Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday for a three-city US tour. Rahul slammed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government in India and said that PM Modi is lying down and since his government cannot work on unemployment, inflation and crumbling education and hence he is doing the 'sceptre thing' and Parliament inauguration. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday for a three-city US tour. Rahul slammed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government in India and said that PM Modi is lying down and since his government cannot work on unemployment, inflation and crumbling education and hence he is doing the 'sceptre thing' and Parliament inauguration. The Pentagon announced a new $300 million arms package for Ukraine on Wednesday, including air defense systems and tens of millions of rounds of ammunition.
The Defense Department said the latest shipments will bring the total value of US security assistance to Ukraine since Russia's February 2022 invasion to $37.6 billion.
"The United States will continue to work with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with capabilities to meet its immediate battlefield needs and longer-term security assistance requirements," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The United States has been leading an unprecedented effort by NATO and other allied countries to supply Ukraine with weaponry and other aid.
The latest arms shipments come as Ukraine prepares a counter-offensive aimed at driving Russian forces back from swaths of occupied territory in the east and south of the country.
The Pentagon said the $300 million package includes munitions for Patriot air defense systems, AIM-7 air defense missiles, Avenger air defense systems and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Also part of the package is ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), 155mm and 105mm artillery rounds, 105mm tank ammunition and Zuni aircraft rockets.
The United States is sending more than 30 million rounds of small arms ammunition to Ukraine, the Pentagon said.
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Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, arrived in San Francisco on Tuesday for a three-city US tour. Rahul slammed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government in India and said that PM Modi is lying down and since his government cannot work on unemployment, inflation and crumbling education and hence he is doing the 'sceptre thing' and Parliament inauguration. The European Union and United States said Wednesday they expect to draft a voluntary code of conduct on artificial intelligence "within weeks" with the hope that fellow democracies will sign on.
After talks with EU officials in Sweden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the Western partners felt the "fierce urgency" to act following the emergence of the technology, in which China has been a growing force.
The voluntary code "would be open to all like-minded countries," Mr Blinken told reporters.
"There's almost always a gap when new technologies emerge," Anotony Blinken said, with "the time it takes for governments and institutions to figure out how to legislate or regulate."
European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added that a draft would be put forward "within weeks."
"We think it's really important that citizens can see that democracies can deliver," she said.
She voiced hope "to do that in the broadest possible circle -- with our friends in Canada, in the UK, in Japan, in India, bringing as many onboard as possible."
Sam Altman, whose firm OpenAI created the popular AI-driven ChatGPT bot, took part in the talks of the Trade and Technology Council between the EU and the United States, this year hosted in the northern Swedish city of Lulea.
The forum was set up in 2021 to ease trade friction after the turbulent presidency of Donald Trump but has since set its sights largely on artificial intelligence.
In a joint statement, the two sides called AI a "transformative technology with great promise for our people, offering opportunities to increase prosperity and equity."
"But in order to seize the opportunities it presents, we must mitigate its risks," it said.
"The European Union and the United States reaffirm their commitment to a risk-based approach to AI to advance trustworthy and responsible AI technologies."
It said that experts from the two sides would work on "cooperation on AI standards and tools for trustworthy AI and risk management."
The EU has been moving forward on the world's first regulations on AI which would ban biometric surveillance and ensure human control, although the rules would not enter into force before 2025 at the earliest.
China has also discussed regulations but Western powers fear that Beijing, with its growing prowess in the field and willingness to export to fellow authoritarian countries, could set global standards without Western unity.
The United States has made no serious effort to regulate AI despite rising calls, including by some in the tech industry.
Technology leaders, including Mr Altman, in a joint statement Tuesday warned that AI put the world at risk without regulation.
"Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war," they wrote.
ChatGPT burst into the spotlight late last year as it demonstrated an ability to generate essays, poems and conversations through minimal input.
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One person was killed and two others injured on Tuesday in a Ukrainian bombardment on a centre for displaced people in the border region of Belgorod, the regional governor said.
"Ukrainian armed forces fired artillery at a centre for displaced people housing elderly civilians and children... a security guard was killed and two people were injured," the governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
The two people injured are in intensive care in a "serious condition", he said.
In the post Gladkov added photographs of a damaged building with shattered windows, one showing a hole in the ground apparently caused by the impact of a strike, and another showing adults and children being loaded onto buses.
The Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, has in recent weeks been hit by dozens strikes from across the border and seen attempted incursions from armed groups.
The Russian capital Moscow was itself targeted by drones early Tuesday morning in the first such attack since the beginning of the Kremlin's assault on Ukraine.
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Russia-Ukraine War: At least 1 person was killed when Russia launched a pre-dawn attack on Kyiv residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments. At least 20 Shahed drones were destroyed by air defense forces in Kyiv’s airspace in Russia’s third attack on the capital in the past 24 hours, according to the Kyiv Military Administration.Russia-Ukraine War: At least 1 person was killed when Russia launched a pre-dawn attack on Kyiv residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments. At least 20 Shahed drones were destroyed by air defense forces in Kyiv’s airspace in Russia’s third attack on the capital in the past 24 hours, according to the Kyiv Military Administration.In an incident that seems straight out of a movie, three women in China teamed up to expose a man who posed as a love interest and cheated them of 100,000 yuan (Rs 11,67,982), South China Morning Post reported. As a result of the police investigation, the Shanghai man has received two years and six months in jail.
It all started when the three women went to a police station in Shanghai's Yangpu District on February 10 to report He Shiwei of deceiving them. The women claimed that Shiwei borrowed money from them, but never returned it.
One of the women, Chen Hong, said that she began to get suspicious of Shiwei and checked his phone after he fell asleep drunk. She found multiple messages from another woman asking him why he was rejecting her calls. Chen then contacted a woman named Xiao Fan and found out that she lived with Shiwei, who usually came to her flat to sleep every night.
Chen and Xiao found that Shiwei had told both of them he wanted to marry them.
That was not it. On February 10, Chen got a call from a third woman, named Zhao Lin, saying she was also Shiwei's girlfriend. When he got up, Chen confronted him and demanded he return the money he took from her. Upon his refusal, all three women reached the police station to file a complaint.
It was evident that they had been sharing the same boyfriend. He had been dating Chen since October 2022, Xiao since June 2022 and Zhao since 2021.
The police found that Shiwei had quit his job in 2020 and was unemployed since then. He had been using the money from the women to pay his debts.
Meanwhile, the three women who became good friends during the course of the investigation, went on an overseas trip together after the man was imprisoned. When a police officer called them with an update on the case in March, he got to know that the women were on holiday abroad together.
''We got along well during the trip. We were discussing a question every day such as – what virtue or ability did he have to enthrall all of us? This scenario was so fun. All three of us are pure and good-hearted. It shows that He is good at judging people, so he managed to cheat money from us,'' Chen told SCMP.
The Pakistan government on Tuesday faced flak after two women workers belonging to former prime minister Imran Khan's party were brought to an anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Tuesday with their heads covered with 'shopping bags' for their alleged role in torching a senior military officer's house in the city.
Police presented the two Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers --Ayesha Masood and her young daughter Maha -- before the anti-terrorism court (ATC) in connection with the attack on Lahore Corps Commander House known as Jinnah House on May 9 following Khan's arrest in a corruption case.
The court sent both women to jail for seven days for an identification parade, a court official said.
In a video clip, both women can be seen brought to the ATC with their heads covered with shopping bags.
As the video went viral on social media, the government and establishment faced scathing criticism for 'humiliating women'.
"Women have been used as a weapon by this regime. The arsenal has been manifold; blackmail, harassment, threats, illegal arrests & perhaps even more. But women have also stood up against these vile tactics and shown tremendous courage," PTI leader and former federal minister Hammad Azhar said in a tweet.
Women have been used as a weapon by this regime. The arsenal has been manifold; blackmail, harassments, threats, illegal arrests & perhaps even more. But women have also stood up against these vile tactics and shown tremendous courage. pic.twitter.com/nBJl4HlgzZ
— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) May 30, 2023
In his address to the nation on Tuesday Khan said: "They (PMLN-led government and military establishment) have stooped too low as the PTI workers are being threatened that women from their houses will be taken away. Nobody could have imagined stooping to this level in Pakistan's politics”.
He claimed that his party leaders are being tortured.
The Punjab caretaker government, however, said that jails in the province have only seven women prisoners from PTI, including former provincial health minister Yasmin Rashid.
Pakistan saw unrest following the arrest of Khan, 70, by paramilitary Rangers in a corruption case on May 9. Khan was later released on bail.
Over 20 military installations and government buildings were damaged or torched during the riots. Over 100 vehicles of Punjab police and other security agencies were set on fire.
Law enforcement agencies have arrested over 10,000 workers of Khan's party from across Pakistan, including 4,000 from Punjab.
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Russia-Ukraine War: At least 1 person was killed when Russia launched a pre-dawn attack on Kyiv residents again scrambling into shelters to escape a relentless wave of daylight and nighttime bombardments. At least 20 Shahed drones were destroyed by air defense forces in Kyiv’s airspace in Russia’s third attack on the capital in the past 24 hours, according to the Kyiv Military Administration.Beijing has declined a US invitation for a meeting in Singapore between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu, the Pentagon said Monday.
"Overnight, the PRC informed the US that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Singapore this week," Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement, refering to the People's Republic of China.
"The PRC's concerning unwillingness to engage in meaningful military-to-military discussions will not diminish (the Defense Department's) commitment to seeking open lines of communication with the People's Liberation Army," Ryder said.
A senior US defense official described the declined invitation as "just the latest in a litany of excuses," saying that since 2021, China has "declined or failed to respond to over a dozen requests from the Department of Defense for key leader engagements, multiple requests for standing dialogues, and nearly ten working-level engagements."
Li was sanctioned by the US government in 2018 for buying Russian weapons, but the Pentagon says that does not prevent Austin from conducting official business with him.
Austin is due to travel to Singapore later this week to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue, a defense summit where he met Li's predecessor Wei Fenghe last June.
Austin and Wei met again in Cambodia later in 2022, but tensions between Washington and Beijing soared this year over issues including Taiwan and an alleged Chinese spy balloon that was shot down by a US warplane after traversing the country.
Austin and other US officials have been working to shore up alliances and partnerships in Asia as part of efforts to counter increasingly assertive moves by Beijing, but there have also been tentative signs that the two sides were working to lower the temperature.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Vienna earlier this month, and President Joe Biden recently said ties between Washington and Beijing should thaw "very shortly," citing the spy balloon incident as a factor that had boosted tensions.
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A Japanese coast guard representative stated that North Korea had informed Japan of its intention to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11.A Japanese coast guard representative stated that North Korea had informed Japan of its intention to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11.Russian President Vladimir Putin once again congratulated Turkey's leader on his re-election and said it opened up new "new avenues" for cooperation between Ankara and Moscow, the Kremlin said Monday.
"The support expressed by the Turkish people for their leader opens new avenues for development of bilateral ties in a number of sectors," Putin said in a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan according to the Kremlin.
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A Japanese coast guard representative stated that North Korea had informed Japan of its intention to launch a satellite between May 31 and June 11.Two women employees in the US have claimed they were fired by their employers after they called the police to report a robbery at the store, New York Post reported. The incident happened at a Lululemon store in Atlanta, where masked robbers were captured on camera, taking merchandise from displays near the front of the store.
Meanwhile, Jennifer Ferguson and Rachel Rogers, the two employees in question, were seen yelling at and chasing masked robbers out of their store before calling the police. They reported the robbery to the Gwinnett Police Department, who later tracked down the thieves and charged them with felony robbery charges.
However, instead of appreciating them for their bravery, Lululemon fired them for "breaking the company policy" of not interfering with a robbery. The employees claimed that they were questioned by a regional manager on their decision to call the police before they were fired from the store. The women also claimed they were denied severance for the rule-breaking.
''It wasn't very clear. They didn't give specific reasoning besides just saying they have a ''no-tolerance policy,'' Ms. Rogers said.
''We are not supposed to get in the way. You kind of clear path for whatever they're going to do. And then, after it's over, you scan a QR code. And that's that. We've been told not to put it in any notes, because that might scare other people. We're not supposed to call the police, not really supposed to talk about it,'' Ms. Ferguson, who was the assistant manager at the time, told 11Alive.
Talking to The Post, a spokesperson for the company confirmed that the Lululemon handbook does have a zero-tolerance policy on chasing or physically engaging with a thief.
''Safety is our number one priority, and no amount of merchandise in the store is worth putting yourself at risk for. Lululemon has a zero-tolerance policy on chasing or physically engaging with a guest when a theft or suspected theft has occurred. This also includes leaving the store to pursue a guest or gather additional information about the suspected or observed theft,'' an excerpt states.
The incident comes as several US states have been facing the menace of increased store robberies.
Republican lawmakers and US President Joe Biden had reached a principled agreement to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a catastrophic default, US media reported on Saturday.US President Joe Biden and Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said they were confident Sunday of pushing a debt crisis deal through Congress and avoiding a cataclysmic default, despite skepticism from some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
The tentative agreement reached Saturday after weeks of intense talks offers a path back from the precipice, but getting it through both houses of Congress before the government starts running out of money will be a tough task.
Biden said he would speak to McCarthy at 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) "to make sure all the Ts are crossed and the Is are dotted."
Asked if there were any sticking points, the president replied: "None."
"I think we're in good shape," he told reporters.
The next step would be a legislative text that can be scrutinized by party members before a vote in the House of Representatives that McCarthy has scheduled for Wednesday.
But all the while the clock is still ticking down to the June 5 "X-date" when the Treasury estimates the cash to pay bills and debts will begin to run out.
A default would likely have catastrophic consequences, triggering a US recession and risking a global economic meltdown.
The basic framework of the deal suspends the federal debt ceiling, which is currently $31.4 trillion, for two years - enough to get past the next presidential election in 2024 and allow the government to keep borrowing money and remain solvent.
In return, the Republicans secured some limits on federal spending over the same period.
Unhappy Right, And Left
Congressional opposition to the bill comes from an unlikely union of hard-right Republicans who wanted deeper spending cuts and progressive Democrats who wanted no reductions at all.
McCarthy's wafer-thin majority in the House means passing the bill will require significant Democratic backing to balance out Republican dissent.
The speaker was out pushing the deal Sunday, arguing on the Fox network that the spending limits were a significant victory and insisting that 95 percent of House Republicans were "very excited."
"Maybe it doesn't do everything for everyone, but this is a step in the right direction no one thought we would be at today," McCarthy said.
But the tone of the Republican opposition was set by Representative Dan Bishop -- a member of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus -- who tweeted a vomit emoji and slammed McCarthy for securing "almost zippo."
'Scorched Earth'
Nicholas Creel, a political analyst and business law professor at Georgia College and State University said the deal was "ultimately likely" to pass through Congress, but he warned that "Freedom Caucus Republicans have the potential to play spoiler if they decide to go scorched Earth on McCarthy."
The tentative agreement represents a climb down of sorts by both sides.
Biden had initially refused to negotiate over spending issues as a condition for raising the debt ceiling, accusing the Republicans of taking the economy hostage.
And the big cuts that Republicans wanted are not there, although nondefense spending will remain effectively flat next year, and only rise nominally in 2025.
"Overall, the deal is probably best viewed as a win for Biden and Democrats given that it contains fairly modest spending cuts and would prevent another debt ceiling showdown or a government shutdown during the remainder of Biden's presidency," Creel said.
"Nobody has enough power to get too much of what they want right now, so a compromise like this that makes everyone a little unhappy is probably the best anyone could have hoped for," he added.
Speed Of The Essence
The countdown to the June 5 "X-date" means the legislation will have to clear Congress much more quickly than the normal timetable for even the most uncontroversial bills.
McCarthy is hoping to bring the narrow House majority of 222 Republicans with him, but opposition will come from 35 far-right lawmakers who told him to "hold the line" for more sweeping spending cuts.
That means a large number of Democrats will have to be persuaded to vote with a reduced number of Republicans -- something that rarely happens on big bills.
Pramila Jayapal, chair of the House Progressive Caucus, said the Democratic leadership should be concerned about securing their support.
"Yes, they have to worry," she told CNN, adding she was "not happy" with what she was hearing about the concessions made by Biden.
If a default still occurs, the government would not miss loan repayments until mid-June but in the meantime it would likely have to halt $25 billion in social security checks and federal salaries.
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Republican lawmakers and US President Joe Biden had reached a principled agreement to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a catastrophic default, US media reported on Saturday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has parlayed his country’s NATO membership and location straddling Europe and the Middle East into international influence, is favoured to win reelection in a presidential runoff Sunday, despite a host of domestic issues.Nepal on Sunday decided to allow India's Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) Limited to develop a second hydropower project in the country.
At present SJVN is developing a 900-MW Arun -III hydroelectric project, a run-of-river located on the Arun River in Eastern Nepal, scheduled to be completed in 2024.
A meeting of the Investment Board Nepal (IBN) chaired by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" approved the draft project development agreement (PDA) to be signed with India's state-owned SJVN to develop the 669-megawatt (MW) Lower Arun Hydropower project in eastern Nepal, an official statement said.
The development comes days before Prime Minister Prachanda's visit to India starting Wednesday.
The draft needs to be endorsed by the Council of Ministers before it gets implemented.
The previous meeting of the IBN had approved Rs 92.68 billion investment for the development of the project.
"The development of this 669-MW transformative project will prove to be a milestone for the socio-economic development of the country," according to the statement by the IBN.
The SJVN has formed a local company, Lower Arun Power Development Company, in Nepal.
The Lower Arun project located in the Sankhuwasabha and Bhojpur districts will not have any reservoir or dam and will be a tailrace development of Arun-III, which will mean water re-enters the river for the Lower Arun project.
This is the third project undertaken, all through negotiation windows, on the Arun River after the 900 MW Arun-III and 695 MW Arun-IV hydroelectricity projects.
The three projects will generate nearly 2,300 MW of electricity from the river in the Sankhuwasabha district, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
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A powerful Congressional Committee has recommended expanding NATO Plus to include India, a significant development prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States.
Grace Meng, a US lawmaker, presented a bill on Friday to make Diwali a federal holiday in the US.Grace Meng, a US lawmaker, presented a bill on Friday to make Diwali a federal holiday in the US.Egypt unearthed human and animal mummification workshops as well as two tombs in the ancient burial ground of Saqqara, officials said on Saturday, marking the latest in a string of discoveries that the country hopes can help revive its vital tourism industry.
Mostafa Waziri, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters that the two large "embalming workshops" date back to the 30th dynasty (380-343 BC) and the Ptolemaic (305-30 BC) eras.
A view of the embalming workshop site for animals at the newly discovered site. (File)
The discovery was made after a year-long excavation near the sanctuary of the goddess Bastet, which is home to the catacombs of mummified cats in Saqqara, some 30 kilometres (18.6 miles)south of Cairo.
It was the same spot where hundreds of mummified animals and statues were uncovered in 2019.
"We found embalming workshops, one for humans and one for animals. We found all the tools that they used (in mummification) in ancient times," Mr Waziri said.
Both workshops featured stone beds, clay pots, ritual vessels, natron salt, which is one of the main ingredients for mummification, and linens among other mummification instruments.
The Saqqara excavations also led to the unearthing of two small 4,400 and 3,400-year-old tombs nearby, belonging to two priests, Ne Hesut Ba of the Old Kingdom's fifth dynasty and Men Kheber of the late kingdom's 18th dynasty respectively.
Inscriptions of cultivation, hunting and other daily activities were found on the walls of Ne Hesut Ba's tomb while "scenes showing the deceased in different positions" were engraved in Men Kheber's tomb, officials said.
Egypt has carried out extensive digging operations in Saqqara and other ancient locations in recent years, which resulted in a number of high-profile discoveries.
The country plans to inaugurate the Grand Egyptian Museum, a state-of-the-art facility near the Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, after construction is completed later this year.
Egypt hopes it can further lure back tourists after the industry started to rebound of late, having been battered by the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine.
Tourism revenues climbed to $7.3 billion in the second half of 2022, a 25.7% increase compared with the same period a year earlier, according to recently released central bank data.
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Grace Meng, a US lawmaker, presented a bill on Friday to make Diwali a federal holiday in the US.A 19-year-old woman tragically died in a house fire in US' Wisconsin just hours before she was set to walk down the aisle, the Independent reported. Paige Ruddy was asleep on the second story of a Reedsburg home when it became engulfed in flames on May 23 around 4 am. She suffered a fatal brain haemorrhage caused by smoke inhalation and died in the hospital the next day.
Notably, she had already exchanged vows with her husband-to-be Logan Mitchell-Carter on Monday and was planning a small ceremony with her close friends and family at the Sauk County Courthouse the next day.
However, on Tuesday, her family woke up to the terrible news. Local fire department Chief Craig Douglas said Ms. Ruddy couldn't navigate through the smoke to safety. The house, in which the couple was staying, belonged to the groom's grandparents and reportedly lacked any working smoke detectors.
The Sauk County Coroner's office confirmed to WMTV that its preliminary investigation shows that Ms. Ruddy's cause of death was smoke inhalation. The cause of the fire is under investigation but police suspect no foul play was involved. Three other people were home at the time of the fire and managed to escape before firefighters arrived at the scene around 4 am.
''She was just a precious human. There was nothing about her that you couldn't like. She was this presence you never knew you needed in your life, but always did,'' Ruddy's aunt told NBC 15.
A funeral will take place next week. Meanwhile, the family has set up a GoFundMe dedicated to covering her medical and funeral expenses.
''Monday night the Ruddy family in Reedsburg, Wisconsin went to sleep excited to attend Paige Ruddy and Logan Mitchell-Carter's small wedding ceremony. Instead, they were woken by police to be informed that there was a fire. Despite the amazing efforts of those who love her, the Reedsburg police and firefighters, EMTs, med flight, and the amazing staff at UW hospital over two horrible days, Paige could not be saved. She passed surrounded by her family and friends who took up a large waiting room in the hospital,'' a note on the page reads.
''There are enough good qualities about Paige to fill up a room. Since she was a toddler Paige was full of life, ready to help anyone with anything, and an absolute joy to be around. She was kind, fun, and according to her family had lots of spunk. Paige always worked hard at everything she did,'' it further reads.
Ms. Ruddy's family said she had just graduated from Reedsburg Area High School in June 2022 and planned to enroll in a Vet Tech program at Madison Area Technical College this fall, People reported.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday appealed for immediate talks with state officials. This comes as pressure mounts on him amid a crackdown on his top aides and supporters that saw thousands arrested as well as many leaving his party, Pakistan based The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
The clampdown started earlier this month when Imran's supporters were involved in violent protests following his brief arrest on May 9.
"I would like to appeal for talks because what is currently happening is not a solution," Imran said in a live talk streamed on YouTube, warning that the country was headed towards anarchy, as per The Express Tribune.
The political unrest worsened as Pakistan faced its worst economic crisis in decades. Inflation was at record highs, economic growth was anaemic, and there were fears that the country could default on external debts unless the International Monetary Fund unlocked delayed disbursements.
Meanwhile, three Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders on Thursday announced quitting the Imran Khan-led party. With this, a huge list of leaders have deserted the party following the May 9 riots, Geo News reported.
Maleeka Bokhari in a press conference in Islamabad, said: "I condemn the events that transpired on May 9. For every Pakistani, the events that took place on May 9 are very painful."
Announcing her "dissociation" from the party, Bokhari said she wasn't under duress and "no one forced me into making this decision".
Cheema in a a separate press conference, said he and his wife could not continue with the Khan-led party due to the violence that ensued after the PTI chief's arrest.
"I was there at the Corps Commander House myself. It saddened me to see what was happening there. The people who were involved in it should be punished," he said.
He said it is a party's failure if its workers are violent.
Former Pakistan Finance Minister Asad Umar has also stepped down as Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)'s Secretary General. The announcement by Umar came shortly after he was released from the Adiala Jail, Pakistan based The Express Tribune newspaper reported.
Umar announced his decision during a press conference at National Press Club in Islamabad on Wednesday.
"Not possible for me to lead the party under these circumstances. I am resigning as Secretary General and core committee member of PTI," he said while addressing the press conference.
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United States President Joe Biden announced the launch of new strategies to be undertaken by the government to fight the hate, bias and violence that Jews face regularly. He further outlined more than 100 steps the administration and its partners can take to combat an alarming rise in antisemitism. He also said the first US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism sends a 'clear and forceful message' that 'in America, evil will not win, hate will not prevail' and 'the venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time'.Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told China's special envoy Li Hui on Friday that there were "serious obstacles" to resuming peace talks, blaming Ukraine and Western countries.
"The Russian foreign minister reaffirmed Moscow's commitment to a political-diplomatic resolution of the conflict, noting the serious obstacles to the resumption of peace talks created by the Ukrainian side and its Western mentors," the foreign ministry said.
During the meeting with Mr Li, who was China's ambassador in Russia between 2009 and 2019, Mr Lavrov also praised Beijing's "balanced" position on Ukraine.
While China says it is a neutral party in the Ukraine conflict, it has been criticised for refusing to condemn Moscow for its offensive.
"Both sides expressed readiness to further strengthen Russian-Chinese foreign policy cooperation, invariably aimed at maintaining peace and stability in the region and on the planet as a whole," the Russian foreign ministry said.
Separately, Mr Li also met with two Mr Lavrov deputies, Mikhail Galuzin and Andrei Rudenko, Moscow said.
"Concern was expressed about the dangerous consequences of the growing involvement of NATO countries in the Ukrainian conflict, (and) their actions to militarise Ukraine," the foreign ministry said, referring to the meeting between Galuzin and Li.
The Chinese envoy's visit to the Russian capital came after Mr Li met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv earlier this month.
Mr Li has said there is "no panacea to resolve the crisis".
Since the start of Moscow's assault on Ukraine, Beijing and Moscow have drawn closer under a partnership that has served as a diplomatic bulwark against the West.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Moscow in March, saying ties were "entering a new era".
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United States President Joe Biden announced the launch of new strategies to be undertaken by the government to fight the hate, bias and violence that Jews face regularly. He further outlined more than 100 steps the administration and its partners can take to combat an alarming rise in antisemitism. He also said the first US National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism sends a 'clear and forceful message' that 'in America, evil will not win, hate will not prevail' and 'the venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time'.Jefferson Machado, a Brazilian actor who has been missing for several months, was discovered dead in a wooden box outside of a house in Rio de Janeiro, as per a report by the New York Post. His family friend Cintia Hilsendeger posted a message on the actor's Instagram page confirming his death. "It is with great sadness we report that Jeff was found on 05/22/2023 lifeless," she wrote.
The 44-year-old's body was found chained and packed inside a wooden box that had been covered with concrete and buried six feet under the backyard of a home, according to the authorities.
"He had his arms tied behind his head and buried in a trunk that is very similar to the ones in his own house," the family's lawyer Jairo Magalhaes said. The lawyer stated that the body was identified using fingerprints and had a "line" on the neck, indicating that he had been strangled.
"Jefferson was brutally murdered by jealous, evil and of course, unscrupulous people. More info coming soon RJ Township Police did an excellent job! Thank you so much to everyone who helped with every little detail," the family added on Instagram.
As per the outlet, the police is currently investigating a man who had rented the property. The suspect was last seen entering the house about a month ago. It is also to be noted that he supposedly knew Mr Machado.
The actor's family found out about his kidnapping after a non-governmental organisation contacted them to inform that his eight dogs had been abandoned at his house. For several months, the family continued to get text messages from someone they thought was impersonating Mr Machado. His mother Maria Das Dores said she was suspicious of the email since it was full of spelling mistakes and did not sound like her son.
Hari Budhamagar, an ex-British Gorkha soldier, who lost both his legs during the Afghan war, on Friday said he "cried like a baby" after conquering Mt. Everest.
The 44-year-old mountaineer scripted a world record as he became the world's first double above-the-knee amputee to summit the 8,848.86-metre peak on May 20. He lost both his legs while fighting on the side of the UK Government in war-torn Afghanistan.
“My eyes were full of tears as I reached just 100 metres below the peak,” he said, adding that “the tears turned into ice” before they fell on the ground.
The mountaineer described the moment of extreme joy he experienced while fulfilling his highest dream in life.
“After I reached the top, I cried like a baby,” he told reporters in Kathmandu describing his success story.
“I did never cry when in grief, but I cried in joy sometimes,” he said.
After putting his artificial legs on top of the world, he embraced the supporting Sherpa team on Mt. Everest.
Mr Budhamagar had to stay at the Everest base camp for 18 days due to bad weather, before heading towards higher altitude.
"My aim to climb the mountain is for making people aware of disability, not to set new records,” Mr Budhamagar said.
Mr Budhamagar had postponed his plan to scale Mt Everest in 2018 after the government introduced a mountaineering regulation that banned blind, double-amputee and solo climbers from climbing the mountains including Everest in 2017.
A writ petition was filed against the ban and in response to that the Supreme Court nullified the rule by issuing an order in 2018 paving the way for Mr Budhamagar to write the history.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
South Korea launched its homegrown Nuri rocket on Thursday, officials said, a day after it was forced to postpone due to a technical glitch just hours before lift-off.
It marks the third launch of the Nuri, which successfully put test satellites into orbit last year after a failed 2021 attempt saw the rocket's third-stage engine burn out too early.
Wednesday's launch was called off over a computer communication error which was resolved by Thursday, allowing the launch -- a key step forward for the country's burgeoning space programme -- to go ahead.
The three-stage rocket, more than 47 metres (155 feet) long and weighing 200 tonnes, soared into the sky from the Naro Space Center in South Korea's southern coastal region, leaving a huge trail of white smoke.
"Flight normal," said a female announcer on the official government livestream of the launch, as Nuri soared into the sky.
In previous tests, the rocket carried payloads mainly designed for verifying the performance of the launch vehicle.
This time, the rocket was topped with eight working satellites, including a "commercial-grade satellite", according to the science ministry.
Five minutes after the launch, the rocket reached an altitude of 300 kilometres and the second-stage separation was confirmed.
All eight satellites Nuri was carrying then successfully separated, according to the official livestream.
More than 200,000 viewers were watching the livestream of the launch on YouTube, with one commenting: "Fly high Nuri! Let's go to space!"
- Space race -
South Korea has laid out ambitious plans for outer space, including landing spacecraft on the Moon by 2032 and Mars by 2045.
In Asia, China, Japan and India all have advanced space programmes, and the South's nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea was the most recent entrant to the club of countries with their own satellite launch capability.
Ballistic missiles and space rockets use similar technology and Pyongyang claimed to have put a 300-kilogram satellite into orbit in 2012 in what Washington condemned as a disguised missile test.
The South Korean space programme has a mixed record -- its first two launches in 2009 and 2010, which in part used Russian technology, both ended in failure.
The second one exploded two minutes into the flight, with Seoul and Moscow blaming each other.
Eventually a 2013 launch succeeded, but still relied on a Russian-developed engine for its first stage.
Last June, South Korea became the seventh nation to have successfully launched a one-tonne payload on their own rockets.
The three-stage Nuri rocket has been a decade in development at a cost of two trillion won ($1.5 billion).
Its third launch was to put a domestically developed satellite with an observation mission into orbit.
The 180-kilogram NEXTSat 2 satellite, developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), is meant to be placed into orbit at an altitude of 550 kilometres, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said.
The satellite has a small synthetic aperture radar that can capture high-resolution images regardless of weather conditions.
"With the success of the third launch, it signals that South Korea has a homegrown launch vehicle. I was watching with emotion," Lee Chang-hun, a professor of aerospace engineering at KAIST, told Yonhap TV.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Fawad Chaudhry resigns: Pakistan's former Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, who is a close aide of Imran Khan today (May 24) resigned from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Taking to his Twitter handle, Fawad Chaudhry said he has decided to take break from politics and announced to part ways from Imran Khan.Russia moved ahead on Thursday with a plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, whose leader said the warheads were already on the move, in the Kremlin's first deployment of such bombs outside Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
President Vladimir Putin says the United States and its allies are fighting an escalating proxy war against Russia after the Kremlin chief sent troops into Ukraine in February last year.
The plan for the nuclear deployment was announced by Vladimir Putin in an interview with state television on March 25.
"The collective West is essentially waging an undeclared war against our countries," President Putin's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said at a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart in Minsk, according to Russia's defence ministry.
The West, Mr Shoigu said, was doing all it could "to prolong and escalate the armed conflict in Ukraine."
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said that tactical nuclear weapons were already on the move after he said Vladimir Putin had signed an order, though there was no confirmation of that from the Kremlin itself.
"The movement of the nuclear weapons has already begun," President Lukashenko told reporters. Asked if the weapons were already in Belarus, he said: "Possibly. When I get back I will check."
Mr Shoigu said the documents he was signing in Minsk concerned the process for storing tactical nuclear weapons in a special facility in Belarus.
President Putin has repeatedly warned that Russia, which has more nuclear weapons than any other country, will use all means to defend itself, and he has cast the Ukraine war as a battle for the survival of Russia against an aggressive West.
The United States and its allies say they want Ukraine to defeat Russian forces on the battlefield but deny that they want to destroy Russia - and deny that the Ukraine war is in any way linked to post-Soviet enlargement of NATO.
It is still unclear exactly when the Russian tactical nuclear weapons will be deployed in Belarus, which has borders with three NATO members - Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. Russia will remain in control of the weapons.
Tactical nuclear weapons are nuclear weapons used for specific tactical gains on the battlefield, and so are usually smaller in yield than the strategic nuclear weapons designed to destroy the biggest cities of the United States or Russia.
Russia has a huge numerical superiority over the United States and the NATO military alliance when it comes to tactical nuclear weapons: the United States believes Russia has around 2,000 such working tactical warheads.
The United States has around 200 such tactical nuclear weapons, half of which are at bases in Europe. These 12-ft B61 nuclear bombs, with different yields of 0.3 to 170 kilotons, are deployed at six air bases across Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Mr Shoigu said that Iskander-M missiles, which can carry conventional or nuclear warheads, had been handed to the Belarusian armed forces, and some Su-25 aircraft had been converted for the possible use of nuclear weapons.
"Belarusian servicemen have received the necessary training," Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by his ministry. He said the two countries could take further measures to ensure their security.
"NATO's military activities have become as aggressive as possible," Mr Shoigu said.
The United States has said the world faces the gravest nuclear danger since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis because of remarks by Vladimir Putin during the Ukraine conflict, but Moscow says its position has been misinterpreted.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, signed by the Soviet Union, says that no nuclear power can transfer nuclear weapons or technology to a non-nuclear power, but it does allow for the weapons to be deployed outside its borders but under its control.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan has appealed to the Supreme Court judges to take a stand amid the ongoing crisis in the country and save democracy saying you are the last hope, reports said.Fawad Chaudhry resigns: Pakistan's former Minister of Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, who is a close aide of Imran Khan today (May 24) resigned from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Taking to his Twitter handle, Fawad Chaudhry said he has decided to take break from politics and announced to part ways from Imran Khan.Having led the world's first cloning of camels in 2009, Nisar Wani is now replicating a few dozen a year at a Dubai lab - a big business in the Gulf region where camels are cherished and can earn huge sums in beauty and racing contests.
"We collect these eggs from the ovaries of slaughtered animals. We have to mature them in the lab for 24 hours before they reach the stage where we can use them for the cloning process," Mr Wani said.
Reproductive cloning of animals uses a process called somatic cell nuclear transfer. DNA is removed from a camel egg cell and replaced with DNA from a frozen body cell of a camel prized for some quality such as speed or beauty. The egg then develops into an embryo with no sperm needed.
Animal cloning is, however, time-consuming with low success rates.
"From a hundred embryos that we transfer, we can have five to ten pregnancies, and sometimes maybe three to six babies born," said Wani, originally a veterinarian who has a PhD in animal reproduction.
The Reproductive Biotechnology Centre in Dubai works to preserve the cells of and reproduce elite racing camels, beauty contest winners, milking camels and prized males, Wani said.
It also uses interspecies cloning technology to preserve threatened species.
It has cloned critically endangered, double-humped wild Bactrian camels using the eggs and surrogate mothers of single-humped camels, Mr Wani said.
"In cloning, we are not doing anything new. God has created all the material. God has created the cells, we are only helping the process," Wani said, adding it was one of a number of assisted reproductive technology techniques.
Most of the centre's work preserving elite traits is done through the more conventional multiple embryo transfer method.
A valued camel's ovary is stimulated to produce multiple eggs. After fertilisation with prized sperm, multiple embryos can be transferred to surrogate camels.
"This year for example we have 20 pregnancies from one good male and one good female," Wani said.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Meta Platforms Inc started carrying out the last batch of a three-part round of layoffs on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter, as part of a plan announced in March to eliminate 10,000 roles.
Meta in March became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after showing more than 11,000 employees the door in the fall. The cuts brought the company's headcount down to where it stood as of about mid-2021, following a hiring spree that doubled its workforce since 2020.
Some employees took to platforms such as LinkedIn on Wednesday to announce that they were laid off in a round that was expected to cut deeply into the ad sales, marketing and partnerships teams.
Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in March said that the bulk of the layoffs in the company's second round would take place in three "moments" over several months, largely finishing in May. Some smaller rounds could continue after that, he said.
Overall the cuts hit non-engineering roles most heavily, reinforcing the primacy of those who write the code at Meta. Zuckerberg pledged in March to restructure business teams "substantially" and return to a "more optimal ratio of engineers to other roles."
Even among cuts aimed specifically at technology teams, the company eliminated non-engineering roles like content design and user experience research most severely, according to executives speaking at a company town hall afterward.
About 4,000 employees lost their jobs in the April layoffs, Zuckerberg said during the town hall, following a smaller hit to recruiting teams in March.
Meta's layoffs followed months of waning revenue growth amid high inflation and a digital ad pullback from the pandemic e-commerce boom.
The company also has been pouring billions of dollars into its metaverse-oriented Reality Labs unit, which lost $13.7 billion in 2022, and a project to whip its infrastructure into shape to support artificial intelligence work.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Charlotte Von Schedvin met Indian artist PK Mahanandia in Delhi in 1975. Ms Schedvin travelled all the way from Sweden to India after she heard about Mr Mahanandia's art and decided to get her portrait made by him.
Dr Pradyumna Kumar Mahanandia had just started making a name for himself as an artist. He was a poor art student at the College of Art in Delhi.
As luck would have it, both of them fell in love with each other while Mr Mahanandia was making her portrait. He fell in love with her beauty and she fell in love with his simplicity.
By the time Ms Von Schedvin had to leave, the duo decided to get married. In an old interview with BBC, Mr Mahanandia said, "She wore a sari when she met my father for the first time. I still don't know how she managed. With blessings from my father and family, we got married according to tribal tradition."
As the time for her departure neared, she asked her husband to accompany her. However, Ms Mahanandia had to finish his studies first. She made him promise that he would follow her to her home in the Swedish textile town of Boras.
The two kept in touch through letters.
After one year, when he planned to visit Ms Von Schedvin, he realised he did not have enough money to buy an air ticket. He sold everything he owned and bought a bicycle.
During the course of the next four months, he crossed Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. His cycle broke down many times on the way and he even had to go on without food for days. But nothing could break his will.
He started his journey on January 22, 1977, and he would cycle for around 70 km every day.
"Art came to my rescue. I made portraits of people and some gave me money, while others gave me food and shelter," he told BBC.
He reached Europe on May 28- via Istanbul and Vienna, and then travelled to Gothenburg by train.
The two officially got married in Sweden.
"I had no idea about European culture. It was all new to me, but she supported me at every step. She is just a special person. I am still in love just as I was in 1975," he told BBC.
The couple now lives in Sweden with their two children and he continues to work as an artist.
PM Modi in Australia: PM Modi's three nations tour ended on Wednesday. On the third day of his visit, he held a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Sydney. The meeting was also attended by India's External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. According to sources, the leaders discussed trade and investment, including efforts to boost trade between the two countries through a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement and work to strengthen people-to-people links, renewable energy, and defence and security cooperation. Meanwhile, PM Modi also signed the visitors' book at the Admiralty House in Sydney.
Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been facing rearrest limbo, highlighted that the country has been facing a "weird trend"-- filing for divorce. However, he clarified that he was speaking about the mass resignation within his party. An Accenture Plc unit said on Wednesday it had secured an up to $2.6 billion deal with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for modernizing the government tax agency's systems.
Accenture Federal Services said it had been awarded the contract for seven years, adding that it will have to compete for future orders to support the IRS with creating new ways for taxpayers and professionals to interact with the agency.
Earlier this month, the IRS said it would launch a free, government-provided direct tax filing option next year, which could result in the launch of a full-scale IRS filing system on par with private tax prepapers such as TurboTax-parent Intuit Inc.
Intuit on Tuesday forecast current-quarter profit below estimates as it prepares to tackle competition by investing in its products.
"This is really not a threat at all," Intuit CEO Sasan Goodrazi said alluding to IRS' exploratory study that 72% of American taxpayers surveyed were "very interested in" or "somewhat interested in" using a government tool to electronically file their tax returns.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Royal Challengers Bangalore stalwart Virat Kohli penned a heartfelt post after the end of the team's IPL 2023 campaign and the comment on it from Shubman Gill was gold. After losing to Gujarat Titans in a must-win game on Sunday, RCB got eliminated from the playoff race of IPL 2023. A win would have taken RCB to the playoffs, but a loss to them helped Mumbai Indians join Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings and Lucknow Super Giants in the top-4 in points table at the end of league stage.
"A season which had it's moments but unfortunately we fell short of the goal. Disappointed but we must hold our heads high. To our loyal supporters, grateful for backing us every step of the way. A big thank you to the coaches, management and my teammates. We aim to be back stronger," wrote Kohli on Instagram
On this, Gill commented with a crown emoji, certainly describing Kohli as a king.
See it here:
Gill reaffirmed his status as Kohli's heir apparent with a magnificent hundred as GT knocked RCB out of IPL with a six-wicket win, allowing Rohit Sharma's MI to sneak through as the fourth team in the play-offs in Bengaluru on Sunday.
After Kohli scored a 61-ball 101 in RCB's 197 for five, it looked like the best effort on the day but Gill, who will be the torchbearer of Indian batting for the next 10 years, showed that he is better than the best. What Kohli did well, Gill did that better as his unbeaten 104 off 52 balls saw Titans chase down the target with elan. Like former India captain Kohli, this was Gill's second successive hundred.
(With PTI Inputs)
PM Modi in Australia LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Australia as part of the third and final leg of his three-nation visit after concluding his visit to Papua New Guinea. He was received by Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell and other officials upon his arrival in Sydney. Members of the Indian diaspora also welcomed PM Modi as they chanted slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram". During his visit, PM Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Later today, the Prime Ministers will also attend a community event in Sydney to celebrate Australia's dynamic and diverse Indian diaspora. The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday reaffirmed that Sri Lanka must achieve its debt restructuring process by September, which is also the time for the global lender's formal review of the bailout facility it extended to the cash-strapped nation.
On March 20, IMF extended a nearly $3 billion bailout facility to debt-ridden Sri Lanka that would help stabilise the country's economy after it was jolted by a devastating economic crisis last year.
In a statement issued on Tuesday at the end of a nearly two weeks staff visit to Colombo to assess the progress made by Sri Lanka since the agreement was reached, the IMF said the two sides had discussed the developments on debt restructuring.
"Sri Lanka must achieve debt restructuring by its first review due in September. We also discussed progress on debt restructuring, noting the ongoing discussions with both foreign and domestic creditors," the statement read.
Sri Lanka is still struggling to normalise its crisis-hit economy after it declared its first-ever debt default in April last year.
On Monday, Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka's debt restructuring programme will be completed by September and its bankrupt economy will be brought to a stable level. The IMF, however, wants to ensure that Sri Lanka fulfills its commitment.
"Achieving timely restructuring agreements with creditors in line with the programme targets by the time of the first review is essential to restoring debt sustainability".
During its two weeks of assessment, the IMF team was checking the progress made since the agreement was reached for the $3 billion bail-out facility over a period of four years.
They discussed recent macroeconomic and financial sector developments.
"Following strong policy efforts, the macroeconomic situation in Sri Lanka is showing tentative signs of improvement, with inflation moderating, the exchange rate stabilising, and the Central Bank rebuilding reserves buffers. However, the overall macroeconomic and policy environment remains challenging," the statement said.
"We welcome the authorities' ongoing efforts in meeting key commitments under the Fund-supported program. Performance under the program will be formally assessed in the context of the first review of the Extended Fund Facility arrangement, which is expected to be undertaken in September 2023," the statement further added.
According to official figures, Sri Lanka's total debt is $83.6 billion, of which foreign debt amounts to $42.6 billion and domestic debt amounts to $42 billion.
In April 2022, Sri Lanka declared its first-ever debt default, the worst economic crisis since its independence from Britain in 1948, triggered by forex shortages that sparked public protests.
Months-long street protests led to the ouster of the then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa in mid-July. Rajapaksa had started the IMF negotiations after refusing to tap the global lender for support.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A video is going viral on social media which shows a herd of escaped buffaloes wrecking a couple's new swimming pool- by taking a dip. The 18 buffaloes escaped from a nearby farm and took a morning dip into the Essex swimming pool, reported BBC.
The CCTV footage captured the moment the animals fell through the pool cover and caused damage of 25,000 pounds (Rs 25,00, 000).
Andy and Lynette Smith, who are retired told Guardian that eight of the buffaloes ended up falling into the 70,000 pounds pool and triggered a stampede that ruined the fencing and flower beds. The animals were rescued later and were unharmed.
It's hot but it's not that hot! Moment herd of escaped water #buffalo stampede through couple's garden and take dip in their swimming pool - causing £25,000 in damage to their Colchester #Essex home pic.twitter.com/uYM8kZpwgP
— Hans Solo (@thandojo) May 23, 2023
The incident happened last year in July when electric fencing failed, allowing the herd to breach a wooden fence and hedge separating their field from the Smiths' garden.
"When my wife went to make the morning tea, she glanced out of the kitchen window and saw eight buffaloes in the pool," Andy Smith told Guardian. "She called 999 and was told the fire brigade doesn't accept hoax calls. It took some persuading to get them to take us seriously. When they arrived, one of the buffaloes, spooked by their hi-vis jackets, headed straight at them."
A spokesperson from NFU Mutual Insurance said that the claim had been "settled and paid".
They said, "We apologise for the delay in paying this claim and in particular the initial wait for an inspector's visit, which took too long and fell short of our usual standards."
PM Modi in Australia LIVE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Australia as part of the third and final leg of his three-nation visit after concluding his visit to Papua New Guinea. He was received by Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell and other officials upon his arrival in Sydney. Members of the Indian diaspora also welcomed PM Modi as they chanted slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" and "Vande Mataram". During his visit, PM Modi will hold a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Later today, the Prime Ministers will also attend a community event in Sydney to celebrate Australia's dynamic and diverse Indian diaspora. The UK government on Tuesday announced a new immigration crackdown targeted at overseas students, including Indians, and their visa right to bring dependent family members to the country while enrolled at a British institution.
In a written statement to the House of Commons, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman said that only international students on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes will be allowed to bring in their family members, including children and elderly parents, as their dependents.
The Indian-origin minister said the new package of measures was necessary after it emerged that around 136,000 visas were granted to dependents of sponsored students in the year ending December 2022 - a more than eight-fold increase from 16,000 in 2019.
"This package includes removing the right for international students to bring dependants unless they are on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes," Braverman's statement notes.
Removing the ability for international students to switch out of the student route into work routes before their studies have been completed and reviewing the maintenance requirements for students and dependants are listed among the other new measures.
The minister also pledged steps to clamp down on unscrupulous education agents "who may be supporting inappropriate applications to sell immigration not education".
Improved and more targeted enforcement activity is also listed within the new package.
"The terms of the graduate route remain unchanged... We are committed to attracting the brightest and the best to the UK. Therefore, our intention is to work with universities over the course of the next year to design an alternative approach that ensures that the best and the brightest students can bring dependants to our world-leading universities while continuing to reduce net migration," she said.
The new curbs are expected to be enforced "as soon as possible", after consultation with the educational sector and key stakeholders.
The crackdown was widely expected as reports indicated that the UK's latest net migration figures to be released later this week will show a massive rise from 504,000 between June 2021 and 2022 despite a Conservative Party-led government pledge to bring down immigration in the wake of Brexit.
"While the vast majority of students will be unaffected by proposals that limit the ability to be accompanied by dependants, more information is needed on the programmes that are in scope before a proper assessment of the impact can be made," said Jamie Arrowsmith, Director of Universities UK International (UUKi) - the representative body for 140 UK universities.
"Yet we do know that any changes are likely to have a disproportionate impact on women and students from certain countries. We, therefore, urge the government to work with the sector to limit and monitor the impact on particular groups of students - and on universities, which are already under serious financial pressures," he said.
The UUKi welcomed confirmation that the new Graduate route visa, which allows students to stay on and seek work experience for up to three years at the end of their degree, will remain "open and competitive".
Indians, who recently overtook Chinese as the leading nationality granted study visas to the UK, are the highest cohort to access this visa launched in July 2021.
As per official data for 2020-21, there were 87,045 Indian first-year enrolments behind China's 99,965 and ahead of Nigeria's 32,945.
In terms of the number of dependants accompanying these students, Nigerians rank the highest followed by Indians.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met separately with Governor-General Bob Dadae of Papua New Guinea and his counterpart in Papua New Guinea, James Marape, and stressed the importance of strengthening the partnership between the two nations across a variety of sectors on Monday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi met separately with Governor-General Bob Dadae of Papua New Guinea and his counterpart in Papua New Guinea, James Marape, and stressed the importance of strengthening the partnership between the two nations across a variety of sectors on Monday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi met separately with Governor-General Bob Dadae of Papua New Guinea and his counterpart in Papua New Guinea, James Marape, and stressed the importance of strengthening the partnership between the two nations across a variety of sectors on Monday.
US President Joe Biden, who was in Japan's Hiroshima for the Group of Seven (G7) Summit, looked irritated when a reporter interrupted while he was taking questions from another reporter. He was so irked that he asked the reporter to "shut his mouth".A fake image of an explosion at the Pentagon briefly went viral and caused a ten-minute long dip on the markets on Monday, stoking further talk that generative AI could cause problems to society.
The image, which many observers suspected came from artificial intelligence, was spread by several accounts, forcing the Pentagon to comment that there was no such explosion.
A LOT OF PEOPLE POSTING ABOUT AN “ EXPLOSION NEAR THE PENTAGON”
— GURGAVIN (@gurgavin) May 22, 2023
THIS IS CLEARLY AN AI GENERATED PICTURE COME ON PEOPLE DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU SEE pic.twitter.com/VShvtEE4sK
"We can confirm this was a false report and the Pentagon was not attacked today," a spokesman said.
The Arlington, Virginia fire department also reacted, posting on social media that there was no explosion or incident taking place at or near the Pentagon.
The incident followed other occurrences of fake imagery that also created buzz recently on the internet, including of former US president Donald Trump getting arrested and Pope Francis in a puffer jacket.
The earliest tweet found by AFP sharing the Pentagon image came from a QAnon-promoting account that has previously shared disinformation, though the original source of the image was not known.
Emerging generative AI technologies make it easier for non-specialists to create convincing images in just a few moments, instead of needing the expertise to use programs such as Photoshop.
The shared image caused the markets to be knocked for a few minutes, with the S&P 500 stumbling by 0.29 percent compared to its Friday close before recovering.
"There was a dip likely related to this fake news as the (trading) machines picked up on it, but I would submit that the scope of the decline did not match the seemingly bad nature of the fake news," said Pat O'Hare of Briefing.com.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Veteran actress Zeenat Aman, who likes to keep it real on Instagram, is often found sharing anecdotal tales from her days in cinema, personal relations and all things good. On Monday, the actress did nothing different. Posting a still of Amitabh Bachchan and herself from their 1980s film Laawaris, the actress shed some light on the "long working relationship" she harboured with the superstar. Celebrating 42 years of her film Laawaris, Zeenat Aman recalled shooting for a song from the film, kab ke bichhde hue hum aaj with her co-star Amitabh Bachchan, with whom she shared a similar "work ethic."
Zeenat Aman in an eloquent post wrote, "Laawaris was released 42 years ago on this day on 22nd May 1981.An old school Masala blockbuster, it's the story of a man born from an illicit relationship, and includes themes of love, betrayal, murder and reconciliation. This still is from the song “kab ke bichhde hue hum aaj”. I had been visiting a friend in London, and flew directly to Kashmir to make it in time for this shoot. Director Prakash Mehra had been keeping unwell, but his excellent team of assistants stepped up to the plate. We shot the song over two-three days in some of the most stunning locations I have ever been to. Jumpsuits were all the rage back then, and this purple set was just fabulous! ( and the reason I chose this picture.)"
Talking about the equation she shared with Amitabh Bachchan, the actress continued, "Amit ji and I have had such a long working relationship, and I think part of the reason that we made a good onscreen jodi is our shared work ethic. We were both punctilious and punctual, which anyone in the industry will agree is not quite as common amongst actors as they'd like! I only ever recall him being late to set once in all those years, and boy is that a story to tell."
Undoubtedly, the post caught the attention of many celebs, who hailed the veteran actress for treating her followers with such wholesome posts. Actress Chitrangada wrote, "It's just so rare to find someone so gracious so articulate so stunning .. n so inspiring ! So much love."
For the unversed, Zeenat Aman and Amitabh Bachchan have starred together in some iconic films like Don, Gol Mall, Dostana, The Great Gambler and Pukar, to name a few.
Take a look at the post here:
Earlier, in another beautifully written note, the veteran actor bared her soul to the world and talked about the tumultuous relationship she shared with actor and "Starmaker" Dev Anand. She began the post by referring to the "golden trio" of Dev saab, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor, who she said were the brains behind shaping Hindi cinema.
"When I embarked on my cinematic career, It was the age of the Golden Trio. The genius of Dev saab, Dilip Kumar and Raj Kapoor was widely acknowledged, and any actor worth their salt recognized that these three giants had shaped and were shaping Hindi cinema. Dev saab had already launched my career, and I was now keen to broaden my portfolio. Over the next few years, I starred in a string of movies, both with and without him," the 71-year-old actor noted.
Expressing her wish to be cast under the RK Banner, Zeenat Aman continued, "Meanwhile Raj ji's 1973 release Bobby had been a blockbuster hit that had swept every award. We knew each other socially too, exchanging warm greetings at public events. He was also my costar in Vakil Babu and Gopichand Jasoos. Naturally, I wanted to be directed by him under the RK banner, and when the opportunity arose, I jumped at it. The story of how I landed SSS is well-known, so I won't repeat it. I was giddy to have been cast for Raj ji's unconventional project and put heart and soul into it. I was completely unaware that Dev saab was simultaneously misreading the situation."
Talking about the "great misunderstanding" between Dev Anand and herself, the Satyam Shivam Sundaram star revealed details about the episode that left her feeling, "humiliated, hurt and disconcerted".
She wrote, Years later, in 2007, ‘Romancing with Life', Dev Saab's autobiography hit the stands. In it, he professed that he was in love with me, and insinuated that Raj ji and I had more than a director-actor equation which broke his heart. To be honest, I was livid. I felt humiliated, hurt and disconcerted that Dev saab, my much older mentor, a person I loved and admired platonically, would not only believe such a story devoid of a shred of truth but would then go on to publish it for the world to read. For weeks my phone rang incessantly as friends inquired about “what happened” and shared excerpts from the book. I never did read it though, and in my anger, I consigned the copy I was sent to storage in the basement!"
Concluding the post, Zeenat Aman wrote, "So here it is - the great misunderstanding. This episode embarrassed me deeply. For years I felt unable to talk about it to set the record straight. But now, time has granted me perspective and peace. Human folly is an eternal truth, and we all fall victim at one point or another. I will always remember Dev saab for his rare talent and warm guidance. He has my earnest gratitude and I do not tolerate disrespect to his name."
Take a look at the post here:
Zeenat Aman rose to fame with her work in films such as Don, Satyam Shivam Sundaram and Hare Rama Hare Krishna.