Pune Porsche Horror: Teen’s father granted bail in kidnapping case, later arrested in…
Police took his custody from the jail where he was lodged in judicial custody, and produced him before a court which remanded him in fresh police custody for two days.
How would a President Harris handle immigration, border crisis?
With growing calls from some Democrats for President Biden to step aside in favor of a different presidential candidate in the wake of his presidential debate performance last week, it has raised the possibility of a President Kamala Harris – raising questions about how she would handle the ongoing border crisis. Many Democrats and liberal media figures were left shaken by President Biden’s performance at last week’s debate, during which he stumbled over his words and sounded tired. It has fueled discussion about whether he should step down in favor of another candidate. Should he resign as president, Harris as vice president would be the automatic successor. If he were to finish his term, but did not wish to serve a second, then the DNC would elect a new nominee for the presidential election. Harris would likely be one of the top candidates in that scenario. Whoever took over from Biden would immediately be thrust into the role of dealing with the ongoing crisis at the southern border, which has seen a record number of encounters since Biden took office. Numbers have dropped in recent months, but it is unclear to what extent that will continue over the typically busy summer months. BIDEN VOWS TO KEEP WHITE HOUSE, UNDETERRED BY DEMOCRATIC PANIC AFTER DEBATE DISASTER Vice President Harris would in many ways be a voice of continuity for the current practices of what officials call the Biden-Harris administration. Like President Biden, she has supported the rolling back of Trump-era border policies and has called for a sweeping immigration bill that the administration introduced on day one. That bill not only includes significant reforms and funding measures, but would also provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the U.S. “Our immigration system has been broken for decades. That is why President Biden and I have spent the last three years putting forward solutions to fix it and address the root causes of migration,” she said in a statement in February. Similarly, Harris has backed the bipartisan Senate package which Biden has also supported but has failed to pass the Senate. Like Biden, she has also blamed the failure of that bill to pass the chamber on former President Donald Trump. “Then, of course, we know that there was bipartisan work that happened, including involving some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate. A deal was reached, and they got a call from Donald Trump, who said, ‘Don’t put it for a vote.’ Because Donald Trump would prefer to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem,” she said last month. Harris has also taken the lead on some policy matters. She was tasked in 2021 with leading with leading the diplomatic outreach to tackle the “root causes” of migration in the Northern Triangle countries. The administration had leaned firmly into the root-causes narrative in early 2021, claiming that those causes – which include climate change, violence, poverty and economic insecurity – were driving migration to the U.S. border. Its answer, therefore, was to engage with governments and to invest in targeting those causes, eventually bringing migration down. TRUMP MAKES CASE FOR RETURN TO ‘REMAIN IN MEXICO’ TO SOLVE HISTORIC BORDER CRISIS The assignment quickly led to Harris being dubbed the “border czar” – a title the White House rejected, stressing instead that it was more to do with international engagement. She would go on to visit the border in El Paso in June 2021 after facing pressure to do so. In that mission, she has seen some success. The project to rally private-sector investment to the region via a call to action has seen more than $5.2 billion committed since May 2021 from over 50 companies and organizations. Additionally, while it is unclear the extent to which investment has played a role, the numbers of encounters from those three countries has fallen from over 700,000 in FY 21 to over 330,000 so far as of May, with four months left to go. Harris’ 2019 presidential campaign suggests that, should she become president, she may attempt a more aggressive use of executive action when it comes to granting protection to some illegal immigrants. In her campaign platform, Harris promised to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) by executive order – which gives protection to illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors. She said she would eliminate age requirements on applications, and use parole authority to create a “parole in place” program to put those illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship. Her campaign estimated that the executive actions would result in more than 2 million “Dreamers” being given a pathway to citizenship. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS Also by executive order, she promised to shield illegal immigrant parents of American citizens and green card holders from deportation. Overall her plan was predicted to protect over 6 million illegal immigrants from deportation. The parole in place authority was recently used by President Biden to protect some spouses of American citizens from deportation. In a statement on that action, Harris said it was something she supported — but added that more, including a citizenship pathway for illegal immigrants, still needed to be accomplished. “While today’s actions are a significant step forward, there is more work to be done to fix our broken immigration system. That includes the need for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. President Biden and I continue to call on the United States Congress to join us in acting by passing permanent protections for Dreamers,” she said.
Traditional MBA programs need a ‘Tech’ makeover
Management education in India has evolved into one of the most sought-after qualifications and degrees that young Indian professionals seek to obtain.
Biden donors back ‘Plan B’, say ‘it’s Armageddon’ after debate: reports
Donors supporting President Biden’s re-election bid reportedly are now backing a “Plan B” and are describing the situation as “Armageddon” following the 81-year-old’s widely panned debate performance against former President Trump last week. The development comes as Biden’s campaign announced that it has raised $264 million over the last three months, including at least $27 million since last Thursday’s debate. But behind the scenes, donors are spooked over the way Biden handled himself onstage, reports say. “Unless he shakes up the campaign and shows leadership, it’s going to be a really, really tough time with money,” said one Democrat, identified by The Washington Post as a top fundraiser. The source added that “it’s Armageddon” now among Biden donors and “people have got to see changes.” DEMOCRAT DONORS PRESS CAMPAIGN ON BIDEN’S HEALTH, STAMINA IN PRIVATE CALLS: REPORT The newspaper reports that another major supporter who has given to Biden created a Google Docs poll following the debate to question other donors about where they stand. That person said of the 65 donors who responded, around 74% supported the option of “we need a Plan B” — which includes consideration of new Democratic presidential and vice-presidential candidates – while 15% said they stood behind Biden and 11% were undecided, according to The Washington Post. BIDEN DONORS ‘FREAKED OUT’ BY HIS RELIANCE ON TELEPROMPTERS AT PRIVATE FUNDRAISERS John Morgan, another top Democratic donor, told Politico that the “whole planning [and] preparation” that Biden had received for the debate was “political malpractice,” specifically blaming senior adviser Anita Dunn, former chief of staff Ron Klain and Dunn’s husband, Bob Bauer, who is Biden’s personal lawyer. “I think he has a misplaced trust in these three people, and I believe he has from the inception,” Morgan told Politico, while a Democratic strategist from a battleground state added that “The number of people who have access to the president has gotten smaller and smaller and smaller” and “They’ve been digging deeper into the bunker for months now.” Democratic donor Whitney Tilson, a former hedge fund manager, also told The New York Times that he received a scathing text from a House Democrat regarding the debate. “Biden’s debate performance was a catastrophe from which there may be no recovery,” the text reportedly said.
Biden staff ‘scared s—less’ of him, senior admin official says; WH hits back
Some of President Biden’s top officials are “scared s—less” of displeasing him in daily briefings, according to a new report. The president’s inner circle has become tighter and tighter as he has become more difficult to deal with in day-to-day business, according to a Tuesday report from Politico. “It’s like, ‘You can’t include that, that will set him off,’ or ‘Put that in, he likes that,’” a senior administration official told Politico on background. BIDEN FAMILY BLAME STAFF FOR DEBATE PERFORMANCE AS HE LAYS LOW AGAIN AT CAMP DAVID: REPORTS The quote continued, “It’s a Rorschach test, not a briefing. Because he is not a pleasant person to be around when he’s being briefed. It’s very difficult, and people are scared [s—less] of him.” The official told Politico that Biden is unwilling to take advice from outside his small inner circle, becoming increasingly isolated from wider public opinion and input. “He doesn’t take advice from anyone other than those few top aides, and it becomes a perfect storm because he just gets more and more isolated from their efforts to control it,” the official reportedly told Politico. White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andre Bates pushed back on the Politico report’s claim that staff are afraid of the president — telling Fox News Digital, “That’s simply not who [Biden] is.” SOURCES CLOSE TO BIDEN REPORT ‘MARKED INCIDENCE OF COGNITIVE DECLINE’ IN LAST 6 MONTHS: BERNSTEIN Politico also reported that Biden’s family members cast blame widely on Biden staffers, complaining that they did not adequately prepare the president to go on the attack more, to focus more on laying out his vision for the next four years rather than getting bogged down in defending his record, and that they allowed him to become overworked without enough rest beforehand. The family’s criticism was hurled specifically toward Anita Dunn, the senior adviser who frequently has the president’s ear; her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney who played Donald Trump in rehearsals at Camp David; and Ron Klain, the former chief of staff who ran point on the debate prep and previous cycles’ sessions, Politico reported, citing three people briefed on the family conversations but not directly involved. “The number of people who have access to the president has gotten smaller and smaller and smaller,” an anonymous Democratic strategist in a battleground state reportedly complained to Politico, according to their Tuesday report. “They’ve been digging deeper into the bunker for months now.” Bates denied this characterization as well, claiming the president seeks input from a “wide range of individuals inside and outside the administration.” “These claims are unfair distortions of processes that exist in every administration,” Bates told Fox News Digital. “In any presidency, there are individuals who would prefer to spend more time with the President and senior officials.” He added, “[Biden] is proud to have hired the most diverse White House team ever – and is achieving historic results for the American people because of his determination, values, and experience.” Biden and his campaign officials have denied any implication that the president is planning to step aside in his bid for re-election. Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
Debate gives Trump a bump over Biden, according to new national poll
Former President Trump has gone ahead of President Biden in their 2024 election rematch in the aftermath of last week’s presidential debate, according to a new national poll conducted in the wake of Biden’s extremely rough performance during Thursday’s face-to-face showdown between the two major party contenders. Trump stands at 41% support and Biden at 38% among registered voters nationwide in a USA Today/Suffolk University survey conducted Friday through Sunday and released on Tuesday. The Democratic incumbent in the White House and his Republican predecessor were tied at 37% in the previous USA Today/Suffolk University poll, which was conducted in May. BIDEN CAMPAIGN SPOTLIGHTS MASSIVE JUNE FUNDRAISING HAUL IN 2024 ELECTION REMATCH WITH TRUMP Democrat turned independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stood at 8% support in the new survey, with Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver, independent Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein each registering at around 1% support. BIDEN TRIES TO FLIP THE SCRIPT ON NEGATIVE NARRATIVE COMING OUT OF DISASTROUS DEBATE WITH TRUMP Biden, who at age 81 is the oldest president in the nation’s history, is facing the roughest stretch of his bid for a second term in the White House. This, after his halting delivery and stumbling answers at the debate, sparked widespread panic in the Democratic Party and spurred calls from political pundits, editorial writers, and some party politicians and donors for Biden to step aside as the party’s 2024 standard-bearer. While Trump’s advantage in the new survey is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, there are other warning signs for Biden. In numbers from the poll released on Monday afternoon, 41% of Democrats questioned said they wanted Biden replaced at the top of the Democratic Party ticket. Only 14% of Republicans surveyed said they would like to see Trump replaced at the top of the GOP ticket. “There’s no question the debate sent out shock waves across the political landscape,” Suffolk Political Research Center director David Paleologos said. “Democrats in the poll are offering tough love to President Biden by saying to him, ‘You’ve served us well, but try to see yourself last Thursday night through our eyes. Hold your head up high, it’s time to go.’” The poll also indicates that Trump now leads Biden 25% to 17% as the second choice for voters currently backing one of the third-party or independent candidates. That is a switch from late last year, when Biden had the edge. “After Thursday night’s debate, the Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll measured Biden’s poor debate performance and the resulting landscape shift that has essentially prevented those third-party voters from coming around to Biden,” Paleologos told Fox News. “In fact, the debate produced a group of voters who are now not comfortable with voting for Biden as either a first or second choice.” The survey also indicates that Trump supporters – at 59% – are much more excited about their candidate than Biden backers – at 29%. Such a large enthusiasm gap, if it holds, could be consequential when it comes to convincing supporters to actually vote in the autumn election. The survey questioned 1,000 registered voters across the country, reaching them by telephone landlines and cell phones. Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
NASA Alert: Two massive asteroids set to be alarmingly close to Earth today; Know will it hit, speed, distance and more
This asteroid measures around 370 feet in diameter, making it one of the larger near-Earth objects discovered by NASA. Its size and speed have sparked concerns, prompting NASA to closely monitor its trajectory.
Why has the UK’s economy grown so slowly under the Tories?
As the United Kingdom gears up for a general election on Thursday, one issue has emerged at the forefront of voters’ minds – the state of the economy. Since the ruling Conservative Party entered office 14 years ago, the UK’s economy has slowed dramatically. The slowdown is particularly stark when immigration-driven population growth is accounted for and the period before the start of the global financial crisis is included. Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita grew just 4.3 percent from 2007 to 2023, compared with 46 percent growth over the previous 16 years, according to research released earlier this month by the Resolution Foundation think tank. That is the lowest growth rate since 1826, according to it. While UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has insisted the economy has “turned a corner” amid a return to growth and falling inflation, Britons are projected to dump the Conservatives in favour of the Labour Party, led by human rights lawyer-turned-politician Keir Starmer. Why has the UK economy performed so poorly? Above all, the UK’s economic troubles can be traced to its dismal record on productivity growth. A rise in productivity – the ability of workers to produce more with less – is the key driver of economic growth and improving living standards. The UK’s productivity growth has badly lagged its peers under the stewardship of the Conservatives. GDP per hour worked increased by an average of 0.6 percent annually in the 2010s, compared with 2.2 percent in the decade before the financial crisis – the worst performance among the Group of Seven economies except for Italy, according to the Resolution Foundation. According to OECD data, GDP per hour worked in the UK grew roughly 6 percent from 2007 to 2022, compared with 17 percent in the United States, 12 percent in Japan and 11 percent in Germany. What does this mean for common people? The upshot is that Britons’ incomes have stagnated. Britons had on average 10,200 pounds ($12,950) less to spend or save in total during 2010-22 compared with 1998-2010 growth rates, according to an analysis of disposable incomes by the nonpartisan research institute Centre for Cities. What has caused the UK’s productivity gap? The UK’s productivity gap has been widely attributed to years of chronically low investment relative to other developed nations. The UK’s investment spending from 2017 to 2021 amounted to the equivalent of 18 percent of GDP compared with 25 percent of GDP in Japan, 23 percent in France and 21 percent in the US, according to a PwC analysis of World Bank figures. “These problems are a symptom of a core issue, namely low investment by the state and by business,” David Spencer, the head of Leeds University Business School, told Al Jazeera. “Years of austerity have created barriers to growth – indeed, by reducing the extent and effectiveness of social and economic infrastructure, they have actively suppressed growth. Private businesses have remained too reliant on making profit at the expense of investing in capital and people. The result is that the UK finds itself in a low growth, low productivity and low wage economy.” Will there be economic growth in the UK? While the UK’s economy has struggled to one extent or another for more than a decade, there have been positive signs to point to more recently. The economy exited recession earlier this year, with GDP growing a better-than-expected 0.7 percent in the first quarter and inflation on target at about 2 percent. Some forecasts envision the UK outperforming many of its peers in the coming years. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected that the UK will see GDP per capita grow 6.2 percent between 2024 and 2029, which would be faster than every other G7 economy apart from the US and Japan. How will the UK achieve economic growth? The UK’s long-term prospects will ultimately depend on its ability to close the productivity gap. The Resolution Foundation in its report described the UK’s potential to boost productivity as “a silver lining, if not a silver bullet”. “Productivity, as measured by GDP per hour, is 13-19 percent higher in the US, Germany, and France, indicating significant productivity gains that the UK can aim for,” the think tank said. “Indeed, if the UK moved to the average productivity of these countries, this would result in a boost in productivity of 17 percent.” “It will take a major change in policy to transform the UK economy,” Spencer said. “As ever, it is easier to talk about change than achieve it, but with the right commitment and policy mix from government, change can be achieved.” Adblock test (Why?)
Kazakh dissident dies following Kyiv shooting
Wife of journalist Aydos Sadykov blames Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for attack last month. A Kazakh dissident has died in Ukraine, two weeks after being shot outside his home last month. Kyiv-based journalist Aydos Sadykov was shot in the head while seated in a car with his wife on June 18. Ukrainian prosecutors suspect that the “carefully planned” attack was carried out by a pair of suspected assassins from Kazakhstan. Sadykov’s wife, Natalya Sadykova, blamed Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for the death of her husband, who was an outspoken critic of the Central Asian country’s leadership. “My beloved husband, father of our three children, great son of the Kazakh people. Aydos dedicated his life to Kazakhstan and suffered martyrdom at the hands of killers,” Sadykova said in a Facebook post. “His death is on Tokayev’s conscience,” she declared. Who are the suspects? According to the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general, two Kazakh citizens, one of them a former policeman, are suspected of shooting Sadykov. Both left the country on the same day, they say, escaping to Moldova. While Kazakhstan has since detained one of the suspects, named as Altai Zhakanbayev, it has said it would not hand him over to Ukraine. The second suspect remains at large. President Tokayev instructed Kazakh law enforcement agencies to cooperate with Ukraine to locate the suspects, his spokesperson said last month, according to Russian news agencies. “Astana is ready to cooperate with Ukraine, including through Interpol,” the spokesperson was cited as saying. ‘Bring them to justice’ Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into the shooting of Sadykov, who ran a YouTube channel often critical of Kazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev and then his successor Tokayev. “The news of the attack on Sadykov during broad daylight in the Kyiv city centre is deeply disturbing,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch last month. “Ukrainian authorities should ensure Sydykov’s safety, identify the attacker, bring them to justice, and determine who ordered the attack. Kazakhstan should show it is committed to the rule of law during this process.” Adblock test (Why?)
Ravaged by civil war, how a national park was restored in Mozambique
Gorongosa, Mozambique – In Gorongosa National Park in central Mozambique, veterinarian Mercia Angela cradles a baby pangolin in her arms. Perhaps aware that it is safe, it reaches out and gently pulls her hair. “Our special unit of rangers who investigate people trying to sell pangolins rescued this one from a trafficker, and now we’re on a journey to rehabilitate it, preparing it for its eventual release back into the wild,” she said about the pangopup. Pangolins are a keystone species, meaning they play a critical role in shaping their habitats and altering ecosystems. But they are also the world’s most trafficked mammal – often hunted for their meat, skin, and even scales, which some Asian countries believe have medicinal properties. According to the World Wildlife Fund, pangolin skin is also in demand in the United States and Mexico for processing into products like boots, belts and bags. Four African variations of the pangolin are listed as vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Some 20 years ago, it’s possible this pangopup – christened Larissa by Angela and her team – would not have survived or been rescued at all, as Gorongosa’s wildlife and infrastructure were ravaged amid the country’s post-independence civil war that pitted the rebel Mozambique National Resistance Movement (Renamo) against government forces. “The fighting was all over the country, but Gorongosa [in Sofala province, central Mozambique] was the epicentre of the war as Renamo established their headquarters here at Casa Banana, near the park boundary,” Gorongosa National Park Warden Pedro Muagura, who represents the Ministry of Environment, told Al Jazeera. “The rebels wanted game meat from the park for food, and they killed elephants for ivory, which they exchanged for weapons from South Africa.” In the early days of the 1977-1992 war, then-white-ruled South Africa and Rhodesia backed the rebels in Mozambique, taking advantage of internal differences to destabilise their neighbour, which was harbouring groups fighting against their racist governments. Government military police patrol the streets of Gorongosa Village in central Mozambique [File: Grant Lee Neuenburg/Reuters] The civil war left some one million people dead, displaced several million more, and ruined the country’s economy. In Gorongosa, the park’s large mammals also suffered during the conflict as both sides slaughtered hundreds of animals for food and trade. Hungry soldiers shot many more thousands of zebras, wildebeest, buffaloes, and other ungulates. They also killed lions and other large predators for sport or trophies. Widespread poaching also contributed to the decimation of the wildlife. Muagura said that while snares and gin traps may have been set by people for food, they were non-selective and killed whatever would have sprung them. Thousands of snares were cleared from all over the park after the war. ‘Fundamentals’ in place After the 1992 peace accord that ended the war, though the government recognised the park’s value, the money to rehabilitate it was unavailable. In 1994, the African Development Bank began a five-year effort to rebuild Gorongosa’s infrastructure and restore its wildlife with help from the European Union and the IUCN. Enter Greg Carr, an American tech entrepreneur turned philanthropist who made his millions starting companies such as Boston Technology, founded in 1986 and modifying voicemail technology to make it less expensive. After he and his business partner sold the company in 1998, Carr got involved in other tech ventures, including co-founding Africaonline, an internet service provider. But after making his millions, Carr was still searching for meaning. In 1998, he launched the Carr Foundation and a year later founded the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University. In 2004, he met then-Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, a strong advocate for conservation who addressed the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. Their meeting led to a partnership that would change the fate of Gorongosa National Park, paving the way for its rehabilitation and the return of its wildlife. American philanthropist Greg Carr got involved in a project to restore the park after a meeting with Mozambique’s former president [Courtesy of Gorongosa National Park] Chissano invited Carr to Mozambique. “I spent two years studying Mozambique, asking myself, ‘How can I be helpful?’” Carr, now 65, told Al Jazeera at Gorongosa National Park. As someone who has always been positive about nature’s ability to fix itself with minimum human intervention, he settled on funding the park’s restoration. “The fundamentals of this ecosystem were in place, meaning the rivers were flowing, and the soil was good and the grass was growing. If you stop whatever the disturbance is in a natural area, you have a very good chance that nature will know how to restore itself,” he said. However, protecting the flora and fauna was not the only goal for Carr. “It was essential to me that the project was not simply to manage the national park or restore the wildlife, but to create employment and help the communities that live next to the park and share the ecosystem,” he said. “And that’s in my contract with the government.” Carr acknowledges the post-war recovery efforts, but says they were hamstrung because those involved “didn’t have a lot of money”. His Gorongosa Restoration Project signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mozambican government to restore the park. He committed $36m to the project in 2004. Rewilding Gorongosa Some 20 years after its inception, the project has succeeded in its mission to rewild the park, rehabilitate its infrastructure, revive tourism and improve the lives of communities in the so-called buffer zone, which is conterminous with the park. A 1994 survey, the first since the civil war, counted 100 elephants, 300 reedbuck, 100 waterbuck, and only a handful of zebra and small antelope. A 2022 aerial survey (PDF), shows a significant rebound in the numbers of most species. Some of the populations have grown because of the protection of the park. At the same time, some, including buffalo, wildebeest, hippos, wild dogs and jackals, have been reintroduced into