How Biden reacted to US SC order to ban race-based admissions | Impacts on education system- DETAILS

US President Joe Biden on Thursday expressed a strong reservation on Supreme Court's decision to strike down race(Minority)-based admission programs. 

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Brazil's Ex-President Bolsonaro Barred From Office Until 2030

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro's political career was in tatters on Friday as Brazil's federal electoral court (TSE) barred the far-right nationalist from public office until 2030 for his conduct during last year's fraught election.

Five out of seven justices voted to convict the 68-year-old Bolsonaro for abuse of power and misuse of the media when, in July, before the 2022 election, he summoned ambassadors to vent unfounded claims about Brazil's electronic voting system.

Their decision marks a stunning reversal for Mr Bolsonaro, a fiery former army captain who narrowly lost October's election to leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Many in Brazil blame him for creating a nationwide movement to overturn the result, which culminated in the Jan. 8 invasion of government buildings in Brasilia by thousands of his supporters.

Jair Bolsonaro has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have pledged to appeal to the Supreme Court. On Friday, he described the decision as a "stab in the back," and pledged to keep working to advance right-wing politics in Brazil.

It remains to be seen what Mr Bolsonaro, whose personal brand has become increasingly toxic in Brazil, does next.

His hopes of beating Lula in the 2026 presidential election may be over, but that doesn't mean there won't be a Bolsonaro running in three years' time. Jair Bolsonaro has said he would support his wife, Michelle, as candidate.

An avowed admirer of former US President Donald Trump, Bolsonaro was criticized internationally for his lackluster stewardship of the Amazon rainforest, his laissez-faire approach to COVID-19 restrictions, and his evidence-free attacks on Brazil's electoral system.

The TSE trial is part of a broader reckoning in Brazil with the fallout from the country's most painful election in a generation. While the former president faced the electoral court scrutiny, many of his one-time allies are being questioned by lawmakers in a congressional probe into the Jan. 8 riots.

The TSE ruling is also not the end of Bolsonaro's troubles. He separately faces multiple criminal investigations that could still put him behind bars.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Myanmar: Military fighter jets airstrike on Nyaung Kone village kill 10 civilians several injured

In yet another incident of airstrikes, the Myanmar junta killed at least ten civilians and injured more than 8 people after military fighter jets dropped multiple bombs on Nyaung Kone village in the northern Sagaing region. According to local media reports, the incident happened on Tuesday afternoon.

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Major slip of tongue! Biden calls Ukraine 'Iraq' mentions 'China' instead of India on PM Modi's visit | VIDEO

Biden verbal slips: US President Joe Biden, in another case of his verbal slip-ups, accidentally said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin was clearly losing the war in "Iraq" instead of Ukraine, less than 24 hours after he said "China" instead of "India" while referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Sweden: Burning of Quran on Eid al-Adha triggers fresh tensions; Turkey warns to reject Sweden's NATO bid

The tension between Sweden and Turkey soared multiple folds after another Quran-burning incident was reported in Stockholm on Wednesday afternoon. According to multiple media reports, the protestors "teared up the Quran and burned it" on the first day of the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha. The latest move by Swedish protestors has further escalated speculations about whether Ankara would support Sweden's bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

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Biden "Strongly" Disagrees With Court Banning Reservation In Admissions

President Joe Biden on Thursday said he "strongly" disagreed with the US Supreme Court's ruling banning the use of race and ethnicity in university admission policies, which came as a major blow to a decades-old practice that boosted educational opportunities for African-Americans and other minorities.

The ruling "walked away from decades of precedent," he said, adding universities "should not abandon their commitment" to create diverse student bodies.

"Discrimination still exists in America," said Biden. "Today's decision does not change that. It's a simple fact that if a student has had to overcome adversity on their path to education, colleges should recognize and value that."

"I believe our colleges are stronger when they are racially diverse... We cannot let this decision be the last word."

Asked by reporters if Thursday's decision by the conservative-dominated panel -- which also voted last year to overturn a nationwide right to abortion -- showed it was a rogue court, Biden took a lengthy pause before finally saying that "this is not a normal court.

One year after overturning the guarantee of a woman's right to have an abortion, the court's conservative majority again demonstrated its readiness to scrap liberal policies set in law since the 1960s.

The justices broke six to three along conservative-liberal lines in the decision, which came after years of ring-wing antipathy to "affirmative action" programs that have sought diversity in school admissions and business and government hiring.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that while affirmative action was "well-intentioned and implemented in good faith," it cannot last forever, and amounted to unconstitutional discrimination against others.

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Canadian wildfire causing the worst air quality in US cities like Michigan Detroit Wisconsin

Drifting smoke from the ongoing wildfires across Canada is creating curtains of haze and raising air quality concerns throughout the Great Lakes region and in parts of the central and eastern United States. The Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov site showed parts of Illinois, lower Michigan and southern Wisconsin had the worst air quality in the US on Tuesday afternoon, and Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee had air quality categorized as “very unhealthy.” In Minnesota, a record 23rd air quality alert was issued Tuesday through late Wednesday night across much of the state, as smoky skies obscure the skylines of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Michigan’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy issued an air quality alert for the entire state. Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources also issued an air quality advisory for the state.

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China's threat to Taiwan greater than what is apparent warns Taiwanese Foreign Minister

According to Taiwanese Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu, China's threat to Taiwan is significantly greater than what is apparent, and any attempt by Beijing to forcefully alter the status quo will have severe global consequences, including an impact on semiconductor supply.

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Huge 91-Metre-Wide Asteroid Heading Towards Earth Warns NASA

A "potentially hazardous" asteroid, roughly the same length as the London Eye, is set to skim past Earth on Wednesday, according to a report by The Independent.

NASA is tracking the movement of the huge rock, named 2013 WV44, which measures 160 metres in diameter. The US space agency's Centre for Near-Earth Object Studies said that the asteroid will pass within 3.3 million kilometres of Earth, which is quite close in terms of celestial objects but poses no threat to Earth.

The space agency first discovered the asteroid in 2013 and a team of astronomers said that it travels at 11.8 km per second roughly 34 times the speed of sound.

According to The Independent, the asteroid will make its closest approach to Earth at 9 am BST on June 28 (1.30 pm IST).

Last month, NASA warned about a bus-sized asteroid that was expected to make its closest approach to Earth.

According to NASA's Asteroid Watch page, the 39-foot bus-sized Asteroid 2023 JL1 will pass by Earth at a distance of 2,490,000 kilometres. It is travelling at a speed of 26,316 kilometres per hour.

Notably, NASA's dashboard tracks asteroids and comets that will make relatively close approaches to Earth. The dashboard displays the date of the closest approach, approximate object diameter, relative size and distance from Earth for each encounter. It tracks asteroids that are within 7.5 million kilometres of Earth.

Some 30,000 asteroids of all sizes -- including more than 850 larger than a kilometre wide -- have been catalogued in the vicinity of the Earth, earning them the label "Near Earth Objects" (NEOs). None of them threatens the Earth for the next 100 years.

According to NASA, asteroids are left over from the formation of our solar system. Our solar system began about 4.6 billion years ago when a big cloud of gas and dust collapsed. When this happened, most of the material fell to the centre of the cloud and formed the sun. Some of the condensing dust in the cloud became planets.

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Texas airport worker dies after being 'sucked' into Delta plane engine | DETAILS

Texas: In a shocking accident, an airport worker lost his life after being "ingested" into a passenger plane engine in the US State of Texas. The accident occurred at about 10.25 pm (local time) on Friday at San Antonio International Airport in Texas when a Delta Air Lines flight was taxiing to an arrival gate. At the moment, one engine was running and the employee, who has not been named, was "ingested" into the engine, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said. 

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Japan-Backed Fund Offers $6.2 Billion To Buy This Chip Manufacturing Firm

A fund backed by Japan's government has offered to buy out JSR Corp., a firm central to the manufacture of semiconductors, in a deal worth $6.2 billion, the company said Monday.

JSR said in a statement its board was in favour of the deal, which would privatise a company that is a key producer of compounds vital to the manufacture of semiconductors.

Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), the fund behind the deal, hopes to finalise it by December, but there are regulatory procedures that make a precise timeline hard to predict, JSR said.

"This is truly an exciting day for JSR," company CEO Eric Johnson told reporters after the announcement.

"With JIC, we aim to be a catalyst for reform in the semiconductor materials space, as well as to improve the biopharmaceutical capabilities" both domestically and globally, he said.

The deal, he added, would "enable acceleration and reform" in the chip sector.

JIC is an investment fund founded in 2018, with the government as the majority investor, along with smaller private-sector partners.

The 0.9 trillion yen offer comes as Tokyo, along with many governments, tries to stabilise supply chains for the chips that are central to the modern economy.

The tiny slices of silicon are found in all types of electronics -- from LED lightbulbs and washing machines to cars and smartphones.

They are also critical to core services such as healthcare, law and order and utilities.

Globally, semiconductors are forecast to become a $1-trillion industry by 2030.

But pandemic disruption and tensions with China have raised concerns globally about the risks in existing chip supply chains.

Countries from France to Israel have been looking for ways to incentivise chip-making at home, or take greater control of production.

In April, the European parliament and EU states agreed a plan to boost local chip production and build a global market share in the key industry.

And in May, Micron said it would invest $3.6 billion to produce next-generation semiconductors in Japan after the country's prime minister met with some of the world's biggest chipmakers.

Japan has already agreed to pour half a billion dollars into a new project to develop and make next-gen chips domestically.

That deal involves eight major companies, including Sony, SoftBank and Toyota, who are partnering in a new firm called Rapidus that hopes to begin mass production by 2027.

TSMC and Sony have also inked their own partnership for a $7 billion plant in Japan.

JSR is a market leader in the manufacture of materials including photoresists for circuit formation, which are central to producing semiconductors.

It controls around 30 percent of the global market for photoresists, according to Bloomberg, and along with two other Japanese firms almost completely dominates production of two other key ingredients used to make displays and chips.

Rumours of the possible acquisition deal had been circulating for days, and JSR stock closed up 21.64 percent to 3,934 yen ahead of the company's announcement.

Travis Lundy, an analyst at Quiddity Advisors who publishes on SmartKarma, said the JIC offer made sense "given Japanese government's efforts to grow the semiconductor industry".

"JIC is starting here. It would surprise me quite a bit if that is where they stopped," he added in a note published when rumours of the deal first emerged.

Chips have also emerged as a key source of tension between Washington and Beijing, with the United States leaning on Japan and the Netherlands this year to curb exports of semiconductor technology.

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Modi in Egypt: Glimpses from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's State Visit to Egypt I LIVE

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Egypt on Saturday for a two-day state visit during which he will hold talks with the Egyptian leadership, including President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, as the two nations seek to enhance their strategic partnership. Modi is visiting Egypt at the invitation of Egyptian President El-Sisi. This is the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Egypt in 26 years. In a special gesture, Modi was welcomed at the airport here by Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly with a warm embrace. He was accorded a ceremonial welcome and a Guard of Honour upon his arrival. Currently, Modi is visiting the 11th Century Al-Hakim mosque, which was renovated with assistance from the Dawoodi Bohra community.

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Hong Kong flight taxiing on runway at 285km/h when pilot applied emergency brakes I What happened NEXT?

A major tragedy was averted on Saturday after a flight applied emergency brakes at nearly 300km/hr- moments before takeoff at Hong Kong International Airport, resulting in the bursting of tyres. According to a report by South China Morning Post, a Cathay Pacific Airways flight narrowly averted disaster when the brakes were applied as the aircraft hurtled down the runway for take-off. The report claimed at least 12 of the flight tyres were damaged and flames licking the wheels.

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Pak Law In The Making That May Pave Way For Nawaz Sharif's Return

Pakistan's National Assembly on Sunday passed a bill to limit the lifetime disqualification of lawmakers to five years, possibly paving the way for the return of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from London to resume active politics ahead of general elections this year.

Mr Sharif, 73, was disqualified for life in 2017 by the Supreme Court and later convicted in corruption cases by the accountability courts.

In 2018, the three-time former premier became ineligible to hold public office for life after a Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case.

The Elections (Amendment) Bill 2023 apart from reducing the period of disqualification also aims to empower the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to announce election dates unilaterally without having to consult the president.

On the time period of disqualification for lawmakers, the bill included an amendment to Section 232 (Disqualification on account of offences) of the Election Act, 2017.

The bill was already approved by the Senate on June 16.

The amendments also empower the ECP to announce election dates unilaterally without having to consult the president. To become a law, the bill should be endorsed by the president.

With Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-backed President Arif Alvi out of the country to perform Hajj, Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani has taken charge as the acting president and possibly he would endorse the bill without wasting any time, reported Geo News.

It is believed that after becoming the law, the lifelong disqualification of Mr Sharif would end, paving the way for his return to the country and rejoin active politics ahead of general elections, likely in October.

But before joining active politics, Mr Sharif would still need to get decisions of two anti-corruption cases against him overturned.

Nawaz Sharif, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader, has been living in self-exile in the United Kingdom since November 2019.

Before his departure to London on a four-wheel bail by the Lahore High Court on medical grounds, Mr Sharif was serving a seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case.

The PML-N says its supreme leader will return to Pakistan once the date of the general elections is announced.

Elections in the country are due in October as the tenure of the incumbent government ends on August 13.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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US prosecutes Chinese companies employees for trafficking ingredients for 'deadly' fentanyl painkiller

In another significant challenge to China, the Justice Department of the United States on Friday launched criminal charges against four Chinese companies and eight persons for allegedly trafficking chemicals needed to create fentanyl, an addictive painkiller, in the US and Mexico.

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"Putin Probably Hiding Somewhere" Says Zelensky Amid Mutiny In Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that Russia's Vladimir Putin is likely "very scared" and hiding someplace as rebel mercenaries advance on Moscow.

"The man from the Kremlin is obviously very scared and is probably hiding somewhere," Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation, adding that Putin has "created this threat himself."

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Pakistan Court Acquits Former PM Nawaz Sharif In 37-Year-Old 'Bribe' Case

A Pakistani court on Saturday acquitted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in a 37-year-old case related to him allegedly transferring a "precious state land" to one of the country's leading media house owners as a "bribe".

The court ruling came days after the federal government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, made crucial amendments to laws to lift the life-long ban on politicians.

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in 2017 by the Supreme Court. In 2018, he became ineligible to hold public office for life after a Supreme Court verdict in the Panama Papers case.

"An Accountability Court in Lahore acquitted three-time premier Nawaz Sharif in a case related to the illegal transfer of 54 kanals (6.75 acres) of precious state land to Jang/Geo media group owner Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman in Lahore while he was the chief minister of Punjab 37 years ago," a court official told PTI.

"Judge Rao Abdul Jabbar acquitted him after the country's anti-graft body (National Accountability Bureau) informed the court that after recent amendments to its law (by the Shehbaz Sharif-led coalition government), the case does not fall in its preview," the official said.

The court has already acquitted Mir Shakil-ur-Rehman in this case.

NAB's earlier charge sheet accused Nawaz Sharif, who was also the chairman of Lahore Development (LDA) in 1986, of misusing his authority and rendering undue benefit to Rehman by approving the exemption of 54 precious plots measuring one kanal each in a single block (compact form) situated at canal bank H-Block of M A Jauhar Town, Lahore.

Nawaz Sharif, the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader, has been living in self-exile in the United Kingdom since November 2019.

Before his departure to London on a four-wheel bail granted by the Lahore High Court on medical grounds, Sharif was serving a seven-year jail term in the Al-Azizia Mills corruption case.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief and ousted prime minister Imran Khan alleged that former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa had manoeuvred Sharif's ouster from jail and later struck a deal with him.

The PML-N says its supreme leader will return to Pakistan once the date of the general elections is announced.

Elections in the country are due in October after the tenure of the incumbent government ends on August 13.

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PM Modi US Visit: Ambani to Mahindra to Pichai - guests who attended State Dinner | WATCH

PM Modi US Visit: US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden on Thursday hosted the State Dinner for Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House. Around 400 guests attended the State Dinner with much zeal at a specially decorated pavilion on the South Lawn. Big names in the tech world, film and fashion industry, as well as billionaire industrialists, joined the historic gathering here. The menu included marinated millets, stuffed mushrooms, grilled corn kernel salad and cardamom-infused strawberry shortcake. The menu was prepared taking note of the dietary restrictions of the visiting prime minister. 

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Amid PM Modi's US visit Biden administration plans to ease visas for skilled Indian workers

Amid PM Modi's historic visit to the United States, the Biden administration has proposed to make it easier for Indians with H-1B visas to live and work in the country, Reuters reported. 

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'I am a fan of Modi he is an excellent Prime Minister': Tesla CEO Elon Musk hails India's progress I WATCH

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (local time), has lauded India's progress under the current administration and said he "really cares about India because he is pursuing us to make a significant investment in India. "I am a fan of Modi," he said. During his meeting with the Indian PM, he discussed about series of futuristic products including Starlink and his space program-- SpaceX. "India is great for solar energy investment, Musk added, describing his talks with the prime minister as excellent.

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy enjoys 'barfi' made by UK PM Rishi Sunaks mother | WATCH

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shared some 'barfi' (Indian sweet) made by his mother with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street recently. Sunak shared the video on his Instagram hours before his latest phone call with the Ukrainian president on Monday. The video is going viral on the internet.

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Missing Titanic Sub With 5 Onboard Has About 40 Hours Of Oxygen Left

Rescue teams raced against time Tuesday to find a deep-diving tourist submersible that went missing near the wreck of the Titanic with five people on board and an estimated 40 hours of oxygen left.

All communication was lost with the 21-foot (6.5-meter) Titan craft during a descent Sunday to the Titanic, which sits more than two miles (nearly four kilometers) below the surface of the North Atlantic.

The submersible was carrying three fee-paying passengers -- British billionaire Hamish Harding, and Pakistani tycoon Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman.

The US and Canadian Coast Guards have deployed ships and planes in an intensive search for the vessel, which was attempting to dive near the wreck of the Titanic some 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada.

Coast Guard Captain Jamie Frederick told reporters that the rescue efforts over an area of 7,600 square miles, larger than the US state of Connecticut, "have not yielded any results."

"There's about 40 hours of breathable air left based on that initial report," he said referring to the sub's capacity to hold up to 96 hours of oxygen.

A P-3 plane from Canada has dropped sonar buoys in the area of the Titanic wreckage to listen for any sound from the small sub.

The search, initially restricted to the ocean's surface, was expanded under water on Tuesday.

France's oceanographic institute said it was sending a deep-sea underwater robot to aid efforts.

In an Instagram message posted just before the dive, Harding said a mission window had opened after days of bad weather. Among the crew he named was Paul-Henry Nargeolet, a veteran diver and expert on the Titanic wreck.

Unconfirmed reports said the fifth person on board was Stockton Rush, the CEO of OceanGate Expeditions which operates the tourist dives.

The Titan lost contact with the surface less than two hours into its descent, according to authorities.

"We are exploring and mobilizing all options to bring the crew back safely. Our entire focus is on the crewmembers in the submersible and their families," OceanGate said in a statement.

Mike Reiss, an American television writer who visited the Titanic wreck on the same sub last year, told the BBC the experience was disorientating. The pressure at that depth as measured in atmospheres is 400 times what it is at sea level.

"The compass immediately stopped working and was just spinning around and so we had to flail around blindly at the bottom of the ocean, knowing the Titanic was somewhere there," Reiss said.

- 'Legendary explorers' -

He told the BBC that everyone was aware of the dangers. "You sign a waiver before you get on and it mentions death three different times on page one"

OceanGate Expeditions charges $250,000 for a seat on the Titan.

Harding, a 58-year-old aviator, space tourist and chairman of Action Aviation, is no stranger to daredevil antics and has three Guinness world records to his name. 

A year ago, he became a space tourist through Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin company.

In his Instagram post, Harding said how proud he was to be part of the latest mission.

"Due to the worst winter in Newfoundland in 40 years, this mission is likely to be the first and only manned mission to the Titanic in 2023," he wrote.

"The team on the sub has a couple of legendary explorers, some of which have done over 30 dives to the RMS Titanic since the 1980s including PH Nargeolet," the post added.

Shahzada and Suleman Dawood hail from one of Pakistan's richest families that runs an investment and holding company headquartered in Karachi.

Shahzada is the vice chairman of the subsidiary company Engro, which has an array of investments in energy, agriculture, petrochemicals and telecommunications.

- 'Clock is ticking' -

The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank in 1912 during its maiden voyage from England to New York with 2,224 passengers and crew on board. More than 1,500 people died.

It was found in 1985 and remains a lure for nautical experts and underwater tourists.

Without having studied the lost craft itself, Alistair Greig, professor of marine engineering at University College London, suggested two possible scenarios based on images of the Titan published by the press.

He said if it had an electrical or communications problem, it could have surfaced and remained floating, "waiting to be found" -- bearing in mind the vessel can reportedly be unlocked from the outside only.

"Another scenario is the pressure hull was compromised -- a leak," he said in a statement. "Then the prognosis is not good."

There are few vessels able to go to the depth to which the Titan might have traveled.

"The clock is ticking... going undersea is as, if not more, challenging than going into space from an engineering perspective," said University of Adelaide associate professor Eric Fusil in a statement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Nepal: 2 dead 26 injured in flash floods and landslides

Nepal: Two people have died while 26 others are missing as monsoon-triggered floods and landslides wreaked havoc in Nepal, officials said on Sunday. 

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Delivery Rider in China Jumps Off High Bridge To Save Drowning Woman

A food delivery rider in China is being hailed as a hero after he jumped 12 metres off a bridge to save a drowning woman, South China Morning Post reported. The incident happened on June 13, when Peng Qinglin spotted the woman struggling in the Qiantang River while delivering food to a customer.

In the videos that have surfaced on Chinese social media websites, the 31-year-old man can be seen climbing over the railings of the 12-meter-high bridge and jumping in the water, in an attempt to rescue the woman. He swam towards the woman and brought her to a mounted ladder nearby. 

Soon after, police and lifeboats arrived on the scene and completed the rescue within 10 minutes. The woman survived the ordeal and is currently in the hospital for observation.

In an interview with China Blue News, Mr. Qinglin said he was initially afraid due to the bridge's height, but eventually decided to jump into the water.

''It was quite high, and my legs were trembling. However, if I didn't jump, she might not have survived. Nothing is more precious than life,” he told China Blue News in an interview after the incident.

A police officer who was at the scene said that the first words Mr. Qinglin uttered after he returned to dry land were ''My delivery is going to be late'', Straits Times reported. Fearing fines for the delays, he quickly finished his deliveries. Thankfully, the company he worked for understood the situation and did not hold him responsible for the time lost.

Meanwhile, the video of the incident has gone viral, with people hailing Mr. Qinglin 's quick thinking and bravery.

Hangzhou police authorities awarded him the ''Good Samaritan'' title and a cash prize of 30,000 yuan (Rs 3,43,180) for his bravery. His company also presented him with a cash award of 50,000 yuan (RS 5,71,826) and the opportunity to study in college for free.

''I'm just a delivery guy like many others. If I meet someone in danger, I will definitely lend a helping hand,'' he said.

Meanwhile, the woman he saved is in good condition and expressed deep gratitude to him. She revealed that she wanted to drown herself because "life's stresses were too overwhelming." 

However, Mr. Qinglin paid a physical price for his bravery as he suffered compression fractures when he hit the surface of the water.

No surgery was required but doctors have advised him to be hospitalised for seven to 10 days.

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US Secretary Antony Blinken arrives in Beijing; what's the agenda on his high-stakes visit

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reached Beijing early Sunday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to give momentum to efforts to improve the ties between the two superpowers which often remain at loggerheads over several issues. He is the highest-level American official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office and the first secretary of state to make the trip in five years. All eyes will be on Blinken during his two days of talks with senior Chinese officials whether he will get success to cool off ongoing tension between the US and China.

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Japan raises age of sexual consent from 13 to 16 | Know about other countries around the world

Amid calls for greater protection of children and women, Japan’s Parliament on Friday raised the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16 after unanimous support in the upper House. Japan's age of consent for sex was among the lowest in the world. The age of consent for sex is different in different countries. India has set 18 as the age of consent, whereas it is 16 in Britain and 14 in Germany and China.

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Plane Leaves Yemen Capital For Saudi First Since 2016

The first commercial flight from Yemen's rebel-held capital to Saudi Arabia since 2016 took off carrying hajj pilgrims on Saturday, in the latest sign of easing tensions after years of war.

A Yemenia Airways plane carrying 277 travellers departed at around 8 pm (1700 GMT), an official told AFP, seven years after Sanaa's international airport was blockaded by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

"Hopefully, the blockade will end and the airport will remain open. We are very happy and relieved, and I cannot describe the feeling," said Mohammad Askar, one of the travellers.

The flight is the first since Sanaa's airport was closed by the coalition blockade in August 2016, more than a year into the Saudi-led military campaign to dislodge the Huthis.

Air traffic was largely halted by the blockade, but there have been exemptions for aid flights that are a lifeline for the population.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in the fighting in Yemen or from indirect causes such as lack of food or water, in what the United Nations calls one of the world's biggest humanitarian crises.

But despite coalition bombing raids and ground clashes, the Huthis, who seized control of Sanaa in 2014, ousting the internationally recognised government, rule over large swathes of the country.

Two more flights will depart on Monday and Tuesday, officials said. The Huthis' Works Minister Ghaleb Mutlaq said about 200 flights would be needed to accommodate the 24,000 people that he said wanted to travel.

"We consider what is happening today as a good gesture, so that airports, especially Sanaa airport, will be opened to Yemeni travellers," Najeeb Al-Aji, the Huthis' minister of guidance, hajj and umrah, told journalists.

'Uptick in rhetoric'

Fighting in Yemen sharply declined after a UN-brokered truce came into effect in April last year, and full-scale hostilities did not resume even when the ceasefire lapsed in October.

Among the terms of the truce was a resumption in international flights from Sanaa. The first commercial flight in six years took off for Jordan's capital Amman in May last year.

Peace efforts have accelerated since March when Saudi Arabia, seeking to calm the region as it tries to revamp its oil-reliant economy and attract investment, announced a surprise rapprochement with its powerful rival Iran, seven years after they broke off ties.

After Iran reopened its embassy in Riyadh earlier this month, on Saturday Saudi Arabia's foreign minister visited Tehran, where he held talks with his opposite number.

A Saudi delegation flew to Sanaa in April, the same week as a major prisoner swap that freed nearly 900 detainees in a confidence-building measure.

However, the Saudi and Huthi negotiators failed to agree on a new truce and later Saudi ambassador Mohammed al-Jaber, while stressing both sides were "serious" about the process, told AFP that the next steps were unclear.

"We are all aware that the road to peace is going to be long and difficult," UN special envoy Hans Grundberg said at a forum in The Hague this week, noting "an uptick in public rhetoric threatening large-scale escalation".

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Twitter is being evicted from its office | Here is WHY

New Delhi: A big blow to Twitter, as the micro-blogging platform is being evicted from its Colorado office. According to a report by Denver Business Journal, a US court has ordered Elon Musk-run Twitter to leave an office building for non-payment of rent.

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Boris Johnson In New Trouble Over Newspaper Column

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson was unveiled Friday as the Daily Mail's star new columnist -- but attracted an immediate rebuke from a government watchdog to cap a tumultuous 48 hours.

A day after Johnson was given a blistering verdict by a committee of MPs investigating his "Partygate" denials, the right-leaning newspaper announced he would be writing a weekly column on Saturdays.

In a video posted by the Mail, former journalist Johnson said he was "thrilled" to contribute to "those illustrious pages", vowing to deliver "completely unexpurgated stuff".

The anti-immigrant, anti-woke, Brexit-supporting Mail has long been one of Johnson and the Conservative party's most vocal and uncritical backers.

Johnson joked that he would cover politics only when "I absolutely have to" -- but he now has a high-profile platform to pursue his vendetta against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak if he chooses.

However, the ever-controversial Johnson was upbraided for failing to respect the rules governing outside appointments for former ministers.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) is meant to vet all such appointments in the two years after a politician leaves high office.

But Johnson only informed ACOBA half an hour before the Daily Mail posted its announcement on social media, a spokeswoman for the committee said.

That amounted to a "clear breach" of the rules, she said.

"We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency."

However, ACOBA cannot force a politician to go back on an appointment, and Johnson's habitual disregard for the rules was laid bare in Thursday's report by the House of Commons privileges committee.

He had already resigned as an MP after being sent a preview of the report, which found that he deliberately misled parliament when denying any knowledge of lockdown-breaking parties in 10 Downing Street.

The House of Commons can no longer vote on the committee's recommendation to suspend Johnson, given his pre-emptive resignation.

But it is due to vote on Monday -- Johnson's 59th birthday -- to decide whether his parliamentary pass should be withdrawn.

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Racism Routine Among Police Where George Floyd Was Killed: US Probe

The police in Minneapolis, Minnesota routinely resort to violent and racist practices, the US Justice Department said Friday in findings of a review three years after George Floyd was murdered by city police officers.

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) "uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force" and "unlawfully discriminates against Black and Native American people when enforcing the law," the department concluded.

The report detailed multiple cases of Minneapolis police shooting unarmed and unthreatening people, both before and after Floyd's May 25, 2020 death.

The cases included killing a woman who had called the 911 emergency number to report a possible sexual assault, and a man already in custody who was stabbing himself.

The report also cited frequent cases of police using excessive force, often with fatal consequences.

Floyd was killed after police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee to the Black man's neck for nearly 10 minutes while three other officers looked on.

He had been detained on a minor charge, for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill.

His death set off nationwide protests over police abuse and discrimination against African Americans, raising the pressure on police departments around the country.

Based on the report, US Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that Minneapolis had agreed in principle to accept a program of tough oversight from the Justice Department that will force reforms.

Garland said the study showed a pattern of Minneapolis police violating multiple constitutional rights of people in the community, and that Floyd's death brought this to broader attention.

Floyd's death "has had an irrevocable impact on the Minneapolis community and our country and around the world," Garland said in a press conference.

"This loss is still felt deeply by those who loved and knew him and by many who did not," he said.

Floyd's case became notorious after a bystander filmed his detention and death, with Floyd audibly telling Chauvin "I can't breathe" before he lost consciousness.

Garland said that the investigation found "numerous incidents" in which Minneapolis police officers responded to detained people saying they could not breathe with comments like, "You can breathe, you're talking now."

He also said that Minneapolis police regularly declined to intervene when colleagues were using excessive force, despite being required to do so.

"Years before he killed George Floyd, Derek Chauvin used excessive force on other occasions in which multiple MPD officers stood by and did not stop him."

He said data showed the police in the city routinely stopped, searched and used force against minorities at a far higher rate than against white people.

Minneapolis police "stopped Black and Native American people nearly six times more often than white people in situations that did not result in arrest or citation, given their shares of the population," he said.

"Such conduct is deeply disturbing, and it erodes the community's trust in law enforcement," he said.

Garland said the study further found that Minneapolis police regularly violated the rights of peaceful protesters and journalists covering protests, especially those that followed Floyd's death.

He acknowledged that police work is difficult, dangerous and essential.

"For you to succeed, your police department must provide you with clear policies and consistent training that explain and reinforce constitutional boundaries and responsibilities," Garland said.

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Indian-origin teen among 3 killed in UKs Nottingham knife attacks

An Indian-origin teenage medical student described as a talented hockey and cricket player was named on Wednesday as one of three victims of a frenzied series of knife attacks on the streets of Nottingham in central England that has shocked the country.

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"Steady Advance" Of Armed Forces Despite Russian Resistance Says Ukraine

Kyiv on Thursday reported progress in its newly-launched counteroffensive, despite strong resistance from Russian troops.

"There is a gradual but steady advance of the armed forces," Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar told a briefing.

"At the same time, the enemy is putting up powerful resistance" on the southern front, she said, referring to mined fields, kamikaze drones, and intense shelling.

After months of building expectations Ukraine early this month launched its offensive in the south and in the east.

Around the frontline hotspot of Bakhmut, "the enemy is pulling up additional reserves and is trying with all its might to prevent the advance of Ukrainian forces."

Still, Malyar reported an advance of more than three kilometres (1.8 miles) in the area of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured seven settlements and more than 100 square kilometres of territory, said Oleksiy Gromov of the Ukrainian armed forces' general staff.

Russia claims to have repelled all Ukrainian assaults.

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Russia launches 'massive' missile attack on Zeleskyy's hometown; kills 10

In a fresh attack, at least 10 people were killed on Tuesday after the Russian forces launched missiles on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown in Kryvyi Rih. 

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2 Indians Injured In Shelling By Azerbaijan Says Armenian Army

The Armenian Defence Ministry said on Wednesday that two Indian citizens had been wounded by Azerbaijani shelling in the town of Yeraskh, close to the border with Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan exclave.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, the ministry said that the two Indian nationals were involved in construction work at a foreign-financed metallurgical plant in Yeraskh.

Armenia and Azerbaijan, which have been locked in conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region for three decades, regularly exchange fire across their shared borders, but foreign nationals are not usually affected.

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After India, Pakistan begins transporting discounted Russian crude oil

Pakistan on Monday began transporting the much-anticipated discounted Russian crude oil to a refinery here in the cash-strapped country's port city, a development that is likely to provide relief to the people hit by skyrocketing inflation. The first shipment of discounted Russian crude oil arrived in Karachi on Sunday after an agreement was inked between Islamabad and Moscow in April.

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US Announces $325 Million Military Package For Ukraine

The United States on Tuesday announced a new $325 military assistance package for Ukraine as Kyiv's troops battle Russian forces in a recently launched counteroffensive.

The package "will provide $325 million worth of US arms and equipment," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

It "includes critical air defense capabilities, additional munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons, armored vehicles, and other equipment," he said.

The Pentagon said the package provides "key capabilities to aid Ukraine's efforts to retake its sovereign territory and support Ukraine's air defenders as they bravely protect Ukraine's soldiers, civilians, and critical infrastructure."

The assistance includes 25 armored vehicles -- 15 Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and six Stryker personnel carriers, as well as demolition munitions to clear obstacles, and more than 22 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenades.

The package will aid Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian troops, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday was underway.

Kyiv has appealed to its allies in the West to deliver a broad range of modern military equipment to help Ukrainian forces recapture large swathes of territory controlled by Russia.

The United States has provided more than $40 billion in military aid since Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Trump Secret Documents Case Hearing Today, Fingerprints To Be Taken

Donald Trump will surrender Tuesday to face federal charges of mishandling US government secrets -- the latest and most serious in a string of probes threatening his bid to win back the White House.

Security was tight around the federal courthouse in downtown Miami where Trump is to enter a plea in the first federal criminal case filed against a former US president.

A judicial source said Trump will be processed like other defendants. He will have his fingerprints taken digitally and a photo of him will be uploaded into the court records but not released to the public.

Dozens of Trump supporters had gathered near the courthouse as the 3:00 pm (1900 GMT) court appearance approached including some wearing "Make America Great Again" baseball caps and one with a sign reading "Indict Jack Smith," the special counsel who brought the charges against Trump.

Police, including some on horseback and bicycles, were out in force braced for protests and the possibility of unrest, but the atmosphere was festive with a local radio station blasting Cuban salsa music.

Trump, who is to make a 25-minute motorcade journey from his Doral golf course to the courthouse, took to his Truth Social platform Tuesday morning to attack Smith, calling the prosecutor a "thug" and a "lunatic."

Trump is facing 31 counts of unlawfully retaining classified documents, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, conspiracy to obstruct justice, making false statements and other offenses.

The rebellious Republican said he would plead not guilty but would not make any statement from the courthouse after the hearing. 

"I'll just say not guilty," Trump told conservative radio host Howie Carr late Monday.

"I did nothing wrong. Presidential Records Act, it's not even a criminal event. There is no criminality here. It's ridiculous."

- 'Dumbfounded' -

The pugnacious billionaire, who turns 77 on Wednesday, is accused of willfully hoarding dozens of classified documents he took unlawfully to his beachfront mansion in Florida upon leaving office in 2021, refusing to return them and conspiring to obstruct investigators seeking their recovery.

He is also accused of sharing sensitive US secrets with people who had no security clearance.

Lazaro Ezenar, 48, was among those who turned out to back the former president.

"I'm here for the simple fact of the unlawful indictment of Donald J. Trump. I can't believe he's going through this again," Ezenar told AFP, referring to the criminal charges brought against Trump in a hush-money case in New York -- a first for a former US president.

"This is historic and I'm just dumbfounded that, as a country that is a beacon to the world, I have to see this show that is disgracing what America represents."

The runaway frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary has vowed to stay in the race regardless of the outcome of the documents case.

The 49-page indictment, dismissed by Trump as "ridiculous," includes photographs showing boxes of documents stacked at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach residence, in a ballroom and in a bathroom and shower.

- 'Eye for an eye' -

Trump is expected to fly to his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, after Tuesday's hearing to restate his innocence in a speech before supporters.

His legal woes are only just beginning, as he faces multiple felony counts in the New York fraud case involving porn star Stormy Daniels, set for trial next March.

Smith, the special counsel, is also looking into Trump's involvement in the 2021 US Capitol riot, and state and federal investigators are scrutinizing his efforts to subvert the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden. 

Trump's allies in Congress and rivals for the presidential nomination have largely circled the wagons following his latest indictment, decrying the alleged "weaponization" of the government against conservatives.

Some Republican lawmakers have been criticized for rhetoric that could inspire violence, including Arizona's Andy Biggs, who tweeted: "We have now reached a war phase. An eye for an eye."

The Southern District of Florida is known as a "rocket docket" court, legal slang for locations that push for swift justice, and authorities have not ruled out completing a trial before the 2024 election.

Much of the focus in the preliminary proceedings will be on District Court Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who was allocated the case at random and will have enormous sway over how fast things move.

Another judge will oversee Tuesday's hearing.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Earthquake of 6.2 magnitude hits Japan's Hokkaido prefecture, no tsunami warning

The Japan Meteorological Agency reported that on Sunday evening, a powerful earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.2 struck the Hokkaido prefecture in northern Japan at a depth of 140 kilometers (87 miles).

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Prince Harry Opens Up On Claims That King Charles Isn't His Real Father

Prince Harry recently addressed the longstanding rumour that King Charles III is not his real father, adding that the claim caused him great pain over the years. In court testimony last week, The Duke of Sussex said he feared British tabloid journalists wanted to prove his father was Major James Hewitt so he could be ''ousted'' from the royal family, Newsweek reported.

Notably, the Duke of Sussex is suing Mirror Group Newspapers for allegedly using unethical methods, such as phone hacking, to obtain information in order to produce dozens of news articles on him. One of these was an article published in 2002 in The People headlined: ''Plot to Rob the DNA of Harry.''

Prince Harry noted that several newspapers had reported a rumour that his biological father was James Hewitt. He said in his witness statement, "This article elaborates on the money that could be obtained from obtaining my DNA and selling it to a foreign newspaper. It reports that St James' Palace believed my DNA was to be offered 'to a foreign newspaper for tens of thousands of pounds.''

However, he said he later realised that his mother hadn't even met Major Hewitt until after he was born.

''At the time, when I was 18 years old and had lost my mother [Princess Diana] just six years earlier, stories such as this felt very damaging and very real to me,'' Harry said. 

''They were hurtful, mean, and cruel. I was always left questioning the motives behind the stories. Were the newspapers keen to put doubt into the minds of the public so that I might be ousted from the Royal Family?”, he added.

Notably, Prince Harry had also addressed the rumour in his memoir 'Spare'. He mentioned that King Charles would often make cruel and unfunny jokes about not being his biological father.

"Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire. He'd always end with a burst of philosophizing ... Who knows if I'm really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I'm even your real father?" Harry wrote in an excerpt.

He continued, ''He'd laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumor circulating just then that my actual father was one of Mummy's former lovers: Major James Hewitt. One cause of this rumor was Major Hewitt's flaming ginger hair, but another cause was sadism. Tabloid readers were delighted by the idea that the younger child of Prince Charles wasn't the child of Prince Charles.''

According to the Independent, Mr. Hewitt, a former cavalry officer in the British Army, famously had an affair with Prince Harry's mother, Princess Diana, in the mid-nineties. The affair lasted five years, from 1986 to 1991, and took place while she was still married to King Charles. Prince Harry was born in 1984, 2 years before she met Mr. Hewitt.

In 2017, Mr. Hewitt had also blasted such rumours, simply saying, ''No, I'm not.''

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UK: Several troops faint as temperature soars during royal military parade inspected by Prince William

During a royal military parade on Saturday, at least three troops fainted in the heat, and Prince William acknowledged the "difficult conditions."

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Instagram Influencers In US Caught With $3 Million Worth Of Cocaine

Two women in the US, who are Instagram influencers, were arrested after they were caught with $3 million in cocaine packed into secret compartments of their SUV, New York Post reported. Racquelle Dolores Anteola, 34, and Melissa Dufour, 36, were arrested early Thursday while driving on Interstate 10 in Mobile County, Alabama.

Notably, Ms. Anteola, also known as Rahky, is a singer and rapper based in Los Angeles, according to her Instagram profile, and has over 119,000 followers. Meanwhile, Ms. Dufour is a fitness model and the owner and designer of a clothing brand called Sexy Sweats, and has 11,000 followers on Instagram.

According to NY Post, the pair claimed to have met in Miami and embarked on a joint road trip to Houston for a house party, where they consumed excessive amounts of alcohol. They were pulled over by a Mobile County Sheriff's deputy on June 1 near Mobile, Alabama, for an alleged traffic violation. During the traffic stop, a K-9 unit alerted the officers to the possible presence of drugs in their vehicle. 

When the officers examined their black Ford Expedition, they found 216 pounds of cocaine packed in 84 bundles, under the floorboards of the car. The alleged drug stash was worth $3million. 

''The vehicle's back seat was modified with a steel aftermarket compartment. The SUV's floor had also been lowered and welded back together to provide a storage room. The second compartment was located in the back of the SUV, where the side panels were hollowed out,'' as per a report by local media outlet Lagniappe.

The women were taken into custody by the MCSO and U.S. Border Patrol. Both of them now face a minimum of 10 years behind bars on federal drug trafficking charges.

The incident comes after a woman was arrested in South Carolina for trying to carry illegal drugs under a fake rubber belly.  The deputies in South Carolina said they arrested a pregnant woman after three pounds of cocaine fell from a rubber belly which the suspect had allegedly taped to herself.

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Putin lays out timeline for deployment of nuclear weapons in Belarus amid Russia-Ukraine war I CHECK DATES

In a major development, Russian President Vladimir Putin, on Friday, announced the timeline for the deployment of "tactical" nuclear weapons in one of its closest allies- Belarus.  The latest development came after the Russian President held a closed-door meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in Sochi-- a city on the Black Sea.

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"Twisted Genius" Of US Who Went On 17-Year Long Bombing Spree Dies: Report

Ted Kaczynski, former math professor and "twisted genius" who came to be known as the Unabomber when he carried out a 17-year spree of mysterious bombings that killed three people and baffled the FBI, died on Saturday at the age of 81, ABC News reported.

Kaczynski, who made and sent many of the bombs while living in a primitive cabin with no running water in rural Montana, was found dead in his cell at a prison in North Carolina, ABC reported, citing the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The Harvard University graduate, a loner since childhood, targeted academics, scientists and computer store owners and even tried to blow up a commercial airliner in a one-man terror campaign from 1978 and 1995 against what he believed were the evils of modern technology.

For years, he frustrated police who, with no solid clues to the killer's identity, dubbed his case UNABOM, for University and Airline Bombings. A breakthrough came when Kaczynski released a rambling, 35,000-word manifesto entitled "Industrial Society and Its Future" that was published in the media in September, 1995.

Kaczynski's younger brother, David, tipped off police that the author's ideas sounded like those of Ted. Agents arrested the disheveled Unabomber at his cabin in April 1996.

After rejecting his lawyers' attempts to have him plead insanity, Kaczynski pleaded guilty to all federal charges relating to the bombings in 1998 and a California court sentenced him to four life terms plus 30 years in prison.

Described by the FBI as "a twisted genius who aspires to be the perfect, anonymous killer," Kaczynski was sent to ADX Florence, a "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado. He was transferred to the North Carolina facility in 2021, ABC reported.

Theodore John Kaczynski was born on May 22, 1942, in Chicago to working class Polish-American parents. He was a bright, quiet child who graduated from high school aged 15 and won a scholarship to Harvard University where he studied mathematics.

"He wasn't exactly gregarious, but he was extremely articulate," Dale Eickelman, Kaczynski's friend in his early high school years, told the Daily Southtown newspaper in Chicago after Kaczynski's arrest.

"I remember Ted was very good at chemistry ... I remember Ted had the know-how of putting together things like batteries, wire leads, potassium nitrate and whatever, and creating explosions" at the age of 12 and 13, Eickelman said.

While it is not known exactly what caused Kaczynski to channel his natural talent toward evil, his participation in an infamous science experiment at Harvard may have been one reason.

There, psychologists subjected volunteer students, including Kaczynski, to hours of extreme verbal and emotional abuse as part of an attempt to measure how people handled stress. The experiment, now regarded as unethical, lasted three years.

Others have cited a period in Kaczynski's childhood when he spent long periods in isolation due to a severe outbreak of hives.

Kaczynski earned a doctoral degree in mathematics in 1967 at the University of Michigan before he got a job as an assistant mathematics professor at the University of California at Berkeley.

He resigned his post and moved to Montana in 1971 where he bought land and built himself a tar-paper cabin near Lincoln, a town of under 1,000 people in winter. Kaczynski became upset by the destruction of the surrounding forests by development.

The cabin served as the main base for his homemade bombing campaign, which began in 1978 when he left a package for an engineering professor at Chicago's Northwestern University. The package exploded, lightly wounding a police officer. A graduate student at the college became the second victim when a small bomb went off in his hands, giving him superficial burns.

Kaczynski then took aim at a bigger target, placing a bomb in 1979 in the cargo hold of an American Airlines plane that gave off smoke during a domestic flight, forcing an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport near Washington.

That attack caught the attention of the FBI and agents would spend years trying to catch a bomber who left no clear demands and little forensic evidence. A six-year period between 1987 and 1993 in which no bombs were sent further confused investigators.

In 1980, Kaczynski sent a package bomb that exploded and injured United Airlines President Percy Wood at his Illinois home.

His first fatal victim was computer store owner Hugh Scrutton, 38, who died when a bomb loaded with nails and splinters went off in the parking lot of his store in Sacramento, California in 1985.

As his bombs became more sophisticated, Kaczynski also killed New Jersey advertising executive Thomas Mosser, who had worked on improving the public image of oil major Exxon, with a mail bomb in 1994.

He then murdered Gilbert Brent Murray, head of a California timber industry lobbying group, with a mail bomb in 1995.

In all, the Unabomber set off 17 bombs, injuring around 25 people, some of whom lost vision, hearing or fingers.

Kaczynski triggered his own downfall in 1995 when he sent letters to media organizations demanding that they publish a 35,000-word essay of his about the perils of industrialization.

"The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race," the essay began. Kaczynski detailed how modernization has destabilized society, subjected humans to indignities and "inflicted severe damage on the natural world."

Still short on leads, the FBI and then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved the publication of the manifesto in The Washington Post in the hope that someone would recognize it.

The move paid off when the bomber's brother David, recognized phrases and topics in the essay and told police he believed it was written by Ted.

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Canada PM Trudeau's on Indian students deportation: 'Focus is to identify culprits, not to penalise victims'

A Canadian parliamentary committee has voted unanimously to urge the border services agency to stop the deportation of nearly 700 Indian students who were duped by unscrupulous education consultants in India to enter the country with "fraudulent college admission letters." While making a statement about the same issue, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was aware of the development and added the investigating agencies will examine the claims made by hundreds of Indian students.

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Cash-Strapped Pak Allocates Rs 1.8 Trillion For Defence In Budget 2024

Cash-strapped Pakistan on Friday hiked defence spending by 15.5 per cent and allocated over Rs 1.8 trillion, as the government unveiled a Rs 14.4 trillion budget for 2023-24 as it battled to fend off a looming default due to shrinking foreign reserves.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who presented the budget in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, said the government will target a growth rate of 3.5 per cent in the coming fiscal year.

"This budget should not be seen as an 'election budget' - it should be seen as a 'responsible budget'," Mr Dar said as the political parties were getting ready for the next general elections scheduled for later this year, amidst political turmoil following the ouster Imran Khan as the prime minister in April last year.

Mr Dar presented the budget in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, which is being deemed as the last budget of the government before the general elections later this year.

He said that a sum of Rs 1,804 billion has been proposed for defence, which is higher than Rs 1.523 billion allocated last year. The defence expenditure is 15.5 per cent higher than last year, making up about 1.7 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

The defence sector expenses are the second biggest component of the annual expenditure after the debt payments, which for the next year would be Rs 7,303 billion and is the biggest single expense of the country.

The minister declared a 3.5 per cent GDP growth target for the next year, which is a moderate target.

"This budget should be treated as a development-oriented budget instead of an election budget," he said.

He said that the inflation target for the next fiscal year would be 21 per cent while the budget deficit would be 6.54 per cent of the GDP. He said that the export target would be Rs 30 billion and the target of remittances would be Rs 33 billion.

The minister said that the tax collection target would be Rs 9,200 billion, out of which Rs 5,276 billion would be provided to the provinces under an already agreed formula.

He said the non-tax revenue target of the government would be Rs 2,963 billion and with this, the net income of the federal government would be Rs 6,887 billion.

He said the net expenditure would be Rs 14,460 billion and the deficit of Rs 7,573 billion would be bridged through external financing.

He said the Rs 714 billion would be spent on civil administration and another Rs 761 billion for a pension of retired civil and defence employees. The government also decided to set up a pension fund to meet the increasing pension expenses.

The government also decided to provide a historic Rs 1,150 billion Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and the provincial volume of the development budget will be Rs 1,569 billion, taking the net volume of the development spending to over Rs 2,700 billion.

He said the government decided to allocate Rs 2,200 billion for agri loans and Rs 30 billion for the solarisation of water pumps. He also announced other measures to increase the per-acre yield of various crops.

The minister also unveiled several steps to increase IT exports and enable freelancers to boost the IT sector. He also declared that the IT sector will be treated as a Small and Medium size industry and will get access to better tax regimes.

He also offered incentives for overseas Pakistanis to send more money to the country as the government set a USD 33 billion target for foreign remittances.

The government also announced major relief for government employees by increasing the 30-35 per cent increase in salaries.

Earlier, he lashed out at the previous government of Mr Khan for "laying economic landmines" for the next government by destroying the economy of the country.

"The former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is responsible for the current difficulties faced by the common people," he said. 

The new budget comes as the chances for revival of a stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) are fading fast, as the USD 6.5 billion assistance package agreed in 2019 is set to end on June 30. The fund has insisted that the government should meet tough conditions before releasing USD 1.1 billion.

There is growing consensus among the experts that without a revival of the IMF programme or a new bailout package in the next fiscal year, Pakistan will find it almost impossible to ward off default.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is still hopeful that the donor will release the expected tranche of the existing loan and enable the country to get access to different multilateral and bilateral loans.

The economic situation has never been so grim in a country which since independence has thrice seen military coups and the ouster of elected governments.

Cash-strapped Pakistan's economy has been in a free fall mode for the last many years, bringing untold pressure on the poor masses in the form of unchecked inflation, making it almost impossible for a vast number of people to make ends meet. Their woes increased manyfold after last year's catastrophic floods that killed more than 1,700 people and caused massive economic losses.

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Pope Francis to undergo intestinal surgery under general anesthesia; to stay in hospital for several days

Pope Francis went to the hospital to undergo abdominal surgery to treat an intestinal blockage, two years after he had 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon removed because of a narrowing of the large intestine. The Vatican said Francis, 86, would be put under general anaesthesia for the procedure Wednesday afternoon and would be hospitalized at Rome’s Gemelli hospital for several days. Francis’ Fiat 500 car pulled out of the Vatican shortly after 11 a.m. with an escort, and arrived at the Gemelli some 20 minutes later.

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Kate Middleton's Family Firm Collapses With Nearly 2.6 Million Euros Debt

The family firm that turned the parents of Princess Catherine -- the wife of the heir to the British throne -- into millionaires left debts of nearly £2.6 million ($3.2 million) when it collapsed last month, a report by insolvency specialists has revealed.

The unpaid bills left by the pandemic-hit firm's collapse include over £600,000 in unpaid tax.

Party Pieces, a celebration paraphernalia mail order business, was built up by Catherine's parents Ms. Carole and Mr. Michael Middleton.

Since their daughter's marriage in 2011 to Prince William, they have become close to the royal family and are regularly invited to royal events and gatherings.

The firm was launched in 1987 after Carole Middleton, 68, searched for ideas for her daughter's fifth birthday.

It grew into a successful business and generated significant wealth for the Middletons, who in 2012 purchased a £4.7-million mansion west of London near the royal family's Windsor estate.

At its height, Party Pieces was said to be worth £44 million.

The Princess of Wales worked for the firm as a website designer and photographer before her marriage to William.

However, after unpaid suppliers threatened legal action earlier this year, administrators were appointed last month and the business was immediately sold to UK entrepreneur James Sinclair for an undisclosed sum.

Will Wright, of administrators Interparty Advisory, said Party Pieces had been "impacted profoundly by the effects of the pandemic and the ensuing restrictions on social gatherings."

A report from the administrators said the firm was £2.59 million short of what it needed to clear its debts.

Among those left out of pocket by the firm's collapse are multiple suppliers and the UK tax authorities, who are owed £612,685.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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US sanctions firms from Iran, China and Hong Kong over alleged aiding of Iran’s missile program

The United States of America announced on Tuesday that it would impose sanctions on a group of individuals as well as businesses from China, Hong Kong, Iran, and alleged links to the development of Iran's ballistic missile program.

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Russia Accuses Ukraine "Sabotage" Group Of Blowing Up Key Ammonia Pipeline

Moscow said Wednesday that a Ukrainian "sabotage" group had blown up a section of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia before the start of the offensive.

The 2,500-kilometre (1,534 mile) pipeline is part of the international talks on allowing grain exports from Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of firing at the ammonia pipeline near Masyutivka, as the village is known in Ukrainian.

"A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline" near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, Russia's defence ministry said.

The ministry said that some civilians had been wounded, adding that "they received the necessary medical care".

The pipeline stopped operating after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

The resumption of Russia's ammonia exports through the link is one of Moscow's conditions to continue with the grain export deal, which allows safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments.

Russia has accused the West of blocking its exports of fertiliser, for which ammonia is a core component.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kyiv was "the only country that has never been interested in resuscitating the pipeline."

She accused Kyiv of "dealing a blow to UN efforts to combat world hunger" and said that if crews could access the site, it would take one to three months to repair the damage.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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FBI's most damaging spy Robert Hanssen, who spied for Russia, dies in Colorado prison

Robert Hanssen, the spy turned former FBI agent that the agency referred to as the most damaging in its history, was found dead in his prison cell on Monday, according to the news agency AP.

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Pakistan Issues 215 Visas To Sikh Pilgrims To Attend Religious Event

The Pakistan high commission on Tuesday said it issued 215 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India to facilitate their participation at an event to be held on the eve of 'martyrdom day' of Guru Arjan Dev.

Under the provision of a bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines, Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India visit Pakistan every year. Pakistani pilgrims also visit India every year under the protocol.

"The Pakistan High Commission has issued 215 visas to Sikh pilgrims from India to participate in the annual festival scheduled on the eve of Martyrdom Day of Guru Arjan Dev to be held in Pakistan from June 8-17," the mission said.

It said the issuance of the visas is in line with Pakistan's commitment to fully implement the bilateral protocol on visits to religious shrines of 1974.

"On the occasion, Chargé d'Affaires Salman Sharif wished the pilgrims a rewarding and fulfilling journey. He further stated that Pakistan remains committed to preserving sacred religious places as well as providing necessary facilitation to the visiting pilgrims," the high commission said in a statement.

"During their stay in Pakistan, the pilgrims would visit a number of holy sites including Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib," it said. 

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IMF Warns AI Risks "Substantial Disruptions" In Jobs Markets: Report

 IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath has warned of "substantial disruptions in labour markets" stemming from generative artificial intelligence and called on policymakers to quickly craft rules to govern the technology, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

"We need governments, we need institutions and we need policymakers to move quickly on all fronts, in terms of regulation, but also in terms of preparing for probably substantial disruptions in labour markets," Ms Gopinath said in an interview to FT.

She also advocated for governments to bolster "social safety nets" for workers affected by the adoption of AI, while working on tax policies that do not reward companies replacing employees with machines.

Ms Gopinath cautioned policymakers to be careful in case some corporations emerge with an unassailable position in the new technology.

"You don't want to have supersized companies with huge amounts of data and computing power that have an unfair advantage," Ms Gopinath told the newspaper.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Pakistan: Imran Khan's trouble to continue; likely to be tried in military court

Amid political turbulence in Pakistan, its Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said the chances were that former prime minister Imran Khan could be tried in a military court for his alleged involvement in the May 9 incidents in which military and state installations were attacked by his party workers. Khan, 70, could stand trial in a military court if evidence of his involvement in the May 9 violence surfaced in the coming days, Asif was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.

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3 Tesla Cars Found In China After 13 Years Worth A Record $2 Million

Three brand-new Teslas that were stored in shipping containers on a Chinese dock since 2010 are set to be sold for a record amount, Fox News reported. Notably, the 2010 Tesla Roadsters were recently discovered in shipping containers at a port in Quingdao, China. The Roadster was Tesla's first model, and it was built between 2008 and 2012.

13 years back, the cars were ordered by a customer in China who never picked them up. Since then, they have been sitting in storage on the dock. There are two Sports models in red and orange and an orange Base model.

Phoenix-based Tesla specialist Gruber Motor Company is now handling their sale and accepting bids.

''So, what if you could go back in time, Tesla time that is, and buy a brand new Roadster from Tesla?  Would you do it? Here is your chance, since a time capsule has just been opened. In 2010, a customer in China bought three brand new US-spec LHD Roadsters from Tesla. They got shipped to a dock in China but were abandoned by the buyer. They have been sitting in sea containers, at a port, since 2010, untouched, accruing storage charges,'' the company wrote on its website.

Though their batteries no longer work from not having been used or charged for so long, the cars are otherwise in their original factory condition, with some of their protective wrapping still in place. Each Roadster has unopened boxes in the trunk and a large box external to the car.

The Gruber Motor Company has put a bid of $2 million for all three cars and has extended the deadline for higher offers. If the sale goes through, that would put a value of $666,666 on each of the cars.

''The Roadsters are being relocated into new sea containers over the next few days, in preparation for shipping either direct to the successful bidder, or to Dubai, which is a free zone, without the constraints for viewing permits required for prospective buyers wishing to examine the Roadsters,'' the company said.

In case a sale does not occur in China, the cars are going to be shipped to the company for further examination until an acceptable offer is made.
 

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Pakistan: Imran Khan's trouble to continue; likely to be tried in military court

Amid political turbulence in Pakistan, its Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said the chances were that former prime minister Imran Khan could be tried in a military court for his alleged involvement in the May 9 incidents in which military and state installations were attacked by his party workers. Khan, 70, could stand trial in a military court if evidence of his involvement in the May 9 violence surfaced in the coming days, Asif was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.

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Pakistan PM "Hopeful" Of Deal With IMF This Month: Report

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is hopeful of finalising a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month, he said in an interview with Turkish news agency Anadolu.

The release of pending bailout funds under the 9th IMF review are crucial for Pakistan to resolve an acute balance of payments crisis. Reserves at the country's central bank can just cover a month's worth of imports.

A staff-level agreement to release $1.1 billion, out of a $6.5 billion package, has been delayed since November, with more than 100 days gone since the last staff-level mission to Pakistan, the longest such delay since at least 2008.

"We are still very hopeful that the IMF programme will materialize. Our 9th review by the IMF will match all terms and conditions and, hopefully, we'll have some good news this month," said Mr Sharif, adding that Pakistan had competed all prior actions needed to unlock funding.

Pakistan is set to announce its Federal Budget on June 9.

Last month, the finance minister said that the IMF had asked for details about the budget, which the government had planned to share.

The country is reeling from an economic crisis with inflation surging to 37.97% in May, posting a record for the second consecutive month and also the highest in South Asia.

The government has removed caps on the exchange rate, imposed taxes, raised energy tariffs and scaled back subsidies in an attempt to unlock the IMF funding. It has also raised key interest rates to a record 21%.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Saudi Arabia Announces Fresh Output Cut To Boost Oil Price

Riyadh on Sunday announced it would slash output further by one million barrels per day in a bid to prop up prices, despite fears of a recession.

The announcement came following a meeting of the 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) headed by Saudi Arabia and its 10 partners, led by Russia.

The cut is for July but "can be extended", Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told reporters.

It is a "voluntary" cut announced after the in-person hours-long OPEC+ meeting at the group's headquarters in Vienna, which saw some tough negotiations.

Analysts had largely expected OPEC+ producers to maintain their current policy, but signs emerged this weekend that the 23 countries may make deeper cuts.

An output cut of one million barrels per day (bpd) was being discussed, according to the source close to the talks.

In April, several OPEC+ members agreed to cut production voluntarily by more than one million bpd -- a surprise move that briefly buttressed prices but failed to bring about lasting recovery.

- Fight over quotas -

Bloomberg news agency reported a fight with the grouping's African members threatened to derail the gathering.

While the United Arab Emirates was pushing for a change to the way its output cuts are measured, African countries were reluctant to give up some of their unused quotas -- a politically unpalatable option, it said, citing delegates.

Several OPEC+ nations -- including Angola and Nigeria, already seeming to be at maximum capacity -- have struggled to meet their quotas.

Oil producers are grappling with falling prices and high market volatility amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has upended economies worldwide.

Oil prices have plummeted about 10 percent since the April cuts were announced, with Brent crude falling close to $70 a barrel, a level it has not traded below since December 2021.

Traders worry that demand will slump, with concerns about the health of the global economy as the United States battles inflation and higher interest rates while China's post-Covid rebound stutters.

- 'No disagreement' -

Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said the current output cuts were being extended until the end of 2024 after examining the matter "for a long time".

Russia is dependent on oil revenues with its war in Ukraine dragging on and Western sanctions hitting its economy.

Novak "sees no need for OPEC+ to change course" because it would hardly benefit from higher prices, Commerzbank commodity analysts said in a research note ahead of the meeting.

Since Western sanctions hit Moscow over Ukraine, Russia has been shipping oil to India and China as the Asian giants soak up the cheap crude.

Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, "does need higher prices to balance its budget", Commerzbank analysts said, adding that the kingdom's break-even price is currently "at a good 80 dollars per barrel".

Despite the tensions, both of the top OPEC+ producers "will no doubt be keen to keep the cartel together, as it has more power thanks to the united front it is showing", they said.

In March 2020 the alliance was pushed to the brink of collapse when Moscow refused to cut oil production even as the Covid pandemic sent prices into freefall.

After negotiations broke down, Riyadh flooded the market by boosting exports to record levels before the two countries came to an agreement.

Asked if there were disagreement with Saudi Arabia this weekend, Novak said "No, we had no disagreements, it is a common decision."

OPEC+ countries produce about 60 percent of the world's oil.

 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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Odisha train accident: US President Joe Biden condoles tragic rail crash, says he is ‘heartbroken’

Odisha train accident: US President Joe Biden said he is heartbroken by the tragic news of a train crash in India, which claimed the lives of 275 passengers and left over 1,000 injured. The crash in Odisha's Balasore district involving three trains is one of the worst rail accidents in India in nearly three decades. 

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Odisha train accident: US President Joe Biden condoles tragic rail crash, says he is ‘heartbroken’

Odisha train accident: US President Joe Biden said he is heartbroken by the tragic news of a train crash in India, which claimed the lives of 275 passengers and left over 1,000 injured. The crash in Odisha's Balasore district involving three trains is one of the worst rail accidents in India in nearly three decades. 

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