Axiom-4: SpaceX rocket lifts off with ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla, here is everything about IAF man and his mission
The four-member crew of Axiom-4 Mission is scheduled to conduct 60 scientific experiments. Indian researchers have proposed seven of these. IAF Group Captain Shubhnashu Shukla will participate in a space-to-Earth outreach programme and interact with a VIP from space.
Congress says democracy under ‘five-fold assault’ under Modi government, calls it ‘Undeclared Emergency@11’
With the BJP in an all-out attack mode on the Congress on the 50th anniversary of the imposition of the Emergency by the then Indira Gandhi government, the Congress launched a counter-offensive and alleged that the government was weakening Parliament.
Axiom-4 Mission: Shubhanshu Shukla will do experiments on THESE animals that survived after dinosaurs became extinct
Dinosaurs became extinct, but they survived. ISRO astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla will carry out experiments on these animals, also known as “moss piglets”. The eight-legged segmented micro-animal, Tardigrades, has been living on Earth for more than 50 crore years.
Indian Railways: Train late, AC not working? Know step-by-step how to file TDR to claim a refund
According to Indian Railways’ rules, passengers can file a Ticket Deposit Receipt (TDR) to claim a refund of the entire or partial amount.
Trump slams Bibi over ceasefire violations, denounces cable channels over skepticism
It was a manic-depressive episode that unfolded in just half a day. President Trump was in a celebratory mood late Monday when he announced that Israel and Iran had agreed to a ceasefire within 24 hours–a development that, let’s face it, few thought was possible. “CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!” he posted. This, he proclaimed, would mark “an Official END to THE 12 DAY WAR” and “will be saluted by the World. During each CEASEFIRE, the other side will remain PEACEFUL and RESPECTFUL.” He even closed with this: “God bless Israel, God bless Iran, God bless the Middle East, God bless the United States of America, and GOD BLESS THE WORLD!” TRUMP’S BIG ACHIEVEMENT IN BOMBING IRAN, STILL SLAMMED BY CRITICS – AS HE SUGGESTS ‘REGIME CHANGE’ Well, that was then. By early yesterday morning, Trump was furious. There were violations of the shaky ceasefire by both sides, with an Iranian missile killing at least four Israelis in an apartment building. But Trump was particularly angry with the bigger barrage by Israel, as if he had been betrayed, demanding that Bibi Netanyahu and his leaders “cool down.” Trump dropped an F-bomb on both countries, saying they “don’t know what the f— they’re doing.” They had spoiled his scenario. An achievement that would have put him on the path for a Nobel Prize, given the hostile relations between the terror state and the Jewish state, which has fought several wars against Iranian proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, since its founding in 1948. Unless the Norwegian academy is too liberal to ever bestow such an honor on a Trump. (A GOP congressman has just nominated him.) If you’re feeling a little whiplash, you’re not alone. After all, it was just a few days ago that Trump said he’d decide “within two weeks” whether to launch an attack on Iran. That and other deceptions made it seem like nothing was imminent. Then there was the strange detour about “regime change” – why not call it that? – and saying the administration knew where Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was hiding. TRUMP HINTS AT REGIME CHANGE IN IRAN WHILE DECLARING ‘MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN’ AFTER US STRIKES But that went against the company line that we were only at war with Iran’s nuclear program, pushed by JD Vance and others. That in turn was superseded by Trump announcing he had secured a ceasefire with Israel and Iran – which was news to the vice president as he sat down with Fox’s Bret Baier. The undeniable success of the mission has muted the criticism of many Democrats and liberals, who are constitutionally incapable of praising Trump while accusing him of violating the Constitution. (The issue of congressional consultation is legit, but we can’t have 535 commanders-in-chief – and Joe Biden and Barack Obama took similar unilateral actions.) AOC, as a leading example, has called for Trump’s impeachment – and the president has unloaded on her. The posting: “Stupid AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the ‘dumbest’ people in Congress, is now calling for my Impeachment, despite the fact that the Crooked and Corrupt Democrats have already done that twice before. The reason for her ‘rantings’ is all of the Victories that the U.S.A. has had under the Trump Administration. The Democrats aren’t used to WINNING, and she can’t stand the concept of our Country being successful again. When we examine her Test Scores, we will find out that she is NOT qualified for office.” Test scores? Not qualified? Ocasio-Cortez graduated from Boston University, where she double-majored in international relations and economics. And since when is there an educational standard for the presidency? There’s more: “What a disaster it was! AOC should be forced to take the Cognitive Test that I just completed at Walter Reed Medical Center… “Alexandria should go back home to Queens, where I was also brought up, and straighten out her filthy, disgusting, crime ridden streets, in the District she ‘represents,’ and which she never goes to anymore.” AOC responded on X: “Mr. President, don’t take your anger out on me – I’m just a silly girl… “Take it out on whoever convinced you to betray the American people and our Constitution by illegally bombing Iran and dragging us into war. It only took you 5 months to break almost every promise you made.” ‘I’M JUST A SILLY GIRL’: AOC FIRES BACK AFTER TRUMP CALLS HER ‘STUPID’ This is all symbolic, as Ocasio-Cortez well knows, but plays well with her left-wing base. Yesterday, in fact, the House voted to table an impeachment resolution, with 128 Democrats – more than half – joining all Republicans in deep-sixing it. In the end, POTUS appeared to get the ceasefire back on track. Trump called Netanyahu and said that “our U.S. military did what we needed to do,” a senior White House official told the Washington Post. “I wouldn’t say the prime minister enthusiastically agreed, but he understood that President Trump is no longer going to be militarily involved in this conflict.” Bibi soon announced that he would respect the ceasefire as long as the other side does, and Iran’s president made similar comments. Trump, before flying off to the NATO summit at The Hague, turned his anger on the press. He said of the underground nuclear enrichment site called Fordow: “I think it’s been completely demolished. I think the reason we’re here is because those pilots, those B-2 pilots, did an unbelievable job. “And, you know, the fake news, like CNN in particular, they’re trying to say, ‘Well, I agree that it was destroyed, but maybe not that destroyed.’ “You know what they’re doing? They’re really hurting great pilots that put their lives on the line! CNN is SCUM! And so is MSDNC. “And frankly, the networks aren’t much better. It’s all fake news, but they should not have done that. SUBSCRIBE TO HOWIE’S MEDIA BUZZMETER PODCAST, A RIFF ON THE DAY’S HOTTEST STORIES “Those pilots hit their targets. Those targets were obliterated, and the pilots should be given credit.
Trump to speak at NATO Summit amid warming relations with alliance’s leaders
President Donald Trump is set to take the main stage on the second day of the NATO Summit in The Hague, Netherlands — offering a surprisingly cordial tone toward the alliance he has long criticized. The president is scheduled to meet with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and other world leaders before holding a press conference. Trump also said he will “probably” greet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is attending the summit amid his ongoing push for Ukraine to join NATO. In text messages shared by Trump, Rutte congratulated him for “making Europe pay in a big way” through a new 5% defense spending target — and for brokering an end to the recent conflict between Israel and Iran. TRUMP HEADS TO NATO SUMMIT AS EUROPE AGREES TO HEED HIS DEFENSE SPENDING DEMANDS “Congratulations and thank you for your decisive action on Iran. That was truly extraordinary, and something no one else dared to do,” Rutte wrote as Trump flew toward the summit. “It makes us all safer.” Israel and Iran entered into a U.S.-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday that almost fell apart — though Israel called off its counterattack at Trump’s urging. “You are flying into another big success in The Hague this evening,” Rutte added, referencing the new agreement for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. NATO allies first agreed in 2006 to spend 2% of GDP on defense — a goal many failed to meet for years. Now, after Trump’s repeated calls for Europe to “pull its weight,” the alliance has approved a more ambitious 5% target, with an exception for Spain, which has long struggled to meet even the original benchmark. The new figure breaks down into 3.5% for core defense spending, and 1.5% for related infrastructure, including cyberwarfare and intelligence. NATO ambassadors agreed on the compromise text Sunday. WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE UPCOMING NATO SUMMIT: TRUMP, SPENDING, UKRAINE, IRAN For most allies, the target marks a significant leap. Poland currently leads all member states with 4.1% of GDP going toward defense. The U.S. stands at 3.4%. Trump said he doesn’t believe the U.S. needs to reach the full 5% threshold — a position backed by Rutte. “The United States is already spending almost 3.5% on core defense, and no doubt they are close to spending the 1.5% on defense-related items,” Rutte said. “Countries like Estonia and Poland are very close. For many others, it will still be a long road ahead, but it’s really important that we do this.” He also called on defense industries “on both sides of the Atlantic” to ramp up production. “It is simply unthinkable that Russia, with an economy 25 times smaller than NATO’s, should be able to outproduce and outgun us,” Rutte said Tuesday. He urged Europe: “Make your defenses so strong that no one dares to attack you.” Despite the progress, Trump cast fresh doubt on whether the U.S. would abide by NATO’s cornerstone mutual defense clause — Article 5 — which obligates members to defend one another in the event of an attack. “It depends on your definition,” Trump said when asked if he would honor the commitment. “There’s numerous definitions of Article 5, you know that, right? But I’m committed to being their friends. I’ve become friends with many of those leaders, and I’m committed to helping them.” Still, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker sought to reassure allies, telling reporters, “The United States isn’t going anywhere.” Rutte echoed that message, telling partners to “stop worrying so much” and focus on strengthening their own defenses.
Cuomo concedes in NYC Democratic primary for mayor, congratulates AOC-endorsed Mamdani
Enjoying a surge of support from progressive and younger voters, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani is a big step closer to becoming mayor of the nation’s most populous city. While the Associated Press had yet to project a winner in New York City’s Democratic Party mayoral primary Tuesday night, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo saw the writing on the wall, telling supporters at an election night party that Mamdani “won.” Mamdani, a 33-year-old state assembly member from Queens who is originally from Uganda, topped former three-term governor and nine other candidates in a crowded primary field in an election that was determined by ranked-choice voting. He will be considered the frontrunner in November’s general election in the nation’s most populous city, which is heavily blue. “Tonight was Assemblyman Mamdani’s night, and he put together a great campaign,” Cuomo said Tuesday. “He touched young people and inspired them and moved them and got them to come out and vote. He really ran a highly impactful campaign. I called him. I congratulated him. I applaud him sincerely for his effort.” TRUMP FRONT-AND-CENTER AS NATION’S BIGGEST CITY HOLDS MAYORAL PRIMARY “Now I want to look at all the numbers, as they come in and this ranked choice voting and, what the numbers actually say and do,” Cuomo said. ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’ PHRASE STIRS TENSIONS ON NYC CAMPAIGN TRAIL AS MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT RAGES As the unofficial results of the first round of voting trickled in, in which Mamdani was leading as of Tuesday night, Cuomo told his supporters that his campaign would be “having conversations” about how to proceed to help both the Democratic Party and New York City moving forward. And a Cuomo campaign aide, following the former governor’s speech, said Cuomo is leaving the door open for a possible run as third party or independent candidate in November. “Again, I want to applaud the assemblyman for a really smart and good and impactful campaign. Tonight is his night. He deserved it. He won. And, we’re going to take a look. We’ll make some decisions,” Cuomo said. Mamdani, who, among other things, proposed to eliminate fares to ride New York City’s vast bus system, make CUNY (City University of New York) “tuition-free,” freeze rents on municipal housing, and “free childcare” for children up to age five, was boosted recently after winning an endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The backing of the progressive rock star and New York City’s most prominent leader on the left was followed a week later by an endorsement from Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the progressive champion and two-time Democratic presidential nominee runner-up. With multiple candidates on the left running in the primary, the endorsements by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders helped to consolidate the support of progressive voters behind Mamdani. Once far down in public opinion polls, Mamdami surged the past couple of months to second place as he narrowed the gap with Cuomo. Cuomo’s campaign in the closing weeks of the primary criticized Mamdani as a “dangerously inexperienced legislator” while touting that the former governor “managed a state and managed crises, from COVID to Trump.” “The mayor of the city of New York is the CEO of one of the largest corporations on the globe. This is not a job for a novice,” Cuomo said on the eve of the primary. “This is not a job… for on-the-job training. We need someone who knows what they’re doing on day one because your lives depend on it.” Cuomo and his campaign also targeted Mamdani for his controversial and defiant stance against Israel, which critics suggested touched on antisemitism. “We are against calls to globalize the intifada, declaring open season on Jewish people. We are against those who would glorify Hamas terrorists, who are destined to kill Jewish people,” Cuomo said on the eve of the primary as he took aim at Mamdani. But the attacks apparently weren’t enough to dissuade New York City voters. Mamdani now advances to November’s general election, where he’ll face Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the volunteer crime-fighting patrols known as the Guardian Angels. Sliwa, for a second straight election cycle, is the Republican nominee for mayor. Also on the ballot in November is incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat elected in 2021, who is running for re-election as an independent. Adams earlier this year dropped his Democratic primary bid as his approval ratings sank to historic lows. Adams’ poll numbers were sinking even before he was indicted last year on five counts, which accused the mayor of bribery and fraud as part of an alleged “long-running” scheme to personally profit from contacts with foreign officials. The mayor made repeated overtures to Trump, and the Justice Department earlier this year dismissed the corruption charges, so Adams could potentially work with the Trump administration on its illegal immigration crackdown. And because New York City allows candidates to run on multiple party lines, Cuomo could run as an independent or third-party candidate in the general election, adding to the electoral drama.
Teen nicknamed ‘Big Balls’ leaves Trump’s cost-cutting team after exposing wasteful spending
A White House official confirmed to Fox News that a teenaged employee with the nickname “Big Balls” has resigned from his post at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), adding to the recent shakeup within the department. The now-former DOGE employee – whose real name is Edward Coristine – told Fox News Anchor Jesse Watters last month that his nickname originally came from his LinkedIn social media account. “I use it as my LinkedIn username,” Coristine told Watters, prompting laughter from the host as well as DOGE leader Elon Musk and the rest of his team at the interview. “Well, people on LinkedIn take themselves super seriously, and they’re pretty averse to risk, and I was like, ‘Well, I want to be neither of those things.’ So, I just, I set it and honestly, I didn’t think anybody would notice,” the DOGE employee continued, mocking the career-focused social media platform. DOGE STAFFING SHAKEUP AS ELON MUSK HANGS UP HIS HAT, WHITE HOUSE CONFIRMS A 19-year-old college student and software developer, Coristine was criticized by Democrats and liberal media pundits during DOGE’s first few weeks of investigating wasteful and fraudulent spending in the federal government. Many were upset about the young, irreverently named government employee being given access to government records to pursue DOGE’s work. During his interview with Watters, Coristine said he had been looking through U.S. Treasury Department payment computers and finding a multitude of outgoing payments from the federal government that lacked details about who they were going to and why. “So, one of our initiatives is to root out fraud and waste, and to do that we started looking at the payment computers. And, as mentioned earlier, there’s no accounting of what payments actually go to in the payment computer,” Coristine said. “You look at a specific line item — $20 million. You’re like, ‘OK, what is this money going to?’ And for the majority of payment systems, it’s like, ‘Well, we don’t really know.’” FLASHBACK: TOP FIVE WILDEST MOMENTS FROM ELON MUSK’S DOGE TENURE AS IT COMES TO AN END He continued, saying the system that distributes taxpayer money “literally has no checks and no accountability” to the American taxpayer, adding that it is a “huge vector for fraud, waste, and abuse.” Coristine’s resignation comes less than a month after Musk departed from the agency. Musk’s departure was followed by the departure of several other staffers and special government employees at DOGE, which now includes Coristine. WHAT’S NEXT FOR DOGE AFTER ELON MUSK’S DEPARTURE? ‘ONLY JUST BEGUN’ Musk has been heading DOGE since President Donald Trump took office in January. The department was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the federal government’s budget through efforts to slash spending, government programs and federal workforce. While DOGE was tasked with cutting $2 trillion from the budget, its efforts have led to roughly $180 billion in savings due to asset sales, contract cancellations, fraud payment cuts and other ways to eliminate costs, according to an update on DOGE’s website. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP The savings translate to about $1,118 in savings per taxpayer, the website notes. Fox News Digital’s Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.
Heatwave poses risks to US power grid
As heat related power outages surge, things are expected to worsen, with AI-focused data centres sucking up power. The heatwave currently blanketing two-thirds of the United States with record-setting temperatures is straining the nation’s power system. On Monday, Con Edison, New York City’s power provider, urged residents to conserve electricity. It reduced power voltage to the borough of Brooklyn by 8 percent as it made repairs; it did the same to areas in the boroughs of Staten Island and Queens yesterday. Thousands also lost power as the grid could not handle the strain. Comparable outages have been felt around much of the East Coast and Midwest including in the states of Virginia and New Jersey. In Philadelphia and Cleveland, power went out for thousands of customers after severe thunderstorms late last week, and has yet to be restored as the region faces high temperatures. The national railroad corporation Amtrak reported delays on Tuesday due to speed restrictions caused by the heat on routes that went through Washington, Philadelphia and New York. Power grid woes This heatwave is bringing attention to the vulnerability of the power infrastructure in the US. In the latest annual assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), large parts of the US have insufficient power reserves to operate in “above-normal conditions”, including parts of the Midwest, Texas, New England and southern California. Heat-related power grid strains have surged in recent years. According to a report from Climate Central released last year, there have been 60 percent more heat-related power outages between 2014-2023 than in the 10 years prior. Advertisement This comes amid new but growing pressures on the US power grid, including the prevalence of artificial intelligence data centres and the energy needed to power them. In 2022, in northern Virginia, Dominion Energy warned that data centres there used up so much energy that it might be unable to keep up with surging demand. For AI data centres, that strain is only set to get more pressing as generative AI booms. It is expected that AI server farms’ power demand will increase to 12 percent by 2030. There are also more immediate concerns of a cyberthreat from Iranian-backed “hacktivists”, which could target the US power grid at a vulnerable moment to avenge the recent US attack on Iran’s nuclear sites, CNN reported. The US power grid cyberthreat sharing centre has been monitoring the dark web for threats, it said, as the Department of Homeland Security issued a warning on Sunday about potential cyberattacks. “Both hacktivists and Iranian government-affiliated actors routinely target poorly secured US networks and Internet-connected devices for disruptive cyber attacks,” the advisory said. In 2023, Iran-linked hacktivists targeted a water authority in Pennsylvania with minimal success. In 2024, US authorities discovered that Iran-associated hackers were behind cyberattacks on US healthcare facilities. Power grids are particularly at risk, according to a 2024 report by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which said that there are as many as 23,000 to 24,000 susceptible points in the US power grid systems that could be vulnerable to cyberattacks. Adblock test (Why?)
Boeing failed to provide training to prevent MAX 9 midair emergency: NTSB
The US agency harshly criticised Boeing’s safety culture as well as ineffective oversight by the FAA. Boeing failed to provide adequate training, guidance and oversight to prevent a midair cabin panel blowout of a new 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024, which spun the planemaker into a major crisis, the United States National Transportation Safety Board has said. The board on Tuesday harshly criticised Boeing’s safety culture and its failure to install four key bolts in a new Alaska Airlines MAX 9 during production, as well as the ineffective oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said at a board meeting that the incident was entirely avoidable because the planemaker should have addressed the unauthorised production that was identified in numerous Boeing internal audits, reports and other forums for at least 10 years. “The safety deficiencies that led to this accident should have been evident to Boeing and to the FAA,” Homendy said. “It’s nothing short of a miracle that no one died or sustained serious physical injuries.” Boeing’s on-the-job training was lacking, the NTSB said, adding that the planemaker is working on a design enhancement that will ensure the door plug cannot be closed until it is firmly secured. The accident prompted the US Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation and declare that Boeing was not in compliance with a 2021 deferred prosecution agreement. CEO Dave Calhoun announced he would step down within a few months of the midair panel blowout. Homendy praised new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, but said, “He has his work cut out for him, a lot of challenges to address, and that’s going to take time.” Advertisement Boeing said it regretted the accident and was continuing to work on strengthening safety and quality across its operations. The FAA said on Tuesday that it has “fundamentally changed how it oversees Boeing since the Alaska Airlines door-plug accident and we will continue this aggressive oversight to ensure Boeing fixes its systemic production-quality issues”. Damaged reputation The incident badly damaged Boeing’s reputation and led to a grounding of the MAX 9 for two weeks as well as a production cap of 38 planes per month by the FAA, which still remains in place. “While Boeing is making progress, we will not lift the 737 monthly production cap until we are confident the company can maintain safety and quality while making more aircraft,” the FAA added. Boeing created no paperwork for the removal of the 737 MAX 9 door plug – a piece of metal shaped like a door covering an unused emergency exit – or its re-installation during production, and still does not know which employees were involved, the NTSB said on Tuesday. Then-FAA administrator Michael Whitaker said in June 2024 that the agency was “too hands off” in Boeing oversight and has boosted the number of inspectors at Boeing and the MAX fuselage manufacturer’s, Spirit AeroSystems, factories. Boeing agreed last July to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia. But it last month struck a deal with the US Justice Department to avoid a guilty plea. The Justice Department has asked a judge to approve the deal, which will allow Boeing to avoid pleading guilty or facing oversight by an outside monitor. Earlier this month, Boeing’s problems resurfaced when an Air India flight crashed soon after takeoff from the western Indian city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one on board. The aircraft being flown was a nearly 12-year-old Dreamliner. Investigations behind that crash are currently under way. Adblock test (Why?)