Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (X)

New Delhi : India on Monday strongly deplored comments made by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the condition of minorities in India, calling the remarks “misinformed and unacceptable”.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said countries commenting on minorities in India should look at their “own record” before making any observations about others.

“We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran. These are misinformed and unacceptable,” he said.

“Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others,” Jaiswal said.

The Iranian leader, addressing a gathering of clerics in Tehran on Monday, talked about what he described as “suffering” of Muslims in Gaza, Myanmar and India.

“The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in #Myanmar, #Gaza, #India, or any other place,” he posted on ‘X’ as part of series of posts on the event.

Syrians inspect the damage at the site of overnight Israeli strikes on the outskirts of Masyaf in Syria’s central Hama province

Masyaf (Syria): The number of people killed in overnight Israeli strikes in Syria has risen to 18 with dozens more wounded, Syria’s health minister said on Monday — the largest death toll in such an attack since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

One of the sites targeted was a research centre used in the development of weapons, a war monitor said. Syrian officials said civilian sites were targeted.

Israel regularly targets military sites in Syria linked to Iran and the Lebanese group Hezbollah. Those strikes have become more frequent as Hezbollah has exchanged fire with Israeli forces for the past 11 months against the backdrop of Israel’s war against Hamas — a Hezbollah ally — in Gaza.

However, the intensity and death toll of Sunday night’s strikes were unusual.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of war-torn Syria in recent years, but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. The strikes often target Syrian forces or Iranian-backed groups.

Israel has vowed to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria, particularly since Syria is a key route for Iran to send weapons to Hezbollah.

Israeli strikes hit several areas in central Syria, damaging a highway in Hama province and sparking fires, Syrian state news agency SANA said.

Speaking to reporters, Syrian Health Minister Hassan al-Ghabbash described the strikes as a “brutal and barbaric aggression”. He said the death toll had risen to 18 with nearly 40 wounded.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, said 25 were killed, including at least five civilians, while the others included Syrian army soldiers and members of Hezbollah and other Iran-linked armed groups.

One strike targeted a scientific research centre in Masyaf, and others struck sites where “Iranian militias and experts are stationed to develop weapons in Syria”, the observatory said. It said the research centre was reportedly used for developing weapons, including short- and medium-range precision missiles and drones.

Minister of Electricity Mohammad al-Zamel said the strikes had caused “truly significant” damage to water and electricity infrastructure.

“This brutal attack targeted civilian targets, and the martyrs were mostly civilians, as were the wounded,” he said.

Local media also reported strikes around the coastal city of Tartous, which the observatory said were the result of air defense missiles falling.

On Monday afternoon, a charred car remained at the scene of one strike and smoke was still rising from some spots where fires had been put out.

Hvaldimir, the alleged Russian spy whale spotted in Norway

Copenhagen (Denmark): There’s no evidence that a well-known beluga whale that lived off Norway’s coast and whose harness ignited speculation it was a Russian spy was shot to death last month as claimed by animal rights groups, Norwegian police said on Monday.

The tame beluga, which was first spotted in 2019 not far from Russian waters with a harness reading “Equipment St. Petersburg”, was found floating at the Risavika Bay in southern Norway on August 31.

Experts examined the carcass at a nearby harbour, after lifting it with a crane.

Animal advocate groups OneWhale and NOAH last week filed a police report saying that the animal’s wounds suggested it was intentionally killed. OneWhale founder Regina Haug said when she saw the carcass, she “immediately knew he had been killed by gunshots”.

That’s not the conclusion so far from veterinarians.

Police said that the Norwegian Veterinary Institute conducted a preliminary autopsy on the animal, which was become known as “Hvaldimir”, combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and the first name of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There are no findings from the autopsy that indicate that Hvaldimir has been shot,” police said in a statement.

Most of the animal’s visible wounds were “completely superficial” with one of them “somewhat deeper” but not fatal or affecting vital organs, police said. An x-ray found no projectiles and no indication that the wounds could have been caused by gunshots, the statement said.

However, a stick about 35 centimeters (14 inches) long and 3 centimeters (1 inch) wide was found wedged in the animal’s mouth, and its stomach was empty and its organs had broken down, police said. No further details were given.

“There is nothing in the investigations that have been carried out to establish that it is human activity that has directly led to Hvaldimir’s death,” said Preede Revheim, head of the North Sea and environment section of the police in South Western Norway.

Revheim said that police will not be actively investigating the case and that the final autopsy report will released later this month.

The two animal rights groups said on Monday they’re not satisfied with the preliminary results and want the police investigation to continue, offering 50,000 kroner (USD 4,661) for any tips that could reopen the case.

The 4.2-metre (14-foot) long and 1,225-kilogram (2,700-pound) whale was first spotted by fishermen near the northern island of Ingoeya, not far from the Arctic town of Hammerfest.

Its harness, along with what appeared to be a mount for a small camera, led to media speculation that it was a “spy whale”. Over the years since 2019, it was seen in several Norwegian coastal towns and it became clear it was very tame and enjoyed interacting with people.

Experts say the Russian navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes. Media reports also have speculated that the whale might have been trained as a therapy animal.

Washington: Love, respect and humility are missing in Indian politics, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said while addressing the Indian American community in Texas, where he also accused the RSS and the BJP of believing that women should stay at home.

Gandhi was addressing the Indian American community in Texas on Sunday in Dallas during his first interaction with the Indian diaspora after becoming Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha this summer.

During an interaction at another event, Gandhi said that the attitude of Indian men towards women needs to change. The 54-year-old said he is a supporter of women’s participation in politics starting with the women’s reservation bill. Gandhi said women should be supported financially if they want to start a business and they should be treated equally to men.

“The BJP and the RSS believe that women should be restricted to a particular role. They should stay at home, they should cook the food, they should not talk too much and we believe that women should aspire to whatever they want to do,” the Congress leader said.

“The RSS believes that India is one idea. We believe that India is a multiplicity of ideas,” he said during his address to the Indian American community.

“Very much like the United States, we believe everybody should be allowed to participate. We believe that everybody should be allowed to dream, (and) everybody should be given space, regardless of their caste, language, religion, tradition, history,” he said.

“This is the fight. The fight crystallised in the election when millions of people in India clearly understood that the Prime Minister of India was attacking the Constitution of India. Because what I am saying to you is the union of states, respect to languages, respect to religions, respect to traditions, respect to caste. This is all in the Constitution,” Gandhi added.

Gandhi said his role was to inject values of love, respect and humility into Indian politics.

“I think what is missing in our political systems and across parties is love, respect and humility. Love to all human beings, not necessarily only people of one religion, one community, one caste, one State, or to those who speak one language,” he said.

“Respect to everybody who is trying to build an India, not just the most powerful, but the weakest and humility, not in others, but in oneself. I think that is how I see my own,” he added.

Making an indirect reference to the Lok Sabha results in which the BJP failed to get a majority on its own, Gandhi said, “The people were saying the BJP is attacking our tradition, attacking our language, etc. What they understood was that anybody who is attacking the Constitution of India is also attacking our religious tradition.”

“We saw that immediately, within minutes of the election result, nobody in India was scared of the BJP, of the Prime Minister. These are huge achievements. These are huge achievements of the people of India who realised democracy, of the people of India who realised that we are not going to accept an attack on our Constitution. We’re not going to accept an attack on our religion. We’re not going to accept an attack on our States,” he said.

Asserting that the US needs India and vice versa, Gandhi said the Indian diaspora is a “bridge” between the two nations.

“In my view, you should travel freely between these two homes. You should bring the idea of India to the United States and the ideas of the United States to India,” Gandhi said in his remarks.

Kyiv: Two Russian ballistic missiles struck an educational facility and nearby hospital in a central-eastern region of Ukraine, killing at least 41 people and wounding 180 others, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday.

The strike occurred in the city of Poltava, the capital of the region of the same name, officials said. Poltava is located about 110 kilometres (70 miles) from the border with Russia and about 350 kilometres (200 miles) southeast of Kyiv.

The strike appeared to be one of the deadliest carried out by Russian forces since the war began more than 900 days ago on February 24, 2022.

“One of the buildings of the Institute of Communications was partially destroyed. People found themselves under the rubble. Many were saved,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted on his Telegram channel.

“All necessary services are involved in the rescue operation,” he added. He said he had ordered “a full and prompt investigation” into what happened. Zelenskyy didn’t provide any further details.

The missiles hit shortly after the air raid alert sounded, when many people were on their way to a bomb shelter, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said, describing the strike as “barbaric.”

Rescue crews and medics saved 25 people, 11 of them dug out from the rubble, a Defence Ministry statement said.