US Navy to rename ship honouring LGBTQ+ rights icon Harvey Milk
In an unusual move during Pride Month, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed the US Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, stripping the ship of its tribute to the slain gay rights icon and Korean War veteran.Officials said the decision aligns with President Donald Trump's broader agenda to 're-establish the warrior culture' within the US military and reverse diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.advertisementThe Navy is assembling a small internal team under Secretary John Phelan to select a new name for the replenishment oiler, with an announcement expected later this month. 'This action is about restoring focus on military readiness and strength,' said one official familiar with the memo authorizing the change, according to the Associated Press report.
The move, first reported by Military.com, has drawn strong condemnation from civil rights leaders and lawmakers. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called it a 'shameful, vindictive erasure' of a man who gave his life in service to equality. 'This spiteful move does not strengthen our national security or the 'warrior ethos,'' Pelosi said. 'It is a surrender of a fundamental American value: to honor the legacy of those who worked to build a better country.'Harvey Milk, a Navy veteran who served in the 1950s before being discharged due to his sexuality, went on to become one of America's first openly gay elected officials. As a San Francisco Supervisor, he authored and passed a landmark law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation before being assassinated in 1978.advertisementThe USNS Harvey Milk was christened in 2021 as part of a John Lewis class of oilers named after civil rights figures. Former Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro said the naming was about 'amending the wrongs of the past' and honoring LGBTQ service members.While rare, renaming naval ships is not unprecedented. The Biden administration rebranded two vessels in 2023 to remove Confederate-era names. However, in maritime tradition, changing a ship's name is often considered a bad omen—'tempting the sea gods,' as lore goes.The Milk ship, with a civilian crew 125, began active service in late 2024 and is currently undergoing maintenance in Alabama. Despite its short operational history, its namesake's legacy has stirred deep symbolic meaning — a legacy now abruptly cast overboard by the current administration.(With inputs from Associated Press)
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India Today
33 minutes ago
- India Today
He does this to his dad, Shashi Tharoor quips after son's curveball on Op Sindoor
In a rare and heartwarming moment during India's diplomatic outreach in Washington DC following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor found himself fielding a question from his son, Ishaan senior Tharoor, who is part of an all-party delegation visiting key global capitals to highlight the Pahalgam carnage and India's response to it, was pleasantly surprised when Ishaan - introducing himself jokingly as asking "in a personal capacity and mostly to say hi before you go off for your next engagement" - posed a pointed query about terrorism advertisementAs Ishaan took the mic, Shashi Tharoor smiled and gestured for him to raise it properly before he responded. The question, both timely and probing, was whether any country had asked the Indian delegation for evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pahalgam attack, given Pakistan's repeated denials. "I'm very glad you raised this. I didn't plant it, I promise you. This guy does this to his dad," Tharoor said candidly. He stated that "no one had any doubt," and that the delegation was not asked for evidence by any foreign government. However, he acknowledged that the media in "two or three places" did raise the question."Let me say very clearly that India would not have done this without convincing evidence," he said. Citing three reasons for international understanding, Tharoor highlighted the 37-year pattern of terror attacks originating from Pakistan, each followed by habitual reminded the audience of Pakistan's disavowal of knowledge of Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, even when he was eventually found in a compound adjacent to an army camp in Abbottabad. He also mentioned Pakistan's denial of involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks."So we know what Pakistan's all about. They will dispatch terrorists, they will deny they did so until they're actually caught with red hands," he also dismissed the idea of American mediation between India and Pakistan. The US has, on several occasions, taken credit for brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, with President Donald Trump claiming that he strongarmed the two nuclear nations with the threat of trade and tariffs. India, however, has denied the claim on several occasions. "Mediation is not a term that we are particularly willing to entertain. You're implying an equivalence which simply doesn't exist," he said. He added, "There is no equivalence between terrorists and their victims. There is no equivalence between a country that provides a safe haven to terrorism and a country that's a flourishing multi-party democracy that's trying to get on with its business."Addressing US diplomatic engagement following the attacks, Tharoor said the PM Modi-led government had received calls at high levels from the US, and that India appreciated the concern and interest. However, he said, "They must have been making similar calls at the highest levels to the Pakistan side. Because that's the side that needed persuading to stop this process... But that's guesswork on my part."advertisementReiterating the nature of India's actions in Operation Sindoor, Tharoor drew a sharp contrast between the two nations' conduct. "India hit terror bases in Pakistan, while Pakistan hit civilians in retaliation, since there are no terror bases in India," he asserted. "There are no terrorist organisations in India listed in the UN or the State Department anywhere else. So, what do you hit? You hit civilians, innocent people. That is the asymmetry of this particular conflict."Tharoor said India's response was "precise and calibrated", and stressed that India has "systematically signalled" it is not interested in war with Pakistan. "We're not interested in attacking Pakistani civilians, ordinary people. This is about India versus terrorism," he the question of Chinese military technology and Pakistan's alleged use of it, Tharoor said India responded innovatively and effectively during the conflict. The Thiruvananthapuram MP spoke about China's interest in Pakistan, but added that despite Islamabad's use of Beijing's technology, India was able to manoeuvre its military plans to give a befitting reply to supposed to be something called a kill chain that the Chinese specialise in. We simply did things in a different way. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to hit 11 airfields," he explained. He acknowledged the depth of China's investment in Pakistan through the Belt and Road Initiative, particularly the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and said India had "no illusions" about China's strategic stake in on the broader context, Tharoor described the war as "a distraction" for India, but "fundamental" to the Pakistani military's sense of self-importance."There was a lot of chuckling in Delhi," Tharoor remarked wryly, "when the failed general became a field marshal by promoting himself, as you said, with an extra star".Tune InTrending Reel
Time of India
37 minutes ago
- Time of India
Help wanted: Experienced garbologists
R Edwin Sudhir, a Bengaluru-based journalist and writer, has the interesting privilege of living in a once-sleepy town which has morphed into a city fast-forwarding into a connected world but sadly disconnected with the ground realities of more people competing for shrinking space. The experience is oddly exhilarating yet often mildly alarming for long-time residents who see how technology has transformed a sleepy beantown into a bustling boomtown. And swept its residents too in the headlong rush to keep pace. LESS ... MORE Bengaluru generates humongous tonnes of garbage every day. The city's civic body may give you an official figure but the actual figure could be higher, as it usually is with government data. A lot of it ends up on pavements and street corners and some piles up on overflowing vans parked by the roads. Much of it is carted away by smelly vehicles which do the rounds every morning. Men from them dart across to pick up (mostly) black, (often) biodegradable bags from bungalows or tip the contents of blue, plastic drums from apartments into their trucks. Off they go to one landfill or the other on the outskirts of the city. This exercise is repeated every morning with some regularity, marred by festival days or flash strikes. Some of this garbage is segregated and some is mixed. That's why Greater Bengaluru Authority desperately needs garbologists. Its precursor, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, tried bravely to deal with the refuse but GBA needs men and women trained in garbology. Sadly, no university in India seems to offer this course and that's where the three Bengaluru universities can be pioneers. There are several models, like the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Our varsities can use the American models to design course content and customise material to local conditions. Students can intern with GBA and once they graduate, they can be absorbed into its solid waste department. It's not rocket science, after all. Collect waste from residents, segregrate it and dispose it as per protocol. Waste-to-energy management is a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs willing to get their hands dirty. Anu Aga's Thermax Ltd in Pune has shown it's eminently possible. Of course, residents need to do their bit, without leaving everything to the SWD. For starters, segregate waste, ensure black spots don't form, don't dump plastic water bottles and empty chips packets into drains, among others. Every bit helps. To circle back a bit, garbologists are not only waste disposers. They analyse a city's waste to look for patterns of how it's generated and look for better ways to clear it. Bengaluru will be going to the root cause of the garbage problem and hopefully find solutions quickly. Lest we are forced to suffer an olfactory assault of rotting waste and suffer the ignominy of going from Garden City Garbage City in the span of just a few decades. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email Disclaimer Views expressed above are the author's own.
NDTV
37 minutes ago
- NDTV
Trump Says It Might Be Better To Let Ukraine, Russia "Fight For A While"
President Donald Trump said Thursday that it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia "fight for a while" before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. In an Oval Office meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump likened the war in Ukraine - which Russia invaded in early 2022 - to a fight between two young children who hated each other. "Sometimes you're better off letting them a fight for a while and then pulling them apart," Trump said. He added that he had relayed that analogy to Russian President Vladimir Putin in their phone conversation on Wednesday. Asked about Trump's comments as the two leaders sat next to each other, Merz stressed that both he and Trump agreed "on this war and how terrible this war is going on," pointing to the U.S. president as the "key person in the world" who would be able to stop the bloodshed. But Merz also emphasized that Germany "was on the side of Ukraine" and that Kyiv was only attacking military targets, not Russian civilians. "We are trying to get them stronger," Merz said of Ukraine. Thursday's meeting marked the first time that the two leaders sat down in person. After exchanging pleasantries - Merz gave Trump a gold-framed birth certificate of the U.S president's grandfather Friedrich Trump, who immigrated from Germany - the two leaders were to discuss issues such as Ukraine, trade and NATO spending. Trump and Merz have spoken several times by phone, either bilaterally or with other European leaders, since Merz took office on May 6. German officials say the two leaders have started to build a "decent" relationship, with Merz wanting to avoid the antagonism that defined Trump's relationship with one of his predecessors, Angela Merkel, in the Republican president's first term. The 69-year-old Merz - who came to office with an extensive business background - is a conservative former rival of Merkel's who took over her party after she retired from politics. A White House official said topics that Trump is likely to raise with Merz include Germany's defense spending, trade, Ukraine and what the official called "democratic backsliding," saying the administration's view is that shared values such as freedom of speech have deteriorated in Germany and the country should reverse course. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview the discussions. But Merz told reporters Thursday morning that if Trump wanted to talk German domestic politics, he was ready to do that but he also stressed Germany holds back when it comes to American domestic politics. Merz has thrown himself into diplomacy on Ukraine, traveling to Kyiv with fellow European leaders days after taking office and receiving Zelenskyy in Berlin last week. He has thanked Trump for his support for an unconditional ceasefire while rejecting the idea of "dictated peace" or the "subjugation" of Ukraine and advocating for more sanctions against Russia. In their first phone call since Merz became chancellor, Trump said he would support the efforts of Germany and other European countries to achieve peace, according to a readout from the German government. Merz also said last month that "it is of paramount importance that the political West not let itself be divided, so I will continue to make every effort to produce the greatest possible unity between the European and American partners." Under Merz's immediate predecessor, Olaf Scholz, Germany became the second-biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine after the United States. Merz has vowed to keep up the support and last week pledged to help Ukraine develop its own long-range missile systems that would be free of any range limits. In his remarks on Thursday, Trump still left the threat of sanctions on the table. He said sanctions could be imposed for both Ukraine and Russia. "When I see the moment where it's not going to stop ... we'll be very, very tough," Trump said. At home, Merz's government is intensifying a drive that Scholz started to bolster the German military after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In Trump's first term, Berlin was a target of his ire for failing to meet the current NATO target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense, and Trump is now demanding at least 5% from allies. The White House official said the upcoming NATO summit in the Netherlands later this month is a "good opportunity" for Germany to commit to meeting that 5% mark. Scholz set up a 100 billion euro ($115 billion) special fund to modernize Germany's armed forces - called the Bundeswehr - which had suffered from years of neglect. Germany has met the 2% target thanks to the fund, but it will be used up in 2027. Merz has said that "the government will in the future provide all the financing the Bundeswehr needs to become the strongest conventional army in Europe." He has endorsed a plan for all allies to aim to spend 3.5% of GDP on their defense budgets by 2032, plus an extra 1.5% on potentially defense-related things like infrastructure. Another top priority for Merz is to get Germany's economy, Europe's biggest, moving again after it shrank the past two years. He wants to make it a "locomotive of growth," but Trump's tariff threats are a potential obstacle for a country whose exports have been a key strength. At present, the economy is forecast to stagnate in 2025. Germany exported $160 billion worth of goods to the U.S. last year, according to the Census Bureau. That was about $85 billion more than what the U.S. sent to Germany, a trade deficit that Trump wants to erase. "Germany is one of the very big investors in America," Merz told reporters Thursday morning. "Only a few countries invest more than Germany in the USA. We are in third place in terms of foreign direct investment." The U.S. president has specifically gone after the German auto sector, which includes major brands such as Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche and Volkswagen. Americans bought $36 billion worth of cars, trucks and auto parts from Germany last year, while the Germans purchased $10.2 billion worth of vehicles and parts from the U.S. Trump's 25% tariff on autos and parts is specifically designed to increase the cost of German-made automobiles in hopes of causing them to move their factories to the U.S., even though many of the companies already have plants in the U.S. with Volkswagen in Tennessee, BMW in South Carolina and Mercedes-Benz in Alabama and South Carolina. There's only so much Merz can achieve on his view that tariffs "benefit no one and damage everyone" while in Washington, as trade negotiations are a matter for the European Union's executive commission. Trump recently delayed a planned 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union, which would have otherwise gone into effect this month. One source of strain in recent months is a speech Vice President JD Vance gave in Munich shortly before Germany's election in February, in which he lectured European leaders about the state of democracy on the continent and said there is no place for "firewalls." That term is frequently used to describe mainstream German parties' refusal to work with the far-right Alternative for Germany, which finished second in the election and is now the biggest opposition party. Merz criticized the comments. He told ARD television last month that it isn't the place of a U.S. vice president "to say something like that to us in Germany; I wouldn't do it in America, either." (This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
