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TikTok is again available in the US after the Trump administration offered assurances that the ban would not be enforced TikTok is again available on the US app stores of Apple and Google, after President Donald Trump postponed enforcement of a ban of the Chinese-owned social media platform until 5 April. The po[CENSORED]r app, which is used by more than 170 million American users, went dark briefly last month in the US as the ban deadline approached. Trump then signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law banning the app if it is not sold. TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BBC News. According to Bloomberg, which first reported TikTok's return to app stores in the US, the decision to resume its availability came after Apple and Google received assurances from the Trump administration that they would not be held liable for allowing downloads, and the ban wouldn't be enforced yet. The ban, which passed with a bipartisan vote in Congress, was signed into law by former President Joe Biden. It ordered TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the US version of the platform to a neutral party to avert an outright ban. The Biden administration had argued that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political mani[CENSORED]tion. China and TikTok have repeatedly denied those accusations. Beijing has also previously rejected calls for a sale of TikTok's US operations. The law banning the app was supported by US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and it was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court. Trump himself had supported banning the app during his first term in office but he appeared to have a change of heart last year during the presidential race. He professed a "warm spot" for the app, touting the billions of views he says his videos attracted on the platform during last year's presidential campaign. What does Trump's executive order mean for TikTok and who might buy it? TikTok restores service in US after Trump pledge Legal showdown looms as Trump tests limits of presidential power When the app started working again in the US last month, a popup message was sent to its millions of users that thanked Trump by name. TikTok chief executive Shou Chew met Trump in Mar-a-Lago after his electoral victory in November and later attended his inauguration ceremony. Trump has said he wants to find a compromise with the Chinese company that complies with the spirit rather than the letter of law, even floating an idea of TikTok being jointly owned. "What I'm thinking of saying to someone is buy it and give half to the US, half, and we'll give you a permit," he said recently during a news conference about artificial intelligence. And he also said he would be open to selling the app to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as well as billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency. Previous names linked with buying TikTok include billionaire Frank McCourt and Canadian businessman Kevin O'Leary - a celebrity investor on Shark Tank, the US version of Dragon's Den. The biggest YouTuber in the world Jimmy Donaldson - AKA MrBeast - has also claimed he is in the running after a number of investors contacted him after he posted on social media that he was interested. Link : Clickhere

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Locals laid flowers at the school's gate to mourn the eight-year-old student A teacher has fatally stabbed an eight-year-old girl at an elementary school in South Korea, in an incident that has shocked the nation. The female teacher, who is in her 40s, confessed to stabbing the student in the central city of Daejeon, police said. The girl was found with stab wounds on the second floor of a school building at 18:00 local time (09:00 GMT) Monday and was pronounced dead at the hospital. The teacher was found beside her with stab wounds that police said might be self-inflicted. South Korea's acting president Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the case and urged authorities to "implement necessary measures to ensure such incidents never happen again". Some locals laid flowers and a stuffed doll at the gate of the school, which was closed on Tuesday. In a police briefing on Tuesday, Yook Jong-myung, the head of the Dajeon Western Police Station said the teacher was currently recovering in hospital, adding that she had a wound on her neck that had been stitched. The Daejeon education office earlier said the teacher had requested a six-month leave of absence citing depression on 9 December, but had returned to school just 20 days later after a doctor assessed her as being fit to work. During her time off work, she had suicidal thoughts, said Mr Yook, citing a testimony that the teacher had provided to police. Days before the stabbing, the teacher had displayed violent behaviour, including putting another teacher in a headlock, said the education office. Two officials from the education office visited the school on Monday, the morning of the stabbing, to investigate that altercation. After the attack on the co-worker, the education office recommended that the teacher be put on leave and be separated physically from the other teacher. She was made to sit beside the vice principal's desk so that she could be kept under close watch. She had also not been teaching any classes since her leave in December, and did not have any contact with the eight-year-old student, the official said. According to the testimony given by the teacher to police, she had purchased a weapon on the day of the attack and brought it to school - adding that she had planned to kill herself along with a child. The testimony went on to say that the teacher did not "care which child it was", and targeted the last to leave - she managed to "lure the child into the media room" before attacking them. The student was reported missing on Monday evening after the bus driver informed the school that she had not arrived to be picked up that day. South Korea is a generally safe country with strict gun control laws. But in recent years, it has grappled with several high-profile crimes, including stabbings. Link : Clickhere

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Trump's new rules are likely to stem the flow of packages from China's retailers The US Postal Service (USPS) said it has stopped accepting parcels from mainland China and Hong Kong until further notice. Letters will not be affected by the suspension, said the company, which declined to offer a reason for the decision. However, on Tuesday new rules came into force which closed a loophole that allowed small packages worth $800 (£641) or less to be sent to the US without paying tax or fees. It was one of the measures announced by US President Donald Trump who imposed an additional 10% tariff on all goods imported to the US from China. The so-called de minimis tax loophole has faced increased scrutiny in recent years as Chinese e-commerce giants like Shein and Temu have used it to reach millions of US customers. Changes to the tax exemption under President Joe Biden were already in progress before Trump took office. But in his trade announcement at the weekend, Trump extended tariffs to all China goods being imported into the US, including fashion items and toys. In response, China said it would implement tariffs on some US imports. From 10 February coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) will face a 15% levy. Crude oil, agricultural machinery and large-engine cars will be subject to a 10% tariff. Beijing hits back – can China and US avoid trade war escalation? Why Trump tariffs could mean Barbie dolls cost more Nick Stowe, chief executive of Monsoon & Accessorize, told the BBC's Today programme he was in support of the changes in the US to the de minimis exemption, claiming that it had allowed major Chinese retailers to "undercut" rivals in other markets. "It has long been a complaint of UK retailers, European retailers as well as the US retailers that Shein are exploiting this loophole, not paying customs duty and they have built a business at an industrial scale," he said. Trump had been expected to speak to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in the coming days but on Tuesday the US president said he was in "no rush" to hold talks. "Trump's tariff changes are especially sharp if goods were previously shipped via e-commerce directly from China to the US," said trade expert Deborah Elms. Close to half of all parcels entering the US under de minimis exemptions were sent from China, according to a 2023 report by US Congress. Link : Clickhere

There have been previous outbreaks of GBS in India - in 2019 at least one child died in the north of the country (file photo) Last month, a school teacher in the western Indian city of Pune found her six-year-old son upset about homework. "I had erased some words and asked him to write them. I assumed he was angry and that's why he was not holding the pencil properly," she told the Indian Express newspaper. She never imagined his struggle to hold a pencil was the first sign of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS), a rare disorder where the immune system attacks nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and paralysis. Within days, the boy was in intensive care, unable to move his arms or legs. As his condition worsened, he lost the ability to swallow, speak, and eventually breathe, requiring ventilator support. He is now recovering. The boy is among around 160 reported cases of GBS since early January in Pune, an education and IT hub, ringed by industrial towns and villages. There have been five suspected deaths. Currently, 48 patients are in intensive care, 21 on ventilator, and 38 have been discharged, according to official figures. GBS begins with tingling or numbness in the feet and hands, followed by muscle weakness and difficulty moving joints. Symptoms worsen over two to four weeks, typically starting in the arms and legs. The reported mortality rate varies between three and 13%, depending on severity and quality of health care support. The outbreak in Pune is being traced to a pathogen called campylobacter jejuni, a leading cause of foodborne infections, and the biggest driver of GBS worldwide. The link between the two was discovered in the 1990s in rural China, where the pathogen was common in chickens, and GBS outbreaks occurred every monsoon as children played in water contaminated by chicken or duck droppings. The outbreak in Pune is being traced to a pathogen called campylobacter jejuni GBS is not entirely uncommon in India. Monojit Debnath and Madhu Nagappa, of Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS), studied 150 GBS patients over a five year period between 2014 and 2019. Their findings showed 79% of the patients had evidence of prior infections, with a third testing positive for campylobacter. Notably, co-infections were more common, occurring in 65%, suggesting a complex interplay of bacteria and viruses. More recently, outbreaks linked to the pathogen have been reported from all over the world. In the first seven months of 2023, Peru reported over 200 suspected cases and at least four deaths of GBS, prompting the government to declare a national health emergency and strengthen public health measures. Two-thirds of the cases were linked to campylobacter. In countries with good hygiene, fewer GBS cases are linked to campylobacter, with respiratory infections being a major contributor, say experts. There have been other triggers as well. In 2015 Brazil reported a cluster of GBS cases linked to the Zika virus. Vaccines can rarely trigger GBS, but one Covid vaccine was reportedly linked to a few hundred GBS cases in the UK in 2021. "Campylobacter is endemic with hundreds of thousands of cases taking place all the time. It is always existing in the environment," Hugh Willison, a professor of neurology at University of Glasgow told me. Yet, it is not easy to develop GBS, scientists say. There's a specific strain of campylobacter, which has a sugar-coated outer layer, and in rare cases, its molecular structure matches the coating of human nerve cells. When the patient's immune system attacks the bacteria, it may end up targeting the nerves as well – a process called molecular mimicry – leading to GBS. However, a small fraction of campylobacter strains have this nerve-like coat. "In Pune, a strain of campylobacter with this molecular feature is likely to be circulating, and a surge in infections with this strain consequently leads to a higher number of GBS cases," says Prof Willison. Link : Clickhere

Trump's press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted this picture on X on 24 January announcing that deportation flights had begun. The US will not go ahead with tariffs on Colombia, after Bogota agreed to accept - without restrictions - deported migrants, the White House says. Donald Trump had ordered 25% tariffs on all Colombian goods after its president barred two US military deportation flights from landing in the country on Sunday. Colombian President Gustavo Petro had initially responded by saying his country would accept repatriated citizens on "civilian planes, without treating them like criminals". A White House statement says Colombia has now agreed to accept migrants arriving on US military aircraft "without limitation or delay". Colombia said a dialogue would be maintained to "guarantee the dignity of our citizens". The White House has hailed the agreement with Colombia as a victory for Trump's hard-line approach, after the country's two leaders traded threats on social media on Sunday. Colombia's foreign ministry said it had "overcome the impasse" with the US just hours after Petro published a lengthy post on X condemning what he called Trump's "blockade". Trump's threat to Colombia sends a message Petro had earlier denied entry to US military deportation flights, saying that migrants should be returned "with dignity and respect". In response, Trump announced "urgent and decisive retaliatory measures" in a post on his social media site Truth Social, including tariffs and visa sanctions. Petro responded on X with a post announcing his own tariffs and celebrating Colombia's heritage. "Your blockade does not scare me, because Colombia, besides being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world," he said. Within hours, the two sides appeared to have resolved the row, and the White House said Colombia had agreed to "all of President Trump's demands". Trump's proposed tariffs had been "fully drafted" and would still be implemented if Colombia does not honour this agreement, according to the White House. Trump had also announced visa sanctions and enhanced inspections on Colombians at the border. These will remain in place "until the first planeload of Colombian deportees is successfully returned", the White House said. Colombia's foreign minister Luis Gilberto Murillo said the country would "continue to receive Colombians who return as deportees, guaranteeing them decent conditions, as citizens subject to rights". Petro's presidential plane has been prepared to facilitate the return of the Colombians who would have arrived in the country earlier on the blocked military flights, he added. Murillo will travel to Washington for high-level meetings in the coming hours, according to a foreign ministry statement. Link : Clickhere

A massive blast rocked a road near the airport of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city Two Chinese nationals have been killed and at least 10 people injured in a suspected suicide attack near Karachi airport in Pakistan. A third body, not yet officially identified, is thought to be that of the attacker, the BBC understands. The Chinese embassy in Pakistan said the explosion on Sunday night was a "terrorist attack" targeting a convoy of Chinese engineers working on a power project in Sindh province. The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which has in recent years carried out attacks on Chinese nationals involved in development projects in Pakistan, has said it carried out the attack. The separatist Balochistan Liberation Army has said it carried out the attack In a statement released on Monday, the militant group said it had "targeted a high-level convoy of Chinese engineers and investors" arriving from Karachi airport. A later statement from the group described it as a suicide attack, and named the perpetrator as Shah Fahad, part of a BLA suicide squad called Majeed Brigade. The attack was carried out using a "vehicle-borne improvised explosive device", Reuters news agency quoted the BLA as saying. The explosion happened around 23:00 local time (17:00 GMT) on Sunday. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the attack a "heinous act" and offered his condolences to the Chinese people. "Pakistan stands committed to safeguarding our Chinese friends," he wrote on X. The Chinese embassy said that the engineers were part of the Chinese-funded enterprise Port Qasim Power Generation Co Ltd, which aims to build two coal power plants at Port Qasim, near Karachi. Thousands of Chinese workers are in Pakistan, many of them involved in creating an economic corridor between the two countries as part of Beijing’s multibillion dollar Belt and Road Initiative. The Port Qasim plant is part of the corridor, along with a number of infrastructure and energy projects in Pakistan's Balochistan province, which has a rich supply of natural resources, including gas and minerals. The BLA along with other ethnic Baloch groups has fought a long-running insurgency for a separate homeland. It has regularly targeted Chinese nationals in the region, claiming ethnic Baloch residents were not receiving their share of wealth from foreign investment in the province and natural resources extracted there. The Chinese embassy on Monday reminded its citizens and Chinese enterprises in Pakistan to be vigilant and to "do their best to take safety precautions". The embassy added that it hoped Pakistan would thoroughly investigate the attack and "severely punish the murderer". Link : Clickhere

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Grant Shapps made his second visit to Ukraine as defence secretary last week. Grant Shapps aborted a trip to southern Ukraine last week for "security reasons", the UK defence ministry said. The defence secretary had to scrap his visit to Odesa last week after UK intelligence reportedly warned Russia had become aware of his travel plans. Mr Shapps was due to travel to Odesa a day after a missile hit the city while the Ukrainian president and the Greek prime minister were visiting. Five people were killed in the strike, Ukrainian authorities said. Mr Shapps had travelled on an overnight train from Poland to Ukraine, accompanied by chief of the defence staff, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, and a small team of British officials. The aim of their journey was to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky and senior members of his wartime administration. But having arrived in Kyiv on 7 March, Mr Shapps's onward journey to Odesa was cancelled abruptly at the last minute, following fears surrounding his safety. According to the Sunday Times, which had a reporter travelling with his delegation, the trip was called off after an intelligence update revealed the Kremlin's knowledge of it. Link : https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-68589866

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Colton Adamski is hoping to launch one of the first alternative app marketplaces on iPhones. This week Apple made the long-awaited landmark move to allow other companies to launch app stores on iPhones. The tech giant was forced to act by EU politicians concerned about it having a market monopoly. The decision is being watched closely around the world and was initially celebrated as an industry victory for businesses and consumers in the EU. But Apple's strict new rules and fees are being heavily criticised, with Spotify calling them "extortion". It is one of many companies, including Fortnite maker Epic Games, that has been pushing Apple to allow alternative app stores on iPhones. 'Grey business' The EU lawmakers hoped their rule change would encourage smaller challengers to enter the lucrative iPhone market. "Apple says it's opening up, but it still has a tight fist around iPhones", says Colton Adamski, a former hacker and businessman who lives near Chicago and is trying to launch one of the first alternative app shops in the EU. The 22-year-old has been running an unofficial iPhone app store for more than six years. It is, in his words, a "grey business" operating on the fringes of what is legal. For everywhere other than the EU, starting an app store is against Apple's terms, and installing apps outside the official App Store is prohibited. The process, known as side-loading, is common practice on Android phones, but Apple has forbidden it since launching the iPhone, arguing it is a security risk. Apps need to be verified through the official App Store, the tech giant has long said. Apple's App Store has been the only accepted way to get apps on to iPhones until now Apple charges an average 30% commission to apps using its store, which it says is for the protection of consumers. Although the fee is controversial, it is true that generally Apple is more successful at keeping malicious apps out than other marketplaces like Google's Play Store. Colton's app shop has attracted hundreds of thousands of downloads of unofficial apps and games. The BBC tried his service and was able to download apps to an iPhone through a simple workaround that changes the phone settings to override security warnings. He has made a decent living operating his under-the-radar app shop, but has long wished to make one legitimately. So when the EU's new laws were announced in January, he jumped at the chance. "It was so exciting we finally had the opportunity to go from a 'grey' store operating in the margins of what's allowed to finally launching a legit store," he says. Fortnite to come back to iPhones in EU Pornhub challenges EU over online content rules Apple is now the biggest smartphone seller globally and has the most affluent user base, so getting his store on to iPhones would be a major win. Colton's excitement diminished though when he and his team started reading Apple's terms and conditions. He compares Apple's rules to a gangster from The Godfather or Sopranos. Yes, you can open your shop on their turf, but you have to do exactly as they say or they will shut you down. Apple insists that new app shops have €1m (£851,000) in the bank, but if their reserves dip below that figure, they can be closed down. Apple did not respond to our questions about why this is needed, but has previously said it is about weeding out dodgy, or scam, stores. In the last few weeks, since Colton secured his line of credit, Apple has said that app developers of "good standing" for at least two years can also build an app shop without the €1m. Colton's next hurdle to overcome is how to make a profit. Apple automatically bills new app stores half a euro for every download after one million. Apple says this Core Technology Fee is about keeping iPhones safe through security updates. But Colton feels this is like a so-called protection fee paid to a mob under the guise of making sure a shop owner's business is safe. So if someone downloads his app shop app but never uses it, he still has to pay Apple 50 cents. Link : Clickhere

The Nova festival was one of the sites of alleged sexual violence on 7 October A UN team says there is "convincing information" that hostages held in Gaza have been subjected to sexual violence including rape and sexualised torture. There were grounds to suspect the abuse was still ongoing, the UN said. The UN team also found "reasonable grounds to believe" sexual violence, including gang rape, took place when Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October. Israel's foreign ministry said it welcomed the "definitive recognition that Hamas committed sexual crimes". The UN Security Council should now designate Hamas as a terrorist organisation and impose international sanctions on it, spokesman Lior Haiat said. Hamas rejected the UN report as "baseless and only aimed at demonising the Palestinian resistance". The group denies its gunmen sexually assaulted women during the attacks or mistreated female hostages they took to Gaza. Warning: Contains graphic descriptions of rape and sexual violence Pramila Patten, the UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said her team had "found clear and convincing information that sexual violence, including rape, sexualised torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" had been committed against hostages. There were "reasonable grounds" to believe such violence could be "ongoing against those still held in captivity", she told reporters. Hamas gunmen infiltrated southern Israel on 7 October - killing about 1,200 people and taking 253 others hostage. The UN report said "the mission team found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence occurred in multiple locations during the 7 October attacks". These happened in at least three locations - the Nova music festival site and its surroundings, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re'im, it added. Reports of sexual violence carried out by Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK and others - began to emerge soon after 7 October and have accumulated steadily ever since. The BBC has also seen and heard evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women. Israel responded to the 7 October attack by launching a military campaign in Gaza, during which 30,500 people have been killed, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. The UN team visited Israel between 29 January and 14 February. The mission, led by Ms Patten along with nine experts, was not investigative in nature, but designed to gather and verify allegations, the UN said. It added that 33 meetings were held with Israeli representatives, and more than 5,000 photographic images were examined as well as 50 hours of video footage. The report said that "despite concerted efforts to encourage" victims to come forward, the team was unable to interview any of them. Some allegations of rape and sexual violence were "unfounded", the report explained, including the graphically publicised case of a pregnant woman whose womb was reportedly torn open and her foetus stabbed. Other reports could not be verified due to limited imagery, the UN said. It also said it had not been able to establish a discernible pattern of genital mutilation. The UN report also said there had been allegations of sexual violence against Palestinians in Israeli custody, including "unwanted touching of intimate areas" and "prolonged forced nudity" in detention settings, during house raids and at checkpoints after 7 October. The report said that while no instances of rape against Palestinians were reported, conservative cultural norms could have impeded reporting of sexual assault. Israel's foreign ministry rejected this part of the report. "That is a derisive and deliberate Palestinian manoeuvre aimed at creating an intolerable equivalence between the horrific crimes that were committed, and continue to be committed, by Hamas and malicious and baseless claims made against Israel and Israelis," Mr Haiat said. Israel has rejected similar allegations made previously by a panel of independent UN experts as "despicable and unfounded". Mr Haiat also said Israel opposed a recommendation made in the report that the country co-operate with the UN's international Commission of Inquiry, which is trying to conduct an investigation into potential war crimes on all sides. He accused the inquiry of being hostile to Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Monday recalled the country's ambassador to the UN for "consultations", accusing the UN of an "attempt to silence the grave UN report on the mass rapes". He criticised UN Secretary General António Guterres for not convening the Security Council to discuss the findings and in order to declare Hamas a terrorist organisation. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that Mr Guterres "has fully supported" Ms Patten's work in her visit to Israel. Link : Clickhere

housands queued for hours to hear the former president speak in Richmond, Virginia Thousands queued for hours to hear the former president speak in Richmond, Virginia Donald Trump won a string of Republican presidential contests on Saturday, edging closer to becoming the party's candidate in November's election as he attacked his likely opponent Joe Biden. The former president won the Missouri, Michigan and Idaho caucuses comprehensively, continuing his clean sweep of states so far. Mr Trump, 77, told supporters at a rally in Virginia that he was "on a rocket to the Republican nomination". His last remaining rival in the race, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, is still seeking her first victory and is without a clear path to the nomination given Mr Trump's commanding lead. He is projected to win all of the delegates available in Missouri and all in Idaho, according to the BBC's US partner CBS news, as well as all of those remaining in Michigan. A third of delegates in that state were awarded earlier this week after a primary that Mr Trump won. Delegates represent their state or district at the respective party's national convention, and decide who its presidential nominee will be. So far Mr Trump has secured 247 Republican delegates, according to CBS, far more than Ms Haley's 24. In the Virginia capital of Richmond on Saturday, thousands queued for several hours to hear Mr Trump speak. He vowed to "win big" on Tuesday, when 15 states will choose their presidential candidate on a day that could put him within striking distance of the nomination. "We got numbers today that were unbelievable," he told the crowd. But his speech in Virginia - and at an earlier event in Greensboro, North Carolina - largely focused on migration at the US-Mexico border, a message which polls show resonates well with his base. In more than a dozen interviews with the BBC on Saturday, his supporters said the issue was among their primary concerns. Link : Clickhere

The US Senate has approved a long-awaited $95bn (£75.2bn) aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of political wrangling. While Democrats were in favour of passing the bill, Republicans were divided and previously voted it down. The package includes $60bn for Kyiv, $14bn for Israel's war against Hamas and $10bn for humanitarian aid in conflict zones, including in Gaza. The bill will now go to the House, where its fate remains uncertain. The package, which also includes more than $4bn in funds for Indo-Pacific allies, passed the Senate despite criticism from Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and former President Donald Trump. Lawmakers voted 70 to 29 to approve the package. In the end, 22 Republicans joined most of Democrats to vote for the legislation, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "History settles every account," Mr McConnell said in a statement following the vote. "And today, on the value of American leadership and strength, history will record that the Senate did not blink." Ukraine's president also said he was "grateful" to senators for passing it. "For us in Ukraine, continued US assistance helps to save human lives from Russian terror. It means that life will continue in our cities and will triumph over war," Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The vote came after an all-night Senate session during which several Republicans made speeches criticising the measure. Consideration of the bill dragged on for days, as a group of right-wing Republicans led by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky vowed to slow down the process. "Shouldn't we try to fix our own country first?" he said on the floor on Monday as he began filibustering the bill. Some progressive lawmakers, including Democrat Jeff Merkley of Oregon and independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont, also voted against the bill over concerns about supporting Israel's bombing of Gaza. The aid package is a stripped down version of a $118bn package that Senate Republicans voted down last week. Republicans had initially demanded that any foreign aid be tied to more security measures at the southern border. But after Mr Trump came out against the measure, Republicans were divided on the package. Some lawmakers suggested that border security measures could be added back into the current version of the legislation. Mr Johnson suggested in a statement on Monday night that the new bill would not pass the Republican-controlled House without such provisions. "House Republicans were crystal clear from the very beginning of discussions that any so-called national security supplemental legislation must recognise that national security begins at our own border," he said. Mr Johnson said lawmakers "should have gone back to the drawing board" with the legislation to focus on border security provisions. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, meanwhile, hailed the passage of the bill on Tuesday. He said the Senate was "telling Putin he will regret the day he questioned America's resolve". The US is one of the largest providers of aid to Ukraine. The White House asked Congress months ago to pass a bill that included foreign aid. Link : Clickhere

Students have smuggled in textbooks and notes into the examination centres despite tight security India's parliament has passed a stringent new law to prevent cheating in exams for government jobs and admission to public colleges. The Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024 - which was passed on Tuesday - carries a jail sentence of three to 10 years for those who facilitate cheating. It also carries a fine ranging between 1 million rupees ($12,040; £9,551) and 10 million rupees. The new law does not impose penalties directly on test takers; instead, their punishments will be determined by the rules set forth by their respective testing authorities. A jobs crisis in India is driving workers to Israel The law will be applicable to most exams conducted by the federal government and its test agencies. All offences are non-bailable and will be investigated by senior police officials. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has said the act will bring "greater transparency, fairness and credibility" as it is the first federal legislation to prevent malpractices in examinations. But critics argue that severe punishment alone won't effectively address the issue, noting instances of cheating and impersonation already punishable under India's criminal laws. Aspirants protesting against exam paper leaks in India "The new law could prove to be ineffective because coaching centres collude with students to help them pass entrance examination," says Ghanta Chakrapani, former chairman of a state-run organisation which recruits people for state government jobs. In 2022, India's top investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), arrested a Russian hacker for reportedly breaching the entrance exam for admission to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). The hacker allegedly worked for a coaching institute. Cheating is prevalent in India due to the intensely competitive nature of government jobs and top college admission tests, where millions vie for a limited number of positions. Cheating plagues India jobs coveted by millions For the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam, the entrance test for the federal civil service, over a million people applied last year for just over 1,000 job vacancies. The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE), which determines admissions to IITs, sees tens of thousands of applicants annually for just over 15,000 available seats. In response to exam mani[CENSORED]tion, several states have implemented laws to curb cheating. Rajasthan enacted an anti-cheating law two years ago, while Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have had such laws since 1998 and 1997, respectively. Last year, Gujarat and Uttarakhand also introduced laws to prevent cheating. Despite the existence of these laws, cheating cases have persisted in each of these states until recently, indicating their limited effectiveness. Link : Clickhere

Grindavik's residents were told to leave before lava swept through their town Over the past three years, the peninsula - approximately the size of the West Midlands in the UK - has witnessed five volcanic eruptions. On 10 November, faced with an alarming number of earthquakes and suspicions of magma beneath the town, Iceland's authorities ordered the evacuation of Grindavik, home to approximately 3,800 residents. Over the following days it became clear that several homes had been completely ruined by seismic activity. Residents hoped to return home as the frequency of the earthquakes diminished - but in mid-December, a strong eruption began in the nearby Sundhnuks crater series, lasting three days. I witnessed the eruption myself then three hours after it had begun I drove home. Along the road from the capital, Reykjavik, to Keflavik airport which leads to my town, Reykjanesbaer, I caught sight of fissure almost 4km in length, spewing molten lava. It felt as though I was watching the gates of hell opening. Grindavik was spared for the time being -the eruption took place about 3km (1.85 miles) away - but additional fissures were subsequently discovered in the town, prompting authorities to close them and begin repairing damaged infrastructure. Tragedy struck on 10 January when a man working in the town fell through one of the crevasses. After a brief search, the operation was halted due to the dangers involved. Four days later, another eruption began perilously close to Grindavik. From the Icelandic civil protection's central command centre in Reykjanesbaer, I witnessed the live feed of the eruption from the Sundhnuks crater series. In the weeks leading up to the January eruption, the government had decided to erect protective walls in an attempt to prevent lava flowing towards Grindavik and the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power plant. For the first few hours the protective walls proved helpful, though the fissure had to some extent opened through one of the walls. That meant some lava flowed toward the town, but the walls kept most of it at bay. Around noon on 14 January, I was watching with other reporters next to the protective walls in Grindavik, when I and others caught sight of smoke appearing from behind the walls, from the town itself. Link : Clickhere

Munawar Faruqui was greeted by thousands of his fans after he won Bigg Boss "People usually apologise after cracking jokes," Indian stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui says in an episode of Bigg Boss, a po[CENSORED]r reality TV show. "But in my case, it's best if I do it in advance." His humour wasn't missed on the millions of Indians watching the programme, a homegrown version of UK's Big Brother. In the show, 21 contestants are isolated in a custom-built house, where they are filmed around the clock and are evicted through weekly audience votes. Within the eclectic mix of contestants, Faruqui stood out. A Muslim, he was arrested in 2021 on charges of hurting religious sentiments of Hindus for a joke he didn't crack. He spent five weeks in jail before a court gave him bail. Three years on, the 32-year-old has won the po[CENSORED]r reality programme, taking home a whopping 5m rupees ($60,160; £47,455). On Monday, a sea of people gathered in Faruqui's neighbourhood Dongri - a Muslim ghetto just outside of Mumbai city - to welcome him, a kind of reception usually reserved for film stars. His name has been trending all week and social media is awash with his memorable one-liners from the show. Not everyone's happy though. An anchor of a po[CENSORED]r Hindi TV channel said it was "worrying, distressing and disappointing" that the country, including millions of Hindus, was celebrating a comic who "started his career by insulting Hindu gods and religion". Many say the way Faruqui has reinvented himself from being among India's "most hated" young performers to a "darling of the masses" using unconventional ways deserves recognition. "It imbued his life with an arc of struggle," says political scientist Asim Ali. "He came out of jail, was subject to a vicious media onslaught but then returned to achieve a significant pan India level of celebrity." But how did he do it? The answer lies in Faruqui's life itself. Host and superstar Salman Khan (centre) declared Faruqui (right) the winner of Bigg Boss Coming from a small city in the western state of Gujarat, Faruqui's childhood was beset with tragedies. His mother died by suicide when he was just a boy, his father faced violence during the deadly 2002 religious riots - the comic once said he was stuck at home for 12 days during a curfew. Like millions, he moved to Mumbai, the "city of dreams", in his teens to give life a chance, but had to do odd jobs for years before he could make it big. In Bigg Boss, Faruqui didn't shy away from these realities but constantly embraced his underdog existence, speaking a language in which ordinary people dream. "I couldn't have possibly said no to Bigg Boss, this fancy life and house," he teasingly tells other contestants. The comic in jail for jokes he didn't crack India top court frees Muslim comic on bail "I come from Dongri. In Bigg Boss, you are thrown out if you don't get votes, but in our tiny house, you are thrown out if you move even an inch extra in your sleep." His ability to easily connect with masses shone through even during his stand-up years. On stage, Faruqui carried the air of a slightly bored college student with a dark sense of humour. His attitude veered from playful unconcern to cool indifference, as he told macabre jokes about surviving riots and poked fun at clichés and stereotypes about Muslims. He was an inconsistent performer, but could be thrilling when he got it right, his provocations amusing and unsettling at the same time. These qualities were also present in Faruqui's rap music, which he made on the side. "I evoke my past to express how proud I feel about my growth. It's never for sympathy but just to tell people I have come this far," he once said. Link : Clickhere

India conducted a first-of-its-kind survey to assess the snow leopard po[CENSORED]tion in the country India is home to 718 snow leopards, according to the first-ever survey of the animal in the country, the federal environment ministry has said. This means that Indian snow leopards account for roughly 10-15% of the big cat's global po[CENSORED]tion. The snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Its numbers in the wild face multiple threats - from habitat loss and poaching to infrastructure development. The survey - Snow Leopard Po[CENSORED]tion Assessment in India (SPAI) Program - was done from 2019 to 2023. It was conducted as part of the Po[CENSORED]tion Assessment of the World's Snow Leopards (Paws), a global effort to determine the snow leopard's numbers. The survey in India covered roughly 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) of the animal's habitat across the trans-Himalayan region. "Until recent years, the snow leopard range in India was undefined due to a lack of extensive nationwide assessments for this vulnerable species," the environment ministry said in a statement. The snow leopard is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature The survey covered 70% of the potential snow leopard habitat in the country, including the regions of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir, the states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in northern India, and Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast. After camera traps identified 214 individual snow leopards, surveyors analysed leopard trails and other data to estimate the animal's po[CENSORED]tion at 718. The report says that understanding the precise po[CENSORED]tion of the animal is important because of its role as the apex predator in the Himalayan ecosystem. The snow leopard po[CENSORED]tion can indicate health of the ecosystem as well as help identify potential threats to its habitat and shifts caused by climate change, it adds. "The integrity of these high-altitude habitats is intertwined with the socio-cultural fabric of local communities and the economic sustenance of po[CENSORED]tions residing downstream." The report says that 70% of the land used by the animal is unprotected and provides critical habitat for wildlife. Link : Clickhere

Dua Lipa's hits include New Rules, Don't Start Now and Levitating Dua Lipa is one of the world's biggest pop stars, but the singer has voiced her frustration with the public's perception of her. "I don't know if people believe that I like to read books," she said. "They don't want you to be political. They don't want you to be smart. There is so much more to me than just what I do." Since her breakout single New Rules in 2017, the British-Albanian singer has launched a book club, a lifestyle newsletter and an international music festival in Pristina, Kosovo. She has also made headlines for her political views - criticising the UK government's stance on immigration and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Speaking in a new interview with Rolling Stone, she said her worldview had been shaped by her parents' experience of fleeing the Kosovo war in the late 1990s. "My existence is kind of political, the fact that I lived in London because my parents left from the war," she said. "I feel for people who have to leave their home. From my experience of being in Kosovo and understanding what war does, no-one really wants to leave their home. "They do it for protection, to save their family, to look after the people around them, that kind of thing, for a better life. So I feel close to it." The star said she saw parallels between what her parents went through and the situation Palestinians currently find themselves in, which prompted her to sign a petition calling for a ceasefire. However, she was also critical of the atrocities carried out by Hamas during their deadly attack on Israel last October. "I don't condone what Hamas is doing," she said. "I feel so bad for every Israeli life lost and what happened on 7 October. "At the moment, what we have to look at is how many lives have been lost in Gaza, and the innocent civilians, and the lives that are just being lost. "There are just not enough world leaders that are taking a stand and speaking up about the humanitarian crisis that's happening, the humanitarian ceasefire that has to happen." 'I won't spill my guts' While the star has been vocal about her political views, she is less forthcoming about her personal life. "I think I'm British," she told Rolling Stone, by way of explanation. "I don't think I'm here to spill my guts on a talk show because it's going to be good for a news cycle or getting attention. "As much as people think they know the people they support, I actually don't think they know anything about them anyway." Dua Lipa returns with Houdini: Does she still have the magic? Dua Lipa: 'I've been the new girl all my life' Dua Lipa is granted Albanian citizenship She was more keen to discuss her third album, which due for release later this year. The record will be the follow-up to her Brit Award-winning disco odyssey Future Nostalgia. The singer promised a change of direction, with Rolling Stone describing the album as a "psychedelic-pop-infused tribute to UK rave culture", inspired by bands like Primal Scream and Massive Attack. "This record feels a bit more raw," she said. "I want to capture the essence of youth and freedom and having fun and just letting things happen, whether it's good or bad. You can't change it. You just have to roll with the punches of whatever's happening in your life." The star's contribution to the Barbie soundtrack has picked up dozens of awards nominations It will be the star's first record since splitting with TaP Management, who discovered and developed her as an artist. She said legal agreements meant she "couldn't talk much" about the separation, but confirmed she had bought back the publishing rights to her biggest hits, and cautioned young musicians to educate themselves on the the business side of the music industry. "Pay attention early on... I don't think enough people tell young artists that," she said. "Everything feels so exciting in the beginning, and of course it is, but it's good to have the knowledge, and good to take care of yourself." The star will next be seen at the Grammy Awards on 5 February, where she will perform alongside acts like Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo. She is one of the nominees for song of the year, thanks to her Barbie song Dance The Night. The tune could also pick up an Oscar nomination when the shortlists are revealed on 23 January. Link : Clickhere