BJYM activists lay siege to Kerala Devaswom Minister's residence
As the Sabarimala issue hots up, a march by Bharathiya janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) activists on Thursday to the house of Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran here turned violent, leading to police using water cannons and tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.
Meanwhile, BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai, who addressed the 'long-march' launched by NDA with the slogan of 'Save Sabarimala' at Noornad in Allpuzha district, claimed that the march was getting massive support from the general public.
Two militants killed in Kupwara gunfight
Army jawans walk towards encounter site at Shatgund Balla in Kupwara district of north Kashmir on Thursday.
Scholar-turned-militant commander Manan Bashir Wani was among two militants killed in an operation by the Army on Thursday in Kupwara, sparking a spate of street protests.
Israel defends actions against U.S. student in detention
American Lara Alqasem (centre) sits in a courtroom prior to a hearing at the district court in Tel Aviv, Israel on October 11, 2018.
A senior Israeli Cabinet minister on Wednesday defended the government’s handling of the case of an American graduate student held in detention at the country’s international airport for the past week over allegations that she promotes a boycott against the Jewish state.
In an interview, Gilad Erdan, who oversees the government’s efforts to counter the Palestinian-led boycott movement, said that Israel has the right to protect itself and decide who enters its borders. He also rejected international criticism of Israel’s handling of the case and said he would not be swayed by criticism in the media.
“World media many times are against the state of Israel, and that is not something that has to tell us to change our ideology or to change our mind,” Mr. Erdan said.
Lara Alqasem, a 22-year-old American citizen with Palestinian grandparents, landed at Ben-Gurion Airport last week with a valid student visa and was registered to study human rights at Israel’s Hebrew University in Jerusalem. But she was barred from entering the country and ordered deported, based on suspicions that she is an activist in the boycott movement.
Greece: Strike closes Acropolis, main museums
Tourists take photographs outside the closed Acropolis ancient site in Athens on October 11, 2018 during a 24-hour strike called by a Greek union representing staff at the country's ancient site.
The ancient Acropolis in Athens and most of Greece's archaeological sites and publicly-run museums are closed to the public because of a 24-hour strike called by a union of Culture Ministry employees. Scores of tourists gathered on Thursday outside the Acropolis, initially unaware of the strike.
The union has accused the government of failing to exempt the transfer of ownership of national heritage sites to a powerful privatisation fund created during the country's international bailouts.
The Culture Ministry says the concerns are unfounded.
Cyclone ‘Titli’ leaves two dead in A.P.
People make their way as Cyclone Titli hits the city, starting with surface wind effect reaching speeds of 126 kmph at Gopalpur, in Ganjam
The ‘very severe’ cyclonic storm ‘Titli’ left two persons dead in Srikakulam district, the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said.
Rainfall ranging from 2 cm to 26 cm was recorded in several mandals of the district and the State Road Transport Corporation suspended its bus services.
“Every hour from now on is very crucial. Focus should be on relief measures and restoration of communication network.Care should be taken to prevent spread of communicable diseases,” Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said.
'De-escalate. Fix the system. Don't break it.'
Managing Director of International Monetary Fund (IMF) Christine Lagarde talks during a press conference ahead of the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank in Bali, Indonesia on Thursday on Oct. 11, 2018.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde says the U.S. and China should de-escalate their trade dispute and work to fix trade rules instead of breaking them. Ms. Lagarde said on Thursday at the annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank in Bali, Indonesia, that so far there had been no “contagion” of major damage from penalty tariffs imposed by the two countries on each other's exports, but that they do risk hurting “innocent bystanders”.
Ms. Lagarde said her advice was in three parts: “De-escalate. Fix the system. Don't break it.”
She said the rules-making World Trade Organisation had ways of addressing U.S. complaints that China's policies unfairly extract advanced technologies and put foreign companies at a disadvantage. But she said the WTO does need to work on addressing issues like subsidies.
Soyuz-FG launch
U.S. astronaut Nick Hague (left) and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin, members of the main crew to the International Space Station (ISS), wave to their relatives walking to a bus prior to the launch of Soyuz-FG rocket at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on October 11, 2018.
Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying a veteran cosmonaut and a NASA flight engineer is ready for launch on Thursday on a quick four-orbit flight to the orbiting lab complex.
Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and U.S. astronaut and flight engineer Nick Hague are scheduled to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday.
Lunar rocks for sale
A 12-pound (5.5 kilogram) lunar meteorite discovered in Northwest Africa in 2017 rests on a table, in Amherst, N.H.
Anyone who can’t make it to the moon to gather a few lunar rocks now has the opportunity to buy one right here on Earth.
A 12-pound (5.5 kilogram) lunar meteorite discovered in Northwest Africa last year is up for auction by Boston-based RR Auction and could sell for $500,000 or more during online bidding that runs from Thursday until Oct. 18. It is “one of the most important meteorites available for acquisition anywhere in the world today,” and one of the biggest pieces of the moon ever put up for sale, RR said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
