India 'corrects' history books on Hindu nationalists and Gandhi's killing

Today's headlines: Israel targets sites in Lebanon and Gaza in response to Hamas and Hezbollah rocket attacks; In China a new study on Covid-19 confirms animal origin; Military aircraft goes missing in Japan; South Korean man staging his own kidnapping arrested in Thailand;  Papua separatists want to release the pilot taken hostage two months ago; Saudi Arabia will support Pakistan financially.

INDIA

The Indian government has removed a number of sentences related to Gandhi's assassination from the textbooks of class 12 (attended by 17-18 year olds), including those that said that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (Rss) - a Hindu nationalist organisation - had been banned for some time following the Mahatma's assassination because it spread 'hatred between communities'. The revisions were carried out by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, an autonomous government body.

CHINA

A research team published in a peer-reviewed study the analysis of samples from the Wuhan market related to the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. The research reveals that swabs that tested positive in 2020 contained genetic material from wild animals, evidence that the virus was transmitted from animal to human at an early stage.

JAPAN

Parts have been found that are believed to be the remains of a military helicopter that disappeared from radar yesterday with 10 members on board. The Black Hawk is presumed to have crashed during a reconnaissance mission in the southern islands of Japan about 1,800 km southwest of Tokyo.

THAILAND

A South Korean man was arrested for staying in Thailand for over a year on an expired visa, allegedly staging his own abduction. Identified only by the name Kim, he was trying to persuade relatives to send him money so that he could return home, but the family contacted the South Korean embassy in Thailand and law enforcement found and arrested him.

INDONESIA

Separatist rebels in the Indonesian province of Papua, who have been holding a New Zealand pilot hostage for two months, said they had abandoned their demand for recognition of independence and were ready for dialogue with Jakarta. "This New Zealand pilot is not our enemy, so we will find a solution to release him," a spokesman for the West Papua Liberation Army told Reuters.

SAUDI ARABIA - PAKISTAN

Riyadh has told the International Monetary Fund that it will provide billion in funding to Islamabad, which is needed to enable Pakistan to sign an agreement with the lending institution to avoid economic default. Islamabad has also indicated that it is in talks with the United Arab Emirates.

LEBANON - ISRAEL

Yesterday, the Israeli army struck several sites in Lebanon and Gaza in response to rocket attacks attributed to Hamas and Hezbollah after tensions at the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. According to a member of the Lebanese civil defence, no casualties were reported. The Israeli military reported hitting 10 targets in Gaza and three in South Lebanon near the city of Tyre.

RUSSIA

An investigation by Currentime.tv documents the difficulties of independent Russian sociological survey institutes, which have been unable to compete with the propaganda of state institutes with their 'oriented statistics' since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Censorship and repression make it problematic to 'shine a light through the fog of war', it is noted in several places.

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