#arunachal pradesh news

[rightnewshindi]

अरुणाचल में ड्यूटी के दौरान शहीद हुआ सिद्धबाड़ी का जवान अक्षय कुमार, दो महीने पहले हुई थी शादी

Kangra News: हिमाचल प्रदेश का एक और लाल देश की रक्षा करते हुए शहीद हो गया। धर्मशाला के सिद्धबाड़ी की बागनी पंचायत के 29 वर्षीय जवान अक्षय कुमार ने ��रुणाचल प्रदेश में ड्यूटी के दौरान अपनी जान देश के लिए न्यौछावर कर दी। अक्षय कुमार 19 डोगरा बटालियन में तैनात थे और उनकी शहादत की खबर गांव में पहुंचते ही पूरे इलाके में शोक की लहर दौड़ गई है। अक्षय कुमार ने 2015 में महज 19 साल की उम्र में भारतीय सेना…

[latestgujaratinews]

CM Mamata Banerjee has the least wealth in the country, Who is the richest CM?

[raja81bcs]

The government’s approval of SJVN’s DPRs for the Etalin and Attunli hydro projects signals a significant leap forward in bolstering India’s energy infrastructure. As these projects move closer to realization, they not only promise to transform the power landscape but also bring about comprehensive socio-economic development in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. SJVN’s commitment to sustainability and multi-faceted growth positions these hydro projects as key contributors to the nation’s progress.

[werindialive]

Home Minister Amit Shah replies to Chinese Claim of Indian parts of Arunachal Pradesh

Home Minister Amit Shah is on a visit to Arunachal Pradesh where he said that no one has the right to question "India's territorial integrity". His statement came in the backdrop of China naming parts of Arunachal Pradesh recently. "Nobody can take even a pin's tip worth of our land," he said.

"Gone are those days when people could encroach into our land. Now, they cannot even take a pin's tip worth of our land," Mr. Shah said as he launched 'Vibrant Villages Programme' from Kibithoo, a village located in the Anjaw district just 11 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.

China has already expressed its objection to Shah visiting Arunachal Pradesh claiming it to be a violation of Beijing's territorial sovereignty. The same was confirmed by a Chinese spokesperson earlier on Monday.

Answering a question about Shah’s visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Chinese spokesperson Wang Wenbin said, "Zangnan (Beijing refers to Arunachal as Zangnan) is China's territory."

"The Indian official's visit to Zangnan violates China's territorial sovereignty and is not conducive to the peace and tranquillity of the border situation,” he added.

It is the first time that Amit Shah is visiting the north-eastern state as Home Minister. He is on a two-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh.

Shah asserted that India believes Arunachal Pradesh to be an inalienable part of the country and that any claim from China or any effort of giving its inventive name will not change the ground reality.

"This is not the first time that China is making such attempts, and we have criticized such attempts. Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of India. China giving its own inventive names will not change the ground reality. I would like to re-emphasize that," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said last week.

Referring to Kithboo village, Shah said, "This is the area where the light of sunshine reaches first in the country. Earlier, people used to call this the last village of the country but now we call it the first village of India, that is the conceptual change PM Modi has brought."

For more national news India in Hindi, subscribe to our newsletter.

[herpsandbirds]

Do you have some pigeons? I think they're misunderstood and underappreciated

Oh yeah, here are some pigeon species you may not have seen before...

Band-tailed Pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata), family Columbidae, order Columbiformes, CA, USA

photograph by Paul Fenwick

Nicobar Pigeon (Caloenas nicobarica), family Columbidae, order Columbiformes, found in islands and coastal regions of South and SE Asia and the Australasian Archipelago

photograph by Alex Han (@alexhan_wildlife)

Pheasant Pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis), family Columbidae, order Columbiformes, found in New Guinea and nearby islands

photograph by Jindřich Pavelka (500px)

Snow Pigeon (Columba leuconota), family Columbidae, order Columbiformes, Sela, Arunachal Pradesh, India

photograph by Raj Kimar

Kereru or New Zealand Wood Pigeon (Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae), family Columbidae, Tāwharanui Peninsula, New Zealand

photograph by JJ Harrison

White-headed Pigeon (Columba leucomela) male, family Columbidae, Brunkerville, New South Wales, Australia

photograph by JJ Harrison 

Ashy Wood Pigeon (Columba pulchricollis), family Columbidae, Nepal

photograph by Rita Rossi

Philippine Green Pigeon (Treron axillaris), family Columbidae, Zambales, Philippines

photograph by Gid Ferrer

[typhlonectes]

A NEW MONTANE-DWELLING SPECIES OF Japalura GRAY, 1853 (SQUAMATA: AGAMIDAE) FROM ARUNACHAL PRADESH, INDIA

Zeeshan A. Mirza*, Gaurang Gowande, Tejas Thackeray, Harshal Bhosale,Mandar Sawant, Pushkar Phansalkar & Harshil Patel

Abstract

The montane agamid lizard Japalura austeniana (Annandale, 1908), is rare and is distributed across parts of the eastern Himalayas of India and China. Support from molecular and morphological data provide evidence for the existence of a species complex in the populations referred to as that binomen, and we here describe a morphologically cryptic allied new species. Evidence from molecular data suggests the presence of additional undescribed species across the distribution of that species complex. Elevation might be the restricting factor for gene flow explaining most of the diversification of that montane species complex across the Himalayas.

Read the paper here: v13i1.317 | Volume 13 | Number 1 | May 2024 | Taprobanica

[indianmovielinks]

Horror Movies to Watch on Halloween/Samhain/All Soul's Night

Free & legal streaming links to a few of the Letterboxd top-rated Indian horror movies

Bramayugam (The Age of Madness) - Thevan, a folk singer of the Paanan caste, has a fateful encounter when escaping slavery, leading to discover an ancient tradition altering his destiny.

Bulbbul - A child bride grows into an enigmatic woman ruling over her household and hiding her painful past, as supernatural murders of men plague her village.

Manichitrathazhu - A young couple, Ganga and Nakulan, arrive at Madampalli, Nakulan's ancestral home. Hailing from a family that follows tradition and superstitions, Nakulan’s uncle Thampi objects to the couple’s idea of moving into the allegedly haunted mansion, which Nakulan ignores. The couple moves in anyway following which seemingly supernatural events begin to happen.

Stree - Based on the urban legend of Nale Ba that went viral in Karnataka in the 1990s, a town is held in the grip of terror by tales of a mysterious woman who calls men by their name and then abducts them, leaving only their clothes behind.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa - When U.S.-based Siddharth visits his Indian home town with his new wife, he insists they stay at his ancestral home, laughing off family members' warnings of ghostly goings-on in the mansion.

Pizza - Michael, a pizza delivery boy, lives with Anu, an aspiring horror fiction writer. One day, on a delivery run, he goes to a bungalow and mysterious events begin to unfold.

Shaitaan - Kabir and his family’s fun weekend retreat takes terrifying turn when an intruder takes over the control of the body of his teenage daughter, putting her at the mercy of his increasingly sinister orders.

Bhediya - Inspired by legendary folklore rooted in Arunachal Pradesh, Bhediya tells the story of Bhaskar, a man who gets bitten by a mythical wolf and begins to transform into the creature himself. As Bhaskar and his ragtag buddies try to find answers, he is worried that the monster in him will wipe out human existence in the local town.

Bhooter Bhabishyat - A young director listens to a hilariously scary story narrated by a stranger, where a group of ghosts try to save the only place they can haunt in peace.

Romancham - A game of Ouija board goes hilariously wrong when seven bachelors unexpectedly invite a spirit and try to make the best out of the situation.

Tumbbad - In 1918 on the outskirts of Tumbbad, a cursed village where it always rains, Vinayak, along with his mother and his brother, care of a mysterious old woman who keeps the secret of an ancestral treasure that Vinayak gets obsessed with.

Please reblog so more people can find movies to watch tonight!

[mariacallous]

In the waters of the South China Sea, Chinese coast guard vessels have clashed with Philippine ships. In the air above the Taiwan Strait, Chinese warplanes have challenged Taiwanese jet fighters. And in the valleys of the Himalayas, Chinese troops have fought Indian soldiers.

Across several frontiers, China has been using its armed forces to dispute territory not internationally recognized as part of China but nevertheless claimed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In August 2023, Beijing laid out its current territorial claims for the world to see. The new edition of the standard map of China includes lands that are today a part of India and Russia, along with island territories such as Taiwan and comprehensive stretches of the East and South China Seas that are also claimed by Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

China often invokes historical narratives to justify these claims. Beijing, for example, has said that the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, which it claims under the name of the Diaoyu Islands, “have been an inherent territory of China since ancient times.” Chinese officials have used the same words to back China’s right to parts of the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. The Chinese government also claims that its sovereignty over the South China Sea is based on its own historic maritime maps.

However, in certain periods since ancient times China has also held sway over other states in the region—Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Vietnam. Yet Beijing is currently not laying claim to any of these.

Instead, Beijing has embraced a selective irredentism, wielding specific chapters of China’s historical record when they suit existing aims and leaving former Chinese territories be when they don’t. Over time, as Beijing’s interests and power relations have shifted, some of these claims have faded from importance, while new ones have taken their place. Yet for Taiwan, Chinese claims remain unchanged, as the fate of the island state is tied to the very legitimacy of the CCP as well as the vitality of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s political vision.

Many of the CCP’s territorial claims have roots in the 19th and 20th centuries during the late rule of the Qing Dynasty. Following diplomatic pressure and repeated military defeats, the Qing Dynasty was forced to cede territory to several Western colonial powers, as well as the Russian and Japanese empires. These concessions are part of what are known in China as the “unequal treaties,” while the 100 years in which the treaties were signed and enforced are known as the “century of humiliation.” These territorial losses eventually passed from the dynasty to the Republic of China and then, following the Chinese Civil War, to the CCP. As a result, upon the CCP’s establishment of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the new Chinese state inherited outstanding territorial disputes with most of its neighbors.

But despite the humiliation the Qing Dynasty’s losses had caused, the CCP proved willing to compromise and reduce its territorial aims during times of high internal unrest. Following the Tibetan uprising in 1959, for instance, the CCP negotiated territorial settlements with countries bordering the Tibet region, including Myanmar, Nepal, and India. Similarly, when unrest rocked the Uyghur region in the 1960s and ‘90s, Beijing pursued territorial compromises with several bordering countries such as Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In the aftermath of the Great Leap Forward in the early 1960s and the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, the CCP also pursued territorial settlements with Mongolia, Laos, and Vietnam in the hopes of securing China’s borders during times of domestic instability. Instead of pursuing diversionary wars, the CCP relied on diplomacy to settle border and territory disputes.

But China has changed quite a lot since then. In recent years, the CCP has avoided the inflammatory domestic political chaos of previous decades, and its once-tentative hold over border regions, such as Tibet and the Uyghur region, has been replaced by an iron grip. With this upper hand, the CCP has little incentive to pursue peaceful resolutions to remaining territorial disputes.

“China’s national power has increased significantly, reducing the benefits of compromise and enabling China to drive a much harder bargain,” said M. Taylor Fravel, a political science professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In this context, the CCP has expanded its irredentist ambitions. After the discovery of potential oil reserves around the Senkaku Islands, and the United States’ return of the islands to Japan in the 1970s, Beijing drew on its historical record to lay claim to the islands, even though it had previously referred to them as part of the Japanese Ryukyu Islands. Similarly, though Beijing and Moscow settled a dispute over Heixiazi Island, located along China’s northeastern border, in 2004, the 2023 map of China depicted the entire island (ceded, along with vast Pacific territories, by the Qing Dynasty to the Russian Empire in 1860) as part of its domain, much to the ire of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Collin Koh Swee Lean, a senior fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, argues that the Chinese mapping of Heixiazi Island shows that Beijing holds on to certain core interests and simply waits for the opportune time to assert them.

“Given the current context of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s increased dependence on China, it might have appeared to Beijing that it has the chips in its pockets because, after all, Moscow needs Beijing more than the other way around,” Koh said on the German Marshall Fund’s China Global podcast.

This raises the question of whether territorial disputes that were settled during times of CCP weakness can be revisited and become subject to irredentist ambitions should power balances shift in China’s favor.

According to Steve Tsang, the director of the China Institute at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies, there is currently a limit to how far the CCP will push territorial claims against Russia, since President Xi will need Russian support to sustain his grand ambitions for Chinese leadership on the global stage.

Although it would be a long shot, even Russia may not be safe from these ambitions indefinitely. Given that large swaths of Russia’s Pacific territories were part of China until 1860, “China could claim back the Russian Far East when it deems the time is right,” Tsang said. Such control would grant Beijing unrestricted access to the region’s abundance of coal, timber, tin, and gold while moving it geographically closer to its ambition of becoming an Arctic power.

While there is plenty of historical evidence pointing to former Chinese control over the southeastern portion of the Russian Far East, the historical record is less unequivocal about Chinese control over Taiwan. Anything resembling mainland Chinese control over Taiwan was not established until after 1684 by the Qing Dynasty, and even then central authority remained weak. In 1895, the Qing Dynasty ceded Taiwan to the Empire of Japan following the First Sino-Japanese War, and by the time Chinese authority was restored in 1945, Taiwan had undergone several decades of Japanization.

These details have not prevented the CCP from claiming that Taiwan has been an inalienable part of China since ancient times. Yet more than any other irredentist claim, Xi has made unification with Taiwan a major component of his vision to rejuvenate the Chinese nation.

Unification, however, has little to do with ancient history and more to do with the challenge that Taiwan presently poses to Xi’s aims, according to Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor who teaches about Chinese foreign policy at the National University of Singapore.

“The CCP pursues a Chinese nationalism that emphasizes unity and homogeneity centered around the CCP leadership while they also often claim that their single-party rule is acceptable to Chinese people,” Chong said.

In contrast, Taiwan holds free elections in which multiple political parties compete for the favor of a people that have increasingly developed an identity distinct from mainland China.

“The Taiwanese experience is a clear affront to the CCP narrative,” Chong said.

Control over Taiwan is also attractive to Beijing because it is key to unlocking the Chinese leadership’s broader ambition of maritime hegemony in waters where almost half of the world’s container fleet passed through in 2022.

As with the case of Taiwan, the CCP’s historical arguments regarding its claims on island groups and islets in the East and South China Seas are likewise much weaker than many of its land-based claims.

Instead, Chinese territorial intransigence in the maritime arena is more about a strategic shift in the value of the seas around China, Fravel said.

Today, it has been estimated that more than 21 percent of global trade passes through the South China Sea. And beneath these waters are not only subsea cables that carry sensitive internet data but also vast estimated reserves of oil and natural gas.

Although it may say otherwise, Beijing’s unwillingness to let up on its tenuous territorial maritime claims suggests that China is pursuing long-held ambitions and global aspirations rather than attempting to reverse past losses. So long as the CCP wields its historical record selectively and changeably to serve its aims—and is willing to back its claims up with military action—China’s neighbors will remain at risk.

[beardedmrbean]

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India's foreign ministry said on Friday that New Delhi has conveyed its concerns to Beijing about China's plan to build a hydropower dam in Tibet on the Yarlung Zangbo river which flows into India.

Chinese officials say that hydropower projects in Tibet will not have a major impact on the environment or on downstream water supplies but India and Bangladesh have nevertheless raised concerns about the dam.

The Yarlung Zangbo becomes the Brahmaputra river as it leaves Tibet and flows south into India's Arunachal Pradesh and Assam states and finally into Bangladesh.

"The Chinese side has been urged to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas," Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told a weekly media briefing.

"We will continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests," he said.

The construction of the dam, which will be the largest of its kind in the world with an estimated capacity of 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, was approved last month.

Jaiswal said that New Delhi had also lodged a "solemn protest" with Beijing against its creation of two new counties - one of which includes a disputed area also claimed by India - last month.

"Creation of new counties will neither have a bearing on India's longstanding and consistent position regarding our sovereignty over the area nor lend legitimacy to China's illegal and forcible occupation of the same," he said.

Relations between Asian giants India and China, that were strained after a deadly military clash on their disputed border in 2020, have been on the mend since they reached an agreement in October to pull back troops from their last two stand-off points in the western Himalayas.

The two armies have stepped back following the agreement and senior officials held formal talks for the first time in five years last month where they agreed to take small steps to improve relations.

[rabbitcruiser]

National Hot Heads Chili Day

Chili lovers celebrate National Hot Heads Chili Day on January 17 every year. On this day, chili heads, heat-seekers, and extreme eaters try out the spiciest chilis. National Hot Heads Chili Day is celebrated with habanero-eating challenges, fancy-dress contests, and cook-offs of popular recipes. Chilis are also made to take the official Scoville heat scale. This doesn’t mean that you have to be a daredevil to celebrate the day — anyone who likes their meal a little hot can celebrate the day! Spices and chilis add a distinct flavor to the dish. Thai, Indian, Creole and Caribbean dishes are famous for their heat content and boast of some excellent gastronomic experiences!

History of National Hot Heads Chili Day

We don’t quite know how National Hot Heads Chili Day came to be but it’s safe to say that one fine day all the chili lovers got together and decided to celebrate hot and spicy food. This makes sense given how humans have always had a knack for chilis in their food — the first recipes for spicy foods go back to 6,000 years! This means that humans have been enjoying spicy food for quite some time. While the foods that we enjoy today may have changed and recipes altered, we still love spicy food. Unlike other animals, humans prefer spicy food simply because it tastes so incredible and on a plus side, spices also offer several health benefits.

Spices such as turmeric and cumin that have powerful antimicrobial and antioxidant properties can kill bacteria outright. Studies show that the capsaicin in hot peppers can reduce inflammation and decrease the chances of heart disease. It can also aid in weight loss. In Ayurvedic medicine, the inflammatory properties of chilis have brought relief from many different conditions, such as headaches, autoimmune disorders, and arthritis. Spicy foods can also help fasten your metabolism. Studies also show that certain spices, like pepper chilies, turmeric, cinnamon, and cumin can curb your appetite and improve your metabolic resting rate. Who knew chilis could be so versatile!

National Hot Heads Chili Day timeline

3500 B.C.

Chilis Are Cultivated

Chilis are grown and cultivated for the first time.

1498

Chilis Arrive In India

Vasco-da-Gama reaches Indian shores and introduces India to chilis.

1912

Scoville Organoleptic Test

Wilbur L. Scoville finds a new method to measure the pungency of chilis.

1975

Chili’s

Larry Lavine opens the first Chili's in Dallas.

National Hot Heads Chili Day FAQs

Are chillies native to India?

After the Portuguese arrival in India, chilies were first introduced to Goa, from where they spread to South India. Today, India is the largest producer of red dried chili in the world.

Which chili is the spiciest?

A Guinness Book record holder, Bhut Jolokia is certified as the hottest chili in the world. It is also known as ‘ghost pepper’ and is cultivated in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur.

Which chili is the healthiest?

Green chilies have high water content and zero calories which makes them a healthy choice for those who are trying to shed some pounds.

National Hot Heads Chili Day Activities

Host a dinner party: Chilis are regularly used in Indian, Chinese, and Thai cooking. Host a dinner party and serve these cuisines to friends and family.

Learn about different chilis from around the world: On National Hot Heads Chili Day, learn more about the different chilies that are available around the world. There are so many different types, including Carolina Reapers, Ghost Peppers, Habanero, Red Cayenne Pepper, Serrano, Guajillo, Poblano, Peppadew, and much more.

Organize a cook-off: Invite your friends over and see who can create the best hot and spicy dish. Flavor your dishes with different types of chilis and find out which one is the hottest.

5 Facts About Chilis That Will Blow Your Mind

Chilis can make you happy: They help release feel-good endorphins and dopamine, which results in a sense of euphoria.

The Japanese had an innovative use: Instead of eating them, the Japanese put them in their socks to keep their toes warm.

They are rich in nutrients: They contain large amounts of vitamin C, provitamin A, and beta-carotene.

Only mammals are sensitive to chilis: Capsaicin may burn and irritate the flesh of mammals but birds are completely immune to its effects

They can be used as first aid: Cayenne pepper can help stop bleeding.

Why We Love National Hot Heads Chili Day

A day to enjoy your favorite foods: Most of us love spicy foods but it’s not possible to savor them every day. National Hot Heads Chili Day offers the perfect opportunity to indulge in your favorite spicy food.

Try a new cuisine: If you don't have an adventurous palate, today is the best day to rectify that. Sample spicy foods from India, Thailand, the Philippines, and the Caribbean.

A day to be adventurous: If you are an adventurous foodie, then National Hot Heads Chili Day invites you to taste some of the hottest and steamiest chilies from the world over. Go on a gastronomic adventure today!

Source

[rightnewshindi]

केंद्रीय मंत्री किरन रिजिजू ने सेना के जवानों के साथ मनाई दिवाली, चीनी सैनिकों के साथ भी की बातचीत

Arunachal Pradesh News: अरुणाचल प्रदेश के बुमला पास पर केंद्रीय मंत्री और अल्पसंख्यक मामलों के मंत्री किरन रिजिजू ने भारतीय सेना के जवानों के साथ दिवाली मनाई। इस दौरान उन्होंने भारत के सीमावर्ती विकास की सराहना करते हुए इसे चीन के विकास से तुलना की। रिजिजू ने एक्स पर एक पोस्ट में लिखा, “चीनी सैनिकों से बातचीत करने और बुनियादी ढांचे को देखने के बाद, हर कोई अब भारत के सीमा विकास पर गर्व महसूस…

[ognimdo2002]

Red Panda – Red Cuddler

The Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens), or Lesser Panda, is one of the species of carnivorans found in mountainous forests from Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. Later, DNA analysis suggested that red pandas might belong in the bear family. However, later genetic research placed red pandas in their own family: Ailuridae.

Distribution and Habitat

The red panda lives in Nepal, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China, the Indian states of Sikkim, West Bengal, and Arunachal Pradesh, Bhutan, southern Tibet, and northern Myanmar. The red panda's maximum global habitat size has been calculated to be 47,100 km2 (18,200 sq mi). This habitat is in the Himalayas' moderate climate zone, where the average annual temperature ranges from 18 to 24 °C (64 to 75 °F). It has been observed at elevations between 2,000 and 4,300 meters (6,600 and 14,100 feet) throughout this range. The red panda prefers steep slopes with dense bamboo cover close to water sources. It lives in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests as well as coniferous forests. It is mostly arboreal and solitary. In addition to fruits and blooms, it primarily eats bamboo shoots and leaves.

Conservation

The species has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2015. It is protected in all range countries. Their main risks include poaching, human meddling, and habitat loss and degradation. The total number of red pandas has reportedly decreased over the past two decades by 40%, according to researchers.

Lore

This is the only member of the Ailuridae family; the family consists of the red panda (the sole living representative) and its extinct relatives. The red panda was first formally described in 1825. The two currently recognized subspecies, the Himalayan and the Chinese red panda, genetically diverged about 250,000 years ago. The red panda's place on the evolutionary tree has been debated, but modern genetic evidence places it in close affinity with raccoons, weasels, and skunks. It is not closely related to the giant panda, which is a bear, though both possess elongated wrist bones, or "false thumbs," used for grasping bamboo. The evolutionary lineage of the red panda (Ailuridae) stretches back around 25 to 18 million years, as indicated by extinct fossil relatives found in Eurasia and North America.

The red panda's role in the culture and folklore of local people is limited. A drawing of a red panda exists on a 13th-century Chinese scroll. In Nepal's Taplejung District, red panda claws are used for treating epilepsy; its skin is used in rituals for treating sick people, making hats, scarecrows and decorating houses. In China, the fur is used for local cultural ceremonies. At weddings, the bridegroom traditionally carries the hide. Hats made of red panda tails are also used by local newlyweds as a "good-luck charm".

In western Nepal, Magar shamans use its skin and fur in their ritual dresses and believe that it protects against evil spirits. People in central Bhutan consider red pandas to be reincarnations of Buddhist monks. Some tribal people in northeast India and the Yi people believe that it brings good luck to wear red panda tails or hats made of its fur.

In Turning Red, the story follows Meilin "Mei" Lee, a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who transforms into a giant red panda when she experiences any strong emotion due to a hereditary curse from her ancestor in ancient China. Sun Yee was the ancestress of the main protagonists, and she was the poet and the member of a hybrid from the Assassin Order and Templar Order, the real enemies of Conservationist Hunters, the peacekeepers of planet Earth that either hunt or preserve creatures or people from extinction.

Reference

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_panda

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Red

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/red-panda

https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/red-panda-bear-and-more-red-panda-facts#:~:text=Red%20pandas%20were%20first%20described,in%20their%20own%20family%3A%20Ailuridae.

[warningsine]

BEIJING (AP) — China and Syria announced the formation of a strategic partnership on Friday as Chinese leader Xi Jinping kicked off a series of diplomatic meetings ahead of the upcoming Asian Games.

Xi met Syrian President Bashar Assad in the southern Chinese city of Hangzhou, which is hosting the 15-day sports competition.

“In the face of the unstable and uncertain international situation, China is willing to work with Syria to firmly support each other ... and jointly safeguard international fairness and justice,” Xi said in a video clip posted online by state broadcaster CCTV.

Assad’s visit parallels in some ways that of Russian President Vladimir Putin last year for the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Both leaders are virtual pariahs in the West but welcomed by China as it tries to expand its global influence and promote an alternative to the U.S.-led international order.

The Syrian leader will attend the Asian Games opening ceremony on Saturday night along with the king of Cambodia, the crown prince of Kuwait and the prime ministers of Nepal, East Timor and South Korea, China’s Foreign Ministry has said.

Xi also met Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah on Friday and said he would work with him to take bilateral relations to a new level, CCTV reported.

Both meetings took place at a state guest house at West Lake, a scenic tourist destination in Hangzhou that has inspired Chinese painters for centuries.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni arrived Friday at the airport in Hangzhou. CCTV video posted online showed him walking down the stairs from his plane to the tarmac for a red carpet welcome that included the Asian Games mascots.

Assad, who is making a rare trip abroad, is looking for ways to emerge from the international isolation brought on by a brutal war at home that shows no sign of ending after 12 years. He was expected to discuss economic assistance from China, which could play a major role in Syria’s future reconstruction.

Syrian state TV quoted Assad as thanking Xi and his government for standing on the side of the Syrian people “during the crisis and suffering.” China has backed Assad, using its veto on the U.N. Security Council eight times to block resolutions against his government.

Xi told Assad that China supports Syria in opposing external interference and unilateral bullying and promoting a political solution that is led and owned by Syrians, China’s CCTV said.

Assad expressed hope that the meeting would be the basis for “wide-ranging and long-term strategic cooperation in all fields” between China and Syria.

The Asian Games, which have more participants than the Olympics, also sparked a diplomatic row between India and China. Three Indian athletes from Arunachal Pradesh, which China claims as its territory, refused to accept their visas and stayed home after they were given visas stapled to their passports — different from those given to the rest of the team.

The Asian Games were scheduled for last year but postponed because of China’s then-strict pandemic restrictions. China eased its restrictions in December of last year.

[al-mayriti]

i just spent more than an hour doing this first-division world map quiz in jetpunk and these are my results:

i scored 609/3795 so 16%. i'm actually very embarrassed cause i had multiple brain farts and i couldn't remember some very very easy ones (don't worry i WILL talk about them). but first of all, the most embarrassing one of all. i missed la rioja 💀💀💀

i'll talk more about my cagadas (and not cagadas) after the read more cause it could get lengthy lol

first of all, I'M SO SORRY ALL OF LATAM 😭😭😭😭

let's start with mexico... when i tell you i wrote 'california del sur' like dozens of times and was genuinely shocked it wasn't counting it like correct like the quiz was bugged or something lol. i will never forget it's baja california and not del sur i promise. there's also so many of these i should've got: campeche, durango, cuanajuato, méxico, puebla, querétaro, quitana roo, san luis potosí, sinaloa, and veracruz AT LEAST.

for argentina, chubut gave me so much trouble... like i knew i knew it but my brain just wouldn't told me. and as you can see, i didn't got it 😔. also i hate that if i had guessed la rioja i would've gotten 2 points en fin.

i have no idea why the netherlands were like this... i was so ready to name the provinces i actually know quite a few of them

i know it's the easiest to get, but i got all belgium :)

also all pakistan :)

brazil 😔😔😔 i should've gotten bahia, espírito santo, goiás, and rio grande do norte & do sul...

i can't believe i missed new brunswick in all US + canada

so so sorry portugal :( i should've gotten bragança, évora, leiria, santarém, setúbal, viana do castelo and vila real

i'm not putting the china one cause it's too large but when i tell you i wrote like 20 times heilongjiang cause i knew it and where it was but did not. write it correctly. at any point.

i'm also not putting russia for obvious reasons but i had so many brain farts with it. i can't believe i missed chukotka, amur, irkutsk, ivanovo, magadan, murmansk, nizhny novgorod, novgorod, samara, smolensk, volgograd, vologda, voronezh, yaroslavl, adyghea, buryatia, ingushetia, karelia (this one gave me so much trouble yall), tuva, udmurtia, khabarovsk, and primorsky, all of them i perfectly knew :/

i knew all four of these but only kosrae came to mind rip me i guess

france gave me SO MUCH TROUBLE i kept coming back to those two last regions in mainland france and i could just not remember their names. the worst thing is at one point i wrote 'val de seine'... so close 😔

germany and italy humbled me so much. i thought i was gonna know every single division and i did horribly lol

i might've not gotten all of the divisions in my country correct but at least i got all greece (not counting mount athos) :)

I WROTE JIJU INSTEAD OF JEJU 😭😭😭😭 also for the life of me i could not remember train to busan

india is also a long one but it gave me sooo much trouble i couldn't remember ANY. en fin, i should've gotten AT LEAST arunachal pradesh, manipur, mizhoram, tripura and uttar pradesh.

i don't know what's worse, that i almost got all israel or that i forgot tel aviv 💀💀

en fin. that's all. maybe i'll try again some other time.

[nimy1234]

Can Any Indian Citizen Buy A Property In North East India?

The Modi administration declared significant modifications to legislation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir on October 26th, using powers provided to the Centre underneath the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.

The headline modifications basically allow outsiders to acquire land in J&K by eliminating legislation and statutory rules of the former state that prohibited the ownership of property in J&K to 'permanent inhabitants'.

The lifting of limitations on outsiders purchasing land in J&K has long been hailed by proponents of the Modi government's decision to terminate the former state's special status. Governor Manoj Sinha has lauded the move's industrial ramifications, while BJP politicians like Sambit Patra have enthusiastically declared on social networks that anyone may now buy property in J&K.

Non-tribal people and foreigners are not permitted to purchase land in Sixth Schedule territories, while the Northeast has various state-specific regulations.

As Article 244 of the Indian Constitution, the Sixth Schedule contains provisions for the governance of tribal territories in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Mizoram and Nagaland (except Dimapur) are, on the other hand, protected by Articles 371G and 371A of the Indian Constitution, and indigenous people have land ownership rights, and several states in the area have Inner Line Permit (ILP) provisions.

The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution empowers Autonomous District Councils (ADCs) to pass rules prohibiting foreigners from purchasing tribal territory.

Articles 371A for Nagaland and 371G for Mizoram have provided specific authority to refuse any new Acts of Parliament until adopted by a resolution voted by the state's legislative assembly and to defend their rights to their land, customs, and religion.

Inner Line Permit (ILP) is relevant in Mizoram, Nagaland, and Arunachal Pradesh underneath the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation of 1873, which requires citizens from other parts of India to obtain permits to enter these states in order to control influx, and outsiders are not permitted to acquire property in the Sixth Schedule and other tribal areas, such as the hills of Manipur.

Prestone Tynsong, Deputy Chief Minister of Meghalaya, stated that there are Sixth Schedule and non-Sixth Schedule territories in Meghalaya.

"There are certain provisions for non-tribal people to acquire land in non-Sixth Schedule regions, including sections of the state capital Shillong as well as some grasslands of the Garo Hills area," Tynsong added.

Assam has several Sixth Schedule regions, and many parts fall underneath the tribal belt, where non-tribal people cannot acquire land. Under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, there are three Autonomous Councils: the Bodoland Territorial Council, the Dima Hasao Autonomous District Council, and the Karbi Anglong Autonomous District Council.

Aside from these, Assam has 17 tribal straps and 30 blocks in the districts of  Morigaon, Tinsukia, Darrang, Sonitpur, Nagaon, Lakhimpur, Kamrup, Goalpara, Dhemaji, and Bongaigaon, and four districts under the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) where non-tribals are prohibited from purchasing land.

[trendingnews19]

New Delhi, India – Gegong Jijong lined up with hundreds of other protesters on a cold afternoon last month near the Siang River in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, shouting antigovernment slogans. “No dam over Ane Siang [Mother Siang],” the protesters in Parong village demanded. The Siang River, cutting through serene hills, has been considered sacred for centuries by Jijong’s ancestors in the Adi tribal community – farmers whose livelihood depended on its water. But all of that is now at risk, he said, as India moves to build its largest dam over their land. The $13.2bn Siang Upper Multipurpose Project will have a reservoir that can hold nine billion cubic metres of water and generate 11,000 megawatts of electricity upon completion – more than any other Indian hydroelectric project. It was first proposed in 2017, and officials are now carrying out feasibility surveys. Locals, however, warn that at least 20 villages will be submerged, and nearly two dozen more villages will partly drown, uprooting thousands of residents. Amid intensifying resistance from locals, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led state government has ordered the deployment of paramilitary forces to quell protests, though there have not been any clashes yet. The protesters insist that they are not going anywhere. “The government is taking over my home, our Ane Siang, and converting it into an industry. We cannot let that happen,” said Jijong, the president of the Siang Indigenous Farmers’ Forum (SIFF) community initiative. “Till the time I’m alive and breathing, we will not let the government construct this dam.” But the BJP government argues that the protesters have got it wrong. Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has insisted that it is “not just a hydro dam,” but that its “real objective is to save the Siang River”. From China. A fragile ecosystem At the heart of the Indian dam project that Jijong and his community are opposing is a geostrategic contest for water and security between New Delhi and Beijing, who are locked in a tense rivalry that, in recent years, has also at times exploded into deadly border clashes. The Siang River originates near Mount Kailash in Tibet, where it is known as the Yarlung Zangbo. It then enters Arunachal Pradesh and becomes much wider. Known as the Brahmaputra in most of India, it then flows into Bangladesh before sinking into the Bay of Bengal. Last month, China approved the construction of its most ambitious – and the world’s largest – dam over the Yarlung Zangbo, in Tibet’s Medog county, right before it enters Indian territory. Soon after China first officially announced its plan to construct the dam in 2020, officials in New Delhi started seriously considering a counter-dam to “mitigate the adverse impact of the Chinese dam projects”. The Indian government argues that the Siang dam’s large reservoir would offset the disruption in the flow of the river by the upcoming Medog dam, and safeguard against flash floods or water scarcity. But the presence of two giant dams in a Himalayan region with a fragile ecosystem and a history of devastating floods and earthquakes poses serious threats to millions of people who live there and further downstream, caution experts and climate activists. And India and China’s dangerous power tussle over Himalayan water resources could disproportionately hurt Indigenous communities. ‘Major flashpoint’ The new mega-dam in Medog county over the Yarlung Zangbo will dwarf even the Three Gorges Dam, currently the world’s largest hydro dam, in central China. Beijing says that the project will be vital in meeting its net-zero emissions goal by 2060, and Chinese news agencies reported that the dam will cost $137bn. There is no immediate clarity on how many people will be displaced on the Chinese side. The dam’s construction, at the Great Bend near Mount Namcha Barwa, will also be an engineering marvel of sorts. As the water falls into one of the deepest gorges in the world – with a depth exceeding 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) – it will generate about 300 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually. The massive new project is the latest in a series of dams – the previous ones were smaller – that China has built on the Yarlung Zangbo and its tributaries, said BR Deepak, professor of Chinese studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. And these dams “should be considered as one of the major flashpoints between India and China,” he said, citing how “some of the biggest conflicts have originated out of the trans-water rivers”. The water of the tributaries of the Indus River is a major bone of contention between India and Pakistan. Ethiopia and Egypt, meanwhile, are locked in a dispute over a giant dam that Ethiopia is building on the Nile. But India’s response, by constructing a dam over the Siang River, “adds fuel to the fire,” said Deepak. “Till China keeps damming these rivers, fears and anxieties will continue and stoke strong responses from lower riparian countries.” A report by the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, in 2020 argued that control over rivers originating in the Tibetan Plateau essentially gives China a “chokehold” over India’s economy. The ‘chokehold’ Throughout history, the Yarlung Zangbo was often known in China as the “river gone rogue”: Unlike other major Chinese rivers that flow west to east, it turns sharply south at the Great Bend to enter India. Beijing’s decision to choose this strategic location for the dam, next to the border with India, has prompted concerns in New Delhi. “It is obvious that China will have the card to use the dam as a strategic factor in its relationship with India to manipulate water flows,” said Saheli Chattaraj, assistant professor of Chinese studies at Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi. Deepak agreed. “Lower riparian like Bangladesh and India will always fear that China may weaponise water, especially in the event of hostilities, because of the dam’s large reservoir.” The reservoir is projected to have the capacity to hold 40 billion cubic metres of water. The fragility of the terrain adds to worries. “The damming of the river is fraught with several dangers,” said Deepak. About 15 percent of the great earthquakes – with a magnitude greater than 8.0 on the Richter Scale – in the 20th century occurred in the Himalayas. And that pattern of major earthquakes hitting Tibet has continued. On January 7, a 7.1-scale earthquake killed at least 126 people. At least five out of 14 hydro dams in the region examined by Chinese authorities after the earthquake had ominous signs of damage. The walls of one were tilting, while some others had cracks. Three dams were emptied, and several villages were evacuated. Meanwhile, the Indian government has told anti-dam protesters in Arunachal Pradesh that a counter-dam is needed to mitigate the risks of China flooding their lands, punctuating its warnings with terms like “water bomb” and “water wars”. Chattaja, the assistant professor, pointed out that neither India nor China are signatories to the UN’s international watercourses convention that regulates shared freshwater resources, like the Brahmaputra. India and China have been parties to a memorandum of understanding since 2002 for the sharing of hydrological data and information on the Brahmaputra during flood seasons. But after a military standoff in Doklam – near their shared border with Bhutan – between the nuclear-armed neighbours in 2017, India said that Beijing had temporarily stopped sharing hydrological data. That spring, a wave of floods hit the northeastern Indian state of Assam, leading to more than 70 deaths and displacing more than 400,000 people. “It is a problematic scenario and, moreover, when the relationship deteriorates or it is malevolent, like the way it was in 2017, China immediately stopped sharing the data,” said Deepak. Sour neighbours, bitter relations The Medog county dam was part of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), and planning has been under way for more than a decade. However, it was officially announced on December 25, triggering sharp responses from India. Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said that New Delhi has “established user rights to the waters of the river”, and has “consistently expressed our concerns to the Chinese side over mega projects on rivers in their territory”. He added that New Delhi has urged Beijing “to ensure that the interests of downstream states of the Brahmaputra are not harmed by activities in upstream areas”, adding that India will “continue to monitor and take necessary measures to protect our interests”. Two days later, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, told reporters that the project “will not negatively affect the lower reaches”, and Beijing will “continue to maintain communication with [lower riparian] countries through existing channels and step up cooperation on disaster prevention”. She again underscored the Medog county dam’s role in China’s pivot towards clean energy and other hydrological disasters. Yet, trust between India and China is in short supply. Last October, the countries reached an agreement to disengage after nearly five years of a tense military standoff in Ladakh, following a deadly military clash on the disputed border in 2020. But the agreement must not be mistaken for an ice break in sour relations, warned Michael Kugelman, South Asia Institute director at the Wilson Center, a Washington, DC-based think tank. “There are simply too many points of divergence and tension between India and China, including this latest flashpoint around water, to expect that we could see strength in relations,” he told Al Jazeera. Kugelman pointed out that both India and China have borne the adverse effects of climate change, including water shortages, and their tussle over water will likely only intensify in the coming years. “India just cannot afford to see water, which it expects to flow down, be bottled up in China,” he said. ‘Bangladesh will face most adverse impact’ But while India and China engage in a tug-of-war, experts say that the worst impact could be felt by millions of people in Bangladesh. Although only 8 percent of the 580,000-square-kilometre (224,000-square-mile) area of the Brahmaputra basin falls in Bangladesh, the river system annually provides over 65 percent of the country’s water. That’s why it is viewed as the “lifeline of Bangladesh”, said Sheikh Rokon, secretary-general of Riverine People, a Dhaka-based civil society organisation that focuses on water resources. “The ‘dam for a dam’ race between China and India will impact us most adversely,” Rokon told Al Jazeera. Those fears have kept Malik Fida Khan, executive director at the Dhaka-based Center for Environmental and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS), on edge for a decade now. “We have access to no information. Not a feasibility report, or the details of the technology that will be used,” he said, his tone tense. “We need a shared, and detailed, feasibility study, environmental impact assessment, and then social and disaster impact assessment. But we have had nothing.” The Brahmaputra also forms one of the world’s largest sediment deltas in Bangladesh, before entering the Bay of Bengal, and directly supports millions who live on its banks. “If there is any imbalance in the sediment flow, it will increase the riverbank erosion and any chances of potential land reclaiming will vanish,” Khan said. India’s dam, Khan lamented, could be particularly damaging to the part of the basin in Bangladesh. “You cannot counter a dam with another down,” he said. “It will have a huge and fatal impact on millions of us living downstream.” Rokon agreed. “We need to get out of the ‘wait and see’ attitude regarding Chinese or Indian dams,” he said, reflecting upon the Bangladesh government’s current policy. “The discussion on the Brahmaputra river should not be a mere bilateral discussion between Bangladesh and India, or India and China; it should be a basin-wide discussion.” Since the ouster of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from Dhaka, whose government was backed by New Delhi, the new dispensation led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has maintained its distance from India. This also means that there is no joint effort, or a unified pushback, from the South Asian countries to counter China’s growing command over the Brahmaputra river, say analysts. Whereas Khan sees this water crisis as “a golden opportunity” for India and Bangladesh to forge ties, Kugelman of Wilson Center isn’t optimistic. “We’ve seen that China is not a country that is receptive to external pressure, whether it be from one country, or two, or even 10,” said Kugelman. “Even if India and Bangladesh were in a position to muster joint resistance toward these Chinese moves, it would not be sufficient to deter Beijing’s actions.” Meanwhile, the threat facing communities on the front lines of these water tensions is only going to grow, say experts. “One cannot emphasise enough on the significance and seriousness of these water tensions because of how climate change effects could make these tensions much more dangerous and potentially destabilising in the upcoming decade,” Kugelman told Al Jazeera. Back in Parong village near the Siang River, Jijong says he has no time to rest. “We have been making more and more people aware about the implications of these dams,” he said. “I do not know about the next generation, but, even if I am 90 years old and cannot walk,” said Jijojng, pausing for a long breath, “I will continue to resist.” atOptions = 'key' : '6c396458fda3ada2fbfcbb375349ce34', 'format' : 'iframe', 'height' : 60, 'width' : 468, 'params' : ;