TRT | South African delegation blocked from leaving plane in Poland A charter flight carrying security forces and journalists was blocked upon landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport on Thursday, with Polish authorities not allowing those on board to disembark, South African officials said on Friday. .... some journalists aboard the aircraft reported they had been finally allowed to disembark after more than 24 hours on the tarmac, although it was not immediately clear whether they would be allowed to travel onwards.

About 120 people were stuck on the plane, who were all on their way to a peace summit in Ukraine. Some of the passengers are now disembarking and going to a hotel. Poland's actions have left President Cyril Ramaphosa, who travelled separately to Ukraine, without some of his security detail. This prompted a furious reaction from Mr Ramaphosa's head of security, Maj Gen Wally Rhoode.

The group was held hostage for over 20 hours after being barred from disembarking from their plane at Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland, because they failed to produce original documents for the weapons which they have carried.

"We landed at the Warsaw Chopin Airport in Poland at around 13:30 on Thursday. We weren't allowed to disembark. It's now 14:07 on Friday. Can you imagine what it feels like?" tweeted Journalist Amanda Khoza who is part of the group.

On 15 June, a plane carrying members of the security team of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was detained at Warsaw Chopin Airport. The situation resulted from a failure to comply with standard entry procedures required by the Polish side. Dangerous goods were on board the plane, which South African representatives did not have permission to bring in. In addition, there were persons on board the aircraft of whose presence the Polish side had not been notified beforehand.

Air defense sirens blared Friday in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as a delegation of African heads of state met with government leaders with hopes to broker a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko posted on social media that there was an explosion in the central Podil district. "Missiles are still flying towards Kyiv," he said on the social media platform Telegram.

South African presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya has accused Reuters of peddling lies, after the news agency claimed that a Russian missile strike sent his delegation running for a bunker in Kiev. It was not the first time Ukrainian authorities sounded air raid sirens when foreign leaders arrived in the city. Magwenya arrived in Kiev on Friday with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who along with five other African leaders met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensk* to promote a negotiated end to the conflict with Russia.
[...]

ruptly | Poland-Ukraine: African leaders and PMs hold talks during train ride to Kiev for peace mission, A/V (EN) with report
...Later on Friday, the African delegation will depart Kiev towards St Petersburg, where the leaders are planning to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday.

However, no sirens or explosions were actually heard, Magwenya said. "We didn't hear any explosions," he tweeted. "Instead, we saw people going on about their day leisurely. Everything seems normal from what we have experienced thus far."

Politigibberish | Biden rolls out red carpet for Modi, despite concerns over human rights, 20 June

Though he leads the world's largest democracy, Modi has ruled as an autocratic-leaning Hindu nationalist whose government has overseen a crackdown on everyone from journalists to political opposition leaders as part of a larger targeting of Indian Muslims.

For Biden, this is more than a mere inconvenience. Human rights advocates have criticized him not just for hosting Modi, but for throwing him a state dinner, a prestigious honor bestowed upon only two other foreign leaders since Biden took office.

In private, White House officials concede they are bound by realpolitik. India is viewed as a crucial partner in the United States' ["]rivalry["] with CHINA. More broadly, the global contest between democracies and autocracies has defined Biden's foreign policy and the president has made the decision to cozy up to the region's [LARGEST, FASTEST GROWING] democracy, even if it is a deeply flawed one.
[...]

SPOILER ALERT Indian oil companies can also purchase oil at any price they want

Obama gave his comments ahead of the official state visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been criticized for his government's treatment of Muslims and a weakening of press freedoms. He added that protecting the rights of minority groups in India is essential.

wsj | Why Narendra Modi Was Banned From the U.S. (02.05.14)
"The 2005 decision by the George W. Bush administration now puts President Barack Obama in a bind."
obamawhitehouse | President Obama Meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (30.09.14)
"The President recognized the Prime Minister's historic victory in the Indian general election earlier this year"
Remarks With Vice President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (30.09.14)
"BIDEN: a portrait—a copy of a portrait of my great-great-great grandfather who—the Irish part of me is hard to admit, but was an English sea captain who settled and lived in India, and there are three Biden families in Mumbai."

"Part of my argument would be that if you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility India at some point starts pulling apart. And we've seen what happens when you start getting those kinds of large internal conflicts," he said.

brookings | Mr. Modi goes to Washington (again) (03.06.16)
"Do not, however, expect to hear the word 'Pakistan'"

"But you have to do business with them—because they're important for national security reasons—there are a range of economic interests," he said. "If the president meets with Prime Minister Modi, then the protection of the MUSLIM minority in a majority-Hindu India, that's something worth mentioning," Obama added.

In a tweet, the New York Democrat urged her colleagues who stand for "pluralism, tolerance, and freedom of speech" to join her boycott. [...] Her statement comes a day after Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), the two MUSLIM women in Congress, said they would not be attending the Indian leader's speech.

"I'm actually really surprised," Modi said in response before launching into a full-throated assertion that India is still a strong democratic nation. "Indeed, India is a democracy," Modi said.

BIDEN:...Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your partnership. And I'll turn it over to you. (Applause.)
AUDIENCE: Modi! Modi! Modi!
PRIME MINISTER MODI: (Speaks Hindi.) (Applause.)
Thank you, President Biden, for your friendship. ... The people of the Indian community are enhancing India's glory in the U.S. through their talent, hard work, and dedication.

There are students in this room who are discovering the inner workings of semiconductors--starting in middle and high school--or training for other cutting-edge jobs.

Reuters reported.

Indian citizens are by far the most active users of the U.S. H-1B program and made up 73% of the nearly 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022.

"We all recognize that mobility of our people is a huge asset to us," said another U.S. official. "And so our goal is to approach that in a sort of multifaceted way. The State Department already has been working very hard to find creative ways to make changes to things."
[...]
The companies using the most H-1B workers in recent years include the Indian-based Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services as well as Amazon, Alphabet, and Meta in the U.S., according to U.S. government data.

The US State Department could make the announcement on Thursday that a small number of Indians and other foreign workers on H-1B visas will be able to renew those visas in the US, without the need to having to travel to other nations, Reuters reported citing one of the sources, part of a pilot program that could be expanded in coming years.
[...]

rollcall | Modi's speech draws mixed lawmaker response amid rights concerns (23.06.23)
...In a speech well-spiced with lines aimed at eliciting strong applause from different congressional groups, including those concerned with climate change, women's political and economic opportunities, terrorism, and business development in individual U.S. states, Modi seemed to generate enthusiasm only when he spoke of the strength of the Indian-American diaspora, growing bilateral defense cooperation, Ukraine, maintaining a free Indo-Pacific, and the future of the U.S.-India relationship. The loudest cheers as well as piercing wolf whistles came from the galleries, filled with some of the U.S.'s roughly 4 million Indian Americans. Guests in the galleries chanted 'Modi! Modi! Modi' as well as in Hindi, 'Victory to the motherland' at the end of the roughly one-hour speech....

(PMO album)
pmindia.gov | A/V recording (EN), "live" tweets, and prepared text (EN, Hindi-Devanagari)