Snake bites to boat mishaps, Uttar Pradesh expands disaster relief list
With the Yogi Adityanath government expanding the eligibility for compensation through the State Disaster Relief Fund, victims of man-animal conflict, snake bites, boat mishaps and choking due to sewage cleaning or gas leakage will now be eligible for financial assistance in Uttar Pradesh.
“The families of people who die in such tragedies will now get Rs 4 lakh,” said state relief commissioner Sanjay Kumar.
Mrityunjay Kumar, principal secretary to the chief minister, said Adityanath was disturbed by the large number of people falling victim to snake bites and house collapses in the monsoon. “The decision is meant to help the needy. A policy will now be in place for assistance under various heads,” he added.
The government has already issued a notification in this regard.
Till now, only those injured, dead or financially hit due to rain, lightning strikes, storms, floods, earthquakes, heat wave and other natural phenomena were covered under the State Disaster Relief Fund. “The norms for providing aid to victims in these newly included tragedies will be the same as those for other notified natural disasters. The scale of relief assistance will not exceed the norms of the State Disaster Relief Fund,” said Kumar.
Chief conservator of forests Ramesh Pandey said Uttar Pradesh has finally become a state where equal importance is given to human and animal lives. “Man-animal conflicts will now be treated as state disasters, and the entire government machinery will be deployed to tackle it,” he added.
Dr Sam Meesum, a senior medical officer who trains health workers to handle snake bite cases at 20 community health centres across the state, said five to ten snake-bite cases are reported from each such unit every month during the monsoon.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
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US warns shipping firms they could face sanctions over paying Iranian tolls in Strait of Hormuz
Dubai (AP): The United States is warning shipping companies that they could face sanctions for making payments to Iran to safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
The alert posted Friday by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control adds another layer of pressure in the standoff between the US and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz.
About a fifth of the world's trade in oil and natural gas typically passes through the strait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf in peacetime.
Iran effectively closed the strait to normal traffic by attacking and threatening to attack ships after the US and Israel launched a war on Feb. 28. It later began offering some ships safe passage by detouring them through alternate routes closer to its shoreline, charging fees at times for the service.
That "tollbooth” effort is the focus of the US sanctions warning.
The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also “digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments,” including chartibale donations and payments at Iranian embassies, OFAC said.
“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn US and non-US persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method,” it said.
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The US responded to Iran's closure of the strait with a naval blockade of its own on April 13, preventing any Iranian tankers from leaving and depriving Iran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.
The US Central Command said 45 commercial ships have been told to turn around since the blockade began.
Trump rejects Iranian proposal
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The warning came as US President Donald Trump swiftly rejected Iran's latest proposal to end the war between the countries.
“They want to make a deal, I'm not satisfied with it, so we'll see what happens,” Trump said Friday at the White House. He didn't elaborate on what he saw as its shortcomings but expressed frustration with the Iranian leadership.
“It's a very disjointed leadership,” Trump said. “They all want to make a deal, but they're all messed up.”
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency reported Iran handed over its plan to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night.
The shaky three-week ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be holding, though both countries have traded accusations of violations. The standoff is increasingly putting pressure on the global economy, driving up prices and leading to shortages of fuel and other products tied to the oil industry.
Negotiations continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys' trip to Pakistan last week, the president said. Trump this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America's Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has briefed many of his regional counterparts on the country's initiatives to end the ear, according to his social media. He also held talks Friday with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who is in contact with the EU's Gulf partners.
China's UN envoy urges Iran to lift restrictions
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Fu Cong, the Chinese ambassdor to the United Nations, said Friday that maintaining the ceasefire is “the most urgent issue" as well as bringing together the sides to resume good faith negotiations “to make sure that the ground is laid for reopening of Hormuz.”
Foreign Minister Wang Yi “has been on the phone almost constantly” with representatives from all sides, Fu said, adding that China supports Pakistan's efforts to mediate between the parties.
Fu stressed the root cause of the tremendous suffering in Iran and neighboring countries and the growing turmoil in the global economy, especially in developing countries, “is the illegitimate war by the US and Israel.
