The first hybrid cruiser to sail in the Arctic and the only icebreaker to have been built as a passenger ship is regularly docked at Skarfabakki harbor in Reykjavík.

NSA Ajit Doval gets third term in Modi Government

Academic freedom is a fundamental principle of any university and research system or institution, and is essential for a healthy democracy. The concept can be traced back to the birth of the Humboldtian research university model in Germany in the early 1800s. Despite international declarations and constitutional and legal protections, in recent years there has been renewed interest in academic freedom around the world owing to major challenges and threats from governments, industry and civil society. This study complements existing efforts to monitor academic freedom, by screening and assessing possible policy options to strengthen and improve implementation of Recital 72 in Horizon Europe, identifying opportunities and bottlenecks and proposing applicable solutions. Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

A Durham police officer will face a one-year demotion after he was convicted of impaired driving in an incident in which he hit another officer with his vehicle.

Top stories from the Russian press on Thursday, June 13th

At the Paris Olympics, the men’s tournament will be held from July 24 to August 9

Rosoboronexport presented the latest light multirole 305E guided missile and the upgraded option of Ka-52 Alligator helicopter gunships

«We hope that in any case we will stick to partnership and alliance relations,» Dmitry Peskov noted

«In fulfilling their objectives, mobile formations of the Russian Defense Ministry’s 12th Main Department delivered practice nuclear munitions to field storage sites of a missile brigade’s positioning area and an attack aircraft operational airfield,» the statement says

A Grab driver was forced to call the police on a verbally abusive passenger, who swore at him for refusing to take a longer route to his destination.  The driver, surnamed Wu, told Shin Min Daily News that he picked up the male passenger from Block 626 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 4 at about 8am on June 7. He had booked a ride to the  SP Group building in MacPherson.  When the man boarded, he requested that Wu drive to his destination by going past Bishan, Braddell and Serangoon — a different route from what the GPS suggested.  «The original route was to go by CTE. My guess is that he wanted to avoid the ERP charges. But he suggested a roundabout route, which would take an extra 10 minutes,» said the 52-year-old driver. ERP rates along the CTE from 8am to 9am range from $4.50 to $5.  Since he became a private-hire driver in 2016, Wu said he would try to help passengers avoid ERP costs if possible.  «I'll help whenever I can, but I found his request too unreasonable, so I refused.»  When Wu informed the passenger that the route he wanted was too long, the latter told him it «didn't matter» and that he wanted to «kill time». 

SINGAPORE - Eligible families waiting for their Build-To-Order (BTO) units can apply to tap $300 a month in rental vouchers to offset rent for an HDB flat or bedroom on the open market from July 1. The voucher under the Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS), which provides interim rental housing for families with an unfinished flat from HDB's sale exercises, will run from July 2024 to June 2025. To qualify for the full year of support, which amounts to $3,600, applicants' tenancies must start on or before July 31, 2024, and they must submit their application to HDB by Aug 31. «This gives eligible households who are planning to apply for the PPHS voucher sufficient time to secure a suitable tenancy and apply for the voucher,» HDB said on June 13. The initiative provides these families with more support as HDB works to double its supply of interim rental flats under the scheme from 2,000 units now to 4,000 by 2025.

Rhiannon, now 34, was an early victim of internet 'sextortion', where someone sets up a fake identity to trick, scam or exploit an innocent user into sending explicit photos of themselves.

Rishi Sunak has become a meme sensation after he left D-Day early to do an interview with ITV in which he claimed he understood what it is like to go without because his family didn't have Sky TV.

The Foreign Ministry in New Delhi says 40 Indians have been killed in a fire at a residential building in the Kuwaiti city of Mangaf Read Full Article at RT.com

China’s Embassy in New Delhi has stated it is willing to advance bilateral ties “in the right direction”  Read Full Article at RT.com

The opposition uMkhonto weSizwe party wants the country’s top court to address allegations of vote fraud before a president is elected Read Full Article at RT.com

A South African man has died after contracting monkeypox, the country’s health minister has reported Read Full Article at RT.com

Washington and Warsaw have opened a center to counter ‘Russian disinformation’ on the Ukraine conflict, the US State Department has said Read Full Article at RT.com

A Calgary father fighting through the courts to keep his 27-year-old daughter from accessing medical assistance in dying (MAID) has abandoned his appeal, 14 days after she stopped eating and drinking.

The new international bridge has taken shape over the last three years.

An NDP MP who frequently joins parliamentary proceedings remotely from her riding billed the House of Commons for a trip she took to reportedly meet with “stakeholders” over the Christmas holidays — travel that included bringing her husband and kids along at taxpayers’ expense.

A CBC Toronto investigation discovered three seemingly fabricated, or misrepresented, employees on the websites of marketing companies owned by Nadine Spencer, a member of the Toronto Police Service Board.

[New Times] The government last week promulgated a law governing forests and trees, which, among other provisions, forbids residents to harvest 'immature trees,' as the government counts on them to tap into the global carbon market by selling its forest capacity to absorb emissions.

[New Times] Safi Mukundwa, the sole survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in her family, is baffled by genocide denial.

[New Times] The statement this week by the Congolese Minister of Defence, threatening to annex Rwanda, is a stark reminder of the international community's troubling blind spot when it comes to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

G. Kishan Reddy assumed office as Union minister of coal and mines in the BJP-led NDA government, welcomed by Pralhad Joshi. Reddy, previously Minister of state for home affairs and tourism, won the Secunderabad Lok Sabha seat. His political journey began in the Janata Party's youth wing, later joining the BJP in 1980.

Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Wednesday claimed an attack on a merchant ship in the Red Sea, part of an ongoing campaign they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians. The Huthis, who are at war with a Saudi-led coalition after ousting the government from Sanaa in 2014, have launched scores of drone and missile attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November. They have said they are harassing the vital trade route in support of Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In a statement on Wednesday, the rebels said they had carried out a «military operation targeting the Tutor ship in the Red Sea, using a naval drone, aerial drones and ballistic missiles». The ship was hit about 68 nautical miles (126 kilometres) southwest of the rebel-held port city of Hodeida, maritime security firm Ambrey had said earlier in the day. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which is run by Britain's Royal Navy, said a vessel was «hit on the stern by a small craft» 66 nautical miles southwest of Hodeida. In a statement, UKMTO said the ship was taking on water and not under the crew's command. It added that the vessel was «hit for a second time by an unknown airborne projectile» and that military authorities were assisting. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) later said the Tutor had been struck by a Huthi «unmanned surface vessel» that «caused severe flooding and damage to the engine room». CENTCOM -- which along with British forces has been conducting strikes in rebel-held Yemen in retaliation for the Red Sea attacks -- also said it had destroyed three anti-ship missile launchers and a Huthi drone over the past 24 hours. © Agence France-Presse

Malawi's Vice President Saulos Chilima was killed in a plane crash, the nation's president said on Tuesday, after searchers located the wreckage of the aircraft in a mist-shrouded forest. The military plane carrying Chilima, 51, and nine others disappeared on Monday, after it failed to land in the northern city of Mzuzu due to bad weather and was told to return to the capital, Lilongwe. Photographs shared with AFP by a member of the military rescue team showed army personnel standing on a foggy slope near debris bearing the registration number of the Dornier 228-202K aircraft operated by the Malawi Army Air Wing «The search and rescue team have found the aircraft... completely destroyed with no survivors, as all passengers on board were killed on impact,» Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera said, addressing the nation. «Words cannot describe how heartbreaking this is,» he said, describing the accident as a «terrible tragedy.» Rescuers had been combing a fog-cloaked forest south of Mzuzu on Tuesday, after authorities located the last tower it transmitted to before the plane disappeared. Earlier, army commander General Paul Valentino Phiri said other countries, including Malawi's neighbours, had been aiding the search effort, with support including helicopters and drones. The group departed just after 9:00 am (0700 GMT) from Lilongwe on Monday to attend the funeral of a former cabinet minister some 370 kilometres (230 miles) away in Mzuzu. Malawi's former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, who was married to former president Bakili Muluzi, was also on board. - Widely loved - Chakwera said he had previously flown on the same aircraft for similar trips. The crew had successfully operated it just hours before the accident, he added. «And yet, despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew, something terrible went wrong with that aircraft on its flight back to Lilongwe, sending it crashing down,» he said. First elected vice president in 2014, the charismatic yet stern-talking Chilima was a widely loved figure in Malawi, particularly among young people. «I am deeply shocked and I am mourning. Saulos was like a son to me,» former president Joyce Banda told AFP. «This country has lost a genius, we have lost a champion who an expert in commerce and industry and he is one who believed that the private sector is the engine for growth. »Unfortunately for me, I have to be personal as well, because he was like my son.« In the 2019 election, Chakwera had stood as presidential candidate for the Malawi Congress Party, and Chilima for the rival United Transformation Movement. Both lost, but the vote was annulled over polling irregularities and when a new election was held in June 2020, the pair campaigned and won as presidential and vice-presidential running mates. - Patriotic citizen - But, in 2022, Chilima was stripped of his powers after being arrested and charged with graft over a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman. Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges and he resumed his official duties. »Chilima was a good man, a devoted father and husband, a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction and a formidable vice president,« Chakwera said. »I consider it one of the greatest honours of my life to have had him as my deputy and counsellor for the past four years.« Condolences poured in from around the world with the African Union, the European Union, the United States and others expressing sadness at the news. »Our thoughts are with the loved ones of those who lost their lives and with the people of Malawi at this tragic time," the British High Commission in Lilongwe wrote. Chakwera said the military was in the process of taking the remains of those killed to the capital. Funeral arrangements would be announced later. © Agence France-Presse