Author: Rahul M

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Hospital officials in Gaza say Israel has handed over the bodies of 30 Palestinians, a day after Palestinian militants in Gaza turned over the remains of two hostages to Israel.Officials at Nasser Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis confirmed receiving the bodies but did not immediately say what state they were in or identify them.The exchange of Palestinian remains for hostage remains is the latest indication that the fraught Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement is moving forward, despite deadly Israeli strikes on Gaza this week.Before Friday’s release, Israel had returned the bodies of 195…

Guillermo del Toro loves a challenge. Nothing the 61-year-old director does could be termed “half-assed,” and each of his movies is planned, scripted, and storyboarded with immense attention to detail.Such discipline is evident in Frankenstein, his adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. It’s a movie del Toro has been trying to make for years, and it shows. The elaborate sets and costumes—as well as some embellishing of Shelley’s story—could only be the work of someone as connected as he is with his source material.Raised in a deeply Catholic family in Guadalajara, Mexico, del Toro was so enthralled when he saw…

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N. human rights chief said Friday that U.S. military strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean allegedly carrying illegal drugs from South America are “unacceptable” and must stop.The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk called for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to mark the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization. Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk’s office, relayed his message on Friday at a regular U.N. briefing: “These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The U.S. must halt such attacks…

J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings novels—and the associated “legendarium” of characters, histories, myths, maps, and constructed languages—have served as a bedrock of so-called “nerd culture” since their publication in the mid-1950s.With its clear-cut characterizations, and (more-or-less) cleanly delineated lines between Good and Evil, Tolkien’s imagined Middle-earth—a vast and geographically variegated realm teeming with elves, dwarves, wizards, dragons, orcs, and halflings—can be fairly called archetypal. It is the sort of modern myth that can be adapted to any time, place, or scenario. Well, almost any.Recently, the US Department of Homeland Security has taken to “Shire-posting.” That is: using quotes…

The shocking murder of Dular Chand Yadav on 30 October in Bihar’s Mokama Assembly constituency has sent tremors through the state’s political landscape. The influential local leader, once a close aide of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and recently a supporter of Jan Suraaj candidate Piyush Priyadarshi, was gunned down during a violent clash between rival groups while campaigning. His death has deepened political tensions just as Bihar heads into a fiercely contested election. A Murder That Rocked Mokama According to police, Yadav was shot during a confrontation between two groups in Mokama. His family has filed an FIR, directly…

Pakistan: Another ‘information blackout’ in Balochistan as mobile internet suspended for 24 hours Quetta, Oct 31 (IANS) The Balochistan government on Friday suspended mobile data services in Quetta for 24 hours due to the “peculiar law and order situation”, local media reported. In a letter sent on Thursday, the Balochistan government requested Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior that the relevant authorities be directed to suspend 3G/4G internet services in Quetta on October 31 for 24 hours, Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn reported. The letter stated, “Owing to the peculiar law and order situation and threat perceptions, the services of 3G and 4G…

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) released its Bihar election manifesto on Friday, promising sops to compete with the Opposition Mahagathbandhan’s manifesto. If the INDIA bloc manifesto promised a government job for one member of each family, the NDA has promised more than 1 crore government jobs given based on skills ascertained by a Skill Census. The manifesto also promises a mega skill centre in every district of Bihar to transform the state into a global skilling centre. The NDA manifesto has a clear focus on women. It promises up to Rs 2 lakh in assistance to women under the Mukhya…

Siwan: If the Opposition alliance wins, it will be the “beginning of the end of Modi”, CPI(ML)-Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya said of the high-stakes Bihar assembly election, the first phase of which is due in days.Bhattacharya’s CPI(ML) had sprung a surprise in the 2020 assembly election, winning 12 of the 19 seats it had contested. The party’s performance that year had helped it emerge as a significant political force in the state, outperforming even the Congress in various regions. Of the 70 seats that Congress had fought for in the 243-constituent assembly, it had won just 19. This election, Bhattacharya…

Rights body exposes systemic repression of lawyers in Bangladesh under Yunus regime Dhaka, Oct 31 (IANS) A leading international human rights organisation highlighted alarming patterns of violence, intimidation, and systemic repression against lawyers in Bangladesh under the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government. In its report titled, “Crackdown Against Independence of Lawyers in Bangladesh under the Interim Government”, Justice Makers Bangladesh in France (JMBF) documented one of the most comprehensive records of state-sponsored persecution of the legal profession in Bangladesh’s history following the fall of the Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina. Drawing on 268 verified incidents affecting 849 lawyers between…

Show Quick Read Key points generated by AI, verified by newsroom Days after the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) (JDU), Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) – unveiled its joint manifesto in Patna. The release took place during a press conference attended by senior leaders of the alliance. Major Promises In The NDA’s ‘Sankalp Patra’ The manifesto outlined…