Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign from his post despite the countrywide protests

HT Daily News Wrap

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign from his post despite the countrywide protests, Mukesh Ambani continues to stay on top of the list as the richest Indian with a net worth of $90.7 billion, US defence major Boeing will be sending two F-18 Super Hornet fighters next month for the Indian Navy and other top news in today's bulletin.
Asserting that India is strongly against the Russia-Ukraine conflict, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said if New Delhi has chosen aside, it is the side of peace and for an immediate end to violence. Replying to the discussion in the Lok Sabha on the situation in Ukraine, Jaishankar said all members would agree that India’s approach should be guided by its national beliefs and values, national interest and by its national strategy. Elaborating on what India is advocating in Ukraine, Jaishankar said, “We are strongly against the conflict, we believe that no solution can be arrived at by shedding blood and at the cost of innocent lives. In this day and age, dialogue and diplomacy are the right answers to any disputes.” One should bear in mind that the contemporary global order has been built on the UN Charter, on respect for international law and for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states, he asserted. Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Wednesday said the Constitution allows her to eat meat whenever she likes, the same way the constitution allows a shopkeeper the freedom to run his trade. The comment from the Lok Sabha MP who is also a South Delhi resident comes amid the meat ban row triggered by South Delhi Municipal Corporation mayor Mukesh Suryan’s letter demanding the closure of meat shops in the municipal area during Navratri. Officials, however, said they have not come across any official directive in this regard. After the south mayor, the East Delhi mayor too asked meat shops to close as “most people do not consume non-vegetarian food”. Reports sad meat shops in several markets in south Delhi remained shut on Tuesday. Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa will not resign from his post despite the countrywide protests calling for the leader to step down over his handling of the ongoing economic crisis, minister Johnston Fernando told the Parliament on Wednesday. “May I remind you that 6.9 million people voted for the president,” said the chief government whip and highways minister in Parliament amid outrage by the opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament, according to news agency Reuters. “As a government, we are clearly saying the president will not resign under any circumstances. We will face this,” Fernando added. The island nation is in the midst of a severe economic crisis, leading to fuel shortages, power cuts of 13 hours and spiralling inflation. People across the country have taken to the street calling on their President to resign from the presidency, saying that the ruler’s mismanagement of the crisis made it worse. Reliance Industries chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani continues to stay on top of the list as the richest Indian with a net worth of $90.7 billion, according to the Forbes Billionaires List 2022, which was published on Tuesday. Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk emerged as the richest person in the world, followed by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Louis Vuitton chief Bernard Arnault. Ambani ranked at the 10th position on the global list, followed narrowly by fellow industrialist and Adani Group founder Gautam Adani, whose fortune climbed by almost $40 billion over the past year, to an estimated $90 billion. Among other prominent faces on the list included Shiv Nadar, Cyrus Poonawalla, Radhakishan Damani, Lakshmi Mittal, Savitri Jindal, Kumar Birla, Dilip Shanghvi, Uday Kotak and Sunil Mittal. According to the Forbes report, Indian billionaires increased to a record high of 166 from 140 last year, with a combined wealth of $760 billion. Vaccine maker Cyrus Poonawalla, whose Serum Institute of India became the country’s largest Covid-19 vaccine producer with Covishield, nearly doubled his income in a year. US defence major Boeing will be sending two F-18 Super Hornet fighters next month for the Indian Navy to conduct flight trials at INS Hansa’s shore-based test facility in Goa for consideration as the main weapon on India’s new aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Still called as indigenous aircraft carrier-1 (IAC-1), the warship is going to be commissioned on August 15, 2022, the 75th year of Indian independence, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to information available from New Delhi and Washington, the flight trials of the F-18 carrier capable fighter on the mockup 928 feet deck of India’s sole aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya are expected around May 21. This date may depend on the availability of mid-air refuelling tankers with Boeing to fly the F-18s to Goa. While INS Vikramaditya is soon to be joining duties after more than a yearlong overhaul and maintenance, the IAC-1 or INS Vikrant is under exhaustive sea trials and will be in action later this year with MiG-29K fighters on board for the time being.