TOP NEWS

India and Iran on Wednesday discussed ways to enhance cooperation in connectivity, trade and counter-terrorism even as visiting Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian raised the controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed made by two former BJP spokespersons.

External affairs minister S Jaishankar and Amir-Abdollahian reviewed bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas against the backdrop of widespread anger in West Asian countries over the controversy.

Amir-Abdollahian, on his first visit to India since assuming office last year, raised the issue at his meeting with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and spoke about the “negative atmosphere” created by the remarks of some people, according to a statement from Iran’s foreign ministry.

The court of the Varanasi district judge on Wednesday rejected as "not maintainable" a seer's plea for permission to worship the shivling purportedly found in the ablution pond of the Gyanvapi mosque during a court-mandated survey last month.

District government counsel (civil) Mahendra Prasad Pandey quoted district judge Ajay Krishna Vishwesha, who is hearing the Shringar Gauri case, as saying that the plea was "not of an urgent nature" given the fact that the primary dispute was still to be resolved. The court said the seer could move a fresh petition in July.

Chinese activity near Ladakh is "eye-opening" and some of the infrastructure being created is alarming, a top US General has said.

General Charles A Flynn, Commanding General, US Army Pacific described it as "destabilizing and corrosive behaviour" by China as he talked about the Chinese infrastructure build-up across the Himalayan frontier.

"I believe that the activity level is eye-opening. I think some of the infrastructure that is being created in the Western Theatre Command is alarming. And so much, like across all of their military arsenal, one has to ask the question, why," the General, who oversees the Asia-Pacific region, told a select group of journalists.

The Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party staged a protest in Chennai against fuel price hikes on June 2. Reportedly, the event was attended by over 15,000 party cadres.

Amid these developments, a post cheering for BJP workers in Tamil Nadu has gone viral on social media. "Lotus is blooming in Tamil Nadu," several users captioned a photo that showed four men hoisting the party flag, standing on each other's shoulders.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh reached Vietnam on a three-day visit on Tuesday to further crank up bilateral defence ties, in the backdrop of both countries being wary of the aggressive moves by China in the Indo-Pacific region.

"India and Vietnam share a comprehensive strategic partnership and defence ties is a key pillar of this partnership. Vietnam is an important partner in India's 'Act East' policy and Indo-Pacific vision. I am looking forward to further strengthening the bilateral defence engagements," he said.

Singh will hold extensive talks with his Vietnamese counterpart General Phan Van Giang, with a focus on exploring new initiatives to further strengthen the defence engagements, besides exchanging views on regional and global issues of shared interest, the defence ministry said.