Indian External Affairs Minister gifts Virat Kohli signed bat to Australia's Deputy Prime Minister
Canberra (PTI): External Affairs Minister on Monday met Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and said that the growing defence and security cooperation between both countries ensures a peaceful, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.
"Pleased to meet DPM and Defence Minister of Australia @RichardMarlesMP. Exchanged views on regional and global security," Jaishanakar said, amidst the Chinese military's aggressive moves in the strategic Indo-Pacific region.
"Our growing defence and security cooperation ensures a peaceful, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific," Jaishankar tweeted along with a picture in which he is seen gifting a bat signed by former Indian captain Virat Kohli to the Australian Defence Minister.
The US, India and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China's rising military manoeuvring in the region. The US, India, Australia and Japan are also part of the Quad grouping.
China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.
Jaishankar, who arrived in Canberra on Monday, also met Australia's Education Minister Jason Clare and discussed the importance of quality education.
"Glad to meet Australia's Education Minister @JasonClareMP today afternoon in Canberra. Discussed the importance of quality education, need for an international outlook and preparation for the global workplace," he tweeted.
"A pleasure to catch up this afternoon with India's Minister for External Affairs @DrSJaishankar and discuss the work we are doing together on international education," Clare tweeted.
Over 2.60 lakh students have arrived in Australia to take up higher education soon after the country opened its borders following the impact caused by Covid19 enforced lockdown, an official said on Saturday. Australia has unveiled the Study Australia Industry Experience programme for Indian students aimed at enhancing employability skills, Australian Trade and Investment Commissioner-South Asia Abdul Ekram said in September.
Earlier, in a joint press conference with Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Jaishankar said that India wants Australia to partner in education.
"One of them is a proposal that's been under discussion for an understanding of mobility, on the mobility of talent and skills, how we can grow education and what we could do particularly bearing in mind, India's New National Education Policy (NEP). We certainly would like to see Australia, which is one of our major partners in education, also having a stronger presence in India, and that's something which our Prime Ministers had discussed as well when they had met in Tokyo."
This is Jaishankar's second visit to Australia this year.
The first visit was in February 2022 when he attended Quad Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Melbourne.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
