Yashwi Thakur

[ad_1] KANDALAMA: Time for the daily staff meeting at Sri Lanka's Hotel Amba Yaalu where woman manager Jeewanthi Adhikari jokes: "This won't look very serious, there are only girls around the table."The hotel, on the shores of Lake Kandalama in the green hills of central Sri Lanka, opened in January with a unique selling point -- its staff are exclusively women.It is a first in the country, designed to promote women in a tourism sector where men hold up to 90 percent of hotel jobs."The chairman wanted to start a new hotel with a new concept," said Adhikari.She explained how the idea sprouted from twin blows that hammered the island's tourism industry -- first Covid-19, then the 2022 financial crisis and subsequent political unrest that toppled the president."It has been really a bad time," the 42-year-old said, noting that when […]

[ad_1] Ukrainian security officers escort a handcuffed Chinese national (center) who was captured by Ukrainian forces while fighting on the Russian side, to a press conference in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Picture credit: AP) Ukraine’s decision to present the captured Chinese nationals before the media rasied questions whether it can be a calculated political message aimed at the international community. While the move risks breaching international humanitarian law, which prohibits exposing prisoners of war to the public, the Ukrainian government seemingly weighed the reputational risk against the strategic value of showing the world that Chinese nationals, despite Beijing’s repeated claims of neutrality, were now part of the Russian military campaign. During the press conference held on Monday, the captured Chinese fighters, who spoke Mandarin with the help of a translator and sat under the watchful eye of armed guards, insisted they acted […]

[ad_1] Harvard is where Mark Zuckerberg built the prototype of Facebook to rate his classmates, where eight US presidents learned the art of governing, and where a university president was recently forced to resign for forgetting how citations work.It’s a symbol of elite ambition, intellectual arrogance, and institutional prestige — all wrapped in crimson. Naturally, Donald Trump hates it.In 2025, the second Trump administration is not just picking a fight with Harvard. It’s using the full weight of the federal government to throttle it. With funding frozen, visas under threat, and political pressure mounting, this is less a spat than a strategic assault — one that’s reshaping the relationship between power and higher education.Let’s dissect it in ten blunt, brutal, but entirely true points.1. Trump froze $2.3 billion in federal funds to HarvardThis isn’t a political rumour — it’s a […]

[ad_1] Harvard University may lose the ability to enroll foreign students if it does not comply with the policy changes suggested by the Trump administration, US Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday.Days after the government stripped the Ivy League university of federal funding and contracts worth over 2 billion, the DHS also terminated grants totaling over $2.7 million over "illegal and violent activities."Also read: Donald Trump issues new threat after Harvard University defies US govt demandsDHS Secretary Kristi Noem demanded records of the violent activities of foreign student visa holders by April 30 in a letter."And if Harvard cannot verify it is in full compliance with its reporting requirements, the university will lose the privilege of enrolling foreign students," Noem said in a statement."With a $53.2 billion endowment, Harvard can fund its own chaos — DHS won't," Noem said, […]

[ad_1] US President Donald Trump hugged Patty Morin, the grieving mother of Rachel Morin, during an emotional moment at the White House on Wednesday, reports the Daily Mail. “She’s been through hell,” Trump said, as he held her in the Oval Office. Rachel Morin, a mother of five from Maryland, was raped and murdered while hiking. Her killer, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a fugitive from El Salvador, was later convicted of the crime.Trump invited Morin to the White House as part of his push to defend strict deportation policies. Comforting her during the meeting, he told her, “Your daughter is looking down proud of you, you know that… she’s proud of you.”The appearance came just hours after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen for flying to El Salvador to visit Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Garcia, a […]

[ad_1] Patty Morin, the mother of Rachel Morin murdered in Maryland, made a rare and emotional appearance at the White House on Wednesday. Her daughter was killed in 2023. The man found guilty recently, Victor Martinez-Hernandez, had illegally entered the United States from El Salvador. Morin, invited as a “special guest,” addressed reporters alongside White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. “Why should we allow violent criminals that have no conscience at all to murder our mothers, our sisters, our daughters?” she asked. “We are American citizens. We need to protect our families, our borders, our children.” She also urged the press to report the truth: “Please tell the truth. Tell how violent it really is. This is about protecting our children. It’s more than just politics or votes or just anything,” she said before leaving the room.White House press briefing: […]

[ad_1] An Indian student is among four international students from Michigan public universities who have filed a federal lawsuit against the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeking reinstatement of their immigration status after it was allegedly terminated without proper notice or explanation.Chinmay Deore from India, Xiangyun Bu and Qiuyi Yang from China, and Yogesh Joshi from Nepal are challenging the abrupt cancellation of their F-1 student visas in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a US government database that tracks nonimmigrant students. The students are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, which also filed a request for an emergency injunction.“The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate the status of these students so that they will be able to complete their studies and avoid facing the risk of detention and deportation,” the ACLU said […]

[ad_1] JD Vance and Usha Vance (AP photo) Vice President JD Vance’s upcoming trip to India may be billed in Washington as another high-level diplomatic tour—strengthening economic ties, exploring strategic partnerships, and affirming the US-India bond in an age of global flux. But for many Indians, especially the Telugu-speaking community, this visit carries a deeper emotional significance.Because JD Vance is not just America’s Vice President. He’s also a Telugu damaad—India’s son-in-law.And in India, that’s not just a sentimental detail. It’s a cultural status.A Telugu Bond, Rooted in FamilyJD Vance is married to Usha Chilukuri Vance, a Yale Law graduate and accomplished attorney whose family hails from Andhra Pradesh. Fluent in Telugu and deeply connected to her cultural heritage, Usha is one of the most prominent Indian-American women in conservative legal circles. She’s also been a transformative influence in JD’s life—not […]

[ad_1] Maine governor Janet Mills (left) and US President Donald Trump United States attorney general Pam Bondi on Wednesday announced the US Department of Justice is suing the state of Maine for not complying with President Donald Trump's executive order banning transgender athletes from women's sports."Today, the Department of Justice is announcing a civil lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education. Maine is discriminating against women by failing to protect them in women's sports," Bondi told a news conference, news agency AFP reported.In doing this, Bondi said, Maine was violating Title IX, the landmark civil rights law which forbids discrimination on the basis of gender in educational facilities which receive federal support.Bondi's announcement comes after the Trump administration moved last week to cut Maine's federal funding for public schools over the issue of transgender athletes in women's sports. The Republican's […]

[ad_1] Fire in United Airlines flight A United Airlines flight which took off from the Denver International Airport for Canada's Edmonton, was forced to return to Denver, and made an emergency landing due to fire in one of its engines.The fire was reportedly due to the engine striking an animal, possibly a rabbit. The incident occurred shortly after the flight departed on Sunday."It looks like you got, every once in awhile, little bursts of flame coming out the right engine,” an air traffic controller communicated to the flight crew over the radio, according to news agency AP.“We think we lost our right motor,” a crew member replied.On being told it was a rabbit which apparently got sucked into the engine, the pilot responded, "Rabbit through the number 2, that'll do it."United Flight 2325, being operated by a Boeing 737-800, was […]