India home to over 35% of world’s ‘dirtier & richer’ cities

BENGALURU: India may have taken the term “filthy rich” literally. Indian cities’ growth remains tied to polluting fossil-fuel use and consequent pollution while China and several other countries have pulled ahead on cleaner urbanisation, according to a study in Nature Cities in which researchers analysed 5,435 cities worldwide between 2019 and 2024 using satellite-based nitrogen…

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Prices rise, darker days loom

MUMBAI: A packet of milk, a simple thali meal, packaged consumer goods, an air-conditioner that’s almost a non-negotiable purchase now for many households amid rising temperatures, a box of paint, gold jewellery, a restaurant feast or an air-ticket—the war has hit low income and middle class Indians, making them pay more for a lot of…

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PIO gets 14-year jail for abusing 61 women in Australia

NEW DELHI: An Australian court sentenced an unqualified Indian-origin massage therapist in Adelaide to 13 years and 10 months in jail for sexually abusing 61 women over nine months, constituting 97 charges of “aggravated indecent assault” and “secretly filming” the survivors.Judge Carmen Matteo of the District Court of South Australia held Sumit Rastogi, 39, guilty…

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Iran’s next move after blocking Hormuz? Tehran is now eyeing the Gulf’s hidden arteries

Iran’s widening war with the US and much of the Middle East appears to be entering a new phase. After using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage during months of military escalation, Tehran is now signalling that it could target another critical global chokepoint: the vast network of subsea internet cables running beneath the Gulf.According…

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Measles kills 450 kids in B’desh; probe sought into Yunus’ vax policy

DHAKA: With measles killing over 450 kids in Bangladesh since mid-March, a court order has been sought for barring former interim govt chief adviser Muhammad Yunus and 24 others from leaving the country pending completion of probe into the shortage of measles vaccines during his tenure.Though measles is highly preventable with two doses of vaccine…

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PM Modi’s visit to Netherlands secures 17 strategic pacts

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi’s visit to the Netherlands ended Sunday with 17 outcomes in all, including agreements on migration and mobility, green hydrogen and defence cooperation.Along with the war in Ukraine, Modi and Dutch PM Rob Jetten also discussed the situation in West Asia, calling for freedom of navigation and global flow of commerce…

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Weather & then war lead to tears in India’s onion basket

Seeking relief: Onion growers want an MSP of Rs 3,500/quintal and a Rs 1,500-a-quintal compensation for distress sales Rain clouds rolled over Maharashtra’s onion belt. Then came war winds from West Asia. Prices collapsed. Crops rotted. Farmers counted losses in rupees — and sold tears by the quintal. Across Nashik, Solapur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, onion…

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Kharif output dips by over 10% across states in El Niño years: Study

El Niño is a climate pattern of warming of the ocean surface in central and eastern tropical Pacific. NEW DELHI: With the shadow of El Niño looming large over India due to its potentially negative impact on monsoon, a study by a group of farm scientists from an ICAR institution shows that El Niño years…

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BMTC staffers get full 26-month arrears, then recall notice arrives

BENGALURU: For a brief moment Saturday, around 100 employees at BMTC’s Yeshwanthpur depot-26 may have felt that long-promised rewards had finally arrived in full. Then came the phone calls.In what the corporation described as a “technical error”, a billing clerk accidentally credited the entire 26 months’ salary revision arrears to about 100 staff members instead…

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Police turn heat on Union minister Bandi Sanjay’s son, add ‘repeated rape’ charge

HYDERABAD: Cyberabad Police, as part of the investigation into the Pocso case involving Union minister Bandi Sanjay’s son, Bandi Sai Bageerath, have altered the charges by adding Section 64(2)(m) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which pertains to repeatedly raping the same woman. The offence carries a minimum punishment of 10 years’ jail, which may…

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