Russia using drones to hunt Ukrainian civilians: HRW
NGO urges Russian accountability for war crimes in targeting Ukrainians with drones. Russian forces have been using drones to hunt and attack civilians in Ukraine and continue to do so, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). In a report released on Tuesday, HRW stated that the Russian military has repeatedly deployed unmanned drones to attack civilian targets in its more than three-year war with Ukraine. The NGO said that dozens of civilians have been killed and hundreds injured in violation of the laws of war. Referencing video from Russian drones and witnesses and survivors, the rights watchdog alleges that Russia has “deliberately or recklessly” hunted civilians and civilian objects, particularly in the southern city of Kherson, using “commercially available quadcopter drones” made domestically and in China. “Russian drone operators are able to track their targets, with high-resolution video feeds, leaving little doubt that the intent is to kill, maim, and terrify civilians,” Belkis Wille, a director on arms and conflict at HRW, said in a statement. “They exemplify why the international community needs to support all avenues of accountability for victims of Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.” Advertisement The findings support reports from residents and officials in Kherson earlier this year that said Russian drone operators were training by targeting civilians in “human safaris”. HRW interviewed 36 survivors and witnesses to attacks and combed through 83 videos uploaded on Russian military-affiliated Telegram channels, as well as visual materials provided by witnesses and researchers. Overall, at least 45 “deliberate drone attacks” by Russian forces from June to December 2024 on civilians and civilian objects, including healthcare facilities, were recorded. Authorities in Kherson reported at least 30 deaths and 500 civilian injuries from drone attacks around the same period. A January 2025 report by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said drone attacks accounted for 70 percent of civilian casualties in Kherson. “The attacks have the apparent purpose of instilling terror in the civilian population in Kherson, part of a widespread attack against that population,” the report said. HRW said Russia deployed commercial drones made by the Chinese companies, DJI and Autel, and by one Russian entity, Sudoplatov, which has purportedly described itself as a “volunteer organisation”. Adblock test (Why?)
Boy and baby brother pulled alive from rubble after Israeli strike
[unable to retrieve full-text content] A five-year-old boy, his baby brother, and their mother were pulled out alive after being trapped for hours
Israeli fire kills at least 27 aid seekers in Gaza: Health Ministry
Israeli forces have killed at least 27 Palestinians and injured 90 more as they opened fire close to an aid distribution site in Rafah, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza. The latest killings came early on Tuesday at the Flag Roundabout, near an aid hub operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). It was the third such incident around the Rafah hub in as many days. Gaza’s authorities report that more than 100 aid seekers have been killed since the United States- and Israel-backed GHF started operating in the enclave on May 27, with reports of violence, looting and chaos rife. The Israeli military said it had fired shots as “a number of suspects” deviated from the regulated routes, on which a crowd was making its way to the GHF distribution complex. The “suspects” were about 500 metres (approximately 550 yards) from the site, the military said in a statement on Telegram, adding that it was looking into reports of casualties. The death toll was confirmed by Zaher al-Waheidi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department. Advertisement A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Hisham Mhanna, said 184 wounded people had been taken to its field hospital in Rafah, 19 of whom were found dead on arrival, and eight others died later of their wounds. Video verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency showed the arrival of dozens of injured people at the hospital. Lured Gaza’s Government Media Office accused Israel of “a horrific, intentionally repeated crime”, saying it has been luring starving Palestinians to the GHF centres – controversially opened following an 11-week total blockade to take over most aid distribution from the United Nations and other aid agencies – and then opening fire. It said Tuesday’s death toll brought the number of aid seekers killed at aid sites in the Rafah governorate and the so-called Netzarim Corridor since GHF launched operations to 102, with 490 others injured. “We heard from witnesses that there was chaos,” Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary reported from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza. “The Israeli forces just opened fire randomly, shooting Palestinians … using quadcopters and live ammunition.” Health Ministry officials and doctors said most of the wounded have been hit in their chest and head, she added. The bloodshed, she continued, had unfolded in the same way as on the previous two days, amid ongoing chaos around the aid distribution centres. “There’s no process. There’s no system,” she said. “You just need to run first to be able to get the food.” ‘Either way, we will die’ Rasha al-Nahal told The Associated Press news agency that “there was gunfire from all directions”, and that she saw more than a dozen people dead and several wounded on the road. Advertisement When she finally made it to the distribution hub, there was no aid, al-Nahal said, adding that Israeli troops “fired at us as we were returning”. Another witness, Neima al-Aaraj, from Khan Younis, described the shooting as “indiscriminate”. “I won’t return,” she said. “Either way, we will die.” Gaza rescuers said Israeli gunfire killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 early on June 1, as thousands of people headed towards a US-backed aid distribution site [AFP] The Israeli military, in its statement on Telegram, said troops had fired warning shots as people deviated from “designated access routes” and “after the suspects failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops”. However, it denied firing on civilians or blocking them from accessing aid. This account echoes statements around similar incidents on Sunday, when 31 aid seekers were reportedly killed, and on Monday, when three more were killed. Adblock test (Why?)
What is COVID-19? How many people died of Coronavirus? WHO says…
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 1,110 people have died of Coronavirus in the last month. With this, the danger of spreading the disease is looming large on humanity once again like in 2019.
What Texas lawmakers did after the state’s largest wildfire
A package of bills aims to better prepare the state to prevent and fight wildfires.
From vouchers to a cellphone ban, this year’s lawmaking session brought transformative changes to Texas schools
An agenda driven by conservative priorities, schools’ financial duress and teacher needs led to an $8.5 billion boost, new discipline rules, more Christianity in classrooms and a DEI ban.
Still a no: Rand Paul says $5T debt increase in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ a deal-breaker
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the debt limit increase included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is still a deal-breaker for him, saying it goes against conservative values, despite discussions with President Donald Trump about his concerns. Paul told reporters on Monday that the bill will increase the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, the largest debt increase in the U.S. “We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target,” he said. “So you can say it doesn’t directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you’ll meet that. And what it does is it puts it off the back-burner. And then we won’t discuss it for a year or two.” SEN. RON JOHNSON PROPOSES ‘LINE-BY-LINE’ CUTS TO PASS TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ “So I think it’s a terrible idea to do this,” he added. Paul said he spoke with Trump about his concerns over the legislation during a “lengthy discussion,” but that Trump “did most of the talking.” “I’ve told him I can’t support the bill if they’re together,” Paul said. “If they were to separate out and take the, debt ceiling off that I very much could consider the rest of the bill.” Paul noted that Congress voted to continue spending to avert a government shutdown. “During the campaign, Republicans said they were against Bidennomics and Bidenflation and Biden spending. When March, we renewed the Biden’s spending levels,” Paul said. “So the spending levels we live under now are Biden-GOP spending levels. They’ve all come into agreement.” “But come the end of September, when our fiscal year ends, the deficit is going to be $2.2 trillion. That’s just not conservative,” he added. “They’re borrowing 5 trillion. That means they’re anticipating the following year being over 2 trillion as well. So it’s just not a conservative thing to do.” SPEAKER JOHNSON CLASHES WITH RAND PAUL OVER ‘WIMPY’ SPENDING CUTS IN TRUMP’S BILL Over the weekend, Trump warned Paul would be “playing right into the hands of the Democrats” if he votes against the bill. “If Senator Rand Paul votes against our Great, Big, Beautiful Bill, he is voting for, along with the Radical Left Democrats, a 68% Tax Increase and, perhaps even more importantly, a first time ever default on U.S. Debt,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Rand will be playing right into the hands of the Democrats, and the GREAT people of Kentucky will never forgive him! The GROWTH we are experiencing, plus some cost-cutting later on, will solve ALL problems. America will be greater than ever before!” he added. Next week, Senate Republicans will get their turn to go through the bill and are eying changes that could be a hard sell for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.
Bad news for Pakistan, China as IAF to get new powerful fighter jet which is capable of..
The Air Chief Marshal quoted Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill, saying, “Why promise what you can’t deliver?” Now, HAL getting the first ‘center fuselage’ made for Tejas Mk-1A just a day later is not only a sign of technical progress but also a hope for improving the delivery track.
Northeast Floods: PM Modi speaks to Assam, Sikkim CMs and Manipur Governor, assures full support
Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang also shared a post on X, thanking PM Modi for his concern about the flood and landslide situation in the state.
Trump front-and-center in Republican primary for governor as early voting kicks off
PINE HILL, NEW JERSEY – One week to go until primary day in New Jersey, and Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli was getting a shoutout from the most powerful and influential politician in the GOP. “I’m asking you to get out and vote for a true champion for the people of your state – Jack Ciattarelli. He’s been a friend of mine, and he’s been a real success story,” President Donald Trump told supporters as he dialed into a tele-rally on the eve of Tuesday’s kickoff of early voting in New Jersey. Trump’s praise came two weeks after he endorsed Ciattarelli for the Republican nomination in a primary race that turned into a battle for the president’s support. “It’s a really big deal,” Ciattarelli said in a Monday interview with Fox News Digital after meeting with local GOP politicians and leaders at the Trump National Golf Club-Philadelphia in this South Jersey borough, when asked about the significance of Trump’s endorsement. “The president’s doing very, very well in New Jersey.” NEW YORK GOV. KATHY HOCHUL FACING DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY CHALLENGE FROM HER OWN LT. GOVERNOR Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker, is making his third bid for governor. He ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination in 2017. Four years later, in 2021, as the Republican nominee, Ciattarelli overperformed and came close to ousting Democratic incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, losing by just three points. In the showdown to succeed Murphy, who is term-limited and prevented from running for re-election, polls suggest that Ciattarelli is the front-runner in a Republican nomination race that includes two other prominent candidates – former businessman and popular conservative talk radio host Bill Spadea and state Sen. Jon Bramnick, a lawyer who served for a decade as state Assembly GOP leader. NEW JERSEY PRIMARY AN EARLY TEST OF TRUMP’S SECOND ADMINISTRATION And Ciattarelli and Spadea spent months trading fire over which of them was a bigger Trump supporter. “It was certainly disappointing,” Spadea said of Trump’s endorsement of Ciattarelli. “I mean, we made no bones about this. We absolutely wanted the President’s endorsement. Unfortunately, the President endorsed a poll and not a plan.” And in a Fox News Digital interview, Spadea emphasized that “I have been a supporter of President Trump since he came down the escalator,” as he referenced Trump’s announcement in 2015 of his first presidential campaign. “There is no question that I am the common-sense conservative. I am the actual Republican in this primary,” Spadea claimed. And Spadea questioned Ciattarelli’s support for Trump, claiming that his rival “has disrespected him for the better part of the last eight years…We thought that that endorsement would have been better served with me.” Four years ago, after he won the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Ciattarelli, when asked if he was seeking the then-former president’s endorsement, told Fox News Digital “there’s only one endorsement I seek, and that’s the endorsement of the voters of New Jersey. That’s the only one that matters.” Fast forward to 2025, and Ciattarelli emphasized that “people really appreciate what he [Trump] is doing for New Jerseyans. He’s put a temporary hold on the wind farms off the Jersey Shore. He’s beating up on the New York Democrats over congestion pricing. He supports a quadrupling of the SALT [state and local tax] deduction on our federal tax returns. Those are big deals to New Jersey, and that’s why he’s got so much great support here. And I’m honored to have his endorsement.” REPUBLICAN GOVERNORS CHAIR, POINTING TO CAMPAIGN BATTLES AHEAD, TOUTS ‘OUR POLICIES ARE BETTER’ While he lost out on Trump’s endorsement, Spadea said there’s been a silver lining. “Our supporters are galvanized. Matter of fact, the Tuesday and Wednesday after Trump endorsed Jack, we had a surge, our two best days ever in low-dollar fundraising,” Spadea said. “So it actually has had the opposite effect, our low-dollar surge, our volunteer surge, we’re now knocking on more than 3,000 doors a week, and we’re getting an unbelievable response from the grassroots.” Spadea said that “almost every Trump supporter that we’ve talked to face-to-face on the ground thinks that Donald Trump made a huge mistake” in endorsing Ciattarelli. And Spadea, who was interviewed in downtown Princeton, New Jersey, added that “Trump supporters believe in common-sense policies, populism, patriotism. It’s not about being told who to vote for.” Asked why Trump endorsed him rather than Spadea, Ciattarelli said that “the president wants to win. He knows that I provide the best opportunity to win in November.” “He knows we’re going to raise the necessary money. We’ve raised more money than the other five Republican gubernatorial candidates combined,” added Ciattarelli, a certified public accountant who started a medical publishing company before getting into politics. The fundraising advantage has allowed Ciattarelli to dominate the ad wars, although Spadea said that “in the last couple of weeks we’ve actually outspent my opponent on the air” and predicted that “we’re going to win.” And Spadea, pointing to his media career, touted that “I built the largest audience in the state, a third Democrat, a third independent, a third Republican. So my appeal is not just that conservative base in the Republican Party. I’m the only candidate running for the Republican nomination that can pull in Democrats and independents.” New Jersey has long been a blue-leaning state, but Republicans have had success in gubernatorial elections. “It’s not a blue state when it comes to Governor races, Republicans have won six of the last 11. That’s better than 50%,” Ciattarelli said. And Trump, who spends summer weekends at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, held a very large rally last year in Wildwood, N.J. And he improved from a 16-point loss in the state in the 2020 election to a 6-point deficit last November. “The president’s doing very, very well in New Jersey. He performed well here last election day,” Ciattarelli said. And Ciattarelli, looking ahead to the general election campaign, said he’s “really looking forward” to Trump’s “active participation…I think New Jerseyans are