India news: 'Indians won't be left stranded,' Modi assures

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While speaking at an event in the south Indian city of Kochi in the southern state of Kerala, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government was closely monitoring the situation in the Middle East.

He assured that the government is coordinating efforts to support Indian nationals living and working across the Middle East.

"Whenever our countrymen are in trouble overseas, we do not abandon them. Our missions and embassies are operating 24/7 helplines, and we will provide all help for our people in the Gulf," he said, according to a report published in the Indian newspaper The New Indian Express.

Modi also thanked Gulf nations for taking care of Indian expatriates during the current tensions. 

"Gulf countries are giving the utmost care to Indians working there. I am grateful to them for that," he reportedly said.

India's top court for the first time allowed passive euthanasia, with the removal of life support for a 31-year-old man who has been in a vegetative state for over a decade.

Harish Rana was a student when he fell from the fourth floor of a building and suffered severe head injuries in 2013. He has been in a coma since. 

The court's ruling came after Rana's family filed a plea seeking approval to withdraw his life support as medical intervention was only prolonging Rana's suffering.

Passive euthanasia was legalized in India in 2018 for terminally ill patients, but this is the first instance in which it was court approved. 

Active euthanasia remains illegal in India.

The runway at Thailand's Phuket's airport was temporarily closed after a disabled Air India Express plane malfunctioned upon landing.

Air India Express Flight AXB938 arriving from Hyderabad suffered damage to its landing gear as it hit ‌the runway, ⁠Phuket airport ⁠said in a statement.

The plane "experienced an issue with the nose wheel at Phuket Airport," a spokesperson for Air India Express said, adding: "The crew followed ​all standard protocols, and guests were deplaned.

There were no reports of casualties and the runway was ​expected to reopen at 6 p.m. local time (1100 GMT), the ​airport ‌said.
 

An Indian citizen was among three people injured after two drones fell in the area around the Dubai International Airport (DXB), Dubai's media office said on Wednesday.

The attack resulted in minor injuries to two Ghanaian nationals and ‌one Bangladeshi national, as well as moderate injuries ‌to ​one Indian national, the media office said in a post on X.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar spoke with his Iranian counterpart Seyyed Abbas Araghchi in a phone call and discussed the latest developments in the crisis gripping the Middle East since the US-Israel attacked Iran.

This was Jaishankar's third such conversation with Araghchi since the situation escalated in the region imperiling shipping routes and disrupting energy markets across the globe.

"A detailed conversation this evening with Foreign Minister Araghchi of Iran on the latest developments regarding the ongoing conflict. We agreed to remain in touch," Jaishankar said in a post on X.

Later, Iran's foreign ministry in a statement said that the two countries also "discussed the consequences of the US and Israeli regime's military aggression on the security of shipping and vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz."

Jaishankar also spoke to Germany's Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun about the conflict in the Middle East but did not share further details.
 

US President Donald Trump announced that the US will build its first oil refinery in five decades which will be funded by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries Reliance Industries Ltd.

The oil refinery to be developed at the Port of Brownsville in Texas entails a $300 billion (€257.95 billion) deal. 

Trump thanked India's largest privately held energy company, Reliance Industries, "for this tremendous Investment."

"This is a historic $300 billion dollar deal — the biggest in US history," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

"I am proud to announce that America First Refining is opening the FIRST new US Oil Refinery in 50 YEARS in Brownsville, Texas," he added.
 

Congress moved a resolution in Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament, to remove the sitting Speaker, Om Birla, on Tuesday. 

The house is expected to debate the resolution, which was moved by Congress lawmaker Mohammad Jawed, with more than 50 members of parliament standing in support of it.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to address the Lok Sabha during the debate.

The resolution was signed by a total of 118 opposition members who alleged "partisan behavior" by the Speaker.

According to the Indian Express newspaper, the no-confidence motion against Birla marks the first such attempt against a presiding officer of the House in nearly four decades.

Hello! This is Midhat from New Delhi bringing you news from India today.

Yesterday, parliament saw the opposition moving a no-confidence motion against Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, alleging partial conduct. A discussion on Birla's removal is expected today.

Stay tuned for this and more news!