At least 27 workers were killed in a fire at a remote gold mine in southern Peru, authorities said  on May 7 , as grief-stricken relatives gathered near the site awaiting news of their loved ones.

The blaze was sparked by a short circuit and quickly engulfed one of the tunnels, leading to one of the worst mining tragedies in the South American country's recent history.

Mining is one of the engines of the Peruvian economy, the largest gold and copper producer in Latin America, accounting for more than eight percent of GDP.

The mine, operated by Minera Yanaquihua, is a legal enterprise but there are many illegal mines in the region.

The company has been operating mines in Peru for 23 years. Last year, 39 people died in mining-related incidents, according to the mining and energy ministry.

In 2020, four workers died after becoming trapped when a mine in Arequipa collapsed.

Peru is the world's second-largest producer of silver, copper and zinc. It is also Latin America's top producer of zinc, tin, lead and molybdenum.

A 33-year-old Indian-origin homeless man has been sentenced to nearly 20 years imprisonment in New Zealand for sexually violating and fatally strangling a woman with Down's syndrome in September 2021.

Shamal Sharma violently preyed on 27-year-old Lena Zhang Harrap, a woman with Down's syndrome when she was out on her daily walk in Auckland on September 22, 2021.

·                    United States President Joe Biden on May 7  named Indian-American Neera Tanden as his Domestic Policy Advisor to help him craft and implement his domestic policy agenda.

Tanden replaces Susan Rice as Biden’s Domestic Policy Advisor.

Tanden currently serves as Senior Advisor to President Biden and Staff Secretary

She served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, as well as presidential campaigns and think tanks. Most recently, she was the President and CEO of the Centre for American Progress and the Centre for American Progress Action Fund.

Tanden previously served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, working on President Obama’s health reform team in the White House.

Prior to that, she was the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign and served as policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign. Tanden served as senior advisor to the Chancellor of the New York City Schools as well as Associate Director for Domestic Policy in the Clinton White House and Senior Policy Advisor to the First Lady. She received her Bachelor of Science from UCLA and her Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.

·         Iran executed an Iranian-Swedish dual national on May 6 accused of masterminding a 2018 attack on a military parade that killed at least 25 people, one of several enemies of Tehran seized abroad in recent years amid tensions with the West.

·         Farajollah Cha'ab, also known as Habib Asyoud, had been a leader of the Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahwaz, an Arab separatist movement that has conducted oil pipeline bombings and other attacks in Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province. That group had claimed the 2018 attack in its immediate aftermath.

·         Cha'ab's execution comes as a Swedish court last year sentenced an Iranian to life in prison over his part in the 1988 mass executions in Iran at the end of its war with Iraq. Tehran, which has used prisoners as bargaining chips in negotiations with the West, reacted angrily to that sentence. Meanwhile, tensions also remain high between Iran and the West over its rapidly advancing nuclear program as well — and at least one more prisoner with Western ties faces possible execution.

A prominent Hindu temple in Sydney was defaced by "anti-social elements" on May 5 with anti-India graffiti at the walls, in the latest incident of vandalism against Hindu temples in Australia ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country later this month.

The incident took place at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Rosehill, Sydney. However, the time is not yet known.

Temple authorities also found a Khalistani flag hanging on the gate, and reported the matter to New South Wales (NSW) police.

Earlier this year three Hindu Temples in Melbourne and two Hindu Temples in Brisbane were vandalised by Khalistan supporters.

Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to visit Sydney for the QUAD summit on May 24.

In March, During Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to India, Prime Minister Modi raised the issue of frequent attacks on Hindu Temples with him and conveyed his concerns.

On this, Albanese assured Modi that Australia will not tolerate attacks on religious places and that anyone responsible for such activities will face the "full force of the law".

The free trade agreement (FTA) between India and Canada will fructify sooner than that with the UK, a top government official told TNIE. Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on May 7  reached Canada to sign an interim agreement.

The interim agreement will include high-level commitments in goods, services, rules of origin, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement, and may also cover any other areas mutually agreed upon.

In addition, trade talks with the UK, which were launched last year in July, have slowed down after the new government took over there.

He further said that the next round of meetings between India and the UK for the trade deal will take place in the May-end or the beginning of June. 

In the last couple of years, India has signed FTAs with Mauritius and the UAE and an interim pact with Australia. Besides Canada and the UK, India is also in talks with the European Union and Israel for the trade deal.

The total merchandise trade with Canada in FY23 was around $8 billion, which is a paltry 0.65% of India’s total trade during the year.  India’s major exports to Canada are pharmaceuticals, textiles, metal and steel. India largely imports petroleum products from Canada.

Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources on May 6 said it has repaid $800 million of loans it had taken from Standard Chartered Bank against the company’s shares. The mining giant, in an exchange filing, said all debt repayments coming up in the current cycle have been made and there was no outstanding amount. Subsequently, the encumbrance on all shares was released.

The move will lessen its concerns about its liquidity after surging interest rates intensified pressure on low-rated borrowers with heavy debt loads. Vedanta Resources holds over 68% stake in Vedanta Ltd through its subsidiaries. Vedanta had pledged shares to raise loans on behalf of its subsidiaries Twin Star Holdings, Vedanta Netherlands Investments BV, and Vedanta Resources. A total of 253.2 crore equity shares amounting to 68.1% of the total share capital had been pledged.

In April, the company said it had paid all loans and bonds dues last month, cutting its gross debt to $6.8 billion. It repaid $150 million borrowed from Barclays Bank and $100 million borrowed from Standard Chartered Bank.

Public sector lender Bank of India’s net profit doubled to Rs 1,350 crore during the quarter ended March this year (Q4FY22), compared to Rs 606 crore in the same quarter last year, reflecting a growth of 123%.

The company’s net interest income increased by 37.77% from Rs 3,987 crore in the year-ago quarter to Rs 5,493 crore. The net interest margin improved to 3.15% in the quarter from 2.56% in the same quarter the previous year. Non-interest income increased by 95.27% to Rs 3,099 crore during the quarter from Rs 1,587 crore in the same previous quarter.