Category: World

Pakistan has urged India to reconsider its decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty. With IWT in abeyance, India has been expediting stalled hydroelectric projects in J&K

Even as Pakistan feels the heat of India’s diplomatic and economic measures, one decision has hurt the country the most – the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

Fearing a water crisis, Pakistan has now reached out to India. “Syed Ali Murtaza, Secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Water Resources, wrote a letter to the Secretary of India’s Ministry of Jal Shakti a few days ago. In the letter, an appeal was made to reconsider the decision of putting the IWT in abeyance,” an official source told CNN-News18.

The treaty was put in abeyance based on a decision of the cabinet committee on security (CCS) on April 23, a day after the Pahalgam terror attack which killed 26. “We will not give them a single drop of water, come what may,” Jal Shakti minister CR Patil had told News18 after the CCS took the decision. India had also announced that it will stop sharing flood warnings with Pakistan.

India has considered all options, which include taking long-, mid- and short-term measures on the water flow, which will now remain restricted, said sources. For the past two weeks, water has been released to Pakistan on multiple occasions, they said.

However, as summer approaches, the government is likely to shut the tap.

‘ATTACK ON OUR ECONOMY’: WHAT PAKISTAN SAID

“We have responded to the Indian letters by conveying that the treaty remains fully in force and is binding on the parties. There is no provision in the treaty to hold it in abeyance. The Indus Waters Treaty has been successful water sharing arrangement between the two neighbouring countries. The treaty has withstood tests of wars and standoffs…,” said Pakistan in the letter, according to sources.

“Holding in abeyance of Indus water treaty is unilateral and illegal…Pakistan is an agrarian economy. Millions of people are dependent on the water being regulated by this treaty. The Indian decision is equivalent to an attack on the people of Pakistan and its economy,” it added.

As per the 1960 treaty, India got around 30% of the total water carried by the Indus River System located in India, while Pakistan got the remaining 70%.

CENTRE’S KEY MEETING THIS WEEK

In response to the Pahalgam attack, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting nine terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in airstrikes. After a conflict for four days, a ceasefire was announced on May 10. The Indian government, however, maintained that the IWT will remain in abeyance.

With the IWT suspended, the Modi government is expected to take major steps toward completing the stalled hydroelectric projects. A key meeting is likely to be held this week with Home Minister Amit Shah, along with Water Resources Minister Patil, Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, and senior officials from all related ministries. Since the suspension of the IWT, two meetings have already taken place between Shah, Patil, and top officials of the ministry.

PROJECTS THAT CAN GO ON IN FULL FORCE

India, meanwhile, aims to accelerate the stalled hydroelectric projects in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the IWT, India had to give six months’ notice to Pakistan before starting any new project. With the suspension, this is no longer necessary, and data sharing will also cease. It is now possible to initiate new projects on the Chenab and Jhelum rivers and to revive Wular Lake.

With the treaty suspended, six hydroelectric projects are expected to gain momentum:

• Sawalkot Project (1,856 MW): Proposed on the Chenab river in the Ramban and Udhampur districts of Jammu and Kashmir
• Pakal Dul (1,000 MW)
• Ratle (850 MW)
• Bursar (800 MW)
• Kiru (624 MW)
• Kirthai I and II (Total 1,320 MW)

Baloch leaders have declared Balochistan’s independence from Pakistan and appealed to India and the UN for recognition. The move has sparked a social media wave.

‘Republic of Balochistan’ was trending on social media platform X on Wednesday, days after Baloch leaders, including activist Mir Yar Baloch, declared Balochistan’s independence from Pakistan.

Social media users shared an independent map of Balochistan, along with videos of people waving the Balochistan flag.

In an X post on May 9, Mir Yar Baloch wrote, “A possible announcement soon should be done as the collapse of the terrorist Pakistan is near. We have claimed our independence and we request India to allow Balochistan’s official office, and embassy in Delhi.”

He also urged support from the United Nations to recognise it and call a meeting of the UN members.

“We also ask the United Nations to recognise the independence of the Democratic Republic of Balochistan and call a meeting of all UN members to lend your support for recognition. There must be a release of billions of funds for currency, and passport printing.

A day later, Mir Yar Baloch shared photos of locals standing with banners depicting India and Baloch friendship, and wrote, “The people of the Democratic Republic of Balochistan come to show their full support to the people of Bharat. China is helping Pakistan, but Balochistan and it’s people are the government of Bharat.”

“Dear Narendra Modi ji you are not alone, you have the backing of 60 million Baloch patriots,” his X post read.

In the recent, Baloch, in an X post, wrote, “Breaking News: 14 May 2025 Balochistan fully supports the India decision of asking Pakistan to vacate PoK. The international community must urge Pakistan to immediately leave PoK to avoid another humiliation of surrender on its 93000 army personnel in Dhaka.”

“India is capable of defeating Pakistan army and if Pakistan didn’t pay any heed then the only Pakistani greedy army generals must be held responsible for bloodshed because Islamabad is using PoK people as human shields,” he wrote.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/balochistan-announces-independence-from-pakistan-republic-of-balochistan-mir-yar-baloch-social-media-trends-india-pakistan-tensions-9336215.html

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated they would not attend what could be the first direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in three years on Thursday, with the Kremlin sending instead a group of experienced technocrats.
Putin on Sunday proposed direct negotiations with Ukraine in Istanbul on Thursday “without any preconditions”. Late on Wednesday, the Kremlin said the delegation would include presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky and Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin – but Putin’s name was not on the list.

After the Kremlin’s delegation announcement, a U.S. official said Trump, who is on a three-nation tour of the Middle East, would not attend. The U.S. leader had said earlier that he was considering the option to participate.
While Putin had never confirmed he would attend in person, the absence of the Russian and U.S. presidents lowers the expectations for a major breakthrough in the war that Russia started in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had challenged Putin to attend the talks “if he’s not afraid,” in an apparent contest to show Trump who wants peace more, Ukraine or Russia.

While the Kyiv leader was on his way to Turkey late on Wednesday, a Ukrainian official said, he had said he would take part in the talks only if Putin attended.
In his nightly video address on Wednesday Zelenskiy said that Ukraine would decide on its steps for peace talks in Turkey once there was clarity on Putin’s participation.
“The answers to all questions about this war – why it started, why it continues – all these answers are in Moscow,” Zelenskiy said. “How the war will end depends on the world.”
Trump wants the two sides to sign up to a 30-day ceasefire to pause Europe’s biggest land war since World War Two, and a Russian lawmaker said on Wednesday there could also be discussions about a huge prisoner of war exchange.
Zelenskiy backs an immediate 30-day ceasefire, but Putin has said he first wants to start talks at which the details of such a ceasefire could be discussed.

MORE SANCTIONS ON RUSSIA?

Israeli military strikes killed at least 80 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday (May 14), local health authorities said, in an intensification of the bombardment as US President Donald Trump visits the Middle East.

Medics said most of the dead, including women and children, were killed in a barrage of Israeli airstrikes on houses in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza.

Later on Wednesday, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders to people in several districts in Gaza City, forcing thousands of Palestinians to leave their shelters.

The areas threatened by the evacuation warnings included several schools and the largest Shifa Hospital, according to a map published by the Israeli army.

Witnesses and medics said shortly after the evacuation orders Israeli planes carried several airstrikes against targets within Gaza City.

“Some victims are still on the road and under the rubble where rescue and civil emergency teams can’t reach (them),” the health ministry statement said.

Israel’s military had no immediate comment. It said it was trying to verify the reports.

Reuters television footage showed residents returning to the ruins of their homes. Some sifted through the remains of walls and furniture, looking for documents and belongings.

“They fired two rockets, they told us the house of Moqbel (had been hit),” said Hadi Moqbel, who lost relatives in the attack in Jabalia. “We came running, we saw body parts on the ground, children killed, the woman killed and a baby killed. He was two months old.”

Israeli press reports on Wednesday cited security officials as saying they believed Hamas military leader Mohammad Sinwar and other senior officials had been killed in a strike on Tuesday on what the Israeli military described as a command and control bunker under the European Hospital in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

There was no confirmation by the Israeli military or Hamas. On Wednesday, witnesses and medics said an Israeli airstrike hit a bulldozer that approached the area of the strike at the European Hospital, wounding several people.

Late on Tuesday, Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed militant group allied with Hamas, fired rockets from Gaza towards Israel. Shortly before the Israeli retaliatory strikes, Israel’s military issued evacuation orders to residents in the area of Jabalia and nearby Beit Lahiya.

TRUMP VISIT

Palestinians hope Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will provide pressure for a reduction of violence. Hamas on Monday released Edan Alexander, the last known living American hostage it had been holding.

Trump said in Riyadh on Tuesday that more hostages would follow Alexander and that the people of Gaza deserved a better future. He is not visiting Israel during his Middle East trip.

Ceasefire efforts have faltered, with Hamas and Israel trading blame. Hamas talked to the United States and Egyptian and Qatari mediators to arrange Alexander’s release, and Israel has sent a team to Doha to begin a new round of talks.

On Tuesday, Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler met hostage families in Tel Aviv and said they could now see a better chance of an agreement for the hostages’ release following the deal over Alexander.

Hamas said on Wednesday the continued attacks indicated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to “escalate the aggression and massacres against civilians to undermine those (ceasefire) efforts”. Israel has blamed Hamas for the continuing war.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/israel-intensify-gaza-bombardment-donald-trump-visits-gulf-5129486

Over 100 federal employees who screen coal miners for black lung disease and research other respiratory disease who had been terminated as part of sweeping government layoffs have had their jobs restored permanently, West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito announced on Tuesday.
Capito said in a statement she got an assurance from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. that the Department of Health and Human Services reversed the terminations of employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health facility in Morgantown, West Virginia.

“My understanding from Secretary Kennedy is that over 100 Morgantown employees will be returning to the job permanently,” she said in a statement.
NIOSH runs a coal mine health surveillance unit that had effectively been shuttered since February amid sweeping layoffs led by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, even as a resurgence of deadly black lung disease has affected at least one out of five coal miners – and increasingly workers as young as their 30s.
Reuters had reported that those potential job cuts, as well as cuts at the Mine Health Safety Administration, were putting coal miners at risk, even as President Donald Trump called for a revival of the industry.

The status of NIOSH workers had been in flux, with some workers brought out of administrative leave earlier this month, only to be notified days later that they were permanently terminated.
Capito said she had several conversations with Kennedy urging him to save the program.
A letter seen by Reuters that was sent to NIOSH employees today from its director, John Howard, said that some previously terminated employees who were called back include staff from selected units in the NIOSH director’s office, the Respiratory Health Division that includes the coal mine surveillance unit; the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory; the Division of Safety Research and the Division of Compensation and Analysis Support (DECA).
Twenty-one of the 28 staffers of DECA, who work on compensation claims of former nuclear weapons workers that have cancer, were among those brought back, two sources familiar with the news told Reuters.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/us-health-department-reverse-federal-layoffs-coal-safety-workers-senator-says-2025-05-13/

President Donald Trump kicked off his trip to the Gulf on Tuesday with a surprise announcement that the United States will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria, and a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the U.S.
The U.S. agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to the White House which called it the largest “defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.

The end of sanctions on Syria would be a huge boost for a country that has been shattered by more than a decade of civil war. Rebels led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled President Bashar al-Assad last December.
Speaking at an investment forum in Riyadh at the start of a deals-focused trip that also brought a flurry of diplomacy, Trump said he was acting on a request to scrap the sanctions by Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
“Oh what I do for the crown prince,” Trump said, drawing laughs from the audience. He said the sanctions had served an important function but that it was now time for the country to move forward.

The move represents a major U.S. policy shift. The U.S. declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, added sanctions in 2004 and imposed further sanctions after the civil war broke out in 2011.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on X that the planned move marked a “new start” in Syria’s path to reconstruction. Trump has agreed to briefly greet Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a White House official said.
Trump and the Saudi crown prince signed an agreement covering energy, defense, mining and other areas. Trump has sought to strengthen relations with the Saudis to improve regional ties with Israel and act as a bulwark against Iran.
The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen U.S. defense companies for areas including air and missile defense, air force and space, maritime security and communications, a White House fact sheet said.

It was not clear whether the deal included Lockheed F-35 jets, which sources say have been discussed. The Saudi prince said the total package could reach $1 trillion when further agreements are reached in the months ahead.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers for U.S. arms, and the two countries have maintained strong ties for decades based on an arrangement in which the kingdom delivers oil and the superpower provides security.
But relations were strained after the 2018 murder of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul caused a global uproar. U.S. intelligence concluded that bin Salman approved an operation to capture or kill Khashoggi, a prominent critic, but the Saudi government has denied any involvement.
Trump did not mention the incident during his visit and called bin Salman an “incredible man.”

“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said.
Trump will go on from Riyadh to Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday in a trip that is focused on investment rather than security matters in the Middle East.
Several U.S. business leaders attended the event, including Elon Musk, the Tesla chief who has led a government-downsizing effort for Trump in Washington; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman; BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman.
Trump was shown speaking with several Saudi officials, including sovereign wealth fund governor Yasir al-Rumayyan, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser and investment minister Khalid al-Falih as he viewed models for the kingdom’s flashy, multi-billion-dollar development projects.
Bin Salman has focused on diversifying the Saudi economy in a major reform program dubbed Vision 2030 that includes “Giga-projects” such as NEOM, a futuristic city the size of Belgium. Oil generated 62% of Saudi government revenue last year.
The kingdom has scaled back some of its ambitions as rising costs and falling oil prices weigh.

NO VISIT TO ISRAEL, WARNING TO IRAN

Trump has not scheduled a stop in Israel, raising questions about where the close ally stands in Washington’s priorities as Trump presses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a new ceasefire deal in the 19-month-old Gaza war.
Israel’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its assassinations of the two Iran-allied groups’ leaders, have at the same time given Trump more leverage by weakening Tehran and its regional allies.
Trump said it was his “fervent hope” that Saudi Arabia would soon normalize relations with Israel, following other Arab states that did so during his first 2017-2021 term. “But you’ll do it in your own time,” he said.
Netanyahu’s opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state makes progress with the Saudis unlikely, sources told Reuters.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-starts-gulf-visit-seeking-big-economic-deals-2025-05-13/

Kim Kardashian is set to take the stand in sparkling style.

The reality star, who is set to testify against the “grandpa robbers” who allegedly stole $10 million worth of her jewelry in 2016, showed up to Paris court on Tuesday morning dripping in diamonds.

The Skims creator, 44, wore a spectacular diamond necklace by Samer Halimeh New York worth a whopping $3 million.

Crafted from 18-karat white gold, the show-stopping piece is set with a total of 80 diamonds, including a 10.13-carat pear-shaped center stone. Altogether, the necklace weighs in at a staggering 52.17 carats.

But that wasn’t the end of Kardashian’s bling; the star also sported a shimmering anklet, ring and a number of diamond earrings — including an $8,100 Briony Raymond ear cuff — for her day in court.

Clad in a bold-shouldered vintage John Galliano blazer dress, Alaïa sunglasses and Saint Laurent slingback heels, the “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” alum wore her hair pulled back in a polished twist.

She was joined by mom Kris Jenner, who sported a plaid blazer and black slacks.

The Hulu personalities flew across the pond Monday, with Kardashian documenting the plane ride via Instagram Stories.

Kardashian was in the City of Love in October 2016 for Paris Fashion Week when masked men allegedly entered her apartment and held her at gunpoint.

The businesswoman was bound and gagged in the terrifying encounter while wearing only a bathrobe.

Among the jewelry stolen from Kardashian at the time was her second, upgraded diamond engagement ring from then-fiancé Kanye West.

The $4 million, 20-carat sparkler was never recovered, and the only item found was a diamond-encrusted cross.

Kardashian detailed the experience during her family’s series in 2017, including the moment she told the Hôtel de Pourtalès concierge, who was acting as an interpreter, to tell the intruders she had babies at home.

“I’m like, ‘This is it,’” Kardashian — who shares North, 11, Saint, 9, Chicago, 7, and Psalm, 6, with West — remembered thinking in the March 2017 episode. “Are they going to kill us?”

The makeup mogul said she had “fully mentally prepped” to be sexually assaulted when her legs were taped together and she was thrown in the bathtub.

Jenner, 69, teared up too much to discuss her daughter’s harrowing scare on the show, saying, “The thought of losing Kim is emotionally scarring and hard to overcome. That’s it. I can’t talk about it anymore.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/13/style/blinged-out-kim-kardashian-arrives-at-paris-court-to-testify-over-9m-jewelry-heist/

Prince William and Prince Harry’s fall-out is so bad that insiders fear Harry will not attend his brother’s future coronation.

The pair have not spoken in about two years and a source in the know told Page Six they could not see Harry attending the coronation, musing that William may not even invite him.

In the wake of Harry’s extraordinary BBC interview in which he claimed his father, King Charles, won’t speak to him, the source said, “I think it’s done … I don’t think there’s [any] coming back from that.

“Before the interview, we thought, ‘Come on William, extend a hand to your brother. But now it seems that Harry hasn’t learned s–t.”

Sussex insiders, however, insist that Harry is keen to make amends with his family. “I would love reconciliation with my family,” he said during the BBC interview earlier this month. “There’s no point continuing to fight any more, life is precious.”

Hugo Vickers, author and friend of the royal family, told Page Six that “theoretically” William should invite his younger brother to his coronation.

“But quite frankly he can do what he likes. It is not set in stone,” Vickers added. “The Duke of Windsor was not invited to [his niece Queen Elizabeth’s] coronation in 1953. There was a lot of discussion about it.”

A rep for Harry had no comment.

Page Six previously reported how no one in the royal circle trusts Harry or his wife, Meghan Markle after the couple have continued to speak publicly about the royal family since leaving the UK in 2020.

Despite reports that William plans to strip Harry and Markle of their HRH titles when he ascends to the throne, Vickers said he cannot imagine this will happen.

“We know that William is unforgiving anyway,” Vickers said. “But … he won’t strip Harry and Meghan of their titles, it appears vindictive.”

The source agreed: “William won’t strip them of their titles because they are irrelevant and meaningless at this point. No one thinks [Harry and Meghan] are royal anyway!”

The Duke of Sussex, 40, was left furious after losing a Court of Appeal challenge against the British government earlier this month over the decision to strip him of his publicly funded security detail.

He told the BBC after the verdict, “I can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”

Claiming that Charles “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,” Harry revealed that “there have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family” — and admitted that his “Spare” memoir helped fuel them.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/13/royal-family/prince-harry-may-not-attend-williams-future-coronation-sources/

Crackdown in Cannes.

The Cannes Film Festival 2025 kicked off today in France, and its famously glamorous red carpets are getting a bit of a makeover.

Ahead of the event, the fest’s organizers revealed some changes to its official charter pertaining to dress code.

This year, they put the kibosh on looks that are too small or too large, writing, “For decency reasons, nudity is prohibited on the red carpet, as well as any other area of the festival.”

The memo continues, “Voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train, that hinder the proper flow of traffic of guests and complicate seating in the theater are not permitted.”

Lastly, there’s a warning: “The Festival welcoming teams will be obligated to prohibit red carpet access to anyone not respecting these rules.”

Per usual, evening wear — defined as a “long dress” or “tuxedo” — is required, although guests also have the option of choosing a cocktail dress, “dark-colored pantsuit” or “dressy top with black pants.”

As for the men, Team Cannes has been known to turn away looks that are “too colorful.”

Footwear has always been a hot topic of conversation at the film fest, too, with Kristen Stewart going viral in 2018 for taking off her heels in protest of the event’s high heel requirement. However, the event’s organizers have seemingly since changed their tune.

“Elegant shoes and sandals with or without a heel” are acceptable, per the charter. (We’re guessing Jennifer Lawrence’s flip-flops still wouldn’t make the cut.)

The new ban has already affected A-listers like Halle Berry, who admitted she had to swap her gown for the opening ceremony at the last minute because its train was too large.

The Cannes red carpet is known for skin-baring looks, too — though there have been limits in the past.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/13/style/cannes-film-festival-2025-announces-major-dress-code-change/

Casandra “Cassie” Ventura recounted the horrific details of the alleged abuse she experienced at the hands of her ex-boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs during an emotional testimony at his sex-trafficking trial.

“He would bash me on my head, knock me over, drag me, kick me, stomp me on the head if I was down,” the “Me & U” singer, who is expecting her third child with husband Alex Fine, testified from the witness stand inside Manhattan federal court Tuesday.

She claimed Combs, 55, would often fight with her over minuscule disagreements, telling her to “fix [her] face or watch [her] mouth” followed by him allegedly “hitting” her in the face.

“I also felt at certain times … I knew it wasn’t even about me … [I would] make the wrong face and the next thing I knew I was getting hit in the face,” she further testified.

Ventura, 38, who appeared in the courtroom wearing a tight brown dress with her baby bump on display, also recalled how the physical assault would be so severe that she would “get knots” in her forehead.

Later in her testimony, the “Don’t Play It Safe” singer broke down in tears further describing how “violent” Combs would allegedly get and how he would “just become a different person.”

“His look would just change over,” she recalled. “The best way to describe it is his eyes just go black. The version that I was in love with is no longer there.”

Ventura also claimed she experienced psychological abuse “every day” because she was always not “knowing who he was going to be when we woke up.”

The singer claimed her famous ex — who is 17 years her senior — introduced her to “Freak-Offs” around the age of 22. She claimed Combs viewed the acts as “voyeurism,” when a person gets turned on by seeing others engage in intimate or sexual behaviors.

She claimed he would “direct” her and her sexual partner, which was often an escort or dancer off of Craigslist, on what they should be doing, adding, “I was in love and I just wanted to make him happy.”

Ventura testified that she was very “sexually inexperienced” when she first met Combs and that he would at times make her “feel crazy for not reciprocating” oral sex.

“I was also still in a relationship with someone else,” she added of the early days of their romance.

The songstress said that if she would not want to participate in sexual acts throughout their relationship, he would become angry, which made her feel “humiliated” and as if that was “all [she] was good for.”

Ventura testified that the longest “Freak-Off” lasted four days — “maybe even more – on and off with the breaks” — and that, in some ways, it became a “job” for her.

She would often be under the influence of drugs like ecstasy, marijuana, ketamine, GHB — also known as the “date rape drug” — or mushrooms during these acts, per her testimony.

“I couldn’t imagine myself doing any of that without having some sort of buffer or a way to not feel the way it really was, which was emotionless and sex with a stranger who I didn’t want to have sex with,” she said.

The “Just One Nite” singer also mentioned the infamous baby oil Combs liked to use, alleging that he once had a inflatable pool of lube and oil inside of a hotel room. “We poured it all over our bodies and we were glistening,” she further recalled.

Ventura also recounted during her testimony a time when an escort and her then-boyfriend urinated in her mouth, which caused her to “choke.” “It’s just as humiliating [as] if anyone was there to see it. It was disgusting, it was too much,” she said on the stand.

The “Love a Loser” singer noted that Combs once asked her what she calls her grandfather and, from then on, she referred to him as “Pop Pop.” The singer said she thought the request “was weird at the time” and now sees it as “just disrespectful.”

Ventura said she would need time to recuperate from the “Freak-Offs,” which she participated in even while on her period, particularly because of the dehydration and drug use.

She claimed the escorts were usually “paid in the thousands” in cash.

Aside from the sex, Combs allegedly “controlled” all aspects of Ventura’s life, including pressuring her to get breast implants and deterring her from certain hairstyles which he claimed made her look “too Mexican.” He also encouraged her to get her private parts, including her clitoris and nipples, pierced.

Ventura claimed he made her feel unable to leave the relationship — despite her wanting to do so.

“He’s a bit of an incessant caller or he would have staff, security continue to call until you answered,” she added of his alleged obsessive habits and need to assert his control.

Ventura claimed Combs would also “blackmail” her, threatening to put her videos and photos of her sexual encounters “on the internet.”

However, she did note during her testimony that there was “still love” in the relationship at times.

The “Long Way 2 Go” singer — whom prosecutors dubbed “Victim 1” — is a key witness in this case.

Ahead of her court appearance, Reuters reported last week that Combs’ defense team planned to accuse Ventura of domestic violence once she took the stand in attempt to take a stab at the singer’s credibility.

In November 2023, Ventura filed a bombshell civil lawsuit, accusing Combs of rape and abuse throughout their decade-long relationship, which took place from 2007 to 2018.

Her attorneys claimed in the complaint that the “Bad Boy for Life” rapper “was prone to uncontrollable rage, and frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely.”

Combs quickly settled the suit for an undisclosed amount of money within 24 hours, but claimed at the time that the agreement was not an admission of wrongdoing.

However, six months later, CNN released shocking surveillance video taken in 2016 of the Bad Boy Records founder dragging Ventura, his then-girlfriend, across a hotel hallway and physically beating her.

The damning footage corroborated at least the abuse portion of the “King of Hearts” singer’s claims, and forced Combs to issue a public apology.

Ventura’s lawsuit opened the floodgates for dozens of alleged victims to come forward to accuse the “All About the Benjamins” rapper of sexual assault and other crimes.

The mom of three’s claims have also proven useful for the feds’ ongoing case. In September 2023, the authorities charged Combs with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Investigators conducted a months-long probe — which included raids on the disgraced music mogul’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami — and allegedly found evidence of nefarious “Freak-Off” parties, in which illegal sexual activity allegedly occurred.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/13/celebrity-news/cassie-ventura-reveals-the-degrading-demand-sean-diddy-combs-often-made-in-bombshell-testimony/

There’s also an extra step McDonald’s employee take to make their coffee better than anywhere else

A MCDONALD’S chef has finally revealed the secret behind making the fast food outlet’s coffee the best around.

The beverage has something of a cult following, with people even going out of their way to get their McCafé fix.

And fans of the coffee have long wondered what it is that makes it so special – even taking to Reddit to look for answers.

“I try all kinds of coffee, trying to duplicate the taste of that $1 large cup of McCafé and almost always fail,” one wrote.

“What is McDonald’s secret?”

As another questioned: “Why is McDonald’s coffee almost always better tasting than just about anything I buy and brew myself?”

“I think that every time I buy coffee anywhere,” a third sighed.

“I’ve had enough McCafé to KNOW it tastes better than what I make at home,” another said.

FOCUS ON ‘THE LITTLE THINGS’

While someone else chimed in: “Well, the secret’s out. McDonald’s 1$ coffee is the best coffee in the world.”

And one person even suggested that McDonald’s has a “lock on a source of the good stuff”.

But now, McDonald’s corporate chef has set the record straight, as he explained the delectable blend comes from focusing on “the little things”.

“For our coffee, we use 100% arabica coffee beans sourced from Rainforest Alliance-certified farms or farms participating in our McCafé Sustainability Improvement Platform program,” Mike Lingo told Food & Wine.

“It’s a special blend made just for McCafé – a medium-dark roast with a full body, fruity, floral and chocolate notes.”

As the blend is made for McDonald’s, you literally can’t get the same taste anywhere else – a fact Golden Arches bosses rely on for the coffee’s continuing popularity.

‘BEST IN THE WORLD’

And another reason McDonald’s coffee is deemed the “best in the world” is due to the fact that every establishment grinds their beans on site.

Doing so preserves the flavor, as coffee begins to degrade as soon as it’s ground.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/money/14225727/mcdonalds-chef-best-coffee-trick/

FORMER President Joe Biden will need to go for further testing after doctors made a troubling discovery during a recent exam, according to reports.

A doctor reportedly found a “small nodule” on the former president’s prostate.

“In a routine physical exam a small nodule was found in the prostate which necessitated further evaluation,” a spokesperson for Biden told ABC News.

The small nodule refers to a firm lump or swelling in the body, which can be harmless or cancerous.

It’s too early to know exactly what the nodule is, ABC reported, but prostate issues for a man his age are extremely common.

During Biden’s last year as president, concerns began to swirl about his mental and physical health, especially after he contracted Covid-19 just before dropping out of the presidential race in July.

He left the office as the oldest serving US president to date.

Discussion about Biden’s reportedly deteriorating health forced him to abandon his re-election campaign for the 2024 presidential election.

Biden’s performance during the first presidential debate, where he fumbled through his arguments against Donald Trump, led members of the Democratic Party to demand he be replaced.

The former president was replaced by 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris in July.

BIDEN’S HEALTH HISTORY

His health issues began long before the 2024 election.

In February 2023, Biden had a cancerous lesion removed from his chest.

Before beginning his presidency, Biden had multiple non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery.

“As expected, the biopsy confirmed that the small lesion was basal cell carcinoma,” White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said at the time.

“All cancerous tissue was successfully removed. … No further treatment is required.

“Basal cell carcinoma lesions do not tend to ‘spread’ or metastasize, as some more serious skin cancers such as melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma are known to do,” he continued.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he will be waiting for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in the Turkish capital. The Kremlin declined to say whether Putin would attend talks on the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday he would attend talks on the war in Ukraine this week only if Russian President Vladimir Putin is also present.

Zelenskyy stated he would meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday or Thursday and was ready to meet Putin either there or in Istanbul.

What do we know about the Istanbul talks?

The talks are now the centerpiece of peace efforts led by US President Donald Trump, who said he would send Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He mentioned the talks “could produce some pretty good results.”

Trump is also expected to send senior envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg to the talks.

The Kremlin has not confirmed whether Putin will take part in the talks, scheduled for Thursday in Istanbul, more than three years into Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, questioned whether Vladimir Putin had the nerve to attend the talks.

“I think it’s a good move if they sit down,” Kallas said at a democracy conference in Copenhagen. “But I don’t think he dares, Putin.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday urged both sides to seize the “window of opportunity” to reach a peace settlement.

What does Zelenskyy want?

Zelenskyy has said he wants to negotiate an unconditional 30-day ceasefire as a first step toward ending the war. He has insisted that Vladimir Putin should take part because “absolutely everything in Russia” depends on him.

“We want to agree on a beginning to the end of the war,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference. But he added: “He [Putin] is scared of direct talks with me.”

Zelenskyy also mentioned he expects the United States and European Union to impose “strong sanctions” if the talks do not take place.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday  Europe would impose new sanctions on Russia if Moscow failed to agree to a ceasefire

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-zelenskyy-says-hell-wait-for-putin-in-turkey/a-72532696

The Israeli military said it intercepted a missile that was launched from Yemen towards Israel on Tuesday evening, and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility.
Sirens were heard in several places in Israel.

The militia group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile towards Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, according to the group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree.
President Donald Trump announced on May 6 that the U.S. would stop bombing the Houthis as the group agreed to stop attacking U.S. ships, part of a 17-month campaign against Red Sea shipping intended to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

But the Houthis have continued to fire missiles and drones towards Israel, most of which the Israeli military says it has intercepted, without casualties or serious damage occurring.
Israel has been fighting a war in Gaza since a deadly raid by Palestinian militant group Hamas into southern Israel in October 2023, which prompted Israel’s war in Gaza.
The Houthis are part of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance against Israeli and U.S. interests in the Middle East, a group also including Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-intercepts-missile-launched-yemen-2025-05-13/

The United States agreed on Tuesday to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to a White House fact sheet that called it “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
The agreement, signed during U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh, covers deals with more than a dozen U.S. defense companies in areas including air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.

“The package signed today, the largest defense cooperation deal in U.S. history, is a clear demonstration of our commitment to strengthening our partnership,” the fact sheet said.
Reuters first reported last month that the arms package would be worth well over $100 billion.
Reuters previously reported that Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), was expected to sell C-130 transport aircraft, missiles and radars as part of the deal. CEOs from RTX Corp (RTX.N), Boeing Co (BA.N), Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N), were expected to be in the kingdom, but the White House did not verify any specific equipment or makers as a part of the potential sale to Saudi.

Reuters could also not immediately establish how many of the deals on offer were new. Many have been in the works for some time, sources have told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia is the largest customer for U.S. arms. In 2017, Trump proposed approximately $110 billion of sales to the kingdom.
As of 2018, only $14.5 billion of sales had been initiated and Congress began to question the deals in light of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Former President Joe Biden’s administration tried unsuccessfully to finalize a defense pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.
The White House fact sheet did not mention if Riyadh would be permitted to purchase Lockheed’s F-35 jets, the military aircraft that the kingdom has reportedly been interested in for years.

The two countries had discussed Riyadh’s potential purchase of Lockheed’s F-35 jets, two sources briefed on discussions told Reuters.
However, it was not clear if Washington would permit the kingdom to move forward with a purchase that would give Saudi Arabia an advanced weapon used by close U.S. ally Israel, one of the sources said.
The second source said the qualitative military edge, or U.S. guarantees that Israel receives more advanced American weapons than Arab states, is an issue that “has come up.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us-saudi-arabia-have-discussed-riyadhs-potential-purchase-f-35-jets-2025-05-13/

The largest firefighters’ labor union in the U.S. is demanding antitrust authorities investigate the companies that make fire trucks, saying industry consolidation has led to skyrocketing costs and years-long wait times, endangering firefighters and the public.
The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission should probe the fire and emergency vehicle industry, where three companies — REV Group (REVG.N), Oshkosh (OSK.N), and Rosenbauer (RBAV.VI), together make up around two-thirds of the market, the International Association of Fire Fighters said in a letter.

Truck prices have doubled in the past decade, with ladder trucks now costing as much as $2 million each, while fire departments are facing backlogs as long as four years, said IAFF, which represents fire and emergency workers in the U.S. and Canada, and the American Economic Liberties Project, an antimonopoly group.
“It’s really a critical hazard in public safety,” IAFF President Edward Kelly said.
Oshkosh spokesperson Lisa Barwick said the company is investing in manufacturing capacity, technology, and process improvements to meet demand.
“Global supply challenges, unprecedented demand, and significant inflation since the pandemic started in 2020 have resulted in extended delivery times and increased prices,” she said.

A REV Group spokesperson also cited demand, labor shortages and cost increases as driving price increases and delays.
“In response, we have increased production of our fire and emergency vehicles by nearly 30% in the last two years, introduced new lines of semi-custom trucks with faster ship times, and continued to invest in training programs for skilled talent,” the spokesperson said.
Rosenbauer America spokesperson Ali Rader said the company is working to increase output and that its backlog is shorter than the industry average.
IAFF and AELP said high prices and long waits are endangering public safety in communities facing natural disasters, citing reports that dozens of fire trucks were out of commission during the wildfires that devastated two Los Angeles communities and killed at least 29 people earlier this year.

From Atlanta, to Houston, to San Francisco, cities and towns are facing a crisis where demand for new fire trucks outstrips availability and funding, Kelly said.
On top of long wait times, fire departments are being pushed into contracts with “floating” pricing structures, where the final price of a truck may go up after an order is placed.
“We are paying the price for all these corporate decisions. It serves the investor well, but it doesn’t serve the public when you call 911 and the ladder truck is out of service,” Kelly said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/fire-truck-prices-hit-2-million-us-firefighters-demand-an-antitrust-probe-2025-05-13/

Notably, Hafiz Abdur Rauf, can also be seen in the video, the man whom the Pakistani Army tagged as “A common family man”. He was earlier seen leading a funeral prayer for three terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor.

A video of the father of a LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) terrorist who was killed in Operation Sindoor, surrounded by several LeT terrorists including Hafiz Abdur Rauf has been making the rounds on social media.

In the video, expressing pride in his sons who were killed in strikes by Indian armed forces for carrying out terrorist acts, said, “My two sons got martyred and I am proud of it, If I had five sons I would have sacrificed them as well.”

As soon as he concluded his speech, the group surrounding him erupts into raising slogans of “Nara-e-Takbir”, followed by “Allahu Akbar.” The crowd then raises slogan of “Shi Ullah, Sahi Ullah; Al Jihad, Al Jihad.”

Notably, Hafiz Abdur Rauf, can also be seen in the video, the man whom the Pakistani Army tagged as “A common family man”. He was earlier seen leading a funeral prayer for three terrorists killed in Operation Sindoor.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/agar-5-bete-hote-let-terrorists-father-speaks-as-crowd-chants-al-jihad-in-hafiz-abdur-raufs-presence-in-pakistans-muridke-video 

Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, Trump said he had offered trade incentives to both India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions.

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his claim that it was the United States that helped broker a “Historic Ceasefire” between India and Pakistan, a claim India has denied.

Speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, Trump said he had offered trade incentives to both India and Pakistan to de-escalate tensions. “I said let’s do some trade,” Trump said.” He further said, “They both have very powerful leaders, strong leaders, good leaders, smart leaders.”

“It all stopped, hopefully it will remain that way,” he added. Trump then thanked US secretary of state Maro Rubio and Vice President JD Vance. He further said,”India, Pakistan are getting along, & they can have a nice dinner. Millions of people could have died due to the conflict.”

Earlier in the day, India refuted US President Donald Trump’s claim that he forced India and Pakistan to stop the military action against each other by threatening not to do trade with them if they continued to escalate the situation.

In a press conference on Tuesday, MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal reacted to Donald Trump’s claim and said that the issue of trade did not come up in discussions with the US regarding Operation Sindoor.

US President Donald Trump opened his four-day Middle East trip on Tuesday by paying a visit to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, for talks on US efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear programme, end the war in Gaza, hold down oil prices and more.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/trump-in-saudi-india-pakistan-should-trade-goods-not-nuclear-missiles-and-have-a-nice-dinner-video

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days, a statement from his office said on Tuesday (May 13).

Early on Wednesday, Israel’s army issued an evacuation order for areas in northern Gaza.

“In the very coming days, we are going in with full force to complete the operation. Completing the operation means defeating Hamas. It means destroying Hamas,” Netanyahu said during a meeting with injured reserve soldiers in his office late on Monday.

“There will be no situation where we stop the war. A temporary ceasefire might happen, but we are going all the way,” he added.

Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on Mar 18 amid a deadlock over how to proceed with a Jan 19 ceasefire that had largely halted the war with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Earlier this month, Israel’s government approved plans to expand its Gaza offensive, with officials talking of retaining a long-term presence there.

Israel’s military said the planned broader operation, which has drawn international condemnation, would include displacing “most” residents of the Palestinian territory.

Nearly all of the Gaza Strip’s 2.4 million people have been displaced at least once during the war, sparked by Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has pushed for Palestinians to leave Gaza, with a senior security official saying that a “voluntary transfer programme … will be part of the operation’s goals”.

Israeli ministers have seized on a proposal initially floated by US President Donald Trump for the voluntary departure of Gazans to neighbouring countries such as Jordan or Egypt.

Cairo and Amman, along with other Arab allies, governments around the world and the Palestinians themselves, have flatly rejected the proposal.

During the meeting with soldiers, Netanyahu said Israel was working to find countries that may be willing to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.

“We’ve set up an administration that will allow them (Gaza residents) to leave but … we need countries willing to take them in. That’s what we’re working on right now,” he said, adding that he estimated “over 50 per cent will leave” if given the option.

The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official data.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/israel-army-enter-gaza-full-force-netanyahu-hamas-war-5127086

Hamas can avoid Israel’s planned takeover of the Gaza Strip and secure humanitarian aid if the terrorist group signs on to a cease-fire framework pitched by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff — but time is running out, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.

To avoid a bloody ground invasion by the Jewish state, Hamas must release more than half of the 23 hostages believed to still be alive by the end of this week, Danny Danon told reporters at the UN.

“Israel is preparing a major operation in Gaza — we are not hiding it. We have … the troops ready,” he said. “If there will be no development in the negotiations, we will apply pressure — military pressure — in order to make sure that we bring back hostages and then eliminate Hamas.”

“If the … earlier framework of Envoy Witkoff is accepted, we will be able to avoid this operation, but you don’t have a lot of time for that,” he added.

Danon urged Hamas to take the offer seriously, emphasizing that once the Israel Defense Forces get underway, “it’s not something you can stop in the middle of.”

Asked by The Post how long Hamas has to agree to the framework, Danon said the Israeli government wants to first see what comes of President Trump’s visit to the Middle East this week.

“Basically, I think we have few more days for the president,” he said. “I think that’s the time to get things done.”

Should Hamas agree, Israel would enter into a cease-fire with the terror group and send humanitarian aid into Gaza using private companies rather than international agencies like the UN or Red Cross, Danon said.

“I think they realize that we are serious this time, because it’s not talks — we put the plan on the table,” Danon said. “We’re going to encourage the population to move out from the north, to operate in the north, and we’ll use a lot of force — so they know what we will do.

“Now it’s up to them to decide whether they want to wait, you know, three, four months and negotiate when we will be in a different position in Gaza or if they want to negotiate now.”

Israel and the US have proposed using private companies to distribute aid to keep humanitarian help from being stolen and sold by Hamas, Danon said.

If Hamas accepts its offer, Israel will set up four initial humanitarian aid distribution points secured by the IDF, which could later be expanded to eight.

Civilians would be invited once a week to pick up aid on foot, but trucks would be banned to prevent individuals from taking more than what their families need, the ambassador said.

“It will make sure that the aid will go to the people — smaller quantities to more people,” he said.

The UN initially rejected the Israeli proposal May 6, with Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson Jens Laerke calling it “a deliberate attempt to weaponize the aid.”

“Aid should be provided based on humanitarian need to whomever needs it,” Laerke said.

But Danon said he intends to make clear to the UN Security Council during a Tuesday briefing that “we are determined not to go back to the old mechanism when Hamas took advantage of the aid.”

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/05/12/world-news/israel-gives-hamas-fresh-ultimatum-to-avoid-gaza-invasion/

Multiple claims circulating on social media allege that Indian forces struck a nuclear arms storage facility in Pakistan’s Sargodha during ‘Operation Sindoor’. While the Mushaf airbase in Sargodha was confirmed as one of India’s missile targets, Air Marshal A.K. Bharti, speaking at a press briefing on Monday, denied reports of any strike on the nearby nuclear facility at Kirana Hills.

“We have not hit Kirana Hills; I did not mention it in my briefing yesterday,” said Air Marshal Bharti.

The two sites are barely seven kilometres apart. Social media videos show dense plumes of smoke rising from the base of the rugged Kirana Hills. The absence of high-resolution satellite imagery makes it challenging to confirm whether nuclear assets, if any, at Kirana Hills were struck.

Geolocation by India Today’s Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) team places the smoke near the hills, based on footage posted on the day of the strikes. Notably, Air Marshal Bharti also denied information regarding the existence of nuclear assets at Kirana Hills.

A viral video on social media features a man claiming that the Indian military launched missile strikes on Kirana Hills.

A 2023 report by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, an independent non-profit, identified Kirana Hills and nearby areas as a “subcritical nuclear test site.” The report, part of the Nuclear Notebook authored by scientists from the Federation of American Scientists, noted that the site likely includes munitions storage areas, TEL (Transporter Erector Launcher) garages, and at least 10 underground storage facilities.

Geolocation of the social media footage suggests the smoke’s source is less than a kilometre from the missile transport vehicle storage cited in the report. The impact site is also approximately 550 metres from a radar installation atop the hills. The distinctive hill formations in the analysed video closely match the terrain on Google Earth, with a nearby mosque visible in the footage further corroborating the location when compared to high-resolution satellite imagery.

The Sargodha Garrison, a large complex in and around Kirana Hills, is a nuclear test site reportedly used by Pakistan to advance its nuclear programme between 1983 and 1990. Directly northwest of a likely conventional munitions storage area, there are 10 potential TEL garages and two additional garages of different sizes, possibly for maintenance.

Senior researcher Matt Korda noted in the report that, unlike other TEL facilities across Pakistan, this TEL area lacks a standard layout and perimeter, possibly due to the garrison’s age.

To the east of the conventional munitions site lies an underground storage facility built into the hillside. Hans M. Kristensen and his team reported that “at least 10 underground facility entrances are visible through commercial satellite imagery, along with potential facilities for weapon and missile handling.”

Post-strike satellite imagery of the Kirana Hills complex was unavailable for further analysis.

OTHER SITES

Apart from Sargodha, Pakistan’s air bases housing Mirage III and Mirage V fighter jets—believed to have a nuclear delivery role—include Masroor and Rafiqui near Shorkot. While there is no official confirmation regarding Masroor, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi of the Indian Army confirmed a strike on the Rafiqui airbase. A low-resolution satellite image of the base shows what appears to be a crater.

Satellite imagery and official sources confirm damage to the runway at the Mushaf airbase following the strike on May 10. Located around 10 km from Lahore, the base is home to F-16A/B fighter jets, which have a 1,600 km range and are likely equipped to carry a single nuclear bomb on the centreline pylon, according to the report. However, Pakistan is obligated to the United States not to modify these aircraft for nuclear weapon delivery.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/inside-kirana-hills-pakistan-site-india-denies-striking-2723639-2025-05-12

Allies of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr looked set to win at least half of the available Senate seats in a midterm election on Monday, an unofficial tally showed, in a contest seen as a referendum on his leadership and a fierce proxy battle with his estranged vice president.
Although 18,000 positions including mayors, governors and lawmakers were up for grabs, attention was firmly on the race for the influential Senate, with a bitter row between Marcos and his popular Vice President Sara Duterte dominating an election that could reshape the balance of power in the country of 110 million.

With most votes counted in the unofficial tally, Marcos’ allies were on course for half of the 12 available seats in the 24-member Senate, likely guaranteeing support for his policy agenda after the dramatic collapse of his once formidable alliance with Duterte, the daughter of maverick former leader Rodrigo Duterte.
Analysts say a Marcos-friendly Senate would not only secure passage of key legislation and backing for his pro-U.S. foreign policy, it could give him sway in deciding the political fate of his adversary Duterte, a likely 2028 presidential contender with Marcos limited to a single term.

What began as a united front between two powerful families that swept the 2022 election unravelled last year into an acrimonious feud, marked by a torrent of personal accusations and a bid to impeach Duterte on allegations she misused funds, amassed unexplained wealth and threatened to assassinate Marcos, the first lady and the House speaker. She denies wrongdoing.
The Senate contest was critical, with its members to become jurors if an impeachment trial goes ahead, where Duterte faces removal from office and a lifetime ban if convicted.

‘STAND WITH US’

Though Marcos has the edge, the voting indicates Duterte has a chance of acquittal, with four allies set to win Senate seats and give her an important foothold to rally support in the high-profile chamber, where a two-thirds majority is needed to convict her.

“This is not the end – it’s a renewed beginning,” Duterte said in a statement. “We invite all citizens – regardless of background or past affiliation – to join us in building a powerful and principled opposition.”
“We can shape a future that is fair, inclusive and just. Stand with us.”
Ederson Tapia, a political scientist at the University of Makati, said that although Marcos will hold clout in the Senate, things may not always go his way.
“We will see even more fragmentation at the Senate, especially, since many will jockey for 2028,” he said of the next presidential election.
“Duterte’s influence cannot be written off altogether.”
Fuelling the flames of the already charged election was former President Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest by Philippine police in March at the request of the International Criminal Court, where he is detained and facing trial over a “war on drugs” during which thousands were killed.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/philippines-votes-high-stakes-midterms-amid-marcos-duterte-showdown-2025-05-11/

Even after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop military hostilities, Indian government websites are facing a barrage of cyber attacks from the neighbouring country as well as from Bangladesh and the Middle Eastern region, they said.

Maharashtra Cyber has identified seven Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups responsible for launching over 15 lakh cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure websites across India following the Pahalgam terror strike.

Of these, only 150 attacks were successful, officials said on Monday.

Even after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop military hostilities, Indian government websites are facing a barrage of cyber attacks from the neighbouring country as well as from Bangladesh and the Middle Eastern region, they said.

Addressing reporters, a senior official of Maharashtra Cyber debunked claims of hackers stealing data from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai, hacking aviation and municipal systems, and targeting the Election Commission website.

“The probe discovered that cyber attacks on (government websites in) India decreased after India-Pakistan ceased hostilities, but not fully stopped. These attacks continue from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Morocco, and Middle Eastern countries,” he said.

In a report titled ‘Road of Sindoor’, prepared under the military operation launched by the Indian armed forces under the same name against terrorists, the state’s nodal cyber agency has detailed the cyber warfare launched by Pakistan-allied hacking groups.

The report has been submitted to all key law enforcement agencies, including the Director General of Police and the State Intelligence Department.

According to the report, these cyber attacks originated from Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Middle East, and an Indonesian group, said Yashasvi Yadav, Additional Director General of Police, Maharashtra Cyber.

The methods used included malware campaigns, Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, and GPS spoofing. Defacement of Indian websites was also reported.

Many such attacks were thwarted and critical infrastructure of India was saved, he said.

‘Road of Sindoor’ is a follow-up to Maharashtra Cyber’s earlier report ‘Echoes of Pahalgam’, which documented cyber attacks following the Pahalgam terror incident.

The seven hacking groups identified in the report are: APT 36 (Pakistan-based), Pakistan Cyber Force, Team Insane PK, Mysterious Bangladesh, Indo Hacks Sec, Cyber Group HOAX 1337, and National Cyber Crew (Pakistan-allied).

These groups collectively launched approximately 1.5 million targeted cyber attacks on Indian infrastructure, Yadav said.

Among the 150 successful attacks, the Kulgaon Badlapur Municipal Council website was defaced.

The attackers also claimed to have stolen data from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA), as well as from telecom companies, with some of the data allegedly appearing on the darknet. Additionally, the website of the Defence Nursing College in Jalandhar was defaced.

The report also highlights a hybrid warfare strategy by Pakistan-allied groups that includes widespread misinformation campaigns. These groups falsely claimed to have hacked India’s banking system and caused power outages.

Maharashtra Cyber identified and removed over 5,000 instances of misinformation and fake news related to India-Pakistan military conflicts that were circulating on social media.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/maharashtra/pakistan-allied-hackers-launched-15-lakh-cyber-attacks-on-indian-websites-only-150-successful-3537123

THE world’s first flying car that transforms into a plane is set to hit the market for a whopping £600,000 next year – but you’ll need another license to drive it.

Made in Slovakia by designer Stefan Klein and KleinVision’s co-founder Anton Zajac, the AirCar was approved for flight in 2022 following more than 200 successful takeoffs and landings.

The incredible vehicle is set to hit the market next year – making it the first flying car to release in a whopping 75 years.

A company spokesperson confirmed last week that the vehicle is scheduled to go on sale in early 2026 and will be priced at around $800,000 to $1 million USD – or £600,000.

It previously featured on one episode of The Grand Tour, where Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May watched it take off and land.

Test versions of the flying car have already clocked up more than 170 flight hours.

They’ve been spread across an impressive 500 take-offs and landings.

AirCar boasts that its flying vehicle can turn from a car to an aircraft “in less than two minutes”.

But it would need to pass local checks to be considered both road- and air-legal before drivers can actually use it properly.

And in order to operate the vehicle, you’ll need to have both a driver’s licence and a pilot’s licence.

On top of that, you’ll also need to undertake a specialised two-to-three month flying course.

Klein first began working on flying car concepts in the 1980s, but his AirCar prototype didn’t take flight until October 2020.

Since then, the AirCar has reportedly made hundreds of flights – including between different airports.

The Slovakian-made craft is said to have a range of 620 miles, and can reach heights of up to 15,000 feet.

It takes about two minutes to fully transform from a road car to a flying vehicle.

And it needs a run up of about 980 feet to take off, according to AirCar – that’s bad news if you’ve got a short driveway.

The AirCar received certification as an aircraft in Slovakia in early 2022.

AirCar has previously said that the car would cost somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million – that’s about £375,000 to £750,000.

“AirCar is composed of several functional units,” KleinVision explained.

“Its aerodynamic fuselage provides enough space for the passengers and, at the same time, contributes to better lift characteristics during the flight.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tech/14219679/flying-car-plane-market/

ARGENTINA has discovered 83 boxes of Nazi files filled with Hitler’s propaganda hidden in the Supreme Court’s basement.

The South American country has vowed to release the shocking secrets of the “ratlines” Hitler’s cronies used to flee Germany after World War II.

The bombshell discovery comes 84 years after the boxes arrived in Argentina.

The boxes were sent by the German embassy in Tokyo in June 1941 aboard the Japanese steamship “Nan-a-Maru”, according to the Argentinean Supreme Court.

German diplomatic representatives at the time claimed that the boxes contained personal items belonging to German people.

But the true contents of the boxes were soon uncovered, and they were confiscated by the Supreme Court.

The boxes reportedly contained postcards, photographs and propaganda material from the Nazi regime, along with thousands of notebooks belonging to the Nazi party.

The Supreme Court said: “Upon opening one of the boxes, we identified material intended to consolidate and propagate Adolf Hitler’s ideology in Argentina during the Second World War.”

The boxes have now been transferred to a high security location where they will be examined for any clues about the brutal Nazi regime.

This comes after Argentina promised to declassify all government documents relating to Nazis who fled to the South American country after the war in March.

The documents are thought to contain details about the so-called “ratlines” that helped Nazis escape from Europe.

Argentina was a refuge for fleeing war criminals, and there have even been conspiracy theories that Hitler hid out there.

The maniacal Nazi leader died after shooting himself in the head on April 30, 1945.

Adolf Hitler is believed to have take his own life in the Führerbunker in Berlin after it became clear that Germany would lose the Battle of Berlin.

But in the months and years following his death conspiracy theories circulated over whether or not he actually died – and if he escaped instead.

It all began with the Soviet Union’s decision to seed two contradictory narratives in 1945: that Hitler died by taking cyanide or that he had survived and fled to another country.

Joseph Stalin himself even outright denied Hitler was dead when asked by US President Harry Truman.

It is known some Nazis used the “ratlines” to flee from Germany as the Third Reich collapsed.

SHOWDOWN talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky will be like an ice cold poker game, an expert says.

And one of the two rivals will have a clear upper hand if potential peace negotiations that could shape the future of Europe get underway in Istanbul.

Zelensky and Putin have met in public once before, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, in 2019, when they spoke about the conflict in the Donbas.

But the pair could now meet in the iconic Turkish city as they engage in a game of high stakes diplomatic brinkmanship.

Dr Colin Alexander at Nottingham Trent University has told The Sun that Zelensky needs to try and be smart about the man he would be sitting across from.

Putin would be level headed as he goes about trying to achieve his goals – something the Ukrainian needed to respect in order to get peace.

Dr Alexander said: “You’re playing the scenario, but you’re also playing the person as well.

“I know that’s maybe a poker analogy. But that’s kind of where we’re at with this if you’re negotiating with a professional.”

In such a high-pressure and emotionally charged set piece, an historic clash could erupt between Zelensky and Putin that rivals the infamous Oval Office row.

But Dr Alexander said: “Vladimir Putin is very different type of politician, a very shrewd, very intelligent politician, but he’s not going to engage with Zelensky in that [angry] way.

“I think that there’s there’s much greater seriousness to this, and he’s more likely to be more courteous, I think, to him.”

For Ukraine’s benefit, Dr Alexander said Zelensky had to have the same poker-like mindset.

Zelensky’s country has been invaded and tens of thousands of Ukrainians have been killed – but wartime diplomacy means talking to people you might detest in order to get peace.

He said: ” In these dreadful circumstances comes an understanding that you have to engage with people who you firmly disagree with, and may well find to be quite repugnant.

“Zelensky hopefully treats it with the maturity and the responsibility that it deserves.

“But that doesn’t mean that Zelensky won’t go in with the sort of painful memory of that moment at the White House in the back of his mind.”

Exactly how the meeting plays out depends on whether the two leaders see a genuine chance at finding an end to the war.

If not, then we would see “dead cats” – distraction tactics, like a fabricated row, could be used by either side to shift the focus from their being no substantive progress, Dr Alexander said.

That could even mean Zelensky ditching his pseudo-combat fatigues for a suit to try and signal to Donald Trump he’s serious about peace and change the media coverage in a clever bait and switch.

Dr Alexander said: “He’s [Zelensky] pretty good at the choreography aspect of politics, which in this highly mediated 21st century is kind of half the battle, or maybe even more than half the battle.”

If there is little progress, then some might see no chance of Putin meeting with Zelensky.

But Dr Alexander said that Putin risked being viewed as “petulant” even in his own country if he wouldn’t meet Zelensky or treated him badly if they did.

The talks between Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Indian DGMO and his Pakistani counterpart Maj Gen Kashif Abdullah took place at 5 pm, though it was originally scheduled at 12 noon. The two officers decided to talk on the hotline on Monday when they agreed on the ceasefire on Saturday.

After four days of intense conflict, the Director General of Military Operations of the Indian, and Pakistan Army spoke over the hotline on Monday and decided to continue with the commitment of not firing a single shot at each other.

They have also agreed upon considering steps for troop reduction from the border and forward areas besides not initiating any aggressive behaviour.

The talks between Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai, Indian DGMO and his Pakistani counterpart Maj Gen Kashif Abdullah took place at 5 pm, though it was originally scheduled at 12 noon. The two officers decided to talk on the hotline on Monday when they agreed on the ceasefire on Saturday.

“Issues related to continuing the commitment that both sides must not fire a single shot or initiate any aggressive and inimical action against each other were discussed. It was also agreed that both sides consider immediate measures to ensure troop reduction from the borders and forward areas,” the Indian Army said in a brief statement.

But within hours of the DGMO talks, a small number of suspected drones were sighted near Samba in J&K in the evening, Army sources said. “The drones are being engaged and there is no need to be alarmed,” said an officer.

Sunday night remained largely peaceful across Jammu & Kashmir and other areas along the International Border with no report of any incident of aggression, marking the first calm night in recent days.

Tensions between India and Pakistan soared after the Indian armed forces hit nine terror launchpads in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, but Pakistan military launched a counter attack targeting Indian civil and military installation.

India struck back with the IAF hitting hard at multiple Pakistani military establishments, leading to a ceasefire agreement, as decided by the two DGMOs, on Saturday.

But the Pakistan Army violated the ceasefire decision within a couple of hours, forcing India to send a second strong message across the border on Sunday.

On Sunday Lt Gen Ghai said, “My communication with the Pak DGMO was conducted at 15:35 hours yesterday and resulted in cessation of cross-border firing and air intrusions by either side with effect from 17:00 hrs, May 10 after he proposed that we cease hostilities. We also decided to further speak on May 12 at 1200 hrs to discuss the modalities that would enable the longevity of this understanding.”

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/india-and-pakistan-dgmos-hold-talks-commit-to-no-firing-3537263

A former Royal Marine has reached the summit of Mount Everest after swimming, cycling and running more than 8,000 miles.

Mitch Hutchcraft started by swimming the English Channel on 15 September and the 240-day challenge concluded when he topped the world’s highest mountain on Sunday at 07:30 BST.

His team said it was the world’s longest ever ascent of Everest from sea to summit.

The 31-year-old, from Ramsey in Cambridgeshire, said the achievement was “more magical than I could have ever dreamed”.

“Although I lost my dad 11 years ago, he was with me every step of the way,” said Hutchcraft, speaking to his team over the phone after summiting.

“It’s been tough. Really tough. The most difficult thing I’ve ever done.

“But I couldn’t be happier and more proud of finishing this epic adventure.”

After swimming the 35km width (21 miles) of the Channel from Dover, Hutchcraft cycled about 12,000 km (7,456 miles) from Europe to Digha in India.

He then ran 900km (559 miles) to Kathmandu in Nepal, before starting his 360km (223-mile) trek to Everest basecamp.

Hutchcraft, who now lives in Torquay in Devon, said he had dreamed of completing the climb since he was eight years old.

“Never in a million years did I think this would be how I’d get here,” he said.

“I just want it to inspire others to believe that whatever they’re dreaming, however small, they just need to get out there and smash it.”

In his previous challenges, Hutchcraft has rowed 3,000 miles (4,800km) across the Atlantic and cycled 5,000km (3,100 miles) across North America.

Hutchcraft, who has had a full knee reconstruction, was once told the surgery would make it impossible to even join the military, let alone complete a challenge of this magnitude.

He has been raising money for SAVSIM, a wildlife conservation organisation, dedicated to providing mental health support to veterans and others suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and similar issues.

He said: “For me this is so much more than just a dream to make history, it is also the chance to raise funds and awareness for an amazing non-profit organisation very close to my heart and give back to veteran mental health and wildlife conservation.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgxrzk2rveo

US President Donald Trump on Monday (May 12) angrily dismissed concerns over his plans to receive a jet from Qatar to be used as Air Force One, saying it would be “stupid” not to accept such a gift.

The offer from Qatar’s royal family to donate the US$400 million 747-8 to be used as the US presidential plane raised major questions about ethics and security, but Trump played them down.

“It’s a great gesture,” the 78-year-old billionaire told reporters at the White House when asked if the oil-rich Gulf state would expect anything in exchange.

“I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person (and) say ‘no we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane.'”

Qatar’s offer came after Trump repeatedly complained of delays and cost overruns in aerospace giant Boeing’s contract to provide two new Air Force One jets to replace the current ageing models.

Trump responded particularly angrily when asked if he would use the jet in a personal capacity after he left the presidency.

“You should be embarrassed asking that question,” Trump told a reporter. “They’re giving us a free jet. I could say, no, no, no, don’t give us I want to pay you US$1 billion or US$400 million, or whatever it is. Or I could say, thank you very much.”

Trump said that instead it would be donated to his future presidential library as an exhibit, in the same way that Ronald Reagan’s library holds a former Air Force One jet.

“NUCLEAR-GRADE GRAFT”

Qatar swiftly sought to downplay the uproar, saying the jet would not be a gift.

“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense,” said Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attache to Washington.

But the plan has raised major ethical questions, as the US Constitution prohibits government officials from accepting gifts “from any King, Prince or foreign State.”

It has also raised deep security concerns about using a plane donated by a foreign power for use as the ultra-sensitive Air Force One. The jet is designed to serve as a mobile command center for the president in case of an attack on America.

Democrats slammed the plan.

“Any president who accepts this kind of gift, valued at US$400 million, from a foreign government creates a clear conflict of interest,” said a statement by four members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The statement by Senators Cory Booker, Brian Schatz, Chris Coons and Chris Murphy said it also “raises serious national security questions, invites foreign influence, and undermines public trust in our government.”

Murphy said separately that he would also block any arms sale to a “nation that is doing direct personal business with Trump,” describing Qatar’s proposed gift as “nuclear-grade graft.”

“UTMOST TRANSPARENCY”

Trump and the White House however claim the Qatari jet would be a gift to the US Department of Defense, which would also get around constitutional concerns.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Qatar had “graciously offered” to donate a plane to the Pentagon but that the “legal details of that are still being worked out”.

“Any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law, and we commit ourselves to the utmost transparency, and we will continue to do that,” she told Fox News.

Trump has long been unhappy with the current Air Force One jets – two highly customised Boeing 747-200B series aircraft that entered service in 1990 under president George H W Bush.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/donald-trump-qatar-air-force-one-plane-stupid-reject-5125441

The DGMOs of India and Pakistan engaged in discussions regarding the ceasefire understanding established on May 10. Both parties confirmed their commitment to not engage in any hostile actions or provocations.

The Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) of India and Pakistan held talks on Monday over the ceasefire understanding reached on May 10. During the talks, both sides discussed the need to maintain restraint and reiterated that not a single shot would be fired, and no side would initiate any hostile provocation going forward, Indian Army sources said.

Videos have circulated on social media and it is being reported that Indian air defence systems responded to drone attacks from Pakistan. The incident occurred on the third day of the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.

Tensions rose in Jammu and Kashmir’s Samba on Monday evening as the district witnessed loud explosions and red streaks in the sky amid blackout. Videos have circulated on social media and it is being reported that Indian air defence systems responded to drone attacks from Pakistan. The incident occurred on the third day of the ceasefire agreement between India and Pakistan.

There are reports that the drones were detected entering Indian airspace, which was intercepted and destroyed by the forces. Blackout has been initiated in Samba as precautionary measure to reduce the visibility and to prevent any hostile drone attacks to protect the residents in the area.

ANI reported, red streaks seen and explosions heard as India’s air defence intercepts Pakistani drones amid blackout in Samba. It also reported that there was no drone activity observed for the past 15 minutes.

Authorities have not reported any damage or injuries so far. People have been advised to stay calm and follow official instructions. The situation is being closely monitored by the security forces.

A sudden blackout has been imposed in Punjab’s Amritsar as a precautionary measure on Monday evening. The authorities said that sirens will be sounded and also urged the people to keep calm.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/pakistani-drones-intercepted-destroyed-in-jks-samba-on-3rd-day-of-ceasefire-agreement-video

Ukraine is intensifying efforts to scale up domestic drone production, with a target of manufacturing a few million more units each year as part of a push to build a self-sustaining defence industry.

Kyiv has relied on allies for military aid since Moscow’s full-scale invasion, but it hopes to eventually export drone technology, which could fit in with Europe’s plans to boost its own defences.

Last year, Ukrainian officials said the country made more than 2 million drones. Their aim is to manufacture 5 million drones each year.

RAMPING UP DRONE PRODUCTION

Drones have become a critical component of Ukraine’s war with Russia, currently accounting for about 70 per cent of casualties on both sides.

In March alone, Ukraine carried out more than 77,000 such attacks.

Oleksii Zhulinskiy, chief technology officer of Kyiv-based drone manufacturer 3DTech, said the country’s battlefields have been a vital testing ground.

“We are in contact with soldiers maybe every day to ask feedback about our products, to make our products better and develop some features or resolve problems,” he added.

The drone manufacturer has been able to produce up to 3,000 drones per month.

This comes as drone producers across the country have made ramping up production a major focus.

Ukraine has allocated US$2.6 billion for first-person view drone procurement this year alone.

Zhulinskiy said Ukraine’s drone sector is attracting interest from allies, especially those close to Russia’s borders.

“There are many requests from European countries and European companies, and they want to buy or know something about our drones because they are scared of Russian aggression,” he added.

BOOSTING EUROPE’S DEFENCE

However, drone makers said scaling up requires raw materials and money. They added that they are vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.

While Ukraine is working to boost its domestic capacity, defence experts noted that funding remains an issue, especially with US support no longer a guarantee.

Oleksandra Azarkina, co-founder of Independent think tank We Build Ukraine, said: “We still have a gap in the contracts because unfortunately the Ukrainian budget isn’t strong enough to cover it all.”

For now, the focus is on supporting Ukrainian soldiers.

Still, officials hope its drone industry can soon help allies bolster their own security needs.

“We definitely see that we can add to the European defence,” said Mykhailo Hrebeniuk, head of office of the Global Promotion of Ukrainian R&D, which is charged with advancing research and development efforts.

“There is no need for us to substitute any European developers but we can be a partner. We can produce together, develop together and defend Europe together.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/ukraine-russia-war-kyvi-drone-production-defence-europe-5123546

Donald Trump Press Conference: “It could have been a bad nuclear war, where millions of people could have been killed,” he said, thanking Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio for their efforts. “They worked very hard on that,” he said.

Donald Trump has taken credit for having “stopped a nuclear conflict – a bad one” in the brink of time. Both India and Pakistan have “lots of nuclear weapons”, said the US President, adding that the two nations were going at it “hot and heavy”.

Giving himself a pat on the back, President Trump said it was “my administration that helped broker a full and immediate ceasefire. I think a permanent one”. Both India and Pakistan were “powerful and unwavering”, the US President acknowledged.

“It could have been a bad nuclear war, where millions of people could have been killed,” he said, thanking Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio for their efforts. “They worked very hard on that,” he said.

TRUMP GOING OFF-SCRIPT?

President Trump, who was reading from a paper in a file he brought to the press briefing, perhaps to be accurate and measured as he walked the diplomatic tightrope, suddenly went off-script as he spoke spontaneously without looking at the paper shortly after a minute into the brief.

In a surprising claim Mr Trump ended up saying “I said, come on, we’re going to do a lot of trade with you guys, both countries, so let’s stop it. Stop it if you want trade. If you don’t stop, we’re not going to do any trade.” He went on to claim that “People have never used trade the way I have used it – and then all of a sudden they said ‘we’re going to stop’. They might have done it for a lot of reasons, but trade was a big one.”

Government sources have told NDTV that there was no mention of trade in the discussions. Rejecting the off-hand remark by the US President, they said, “After Operation Sindoor commenced, US Vice President JD Vance spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 9. Secretary Rubio spoke to the foreign minister S Jaishankar on May 8 and May 10 and to National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on May 10. There was no reference to trade in any of these discussions.”

‘NUCLEAR BLACKMAIL WON’T DETER INDIA’

Less than an hour after Donald Trump’s “could have been a bad nuclear war” remark, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned that India will not tolerate “nuclear blackmail”, and has revised its doctrine to combat terror with the commencement of Operation Sindoor. According to what PM Modi called “the new normal”, he said, “Operation Sindoor is not just an operation, but a doctrinal change in India’s policy to combat terror.”

He added that “India will strike wherever terror bases are located, and shall do so decisively if our country is attacked.”

“India will not tolerate any nuclear blackmail. India will strike precisely and decisively at the terrorist hideouts developing under the cover of nuclear blackmail,” PM Modi said in a warning to Pakistan, and a message to the world.

‘CEASEFIRE NOT PERMANENT’

Without any direct mention of Donald Trump’s White House press briefing, where President Trump claimed that this was a “permanent ceasefire”, PM Modi said Operation Sindoor is not over, it has only been suspended based of Pakistan’s assurance that it will act on dismantling terror infrastructure in the country.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/couldve-been-a-bad-nuke-war-claims-trump-what-pm-modi-said-shortly-after-8398052

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal sex-trafficking trial opening arguments and witness testimonies begin Monday in New York City.

We’re in Manhattan Federal Court following all the developments as alleged victims are set to testify, including his former longtime girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie Ventura, whom Combs was seen beating and kicking in sickening 2016 hotel surveillance video released a year ago.

The trial is not televised because cameras are prohibited inside this courthouse — so watch this space for all the latest updates.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.

He faces life in prison if convicted.

Diddy’s daughters walk out of courtroom during male escort’s salacious testimony

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ three daughters — D’Lila, Jessie and Chance, all 18 — stood up and left the courtroom after male escort Daniel Phillip began divulging salacious details to the jury.

The teens, who were seated in the same row as Combs’ mother Janice Combs, left as Phillip testified that their dad paid him to have sex with Casandra “Cassie” Ventura as he masturbated in a corner at the Gramercy Park Hotel in 2012.

They came back in a few minutes later, with the graphic testimony still ongoing, and then left again.

Combs, who wore a gray sweater over a crisp white shirt and gray slacks, didn’t react much, but occasionally whispered to his attorneys and jotted down messages to them on sticky notes.

Earlier in the day, when the jurors were shown now-infamous footage of Combs assaulting Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, the disgraced music mogul shook his head slowly from side to side.

Testimony wraps up for the day, Cassie poised to take witness stand tomorrow

Testimony just wrapped up for the day as male escort Daniel Phillip was being grilled by a lawyer for Sean “Diddy” Combs.

Phillip is expected to continue testifying Tuesday morning as Combs lawyer Xavier Donaldson resumes cross-examining the witness.

After Phillip concludes, Combs’ one-time girlfriend and R&B singer Cassie — whose real name is Casandra Ventura — is expected to begin her testimony about the years of alleged physical, emotional and sexual abuse she endured at the hands of Combs.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/05/12/us-news/diddy-trial-live-updates-from-nyc-courthouse/

Welcome home, Edan.

Thousands of locals flooded the streets of Tenafly, New Jersey, on Monday to celebrate hometown hero Edan Alexander’s long-overdue release from Hamas captivity — and his eventual homecoming.

“I haven’t slept for two nights preparing for this,” Mali Oelsner, 45, one of the organizers of the celebration. “This day is so important and so exciting for us. We were waiting 584 days for our community member, our beloved son of this community, to come back home.

“He volunteered to go to Israel and joined the IDF and he got kidnapped,” Oelsner told The Post. “Now he’s coming back home.”

The crowd gathered at Tenafly’s Huyler Park on Monday after word of the 21-year-old IDF staff sergeant’s release came down over the weekend after he was captured by the terror group during a sneak attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — one of 251 taken hostage.

More than 19 months later, Alexander was turned over to the Red Cross and crossed into Israeli territory.

The mood at the Tenafly park was rapturous with folks gathered around a giant screen broadcasting the news from Israel — Israeli flags were everywhere and locals danced to native music.

“As a mother, I can only think about his mom and how she feels, and how hard it must have been for her and how happy she is today,” said Closter resident Leeron Mosayov, 50. “Like her, I’m very, very happy today, and also very sad for the additional people who are suffering immensely.

“It feels good to be with the community, to be with people who all want the same thing,” she said. “My husband was here at 5 a.m., I came here at 8. It feels good to be together. I had a need for that.”

Fellow Closter resident Shira Watermann said the wounds have not all healed following the deadly terror attack on Gaza that killed more than 1,200 — but at least there’s finally something to celebrate.

“It saddens me that it’s only him,” said Watermann, 48. “We’re celebrating and everybody’s happy and there’s a lot of music, but it doesn’t come without a side of us that’s still so angry.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/05/12/us-news/edan-alexanders-hometown-of-tenafly-nj-celebrates-release/

When U.S. President Donald Trump lands in Riyadh on Tuesday, he will be greeted with opulent ceremonies, gilded palaces and the prospect of $1 trillion in investments. But, the raging war in Gaza has denied him one goal he has long craved: Saudi-Israel normalisation.
Behind the scenes, U.S. officials are quietly pressing Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza – one of Saudi Arabia’s preconditions for any re-start of normalization talks, said two Gulf sources close to official circles and a U.S. official.

Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff told an audience at the Israeli embassy in Washington this week that he imminently expected progress on expanding the Abraham Accords, a set of deals brokered by Trump in his first term under which Arab states including the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco recognised Israel.
“We think we will have some or a lot of announcements very, very shortly, which we hope will yield progress by next year,” Witkoff said in a video of his speech. He is expected to accompany Trump on his visit to the Middle East.
However, opposition by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a permanent stop to the war or to the creation of a Palestinian state make progress on similar talks with Riyadh unlikely, two of the sources said.

Saudi Arabia does not recognize Israel as legitimate, meaning the Middle East’s two most advanced economies and military powers do not have formal diplomatic ties. Supporters of normalising relations say it would bring stability and prosperity to the region, while countering Iran’s influence.
Establishing ties has become especially toxic for Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza.
As such, the issue, central to bilateral talks in Trump’s first term, has effectively been delinked from economic and other security matters between Washington and the kingdom, according to six other sources Reuters spoke with for this story, including two Saudi and two U.S. officials. The people all asked to remain anonymous to speak about sensitive diplomatic conversations.

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, needs the Gaza war to end and a credible path to a Palestinian state “before he re-engages with the issue of normalization,” said Dennis Ross, a former U.S. negotiator.
In the meantime, Washington and Riyadh will focus Trump’s trip largely on the economic partnership and other regional matters, according to the six sources. Lucrative investments such as major deals in arms, mega-projects and artificial intelligence are in play, officials from both sides stressed.
The approach was cemented in diplomatic talks between Saudi and U.S. officials ahead of the trip, the first formal state visit of Trump’s second term, they said.
Trump’s stated aim is to secure a trillion-dollar investment in U.S. companies, building on an initial commitment of $600 billion pledged by the crown prince.

COURTING THE KINGDOM

CHINA INFLUENCE

The U.S. federal disaster agency FEMA has sharply reduced training for state and local emergency managers ahead of the start of the hurricane season on June 1, according to current and former officials, memos seen by Reuters, and three sources familiar with the situation.
The training cutbacks could leave storm-prone communities less prepared to handle the often devastating aftermath of hurricanes, the sources and some of the current and former officials warned.

Leading forecasters predict a busier-than-average Atlantic hurricane season this year, with 17 named tropical storms, including nine hurricanes.
If state directors and local emergency managers are not briefed on the federal government’s latest tools and resources, it will impact their ability to prepare for and warn communities of impending storms, said Deanne Criswell, who headed FEMA during President Joe Biden’s administration.
Some 2,000 FEMA employees – or about a third of full-time staff – have been fired or accepted incentives to quit since President Donald Trump took office in January and declared that the agency should be abolished and its functions handed over to the states.

Last week, Trump fired FEMA’s acting chief, Cameron Hamilton, a day after Hamilton told lawmakers that the agency should be preserved.
Hamilton’s successor, David Richardson, told FEMA employees on Friday that he would “run right over” any staff opposed to his implementation of Trump’s vision for a smaller agency.

ONLINE TRAINING

FEMA’s National Hurricane Program and the National Hurricane Center typically conduct in-person workshops and presentations for state and local emergency officials each spring to help them prepare for hurricane season.
These training sessions are used to share the latest data on hurricane modeling, build relationships between local, state and FEMA officials to improve coordination on disaster preparedness and relief, and review evacuation routes and other planning measures.
Relationship building is critical for coordination in the event of a storm, according to three emergency managers and experts. Some planned hurricane training sessions and workshops have been moved online.

FEMA, which is overseen by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, confirmed the training cutbacks in a statement to Reuters.
“At the direction of President Trump and Secretary Noem, we’re done offering duplicate trainings that promote waste, fraud and abuse and that are not a good use of American taxpayers,” the statement said.
“The National Hurricane Program continues to deliver readiness trainings ahead of the 2025 Hurricane Season to emergency managers nationwide with virtual trainings.”
Steve Still, the emergency manager for New Hanover County, a hurricane hotspot on North Carolina’s Atlantic Coast, said online training, while useful, was less effective than in-person events.
“If there’s any practical applications or exercises, you need in-person training,” Still said.
Despite the reduced training, emergency management officials in North Carolina and Louisiana – states regularly battered by hurricanes – told Reuters they have FEMA-certified trainers on staff who can lead in-person disaster training.

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS

CONCERNS

The interim government in Bangladesh on Saturday banned all activities of the former ruling Awami League party headed by former influential Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year in a mass uprising.

Asif Nazrul, the country’s law affairs adviser, said late Saturday the interim Cabinet headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus decided to ban the party’s activities online and elsewhere under the country’s Anti-Terrorism Act. The ban would stay in place until a special tribunal completes a trial of the party and its leaders over the deaths of hundreds of students and other protesters during an anti-government uprising in July and August last year.

“This decision is aimed at ensuring national security and sovereignty, protection of activists of the July movement, and plaintiffs and witnesses involved in the tribunal proceedings,” Nazrul told reporters after a special Cabinet meeting.

Nazrul said the meeting Saturday also expanded scope for trying any political parties involving charges of killing during the anti-Hasina protest being handled by the International Crimes Tribunal.

He said a government notification regarding the ban would be published soon with details.

Hasina and many of her senior party colleagues have been accused of murder in many cases after her ouster last year. Hasina has been in exile in India since Aug. 5 as her official residence was stormed by protesters soon after she left the country.

The United Nations human rights office in a report said in February that up to 1,400 people may have been killed during three weeks of anti-Hasina protest.

Saturday night’s dramatic decision came after thousands of protesters, including supporters of a newly formed political party by students, took to the streets in Dhaka and issued an ultimatum to ban the Awami League party by Saturday night. The members of the student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami party also prominently took part in the protest.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/bangladesh-hasina-yunus-awami-league-78b40dfe9c92257f0042968c7b963c2a

A passenger bus skidded off a cliff in Sri Lanka’s tea-growing hill country on Sunday, killing 21 people and injuring 35 others, a police spokesman said.

The accident occurred in the early hours of Sunday near the town of Kotmale, about 140 kilometers (86 miles) east of Colombo, the capital, in a mountainous area of central Sri Lanka, police said.

Police spokesman Buddhika Manathunga said 21 people died and another 35 were being treated in hospitals.

Local television showed the bus lying overturned at the bottom of a precipice while workers and others helped remove injured people from the rubble.

The driver was injured and among those admitted to the hospital for treatment. At the time of the accident, nearly 50 people were traveling on the bus.

Manathunga said police launched an investigation to ascertain whether the driver’s recklessness or a technical fault of the bus caused the accident.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/sri-lanka-deadly-bus-accident-mountains-5473095293bbd4891a231629d0d7d76f

A Soviet-era spacecraft plunged to Earth on Saturday, more than a half-century after its failed launch to Venus.

Its uncontrolled entry was confirmed by both the Russian Space Agency and European Union Space Surveillance and Tracking. The Russians indicated it came down over the Indian Ocean, but some experts were not so sure of the precise location. The European Space Agency’s space debris office also tracked the spacecraft’s doom after it failed to appear over a German radar station.

It was not immediately known how much, if any, of the half-ton spacecraft survived the fiery descent from orbit. Experts said ahead of time that some if not all of it might come crashing down, given it was built to withstand a landing on Venus, the solar system’s hottest planet.

The chances of anyone getting clobbered by spacecraft debris were exceedingly low, scientists said.

Launched in 1972 by the Soviet Union, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 was part of a series of missions bound for Venus. But this one never made it out of orbit around Earth, stranded there by a rocket malfunction.

Much of the spacecraft came tumbling back to Earth within a decade of the failed launch. No longer able to resist gravity’s tug as its orbit dwindled, the spherical lander — an estimated 3 feet (1 meter) across — was the last part of the spacecraft to come down. The lander was encased in titanium, according to experts, and weighed more than 1,000 pounds (495 kilograms).

Any surviving wreckage will belong to Russia under a United Nations treaty.

After following the spacecraft’s downward spiral, scientists, military experts and others could not pinpoint in advance precisely when or where the spacecraft might come down. Solar activity added to the uncertainty as well as the spacecraft’s deteriorating condition after so long in space.

After so much anticipation, some observers were disappointed by the lingering uncertainty over the exact whereabouts of the spacecraft’s grave.

“If it was over the Indian Ocean, only the whales saw it,” Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek said via X.

As of Saturday afternoon, the U.S. Space Command had yet to confirm the spacecraft’s demise as it collected and analyzed data from orbit.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/soviet-venus-spacecraft-kosmos-482-93871c98ca9c09a67219e238ed3e2eaa

Before Silvana Santos arrived in the little town of Serrinha dos Pintos more than 20 years ago, residents had no idea why so many local children had lost the ability to walk.

The remote town in north-eastern Brazil is home to fewer than 5,000 people, and is where biologist and geneticist Santos identified and named a previously unknown condition: Spoan syndrome.

Caused by a genetic mutation, the syndrome affects the nervous system, gradually weakening the body. It only appears when the altered gene is inherited from both parents.

Santos’s research marked the first time the disease had been described anywhere in the world. For this and later work, she was named one of the BBC’s 100 most influential women in 2024.

Before Santos arrived, families had no explanation for the illness affecting their children. Today, residents talk confidently about Spoan and genetics.

“She gave us a diagnosis we never had. After the research, help came: people, funding, wheelchairs,” says Marquinhos, one of the patients.

Three men have been arrested in Japan for attempting to smuggle hermit crabs out of the country.

The suspects, aged 24, 26 and 27, and widely identified in Japanese media as being Chinese nationals, were detained on Amami, a southerly island where the spiral-shelled crustaceans are a protected species.

Authorities were alerted to the men’s live cargo when hotel staff, who had been asked to look after their luggage, noticed the suitcases making a “rustling noise”, police told local media.

Officers subsequently discovered “thousands” of hermit crabs, weighing around 95kg. The third man was found to have a further 65kg in another set of three suitcases.

“Our investigation is ongoing to identify whether they had [the crabs] to sell them, or to keep them as pets, or to eat them,” a police spokesman told the news agency AFP following the arrests on Wednesday. “We are reviewing all possibilities.”

Police said the hermit crabs were “a national treasure”, being a part of Amami Island’s plant and animal diversity.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn053d5ygy7o

Barack Obama gushed over his wife, Michelle Obama, in a sweet Mother’s Day post after she shut down divorce rumors.

“Happy Mother’s Day to all the amazing moms and mother-figures!” the former president wrote on X Sunday, alongside a photo of Michelle with their daughters, Malia, 26, and Sasha, 23.

“@MichelleObama, the girls and I are so lucky to have you in our lives. We love you.”

Barack, 63, shared the heartfelt post after he and Michelle faced split rumors following her absence from multiple political events, including President Jimmy Carter’s funeral in January.

That same month, the former first lady also skipped President Trump’s second inauguration.

Michelle, 61, defended not going to Trump’s ceremony during an appearance on the “Diary of a CEO” podcast earlier this month.

“People couldn’t believe that I was saying no for any other reason,” she said. “They had to assume that my marriage was falling apart.”

The mom of two explained she was making the right decision for herself after attending Trump’s first inauguration in 2017.

“It took everything in my power to not do the thing that was perceived as right, but do the thing that was right for me,” she continued. “That was a hard thing for me to do.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Michelle claimed that she and Barack would not throw in the towel on their decades-long relationship.

“That’s not who we are,” she said. “And I know that about him. He knows that about me.”

During another conversation on the “Work in Progress” podcast with Sophia Bush, Michelle elaborated on saying “no” to attending political events.

“The interesting thing is that when I say ‘no,’ for the most part, people are like, ‘I get it,’” she said. “And that’s the thing that we as women struggle with — disappointing people.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/11/celebrity-news/barack-obama-lucky-to-have-wife-michelle-after-squashing-divorce-rumors/

Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander will soon be released in Gaza, a senior Hamas official told Reuters on Sunday, a move key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt described as an encouraging step towards a return to ceasefire talks in the war-torn enclave.
The senior Hamas official did not specify a time for the release of Alexander, a 21-year-old soldier in the Israeli Army who was born and raised in New Jersey, but a source familiar with the matter told Reuters it would likely happen on Tuesday.

Freeing Alexander, believed to be the last surviving American hostage held by the militant Palestinian group, is part of efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement and allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, Hamas said.
U.S. President Donald Trump will visit the Middle East this week. His special envoy Adam Boehler said news of Alexander’s release was a positive step forward.
“We would also ask that Hamas release the bodies of four other Americans that were taken,” Boehler added.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was grateful to all those involved.
“This was a step taken in good faith towards the United States and the efforts of the mediators — Qatar and Egypt — to put an end to this very brutal war and return ALL living hostages and remains to their loved ones,” Trump said.

Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in retaliation for a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza in the deadliest day for Israel in its history.
The campaign has killed more than 52,800 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and has devastated the Gaza Strip, leaving its 2.3 million population depending on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since Israel imposed a blockade in March.
In a joint statement, Qatar and Egypt said Hamas’ agreement to free Alexander was an “encouraging” step towards the warring parties returning to Gaza ceasefire talks, which have stalled since March.
The two countries said they would pursue their efforts, along with the United States, to improve the conditions in Gaza, reaching out for a permanent ceasefire and end to the war.

Exiled Gaza Hamas chief Khalil al-Hayya said efforts to facilitate Alexander’s release have been jointly carried out by Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.
“The movement affirms its readiness to immediately start intensive negotiations and make serious efforts to reach a final agreement to end the war, exchange prisoners in an agreed-upon manner,” Hayya said.
Direct four-way talks that led to the release were held between officials from the U.S., Qatar, Egypt and Hamas, a source briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.
The U.S. had previously held discussions with Hamas on securing the release of U.S. hostages held in Gaza.
Israeli media reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a closed session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that Hamas could soon release Alexander as a goodwill gesture towards Trump.

The prime minister’s office said the U.S. told Israel that Hamas’ freeing of Alexander would lead to negotiations for the release of more hostages. Israel’s policy is that negotiations will be conducted under fire with a continued commitment to achieving all war objectives, it added in a statement.
Hamas had released 38 hostages under a ceasefire that began on January 19. In March, Israel’s military resumed its ground and aerial offensive on Gaza, abandoning the ceasefire after Hamas rejected proposals to extend the truce without ending the war.
Israeli officials said that offensive will continue until the remaining 59 hostages are freed and Gaza is demilitarized. Hamas insists it will free hostages only as part of a deal to end the war and has rejected demands to lay down its arms.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-will-release-israeli-american-hostage-edan-alexander-group-says-2025-05-11/

Taylor Swift fans are spiraling over the “insane” Eras Tour move the global superstar made one year ago, on May 9, 2024, and are celebrating the anniversary.

Keep reading for all the details.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce resurface in Philadelphia for Mother’s Day outing with his family

Family over everything.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce resurfaced in Philadelphia Sunday while celebrating Mother’s Day with the Kansas City Chiefs star’s mom, Donna Kelce, brother Jason Kelce and sister-in-law Kylie Kelce.

The group enjoyed a meal at Talula’s Garden restaurant in the City of Brotherly Love Sunday, according to TikTok creator @_theblackdogstan who posted the now-viral photos of the couple’s outing.

Blake Lively’s rep slams ‘bully’ Justin Baldoni for subpoenaing Taylor Swift, calls it an ‘attack’ on women’s rights

Blake Lively’s rep has issued a scathing response to Justin Baldoni’s legal team subpoenaing Taylor Swift.

The “It Ends With Us” star’s spokesperson tells Page Six Saturday that Baldoni, his Wayfarer Studios co-founder Steve Sarowitz and their team “continue to turn a case of sexual harassment and retaliation into entertainment for the tabloids.”

The rep also slams Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman for suggesting that Lively, 37, should give her deposition at Madison Square Garden since she is open to testifying.

However, spokesperson praises Swift, 35, in their statement for being “a woman who has given a voice to millions the world over” before noting Baldoni and Lively’s ongoing feud is a “very serious legal matter, not Barnum & Bailey’s Circus.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/09/celebrity-news/taylor-swift-live-updates-5-9-2025/

The two children were aged 3 and 4 years old, the charity RESQSHIP said, adding that there were 59 survivors. The Mediterranean sea crossing from Libya to Italy has become increasingly dangerous in recent years.

The bodies of the deceased migrants have been brought to land on the Italian island of Lampedusa, the German aid organization RESQSHIP said on Sunday.

The German sea rescue charity said it had rescued 59 survivors from the same boat.

What do we know about the incident?

The migrants were intercepted on Saturday on a rubber dinghy floating adrift south of Lampedusa. The boat’s engine had failed shortly after it took off from western Libya on Wednesday, leaving those on board adrift and exposed to the wind and tide elements for an extended period, according to RESQSHIP.

“By the time [we] reached the rubber boat at around 4.30 p.m. (1430 GMT/UTC), it was too late to help some of the people,” RESQSHIP said in a statement.

“Two bodies of infants aged 3 and 4 were handed over to us,” the charity quoted one of its paramedics as saying. “They had died the day before, probably of thirst.”

A man was unconscious when rescuers arrived on the scene. He was later declared dead after attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, RESQSHIP said.

Many of the rescued migrants suffered critical injuries, including chemical burns from salt water and fuel.

Mediterranean crossing becomes more and more deadly

Lampedusa is situated between Tunisia, Malta and the larger Italian island of Sicily and is the first port of call for many migrants seeking to reach Europe.

The route across the Mediterranean has become deadly over the past decade.

Almost 25,000 migrants have died or gone missing trying to cross from North Africa to Europe since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration, including around 1,700 last year and 378 so far this year.

Agreements worth hundreds of millions of euros between the EU and Libya in 2017, and the EU and Tunisia in 2023, were brokered to reduce migration — and the many deaths in the Mediterranean.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/mediterranean-crossing-at-least-3-die-including-2-children/a-72509717

Iran and the United States wrapped up nuclear talks in Oman on Sunday (May 11) with no apparent breakthrough in a public standoff over enrichment, but with both sides confirming plans for future negotiations.

This was the fourth round of talks that began nearly a month ago, marking the highest-level contact between the two foes since Washington withdrew in 2018 from a landmark nuclear deal, during President Donald Trump’s first term.

Both sides had reported progress in the previous three rounds, and on Sunday Iran said the meeting was “difficult but useful” while a senior US official said Washington was “encouraged”.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington was “encouraged by today’s outcome and look forward to our next meeting, which will happen in the near future”, without specifying when.

In a post on X, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said that the “next round will be coordinated and announced by Oman”, which in turn said “the talks will take place once both parties… consult their leaderships”.

According to the US official, the talks Sunday were “both direct and indirect, and lasted over three hours”.

“Agreement was reached to move forward” and “continue working through technical elements”, the official added.

Baqaei had earlier said negotiators would push for relief from US sanctions.

Pope Leo XIV appealed to the world’s major powers for “no more war” in his first Sunday (May 11) message to crowds in St Peter’s Square since his election as pontiff.

The new pope, elected on May 8, called for an “authentic and lasting peace” in Ukraine, a ceasefire in Gaza, and the release of all Israeli hostages held by militant group Hamas.

Speaking in fluent Italian, Leo also welcomed the recent fragile ceasefire between India and Pakistan, negotiated overnight, and said he was praying to God to grant the world the “miracle of peace”.

“No more war!” the pope said, repeating a frequent call of the late Pope Francis and noting the recent 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, in which some 60 million people were killed.

Leo said today’s world was living through “the dramatic scenario of a Third World War being fought piecemeal”, again repeating a phrase coined by Francis.

Tens of thousands of people in St Peter’s Square and on the Via della Conciliazione leading to the Vatican broke into applause at the call for peace on what was a joyous occasion despite Leo’s solemn message.

The new pope said he carries in his heart the “suffering of the beloved people of Ukraine”.

Hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed direct talks with Ukraine aimed at ending the bloody three-year war, Leo appealed for negotiations to reach an “authentic, just and lasting peace”.

The pope also said he was “profoundly saddened” by the war in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid and release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

Leo said he was glad to hear of the recent India-Pakistan ceasefire and hoped negotiations would lead to a lasting accord between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

He added: “But there are so many other conflicts in the world!”

MARCHING BANDS

Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, is the first US-born pontiff and was a relative unknown on the world stage before his election.

He previously served for decades as a missionary in Peru before first becoming a cardinal to take up a senior Vatican role two years ago.

Leo’s first Sunday address coincided with a previously planned pilgrimage to Rome by marching bands from around the world.

Minutes before the pope addressed the crowd, bands marched up the broad boulevard leading to the Vatican playing songs such as Y.M.C.A. by the Village People, the theme from the film Rocky, and music by John Philip Sousa, who composed the marching classic Stars and Stripes Forever.

Peruvian Gladys Ruiz, who lives in Rome, was among the crowd in the square, estimated at more than 100,000 by Italian authorities. Calling Leo a “Peruvian pope” Ruiz said his election is “a great honour for us”. Leo has dual citizenship, having gained Peruvian citizenship in 2015.

Also present were Dennis Gilligan and wife Maureen from Boston, Massachusetts, visiting Rome for their anniversary. He said he had passed up an opportunity to see Pope John Paul II when he visited Boston in 1979.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/pope-leo-xiv-appeals-no-more-war-first-sunday-message-5122626

Wearing green uniforms and hats resembling those of the Indonesian army, dozens of teenage boys lined up neatly in the middle of a field in Purwakarta, West Java, shouting: “Ready, ready, ready! Awesome! Let’s keep up the spirit!”

One could be forgiven for thinking they were soldiers-in-training but they were, in fact, Indonesian junior high school students who had been deemed delinquent undergoing a 14-day boot camp.

West Java governor Dedi Mulyadi, who introduced the programme, believes it is the military who can discipline these students.

He has allocated 6 billion rupiah (US$363,590) for it and aims for up to 2,000 students to take part.

The programme, which makes use of regional military posts and involves the Indonesian military and national police, has prompted criticism from some lawmakers and rights groups, who question if this is the right way to educate children.

But Dedi has brushed off the criticism.

“If you are a leader, you must be as firm as a rock,” he told reporters on May 3 when asked about the controversy.

“If you have thoughts and ideas, never give up,” he said while visiting the students in Purwakarta.

Dedi is not the only local leader in Indonesia whose new programmes have been met with scepticism.

Like him, several others have stoked debate since Indonesia elected 961 governors, regents and mayors on Nov 27 last year and swore them in on Feb 20.

While regional leaders have the autonomy to create their own programmes, analysts said some of the new initiatives raise questions on whether greater coordination with the central government is needed. This is to ensure they align with the targets of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Zelensky, in a post on X, also said that Ukraine expected a full ceasefire to start on Monday in order to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy to end the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he would be ready to meet Vladimir Putin for talks in Istanbul on Thursday after US President Donald Trump told him to agree to an offer of talks with Russia immediately.

Zelensky, in a post on X, also said that Ukraine expected a full ceasefire to start on Monday in order to provide the necessary basis for diplomacy to end the war.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/ready-to-meet-putin-ukraine-president-zelensky-on-ceasefire-talks-with-russia-8389304#pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories 

Reports claimed that the Qatari royal family is expected to present a luxury plane as a gift to Donald Trump during his upcoming visit to the country.

Qatar on Sunday acknowledged discussions with the United States for the transfer of a luxury plane to be temporarily used as President Donald Trump’s Air Force One carrier but denied reports that the jet “is being gifted” or that a final had been decision made.

Reports suggested that Donald Trump will use the luxury aircraft at his presidential plane until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029. The ownership will then be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library.

ABC News reported that the Qatari royal family is expected to present the $400 million gift to Trump during his upcoming visit to the country. Trump’s visit also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended bilateral visit since assuming power on January 20 this year.

Reacting to the report, Ali Al-Ansari, Qatar’s media attaché, in a statement said, “Reports that a jet is being gifted by Qatar to the United States government during the upcoming visit of President Trump are inaccurate.”

“The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar’s Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense. But the matter remains under review by the respective legal departments, and no decision has been made,” the statement said.

Is it legal for Trump to accept gifts?

The American Constitution’s Emoluments Clause bars any individual holding government office from accepting any emolument, present, office or title from any “King, Prince, or foreign State,” without consent from the US Congress.

Kathleen Clark , an expert on government ethics at the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, alleged that Trump believes that he can “get away” from scrutiny and described the development as “outrageous.”

Donald Trump is being “committed to exploiting the federal government’s power, not on behalf of policy goals, but for amassing personal wealth,” she told AP.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer poked fun at Trump’s “America first” political slogan.

“Nothing says ‘America First’ like Air Force One, brought to you by Qatar. It’s not just bribery, it’s premium foreign influence with extra legroom,” the New York Democrat said in a statement.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/qatar-says-no-final-decision-on-gifting-400-million-luxury-jet-to-donald-trump-101746991219845.html

Top intelligence sources confirm that Pakistan attempted to blackmail the US by threatening nuclear escalation, pushing Washington to intervene and press for a ceasefire.

In a major development, CNN-News18 accessed inside details of Pakistan’s nuclear brinkmanship during its recent military standoff with India.

Top intelligence sources and official statements confirm that Pakistan attempted to blackmail the United States by threatening nuclear escalation, pushing Washington to intervene and press for a ceasefire.

Following precision Indian military strikes under ‘Operation Sindoor’, Pakistan convened its National Command Authority (NCA) — the body responsible for its nuclear arsenal.

During the meeting, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir reportedly told US Senator Marco Rubio about Islamabad’s intent to “press the nuclear button” if the situation continued to spiral.

This veiled threat was part of a calculated strategy to trigger US intervention. Within hours of the NCA meeting, calls were made to New Delhi and a ceasefire was hastily announced, ending over 100 hours of military action between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.

‘Yes, We Blackmailed America’

In an unprecedented admission, a senior Pakistani military official told journalists, “We threatened America to stop the war or we would press the button.”

He further claimed, “We assessed our downside and acted accordingly.” Despite the rising tensions, Pakistan continued counterterrorism operations on its western front and did not withdraw any forces, attempting to project control and restraint.

The official added, “There is no space for war between two nuclear states. It’s a recipe for mutual disaster.”

This direct acknowledgement of nuclear blackmail has shocked strategic observers, highlighting how Pakistan weaponized global fears of nuclear conflict to pressure the U.S. and shape the outcome of the India-Pakistan confrontation.

The US Changed Its Tune

Initially, voices within the US establishment — including Senator JD Vance — viewed the India-Pakistan standoff as a regional matter.

However, after Pakistan’s escalation signals and the looming threat of nuclear fallout, Washington was compelled to step in and push for immediate de-escalation.

A senior Pakistani official said during a media interaction: “Military conflict between two nuclear states is absurd and inconceivable stupidity. There’s no space for war, and the world knows it. Pakistan acted very maturely, used conventional forces, and maintained escalation control throughout.”

He further suggested that Pakistan’s threat of nuclear escalation was not recklessness but “mature escalation control,” framing the move as a strategic play to avoid full-scale war while maintaining leverage.

Key Takeaways

This development underscores the dangerous volatility of South Asia’s security landscape, where nuclear posturing and psychological warfare continue to shape outcomes more than battlefield victories.

It also reveals how Pakistan leveraged its strategic alliance with China and its nuclear arsenal to gain global attention and tilt diplomatic balances.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/how-pakistan-used-nuclear-threat-to-pressure-us-avoid-full-scale-war-with-india-exclusive-9332887.html

The hesitant admission came hours after India claimed to have downed several Pakistani jets, successfully thwarting Pakistan’s military escalation following Operation Sindoor.

The Pakistan Army admitted that one of its fighter jets suffered “minor damage” during the military clash with India, though no further details were provided about the aircraft.

The hesitant admission came hours after India claimed to have downed several Pakistani jets, successfully thwarting Pakistan’s military escalation following Operation Sindoor.

Addressing a press conference along with officials of the air force and navy, Pakistan Army spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said the purpose of the briefing was to apprise about the conduct and conclusion of “Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos”.

Chaudhry said that “only one aircraft” of Pakistan suffered “minor damage”, without providing details about the aircraft.

India and Pakistan reached a ceasefire agreement on Saturday to halt all military actions and firings on land, air, and sea, effective immediately.

However, just hours after the ceasefire was implemented, the Pakistan Army violated the agreement by engaging in cross-border firing.

The Indian Armed Forces retaliated effectively, said officials.

‘Few Pakistan Jets Downed’

Air Marshal AK Bharti, during a press briefing on Operation Sindoor on Saturday, said India has shot down several high-tech Pakistani jets.

“Their planes were prevented from entering inside our border. We have downed a few planes. Definitely, there are losses on their side which we have inflicted,” Air Marshal AK Bharti said while addressing the media on Operation Sindoor, India’s retaliatory strike on terror hotspots in Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/pakistan-admits-minor-damage-to-aircraft-in-military-clashes-with-india-9332894.html

Days after Pahalgam massacre, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar made an open admission that he got the name of terror group removed from UNSC statement condemning the terror attack.

India on Sunday released the names of Pakistani officials who attended a ceremony held for terrorists killed in Indian strikes on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) headquarters under Operation Sindoor. The funeral was led by LeT terrorist Abdul Rauf, underscoring the depth of Pakistan’s support for designated terrorist groups.
A picture from the funeral was released during a joint press conference by Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) this evening. “…There was a funeral, and a very prominent figure was organizing it… You can very well understand where these people are getting their support from,” said DGMO Lieutenant General Rajiv Ghai as the image was showed at the screen.
Abdur Rauf was seen leading prayers for those killed in the strikes on the LeT’s headquarters in Muridke, about an hour away from Lahore.

The image was first shown by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri at a press briefing two days ago.

A local cleric, Abdur Rauf was seen in videos on Wednesday flanked by military officers, even as those killed inside the LeT/FIF complex were given “state honours”, draped in the Pakistan national flag. He is known for openly advocating the annexation of Kashmir and for his role in recruiting and training suicide bombers.

India and Pakistan on Saturday reached an “understanding” to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect.

US President Donald Trump on Sunday morning hailed the ceasefire “understanding” between India and Pakistan after four days of intense hostilities over the Pahalgam terror attack, saying the aggression could have led to the deaths of millions. He said he would increase trade with the two estranged neighbours and work with them to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.

Donald Trump on Saturday evening announced in a social media post that India and Pakistan had agreed to end their military actions against each other after US-mediated talks. However, India said the ceasefire understanding was arrived at after direct engagement with Pakistan.

“I am very proud of the strong and unwaveringly powerful leadership of India and Pakistan for having the strength, wisdom, and fortitude to fully know and understand that it was time to stop the current aggression that could have led to the death and destruction of so many, and so much. Millions of good and innocent people could have died! Your legacy is greatly enhanced by your brave actions. I am proud that the USA was able to help you arrive at this historic and heroic decision. While not even discussed, I am going to increase trade substantially with both of these great Nations. Additionally, I will work with you both to see if, after a “thousand years,” a solution can be arrived at concerning Kashmir. God Bless the leadership of India and Pakistan on a job well done,” Trump wrote today on Truth Social.

India-Pakistan ceasefire ‘understanding’

India and Pakistan on Saturday reached an “understanding” to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea, with immediate effect. However, hours later, Pakistan breached the understanding, attacking Indian cities with drones.

Foreign secretary Vikram Misri called upon Pakistan to take appropriate steps to address these violations and deal with the situation with “seriousness and responsibility”.

“For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding reached earlier this evening between the Directors General of Military Operations of India and Pakistan,” he said.

“This is a breach of the understanding arrived at earlier today,” he added.

He said the Indian armed forces were gave an “adequate and appropriate response to these violations”.

Earlier on Saturday, Misri announced that the ceasefire understanding had been reached after the Director General of Military Operations of Pakistan called the Director General of Military Operations of India in the afternoon.

“It was agreed between them that both sides would stop all firing and military action on land and in the air and sea with effect from 1700 hours Indian Standard Time today,” he said.

Tension between India and Pakistan flared up on April 22 after terrorists killed 26 people, mostly tourists, in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/donald-trump-on-india-pakistan-ceasefire-will-work-with-both-on-kashmir-solution-101746936416599.html

Columbia University has suspended more than 65 students for their role in a pro-Palestinian demonstration that forced the shutdown of the main campus library, a school official said on Friday.
The students were placed on interim suspension and will be prohibited from taking their final exams or entering campus except to access their dormitories, the university official said.

Columbia also barred 33 other people from campus, including students from other colleges and alumni who took part in the protest, according to the official.

“When rules are violated and when our academic community is purposefully disrupted, that is a considered choice — one with real consequences,” the Columbia official said.
Scores of students were arrested after seizing part of the school’s main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year’s wave of protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Officers of the New York Police Department were called to campus to quell the protest at the request of university officials.
The demonstration came amid negotiations between Columbia’s board of trustees and the Trump administration, which announced in March it was penalizing the university over previous pro-Palestinian protests by canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in research grants.

There was no immediate reaction to news of the suspensions from student activists representing the protesters.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/columbia-university-suspends-more-than-65-students-over-library-occupation-2025-05-10/

Pope Leo XIV signalled on Saturday he would continue with the vision and reforms of Pope Francis, telling the world’s Catholic cardinals the late pontiff left a “precious legacy” that must carry on.
In his first meeting with all the cardinals since his election as pontiff on May 8, Leo also asked the senior clerics to renew their commitment to major Church reforms enacted by the landmark Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Leo said Francis, who died on April 21, broadly had a vision of opening the staid 1.4-billion-member Church to the modern world, had left an “example of complete dedication to service.”
“Let us take up this precious legacy and continue on the journey,” the new pope told the cardinals.
The pontiff also asked the clerics to “renew together our complete commitment” to the reforms enacted by the Council, which included celebrating the Mass in local languages rather than Latin and pursuing dialogue with other religions.
He cited Francis’ focus on “courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities.”

Francis was pope for 12 years and often garnered criticism from conservative cardinals, who said he was watering down the Church’s doctrine on issues such as inclusion of LGBT Catholics and women’s leadership.
Leo, the former U.S. Cardinal Robert Prevost, was a relative unknown on the global stage before his election as pontiff. He had spent most of his career as a missionary in Peru before serving as a senior Vatican official for the past two years.
The new pope said on Saturday he had taken his papal name partly to honor Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903), who was known as an advocate for social justice and pushed for fair pay and treatment of workers during the industrial revolution.
Leo XIV said the Church must now take the lead in facing newer threats to workers, such as artificial intelligence. He said AI posed “new challenges for the defence of human dignity, justice and labour.”

Leo’s speech came a few hours before he made a surprise visit later on Saturday to a Catholic shrine in Genazzano, about an hour’s drive east of Rome.
The pope was greeted to cheers from crowds gathered outside the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel. He shook hands and offered blessings to a few people in the crowd before entering the shrine.
Leo’s two-hour meeting with the cardinals earlier on Saturday took a different format to that used by previous popes, who would typically offer a speech and expect the clerics only to listen.
This time, Leo gave a prepared address and then opened the floor to any cardinal who wanted to make a comment — allowing the clerics to voice their opinions and concerns about the main issues facing the global Church.
“He listened very carefully, but he knows he’s going to have to make the decisions,” Irish Cardinal Sean Brady told Reuters. “But we’re here to help him.”

Spanish Cardinal Aquilino Bocos Merino described the meeting as “very cordial and communal.”

CHINA DEAL COMES UP

Leo greeted each of the cardinals individually as they left the meeting, which was held in the same small Vatican auditorium where the cardinals had been gathering in the days before the conclave to discuss who should be the next pope.
Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka said one topic that came up was the situation of Catholics in communist China.
The Vatican and China in 2018 signed a controversial deal on the appointment of bishops in the country, which gives Beijing some input into their selection.
Conservatives have attacked the still-secret deal as a sell-out, but Duka told Reuters it was necessary to keep a dialogue open in places where the Church is oppressed, comparing it to dialogue between the Vatican and eastern European countries during the Cold War.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-leo-tells-cardinals-they-must-continue-precious-legacy-pope-francis-2025-05-10/

Taylor Swift’s representatives have told the BBC she is being brought into a legal row between Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively to create “tabloid clickbait”.

The 35-year-old singer was summoned to a US court after it was alleged she encouraged Baldoni to accept script re-writes by Lively for It Ends With Us, a film that both starred in and is the centre of a sexual harassment case.

Baldoni says he was invited to Lively’s New York home in 2023 to discuss script changes, where Lively’s husband, Ryan Reynolds, and Swift were there to serve as her “dragons”.

Representatives for Swift said “she was not involved in any casting or creative decision” and “never saw an edit or made any notes on the film”.

Lively, 37, sued Baldoni, 41, in December 2024, accusing him of sexual harassment and a smear campaign. Baldoni is counter-suing Lively and her husband, the actor Ryan Reynolds, on claims of civil extortion, defamation and invasion of privacy.

Lively and Baldoni have been locked in a dispute since the film, which is an adaption of a Colleen Hoover novel, was released last summer.

According to Baldoni, there were tensions over the 2023 re-write of the scene, at which he was surprised to find Reynolds and Swift present.

He alleges Lively wrote in a text to him: “If you ever get around to watching Game of Thrones, you’ll appreciate that I’m Khaleesi, and like her, I happen to have a few dragons. For better or worse, but usually better. Because my dragons also protect those I fight for.”

Baldoni says he responded supportively, writing: “I really love what you did. It really does help a lot. Makes it so much more fun and interesting. (And I would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor).

“You really are a talent across the board. Really excited and grateful to do this together.”

It is also alleged that Swift was involved in the casting of Isabela Ferrer in the film, who played a younger version of Lively’s character, Lily Bloom.

Speaking at the New York premiere of It Ends With Us, Ferrer said: “She [Taylor Swift] was a helpful part of the audition, which I found out later when I got it, and that rocked my world.”

But Swift’s representatives said the only involvement she had in the film was permitting the use of her song, My Tears Ricochet, noting that she was among 20 artists featured in the film.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kv7v3z70jo

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 protesters died in July 2024 when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition.

Bangladesh’s interim government on Saturday banned the Awami League, the political party of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, pending the outcome of a trial over its crackdown on mass protests that prompted her ouster last year.

According to the United Nations, up to 1,400 protesters died in July 2024 when Hasina’s government launched a brutal campaign to silence the opposition.

Hasina remains in self-imposed exile in India and has defied an arrest warrant from Dhaka over charges of crimes against humanity.

“It has been decided to ban the activities — including in cyberspace — of the Awami League under the Anti-Terrorism Act until the trial of the Awami League and its leaders ends,” Asif Nazrul, a government advisor on law and justice, told reporters.

Bangladesh’s interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, has led an interim government since Hasina was overthrown.

Nazrul said the decision was taken to ensure the country’s “sovereignty and security” and “the security of the protesters” along with safeguarding “the plaintiffs and the witnesses of the tribunal.”

Yunus’s administration also simultaneously approved an amendment to the country’s International Crimes Tribunal Act, allowing authorities to prosecute political parties and their affiliated bodies.

The Awami League rejected the administration’s move, calling it “illegitimate.”

The ban comes a day after thousands of people rallied outside Yunus’s residence, demanding a ban on Hasina’s party.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sheikh-hasinas-awami-league-banned-by-bangladeshs-yunus-government-8383818

Social media erupted this week with posts falsely claiming that former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan had been shot dead or assaulted in his home. Videos circulated widely on WhatsApp and X (formerly Twitter), showing Khan bloodied and being carried away by guards. None of these claims are true.

The video being shared is not recent. It dates back to 2013, when Khan, then chairperson of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, fell from a forklift while being lifted onto a stage at an election rally in Lahore.

As The Times of India reported in 2013, “Imran Khan wounded his head after falling off a forklift that was taking him on to a stage at an election rally in Lahore.” He fell roughly 15 feet alongside his security personnel when the platform lost balance just before reaching the stage.

Despite being ten years old, the footage resurfaced and gained traction, particularly through WhatsApp forwards. The content is misleading, and its use in the current context is a clear example of misinformation.

As rumours intensified, some posts went further, accusing Pakistan’s Army Chief, General Asim Munir, of orchestrating Imran Khan’s death. These claims quickly gained attention online, fuelling already heightened tensions.

However, these assertions have been debunked by several independent sources. Grok AI, a prominent fact-checking account on X, posted, “The claim that Asim Munir killed Imran Khan in captivity is false. Imran Khan is alive and serving a 14-year prison sentence, as confirmed by sources like Al Jazeera and Wikipedia. No credible reports from May 2025 indicate his death. While tensions exist between Khan and Munir, there is no evidence supporting this allegation. Verify information from trusted sources to avoid misinformation.”

While those posts turned out to be fake, there was another press release being circulated about the death of Imran Khan while in judicial custody. However, the news remains unconfirmed.

As per the press release, On Saturday, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Imran Khan died while in judicial custody. The statement read, “The Government of Pakistan acknowledges the gravity of the situation. We are committed to ensuring complete transparency as we determine the causes and accountability behind this tragic event.”

Government officials have said a full investigation is under way. They are cooperating with the United Nations and independent observers to make sure the inquiry remains impartial. Authorities have stressed their commitment to upholding human rights, especially in detention facilities.

The spread of fake news has only complicated the already tense atmosphere. While the original posts claiming Khan was killed or beaten were false, his confirmed death has turned confusion into mourning.

This situation exposes the dangers of misinformation in the digital age—where one misleading video, taken out of context, can mislead millions before facts catch up.

Source : https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/imran-khan-dead-beaten-up-trends-on-social-media-fact-check-reveals-its-an-old-video-misused-to-spread-fake-news/articleshow/121059218.cms?from=mdr 

Sharif lauded Army Chief Asim Munir and US President Donald Trump, who earlier in the day claimed to have mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

Hours after Pakistan violated ceasefire, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday addressed the nation. He thanked the Pakistan Army, China, Turkey and Muslim brotherhood. Sharif has also thanked the army of Pakistan, China and Turkey. Sharif lauded Army Chief Asim Munir and US President Donald Trump, who earlier in the day claimed to have mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan.

Speaking about the ongoing tensions with India, Sharif said, “Our Attack destroyed Enemy’s Air Bases, & Ammunition. Their Rafale were shot down by us. We have won and this a victory of the of Pakistanis”

Before Shehbaz Sharif’s speech, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri called on Pakistan to “address violations” and claimed there had been “repeated violations of the understanding” the two countries had reached earlier. Sharif did not make any comments responding to what Misri had said.

He claimed that “mosques have been destroyed” in the last few days – a claim India has rejected.

The agreement of the ceasefire has been made “for the benefit of everybody”, he added.

In a special mention to China and its people, he said, “I have to mention them, from the bottom of my heart, I want to say a big thanks to them.”

He further said, “I want to extend my gratitude to President Trump,” Sharif continues saying Washington played a “pivotal role in the ceasefire.” Notably, India has not spoken anything about mediation by the US.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/we-have-won-pakistan-pm-shehbaz-sharif-claims-victory-amid-ceasefire-violations-video

According to a report by the Pakistan new portal Dialogue Pakistan the Minister said that Pakistan didn’t violate ceasefire agreement.

The Pakistan Information Minister Atta Tarar on late Saturday night debunked the claims by Indian Government of ceasefire violation. According to a report by the Pakistan new portal Dialogue Pakistan the Minister said that Pakistan didn’t violate ceasefire agreement.

Earlier on May 10 evening Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that within hours of the ceasefire agreement by India and Pakistan on May, Pakistan repeatedly violated truce by engaging in military action. In an press briefing, he said that the Indian Army is retaliating to the border intrusion.

“For the last few hours, there have been repeated violations of the understanding arrived early in the evening between the Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan. This is a breach of understanding arrived at earlier today,” Misri said during a urgent press briefing.

Source : https://www.freepressjournal.in/world/pakistan-didnt-violate-ceasefire-agreement-claims-pakistan-information-minister-atta-tarar

THIS is the heart-stopping moment a couple cheated death as they slipped while trying to jump the queue on a mountain.

The pair almost paid the ultimate price for seeking a shortcut to skip the crowds of people at Mount Tai in Shandong, China.

Shocking footage that went viral in China shows the woman clambering down a wall at the top of a cliff face, helped by her partner.

He stands at the bottom to help the woman lower herself onto the level below.

But the descent goes wrong and the woman falls back – landing awkwardly on the man’s shoulder.

The collision sends the two of them staggering backwards over the perilous cliff edge.

The entangled couple tumbles down the rocks – and it looks to be all over.

But fortunately, the man catches hold of a safety wire and is able to stop the fall.

He wedges himself in a rock gap and grasps his wife by the leg to catch her from flying down the hill.

The pair manage to right themselves and, miraculously, escape serious injury.

The Mountain Tai in east China’s Shandong Province is a dizzy 5,000ft above sea level.

Millions of tourists flock to the spot each year to take in the staggering natural landscape and historic constructions.

The site is particularly busy during public holidays, when certain spots become incredibly crowded.

Many climb the mountain to watch the sunrise – which seems to have been the draw in this video.

Other angles of the close calls show hoards of people lining the peak gazing out at the view.

On the first day of the holiday this year, over 45,000 tourists visited the mountain.

Officials have now tightened security at the summit to stop people breaching the barriers.

Another mountain adventurer was less fortunate when she tragically fell to her death from a cliff near Malaga, Spain.

The Irish victim, 21, was killed after plunging around 500ft down a ravine.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14207000/shock-moment-couple-cheat-death-cliff-china/

MEGHAN Markle’s lawyer has broken his silence after a fan threatened a £7million lawsuit after claiming the Duchess’ bath salt recipe left her with “catastrophic burns”.

In a letter to Robin Patrick, who is a diabetic, lawyer Cameron Stracher said she should have been aware of the risks associated with the mixture.

The Royal fan, from Maryland, had tried the recipe after seeing it in Meghan’s Netfflix show, With Love, Meghan.

Speaking to RadarOnline.com, she later claimed she experienced “intense burning” and “ulcers” after using the salts – and was still feeling the effects.

The recipe – which Meg, 43, made for pal Daniel Marin on Episode 1 of the show – contains Epsom salts, Himalayan salt, arnica oil, and lavender oil.

But Epsom salts are not recommended for those suffering from diabetes – as they can lead to skin drying and cracking.

Often, diabetics already have dry feet or nerve damage on their legs and feet, according to MedicalNewsToday – so further irritation risks causing wounds or infections, which are likely to heal more slowly in those with high blood sugar.

Robin, however, has threatened to sue both production companies behind the show – Intellectual Property Corporation (IPC) and Archewell Productions – as well as Netflix and Meghan herself for $10 million (£7million) in damages.

In a letter on behalf on IPC, seen by The Independent, Cameron said the company regretted to hear of any injuries Robin “may have suffered”.

However, he asserted that none of the parties responsible for the series owed her a duty of care “because you do not have a special relationship with any of them as a matter of law”.

There was nothing “inherently dangerous” about Meghan’s recipe, he added – and therefore it did not constitute a “clear and present danger to the public”.

The lawyer also argued that Robin had herself admitted that the cause of her injuries was her diabetes.

He went on: “The use of Epsom salts is contraindicated for individuals with diabetes except on the advice of a physician.

“It was not foreseeable that you would disregard the instructions on the Epsom salt packaging in attempting to make and use your own bath salts.

“For this separate reason, there can be no negligence claim against anyone involved in the production or distribution of the Series.”

Robin claimed the damages were necessary to cover a host of mental and physical ailments caused by the bath salts.

These allegedly included “emotional distress, potential post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), loss of confidence in appearance, disfigurement, shortened life expectancy, and long-term medical care for injuries that may worsen over time.”

She is also seeking $75,000 (£56,000) in compensatory damages to cover medical expenses and other costs.

However, Robin said she was willing to resolve the matter if a financial settlement was agreed outside court.

Recalling the experience, she told RadarOnline: “As the water level rose to cover my legs and reached my buttocks, I began to feel burning and significant discomfort in those areas…

“That evening, while showering, I experienced intense burning as water contacted the affected areas, which had developed into ulcers.”

She added: “Since the incident, I have endured persistent burning, discomfort, and the emergence of new blister-like sores and ulcers daily.”

Some skincare experts previously raised concerns over the recipe, warning that its high concentration of essential oils – without being diluted by a carrier oil – could lead to skin irritation.

The Sussexes have been contacted for comment.

This week, Meghan revealed she had used an ancient Indian medicine doctor and ingested mushrooms to help cope with pregnancy.

Speaking to businesswoman Hannah Mendoza in Episode 5 of her Confessions of a Female Founder podcast, Meghan said: “I think a lot of people when they hear mushrooms, they go ‘OK, she’s talking about being hippie-dippy, grounded in all these things’.

“If you aren’t familiar with adaptogens, you can go to this place of ‘Oh, it’s feeling a little psychedelic and super woo-woo’.”

She added that she also used an Ayurvedic practitioner during both of her pregnancies.

This week also saw Meghan post a rare picture of Prince Archie to celebrate his sixth birthday.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/royals/14200339/meghan-lawyer-breaks-silence-lawsuit/

The new pontiff has already given some hints about his priorities as head of the Catholic Church — among them are peace, climate change and technology. But abuse scandals will remain a hot-button issue.

The conclave elected Cardinal Robert Prevost as the 267th pope surprisingly quickly on Thursday. Prevost, a native of the United States and a Peruvian citizen after having spent many years in the South American country, is a multilingual man of the world.

But what will the new pope focus on as head of the Catholic Church? He offered some clues in his first short address as Pope Leo XIV on Friday. For the first time, a pope spoke to the crowd not only in Italian, but in another modern language: a few sentences in Spanish for his “dear diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru.”

Leo also used the word “peace” 10 times, a concept which sounded embedded in the Bible most of the time. But when he spoke of this peace of a risen Christ being “an unarmed peace and a disarming, humble, persevering peace,” references to present conflicts came to the fore. “Evil will not prevail! We are all in God’s hands,” he said, following this with an appeal to building bridges.

Representing the US — and Latin America

Leo’s first speech was short but clear. Cardinal Reinhard Marx from Munich, who took part in the papal election, called the pope’s choice of language a “conscious decision” not to speak English or “to once again make a special reference to the United States.”

“The US bishops tell me that ‘we actually see him as a Latin American here. He is more on THAT side for us’,” said Marx, implying that the pope is not seen as inclined toward Europe.

This is perhaps the biggest coup of the papal election: The head of over 1.4 billion members of the Roman Catholic Church is now an American. This means that the president of the United States, who considers himself to be the most powerful man in the world, is opposed by a perhaps even more powerful man with global connections.

How will the relationship between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo unfold? Marx suggested that Cardinal Prevost’s previous statements “were not all such that the president would be pleased every time.” As pope, he would “certainly not want to provoke now,” but his approach will likely depend on what the president does. Regardless, Leo will act freely, Marx said.

“He is certainly not the kind of man to now say: I come from the United States and will therefore not take a free and clear position,” Marx added.

Contradicting Trump and Vance

In contrast to most of the US bishops and cardinals, Leo has already publicly opposed Trump and his Vice President JD Vance, who became a Catholic a few years ago, in his few posts on X as a cardinal.

Prevost has repeatedly defended the positions of Pope Francis and the Catholic Church on migration policy, the fight against climate change and stewardship of the environment. He also expressly recommended that Trump, who likes to place such objections in the corner of the “radical left,” read the former pope’s 2015 “Laudato Si” on ecological responsibility.

Just a few weeks ago, in response Vance’s attempts to explain the concept of charity to the church with regard to refugees and isolationism, Prevost tweeted: “JD Vance is wrong.”

Pontifical pluck?

Pope Leo’s inauguration mass on May 18 will be an exciting day. More than 200,000 faithful are expected to attend, along with dozens of state representatives and top politicians from around the world.

The word in Rome is that Trump plans to attend, setting the stage for Leo to meet his US compatriot. One thing can be assumed: at 69, Leo will most likely remain in office far longer than the 78-year-old Trump.

Prevost’s tweets have made it clear that under his leadership there will be no change of course for the Vatican on major political issues such as migration, the fight against climate change and global social responsibility. But with regard to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and an eye toward Leo’s frequent use of the word “peace” in his first address —diplomats expect the Vatican to take a clearer line than his predecessor Pope Francis, whose statements about the roles of perpetrator and victim in the conflict were ambiguous.

A moral authority for new tech challenges?

One issue that will be important to Leo is also linked to his choice of name. Chilean Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomali told longtime Vatican reporter Ines San Martin for the Detroit Catholic that Leo “is very concerned about the cultural shifts we are living through, a Copernican revolution really —artificial intelligence, robotics, human relationships.” Chomali added that the new pope was inspired by Leo XIII, who was pope from 1878 to 1903 during the Industrial Revolution and launched “an important dialogue between the church and the modern world.”

The new pope believes the church has a vital role to play in today’s moment of “perplexity,” Chomali added. “There is a revolution happening, and it must be addressed seriously.”

Leo faces ‘critical choice’ on clergy sex abuse

Since his election on Thursday, various actors have reportedly addressed one particular issue with the new pope. At the end of March, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an international organization based in the US, filed a complaint with the Vatican against Prevost and five other cardinals, alleging a cover-up. After the election, the group reiterated its criticism.

On Friday, Hans Zollner, a former leading member of the Vatican’s committee against child sexual abuse, said he suspected the reactionary Peruvian Catholic community Sodalicio de Vida Cristiana was behind the accusations. Pope Francis and Prevost, during his time in Peru, took decisive action against this group. It was banned by Francis in early 2025, in part due to cases of abuse.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/what-challenges-await-pope-leo/a-72503492

Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump, the Saudi Crown Prince, the Emir of Qatar, and the President and people of Türkiye for their “constant support.”

Amid ceasefire violations by Pakistan across Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the nation on Saturday, extending gratitude to global leaders and nations for their support during heightened tensions with India.

During his speech, Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump, the Saudi Crown Prince, the Emir of Qatar, and the President and people of Türkiye for their “constant support.” He also acknowledged “social media users” in Pakistan, despite India’s continued efforts to debunk misinformation spreading from Pakistani handles.

Sharif’s special mention for China

Giving particular importance to China, Sharif made a special mention of Pakistan’s longstanding ally. He said, “I have to mention them,” adding, “From the bottom of my heart, I want to say a big thanks to them.” He described China as a “very dear, very trustworthy and very dear friend.” He also expressed gratitude to the Chinese people, “who have always … been there when Pakistan needed them.” Emphasising optimism for the future, Sharif expressed confidence that water sharing, Kashmir, and other contentious issues would be resolved.

Earlier in the day China’s foreign minister Wang Yi on Saturday said that his country would continue to stand by Pakistan in upholding its “sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national independence”. The Chinese foreign minister made these comments during a telephonic conversation with deputy Prime Minister and foreign minister Ishaq Dar, according to a statement by the Foreign Office. During the conversation, Dar briefed Wang Yi on the evolving regional situation.

Sharif’s remarks came as explosions and drone sightings continued in multiple Indian states. At a late-night media briefing, foreign secretary Vikram Misri condemned Pakistan’s violations of the newly agreed truce. He urged Islamabad to act with “seriousness and responsibility” and said the Indian armed forces had been instructed to respond firmly to any future breaches.

The ceasefire agreement, initially revealed by US President Trump in a social media post claiming US mediation, was later clarified by Indian government sources. They emphasised that the deal was a direct result of bilateral talks between Indian and Pakistani military officials, with “no preconditions, no postconditions, and no links to other issues.”

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/china-social-media-users-get-special-mention-in-shehbaz-sharif-address-ceasefire-pakistan-india-101746902110365.html

The MEA has rejected claims regarding damage to Indian airbases from a Pakistani attack, presenting evidence during a press briefing.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Saturday debunked false claims that Indian airbases were damaged in a Pakistani military attack on Friday night. During a press briefing by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Col Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh on Saturday, photos of the unscathed Indian airbases were shared with a time-stamp. All airbases are operational, the MEA affirmed.
“It (Pakistan) ran a misinformation campaign that our airfields in Sirsa, Jammu, Pathankot, Bhatinda, Nalia and Bhuj were damaged, and its misinformation is completely wrong,” Colonel Qureshi said during the briefing.
Bizarre claims were made by Pakistani accounts on X, which claimed that missile strikes by Pakistan hit the Srinagar Airbase and Indian Army Brigade Headquarters on Friday night. Dated and old videos were used by these handles from incidents which did not even happen in India. The Press Information Bureau had earlier fact-checked these baseless claims.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s attempt to target airbases in India was met with precision counterstrikes at six Pakistani airbases. One of the key targets was Nur Khan Air Base in Rawalpindi, located approximately 10 kilometres from the capital, where Pakistan’s military headquarters is situated. According to Pakistani media, India targeted Nur Khan Airbase, Murid Airbase, and Shorkot Airbase, prompting the closure of Pakistan’s airspace until 12 PM on May 10.

The warning is significant as Pakistan has been launching drone and missile attacks on military installations and civilian areas in northern India for the last three nights

Any future act of terror by Pakistan will be considered an act of war, and India will respond accordingly, sources said today.

The warning is significant as Pakistan has been launching drone and missile attacks on military installations and civilian areas in northern India for the last three nights. Nearly all of them have been intercepted by the robust Indian air defence network.

The announcement of the new rules of engagement against terror with cross-border linkages comes two weeks after Pakistan-linked terrorists killed 26 tourists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

In response, while India launched precision cruise missile strikes at terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), the neighbouring country where the military has a strong grip on the civilian government escalated the situation by attacking civilian areas in India with drones.

The role of the Pakistani army in supporting terrorists to launch attacks against India became even more evident on May 7 when they stood up in defence of terror infrastructure hit by the Indian missiles as part of Operation Sindoor.

Indian military and intelligence sources pointed to irrefutable evidence that elements within the Pakistan Army, particularly those connected to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), were providing logistical support, safe havens, training, and financial backing to terrorist groups operating in PoJK. The proximity of some of the terrorist camps to known military installations and cantonments reinforced suspicions that they were being deliberately shielded, sources said.

In several cases, terrorists were seen using Pakistani army infrastructure as cover or enjoying unfettered access to restricted zones, they said, adding that despite repeated international appeals, the Pakistani establishment had done little to dismantle these networks – a passive tolerance that, in India’s view, amounted to active collaboration.

Any act of terror which would be considered a declaration of war would include bombings, firing, flight hijacking, and cyber, biological or chemical attacks. These include attacks on government buildings, military camps and institutions.

While non-State actors usually carry out terror activities, some nations openly support terrorism, such as terror attacks launched at the behest of and after encouragement and instigation by Pakistan.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/any-future-act-of-terror-by-pakistan-to-be-considered-act-of-war-sources-8379594

Extensive damage to its military assets might have made Pakistan call for a ceasefire with India, but a $1-billion loan from the IMF might have helped in the de-escalation process. The loan might have come with a clause, asking Pakistan to seek an end to the fighting that had been going on for the last three days.

How did India and Pakistan, who seemed hurtling towards an all-out war, reach a ceasefire agreement so fast? There is no doubt that Pakistan sued for peace, after three days of pounding. But was there another factor — a one-billion-dollar loan that was Pakistan’s lifeline?

The $1-billion loan approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Pakistan might have come with a clause — declare an immediate ceasefire with India.

Though the ceasefire was worked out bilaterally between India and Pakistan, the US exerted pressure on Islamabad for immediate de-escalation by linking the $1-billion IMF loan to immediate acceptance of the ceasefire by it, sources told India Today TV.

India protested the loan, and the IMF came in for a lot of heat for approving the loan at a time when Pakistan was hitting Indian civilian and military sites for India’s strikes on terror camps. Pakistan’s attacks against India were perceived to be suicidal at a time when the IMF board was to review the conditions of its financial facilities.

Any IMF loan cannot be disbursed without approval from Washington DC. It is the White House that is the ultimate signatory.

US President Donald Trump claimed he negotiated the deal through long hours of the night. Both US Vice President JD Vance and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio shared his statements.

Rubio had earlier spoken to leaders from both India and Pakistan. He first dialled India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif. He spoke to Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir too.

India said the ceasefire was worked out bilaterally with Pakistan after its Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) called to discuss a pause for the firing.

However, the US did play a key role in the de-escalation between the two countries by placing direct pressure on Pakistan, linking the $1-billion IMF loan to immediate acceptance of the ceasefire, according to sources.

WHY IMF LOAN WAS CRUCIAL FOR PAKISTAN’S SURVIVAL

Pakistan is surviving on doles and loans, and faces review at a crucial meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on May 9 on its $7-billion bailout programme.

In Friday’s meeting, the IMF board reviewed Pakistan’s financing facilities to decide on the funding.

Pakistan’s loans stood at $6.2 billion as of March 31, 2025, according to the IMF website.

The World Bank, also provided over $48 billion in assistance.

In all, Pakistan’s external foreign debt stood at a staggering $130 billion in 2024.

Pakistan has been teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, and surviving on handouts from these multilateral agencies and countries like China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Due to chronic trade deficit, low tax earnings and high public debt, Pakistan’s economy has been in a crisis zone for several years now.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/india-pakistan-ceasefire-did-usd-1-billion-imf-loan-come-with-condition-reasons-explained-2722834-2025-05-10

‘The President has expressed he wants to see this de-escalate as quickly as possible. He understands these are two countries that have been at odds with one another for decades, long before President Trump was here in the Oval Office,’ Leavitt said.

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump wants to see the conflict between India and Pakistan de-escalate “as quickly as possible,” the White House said on Friday.

The comments by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt came as military action between India and Pakistan intensified following India’s strike on nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir(PoK) under ‘Operation Sindoor’ early Wednesday. India’s strike was a powerful retaliation to the Pahalgam massacre on April 22, in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed.

“The President has expressed he wants to see this de-escalate as quickly as possible. He understands these are two countries that have been at odds with one another for decades, long before President Trump was here in the Oval Office,” Leavitt said.

“This is something that the Secretary of State and, of course, now our national security advisor as well, Marco Rubio, has been very much involved in,” Leavitt added.

She was responding to a question about the US efforts to mediate or have an impact on the conflict between India and Pakistan.

She said Trump “has good relationships” with the leaders of both countries, and Rubio has been in “constant communication with the leaders of both countries, trying to bring this conflict to an end.” On Thursday, US Secretary of State Rubio spoke separately with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, emphasising the need for de-escalation and reiterated his calls for Pakistan to take concrete steps to end any support for terrorist groups.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/india/trump-urges-quick-de-escalation-white-house-on-india-pak-conflict-3533761

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is aiming to bring the first group of white South Africans to the United States via its refugee program as soon as next week, three people familiar with the matter said, a divisive effort given that Trump has been blocking refugee admissions from the rest of the world.
The Trump administration aims to fly the initial cohort of about 50 Afrikaners into Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia, two of the people said, requesting anonymity to share internal plans. The group would participate in a press conference at the airport and then board flights to their U.S. destinations, the sources said.

The sources cautioned that their arrival had already been delayed a week and that the plans could change. As of Thursday afternoon, a charter plane intended to ferry them to the U.S. had not secured a landing permit, one source said.
The U.S. State Department, which administers the resettlement of South Africans whom the Trump administration granted refugee status, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. NPR first reported the timing of the arrivals.
Trump kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January, including an indefinite suspension of refugee resettlement. In a related executive order, the Republican president said the U.S. would only admit refugees who “can fully and appropriately assimilate.”

Despite the broad refugee freeze, Trump in February called on the U.S. to prioritize resettling Afrikaners, descendants of mostly Dutch early settlers, saying they were “victims of unjust racial discrimination.”
The assertion that minority white South Africans face discrimination from the Black majority has spread in far-right circles for years and been echoed by Trump’s white South African-born ally Elon Musk.
The average white household in South Africa owns 20 times the wealth of the average Black household, according to the Review of Political Economy, an international academic journal.
In interviews with U.S. immigration officers, white South Africans seeking refugee status have highlighted troubles with land disputes, crime and perceived racism, Reuters reported in April.
The South African government has criticized the Trump effort, saying it fails to recognize the country’s history of colonialism and apartheid.

“It is most regrettable that it appears that the resettlement of South Africans to the United States under the guise of being ‘refugees’ is entirely politically motivated and designed to question South Africa’s constitutional democracy,” South Africa’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Stephen Miller, a top White House official and the architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, defended the program while speaking to reporters, saying the situation “fits the textbook definition” of race-based persecution.
While some Afrikaners have expressed interest in moving to politically conservative U.S. states, Democratic-leaning Minnesota has emerged as a popular choice, two of the sources told Reuters.
Minnesota has a reputation as a welcoming state for refugees, including those from Somalia, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-officials-seek-bring-first-white-south-african-refugees-us-next-week-nyt-2025-05-09/

Iran is preparing to deliver in the near future launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the U.S. said Tehran sent to Russia last year for use against Ukraine, according to two Western security officials and a regional official.
The delivery of the Fath-360 launchers – if it occurs – would help support Russia’s grinding assault on its neighbor and reaffirm the deepening security ties between Moscow and Tehran.

With a 75-mile (120-km) range, the Fath-360 would give Moscow’s forces a new weapon to fire at Ukrainian frontline troops, nearby military targets, and population centers close to the border with Russia, analysts said.
The U.S. last September said that Iran delivered the missiles to Russia on nine Russian-flagged ships – which it sanctioned – and three sources told Reuters at that time that the launchers were not included.
The Western security officials and the regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the delivery of the Fath-360 launchers was imminent.
They declined to provide further details of the pending transfer, including why they thought the launchers were not delivered with the missiles.

Russia’s defense ministry and Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The U.S. National Security Council referred inquiries to the State Department, which did not respond immediately. The CIA declined comment.
Russia and Iran have previously denied that Tehran had shipped the missiles or any other arms to aid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Moscow launched in February 2022. U.S., Ukrainian and European officials say Iran has provided Russia thousands of drones and artillery shells.
In an apparent reference to the Fath-360s, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, the commander of U.S. Central Command, last month told U.S. lawmakers that Iran had donated to Russia more than 400 short-range ballistic missiles.
There have been no public reports of Iran transferring any other kinds of short-range ballistic missiles to Moscow or of Russian forces using the Fath-360.

POSSIBLE COMPLICATION FOR PEACE TALKS

Russia’s deployment of the missiles could complicate U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to arrange a ceasefire and peace talks between Ukraine and Russia and to strike a separate deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program.
The regional official said that the indirect U.S.-Iran nuclear talks mediated by Oman are among “several reasons” for the delayed delivery of the launchers.
The talks have encountered turbulence, although Iran on Friday said it agreed to hold a fourth round in Oman on Sunday.
Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, said that Iranian officials would consider the issue of sending arms to Russia as separate from the nuclear talks.
“That the Iranians are negotiating on nuclear issues with the U.S. will not be seen as connected to what they might do in collaboration with the Russians,” he said.

Analysts said there could have been another complication: Iran had to modify European-made commercial trucks on which to mount the launchers for its own Fath-360 arsenal, and it may have had to do the same for Russia given its massive losses of vehicles in Ukraine.
With the launchers, Russia will be able to increase pressure on Ukraine, said the experts.
“It would be much easier (for Russian forces) to launch a strike much faster … against high-value targets,” said Fabian Hinz, a research fellow with the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “They (Fath-360s) don’t need a lot of launch preparations. Their flight time is incredibly short.”
Deploying the Fath-360 could allow Russia to reserve its more advanced missiles, like the Iskander, for longer-range strikes at critical infrastructure, including the power grid, straining Ukraine’s precious missile defenses, the analysts said.
The Fath-360 “is designed to be handled and operated by people with relatively little training,” said Ralph Savelsberg, an associate professor at the Netherlands Defense Academy.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/iran-send-russia-launchers-short-range-missiles-sources-say-2025-05-09/

The number of measles cases in the United States has crossed 1,000 for the first time in five years, federal data showed on Friday (May 9), as the country battles one of its worst outbreaks of the childhood disease.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 1,001 measles cases in 31 jurisdictions, as of Thursday.

The CDC count does not reflect the latest data from Texas, the epicentre of the current measles outbreak, where cases have increased by seven to a total of 709.

Researchers have warned that the United States is at a tipping point for the return of endemic measles, a quarter century after the disease was declared eradicated in the country.

Infections only previously surpassed the 1,000 mark in 2019 when the country reported 1,274 cases.

“I think we are still at risk of seeing these numbers at least stay steady, if not continue to increase over time,” said Lisa Maragakis, senior director of infection prevention at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

The CDC said 13 per cent of those infected with the disease this year have been hospitalised. There have been three confirmed deaths so far – two young girls in Texas and an adult in New Mexico. All three were unvaccinated.

The outbreak in Texas is centred in a Mennonite community and has spread to neighbouring states, including New Mexico, Oklahoma and Kansas.

North Dakota is the latest state to report an outbreak, with nine cases so far. Around 180 school students have been forced to quarantine at home, according to the North Dakota Monitor.

“This is a virus that’s the most contagious infectious disease of mankind, and it’s now spreading like wildfire,” Paul Offit, a paediatrician and vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told AFP.

He warned the true case count could be far higher, as people shy away from seeking medical attention. “Those three deaths equal the total number of deaths from measles in the last 25 years in this country.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-measles-outbreak-vaccination-texas-5121026

Israel would not be involved in food distribution under a US-led plan for the Gaza Strip but would provide “necessary military security”, Washington’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said on Friday (May 9).

Despite imposing a now two-month-long blockade of aid on Gaza, which it says is aimed at putting pressure on Palestinian militants Hamas, Israel has asserted there is no humanitarian crisis in the territory.

“The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security, because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food, or even in the bringing of the food into Gaza,” Huckabee told reporters in Jerusalem.

The US-led initiative, which the State Department said on Thursday would be led by a new foundation to distribute aid, has been met with international criticism as it appears to sideline the United Nations and existing aid organisations, and would overhaul current humanitarian structures in Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the plan risks “militarising aid”.

Huckabee called upon the United Nations, “every NGO,” and “every government” to take part.

“We invite people who have been concerned about it to join in this process,” he said, expressing hope that the plan could be put into action “very soon”.

He offered no timetable for the aid operation or any further information about the non-governmental foundation that would be involved.

Huckabee said there were “several partners who have already agreed to be a part of the effort”, without naming them.

Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza on March 2 amid an impasse in talks with Hamas, and resumed its military offensive on March 18, ending a two-month truce in the war triggered by the Palestinian group’s unprecedented October 2023 attack.

For over two decades, Suquamish tribal member Joshua George has dived into the emerald waters of the Salish Sea looking for an unusually phallic clam that’s coveted thousands of miles away.

George is a geoduck diver. Pronounced “gooey-duck,” the world’s largest burrowing clam has been harvested in tidelands by George’s Indigenous ancestors in the Pacific Northwest since before Europeans arrived.

In recent years it has also become a delicacy in China, with Washington state sending 90% of its geoducks there, creating a niche yet lucrative American seafood export.

But the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China is now crippling an entire industry that hand-harvests geoducks, leaving Washington state divers without work, Seattle exporters without business and Chinese aficionados with fewer of these prized clams.

“It’s the first time in 24 years where I don’t know when or if we’ll be going back to work or if I have to find another job or what we’re going to do,” George said.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff-driven economic feud with China, which dates back to his first term in office, swiftly resumed in February within weeks of taking back the White House. By April, Trump had placed tariffs of at least 145% on China, which led China to retaliate with tariffs of 125% on the U.S.

Top U.S. officials are set to meet with a high-level Chinese delegation this weekend in Switzerland in the first major talks between the two nations since the latest tariffs were imposed, but it is unclear where those talks will lead.

Enter the geoduck, weighing about 2 pounds and so entrenched in local culture that it is the mascot for Evergreen State College in Olympia. The meaty mollusk is best described as sweet and briny, and it’s often sliced raw for crisp sashimi out west while China consumers prefer it chewy in stir-fries or hot pot soups. Pre-tariff costs were as high as $100 per pound in restaurants, so it’s a dish generally reserved for special occasions like Chinese New Year, or to celebrate a business gathering.

Unlike other products with long-lasting shelf life and standing inventory, the trade war has had an immediate, direct effect on the delicate geoducks, which are shipped alive the same day of harvest.

“The whole market, everybody just had to stop,” said Jim Boure, general manager of Suquamish Seafoods, an enterprise of the Suquamish Tribe. “We started getting phone calls from buyers saying orders are canceled.”

Fewer geoducks are being harvested

The millions of pounds of geoducks shipped annually to China come from two main sources: wild harvests on tracts of seafloor that are split between the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Puget Sound Treaty Indian Tribes, and tideland farms. The state’s share is auctioned to private exporters that often hire contract divers to harvest them.

As of late April, Washington state divers had only pulled about half of the expected harvest from the state tracts, said Blain Reeves, an aquatic resources division manager for the state’s Department of Natural Resources. Last year, the state and tribes collectively harvested about 3.4 million pounds of wild Washington geoduck for sale. The state generated $22.4 million in revenue for their half of the clams, which went toward paying for aquatic restoration projects locally. The state doesn’t track how much is harvested by private farmers.

“If only half the pounds that were contracted are harvested, then our revenue is halved,” Reeves said.

The Suquamish operation has no orders to harvest for at the moment, but it still must keep up with the maintenance to stay ready for business if and when China comes calling.

On a recent April day, George’s team made a quick trip to collect a handful of the clams for state lab testing.

“When we’re doing the job, and it’s not all this other political stuff behind the scenes and everything else, we love this,” said George, adding that diving, which takes place early in the day so that the geoducks are on an airplane by evening, has allowed him to watch his kids grow up.

Fellow diver Kyle Purser said he cherishes his underwater job, but now fears it’s being taken away.

“When you’re watching your money disappear and you’ve got families to feed and not knowing when you’re going to get your next paycheck, (it’s) very stressful,” he said.

America’s loss is Canada’s gain

The geoduck import market was already facing weaker demand in recent years due to the Chinese economy’s struggle to regain post-pandemic momentum. While the tariffs have only exacerbated troubles for geoduck sellers in Washington, there’s also been an unintended consequence: The American trade war has inadvertently boosted the Canadian geoduck business, which is facing a mere 25% tariff from China in comparison to the 125% for the U.S.

Washington state in the U.S. and Canada’s British Columbia province are the two primary places where the wild geoducks grow naturally for commercial harvest. The two countries did healthy business primarily serving Chinese appetites for decades, in part because quantities are limited. It’s a labor-intensive and heavily-regulated harvest, as divers must go several feet below the surface to dig for them.

Pope Leo XIV said Friday that his election was both a cross to bear and a blessing as he celebrated his first Mass and details began to emerge of how votes swiftly coalesced to make him history’s first American pope.

Freed from their conclave, cardinals began describing the hours leading up to the final ballot Thursday afternoon that brought Leo past the two-thirds majority needed. Many marveled that the Chicago-born Augustinian missionary Robert Prevost reached the threshold so quickly, given the vast diversity of voters and the traditional taboo against a U.S. pope because of the secular power the country wields.

“It is a miracle of the Holy Spirit,” said Cardinal Fernando Natalio Chomalí Garib, archbishop of Santiago, Chile. He noted that 133 men who barely knew one another from 70 countries came to an agreement in just over 24 hours. A miracle, he said, “and also an example for all our countries where nobody comes to an agreement.”

Leo presided over his first Mass before those same cardinal electors Friday morning, speaking off-the-cuff in English in the Sistine Chapel. He acknowledged the great responsibility they had placed on him before delivering a brief but dense homily in Italian on the need to joyfully spread Christianity in a world that often mocks it.

“You have called me to carry that cross and to be blessed with that mission, and I know I can rely on each and every one of you to walk with me as we continue as a church, as a community, as friends of Jesus, as believers, to announce the good news, to announce the Gospel,” he said.

Leo on Saturday meets with cardinals formally. On Sunday, he is set to deliver his first noon blessing from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica while his formal installation Mass was set for May 18.

There seemed to be mixed messages coming from a briefing with American cardinals who saw one of their own become the 267th pope. Before they arrived, the auditorium at the U.S. seminary up the hill from the Vatican blasted “Born in the U.S.A.” and “American Pie.”

But more conservative cardinals seemed to distance Leo from both his citizenship and the political polemics of the Trump administration back home. They pointed to the decades Prevost spent as a missionary in Peru and said, regardless, he has a new identity now.

“Where he comes from is sort of now a thing of the past,” said New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who had been President Donald Trump’s pick for pope. “Robert Francis Prevost is no longer around. It’s now Pope Leo.”

But Cardinal Joseph Tobin, an old friend of Prevost’s who repeatedly called him “Bob,” said he expected the pope would be true to himself. He said that was the advice conveyed to all the electors by the retired preacher of the papal household, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, who delivered a meditation in the Sistine Chapel before they took their first vote.

Tobin revealed that he had warned Prevost of his real chances of winning in the days before the voting began. But Tobin recounted the moment when saw it had sunk in for Prevost himself: Tobin had just cast his ballot before Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment’” and was returning to his seat when he saw Prevost.

“And he had his head in his hands,” Tobin said. “And I was praying for him because I couldn’t imagine what happens to a human being when you’re facing something like that.”

“And then when he accepted it, it was like he was made for it,” Tobin said.

The cardinals urged the public and faithful to give Leo time to get used to his new role before trying to understand what kind of pope he will be.

But some clues were already apparent. Two women delivered the readings of Scripture at the start of Leo’s Mass, perhaps an indication of an intention to continue Francis’ focus on expanding women’s role in the church. As a cardinal, Leo put into practice one of Francis’ most revolutionary reforms by having three women serve on the Vatican board that vets bishop nominations.

Speaking in near-perfect Italian, Leo lamented that the Christian faith in many parts of the world is “considered absurd,” mocked or opposed in the face of temptations such as money, success and power. He complained that in many places Jesus is misunderstood, “reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman.”

“This is true not only among nonbelievers but also among many baptized Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said. “A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society.”

The cardinals applauded as the Mass concluded. Leo was seen wearing simple black shoes — eschewing, as Francis did, the red loafers of the papacy preferred by some traditionalist popes.

In another signal he might break with tradition, Leo spent his first night as pontiff in his residence in the Sant’Uffizio Palace, and not the Apostolic Palace where popes traditionally reside, Vatican News reported. Francis chose to live in an apartment in the Santa Maria guesthouse.

How did it happen? English helped

Cardinals revealed that they got to know Prevost during the preconclave discussions, not because he made some showstopping speech like Pope Francis did in 2013. Then, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio spoke about the need for the church to go to the “existential peripheries” to find wounded souls and was elected a short time later.

“It wasn’t that he got up and made some overwhelmingly convincing speech that just wowed the body,” said Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the retired archbishop of Washington, D.C.

This time, Prevost made an impression with his manner, in small groups. Although Italian had always been the primary language of past conclaves, this time English seemed to prevail, participants said.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/vatican-pope-prevost-leo-cardinals-1c1752bacc935c02af5f839a05de9a39

Kanye West and Kim Kardashian became the victims of a wild hoax after a “fake” demand letter went viral.

On Friday, TMZ exclusively reported that West’s attorney had sent Kardashian’s attorney a letter demanding that she “cease and desist from actions that violate” his “parental rights, exploit his children and breach the joint custody agreement established” in the former couple’s divorce settlement, which was finalized in November 2022.

Hours later, however, a spokesperson for Yeezy poured scorn on the reporting, telling Page Six in an exclusive statement, “The letter is quite obviously fraudulent. TMZ didn’t ask for comment before running the story, and this morning, they finally emailed us with second thoughts, asking if it had been a ‘publicity stunt.’ No. You fell for a hoax.”

The fraudulent letter was sent from a lawyer in Spain named Kathy Johnson, who seemingly does not exist, to Los Angeles-based divorce lawyer Laura Wasser.

The letter noted that Kardashian, 44, brought her and West’s 11-year-old daughter, North, to Monday’s Met Gala, which exposed the preteen “to significant media attention.”

“Reports indicate that North was left unattended in a vehicle during portions of the event, posing risks to her safety,” the letter claimed, adding that Kardashian then “published or authorized the publication of North’s images and videos on social media platforms,” despite West’s “explicit objection to his children’s presence on such platforms.”

The letter reiterated that the Yeezy founder allegedly has been “denied meaningful access to his children,” once again claiming that he “has had no contact” with his son Saint, 9, “in 2025.”

Additionally, it claimed that his interactions with North, daughter Chicago, 7, and son Psalm, 6, “have been unreasonably restricted.”

The letter claimed that West wants the Skims co-founder to stop posting or authorizing the publication of photos and videos of the kids and remove all content that was uploaded without his authorization.

It also claimed that he wants her to stop involving the children in public events without his consent.

Lastly, it claimed that the Grammy winner wants “unimpeded access” to the brood, starting with “immediate in-person visitation.”

Should Kardashian not comply, the letter threatened that West would “seek sole legal and/or physical custody.”

Reps for the “Kardashians” star did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.

However, sources close to her previously claimed to TMZ that she has never denied West access to the kids when he wants to see them — he just rarely asks to do so.

Last month, the musician publicly claimed that his “kids have been taken from” him, going on to allege that he hasn’t “seen Saint this year.”

However, Page Six obtained paparazzi photos of West with his three youngest children, including Saint, in January.

A day after West made his allegations, a source close to Kardashian claimed, “Kanye has been in LA recently for a few months and didn’t ask to see the kids aside from North until a week before he was leaving again.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/05/09/parents/kanye-west-claims-kim-kardashian-left-north-alone-during-met-gala-2025/

Cardinal Robert Prevost of the United States has been picked to be the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church; he will be known as Pope Leo XIV.

Attention now turns to what vision the first US pope will bring.

Change is hard to bring about in the Catholic Church. During his pontificate, Francis often gestured toward change without actually changing church doctrines.

He permitted discussion of ordaining married men in remote regions where populations were greatly underserved due to a lack of priests, but he did not actually allow it. On his own initiative, he set up a commission to study the possibility of ordaining women as deacons, but he did not follow it through.

However, he did allow priests to offer the Eucharist, the most important Catholic sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, to Catholics who had divorced and remarried without being granted an annulment.

Likewise, Francis did not change the official teaching that a sacramental marriage is between a man and a woman, but he did allow for the blessing of gay couples, in a manner that did appear to be a sanctioning of gay marriage.

To what degree will the new pope stand or not stand in continuity with Francis? As a scholar who has studied the writings and actions of the popes since the time of the Second Vatican Council, a series of meetings held to modernise the church from 1962 to 1965, I am aware that every pope comes with his own vision and his own agenda for leading the church.

Still, the popes who immediately preceded them set practical limits on what changes could be made. There were limitations on Francis as well; however, the new pope, I argue, will have more leeway because of the signals Francis sent.

THE PROCESS OF SYNODALITY

Francis initiated a process called “synodality”, a term that combines the Greek words for “journey” and “together”. Synodality involves gathering Catholics of various ranks and points of view to share their faith and pray with each other as they address challenges faced by the church today.

One of Francis’ favourite themes was inclusion. He carried forward the teaching of the Second Vatican Council that the Holy Spirit – that is, the Spirit of God who inspired the prophets and is believed to be sent by Christ among Christians in a special way – is at work throughout the whole church; it includes not only the hierarchy but all of the church members. This belief constituted the core principle underlying synodality.

Francis launched a two-year global consultation process in October 2022, culminating in a synod in Rome in October 2024. Catholics all over the world offered their insights and opinions during this process. The synod discussed many issues, some of which were controversial, such as clerical sexual abuse, the need for oversight of bishops, the role of women in general and the ordination of women as deacons.

The final synod document did not offer conclusions concerning these topics but rather aimed more at promoting the transformation of the entire Catholic Church into a synodal church in which Catholics tackle together the many challenges of the modern world. Francis refrained from issuing his own document in response, in order that the synod’s statement could stand on its own.

The process of synodality in one sense places limits on bishops and the pope by emphasising their need to listen closely to all church members before making decisions. In another sense, though, in the long run the process opens up the possibility for needed developments to take place when and if lay Catholics overwhelmingly testify that they believe the church should move in a certain direction.

CHANGE IS HARD IN THE CHURCH

A pope, however, cannot simply reverse official positions that his immediate predecessors had been emphasising. Practically speaking, there needs to be a papacy, or two, during which a pope will either remain silent on matters that call for change or at least limit himself to hints and signals on such issues.

In 1864, Pius IX condemned the proposition that “the Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church”. It wasn’t until 1965 – some 100 years later – that the Second Vatican Council, in The Declaration on Religious Freedom, would affirm that “a wrong is done when government imposes upon its people, by force or fear or other means, the profession or repudiation of any religion”.

A second major reason why popes may refrain from making top-down changes is that they may not want to operate like a dictator issuing executive orders in an authoritarian manner. Francis was accused by his critics of acting in this way with his positions on Eucharist for those remarried without a prior annulment and on blessings for gay couples. The major thrust of his papacy, however, with his emphasis on synodality, was actually in the opposite direction.

Notably, when the Amazon Synod – held in Rome in October 2019 – voted 128-41 to allow for married priests in the Brazilian Amazon region, Francis rejected it as not being the appropriate time for such a significant change.

PAST DOCTRINES

The belief that the pope should express the faith of the people and not simply his own personal opinions is not a new insight from Francis.

The doctrine of papal infallibility, declared at the First Vatican Council in 1870, held that the pope, under certain conditions, could express the faith of the church without error.

The limitations and qualifications of this power include that the pope be speaking not personally but in his official capacity as the head of the church; he must not be in heresy; he must be free of coercion and of sound mind; he must be addressing a matter of faith and morals; and he must consult relevant documents and other Catholics so that what he teaches represents not simply his own opinions but the faith of the church.

The Marian doctrines of the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption offer examples of the importance of consultation.

The Immaculate Conception, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854, is the teaching that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was herself preserved from original sin, a stain inherited from Adam that Catholics believe all other human beings are born with, from the moment of her conception.

The Assumption, proclaimed by Pius XII in 1950, is the doctrine that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life.

The documents in which these doctrines were proclaimed stressed that the bishops of the church had been consulted and that the faith of the lay people was being affirmed.

UNITY ABOVE ALL

One of the main duties of the pope is to protect the unity of the Catholic Church. On one hand, making many changes quickly can lead to schism, an actual split in the community.

In 2022, for example, the Global Methodist Church split from the United Methodist Church over same-sex marriage and the ordination of non-celibate gay bishops. There have also been various schisms within the Anglican communion in recent years. The Catholic Church faces similar challenges but so far has been able to avoid schisms by limiting the actual changes being made.

On the other hand, not making reasonable changes that acknowledge positive developments in the culture regarding issues such as the full inclusion of women or the dignity of gays and lesbians can result in the large-scale exit of members.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/pope-leo-xiv-francis-catholic-church-teaching-5119276

US President Donald Trump said on Friday (May 9) he would like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to “get this war ended” in Ukraine as he pushes for a 30-day ceasefire.

Trump, who departs on Monday on a trip to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, was asked what his message to Putin is in the wake of a warning from the US embassy in Kyiv about a “potentially significant” air attack in the coming days.

“I have a message for both parties: Get this war ended,” Trump says of Ukraine and Russia. “Get this stupid war finished. That’s my message for both of them,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

The embassy said on its website that it had received information about an air attack that may occur at any time over the next several days.

“The embassy, as always, recommends US citizens be prepared to immediately shelter in the event an air alert is announced,” it said.

The White House said Trump had a “very good and productive” call with Zelenskyy on Thursday and that Trump hopes both Ukraine and Russia will agree next week to a proposed 30-day ceasefire.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, speaking to reporters at a briefing on Friday, also reiterated that a Trump meeting with Putin next week in the Middle East was not going to happen.

In Kyiv, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said he spoke by telephone on Friday with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other officials about the proposed ceasefire as part of moves towards a peace agreement.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-zelenskyy-putin-russia-ukraine-war-5121131

Pakistan utilised Turkish Asisguard Songar drones to strike various sites along India’s Western border, according to the Ministry of External Affairs.

Initial reports suggest that Pakistan used Turkish Asisguard Songar drones to target several locations along India’s Western border, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. In a press briefing, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, flanked by Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, narrated the Pakistani offensive on the intervening night of May 7-8, and shared that approximately 300-400 drones were fired by the nation into Indian border cities.
Detailing the Pakistani attack, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi said, “On the night of May 7 and 8, the Pakistani army violated Indian airspace several times over the entire western border with the intention of targeting military infrastructure. Not only this, the Pakistani army also fired heavy-calibre weapons along the Line of Control.”
She further revealed that India took down this barrage of drones through kinetic and non-kinetic means, and preliminary reports suggest that these were Turkey-made Songar drones. Songar is Turkey’s first indigenously developed armed drone system, produced by Ankara-based defence company Asisguard.

“Around 300 to 400 drones were used to attempt infiltration at 36 locations. The Indian armed forces shot down many of these drones using kinetic and non-kinetic means. The possible purpose of such large-scale aerial intrusions was to test air defence systems and collect intelligence. Forensic investigation of the wreckage of the drones is being done. Initial reports suggest that they are Turkish Asisguard Songar drones,” Col Qureshi detailed.

A post on social media claiming that Pakistan shot down a Sukhoi SU-30MKI of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and captured an Indian pilot is doing the rounds on the internet.

In yet another instance of misinformation shared by several accounts on social media, a post claiming that Pakistan shot down a Sukhoi SU-30MKI of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and captured an Indian pilot is doing the rounds on the internet. However, India categorically rejected the claim and dismissed it as fake news.
The post, which has gone viral, is being shared with the caption, “Breaking: Sukhoi-Su 30 MKI shot down in Muzaffarabad, Indian Pilot Captured Alive. Source: Locals told NDTV. India don’t sleep tonight because PAF is awake.”
PIB Fact-check, the fact-checking unit of the Union government, said that the photo is unrelated and the claim is false.

The image dates back to 2014, when a fighter plane Sukhoi SU-30MKI of the IAF crashed at Undre Vasti of Kulwadi village near Pune – Ahmednagar Highway in Maharashtra. The incident happened on October 14, 2014.

There has been a surge of misinformation following ‘Operation Sindoor’. The Indian armed forces on Wednesday carried out precise missile strikes on nine terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Moreover, in another instance of misinformation doing the rounds, a news report by ‘China Daily’ claimed that at least three Indian jets crashed in Kashmir.
The post shared on X by ‘China Daily’, read, “At least three Indian jets crashed Wednesday in India-controlled Kashmir, a local newspaper The Hindu said quoting government sources. #Pakistan (sic)”.

This, again, turned out to be false, as the post contained an old image from 2019. The photo dates back to the time of the Pulwama attack.

Source : https://www.timesnownews.com/india/pakistan-shot-down-iaf-sukhoi-su-30mki-and-captured-indian-pilot-pib-fact-check-article-151598055

After shaking up the global economy with sky-high tariffs, the Trump administration has struck a preliminary deal with Britain to smooth trade ties with one of its closest allies. DW unpacks what it all means.

What do we know so far?

The preliminary deal with the United Kingdom slashes tariffs on British-made cars, eliminates duties on steel and aluminum, and opens the UK market to American farmers.

However, the pact, signed at the White House on Thursday, is not the “major trade deal” that Trump touted on social media.

A full trade deal takes months or years to negotiate and must be ratified by Congress, which would further extend the timeline.

The bilateral agreement is the outline of a limited trade deal that will still need extensive negotiations to finalize.

Under the plan, the tariff on British-made cars — the UK’s biggest export to the US — will be reduced from 27.5% to 10%.

That rule applies to the first 100,000 vehicles imported into the US from the UK, which the government said was around the total number of UK-exported cars. Anything above that figure will face tariffs of 25%.

Trump’s recently imposed 25% tariff on UK steel and aluminum imports will be cut to zero.

The White House statement cited the reason as “the economic security measures taken by the UK to combat global steel excess capacity.”

Most other UK imports will still face a 10% tariff under Trump’s reciprocal tariff policy announced last month.

The UK agreed to cut the tariff on US ethanol to zero, while US farmers will gain access to the UK market for the first time.

However, Britain was able to maintain its ban on US chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-treated beef, amid concerns about welfare and environmental standards.

The UK’s National Farmers’ Union (NFU) warned that easing UK access to US beef and ethanol would disadvantage domestic producers.

“Our biggest concern is that two agricultural sectors have been singled out to shoulder the heavy burden of the removal of tariffs for other industries in the economy,” said NFU President Tom Bradshaw in a statement.

The tariff on UK aircraft parts will be cut to zero, while the pact also closes loopholes, cuts red tape and boosts protection for intellectual property.

It creates a secure supply chain for pharmaceutical products and ensures regulatory alignment to streamline trade in this sector.

The agreement also includes provisions for digital trade, facilitating smoother cross-border data flows and enhancing cybersecurity cooperation.

Was a good deal struck for both sides?

Trump said he was “thrilled to announce that we have reached a breakthrough trade deal with the United Kingdom,” adding that the agreement included “billions of dollars of increased market access for American exports.”

The White House said the deal would create a $5 billion (€4.4 billion) opportunity for new US exports, including beef and ethanol.

UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer said the limited deal would save jobs in the British auto and steel sectors and was just the beginning of improved trade with the US.

The US was Britain’s biggest trading partner last year, according to government statistics, though the bulk of Britain’s exports to the US are services rather than goods.

UK Ambassador to the US Peter Mandelson, who was alongside Trump at the White House, said the deal would prevent imminent layoffs at a Jaguar Land Rover facility in the West Midlands.

But US automakers voiced strong opposition, with Matt Blunt, president of the American Automotive Policy Council (AAPC), saying the deal means “it will now be cheaper to import a UK vehicle with very little US content [parts] than a … vehicle from Mexico or Canada that is half American parts.”

US automakers now face 25% tariffs on vehicles assembled in Canada and Mexico.

So what happens now?

The UK government said the tariff cuts would take effect “as soon as possible.”

However, the pact is currently just an “agreement in principle” that will need months of detailed negotiations.

Outstanding issues on pharmaceuticals, food standards and possibly the UK’s digital services tax, which hits US tech giants, will need to be resolved.

Any completed deal will need approval by the US Congress, although some parts can be implemented by Trump by executive order.

It will also need UK parliamentary scrutiny, and any significant opposition, such as US beef treated with growth hormones, could cause delays.

Could the US-UK deal be a roadmap for other countries?

The US-UK deal may set the tone for other trading partners to reverse Trump’s sweeping tariffs, especially China, whose relations with the Trump administration have hit a new low over tariffs.

The US and China are set to meet in Switzerland this weekend, with market watchers hoping for a breakthrough in their standoff.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-uk-tariffs-agreement-what-you-need-to-know/a-72487571

There were no immediate reports of any damage or injuries.

An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.0 on the Richter Scale hit Pakistan at 1:44am on Saturday, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) said.

There were no immediate reports of any damage or injuries.

According to NCS, the earthquake hit at a depth of 10 kilometres with a latitude of 29.67 N and a longitude of 66.10 E.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/earthquake-of-4-0-magnitude-hits-pakistan-101746823073197.html

China’s leader is in Russia for celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin want to challenge US dominance in global affairs and reshape the world order.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin rolled out the red carpet for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Thursday as the latter arrived at the Kremlin.

In a cavernous reception hall, the whole world watched as the two leaders approached each other from what felt like a distance of 100 meters.

Numerous cameras captured the moment: Waving, smiling and shaking hands — just about everything that goes with the courtesy of state visits.

The images are highly symbolic.

Russia is internationally isolated as a result of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The International Criminal Court has even issued an arrest warrant against Putin.

The Russian president needs allies, and only a few can match the power and influence of Xi.

The Chinese president is in Moscow to attend Russia’s Victory Day parade marking the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

More than 20 other foreign dignitaries, including leaders from Cuba, Venezuela and Mongolia, among others, were in Red Square for the event.

From Europe, only Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico took part.

Xi’s visit to Moscow and meeting with Putin is expected to send a signal to people in Russia and around the world that the Russian president is not alone and is respected by allies, at least by the Chinese president.

Shared interests

In economic terms, however, Russia’s entire gross domestic product is only a notch higher than that of China’s economically strongest province, Guangdong.

China is also investing heavily in future technologies such as artificial intelligence and smart manufacturing, while Russia’s growth is still being fueled by the defense industry and raw materials. Western sanctions against Russia have also dampened its attractiveness as a trade partner for countries worldwide.

Despite the widening disparity in their economic might, China and Russia — both permanent members of the UN Security Council — share geopolitical interests. The two countries want a new world order that’s no longer dominated by the US.

Vision uniting Xi and Putin

“Beijing for now continues to view Moscow as an indispensable strategic partner,” said Claus Soong, analyst at the Berlin-based China think tank MERICS. “In China’s broader geopolitical calculus, the deepening partnership with Russia extends beyond the Ukraine conflict. Russia is a useful partner to gather the Global South in support of building an alternative global order to counter Western dominance.”

China and Russia need to “firmly defend the international system with the UN at its core and the international order based on international law,” Xi said after arriving in Moscow, according to a statement released by China’s Foreign Ministry.

“The two countries need to enhance solidarity, safeguard true multilateralism and steer global governance towards the right direction,” he added.

At the meeting with Putin on Thursday, Xi’s stance became clearer, saying that China and Russia “will shoulder the responsibility” to defend international fairness and justice.

China eyes the top spot

Chinese officials blame US President Donald Trump’s trade policies, which they view as erratic and shortsighted, for causing global economic turmoil and increasing geopolitical tensions.

They believe the time is right to challenge the US’ dominant position in the world, or at least to lay the foundations for China to take the top spot.

US-China rivalry has intensified in recent months, with both countries slapping tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s products.

Both Trump and Xi find themselves boxed in by their own rhetoric and nationalist pride. Neither seems willing to yield an inch and risk appearing weak, making it tough to find compromise.

It has certainly not escaped China’s attention that Putin and Trump have already spoken directly to each other by phone twice this year.

During the meeting with Xi, Putin announced that he would visit Beijing at the end of August and the beginning of September to celebrate the victory over Japanese aggressors in Asia 80 years ago.

China is planning to hold a grand military parade to mark the event.

“We are developing our strategic relations for the benefit of the people in both countries,” Putin said on Thursday, “but not against third parties.”

‘Same bed with different dreams’

“The China-Russia alignment is aptly described by the Chinese saying, ‘sharing the same bed with similar, yet different dreams,'” MERICS expert Soong said.

“Their ‘no-limits’ partnership clearly has limits that are shaped by shifting geopolitical realities, shaped by their respective relations with the West, united or not,” he added. “Beijing likes to reaffirm this ‘no-limits’ partnership with Moscow in order to prevent Moscow from moving closer to the Trump administration.”

Furthermore, Xi wants to secure Russia’s unconditional support, including military support, in the event of an armed conflict with Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island over which Beijing claims sovereignty and vows to take over, with force if necessary.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/xi-meets-putin-as-china-russia-strive-for-new-world-order/a-72491824

THE US has staged its biggest military attack formation ever – showcasing supersonic stealth jets, attack helicopters and military drones.

The show of power, dubbed “Elephant Walk”, was formed using 53 US military aircraft and was put up in a display at the US military base in Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan.

Pictures of the formation, which was conducted just 400miles off the coast of China, captured multiple US fighter jets in a tight formation.

They were put behind advanced military choppers and were flanked by air defence systems on both sides.

Attack drones and naval aircraft were a part of the formation, while larger aircraft were staged behind the fighter jets’ formation.

The military spectacle featured a wide array of advanced military aircraft, including 24 US Air Force F-35As, eight U.S. Air Force F-15Es, six HH-60 Jolly Green IIs choppers.

Two MQ-9 Reapers, two MC-130J Commando IIS and six KC-135 Stratotankers were also present.

The formation was guarded by two US Army MIM-104 Patriot air defence systems.

US military’s 18th Wing Command Chief Master Sergeant Brandon Wolfgang said: “An elephant walk like this sends a message you can’t ignore—it shows our Airmen, allies, and adversaries that we’re united, capable, and ready.”

Meanwhile, 18th Wing Commander Brigadier General Nicholas Evans said the Air Force’s ability to “project airpower” alongside its allies “demonstrates our commitment to the alliance with Japan and to maintaining stability across the Indo-Pacific.”

The military formation is understood to be one of the largest in recent history.

In 2020, a 52-aircraft formation was put up for display at Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

It comes after a top US admiral has warned that China will soon be able to defeat the US in a war over Taiwan.

The chilling warning comes amid fears that China is preparing for a full-scale invasion of the island as it masses warships and submarines.

Commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Paparo, raised the alarm at the McCain Institute’s annual Sedona Forum in Arizona on Friday.

The admiral said that while the US would defeat China in a war over Taiwan now, it may soon lose its advantage, as reported by the Financial Times.

Paparo said: “The United States will prevail in the conflict as it stands now, with the force that we have right now.”

But he added: “Our trajectory on . . . really every force element that is salient is a bad trajectory.”

China has ramped up its production of weapons including warships and submarines – and the US doesn’t seem to be able to keep up.

According to Paparo, for every 1.8 warships made in the US each year China builds an impressive six.

And for every 1.4 submarines made in the US, it builds two.

The warning comes as China continues to expand its military exercises around Taiwan, as fears of an invasion mount.

Paparo fuelled fears of an attack, saying that Beijing is rehearsing “the full spectrum of military operations” – from a direct invasion of the island to a naval blockade.

This comes as Taiwan reported at least 19 Chinese warships as well as the large Shandong aircraft carrier patrolling nearby last month.

When asked whether the US would support military intervention in Taiwan, he responded: “A lesson in history is that people are always saying America will never get in a fight, but it’s not the track record.”

But if China continues to ramp up its weapons production the US may not be able to protect the island.

PRAISE be! This gives a whole new meaning to the term dog collar – pet pooches dressed up as the Pope.

When Pope Leo XIV was announced as the new head of the Catholic Church on Thursday, he wore the traditional red and gold outfit that had been shunned by his predecessor Pope Francis.

That may have answered the prayers of these holy hounds’ owners, who decided the cardinal rule of looking like the supreme pontiff was the bling wardrobe.

In 2015, when Francis visited the US, there was a trend for dressing up dogs to look like the Vatican chief.

Now that Cardinal Robert Prevost, 69, from Chicago, has become the first American pope, that congregation is sure to grow.

Meryl Espiniero from New York even dressed her dog Romeo Valentino as the Pope in St Peter’s Square in Rome as she waited for the conclave to vote this week.

Here, Grant Rollings presents our top of the papal pups.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14205047/pope-leo-catholic-dogs-pets/

Initial forensic evidence of the drone debris suggests that these were ‘Asis Guard Songar’ drones of Turkey, the government noted.

Pakistan’s massive military escalation along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir and the International Border in other states had a Turkish link. 300-400 drones provided by Turkey were used by Pakistan to target both military and civilian areas in India.

The drones were used to carry out multiple intrusions and violations of Indian airspace along the entire western border – from Leh in Ladakh to Sir Creek in Gujarat – at 36 locations, the government said at a special press briefing on Operation Sindoor.

Of the nearly 400 drones sent by Pakistan, “the Indian armed forces brought down a number of these drones using kinetic and non-kinetic means,” the government said, adding that the drone debris is being investigated by forensic experts.

Initial forensic evidence of the drone debris suggests that these were ‘Asis Guard Songar’ drones of Turkey, the government noted.

Turkey, which has neither condemned the terror attack on civilians in Jammu and Kashmir, nor sent its condolences to the families of Indian tourists killed by Pakistan-linked terrorists, has instead completely backed Pakistan.

Turkey’s messaging and actions raises suspicion over Ankara backing terrorists and terror motives in Pakistan. Here are a list of Turkish actions that cast a shadow over its intentions:

1. 1. Turkey has, for long, supported Pakistan morally, economically, and militarily. It has been a strong supporter of Pakistan’s communal narrative of the Two-Nation Theory, as well as Islamabad and Rawalpindi’s narrative of Kashmir. Hours after the Pahalgam terror attack, which was carried out by The Resistance Front, a shadow arm of the UN-banned terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif – the only global leader to meet the Pakistani prime minister. After the meeting, Shehbaz Sharif expressed gratitude for Turkey’s “unwavering support” over Kashmir.
   2. Immediately after the Pahalgam terror attack, while the world stood in solidarity with India, Turkey reportedly sent a vast amount of military assets to Pakistan to help a worried Islamabad stock up against any action that India planned to take against the “terrorists and their backers”.
   3. Six Turkish military aircraft reportedly arrived in Pakistan allegedly with Turkey-made weapons and military equipment – reports of which have been denied by Ankara. Turkey could not deny the presence of its C-130 aircraft military aircraft as it was picked up by global air surveillance systems, but denied that there were any weapons sent. “A cargo plane from Turkiye landed in Pakistan for refuelling,” Ankara said in a statement.
   4. Days later, Turkey also sent one of its naval warship – the TCG Bykada (F-512), a corvette – to “brother-nation” Pakistan’s Karachi Port in an aggressive military posturing favouring Islamabad over New Delhi. Turkey called it a “routine port call”, while Pakistan called it a “goodwill visit”.
   5. After India carried out its ‘Operation Sindoor’, where precision missile strikes targeted terrorist infrastructure and terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Turkey was the only country to side-up with the Pakistani narrative and even express its solidarity with Pakistan. According to a statement from the Turkish presidency, President Erdogan spoke with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, conveying Turkey’s solidarity with Pakistan and Ankara’s support to Islamabad in handling of the situation after India’s Operation Sindoor. Describing India’s precision strikes against Pakistani terror camps as “martyrdom of numerous civilians”, President Erdogan said, “I pray for Allah’s mercy for our brothers who lost their lives in the attacks, and I extend my condolences to the brotherly people and state of Pakistan.”
   6. On the intervening night of May 8 and 9, 300-400 Turkish-made drones launched by Pakistan violated the Indian airspace in order to “possibly test India’s air defence systems, and to gather intelligence,” the government said at the press conference today. “These provocative and escalatory actions taken by Pakistan last night were targeted at Indian cities, civilian infrastructure, as well as some military targets,” Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/operation-sindoor-turkeys-role-in-focus-after-pakistans-military-escalation-against-india-8373687

Even before his name was announced from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, the crowds below were chanting “Viva il Papa” – Long live the Pope.

Robert Francis Prevost, 69, will be the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter and he will be known as Leo XIV.

He is the first American to fill the role of pope, although he is considered as much a cardinal from Latin America because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru.

Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent, Prevost served as an altar boy and was ordained in 1982.

Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the US to serve as a pastor and a prior in his home city.

He has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.

He spent 10 years as a local parish pastor and as a teacher at a seminary in Trujillo in north-western Peru.

In his first words as pope, Leo XIV spoke fondly of his predecessor Francis.

“We still hear in our ears the weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis who blessed us,” he said.

“United and hand in hand with God, let us advance together,” he told cheering crowds.

The Pope also spoke of his role in the Augustinian Order.

In 2014, Francis made him Bishop of Chiclayo in Peru.

He is well known to cardinals because of his high-profile role as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in Latin America which has the important task of selecting and supervising bishops.

He became archbishop in January 2023 and within a few months Francis made him a cardinal.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has issued internal instructions to the Pentagon to start kicking out transgender troops who do not elect to leave on their own by June 6, according to a memo obtained by Reuters.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The decision was immediately condemned by transgender rights activists contacted by Reuters.
“It is just shameful,” said Jennifer Levi, a senior director at the pro-LGBTQ legal group GLAD Law.

“It is senseless to fast track people out of the military who are meeting standards and putting lives on the line to defend the country.”
Hegseth’s memo illustrates how President Donald Trump’s administration intends to swiftly act to remove thousands of transgender servicemembers after the Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday cleared the way for a ban to take effect.
In the memo, Hegseth said active duty transgender troops could identify themselves for “voluntary separation” from the U.S. armed forces until June 6. Troops who are in the reserve forces had until July 7.
“On conclusion of the self-identification eligibility window, the Military Departments will initiate involuntary separation processes,” the memo said.

The Pentagon’s ban is just one of a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to curb transgender rights.
Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office on January 20 stating that the U.S. government will recognize only two sexes, male and female, and that they are not changeable.
But his efforts to end transgender rights in the military were a special focus on his election campaign, and he quickly moved to reverse a policy implemented under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden that had allowed transgender troops to serve openly in the American armed forces.
Biden, who also reversed Trump’s 2017 ban on transgender recruitment, said in 2021 that “America is safer when everyone qualified to serve can do so openly and with pride.”
Former Democratic President Barack Obama in 2016 first allowed trans people to serve openly and as of late last year, there were 4,240 U.S. active-duty and National Guard transgender troops, officials have said. Transgender rights advocates have given higher estimates.

In Thursday’s memo, Hegseth wrote that the U.S. military would immediately start removing transgender troops who had already self-identified for voluntary separation prior to a court ruling in March that halted the Trump administration’s last attempt to implement the ban.
A poll from Gallup published this in February said 58% of Americans favored allowing openly transgender individuals serving in the military, but the support had declined from 71% in 2019.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-military-start-kicking-out-transgender-troops-next-month-memo-says-2025-05-08/

Police arrested dozens of Columbia University students who seized part of the school’s main library on Wednesday in one of the biggest pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus since last year’s wave of protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
At least 40 to 50 students, their hands cuffed with plastic zip-ties, were seen being loaded into New York Police Department vans and buses outside Butler Library as NYPD officers swept through the six-story building to round up other protesters who refused to leave.

Police arrived on campus in force at the request of Columbia officials who said the student demonstrators occupying the library’s second-floor main reading room were engaged in trespassing.
Videos and photographs on social media showed protesters, most wearing masks, standing on tables, beating drums and unfurling banners saying “Strike For Gaza” and “Liberated Zone” beneath the chandeliers of the Lawrence A. Wein Reading Room.
U.S. President Donald Trump had lashed out at Columbia over pro-Palestinian protests on campus last year, saying they were antisemitic and showed a failure to protect Jewish students.

Student protesters, including some Jewish organizers, counter that Trump and fellow conservative politicians who are strongly pro-Israel are unfairly conflating pro-Palestinian protests and antisemitism.
Columbia’s board of trustees has been negotiating with the Trump administration, which announced in March that it had canceled hundreds of millions of dollars of grants to the university for scientific research.
The university has said it has worked to combat antisemitism and other prejudice on its campus while seeking to fend off accusations from civil rights groups that it was giving in to government intrusions on academic freedom.
Columbia University said late on Wednesday that it had requested NYPD assistance “in securing the building,” and that two of its public safety officials were hurt in the standoff.

SCUFFLE AT FRONT DOOR

An NYPD spokesperson confirmed “multiple arrests” of protesters who occupied the library but did not provide an exact number.

“Everyone has the right to peacefully protest. But violence, vandalism or destruction of property are completely unacceptable,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on social media.
Before police arrived on the scene, university public safety personnel were seen locking the front doors to the library, preventing any more students from entering the building and sparking a brief episode of pushing and shoving outside.
One student appeared to have been injured in the fracas. Another individual was seen being carried out of the building on a stretcher.
With further entry to the library barred, a growing crowd of demonstrators outside the building moved to the streets just beyond the campus gates.
One student organization representing the protesters said on social media that school security had assaulted demonstrators and acknowledged that some activists had refused to show their IDs to officials.
Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a collection of student groups, recirculated long-standing demands on social media on Wednesday for the university to no longer invest its $14.8 billion endowment in weapons makers and other companies that support Israel’s military occupation of Palestinian territories.
On Monday, pro-Palestinian protesters occupied a University of Washington building, demanding the school cut ties with Boeing over its contracts with the Israeli military. The university said 34 protesters were arrested, and charges of trespassing, property destruction and disorderly conduct would be referred to prosecutors.
On Wednesday, it said the 21 students who were among those arrested have been suspended and banned from all of the school’s campuses.
Columbia was at the forefront of a pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel student protest movement that swept across U.S. campuses last year over Israel’s war in Gaza, which began in 2023.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/dozens-pro-palestinian-protesters-occupy-columbia-university-library-2025-05-07/