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Heavy overnight rains that wreaked havoc in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were triggered by a "violent interaction" between dry westerly winds and moisture-laden easterlies, meteorologists said on Tuesday. The overnight downpour swept away at least five people and stranded over 500 in Dehradun and adjoining areas. In Himachal's Mandi, three members of a family died as landslides and flash floods submerged a bus stand. C S Tomar, head of the India Meteorological Department's regional centre in Dehradun, said the incessant rains in Uttarakhand and Himachal were caused by a confluence of dry westerlies and moist easterlies and that the interaction is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. Mahesh Palawat, vice president (meteorology) at private forecaster Skymet, said no major weather system was present in the region. "The rains were a result of violent interaction between warm and dry winds due to an anti-cyclone near Rajasthan and humid easterly winds," he said. Thi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host his Mauritius counterpart Navinchandra Ramgoolam, who is on a state visit to India, in Varanasi on Thursday and hold bilateral discussions with him. The meeting in the historic city underscores the enduring civilisational connect, spiritual bonds and deep-rooted people-to-people ties that have shaped the special and unique relationship between India and Mauritius, an official statement said. Modi will later will travel to Dehradun and undertake an aerial survey of the flood affected areas in Uttarakhand. He will chair a high-level review meeting with officials, it said. Ramgoolam, who reached Mumbai on Tuesday, will be in India till September 16. During their bilateral discussions, Modi and Ramgoolam will review the full spectrum of cooperation, with particular focus on development partnership and capacity building, the statement said. They will also discuss opportunities for expanding collaboration in health, education, science and technolog
Britain and Mauritius are finalising a deal to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, a disputed UK territory that is home to a major US military base, the UK government said Tuesday. The government signalled that President Donald Trump's administration, which was consulted on the deal, has given its approval and no further action is needed from the US. We are working with the Mauritian government to finalise and sign the treaty, said Tom Wells, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Once signed it will be laid before both houses of Parliament for scrutiny and for ratification. Britain and Mauritius have been negotiating a deal for the UK to hand over the Indian Ocean archipelago, which is home to a strategically important naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia. The UK would then lease back the base for at least 99 years. But the deal has faced criticism from the opposition Conservative Party and from some allies of Trump. Last year the ...
Two women born on the Chagos Islands are seeking to take the British government to court over a proposed deal to transfer sovereignty of the disputed Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius. Lawyers for the two women argued Monday that it was unlawful to exclude Chagossians from deciding the future of the tropical archipelago, home to a strategically important UK-US naval and bomber base. The UK government announced in October that it intends to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius though Britain would retain control of Diego Garcia, the largest island where the military base is located. But negotiations have stalled, pending agreement from US President Donald Trump's government. Britain evicted hundreds of people from the remote islands in the 1960s and 1970s so the US military could build the base on Diego Garcia. Many of the islanders were relocated to the UK and have faced legal challenges returning to their birthplace. Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe, both British citize
During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India and Mauritius signed an agreement to enhance cooperation in combating money laundering, corruption, fraud, asset recovery and the financing of illicit activities, the ED said Thursday. The collaboration between Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Financial Crimes Commission (FCC) of Mauritius will "bolster" financial enforcement capabilities and will also contribute to broader economic and security cooperation between the two nations, the federal probe agency said in a statement. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was exchanged in the presence of Modi and Prime Minister of Mauritius Navinchandra Ramgoolam. During the discussions leading to the MoU, the ED and the FCC explored the possibilities of "joint operations" to detect, investigate and prosecute cross-border money laundering offences, according to the ED. They also underlined the significance of exchange programmes, experience sharing, training and skill build
Mauritius is pressing for amendments to its trade agreement, including Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) with India, Foreign and Trade Minister Dhananjay Ramful said. In an interview with PTI Videos at his office in Port Louis, he underscored the need to revisit the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) to restore Mauritius' position as a preferred investment conduit, as foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows from the island nation to India have declined sharply since the treaty's revision in 2016. Amendment in DTAC is still under discussion. Two issues, I think, need to be sorted out. From what I've been told, once this is sorted out, then they will sign the protocol, he explained, hinting at unresolved sticking points in the negotiations. The minister announced that a second session of the joint committee will convene soon to revisit both the CECPA and the DTAC, aiming to address trade imbalances and taxation issues. We have signed the ..
Britain's government confirmed on Wednesday that it will not finalize a deal to hand over sovereignty of the contested Chagos Islands to Mauritius until President-elect Donald Trump's administration is consulted. The governments of Britain and Mauritius have been negotiating in recent months to complete an agreement to settle the future of the disputed Indian Ocean archipelago, which is home to a strategically important UK-US naval and bomber base. But the agreement was opposed by Trump and his supporters. The president-elect's pick for secretary of state, Marco Rubio, warned last year that the deal posed a serious threat to US national security. The military base, located on Diego Garcia, the largest of the chain of tropical islands off the tip of India, has supported US military operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2008, the US acknowledged it also had been used for clandestine rendition flights of terror suspects. The official spokesperson for British Prime Minis