The instructions were given after a four-hour war cabinet meeting on May, 22, the Jerusalem Post newspaper wrote

According to eyewitnesses, the victims were mostly displaced women and children

Arvind Kejriwal addressed speculations about his potential candidacy for the prime ministerial position in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. During an interview with PTI Videos on Thursday, Kejriwal unequivocally stated that he harbors no aspirations to assume the role of prime minister, even if the INDIA alliance secures a victory in the polls.

Israel reacted with fury after three European countries said Wednesday they would recognise a Palestinian state, more than seven months into the devastating Gaza war. Ireland, Norway and Spain said they would formally recognise the State of Palestine on May 28, drawing praise from many Arab and Muslim states. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move amounted to a «reward for terror», after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched its October 7 attack which sparked the Gaza war. Israel said it was recalling its envoys to Dublin, Oslo and Madrid for «urgent consultations» and also summoned the three European ambassadors for a rebuke. European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell posted on X that he would work with the bloc's 27 members «to promote a common EU position based on a 2-state solution». Israel's far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, on his first visit since October 7 to the contested religious site of the Temple Mount in the Old City of Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, said the recognition rewarded «murderers and aggressors». His visits to the site -- known as the Al-Aqsa mosque compound to Muslims -- have been cited by Hamas as one reason for the group's October attack on Israel, which it called «Al-Aqsa Flood». The White House said President Joe Biden opposed unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, saying it should be realised «through direct negotiations». Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan warned Israel not to withhold funding intended for the Palestinian Authority in retaliation. Most Western governments, including the United States, say they are willing to recognise Palestinian statehood one day -- but not before thorny issues such as final borders and the status of Jerusalem are settled. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said «recognition of Palestine is a means of supporting the moderate forces which have been losing ground in this protracted and brutal conflict». «In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: Two states, living side by side, in peace and security.» Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Netanyahu was «causing so much pain, destruction and resentment in Gaza and the rest of Palestine that the two-state solution is in danger». And Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris called the October 7 attack «barbaric» but stressed that «a two-state solution is the only way out of the generational cycles of violence, retaliation and resentment». - 'Important step' - According to the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the occupied West Bank, 142 of the 193 UN member countries already recognise a Palestinian state. The Palestine Liberation Organization, seen internationally as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, hailed Wednesday's moves as «historical». Hamas also welcomed «an important step towards affirming our right to our land», while Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas political bureau member, said it would mark «a turning point in the international position on the Palestinian issue». A Palestinian in Gaza's southern city of Rafah, Ismail Hassuna, 46, said the European trio's decision was a step that «will restore hope» and should help in efforts to «stop Israel from its heinous crimes». Political analyst Ines Abdul Razek, who heads the Palestine Institute for Public Democracy, called the decision symbolic but «not a great victory». She said what was needed was «actual measures, including sanctions and arms embargoes» against Israel. Hamas's October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. The militants also took 252 hostages, 124 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead. On Wednesday a hostages campaign group released footage of five Israeli female soldiers being captured by militants on October 7 and taken away. Speaking about the video, Netanyahu vowed to continue fighting Hamas to «ensure what we have seen tonight never happens again». Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,709 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. Israel also imposed a siege that has deprived Gaza's 2.4 million people of most water, food, medical and fuel supplies, and brought much of the population to the brink of famine. - Deadly fighting - Fierce fighting has raged around Rafah, the last part of Gaza to face a ground invasion, where an AFP team reported more bombardment early Wednesday. Heavy battles have also rocked Gaza's northern and central areas where Hamas forces have regrouped, and more Israeli strikes have hit Gaza City, Jabalia and Zeitun. Israel said its troops were fighting on the ground in Rafah and Jabalia, and three more soldiers were killed on Wednesday, bringing the army's toll since the ground offensive began on October 27 to 287. Ten people were killed in the central town of Al-Zawaida overnight, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said, and Gaza's civil defence agency said six bodies were recovered from the rubble of a house in Jabalia. Israel's military said soldiers had carried out targeted raids on dozens of Hamas military compounds in Jabalia. The World Health Organization has said northern Gaza's last two functioning hospitals, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan, were besieged, trapping more than 200 patients. Israeli troops began their ground assault on Rafah early this month, defying international opposition over fears for the more than one million civilians trapped there. Israel ordered mass evacuations from Rafah, and the UN says more than 800,000 people have fled. Heavy fighting has also rocked the other major Palestinian territory, the occupied West Bank, where an Israeli raid entered its second day in the city of Jenin. The Ramallah-based Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces had killed 10 people since the fighting began on Tuesday morning. © Agence France-Presse

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led prayers for late president Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday as huge crowds thronged the capital Tehran for his funeral procession. Flanked by top officials, Khamenei said prayers over the coffins of the eight dead from Sunday's helicopter crash, who also included foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. A sea of mourners filled the open space around Tehran university, where the prayers were held before the funeral procession moved on to Enghelab and Azadi squares. State television said Raisi, who had been widely seen as Khamenei's most likely successor as supreme leader, had received a «millionfold farewell» from the people of Tehran. «We have lost a prominent personality. He was a very good brother. He was an efficient, competent, sincere, and serious official,» Khamenei told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani. The leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, joined the procession, as did the deputy leader of Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, Naim Qassem. «I say once again... we are sure that the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its support for the Palestinian people,» Haniyeh told the crowd to chants of «Death to Israel». - Foreign guests - Iran's acting president, Mohammad Mokhber, later received heads and representatives of countries in the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and Europe. Tunisian President Kais Saied and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani attended an afternoon ceremony in which around 60 countries took part, said state news agency IRNA. Egypt's top diplomat, Sameh Shoukry, was also at the ceremony. He is the first Egyptian foreign minister to visit Tehran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Member countries of the European Union were among the absentees of the ceremony while some non-member countries, including Belarus and Serbia had their representatives. In the capital, huge banners have gone up hailing the late president as «the martyr of service», while others bade «farewell to the servant of the disadvantaged». Tehran residents received phone messages urging them to join the funeral procession. «I was sad, I came to calm my heart and calm the heart of the supreme leader,» said one mourner who gave her name only as Maryam and said she had travelled from Varamin, south of Tehran, to pay her last respects. Raisi's helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside in northwestern Iran on Sunday as his entourage headed back to the city of Tabriz after attending a ceremony on the border with Azerbaijan. A huge search and rescue operation was launched, involving help from the European Union, Russia and Turkey. State television announced Raisi's death early on Monday. The Iranian military said Wednesday that domestically produced drones had played the key role in locating the crash site. - Burial in Mashhad - Funeral ceremonies for Raisi and his entourage began on Tuesday with processions through Tabriz and the Shiite clerical centre of Qom drawing tens of thousands of black-clad mourners. From Tehran, the bodies will be taken to Iran's second city of Mashhad, Raisi's hometown in the northeast, where he will be buried on Thursday evening after funeral rites at the Imam Reza shrine. Khamenei, who wields ultimate authority in Iran, has declared five days of national mourning and assigned vice president Mohammad Mokhber, 68, as caretaker president until a June 28 election for Raisi's successor. Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, who was Amir-Abdollahian's deputy, has been named acting foreign minister. The country's armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri has ordered an investigation into the cause of the helicopter crash. Raisi was elected president in 2021, succeeding the moderate Hassan Rouhani at a time when the economy was battered by US sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear activities. The ultra-conservative's time in office saw mass protests, a deepening economic crisis and unprecedented armed exchanges with arch-enemy Israel. After his death, Russia and China sent their condolences, as did NATO, while the UN Security Council observed a minute's silence. Messages of condolence also flooded in from Iran's allies around the region, including the Syrian government as well as Hamas and Hezbollah. © Agence France-Presse

«Such provocative statements are extremely dangerous and reckless», Anatoly Antonov noted

Tornado struck the city of Greenfield, Iowa, on May 21

Bhadohi’s caste equations have been complicated by recent events. Its sitting MP, Ramesh Bind, recently quit BJP to join Samajwadi Party and is the alliance candidate from Mirzapur. Of the five assembly segments under the constituency, SP holds three with one Muslim and two backward MLAs, a Yadav and a Bind. The constituency is dominated by the Bind community with at least 4 lakh members, with​ around as many Brahmins. Muslims form about 12-13% of the total population.

RIYADH: Saudi ginseng, an evergreen shrub with yellow flowers, has reappeared after a 20-year absence in the deserts of the Northern Border region, Saudi Press Agency reported on Wednesday. Nasser Rashid Al-Majlad, president of Amana Environmental Association in the region, said the plant has several names: Al-Abab, Saudi ginseng, or ashwagandha, and has reappeared again in the region after more than 20 years, similar to many other wild plants.

Saudi Tourism Minister Ahmed Al-Khateeb headed the Kingdom’s delegation at the UN World Tourism Organization’s 50th meeting of the regional committee for the Middle East, on Wednesday in Muscat. During his speech, the Saudi minister stressed the Kingdom’s openness to cooperate with member states to adopt joint regional tourism projects to attract international visitors to the region. 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Natural Reserve has been granted accreditation as “the first major biodiversity site in the Kingdom.” The organization Key Biodiversity Areas confirmed the accreditation, after an evaluation based on international standards, on its website on Wednesday. It said the reserve meets three global standards, including the presence of endangered species, and so qualifies for inclusion. The announcement coincided with International Day for Biological Diversity, which takes place on May 22 each year.

RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Farhan, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, conveyed the condolences of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to top Iranian officials in Tehran on Wednesday on the death of President Ebrahim Raisi and his companions. Prince Mansour bin Muteb bin Abdulaziz, Adviser to King Salman and Minister of State, and Prince Faisal were received by Deputy Chief of Staff for Political Affairs to Iran President Mohammad Jamshidi and Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani. Saudi ambassador to Iran Abdullah Al-Enazi attended the reception.

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior announced that visit visa holders are not allowed to enter or stay in Makkah during May 23-June 21 as access to the city will be limited to Hajj visa holders. The ministry stressed that all types of visit visa are not a permit to perform Hajj, adding that violators will be subject to penalties according to Saudi laws and regulations.

According to National Nuclear Security Administration Jill Hruby, Washington is «working to reduce nuclear risks in Ukraine»

«During the attack, a command-and-observation post was damaged,» the armed wing of Lebanon’s Hezbollah party claimed on Telegram

According to the statement, the drones «presented an imminent threat to US, coalition forces, and merchant vessels in the region»

According to Al Jazeera, the Israeli military blew up several residential buildings in the Nuseirat refugee camp

Delcy Rodriguez thinks that joining BRICS «with the new international financial system will be a positive factor» in the country’s economic development

The Japanese government scolded the Chinese envoy to Tokyo for an “inappropriate” warning against supporting Taiwanese independence Read Full Article at RT.com

President Macron’s strategy of talking tough on Ukraine has failed to gain traction ahead of the European Parliament election Read Full Article at RT.com

German government rejects Israeli appeal to defy proposed ICC arrest warrants for alleged war crimes in Gaza Read Full Article at RT.com

The number of Americans who use marijuana every day has surpassed the number who drink liquor that often, new study finds Read Full Article at RT.com

The US is “looking hard” into how it can answer Georgia’s prospective ‘foreign agents’ law, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Read Full Article at RT.com

“Maybe they want to distract from the fact that their candidate for president has been indicted more times than he’s been elected,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said of his Republican colleagues.

The dizzying sequence of events offered a glimpse of Trump’s volatile bid for a second term in the White House — one filled with legal uncertainty, escalating attacks, and comments he and his campaign have had to back away from or recast.

Marilyn Mosby, who rose to prominence for prosecuting police in the death of Freddie Gray, has been on a campaign seeking a presidential pardon before her federal sentencing.

A few passengers were upset when they were reportedly informed that bringing take-out food on board a public bus was not allowed. A Stomp contributor shared she boarded bus service 293 along Tampines Avenue 3 on April 27 at about 8pm. «I carried takeaway fried chicken in a box that was packed in plastic bags but the SBS Transit bus driver said I could not bring it into the bus unless I kept it in a zipped-up bag,» she said. Many passengers bring food on board public transport with the understanding that they should not eat or drink in buses or trains. However, this was the first time she had been told such a rule existed: «I didn't know we cannot bring takeaway food onto buses anymore.» According to the Stomp contributor, another passenger carrying Arnold's fried chicken was also shouted at for bringing food on board.