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China Releases 10 Indian Soldiers After Intense Negotiations

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4 years ago

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China Releases 10 Indian Soldiers After Intense Negotiations

Intense negotiations through diplomatic and military channels, including three rounds of talks between senior military officers, led to the release of 10 Indian soldiers detained by the Chinese side during the violent brawl of June 15 in Galwan Valley, people familiar with developments said.

The people, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 10 soldiers, including at least two officers, were returned to the Indian side on Thursday evening, three days after the violent face-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that left 20 soldiers, including a colonel, dead.

These negotiations were kept tightly under wraps due to concerns for the safety of the soldiers amid the heightened tensions between the two sides, the people said.

There was no official word on the development. All that the Indian Army and the external affairs ministry had said on Thursday was that no Indian soldiers were “missing in action”.

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The release of the 10 soldiers figured in three rounds of talks between Indian and Chinese delegations, led by major generals, near Patrol Point 14 in Galway Valley between Tuesday and Thursday. Maj Gen Abhijit Bapat, commander of Karu-based headquarters 3 Infantry Division, and his Chinese counterpart, met for the third time on Thursday.

The meetings were part of ongoing military engagements to de-escalate the situation and to disengage on the disputed border. The two senior military officers have met seven times since the stand-off began in early May.

The people further said the 10 soldiers, after their release, were sent for a medical examination and were “debriefed” by officials.

The last time the Chinese military had captured Indian soldiers was during the border war between the two countries in 1962. Monday night’s seven-hour brutal clash involving more than 500 rival troops also marked the first time India suffered combat fatalities in an incident involving Chinese troops since 1975.

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Following reports that an unspecified number of soldiers were unaccounted for after Monday night’s clash, the Indian Army had on Thursday only said that none of its personnel were missing in action.

“It is clarified that there are no Indian troops missing in action,” the army said in a terse statement. An army spokesperson had said the statement was in reference to the article “In China-India Clash, Two Nationalist Leaders with Little Room to Give” in The New York Times on Wednesday.

Asked about the specific issue of the status of Indian soldiers after the clash of June 15, external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly media briefing on Thursday: “This has been clarified by the army earlier today afternoon that there are no Indian troops missing in action.”

China has so far not acknowledged any casualties among its troops, while some 76 Indian soldiers were also injured. Army officials claimed 43 Chinese were killed or seriously injured, citing radio intercepts and other intelligence. The Chinese fatal casualties reportedly include a colonel-ranked officer but HT couldn’t independently verify this.

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India has attributed the clash of June 15 on Chinese forces crossing to the Indian side of the LAC and attempting to build a structure. It has also rejected China’s People’s Liberation Army’s claim of sovereignty over the Galwan Valley.

A top retired army commander, who didn’t want to be identified, said: “China has already achieved what it set out to achieve – control over Galwan Valley and [the strategic feature] Finger 4. The gesture of returning the soldiers is a message to the world that they [the Chinese] are not the aggressors and they have returned people who intruded into their territory.”

News Source: HindustanTimes

Also Read: Actor Sushant Singh Rajput Committed Suicide At His Home In Bandra

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Winner of BTS’ Jungkook lookalike competition in Chicago is an all-too-familiar face as ‘lore runs deep’

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1 hour ago

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November 25, 2024

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Winner of BTS’ Jungkook lookalike competition in Chicago is an all-too-familiar face as ‘lore runs deep’

On Sunday, The BTS Jungkook lookalike contest winner was crowned in Chicago. Impersonators sporting his signature piercings and tattoos swarmed the venue.

Social media personality Andrew Alexander, who’s previously been documented as sharing “striking similarities” with BTS’ Jungkook, won the K-pop star-focussed lookalike competition in Chicago on Sunday, November 24, 2024. (Instagram )

The chain reaction set off by YouTuber Anthony Po’s super-viral Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest in Manhattan on October 27, led fans to the K-pop chapter of this journey a month later.

On Sunday, November 24, the new US trend surrounding celebrity lookalike contests saw BTS’ Jungkook enthusiasts turning up for registration in droves. As the Hindustan Times (and several other outlets) previously reported, the event held at Ping Tom Memorial Park in Chicago, Illinois, handed out a $20 cash prize and a bottle of Soju to the winner. As it turned out, some older fans of the K-pop septet already knew the much-debated winner of the anticipated turnout.

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Also read | HT Exclusive: BTS Festa, NCT Nation, top K-dramas and more now streaming on Channel K – Amazon Prime Video at 1 INR

A flurry of fan-shared videos and photos popped up online on Sunday (US time), capturing the three finalists in action as the trio, like other Jungkook impersonators showed up dressed in variations of black outfits. Ultimately, Andrew Alexander, a widely renowned YouTube sensation, was crowned the winner. Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, some BTS fans will remember the content creator from a years-old YouTube video, in which his sister “turned” him into the beloved K-pop group’s maknae.

Who is Andrew Alexander, the winner of Chicago’s Jungkook lookalike competition?

According to the social media personality’s YouTube videos, Andrew is a third-year university student living in California. He clearly flew into Chicago, especially for the Jungkook contest scheduled this week.

Over four years ago, Alexander’s sister, Ashley, posted a video titled “I turned my brother into BTS Jungkook,” as she highlighted how “a lot of people say he looks like” the K-pop star. Given their “striking similarities,” as reflected not only their resemblance (though not validated by a lot of fans) but also their mannerisms, Andrew’s other sister (presumably), Amber, said at the time, “It’s so funny every video we post, there’s at least 20 new people that are like ‘I don’t know if anyone’s ever said this but, Andrew looks like Jungkook’”.

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However, Andrew himself did not admit to the similarities. That didn’t stop BTS fan pages from drawing comparisons between him and the BTS singer.

In a video posted before the viral winning announcement, Andrew’s sister documented the scene at the competition venue. Ashley wrote confirmed in the caption, “He flew from LA we flew from NY.” Ironically, the ultimate Jungkook lookalike contest participant was also registered as #7, a number that holds great emotional significance in the BTS fandom, given the group’s member count.

Also read | With no tickets to Taylor Swift’s Toronto Eras stop, NYC influencer forced to shell out thousands of dollars last minute

A netizen who’d had been a longtime fan of the Alexander siblings clan – all YouTube personalities – commented on one of Andrew’s posts on November 24, “been a fan since 2018,” as they added a reference to Ashley’s YouTube channel “ur mom ashley.”

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In yet another video posted by Amber Alexander, she also recorded the full-circle moment: “He flew all the way from California for this (crying emoji) after years of getting comments saying he looks like Jungkook @andrewalexander WON THE LOOKALIKE COMPETITION.”

Hours before show time, Ashley also took to her TikTok profile (@aaashleyk), showing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the family ‘Jungkook-ified’ Andrew by drawing the pop star’s famously known hand tattoos and suggesting that he needed a lip ring as well. For his final look, Andrew also showed up with Jungkook’s eyebrow and ear piercings. 

Fans react to the winner being crowned for the lookalike contest

While some instantly approved the decision with comments like “Andrew is actually the ONLY one who looked like jungkook, the others literally have no similarity at all,” others who probably never tracked the siblings’ years-old digital footprints were lost why this win was especially gaining momentous traction online.

“If Andrew didn’t win, I would have hosted another one to make sure he won,” someone else wrote in the comments. Others quipped along the lines of how Jungkook had returned from the military and “Kinda crazy how they let Jungkook win his own lookalike competition.”

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Those familiar with Andrew’s journey, definitely agreed with how the contest “cooked” with its final decision, especially since “the lore runs deep.” Who could’ve known that this was years in the making at a time when lookalike contests weren’t a norm?

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