Category: Uncategorized

Patna:

As the political heat intensifies in Bihar ahead of the forthcoming Assembly polls, Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor targeted Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, questioning his commitment to Bihar and accusing him of token gestures rather than genuine political engagement.

In an interview with ANI, Mr Kishor, who has been tirelessly walking through Bihar’s hinterlands as part of his ambitious outreach, challenged Mr Gandhi to spend even one night in a Bihar village to prove his connection to the state’s grassroots.

Rahul ji keeps coming and going here, but doesn’t really undertake any Yatra. If Rahul Gandhi has ever spent even one night in a village in Bihar, let us know. If he can spend just one night in a village, we’ll accept it,” he said.

“Tum Delhi mein bethkar Bihariyo ke naam par haste ho aur yaha bethkar gyan dete ho (You sit in Delhi, laugh at Biharis then come here to lecture us)” Mr Kishor said.

He also hit out at Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for his remarks about Bihari people, demanding an apology and slamming Congress for what he described as years of neglect and disrespect toward the people of Bihar.

Billionaire Elon Musk announced that hashtags will not be allowed in paid advertisements on X (formerly Twitter) starting Friday (June 27), calling it an “esthetic” nightmare. The ban has been implemented on ads, not regular posts by common users.

X owner Musk shared the update in a post, saying, “Starting tomorrow, the esthetic nightmare that is hashtags will be banned from ads on X .X users add relevant and specific hashtags that align with the ad’s content and target audience. They also sometimes create a unique branded hashtag to build brand awareness and encourage user-generated content.New Delhi:

The Congress hit out at a senior member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh – the ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party – after he seemed to advocate removing the words ‘secular‘ and ‘socialist‘ from the Preamble to the Indian Constitution.

RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale had said Thursday there should be a ‘debate’ over retaining the two principles – which many see as central to their idea of what India should be – declaring they had been added in 1976 via the 42nd Amendment and were not in the original Preamble.

Unable to buy a house in the major Indian cities owing to the exorbitant prices, a frustrated social media user has sparked a viral discussion after asking if he could live full-time on a houseboat. The OP said he did not have the funds to buy property in metro cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad and that he could not afford the EMIs.

“I am unable to afford flats in any of the Indian cities – Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad. I am already aged out, so I won’t be in workable age, for EMIs,” wrote the OP in the r/indiarealestate subreddit.

“Is it legal for me to hire or buy a small boat, have a kitchen, bath and 2 rooms built on the room. All the cities have few lakes, can I park these boats on the lakes or sea shore and live there,” he added.

The OP said he was “frustrated with the prices” and needed serious advice from the community members.

“This is a serious question. Houseboat costs from 15 to 30 lakhs. Moreover, if floods come, I will still be floating.”As the post went viral, social media users chimed in with their opinions on the matter, with the majority questioning the practicality of such a move. Others raised concerns that the bureaucratic trap and bribes to various officials would make the entire exercise futile.

“I love your plan, the builder lobby must be having wet dreams, wonder where you will find a lake since they have filled the lakes and build apartments,” said one user while another added: “Can’t you just buy a home in the outskirts of a city? It won’t have fun like a boat but at least it will be more practical.”

A third commented: “It will be allowed if you’re are okay to pay 60 lakh tax for forceful encroachment of public property.”

A fourth added: “I don’t think you have thought this through. First of you won’t be able to just put a big boat in a lake somewhere in the city. Lakes are public property and you can’t really use it for personal use. This means bribes which are continuous and cost a lot.”

Residents of the world’s driest desert, the Atacama in northern Chile, woke up Thursday to a jaw-dropping spectacle: its famous lunar landscape blanketed in snow.

“INCREDIBLE! The Atacama Desert, the world’s most arid, is COVERED IN SNOW,” the ALMA observatory, situated 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) above sea level, wrote on X, alongside a video of vast expanses covered in a dusting of white.The observatory added that while snow is common on the nearby Chajnanator Plateau, situated at over 5,000 meters and where its gigantic telescope is situated, it had not had snow at its main facility in a decade.

University of Santiago climatologist Raul Cordero told AFP that it was too soon to link the snow to climate change but said that climate modelling had shown that “this type of event, meaning precipitation in the Atacama desert, will likely become more frequent.”

The Atacama, home to the world’s darkest skies, has for decades been the go-to location for the world’s most advanced telescopes.

The ALMA telescope, which was developed by the European Southern Observatory, the US National Radio Astronomy Observatory and the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, is widely recognized as being the most powerful.

Beijing:

The first batch of Indian pilgrims visiting Tibet to pray at Mount Kailash and Manasarovar Lake, believed to be the abode of Lord Shiva, arrived at the holy place on Thursday, according to Chinese officials.

“Pleased to know that the first batch of pilgrims has arrived at Lake Mapam Yun Tso (Manasarovar) in Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region, China,” Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong posted on X.

The journey of 36 pilgrims to Mt. Kailash and Manasarovar Lake assumed significance as they were the first group of Indian pilgrims to visit the holy place after a five-year hiatus.

The relations between the two countries were frozen for over four years following the Eastern Ladakh standoff.

The two countries agreed to resume ties after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, last year.

The resumption of the Kailash and Manasarovar Yatra is stated to be the first step initiated by the two countries to resume ties.The pilgrims arrived in the Tibet Autonomous Province on Friday last, marking the resumption of pilgrimages.

China calls Tibet ‘Xizang’ and Mt. Kailash ‘Mt. Gang Renpoche’ and Manasarovar Lake as ‘Mapam Yun Tso’.

The mountain and the lake are sacred to Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.

For 68-year-old Damina Bendya, who is making her first visit to Tibet, the mountain is a sacred place.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation paused operations due to threats from Hamas, affecting aid distribution to hungry Gazans. GHF remains committed to independent aid delivery and is adapting to ensure safety amidst ongoing disruptions and overcrowding issues.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation announced on Saturday that they were pausing operations on Saturday and it was because of threats made against the organisation and its workers by Hamas.

“Hamas is the reason hundreds of thousands of hungry Gazans were not fed today. The group issued direct threats against GHF operations. These threats made it impossible to proceed today without putting innocent lives at risk,” the statement read. “Hamas wants to return to a broken system it once controlled and exploited—diverting aid, manipulating distribution, and putting its own agenda ahead of the Palestinian people’s basic needs. However, GHF will not be deterred.”

“We remain committed to safe, secure, and independent aid delivery. We are actively adapting our operations to overcome these threats and fully intend to resume distributions without delay.”

Amid the ongoing Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, the Defence Ministry is going to take up Rs 10,000 crore proposal to buy three sophisticated spy planes to help Indian Air Force get a clear air-to-ground picture to carry out precision strikes against enemy ground targets like radar stations, air defence units and other mobile objects.

The Rs 10,000 crore project for the Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (I-STAR) is expected to be taken up for clearance at a high-level defence ministry meeting scheduled to be held in the fourth week of June, defence officials told ANI.

The ISTAR provides air-to-ground surveillance to the forces to help them in carrying out precision strikes.

The spy aircraft project being developed by the Defence Research and Development includes the acquisition of three aircraft through an open tender from foreign manufacturers, including Boeing and Bombardier.

The onboard systems on the aircraft would be completely indigenous, as the DRDO’s Centre for Airborne Systems has already successfully developed them, they said.

The systems have already been proven and developed by the CABS and they will just have to be integrated with the three aircraft which would be acquired and modified for the purpose, they said.

The development of an ISTAR system would also add India to a select club of nations with such a capability, including the US, UK, Israel and a few others.

ISTAR thus provides dynamic and time-sensitive targeting capability and contributes significantly to meeting the nation’s security goals.

It will aid in limiting the scale and complexity of undetected hostile threats. It has multi-spectral surveillance capability to detect, locate and monitor irregular forces.

The I-STAR system shall be for carrying out intelligence gathering, surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting by day and night from stand-off ranges.

The ISTAR systems are operated at high altitudes from large stand-off ranges and will be used for intelligence processing, exploitation, dissemination and generation of the common operating picture.

The ISTAR aircraft will be a system comprising airborne and ground segments.

The India Meteorological Department has issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts.

Heavy rain lashed many districts of Kerala on Friday, disrupting normal life and causing waterlogging.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts today.

Authorities in several districts have declared holidays for educational institutions under their jurisdiction.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), strong westerly winds are likely to persist at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region for the next two to three days, resulting in widespread rainfall.

The IMD stated, “Strong westerlies likely to continue at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region during the next 2-3 days. Under the influence of these, widespread rainfall activity with scattered Heavy rainfall to Very Heavy rainfall with isolated Extremely Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur over Kerala on 29th & 30th May 2025. Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places over Kerala on 31st May, 1st and 2nd June 2025.”

District administrations across Kerala have declared a holiday for all educational institutions in several districts on May 30 (Friday).

The precautionary measure applies to professional colleges, anganwadis, tuition centers, madrassas, and special coaching classes.

The action was taken against the advisory committee of the Kottukkal Manjippuzha temple in Kollam, which is managed by the TDB.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the top temple body in Kerala’s Travancore region, dissolved the advisory committee of a temple following the rendition of the RSS ‘gana geetham’ (prayer song) during a recent musical concert held there.

The action was taken against the advisory committee of the Kottukkal Manjippuzha temple in Kollam, which is managed by the TDB.

A TDB statement issued on Tuesday said the decision followed an inquiry into the rendition of the ‘gana geetham’ and the erection of flags belonging to political and communal outfits on the temple premises.

The Board found that the advisory committee had committed serious lapses in connection with both incidents.

It added that an existing order strictly prohibits the erection of flagpoles of political and communal organisations in temples and on temple premises under the TDB’s control.

Authorities said that some containers have been found along the coasts of southern Kollam and coastal Alappuzha districts.

Containers from a Liberian cargo ship that sank off the Kerala coast have started washing ashore, while the oil spill spreading from the vessel has prompted authorities to issue a high alert along the state’s coastline, officials said on Monday.

Authorities said that some containers have been found along the coasts of southern Kollam and coastal Alappuzha districts.

In the wake of the sinking of the ship off the Kerala coast, a high-level meeting was convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to assess the situation.

An advisory has been issued urging coastal residents and fishermen to remain vigilant.

So far, nine containers have washed ashore, and an advisory has been reiterated for coastal residents and fishermen to remain alert, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO).

The cargo ship capsized and sank early on Sunday, leading to a significant oil spill. According to the Indian Coast Guard (ICG), the sunken vessel had 84.44 metric tonnes of diesel and 367.1 metric tonnes of furnace oil in its tanks.