Colombian presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, shot in head, remains in ‘most grave condition'
Colombian presidential candidate, Senator Miguel Uribe, who was shot twice in the head during a campaign rally in Bogota and rushed to the hospital, was said to be in a "grave condition" and "fighting for his life".
The 39-year-old Uribe underwent successful initial surgery to treat the injuries from Saturday's assassination attempt. However, doctors warned that his condition was still serious, news agency AFP reported.
Medics at Bogota's Santa Fe Clinic said, Uribe remains in "the most grave condition and the prognosis is reserved".
The Senator's shooting left the entire nation in shock, for Colombia believed that its history of bloody political and narcotics violence was largely in the past.
Meanwhile, several hundred of Colombians took to the streets with candles to pray for the recovery of Uribe. Carolina Gomez, a 41-year-old businesswoman, told AFP, "Our hearts are broken, Colombia hurts."
The crowd gathered at several places across the nation chanted "strength to you Miguel" and "the people are with you".
Uribe's wife, Maria Claudia Tarazona, thanked Colombians for their support and requested them to collectively pray for his survival. "He is fighting hard for his life," she said.
Miguel Uribe was shot in the El Golfito Park in the Modelia neighbourhood of Bogota's Fontibon district during a public gathering.
Uriba, a right-wing opposition leader and a presidential candidate from the Democratic Center, was meeting supporters when a man allegedly approached from behind and shot him in the back of the head.
Bogota Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán confirmed that Uribe's shooter had been captured. The motive for shooting the presidential candidate, however, is still unknown.
Defense minister Pedro Sanchez said on Sunday that a team of about 100 investigators are now working to determine the motive behind the attack.
Earlier, Sanchez had offered an approximately US$725,000 reward for information about who was behind the attack.
The suspect, believed to be a 15-year-old boy, was injured during the scuffle with the forces and was receiving treatment, said police director Carlos Fernando Triana.
Colombia's leftist President Gustavo Petro condemned the violence and said that it was "an attack not only against his person, but also against democracy, freedom of thought, and the legitimate exercise of politics in Colombia".
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also condemned the attacked and termed it a "direct threat to democracy".
However, Rubio also blamed Petro and claimed that the attack was "the result of the violent leftist rhetoric coming from the highest levels of the Colombian government".
"President Pedro needs to dial back the inflammatory rhetoric and protect Colombian officials," Rubio added.
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US and China to hold trade talks in London focusing on export controls
In the second round of trade talks today in London, the United States and China are set to be focussed on export controls regarding critical technologies and rare earths instead of tariffs. read more US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are seen during an engagement on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Osaka, Japan, in 2019. (Photo: Reuters) The United States and China will hold second round of trade talks in London on Monday. The focus is going to be on export controls instead of tariffs. In recent weeks, both the countries have sought to choke the other's access to critical supply chain elements that they dominate. While the Donald Trump administration has sought to restrict China's access to semiconductors, jet engines, and certain chemicals and machinery, China has restricted the supply of rare earths, which are critical to manufacture virtually everything from cars to fighter planes and electronic chips. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Both the United States and China have accused the other of violating the trade truce reached last month. On May 12, the United States and China reached a truce and agreed to reduce tariffs by 115 per cent for 90 days so talks could continue. However, within days, the Trump administration tightened export controls regarding semiconductors. China responded by not relaxing rare earths' supplies that were halted in April. While Trump has said that China has 'totally' violated the truce and that Chinese leader Xi Jinping 'extremely hard' to make a deal with, China claimed that the United States had 'severely violated the common understandings reached in Geneva'. US-China trade talks to now focus on export controls Unlike the first round of talks in Switzerland's Geneva, the second round of talks in London will be focussed on export controls. The new focus comes as China's s stoppage rare earths supplies has threatened to bring manufacturing units in the United States and elsewhere, including India, to a halt, particularly in sectors like automobiles. This would be a major blow to Trump, who has championed revitalising the US manufacturing industry. The US delegation will be led by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent but will also include Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The inclusion of Lutnick, who was not part of talks in Geneva and oversees the US export control regime, reinforces the understanding that talks will be focussed on export controls instead of tariffs. The Chinese delegation will be led by He Lifeng, the vice premier for economic policy who also led the delegations in Geneva. While American negotiators are expected to press for China to relax curbs on the export of rare earths, Chinese officials are expected to press for the removal of US curbs on China's access to semiconductors, jet engines, and other critical technologies, according to Wall Street Journal. There are signs that the two sides may be headed towards achieving an understanding that makes way for an off-ramp. Even though they have accused each other of violating the spirit of talks, Trump said ahead of Monday's talks that conversations with China 'very far advanced' and described a phone call with Xi last week as 'very good' and said 'there should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of rare-earth products'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In what is seen as a goodwill gesture, China on Saturday said it had granted a number of export licences related rare earths. 'Up until the phone call, both sides were spiraling toward uncontrolled supply-chain warfare. I think the administration played this card to get China to re-engage and back off the magnet restrictions,' Jimmy Goodrich, a China and technology expert and senior adviser to Rand, told Journal.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'Better if he was dead': Kenyan mother's search for son year after protests
I search for my child amidst the protest's turmoil. Fear and desperation consume me as I scan the chaotic scene. Susan Wangari has lost count of the morgues, hospitals and police stations she has visited in search of her son, who went missing at the height of Kenya's mass protests last June. She last saw Emmanuel Mukuria, 24, on the morning of June 25, 2024, the day that thousands of Kenyan youths thronged the streets of Nairobi and stormed parliament in protest at planned tax rises and corruption. "It would be better if my son were dead; at least I could visit his grave," she told AFP. Rights groups say at least 60 people were killed during the protests in June and July, and more than 80 abducted by the security forces since then, with dozens still missing. Mukuria's friends say he was arrested during the protests in the city centre, where he worked as a minibus tout. "We do not have peace in this house," his mother, 50, told AFP during a visit to her single-room home in the Kasarani slum area. "I sleep lightly at night in case he comes knocking at my window like he always did," she said. "Every time we hear that bodies have been found somewhere, we are anxious to know whose they are." Two men told her they shared a cell with Mukuria, but they are too afraid to speak publicly about their ordeal. One was only released in February, giving her hope that her son is still alive in captivity. "They told me they were beaten and questioned about the protests. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Perdagangkan CFD Emas dengan Broker Tepercaya IC Markets Mendaftar Undo They were being asked who paid them to participate," Wangari said. Last month, President William Ruto, in a clear admission that security forces had engaged in kidnappings, said all those abducted during the protests had been "returned to their families". Rights groups say dozens are still missing and police have shown little progress in investigating the disappearances despite Ruto claiming an "accountability mechanism" was put in place. Questioned by AFP, the president's office said the police were "handling the brief", while a police spokesman referred AFP back to the president's office. The police spokesman said they had no information on Mukuria's case. An officer-in-charge at the station where Wangari reported him missing said the matter was still under investigation. - Delayed justice - Many other families are still dealing with the aftermath of the violence. Rex Masai, 29, was the first to die during the protests, shot and killed in the city centre on June 20. The inquest into his death is still dragging on. "We are hoping for the best but we are not near the truth," Masai's mother Gillian Munyao told AFP at her home, where a photo of her dreadlocked son hangs on the wall. She found her son lying lifeless in a pool of blood at a clinic where he was taken that day. The state prosecutor has said a lack of witnesses has delayed progress in the case. One potential witness was scared off for fear he might be "forcibly disappeared" by the police, Munyao said. Hussein Khalid, head of rights group Vocal Africa, blamed a "lack of cooperation by the authorities". "When you get evidence, the unfortunate bit is you have to take it to the police themselves," he said. He lost count of the number of funerals he attended after the protests, estimating between 20 and 30. "Was it necessary to unleash this kind of brute force against young, innocent Kenyans?" he said. Politicians have shown little interest in accountability or learning from the unrest. "People were killed, we sympathised, we moved on," Bashir Abdullahi, a member of the ruling coalition,told parliament during a debate on the protests last month. But for victim's families, the search for justice "means a lot", said Masai's father, Chrispin Odawa. "The wound will never heal," he said.
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First Post
2 hours ago
- First Post
From Operation Sindoor to infrastructural boost, report card of Modi 3.0's first year
Today, PM Narendra Modi completes 11 years in power and the first of his third term. It's been a year of big hits and outstanding achievements — the Modi 3.0 government saw the economy growing faster, the inauguration of big infra projects such as the Chenab Bridge and a new criminal justice system. But perhaps, the biggest achievement has been the resounding success of Operation Sindoor read more Prime Minister Narendra Modi has now completed 11 years in office. This is the first year of his third term -- he took the oath of office on June 9 last year. AFP Not five, not 10… Today (June 9) marks Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 11 years in power — he was sworn in as prime minister for a record third time on June 9 last year in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. It's been a busy one year for PM Modi and his government; it has to contend with two wars, the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israel-Hamas war, navigate a new government in the United States led by the rather unpredictable Donald Trump and chart a new normal with Pakistan, who continues to export terrorism, mainly across the borders into India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As we mark this occasion in our calendars, let's take a closer look at Modi 3.0's achievements in the past one year. Operation Sindoor Perhaps, PM Modi's biggest achievement in the first year of his third-term tenure would be Operation Sindoor and the huge damage that it caused to Pakistan. Launched on May 7 as a counter to the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 innocents died, Operation Sindoor was India's coordinated military strikes on terror camps deep inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. In the days that followed, India and Pakistan reached the precipice of a full-blown war, as both sides engaged in a missile and drone war. However, India, under PM Modi, held its nerve. When Islamabad tried to intimidate the nation by raining down drones and launching Chinese-made missiles , a military — given a free rein by the PM Modi — responded in kind, deploying many ' made-in-India' weapons to extract its pound of flesh. At the end of Operation Sindoor, India came out on top . The country's military had eliminated more than 100 terrorists in Pakistan and PoK, including high value targets such as Yusuf Azhar, Abdul Malik Rauf and Mudasir Ahmed who were involved in the hijack of IC-814 and the Pulwama blast. Shopkeepers display a saree featuring Operation Sindoor at a store in Varanasi. AFP Moreover, the IAF struck Pakistani air bases, command centres, military infrastructure, and air defence systems across the entire Western Front in a coordinated and calibrated manner. Operation Satellite imagery revealed the extent of damage that Operation Sindoor had caused to Pakistan's Rahim Yar Khan airbase in Pakistan's Punjab province — the sole runway at the airbase had to be declared as non-operational for a week. But beyond causing damage and exhibiting a hegemony over Pakistan's military, which is largely dependent on China and Turkey, Operation Sindoor also signalled a doctrinal shift in India's strategy, establishing that state-sponsored terrorism would now invite targeted, visible, and proportional retaliation. It showed the world that India would no longer hesitate to punish terrorism — anytime, anywhere. It showed that terrorists and their masterminds have no place to hide. An economy to realise Viksit Bharat One of PM Modi's aims for India is a Viksit Bharat, turning India into a developed country by 2047. And to realise this dream, PM Modi and his government have been working tirelessly to ensure that the country's economy only surges forward. In his first year of his third term, he has taken many concrete steps to boost the country's economy. On June 10, just a day after he was sworn in as prime minister, he signed the release of Rs 20,000 crore to 93 million farmers under PM Kisan Nidhi Yojana. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The full budget presented on February 1, 2025 also gave significant income-tax relief to the middle class by ensuring that people earning up to Rs 12.75 lakh were outside the tax net. A man passes by the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building on the day of Union Budget 2025-26 presentation, in Mumbai. File image/PTI In addition to this, he has also taken multiple measures to improve the ease of doing business in the country. For instance, his government announced the abolition of 31 per cent angel tax which it claimed had been burdening start-ups since 2012. The government also reduced corporate tax from 40 per cent to 35 per cent for foreign companies besides setting up a Rs 1000-crore venture capital fund for space sector start-ups. It is through PM Modi's policies that India is set to be the fourth largest economy in the world by the end of the current financial year. India's GDP grew 7.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024-25, leading to 6.5 per cent growth in FY25 despite severe global headwinds, including uncertainties in global trade because of the US' reciprocal tariffs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In Modi 3.0 tenure, India has also signed two major trade deals. The first being the India-European Free Trade Association (EFTA) free trade agreement. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are the four members of EFTA. The deal – the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) – is significant because it is expected to help India bridge a huge gap in the balance of trade, which is in favour of the European nations. The second was the India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA), which is expected to double bilateral trade to over $120 billion by 2030. The other advantage of the deal is its impact on the India-European Union free trade negotiations. India is also negotiating a Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) with the US. A new criminal code for new India 'Tareekh pe tareekh (Date after date)' is a famous Hindi dialogue that is indicative of India's slow judicial process when it comes to dealing with criminals. However, Modi 3.0 introduced an overhaul of the criminal justice system in the country in July last year. Last July, the Modi government introduced three new criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) — which replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act. Representational image/PTI The Modi government introduced three new criminal laws — the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) — which replaced the colonial-era Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and Indian Evidence Act, respectively. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Home Minister Amit Shah, who piloted the change said, 'These laws are made by Indians, for Indians and by an Indian Parliament and marks the end of colonial criminal justice laws.' He added that the laws were not just about changing the nomenclature but bringing about a complete overhaul. 'Soul, body and spirit' of the new laws is Indian, he said. The change in laws also introduced a handful of new offences — as many as 21. One of the significant ones is penalising sexual intercourse through the employment of 'deceitful means'. The BNS also recognises murder on the ground of race, caste, or community as a separate offence. Moreover, organised crime and terror offences have been defined and covers a broad spectrum of activities. Infrastructure development With 'sabka vikas' in mind, PM Modi has laid special emphasis on infrastructural development in the country. And what better example than the inauguration of the Chenab Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir on June 6. The world's highest railway arch bridge, which is part of the 272-km Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Railway Link (USBRL), finally connects the Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country by rail for the first time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the Chenab Rail Bridge during the inauguration of the Kashmir rail link, in Reasi, in Jammu and Kashmir. AFP Modi also laid the foundation stone for the Vadhavan Port project in Maharashtra's Palghar district last August. This project aims to create a state-of-the-art maritime gateway that is expected to enhance India's trade capabilities. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Under the Prime Minister's Rural Roads Scheme-4 (PMGSY-IV), approval was granted to the construction/upgradation of 62,500 km of roads and bridges to connect 25,000 unconnected villages, with central assistance of Rs 49,000 crore. Many of these unconnected villages have a population of less than 100. The government has also approved strengthening India's road network with an investment of Rs 50,600 crore. This includes a go-ahead for eight National High-Speed Road Corridor Projects spanning 936 kilometres. Elevating India on the global stage While Modi 3.0's first year's focus has largely been domestic policy, the government has ensured to bolster India's presence globally too. Shortly after becoming PM for a third time, Modi embarked on a visit to Italy where he attended the G7 Summit during which he also held bilateral meetings with the heads of the states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is welcomed by Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni upon arrival at the Borgo Egnazia resort for the G7 Summit hosted by Italy in Apulia region. File image/AFP Later, in July, PM Modi embarked on a crucial two-day visit to Russia and Austria. The trip to Russia was the PM's first visit to the country after its invasion of Ukraine. During his Russia visit, PM Modi held the 22nd India-Russia annual summit with President Vladimir Putin. Significantly, PM Modi was conferred the 'Order of St Andrew the Apostle' award by President Putin for his contribution to fostering bilateral ties between the two countries. The Russian president also thanked PM Modi for trying to help find a peaceful resolution to the Ukraine crisis. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD And Nearly six weeks after his visit to Russia, PM Modi visited Ukraine on the invitation by the President Volodymyr Zelenskyy where he held discussions on the peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war. Prime Minister Narendra Modi being conferred the highest civilian award of Russian Federation, Order of St Andrew the Apostle, by Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow. File image/PTI Then early in February, PM Modi visited France where he was the co-chair at the international summit on artificial intelligence. The PM was also among the first foreign leader to visit Donald Trump after he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. During his February visit, Trump announced expanded US military sales to India from 2025, including F-35 jets, along with increased oil and gas exports to narrow the trade deficit. Both sides also agreed to negotiate a trade deal and finalise a new defence framework. He also confirmed that the US had approved the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago businessman accused of playing a role in the 2008 terror attack in Mumbai. With inputs from agencies STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
