Mr. Modi and his cabinet ministers.
S.Korea braces for African swine fever outbreak after N.Korea case
In this May 8, 2019, photo, pigs stand in a barn at a pig farm in Jiangjiaqiao village in northern China's Hebei province. Pork lovers worldwide are wincing at prices that have jumped by up to 40 percent as China's struggle to stamp out African swine fever in its vast pig herds sends shockwaves through global meat markets.
South Korea readied on Friday to prevent an outbreak of African swine fever in its pig herd after the disease was found in North Korea, the latest Asian country to be hit by the virus' rapid spread.
The outbreak was confirmed at a farm in Jagang province in North Korea near the country's border with China on May 25, South Korea's Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. More than 20 hogs were culled and more than 70 pigs died from the virus, the ministry said.
The highly contagious disease, which is fatal to pigs but does not affect humans, has spread rapidly across China since it was first detected in the country last August and has also been reported in Vietnam. There is no vaccine against it.
The South Korean government held a meeting on Friday to discuss ways to prevent the spread of the virus. Measures will include stepping up disinfection near the border areas between the two Koreas, the ministry said.
“Although the outbreak occurred in Jagang near North Korea's border with China, there is a possibility that the virus could spread to the South and we plan to carry out extra disinfection measures,” Oh Soon-min, director general of the agriculture ministry said at a press briefing.
Separately, South Korea's unification ministry said it would communicate with North Korea through an inter-Korean liaison office to work on detailed protection measures.
Pork is a popular meat among South Koreans and is cheaper than beef.
Trump slaps tariff on Mexico
Donald Trump
In a surprise announcement that could compromise a major trade deal, President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he is slapping a 5% tariff on all Mexican imports, effective June 10, to pressure the country to do more to crack down on the surge of Central American migrants trying to cross the U.S. border.
Mr. Trump made the announcement by tweet after telling reporters earlier on Thursday that he was planning “a major statement” that would be his “biggest” so far on the border.
“On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,” he wrote, “at which time the Tariffs will be removed.”
Hundreds protest Louisiana's passage of 'heartbeat' bill
Sen. John Milkovich, D-Shreveport, and Rep. Valarie Hodges, R-Denham Springs, right, embrace after speaking to the media outside the State Capitol, on Wednesday, May 29, 2019, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, after the House passed Milkovich's 'fetal heartbeat' bill that would ban abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy, if upheld by the courts, sending it to the governor's desk without exceptions for victims of rape and incest.
Hundreds of demonstrators filed into the Louisiana State Capitol a day after lawmakers passed a strict new abortion ban that Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards is expected to sign.
Many on Thursday wore bright pink T-shirts reading “We Stand With Planned Parenthood” on the front and “We Won’t Back Down” on the back, in protest of the so-called heartbeat bill. The measure bars abortions once there’s a detectable fetal heartbeat, as early as the sixth week of pregnancy.
Demonstrators, some with babies in tow, filled the Capitol’s lobby even though they couldn’t chant or bring signs inside. Many said policymakers have proven they’re against women and women’s health and said that despite the ban, abortions will continue but just won’t be safe.
(With input from agencies)
