Top news of the day: June 30, 2025
12 dead, 13 workers rescued as reactor blast rips through pharma unit near Hyderabad
Bodies of 12 workers were brought out and 13 others were rescued from under the debris after a blast in a reactor unit at Sigachi Industries Private Limited in the Pashamylaram industrial area near Hyderabad on Monday (June 30, 2025) morning. The Fire Department officials said that all injured workers were rushed to nearby hospitals, with several of them suffering critical burn injuries. Fire Department officials said they are still searching for trapped personnel in the building debris of the collapsed unit. A detailed investigation is underway to establish the exact cause and check whether safety protocols were being followed at the facility.
Kolkata gangrape: Accused trio planned the assault and has history of sexually harassing students, say police
Three out of the four persons arrested in connection with the alleged gang-rape of a female student at a city-based law college had pre-planned the assault, a police officer said on Monday (June 30, 2025). Sleuths of the nine-member special investigation team (SIT) probing the incident also found that the three accused — Monojit Mishra, Pratim Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed — had a history of sexually harassing female students of the college. According to the officer, the trio would record such episodes on their mobile phones and later use the footage to blackmail the victims.
358 tonnes of Union Carbide factory toxic waste completely incinerated in Pithampur area
The 358 tonnes of 40-year-old toxic waste from Bhopal's defunct Union Carbide factory have been completely incinerated at a waste treatment facility in Dhar district's Pithampur industrial area, officials said on Monday (June 30, 2025). Sriniwas Dwivedi, Regional Officer, Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Board (MPPCB), told The Hindu that the process of incineration was completed around 1 a.m. in the intervening night of June 29 and 30 at the Ramky Group's Pithampur Industrial Waste Management plant. 'Yes, we have finished the incineration process safely,' Mr. Dwivedi said. He also said that the process of burying the ash and residue at scientifically safe landfill sites will begin soon.
Row over Defence attaché's remarks on 'fighter jets lost' in Operation Sindoor; Indian Embassy steps in
A controversy has erupted over the remarks by the Indian defence attaché in Indonesia suggesting that the Indian Air Force lost fighter jets in the initial phase of Operation Sindoor as it was constrained by the mandate to not attack the Pakistani military establishment and only target terrorist infrastructure. As the purported video of the remarks made by Captain Shiv Kumar on June 10 at a gathering surfaced on Sunday (June 29, 2025), the Indian Embassy in Jakarta said the officer only stated the fact that the Indian armed forces serve under political leadership, unlike some other countries in India's neighbourhood. However, the Indian Embassy said in a social media post, 'His remarks have been quoted out of context and the media reports are a misrepresentation of the intention and thrust of the presentation made by the speaker.'
Punjab police says international drug cartel busted, over 60 kg heroin recovered near Pakistan border in Rajasthan
In a joint operation with the BSF and Rajasthan Police, Punjab Police on Monday (June 30, 2025) recovered over 60 kg of heroin near the international border in Barmer in Rajasthan after dismantling a drug cartel, Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav said. Mr. Yadav disclosed the arrest of nine persons from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir for the crime. He also said an investigation was underway, with the 'forward and backward linkages' of the drug network being traced.
Maintenance, repair details of grounded UK F-35B fighter jet in Kerala to be kept under wraps
Though the United Kingdom (UK) authorities have decided to repair the grounded F-35B fighter jet of the U.K. Royal Air Force at the Thiruvananthapuram international airport in Kerala, all the details regarding the repair and maintenance of the fighter jet will be kept a closely guarded secret. Sources close to the UK government confirmed that the UK authorities would not provide details on repair and maintenance matters or on private discussions with the Government of India. However, they exuded confidence that the fighter jet would be brought back to the active service of the Royal Air Force once the maintenance and repair of the aircraft are completed in Kerala along with the mandatory safety checks.
Delhi court allows CBI to close JNU student Najeeb Ahmed missing case
A Delhi court on Monday (June 30, 2025) allowed the CBI to close the missing case of first-year JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, who went missing on October 15, 2016. While additional chief judicial magistrate Jyoti Maheshwari accepted the agency's closure report, she granted liberty to reopen the case if any evidence in the matter came about. The CBI in October 2018 closed its investigation into the case, as the agency's efforts to trace Mr. Ahmed, a first-year master's student at JNU, yielded no results. The agency filed its closure report before the court in the case after getting permission from the Delhi High Court.
Indian Navy's 'INS Tabar' leads rescue operation after major fire breaks out in Oman-bound vessel
The Indian Navy's stealth frigate 'INS Tabar' responded to a distress call from the Pulau-flagged The MT Yi Cheng 6 vessel with 14 crew members of Indian origin, transiting from Kandla, India, to Shinas, Oman, experienced a major fire in the engine room and total power failure onboard, the Indian Navy's Spokesperson said in a post on X, adding that the firefighting team and equipment from INS Tabar were transferred onboard by the ship's boat and helicopter. 'MT Yi Cheng 6' on Sunday (June 29, 2025). Thirteen naval personnel and 5 crew members of the stricken tanker are currently involved in firefighting operations, with intensity of fire onboard reduced drastically, it said..
U.S. must rule out more strikes before talks can resume: Iran
Diplomatic talks between Washington and Tehran cannot resume unless the U.S. rules out further strikes on Iran, its deputy Foreign Minister told the BBC. Mr. Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the British broadcaster that the U.S. had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table, a week after it struck three Iranian nuclear facilities. 'We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality,' said Mr. Takht-Ravanchi. 'Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?' he added. The U.S. needed to be 'quite clear on this very important question', he said.
Russia says NATO's defence spending risks collapse of alliance
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday (June 30, 2025) that Moscow planned to cut its defence spending, but that he thought a decision by NATO members to increase their own defence spending could ultimately lead to the alliance's collapse. Asked about remarks by Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who was reported to have said that an arms race between Russia and the West could trigger the fall of President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Lavrov said he thought NATO could collapse. 'Since he is such a predictor, he probably foresees that a catastrophic increase in the budget of NATO countries, according to my estimates, will also lead to the collapse of this organisation,' Mr. Lavrov said.
Pakistan, China working to establish new regional bloc with potential to replace SAARC: Report
Pakistan and China are working on a proposal to establish a new regional organisation that could potentially replace the now-defunct South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), according to a media report on Monday (June 30, 2025). Quoting diplomatic sources familiar with the development, the Express Tribune newspaper reported that talks between Islamabad and Beijing are now at an advanced stage as both sides are convinced that a new organisation is essential for regional integration and connectivity. Citing sources, the paper said that this new organisation could potentially replace the regional bloc SAARC, which comprises India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Ayush clinches maiden BWF World Tour title at U.S. Open; Tanvi finishes runner-up
Rising shuttler Ayush Shetty notched up his first BWF World Tour title with a commanding straight-games victory over Canada's Brian Yang in the men's singles final of the US Open Super 300, ending India's title drought this season. The 20-year-old, a 2023 junior world championships bronze winner, defeated the third-seeded Yang 21-18, 21-13 in 47 minutes on Sunday to cap off an impressive week, which included a come-from-behind win against top seed Chou Tien Chen in the semifinals. In the women's singles final, 16-year-old Tanvi Sharma finished runner-up after a fighting three-game loss to top seed Beiwen Zhang of the United States. Playing her first World Tour final, the unseeded teenager went down 11-21, 21-16, 10-21 in 46 minutes.
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India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Vendetta Republic: Minorities, women, justice under siege in Yunus's Bangladesh
The brazen rape and public humiliation of a married Hindu woman in Bangladesh's Cumilla region on Thursday night has once again brought into sharp focus how insecure minorities are in the nation. The victim, a mother of two, whose husband works abroad, had gone to visit her parents when a neighbour broke into the house and raped her at others joined the rapist, a man called Mohammed Fazar Ali, they filmed the act and threatened to kill the woman and circulate the video on social media if she raised an alarm or complained to the police. But neighbours, both Hindus and Muslims, alerted by her cries for help, chased the rapist and his accomplices police have already arrested five, including Fazar Ali. But by then, however, a 50-second video of the woman, naked and desperately fighting the rapist, had made it to social media. Hopes of justice are slim as the victim is under pressure to withdraw the case - the accused is a top local leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. This incident came within a few days of a brutal attack on a Hindu barber, Paresh Chandra Shil, in the northern district of Lalmonirhat, by a mob led by a local Imam who alleged he had made blasphemous remarks about Prophet Muhammad. The local police, instead of protecting the victim, helped the Imam by booking 69-year-old Shil for hurting religious sentiments, who insists he made no remarks against the in the same week, authorities demolished a Durga temple in Dhaka's Khilkhet, on the grounds that it had been constructed on land belonging to the Bangladesh Railways. Indian protests against the demolition of the temple sparked strong reactions from the Muhammad Yunus-led interim insecureadvertisementThese incidents do point to a growing sense of acute insecurity amongst religious minorities. After the brutal assassination of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Committee leader Bhabesh Chandra Roy in April, India had pointed to the 'systematic persecution' of minorities and appealed for a course correction. But Chinmoy Krishna Das, the ISKCON monk who first organised protests by Hindus in Bangladesh, remains in jail, unable to secure bail in the sedition case he's been implicated in. Calls for his release have fallen on deaf ears. Attacks on Buddhists and Hindus in Chittagong Hill Tracts have also multiplied since the interim government took charge last the Yunus administration is in persistent denial, with the chief advisor claiming that those Hindus attacked were victims of popular resentment because they were closely identified with the ousted Awami League. That is a blatant falsehood because neither the Cumilla woman nor Paresh Shil was affiliated with any violenceYunus presides over the most lawless period of contemporary Bangladesh. In the week that saw the brutal rape of the Hindu woman in Cumilla, two other cases of rape were reported from elsewhere in the men were sent to jail in Mymensingh for raping a 13-year-old girl. Local religious influentials tried to hush up the case by arbitration, but the police moved in after the girl's father filed a case alleging rape. The same week, the director of a local madrassa, Shakhawat Ullah, was arrested for the attempted rape of a 12-year-old girl in the female dormitory of the against women seem to be on the rise at a time when Islamist radicals, who strongly back the Yunus regime, have taken to the streets to oppose women's rights. They are calling for trashing a Women's Reform Commission report that recommended equal rights for women in matters of inheritance, divorce, property, and marriage. In a protest rally, Islamist radicals went through the obscene symbolic act of stripping a woman's effigy and beating it with radicals say the commission's report goes against 'Islamic values'. Yunus, who set up the commission, has conveniently gone quiet, frustrating activists who headed the clerics have forcibly stopped women from playing football in many parts of the country, upsetting national team players who won the South Asian championship for Bangladesh just a year Yunus took charge, Bangladesh has witnessed a frightening rise in 'mob justice'. These mobs, whipped into frenzy by Islamist radicals or Yunus's student-youth brigade, have stormed stores to prevent actresses from inaugurating them or attacked leading personalities associated with the Sheikh Hasina regime. Recently, a mob attacked the residence of former Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda and assaulted (and garlanded) him with shoes. Later, police arrested Huda in a case filed by the BNP over electoral irregularities. The mob got away justice' was also the demolition of 32, Dhanmondi in Dhaka, the house of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh to independence in 1971. For two days, the army and police stood by as mobs of religious radicals and Yunus's youth brigade pulled down the museum installed in the historic building. One such student leader (now in Yunus's advisory council), Asif Mahmud Bhuiyan, was recently let off at the Dhaka airport after bullet magazines were found in his luggage while he was travelling to Morocco via Turkey. The incident was widely reported in the normally muzzled Bangladesh League under attackYunus is desperately trying to undermine the legacy of Mujibur Rahman and the 1971 independence war he spearheaded, as is evident from his government's decision to remove Rahman's picture from all currency notes. Replacing them with new currency has cost Bangladesh billions, but Yunus seems than 100 former ministers and senior leaders of the Awami League and tens of thousands of party activists are in jail, mostly on trumped-up charges. More than 20 Awami League leaders have died in jail under mysterious circumstances, and even lawyers representing Awami League members in cases have been jailed. All activities of the Awami League have been declared Yunus administration suspects the Awami League is trying to hit the ground under the cover of protesting against minority persecution and appears determined to prevent it. Islamist parties have always fumed at the minority support base of the Awami League, which gives the party a clear edge in one-fifth of the country's parliament seats. Islamist parties have always played the communal card and branded the Awami League 'a stooge of India', a card that Yunus is more than willing to use to keep the Awami League at bay and continue in power without having to face Nobel laureate's pitch for the restoration of democracy is ringing increasingly hollow amidst rising 'mob justice' and his reluctance to announce a definite roadmap for elections.(Subir Bhaumik is a former BBC and Reuters correspondent and author who has worked in Bangladesh as a senior editor with Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Tune InMust Watch
News18
an hour ago
- News18
From Kerala To Khorasan: CNN-News18 Uncovers India's Hidden ISIS Recruitment Network
Authorities estimate 1,500-2,200 foreign fighters are currently embedded in ISKP ranks in Afghanistan, with Indians being prioritised for operations in so-called 'Hind Province' A growing jihadi network operating out of Kerala, serving as a silent but dangerous conduit funnelling radicalised Indian youth into the ranks of ISIS-Khorasan (ISKP) in Afghanistan, has come to the fore during an investigation by CNN-News18. According to top intelligence sources, radical elements in Kerala have turned the state into a key ideological processing center for ISIS recruitment, targeting vulnerable individuals—particularly economically disadvantaged Dalit minors—with promises of dignity, financial stability, and a cause. These recruits are initially drawn in through Gulf-funded Salafi institutions like Peace International School and later indoctrinated in covert 'safe houses" across Kerala, often operated by banned outfits such as the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The process is systematic. Once isolated, recruits are subjected to an intense ideological reprogramming process that lasts between 3 to 6 months. Salafi-Wahhabi texts are used to frame the Hindu caste system as oppressive, and jihad is promoted as a form of liberation. Recruits are stripped of cultural identity, renamed, and trained in encrypted communication, crypto-transactions via Monero, and basic weapons handling. Most recruits travel from Kochi or Trivandrum airports using forged documents, often via Dubai or Istanbul, before reaching ISIS-controlled territories in Nangarhar or Kunar provinces in Afghanistan. Some groups, like the infamous 2016 Kasaragod Module, used land routes through Sri Lanka and Iran. Authorities estimate that between 1,500 and 2,200 foreign fighters are currently embedded in ISKP ranks in Afghanistan, with Indians being prioritised for operations in the so-called 'Hind Province". CNN-News18's findings also reveal that children of Kerala-origin jihadis are being raised in Afghanistan to become the next generation of ISIS fighters. One such case is that of Nimisha Fathima, a Hindu woman from Palakkad who converted to Islam, adopted the name Fathima Isa, and travelled to Afghanistan with her husband. While her husband was later killed in 2017, their daughter—born in Nangarhar—is reportedly being trained by ISKP operatives. In another case, Sonia Sebastian, an engineer from Ernakulam who converted to Islam and joined ISIS, was killed in a US drone strike in 2019. She was indoctrinated in a PFI-linked safe house in Aluva before fleeing to Afghanistan. Gulf-Kerala Nexus Fuels Radicalisation With over two million Keralites living in Gulf countries, intelligence officials point to a well-oiled radical funding pipeline. Radical mosques and madrasas in Kerala are being financed by Gulf-based donors, allowing the network to operate seamlessly and expand across state lines. The Uttar Pradesh Police have confirmed that Kerala-based radical groups are targeting over 50 Dalit minors annually for trafficking. Investigations linked to recent arrests in Prayagraj have revealed similar patterns, with minors being lured through offers of education and jobs, before being transported out of the country. Past Precedents and Warnings Ignored The threat is not new. The 2016 Kasaragod module saw 21 individuals, including women and children, radicalised in Padanna madrasas and trafficked to Afghanistan. Of those, 16 were killed in airstrikes between 2016 and 2019, and five children were eventually repatriated. Despite repeated warnings from intelligence agencies, the network continues to evolve, using forged documents, encrypted apps like Telegram, and crypto assets to avoid detection. National Security Challenge Security agencies now consider the Kerala-Afghanistan pipeline one of the most urgent jihadi threats to India. Sources say ISKP views Indian recruits as particularly valuable for propaganda and operations in South Asia, especially as regional instability grows. With the resurgence of ISKP activity in Afghanistan and new waves of radicalisation emerging from within India, officials warn that unless the domestic nodes of this transnational terror pipeline are dismantled, more Indian lives could be lost in a war far from home—but with roots disturbingly close. tags : Afghanistan Islamic State Khorasan Province kerala Popular Front of India Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) Location : Kerala, India, India First Published: July 01, 2025, 10:31 IST News india From Kerala To Khorasan: CNN-News18 Uncovers India's Hidden ISIS Recruitment Network | Exclusive
The Print
2 hours ago
- The Print
Pakistan suffers violence of its own making. West's refusal to learn is even more tragic
This incident – one of the deadliest single-day attacks on Pakistani security forces in recent months in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – is emblematic of the persistent instability that has gripped North Waziristan, a region long regarded as a stronghold for militant groups such as the TTP. Claimed by the suicide bomber wing of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur faction of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the attack, at first glance, is but another episode in the grim ledger of the subcontinent's senseless bloodletting; yet to treat it as such is to miss the deeper, tragic direction of Pakistan's politics. This is the latest manifestation of a fatal logic that has long guided Pakistan's suicidal statecraft and self-delusion In the arid valleys of North Waziristan, where the dust hangs heavy and silence is often broken by the thud of helicopter blades or the distant crackle of gunfire, a convoy of Pakistani soldiers met their tragic end. Sixteen men, extinguished in a single assault by a suicide bomber's calculated violence. Despite repeated counterinsurgency operations and government pledges to restore peace, the area remains a flashpoint for insurgent violence. The latest assault reflects not only the resilience and adaptability of these militant networks but also the enduring challenges faced by Pakistan's security apparatus since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. Also read: India didn't create Bangladesh. Shehbaz Sharif forgets how Pakistan sowed the seeds Pakistan: a study in contradiction The cycle of militant violence in North Waziristan is the reverberation of a deeper, historical dissonance – snowballing because of strategic miscalculations and unresolved grievances – that continues to shape, and perhaps distort, Pakistan's trajectory. Pakistan has always been a study in contradiction – a nation forged in the fires of British India's Partition, steeped in trauma and displacement, yet perpetually seeking coherence through the manipulation of identity and enmity. It is a militarised polity defined less by what it is than by what it is not – not India, not secular, not reconciled. In this desperate search for national cohesion, the architects of the state turned to the expedient tools of religious fundamentalism and proxy warfare. The attack in North Waziristan is thus the harvest of seeds sown over decades: a policy of nurturing militant groups as instruments of strategic depth, first against the Soviets in Afghanistan, then against India in Kashmir. Once tactically useful, these groups now turn upon their erstwhile patron in Rawalpindi with the cold logic of history's recurring ironies. Folly in governance is not merely an error; it is the deliberate pursuit of policies contrary to self-interest, even when their consequences are manifest and mounting. The Pakistani military's double game – proclaiming itself a victim of terror while abetting its architects – has produced a landscape where the boundaries between state and non-state, between friend and foe, have been blurred to the point of absurdity. The North Waziristan suicide bombing is thus not a rupture, but a fulfilment. The Pakistani state's own monsters, having tasted blood, now feast upon their creators without any shame or restraint. If Pakistan's duplicity is the proximate cause of its turmoil, the West's strategic myopia is its indispensable enabler. The American embrace of the Pakistani military during the Cold War and again during the War on Terror was animated not by trust, but by expedience – a willingness to overlook Islamabad's flirtations with jihadist ideology so long as those ideologies bled in directions favourable to Washington. Western diplomacy often operates on the dangerous assumption that alliances of convenience can be sustained without moral or strategic cost. It is this blindness – this transactional hubris – that allowed the Pakistani military to thrive in duplicity, to wear the mask of an ally while undermining the very goals it pretended to pursue. Also read: Pakistan's attempt to mobilise anti-Taliban leaders is misguided, dangerous Confront the monsters within The March 2025 attack by the Baloch Liberation Army on Jaffar Express, killing scores of innocent passengers, also offers a grim counterpoint to the North Waziristan carnage – a reminder that Pakistan's crisis is not merely religious or ideological. It is also ethnic, economic, and political. Long marginalised and brutalised, the Baloch have found in violence the only language Rawalpindi seems to understand. The grievances are not obscure: decades of resource extraction without benefit, political exclusion from the corridors of power, and the suffocating embrace of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which transforms Balochistan into a logistical backyard for Beijing while its people remain dispossessed. And yet, the state responds not with reform, but repression; not with dialogue, but with drone strikes and disinformation. The narrative of external enemies – India, the West, Zionists – is cultivated like a national crop, while the internal rot deepens. Amid this maelstrom, the promotion of anti-India hatred remains the Pakistani elite's most dependable tool of social control. As exemplified by the Pahalgam attack, proxy terror against India is not merely a matter of policy – it is the glue that binds a fractured polity, the narcotic that numbs the masses to their own dispossession. A nation that defines itself by perpetual grievance can never know peace, only escalation. What emerges from this picture is not simply chaos, but folly – of a state that, in seeking security through duplicity, has rendered itself insecure; of a society manipulated into perpetual mobilisation against imagined enemies, while the real threats fester within. Instead of confronting the internal rot, Islamabad went to ridiculous lengths to accuse New Delhi of orchestrating the attack through a proxy outfit – a claim India swiftly and contemptuously rejected. Pakistan's persistent attempts to externalise blame on every internal security failure only serve to expose its duplicity in combating terrorism. And as demonstrated by India's refusal to sign the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) joint statement after Pakistan and China blocked strong language on terrorism, the world remains complicit through its silence and convenience. India, ever the target, is vindicated in its warnings. Pakistan's tragedy is not that it suffers violence, but that it suffers violence of its own making. And more tragically, the West – having seen this play before – refuses to learn anything. The ghosts of past alliances, broken promises, and abandoned morals now haunt the corridors of global power, yet the lessons remain unread. Pakistan's present agony is the fruit of choices made in defiance of prudence and morality. For the West, especially the United States, the refusal to confront this duplicity will haunt them still – as surely as the ghosts of Kabul now haunt Washington. India, for its part, must remain vigilant. It faces not merely a hostile neighbour, but a neighbour at war with itself – a far more unpredictable, unreasonable, and dangerous adversary. The reckoning, when it comes, will not be confined to the mountains of Waziristan or the treacherous passes of the Hindu Kush. It will echo through the capitals of the world, a thunderclap of warning. In geopolitics, as in life, the wages of folly are always paid with interest. Vinay Kaura is Assistant Professor, Department of International Affairs and Security Studies, at the Sardar Patel University of Police, Security and Criminal Justice in Rajasthan. Views are personal. (Edited by Zoya Bhatti)
