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India will "not be intimidated" by "desperate provocations", the Indian embassy in Portugal has said after a Pakistani group staged a protest outside its chancery building here. The embassy said in a post on X on Sunday that it responded firmly with 'Operation Sindoor' to the "cowardly" protest. Under Operation Sindoor, India carried out precision strikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) early on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. "Embassy of India @IndiainPortugal responded firmly with Operation Sindoor' to the cowardly protest organised by Pakistan near our Chancery building," said the post. "India will not be intimidated by such desperate provocations. Our resolve remains unshaken," it said. It also thanked the Portuguese government and police for their support in ensuring the embassy's safety and security. In a separate post on X, India's Ambassador to Portugal Puneet Kundal said that the protesters were met with
The sweeping power outage that hit Spain and Portugal this week has raised questions about the electricity grid in a region not normally known for blackouts. Monday's outage, one of the worst ever in Europe, started in the afternoon and lasted through nightfall, affecting tens of millions of people across the Iberian Peninsula. It disrupted businesses, hospitals, transit systems, cellular networks and other critical infrastructure. Authorities in Spain and Portugal are still investigating exactly what caused the failure, though some information has emerged about happened. Here's what to know: What happened? Spain and Portugal lost most of their electricity early Monday afternoon. Shortly after 12.30 pm local time, Spain lost 15 gigawatts of electricity or roughly 60 per cent of demand in the country of 49 million, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said. There had been two significant disconnection events or interruptions in power before the outage, Spain's electric grid operator Re
Power had almost fully returned to Spain early Tuesday morning as many questions remained about what caused one of Europe's most severe blackouts that grounded flights, paralysed metro systems, disrupted mobile communications and shut down ATMs across Spain and Portugal. By 6:30 am, more than 99 per cent of energy demand in Spain had been restored, the country's electricity operator Red Electrica said. Power had returned to several regions across Spain and Portugal as the nations reeled from the still-unexplained widespread blackout that had turned airports and train stations into campgrounds for stranded travellers. Monday night, many city residents, including in Spain's capital of Madrid, went to sleep in total darkness. The normally illuminated cathedral spires of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia Basilica became indistinguishable from the night sky. Streets remained deserted even in neighbourhoods where lights flickered back on, as people stayed home after a day of chaos. We have a l
Portugal has reiterated its support for India's bid for permanent membership in a reformed UN Security Council, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday. Briefing the media on the conclusion of President Droupadi Murmu's two-day State Visit to Portugal, Secretary (West) Tanmaya Lal said that both countries are cooperating at various multilateral fora, including the United Nations. "During the visit, Portuguese leadership reiterated its support for permanent membership of India at the United Nations Security Council," he said. India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member. India argues that the 15-nation council founded in 1945 is not fit for purpose in the 21st Century and does not reflect contemporary geo-political realities. Lal said Portugal contributes very strongly to the India-EU strategic Partnership and ...
Indians do not want to conquer countries but want to conquer hearts, President Droupadi Murmu said while interacting with Indian researchers here on Tuesday. During an interactive session with Indian researchers at Champalimaud Centre for Unknowns, the president told them to be the best ambassadors of India as they are identified by the name of their country. "You will excel in education. You will excel in research. You will become a good scholar but you will contribute to the economy and society, and follow rules and regulations here. Move ahead and make India proud," Murmu said in response to a question from a researcher. The president could not hold back the teacher in herself as she stood up from her seat to respond to every question directed at her by the researchers. "I had gone to a country where a senior leader asked me if Indians want to conquer the world. I said Indians do not want to conquer countries, they want to conquer hearts," she said. When asked about the strides