Sailors and spices.

On 29 January, "Indian Navy's INS Sumitra has successfully rescued fishermen hijacked by pirates along the East Coast of Somalia," as "The naval warship was responding to a distress message regarding hijacking of an Iranian-flagged Fishing Vessel (FV) Iman." HT. The Indian Navy has rescued Iranian sailors several times in recent months. So, how has Iran thanked India? On 13 April, "Commandos from Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard rappelled down from a helicopter onto an Israeli-affiliated container ship mostly manned by Indians near the Strait of Hormuz and seized the vessel." HL. Only one of the Indians "Ann Tessa Joseph - the Indian sailor who crewed on MSC Aries, the ship seized by Iran" has been released so far. NDTV. The other 16 are still being held by Iran but "The Indian mission was given consular access to the Indians by Iranian authorities." DH. Are we expected to bend over in gratitude? We are helping Iran in other ways as well. The US slapped sanctions on three Indian companies, Zen Shipping, Port India Private Limited and Sea Art Ship Management, for helping Iran's military entity Sahara Thunder's commercial activities, including supplying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to Russia. DH. Meanwhile, in the Maldives, whose border is only 446 km or 277 miles from India's border (distance calculator), "President Mohamed Muizzu's party has won a landslide victory in a parliamentary election, cementing his grip on power." BBC. In an interview, Muizzu "acknowledged India's significant role in providing aid to the Maldives and said India has implemented the 'greatest number' of projects. He urged New Delhi to consider providing debt relief to the archipelago nation, which owed approximately USD 400.9 million to India." HT. So, what do we get for $400 million US? Muizzu "set a deadline on Sunday of March 15 for its giant neighbor to withdraw all its troops" from Maldives. "The deadline was set shortly after...Muizzu returned from a state visit to China." Reuters. Misfortune never comes alone, is an old saying. "Recently a report published on the official website of Hong Kong's food regulatory authority - Center for Food Safety (CFS) on April 5th mentioned that three spice products in India have cancer-causing chemicals that contain a pesticide known as ethylene oxide." TOI. On 8 April, The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) increased the permissible level by ten times, from 0.01 mg per kg to 0.1 mg per kg, for pesticides not registered with the Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC). Telegraph. Surely it is the duty of regulators to check and limit the level of poisons in our food? Fortunately, foreign countries were quick to flag the danger. Will the regulators apologize? As is usual, FSSAI ignored all questions. The US has effectively imprisoned 22 Indian sailors since 26 March while they investigate a collision between their ship Dali with a bridge in Baltimore. TOI. India means Indians. And Indians have no value.