Good news for passengers, Indian Railways announces special trains for Holi: Check train number, stoppages, time table and more
This brings relief to travellers heading home for the festival. Earlier, many people were unsure about their journey home, but the special trains have now eased their concerns
PM Modi inaugurates wildlife rescue and rehabilitation centre in Anant Ambani’s Vantara, feeds lion cub at animal shelter
PM Modi visited the wildlife hospital at Vantara and saw the veterinary facilities which are equipped with MRI, CT scans, ICUs among others and also house multiple departments including Wildlife Anesthesia, Cardiology, Nephrology, Endoscopy, Dentistry, Internal Medicine etc.
Trump-Zelenskyy shoutfest could dissolve support not just for Ukraine but our European alliance
Most of the media are blaming Donald Trump for the shocking shouting match that led to him kicking Volodymyr Zelenskyy out of the White House. The result, these journalists and commentators say, is to put America’s relationship with Ukraine on life support as its people continue to fight and die in an invasion launched by Russia, even as Trump continues to tout his good relationship with Vladimir Putin. It’s the Kremlin leader who is the dictator, not Zelenskyy, and it is Russia, not Ukraine, that started the war to restore its smaller neighbor to Soviet satellite status – as Trump well knows. There is no question that Trump, prodded by JD Vance, lost his temper in the Oval Office and that derailed the meeting, leaving the lunch that had been prepared for their teams to be eaten by staffers. But Trump also makes a fair point that he can’t do a deal with Russia if he’s constantly attacking its leader (something he’s obviously not inclined to do, given their history, including the Helsinki summit). TRUMP BANISHES ZELENSKYY AFTER OVAL OFFICE SHOUTING MATCH At the same time, Zelenskyy was justified in asking for security guarantees, saying that Putin has a history of violating agreements, from the 2014 invasion of Crimea to the brutal war – including the deliberate targeting of civilians – that he launched three years ago. But Zelenskyy had one job: Manage the meeting with Trump and sign the expected rare minerals agreement. And he utterly failed. He took the bait. And while he might have gotten some sympathy – Britain and France embraced him and promised to send peacekeeping troops after a settlement – the Ukrainian leader may have irreparably damaged his relationship with Trump. The president was blunt in saying that without U.S. aid, Zelenskyy doesn’t have “the cards” to play – but he is right. I did a lengthy “Media Buzz” interview with Karoline Leavitt, Donald Trump’s press secretary, leading off with the White House fireworks. She is very skilled at pushing back. DECIPHERING DONALD TRUMP: HOW HIS RHETORIC SENDS DIFFERENT MESSAGES She told me Zelenskyy was “antagonistic, and frankly, he was rude. He picked a fight with the Vice President of the United States.” (It was kinda the other way around.) “He repeatedly interrupted President Trump.” (That’s true.) “President Zelenskyy wouldn’t even agree to a ceasefire. If you want a war to end. How can you not agree to stop the fighting? You have the greatest deterrent in the Oval Office in President Trump, and you need to trust his ability to deter Russia’s aggression.” Well, Zelenskyy doesn’t trust Trump because he believes a ceasefire would lock in Russia’s territorial gains from the invasion. But what choice does he have? The thing that struck me most is that I can’t imagine this meltdown would have happened if the meeting was held behind closed doors – the usual venue for finalizing agreements. So as much as I support journalistic access, it’s 40 minutes of press questions that framed the dialogue. So I asked Leavitt why, even though Trump ended things by pronouncing it “great television,” he did the meeting in public. “Because President Trump is the most transparent president in history,” she responded. “And as he said, it was great for the cameras to be in there because the American people and the world were able to see what the president and his team has seen behind the scenes in negotiating with President Zelenskyy’s team.” Will Zelenskyy come back to the White House when, as Trump said, he’s ready to make peace? Who the hell knows at this point? But it’s a huge setback. UK PRIME MINISTER LAYS OUT UKRAINE PEACE DEAL FRAMEWORK AS ZELENSKYY RESPONDS TO RESIGNATION CALLS David Sanger, the veteran diplomatic correspondent for the New York Times, has the most penetrating big-picture take. What the president wants “is a normalization of the relationship with Russia. If that means rewriting the history of Moscow’s illegal invasion three years ago, dropping investigations of Russian war crimes or refusing to offer Ukraine long-lasting security guarantees, then Mr. Trump, in this assessment of his intentions, is willing to make that deal.” Sanger suggests that Trump, a constant critic of NATO, is walking away from the Atlantic alliance that has thrived for 80 years. The president “makes no secret of his view that the post-World War II system, created by Washington, ate away at American power.” To Trump, “such a system gave smaller and less powerful countries leverage over the United States, leaving Americans to pick up far too much of the tab for defending allies and promoting their prosperity. “While his predecessors – both Democrats and Republicans – insisted that alliances in Europe and Asia were America’s greatest force multiplier, keeping the peace and allowing trade to flourish, Mr. Trump viewed them as a bleeding wound.” Look, Trump ran as the America First candidate who kept us out of wars. Many Americans, especially Republicans, have lost patience with U.S. aid to Ukraine when the money could be spent at home. The aid, I should add, is nowhere near the $350 billion that Trump keeps claiming, but it’s been substantial. The rare minerals deal at least would have given the United States an economic incentive to keep backing Ukraine and partially paid our country back for its generosity. But there is, in my view, a far stronger argument for supporting Ukraine. If Putin succeeds in dismembering part of the country, he will have been rewarded for launching the illegal invasion, and its barbaric practice of deliberately bombing apartment buildings and train stations. And does anyone seriously believe he would stop there? Isn’t it extremely likely that Putin would attack another neighboring country? Trump’s approach, aligning ourselves with Russia at the expense of Europe, may well be popular. But if he stands by that plan, the shouting in the White House may be remembered as a turning point for the old world order. Footnote: Zelenskyy said something monumentally
More than 200 children, some as young as one, raped in Sudan, UNICEF says
Report says sexual violence, including rape, is ‘being used as a tactic of war’ in violation of international law and laws protecting children. Children in war-ravaged Sudan, some as young as a year old, have been raped since the beginning of 2024, according to the United Nations children’s agency. In a report published on Tuesday, UNICEF said at least 221 children, including boys, were raped by armed men, according to records compiled by gender-based violence service providers in the North African nation. Of those cases, 66 percent of the survivors were girls and the rest were boys. There were 16 survivors below the age of five, including four who were as young as one. UNICEF recorded an additional 77 reported cases of sexual assault against children – primarily attempted rape. The war in Sudan broke out in April 2023 between the military and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, with battles in capital Khartoum and around the country. Since then, at least 20,000 people have been killed, though the number is likely much higher. The war has also driven more than 14 million people from their homes and pushed parts of the country into famine. Advertisement ‘Rape as war tactic’ According to rights groups, atrocities, including sexual violence and forced child marriages, have been committed by both sides. An estimated 61,800 children have been internally displaced since the war began, according to UNICEF. The agency reported documented cases involving children who were raped during attacks on cities. UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in the report that sexual violence, including rape, is “being used as a tactic of war” in violation of international law and laws protecting children. Since December 2024, about 110,000 people have arrived in Renk County in neighbouring South Sudan amid continuing violence in Sudan, according to Doctors Without Borders [File: Diego Menjibar/EPA] The cases of rape were reported in the states of Gadarif, Kassala, Gezeira, Khartoum, River Nile, Northern State, South Kordofan, North Darfur and West Darfur. In South Kordofan, a boy was raped at gunpoint and several children, including a six-year-old, were also raped. They were all out picking fruit. “In a culture of really serious social stigma and at a time when access to services has been severely hampered, the fact that this group came forward tells us that it is only a small sample,” UNICEF spokesperson Tess Ingram told The Associated Press news agency. “It is only the tip of the iceberg of what are undoubtedly hundreds more children who have been raped.” Ingram, who was in Sudan in December, said she met with victims who “endured horrors that no person would want to experience in their lifetime, and in the aftermath of those horrors, their suffering doesn’t stop”. Advertisement Many of the victims dealt with physical injuries and “serious psychological scars”, Ingram said, adding that some have attempted suicide. Survivors are often reluctant to report that they were subjected to sexual violence due to social stigma and fear of retribution from armed groups and rejection from family. UNICEF urged the Sudanese government and all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations to protect civilians, especially children, while those providing services to survivors must be protected. “Children as young as one being raped by armed men should shock anyone to their core and compel immediate action,” said Russell. Adblock test (Why?)
How will Trump’s tariffs impact Mexico and Canada’s exports?
United States President Donald Trump has implemented sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The tariffs on the US’s biggest trading partners took effect at 00:00 Eastern Time (05:00 GMT), causing markets across the globe to tumble. Washington has also imposed an additional 10 percent levy on Chinese imports, adding to the 10 percent imposed last month. Mexico and Canada are the top US trading partners, accounting for more than 30 percent of total goods traded. The value of trade among the three North American countries is more than $1.6 trillion. Tariffs would apply to imports from Mexico and Canada of almost $918bn. How did we get here? The tariffs on Mexico and Canada were among the first floated after Trump’s re-election in November. He said he is imposing them to get Mexico and Canada to curb immigration and drug trafficking into the US and to balance the trade deficit between the US and its biggest trading partners. On February 3, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau agreed to boost border security to prevent the trafficking of drugs and flow of migrants into the US in last-minute deals to postpone tariffs that had been set to come into effect on February 4. Advertisement Last month, Trump also announced 25 percent tariffs on aluminium and steel imports that are to come into effect on March 12, which Mexico and Canada will also be affected by. What are tariffs and how do they work? A tariff is a government-imposed tax on imported goods and services paid by businesses bringing them into the country. Designed to protect domestic industries, tariffs often drive up costs for consumers by making foreign products more expensive, potentially reducing demand. When the first Trump administration introduced tariffs in 2018, the aim was to strengthen US industries and penalise foreign exporters. However, American businesses and consumers bore the greatest burden from these tariffs rather than the foreign exporters. The 25 percent US tariff on Mexican and Canadian exports could raise costs, reduce trade, lead to job losses, create economic uncertainty and trigger retaliatory tariffs, escalating a trade war. (Al Jazeera) What is the US-Canada and US-Mexico trade deficit? The US is at a trade deficit with Canada and Mexico, meaning that it is buying more goods from those countries than it is selling to them. In a statement from the White House on February 1, Trump stated that tariffs are a powerful source of leverage for the US, arguing that while trade accounts for 67 percent of Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) and 73 percent of Mexico’s, it accounts for only 24 percent of US GDP. The US trade deficit in goods was the world’s largest at more than $1 trillion. Advertisement Mexico is the largest US trading partner. In 2024, the US imported $505.8bn in goods from Mexico and exported $334bn, resulting in a trade deficit of $171.8bn. As the volume of trade has increased over the years, the US has consistently run a deficit with Mexico, which has expanded in the past 10 years. The trade deficit between the two countries has increased by 12.7 percent from 2023 to 2024. Canada is the second largest US trading partner. In 2024, the US imported $412.7bn in goods from Canada and exported $349.4bn, resulting in a trade deficit of $63.3bn. While tariffs may aim to reduce trade deficits by reducing imports, the real impact of tariffs is more complex with the potential for retaliatory tariffs and higher prices for consumers. How will tariffs affect the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)? In 2018 during his first term, Trump announced the USMCA as a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which had been signed in 1992 during President George HW Bush’s administration. The USMCA, which came into effect in 2020, aimed to modernise trade between the three countries by strengthening labour and environmental protections, increasing car-manufacturing requirements, expanding digital trade rules and enhancing intellectual property protections. A review of the USMCA is due in 2026, but the potential threat of tariffs could lead to these negotiations happening sooner. US President Donald Trump delivers remarks on the USMCA during a news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on October 1, 2018 [Kevin Lamarque/Reuters] What Mexican products will be affected by tariffs? Mexico is one of the largest foreign suppliers of goods to the US with cars, trucks and auto parts making up the largest share of exports. Machinery and electrical equipment follow as key exports, including industrial machinery, computers and household appliances. Other major exports include petroleum products, farm products, medical devices, plastics and textiles. According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), Mexico’s main exports to the US in 2023 were: Advertisement Vehicles and auto parts ($123bn): including cars, trucks and automotive components Electrical machinery and electronics ($86.1bn): including computers, telecommunications equipment and consumer electronics Machinery, mechanical appliances and parts ($78.7bn): including industrial machinery and equipment Mineral fuels and mineral oils ($25.2bn): including petrol and refined petrol Optical, photographic, technical and medical apparatuses ($22.5bn): including instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical and scientific applications Furniture, bedding and lighting ($13.3bn): including household and office furniture, mattresses and lighting fixtures Beverages, spirits and vinegars ($11.6bn): including beer and hard liquor Fruit, nuts and fruit peels ($9.38bn): including tomatoes, avocados and a variety of fruits and vegetables What Canadian products will be affected by tariffs? Canada is the largest foreign supplier of oil to the US with energy products, including crude oil and petroleum products, accounting for about 30 percent of all Canadian exports to the US. Cars, tractors and auto parts are the second-largest export, followed by machinery and mechanical appliances. Other significant exports include medicines, plastics and wood products. According to the OEC, Canada’s main exports to the US in 2023 were: Energy products ($131bn): including crude oil and petroleum products Cars, tractors, trucks and car parts ($56.7bn) Machinery and mechanical appliances ($32.2bn): covering industrial machinery and
Most adults, a third of children will be overweight or obese by 2050: Study
A third of such people will be living in two regions – MENA and Latin America and the Caribbean, researchers warn. Nearly 60 percent of all adults and a third of all children in the world will be overweight or obese by 2050 unless governments take action, says a new study. The research published in the Lancet medical journal on Tuesday used data from 204 countries to paint a grim picture of what it described as one of the great health challenges of the century. “The unprecedented global epidemic of overweight and obesity is a profound tragedy and a monumental societal failure,” lead author Emmanuela Gakidou, from the United States-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), said in a statement. The number of overweight or obese people worldwide rose from 929 million in 1990 to 2.6 billion in 2021, the study found. Without a serious change, the researchers estimate that 3.8 billion adults will be overweight or obese in 15 years – or nearly 60 percent of the global adult population in 2050. The world’s health systems will come under crippling pressure, the researchers warned, with about a quarter of the world’s obese expected to be aged more than 65 by that time. Advertisement They also predicted a 121 percent increase in obesity among children and adolescents around the world. A third of all obese young people will be living in two regions – the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Latin America and the Caribbean – by 2050, the researchers warned. But it is not too late to act, said study co-author Jessica Kerr from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia. “Much stronger political commitment is needed to transform diets within sustainable global food systems,” she said. That commitment was also needed for strategies “that improve people’s nutrition, physical activity and living environments, whether it’s too much processed food or not enough parks, Kerr said. The study said more than half the world’s overweight or obese adults already live in just eight countries – China, India, the United States, Brazil, Russia, Mexico, Indonesia and Egypt. While poor diet and sedentary lifestyles are clearly drivers of the obesity epidemic, “there remains doubt” about the underlying causes for this, said Thorkild Sorensen, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen not involved in the study. For example, socially deprived groups have a “consistent and unexplained tendency” towards obesity, he said in a linked comment in The Lancet. A separate study published on Monday, the World Obesity Atlas from the World Obesity Federation, also raised this issue. “The most affected regions are developing countries,” said Simon Barquera, president of the federation. The Obesity Atlas suggested that 79 percent of adults and 88 percent of children with obesity and overweight will be living in low- and middle-income countries by 2035, and only 7 percent of all countries have adequate health systems in place to deal with this. Advertisement “It’s really one of the main public health challenges around the world,” Barquera added. Adblock test (Why?)
Why India hasn’t developed high-speed bullet trains yet? Vande Bharat architect says, “We are busy…’
In an interview with Zee News, Mani said there is a lack of “committed leadership” in the country. He pointed out that there has been no technological advancements in the Indian Railways since the Vande Bharat trains were rolled out over six years ago.
E-lottery for liquor license to resume in Noida after 6 years; city to get… new shops
The draw is scheduled to take place on Thursday (March 6), more than six years after the last e-lottery was held. A five-member district-level committee led by the district magistrate will oversee the process.
NYC gives migrants more ways to obtain city ID making it easier for them to get benefits, housing: report
New York City officials are making it easier for illegal aliens to acquire a city residency ID card, in turn making it easier for them to obtain housing and free healthcare, according to reports. City Council members passed a change backed by Mayor Eric Adams that opens up 23 additional types of IDs that immigrants can provide to obtain a New York City residency card. The New York Post reported that some of the examples of identification that immigrants can provide include an expired driver’s license; documents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or the Federal Bureau of Prisons; and about 100 other forms of identification to obtain an IDNYC card. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration first introduced the city IDs in 2015 to help migrants access free healthcare, enroll in school, open accounts at banks and more. NYC MAYOR DELIVERS BLUNT MESSAGE TO LEFT-WING CRITICS OVER DESIRE TO MEET WITH TRUMP’S INCOMING BORDER CZAR The program is open to all New Yorkers who are 10 and older, no matter what their immigration status is. To date, nearly 1.7 million people have acquired the ID card. Last year there were 132,054 IDs handed out, while the previous year there were 127,859, according to the city. Not everyone thinks it is a good idea to ease the process for obtaining a city ID. In fact, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., told The Post it was a “terrible idea.” “To provide a legitimate government ID to individuals in the country illegally then gives them access to government buildings and services is just another incentive [to come here],” she told the publication. “Most disturbing is that there is no vetting, no process to ensure documents provided to prove identity are not fake and, to boot, they destroy these documents that could be helpful in an investigation.” NEW YORK CITY ANNOUNCES CLOSING OF MIGRANT SHELTERS AS NUMBERS DROP Still, a representative from the city told The Post they vigorously vet applicant backgrounds for criminal issues. In an Op-Ed published in Harlem World Magazine, Adams highlighted his administration’s accomplishments with immigration. “New York City is a city built by immigrants, and we are not just stronger because of our diversity – we are the greatest city on the globe because of it,” he said. Beginning in 2022, the city faced what he referred to as an “unprecedented influx of asylum seekers,” which his administration tackled head-on. “Thanks to our efforts, over 189,100 of the 232,600 of the migrants – or 81 percent – who requested services from the city in the last three years have taken the next step in their journeys toward self-sufficiency,” Adams said, adding that his administration’s support to asylum seekers while they pursued the American Dream resulted in 84 % of the adults receiving or applying for work authorization. MAYOR ERIC ADAMS SAYS NYC’S ROOSEVELT HOTEL MIGRANT SHELTER WILL SOON CLOSE Adams also highlighted that the city purchased over 53,000 tickets to help those seeking asylum reach their “preferred destinations,” reducing the long-term costs of keeping them in the city for taxpayers. Adams announced last week that the Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter in Manhattan will be shutting down in the next few months. The hotel, which was converted into a migrant shelter with about 1,000 rooms, has processed over 173,000 migrants since May 2023. It was set up as a migrant shelter in response to the wave of migrants that began coming to the city in 2022 in search of asylum. The Roosevelt Hotel’s shelter, along with the Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center located on the site, will now be closed by June, a source told the New York Post. NYC SUES AFTER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLAWS BACK $80 MILLION MIGRANT HOUSING GRANT “While we’re not done caring for those who come into our care, today marks another milestone in demonstrating the immense progress we have achieved in turning the corner on an unprecedented international humanitarian effort,” Adams said in a statement last week. This week, he continued to address the city’s efforts. The New York City Department of Small Business Services connected the migrant population to hundreds of job opportunities, he noted, and other parts of his administration continued to search for ways to assist new arrivals, providing things from direct outreach and resource fairs to onsite English as a Second Language courses at shelters. “Our actions have shown an entire nation what can be accomplished when we lead with compassion and resourcefulness,” Adams said. “Because of the work we have done, we will emerge from this crisis stronger than ever before. We are all New Yorkers together: anything that affects one of us, affects us all. I have faith in our great city to continue to be a beacon of hope, and a place where people from every corner of the world can build a new life.” Fox News’ Mike Lee contributed to this report.
DOGE initial findings on Defense Department DEI spending could save $80M, agency says
The Department of Defense could save up to $80 million in wasteful spending by cutting loose a handful of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, the agency said Monday. The Defense Department has been working with the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in slashing wasteful spending, DOD spokesman Sean Parnell said in a video posted to social media. Parnell listed some of the initial findings flagged by DOGE, much of it consisting of millions of dollars given to support various DEI programs, including $1.9 million for holistic DEI transformation and training in the Air Force and $6 million to the University of Montana to “strengthen American democracy by bridging divides.” DOD TELLS CIVILIAN WORKFORCE TO IGNORE ELON MUSK’S REQUEST TO REPORT PRODUCTIVITY Among the initial findings were $1.6 million to the University of Florida to study the social and institutional detriment of vulnerability in resilience to climate hazards in Africa. “This stuff is just not a core function of our military,” Parnell said. “This is not what we do. This stuff is a distraction from our core mission.” “We believe these initial findings will probably save $80 million in wasteful spending,” he added. OPM’S SECOND EMAIL TO FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ASKS WHAT THEY DID LAST WEEK—AND ADDS A NEW REQUIREMENT: REPORT In an effort to gut spending, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the DOD’s civilian workforce to comply with Musk’s DOGE productivity email, listing five things they accomplished after initially telling them not to reply. Last week, Hegseth said his agency would work with DOGE, which has conducted reviews of the Treasury, Labor, Education and Health departments, as well as at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management and Internal Revenue Service (IRS). He added that many DOGE workers are veterans, and it is a “good thing” that they will find deficiencies. “They care just like we do, to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities — the DEI, the woke, the climate change B.S., that’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all,” Hegseth said. DOGE has come under scrutiny, with some accusing President Donald Trump of giving Musk too much leeway and access to sensitive data.