The Hindu Morning Digest: July 17, 2025
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) approved the 'Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana', or PMDDKY, to enhance agricultural productivity and increase adoption of sustainable agricultural practices across the country.
Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka vie over aerospace park after the latter calls off land acquisition in Devanahalli
The Karnataka government's decision to cancel the acquisition of land in Devanahalli for an aerospace park has led to a tug of war between Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka over the future of the project, with Andhra Pradesh Minister Nara Lokesh inviting the aerospace industry to his State and Karnataka Industries Minister M.B. Patil stating that there was no need to relocate.
Madras High Court restrains recitation of Nama Sankeerthanam in residential locality without Collector's permission
Observing that what could be divine music to the ears of some might actually turn out to be a nuisance for others, the Madras High Court on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) restrained the use of a residential house for the recitation of Nama Sankeerthanam (congregational chanting of the names of Hindu Gods) unless the Collector grants permission for using the premises as a prayer hall.
Ex-husband seeks shared custody after Russian woman, kids found living in Karnataka's Gokarna cave
Days after Russian woman Nina Kutina was taken into custody for living in a cave deep inside the forest in Karnataka's Gokarna with her two daughters, her ex-husband, an Israeli citizen, is demanding shared custody of their daughters, saying he wants to be a father to them.
Syria says pulling troops from Druze heartland after U.S. request
Syria announced that its army had begun to withdraw from violence-hit Sweida on Wednesday (July 16, 2025), following a wave of Israeli strikes on the capital and a U.S. call for government forces to leave the majority-Druze southern city.
Trump says he's 'highly unlikely' to fire Fed's Jerome Powell after floating that idea in private
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) that he was 'highly unlikely' to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, a public statement made less than 24 hours after suggesting in a private meeting that he was leaning in favour of dismissing the head of the nation's central bank.
Eight healthy babies born from three people's DNA in Britain free of genetic disease
Eight healthy babies were born in Britain with the help of an experimental technique that uses DNA from three people to help mothers avoid passing devastating rare diseases to their children, researchers reported.
Parliamentary panel clears Income Tax Bill 2025 with 285 suggestions, to be tabled in Monsoon Session
The Select Committee of Parliament that examines the Income Tax Bill-2025 is learnt to have finalised its report on Wednesday (July 16, 2025) with about 285 suggestions to change the legislation.
West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell to retire from international cricket
Two-time Twenty20 World Cup winner Andre Russell will retire from international cricket at age 37 after the second T20 match against Australia on July 22 in his hometown of Kingston, Jamaica, Cricket West Indies (CWI) said on Wednesday.
Lamine Yamal inherits Messi's iconic Barcelona number 10 jersey
Barcelona's electric 18-year-old winger Lamine Yamal has been handed the famous number 10 shirt previously worn by club icon Lionel Messi, capping a remarkable breakthrough season for the teenager.
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- First Post
Ukrainian drone strikes force Kremlin to scale down Navy Day celebrations
Russia dramatically scaled back its Navy Day festivities on Sunday due to mounting security concerns amid a surge in Ukrainian drone attacks. The Kremlin cancelled traditional warship parades in major port cities including St. Petersburg, with officials citing the need to prioritise public safety. read more Russian President Vladimir Putin, second left arrives to visit the frigate "Admiral Grigorovich" in Kronstadt, outside St. Petersburg during Navy Day celebration, Russia. AP Russia scaled back its Navy Day celebrations on Sunday, citing security concerns amid ongoing Ukrainian drone attacks that continue to challenge the Kremlin. Russian authorities called off the warship parades that are typically held to commemorate the annual Navy Day celebrations in St. Petersburg, the Kaliningrad region on the Baltic, and the far-eastern port of Vladivostok. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to reporters' questions about why the parade in St. Petersburg was called off, even as President Vladimir Putin arrived in his hometown to tour the navy headquarters, by saying that 'it's linked to the overall situation, security reasons, which are above all else.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Over the course of the night, 99 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defences, according to the Russian Defence Ministry. It claimed that 51 more drones were shot down close to St. Petersburg later that day. According to local officials, a woman was injured by drone fragments in the Lomonosov area. Due to the drone threat, the Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg halted dozens of flights early on Sunday. Putin paid a visit to St. Petersburg's historic Admiralty headquarters to receive reports on four-day naval manoeuvres that ended on Sunday. 150 vessels from the Baltics to the Pacific participated in the July Storm exercise. In addition to promising to increase the navy's training and build more warships, Putin also stated that 'the navy's strike power and combat capability will rise to a qualitatively new level.' He also visited the Admiral Grigorovich frigate of the Baltic Fleet at the Kronstadt naval base just west of St. Petersburg to hail its crew for fending off a Ukrainian drone attack in the region earlier in the day. Reducing the scale of the Navy Day celebrations reflects Moscow's worries about Ukraine's sweeping drone attacks across the country. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a series of strikes earlier in the war now in its fourth year, Ukraine sank several Russian warships in the Black Sea, crippling Moscow's naval capability and forcing it to redeploy its fleet from Russia-occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk. And in an audacious June 1 attack code-named 'Spiderweb,' Ukraine used drones to hit several Russian air bases hosting long-range bombers across Russia, from the Arctic Kola Peninsula to Siberia. The drones were launched from trucks covertly placed near the bases, taking the Russian military by surprise in a humiliating blow to the Kremlin. The raid destroyed or damaged many of the bombers that had been used by Moscow to launch aerial attacks on Ukraine, providing a major morale boost for Kyiv at a time when Kyiv's undermanned and under-gunned forces are facing Russian attacks along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. Russia continued to batter Ukraine with drone and missile strikes Sunday. In Sumy in Ukraine's northeast, a drone attack damaged civil infrastructure objects, an administrative building and non-residential premises, leaving three people wounded. Elsewhere in the region, two men died after being blown up by a land mine and another woman was injured from a drone attack on another community in the region, the regional military administration said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday and said later on X that he reaffirmed France's support for Kyiv and vowed to raise pressure on Moscow to force it to 'agree to a ceasefire that paves the way for talks leading to a solid and lasting peace, with full European involvement.'
The Hindu
21 minutes ago
- The Hindu
UN to use 'humanitarian pauses' to try to reach Gaza's starving
The United Nations said it would try to reach as many starving people as possible in Gaza after Israel announced it would establish secure land routes in for humanitarian convoys. The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) said it had enough food in, or on its way to, the region to feed the 2.1 million people in the Gaza Strip for almost three months. UN emergency relief coordinator Tom Fletcher said on X he welcomed the announcement of "humanitarian pauses". "In contact with our teams on the ground who will do all we can to reach as many starving people as we can in this window," he said. WFP said the pauses and corridors should allow emergency food to be safely delivered. "Food aid is the only real way for most people inside Gaza to eat," it said in a statement. It said a third of the population had not been eating for days, and 470,000 people in Gaza "are enduring famine-like conditions" that were leading to deaths. WFP said more than 62,000 tonnes of food assistance was needed monthly to cover the entire Gaza population of two million. The agency noted that, on top of Sunday's "pause" announcement, Israel had pledged to allow more trucks to enter Gaza with quicker clearances along with "assurances of no armed forces or shootings near convoys". "Together, we hope these measures will allow for a surge in urgently needed food assistance to reach hungry people without further delays," it said. 'Dystopian landscape' UN rights chief Volker Turk said Israel, as the occupying power in Gaza, was obliged to ensure sufficient food was provided to the population. "Children are starving and dying in front of our eyes. Gaza is a dystopian landscape of deadly attacks and total destruction," he said in a statement. He criticised a U.S. and Israel-backed outfit, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), that in late May began distributing foodstuffs when UN-organised efforts were blocked. Mr. Turk said the GHF's "chaotic, militarised distribution sites were "failing utterly to deliver humanitarian aid at the scope and scale needed". His office says Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians trying to get food aid in Gaza since the GHF started operations -- nearly three-quarters of them in the vicinity of GHF sites. 'Starvation crisis' "The starvation of people in Gaza must end now," UN refugees chief Filippo Grandi said on X. "Standing with UN and NGO colleagues ready to deliver desperately-needed, lifesaving aid to hundreds of thousands at risk of death." Fletcher's UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned on Friday that conditions on the ground in Gaza were "already catastrophic" and deteriorating. "The starvation crisis is deepening," it said. OCHA said UN teams were in place to ramp up deliveries into the Palestinian territory as soon as they were permitted to do so. "If Israel opens the crossings, lets fuel and equipment in, and allows humanitarian staff to operate safely, the UN will accelerate the delivery of food aid, health services, clean water and waste management, nutrition supplies, and shelter materials," it said.
News18
30 minutes ago
- News18
‘Not A US Problem': Trump Assures Help For Gaza But Wants Others To Pitch In
Last Updated: US President Donald Trump urged countries to aid Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, noting the US gave $60 million but received no thanks. US President Donald Trump on Sunday called out other countries to contribute to Gaza region, which is battling a catastrophic humanitarian situation and ongoing hostilities due to Israel-Hamas war. The US President, who is on a visit to Scotland, was sitting next to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, when he was asked for his response to the images of starving children in Gaza. Trump said that Washington has done a lot for Gaza and would send more aid but he suggested other countries also to contribute saying that it's an international problem. 'It's not a US problem, it's an international problem. If we weren't there. I think people would have starved, frankly," he told the reporters as quoted by The Hill. Trump further claimed that the US gave $60 million in aid for Gaza two weeks ago, but 'nobody even acknowledged it." 'Nobody acknowledged it, nobody talks about it, and it makes you feel a little bad when you do that, and no other countries give anything," he said. The US President further accused the Hamas militant group of stealing food that was meant for people in Gaza. 'When I see the children and when I see, especially over the last couple of weeks people are stealing the food, they're stealing the money, they're stealing the money for the food. They're stealing weapons, they're stealing everything," he added. Meanwhile, Trump emphasised that Israel would have to make a decision on next steps in Gaza, adding that he did not know what would happen after moves by Israel to pull out of ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations with the militant group. Trump underscored the importance of securing the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, saying they had suddenly 'hardened" up on the issue. 'They don't want to give them back, and so Israel is going to have to make a decision," he said as quoted by news agency Reuters. The Trump administration last week said it was leaving Gaza ceasefire talks, blaming Hamas for failing to engage in good faith. Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy for peace missions, said the administration is considering alternative plans to secure the freedom of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and the future governance of the territory. Previous talks over a ceasefire and hostage release scheme in Qatar came to a halt this week after the US and Israel withdrew their negotiating teams. Israel is facing mounting pressure from many of its allies, with aid agencies warning of mass starvation having previously criticised plans to drop supplies into Gaza by air. Trump's Plan For Gaza Earlier this year in February during Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the US, Trump had suggested that the US could 'take over" and 'own" Gaza, resettling its population in the process. He had also said that all Palestinians currently living in Gaza — around two million people — should leave and be placed in other countries in the Middle East. 'The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings," Trump had said. 'Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area, do a real job, do something different," he had added. The proposal had drawn condemnation, including from across the Middle East, close US allies and the United Nations. Netanyahu, however, welcomed the 'revolutionary vision" for Gaza. Gaza Crisis At least 127 people in Gaza have died from malnutrition since the war began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza at the start of March in an 11-week blockade. It resumed distributing aid on 27 May with the new and controversial US-Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed trying to retrieve food aid from GHF sites since it began, according to the UN. Israel claimed that the new distribution system stopped aid from reaching Hamas. The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. top videos View all At least 59,676 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry. (With inputs from agencies) view comments Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: July 27, 2025, 23:14 IST News world 'Not A US Problem': Trump Assures Help For Gaza But Wants Others To Pitch In Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
