Author: Rahul M

The meeting was so secret that only the attendees, a handful of top Iranian government officials and military commanders, knew the time and location.It was June 16, the fourth day of Iran’s war with Israel, and Iran’s Supreme National Security Council gathered for an emergency meeting in a bunker 100 feet below a mountain slope in the western part of Tehran. For days, a relentless Israeli bombing campaign had destroyed military, government and nuclear sites around Iran, and had decimated the top echelon of Iran’s military commanders and nuclear scientists. The officials, who included President Masoud Pezeshkian, the heads of…

New Delhi: Ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar, the Congress is running a high-voltage campaign, alleging a nexus between the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP to ‘manipulate’ voter rolls across multiple states to ‘rig’ the results. Away from the public eye, however, the party is also focused on fixing internal gaps in its election management, acknowledging organisational weaknesses and offering ways to address them at multiple levels.   Brochures developed by the party’s training department on election preparedness reflect candid assessments of the lapses—from poor voter outreach and low booth-level presence to lack of trained polling…

New DelhiSeptember 1, 2025 06:58 AM IST First published on: Sep 1, 2025 at 06:54 AM IST The Registrar General of India (RGI) has sought a Rs 14,618.95-crore budget to conduct the Census 2027, which will be the first “Digital Census” and collect data on caste, The Indian Express has learnt. Earlier this month, the RGI, which comes under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), circulated a note seeking the approval of the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC), a central body under the Ministry of Finance that appraises government schemes and projects. Once cleared by the EFC, the MHA will…

MUKACHEVO, Ukraine — The missiles were a shock in this western Ukrainian city spared from much of the war, a place so far from the front lines it does not even have a curfew. When the mayor heard the first strike, he thought it was thunder. But the target and timing of the cruise missiles were even more surprising. They hit a factory run by an American multinational, best known for making coffee machines, six days after President Donald Trump met President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. “Two hits in one location?”…

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has enacted a sweeping suspension of approvals of almost all types of visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders, according to U.S. officials.The new policy goes beyond the restrictions announced by U.S. officials recently on visitor visas for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. Last week, the State Department also said it would not issue visas to Palestinian officials to attend the annual U.N. General Assembly in New York this month. The more sweeping measures, laid out in an Aug. 18 cable sent by State Department headquarters to all U.S. embassies and consulates, would also prevent many…

Warner Bros. As William Bludworth (Tony Todd) has exhaustively told so many souls over the years, you can’t cheat death. The grim reaper has a habit of overwhelming people and realizing its ambitions, even if you get a premonition that helps you temporarily evade its clutches. The “Final Destination” movies have spent decades entertainingly reminding moviegoers that death is everywhere. You’re never safe from meeting your maker, even if you’re doing something as simple as going for a jog or receiving LASIK surgery. These movies have helped inspire so much anxiety in…

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Sunday that the war in Ukraine could still last for a long time and ending it quickly at the country’s expense was not an option.In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF, Merz, when asked whether a ceasefire might be possible this year, said he hasn’t lost hope but “harbors no illusions,” and emphasized that supporting the country to defend itself against Russia was an “absolute priority.” “We are trying to end it as quickly as possible. But certainly not at the price of Ukraine’s capitulation. You could end the war tomorrow if Ukraine surrendered…

Indian pacer Ishant Sharma recalled scoring his maiden Test half-century against the West Indies back in 2019 at Kingston and how he faced some teasing from his close friend and teammate Virat Kohli, who jokingly asked him to just “play the ball”.   Ishant spoke about this hilarious banter and his first-ever batting milestone in international cricket on the official X handle of the Gujarat Titans (GT). Add Zee News as a Preferred Source   Speaking on his half-century, Ishant said, “Oh, that is a special one. Scoring my first 50 against the West Indies. I was very relaxed. I…

In one of the most dramatic turnarounds of Pro Kabaddi League Season 12 so far, U Mumba stunned the Tamil Thalaivas with a spirited comeback at the Vishwanadh Sports Club in Vizag on Sunday. Despite Arjun Deshwal’s Super 10 powering the Thalaivas for much of the match, a late surge from Ajit Chouhan and Anil Mohan flipped the contest on its head. U Mumba, once trailing by nine points, completed the comeback to register a thrilling 36-33 victory. The match began with Ajit Chouhan giving them the early lead through successful raids, before Arjun Deshwal’s Do-or-Die raid in the 16th…

The Karnataka Police arrested a person for allegedly marrying a minor girl and impregnating her. The issue came to light after the minor girl was admitted to a hospital for delivery. The accused is a grama panchayat president in Belagavi district and had purportedly married the girl in 2023, when she was 15 years old. After news about the minor girl spread, the district child protection unit filed a complaint with the Belagavi women’s police station. Thereafter, the police registered a case under sections of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Protection of Children From Sexual Offences Act, and the…