News Menu, June 20: PM to visit Bihar, Odisha; Israel-Iran conflict intensifies
Good morning. On June 20, 1877, Hugh Cossart Baker Jr. launched the first commercial telephone exchange in Hamilton, Ontario, revolutionising global communication with the introduction of the telephone. Inspired by Alexander Graham Bell's invention earlier that year, Baker began by leasing four telephones to friends for chess games, paving the way for the service's expansion. As conflicts and connectivity shape our world, India Today hopes Iran and Israel will dial down the hostility. With this wish, we serve a news menu blending global tensions, domestic resilience, and cultural milestones.Geopolitical Raita: Iran-Israel War Enters Eighth DayIsrael's Defence Minister Israel Katz declared 'eliminating' Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a war goal after Iranian missile strikes hit four sites, including Soroka Hospital in Beersheba, causing extensive damage and injuring over 240 people, four seriously. Israel retaliated by targeting Iran's Arak heavy water reactor, escalating its campaign against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.US President Donald Trump, weighing military intervention, said he's holding off on strikes 'for now' but knows Khamenei's location, calling him an 'easy target.' Khamenei warned US intervention would bring 'irreparable consequences.'The UN Security Council, backed by Russia and China, will meet Friday to address the crisis. EU foreign ministers also plan a video conference to explore de-escalation.Quick Take: Targeting civilian infrastructure like hospitals marks a grim escalation, with both sides leveraging psychological warfare. The UN and EU's diplomatic efforts face hurdles due to limited influence over Israel and Iran. The risk of a broader Middle East conflict looms large.Indian Workers in Israel: Families in FearUntil recently, youths from Uttar Pradesh were sent to Israel for work. With the Iran-Israel conflict intensifying, questions arise about whether this program has been halted and the status of those already there. Families are anxious, with some urging the government to evacuate their kin.Operation Sindhu continues, with 600 Indian students, including 500 from Kashmir, safely reaching Mashhad. A second group is expected in Delhi on Friday. Plan: Pranay/Geeta in Delhi and Mir Farid in Srinagar to track and file stories on Kashmiri students' evacuation.Tea In Naxals Zones: Amit Shah's Chhattisgarh VisitUnion Home Minister Amit Shah visits Naxal-hit Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh, a symbolic Maoist stronghold, following the elimination of top Naxal leaders. The visit underscores the Centre's push for a Naxal-free zone.Monsoon Mess: BMC's Road Repair FiascoMumbai's BMC faces scrutiny as shoddy road repairs near Dahisar toll naka collapsed after the first rains, exposing potholes and a suspected nexus in repair contracts. Heavy rainfall disrupted trains and traffic across the city, with red alerts issued for Raigad, Pune, and Ratnagiri. The India Meteorological Department issued a red alert for Pune, Raigad, and Ratnagiri, warning of heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, thunderstorms, and gusty winds in Western Maharashtra and North Konkan. Khadakwasla Dam authorities will release 1,920 cusecs of water into the Mutha River due to rising levels.Sweet Dish: Artificial Rain PilotThe IMD has cleared a cloud-seeding pilot project in Delhi to combat air pollution, involving five aircraft sorties in northwest and outer Delhi.PM's Packed Menu: Bihar, Odisha, and BeyondPrime Minister Narendra Modi visits Bihar and Odisha on June 20. In Siwan, Bihar, at 12 noon, he will lay foundation stones and inaugurate development projects, addressing a rally. In Bhubaneswar, Odisha, at 3:45 pm, he will hold a roadshow, followed by a 4:15 pm event marking one year of the BJP government, launching projects worth over Rs 18,600 crore. On June 21, Modi will attend an International Yoga Day event in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.Southern Masala: Andhra Pradesh RowAndhra Pradesh: Former CM Jagan Mohan Reddy's use of a Pushpa 2 dialogue to back YSRCP cadre incites controversy. AP Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav slams Jagan's 'Rappa Rappa' remark as reflective of a violent mindset.Tamil Nadu: DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran sends a legal notice to brother Kalanidhi over Sun TV share disputes, alleging illegal allotments worth Rs 8,500 crore without shareholder consent.Parting BiteOn June 20, 1947, Bengal's partition was sealed, shaping modern India's borders. Bengal BJP plans a grand Paschim Banga Diwas on June 20, marking the event. The TMC opposes the Modi government's decision, preferring Poila Baisakh as West Bengal Day. The fight over history continues.
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Hindustan Times
4 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei faces his greatest test: Things to know about Iran's Supreme Leader
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who crushed internal threats repeatedly during more than three decades in power, now faces his greatest challenge yet. His archenemy, Israel, has secured free rein over Iran's skies and is decimating the country's military leadership and nuclear program with its punishing air campaign. It is also threatening his life: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Khamenei 'cannot continue to exist.' The 86-year-old leader faces a choice. He could escalate Iran's retaliation against Israel and risk even heavier damage from Israel's bombardment. Or he could seek a diplomatic solution that keeps the US out of the conflict, and risk having to give up the nuclear program he has put at the center of Iranian policy for years. In a video address Wednesday he sounded defiant, vowing 'the Iranian nation is not one to surrender' and warning that if the US steps in, it will bring 'irreparable damage to them.' When he rose to power in 1989, Khamenei had to overcome deep doubts about his authority as he succeeded the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A low-level cleric at the time, Khamenei didn't have his predecessor's religious credentials. With his thick glasses and plodding style, he didn't have his fiery charisma either. But Khamenei has ruled three times longer than the late Khomeini and has shaped Iran's Islamic Republic perhaps even more dramatically. He entrenched the system of rule by the 'mullahs," or Shiite Muslim clerics. That secured his place in the eyes of hardliners as the unquestionable authority — below only that of God. At the same time, Khamenei built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the dominant force in Iran's military and internal politics. The Guard boasts Iran's most elite military and oversees its ballistic missile program. Its international arm, the Quds Force, pieced together the 'Axis of Resistance,' the collection of pro-Iranian proxies stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave Iran considerable power across the region. Khamenei also gave the Guard a free hand to build a network of businesses allowing it to dominate Iran's economy. In return, the Guard became his loyal shock force. The first major threat to Khamenei's grip was the reform movement that swept into a parliament majority and the presidency soon after he became supreme leader. The movement advocated for giving greater power to elected officials – something Khamenei's hardline supporters feared would lead to dismantling the Islamic Republic system. Khamenei stymied the reformists by rallying the clerical establishment. Unelected bodies run by the mullahs succeeded in shutting down major reforms and barring reform candidates from running in elections. The Revolutionary Guard and Iran's other security agencies crushed waves of protests that followed the failure of the reform movement. Huge nationwide protests erupted in 2009 over allegations of vote-rigging. Under the weight of sanctions, economic protests broke out in 2017 and 2019. More nationwide protests broke out in 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini after police detained her for not wearing her mandatory headscarf properly. Hundreds were killed in crackdowns on the protests, and hundreds more arrested amid reports of detainees tortured to death or raped in prison. Still, the successive protests showed the strains in Iran's theocratic system and lay bare widespread resentment of clerical rule, corruption and economic troubles. Trying to defuse anger, authorities often eased enforcement of some of the Islamic Republic's social restrictions. When Khamenei took power, Iran was just emerging from its long war with Iraq that left the country battered and isolated. Over the next three decades, Khamenei turned Iran around into as assertive power wielding influence across the Middle East. One major boost was the US's 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, which eventually brought Iranian-allied Shiite politicians and militias to power in Iraq. Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel brought a massive Israeli retaliation on the Gaza Strip. It also brought a turnaround in Israeli policy. After years of trying to fend off and tamp down Iran's allies, Israel made crushing them it's goal. Hamas has been crippled, though not eliminated, even at the cost of the decimation of Gaza. Israel has similarly sidelined Hezbollah — at least for the moment — with weeks of bombardment in Lebanon last year, along with a dramatic attack with booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies that stunned the group. An even heavier blow to Hezbollah was the fall in December of Syria's Bashar Assad when Sunni rebels marched on the capital and removed him from power. Now, a government hostile to Iran and Hezbollah rules from Damascus. Iran's Axis of Resistance is at its lowest ebb ever.
Hindustan Times
9 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Iran fires cluster bombs at Israel as conflict enters 8th day: Death toll mounts, no diplomatic breakthrough
Iran launched a missile carrying cluster submunitions into central Israel on Thursday, in what Israeli officials say marks the first use of such weapons in the eight-days at war. The Iranian missile reportedly scattered dozens of bomblets over civilian areas to maximise the chance of damage inflicted on the enemy side. "Today, the Iranian Armed Forces fired a missile that contained cluster submunitions at a densely populated civilian area in Israel," the Israeli embassy in Washington said in a statement to Reuters. The attack came amid a fresh wave of missile exchanges between Iran and Israel on Friday. According to Israeli media reports, the missile's warhead detonated at an altitude of around 7 kilometers, releasing approximately 20 submunitions over a radius of 8 kilometers in central Israel. Iranian officials have not commented on the allegations. Follow Israel Iran war live. Israeli authorities said on Thursday that the body of a woman was recovered from a building hit by an Iranian missile four days earlier, raising Israel's death toll to 25 since the war began, according to AFP. Iran, meanwhile, has reported at least 224 deaths from Israeli strikes as of Sunday. The killed individuals include top military officials, nuclear scientists, and civilians. However, Tehran has not given an updates figure since. European diplomats convened in Geneva with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi on Friday in a last-ditch effort to prevent further escalation. Foreign ministers from France, Germany, the UK, and the EU urged restraint and diplomacy. British foreign secretary David Lammy emphasised the urgency, saying the coming two weeks represent 'a window... to achieve a diplomatic solution.' The UN Security Council is also expected to hold a second emergency session on the conflict, following a request from Iran backed by Russia, China, and Pakistan, diplomats confirmed. Back in Washington, President Donald Trump, said he would decide 'within the next two weeks' whether to back Israeli military action. 'There is still a substantial chance of a negotiated end to this,' Trump was quoted by AFP, as saying. The Wall Street Journal reported that while he has approved strike plans, he is waiting to see whether Iran shows willingness to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, Russia warned that any American involvement 'would be an extremely dangerous step.' Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq also threatened retaliation. Satellite imagery on Thursday revealed that several US military aircraft had been relocated from a base in Qatar. Iran, still reeling from last week's loss of senior officials, has appointed Brigadier General Majid Khadami as the new head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards' intelligence division, the state-run IRNA reported on Thursday. He replaces Mohammed Kazemi, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike that also claimed the lives of commanders Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tehran would pay a 'heavy price' after Iran's missile barrage hit Soroka Hospital in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba. The 1000-bed hospital's director Shlomi Codish said 40 people were injured, and the facility was left in flames. However, Tehran claimed the hospital was not the intended target; instead, it said the nearby military and intelligence base was the primary objective. This came as the Israeli military announced overnight strikes on Iranian nuclear infrastructure, including an 'inactive nuclear reactor' in Arak and the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. A military spokesperson said the operation aimed to 'prevent the reactor from being restored.' (With AFP, Reuters, AP inputs)
Hans India
9 minutes ago
- Hans India
Trump Weighs Response to Iran, Decision Expected in Coming Weeks
Trump Middle East updates: President Trump said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether the United States would Trump on Iran strike, shifting from earlier remarks that suggested the Trump Iran attack decision could come soon and opening the possibility for new talks on Iran's nuclear program. The latest Iranian missile salvo hit a residential street in a city in southern Israel, the emergency services in Israel announced. The missile left a large crater in the street, blowing out balconies on several apartment buildings and setting a number of cars on fire, pictures and video released by the police and Magen David Adom, Israel's main ambulance service, showed. In a phone interview with Sky News published early on Friday, the Kremlin's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, said talk of regime change in Iran was 'unimaginable' and 'even talking about it should be unacceptable.' If Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, were killed, which both Israel and U.S. leaders have alluded to in recent days that would only lead to extremism in Iran he said. He did not say how or if Russia would react. Peskov also warned against escalation and Iran US conflict 2025 involvement, which he said would make the situation more dangerous if there were more players. Britain's foreign secretary, David Lammy, said the situation with Iran remained 'perilous' after a meeting he held on Thursday at the White House with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for the Middle East. 'A window now exists within the next two weeks to deliver a diplomatic solution,' Lammy said, a reference to a timeline announced by Trump earlier on Thursday. Lammy made it clear in his written statement before the meeting that Iran should not be allowed to get a nuclear weapon. 'Tomorrow I will be going to Geneva to meet the Iranian Foreign Minister together with my French, German and EU counterparts,' he said.
