Berjis Desai’s crime thriller “Murder at the Racecourse” keeps you on the edge
Desai, a former journalist, is also a former racing steward and thoroughbred horse breeder, draws from his deep knowledge of the racing world and brings his signature storytelling style to craft a tale that combines authenticity with a Hitchcockian level of suspense.
Big blow to former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna as SC denies bail in rape case
On May 31, he was arrested from Bengaluru airport by CID’s SIT on his return from Germany where he remained for 35 days after hundreds of explicit videos surfaced allegedly featuring him with multiple women. He lost the Lok Sabha election by over 40,000 votes.
State education chief ‘on GOP radar’ launches gameplan for nixing cabinet department
EXCLUSIVE: As President-elect Donald Trump privately storyboards his cabinet choices, one top state official who is rumored to be on the shortlist for Secretary of Education is releasing his game plan for shifting the department’s duties to states and parents, Fox News Digital has learned. In a memo to Oklahoma parents and school administrators, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters will state that the federal agency has “hijacked our education system using taxpayer dollars to impose harmful policies and control what’s taught in our schools.” Some issues Walters said he is bringing to the fore both in the memo and what he is calling a Trump Education Advisory Team to be announced Monday. The Department of Education is a relatively new stand-alone cabinet agency created under former President Jimmy Carter, which his successor, Ronald Reagan, called to shutter during his 1982 State of the Union. OKLAHOMA SCHOOLS CHIEF BILLS KAMALA HARRIS $474M FOR COSTS ASSOCIATED WITH ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION Tenets include ending “social indoctrination” in the classroom and promoting patriotism through curriculum. In a Friday interview, Walters said the team will organize priorities for schools to be in line with Trump administration education policies, based on what the president-elect has signaled that he will do in that regard. With the prospect of a shuttered Department of Education, Walters said that he will plan out how to fill any holes left by federal programs and develop legislative recommendations. At an October rally in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Trump said he is “going to close the Department of Education and move education back to the states.” “And we’re going to do it fast. We’ll get somebody great [as secretary].” He namedropped former Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y. who had accompanied him, as well as Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Walters also remains “on Republicans’ radar” in that regard, according to Education Week. He said on Friday that Democrats failed to challenge Trump on education policy likely because his positions already resonated with the American public, alluding to the recent scholastic controversies in Virginia and elsewhere. “We’re going to be the tip of the spear in instituting President Trump’s agenda. This is to ensure that we are in complete alignment with the most aggressive, comprehensive and conservative education agenda the country has ever seen,” he said. Walters said he is confident that Trump will follow through and shutter the agency, and that it will result in increased aptitude among students less burdened by red tape, redundancies to state agencies, and social policy edicts. STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF DIRECTS MILLIONS TO FUND A BIBLE IN EVERY SCHOOL “I mean, President Biden came out in the middle of the summer and told us we had to put boys in girl’s bathrooms,” he said. Whether Trump ultimately chooses him, Walters said he will remain focused on bringing Oklahoma in-line with Trumpian policies, and creating a roadmap for other states. Improving education, he added, goes far beyond curriculum and will have lasting impacts on the economy, jobs and more. “Parents wanted to hear that . . . our schools are not here to tell our kids this is an evil, racist country and building this indoctrination,” he said. “We want to support families and school choice.” The transition plan he crafted also depicts how the education system can continue to run without the influence of teachers’ unions that comes with the present top-down system. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP He said that American Federation of Teachers boss Randi Weingarten put his picture on a screen after Trump’s during a recent union convention, and that his response was Tuesday’s “definitive win” by pro-school-choice candidates. “It’s just it’s so exciting to see this agenda come to fruition,” he said. In the current Congress, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., also authored a bill abolishing the Department of Education. It was referred to and remains in committee. Fox News Digital reached out to the Trump campaign for information on the cabinet shortlist, as well as to the Department of Education for a response to Walters’ plans. A representative for the latter referred Fox News Digital to the Trump campaign.
‘Saints have in every age, helped humanity…’: PM Modi at 200th anniversary of Shree Swaminarayan Mandir
The Prime Minister also asserted that this event is not just a praise of history. It is a great opportunity for every person like him, who has grown up with unflinching faith in Vadtal Dham.
Philly stakes: Trump appears to overperform in surprising Pennsylvania places
No Republican presidential candidate has won Philadelphia County since Herbert Hoover’s ill-fated 1932 contest, and Donald Trump was no different. Pennsylvania’s largest city and several other blue bastions saw marked movement in the mogul’s direction last week, according to post-mortem figures. Of the top 10 counties where Trump overperformed his 2020 numbers the most, six are or were majority Democrat. Trump increased his margin the most – by 7.5 points – in the Poconos’ Monroe County, a rapidly suburbanizing area that has been trending blue with ex-pats from New York City suburbs moving in. Philadelphia fell to sixth out of 67 counties, according to New York Times data. TRUMP TRAIN CHUGS PAST 2020 MARGINS PARTICULARLY AMONG HISPANICS, NORTHEASTERNERS Vice President Harris still won Philadelphia by 59 points, but Trump increased his margin by five points, which, accounting for the exponentially larger population, is many more voters than other counties with similar margins. The turnout for Trump in the city may also have positive implications beyond the presidency. Republicans are also on the rare verge of picking up a state Senate seat in the city, as local outlets reported Thursday. The challenger, Joe Picozzi, is primed to pick up Democrat Jimmy Dillon’s seat in the working-class neighborhood of Mayfair. All three of Pennsylvania’s row offices – attorney general, auditor and treasurer – will be Republican, no doubt buoyed by raw-vote tranches from dense counties where Trump overperformed. After Republicans upset Democrats’ voter-registration advantage in Luzerne County – home to Wilkes-Barre – two months before the election, Trump also made his second-biggest gain there over 2020, by 5.7 points. President Biden was born in Wilkes-Barre’s twin city, Scranton, where reliably Democrat Lackawanna County saw Trump’s third-best improvement. Harris narrowly won Lehigh County, where the state’s third-largest city sits. Both candidates visited Allentown in the closing days. Statistics yet to come will show whether Trump’s reported boost from Hispanics helped the trend in Lehigh, Philadelphia and Berks, home to Latino-majority Reading. TRUMP RALLIES IN PA CITY WITH HIGHEST PROPORTIONAL HISPANIC POPULATION Trump’s fourth-best improvement came from Lehigh, where the growing Latino population in bluer areas lives alongside historically redder Pennsylvania German communities. Trump also won back Lehigh’s sister county, Northampton, from Biden after pulling off a shocking upset there in 2016. Together, Lehigh and Northampton form the postindustrial Lehigh Valley. On Election Day, local outlets reported hourslong lines at the Banana Factory in Bethlehem, where energized Democrat-supporting students at Lehigh University queued to cast their ballot. In the end, it was Trump who overperformed in the bellwether region, which colloquially includes New Jersey’s Warren County. Trump handily won there, too, along with Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J.; another closely watched contest in a blue area. Trump’s coattails also ran long in the Lehigh Valley as its Democrat congresswoman, Susan Wild, tweeted her concession to state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Macungie. Wild survived three nail-biters since taking the seat upon the retirement of anti-Trump Republican Charlie Dent in 2018. Trump also overperformed in rural Pike County, the state’s northeast corner, which is anchored by reliably Democrat Milford. He also squeaked out a 0.1% win in Bucks County, the most “swing” of Philadelphia’s suburbs. None of Philadelphia’s other collar counties have gone for a Republican since George W. Bush won Chester County in 2004. Republicans historically saw their widest declines in those Philadelphia collar counties in the time since the Bush-Kerry contest, until Tuesday. The prospect of a Republican Senate leader being elected from the region seems impossible at present. But now-Judge Dominic Pileggi of Delaware County did just that 20 years ago, and the Democrat supermajority city of Chester even elected Republican Wendell Butler Jr. for one term at the time. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP But Trump made progress in Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and Philadelphia this year. One place that Republican activists had worked hard to flip red this year was otherwise-rural Centre County, home to Penn State University. While Harris ultimately took Centre by two points, Republicans made gains there with Trump performing three points better than in 2020. Pennsylvania wasn’t all GOP gains, however, as Harris gave Democrats marginal hope in several mid-state counties, particularly those within the hard-fought contest between Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and Democratic news anchor Janelle Stelson. Trump won suburban Cumberland County, bordering Harrisburg, by 10 points, but Democrats performed one point better there than in past years, according to Times data. The same could be said for neighboring deep-red Perry County, where Trump won by 50. Adams County, home to Gettysburg; Jefferson County, home to Punxsutawney; Snyder County, home to Susquehanna University; and Juniata County all saw Democrats gain a fraction of a point over 2020. Trump gained in Harrisburg’s otherwise-rural Dauphin County itself, but Harris won it by six.
Trump to appoint former ICE Director Tom Homan as next ‘border czar’: ‘nobody better at policing our borders’
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he plans to appoint Thomas Homan as the next ‘border czar.’ Trump made the announcement on his social media platform Truth Social. “I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders. Likewise, Tom Homan will be in charge of all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin. Congratulations to Tom. I have no doubt he will do a fantastic, and long awaited for, job.” HOW HARRIS WAS DOGGED BY ‘BORDER CZAR’ LABEL, PAST RADICAL IMMIGRATION VIEWS DURING FAILED CAMPAIGN Trump added that the “border czar” position isn’t just for monitoring the U.S. southern border with Mexico, but also “the Northern Border, all Maritime, and Aviation Security. I’ve known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our Borders.” This comes less than a week after Trump secured his second presidency, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, who was dubbed the “border czar” in the Biden administration. Border security was a strong point of Trump’s first presidency, and it was a stalwart during both his 2020 and 2024 campaigns. ‘STATUS QUO’ AT SOUTHERN BORDER ‘ENDS’ WHEN TRUMP’S IN OFFICE, SAYS NATIONAL BORDER PATROL COUNCIL PRESIDENT Illegal border crossings surged under the Biden administration, with nearly 3 million in fiscal year 2024, according to Homeland Security’s website. There have been more than 10.8 million illegal encounters since FY 2021. Trump vowed during his campaign he would once again take a hard-line approach to securing the border. “It’s going to be a well-targeted, planned operation conducted by the men of ICE. The men and women of ICE do this daily. They’re good at it,” Homan said during a Fox News interview on Sunday, adding that deportations would be a “humane operation.” Trump during his campaign referenced illegal migrants as people fleeing countries that didn’t want them. He often said at his rallies that illegal immigrants flooded the U.S. with drugs and gangs, and that they became a hub for smuggling and human trafficking, saying they are “poisoning the blood of our country.” “They’re rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums,” Trump said. “You know, insane asylums, that’s ‘Silence of the Lambs’ stuff.” This is only the beginning of thousands of positions that need to be filled by his presidency. Trump has already announced that Susie Wiles, his co-campaign manager, will be the White House chief of staff.
Vistara to make last flight today before Air India merger, all you need to know
Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, will fully merge with Air India, also owned by Tata Group.
Justice Sanjiv Khanna takes oath as 51st Chief Justice of India
The outgoing CJI, Dhananjay Yashwant Chandrachud, retired on Sunday, making way for Justice Khanna, who will serve a six-month tenure as the Chief Justice.
Delhi continues to choke amid rising air pollution, AQI breaches 350…
At least a dozen stations recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of over 350, falling in the ‘very poor’ air category.
GOP Rep Schweikert projected to fend off Dem challenger in key Arizona House race
Republican Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., has withstood a strong Democratic challenge for a seat Democrats had hoped to flip in one of the most closely watched states in the country, the Associated Press projects. Arizona’s 1st Congressional District was expected to be a close race after Rep. David Schweikert narrowly won re-election in 2022 by less than 1%. He had secured the Republican nomination earlier this year after outraising his opponents. Schweikert has served in the House for nearly 15 years and has won re-election in a number of redrawn districts since being elected in 2010. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and has emphasized economic policy and fiscal responsibility, including tackling the increasing national debt. GOP REP WINS PRIMARY TO DEFEND CLOSELY WATCHED ARIZONA SEAT Shah, a doctor and former state rep, had emerged from a packed Democratic field to secure the nomination to attempt to beat Schweikert. Arizona Central reports that Shah had success with bills getting passed in the GOP-dominated state legislature, and has been compared to outgoing Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. He emphasized border security in the border state, as well as issues like tackling inflation and abortion rights. CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION “Shah, who has already represented key parts of Arizona’s First Congressional District in Maricopa County as a State Representative, has a track record of being an independent voice working across party lines to put Arizona families first,” his website says. “In Congress, he’ll work to lower costs for hardworking Arizonans and protect abortion rights.” Arizona is a closely watched state this election cycle, with multiple races in the House and Senate as well as the presidential contest all potentially to be decided by thin margins. In the state legislature, Republicans hold a thin majority and Democrats are hoping to take both chambers. If so, it would be the first time they took the House since 1966.