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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60268376 Four people from the UK have won the EuroMillions jackpot this year A UK ticket-holder has won a £109.9m EuroMillions jackpot. The winning numbers were 3, 25, 38, 43, 49 and the lucky star numbers were 3 and 7. A UK player matched all seven numbers to scoop the top prize and lottery firm Camelot is urging players to check their tickets to see if they have won. While it is a huge sum of money, the win is not in the top five highest UK winners, with a British record of £170m claimed in October 2019. How to spend your jackpot What do lottery winners spend their money on? 'We sat in the garden giggling like children' Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at The National Lottery, said: "What an amazing night for a single UK ticket-holder who has scooped tonight's whopping £109.9 million special EuroMillions Super Jackpot. "Players are urged to check their tickets and give us a call if they think they are tonight's lucky winner."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60237839 It was first reported among US diplomatic staff in Cuba Directed energy "plausibly explains" some of the cases of the mysterious "Havana Syndrome" illness, a new US intelligence community report says. There has been a contentious debate over whether symptoms afflicting US staff around the world were caused by some kind of device or were psychological in nature. The latest report from a US intelligence community panel of experts says the symptoms are "genuine and compelling" and could in some cases have been caused by a concealed device. But the panel does not look at who might be responsible. Beginning in Havana, Cuba in 2016, US intelligence officers and diplomats began complaining of an array of unusual symptoms. At first, the claims were largely dismissed within government. But in the last year, they have been taken more seriously with US officials encouraged to report similar symptoms. That has led to a flood of cases, numbering at least a thousand from around the world. A January CIA study found no evidence of a widespread campaign by a foreign state and said many cases could be explained by natural causes or stress. However, it acknowledged that a small number, thought to be around two dozen, remained unexplained. This new study examined more than 1,000 classified documents and interviewed witnesses to focus on a group of people suffering a particular set of symptoms (officials will not disclose the exact number). They concluded that this subset of cases cannot be explained by environmental or medical conditions and could have been caused by some kind of external source or device. "We've learned a lot," said one intelligence official familiar with the work of the panel. The panel found four "core characteristics" or symptoms - including the sudden onset of sound or pressure in one ear or one side of the head; vertigo, loss of balance and ear pain and a "strong sense of locality or directionality" with no other explanations. It examined the plausibility of five potential causes: acoustic signals, chemical and biological agents, ionizing radiation, natural and environmental factors, and radiofrequency and other electromagnetic energy and studied whether some kind of concealed device could create the reported symptoms. The panel found that psychological or social factors could not alone explain the symptoms although they could have compounded some of the problems for those affected. It also found that they could not be explained by environmental or medical conditions. "Several aspects of this unique neurosensory syndrome make it unlikely to be caused by a functional neurological disorder," the panel said. That pointed towards an "external stimuli" or source, in the view of the panel. The US embassy in Paris, where a number of American diplomats reportedly fell sick in January The study found that pulsed electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radiofrequency range, "plausibly explains" the core characteristics, although it says that there remain gaps in the information. It says that non-standard antennas could create the effects on the human body. Such a source could be concealed and require only moderate power. It could also travel through the air and through walls of buildings. A BBC report and documentary in 2021 looked at the potential role of pulsed, directed energy or microwaves in causing the symptoms of Havana Syndrome. ‘Havana syndrome’ and the mystery of the microwaves There is no detail in the report of what such a device might be, nor whether the intention was to cause harm or carry out some kind of surveillance. The panel did not look at who might have been behind such activity. A number of people within the US government believe Russia could be responsible and the issue has been raised in meetings although no conclusive evidence has been discovered to back up the assertion. The other plausible explanation for the symptoms, the panel says, is some kind of ultrasound although this travels less easily through buildings meaning the source would need to be close to the target. The panel makes a series of recommendations, including collecting more standardised data, but some including a section on detection technology remain classified. A joint statement by two of the most senior officials in the US intelligence community vowed to continue the pursuit for the truth, while caring for those affected. "We will stay at it, with continued rigour, for however long it takes," said US Director of National Intelligence Avril D Haines and CIA Director William J Burns. A White House spokesman told the BBC they welcomed the findings of the report.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60194274 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget in parliament Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has ramped up spending on infrastructure, and extended credit guarantees to small businesses as Asia's third-largest economy struggles to pull off an equitable post-Covid recovery. The announcements were part of the annual budget Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented in parliament on Tuesday - it came amid low demand, job losses, high inflation and a wave of Omicron cases. The government has come under criticism for not doing enough to address the problem of a "two-speed recovery" - high growth concentrated at the top of the pyramid and elevated levels of stress in the country's vast informal economy. Ms Sitharaman's response appears to be a mammoth spending plan while marginally trimming the country's steep fiscal deficit, the gap between how much the government earns and how much it spends. But economists worry that the borrowing required to finance this spending will put additional pressure on interest rates. The government's overall capital expenditure target saw a sharp 35.4% jump compared to the previous year. The announcement included a masterplan for expressways, 25,000km (15,534 miles) of new highways, 100 new cargo terminals and additional subsidies for manufacturing solar panels. How India's economy lost its sheen under Modi India's jobs crisis is more serious than it seems No changes were announced in income tax rates or slabs - and the stock market cheered at the absence of new taxes on the wealthy, and the sharp focus on spending. But the emphasis on spurring private consumption - which accounts for 55% of the Indian economy and remains below pre-pandemic levels - was "lower than expected," economist Shubhada Rao said. There was also disappointment over the lack of specific proposals to address India's unemployment crisis, which recently sparked riots in the eastern state of Bihar. Allocations to MNREGS, a huge rural scheme that guarantees 100 days of work to every rural household, shrunk. "The biggest expectation was for an urban equivalent of the rural jobs guarantee scheme, and that did not happen, which is a let-down," said Mahesh Vyas, CEO of the Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy. Ms Sitharaman also budgeted lower spends for food and fertiliser subsidies, with economists expecting her government's free food grain programme to be phased out. "With no major populist sops, the budget seems to be again putting economic growth over any political expediency - especially in light of the pending state elections," said Prabhat Awasthi - managing director & country head at Nomura. Even the higher spending on public schemes, he adds, is focused on infrastructure building - such as affordable housing - rather than direct cash handouts. The hope is that these investments will end up creating jobs, increase incomes and spur consumption. The budget also appeared to signal an approval for trading in cryptocurrency - although India still awaits legislation on it. Ms Sitharaman said the country's central bank - the Reserve Bank of India - will introduce a "digital rupee" this year using blockchain technology, becoming one of the first major countries to do so. She also announced that India will levy a 30% tax on income from virtual digital assets. "Introduction of a central bank digital currency will give a big boost to the digital economy. It will also lead to a more efficient and cheaper currency management system," she added. Experts seemed to welcome it - "30% is a small cost to pay for legitimacy," tweeted Gautam Chhugani, managing director at AB Bernstein. "Building crypto for a market like India is truly transformative," he added.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60154398 The larger areas of darkness on patients' Xenon scans could represent lung abnormalities Some people with long Covid may have hidden damage to their lungs, a small pilot study in the UK suggests. Scientists used a novel xenon gas scan method to pick up lung abnormalities not identified by routine scans. They focused on 11 people who had not required hospital care when they first caught Covid but experienced long-lasting breathlessness after their initial infection. A larger, more detailed study is under way to confirm the results. The work builds on an earlier study that looked at people who had been admitted to hospital with Covid. Researchers say the findings shed some light on why breathlessness is so common in long Covid - though the reasons for feeling short of breath are often many and complex.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-60150542 An image showing the Milky Way as viewed from Earth, with the star icon showing the position of the mysterious repeating transient. Australian scientists say they have discovered an unknown spinning object in the Milky Way that they claim is unlike anything seen before. The object - first discovered by a university student - has been observed to release a huge burst of radio energy for a full minute every 18 minutes. Objects that pulse energy in the universe are often documented. But researchers say something that turns on for a minute is highly unusual. The team is working to understand more. The object was first discovered by Curtin University Honours student Tyrone O'Doherty in a region of the Western Australian outback known as the Murchison Widefield Array, using a telescope and a new technique he had developed. Mr O'Doherty was part of a team led by astrophysicist Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker, from the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR). "[It] was appearing and disappearing over a few hours during our observations," she was quoted as saying in a media release from ICRAR that documented the discovery. "That was completely unexpected. It was kind of spooky for an astronomer because there's nothing known in the sky that does that." Objects that turn on and off in the Universe are not new to astronomers—they call them "transients". But an object that turned on for a full minute was "really weird," ICRAR-Curtin astrophysicist Dr Gemma Anderson, was quoted as saying in the release. ICRAR added that after trawling back through years of data, the team was able to establish that the object is about 4,000 light-years from Earth, is incredibly bright and has an extremely strong magnetic field. Theories around what the object might be include a neutron star or a white dwarf - a term used for the remnants of a collapsed star. However, much of the discovery remains a mystery. "More detections will tell astronomers whether this was a rare one-off event or a vast new po[CENSORED]tion we'd never noticed before," Dr Hurley-Walker said. "I'm looking forward to understanding this object and then extending the search to find more."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60111564 India's annual Republic Day parade is a colourful display of its military strength A day before India was set to celebrate its 73rd Republic Day, government officials issued an unusual clarification: this year's parade would not feature a song from Bollywood. The parade has in fact never included a Bollywood track but the government felt compelled to explain because of a recent controversy. An official handle had tweeted a video that appeared to be a curtain-raiser to the grand annual parade that marks the day: in it, a Navy band played a po[CENSORED]r Bollywood hit while others kept the beat by stamping their feet and tapping their rifles. A social media storm ensued - opposition politicians accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government of diluting the dignity of the armed forces while others said the video made a mockery of the iconic celebration. The department that had tweeted the video finally said it just wanted to show how the personnel took a break during their "gruelling" rehearsals for the parade. The controversy, just one of many this year, is unlikely to dampen the excitement of the millions of Indians who watch the event - it's held in the heart of the national capital Delhi, and telecast live across the country. Every year, India celebrates 26 January - the day its constitution came into effect, making it a sovereign republic - with a spectacle where it shows off its military strength, technological advances and cultural diversity. In 1950, that day marked the end of India's ties to the British empire (although it decided to be a part of the Commonwealth of nations after much debate) - and its first president, Rajendra Prasad, was sworn in. In its initial years, the parade showcased India's emergence as a new republic "Three thousand men of the armed forces marched before the president. The artillery fired a thirty-one gun salute while Liberator planes of the Indian air force flew overhead," historian Ramachandra Guha writes of the first parade in his book India After Gandhi. The parade became a symbol of a diverse but united country "It was a period of tension when linguistic and regional assertions were making their presence felt," Ms Balasubrahmanyan writes. She adds that the parade became an even more vital symbol of presenting an image of a diverse but united country - "a viable, cohesive national identity". Language was a particular flashpoint in the late 1950s and early 1960s as the federal government tried to make Hindi the sole official language. This was met with fierce protests in southern states, whose languages and scripts differed completely from Hindi. The resistance was strongest in Tamil Nadu, where the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party led huge protests, burning Hindi books and blackening signs written in Hindi.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60108274 Stray cattle are a common sight in India's towns and villages Ram Raj was drinking tea at his home in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh on a chilly November evening last year when a stray cow attacked him. Over the next few minutes, his young grandchildren screamed and watched in horror as the animal mauled him. The 55-year-old farmer died of severe injuries on the way to hospital. "It was a painful death and my mother-in-law has stopped having proper meals ever since," his daughter-in-law, Anita Kumari, said. Such attacks have become common in India's most populous state, where a ban on cow slaughter has led to a huge rise in the cattle po[CENSORED]tion. So much so that they have become an issue in the state's upcoming elections, which are set to begin on 10 February. Is India descending into mob rule? Hindus consider the cow holy, but until recently many farmers took their old cows to slaughterhouses. "We used to sell our cows once they stopped giving milk or were no longer fit for ploughing fields. That was our back-up plan for hard times," says Shiv Pujan, a paddy farmer. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has cracked down heavily on cow slaughter in keeping with its right-wing Hindu agenda - the practice is now illegal in 18 states, including Uttar Pradesh, or UP. Hindus consider the cow to be a sacred animal Here, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a hardline BJP leader himself, shut down several allegedly illegal slaughterhouses after coming to power in 2017 - even though this is a huge business in UP, which is a major exporter of buffalo meat. Cattle traders, many of them Muslims or Dalits (formerly untouchables, who are at the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy), have even been attacked and killed by vigilantes often linked to the BJP or local right-wing groups. So, many of them have given up on the business, fearful of buying or transporting cattle. And farmers now simply abandon old and unproductive cows. Did cow vigilantes lynch a Muslim farmer? Beaten to death for being a dairy farmer "Now there aren't any buyers so obviously, no-one can sell them," Mr Pujan says, adding that he and others are forced to leave old cattle in nearby forests. These stray cattle are often seen roaming the towns and villages in UP, where farmers and locals say they turn hungry and aggressive. One such cow entered the courtyard of Ram Raj's home and when he and his family got scared and started yelling, it attacked him. Mr Pujan himself was recently attacked by a herd of stray cattle while trying to chase them away from his field. "Two of them tried to push me down to the ground and I ran for my life," he said, showing his bandaged hand, which was cut while he scaled a barbed wire fence. Mr Pujan is a devoted Hindu who believes the cow is holy, but he also says he is frustrated with the government's blanket order that all of them should be protected. Farmers like him say the stray cows also destroy crops, cause road accidents and kill people.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60013807 Nathuram Godse was a high-school drop out and worked as a tailor On the evening of 30 January 1948, Nathuram Vinayak Godse shot Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi dead at point-blank range as India's most venerated leader emerged from a prayer meeting in the capital, Delhi. The 38-year-old zealot was a member of Hindu Mahasabha, a right-wing party. It had accused Gandhi of having betrayed Hindus by being too pro-Muslim and soft on Pakistan. They even blamed him for the bloodshed that marked Partition, which saw India and Pakistan created after independence from Britain in 1947. A trial court sentenced Godse to death a year after the assassination. He was executed in November 1949, after the high court upheld the verdict. (An accomplice, Narayan Apte, was also given the death sentence, and six others were sentenced to life in prison.) Why Indians are debating a mercy plea from 1911 Rare pictures of the last 10 years of Gandhi's life Before joining the Hindu Mahasabha, Godse was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organisation) or RSS, the ideological fountainhead of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is a long-time member of the 95-year-old mothership of Hindu nationalism. The RSS plays a deeply influential part in his government and outside. For decades, the RSS has shunned Godse who murdered the "Father of the Nation", as Indians love to call their greatest icon. Yet, a group of Hindu right-wingers in recent years have lionised Godse and openly celebrated Gandhi's assassination. Last year a firebrand BJP MP described Godse as a "patriot". All this has incensed most Indians, but the RSS has stuck to its position: Godse had quit the organisation long before he killed Gandhi. A new book now claims that this is not quite true. Godse, a shy high-school dropout, worked as tailor and sold fruit before joining the Mahasabha, where he edited its newspaper. During the trial, he took more than five hours to read out a 150-paragraph statement in court. naval guard escorting the coffin at Gandhi's funeral procession He said there was "no conspiracy" to kill Gandhi, thus trying to absolve his accomplices of any wrongdoing. He rejected the charge that he had acted under the guidance of his leader, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who birthed the idea of Hindutva or Hindu-ness. (Although Savarkar was exonerated of all charges, critics believe that the radical right-winger who loathed Gandhi was connected to the assassination.) Godse also told the court that he had broken with the RSS long before he killed Gandhi. Dhirendra Jha, author of Gandhi's Assassin, writes that Godse - the son of a postal worker father and a homemaker mother - was a "prominent worker" of the RSS. There was no "evidence" of him being expelled from the organisation. A statement by Godse recorded before the trial "never mentions his departure from the RSS after he became a member of the Hindu Mahasabha". However, his court statement said he "joined the Hindu Mahasabha after leaving RSS but remains silent on when exactly he did so". "This was a claim that has remained one of the most debated aspects of Godse's life," Mr Jha says. He believes "pro-RSS writers" have used this to "quietly push the notion that Godse had already broken with the RSS and joined the Hindu Mahasabha almost a decade before he killed Gandhi". American researcher JA Curran Jr claimed that Godse joined the RSS in 1930 and quit four years later, but provided no evidence for his assertion. Mr Jha writes that in a statement made to the police before the beginning of his trial, Godse admitted that he was working for both organisations simultaneously. Family members have also joined the debate in the past. Gopal Godse, Nathuram's brother, who died in 2005, had said his brother "did not leave the RSS". Separately, a grand nephew of Godse told a journalist in 2015 that Godse joined the RSS in 1932, and was "neither ex

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60100369 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced new restrictions for New Zealand New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has cancelled her wedding after announcing new Covid restrictions. The entire country is set to be placed under the highest level of Covid restrictions after an outbreak of the Omicron variant. The restrictions include a cap of 100 vaccinated people at events and mask wearing in shops and on public transport. New Zealand has recorded 15,104 Covid cases and 52 deaths. Ms Ardern confirmed to reporters on Sunday that her wedding to television host Clarke Gayford would not be going ahead. "I am no different to, dare I say it, thousands of other New Zealanders who have had much more devastating impacts felt by the pandemic, the most gutting of which is the inability to be with a loved one sometimes when they are gravely ill," she said. "That will far, far outstrip any sadness I experience," she added. New Zealand to reopen to vaccinated visitors Men caught sneaking KFC into lockdown-hit Auckland The new restrictions come into force at midnight on Sunday local time (11:00 GMT). It comes after a cluster of nine Omicron cases were confirmed. A family who had attended a wedding in Auckland tested positive after returning home to the South Island. A flight attendant also contracted the virus. Officials say the level of community transmission from the group is expected to be high. Indoor hospitality venues and events will have their capacity capped to 100 vaccinated people or 25 if vaccine passes are not being used. This also includes gyms and weddings, the New Zealand Herald reports. Students including year four and above will be required to wear masks in school. New Zealand has operated under strict Covid rules since the start of the pandemic, allowing it to keep deaths to a minimum. It was one of the first countries in the world to close its borders and quashed earlier outbreaks with lockdowns. But since the emergence of the Delta variant, Ms Ardern has switched from a total Covid elimination strategy to pushing for higher vaccination rates and treating the virus as endemic. It's thought that about 94% of the country's po[CENSORED]tion over the age of 12 is fully vaccinated and 56% of those have had their boosters. Last year, the country announced plans to reopen borders as part of a staged reopening. Foreign travellers will be the last group to be granted entry into the country, from 30 April

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60079770 The students say they are not allowed to attend class. A debate over the hijab - a headscarf worn by Muslim women - has caused a stand-off at a women's college in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Six teenage students - at a government-run pre-university college, equivalent to a high school - have alleged that they have been barred from classes for weeks because they insist on wearing a hijab. The college says it has only asked the students to remove the hijab inside the classroom - they can still wear it around the campus. The six girls wear the college uniform - a loose tunic with pants and a shawl - but say they should also be allowed to cover their hair. "We have a few male teachers. We need to cover our hair before men. That is why we wear a hijab," Almas AH, one of the students, told BBC Hindi. It's not unusual to see women wearing hijabs and burkas - which cover the face and body - in India, where public displays of faith are commonplace. But an increasingly polarised atmosphere in recent years has led to minorities - Muslims and Christians - feeling threatened. Beaten and humiliated for being a Muslim in India The women facing rape threats on Clubhouse And this particular row is unfolding in Udupi, one of three districts in Karnataka's communally sensitive coastal belt. Commentators often describe the region - a stronghold of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's right-wing BJP - as a laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics. The BJP is also in power in Karnataka. Repeated instances of vigilantism and hate speech against Muslims in the area have deepened religious faultlines and led to the rise of vocal minority-led groups that assert their right to religious freedom. In this case, for instance, the college said the issue is further complicated by the involvement of Campus Front of India (CFI), the student wing of the radical Islamic group, Po[CENSORED]r Front of India. Ms Almas said she was not a member of CFI but contacted the organisation when the college stopped them from attending classes. The college is now at the centre of a storm. I have called for a report on the issue," Karnataka state education minister BC Nagesh said. "It's basically politics. All this is happening because elections are due next year," Mr Nagesh added, referring to attempts by the Po[CENSORED]r Front of India's political wing to gain traction in the coastal belt. Ms Almas said when they tried to wear the hijab in their first year at the college, they were told that their parents had signed a form that prevented them from doing so. The pandemic then kept students away from college for months - during this time, said Ms Almas, they realised that the form only mentioned a compulsory uniform and said nothing about a hijab. At the end of December, when they returned to college wearing headscarves, they were not allowed to enter the classroom, she said. College principal Rudre Gowda alleged that the six women were deliberately creating problems and that the rest of the Muslim students - around 70 - had no objections to the rule. He said that initially, around a dozen women wanted to wear the hijab, but the number reduced after he spoke to their parents. "All we are saying is that when their classes begin, they should remove the hijab," he said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59952851 Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati heads a powerful temple in Uttar Pradesh state Who is the militant Hindu priest who has been arrested over a vitriolic speech he gave against Muslims last month? Yati Narsinghanand Saraswati, the 58-year-old head of the powerful Dasna Devi temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), was one of several right-wing Hindu leaders who spoke at an event in Haridwar city, where they openly called for violence against Muslims. Videos of the event travelled swiftly on social media, sparking a flurry of shocked and angry reactions, an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and police complaints from concerned citizens. The Supreme Court is hearing a petition demanding an independent inquiry into the event. Mr Narsinghanand is no stranger to controversy. For months, he has been accused of making deeply offensive remarks against women and minorities. His videos and words reach millions on social media, spawning an army of right-wing followers. He has reportedly called Muslims "demons", threatened to "eliminate" them and said he is striving to create an India "free of Islam". In September, police in UP registered three cases against him for allegedly insulting women after a video of him describing female politicians as mistresses of their male counterparts went viral. Mr Narsinghanand is already facing charges in more than 20 different cases, according to his lawyer, Maa Chetnanand Saraswati, who is also a priest at the Dasna Devi temple.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-60020410 Collarwali was a fierce predator but also known to be friendly India's "super mum" tigress was no ordinary big cat. One of the most famous tigers in the country, Collarwali died over the weekend aged 16. She played a big role in changing the fortunes of the sanctuary where she lived - Pench Tiger Reserve in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. So named because of the radio collar she wore, she gave birth to 29 cubs in eight litters over her lifetime - a "prolific" legacy, according to one expert. She became one of India's best-known tigers after starring in the BBC Wildlife documentary, Spy in the Jungle, which tracked the lives of four tiger cubs over two years. The documentary sparked a surge in visitors to the park, many of whom would ask after Collarwali and her charismatic mother, said Prabir Patil, a naturalist whose association with Pench began in 2004. Collarwali died on Saturday evening due to complications caused by old age. Collarwali was fitted with her radio collar in 2008 Naturalists, forest officers and wildlife photographers speak fondly of an animal they had watched grow up in the reserve - the same forests that are believed to have inspired Rudyard Kipling's classic, The Jungle Book. She was born in 2005 as T-15 - her mother, known as "badi mata" or "big mother" was also a famous tigress. Her father's name was T-1. Later, she was called Collarwali - the one with a collar - when she became the first tigress in the park to be fitted with a radio collar, which allowed her to be studied for some years. She was also affectionately called "mataram" or "respected mother" by wildlife lovers - a name she earned over her life. Collarwali was a familiar face at PenchCollarwali was a familiar face at Pench "Before Collarwali was born, tiger sightings were rare at Pench. But she soon became the most-sighted tigress here," Mr Patil said. Conservationist Vivek Menon calls her the "face of Pench", crediting her unusual "temperament that allowed so many visitors and photographers to document her and her cubs". Collarwali rarely disappointed Pench visitors, said Mohammed Rafique Sheikh, a naturalist who grew up on the doorstep of the reserve. "She was a friendly animal who would come very close to tourist vehicles without any fear," said Mr Sheikh, who has guided hundreds of tourists through the sanctuary. India is home to more than 70% of the world's tigers - numbers had been in decline but have now risen to 2,976, according to the most recent government estimate. Every year, thousands of tourists head to the 51 tiger reserves dotted across India, hoping to catch a glimpse of the majestic animal. Collarwali was cremated after people paid their respects She did that the day before her death too, when she was "so weak she could barely walk", according to a witness. Collarwali was cremated on Sunday in an open ground in the reserve after staff, naturalists and local villagers offered flowers and prayers. A video obituary made by reserve staff opens with footage of her reclining in the grass, comfortable in her home, as the words Beloved Collarwali appear on screen. That is how the people who loved her will remember her. While Collarwali was a tiger like no other, Dr Mishra said they weren't mourning her - instead, they wanted to celebrate her legacy. "She lived a full, happy life," Mr Sheikh said. "We are saddened by her death, but she will live in our hearts."

Happiest bday bruhhh stay blessed be happy xD

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-59971242 Smith has been nominated for two Oscars in the past, but has never won Will Smith has boosted his hopes of winning his first Oscar after being nominated for a Screen Actors Guild award, one of Hollywood's top prizes. His nomination for playing Venus and Serena Williams' father in King Richard comes days after he won the best drama actor prize at the Golden Globes. But there was less good news for Kristen Stewart, who was surprisingly snubbed by the Screen Actors Guild. She has been widely tipped for an Oscar for playing Princess Diana in Spencer. Scroll down for the full list of SAG nominations. But in a crowded best actress field, the US star's performance as the Princess of Wales was overlooked by SAG in Hollywood's dedicated acting awards. Rachel Zegler's leading role in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake was also omitted from the SAG nominations, despite critical acclaim and a Golden Globe victory at the weekend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59948645 Siddharth mainly appears in southern films An Indian actor has apologised to badminton star Saina Nehwal after his "sexist" tweet to her kicked up a social media storm. Siddharth, who uses only one name, said he was trying to make a "rude joke" in response to a tweet by Nehwal. But his "tone and words" couldn't be justified, he added in an apology tweeted on Tuesday night. Siddharth's tweet had drawn outrage for an alleged sexual slur, a charge the actor denies. The controversy began when Siddharth responded to a tweet by Nehwal on a security breach faced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week. He later returned to Delhi without attending the programme. The incident, described as a "serious lapse" by the home ministry, set off a political firestorm over who was responsible for the breach. Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the government of Punjab, ruled by the opposition Congress party, of deliberately trying to undermine the prime minister's security. The controversy spilled over into social media as well, as supporters and critics of the BJP weighed in. Saina Nehwal is one of India's most celebrated sports stars Nehwal, who joined the BJP in 2020, tweeted that she strongly condemned the "cowardly attack on PM Modi by anarchists", without naming anybody in particular. Siddharth, a critic of Mr Modi, then quote-tweeted her comment with: "Subtle cock champion of the world... Thank God we have protectors of India." The 6 January tweet began gaining attention over the weekend and soon drew outrage from all sides of the political spectrum for the alleged sexual wordplay on Nehwal's sport (badminton players use a shuttlecock). Singer Chinmayi Sripada, who has often spoken about harassment faced by women, told Siddharth the comment was "crass". "You just contributed to what a lot of us women are fighting against," she said. India's National Commission for Women (NCW) even wrote to Twitter, asking them to block Siddharth's account. It also wrote to police in Maharashtra state, where the actor is based, asking them to take action against him. Siddharth then attempted to clarify his tweet, saying he was referring to the idiom "cock and bull". "Reading otherwise is unfair and leading! Nothing disrespectful was intended, said or insinuated. Period," he tweeted on 10 January. But not many bought that explanation. Several TV channels invited political leaders to weigh in on the comments - some BJP leaders alleged that the actor had allowed his "hatred for the PM" to get the best of him. Others continued tweeting about the controversy, using hashtags such as #NarendraModiPunjabvisit, ensuring it remained a Twitter trend. Some right-wingers even tagged Bollywood actor Swara Bhasker - another critic of Mr Modi - asking her to weigh in on the comments. Nehwal told news agency PTI that the comments were "not nice". "He can express himself with better words but I guess it's Twitter and you remain noticed with such words and comments," she said. Siddharth deleted both tweets - the one that kicked off the controversy and his explanation - later. Late on Tuesday night, he tweeted a letter apologising to Nehwal.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59848651 Air travellers in the US have already seen days of disruption Flight cancellations in the US have hit a new peak in a Christmas season hit hard by the Covid pandemic and bad weather. Nearly 4,400 flights around the world were cancelled on Saturday, more than 2,500 of them in the US, air traffic site FlightAware reported. Airlines have been struggling with staffing problems with crew quarantining after contracting Covid. Adding to travellers' woes, heavy snow has hit the central US. From the US cancellations, more than 1,000 are from Chicago's O'Hare and Midway airports. "Today's cancellations are driven by Omicron staffing and weather-related issues. We did pre-cancel flights in anticipation of inclement weather. We've been contacting passengers early if their flights are cancelled to give them time to rebook or make other plans," United Airlines said in a statement.

A County Tyrone woman who stole £1.9m from her employers to fund her "luxury lifestyle" has been given a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Julie McBrien, 47, of Screeby Road, Fivemiletown, committed 26 counts of fraud and money laundering over an eight-year period. It was established she significantly breached the trust of her employers, Cookstown-based Northern Mouldings Limited. The company is owned by Heron Brothers. McBrien was in charge of finances but despite enjoying a good salary, she filtered cash from the company, bringing it to the verge of collapse. Figures identified the expenditure sustained a luxury lifestyle in her lavish mansion. This included £360,000 general expenditure; £356,000 property development; £311,000 interior design; £231,000 fashion and beauty and £145,000 on jewellery. McBrien made up false bank statements and forged the signature of a former employee after failing to remove his name from the bank mandate. She then forged a bank mandate making her solely in charge of finances, countersigning cheques to herself and creating false invoices. She also confided in a company director claiming to have a rare form of cancer. This was exactly the same condition a close relative of the director had endured and he went out of his way to provide support for McBrien as his employee. But there was no cancer and she continued to fund her lifestyle without interference from her employer. When she was arrested she admitted the offences, initially claiming money was spent "just on holidays" adding "there's nothing to show for it". She blamed the company accountants for "not doing their job properly. If they had, I wouldn't be here".

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59803771 India's government has refused to renew the foreign-funding licence for a charity founded by Mother Teresa. The Missionaries of Charity has thousands of nuns supervising projects like homes for abandoned children, schools, clinics and hospices. On Christmas Day, India's home ministry announced it had not renewed the registration due to "adverse inputs". Hindu hardliners have long accused the charity of using its programmes to convert people to Christianity. The charity has denied these allegations. In a statement on Monday, it confirmed that its renewal application had been denied, and that it would not operate any foreign funding accounts "until the matter is resolved". Earlier the chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, drew criticism after tweeting that the government had frozen the charity's bank accounts. But the government and the country have both since denied that the accounts were frozen. The Kolkata-based charity was founded in 1950 by Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun who moved to India from her native Macedonia. It is one of the world's best-known Catholic charities. Mother Teresa was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 for her humanitarian work, and she was declared a saint by Pope Francis in 2016, 19 years after her death.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59723756 A row has broken out in the southern Indian state of Kerala after a government school allowed teenage female students to wear trousers. The BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi and Ashraf Padanna in Kerala explain the controversy over clothes. On Wednesday morning, when Sringi CK waited at the bus stop to catch a bus to school in her brand new uniform, a compliment from an unknown woman made her feel special. "This lady told me that I looked very smart and I felt very proud," the 17-year-old, who studies in class 11 at the Government Girls Higher Secondary School in the town of Balussery, told the BBC. But once Sringi reached school, she had to make her way through a throng of protesters - kept in check by dozens of policemen - who were unhappy that girls could now wear trousers and shirts, just like the boys. Until the changeover, female students wore traditional long tunics, loose fitting trousers and waistcoats. School principal Indu R told the BBC that last year girls, who are now in class 12, suggested they should be allowed to wear the same uniform as the boys.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59760633 On the afternoon of 26 November 1933, a diminutive man brushed past a young landlord in a crowded railway station in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata (then Calcutta). Amarendra Chandra Pandey, 20, felt a jab of pain in his right arm as the man dressed in khadi, or coarse, homespun cotton, disappeared into the crowd at Howrah station. "Someone has pricked me," he exclaimed, but he decided to press on with his journey to the family estate in Pakur, a district now in neighbouring Jharkhand state. Accompanying relatives implored Amarendra to stay back and get his blood tested. But his half-brother Benoyendra, who was 10 years older and had arrived at the station uninvited, "made light o e incident" and persuaded him not to delay. When a cobra became a murder weapon in India Three days later, a doctor examined Amarendra - he had returned to Kolkata after contracting a fever - and saw "something like the mark of a hypodermic needle" at the place where he had felt the prick. Over the next few days, the patient developed a high fever, swelling in his armpits and early signs of lung disease. On the night of 3 December, he sank into a coma. He died early next morning. Doctors certified that Amarendra had died of pneumonia. But lab reports that arrived after his death pointed to the presence of Yersinia pestis, the lethal bacteria that causes plague, in his blood. Transmitted by rodents and fleas, plague killed more than 12 million people in the Indian subcontinent between 1896 and 1918. Plague deaths had fallen to around half-a-million between 1929 and 1938, and there had not been a single case of plague recorded in Kolkata in the three years up to Amarendra's f th death.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59664078 Could he really, despite everything, become president? The sex parties, the tax fraud conviction, the list of scandals as long as your arm? The talk shows are debating it, the politicians are considering it. Might 85-year-old Silvio Berlusconi, the business tycoon who became Italy's longest-serving post-war prime minister, crown his extraordinarily colourful career by becoming head of state when MPs choose in January? "It's my dream," says Antonio Tajani, who co-founded centre-right party Forza Italia in 1993 with Mr Berlusconi, and is today its vice president.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59634393 Why do thousands of Indian housewives kill themselves every year? According to the recently released data by the government's National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 22,372 housewives took their own lives last year - that's an average of 61 suicides every day or one every 25 minutes. Housewives accounted for 14.6% of the total 153,052 recorded suicides in India in 2020 and more than 50% of the total number of women who killed themselves. And last year was not an exception. Since 1997 when the NCRB started compiling suicide data based on occupation, more than 20,000 housewives have been killing themselves every year. In 2009, their numbers rose to 25,092. Reports always blame such suicides on "family problems" or "marriage related issues". But what really does drive thousands of women to take their lives? Mental health experts says a major reason is rampant domestic violence - 30% of all women told a recent government survey that they had faced spousal violence - and the daily drudgery that can make marriages oppressive and matrimonial homes suffocating.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59559122 Police in the western Indian state of Maharashtra have arrested a teenager suspected of beheading his pregnant older sister. The woman, 19, had married a man without her family's consent, local police officials said. She was making tea for her brother and mother when she was attacked with a sickle. The teenager and his mother then surrendered to the police. Police suspect they also took a selfie with the woman's head. The brother was sent to a remand home for juveniles after his lawyer said he was less than 18 years old. However, a police official said they would contest this claim in court as they had found a certificate that showed him to be an adult. Their mother was sent to police custody. The incident took place in Aurangabad district, BBC Marathi reported. The victim had eloped in June and married her lover after her family objected to their relationship. Even though they both belonged to the same caste, her family did not approve of him since his family was poorer than theirs. The young woman didn't contact her family much after her marriage but her mother visited her a week before the murder. Police said she knew that her daughter was pregnant.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-59219355 India's largest conglomerates have been snapping up stakes in high-end, homegrown designer brands to help them scale up and go global. The trend, experts say, points to a luxury retail market on the cusp of maturity. In October, Reliance Brands Limited (RBL), a subsidiary of the the oil-to-telecoms Reliance conglomerate, announced it was buying 40% equity in celebrity fashion designer Manish Malhotra's eponymous label. A week later, the company bought more than 50% stake in Ritu Kumar, one of India's oldest fashion houses. Malhotra, who has been dressing Bollywood's biggest stars for the last 30 years, launched his label about 15 years ago. He has annual revenues in the ballpark of $30m (£22m), according to Forbes. The secretive Chinese brand dressing Gen Z The call to partner with a corporate house like Reliance was driven partly by his decision to focus on his upcoming Bollywood directorial debut, Malhotra said. But it was also the result of his ambition to expand internationally. "I have the practical knowledge, but for someone who has not studied the business of fashion, my dreams and stories need that backing to go global," he told the BBC at his design workshop in Mumbai city's Santacruz suburb. "The label needs to get more organised. It's very family-led." It's a logical move, and in line with international trends, says Ankur Bisen, senior partner at Technopak retail consultancy. He points to several fashion powerhouses - Dior, Chanel, Hugo Boss, Saint Laurent (YSL) - who did the same: they "institutionalised" by moving beyond the founder who started the eponymous labels.