Daily News

Recently Russia is said to have used hypersonic missiles, called Kinzhal, to destroy a weapons depot in Ukraine. So, what are hypersonic missiles? Take a peek into this nuclear-capable weapons system The term ‘hypersonic’ denotes speed that’s five times faster than sound. The speed of sound is around 760 miles per hour at sea level. This means, hypersonic weapons can travel at speeds of at least 3,800 miles per hour. However, ballistic missiles also travel at hypersonic speeds, especially in the re-entry phase. So, what sets apart new-age hypersonic weapons from the missiles of the past? According to US Congressional Research Service, hypersonic weapons... read more

Zomato on Monday promised to deliver food within ten minutes of ordering, arguably becoming the first company in the world to do so. So, what does it mean for the food delivery ecosystem? Zomato founder and CEO Deepinder Goyal pulled a surprise on Monday when he announced a pilot project to deliver food items in just ten minutes. The announcement divided the social media. Those in favour said that they will now get their French fries and burgers before they go soggy. And soft drinks before they lose the sting. While another section alleged that this rush will endanger the... read more

Petrol and diesel prices were hiked by 80 paise a litre each while domestic cooking gas prices were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder, sources said. Petrol and diesel prices on Tuesday were hiked by 80 paise a litre each while domestic cooking gas prices were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder, ending a over four and half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, sources said. Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 96.21 per litre as against Rs 95.41 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 86.67 per litre to Rs 87.47. A 14.2-kg non-subsidised LPG cylinder will now cost Rs 949.50 in the... read more

Earlier, the Kremlin had threatened to ban Facebook and Instagram after its posts called for violence against Russia A Russian court on Monday ruled to ban Instagram and Facebook in the country, labelling its parent company Meta as extremist, according to a media report. Specifying that the ban on Meta's activities will not apply to the WhatsApp messenger, the Tverskoy district court of Moscow said that the decision will be enforced immediately, Sputnik reported. Earlier, the Kremlin had threatened to ban Facebook and Instagram after its posts called for violence against Russia. The Kremlin said that it's "necessary" to ban Facebook and Instagram if they allowed calls for violence against Russia, reported Sputnik.   Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, which it claimed was a response to calls from the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk for protection against attacks by Ukrainian troops. Condemning the Russian military operation, the...

New Delhi has been ranked the world's most polluted capital city for s second consecutive year followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh), N'Djamena (Chad), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Muscat (Oman) New Delhi has been ranked the world's most polluted capital city for s second consecutive year followed by Dhaka (Bangladesh), N'Djamena (Chad), Dushanbe (Tajikistan) and Muscat (Oman). Of the 15 most polluted cities in Central and South Asia in 2021, 12 were in India. New Delhi saw a 14.6 per cent increase in PM2.5 concentration in 2021, 96.4 Ig/m3, up from 84 Ig/m3 in 2020. The annual PM2.5 concentration averages in 48 per cent of... read more

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday lauded India for following an independent foreign policy, saying it imported crude oil from Russia despite American sanctions. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday lauded India for following an independent foreign policy, saying it imported crude oil from Russia despite American sanctions. Khan, a fierce critic of the ruling NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spoke highly of the Indian foreign policy. In his address to a public rally in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, he told his supporters that he... read more

A study says, hydroxychloroquine inhibits pathways that drive resistance to chemotherapy agent cisplatin in head and neck cancers and restores tumour-killing effects of cisplatin in animal models Do you know malaria drugs work against some cancers? According to a new study, the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine inhibits pathways that drive resistance to the chemotherapy agent cisplatin in head and neck cancers and restores tumour-killing effects of cisplatin in animal models. The findings, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC scientists, paving the way for a... read more

The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, CCTV said A China Eastern Airlines aircraft with 133 people on board crashed in mountains in south China on Monday while on a flight from the city of Kunming to Guangzhou, state media reported. The jet involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 aircraft and the number of casualties was not immediately known, CCTV said. Rescue was on its... read more

The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is concerned that Russia may use chemical weapons in a 'false flag' attack in Ukraine, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) is concerned that Russia may use chemical weapons in a 'false flag' attack in Ukraine, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. He was speaking at the press conference at NATO headquarter. Stoltenberg said, "We are concerned that Moscow could stage a false flag operation possibly including chemical weapons, in Ukraine." "Any support to Russia military or any other type of support will actually how pressure conducts a brutal war against in... Ukraine and help them to continue to rage war which is causing death, suffering and anonymous amount of destruction," he added. "All of this sends an unmistakable message. An attack on one Ally will be met with a decisive response from the whole Alliance. R...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday appreciated the recently-released film The Kashmir Files Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday appreciated the recently-released film The Kashmir Files and suggested that such movies should be made more often so that people can know the truth, according to media reports. “The film has shown the truth which has been suppressed for years. Truth should be brought in the right form before the country. The truth prevailed in The Kashmir Files,” Times of India quoted the PM as saying. Both Modi and BJP president J P Nadda were felicitated at the BJP parliamentary party meeting here for the party's victory in four states. Addressing the meeting, Modi asked the party MPs to fight against dynasty politics as it is dangerous for democracy, sources said. To fight dynasty politics, the BJP has to put a check on such practices within the organisation, the PM said.

The Ukraine crisis has led to a rally in commodity prices. Consumer goods companies, hit with high input costs, are now passing on the price rise to customers. Will there be more price rise in FMCG? In tatters due to prolonged pandemic, the global supply chain was recovering when Russia struck Ukraine with all its might.  Last week, the 145-year-old London Metal Exchange was forced to suspend nickel trading and cancel trades after prices doubled overnight to $100,000 a tonne amid a market panic triggered by Russia’s actions. The exchange described the current events as unprecedented.  Russia accounts for 10% of global nickel supply, 6% of the aluminium output and 18% of wheat exports.  Aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, crude oil, wheat, natural gas, coal and edible oils are some of the commodities that have been on the boil as traders feared supply disruptions on account of the Russia-Ukraine war. With the price of metals and plastics used in appliances and consumer durables...

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied any interim relief to Maharashtra cabinet minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in a money laundering case. The Bombay High Court on Tuesday denied any interim relief to Maharashtra cabinet minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik in a money laundering case, and refused to pass an order for his release from judicial custody. Malik was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on February 23 this year under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) over a property deal allegedly linked to the aides of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim. He is currently in judicial custody. The minority affairs minister had challenged his arrest and as an interim prayer, sought that he be released from custody immediately. However, a bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak on Tuesday denied any such interim relief to Malik. The bench said the minister's petition had raised some debatable issues and the court needed to hear at length the arguments from both sides...

Hijab row verdict: Hijab is not essential religious practice of Islamic faith and putting reasonable restrictions on uniform are justified says Karnataka high court. The Karnataka High Court dismissed on Tuesday petitions seeking permission to wear hijab in a Karnataka colleges, multiple news reports said. The prescription of school uniform is only a reasonable restriction, constitutionally permissible which the students cannot object to, said a three-judge bench, according to PTI. "We are of the considered opinion that wearing of Hijab by Muslim women does not form a part of essential religious practice in Islamic faith," said Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, who headed the full bench of the High Court. "In the above circumstances, all these writ petitions being devoid of merits are liable to be and accordingly are dismissed. In view of the dismissal of the writ petition, all the pending applications fell into insignificance and are accordingly disposed of," the ben...

With Karnataka HC upholding state government's decision on hijab ban , Education Minister on Tuesday said we will try to win hearts of 'misguided' Muslim girls who are against the move With the Karnataka High Court upholding the state government's decision on restrictions on hijab inside classrooms, the the Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh on Tuesday said we will try to win the hearts of the 'misguided' Muslim girls who are against the move, and 'bring them in the mainstream of education'. He also said the shortcomings in the Karnataka Education Act-1983, especially the one related to the school uniform, will be rectified. "We will try to win the hearts of those girls who were 'misguided'. We will try to bring them in the mainstream of education," Nagesh told reporters. He was reacting to the High Court order which said hijab (headscarf) was not an essential religious practice in Islam. "I have faith that the gi...

  NASA will get over $24 billion for space missions for fiscal year 2022, if the US Congress is able to pass a newly-devised omnibus spending bill The funding package allocates a total of $1.5 trillion throughout the government. The funds are about $760 million less than what US President Joe Biden had requested last year, Space.com reported. In the US, the fiscal year runs from October 1 through September 30. However, this is still about $700 million more than NASA received in fiscal year 2021. According to SpaceNews, both science and space technology, has been allocated about $300 million less in the omnibus bill than in the Biden administration's 2022 budget request. But the funding for NASA's Human Landing System (HLS) programme, which is working to put astronauts on the moon by 2026 with the help of SpaceX's Starship vehicle, stays the same at $1.195 billion. In May 2021, NASA had made its formal budget request for this fiscal year to Congress. "The Biden administ...

Any sanctions on India under punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act for buying S-400 missile from Russia would be extraordinarily rash, a Republican Senator told Biden council Any sanctions on India under the punitive Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act ( CAATSA ) for buying S-400 missile from Russia would be extraordinarily foolhardy, a top Republican Senator has told the Biden Administration. There are reports that the Biden administration is contemplating imposing CAATSA sanctions against India, the largest democracy on Earth, a decision that I think would be extraordinarily foolhardy, Senator Ted Cruz said during a hearing on pending nominations by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Over the last one week, Cruz, who represents the State of Texas in the United States Senate, has said that the bilateral relationship between India and the United States has deteriorated under the Biden Administration. India is a critical...

Modi lauded Indian women's achievements on International Women's Day on Tuesday, and said his government will keep focusing on women empowerment. Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Indian women's achievements on International Women's Day on Tuesday, and said his government will keep focusing on women empowerment through its various schemes with emphasis on dignity as well as opportunity. "On Women's Day, I salute our Nari Shakti and their accomplishments in diverse fields... From financial inclusion to social security, quality healthcare to housing, education to entrepreneurship, many efforts have been made to put our Nari Shakti at the forefront of India's development journey. These efforts will continue with even greater vigour in the coming times," he tweeted. Modi will also address a programme in Gujarat's Kutch this evening to highlight the contributions of women saints to the society.

The Indian embassy in Hungary suggested that the evacuation mission from the country is nearing completion as it is beginning the last leg of flights under the operation India has brought back its over 15,920 nationals on 76 flights under evacuation mission ' Operation Ganga ' that was launched following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, officials said on Sunday, while around 700 students are still trapped in Sumy, waging a grim battle for survival with supplies depleting fast and exit routes to safety blocked by fierce fighting. Melting snow to slake their thirst and fast running out of food, hundreds of Indian students stand on roads every morning hoping "today is the day" when they will be rescued from the savagery of the war that has engulfed the nation. The wait, however, has got longer as fierce fighting blocks their way to safety across the Russian border. They have abandoned the idea of undertaking an arduous journey to the Russian border on foot amid fusillad...

French President Emmanuel Macron is "pessimistic" after his exchange with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and Macron thinks that "the worst is yet to come" in Ukraine The French and Russian presidents spoke on Thursday morning for nearly an hour-and-a-half over telephone. Putin stuck to his guns and refused any "compromise", BFMTV reported, quoting a spokesman for Macron. The Russian President expressed "his great determination" to continue his offensive, the aim of which is "to take the control" of the whole country, the Elysee reported, according to BFMTV. During the discussion, the Russian President told his French counterpart that the operation of the Russian army is developing "according to the plan" and that it is going to be "worse "if the Ukrainians do not accept his conditions", the French presidency said. Putin also confirmed that he intended to carry out a "denazification" of Ukraine, as...

The Kremlin had claimed that some Indian students were taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces and were using them as human shields Nearly 17,000 Indians have been evacuated from Ukraine to safe places in neighbouring countries since the Government of India began issuing advisories and will be brought back in tranches as Indian Air Force planes, as well as commercial airlines, have been pressed into service with more than seven flights a day between Ukraine’s neighbours and India. The Civil Aviation Ministry said India has till now brought back 6,998 people on special flights — including the ones operated by the Indian Air Force (IAF) — since February 22. Most students are now out of the conflict–torn Kharkiv and in a nearby city, Pisochyn, but the government still does not have a clear idea of how many are stuck in Kharkiv as not all Indians have registered with the Embassy. However, Bagchi exuded confidence as he said every Indian will be brought out, whether they have registe...

A spokesman for Europe's largest nuclear plant says the facility is on fire after Russia attacked the power station in the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. Russian forces pressed their attack on a crucial energy-producing Ukrainian city by shelling Europe’s largest nuclear plant early Friday, sparking a fire and raising fears that radiation could leak from the damaged power station. The assault on the eastern city of Enerhodar and its Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant came as the invasion entered its second week with Russian forces gaining ground in their bid to cut off the country from the sea. Elsewhere, another round of talks between the two sides yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors inside Ukraine to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid.   Nuclear plant spokesman Andriy Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells were falling directly on the facility and had set fire to one of its six reactors. That reactor is under renovation and not operating, but ther...

The students are currently fleeing the war-torn country Ukraine and trying to reach the border of Poland for their safe return to India. An Indian student has been hospitalised after he was shot with a bullet in the capital city of Ukraine, a few days after an Indian student lost his life in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Speaking exclusively to ANI, Minister of State (MoS) for Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) General VK Singh revealed the information at Poland's Rzeszow airport on Thursday. "A student from Kyiv was reported to have been shot and was immediately admitted to the hospital in Kyiv," General (retd) Singh told ANI. "The Indian embassy had earlier cleared on the priority that everyone should leave Kyiv. In the event of war, the gun bullet does not look at anyone's religion and nationality," he added. The students are currently fleeing the war-torn country Ukraine and trying to reach the border of Poland for their safe return to...

Student from Punjab suffers stroke, second death of Indian in Ukraine in two days In terse capital letters, an advisory from the Indian Embassy in Kyiv ordered Indians to leave Kharkiv immediately, on foot if necessary, as a student from Punjab died of a stroke, possibly brought on by anxiety, for which he was already under treatment. “There has been a sharp increase in the number of Indians who have left Ukraine. We now estimate that nearly 17,000 Indian nationals have left Ukraine borders since our advisories were issued,” Spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs Arindam Bagchi said, even as Russia promised “humanitarian corridors” for the safe passage of Indians caught in the war. Around 2,500 Indian students are thought to be still stuck in the city. In the midst of all this, a throwaway remark by a Union minister about the qualifications of those who go abroad to study medicine because they lack the intellectual bandwidth for medical education in India, sparked off widesprea...

This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and reviewed the situation in Ukraine, especially in Kharkiv Indian students have been taken hostage by Ukrainian security forces to use them as a human shield, claimed Russian Embassy in India on Wednesday (local time). This comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and reviewed the situation in Ukraine , especially in Kharkiv and discussed the safe evacuation of the Indian nationals from the conflict areas. "According to the latest information, these students are actually taken hostage by the Ukrainian security forces, who use them as a human shield and in every possible way prevent them from leaving for Russia. Responsibility, in this case, lies entirely with the Kyiv authorities," Russia in India wrote in a tweet. "According to our information, Ukrainian authorities forcibly keep a large group of Indian students in Kharkov who wish to leave...

The Karnataka students stranded in the Kharkiv region have said that local Ukrainian authorities and the military are assaulting Indian students and pointing guns at them. More disturbing news is coming from war-torn Ukraine . The Karnataka students stranded in the Kharkiv region have said that local Ukrainian authorities and the military are assaulting Indian students and pointing guns at them. Harshitha, from the Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka, who is studying in Ukraine, is one of the students still stuck in Kharkiv. She spoke to the media about the ordeal they are facing. She said that Indian students are not being allowed to board trains arranged to evacuate people from the region. "Indian students are being pushed out of trains, they are not allowed to board, if questioned they are being assaulted and guns are being pointed at them," she said. "When the trains come to the platforms, the doors are locked. They allow only the Ukraninans to board the trains. Amo...

Biden spoke to US Congress on the sixth day of Russia's invasion of its European neighbor. US President Joe Biden on Tuesday vowed that Russia's Vladimir Putin will pay dearly over the long run even for his invasion of Ukraine, even if his military campaign succeeds in the short term. "While he may make gains on the battlefield – he will pay a continuing high price over the long run," Biden said in his State of the Union address. Straying from the prepared text, Biden added "He has no idea what's coming." He did not elaborate.   Biden spoke to Congress on the sixth day of Russia's invasion of its European neighbor and as Kyiv stared down a miles-long armored Russian column potentially preparing to take over the Ukrainian capital, and the U.S. and a growing group of allies tighten sanctions. In the prime time speech, Biden announced a new step banning Russian flights from using American airspace and a Justice Department effort to seize the yachts, lux...