The NDA’s tally was 352 in 2019 and the BJP had won 303 seats on its own
The minimum figure given by the three polls is 361.
During the entire election season, the BJP stood by its target of 400 Lok Sabha seats for the NDA and its slogan of ‘ab ki baar 400 paar’ in the face of relentless mocking by the opposition. If three exit polls are to be believed, the ruling party is going to have the last laugh.
While two of the polls have given ranges with figures of just over 400 on the upper end, News 24-Today’s Chanakya has predicted 400 as the NDA’s tally. The only rider this number comes with is that the margin of error is 15 seats. The figure then becomes 385 on the lower end and an astounding 415 on the upper side.
India TV-CNX has also given similar estimates and a range of 371-401, putting the NDA just over the mammoth target if it touches the upper limit of the range. India Today-Axis My India has predicted 361-401.
Health Warning: Exit polls often get it wrong.
The NDA’s tally was 352 in 2019 and the BJP had won 303 seats on its own. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make history if he gets a third straight term and the party and the alliance’s leaders and election machinery will have shown their prowess if the NDA even gets the lowest end of these figures.
A tally of 361, the minimum figure predicted by India Today-Axis My India, will mean that the alliance has bettered its performance in each successive election, which would be a huge feat on its own and indicate that anti-incumbency is not much of a factor. It will also be a testament to PM Narendra Modi’s popularity.
The opposition INDIA Alliance, which said on Saturday that it will win 295 constituencies, has been given 107 (plus-minus 11) by Today’s Chanakya, 109-139 by CNX and 131-166 by Axis My India.
With its 80 Lok Sabha seats the most important state in every election is Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP had won 62 seats in 2019, when the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party were in an alliance. The Samajwadi Party is now allied with the Congress and all three polls have the BJP bettering its tally in the state.
Much of the focus in this phase will be on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s seat of Varanasi in UP, which he is hoping to win for a third straight time.
The seventh and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election has started.
Fifty-seven seats across seven states – 13 in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, nine in Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh, and three in Jharkhand, as well as Chandigarh – will complete a mammoth exercise that began 55 days ago – on April 19.
Voting is taking place amid a scorching heat wave across parts of the country, including those voting. At least 10 heat-related deaths have been reported from Odisha, while seven poll officials in Bihar and UP have died in the past 24 hours because of the temperatures.
Overall more than 30 heat-related deaths are suspected, as day-time temperatures cross 45 degrees Celsius on a daily basis in the above states, leading to concern over voter turnout.
Campaigning for the final phase played out against a myriad flashpoints between the ruling BJP and the opposition INDIA bloc, including the clock ticking down to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – arrested in the liquor policy scam – returning to jail after his bail ends.
Much to the chagrin of the Enforcement Directorate, Mr Kejriwal got bail so he could campaign ahead of the election in Delhi and Punjab, the two states where his party has power. The wily AAP boss has tried to leverage his time in jail to flip voters on the fence.
As the election draws to a close the focus has also been on the INDIA bloc’s prime ministerial candidate… or lack of one, which has been a source of frequent BJP jibes.
Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge has told NDTV in the past this question will be answered – by member-parties sitting together – after the results are declared. In other words, there is no point in talking about who will become the Prime Minister if the coalition does not win.
Today, however, he broke from that line and chose Rahul Gandhi – who, admittedly, does appear to be the most likely consensus candidate if one is needed – as the PM face.
Another headline point in this phase was the BJP-BJD squabble in Odisha, which is holding simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s “advanced age and health issues” have been used by Mr Modi to attack the BJD boss.
Mr Patnaik, 77, hit back with a jibe of his own, declaring that if the Prime Minister, 73, were concerned about his health he should feel free to talk to him directly.
Also, before this phase, ex-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched a final attack on the BJP, writing a letter urging voters to make the most of a “final chance to ensure our democracy and Constitution are protected from repeated assaults by a despotic regime”.
Dr Singh also took on Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly over controversial comments made during a rally in Rajasthan’s Bhilwara in an earlier phase, in which the Congress veteran had been named. Mr Modi, whose party received an Election Commission notice, referred to Muslims and an excerpt from his predecessor’s speech about ensuring equal access to resources, particularly for underprivileged or marginalised communities.
Finally, Mr Modi’s meditation visit to Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu has sparked a row, particularly since his party has historically struggled in the southern state and the late-election visit has been seen by the opposition as an way to influence voters.
The BJP, however, has insisted this is a personal visit and has no election link.
PM’s Varanasi Bastion
Much of the focus in this phase will be on Mr Modi’s seat of Varanasi in UP, which he is hoping to win for a third straight time. The PM romped to victory in 2019 with nearly 6.8 lakh votes and more than 63 per cent of the vote share. He faces the Congress’ Ajay Rai.
The Prime Minister filed his nomination on May 14 accompanied by a phalanx of senior leaders from the BJP and its partners, including party boss JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah, as well as Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma.
This was after a flashy six km roadshow the evening before.
Mr Rai has contested each of the past three elections from the temple town; the past two as a Congress leader and the 2009 poll as a member of Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.
His best return was in 2019 – 1.5 lakh votes and around 14 per cent of the vote share.
Hindus make up around 75 per cent of Varanasi’s demographic and Muslims 20 per cent.
An estimated 10 per cent are from Scheduled Tribes while 0.7 are from Scheduled Castes. The rural-urban split of the population is 65 to 35 per cent.
Away from Varanasi, the spotlight will be split between Punjab and Bengal.
Battle For Punjab
There is an intriguing AAP vs Congress vs BJP battle in Punjab. The AAP and Congress are, on paper, part of the INDIA opposition bloc and are contesting as allies in neighbouring Delhi.
In Punjab, however, the two are ‘enemies’, a strange state of affairs replicated in Bengal, where the Congress and the Trinamool are rivals despite being INDIA members.
The ‘friendly fire’ contests have been criticised by the BJP, which has said the bloc’s failure to agree seat-share deals underlines its unstable nature and makes it a poor choice.
The battle for Punjab is complicated by the Akali Dal – a former BJP ally that walked out over farmers’ protests from 2020 that continue to simmer – fighting independently too.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal campaigning in Punjab (File).
In 2019 the Congress – then led by ex-Chief Minister Amarinder Singh – got eight seats.
The Akalis and BJP (then allies) got two each and the AAP got one.
Fast-forward three years and the AAP thumped the Congress in the state poll, winning 92 of 117 seats. A faction-ridden Congress got just 18, the Akalis three and the BSP got one.
Significantly, the BJP contested 73 and won just two. This was against the backdrop of farmers’ protests, which rumbles on to this day, suggesting it might struggle this time too.
Rumble In Bengal
Only nine of Bengals’ 42 seats will vote today. However, these include the prestigious Kolkata North and South seats and Diamond Harbour, which was won in 2014 and 2019 by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is seeking re-election.
Mr Banerjee and his aunt are among the BJP’s fiercest public critics.
The nephew faces a BJP veteran, Abhijit Das, in the Diamond Harbour race. Diamond Harbour was previously a CPIM bastion; the party held it from 1967 to 2004.
The Kolkata seats were also won by the Trinamool last time.
Donald Trump stared down a bank of cameras inside Trump Tower on Friday and delivered a message fitting for both his legal and political battles: He is ready to fight.
A day after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts related to falsifying documents to hide hush money payments to a porn star, the Republican presidential candidate rattled off a list of adversaries and grievances in angry, rambling remarks.
He called Justice Juan Merchan, who presided over his trial, “crooked” and “a devil.” He described Democrat Joe Biden, his rival in the Nov. 5 election, as “the worst president in the history of our country.” He blasted the witnesses who testified against him, the members of Congress who had voted to impeach him and – echoing his rally rhetoric – the immigrants he said were pouring into the country illegally.
Trump implored supporters to donate to his campaign, framing the challenges before him as being bigger than his alone.
“Do this,” he said, “because we’re fighting for America.”
While his other campaign speeches have often been sprinkled with humor, this one was mostly dour. Trump held just one small page of notes during the news conference. At the end, he took no questions and retreated quickly from the lectern with his son, Eric Trump, by his side.
Away from the cameras, through fundraising appeals and on social media, the former president’s allies also lashed out at the justice system and anyone who dared suggest Trump had committed a crime.
In a race where both leading candidates have portrayed each other as a threat to the nation, the Biden campaign seized on Trump’s remarks as fresh evidence that he is not fit to serve.
“America just witnessed a confused, desperate and defeated Donald Trump ramble about his own personal grievances and lie about the American justice system, leaving anyone watching with one obvious conclusion: This man cannot be president of the United States,” Michael Tyler, the Biden campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.
Trump supporters – most of whom see the New York verdict as a miscarriage of justice – flooded his campaign with $34.8 million in donations on Thursday alone, the Trump team said. That was a one-day record for Trump on WinRed, a platform that handles digital fundraising for Republicans.
The campaign, which lags Biden in total fundraising, sought to keep up the pace on Friday, blasting off a flurry of foreboding fundraising texts to supporters.
“THE DARKEST DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY!” one message read.
New York City, U.S., May 31, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Purchase Licensing Rights
“I WILL NEVER SURRENDER!” blared another after Trump’s press conference.
NO ROOM FOR DISSENT
Almost all Republican officials and organizations fell in line behind the former president, arguing the trial was flawed, the charges should never have been brought, the jury pool in heavily Democratic Manhattan was tainted and the judge was biased – allegations local authorities deny.
Where Republicans’ condemnations were not swift or strong enough, Trump allies and campaign aides went on the attack.
Trump co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita heaped scorn on a national college Republican group whose post on social media platform X said the jury’s verdict should be respected.
“Opinions are like assholes…everyone has one…,” LaCivita posted.
He also took aim, opens new tab at Larry Hogan, a moderate former Republican governor in Maryland running for a Senate seat, who before the verdict warned Americans “not to pour fuel on the fire with more toxic partisanship.”
“You just ended your campaign,” LaCivita responded on X.
The first phase of the deal would be a six-week ceasefire, the second the return of remaining hostages from Gaza, and the third, and final stage, a reconstruction plan for Gaza, Joe Biden announced on Friday.
Israel has offered a comprehensive new ceasefire deal to Hamas, according to US President Joe Biden.
The deal would involve the return of Israeli hostages from Gaza and the reconstruction of civilian areas.
Mr Biden urged Hamas and prominent figures in Israel not to “lose this moment” after ceasefire talks ground to a halt at the start of the month when Israel refused a permanent end to the war and ramped up its assault on the city of Rafah.
“Everyone who wants peace now must raise their voices and work to make it real. It’s time for this war to end,” the president said during a surprise address at the White House on Friday.
“Israel has made their proposal. Hamas says it wants a ceasefire. This deal is an opportunity to prove whether they really mean it,” he told the news conference.
The office of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said its main goals are “the return of all our abductees and the elimination of Hamas’ military and governmental capabilities”, with a statement claiming the three-stage proposal “allows Israel to maintain these principles”.
US party leaders have also invited Mr Netanyahu to address Congress.
Hamas said in a statement that it “views positively” what was included in Mr Biden’s speech saying it will deal “constructively with any proposal based on a permanent ceasefire, complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, reconstruction, the return of the displaced to all their places of residence, and the completion of a serious prisoner exchange deal if the occupation declares its explicit commitment to that”.
Palestinians after Israeli forces withdrew from Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp. Pic: Reuters
Three-phase plan
The first phase of the proposed deal would be a ceasefire lasting six weeks, during which Israel and Hamas would negotiate a permanent end to the fighting in Gaza, Mr Biden said.
If the negotiations take longer than six weeks, the ceasefire would continue for as long as it takes to strike a deal, he added.
Phase two would involve Hamas handing over the remaining 100 hostages and Israel withdrawing all of its forces from Gaza.
The final phase would be about a “major reconstruction plan” for Gaza, according to the president.
Mr Biden claimed Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another attack like the one on 7 October.
Sky News’ Middle East correspondent Alistair Bunkall says he has been told the deal has not been made “with the cooperation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.
“Sources close to Mr Netanyahu” have told him they do not “wholly recognise or agree with” the proposal outlined by Mr Biden on Friday.
‘Big moment’
Sky News’ US correspondent Mark Stone, however, describes the announcement as a “big moment”, saying it “feels significant” compared with other similar ones in the past.
It was only on Thursday that Hamas told mediators Egypt and Qatar that it would not take part in future negotiations as long as the Israeli assault on Gaza continued.
The group said it was prepared for a “complete agreement”, including hostage exchanges, if Israel stopped the war from its side.
UK Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron said late on Friday: “With a new hostage agreement on the table, Hamas must accept this deal so we can see a stop in the fighting, the hostages released and returned to their families and a flood of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“As we’ve long argued, a stop in the fighting can be turned into a permanent peace if we are all prepared to take the right steps. Let’s seize this moment and bring this conflict to an end.”
Prajwal Revanna, the Hassan MP who had been absconding since he left the country on April 27, finally landed at Kempegowda International Airport (T2) in Bengaluru at 12.52 am on Friday amid a thick security cover, including officers from a special investigation team (SIT). He was arrested as soon as he landed via a Lufthansa flight (LH0764), which flew in from Munich.
The suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader was accosted by a team of CISF, SIT, and Karnataka police officials from the flight to a vehicle by about 1.07 am. Wearing an ash-grey hooded jacket and track pants, the rather composed-looking Prajwal was swiftly moved into the police vehicle waiting by the airport that took him to the CID headquarters in the city and the SIT office within. He would later be taken to Bowring Hospital for a medical examination and then be produced before a magistrate for legal procedures to be completed.
There was increased security deployment across the Bengaluru international terminal where the flight landed and across the city along the route he was taken by the police.
Prajwal was taken to the SIT office from the airport with zero traffic clearance in just 20 minutes and then authorities began the formalities of his official arrest.
Armed with documents and statements by several women who allege they have been sexually abused, assaulted, and intimidated by the lawmaker, the SIT is expected to interrogate Prajwal on what is being termed as one of the biggest scandals to have rocked Karnataka politics. Pen drives allegedly containing over 3,000 video clips of victims being sexually exploited, which allegedly the MP shot on his phone, were circulated, causing this scandal to break out. The victims included domestic staff in the Revanna household, party workers, and government officials, according to police sources.
The SIT was set up by the Karnataka government to probe the allegations, while an arrest warrant and an Interpol blue corner notice were issued against Prajwal after three women complained to the investigators of sexual abuse by the suspended JD(S) leader.
Prajwal, the grandson of former prime minister HD Deve Gowda and the son of former Karnataka minister HD Revanna, fled the country a day after the Lok Sabha seat he is seeking re-election from, Hassan, went to polls on April 26.
Prajwal had moved for anticipatory bail, but this was rejected by a special court in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Another bail application is likely to be heard along with the one filed by Prajwal’s mother Bhavani. She too had moved the courts for anticipatory bail in a kidnapping case. The allegations of sexual harassment against Prajwal and his father HD Revanna took a grave turn with two FIRs being filed, accusing them of rape and kidnapping. HD Revanna, who had not appeared before the SIT despite several summonses, was arrested from his father Deve Gowda’s home in Bengaluru’s Padmanabhanagar on May 4 and later released on conditional bail.
The JD(S), which is in alliance with the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka, has left its partner embarrassed. The BJP has remained tight-lipped about the matter, only stating that a probe should be conducted to find out the truth.
Just days before Hassan went to polls, it is alleged that several pen drives loaded with videos of an obscene nature were distributed across the constituency, featuring the MP and several women whom he allegedly exploited.
On April 28, a day after Prajwal left India on his diplomatic passport, a first information report (FIR) was filed in Holenarsipura by a former house help of the Revanna household who accused the MP of molestation. The same day, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah announced the formation of the SIT to probe the case and the allegations. On May 1, Siddaramaiah wrote his first letter to the Centre seeking the cancellation of Prajwal’s passport so that he could be brought back to India for investigation. The same day, another victim and JD(S) worker accused Prajwal of raping her by threatening her with dire consequences if she spoke about the episode.
On May 2, a son of one of the victims filed a case of kidnapping and criminal intimidation against Prajwal’s father, HD Revanna, alleging that his mother was kidnapped by the family and kept captive in their farmhouse. This victim’s video begging Prajwal to spare her went viral on social media and was also taken as part of the SIT’s investigation into the arrests. The woman escaped from captivity and later told the police that she was told she was being held there as the authorities were looking for her in a case of “bogus voting”. After her escape, she filed a case of rape with the SIT.
On May 30, the SIT arrested two persons from Hassan, identified as Naveen Gowda and Chetan, for allegedly distributing pen drives containing obscene videos.
Prajwal, who had initially on May 1 claimed through his lawyer that he would appear before the SIT within seven days, failed to do so. Exactly a month later, he released a video apologising to his family and the JD(S) workers. In the video, Prajwal claimed that after the scandal broke, which he called a political conspiracy to defame him, he went into “depression and isolation”. This self-shot video was released from an unknown location after a stern warning was issued by Deve Gowda to Prajwal Revanna, stating that he should return to India, cooperate with the SIT, and let the truth come out — or face his anger and isolation from the family.
“This is not an appeal I am making. It is a warning that I am issuing. If he does not heed this warning, he will have to face my anger and the anger of all his family members,” said the former PM in his letter addressed to Prajwal Revanna.
“Wherever you are, come back and face the inquiry. I request him not to avoid it. If you have not done anything wrong, why are you afraid? You will have to fight it out,” said JD(S) leader and Prajwal’s uncle HD Kumaraswamy, who has been in battle mode to protect the image of the party.
Kumaraswamy also spoke of how his father and Prajwal’s grandfather, Deve Gowda, had dedicated his entire political career to the young MP’s political growth, and the onus was on the latter, as a mark of respect to his grandfather and the JD(S) workers, to return to India.
Prajwal, in his video, stated that he would appear before the SIT on May 31 and lay out the truth in front of the investigators. He stated that his trip abroad was a planned one, and when he left, there was no instance of an SIT or case against him.
A first round of negotiations between Israel and Hamas in November led to the release of about 100 captives in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails. But since then talks have largely stalled.
Hamas Ready For ‘Complete Agreement’ If Israel Stops War In Gaza; ‘Our readiness Includes Exchange Deal’
The latest development in the ongoing conflict between Hamas and Israel sees Hamas expressing readiness to reach a comprehensive agreement, which includes a potential hostage exchange deal. In a statement reported by news agency Reuters, Hamas stated its willingness to engage in negotiations for a ‘complete agreement’ on the condition that Israel ceases its military actions and aggression against the people in Gaza.
Despite an order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt the attacks, Israel has continued its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Israel has justified its actions by emphasizing the rescue of hostages and the elimination of Hamas fighters as the primary objectives of the operation.
“Hamas and the Palestinian factions will not accept to be part of this policy by continuing (ceasefire) negotiations in light of the aggression, siege, starvation and genocide of our people”, the Hamas statement read.
“Today, we informed the mediators of our clear position that if the occupation stops its war and aggression against our people in Gaza, our readiness (is) to reach a complete agreement that includes a comprehensive exchange deal,” it added.
Israel rejects Hamas offers
Israel has rejected past Hamas offers as insufficient and said it is determined to wipe out a group bent on its destruction. It says its Rafah offensive is focused on rescuing hostages and rooting out Hamas fighters.
Israel had said on Tuesday that its war on Hamas in Gaza would continue all year, after Washington said the Rafah assault did not amount to a major ground operation that would trigger a change in US policy.
Talks led by key mediators Qatar, Egypt, and the United States to arrange a ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian group that governs Gaza have repeatedly stalled, with both sides blaming the other for the lack of progress.
The Hamas statement on Thursday came as Israel pressed on with an offensive on Rafah in southern Gaza, despite an order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations court, to halt its assault.
Hamas said it showed flexibility during negotiations and that it had entered every previous round of talks with a “positive” spirit, including the last round when it agreed to a mediator-proposed deal on May 6 – shortly after Israeli forces began the widely criticised ground offensive in Rafah.
Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to be convicted of a crime on Thursday when a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying documents to cover up a payment to silence a porn star ahead of the 2016 election.
After two days of deliberation, the 12-member jury pronounced Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts he faced.
Trump watched the jurors dispassionately as they were polled to confirm the unanimous verdict.
Justice Juan Merchan set sentencing for July 11, just days before the Republican Party is scheduled to formally nominate Trump for president ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The crime of falsifying business documents carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison, though those convicted often receive shorter sentences, fines or probation. Incarceration would not legally prevent him from campaigning, or taking office if he were to win.
He will not be jailed ahead of sentencing.
The verdict plunges the United States into unexplored territory ahead of the November vote, when Trump will try to win back the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden.
Trump, 77, has denied wrongdoing and an attorney representing him said they would appeal as quickly as possible.
“This was a disgrace,” Trump told reporters afterwards as he proclaimed his innocence and repeated his complaints that the trial had been rigged against him.
“The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people,” he said.
Trump gave a thumbs-up sign through the tinted window of his SUV as his motorcade left the courthouse. Trump supporters stood in a park opposite the courthouse along with journalists, police and onlookers.
Opinion polls show Trump and Biden, 81, locked in a tight race, and Reuters/Ipsos polling has found that a guilty verdict could cost Trump some support among independent and Republican voters.
The case had been widely regarded as the least consequential of the four criminal prosecutions Trump faces. But the verdict looms large now as it is likely to be the only one before the election with the others delayed by procedural challenges.
The jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business documents after sitting through a five-week courtroom presentation that featured explicit testimony from porn star Stormy Daniels about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006 while he was married to his current wife Melania. Trump denies ever having sex with Daniels.
Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen testified that Trump approved a $130,000 hush money payment to Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election, when Trump faced multiple accusations of sexual misbehavior.
Cohen testified that he handled the payment, and that Trump approved a plan to reimburse him through monthly payments disguised as legal work.
Trump’s lawyers hammered Cohen’s credibility, highlighting his criminal record and imprisonment and his history of lying. Merchan also cautioned jurors to examine his testimony carefully.
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The relatively short amount of time jurors needed to reach a verdict was a sign that they thought there was enough evidence to back up Cohen’s testimony, said George Grasso, a retired New York judge who attended the trial.
A source familiar with the Trump campaign’s inner workings said the verdict was expected to prompt him to intensify deliberations on picking a woman as his vice presidential running mate. His campaign website labeled him a “political prisoner” and urged supporters to donate. BIDEN CAMPAIGN: NO ONE ABOVE THE LAW
Biden’s campaign said the verdict showed that no one was above the law and urged voters to reject Trump in the election.
“There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box,” the campaign said in a statement.
The White House declined to comment.
Trump’s fellow Republicans quickly condemned the verdict. “Today is a shameful day in American history,” House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said in a prepared statement.
The jury notified the court they had reached a verdict at 4:20 p.m. (2020 GMT) and the foreperson read out all 34 guilty counts shortly after 5 p.m.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche asked Merchan to throw out the guilty verdict, arguing that it was based on the unreliable testimony of Cohen. Merchan denied his request.
A Trump appeal is likely to focus on porn star Daniels’ salacious testimony about their alleged sexual encounter as well as the novel legal theory prosecutors used in the case, but he faces long odds, legal experts said.
“We are going to appeal as quickly as we can. We will seek expedited review of this case,” Trump attorney Will Scharf told Fox News.
Due to changes in the provincial laws related to immigration in Prince Edward Island province, hundreds of Indian students are facing deportation from Canada.
Several Indian students in Prince Edward Island province have been on a hunger strike for the past four days. Their protest began on May 9. (File photo)
Amid the ongoing protest by hundreds of Indian students against a change in the provincial laws related to immigration in Canada’s Prince Edward Island (PEI) province, some students have threatened to go on a dry hunger strike.
A dry hunger strike usually means people do not ingest liquids, which accelerates the danger to their health more than if they stop taking in solid food.
Due to changes in provincial laws, hundreds of Indian students are facing deportation from Canada.
The protesting Indian students have been on a hunger strike for the past four days. Their stir began on May 9.
During the agitation, 60 protestors carrying posters and banners demonstrated in front of the Colest Building at the PEI legislature.
Jaspreet Singh Sivia, one of the protesters, has blamed the government for disrupting the lives of people who were already in the process of getting permanent residency (PR) in Canada, reported CBC.
“There have been no actions taken. It looks like the government has become deaf,” said Sivia.
Two Indian students also testified against the policy on immigration cuts in Prince Edward Island’s Parliament.
The protesting students are mulling to intensify their stir if the government refuses to accept their demands.
Demands of Indian students
The affected Indian students claimed that their opportunities were being taken away.
The Indian students are demanding that those who came before July 2023 should be exempted from the immigration cuts.
Around 50 Indian students had already left Canada because of the new immigration rules, CBC reported citing an Indian student.
Rupinder Pal Singh, one of the protesting students, told CBC that some people were harassing the Indian students by throwing glasses and cans at them and throwing water while they were asleep.
According to Canadian news portal True North, Rupinderpal Singh said that as an immigrant, he had to suffer even after he had spent three times more on his education in Canada than Canadian students.
“And my friends who work here paid $2500 for the same course. For two semesters. How fit is that sir? This is where I come from. This is what I paid extra. How interesting is that,” Rupinderpal Singh said. “Altogether, I paid around $30,000 for my tuition. For the same schooling fee, a person born and raised in Canada paid around $10,000,” Singh said. “An extra $20,000 for the same thing, and still suffering. How unfair is that?”
PM will begin his meditation at Dhyan Mandapam, the same spot where Swami Vivekananda meditated in 1892
PM Modi Kanniyakumari visit: Rock Memorial monument was built to pay tribute to Vivekananda.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a 48-hour meditation at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial in Tamil Nadu’s Kanniyakumari on Thursday.
The PM will begin his meditation at Dhyan Mandapam, the same spot where Swami Vivekananda meditated in 1892. The Rock Memorial monument was built to pay tribute to the Hindu philosopher-saint.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election results, PM Modi had embarked on a similar spiritual journey in Uttarakhand. Back then, he was also photographed meditating in a holy cave near Kedarnath.
Why the Vivekananda Rock Memorial?
During the 125th anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna Math in Mylapore, Chennai, PM Modi had said that his government’s philosophy is inspired by Swami Vivekananda.
“Our governance philosophy is also inspired by Swami Vivekananda. He said that whenever privilege is broken and equality is ensured, society progresses. Today, you can see the same vision in all our flagship programmes. Earlier, even basic facilities were treated like privileges. Many people were denied the fruits of progress. Only a select few people or small groups were allowed to access it. But now, the doors of development have been opened to everyone,” he said.
Former US President Donald Trump is considering appointing Tesla CEO Elon Musk as an advisor to the White House as the 2024 Presidential elections draw near, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Although the specifics are not yet finalized, Trump and Musk have been discussing how the Tesla leader could provide “formal input” on issues such as the border, the economy, and voting fraud.
Musk, the third-richest man in the world, and Trump have recently begun to build a rapport. WSJ report noted that the two speak on the phone “several times a month.”
Additionally, Musk and billionaire investor Nelson Peltz have discussed with Trump a campaign Musk initiated in November to persuade corporate executives not to support President Biden, according to the report.
Musk, the founder of SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, has publicly opposed Biden and has previously stated he would not financially support any candidate.
The South African-born billionaire, who became a US citizen in 2002, has maintained an independent stance. As reported by The Wall Street Journal, he met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago following Trump’s victories on Super Tuesday, solidifying his position as the presumptive Republican nominee.
In a cryptic post in March regarding the US presidential elections, Musk stated he had no plans to donate money to either candidate. On X, he wrote, “Just to be super clear, I am not donating money to either candidate for US President.”
Historically, Musk has contributed to both Republicans and Democrats, similar to many other business leaders. According to The New York Times, unlike other American billionaires, he has not heavily invested in a presidential campaign and has divided his contributions roughly equally between the two parties.
The cocaine was seized from eight separate suspected drug smuggling vessels off the coast of Mexico and Central and South America
The U.S. Coast Guard announced it had unloaded a hefty quantity of confiscated cocaine in San Diego, California that was worth an estimated $468 million.
The nearly 34,000 pounds of illicit drugs were seized while intersecting eight separate suspected drug smuggling vessels off the coast of Mexico and Central and South America by the Coast Guard Cutter Munro in February and March.
Coast Guard Cutter Monro Captain Rula Deisher said that the seizure of the cocaine is a testament of his crew’s “dedication and grit.”
“The crew put in an incredible amount of work over very long hours, and I couldn’t be prouder of them,” Deishe said in a news release. “Their dedication and grit goes to show that Munro is one of the best national security cutters in the fleet, and we are committed to keeping the country safe by stopping illegal drugs before they hit the street.”
Crew members from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL 755) offloads 33,768 pounds of cocaine, in San Diego, May 28, 2024. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Hunter Schnabel/ U.S. Coast Guard District 11)
The latest seizure is the largest since the Coast Guard announced the seizure of 33,200 pounds of cocaine and 12,400 pounds of marijuana in October.
The offloaded drugs were interdicted during 13 separate cases in October in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
“This offload is about national security,” said Vice Adm. Kevin Lunday, commander U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area. “It represents one part of a very large and strong interagency team that works closely with our allies and international partners to interdict maritime smuggling of dangerous and illegal drugs into the United States.”
Coast Guard seized $55 million worth of cocaine and marijuana (Coast Guard)
A verdict in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial could come as early as Thursday, after the jury was sent home Wednesday following four-and-a-half hours of deliberation.
Prosecutions and defense lawyers are now hashing out details in the court after the jury sent in two notes, and asked for testimony to be read back to them.
After six weeks and 22 witnesses, the panel of 12 Manhattan residents will decide if the 77-year-old will be the first former president guilty of a crime.
The jury is deciding their verdicts on 34 counts of falsifying business records, all of which Trump has pleaded not guilty to.
Jury deliberations got underway today and twelve New York jurors now hold the fate of former U.S. President Donald Trump in their hands.
Here were the big moments of the day:
Jury Instructions: Judge Juan Merchan read through the jury instructions for the jurors in a calm and even tone. The judge told the jury to consider only the evidence and instructed them to set aside bias and opinions about the ex-president. Merchan then read through the law and the 34 charges against Trump. He also explained how deliberations would proceed.
Deliberations begin: The twelve jurors were then escorted from the courtroom to begin deliberations. They deliberated for about four and a half hours on the first day of jury deliberations.
Trump sets expectations: While the jury began deliberations, Trump spoke to the media where he slammed the whole case as ‘rigged’ and put the ‘conflicted’ judge on blast. He said ‘Mother Teresa could not beat those charges.’
Jury sends two notes: As the jury deliberations continued into the afternoon, the jury sent two notes with requests to the judge. The first requested four pieces of testimony. The jury wants to rehear Pecker’s testimony about a phone conversation with Trump while he was in an investor meeting, about a decision regarding the Karen McDougal life rights deal, and about a Trump Tower meeting. They also want Michael Cohen’s testimony on the meeting. The jury also asked to rehear the jury instructions.
Displaced Palestinians inspect their tents destroyed by Israel’s bombardment, adjunct to an UNRWA facility west of Rafah city, Gaza Strip, on May 28, 2024. | Photo Credit: AP
Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on May 28 — pummelling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians — according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials.
The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognised a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
The Israeli military suggested Sunday’s blaze in the tent camp may have been caused by secondary explosions, possibly from Palestinian militants’ weapons.
The results of Israel’s initial probe into the fire were issued Tuesday, with military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari saying the cause of the fire was still under investigation but that the munitions used — targeting what the army said was a position with two senior Hamas militants — were too small to be the source.
The strike or the subsequent fire could also have ignited have ignited fuel, cooking gas canisters or other materials in the camp. The blaze killed 45 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials’ count. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fire was the result of a “tragic mishap.” Israel’s assault on Rafah, launched May 6, has caused nearly 1 million people to flee the city, most of whom had already been displaced multiple times in the nearly eight-month war between Israel and Hamas. Families are now scattered across makeshift tent camps and other war-ravaged areas.
The strikes over the past few days have hit areas west of Rafah, which had not been ordered by the military to evacuate. Israeli ground troops and tanks have been operating in eastern Rafah, in central parts of the city and along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Shelling late Monday and early Tuesday hit Rafah’s western Tel al-Sultan district, killing at least 16 people, the Palestinian Civil Defence and the Palestinian Red Crescent said. Seven of the dead were in tents next to a UN facility about about 200 metres from the site of Sunday night’s strike and fire.
“It was a night of horror,” said Abdel-Rahman Abu Ismail, a Palestinian from Gaza City who has been sheltering in Tel al-Sultan since December. He said he heard “constant sounds” of explosions overnight and into Tuesday, with fighter jets and drones flying over the area.
He said it reminded him of the Israeli invasion of his neighbourhood of Shijaiyah in Gaza City, where Israel launched a heavy bombing campaign before sending in ground forces in late 2023. “We saw this before,” he said.
The United States and other allies of Israel have warned against a full-fledged offensive in the city, with the Biden administration saying that would cross a red line and refusing to provide offensive arms for such an undertaking. On Friday, the International Court of Justice called on Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, an order it has no power to enforce.
On Tuesday afternoon, an Israeli drone strike hit tents near a field hospital by the Mediterranean coast west of Rafah, killing at least 21 people, including 13 women, the Gaza Health Ministry said.
A witness, Ahmed Nassar, said his four cousins and some of their husbands and children were killed in the strike and that a number of tents were destroyed or damaged. Most of those living there had fled from the same neighbourhood in Gaza City earlier in the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a press conference in Tashkent, Uzbekistan May 28, 2024. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Tuesday that NATO members in Europe were playing with fire by proposing to let Ukraine use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia, which he said could trigger a global conflict.
More than two years into the deadliest land war in Europe since World War Two, Putin has increasingly spoken of the risk of a much broader global conflict as the West grapples with what to do about the advance of Russian troops in Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told The Economist, opens new tab that alliance members should let Ukraine strike deep into Russia with Western weapons, a view supported by some NATO members but not by the United States.
“Constant escalation can lead to serious consequences,” Putin told reporters in Tashkent. “If these serious consequences occur in Europe, how will the United States behave, bearing in mind our parity in the field of strategic weapons?”
“It’s hard to say – do they want a global conflict?”
Putin said Ukrainian strikes on Russia with long-range weapons would need Western satellite, intelligence and military help – so the West would be directly involved. He said sending French troops to Ukraine would be a step towards a global conflict.
Speaking of NATO members in Europe, Putin said that small countries there “should be aware of what they are playing with”, as they had small land areas and very dense populations.
“This is a factor that they should keep in mind before talking about striking deep into Russian territory,” Putin said.
RUSSIAN ADVANCES TRIGGER DEBATE IN WEST
Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine touched off the worst breakdown in relations with the West for 60 years, and the crisis is escalating into what diplomats say is its most dangerous phase to date.
The invasion has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, driven millions to flee abroad, and reduced neighbourhoods and whole cities to rubble.
Nawaz Sharif said Pakistan violated the 1999 Lahore Agreement in an apparent dig at former Pakistan premier Pervez Musharraf who embarked on a misadventure in Kargil. (Image: Reuters File)
Former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday admitted that Islamabad had “violated” an agreement with India signed by him and ex-prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999, in an apparent reference to the Kargil misadventure by Gen Pervez Musharraf.
“On May 28, 1998, Pakistan carried out five nuclear tests. After that Vajpayee Saheb came here and made an agreement with us. But we violated that agreement…it was our fault,” Sharif told a meeting of the PML-N general council that elected him president of the ruling party six years after he was disqualified by the Supreme Court.
Sharif and Vajpayee signed the Lahore Declaration on February 21, 1999, after a historic summit here. The agreement that talked about a vision of peace and stability between the two countries signalled a major breakthrough, but a few months later Pakistani intrusion in the Kargil district in Jammu and Kashmir led to the Kargil War.
“President Bill Clinton had offered Pakistan USD 5 billion to stop it from carrying out nuclear tests but I refused. Had (former prime minister) Imran Khan like a person been on my seat he would have accepted Clinton’s offer,” Sharif said on a day when Pakistan marked the 26th anniversary of its first nuclear tests.
Sharif, 74, talked about how he was removed from the office of the prime minister in 2017 on a false case by then chief justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar. He said all cases against him were false while the cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf: founder leader Imran Khan were true.
He also talked about the role of former ISI chief Gen Zahirul Islam in toppling his government in 2017 to bring Imran Khan into power. He asked Imran Khan to deny that he was not launched by the ISI.
“I ask Imran not to blame us (of being patronised by the army) and tell whether Gen Islam had talked about bringing the PTI into power,” he said and added Khan would sit at the feet of the military establishment.
Shadows of journalists are reflected on a wall next to WHO’s logo while Lance Rodewald, team leader of the Expanded Program on Immunization of WHO China, speaks at a news conference in Beijing, China, March 29, 2016. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday decided not to invite Taiwan to the organization’s annual assembly in Geneva after China appealed for it to remain sidelined.
Taiwan is excluded from most international organisations because of objections by China, which considers the democratically governed island its territory.
Taiwan attended the WHO’s World Health Assembly (WHA) as an observer from 2009 to 2016 under the administration of then-President Ma Ying-jeou, who signed landmark trade and tourism agreements with China.
But Beijing began blocking Taiwan’s participation in 2017, after President Tsai Ing-wen won office, for her refusal to agree to China’s position that both China and Taiwan are part of “one China”.
Chen Xu, China’s permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, said there was no political basis for Taiwan to participate in the WHA, and accused Taiwanese officials of deliberately politicizing the issue of health.
“The so-called gap in the global epidemic prevention system is pure nonsense,” he said, referring to calls by Taiwan and its allies for it to be included to better prevent pandemics.
A rocket launched by North Korea to deploy the country’s second spy satellite exploded shortly after liftoff Monday, state media reported, in a setback for leader Kim Jong Un’s hopes to field satellites to monitor the U.S. and South Korea.
Monday’s failed launch came hours after leaders of South Korea, China and Japan met in Seoul in their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. It’s highly unusual for North Korea to take provocative action when China, its major ally and economic pipeline, is engaging in high-level diplomacy in the region.
The launch drew rebukes from the North’s neighbors because the U.N. bans North Korea from conducting any such launches, viewing them as covers for testing long-range missile technology.
The North’s official Korean Central News Agency said it launched a spy satellite aboard a new rocket at its main northwestern space center. But KCNA said the rocket blew up during a first-stage flight soon after liftoff due to a suspected engine problem.
KCNA cited the unidentified vice director of the National Aerospace Technology Administration as saying that a preliminary examination showed that the explosion was related to the reliability of operation of the newly developed liquid oxygen-petroleum engine. He said other possible causes will be investigated, according to KCNA.
Japan’s government briefly issued a missile warning for the southern prefecture of Okinawa, urging residents to take shelter inside buildings and other safer places. The warning was lifted later because the region was no longer in danger, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
Earlier Monday, North Korea had notified Japan’s coast guard about its planned launch with a warning to exercise caution in the waters between the Korean Peninsula and China and east of the main Philippine island of Luzon during a launch window from Monday through June 3.
North Korea has steadfastly maintained it has the right to launch satellites and test missiles.
Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara called the North’s launch “a serious challenge to the entire world.” South Korea’s Unification Ministry called a satellite launch by the North “a provocation that seriously threatens our and regional security.”
During the trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang earlier Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for stern international action if North Korea went ahead with its launch plan.
Kishida, for his part, urged the North to withdraw its launch plan, but Li didn’t mention the launch plan as he offered general comments about promoting peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula through a political resolution.
Some observers say that North Korea’s satellite launch on the first day of its eight-day window might have been aimed at casting a chill over the Seoul-Beijing-Tokyo meeting and registering its displeasure with China. Kim Jong Un has been embracing the idea of a “new Cold War” and seeking to boost ties with Beijing and Moscow to forge a united front against Washington, so China’s diplomacy with Seoul and Tokyo might have been a disturbing development for Pyongyang.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a “tragic mistake” was made in an Israeli strike in the southern Gaza city of Rafah that set fire to a camp housing displaced Palestinians and, according to local officials, killed at least 45 people.
The strike only added to the surging international criticism Israel has faced over its war with Hamas, with even its closest allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths. Israel insists it adheres to international law even as it faces scrutiny in the world’s top courts, one of which last week demanded that it halt the offensive in Rafah.
Netanyahu did not elaborate on the error. Israel’s military initially said it had carried out a precise airstrike on a Hamas compound, killing two senior militants. As details of the strike and fire emerged, the military said it had opened an investigation into the deaths of civilians.
Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the war’s deadliest, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll in the war above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and noncombatants in its tally.
“Despite our utmost efforts not to harm innocent civilians, last night there was a tragic mistake,” Netanyahu said Monday in an address to Israel’s parliament. “We are investigating the incident and will obtain a conclusion because this is our policy.”
Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the northwestern neighborhood of Tel al-Sultan, said rescuers “pulled out people who were in an unbearable state.”
“We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal,” he said.
At least 45 people were killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and the Palestinian Red Crescent rescue service. The ministry said the dead included at least 12 women, eight children and three older adults, with another three bodies burned beyond recognition.
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, May 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
In a separate development, Egypt’s military said one of its soldiers was shot dead during an exchange of fire in the Rafah area, without providing further details. Israel said it was in contact with Egyptian authorities, and both sides said they were investigating.
An initial investigation found that the soldier had responded to an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants, Egypt’s state-owned Qahera TV reported. Egypt has warned that Israel’s incursion in Rafah could threaten the two countries’ decades-old peace treaty.
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency closed meeting for Tuesday afternoon on the situation in Rafah at the request of Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, two council diplomats told The Associated Press.
Rafah, the southernmost Gaza city on the border with Egypt, had housed more than a million people — about half of Gaza’s population — displaced from other parts of the territory. Most have fled once again since Israel launched what it called a limited incursion there earlier this month. Hundreds of thousands are packed into squalid tent camps in and around the city.
Elsewhere in Rafah, the director of the Kuwait Hospital, one of the city’s last functioning medical centers, said it was shutting down and that staff members were relocating to a field hospital. Dr. Suhaib al-Hamas said the decision was made after a strike killed two health workers Monday at the entrance to the hospital.
Netanyahu says Israel must destroy what he says are Hamas’ last remaining battalions in Rafah. The militant group launched a barrage of rockets Sunday from the city toward heavily populated central Israel, setting off air raid sirens but causing no injuries.
The strike on Rafah brought a new wave of condemnation, even from Israel’s strongest supporters.
The U.S. National Security Council said in a statement that the “devastating images” from the strike on Rafah were “heartbreaking.” It said the U.S. was working with the Israeli military and others to assess what happened.
French President Emmanuel Macron was more blunt, saying “these operations must stop” in a post on X. “There are no safe areas in Rafah for Palestinian civilians. I call for full respect for international law and an immediate ceasefire,” he wrote.
The Foreign Office of Germany, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel for decades, said “the images of charred bodies, including children, from the airstrike in Rafah are unbearable.”
“The exact circumstances must be clarified, and the investigation announced by the Israeli army must now come quickly,” the ministry added. ”The civilian population must finally be better protected.”
Qatar, a key mediator in attempts to secure a cease-fire and the release of hostages held by Hamas, said the Rafah strike could “complicate” talks. Negotiations, which appear to be restarting, have faltered repeatedly over Hamas’ demand for a lasting truce and the withdrawal of Israeli forces, terms Israeli leaders have publicly rejected.
A cyclone flooded coastal villages and left hundreds of thousands of people without power Monday in southern Bangladesh, where nearly 800,000 residents had evacuated. At least seven deaths were reported.
Pic: https://www.bostonglobe.com/
Cyclone Remal started lashing Bangladesh’s southern coast late Sunday and was moving fast and would weaken by noon Bangladesh’s Meteorological Department in Dhaka said.
TV stations reported that dozens of Bangladeshi coastal villages were flooded as many flood protection embankments were either washed away or damaged by the force of the storm surges. Authorities gave no casualty figures yet, but Dhaka-based Somoy TV reported that at least seven people died. Two others were missing after a boat capsized in southwestern Bangladesh, the station said.
Moderate to heavy rainfall had been forecast in coastal districts in India’s West Bengal state, where high winds uprooted trees. A 1 meter (3.1 feet) storm surge was expected to flood low-lying coastal areas.
The India Meteorological Department expected Remal to reach maximum wind speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph), with gusts up to 135 kph (85 mph) in the area of West Bengal’s Sagar Island and Bangladesh’s Khepupara region on Sunday night.
On Sunday, Bangladesh evacuated nearly 800,000 people from vulnerable areas. Bangladesh’s junior minister for disaster management and relief, Mohibur Rahman, said volunteers have been deployed to move the evacuees to up to 9,000 cyclone shelters. The government also closed all schools in the region until further notice.
India’s Kolkata airport was closed for the day Monday. Bangladesh shut down the airport in the southeastern city of Chattogram and canceled all domestic flights to and from Cox’s Bazar.
KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan joined the team during the celebrations at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. The Bollywood superstar was seen celebrating KKR’s triumph with his daughter Suhana Khan before he met and greeted the likes of Gautam Gambhir and Mitchell Starc.
Shah Rukh Khan and Gautam Gambhir shared a heartwarming moment after KKR won IPL 2024 Final (Screengrab from JioCinema)
KKR owner Shah Rukh Khan was ecstatic after the Knight Riders won their third Indian Premier League crown on Sunday in Chennai. The Bollywood superstar celebrated the triumph, right after the winning runs were hit, with his daughter Suhana and sons, AbRam and Aryan in the stands at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. Shah Rukh did not waste time before climbing down the stars and joining the team in their celebrations after the memorable victory in the big final.
Shah Rukh Khan kissed mentor Gautam Gambhir on the forehead in a heartwarming moment, acknowledging the contribution that the former India opener had in his first season as the mentor of the Knight Riders. Notably, Shreyas Iyer became the second KKR captain after Gambhir to win the IPL trophy as the Knight Riders ended their 10-year wait for the coveted title.
The KKR camp was buzzing with elation as Gautam Gambhir lifted Sunil Narine and the two champion cricketers gave the TV cameras a rare smile. The impact of Gambhir, who led Narine in 2012 and 2014, was evident in the 2024 season as the former West Indies cricketer finished the season as the Most Valuable Player (488 runs and 17 wickets in 15 matches).
Shah Rukh Khan also was seen sharing a warm hug with fast bowler Mitchell Starc, their costliest signing in the history of the IPL auction. Starc was seen having a lengthy chat with Shah Rukh, who was pleased with the big quick’s performance in the season, especially in the big stages. Starc took five wickets in Qualifier and the final, playing a key role in the decimation of the SunRisers on both occasions.
This combination photo shows, top row from left, Michael Cohen on May 14, 2024, in New York, Stormy Daniels on May 23, 2018, in West Hollywood, Calif., Hope Hick on Feb. 27, 2018, in Washington, and bottom row from left, Jeffrey McConney on Nov. 15, 2022, in New York, David Pecker on Jan. 31, 2014, in New York and Madeleine Westerhout on April 2, 2018, in Washington. After 22 witnesses, testimony is over at former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York. Prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers are scheduled to make their closing arguments Tuesday, May 28, 2024. (AP Photo)
After 22 witnesses, including a porn actor, tabloid publisher and White House insiders, testimony is over at Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York.
Prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two. Trump decided not to testify on his own behalf.
The trial now shifts to closing arguments, scheduled for Tuesday.
After that, it will be up to 12 jurors to decide whether prosecutors have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified his company’s business records as part of a broader effort to keep stories about marital infidelity from becoming public during his 2016 presidential campaign. He has pleaded not guilty and denies any wrongdoing.
A conviction could come down to how the jurors interpret the testimony and which witnesses they find credible. The jury must be unanimous. The records involved include 11 checks sent to Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, as well as invoices and company ledger entries related to those payments.
Here’s a look at key trial witnesses and what they had to say:
STORMY DANIELS
As Trump sat feet away, the porn actor, writer and director, gave a detailed and at times graphic account of a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in Nevada in 2006. After they met at a celebrity golf tournament, she said, Trump invited her to dinner but then engaged her in conversation in his hotel room and startled her by stripping to his underwear while she was in the bathroom.
“I felt the room spin in slow motion. I felt the blood basically leave my hands and my feet,” Daniels testified. “I just thought, ‘Oh, my God, what did I misread to get here?’ Because the intention was pretty clear, somebody stripped down in their underwear and posing on the bed, like waiting for you.”
Daniels said Trump did not physically threaten her, but “my own insecurities in that moment kept me from saying no.” Daniels said she kept in touch with Trump for about a year in hopes of appearing on his TV show “The Apprentice,” but it never happened.
Daniels spoke about accepting $15,000 for a magazine interview in 2011. The story was not printed at the time but ended up on a gossip website without her consent. Her lawyer, in consultation with Cohen, complained and had the story taken down.
In 2016, Daniels authorized her manager to shop her story again but found little interest until the release of the infamous “Access Hollywood” recording of Trump boasting about grabbing women’s genitals without their permission.
Daniels told the jury she accepted $130,000 from Cohen in the final weeks of the election in exchange for a legal agreement to keep the claim to herself.
Trump’s lawyers grilled Daniels about her motivation, eliciting testimony that she hates the former Republican president. She pushed back on the defense’s suggestion that her story was fabricated, saying if it was fiction, “I would have written it to be a lot better.”
Daniels’ testimony was among the most awaited in the trial. She had shared her story before, but this was the first time she testified about it in front of Trump. Trump’s lawyers objected to much of Daniels’ testimony and twice sought a mistrial, arguing that her feelings of a power imbalance with Trump and her blunt answers about the alleged sexual encounter should not have been put before the jury.
DAVID PECKER
A longtime Trump friend, Pecker was the publisher of the National Enquirer and chief executive of its parent company, American Media Inc., during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Pecker told the jury he agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of Trump’s campaign, looking out for damaging stories so they could be suppressed. He said he agreed to the role — and to a plan to publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his opponents — at an August 2015 meeting with Trump and Cohen.
“If there were any rumors in the marketplace about Mr. Trump or his family or any negative stories that were coming out or anything that I heard overall,” Pecker said, “I would call Michael Cohen directly.”
He said he told the National Enquirer’s editor at the time, Dylan Howard, “that we are going to try to help the campaign, and to do that, I want to keep this as quiet as possible.”
Pecker testified that the company squashed one potential story by paying $30,000 to a Trump Tower doorman. It paid $150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, to keep her from going public with a claim that she had had a yearlong affair with Trump.
But when Daniels came forward, Pecker said, he told Howard: “I am not a bank, and we are not paying out any further disbursements or monies.”
Instead, he alerted Cohen that Daniels was shopping a story about Trump, and let the lawyer handle it. Trump denies having sex with either McDougal or Daniels.
When The Wall Street Journal reported, just days before Election Day, that the Enquirer had paid McDougal, Pecker said Trump was upset, saying, “How could this happen? I thought you had this under control?”
“Our call ended very abruptly,” Pecker said. “He didn’t say goodbye, which was very unusual.”
KEITH DAVIDSON
A lawyer known for representing people trying to sell celebrity sex tapes or other embarrassing information, Davidson negotiated the hush money deals for McDougal and Daniels. He gave jurors an inside look at the negotiations and helped corroborate Pecker’s testimony.
At first, Davidson said, the National Enquirer was not interested in acquiring McDougal’s story, saying she “lacked documentary evidence.” But the tabloid eventually bought it at Pecker’s behest. Davidson said he understood it would never be published because of “an unspoken understanding that there was an affiliation” between Pecker and Trump and that the National Enquirer would not run the story “because it would hurt Donald Trump.”
Davidson said he dealt directly with Cohen, never with Trump. While Cohen may not have explicitly stated he was working on Trump’s behalf, Davidson said he felt the implication was clear.
Davidson testified that about a month after Trump won the election, Cohen complained in a phone conversation that the president-elect hadn’t yet paid him back for the $130,000 payment to Daniels.
MICHAEL COHEN
Cohen, a flawed but vital prosecution witness, testified about working with the National Enquirer to suppress negative stories about Trump. Cohen insisted he was working at Trump’s direction when the lawyer helped orchestrate the payments to McDougal and Daniels.
Cohen testified that he kept the detail-oriented Trump updated on the payoffs.
Regarding the decision to pay Daniels, Cohen said Trump felt it was best to buy her silence.
“He stated to me that he had spoken to some friends, some individuals, very smart people, and that it’s $130,000. You’re like a billionaire. Just pay it. There is no reason to keep this thing out there. So do it,” Cohen said.
“And he expressed to me: Just do it. Go meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out,” Cohen said, referring to the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer at the time.
Testifying over the course of four days, Cohen told the jury he sought Trump’s approval for the Daniels payment because “everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off. On top of that, I wanted the money back.”
When it briefly looked like the deal with Daniels might fall apart, Cohen said Trump got “really angry with me,” saying, “I thought you took care of this?”
Cohen used money he borrowed money from a bank to make the $130,000 payment to Daniels. Trump later reimbursed him. How Trump’s company recorded those reimbursements — paid out of a Trump trust and personal accounts — is the core of the prosecution’s case. Cohen said he submitted monthly invoices for a year for legal work he never actually performed, pursuant to a purported retainer agreement that he said did not exist.
Cohen said he discussed the reimbursement plan with Trump at the White House in February 2017. He recalled that Trump asked him whether he needed money, then promised a check soon would cover the first two months of invoices, totaling $70,000.
Jurors also heard a secret recording Cohen made of a meeting he had with Trump in 2016 in which he briefed his boss about the plan to buy McDougal’s story.
Trump’s lawyers have fought to discredit Cohen, pressing him on his own criminal history, past lies and his recollection of key details. On cross-examination, Cohen admitted stealing tens of thousands of dollars from Trump’s company by asking to be reimbursed for money he had not spent. Cohen acknowledged once telling a prosecutor he felt that Daniels and her lawyer were extorting Trump. Cohen also insisted he did not actually commit some crimes to which he pleaded guilty in 2018, including bank fraud and tax evasion. In that case, Cohen also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and to campaign finance violations.
Cohen is the linchpin of the prosecution case, the only witness to testify that Trump had direct involvement in arranging his repayment. The verdict could hinge on whether jurors believe him.
According to eyewitnesses, several people, including children were playing games at the game zone, located on Nana-Mava Road, when the tragedy struck.
A view shows a burned gaming zone after a fire, in Rajkot, Gujarat, May 25, 2024. Credit: Reuters Photo
Rajkot: At least 27 persons, including four children under the age of 12, were killed in a massive fire that swept through a game zone teeming with people enjoying a summer vacation outing in Gujarat’s Rajkot city on Saturday evening, officials said.
The death toll is likely to go up, they said.
Police have detained the owner of the TRP Game Zone and the manager while the state government assigned the probe to a Special Investigation Team.
Relief and Rescue operations have been underway at the affected game zone for more than six hours after the blaze erupted at a structure built using metal and fibre sheets for gaming activities at around 4:30 pm, officials said, adding that the structure collapsed due to the huge fire.
“So far we have confirmed the death of 27 persons in the fire incident. The bodies are charred beyond recognition and hence their identification is difficult,” said Assistant Commissioner of Police Radhika Bharai.
ACP Vinayak Patel said the deceased included at least four children under the age of 12.
The death toll is likely to increase as relief operations is going on, district officials said.
According to eyewitnesses, several people, including children were playing games at the game zone, located on Nana-Mava Road, when the tragedy struck.
Police said that the owner and manager of the game zone were detained and taken to the police station for questioning.
The government has handed over the investigation of the incident to a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Additional Director General of Police Subhash Trivedi.
Rajkot Collector Prabhav Joshi said the Fire Control Room received a call at around 4:30 pm regarding the blaze at the game zone.
The film bagged the award, which is the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d’Or, during the closing ceremony of the 77th edition.
Director Payal Kapadia, Grand Prix award winner for the film All We Imagine as Light, gestures during the closing ceremony of the 77th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 25, 2024.
Payal Kapadia on Saturday scripted history by becoming the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival for her film All We Imagine as Light.
The film bagged the award, the second-most prestigious prize of the festival after the Palme d’Or, which went to American director Sean Baker for Anora.
Kapadia’s movie, which screened on Thursday night, is the first Indian film in 30 years and first ever by an Indian female director to be showcased in the main competition.
The last Indian movie to be selected for the main competition was Shaji N Karun’s 1994 movie Swaham.
Kapadia received the Grand Prix from American actor Viola Davis. In her speech, the filmmaker thanked the three leading ladies of the film — Kani Kusruti, Divya Prabha and Chhaya Kadam — and said the film would not have been possible without them.
“I’m very nervous, so I wrote something down. Thank you to the Cannes Film Festival for having our film here. Please don’t wait 30 years to have another Indian film.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in Washington, D.C, U.S., May 25, 2024. REUTERS/Brian Snyder Purchase Licensing Rights
Presidential candidate Donald Trump was booed and heckled by many in a raucous audience at the Libertarian National Convention on Saturday night, a marked change from the adulation he receives at rallies from his fervently loyal supporters.
Libertarians, who believe in limited government and individual freedom, blame Trump, a Republican, for rushing through the creation of a COVID-19 vaccine when he was president and for not doing more to stop public health restrictions on the unvaccinated during the pandemic.
When Trump took to the stage in Washington, there were loud boos and jeers. A smaller section of the crowd, Trump supporters, cheered him.
Shortly before he appeared, one Libertarian Party member shouted: “Donald Trump should have taken a bullet!”
Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the hostile reception.
Trump, who was president between 2017 and 2021, immediately mentioned the total 88 felony charges he faces in four federal and state prosecutions.
“If I wasn’t a libertarian I am now,” he said. He denounced the administration of President Joe Biden, his challenger in the Nov. 5 election rematch, and Biden’s fellow Democrats as being part of a “rise in left-wing fascism”.
Trump was trying to appeal to libertarians, who have more in common with Republican policy positions than Democrats on issues including taxes and the size of government, in what is expected to be a closely fought election.
He added: “We should not be fighting each other.” He asked libertarians to work with him to defeat Biden, an appeal which was greeted by many boos, although the vast majority in the crowd were fiercely opposed to Biden and his administration.
Libertarians garnered only 1.2% of the national vote in 2020, or about 1.8 million votes, but November’s election could be decided by just tens of thousands of votes in a handful of battleground states, so Trump is seeking to peel away some libertarian support.
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, May 23, 2024. YURI KOCHETKOV/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told Reuters, saying he is prepared to fight on if Kyiv and the West do not respond.
Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin’s entourage, said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to rule out talks.
“Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire – to freeze the war,” said another of the four, a senior Russian source who has worked with Putin and has knowledge of top level conversations in the Kremlin.
He, like the others cited in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity given the matter’s sensitivity.
For this account, Reuters spoke to a total of five people who work with or have worked with Putin at a senior level in the political and business worlds. The fifth source did not comment on freezing the war at the current frontlines.
Asked about the Reuters report at a news conference in Belarus on Friday, Putin said peace talks should restart.
“Let them resume,” he said, adding that negotiations should be based on “the realities on the ground” and on a plan agreed during a previous attempt to reach a deal in the first weeks of the war. “Not on the basis of what one side wants,” he said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on X that the Russian leader was trying to derail a Ukrainian-initiated peace summit in Switzerland next month by using his entourage to send out “phony signals” about his alleged readiness to halt the war.
“Putin currently has no desire to end his aggression against Ukraine. Only the principled and united voice of the global majority can force him to choose peace over war,” said Kuleba.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, said Putin wanted Western democracies to accept defeat.
NOT “ETERNAL WAR”
The appointment last week of economist Andrei Belousov as Russia’s defence minister was seen by some Western military and political analysts as placing the Russian economy on a permanent war footing in order to win a protracted conflict.
It followed sustained battlefield pressure and territorial advances by Russia in recent weeks.
However, the sources said that Putin, re-elected in March for a new six-year term, would rather use Russia’s current momentum to put the war behind him. They did not directly comment on the new defence minister.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, in response to a request for comment, said the country did not want “eternal war.”
Based on their knowledge of conversations in the upper ranks of the Kremlin, two of the sources said Putin was of the view that gains in the war so far were enough to sell a victory to the Russian people.
Europe’s biggest ground conflict since World War Two has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides and led to sweeping Western sanctions on Russia’s economy.
Three sources said Putin understood any dramatic new advances would require another nationwide mobilisation, which he didn’t want, with one source, who knows the Russian president, saying his popularity dipped after the first mobilisation in September 2022.
The national call up spooked part of the population in Russia, triggering hundreds of thousands of draft age men to leave the country. Polls showed Putin’s popularity falling by several points.
Peskov said Russia had no need for mobilisation and was instead recruiting volunteer contractors to the armed forces.
The prospect of a ceasefire, or even peace talks, currently seems remote.
Zelenskiy has repeatedly said peace on Putin’s terms is a non-starter. He has vowed to retake lost territory, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. He signed a decree in 2022 that formally declared any talks with Putin “impossible.”
One of the sources predicted no agreement could happen while Zelenskiy was in power, unless Russia bypassed him and struck a deal with Washington. However, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in Kyiv last week, told reporters he did not believe Putin was interested in serious negotiations.
SWISS TALKS
The Swiss peace summit in June is aimed at unifying international opinion on how to end the war. The talks were convened at the initiative of Zelenskiy who has said Putin should not attend. Switzerland has not invited Russia.
Moscow has said the talks are not credible without it being there. Ukraine and Switzerland want Russian allies including China to attend.
Speaking in China on May 17, Putin said Ukraine may use the Swiss talks to get a broader group of countries to back Zelenskiy’s demand for a total Russian withdrawal, which Putin said would be an imposed condition rather than a serious peace negotiation.
The Swiss foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In response to questions for this story, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said any initiative for peace must respect Ukraine’s “territorial integrity, within its internationally recognised borders” and described Russia as the sole obstacle to peace in Ukraine.
“The Kremlin has yet to demonstrate any meaningful interest in ending its war, quite the opposite,” the spokesperson said.
Kyiv says Putin, whose team repeatedly denied he was planning a war before invading Ukraine in 2022, cannot be trusted to honour any deal.
Both Russia and Ukraine have also said they fear the other side would use any ceasefire to re-arm.
Kyiv and its Western backers are banking on a $61 billion U.S. aid package and additional European military aid to reverse what Zelenskiy described to Reuters this week as “one of the most difficult moments” of the full scale war.
As well as shortages of ammunition after U.S. delays in approving the package, Ukraine has admitted it is struggling to recruit enough troops and last month lowered the age for men who can be drafted to 25 from 27.
The voting started at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with those in line by the closing time still allowed to vote.
Voting for the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections began on Saturday morning across 58 parliamentary constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories (UTs) amid tight security and arrangements.
The voting started at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with those in line by the closing time still allowed to vote.
Before the start of voting, mock polls were conducted across different states for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha today.
The sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls includes eight seats in Bihar, all 10 seats in Haryana, one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Jharkhand, all seven seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, and eight in West Bengal. A total of 889 candidates are in the fray.
Forty-two assembly constituencies in Odisha are also going for polls in the sixth phase. Assembly elections are being held in the state simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections in the state. All parliamentary seats in Delhi and Haryana will go to the polls in this phase. The prominent candidates in the fray include two former Chief Ministers – Manohar Lal Khattar and Mehbooba Mufti.
Khattar is contesting as the BJP candidate from Karnal and Mehbooba Mufti as the PDP nominee from Anantnag-Rajouri. Some of the prominent candidates in the fray include Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi. Bansuri Swaraj, Somnath Bharti, Manoj Tiwari, Kanhaiya Kumar, Dinesh Lal Yadav alias ‘Nirahua’, Dharmendra Yadav, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul, Naveen Jindal, Raj Babbar, Deepender Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Aparajita Sarangia are among other prominent candidates in the fray.
Some of the key seats in this phase include New Delhi, North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi and Chandni Chowk in the national capital and Sultanpur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri, West Bengal’s Tamluk, Medinipur, Haryana’s Karnal, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Odisha’s Bhubaneswar, Puri and Sambalpur are some of the other key seats. Stakes are high for the BJP as also for Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and other constituents of INDIA bloc in this phase of the election.
The riveting contest in Delhi has AAP and Congress jointly taking on the BJP, which won all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital in the last two elections. While Congress is contesting on three seats in the national capital, AAP is contesting on four. The two parties are part of the INDIA bloc.
The BJP campaign has been bolstered by rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and other party leaders. Senior leaders of Congress have also held rallies in the national capital. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been released on interim bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise policy case, also sought votes for AAP and Congress candidates.
AAP and Congress have also joined hands in Haryana where BJP won all the seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Some seats in the state, including Hisar, are witnessing multi-cornered contests. Apart from BJP and Congress, the electoral stakes are high for INLD, Jannayak Janata Party in Haryana. The state will also go for assembly polls months after the Lok Sabha election.
Odisha is also seeing some key battles in Sambalpur, Bhubaneshwar and Puri. Election Commission said that the concerned CEOs and state officials have been directed to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted. Polling stations will have ample shade, drinking water, ramps, toilets, and other basic facilities to ensure that polling takes place in a comfortable and secure environment.
The Election Commission appealed to voters to turn out in large numbers at polling stations and vote with responsibility and pride.
Polling has already has been completed on 428 parliamentary constituencies for 25 states and UTs in the first five phases of general elections. Over 11.13 crore voters include 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female and 5120 third gender electors are eligible to exercise their franchise in the sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls. Around 11.4 lakh polling officials will be involved in conducting his phase of election.
The court also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid, and said Israel must provide access to the besieged territory for investigators and report back on its progress within a month.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to stop its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The top United Nations court said the humanitarian situation in Rafah had “deteriorated further” since its previous order for Israel to improve it, adding that what was happening in the besieged Palestinian territory was “disastrous”.
It comes after South Africa put in an emergency request to the ICJ for it to order Israel to stop its Rafah assault.
The ICJ president Nawaf Salam said in The Hague: “The state of Israel shall… immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
The court also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid, and said Israel must provide access to the territory for investigators and report back on its progress within a month.
The order was handed down a week after it was requested by South Africa, which in January formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in a hearing at the UN court.
Israel, which claims its military operations in Gaza are in self-defence and targeted at Hamas fighters, has vehemently denied the accusations, with the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling them “false, outrageous and disgusting”.
It insisted its Rafah campaign will not “lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population”, adding it would continue to allow aid to enter Gaza “in accordance with the law”.
Israel launched its assault on Rafah this month, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee a city that had become a refuge to around half of the population’s 2.3 million people.
The ICJ is the highest UN body for hearing disputes between states, and its rulings are final and binding but have been ignored in the past.
No enforcement powers
The court has no enforcement powers and Israel has signalled it will not comply with the latest ICJ order, which was adopted by a panel of 15 judges from around the world in a 13-2 vote, opposed only by judges from Uganda and Israel.
In response to the judgment, Israeli finance minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “Those who demand that the State of Israel stop the war, demand that it decree itself to cease to exist. We will not agree to that. If we lay down our weapons, the enemy will reach the beds of our children and women throughout the country.”
South Africa has welcomed the latest ruling, with Zane Dangor, director general of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, saying the order was “ground-breaking as it is the first time that explicit mention is made for Israel to halt its military action in any area of Gaza”.
Highlighting special initiatives to enhance the voting experience, he said they have set up 70 pink polling stations across Delhi, one in each assembly constituency, which will be entirely operated by women polling staff, according to a statement.
Voters will receive special coupons from Zomato and Swiggy online food ordering and delivery platforms.
New Delhi: Delhi Chief Electoral Officer P Krishnamurthy said on Thursday that over one lakh polling personnel have been deployed for the conduct of polls on May 25 while several steps have been taken to protect people from the intense heat wave.
Highlighting special initiatives to enhance the voting experience, he said they have set up 70 pink polling stations across Delhi, one in each assembly constituency, which will be entirely operated by women polling staff, according to a statement.
Additionally, 70 model polling stations will feature enhanced facilities. For the first time, each parliamentary constituency will have a polling station fully staffed by persons with disabilities (PwD), he added.
“We have meticulously planned and executed all aspects of election management, including manpower, logistics and transport management,” he said.
He emphasised that based on the directives from the Election Commission and the IMD forecast of an intense heat wave, comprehensive measures have been implemented to address the expected high temperatures of 44 to 45 degrees Celsius.
A Taiwan Air Force Mirage 2000-5 aircraft prepares to land in Hsinchu, Taiwan, May 24, 2024. REUTERS/Ann Wang Purchase Licensing Rights
China’s military carried out a second day of war games around Taiwan on Friday, with drills to test their ability to “seize power” and control key areas, exercises it has said were launched to punish Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te.
The two days of drills in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast started just three days after Lai took office. Taiwan has condemned China’s actions.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and denounces Lai as a “separatist”, decried his inauguration speech on Monday, in which he urged Beijing to stop its threats and said the two sides of the strait were “not subordinate to each other”.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said in a brief statement that its forces on Friday continued with their drills, dubbed “Joint Sword – 2024A”.
The exercises are to “test the ability to jointly seize power, launch joint attacks and occupy key areas”, it said.
China has never ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control.
The command showed an animated video on Friday on its WeChat social media account of missiles being launched at Taiwan from the ground, air and sea, which then slam into the cities of Taipei, Kaohsiung and Hualien in balls of flame.
“Sacred weapons to kill independence,” read words in red, written in the traditional Chinese characters Taiwan uses, at the end of animation.
Taiwan’s armed forces have mobilised to monitor and shadow Chinese forces.
Taiwan’s defence ministry on Friday published pictures of F-16s, armed with live missiles, patrolling the skies.
It also showed pictures of Chinese coast guard vessels, which are taking part in the drills, and Chinese Jiangdao-class corvettes, though it did not say exactly where the images were taken.
The ministry said that as of 6 a.m. (2200GMT) on Friday, it had detected 49 Chinese military aircraft, 19 navy and seven coast guard ships. Of the aircraft, 28 crossed the strait’s median line, which once served as an unofficial barrier though China says it does not recognise it.
The closest Chinese aircraft got to Taiwan’s coast was 40 nautical miles (74 km) from the northern city, and navy base, of Keelung, according to a map the ministry provided.
TALKS REBUFFED
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
Taiwan is well used to China’s military threats, and the latest drills have caused no undue alarm on the island, with life carrying on as normal.
On China’s highly regulated Weibo social media site, “Eastern Theatre” was the top searched item, with most of the comments supporting the drills. Another hot topic was “the return of Taiwan”.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong’s communists, who founded the People’s Republic of China.
The Republic of China remains Taiwan’s official name, though only 12 countries formally recognise it diplomatically, mostly small, developing nations like Palau and Guatemala.
In a Friday commentary, the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, the People’s Daily, said it was a shared belief among Chinese people that the territory of the nation cannot be divided, the country cannot be thrown into chaos and its people cannot be separated.
The recent actions of the “leader of the Taiwan region” will only accelerate the “destruction” of pro-independence forces in Taiwan, it wrote.
China is willing to create “broad space for peaceful reunification”, but will never leave any room Taiwan “separatist activities”, the newspaper added.
Clean water is essential for the survival of all people on Earth. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to clean water, and many more don’t even have access to any water at all. Now, a new study is warning that this crisis could soon get much worse.
Researchers at Utrecht University note that roughly 55 percent of the global population currently lives in regions that lack clean water for at least one month per year. Their projections find that this number will soon rise to 66 percent by the year 2100. Simply put, as conditions worsen around the globe, two in three people won’t have a dependable source of water all year long.
What’s driving these life-threatening changes? According to the study published in Nature Climate Change, socioeconomic and current climate trends will continue to make life harder for people, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Climate change and socioeconomic developments have multi-faceted impacts on the availability and quality of, and demands for, water resources in the future,” says lead author Dr. Edward Jones in a media release. “Changes in these three aspects are crucial for evaluating future water scarcity.”
The team’s state-of-the-art water quantity and quality model projects that global water scarcity will continue to increase throughout the 21st century. However, these changes won’t occur evenly throughout the world. In Western Europe and North America, water scarcity will likely make things harder for people a few months per year. In developing countries, however, the problem will likely affect more people over a longer period of time each year, according to the team’s projections.
“Increases in future exposure are largest in the Global South. These are typically driven by a combination of rapid population and economic growth, climate change and deteriorating water quality,” Jones explains.
Researchers at Utrecht University note that roughly 55 percent of the global population currently lives in regions that lack clean water for at least one month per year. (pexels.com)
Although it may sound strange, quality has become a forgotten factor in recent fears about water availability. Dr. Jones explains that many studies on water scarcity only focus on the amount of drinking water people have available to them — not the actual quality of that water.
“Previous assessments still predominantly focus on water quantity aspects only,” Jones notes. “Yet, the safe use of water also depends on the quality.”
Here are just a few of the dangerous consequences of drinking dirty water:
Waterborne Diseases: Dirty water can contain pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, and parasites, leading to diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, and giardiasis.
Diarrheal Diseases: Contaminated water is a leading cause of diarrhea, which can be particularly dangerous for children and the elderly, leading to severe dehydration and even death.
Hepatitis A: This liver infection is caused by a virus that can be transmitted through contaminated water.
Intestinal Parasites: Water that has not been properly treated can host parasites, such as hookworms and roundworms, which can cause a range of gastrointestinal problems.
Chemical Poisoning: Dirty water may also contain toxic chemicals from industrial waste, agricultural runoff, or natural sources, leading to acute poisoning or long-term health issues like cancer and organ damage.
Nifty makes new high of 22,837, Sensex inches closer to 75,000 mark
During the afternoon session on Thursday, the benchmark indices posted a strong rally led by banking and IT stocks. The NIFTY 50 breached its previous high of 22,794 to make new high of 22,852 by rising over 200 points.
The BSE SENSEX too is inching closer to its previous high of 75,124 and currently trading over 700 points higher at 74,923. The Bank Nifty was trading in green at 48,551.60, up by 764 points or 1.6%. India VIX fell 0.78% and is trading at 21.30.
Key factors behind market rise
Yesterday, RBI announced a record dividend payout of ₹2.11 lakh crore to the government for FY24, which was 140% higher compared to FY23. As per experts, record dividend payout by RBI could help the government reduce its fiscal deficit and step up infrastructure spending.
Bond yield on benchmark 10-year government bonds saw a sharp decline, closing near its one-year low at 6.9919% in yesterday’s session. As per experts, bond yields have declined sharply, reflecting lower borrowing by the government. A decline in bond yields is positive for banking stocks.
Experts also believe recent election-related jitters also seemed to have settled down, supporting NIFTY50 to make new all-time highs.
NIFTY50: Gainers and losers
The top gainers on the NIFTY50 Index are as follows: Adani Enterprises Ltd (+2.21%), Axis Bank (+2.03%), L&T (+1.76%), SBI (+1.64%), and Eicher Motors (+1.40%). The top losers are Sun Pharma (-3.85%), Power Grid (-3.64%), Hindalco (-2.18%), JSW Steel (-1.36%), and Grasim (-1.19%).
Sector-wise, the top-performing indices during the mid-day were Nifty PSU Bank (+2.00%), Nifty Bank (+1.59%), and Nifty IT (+1.4%). On the flip side, Nifty Pharma (-0.28%) and Nifty Metal (-0.44%) were the top losers. The market breadth is in favour of advances with 1,236 stocks advancing, while 1,229 stocks declined.
On Wall Street, Dow Jones futures were trading at 39,827 with an increase of 42 points or 0.11%.
In the afternoon session on the Nifty 500 index, some trending stocks were PNC Infratech Ltd, Metropolis Healthcare Ltd and General Insurance Corporation of India.
Key stocks in focus today
Shares of Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd zoomed 14.77% on Thursday to trade at ₹1,368.75 over its previous closing. Today, the stock’s intraday high and low was ₹1,424.80 and ₹1,300, respectively. The stock rallied as the company posted strong financial results for the quarter ending March 31, 2024, with revenue crossing the ₹1000 crore mark, rising 69% YoY.
IRFC Ltd jumped by 8.34% and was trading at ₹190.30 above its previous closing. Today, the intraday high and low of IRFC was ₹191.65 and ₹175.90, respectively. The stock rallied as the company posted robust financial performance for the quarter ending March 31, 2024, with a 34% increase in net profit to ₹1,717 crore.
The stock of Engineers India Ltd climbed 6.43% on Thursday to trade at ₹286.45. The intraday high and low of Engineers India were ₹287 and ₹267.35, respectively. The company is likely to announce its financial results and recommend a final dividend in the board meeting to be held on May 28, 2024.
Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te speaks on stage during the inauguration ceremony outside the Presidential office building in Taipei, Taiwan May 20, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Taiwan’s military mobilized its forces and said it was confident it could protect the island, after China started two days of “punishment” drills around Taiwan on Thursday in what it said was a response to “separatist acts”.
The exercises, in the Taiwan Strait and around groups of Taiwan-controlled islands that sit next to the Chinese coast, come just three days after Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan’s new president, a man Beijing detests as a “separatist”.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has denounced Lai’s inauguration speech on Monday, in which he called on China to stop its threats and on Tuesday Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Lai “disgraceful”.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed. He says only Taiwan’s people can decide their future, and rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it had started joint military drills, involving the army, navy, air force and rocket force, in areas around Taiwan at 7:45 a.m. (2345 GMT).
The drills are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait, the north, south and east of Taiwan, as well as areas around the Taiwan-controlled islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu and Dongyin, the command said in a statement.
Taiwan’s defence ministry condemned the drills, saying that it had dispatched forces to areas around the island and was confident it could protect its territory.
“The launch of military exercises on this occasion not only does not contribute to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, it also highlights (China’s) militaristic mentality,” the ministry said.
A senior Taiwan official, speaking anonymously given the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters that the drills are part of a scenario Taiwan had anticipated and that the island’s government has a “comprehensive grasp” of Chinese military movements.
Taiwanese officials had said in the run-up to the inauguration they were keeping watch for Chinese military movements.
The drills focus on joint sea-air combat-readiness patrols, precision strikes on key targets, and integrated operations inside and outside the island chain to test the “joint real combat capabilities” of the forces, China’s military said.
“This is also a strong punishment for the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces,” the command added.
Chinese state media published a map of the drills zones, in five areas all around Taiwan and the islands Taiwan controls near the Chinese coast.
Su Tzu-yun, a research fellow at Taiwan’s top military think tank, the Institute for National Defence and Security Research, said that although the drills would only last two days, the scope is large relative to previous exercises, as they included Taiwan’s outlying islands.
This is designed to demonstrate China’s ability to control the seas and prevent the involvement of foreign forces, he added.
We don’t know what finally persuaded Sunak to go now – but it’s significant that he previously cited a Sky News projection of a House of Commons that pointed towards a hung parliament.
Rishi Sunak during a visit to DHL’s Gateway port facility at Stanford Le Hope in April. Pic: AP/Frank Augstein
The prime minister has surprised many, including within his own party, with his decision to hold a general election on 4 July. There are few, if any indications, that he will lead his party to re-election.
His gamble must surely be that during the coming weeks, when the electorate is forced to choose between himself or Sir Keir Starmer, that enough will side with the devil you know rather than plump for change.
We don’t know what finally persuaded him to go now rather than wait for the autumn.
But it is significant that in his article in The Times after the local elections, he cited the Sky News projection of a House of Commons that pointed towards a hung parliament.
Labour leads over Conservatives by 21 points
SOURCE: SKY NEWS, all pollsters • *Polls excluded from average if older than 28 days. Data updated at 23:40 21 May 2024
The estimate put the Conservatives on 26% with Labour nine points ahead on 35%, a much lower level of support than shown in national opinion polls.
Naturally, the prime minister chose to be as optimistic about this projection as he possibly could be. He ignored the fact that the Conservatives were on course to lose 130 parliamentary seats after posting one of its worst ever local election performances.
He chose to ignore the fact that Labour was poised to overtake the Conservatives as the largest party, instead preferring to emphasise that there was all to play for at a future general election.
There certainly were aspects of the local elections that are at odds with national polling which currently show a 20 point or so Labour lead over the Conservatives. Labour failed to make significant gains of council seats from the Conservatives, sharing the limelight with Liberal Democrats, Greens and, a variety of Independents.
In some parts of the country with large Muslim populations, Labour’s vote haemorrhaged in favour of candidates standing specifically on the issues of Labour’s chosen stance on the situation in Gaza.
The nine-point gap in the estimated nationwide vote between Conservative and Labour compares unfavourably with that which existed between the Major government and the Blair onslaught unleashed in the mid-1990s prior to Labour’s eventual general election landslide in 1997.
The Porsche car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, knocked down two IT professionals in Kalyani Nagar area of the city in the early hours of Sunday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has promised strong action against the teen who crashed his high-end car into a motorbike, killing two people on the spot. Mr Fadnavis condemned the “lenient” punishment given to the boy by the Juvenile Justice Board – a 300-word essay on accidents, working with the traffic police for 15 days and undergoing counselling for his drinking – in contrast with the heinous crime. “How can the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Board give such an order,” he asked.
The Porsche car allegedly driven by the 17-year-old, who the police claim was drunk at the time, knocked down two IT professionals in Kalyani Nagar area of the city in the early hours of Sunday. Witnesses said Ashwini was thrown 20 feet in the air and Aneesh was flung into a parked car.
“We have appealed to the district court against the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Board order. There is a huge public outrage. I have taken stock of the investigation updates till now,” Mr Fadnavis said.
The minor, son of a prominent realtor in Pune, was seen drinking with his friends at a bar hours before the crash. The police have arrested the owners of the bar for allowing underage drinking. The legal drinking age in Maharashtra is 25.
The boy had gone to “two restaurants with 10-12 friends on Saturday night, where they were served alcohol”, the police said.
“The minor is 17 years and 8 months old and as per the Nirbhaya case, anyone above 16 years old should be considered an adult in cases of heinous crimes,” stressed the Deputy Chief Minister.
The teen was caught but granted bail within 15 hours of the incident, sparking massive public outrage. The father has now been arrested under sections 75 (willful neglect of a child, or exposing a child to mental or physical illnesses) and 77 of the Juvenile Justice Act (supplying a child with intoxicating liquor or drugs).
Mr Fadnavis also detailed the government’s steps to avoid similar incidents in future: “Administration has been alerted to take closure action against those pubs where violations are found and drink driving checks by police on important places.”
The accident has also sparked a political row with Uddhav Thackeray camp leader Sanjay Raut questioning the Pune Police over the alleged delay in action against the teen.
Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar, however, has been claiming that he had sought permission from the board to try the minor as an adult and send him to an observation home as the crime was heinous, but the plea was rejected. The police have now approached the District Court.
Amitesh Kumar dared the opposition and others to prove their charges that the police acted under pressure or went soft on the accused minor whose father is a reputed realty developer in the city.
Aid groups in Gaza say they are running low on fuel and are unable to get more from Egypt, straining their operations on the ground.
Since the Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah earlier this month, Cairo has reportedly refused to let fuel trucks pass through into the enclave. | Hatem Ali/AP
As Hamas and Israel continue to disagree over some of the finer details of a hostage and cease-fire deal for Gaza, there’s one issue that’s preventing the two parties from restarting formal negotiations: aid shipments.
Since the Israel Defense Forces entered Rafah earlier this month — shutting down Gaza’s southern border crossing with Egypt — Cairo has reportedly refused to let fuel trucks pass through into the enclave. And two senior administration officials say Egypt has stopped all aid shipments through the Kerem Shalom crossing. Egyptian officials had for months pressed Jerusalem not to move forward with a Rafah ground invasion, claiming it would bring chaos too close to its border and threaten its security. It also pushed back against Israel taking over the Rafah border crossing.
Israel went into Rafah anyway. And in response, Egypt restricted the aid shipments.
“It’s all stopped,” the official said, referring to Egypt’s shipments through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
The move by Egypt has sparked tensions between Cairo and Jerusalem. The current cease-fire deal on the table hinges in part on the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, officials say. If Egypt were to restart the shipments, it would significantly improve the aid situation on the ground, defuse tensions, and potentially allow for talks to restart, according to the two senior administration officials and two other people familiar with the situation.
Sources were granted anonymity to discuss the situation with Egypt in order to protect their ability to help get fuel and other much-needed aid into Gaza.
“Aid groups inside Gaza are in desperate need of this fuel,” one of the senior officials said. “Without it, they can’t operate. And without the greater flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the deal can’t get done.”
Top U.S. officials, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, have pressed Egyptian officials in recent days to restart fuel shipments. But Cairo has so far refused.
The two people familiar with the situation and two other aid workers briefed on Egypt’s reasoning said Cairo is withholding the fuel in an effort to complicate Israel’s ability to aid the humanitarian effort inside Gaza during its Rafah operation.
“It’s the blood of the response,” said Scott Anderson, the director for Gaza for UNRWA, the main aid group operating in Gaza. “The lack of fuel forces us to choose: Do you keep bakeries running or hospitals running or the sewage pumps running? And not doing any of those has different consequences, but they all have consequences to people.”
The decision by Cairo has severely undercut aid groups’ ability to not only transport aid into Gaza but also to prop up aid operations, including at hospitals, angering Biden officials.
One passenger died and 30 others were injured after a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence on Tuesday.
A Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore fell into an air pocket on Tuesday
Singapore Airlines CEO on Wednesday issued a public apology after one passenger died and about 70 others were injured due to severe turbulence on a flight from London to Singapore.
In a video message, Goh Choon Phong said that they were “very sorry for the traumatic experience” that everyone on board the flight, SQ321, went through on Tuesday.
A Singapore Airlines flight, operating from London to Singapore, encountered sudden extreme turbulence at an altitude of 37,000 feet. The Boeing 777-300ER plane was carrying 211 passengers and 18 crew members.
Some tallies of the injured differed as the airline said 18 were hospitalised and 12 were being treated in hospitals, while Samitivej Hospital said it was treating 71 passengers.
“On behalf of Singapore Airlines, I would like to express my deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased. We are very sorry for the traumatic experience that everyone on board SQ321 went through,” Mr Phong said.
He said that Singapore Airlines is committed to providing all necessary support and assistance to the passengers and crew members who were on board SQ321. He also said that they are also “fully cooperating” with the relevant authorities on the investigations.
Mr Phong said that a relief flight with 143 of the SQ321 passengers and crew members, who were able to travel, arrived in Singapore this morning. Another 79 passengers and six crew members from SQ321, including those receiving medical care and their family members who were on the flight, remain in Bangkok, he said.
“Please be assured that Singapore Airlines is here to help and support you during this difficult time,” Mr Phong said.
Horror On Singapore Airlines Flight
Singapore Airlines said that its flight, which took off from Heathrow Airport in London on Monday and was headed to Singapore, “encountered severe turbulence” en route.
The flight fell into an air pocket while the cabin crew was serving breakfast before it encountered turbulence, prompting the pilots to request an emergency landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, where it landed at 3.45 pm (local time) on Tuesday.
The airline said that the sudden turbulence occurred over the Irrawaddy Basin in Myanmar about 10 hours into the flight.
Photographs from the interior of the plane showed large gashes in the overhead cabin panels, gas masks, and panels hanging from the ceiling.
The interior of Singapore Airline flight after an emergency landing at Bangkoks Suvarnabhumi International Airport
The interior of Singapore Airlines flight after an emergency landing at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport
Photo Credit: REUTERS
A passenger said that some people’s heads had slammed into the lights above the seats and punctured the panels during the turbulence.
Images of victims of the contaminated blood scandal are displayed during a vigil to remember those that lost their lives, ahead of the release of final report of the Infected Blood Inquiry on Monday, in London, Britain, May 19, 2024. REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
An infected blood scandal in Britain was no accident but the fault of doctors and a succession of governments that led to 3,000 deaths and thousands more contracting hepatitis or HIV, a public inquiry reported on Monday.
Inquiry chair Brian Langstaff said more than 30,000 people received infected blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s from Britain’s state-funded National Health Service, destroying lives, dreams and families.
The government hid the truth to “save face and to save expense”, he said, adding that the cover-up was “more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications” than any orchestrated conspiracy plot.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said it was “a day of shame for the British state”.
“The result of this inquiry should shake our nation to its core,” he said, adding that ministers and institutions had failed in the most “harrowing and devastating way”.
“I want to make a wholehearted unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice,” he told parliament and promised full compensation to those affected.
The families of victims and survivors had sought justice for years and Langstaff, who led a six-year inquiry, said the scale of what happened was both horrifying and astonishing.
In some cases, blood products made from donations from U.S. prisoners or other high-risk groups paid to donate were used on children, infecting them with HIV or hepatitis C, long after the risks were known.
Other victims were used in medical trials without their knowledge or consent. Those who contracted HIV were often shunned by their communities.
“This disaster was not an accident,” said Langstaff to a standing ovation from campaigners.
“The infections happened because those in authority – doctors, the blood services and successive governments – did not put patient safety first.”
Stephen Lawrence received blood after he was knocked down by a police car in London in 1985. Two years later, he was diagnosed with HIV and Hepatitis C at the age of 15.
“I was accused of being on drugs, drinking, all that,” he told Reuters, adding that he had not been compensated because his records had gone missing.
“It’s about justice,” he said. “I’ve been struggling with this for 37 years.”
The use of infected blood has resulted in thousands of victims in the United States, France, Canada and other countries.
The British government agreed in 2022 to make an interim payment of 100,000 pounds ($126,990) to some of those affected.
Clive Smith, chair of the Haemophilia Society, said the scandal had rocked faith in the medical establishment. “(It) really challenges the trust that we put in people to look after us, to do their best and to protect us,” he told reporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has angrily condemned the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor for seeking arrest warrants for him alongside Hamas’s leaders over alleged war crimes in the Gaza conflict.
Mr Netanyahu said he rejected with disgust that “democratic Israel” had been compared with what he called “mass murderers”.
Mr Netanyahu’s comments have been echoed by US President Joe Biden, who said there was no equivalence between Israel and Hamas.
The chief ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant bore criminal responsibility for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
The ICC is also seeking a warrant for Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes.
Israel and the US, its key ally, are not members of the ICC, which was set up in 2002.
Israel’s continuing offensive in the Gaza Strip has forced many Palestinians to flee their homes
The accusations against the Israeli and Hamas leaders stem from the events of 7 October, when waves of Hamas gunmen attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking 252 others back to Gaza as hostages. The attack triggered the current war, in which at least 35,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
On Monday, Mr Biden said there was “no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
“It’s clear Israel wants to do all it can to ensure civilian protection,” Mr Biden added.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken echoed the president’s condemnation, saying Washington “fundamentally rejects” the move. “It is shameful,” he said. “[The] ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter.”
Mr Blinken also suggested the request for arrest warrants would jeopardise ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire deal.
Mr Khan also applied for arrest warrants for Mr Gallant and Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the group’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
He said Israel’s prime minister and defence minister were suspected of crimes including starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, murder, intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, and extermination.
The prosecutor said the alleged crimes began “from at least 7 October 2023” in the Hamas leaders’ case, when the group launched its attack on Israel, and “from at least 8 October 2023” for the Israeli leaders.
The ICC defended its stance on Monday, saying that despite “significant efforts” it had not received “any information that has demonstrated genuine action at the domestic level [in Israel] to address the crimes alleged or the individuals under investigation”.
A panel of judges at the ICC must now consider whether to issue the warrants and, if they do, countries signed up to the ICC statute are obliged to arrest the men if they have such an opportunity.
Hamas’s deadly attack on 7 October devastated a number of Israeli settlements
Mr Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, condemned the application to seek his arrest as “an absurd and false order”.
In a public statement in Hebrew, he asked “with what audacity” the ICC would “dare to compare” Hamas and Israel.
The comparison was a “distortion of reality”, Mr Netanyahu said.
He accused the prosecutor of “callously pouring gasoline on the fires of antisemitism that are raging across the world”.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz called the move by Mr Khan an “unrestrained frontal assault” on the victims of the 7 October attacks and a “historical disgrace that will be remembered forever”.
But some of Israel’s Western allies avoided directly criticising the ICC in their statements.
In a statement late on Monday, the French foreign ministry said it supported the court and what it called its “fight against impunity in all situations”.
Similarly, Germany’s foreign ministry said it “respects the independence and procedures” of the ICC.
However, Berlin did criticise the simultaneous publication of the charges against Israeli and Hamas leaders, saying the move “created the incorrect impression of equivalency”.
Funeral processions are due to be held for President Ebrahim Raisi and foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian who were among eight people killed when the helicopter crashed in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province in foggy conditions.
Five days of national mourning have been declared by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the president and foreign minister died in a helicopter crash.
The deaths of President Ebrahim Raisi and minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were confirmed by officials after rescuers found the chopper’s burned wreckage on Monday morning, more than 12 hours after it came down in bad weather.
Iranian media said the crash in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province killed eight people in all, including three crew members on the helicopter, which Iran purchased in the early 2000s.
Funeral processions will be held in several Iranian cities on Tuesday.
The bodies of Mr Raisi and Mr Amirabdollahian will be flown to the central Iranian city of Qom, where the late president studied, and then brought to the capital Tehran, where Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is expected to lead congregational funeral prayers.
Search teams at the crash site. Pic: WANA/Reuters
Mr Raisi, Iran’s eighth president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, will be buried in the northeastern city of Mashhad on Thursday.
US State department spokesperson Matt Miller said Mr Raisi “has blood on his hands” as the former hardline cleric was “a brutal participant in the repression of the Iranian people for nearly four decades”.
Mr Miller said Mr Raisi “was involved in numerous horrific human rights abuses, including playing a key role in the extra judicial killing of thousands of political prisoners in 1988”.
“Some of the worst human rights abuses occurred during his tenure as president, especially the human rights abuses against the women and girls of Iran,” he added.
The US approach to Iran “will not change” because of Mr Raisi’s death, Mr Miller said.
Iran’s Mehr news agency reported “all passengers of the helicopter carrying the Iranian president and foreign minister were martyred”.
State TV said it had smashed into a mountain. There has been no official word on the cause, but there was thick fog in the area.
“President Raisi’s helicopter was completely burned in the crash… unfortunately, all passengers are feared dead,” an official told Reuters.
Drone footage appeared to show the tail of the helicopter and scattered debris.
The search involving civilian and military teams had been hampered by fog and the remoteness of the crash site.
First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber has been put in temporary charge and new elections must be held within 50 days
Mr Raisi, 63, who was seen as a frontrunner to succeed Ayatollah Khamenei, was travelling from Iran’s border with Azerbaijan where he had inaugurated a dam with the country’s president.
The governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, officials, and bodyguards, are also believed to be among those killed.
The helicopter was travelling in a convoy of three aircraft, and Iranian media initially described it as a “hard landing”.
Iranian news agency IRNA said Mr Raisi was flying in an American-made Bell 212 helicopter purchased in the early 2000s.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among the world leaders to react to the president’s death.
He said he was “deeply saddened and shocked” and offered “heartfelt condolences to his family and the people of Iran”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani expressed “great sadness and great sorrow” in a statement.
Pakistan leader Shehbaz Sharif, posting on X, offered “deepest condolences and sympathies to the Iranian nation on this terrible loss”.
An Israeli airstrike killed 27 people in central Gaza, mostly women and children, and fighting with Hamas raged across the north on Sunday as Israel’s leaders aired divisions over who should govern Gaza after the war, now in its eighth month.
Pic: https://www.wishtv.com/
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces criticism from the other members of his War Cabinet, with main political rival Benny Gantz threatening to leave the government if a plan is not created by June 8 that includes an international administration for postwar Gaza. His departure would leave Netanyahu more reliant on far-right allies who support full military occupation of Gaza and rebuilding of Jewish settlements there.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Netanyahu to discuss an ambitious U.S. plan for Saudi Arabia to recognize Israel and help the Palestinian Authority govern Gaza in exchange for a path to eventual statehood. Netanyahu’s office in a statement said they focused on Israel’s military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, humanitarian aid and hostages held in Gaza.
Netanyahu opposes Palestinian statehood, saying Israel will maintain open-ended security control over Gaza and partner with local Palestinians unaffiliated with Hamas or the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
The U.S. said Sullivan said Israel should “connect its military operations to a political strategy” and proposed measures to ensure more aid “surges” into Gaza.
In recent weeks, Hamas militants have regrouped in parts of northern Gaza that were heavily bombed in the war’s early days.
The airstrike in Nuseirat, a built-up Palestinian refugee camp in central Gaza dating back to the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, killed 27 people, including 10 women and seven children, according to records at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in nearby Deir al-Balah, which received the bodies.
A separate strike on a Nuseirat street killed five people, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent emergency service. In Deir al-Balah, a strike killed Zahed al-Houli, a senior officer in the Hamas-run police, and another man, according to the hospital.
Palestinians reported more airstrikes and heavy fighting in northern Gaza, which has been largely isolated by Israeli troops for months and where the World Food Program says a famine is underway.
The Civil Defense said strikes hit several homes near Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya, killing at least 10 people. And in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp nearby, residents reported a heavy wave of artillery and airstrikes.
Abdel-Kareem Radwan, 48, said the whole eastern side has become a battle zone where the Israeli fighter jets “strike anything that moves.”
Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesman for the Civil Defense, said rescuers had recovered at least 150 bodies, more than half of them women and children, since Israel launched the operation in Jabaliya last week.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting about 250. Mourners gathered Sunday for the funeral of one of four hostages killed in the attack whose bodies were recently found by Israeli troops in Gaza.
The war has killed at least 35,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. Around 80% of the population of 2.3 million Palestinians have been displaced within the territory, often multiple times.
“We need a decent life to live,” said Reem Al-Bayed, who left Gaza City and shelters with thousands in the gritty coastal Muwasi camp in the south without basic facilities like wells. “All countries live a decent life except us.”
She took a quick mouthful of bread before tearing the rest into pieces for half a dozen children, then poured them a can of beans.
Israel says it tries to avoid harming civilians and blames the high death toll on Hamas, which it says operates in dense residential areas.
Netanyahu’s critics, including thousands of Israeli protesters, accuse him of prolonging the war and rejecting a cease-fire deal so he can avoid a reckoning over security failures. They also seek early elections in which polls show that Gantz, a political centrist, would likely succeed Netanyahu. That would expose Netanyahu to prosecution on longstanding corruption allegations.
Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 began at 7am and will end at 6pm.
Election materials have been distributed to the election employees in a Thane election centre. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo )
Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 5: Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, covering 49 seats across six states and two union territories (UTs), is being held on Monday, May 20. The voters of Uttar Pradesh, which has a total of 80 Lok Sabha seats, will decide the electoral fate of key candidates from some of the high-profile constituencies, including Rae Bareli, Amethi, and Lucknow, in this phase. Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections began at 7am and will end at 6pm.
Voting will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha on Monday, where Biju Janata Dal president and chief minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates. Follow Live Updates on Lok Sabha elections 2024
Of the 49 Lok Sabha constituencies, 14 are from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, 7 from West Bengal, 5 from Bihar, 3 from Jharkhand, 5 from Odisha, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Key candidates in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls 2024 are Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, and Rastriya Janata Dal leader Rohini Acharya.
Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 5: Top 10 facts
More than 8.95 crore voters, including 4.69 crore males, 4.26 crore females, and 5,409 third-gender electors will decide the fate of 695 candidates, the Election Commission of India said.
A total of 2,000 flying squads, 2,105 static surveillance teams, 881 video surveillance teams and 502 video viewing teams are keeping surveillance round the clock across the 94,732 polling stations.
A total of 216 international border check posts and 565 inter-state border check posts are keeping a strict vigil on any illicit flow of liquor, drugs, cash and freebies.
The ECI has provided 12 alternative documents other than voter ID cards (EPIC) for identity verification at polling stations. If a voter is registered in the electoral roll, voting can be done by showing any of these documents.
In Maharashtra, polling will be held in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, including six in Mumbai. Piyush Goyal, Bharati Pawar (Dindori) and Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi) are among the key candidates of the BJP, which has also fielded prominent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam (Mumbai North Central).
In West Bengal, which has seen sporadic violence in the previous phases of the voting, security has been stepped up. Forces have deployed in seven constituencies that have a history of election-related violence, with over 57 per cent of the polling stations identified as sensitive in this phase, the highest till now in this Lok Sabha election. More than 60,000 personnel of central forces and around 30,000 personnel of the state police, have been deployed.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister crashed on Sunday as it was crossing mountain terrain in heavy fog, an Iranian official told Reuters, and rescuers were struggling to reach the site of the incident.
The official said the lives of Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian were “at risk following the helicopter crash”, which happened on the way back from a visit to the border with Azerbaijan in Iran’s northwest.
“We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
State TV quoted an official as saying at least one passenger and one crew member had been in contact with rescuers.
A Turkish drone identified a source of heat suspected to be the helicopter’s wreckage and had shared the coordinates of the possible crash site with Iranian authorities, Anadolu news agency said on X.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power with a final say on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear programme, sought to reassure Iranians, saying there would be no disruption to state affairs.
Iranian state media said bad weather caused the crash and was complicating rescue efforts. State news agency IRNA said Raisi was flying in a U.S.-made Bell 212 helicopter.
The chief of staff of Iran’s army ordered all resources of the army and the elite Revolutionary Guards to be put to use in search and rescue operations.
Earlier, the national broadcaster had stopped all regular programming to show prayers being held for Raisi across the country.
In the early hours of Monday, it showed a rescue team, wearing bright jackets and head torches, huddled around a GPS device as they searched a pitch-black mountainside on foot amid a snowy blizzard.
Varzaqan , East Azerbaijan Province, Iran, May 19, 2024. Iranian Red Crescent Society/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
“We are thoroughly searching every inch of the general area of the crash,” state media quoted a regional army commander as saying. “The area has very cold, rainy, and foggy weather conditions. The rain is gradually turning into snow.”
Neighbouring countries expressed concern and offered assistance in any rescue. The White House said U.S. President Joe Biden had been briefed on reports about the crash. Turkey said it had assigned a drone, a helicopter, vehicles and a rescue team after a request by Iranian authorities. The European Union offered emergency satellite mapping technology. HARDLINER, POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR TO KHAMENEI
The crash comes at a time of growing dissent within Iran over an array of political, social and economic crises. Iran’s clerical rulers face international pressure over Tehran’s disputed nuclear programme and its deepening military ties with Russia during the war in Ukraine.
Since Iran’s ally Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, provoking Israel’s assault on Gaza, conflagrations involving Iran-aligned groups have erupted throughout the Middle East.
Raisi, 63, was elected president in 2021, and since taking office has ordered a tightening of morality laws, overseen a bloody crackdown on anti-government protests and pushed hard in nuclear talks with world powers.
In Iran’s dual political system, split between the clerical establishment and the government, it is Raisi’s 85-year-old mentor Khamenei, supreme leader since 1989, who holds decision-making power on all major policies.
Israeli troops and tanks pushed on Saturday into parts of a congested northern Gaza Strip district that they had previously skirted in the more than seven-month-old war, killing and wounding dozens of Palestinians, medics and residents said.
Israel’s forces also took over some ground in Rafah, a southern city by the Egyptian border that is packed with displaced people and where the launch this month of a long-threatened incursion to crush hold-outs of Palestinian Islamist militant group Hamas has alarmed Cairo and Washington.
Exposing further cracks in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, Benny Gantz, a centrist member of the war cabinet, threatened to resign if the right-wing leader does not agree by June 8 to a day-after plan that would include how Gaza might be ruled after the war with Hamas.
In what Israeli media said was the result of intelligence gleaned during the latest incursions, the military announced the recovery of the body of a man who was among more than 250 hostages seized by Hamas in a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7 that triggered the war.
Ron Binyamin’s remains were located along with those of three other slain hostages whose repatriation was announced on Friday, the military said without providing further details.
There was no immediate comment from Hamas.
Israel has conducted renewed military sweeps this month of parts of northern Gaza where it had declared the end of major operations in January. At the time, it also predicted its forces would return to prevent a regrouping by the Palestinian Islamist group that rules Gaza.
One site has been Jabalia, the largest of Gaza’s eight historic refugee camps. On Saturday, troops and tanks edged into streets so far spared the ground offensive, residents said. In one strike, medics said 15 Palestinians were killed and dozens wounded.
The Gaza health ministry and the Civil Emergency Service said teams received dozens of calls about possible casualties but were unable to carry out any searches because of the ongoing ground offensive and aerial bombardment.
“Today is the most difficult in terms of the occupation bombardment, air strikes and tank shelling have going on almost non-stop,” said one resident in Jabalia, Ibrahim Khaled, via a chat app.
“We know of dozens of people, martyrs (killed) and wounded, but no ambulance vehicle can get into the area,” he told Reuters.
The Israeli military said its forces have continued to operate in areas across Gaza including Jabalia and Rafah, carrying out what it called “precise operations against terrorists and infrastructure”.
“The IAF (air force) continues to operate in the Gaza Strip, and struck over 70 terror targets during the past day, including weapons storage facilities, military infrastructure sites, terrorists who posed a threat to IDF troops, and military compounds,” the military said in a statement.
Jabalia refugee camp, Gaza, May 18, 2024. REUTERS/Rami Zohod Purchase Licensing Rights
STRAINS IN ISRAELI COALITION
Netanyahu has faced criticism at home and abroad for failing to articulate an endgame more than seven months into the war.
In a news conference, Gantz said he wanted the war cabinet to form a six-point plan in the next three weeks and that if his expectations are not met he would withdraw his centrist party from Netanyahu’s emergency coalition.
Gantz said his proposal would include creating a temporary U.S.-European-Arab-Palestinian system of civil administration for Gaza while Israel retains security control.
Though Gantz is Netanyahu’s most formidable rival in opinion polls, were he to leave the government that would not be enough to bring about its collapse, as remaining parties would still give the premier a comfortable parliamentary majority.
Yet Gantz’s challenge shows increased strain on Israel’s coalition, which is dominated by far-right parties. Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Wednesday demanded clarity on post-war plans and for Netanyahu to forswear any military reoccupation of Gaza.
Armed wings of Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and Fatah said fighters attacked Israeli forces in Jabalia and Rafah with anti-tank rockets, mortar bombs, and explosive devices already planted in some of the roads, killing and wounding many soldiers.
Israel’s military said 281 soldiers have been killed in fighting since the first ground incursions in Gaza on Oct 20.
At least 35,386 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes since Oct. 7, according to the enclave’s health ministry, while aid agencies have warned repeatedly of widespread hunger and dire shortages of fuel and medical supplies.
In the Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7, 1,200 people were killed, according to Israeli tallies. About 125 people are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza.
A RAMPAGING Vladimir Putin will make serious breakthroughs in Ukraine this Summer – his first move towards plunging Europe into a bloody WW3, former army bosses have warned.
Putin’s meat-grinder forces will smash through Ukraine’s weakened defences and take the Donbas region by late June if the West doesn’t act now, former British generals and security experts told The Sun.
Ex-army chiefs warned Russia’s forces will smash through Ukraine’s defences and take the Donbas region by late June if the West doesn’t act nowCredit: ReutersRussian troops are feared to make major gains in their summer offensiveCredit: AFPThe former British generals warned a victory for Russia in the Donbas would be the beginning of the end for Ukraine – and European civilisation as we know itCredit: Getty
The former NATO and British army chiefs said a victory in the embattled Donbas would be the beginning of the end for Ukraine – and European civilisation as we know it.
They revealed that the world will descend into a nuclear WW3 within the year if Ukraine doesn’t hold against Russia’s feared Summer offensive – in 10 short steps.
General Sir Richard Sherriff and General Richard Barrons warned an emboldened Putin would advance across south Ukraine before taking Moldova and sowing chaos across the Baltics with false-flag attacks.
At the same time, Kyiv would demand a no-fly zone the moment Russia breaks through and marches towards Kyiv while French President Emmanuel Macron will put boots on the ground.
The ex-army chiefs warned a furious Putin would respond by striking Macron’s troops with tactical nuclear weapons and the world would descend into a deadly WW3.
General Sherriff General Barrons and Michael Clarke, the former head of the RUSI think tank, told The Sun this dystopian future could become a reality if the West doesn’t act now and provide Ukraine with enough weapons to emerge victorious against Russia.
STEP 1: Putin takes the Donbas region
Clarke, now a Professor of War Studies at King’s College London, said Putin is under pressure to break through Ukraine’s front lines quickly in the next couple of months – and he aims to take the Donbas before time runs out.
Ukrainian troops are now fighting fierce battles against Russian forces in the Kharkiv region after they launched a surprise new assault last Friday.
Clarke warned this Kharkiv assault is all part of Putin’s plan to take the Donbas and boast of a ‘victory’ in Ukraine to those back home.
He said the Russians are trying to create a northern front that will advance to the southern Donbas where they will meet other units to create a united force that can take the region by the end of June.
Russian forces are already making headway and eating away at Ukraine’s territory with its new offensive – underscoring the acute ammunition and manpower shortages crippling the Ukrainian army.
STEP 2: Putin revamps army & strikes Ukraine
Clarke said if Putin does take the Donbas in June, the Russian despot’s calculation will be that the West will lean on Ukraine to give up the region.
The former RUSI director told The Sun: “That would be a victory for Putin and that would give him 12 months before he makes another land grab. He’ll want more, he won’t stop there.”
Clarke said in those 12 months Putin would rebuild his army – ready to strike and finish what he started in Ukraine and take on the West.
He explained: “If Putin took the Donbas, it would leave him in charge of the deck of cards and he would be able to deal them as he sees fit.”
Clarke warned Putin would take Odesa to the south of Ukraine as far as the Moldovan border – but he wouldn’t stop there.
STEP 3: Putin takes over Georgia and Moldova
The defence and security expert warned Putin would move against Georgia and pocket the country as part of his ever-growing sphere of power.
He said Putin is already at work in Georgia, where thousands are protesting against a “foreign influence” law adopted by the parliament on Tuesday.
Analysts say the law is just another sign the ex-Soviet republic is shifting away from a pro-Western course back toward Russia.
Clarke said after taking control over Georgia, Putin’s forces would quickly invade Moldova via the Russian-controlled enclave of Transnistria on Ukraine’s border.
STEP 4: Russia creates crises in the Baltics
The next step would be for Putin to create crises in the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – and sow chaos across Europe with cyber and terror attacks using far-right thugs.
Clarke warned: “In Estonia and Latvia, there is a high population of Russian speakers. Putin will say they are being persecuted to create tensions as part of a hybrid operation.”
In February, Estonia’s security agency said it had arrested 10 people suspected of sabotage, spreading fear and creating tension within the Baltic county in a coordination operation by Russia’s spies.
STEP 5: Putin launches attacks across Europe & Baltic states mobilise forces
General Barrons agrees and warned that at the same time, Putin would spark chaos across Europe by launching cyber and terror attacks by far-right thugs.
He told The Sun: “Putin will try to upset and destabilise the West using cyber attacks and organised crime.”
Just last week, intelligence sources revealed Putin’s spies and Wagner fighters are recruiting far-right thugs to carry out terror attacks in Britain in revenge for supplying Ukraine with aid.
And amid the growing tensions in the Baltics, Nato states that border Ukraine will begin to mobilise, Barrons said.
But that will take time for Nato troops to move ammunition and soldiers to bulk the border states’ defences.
STEP 6: Russian forces invade Lithuania
Sensing weakness, Putin’s bloodthirsty troops will attack Lithuania via the Suwalki Gap, a tiny strip of land run by Russia, with the help of the despot’s key ally Belarus.
Clarke said Lithuania is Nato’s weak point as it’s located next to Suwalki Gap and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
He explained: “Russia could create tensions in the region by creating false-flag attacks to make it look like the West was attacking Russian forces along the Suwalki Gap.
“As Hitler did with the Dansig corridor by Poland in 1939 – Putin would use the false-flag attacks to create a crisis in the West and a pre-text to march into parts of Lithuania.”
STEP 7: Nato unravels
Clarke warned Nato will quickly unravel, with southern members like Hungary, Slovakia and Austria likely to do deals with Putin.
He said: “Seeing the chaos in the Baltics, Nato will start to disassemble itself because the southern members of the alliance will go over to Russia and do deals with Putin.
“They would believe Nato is dead effectively so it’s in their best interests to make Russia an ally.
“That would be a big strategic gain for Russia because he would know that he has made Nato irrelevant. You’d still have headed paper with Nato on it, but it wouldn’t mean very much anymore.”
STEP 8: Ukraine demands no-fly zone
Back in Ukraine, with its dwindling defences due to a lack of Western aid and foresight, Russian forces will be advancing “relentlessly” across Ukraine.
General Barrons said the worst-case scenario would be Nato troops going to war with Russia.
He explained: “If Russian forces are moving through Ukraine and Ukraine can’t stop them, that poses big questions about the viability of Ukraine as a functioning state.
“The day that Ukraine feels that it is about to be defeated, Kyiv will demand a Nato no-fly zone which means the West goes to war with Russia.”
Barrons explained that a no-fly zone means Russian aircraft and missiles heading for Ukraine would have to be shot down.
STEP 9: France deploys troops to Ukraine
General Barrons said the worst-case scenario would also see President Macron deploy troops to Ukraine.
He pointed to how the French president said last month he wouldn’t rule out putting boots on the ground if there was a Russian breakthrough.
General Sherriff agrees and told The Sun: “I think General Barron’s worst-case scenario prediction is absolutely right, that Nato troops would have to get involved in a war against Russia to stop them.”
The former top Nato boss said there is no treaty obligation for Nato to respond to an attack on Ukraine.
“But what you could see is bilateral support from individual Nato nations like France who would deploy French troops to Ukraine.”
STEP 10: Putin launches tactical nukes
General Barrons said that could spark a nuclear war, with a furious Putin firing tactical nukes at French troops on the ground.
He said: “When Macron said he didn’t rule out sending troops to Ukraine, Putin immediately raised the nuclear spectre.
“Within an hour of Macron sending soldiers into Ukraine, Putin will threaten to strike the French troops with tactical nuclear weapons.
“Then you’re in the most dangerous game of bluff since the Cuban missile crisis – and it could spark nuclear war if Putin does strike.”
Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko warned last month that the rising tensions between Russia and the West could turn into a nuclear “apocalypse”.
And during his Victory Day parade speech earlier this month, Putin vowed Russia is “always” ready to strike the West with his nukes.
How the West can stop nuclear WW3
General Barrons, General Sherriff and Professor Clarke all say of these horrifying 10 steps don’t have to happen.
Clarke said: “It doesn’t have to be this way. The more we fail to meet the immediate challenge, the more likely that these steps will follow.
“If the West doesn’t act now, we leave ourselves with not much alternative but to face this dystopian future.”
General Barrons said the West is creating a perfect world for Putin – by consistently providing Ukraine with just enough equipment to defend against Russian forces rather than defeating them.
He said: “The perfect world for Putin is the West elects to do not very much, which is where we are right now.
“The West hasn’t protected itself and Putin is moving more quickly.”
The amount of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere is increasing at a speed that has never been seen before in modern times, a dire new study warns. Specifically, a detailed chemistry analysis of Antarctic ice shows the rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide is rising 10 times faster than at any other point in the last 50,000 years.
Researchers from Oregon State University say the findings can provide new insight into how climate change has affected Earth in the past and what it might mean for the planet in the future.
“Studying the past teaches us how today is different. The rate of CO2 change today really is unprecedented,” says Kathleen Wendt, an assistant professor in Oregon State University’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences and the study’s lead author, in a media release. “Our research identified the fastest rates of past natural CO2 rise ever observed, and the rate occurring today, largely driven by human emissions, is 10 times higher.”
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that occurs naturally in the atmosphere. When carbon dioxide builds up in the atmosphere, it contributes to the greenhouse effect — gases trap heat in the atmosphere, causing heat to reflect back to Earth instead of venting out into space. This trapped heat further warms the Earth up. In the past, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere have fluctuated because of ice age cycles and other natural events. Fast forward to today, and carbon dioxide levels have risen to unprecedented levels because of human-created emissions.
One of the best ways to measure carbon dioxide levels from the past is to examine ancient slabs of ice. Antarctic ice has built up over hundreds of thousands of years and contains ancient atmospheric gasses trapped in air bubbles. In the study, researchers drilled for ice core samples up to two miles deep to analyze trace chemicals and build records of past climate activity.
A slice from an Antarctic ice core. Researchers study the chemicals trapped in old ice to learn about past climate. (Photo by Katherine Stelling, Oregon State University)
Previous research on the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, showed several periods where carbon dioxide levels soared higher than average. However, the measurements were incomplete and could not explain what caused this escalation in carbon dioxide.
“You probably wouldn’t expect to see that in the dead of the last ice age,” says Wendt. “But our interest was piqued, and we wanted to go back to those periods and conduct measurements at greater detail to find out what was happening.”
The ice core samples in the current study came from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide. Study authors found a pattern that showed the increases in carbon dioxide levels occurred alongside North Atlantic cold intervals called Heinrich Events, which were linked to abrupt climate shifts around the world.
“These Heinrich Events are truly remarkable,” says Christo Buizert, an associate professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University and co-author of the study. “We think they are caused by a dramatic collapse of the North American ice sheet. This sets into motion a chain reaction that involves changes to the tropical monsoons, the Southern hemisphere westerly winds and these large burps of CO2 coming out of the oceans.”
In one of the largest jumps in carbon dioxide levels, carbon dioxide soared by about 14 parts per million in 55 years. The jumps used to happen once every 7,000 years. Nowadays, it takes five or six years for carbon levels to soar.
Shani Louk’s body was seen face-down in a pick-up truck travelling through Gaza in a video that was shared widely on social media after the hostages were taken.
The bodies of three Israeli hostage taken by Hamas have been recovered in Gaza.
The remains were discovered in an overnight operation carried out by Israel’s military and intelligence agency Shin Bet, said chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari.
Itzhak Gelerenter, 56, Amit Buskila, 28, and Shani Louk, 22, were killed at the Nova music festival on 7 October, with their bodies then taken into Gaza by Hamas militants.
Ms Louk’s body was seen face-down in a pick-up truck travelling through Gaza in a video that was shared widely on social media after the hostages were taken.
Shani Louk
“They were celebrating life in the Nova music festival and they were murdered by Hamas,” said Mr Hagari.
He said their families have been notified.
“Our hearts go out to them, to the families at this difficult time. We will leave no stone unturned, we will do everything in our power to find our hostages and bring them home.”
The military did not give immediate details on where their bodies were found.
Ms Louk’s father has said the return of his daughter’s body to her family has been a form of closure.
Nissim Louk told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz his daughter “radiated light, to her and those who surrounded her, and in her death she still does”.
He added: “She is a symbol of the people of Israel, between light and darkness. Her inner and outer beauty that shone for all the world to see is a special one.”
In November, the brother of Ms Louk told Sky News of their last phone call as his sister tried to escape Hamas.
Speaking about the video that was circulated online after she was taken, Amit Louk said: “I never thought I was going to be in contact with this type of video, seeing my sister in that brutal position.
“And just in that moment, the whole family just crashed.”
The family of Mr Gelerenter had been “in total darkness” about his fate until Friday, his daughter Yarden Pivko told Channel 12 News.
“We held on to hope and had a lot of faith that the end would be different,” she said.
His son Ilai told the Walla news site the family was grappling with “difficult feelings” after the news, adding: “This is a second blow, after the first time we heard about what happened [during the 7 October attack].”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the deaths “heartbreaking”, saying: “We will return all of our hostages, both the living and the dead.”
Meanwhile, Professor Hagai Levine, a member of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, has said the recovery of the bodies is a “painful reminder” of those who are still in captivity.
“We do not lose hope. We are preparing for the return of the hostages that are alive,” he added.
While Swati Maliwal claimed she was beaten inside Kejriwal’s drawing room, Bibhav Kumar claimed she is trying to implicate him in a false case.
AAP MP Swati Maliwal leaves the residence of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after investigation of alleged assault case in New Delhi, India, on Friday, May 17, 2024. (Photo by Sanchit Khanna / Hindustan Times)
AAP MP Swati Maliwal’s allegations that she was assaulted inside Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s house by the latter’s personal secretary, Bibhav Kumar, has descended into a massive political controversy, with the Aam Aadmi Party refuting her charges. While the former DCW chief claimed she was beaten inside Kejriwal’s drawing room, Kumar claimed she is trying to implicate him in a false case.
Here are 10 points on the Swati Maliwal-Bibhav Kumar row:
Bibhav Kumar, who is facing grave charges levelled by Swati Maliwal, filed a police complaint on Friday, claiming that she created a ruckus inside Arvind Kejriwal’s house. He wrote in his complaint to the Civil Lines Police Station that Swati Maliwal wanted to barge into the residential quarters of the Delhi chief minister, He claimed when he tried to stop her, Swati Maliwal abused him with an intent to physically assault him.
Bibhav Kumar claimed Swati Maliwaltold security personnel that she was a Rajya Sabha MP. “Despite requests by security officers to wait until he gets the details of her appointment verified, she forcibly entered the CM’s residence despite the objections,” Kumar said in his complaint. He claimed when he approached Swati Maliwal at 9.22 am, she abused him and said,” How dare you stop an MP?”
Bibhav Kumar claimed Swati Maliwal wanted to harm Arvind Kejriwal. He claimed that in anger, she called the police control room and levelled false allegations. He said in the complaint that the AAP MP threatened him to implicate him in a false case.
On Friday, Swati Maliwal’s allegations in the FIR also emerged. Swati Maliwal claimed that Bibhav Kumar hit her with “full force again and again” and she was “kicked and slapped seven to eight times”. She claimed he didn’t stop even when she told him that she had been menstruating and in pain.
The Aam Aadmi Party, meanwhile, has backed Bibhav Kumar. AAP leader Atishi said Swati Maliwal had reached the CM’s residence without an appointment. She claimed she wanted to level allegations against Arvind Kejriwal. The party also released a purported video in which the MP can be seen arguing with with the security personnel at Kejriwal’s house.
“Today a video has surfaced that has exposed the lie of Maliwal. In her FIR, she has said she was brutally assaulted and she was in pain, and buttons of her shirt were torn. The video that has surfaced shows an entirely different reality,” she said.
Former president Donald Trump attends his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court for falsifying documents related to hush money payments, in New York, NY, U.S., May 16, 2024. Victor J. Blue/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Some of Donald Trump’s allies are assembling proposals to curtail the Justice Department’s independence and turn the nation’s top law enforcement body into an attack dog for conservative causes, nine people involved in the effort told Reuters.
If successful, the overhaul could represent one of the most consequential actions of a second Trump presidency given the Justice Department’s role in protecting democratic institutions and upholding the rule of law.
It would also mark a dramatic departure from the department’s mission statement, opens new tab, which identifies “independence and impartiality” as core values.
Trump, who has been indicted on dozens of criminal charges by the Justice Department, has vowed on the campaign trail to overhaul the agency if he wins the presidential election on Nov. 5 and pledged to use it to pursue his own opponents, including Democratic President Joe Biden.
The plan is essentially twofold, according to the nine people interviewed by Reuters, some of whom requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
First: flood the Justice Department with stalwart conservatives unlikely to say “no” to controversial orders from the White House. Second: restructure the department so key decisions are concentrated in the hands of administration loyalists rather than career bureaucrats.
The FBI – which many Republicans see as biased against them – would have new constraints on its authority, with many of its responsibilities shifted to other law enforcement agencies, those people said.
“Trump feels that the DoJ has institutional problems,” said Steve Bannon, a prominent Trump ally who was prosecuted by the Justice Department and convicted for contempt of Congress. “It’s not just personnel: you do need to purge the DoJ, but you also need to reform it.”
Overhauling the Justice Department would allow the Trump administration to pursue conservative policy initiatives such as dismantling hiring programs meant to boost diversity in the workplace and ending federal oversight of police departments accused of racist practices.
In response to questions from Reuters, the Trump campaign pointed to a December statement from co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita.
“Unless a message is coming directly from President Trump or an authorized member of his campaign team, no aspect of future presidential staffing or policy announcements should be deemed official,” they said.
The campaign itself has few full-time policy staffers. Trump and his team are in frequent contact with outside groups, such as those formulating recommendations on the Justice Department.
With Trump holding a lead in most swing states likely to decide November’s election, the former president’s advisers may have a shot at putting their ideas into practice.
Trump’s promises to remodel the Justice Department have been well documented, but less attention has been given to identifying the specific measures his allies and advisers are advocating.
Two prominent Trump allies told Reuters they support eliminating the FBI’s general counsel, an office that enraged Republicans during Trump’s 2017-2021 term for its role in approving an inquiry into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russian officials.
The general counsel provides legal advice to FBI employees regarding ongoing probes and other matters. Closing it would force the bureau to receive legal guidance from people closer to Trump’s attorney general in the chain-of-command and limit the FBI’s ability to conduct investigations without close political oversight, according to several Trump supporters and legal professionals with knowledge of the department’s workings.
Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Mousa said in a statement that Trump and his allies “were putting Trump’s own revenge and retribution ahead of what is best for America.” The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘NOT STANDARD POLITICS’
Trump’s allies argue that, as head of the executive branch, the president should have broad powers to command and oversee the Justice Department as he or she sees fit.
Most Democrats and even some Republicans reject that view. They say the Justice Department requires an unusual amount of independence because it’s responsible for administering justice in a non-partisan fashion. At times, that mandate includes investigating a president’s close political allies.
“There are always enforcement disputes … That is standard politics,” said Kristy Parker, a former federal prosecutor who is now at Protect Democracy, a non-profit legal advocacy organization.
“What is not standard politics is somebody basically coming in and saying we are going to jettison the idea that the Department of Justice should have a wall of separation between it and the personal political agenda of the president.”
Many Trump allies making these proposals are affiliated with a consortium of conservative think tanks known as “Project 2025”, which has been making detailed plans for a second Trump presidency. In a statement to Reuters, Project 2025 said it could not speak for the Trump campaign.
These allies are also combing through federal regulations for novel ways to bring stalwart conservatives into the Justice Department at the start of a potential Trump term, according to two people with knowledge of those deliberations.
These detailed preparations contrast with Trump’s chaotic 2016 transition, which involved relatively little policy planning, several people involved have acknowledged.
The former president spent the opening months of his first administration butting heads with his attorney general and FBI director, both of whom angered the president by failing to halt inquiries into his 2016 campaign.
It’s an experience, according to several associates who speak to Trump, that he’s determined not to repeat.
Trump currently faces a total of 88 charges in four criminal cases – two of which have been brought by the DoJ – over efforts to subvert the 2020 election, retaining classified documents after leaving office, and alleged efforts to cover up a hush money payment to a porn star.
The 77-year-old denies wrongdoing in all the cases and points to the charges as proof the Justice Department is biased against him. The department denies this and says it conducts all of its probes impartially.
Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday deplored what he called “a series of unprecedented and frankly unfounded attacks on the Justice Department.”
While promising to establish a non-partisan justice system, Trump has called for many of his political opponents to be arrested. Last June, he pledged in a post on Truth Social to have a “special prosecutor” probe the 81-year-old Biden.
CONTROL OVER FBI
Some allies stop short of embracing Trump’s rhetoric of revenge. But they agree Trump should have greater control over the Justice Department and FBI.
“Whenever you have power centers … that have enormous resources, coercive power and investigative tools at their disposal, and they are presumed to be independent of any control down the chain of command from the president, that is a recipe for abuse of power,” said Steve Bradbury, a former Justice official who briefly served as Trump’s acting Transportation Secretary.
In interviews with Reuters, Bradbury and Gene Hamilton, a senior Justice Department official under Trump, both endorsed the measure to eliminate the FBI’s general counsel.
They said they do not speak for Trump, but both are contributing ideas to Project 2025. Hamilton is a trusted lieutenant of Stephen Miller, one of Trump’s closest policy advisers. Miller did not respond to requests for comment.
Both Bradbury and Hamilton also endorsed changing the Justice Department’s chain of command so the FBI director reports to a pair of politically appointed assistant attorneys general.
The director currently reports to the deputy attorney general, a more senior official who in practice is too busy and has too large a portfolio to oversee and guide FBI probes, Bradbury said.
Bradbury and other legal experts said that change could be done without congressional authorization. He said these steps are necessary to ensure that the bureau’s enforcement priorities align with the White House’s policy preferences. Detractors say these measures will undermine the independence of the Justice Department and the FBI.
Some Trump allies and advisers also want to narrow dramatically the types of crimes the FBI can investigate, arguing the bureau’s focus is too sprawling for political appointees to oversee effectively.
In a publicly available policy memo, which was published last July but received little attention, Bradbury said other law enforcement agencies, like the Drug Enforcement Administration, could take the lead where their jurisdiction overlaps with the bureau.
The remnants of the bureau, Bradbury wrote, could focus exclusively on “large-scale crimes and threats to national security” that require a federal response.
PM Narendra Modi, in an exclusive interview, said he was inspired to think of a blueprint for the first 125 days of his third term after seeing the enthusiasm among first-time voters.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi exclusively told India Today TV that the “blueprint for the first 100 days of his third term was ready”, adding that he was planning to add another 25 days to the plan, focussed just on the youth of the country.
PM Modi’s ‘first 125-days plan’ revelation was made in a no-holds-barred, exhaustive interview, the biggest this election season. The Prime Minister, who has always emphasised the critical role of the youth in shaping the nation’s future, said he was forced to think of a blueprint for 125 days after seeing the enthusiasm amongst first-time voters and the younger generation during his election campaigns.
“I feel their inspiration, so I want to make a plan for 125 days. I have already made a plan for 100 days. I want to add 25 more days,” PM Modi said.
As part of his new plan, the Prime Minister – who has called for a ‘Viksit Bharat’ or a developed India by 2047 – said that he wanted the youth of the country to pitch ideas and list their priorities.
“I want the involvement of the youth and want them to share their ideas. I want to dedicate 25 days in total to the youth of my country. I will do it, I am moving ahead from 100 days,” PM Modi, who is seeking a record third consecutive term, said.
The Prime Minister said he took inputs from over 20 lakh people across the country while preparing the agenda of the government for the first 100 days.
Judges Gomez Robledo, Hilary Charlesworth, Yuji Iwasawa, Xue Hanqin and Ronny Abraham arrive at the International Court of Justice at the start of a hearing where South Africa requests new emergency measures over Israel’s attacks on Rafah, as part of an ongoing case South Africa filed at the ICJ in December last year accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention during its offensive… Purchase Licensing Rights
South Africa urged the U.N.’s top court on Thursday to order a halt to Israel’s offensive on Rafah, saying attacks on the southern Gaza city “must be stopped” to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.
South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, asked judges to order Israel to “immediately, totally and unconditionally, withdraw the Israeli army from the entirety of the Gaza Strip.”
The two days of hearings at the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, are part of a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide.
Israel, which has denounced South Africa’s claim that it is violating the 1949 Genocide Convention as baseless, will respond in court on Friday.
Last week South Africa asked for additional emergency measures to protect Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have been sheltering.
South Africa also asked the court to order Israel to allow unimpeded access to Gaza for U.N. officials, organisations providing humanitarian aid, journalists and investigators.
Israel’s military campaign has killed tens of thousands of children and women, destroyed civilian infrastructure and starved the population, South Africa’s legal team told the court.
“From the onset Israel’s intent was always to destroy Palestinian life and to wipe them off the face of the earth. Rafah is the final stand,” Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, one of the legal team, said.
“Israel must be stopped. South Africa is before you again today to respectfully ask the court to invoke its powers … to order a remedy that will stop Israel,” said Adila Hassim, another lawyer for South Africa.
Posting on social media, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said, “South Africa’s claims are both morally and factually distorted” and Israel’s military abides by international law.
“The terrorists of Hamas are using South Africa in their attempt to exploit the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” it said.
The situation in Ukraine is so serious that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had to cancel a planned trip to Spain and come straight to Kharkiv — the country’s second largest city, which is again in real danger from the Russian advance.
With exclusive access, ABC News joined Zelenskyy on a tour of a hospital in the city, with Zelenskyy, where he met soldiers injured in the northern defense, and presented them with medals of valor.
“It’s really important for me to be here,” he told us, as we walked the corridors.
In each ward, he stopped as an officer read out the names of each injured soldier. He approached each bed and presented them with a medal. But this was a very rushed visit. The president’s safety is always a concern, but this trip to Kharkiv was a risk and his team moved quickly around the building.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with ABC News Foreign Corresponden…Show more ABC News
“The situation is very serious,” Zelenskyy said. “We cannot afford to lose Kharkiv.”
As he stood near the injured soldiers, he was very clear that the delay in U.S. aid has had a direct impact on the war, and the situation along the northeastern border. Hundreds had lost their lives or been wounded in the last few days, he said. Many were soldiers from this region, so it was important for him to be there, supporting them, he said.
Is it America’s fault, we asked him, what’s happening now in Kharkiv?
“It’s the world’s fault,” he replied. “They gave the opportunity for Putin to occupy. But now the world can help.”
He’s always careful not to criticize the U.S. But this was a slightly more frank Zelenskyy than we usually see.
We asked how he felt the visit this week by Secretary of State Antony Blinken had gone. The U.S.’s top diplomat on Wednesday announced an additional $2 billion in aid, adding to the $60 billion promised in late April. Zelenskyy paused. I could sense his frustration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks with ABC News Foreign Corresponden…Show more ABC News
“Dialogue is good,” he said. “But we need help now.”
There’s a sense here, near the brutal fighting on the front line, that the visit wasn’t much more than a show of support.
“All we need are two Patriot systems,” he said. “Russia will not be able to occupy Kharkiv if we have those.”
I told him many Americans are worried about how much money is being spent on Ukraine. And in this election year it’s going to be an issue that American voters pay attention to.
Citizenship Certificates were physically handed over to 14 applicants in Delhi today. (Pic: ANI)
The first set of citizenship certificates under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) was issued on Wednesday to 14 people, starting the process of granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla handed over the certificates to the 14 people after their applications were processed online through a designated portal, an official spokesperson said.
Citizenship Certificates were physically handed over to 14 applicants in Delhi today. Digitally signed Certificates are being issued to many other applicants through email: Ministry of Home Affairs pic.twitter.com/0qCN999FJy
In an interview to News18 in the first week of May, union home minister Amit Shah had said the process of granting citizenship will start this month.
While granting the citizenship certificates, the home secretary congratulated the 14 applicants and highlighted the salient features of the Citizenship (Amendment) Rules, 2024. Secretary Posts, Director of the Intelligence Bureau, Registrar General of India and senior officers were also present during the interactive session when the certificates were issued.
Home Minister Shah said the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian brothers and sisters who fled religious persecution in the three countries have started getting Indian citizenship and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has fulfilled the promise made at the time of the country’s independence.
UKRAINE’S generals warned they have run out of reserves to halt Russia’s shock assault on Kharkiv.
It comes as Vladimir Putin masses more than half a million troops on the frontline in a bid to overpower Ukraine’s forces.
A fire erupted following a Russian air strike near KharkivCredit: Getty
Smoke rises in the aftermath of a Russian strike in KharkivCredit: ReutersPresident Zelensky pictured as Ukraine runs out of reserve troopsCredit: Reuters
Ukraine’s military has admitted it is struggling to contain the advance in the north east of the country.
General Kyrylo Budanov, boss of Kyiv’s military intelligence said: “I’ve used everything we have.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have anyone else in the reserves.”
Putin’s troops have seized miles of ground in their fastest advances in months.
The blitz, said to be the first stage of Russia’s summer offensive, is designed to stretch Ukraine’s already outnumbered defenders.
Kyiv said the Russian push appeared to have run out of steam last night — but, in the face of Putin’s 500,000-strong force, warned that could change quickly.
Royal United Services Institute war expert Dr Jack Watling said unless Ukraine could muster more troops its prospects were bleak as Russia had “significant numerical superiority”.
He said: “The Russian forces have now expanded to 510,000 troops.
“The outlook for Ukraine is bleak. Its allies must replenish stockpiles.”
Ukraine cannot blitz Russian forces massing just over the border because the US has forbidden it from using its weapons such as Himars rockets in enemy territory.
Former UK joint chief General Sir Richard Barrons said that had allowed the Russians to be able to “form up at leisure”.
He added: “Those are the only weapons that will break up Russian forces as they organise themselves for an offensive.”
But desperately needed weapons from the latest US aid package have begun arriving at the front line.
In Kyiv today, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who vowed to make Russia pay to rebuild his country.
Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot multiple times and gravely wounded Wednesday, but his deputy prime minister said he believed Fico would survive.
The prime minister had been greeting supporters at an event when the attempted assassination took place, shocking the small country and reverberating across Europe weeks before an election.
“I guess in the end he will survive,” Tomas Taraba told the BBC, adding: “He’s not in a life threatening situation at this moment.”
Doctors fought for Fico’s life several hours after the pro-Russian leader, 59, was hit in the abdomen, Defense Minister Robert Kalina told reporters at the hospital where Fico was being treated.
Five shots were fired outside a cultural center in the town of Handlova, nearly 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital, government officials said. Fico was shot while attending a meeting of his government in the town of 16,000 that was once a center of coal mining.
A suspect was in custody, and an initial investigation found “a clear political motivation” behind the assassination attempt, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok said as he briefed reporters alongside the defense minister.
Slovak prime minister shot
Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond, but his return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union members that he would lead his country further from the Western mainstream.
Kicking off his fourth term as prime minister, his government halted arms deliveries to Ukraine, and critics worry that he will lead Slovakia — a nation of 5.4 million that belongs to NATO — to abandon its pro-Western course and follow in the footsteps of Hungary under populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Thousands have repeatedly rallied in the capital and across Slovakia to protest Fico’s policies.
A message posted to Fico’s Facebook account said he was taken to a hospital in Banská Bystrica, 29 kilometers (17 miles) from Handlova, because it would take too long to get to the capital, Bratislava.
Slovakia’s Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok pulls on his shirt collar after holding a press conference at the F. D. Roosevelt University Hospital, where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who was shot and injured, is treated in Banska Bystrica, central Slovakia, Wednesday, May 15, 2024. The shooting Wednesday of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in the town of Handlova following a political event sent shockwaves across Europe three weeks before EU parliament elections are scheduled to be held. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)
The attack comes as political campaigning heats up three weeks ahead of Europe-wide elections to choose lawmakers for the European Parliament. Concern is mounting that populist and nationalists similar to Fico could make gains in the 27-member bloc.
But politics as usual were put aside as the nation faced the shock of the attempt on Fico’s life.
“A physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy,” outgoing President Zuzana Caputova, a political rival of Fico, said in a televised statement. “Any violence is unacceptable. The hateful rhetoric we’ve been witnessing in society leads to hateful actions. Please, let’s stop it.”
President-elect Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Fico, called the shooting “an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy. If we express other political opinions with pistols in squares, and not in polling stations, we are jeopardizing everything that we have built together over 31 years of Slovak sovereignty.”
The recent elections that brought Fico and his allies to power have underlined deep social divisions, exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, Slovakia’s neighbor to the east.
Gábor Czímer, a political journalist at Slovakian news outlet Ujszo.com, said Fico’s return to power had uncovered signs that “Slovak society is strongly split into two camps” — one that is friendly toward Russia and another that pushes for stronger connections with the EU and the West.
“At the same time, I couldn’t imagine that it would lead to physical violence,” Czímer said.
Estok, the Slovak interior minister, told reporters outside the hospital that the country was “on the edge of a civil war” from the political tension.
“Such hateful comments are being made on social networks today, so please, let’s stop this immediately,” he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden said he was alarmed by the assassination attempt. “We condemn this horrific act of violence,” he said in a statement.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg posted on the social media platform X that he was “shocked and appalled” by the attempt on Fico’s life. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called it a “vile attack.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced the violence against a neighboring country’s head of government.
“Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form or sphere,” he said.
Slovakia’s Parliament was adjourned until further notice. The major opposition parties, Progressive Slovakia and Freedom and Solidarity, canceled a planned protest against a controversial government plan to overhaul public broadcasting that they say would give the government full control of public radio and television.
Amid a slew of lay-offs by tech companies in the US, which has impacted thousands of employees, including Indians, the USCIS clarified that laid-off H-1B visa holders could stay in the US beyond 60 days. This is what H-1B visa holders need to do to stay in the US beyond the grace period.
Inaction within 60 days might require H-1B visa holders to leave the US, but they can return later if they find a job.
Employees on H-1B visas who have been laid off have the option of staying in the US even beyond 60 days, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reveals. Tech companies like Google, Meta, Apple, Dell, Twitter, Amazon and Microsoft, among many others, have fired thousands of non-immigrant employees living in the US, including many Indians. There is a general assumption that the laid-off staffers have to leave the US within 60 days. But the USCIS has clarified on this in its latest statement.
“When non-immigrant workers are laid off, they may not be aware of their options and, in some cases, may wrongly assume that they have no option but to leave the country within 60 days,” stated the USCIS in its latest release.
The tech industry continues to grapple with lay-offs, with news of new job cuts surfacing every month. So far, a total of 237 tech companies have laid off 58,499 employees in 2024.
According to the press release, when a non-immigrant worker’s employment ends, either voluntarily or involuntarily, they typically may take one of the following actions, if eligible, to remain in a period of authorised stay in the United States:
File an application for a change of non-immigrant status;
File an application for adjustment of status;
File an application for a ‘compelling circumstances’ employment authorisation document; or
Be the beneficiary of a non-frivolous petition to change employers.
If a non-immigrant takes any of these actions during the 60-day grace period, they can stay in the United States for more than 60 days, even if they lose their previous non-immigrant status.
But if they don’t take any action during this time, they and their dependents might have to leave the US within 60 days, or when their authorised period ends, whichever comes sooner.
Additionally, H-1B non-immigrants may begin working for a new employer as soon as the employer properly files a new H-1B petition (Form I-129) requesting to amend or extend H-1B status with the USCIS, without waiting for the petition to be approved.
The timely filing of a non-frivolous application to change status will “toll,” or stop, the accrual of unlawful presence until the application is adjudicated, if the applicant did not work without authorisation, either before the application was filed or while it was pending, and the applicant maintained their status prior to the filing of the request for change of status.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar responded to warning of the United States that “anyone” considering business deals with Tehran needs to be aware of the “potential risk of sanctions.”
S Jaishankar pointed out that the US itself had appreciated the larger relevance of Chabahar in the past.
Kolkata: A day after the US warned of “potential risk of sanctions” after India inked a 10-year agreement for running the Chabahar Port in Iran, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar emphasised that the project will benefit the entire region and people should not take a “narrow view” of it.
He also pointed out that the US itself had appreciated the larger relevance of Chabahar in the past.
The EAM was speaking at an interaction after the launch of the Bangla edition of his book ‘Why Bharat Matters’ in Kolkata on Wednesday.
On being asked about the US’ remarks, Mr Jaishankar said, “I did see some of the remarks which were made, but I think it’s a question of communicating, convincing and getting people to understand, that this is actually for everyone’s benefit. I don’t think people should take a narrow view of it.”
“They (US) have not done so in the past. So, if you look at the US’ own attitude towards the port in Chabahar, the US has been appreciative of the fact that Chabahar has a larger relevance…we will work at it,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, the United States warned that “anyone” considering business deals with Tehran needs to be aware of the “potential risk of sanctions.”
“I would just say…US sanctions on Iran remain in place and we will continue to enforce them,” the US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson, Vedant Patel said at the press briefing.
“Any entity, anyone considering business deals with Iran, they need to be aware of the potential risk they are opening themselves up to, potential risk of sanctions,” he added.
The Long-Term Bilateral Contract on Chabahar Port Operation was signed between Indian Ports Global Limited (IPGL) of India and the Port & Maritime Organisation (PMO) of Iran on Monday, enabling the operation of Shahid-Behesti port in the Chabahar Port Development Project for a period of 10 years.
Mr Jaishankar further said that India had a long association with the project, but was not able to sign a long-term pact, which was important. He added that New Delhi was able to sort out the issues and sign the long-term agreement, which will benefit the entire region.
“We have had a long association with the Chabahar Port, but we could never sign a long-term agreement. The reason was…there were various problems on the Iranian end…the joint-venture partner changes, the condition changed,” the Foreign Minister said.
He added, “Finally, we were able to sort this out and we were able to get the long-term agreement done. The long-term agreement is necessary, because without it you cannot really improve the port operation. And the port operation we believe, will benefit the entire region.”
The Chabahar Port is an India-Iran flagship project that serves as an important transit port for trade with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries, which are landlocked countries. India has been a key player in the development and operation of Chabahar Port.
The administration notifies Congress of a large arms package after withholding shipment of bombs last week
The Biden administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it was moving forward with more than $1 billion in new weapons deals for Israel, U.S. and congressional officials said, a massive arms package less than a week after the White House paused a shipment of bombs over a planned Israeli assault on Rafah.
The latest weapons package includes the potential transfer of $700 million in tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds, the officials said. There are still additional steps before the weapons would be approved and delivered.
“Na Mai Yaha Aaya Hoon, Na Mujhe Kisi Ne Bheja Hai, Mujhe Toh Maa Ganga Ne Bulaya Hai (Neither have I come here nor has anyone sent me, Mother Ganga has called me),” said Narendra Modi, then Chief Minister of Gujarat as he filed his nomination from Varanasi Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Recalling the same remark on Tuesday as he gears up to file nomination for the third time from Varanasi, Modi said that mother Ganga had adopted him and his bond with Kashi is similar to a mother’s relation with his son.
The Prime Minister tweeted an old video in which he said his relationship with Kashi could not be described in words. “This relationship is not just that of a people’s representative. It is a spiritual one and I cannot describe it in words,” PM Modi said.
PM Modi will begin his day with a dip in the Holy Ganges at the Dasaswamedh Ghat and head for a puja at the famous Kaal Bhairav temple soon after.
#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh: Visuals from Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi. PM Narendra Modi will visit here and offer prayers. PM will also board the cruise ship here.
PM Modi on Monday held a 6-km roadshow in his constituency amid the fourth phase of polling across India. Taking to X, the prime minister said Kashi was “special” because of the “unbelievable” warmth and affection of the people.
The death toll in the hoarding collapse in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar rose to 14 in the early hours of Tuesday, with 74 left injured.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel look for survivors during a rescue operation at the site where an advertisement hoarding collapsed on a fuel station after a dust storm in Mumbai on May 13, 2024. (Photo by Punit PARANJPE / AFP)(AFP)
The death toll after a massive hoarding collapsed in Mumbai rose to 14 in the early hours of Tuesday, with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) running overnight rescue operations for those trapped. At least 74 people have been left injured in the incident.
NDRF inspector Gaurav Chauhan told news agency AFP that eight bodies have already been recovered after excavators dug through the wreckage to rescue those trapped inside under the collapsed billboard. Four more bodies were still buried inside the rubble, he said.
“We have located them but we cannot remove them due to this petrol pump and the situation can be hazardous,” he said.
Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu and Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar extended their condolences for those who lost their lives in the incident in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar, wishing a speedy recovery for those injured in the hoarding collapse.
Mumbai hoarding collapse: Top updates
A 70-metre billboard collapsed in Mumbai’s Ghatkopar on Monday after the city was hit by heavy rain and thunderstorms. The illegal hoarding fell on a petrol pump in Ghatkopar’s Cheddanagar Junction.
Rescue operations commenced on Monday evening, with 64 people admitted to the hospital. The NDRF conducted overnight rescue operations with excavators digging through the wreckage to retrieve the bodies still trapped in the rubble.
The BMC said, in a statement, on Monday evening that 20 to 30 people were still trapped inside the rubble from the hoarding collapse. However, the NDRF was facing issues in removing the rubble due to the collapse that occurred at a petrol pump, which could lead to a hazardous situation.
A general view of the White House in Washington, U.S., August 27, 2023. REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The White House on Monday gave a Chinese-linked company and its partners 120 days to sell property they had bought near a U.S. Air Force base in Wyoming that is home to part of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, citing fears of spying.
The move comes as the United States has become increasingly concerned about the national security risks posed by Chinese-led purchases of American property near sensitive military sites.
MineOne Partners Limited, which is owned by Chinese nationals, partnered with other companies to buy real estate for cryptocurrency mining in June 2022, the White House said.
The property is located within 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) of Wyoming-based Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, which is home to part of the U.S. arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
“The proximity of the foreign-owned Real Estate to a strategic missile base and key element of America’s nuclear triad, and the presence of specialized and foreign-sourced equipment potentially capable of facilitating surveillance and espionage activities, presents a national security risk to the United States,” the White House said in a statement.
MineOne Partners did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters reported in 2022 that the Biden administration was investigating Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei over concerns that U.S. cell towers fitted with its gear could capture sensitive information from military bases and missile silos that the company could then transmit to China.
The MineOne Partners deal was reviewed by CFIUS, a powerful panel led by the Treasury Department that scrutinizes foreign investment in the United States for national security risks.
Speaking to Trevor Phillips on Sky News, Lord Cameron said an arms embargo would strengthen Hamas and make a hostage deal less likely.
An Israeli arms embargo is “not a wise path” and the UK and America are “in a totally different situation”, the foreign secretary has said.
Lord Cameron told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips Show that it would be “extremely dangerous” for Israel to attempt a major offensive in Rafah.
But asked if the UK would follow in the US’s footsteps and halt the supply of weapons to Israel if launches an attack on the southernmost city of Gaza – a crucial route for aid – he said the UK and America “are in a totally different situation”.
“The United States is a massive bulk state supplier of weapons to Israel, including, you know, 1,000lb pound bombs and all the rest of it,” he said.
“The UK provides less than 1% of Israel’s weapons and is not a state supplier. We have a licensing system and those licences can be closed if it’s judged there’s a serious risk of a serious international human rights violation.”
Palestinians flee Rafah. Pic: Reuters
He added that when he last came under pressure to announce an arms embargo, “a few days later there was a massive Iranian attack on Israel, including 140 cruise missiles.
“So I don’t think it would have been a wise path.”
“If I announced that today, it might help me get through this television interview, but actually it would strengthen Hamas. It would weaken Israel,” Lord Cameron said.
“I think it probably makes a hostage deal less likely. So I don’t think some sort of political declaration is the right answer. We should stick with our rigorous process of making sure we act within the law.”
Israel has called on residents of Rafah in Gaza to evacuate and head to the “expanded humanitarian area” as it prepares to ramp up its military assault.
Despite heavy US pressure, Israel has said it will proceed with an assault on the southern city, where more than 1.4 million people have taken refuge from the fighting – around half of them children.
Israeli forces say Hamas militants are dug in, so Rafah is key to its goal of dismantling the group’s capabilities and returning scores of hostages captured in the 7 October attack by insurgents that triggered the war.
But tensions over the gathering offensive have led Joe Biden to warn the US would stop supplying Israel with some weapons if it presses ahead with an invasion.
UK ‘should pause weapons to Israel’
Labour said a full-scale offensive into Rafah would be “catastrophic beyond description” and the UK should adopt the US’s position.
Shadow frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News. “We do not want to see weapons used in Rafah and like Joe Biden has said, if that goes ahead those weapons should be halted and we believe the government should adopt that position now.”
The prime minister will outline “the stark choice facing the UK public” ahead of the general election, in what is described as a “major speech” by Downing Street. It is not clear what specific ideas he will set out.
Rishi Sunak. Pic: PA
Rishi Sunak will give a speech on Monday setting out “bold ideas to change society” – as he seeks to regain momentum following the defection of one of his MPs to Labour and a hammering at the local elections.
In what is being billed by Downing Street as a “major speech” in central London, the prime minister will outline “the stark choice facing the UK public” ahead of the general election later this year.
Mr Sunak has suggested he will go to the polls in the autumn, with Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron telling Sky News on Sunday that voters need time “to see our plan is working”.
In a bid to revive his faltering premiership, the Tory leader will say: “I have bold ideas that can change our society for the better, and restore people’s confidence and pride in our country.
“I feel a profound sense of urgency. Because more will change in the next five years than in the last 30.
“I’m convinced that the next few years will be some of the most dangerous yet most transformational our country has ever known.”
It is not clear what specific ideas the prime minister will set out.
A trail of the speech released by Downing Street says he will discuss safeguarding the nation’s security against threats like war and rising global immigration.
Migrants attempt to cross the Channel to the UK
Mr Sunak will also set out his intention to capitalise safely on the opportunities presented by artificial intelligence.
He will go on to say: “Our country stands at a crossroads.
“Over the next few years, from our democracy to our economy to our society – to the hardest questions of war and peace – almost every aspect of our lives is going to change.
“How we act in the face of these changes – not only to keep people safe and secure but to realise the opportunities too – will determine whether or not Britain will succeed in the years to come.
“And this is the choice facing the country.”
The speech comes after a difficult week for Mr Sunak, who faced his second defection to Labour after Dover MP Natalie Elphicke crossed the floor to join the opposition benches shortly before PMQs on Wednesday.
May 9, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Purchase Licensing Rights
Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.
More than two years into the conflict, which has cost both sides heavy casualties, Putin proposed Andrei Belousov, a 65-year-old former deputy prime minister who specialises in economics, to replace his long-term ally, Sergei Shoigu, 68, as defence minister.
Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister on Sunday in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.
More than two years into the conflict, which has cost both sides heavy casualties, Putin proposed Andrei Belousov, a 65-year-old former deputy prime minister who specialises in economics, to replace his long-term ally, Sergei Shoigu, 68, as defence minister.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the change made sense because Russia was approaching a situation like the Soviet Union in the mid-1980s, when the military and law enforcement authorities accounted for 7.4% of gross domestic product (GDP).
That, said Peskov, meant it was vital to ensure such spending aligned with and was better integrated into the country’s overall economy, which was why Putin now wanted a civilian economist in the defence ministry job.
“The one who is more open to innovations is the one who will be victorious on the battlefield,” Peskov said.
Belousov, a former economy minister known to be very close to Putin, shares the Russian leader’s vision of rebuilding a strong state, and has also worked with Putin’s top technocrats who want greater innovation and are open to new ideas.
Belousov has played an important role in overseeing Russia’s drone programme.
Kamal Kharrazi, the adviser, hinted at a shift in Iran’s nuclear doctrine if its existence is perceived to be under threat by Israel.
Last year, Iran made commitments to assist in investigating uranium particles found at undeclared sites
An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reignited concerns over the country’s nuclear ambitions, particularly in light of escalating tensions with Israel. Kamal Kharrazi, the adviser, hinted at a shift in Iran’s nuclear doctrine if its existence is perceived to be under threat by Israel.
“We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine,” Kharrazi said.
Tensions between Iran and Israel reached a tipping point when the former launched a barrage of explosive drones and missiles directly targeting Israeli territory, in response to the bombing of Iran’s embassy in Syria’s capital Damascus earlier in April.
An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reignited concerns over the country’s nuclear ambitions, particularly in light of escalating tensions with Israel. Kamal Kharrazi, the adviser, hinted at a shift in Iran’s nuclear doctrine if its existence is perceived to be under threat by Israel.
“We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb, but should Iran’s existence be threatened, there will be no choice but to change our military doctrine,” Kharrazi said.
Tensions between Iran and Israel reached a tipping point when the former launched a barrage of explosive drones and missiles directly targeting Israeli territory, in response to the bombing of Iran’s embassy in Syria’s capital Damascus earlier in April.
October 9, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst Purchase Licensing Rights
Donald Trump said on Saturday that former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was not being considered to be his running mate in the November election, dismissing a report by news site Axios.
“Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the V.P. slot, but I wish her well!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
Citing people familiar with the situation, Axios had reported that Trump could pick Haley if he were convinced she could help him win the presidency, avoid a potential prison sentence and cover tens of millions in legal bills if he loses.
Haley, the former South Carolina governor and a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, ended her long-shot challenge to Republican presidential frontrunner Trump in March.
Comment was not immediately available from Haley. While she has acknowledged that Trump, who repeatedly belittled her candidacy, would be the Republican nominee, Haley has not endorsed him.
There was already a long list of potential candidates for the vice president position that includes North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio, Tim Scott and J.D. Vance, and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik.
Burgum and Scott competed against Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination before dropping out. Noem has been embroiled in controversy after revealing in a memoir that she once shot a 14-month-old dog for being disobedient.
Trump is in no hurry to pick a running mate, according to advisers. He will not be formally nominated until the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. He will face President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in the Nov. 5 general election.
Shah was responding to Kejriwal’s claim that Modi was asking for votes for the Union Home Minister to make him PM as the prime minister would turn 75 next year.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Credit: PTI Photo
Hyderabad: Top BJP leader Amit Shah on Saturday asserted Prime Minister Narendra Modi will continue to lead the country post 2024 Lok Sabha polls and hit out at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for claiming the PM was seeking votes for making Shah his successor, citing the 75 years age ‘rule’.
There was nothing written in the BJP’s constitution on any such age ceiling, Shah told reporters here. There was no confusion in the BJP over the matter.
Shah was responding to Kejriwal’s claim that Modi was asking for votes for the Union Home Minister to make him PM as the prime minister would turn 75 next year.
“I would like to tell Arvind Kejriwal and company and the whole Indi alliance, Modi becomes 75, there is no need for you to feel happy. It is not written anywhere in BJP’s constitution. Modi will complete the term and will continue to lead the country. There is no confusion in BJP on this,” Shah told reporters here.
Kejriwal had charged that Modi is asking for votes for Shah.
“These people ask I.N.D.I.A. bloc about their (PM) face. I ask BJP who will be their PM? Modi ji is turning 75 on September 17 next year. He had made the rule that people aged 75 will be retired. They retired LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Sumitra Mahajan,” Kejriwal said.
“He (Modi) will retire next year. He is seeking votes for making Amit Shah the prime minister. Will Shah fulfill Modiji’s guarantee?” the CM, out on bail in the Delhi Excise Policy scam, asked.
Further, Shah launched a scathing attack on Congress and its leaders, alleging that due to the fear of Pakistan having a nuclear bomb, the grand old party wants to give up India’s rights over Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
On Saturday, Shah addressed election rallies at Vikarabad and Nagarkurnool in Telangana and later a press conference here on the last day of campaigning for the May 13 Lok Sabha polls in the state.
An unusually strong solar storm hitting Earth could produce northern lights in the U.S. this weekend and potentially disrupt power and communications.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a rare severe geomagnetic storm warning when a solar outburst reached Earth on Friday afternoon, hours sooner than anticipated. The effects were due to last through the weekend and possibly into next week.
The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, glow on the horizon at St. Mary’s Lighthouse in Whitley Bay on the North East coast, England, Friday, May 10, 2024. (Owen Humphreys/PA via AP)
NOAA alerted operators of power plants and spacecraft in orbit to take precautions, as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“For most people here on planet Earth, they won’t have to do anything,” said Rob Steenburgh, a scientist with NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
The storm could produce northern lights as far south in the U.S. as Alabama and Northern California, according to NOAA. But it was hard to predict and experts stressed it would not be the dramatic curtains of color normally associated with the northern lights, but more like splashes of greenish hues.
“That’s really the gift from space weather — the aurora,” said Steenburgh. He and his colleagues said the best aurora views may come from phone cameras, which are better at capturing light than the naked eye.
Snap a picture of the sky and “there might be actually a nice little treat there for you,” said Mike Bettwy, operations chief for the prediction center.
The most intense solar storm in recorded history, in 1859, prompted auroras in central America and possibly even Hawaii. “We are not anticipating that” but it could come close, said NOAA space weather forecaster Shawn Dahl.
Palestine has had limited status at the UN since 2012
The United Nations General Assembly has enhanced Palestine’s rights within the organisation and called for it to be accepted as a member.
Palestine has had non-member observer state status since 2012, which allows some rights short of a full member.
Membership can only be decided upon by the UN Security Council.
The US recently vetoed a bid for full membership, but Friday’s vote can be seen as a gesture of support for the Palestinians.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas welcomed the resolution, saying it supported Palestinian efforts for another vote on the issue by the Security Council.
“Palestine will continue its endeavour to obtain full membership in the UN,” he said in a statement.
Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said the body had welcomed a “terror state” into its ranks.
Addressing the assembly, he shredded a copy of the UN Charter – accusing members of having metaphorically done just that by passing the resolution.
It comes amid reports that several European countries plan to recognise a Palestinian state.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told Spanish broadcast RTVE on Thursday that Spain would do so on 21 May. He has previously said Ireland, Slovenia and Malta would also take the step, without confirming the date.
Friday’s UN resolution confers additional rights on Palestine at the world body, allowing it to take part fully in debates, propose agenda items and have its representatives elected to committees.
It will still not, however, have the right to cast a vote – something the General Assembly does not have the power to grant and would have to be backed by the Security Council.
The issue of Palestinian statehood has vexed the international community for decades.
In 1988, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the main representative of the Palestinians, first declared the establishment of the State of Palestine.
According to the Reuters news agency, Palestinian statehood has been recognised by 139 out of 193 UN member states – although this is largely seen as symbolic.
In practice, the Palestinians have limited self-government through the Palestinian Authority (PA) in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The PA lost control of the Gaza Strip to Hamas in 2007. The UN considers both territories as occupied by Israel and comprising a single political entity.
Israel does not recognise Palestinian statehood and the current Israeli government opposes the creation of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza. It argues such a state would be a threat to Israel’s existence.
The Biden administration said Friday that Israel’s use of U.S.-provided weapons in Gaza likely violated international humanitarian law but that wartime conditions prevented U.S. officials from determining that for certain in specific airstrikes.
The finding of “reasonable” evidence to conclude that the U.S. ally had breached international law protecting civilians in the way it conducted its war against Hamas was the strongest statement that the Biden administration has yet made on the matter. It was released in a summary of a report being delivered to Congress on Friday.
But the caveat that the administration wasn’t able to link specific U.S. weapons to individual attacks by Israeli forces in Gaza could give the administration leeway in any future decision on whether to restrict provisions of offensive weapons to Israel.
The first-of-its-kind assessment, which was compelled by President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats in Congress, comes after seven months of airstrikes, ground fighting and aid restrictions that have claimed the lives of nearly 35,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children.
While U.S. officials were unable to gather all the information they needed on specific strikes, the report said that given Israel’s “significant reliance” on U.S.-made weapons, it was “reasonable to assess” that they had been used by Israel’s security forces in instances “inconsistent” with its obligations under international humanitarian law “or with best practices for mitigating civilian harm.”
Israel’s military has the experience, technology and know-how to minimize harm to civilians, but “the results on the ground, including high levels of civilian casualties, raise substantial questions as to whether the IDF is using them effectively in all cases,” the report said.
International human rights groups and a review by an unofficial panel of former State and military officials, academic experts and others had pointed to more than a dozen Israeli airstrikes for which they said there were credible evidence of violations of the laws of war and humanitarian law. Targets included aid convoys, medical workers, hospitals, journalists, schools and refugee centers and other sites that have broad protection under international law.
They argued that the civilian death toll in many strikes in Gaza — such as an Oct. 31 strike on an apartment building reported to have killed 106 civilians — was disproportionate to the value of any military target.
Israel says it is following all U.S. and international law, that it investigates allegations of abuse by its security forces and that its campaign in Gaza is proportional to the existential threat it says is posed by Hamas.
Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the review “only contributes to politically motivated anti-Israel sentiment” and should never have been done.
“Now is the time to stand with our ally Israel and ensure they have the tools they need,” he said in a statement.
But Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Democrat who led the push in Congress, told reporters that even even though the administration had reached a general finding, “they’re ducking a determination on the hard cases. Politically inconvenient cases.”
The U.S. “treats the government of Israel as above the law,” Amanda Klasing of the Amnesty International USA rights group said in a statement.
Biden has tried to walk an ever-finer line in his support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war against Hamas. The U.S. leader is a target of growing rancor at home and abroad over the soaring Palestinian death toll and the onset of famine, caused in large part by Israeli restrictions on the movement of food and aid into Gaza. Tensions have been heightened further in recent weeks by Netanyahu’s pledge to expand the Israeli military’s offensive in the crowded southern city of Rafah, despite Biden’s adamant opposition.
Biden, in the closing months of a tough reelection campaign against Donald Trump, faces demands from many Democrats that he cut the flow of offensive weapons to Israel and denunciation from Republicans who accuse him of wavering on support for Israel at its time of need.
The Democratic administration took one of the first steps toward conditioning military aid to Israel in recent days when it paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs out of concern over Israel’s threatened offensive on Rafah, a southern city crowded with more than a million Palestinians, a senior administration official said.
The presidential directive that led to the review, agreed to in February, obligated the Defense and State departments to conduct “an assessment of any credible reports or allegations that such defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”
Nothing in the presidential directive would have triggered any cutoff of arms if the administration had more definitively ruled that Israel’s conduct had violated international law.
The agreement also obligated the State and Defense departments to tell Congress whether they deemed that Israel has acted to “arbitrarily to deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly,” delivery of any U.S.-supported humanitarian aid into Gaza for starving civilians there.
On this question, the report cited “deep concerns” that Israel played a significant role in preventing adequate aid from reaching starving Palestinians. However, it said Israel had recently taken some positive steps, although still inadequate, and the U.S. government did not currently find Israel restricting aid deliveries in a way that violated U.S. law governing foreign militaries that receive U.S. military aid.
Van Hollen accused the administration of glossing over what he said were clear Israeli blocks on food and aid deliveries during much of the war. “That’s why we have hundreds of thousands of Palestinians that have nothing to do with Hamas on the verge of starvation,” he said.
Lawmakers and others who advocated for the review said Biden and previous American leaders have followed a double standard when enforcing U.S. laws governing how foreign militaries use U.S. support, an accusation the Biden administration denies.
Their opponents argued that a U.S. finding against Israel would weaken it at a time it is battling Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. It’s not clear how much Friday’s more in-between verdict would add to pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military or further heighten tensions with Netanyahu’s hard-right government.
The Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship with a crew of 25 including 17 Indians, was seized by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on April 13 near the Strait of Hormuz.
MSC Aries, which was seized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Credit: X/@MonitorX99800
The Indian Embassy in Iran announced on Friday that Tehran has released five Indian crew members from the seized cargo vessel MSC Aries.
5 of the Indian sailors on MSC Aries have been released and departed from Iran today evening. We appreciate the Iranian authorities for their close coordination with the Embassy and Indian Consulate in Bandar Abbas.
The Portuguese-flagged MSC Aries, a container ship with a crew of 25 including 17 Indians, was seized by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on April 13 near the Strait of Hormuz. This action followed a series of attacks and retaliatory attacks between Iran and Israel.
Among the 17 Indian crew members of the MSC Aries, Ann Tessa Joseph, the only female cadet, was released on April 18. Her release came about as a result of collaborative efforts between the Indian mission in Tehran and the Iranian government. With the latest release, the remaining 11 Indian sailors still remain in Iran.
Israeli forces bombarded areas of Rafah on Thursday, Palestinian residents said, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed U.S. President Joe Biden’s threat to withhold weapons from Israel if it assaults the southern Gaza city.
A senior Israeli official said late on Thursday that the latest round of indirect negotiations in Cairo to halt hostilities in Gaza had ended and Israel would proceed with its operation in Rafah and other parts of the Gaza Strip as planned.
Israel has submitted to mediators its reservations about a Hamas proposal for a hostage release deal, the official said.
“If we must, we shall fight with our fingernails,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “But we have much more than our fingernails.”
In Gaza, Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their fighters fired anti-tank rockets and mortars at Israeli tanks massed on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Palestinians ride on a vehicle as they flee Rafah after Israeli forces launched a ground and air operation in the eastern part of the southern Gaza City, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip May 9, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights
Residents and medics in Rafah, the biggest urban area in Gaza not yet overrun by Israeli ground forces, said an Israeli attack near a mosque killed at least three people and wounded others in the eastern Brazil neighbourhood.
Video footage from the scene showed the minaret lying in the rubble and two bodies wrapped in blankets.
An Israeli air strike on two houses in the Sabra neighbourhood of Rafah killed at least 12 people including women and children.
Among the dead was a senior commander of the militant Al-Mujahedeen Brigades, and his family, and the family of another group leader, medics, relatives and the group said.
Israel says Hamas militants are hiding in Rafah, where the population has been swelled by hundreds of thousands of Gazans seeking refuge from the bombardments that have reduced most of the coastal enclave to ruins.
In the United States, the White House repeated its hope that Israel would not launch a full operation in Rafah, saying it did not believe that would advance Israel’s aim of defeating Hamas.
“Smashing into Rafah, in [President Biden’s] view, will not advance that objective,” spokesperson John Kirby said.
Kirby said Hamas had been pressured significantly by Israel and there were better options to hunt down what remains of the group’s leadership than an operation with significant risk to civilians.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed nearly 35,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 80,000, most of them civilians, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.
It launched its offensive in response to a cross-border attack by Hamas militants on Israel on Oct. 7 in which they killed about 1,200 people and abducted 252. Some 128 hostages remain in Gaza and 36 have been declared dead, according to the latest Israeli figures.
Biden on Wednesday issued his starkest warning yet against a full ground invasion in Rafah, telling CNN that: “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah…I’m not supplying the weapons.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United States said the decision to withhold weapons from Israel over Rafah sends the “wrong message” to Hamas and the country’s foes.
“It puts us in a corner because we have to deal with Rafah one way or the other,” Ambassador Michael Herzog told a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace webinar.
The Israeli military has the munitions it requires for operations in Rafah and other planned operations, chief armed forces spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
Israeli armed forces have already killed 50 Palestinian gunmen in east Rafah and uncovered several tunnels, Hagari said. Hamas had no immediate comment. TALKS END
In Cairo, delegations from Hamas, Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar had been meeting since Tuesday. The talks in Egypt’s capital made some headway but no deal was reached, according to two Egyptian security sources.
Izzat El-Risheq, a member of Hamas’ political office in Qatar, said the Hamas delegation had left Cairo, having reaffirmed its approval of the mediators’ ceasefire proposal. The plan entails the release of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza and a number of Palestinians jailed by Israel.
Hamas blames Israel for the lack of agreement, and its Al-Aqsa TV’s Telegram account said the group would not make any concessions beyond those in the proposal it had accepted.
Israel has said it is open to a truce, but has rejected demands for an end to the war.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington continued to engage with Israel on amendments to a ceasefire proposal, adding work to finalize the text of an agreement was “incredibly difficult”. MEDICAL SECTOR COLLAPSING
Israeli residents set fire twice to the perimeter of the headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees in East Jerusalem, causing extensive damage to the outdoor areas but no casualties, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on X. There was no immediate comment from Israeli police.
“Once again, the lives of U.N. staff were at a serious risk,” Lazzarini wrote, adding he had decided to close the compound until security is restored.
On Tuesday, Israeli tanks seized the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, cutting off a vital aid route and forcing 80,000 people to flee the city this week, according to the United Nations.
Israel kept up tank and aerial strikes across Gaza and tanks advanced in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City in the north, forcing hundreds of families to flee, residents said. The Israeli military said it was securing Zeitoun, starting with a series of intelligence-based aerial strikes on approximately 25 militant targets.
Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza was packed with people who had fled Rafah in recent days. Palestinian medics said two people, including a woman, were killed when a drone fired a missile at a group of people there.
The closure of the Rafah crossing with Egypt has prevented the evacuation of the wounded and sick and the entry of medical supplies, food trucks and fuel needed to operate hospitals, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.
Notably, the US has called on India to take the allegations of Indian involvement in the foiled murder plot of Khalistani separatist Pannun seriously and investigate. Pannun, designated as a terrorist in India, holds dual citizenship in the US and Canada.
US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti.
Washington: The United States is “satisfied” with the accountability it has demanded from India in connection with the alleged involvement of Indian officials in the foiled assassination plot of Khalistani terrorist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun on American soil, said US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti. Notably, the Pannun case has once again hit the headlines after a report by the Washington Post named an Indian intelligence official allegedly involved in the murder plot.
“When I was referring to a relationship that might have bumps along the road, this would be potentially the first big fight in a relationship,” Garcetti said in response to a question at an event organised on Thursday by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a top American think-tank. “And so far, knock on wood, I would say the administration is satisfied with the accountability that we’ve demanded on this, because this is a red line for America, for our citizens.”
Garcetti further asserted that there has to be accountability if state actors are involved in an indictment. “We expect that not only from our side, but we expect India to have that accountability…So, there’s been a commission of inquiry that India has brought together and that we expect, while we do the criminal case that is about American justice, that there need to be consequences and shared information,” he said.
“So far, one of the most difficult things you can do as an ambassador in diplomacy, I have been satisfied with what they have done. I think the administration is, but we have many steps still to go,” Garcetti added.
Not America’s responsibility to fix India: Garcetti
Garcetti was speaking along with former US Trade Representative Michael Froman, who said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is about to be re-elected, which everyone is reassuming. Meanwhile, responding to a question on concerns being raised in certain quarters in the US about the human rights situation in India, Garcetti said this is not America’s responsibility.
“It is not America’s responsibility to fix India. It is America’s responsibility to engage with India, to promote our interests, and also to reflect our values… I can tell you it’s very strong. I think people from the outside say, they want a strategic relationship with India, so everybody’s looking the other way when it comes to human rights issues and stuff. It’s actually not true,” he added.
The US envoy further asserted that India was ahead of some issues than the US, like transgender rights. He also said that America’s responsibility is here to support and help India in any way if asked. “You probably haven’t heard the narrative, like, that India is more advanced than us on human rights. But when it comes to transgender rights, they are,” he said.
Developments in the Pannun case
The report by the Washington Post claimed that an officer in India’s spy wing, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) had relayed final instructions to a “hired hit team” to carrying out the assassination of the Khalistani separatist, who has threatened numerous attacks against India. As soon as the would-be assassins could confirm that Pannun was home, “it would be a go-ahead from us”, it added.
The External Affairs Ministry on Tuesday rejected the US media report. It dubbed the report “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations on a serious matter” at a time when New Delhi is investigating the issue. “Speculative and irresponsible comments on it are not helpful,” foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a statement.
The White House and the US State Department have said the foiled murder plot is being taken seriously and expected accountability from India, which has launched its own investigations after an Indian national was indicted last year. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Monday said India should take the allegations of its involvement very seriously and investigate.
Russia accuses US of interfering in Indian elections
Meanwhile, Russia rubbished US allegations of India’s involvement in the case, asking why Washington has not been able to provide any reliable evidence of the involvement of Indian citizens and accusing it of “disrespecting” India as a state. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova called the accusations unfounded and accused the US of having a “neocolonial mentality”.
Air India Express lays off employees for ‘pre-meditated’ sick leave. (File photo)
Air India Express terminated on Wednesday the contract of some senior cabin crew members who “reported sick” a day ago, even as the carrier continued to reel from flight cancellations 24 hours since the crisis began and said in a fresh statement that it was making efforts to mitigate the situation.
While there is no immediate clarification on the number of employees served the termination notice by the airlines, news agency PTI reported that at least 25 senior crew members were terminated from the service. However, other publications have mentioned that the number of employees laid off might go up to as many as 30.
In a letter of termination sent to one of its employees, the airline stated that an overwhelming number of airline crew members reported to be sick at the eleventh hour. “This clearly points to a pre-meditated and concerted abstention from work without any justifiable reason,” the letter read.
According to CNBC, Air India Express further stated that the action of crew members resulted in the cancellation of a large number of flights, affecting the airline’s schedule and causing inconvenience to passengers. Hence, it terminated the contracts of the concerned employees with immediate effect.
In the termination letter to its employees, the company added, “Your act is not only subversive of public interest, but has also caused embarrassment, severe reputational damage and serious monetary loss to the company.”
AIR INDIA EXPRESS TO OPERATE 292 FLIGHTS TODAY
Amid the ongoing disruptions in Air India Express’ flight operations, the airline’s spokesperson informed that the carrier will operate 292 flights on Thursday with the help of Air India, however, 74 flights of the company stands cancelled.
“Air India Express is making every possible effort to minimise the inconvenience caused to our guests by this unexpected situation. We will be operating 292 flights today. We have mobilised all resources and Air India will support us by operating on 20 of our routes,” the spokesperson said.
“However, 74 of our flights stand cancelled and we urge our guests booked to fly with us to check if their flight is affected by the disruption before heading to the airport. If their flight is cancelled, or delayed beyond 3 hours, they may opt for a full refund or reschedule to a later date without any fees on Tia on WhatsApp (+91 6360012345) or on airindiaexpress.com,” he added.
Notably, India has historically enjoyed close ties with Russia in terms of defence but is now improving relations with the US in that sector.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova Credit: Reuters Photo
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the US is making accusations against India to unbalance its internal political situation and complicate the Lok Sabha elections.
Zakharova, in a speech shared by RT News said that Washington lacks the simple understanding of India’s national mentality and history, and continues to make ‘unfounded accusations’ about religious freedoms. The spokesperson dubbed it disrespectful to India.
“The reason [behind the US accusations] is to unbalance the internal political situation in India and complicate the general elections […],” she said, adding that Washington’s actions are clearly interference in India’s internal matters.
Her comments come amid the White House taking cognisance of a Washington Post report stating that the then-RAW chief had okayed the assassination plot of Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
While White House called the report of India’s involvement a ‘serious matter’, India labelled the report as ‘unwarranted, unsubstantiated imputations.’ In the meanwhile, a US State Department official said that Washington was ‘regularly working’ closely with New Delhi in the probe into the alleged plot to kill Pannun.
On May 7, a State Department official added that the US was waiting for the results of India’s probe into the alleged plot to kill the Sikh separatist.
Notably, India has historically enjoyed close ties with Russia in terms of defence but is now improving relations with the US in that sector.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 8, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem Purchase Licensing Rights
U.S. President Joe Biden vowed publicly for the first time to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces make a major invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza while negotiations in Cairo on a ceasefire plan for the enclave were set to continue on Thursday.
“I made it clear that if they go into Rafah, … I’m not supplying the weapons,” Biden, whose administration has repeatedly asked Israel for its plan to protect civilians in Rafah, told CNN in an interview on Wednesday.
Biden acknowledged that U.S. bombs provided to Israel have killed Gaza civilians in the seven-month-old offensive aimed at annihilating Hamas.
The comments, Biden’s starkest yet, increase the pressure on Israel to refrain from a full-scale assault on Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing combat farther north in Gaza.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on Biden’s remarks, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Rafah operation would go ahead. Israel says it must hit Rafah to defeat thousands of Hamas fighters it says are there.
Israel kept up tank and aerial strikes on southern Gaza after moving in via the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Tuesday, cutting off a vital aid route.
Biden has been under pressure from his fellow Democrats and growing campus protests to deter Israel from invading Rafah. His support of Israel has become a political liability as the president runs for re-election.
The United States is by far the biggest supplier of weapons to Israel, and it accelerated deliveries after the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 that triggered Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
Biden said U.S. weapons for Israel’s defense, such as for its Iron Dome anti-missile system, would continue.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials confirmed that Washington paused delivery of an arms shipment of 1,800 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs to Israel because of the risk to civilians in Gaza.
Four sources said the shipments, delayed for at least two weeks, involved Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which convert dumb bombs into precision-guided ones, as well as Small Diameter Bombs (SDB-1).
They were part of an earlier approved shipment to Israel, not the recent $95-billion supplemental aid package the U.S. Congress passed in April.
Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Gilad Erdan, called that decision “very disappointing” but said he did not believe the U.S. would stop supplying arms to Israel. TALKS IN CAIRO
Palestinian militant group Hamas said late on Wednesday it would not make more concessions to Israel in the truce talks.
In Cairo, delegations from Hamas, Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar have been meeting since Tuesday.
Citing a source familiar with the matter, Egypt’s state-affiliated Al Qahera TV said early on Thursday that areas of disagreement were being resolved and there were signs an agreement will be reached, without giving details.
But Izzat El-Reshiq, a member of Hamas’ political office in Qatar, said in a statement late on Wednesday the group would not go beyond a ceasefire proposal it accepted on Monday.
That would also entail the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian women and children detained in Israel.
“Israel isn’t serious about reaching an agreement and it is using the negotiation as a cover to invade Rafah and occupy the crossing,” said Reshiq.
On Monday Israel declared that the three-phase truce proposal approved by Hamas was unacceptable because terms had been watered down. It did not respond immediately to the Hamas statement.
The U.S. said on Tuesday that Hamas had revised its ceasefire proposal and the revision could overcome an impasse in negotiations. Just a few hours before Hamas’ latest statement, Washington continued to say the two sides were not far apart.
“We believe there is a pathway to a deal … The two sides are close enough they should do what they can to get to a deal,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Vladimir Putin could surpass Joseph Stalin as Russia’s longest-serving leader since Catherine the Great if he completes this latest term as president.
‘We don’t want a third country to interfere’
Vladimir Putin began his fifth term as Russian president at a palace in Moscow in front of a crowd of faces – including actor Steven Seagal and the leader of a biker gang.
“We are a united and great people and together we will overcome all obstacles, realise all our plans, together we will win,” he said after being sworn in on Tuesday.
At the ceremony in the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, Mr Putin placed his hand on the Russian Constitution and vowed to defend it as a crowd of hand-picked dignitaries looked on.
A number of famous faces were in the crowd waiting to see the Kremlin leader sworn in once again. They included:
American actor (and now Russian citizen) Steven Seagal
American actor Steven Seagal arrives for the inauguration. Pic: Reuters
The US actor, known for films such as Under Siege and On Deadly Ground, is an ally of Mr Putin.
In 2018 he was appointed as Russia’s special envoy to the US.
Head of the Chechen Republic, and Putin ally, Ramzan Kadyrov
Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov. Pic: Reuters
Ramzan Kadyrov has ruled Chechnya, a federal republic of Russia, since 2007 and enjoys considerable leeway from Mr Putin in return for ensuring the region’s stability.
He has sent thousands of his fighters to Ukraine.
Biker gang leader Alexander Zaldostanov
Alexander Zaldostanov. Pic: Reuters
Known as ‘the surgeon’, Alexander Zaldostanov is a leader of the Night Wolves biker gang and has been accused by the US of involvement in the annexation of Crimea.
Actor Ivan Okhlobystin
Actor Ivan Okhlobystin. Pic: Reuters
A former priest, Ivan Okhlobystin is a Russian actor and director.
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president’s hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
Jurors appeared riveted as Daniels offered a detailed and at times graphic account of the encounter Trump has denied. Trump stared straight ahead when Daniels entered the courtroom, later whispering to his lawyers and shaking his head as she testified.
The testimony was by far the most-awaited spectacle in a trial that has toggled between tabloidesque elements and dry record-keeping details. A courtroom appearance by a porn actor who says she had an intimate encounter with a former American president added to the long list of historic firsts in a landmark case laden with claims of sex, payoffs and cover-ups and unfolding as the presumptive Republican nominee makes another bid for the White House.
Daniels veered into salacious details despite the repeated objections of defense lawyers, who demanded a mistrial over what they said were prejudicial and irrelevant comments.
Former President Donald Trump attends his trial at the Manhattan Criminal court, Monday, May 6, 2024, in New York. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)
“This is the kind of testimony that makes it impossible to come back from,” attorney Todd Blanche said. “How can we come back from this in a way that’s fair to President Trump?”
The judge rejected the request and said defense lawyers should have raised more objections during the testimony. The Trump team later in the day used its opportunity to question Daniels to paint her as motivated by personal animus and profiting off her claims against Trump.
“Am I correct that you hate President Trump?” defense lawyer Susan Necheles asked Daniels.
“Yes,” she acknowledged.
Daniels’ statements are central to the case because in the final weeks of Trump’s 2016 Republican presidential campaign, his then-lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, paid her $130,000 to keep quiet about what she says was an awkward and unexpected sexual encounter with Trump in July 2006 at a celebrity golf outing in Lake Tahoe. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Led by a prosecutor’s questioning, Daniels described how an initial meeting at a golf tournament, where they discussed the adult film industry, progressed to a “brief” sexual encounter that she said Trump initiated after inviting her to dinner and back to his hotel suite.
She said she didn’t feel physically or verbally threatened, though she knew his bodyguard was outside the suite. There was also what she perceived as an imbalance of power: Trump “was bigger and blocking the way,” she said.
At the time, Trump was married to his wife, Melania, who has not been in court for the trial. Daniels said Trump told her they did not sleep in the same room, prompting him to shake his head at the defense table.
After it ended, Daniels said, “It was really hard to get my shoes because my hands were shaking so hard.”
“He said: ‘Oh, it was great. Let’s get together again, honey bunch,’” Daniels said. “I just wanted to leave.”
A vial labelled “AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine” is seen in this illustration taken January 16, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines” since the pandemic.
The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria’s marketing authorizations within Europe.
“As multiple, variant COVID-19 vaccines have since been developed there is a surplus of available updated vaccines,” the company said, adding that this had led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied.
The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal trial fined him $1,000 and held him in contempt of court for a 10th time on Monday for violating a gag order and warned that further violations could land the former president in jail.
Justice Juan Merchan said the nine $1,000 fines he had imposed previously did not seem to be deterring the wealthy business mogul from violating the order, which bars him from speaking publicly about the jurors and witnesses in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
“I do not want to impose a jail sanction and have done everything I can to avoid doing so. But I will if necessary,” Merchan said at the start of the trial’s 12th day before the jury entered.
Former President Donald Trump speaks with the media at Manhattan Supreme Court during the proceedings in his criminal trial at the New York State Supreme Court in New York, New York, Friday, May, 3, 2024. Curtis Means/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Imprisonment would be an unprecedented step in the historic trial, which stems from a hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election.
After Merchan’s ruling, jurors heard testimony from former Trump employees that could bolster prosecutors’ case that Trump falsified business records to cover up the hush money payment.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies wrongdoing.
As he imposed the fine, Merchan said he considered jail time “truly the last resort” as it would disrupt the trial, pose extraordinary security challenges and complicate the 2024 presidential election, in which the Republican Trump seeks to win the White House back from Democratic President Joe Biden.
But the judge said Trump’s “continued, willful” violations of the gag order amounted to a “direct attack on the rule of law.”
Merchan imposed the 10th $1,000 fine on Monday for an April 22 broadcast interview in which the former president said: “That jury was picked so fast – 95% Democrats. The area’s mostly all Democrat.”
Merchan found that other statements flagged by prosecutors that mentioned witnesses Michael Cohen and David Pecker did not violate the gag order.
The order prevents Trump from making statements about jurors, witnesses and families of the judge and prosecutors if meant to interfere with the case. Violations are punishable by fines of up to $1,000 or jail time of up to 30 days.
Last week Merchan fined Trump $9,000 for nine social media posts that he ruled had violated the gag order.
Trump complains frequently that the gag order limits his ability to make his case to voters in his comeback White House bid.
He’s taken away my constitutional right to speak,” Trump told reporters outside the courtroom, before the judge fined him.Prosecutors on Monday later showed jurors business records that documented payments totaling $420,000 from Trump to Cohen, his former fixer and personal lawyer.
Those payments were listed as legal fees, but prosecutors say they were actually meant to reimburse Cohen for paying $130,000 to Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she says she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump denies ever having had sex with Daniels.
Prosecutors say the $420,000 paid by Trump was meant to cover the $130,000 Cohen paid to Daniels, along with $50,000 in other expenses he had incurred. Trump doubled that total to account for taxes and also included a $60,000 year-end bonus, they say.
A former controller in Trump’s organization, Jeffrey McConney, testified that he was not aware of any other instance in which the Trump Organization reimbursed someone so generously.
McConney said he never spoke with Trump about the payments but was told by the company’s top finance official Allen Weisselberg that they were reimbursements.
Another former Trump employee, Deborah Tarasoff, walked the jury through the 34 invoices, ledger entries and checks stemming from the payments to Cohen, which were made on a monthly basis after Trump won the election. Each represents one of the 34 counts in the indictment against Trump.
Most of the checks were signed by Trump personally, and prosecutors highlighted his tall, looping signature in thick ink for the jury.
Prosecutors say the payment to Daniels corrupted the 2016 election by keeping the news from voters, at a time when Trump’s treatment of women was a central issue in his campaign against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.
They say the altered business records covered up election-law and tax-law violations that elevate the 34 counts Trump faces from misdemeanors to felonies punishable by up to four years in prison.
If found guilty, Trump could face up to four years in prison, though defendants typically face fines and probation.
The main players in the case have yet to testify, including Cohen and Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
Palestinian militant group Hamas on Monday agreed to a Gaza ceasefire proposal from mediators, but Israel said the terms did not meet its demands and pressed ahead with strikes in Rafah while planning to continue negotiations on a deal.
The developments in the seven-month-old war came as Israeli forces struck Rafah on Gaza’s southern edge from the air and ground and ordered residents to leave parts of the city, which has been a refuge for more than a million displaced Palestinians.
Hamas said in a brief statement that its chief, Ismail Haniyeh, had informed Qatari and Egyptian mediators that the group accepted their proposal for a ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said later that the truce proposal fell short of Israel’s demands but Israel would send a delegation to meet with negotiators to try to reach an agreement.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said its delegation will head to Cairo on Tuesday to resume indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
In a statement, Netanyahu’s office added that his war cabinet approved continuing an operation in Rafah. Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on social media site X that Netanyahu was jeopardizing a ceasefire by bombing Rafah.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the proposal that Hamas approved was a watered-down version of an Egyptian offer and included elements that Israel could not accept.
“This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal,” said the Israeli official.
Another official briefed on the agreement said Hamas had agreed to the phased ceasefire and hostage release deal Israel proposed on April 27 with only minor changes that did not affect the main parts of the proposal.
U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Washington would discuss the Hamas response with its allies in the coming hours, and a deal was “absolutely achievable”.
More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, according to Gaza health officials. The U.N. has said famine is imminent in the enclave.
The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 252 others, of whom 133 are believed to remain in captivity in Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
RAFAH HIT BY STRIKES
Any truce would be the first pause in fighting since a week-long ceasefire in November, during which Hamas freed around half of the hostages.
Palestinians react after Hamas accepted a ceasefire proposal from Egypt and Qatar, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 6, 2024. REUTERS/Doaa Al Baz Purchase Licensing Rights
Since then, all efforts to reach a new truce have foundered over Hamas’ refusal to free more hostages without a promise of a permanent end to the conflict, and Israel’s insistence that it would discuss only a temporary pause.
Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas official and adviser to Haniyeh, told Reuters the proposal met the group’s demands for reconstruction efforts in Gaza, return of displaced Palestinians and a swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The Hamas deputy chief in Gaza, Khalil Al-Hayya, told Al Jazeera television the proposal comprised three phases of six weeks each, with Israel to pull its troops out of Gaza in the second phase.
Earlier on Monday, Israel ordered the evacuation of parts of Rafah, the city on the Egyptian border that has served as the last sanctuary for around half of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
An Israeli strike on a house in Rafah killed five Palestinians, including a woman and a girl, medics said.
Israel believes that a significant number of Hamas fighters, along with potentially dozens of hostages, are in Rafah and has said that victory requires taking the key city.
The Phase 3 election is on areas that are BJP strongholds. In 2019, the party won 72 of the 93 seats going to polls today, 26 of them in Gujarat alone.
Voting is on in 93 constituencies across 10 states and a Union Territory in the third phase today of the staggered seven-round Lok Sabha polls. The election in the Anantnag-Rajouri constituency in Jammu and Kashmir has been postponed to May 25.
Here are the Top 10 points in this big story:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi voted this morning at a polling booth in Ahmedabad. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, too, voted today. An average turnout of 25.4 per cent was recorded at 11 am, four hours after voting began.
Today’s election brings to an end polling on more than half of the 543 parliamentary seats and could mean that the country has already delivered a verdict. The BJP has won the Surat seat unopposed, as the Election Commission rejected the nomination of the Congress candidate and the other contenders stepped down.
The Phase 3 election is in areas that are BJP strongholds. In 2019, the party won 72 of the 92 seats going to polls today, 26 of them in Gujarat alone.
The other state where the BJP had done extremely well, Karnataka, could be a dark horse given the massive sex scandal that has hit BJP ally Janata Dal Secular. The BJP has tried to distance itself from the scandal.
Maharashtra, where 11 of 48 seats are going to polls, has proved harder to read given the seismic political shifts the state has seen over the last few years. The key battles will be Pawar versus Pawar in Baramati — with the factions led by uncle Sharad Pawar and nephew Ajit Pawar trying to establish dominance.
The states going to polls in phase 3 include Assam (4 seats), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Goa (2), Gujarat (26), Karnataka (14), Madhya Pradesh (8), Maharashtra (11), Uttar Pradesh (10), West Bengal (4), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2).
Polling will also take place in Betul, Madhya Pradesh, where the election due on Phase 2 was postponed following the death of a candidate from Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party.
Election in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri constituency was postponed after the BJP flagged concern about the weather, which was forcing shut a tunnel connecting the two ends of the constituency. It was proving a huge hurdle in campaigning, said the BJP, which is not contesting from the seat.
Key candidates for this phase includes Union ministers Amit Shah from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar, Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna, Madhya Pradesh, Pralhad Joshi from Karnataka’s Dharwad and former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.
Mr Netanyahu says current proposals would allow the group to rebuild and possibly launch another attack in future.
Israel PM rejects Hamas ceasefire deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected ceasefire proposals because he says Hamas’s call for a withdrawal of all troops from Gaza and an end to the war is unacceptable.
Mr Netanyahu said agreeing such proposals would “leave Hamas intact” and leave the possibility of another attack in future.
“Surrendering to the demands of Hamas would be a terrible defeat for the State of Israel,” he said in a video statement.
Gaza latest: Major aid crossing shuts after ‘rocket barrage from Gaza’
Mediated negotiations for a pause in the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas have been going on in Egypt, but a deal appears some way off.
Mr Netanyahu said Hamas was “entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power”.
He said it would allow more “massacres, rapes and kidnapping”.
Hamas said in a statement it was “still keen to reach a comprehensive, interconnected agreement that ends the aggression, guarantees withdrawal, and achieves a serious prisoner exchange deal”.
The group’s chief, Ismail Haniyeh, blamed Mr Netanyahu of “sabotaging the efforts made through the mediators”.
The impasse comes after Egyptian media reported “noticeable progress” in ceasefire talks on Saturday.
More protests calling for hostages’ release were held in Tel Aviv on 4 May. Pic: AP
The proposal put to Hamas had set out a three-stage process for an immediate, six-week ceasefire and partial release of Israeli hostages, with some sort of Israeli pull-out in exchange.
There was a brief ceasefire and prisoner and hostage swap last year, but it did not turn into a longer-term truce.
Intense pressure is on Israel’s government domestically to achieve a deal and get more hostages released, with families holding regular vigils and campaigning.
‘Dangerous and ridiculous lie’
Mr Netanyahu also said on Sunday his cabinet had voted to close the local office of Qatar’s state-owned news broadcaster Al Jazeera.
Israel claims the channel has collaborated with Hamas.
“Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited against soldiers,” Mr Netanyahu said. “It’s time to remove the Hamas mouthpiece from our country.”
The channel called the claims a “dangerous and ridiculous lie” that threatens its reporters’ safety and said it would pursue “every legal step”.
“The background of this (shutdown) decision is not professional or journalistic… it’s political,” said Waleed Omari, bureau chief of Al Jazeera in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
As well as closing offices, an Israeli statement said it could also include blocking its broadcasts and website and confiscating equipment.
It comes after a law was passed last month allowing Israel to act against foreign channels that “harm” the country.
It’s understood it allows for an initial 45-day closure which could then be renewed.
The remains of a bombing in Rafah – Israel has pledged to also launch a ground offensive. Pic: AP
The move is likely to worsen relations between Israel and Qatar – whose government has been playing a key role in negotiations to end the war.
One of the channel’s reporters, Shireen Abu Akleh, was killed in an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank two years ago.
It also says Israel has deliberately killed several of its staff who died in Gaza. Israel denies it targets journalists.
More than 34,600 Palestinians have been killed and more than 77,000 wounded in Israel’s current military operation, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled health ministry.
Israel has said it remains committed to a ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where more than a million have fled in search of safety, as it tries to wipe out Hamas.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar, following the arrest of three men charged with Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, said the issue is India’s internal matter. (Image: News18)
External affairs minister S Jaishankar said that India will wait for the Canadian police to share more information about the three men arrested and charged with the murder of Khalistani separatist terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
S Jaishankar said on Saturday that the probe into Nijjar’s death is Canada’s internal matter and has nothing to do with India.
Canadian police charged Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, and Karanpreet Singh, 28, all Indian nationals residing in Edmonton, with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
“(They are) apparently Indians of some kind of gang background… we’ll have to wait for the police to tell us,” Jaishankar said, adding he had seen news of the arrests, according to news outlet Reuters.
“But, as I said, one of our concerns which we have been telling them is that, you know, they have allowed organised crime from India, specifically from Punjab, to operate in Canada,” he further added.
Jaishankar’s responses came during an interaction with journalists in Odisha capital Bhubaneswar.
The ties between India and Canada came under severe strain following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in September last year of the “potential” involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Nijjar. India has dismissed Trudeau’s charges as “absurd” and “motivated.”
Jaishankar repeated India’s stance when journalists asked him why Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau thought India was responsible for Nijjar’s murder.
“Canada did not give any proof. They do not share any evidence with us in certain cases, police agencies also do not cooperate with us. It is their political compulsion in Canada to blame India. As elections are coming in Canada, they indulge in vote bank politics,” the external affairs minister said.
FILE – Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses members of the Defense Ministry, the National Guard, the Interior Ministry, the Federal Security Service and the Federal Guard Service at the Kremlin, in Moscow on June 27, 2023. Putin will begins his fifth term as Russian president in an opulent Kremlin inauguration on Tuesday after destroying his political opposition, launching a devastating war in Ukraine and consolidating power. (Sergei Guneyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
Just a few months short of a quarter-century as Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin on Tuesday will put his hand on a copy of the constitution and begin another six-year term as president wielding extraordinary power.
Since becoming acting president on the last day of 1999, Putin has shaped Russia into a monolith — crushing political opposition, running independent-minded journalists out of the country and promoting an increasing devotion to prudish “traditional values” that pushes many in society into the margins.
His influence is so dominant that other officials could only stand submissively on the sidelines as he launched a war in Ukraine despite expectations the invasion would bring international opprobrium and harsh economic sanctions, as well as cost Russia dearly in the blood of its soldiers.
With that level of power, what Putin will do with his next term is a daunting question at home and abroad.
The war in Ukraine, where Russia is making incremental though consistent battlefield gains, is the top concern, and he is showing no indication of changing course.
“The war in Ukraine is central to his current political project, and I don’t see anything to suggest that that will change. And that affects everything else,” Brian Taylor, a Syracuse University professor and author of “The Code of Putinism,” said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“It affects who’s in what positions, it affects what resources are available and it affects the economy, affects the level of repression internally,” he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with a soldier and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stands next to him, smiling, during a visit at a military training centre of the Western Military District in Ryazan Region, Russia on Oct. 20, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
In his state of the nation address in February, Putin vowed to fulfill Moscow’s goals in Ukraine, and do whatever it takes to “defend our sovereignty and security of our citizens.” He claimed the Russian military has “gained a huge combat experience” and is “firmly holding the initiative and waging offensives in a number of sectors.”
That will come at huge expense, which could drain money available for the extensive domestic projects and reforms in education, welfare and poverty-fighting that Putin used much of the two-hour address to detail.
Taylor suggested such projects were included in the address as much for show as for indicating real intent to put them into action.
Putin “thinks of himself in the grand historical terms of Russian lands, bringing Ukraine back to where it belongs, those sorts of ideas. And I think those trump any kind of more socioeconomic-type programs,” Taylor said.
President Vladimir Putin looks at a military parade after his inauguration ceremony in Moscow on May 7, 2018. (Dmitry Azarov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
If the war were to end in less than total defeat for either side, with Russia retaining some of the territory it has already captured, European countries fear that Putin could be encouraged toward further military adventurism in the Baltics or in Poland.
“It’s possible that Putin does have vast ambitions and will try to follow a costly success in Ukraine with a new attack somewhere else,” Harvard international relations professor Stephen Walt wrote in the journal Foreign Policy. “But it is also entirely possible that his ambitions do not extend beyond what Russia has won — at enormous cost and that he has no need or desire to gamble for more.”
But, Walt added, “Russia will be in no shape to launch new wars of aggression when the war in Ukraine is finally over.”
Such a rational concern might not prevail, others say. Maksim Samorukov, of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said that “driven by Putin’s whims and delusions, Moscow is likely to commit self-defeating blunders.”
In a commentary in Foreign Affairs, Samorukov suggested that Putin’s age could affect his judgment.
“At 71 … his awareness of his own mortality surely impinges on his decision-making. A growing sense of his limited time undoubtedly contributed to his fateful decision to invade Ukraine.”
Overall, Putin may be heading into his new term with a weaker grip on power than he appears to have.
Russia’s “vulnerabilities are hidden in plain sight. Now more than ever, the Kremlin makes decisions in a personalized and arbitrary way that lacks even basic controls,” Samorukov wrote.
“The Russian political elite have grown more pliant in implementing Putin’s orders and more obsequious to his paranoid worldview,” he wrote. The regime “is at permanent risk of crumbling overnight, as its Soviet predecessor did three decades ago.”
Union home minister Amit Shah during an interview with Network18. (Image: News18)
Delhi Police on Friday made its first arrest in the Amit Shah deepfake video case. The accused, Arun Reddy, runs a pro-Congress social media account.
According to police sources, Reddy handled the X account, ‘Spirit of Congress’.
Delhi Police arrest Arun Reddy, who handles the ‘Spirit of Congress’ X account, in the Union Home Minister Amit Shah doctored video case: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/gB5L6Pzcbp
The Delhi Police, which is also under the MHA, filed the FIR in the case under Indian Penal Code sections 153 (causing provocation with intention to cause riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc), 465 (forgery), 469 (forgery to harm the reputation of any party), and 171G (publishing false statement with intent to affect the result of an election) and under the Information Technology Act.
The FIR targets certain handles on social media platforms, which edited Shah’s statements to falsely suggest that the minister argued for ending reservations in the country.
This action came a day after BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said that the Telangana Congress wing was spreading an edited video of Shah, “which is completely fake and has the potential to cause large-scale violence.” In his post on X, Malviya clarified that Home Minister Shah only spoke about removing the unconstitutional reservation given to Muslims, on the basis of religion.
Donald Trump’s former top aide Hope Hicks broke down on the witness stand Friday at his hush money trial, during testimony where she also defended the former president’s relationship with wife Melania.
Hicks, 35 — former press secretary then top White House spokesperson to the ex-president — began crying after the first few questions by Emil Bove, a lawyer for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
During the emotional moment Hicks dabbed her eyes with a tissue as Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan offered her a short break, which she accepted.
Hope Hicks defended Donald Trump’s relationship with wife Melania while on the stand. William Farrington for NY Post
Althought it is not clear why she started to cry, Hicks had first become visibly flustered at the end of questioning by the prosecution, while answering questions about the $130,000 payment to porn star Stromy Daniels which is at the center of the trial.
She had testified she thought Trump thought felt “it was better to be dealing” with the situation in 2018 than before the 2016 presidential election.
Hicks also choked up when she got back on the witness stand while recalling her time working for the Trump Organization.
Hicks had been on the stand for roughly four hours displaying composure while prosecutors grilled her on her time working for the ex-president beginning in 2015 and ending in 2022 — which she said is the last time she saw him.
Earlier, Hicks told jurors how Trump tried to ensure a Wall Street Journal article from Nov. 4, 2016 detailing allegations of an affair with Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal wouldn’t be seen by Melania.
“He was concerned about the story. He was concerned how it would be viewed by his wife,” Hicks said. “And he wanted to make sure the newspapers weren’t delivered to his residence that morning.”
Hope Hicks broke down crying on the witness stand at Donald Trump’s hush money trial. REUTERS
Later, during follow-up by Bove, Hicks explained the reason Trump didn’t want Melania to see the McDougal article was because of how much he cares and respects her.
“President Trump really values Mrs. Trump’s opinion and she doesn’t weigh in all the time but when she does it’s really meaningful to him,” Hicks said.
“He really, really respects what she has to say. I think he was really concerned about what the perception of this would be and, yeah, I know that was weighing on him.”
Hicks added Trump didn’t want anyone from his family to “be hurt” by stories that were “going on in his campaign.”
Trump wished Melania a happy birthday from the courthouse last week while she was in Florida. She has not attended the first two weeks of trial.
Hicks — a former teen model, who admitted to having no experience before coming onto Trump’s team — also took a jab at Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, who is expected to be the star prosecution witness against his longtime boss.
“He liked to call himself a fixer, or Mr. Fix It,” Hicks said.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau sparked outrage in India when he said there were “credible allegations” Narendra Modi’s government was involved in the murder of a Canadian citizen.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Pic: Sikh PA
Three suspects have been charged by Canadian police over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Vancouver last June, in an incident that sparked a diplomatic spat between Ottawa and New Delhi.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a temple by masked gunmen in Surrey, outside Vancouver, on 18 June 2023.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner David Teboul said police could not comment on the nature of the evidence or the motive.
“This matter is very much under active investigation,” Teboul said.
The three suspects – Indian nationals Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh – were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said: “This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India when he said in September that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing. India angrily denied involvement.
Mr Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a leader in what remains of the Khalistan movement – a once-strong group calling for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland.
He was organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of this death and had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.
The Khalistan movement has lost much of its power but is still supported by some in the Punjab state in northwestern India and in the Sikh diaspora overseas.
Student protests have popped up at many college and university campuses across the US over the last two weeks. Some have led to agreements with administrators to consider the protesters’ demands.
Students and other protesters attempt to block a van carrying students who were detained from the occupied Portland State University Library building (Credits: Reuters)
At least 2,000 people have so far been arrested in connection with the protests on college campuses against the Israel-Hamas war. According to the Associated Press, the arrests have been made across 35 campuses, since a tent encampment began at Columbia University on April 17. Meanwhile, a police officer involved with clearing protesters from a Columbia University building fired his gun inside the hall. However, no one was injured.
The demonstrators had seized Hamilton Hall on April 30, ramping up their presence on the campus from a tent encampment that had been there. Tensions on college campuses have been building for days as administrators turned to police to clear demonstrators by force, leading to clashes that have seized widespread attention.
PROTESTS AT US UNIVERSITIES: THE LATEST
The number of people arrested in connection with protests on college campuses against the Israel-Hamas war has now topped 2,000. These arrests were made across 35 schools. Meanwhile, the University of Minnesota officials announced an agreement with pro-Palestinian protesters on Thursday to end their encampment on the Minneapolis campus. In exchange, representatives of the coalition of student organisations involved will get to address the university’s Board of Regent.
President Joe Biden on Thursday rejected calls from student protesters to change his approach to the war in Gaza while insisting that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face a wave of violence, outrage and fear. At the White House, Biden said, “Dissent is essential for democracy, but dissent must never lead to disorder.” Biden also said that he did not want the National Guard to be deployed to campuses
A police officer who was involved in clearing protesters from a Columbia University administration building earlier this week fired his gun inside the hall. No one was injured as there were no students in the immediate vicinity. The gunfire came as police officers stormed Hamilton Hall late Tuesday. Pro-Palestinian protesters had been barricaded inside for more than 20 hours.
Columbia University has come under fire for hiring a Modern Arab Studies professor who voiced support for Hamas and other terror groups. Hired as the Arcapita visiting professor in Modern Arab Studies on January 16, Mohamed Abdou had lauded Hamas’s October 7 massacre in southern Israel. Later, Columbia University president Nemat (Minouche) Shafik said that Abdou had been terminated, The Times of Israel reported.
Justin Trudeau said on April 28 that the killing of Nijjar last year was a “real problem” for the rules-based order and Canada’s relations with India
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 1 (AP)
India on Thursday rejected fresh assertions by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, saying his remarks reflect the political space given in Canada to separatism and extremism.
Trudeau said at an interaction with the media on the margins of the Khalsa Day Parade in Toronto on April 28 that the killing of Nijjar last year was a “real problem” for the rules-based order and Canada’s relations with India.
Asked about the allegations at a regular media briefing, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said: “Prime Minister Trudeau has made those remarks earlier as well, it’s nothing new. His remarks, to us, illustrate once again the kind of political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism and people who practice violence.”
He added, “This not only impacts India-Canada relations but also encourages a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its citizens.”
On Monday, the external affairs ministry summoned Canada’s deputy high commissioner Stewart Wheeler to register a strong protest against the shouting of pro-Khalistan slogans in the presence of Trudeau and other political leaders at the Khalsa Day Parade.
The event had banners in support of Khalistan and depicting India’s leaders as the “killers” of Nijjar, who had been declared a terrorist by New Delhi.
India-Canada relations hit an all-time low last September after Trudeau alleged there was a potential link between Indian government agents and the killing of Nijjar, who was gunned down outside a gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023.
US President Joe Biden. Credit: Reuters File Photo
The United States is a country of immigrants, the White House has said, defending President Joe Biden’s remarks calling two of his QUAD partners — India and Japan — as well as Russia and China ‘xenophobic’ nations, asserting that none of these countries, unlike the US, welcome immigrants.
Responding to a question about the remarks made by Biden at an election fundraiser on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that the president was making a ‘broader point’.
“He was making a broader point. Our allies and partners know very well that — how much this president respects them,’ Jean-Pierre told reporters at her daily news conference on Thursday.
‘As you know, in regard to Japan, they were just here for the state visit. The US-Japan relationship is an important relationship. It’s a deep, enduring alliance,” she said.
‘He (Biden) was making a more broad comment, speaking about this country and speaking about how important it is to be a country of immigrants and how it makes our country stronger. And so, that’s what he was talking about,” she said.
“It relates to our relationship with our allies, that continues. Obviously, we have a strong relationship with India (and) with Japan. And the President, if you just look at the last three years, has certainly focused on those diplomatic relationships,’ Jean-Pierre said.
“He was talking about who we are as a country. He was talking about the importance of being in a country of immigrants, especially as you see the attacks that we have seen very recently, in the last couple of years, those attacks on immigrants, in particular,” the White House Press Secretary said, defending the president.
The Indian government has not yet responded to ABC’s revelations, especially since the Australian government has not lent its weight behind the claims published in the media.
The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald said that two Indian “spies” were asked to leave.
Reports in the US and Australian media about operations allegedly by Indian “intelligence officials” overseas has caught the establishment off-guard and there is a sense of disquiet in New Delhi at what it sees as a “concerted pushback” from its key Western strategic partners, sources said.
On Tuesday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that “Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after being caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security, as well as classified information on Australia’s trade relationships”.
The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald said that two Indian “spies” were asked to leave.
“The so-called foreign ‘nest of spies’ disrupted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2020 was also accused of closely monitoring Indians living here and developing close relationships with current and former politicians,” the ABC reported.
Just a day earlier, on Monday, The Washington Post identified the intelligence official involved in the assassination plot of pro-Khalistan Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun and sought to establish links with top officials in the Indian intelligence and security establishment.
Ministry of External Affairs official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the report makes “unwarranted and unsubstantiated imputations” on a “serious matter”. He also pointed to the “ongoing probe” by the high-level panel to look into security concerns shared by the US government on networks of organised criminals, terrorists and others.
According to ABC, ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess had “alluded” to the spy network in his annual threat assessment in 2021 but didn’t disclose which country was allegedly behind it. Burgess had reportedly detailed how the spies cultivated and recruited an Australian government security clearance holder who had access to “sensitive details of defence technology,” ABC reported.
Fire tenders, bomb squads scrambled after principals get emails threatening to blow up schools; worried parents rush to pick up children; emails found to be hoax, meant to create panic: police; Special Cell probing all angles, including terror
Police personnel keeping vigil at Andhra Education Society on Wednesday. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Emails threatening to blow up private schools in Delhi and Noida on Wednesday morning sent security agencies into a tizzy and caused panic among students and their parents. Students were evacuated from 131 schools in Delhi and seven in Noida even as fire tenders, bomb disposal squads and sniffer dogs were rushed to schools to search for explosives.
DCP (PRO) Suman Nalwa said no suspicious object was found in the searches and that the emails, sent to school principals between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., appeared to be a hoax.
“We suspect that the emails were sent to schools only to create panic in the city,” she said.
‘Russian domain’
Delhi Police sources said the email address used to send the threats to schools was registered with a Russian domain. However, the police are yet to ascertain whether the email originated from Russia or whether a virtual private network or Dark Web was used to mislead the investigation.
Senior officers said similar threats were made to the IGI Airport and some city hospitals in the last two days.
Law enforcement agencies in Delhi and Noida have registered separate cases under sections pertaining to criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy of the IPC and for cybercrime under Section 66 of the IT Act.
Advay Brahmadathan, 11, a Class 7 student of Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Lodhi estate, heard rumours of a fire within the school premises around 8.30 a.m.
“I saw one student crying. Many were curious about the cause. I asked my class teacher, who said there was a bomb threat,” he said. “By 10 a.m., the bomb squads had entered school premises and most of us were picked up from school,” he added.
Sudiksha, a Class 11 student of The Heritage School, Vasant Kunj, said, “As soon as the news spread, the school administration tried to contain the panic by escorting us out quickly. Our parents were very concerned.”
“There was a ruckus as many parents and students were around the campus. But the principal intervened and everyone calmed down,” she added.
Safe passage
Jyoti Arora, principal of Mount Abu School in Rohini, said that after hearing about other principals receiving threatening emails, she checked her inbox around 8.30 a.m. and found the same message.
“We made announcements about the evacuation. I also messaged the teachers, asking them to carry out the evacuation without panic,” she said.
While parents started lining up outside, school authorities called the police.
“Some younger students were confused and kept asking us what happened. When they saw their parents waiting outside, they became worried. We created exit counters so that children could leave calmly,” she added.
Aprajita Gautam, Delhi Parents’ Association president, said there was widespread panic among parents when messages started circulating on their WhatsApp groups around 7 a.m.
“Many schools announced early dispersal and some shared tracking details of the buses on which the children were being sent back home,” she said.
Protests over the Israel-Hamas war have reached boiling point at universities on both sides of the United States, with hundreds of arrests made and classes cancelled.
A pro-Palestinian protester stands in front of police at UCLA. Pic: AP
About 300 people have been arrested during police crackdowns on protests at US universities.
In the early hours of Wednesday, police were called into Columbia University in New York, and also broke up protests at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) as demos over the Israel-Hamas war reached boiling point.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said about 300 people were arrested at Columbia and nearby City College.
Columbia’s Hamilton Hall was occupied by protesters and Mayor Adams said this particular group was “led by individuals who were not affiliated with the university”.
“There is a movement to radicalize young people,” he said. “And I’m not going to wait until it is done to acknowledge the existence of it.”
Police entered Columbia’s Hamilton Hall. Pic: ReutersPic: Reuters
On the west coast, all classes at UCLA were cancelled on Wednesday due to “distress” caused by the overnight violence, according to a notice on its website.
Students and staff have been advised to avoid Royce Quad, the area where clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli protesters resulted in police wielding pepper spray being drafted in.
Pro-Palestinian protesters had erected barricades and plywood for protection, which counter-protesters tried to pull down.
The protesters shoved and kicked one another, sometimes beating people with sticks or throwing chairs.
Protesters were held back by officers near the encampment at UCLA in Los Angeles. Pic: ReutersCounter-protesters tried to remove barricades at UCLA. Pic: ReutersPic: Reuters
Sky News US correspondent Martha Kelner, reporting from UCLA, said: “Just look at this scene on a US university campus – California highway patrol wearing riot shields, riot masks, gas masks underneath their helmets.”
She said they were wearing gas masks “because throughout the course of the evening from inside this encampment, or at least the vicinity, a substance was released, I think, probably, pepper spray”.
“But the police here are not taking any chances, wearing gas masks – preparing, I guess, potentially to access this encampment.”
She said a protester appeared to pray at the feet of officers, adding: “She’s a pro-Palestinian protester. She’s refusing to move for the California Highway Patrol.
“She appears to be kneeling down, perhaps in prayer, at the feet of the patrol.
“It is a remarkable sight to see. These are scarcely fathomable scenes on a US university campus.”
By 5am local time, Kelner said the “volatile” situation at the campus had calmed down.
The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial fined the former U.S. president $9,000 for contempt of court on Tuesday and said he would consider jailing him if he continued to violate a gag order.
In a written order, Justice Juan Merchan said the fine may not be enough to serve as a deterrent for the wealthy businessman-turned-politician and lamented he did not have the authority to impose a higher penalty.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump chats with his son Eric Trump during his criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, U.S. April 30, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Purchase Licensing Rights
“Defendant is hereby warned that the Court will not tolerate willful violations of its lawful orders and that if necessary and appropriate under the circumstances, it will impose an incarceratory punishment,” Merchan wrote.
Merchan had imposed the gag order to prevent Trump from criticizing witnesses and others involved in the case.
The judge fined Trump $1,000 for each of nine online statements that he said violated his order not to criticize witnesses or other participants in the trial. Prosecutors had flagged 10 posts as possible violations.
The posts, made between April 10 and April 17, included an article calling his former lawyer Michael Cohen a “serial liar.” Cohen is expected to be a prominent witness in the trial.
Another post quoted a Fox News pundit who claimed “undercover liberal activists” were trying to sneak onto the jury. Merchan rejected Trump’s argument that he could not be held liable for “reposts” of material he did not write himself.
Merchan will consider whether to impose further penalties for other statements at a hearing on Thursday. The judge also ordered Trump to remove the statements from his Truth Social account and his campaign website on Tuesday.
Trump said Merchan had taken away his free speech rights. “I am the only Presidential Candidate in History to be GAGGED. This whole ‘Trial’ is RIGGED,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche has argued that the statements at issue were responses to political attacks, but Merchan noted that Blanche was unable to provide any evidence that the expected witnesses had attacked Trump before he insulted them.
The $9,000 fine, due by Friday, is a relatively small penalty for Trump, who has already posted $266.6 million in bonds as he appeals civil judgments in two other cases.
Imprisonment, however, would be an unprecedented twist in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
If that happened, it is unclear whether Trump would be sent to New York City’s jail on Rikers Island or whether security concerns would require more lenient treatment, such as home confinement in his Trump Tower triplex. As a former president, he remains under Secret Service protection.
Trump, the Republican candidate in the 2024 presidential election is charged with falsifying business records to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006.
Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied having sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford. DANCING WITH THE STARS
Lawyer Keith Davidson, who worked with Daniels to sell her story, said interest picked up in 2016 after audio from the “Access Hollywood” TV show was released that portrayed Trump making crude remarks about women.
Davidson had previously sold the story of another woman who claimed to have had an affair with Trump, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, to the National Enquirer tabloid.
He said he leveraged an offer from the ABC television network, which he said promised efforts to feature her as a contestant on the “Dancing With the Stars” show.
The Enquirer never ran McDougal’s story, in a practice known as “catch and kill” that Davidson said was meant to protect Trump.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks as Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre listens during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada September 18, 2023. REUTERS/Blair Gable/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
The leader of Canada’s main opposition party was ejected from the House of Commons on Tuesday after he called Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “a wacko”, in the latest clash between two men set to fight an election next year.
The official opposition right-of-center Conservatives are well ahead in the polls. The incident started when party leader Pierre Poilievre criticised what he called Trudeau’s refusal to crack down on drug overdoses.
“When will we put an end to this wacko policy by this wacko prime minister?” he asked Trudeau in the House of Commons elected lower chamber.
Speaker Greg Fergus, a Liberal, told Poilievre the comment was both unparliamentary and unacceptable and asked him four times to withdraw it. Poilievre declined on each occasion, saying instead he would use the word extremist or radical.
Fergus told Poilievre he was disregarding the speaker’s authority and, in an unusual move, said: “I order to you to withdraw from the House … for the remainder of this day’s sitting.”
Poilievre, who left the chamber with his legislators, later repeated his attack on Trudeau’s stance on drugs.
“This is a wacko policy from a wacko PM that’s destroying lives,” he said in a social media post.
Liberal parliamentarian Steven MacKinnon, in charge of government business in the House, told reporters the incident had been a disgrace and showed a disrespect for institutions.
Trudeau has a testy relationship with Poilievre, who he accuses of being an extremist and a supporter of the Make America Great Again movement of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Students march and rally on Columbia University campus in support of a protest encampment supporting Palestinians, despite a 2pm deadline issued by university officials to disband or face suspension, during the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in New York… Purchase Licensing Rights
Columbia University on Monday began suspending pro-Palestinian student activists who refused to dismantle a protest camp on the New York City campus after the Ivy League school declared a stalemate in talks seeking to end the polarizing demonstration.
University President Nemat Minouche Shafik said in a statement that days of negotiations between student organizers and academic leaders had failed to persuade demonstrators to remove the dozens of tents set up to express opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza.
The crackdown at Columbia, at the center of Gaza-related protests roiling university campuses across the U.S. in recent weeks, occurred as police at the University of Texas at Austin arrested dozens of students whom they doused with pepper spray at a pro-Palestinian rally.
Columbia sent a letter on Monday morning warning that students who did not vacate the encampment by 2 p.m. ET and sign a form promising to abide by university policies would face suspension and become ineligible to complete the semester in good standing.
“We have begun suspending students as part of this next phase of our efforts to ensure safety on our campus,” said Ben Chang, a university spokesperson, at a briefing on Monday evening.
“The encampment has created an unwelcoming environment for many of our Jewish students and faculty and a noisy distraction that interferes with the teaching, learning and preparing for final exams,” Chang said.
Earlier, Shafik said Columbia would not divest from finances in Israel, a key demand of the protesters. Instead, she offered to invest in health and education in Gaza and make Columbia’s direct investment holdings more transparent.
Protesters have vowed to keep their encampment on the Manhattan campus until Columbia meets three demands: divestment, transparency in university finances, and amnesty for students and faculty disciplined for their part in the protests.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday in Riyadh, where they discussed the urgent need to reduce tensions in the region, the U.S. Department of State said in a statement.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a Joint Ministerial Meeting of the GCC-U.S. Strategic Partnership to discuss the humanitarian crises faced in Gaza, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, April 29, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Purchase Licensing Rights
Blinken also underscored the need for sustaining an increase in humanitarian assistance to Gaza, reaching an immediate ceasefire that secures the release of hostages and preventing the possible further spread of the conflict, the State Department said.
Blinken is in Saudi Arabia as part of a broader trip to the Middle East aimed at discussing with Arab partners post-war Gaza and to press Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take steps U.S. President Joe Biden demanded this month to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau waves to the crowd after speaking during Khalsa day celebrations in Toronto, April 28, 2024. (Photo: Associated Press)
The Centre on Monday summoned the Canadian Deputy High Commissioner to the Ministry of External Affairs after pro-Khalistan slogans were raised at an event attended by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the Canadian diplomat was conveyed India’s “deep concern and strong protest” at such “disturbing actions being allowed to continue unchecked at the event”.
“This illustrates once again the political space that has been given in Canada to separatism, extremism and violence. Their continued expressions not only impact India-Canada relations but also encourage a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens,” the statement read.
On April 28, Sunday, Justin Trudeau attended a Khalsa Day celebration event in Toronto. Videos from the event showed pro-Khalistan slogans being raised as Trudeau began addressing the crowd.
🧵Today, leaders from the Liberal, Conservative, and NDP parties joined the Khalsa parade (Parade of the Pure) in Toronto to appeal to Khalistan voters.
Trudeau was gifted a sword, while Pierre took things a step further than Trudeau by bending the knee, and Jagmeet delivered… pic.twitter.com/RJW9ZNvSYk
In his speech, Trudeau went on to assure the Sikh community that the Canadian government would protect their rights and freedoms at all costs.
“To the nearly 800,000 Canadians of Sikh heritage across this country, we will always be there to protect your rights and your freedoms, and we will always defend your community against hatred and discrimination,” said the Canadian Prime Minister.
Pedestrians walk on an overpass near skyscrapers at the Central Business District in Beijing, August 21, 2023. REUTERS/Florence Lo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
An appliance maker in southern China is finding it hard to ship its products to Russia, not because of any problems with the gadgets but because China’s big banks are throttling payments for such transactions out of concern over U.S. sanctions.
To settle payments for its electrical goods, the Guangdong-based company is considering using currency brokers active along China’s border with Russia, said the company’s founder, Wang, who asked to be identified only by his family name.
The U.S. has imposed an array of sanctions on Russia and Russian entities since the country invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Now the threat of extending these to banks in China – a country Washington blames for “powering” Moscow’s war effort – is chilling the finance that lubricates even non-military trade from China to Russia.
This is posing a growing problem for small Chinese exporters, said seven trading and banking sources familiar with the situation.
As China’s big banks pull back from financing Russia-related transactions, some Chinese companies are turning to small banks on the border and underground financing channels such as money brokers – even banned cryptocurrency – the sources told Reuters.
Others have retreated entirely from the Russian market, the sources said.
“You simply cannot do business properly using the official channels,” Wang said, as big banks now take months rather than days to clear payments from Russia, forcing him to tap unorthodox payment channels or shrink his business.
Reuters Graphics
GOING ‘UNDERGROUND’
A manager at a large state-owned bank he previously used told Wang the lender was worried about possible U.S. sanctions in dealing with Russian transactions, Wang said.
A banker at one of China’s Big Four state banks said it had tightened scrutiny of Russia-related businesses to avert sanctions risk. “The main reason is to avoid unnecessary troubles,” said the banker, who asked not to be named.
Since last month, Chinese banks have intensified their scrutiny of Russia-related transactions or halted business altogether to avoid being targeted by U.S. sanctions, the sources said.
