Washington; June 19, 2018-06-20

The United States withdrew from the United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday over what it called a “chronic bias against Israel” and a “lack of reform”, a move activists warned would make advancing human rights globally even more difficult.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the US decision.

PTI Washington; Jun 18, 2018 23:01 IST

President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the Pentagon to create a new US “space force,” which would become the sixth branch of the American military and would ensure “American dominance” in space.

“I’m hereby directing the Department of Defense and Pentagon to immediately begin the process necessary to establish a space force as the sixth branch of the armed forces,” Trump said.

“We are going to have the Air Force, and we are going to have the space force, separate but equal,” he added.

Based on a report published by Indian Express (Express Web Desk) on June 15, 2018, “the Central Intelligence Agency, in its recent edition of the ‘World Factbook’, has named the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal as “religious militant organisations”.

“The agency categorised them under “political pressure groups”, defined as organisations that are involved in politics or that exert political pressure but whose leaders do not stand for legislative election.”

23 March 2018

Mark Anthony Conditt 23, Austin’s serial bomber is dead. He blew himself up as authorities closed in. But the chaos created by his deadly, improvised devices, stretching across dozens of miles, may continue.

17 Apr, 2018

Kasmeer Lata has been jailed for six years and 11 months for selling her daughter as a sex slave over a two-year period. She escaped her horror in November 2016 and reported to police. Avneensh Sehgal, the partner of Lata, pleaded guilty to dealing in underage people for sexual exploitation.

Kasmeer Lata was sentenced on Tuesday in the High Court at Auckland by Justice Matthew Muir for dealing in slaves and receiving earnings from commercial sexual services from an underage person.

April 18, 2018

The Chinese military is scheduled to hold live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday — a clear warning to Taipei about seeking independence or closer ties with Washington.

Taiwan is a self-ruled island republic, but China sees it as a breakaway province that should be brought back into the fold and has not ruled out reunification by force.

PTI; Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 12 : Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today assured that no student in the state would be denied a chance to pursue higher secondary education due to shortage of seats for plus one course in government and aided schools.

However, he admitted that there was some disparity in the availability of seats in the state, especially in Malabar (north Kerala) region, where there is a dearth of the same.

"The governmentwould adopt a practical solution to address the problem," Vijayan said.

PTI; Kolkata, Jun 15 : The West Bengal government is working on a new law to tackle the menace of fake news and posts on social media, a move which comes against the backdrop of such posts stirring trouble and unrest in many parts of the country.

A Home Department official told PTI that the state government intends to bring more clarity on the nature of the offence and punishment for those responsible for spreading fake news and posting morphed photographs with an aim to disrupt peace and communal harmony or spread hatred in society.

PTI; New Delhi, June 12 : Retail inflation jumped to 4-month high of 4.87 per cent in May on costlier food items such as fruits, vegetables and cereals coupled with high fuel rates.

Based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), the retail inflation was at 4.58 per cent in the preceding month, April. In May 2017, however, it was at a low of 2.18 per cent.

The previous high in retail inflation was in January this year at 5.7 per cent.

PTI; Thane (Maharashtra), Jun 12 : Congress president Rahul Gandhi today slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for not talking about employment for youth and farmers and said his fight was against the government's policies.

Gandhi, who appeared before a court in Bhiwandi town here in connection with a defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker,

also dared the BJP and the RSS to slap as many cases on him as they wanted to.

PTI; Thane (Maharashtra), Jun 12 :  Congress President Rahul

Gandhi will face trial in a defamation case filed against him by a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker after a magistrate court here today framed charges against him.

Gandhi pleaded not guilty in the case.

The 47-year-old Congress leader arrived at the magistrate's court in Bhiwandi at 11.05 am amid heavy security cover and was greeted by people raising slogans in his support.

Ottawa (Reuters); June 16, 2018

Seventy percent of Canadians say they will start looking for ways to avoid buying U.S.-made goods in a threat to ratchet up a trade dispute between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump, an Ipsos Poll showed on Friday.

The poll also found a majority of Americans and Canadians are united in support of Trudeau and opposition to Trump in their countries’ stand-off over the renegotiation of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).