Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Sanford D Bishop Jr (GA-02)
WASHINGTON – Congressman Sanford D. Bishop, Jr. (GA-02) issued the following statement upon news today that former Congressman Charles B. Rangel of New York had passed:
“Charles B. Rangel dedicated his life to this country and the people of New York from fighting on the battlefields of Korea to commanding the gavel in the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. He was a decorated soldier, a determined federal prosecutor, and a champion for human and civil rights. He was driven to create a better world and make the American Dream more attainable for hard-working Americans.
“He was a co-founder of the Congressional Black Caucus and helped blaze a trail for future generations of public servants. I had the honor of working with him to improve the lives of our veterans as co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual Veterans Brain Trust.
“He was a patriot, true friend, and compassionate soul. My wife, Vivian, and I send our deepest condolences his family, friends and all who mourn his loss.”
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Six people were killed and 11 others injured after a highway passenger bus rolled over in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region, an official from the Mandalay Region Fire Services Department told Xinhua on Monday.
The accident occurred at around 3:30 a.m. local time on Monday in Meiktila township in Mandalay, he said, adding that the bus, carrying about 19 passengers, slipped off the road due to rain and overturned.
All the injured were taken to the local hospital, the official said.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Over 1,000 households have been displaced in northern Myanmar’s Kachin state due to the rising Ayeyarwady River, according to the Myanmar Fire Services Department on Monday.
As of Monday, a total of 55,117 people from 1,165 households have been relocated to safer areas, an official from the department told Xinhua.
The river has been rising since Saturday, and authorities, along with rescue teams from the Myanmar Red Cross Society, the Myanmar Fire Services Department, and other volunteers, continue working to move residents from low-lying areas in Kachin state to safety, he said.
As of Monday morning, Myanmar’s Meteorology and Hydrology Department reported that the Ayeyarwady River in Myitkyina of Kachin state has risen about 2 inches above its danger mark.
The department has advised residents in low-lying areas and along riverbanks in Myitkyina to move to safer locations as a precaution.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
An undated photo shows nannies learning how to take care of babies at a training center in Jimo, Shandong province. [Photo/Xinhua]
Stella Tian, a 33-year-old office worker in Beijing, has two toddlers — a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old — and employs two nannies to help look after the children and simplify her life, as she and her husband have hectic work lives.
“I have changed my nannies a few times. Some were not professional enough and didn’t get along well with my family members, and some had other plans that came up. It’s not easy to find a suitable nanny for the long term,” Tian said.
Like Tian, demand for homemaking services among Chinese urban families is surging, and trained domestic helpers, nannies and nurses for the elderly are in great demand, promising to incubate a market expected to reach 1.3 trillion yuan ($181.1 billion) in 2026.
The forecast, made by the Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services, together with data analysis provider iiMedia Research, said China’s household services sector has maintained rapid growth.
Millions of middle-income Chinese families, especially those with young children and aging family members, are seeking professional helpers to ease life’s burdens, while it has sometimes been difficult for them to find satisfactory professional homemakers. Compared with diversified and high-quality demand, there are still problems such as a shortage of professional supply and nonstandard industry development.
It is estimated that there is a shortage of over 20 million domestic workers in China, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Demand for household services is no longer limited to daily chores, as online shopping and food deliveries have made it increasingly convenient for consumers, and they have indicated demand for higher-level specialized services, industry insiders said.
To address such issues and further boost consumption, China has published a guideline to further promote the development of its home-based services sector, such as housekeeping, eldercare and childcare services, by expanding the scale and upgrading service quality. Such efforts aim to cultivate new growth points for the country’s services consumption, according to the document released by the Ministry of Commerce and eight other entities in late April.
A series of measures have been proposed to improve the quality of household services supply, promote convenient consumption and optimize the consumption environment of the sector, according to the guideline.
For example, the government will encourage household service enterprises to expand into emerging service areas such as professional deep cleaning, indoor air treatment and nutritional consulting, and strengthen integrated development with sectors such as home furnishings and interior decorating, the guideline said.
In addition, social capital is encouraged to flow into the household services sector, and local governments may include homemaking occupations into local shortage directories. It is also suggested that more employment-oriented domestic service training should be offered, the guideline said.
“Household services are an important sector that helps promote consumption, benefits people’s lives and stabilizes employment,” said Kong Dejun, director of the Department of Trade in Services and Commercial Services at the commerce ministry.
“China will continue to expand domestic demand, strengthen supply-side structural reform, give full play to the country’s human resources advantages and cultivate new growth points of service consumption,” Kong said.
Currently, China has over 30 million household service providers such as nannies and housekeepers. Last year, total revenue of the sector stood at 1.23 trillion yuan, up 6 percent year-on-year, the ministry said.
Women are the main practitioners in the household services industry. The All-China Women’s Federation said the sector is showing a growing trend that practitioners are becoming younger and more professional, and it would continue to help promote the digitalization of the sector.
On the demand side, the need for babysitters and caregivers for the elderly is huge. The number of those aged 60 and above has exceeded 300 million, and the over-65 population has topped 220 million. In addition, China has some 30 million youngsters aged below three, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
China will cultivate a group of distinctive brands in the homemaking sector and foster more platform-based companies to help match supply and demand.
“We will guide various regions to implement employment and entrepreneurship policies, and homemaking personnel should enjoy tax incentives and social security subsidies upon laws and regulations,” said Luo Shoufeng, deputy head of the department of migrant workers’ jobs at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Catering to such demand, a number of platform-based homemaking service companies such as 58.com and Ayibang have continued to develop their business to raise the efficiency of supply-demand matching.
Beijing-based life services platform 58.com said some 2.6 million homemakers have registered on the platform, and all of them will undergo pre-work training to ensure the provision of standardized and professional services.
It has launched more than 200 training bases nationwide, integrating online teaching and offline training sessions, and the company became the first in the sector to introduce VIP membership services for consumers.
“For emerging household services demand such as deep cleaning, clutter control and storage, pest management and home management services, we have launched more than 10 professional courses. Those include courses that we developed with entities in Japan and Hong Kong together, in an aim to foster more high-quality household service providers,” said Li Zijian, president of 58.com’s domestic business.
In densely populated first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province, demand for homemaking services has been the highest, 58.com found.
Among different types of services, demand for household cleaning, home appliance cleaning, nannies and maternity matrons — or yuesao, who mainly care for newborns — has been the highest, the company said.
Most consumers choose to hire day-shift nannies and part-time workers to assist with household chores and cooking. Demand for eldercare and childcare has continued to grow. In May, demand for nannies and eldercare service providers jumped 83 percent and 48 percent on a yearly basis, respectively.
For deep cleaning of homes, consumers pay more attention to the thorough cleaning of kitchen oil stains, bathroom tiles and hard-to-clean corners and under spaces. For home appliances, cleaning demand for air-conditioners, range hoods and washing machines has been the highest. In May, demand for air-conditioning cleaning climbed by 76 percent month-on-month and 26 percent year-on-year.
“Urbanites have shown an increasingly higher health awareness, and a growing number of consumers choose to clean their airconditioners before the arrival of summer to reduce respiratory diseases,” Li said.
Meanwhile, China’s high-net-worth families are becoming younger, and they are showing a growing demand for hiring private butlers as they embrace such a trend in Western countries, and more college graduates, including those who have studied abroad, are looking to butlers as career choices.
Private butlers usually act as senior life consultants for their employers’ core family management issues. Unlike ordinary housekeeping service personnel, private butlers usually need to understand advanced family affairs.
They usually speak one or two foreign languages, understand children’s educational planning, and have knowledge about issues such as nutrition, luxury products and ironing. They also cook multiple cuisines and are skillful at safeguarding and risk management, according to Meiyinghui Family Service Co Ltd, a Beijing-based butler management company.
The average salary of a private butler is about 200,000 yuan to 400,000 yuan annually for those who have one or two years of work experience, and the salary grows as they master more skills, thus attracting many people to engage in this profession.
“Employers would like to hire young butlers, including college graduates. The demand has become higher, as more families have a growing awareness of hiring butlers. Besides, many families have been quite busy with business matters after the COVID-19 pandemic, and they need to hire someone for household management,” said Zhang Ran, founder and president of Meiyinghui Family Service.
“Now, 70 percent of butlers in China are females. A lot of graduates and qualified people are still hesitating about engaging in this profession, and the supply of butlers is seeing a shortage. We plan to host a session to introduce the career path of the profession and attract more graduates,” Zhang said.
Besides major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, some families in second-tier cities such as Qingdao in Shandong province and Shijiazhuang, Hebei province have also indicated high demand for hiring butlers, the company found.
Butlers usually need to take a few months of training classes before they start working. Li Siwen is a teacher who conducts training sessions for butlers, earning a master’s degree in hotel management from the University of Manchester.
“I’m quite interested in this sector. I used to work in the human resources management department of a company, and this job is similar. I mainly teach students psychology, color matching, sorting and organization of items, and business etiquette,” Li said.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Thailand secured two championships on Sunday at the Singapore Badminton Open, with Kunlavut Vitidsarn winning the men’s singles crown and the mixed doubles pair of Dechapol Puavaranukroh and Supissara Paewsampran also triumphing.
Kunlavut Vitidsarn returns a shot during the men’s singles final match between Kunlavut Vitidsarn of Thailand and Lu Guangzu of China at the Singapore Badminton Open 2025 in Singapore, June 1, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Second-seeded Kunlavut dominated the men’s singles final, defeating China’s Lu Guangzu 21-6, 21-10 in just 37 minutes. The victory marked Kunlavut’s fourth title of the season and is set to propel him to the world No. 1 ranking in the men’s singles when the Badminton World Federation (BWF) releases its latest standings next week. He will also become the first men’s singles player born after 2000 to achieve the top ranking.
Dechapol Puavaranukroh/Supissara Paewsampran (R) of Thailand react after scoring during the mixed doubles final match against Tang Chun Man/Tse Ying Suet of China’s Hong Kong at the Singapore Badminton Open 2025 in Singapore, June 1, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Earlier, Thai mixed doubles stars Puavaranukroh and Paewsampran captured their title by defeating Tang Chun Man and Tse Ying Suet of Hong Kong, China, 2-0 in the final.
Chen Yufei of China celebrates after winning the women’s singles final match against Wang Zhiyi of China at the Singapore Badminton Open 2025 in Singapore, June 1, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s Chen Yufei claimed the women’s singles title, defeating compatriot Wang Zhiyi in straight sets for her fourth championship of the season. Notably, Chen ended the 27-match winning streak of reigning Olympic gold medalist An Se-young of South Korea in the quarterfinals. Since returning to competition in February following a three-month study break in Australia, Chen has regained her form and extended her own winning streak to 22 matches.
In doubles action, South Korean pairs secured one gold and one silver medal. Kim Hye-jeong and Kong Hee-yong won the women’s doubles title by defeating Japan’s Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi 21-16, 21-14. However, Malaysia’s Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik beat Kim Won-ho and Seo Seung-jae 15-21, 21-18, 21-19.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
China’s forward Zhang Yuning expressed confidence on Sunday, saying the team is ready to secure a victory in a decisive away match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers against Indonesia.
Zhang praised the team’s preparation following its final public training session in Shanghai, saying, “We focused on key techniques like offense, defense, and set-pieces. We’ve performed well, but in matches, we must be able to adapt flexibly to on-the-spot situations.”
“This is a battle for survival. Victory is the only option. There’s no room for retreat,” Zhang emphasized, adding that as the away side, China must turn pressure into momentum and showcase its strengths, training results, and team unity.
Wang Yudong, a rising star on the squad, said, “The veterans always share their experience. My role is to focus on the game, using speed and skills to challenge the opponents and help create an edge for the team.”
China is scheduled to face Indonesia on June 5, followed by its final group match at home against Bahrain on June 10 in Chongqing, southwest China.
Currently, China sits at the bottom of Group C with six points, level with Bahrain and three points behind fourth-placed Indonesia. To advance to the playoffs as the group’s fourth team, China must win both remaining matches.
The Reserve Bank has launched the 2024-25 of its annual survey on Computer Software and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) Exports.
The survey collects data on various aspects of computer services exports as well as exports of information technology enabled services (ITES) and business process outsourcing (BPO). The survey results are disseminated in public domain besides being used in compilation of India’s external sector statistics.
The survey schedule for the 2024-25 round is required to be filled in by all software and ITES/BPO exporting entities. The format of the ITES survey schedule has been updated for the current round. The soft form of this survey schedule (both in Hindi and English) is available on the RBI’s website under the head ‘Regulatory Reporting’ → ‘List of Returns’ → ‘Return Name’ → ‘ITES – Survey Schedule’ [or under the head ‘Forms’ (available at the bottom of the home page) and sub-head ‘Survey’], which can be duly filled and submitted via email by July 15, 2025.
The instructions are provided in FAQs and, in case of any query or clarification, kindly contact us at itesquery@rbi.org.in or given below address.
The Director, International Investment Position Division, Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM), Reserve Bank of India, C-9, 5th floor, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai – 400 051. Please click here to send email.
Ajit Prasad Deputy General Manager (Communications)
The Reserve Bank has launched the 2024-25 round of its annual survey on ‘Foreign Liabilities and Assets of Mutual Funds and Asset Management Companies’. The survey collects the information from mutual fund companies and asset management companies on their external financial liabilities and assets as at end-March of the latest financial year. The survey results are disseminated in the public domain besides being used in compilation of India’s external sector statistics.
Asset management companies (AMCs) are required to submit the annual return on Foreign Liabilities and Assets (FLA) online through the web-based portal (https://flair.rbi.org.in) by July 15, 2025.
In addition, mutual fund companies are required to fill the survey schedule (Schedule-4), which is available on the RBI website under the head ‘Regulatory Reporting’ → ‘List of Returns’ → ‘FLA MF – Survey Schedule’ [or under the head ‘Forms’ (available at the bottom of the home page) and sub-head ‘Survey’], and send via e-mail by July 15, 2025.
Both Hindi and English formats are available for Schedule-4 and reporting companies may use either of them. Please refer to the instructions with FAQs and in case of any query or clarification, kindly contact:
The Director, International Investment Position Division (IIPD), Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM), Reserve Bank of India, C9-5th floor, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai-400051. Please click here to send email.
Ajit Prasad Deputy General Manager (Communications)
The Reserve Bank of India has been conducting the Survey on Foreign Collaboration in Indian Industry since 1965. The 15th round of the survey with 2023-24 and 2024-25 as the reference period has now been launched.
The survey collects information on the operations of the Indian companies having foreign technical collaboration in terms of performance indicators (e.g., production, exports, imports, cost of material) along with the crucial features of technology transfer agreements (viz., nature, duration, mode of payment, export restriction, provision of exclusive rights, use of technology after expiry of the agreements).
The schedule of this survey is required to be filled by the Indian companies having technical collaborations with foreign companies. The soft form of the survey schedule (both in Hindi and English – one of which can be used) is available on the RBI website under the head ‘Regulatory Reporting’ -→ ‘List of Returns’ -→ ‘FCS – Survey Schedule’ [or under the head ‘Forms’ (available at the bottom of the home page in sub-head ‘Survey’), which can be duly filled-in and submitted to email by July 15, 2025.
The instructions are provided in RBI website under ‘Research and Data’ in FAQs and, in case of any query or clarification, kindly contact us at:
The Director, International Investment Position Division, Department of Statistics and Information Management (DSIM), Reserve Bank of India, C-9, 5th floor, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (E), Mumbai – 400 051. Please click here to send email.
Ajit Prasad Deputy General Manager (Communications)
Source: Traditional Unionist Voice – Northern Ireland
Statement by TUV MLA Timothy Gaston:
“For some weeks I have been collecting data on the spend of the different Executive departments on travel outside the British Isles since devolution returned. To say I am appalled at the scale and extravagance of ministerial and departmental spending on foreign travel is an understatement.
“When collated, the responses reveal an astonishing total of £470,000 spent on international travel by Stormont departments in just over a year — and more than £52,000 of that squandered by Ministers themselves.
“Luxury long-haul flights and costly hotel stays seem to be the norm for the Executive.
“No department has flown further or spent more widely than the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. In total, the department spent nearly £78,000, with trips ranging from Brussels to New Zealand, Germany to New York.
“Three individuals, including the Minister, few to New York Climate Week at a cost of £11,134 — supposedly to discuss sustainability of all things, while burning jet fuel and public money.
“Officials also attended climate-linked events in Sweden, Spain, and Germany — clocking up thousands more in expenses — with little to no clarity on what outcomes, if any, these junkets delivered for the Northern Ireland public.
“The Department of Finance racked up over £32,700 in international travel — including a single trip to Brussels by 16 officials from the Departmental Solicitor’s Office, costing the public £17,066. We’re told this was a “bespoke study visit” linked to the Windsor Framework.
“Can a 16-person legal trip to Brussels be justified? Ministers must explain why such a large group needed to attend, and what real value was achieved.
“The Minister for Education himself spent over £8,000 on overseas travel in a single year — including trips to Washington DC and Reykjavik, Iceland. Minister Givan’s personal travel and accommodation expenses account for nearly 25% of the total expenses by the Department on foreign travel.
Among the more concerning examples in the Department of Education are: • Two officials who travelled to Paris and racked up costs of over £2,100 and • A trip to Tokyo which cost £3,366, with no listed outcomes.
“With education budgets under severe strain, with SEN services stretched to breaking point people working in education will be asking questions.
“The biggest spenders though are of course the Executive Office. Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little Pengelly’s department has managed to spend over £126,000 on international travel.
“When people see Ministers parading on the world stage while hospital waiting lists grow at home, it’s not hard to understand the anger. Spending more on a single trip than many people earn in a year is shameful.
“Across the Executive, this pattern of waste repeats. Ministers and officials racking up air miles while local services go without.
“When we ask the public to tighten their belts, the very least they should expect is that Ministers do the same.
“Climate change conferences abroad are no substitute for sound governance at home.
“Ministerial egos should not be subsidised by people struggling to make ends meet.
“With many already questioning the value of Stormont, these figures will do nothing to restore public confidence.”
Note to editors
You can read the full set of questions and answers online here.
A New Zealand-born Niuean educator says being recognised in the King’s Birthday honours list reflects the importance of connecting young tagata Niue in Aotearoa to their roots.
Mele Ikiua, who hails from the village of Hakupu Atua in Niue, has been named a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to vagahau Niue language and education.
She told RNZ Pacific the most significant achievement in her career to date had been the promotion of vagahau Niue in the NCEA system.
The change in 2023 enabled vagahau Niue learners to earn literacy credits in the subject, and receive recognition beyond “achieved” in the NCEA system. That, Ikiua said, was about continuing to increase learning opportunities for young Niue people in Aotearoa.
“Because if you look at it, the work that we do — and I say ‘we’ because there’s a lot of people other than myself — we’re here to try and maintain, and try and hold onto, our language because they say our language is very, very endangered.
“The bigger picture for young Niue learners who haven’t connected, or haven’t been able to learn about their vagahau or where they come from [is that] it’s a safe place for them to come and learn . . . There’s no judgement, and they learn the basic foundations before they can delve deeper.”
Her work and advocacy for Niuean culture and vagahau Niue has also extended beyond the formal education system.
Niue stage at Polyfest Since 2014, Ikiua had been the co-ordinator of the Niue stage at Polyfest, a role she took up after being involved in the festival as a tutor. She also established Three Star Nation, a network which provides leadership, educational and cultural programmes for young people.
Last year, Ikiua also set up the Tokiofa Arts Academy, the world’s first Niue Performing Arts Academy. And in February this year, Three Star Nation held Hologa Niue — the first ever Niuean arts and culture festival in Auckland.
Niuean community members in Auckland . . . Mele Ikiua with Derrick Manuela Jackson (left) and her brother Ron Viviani. Image: RNZ Pacific
She said being recognised in the King’s Birthday honours list was a shared achievement.
“This award is not only mine. It belongs to the family. It belongs to the village. And my colleagues have been amazing too. It’s for us all.”
She is one of several Pasifika honoured in this weekend’s list.
Cook Islander, Berry Rangi has been awarded a King’s Service Medal for services to the community, particularly Pacific peoples.
Berry Rangi has been awarded a King’s Service Medal for services to the community, particularly Pacific peoples. Image: Berry Rangi/RNZ Pacific
Lifted breast screening rates She has been instrumental in lifting the coverage rates of breast and cervical screening for Pacific women in Hawke’s Bay.
“When you grow up in the islands, you’re not for yourself – you’re for everybody,” she said.
“You’re for the village, for your island.”
She said when she moved to Napier there were very few Pasifika in the city — there were more in Hastings, the nearby city to the south.
“I did things because I knew there was a need for our people, and I’d just go out and do it without having to be asked.”
Berry Rangi also co-founded Tiare Ahuriri, the Napier branch of the national Pacific women’s organisation, PACIFICA.
She has been a Meals on Wheels volunteer with the Red Cross in Napier since 1990 and has been recognised for her 34 years of service in this role.
Maintaining a heritage craft She also contributes to maintaining the heritage craft of tivaevae (quilting) by delivering workshops to people of all ages and communities across Hawke’s Bay.
Another honours recipient is Uili Galo, who has been made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the Tokelau community.
Galo, of the Tokelau Aotearoa Leaders Council, said it is very gratifying to see his community’s efforts acknolwedged at the highest level.
“I’ve got a lot of people behind me, my elders that I need to acknowledge and thank . . . my kainga,” he said.
“While the award has been given against my name, it’s them that have been doing all the hard work.”
He said his community came to Aotearoa in the 1970s.
“Right through they’ve been trying to capture their culture and who they are as a people. But obviously as new generations are born here, they assimilate into the pa’alangi world, and somehow lose a sense of who they are.
“A lot of our youth are not quite sure who they are. They know obviously the pa’alangi world they live in, but the challenge of them is to know their identity, that’s really important.”
Pasifika sports duo say recognition is for everyone Two sporting recipients named as Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the King’s Birthday Honours say the honour is for all those who have worked with them.
Pauline-Jean Henrietta Luyten with Eroni Clarke of the Pasifika Rugby Advisory group. Image: RNZ Pacific
Pauline-Jean Henrietta Luyten, who is of Tongan heritage, has been involved with rugby at different levels over the years, and is currently a co-chair of New Zealand Rugby’s Pacific Advisory Group.
Annie Burma Teina Tangata Esita Scoon, of Cook Islands heritage, has been involved with softball since she played the sport in school years ago.
While they have been “committed” to their sports loves, their contribution to the different Pasifika communities they serve is being recognised.
Luyten told RNZ Pacific she was humbled and shocked that people took the time to actually put a nomination through.
“You know, all the work we do, it’s in service of all of our communities and our families, and you don’t really look for recognition,” she said.
“The family, the community, everyone who have worked with me and encouraged me they all deserve this recognition.”
Luyten, who has links in Ha’apai, Tonga, said she has loved being involved in rugby, starting off as a junior player and went through the school competition.
Community and provincial rugby After moving down to Timaru, she was involved with community and provincial rugby, before she got pulled into New Zealand Rugby Pacific Advisory Group.
Luyten made New Zealand rugby history as the first woman of Pacific Island descent to be appointed to a provincial union board in 2019.
She was a board member of the South Canterbury Rugby Football Union and played fullback at Timaru Girls’ High School back in 1997, when rugby competition was first introduced .
Her mother Ailine was one of the first Tongan women to take up residence in Timaru. That was back in the early 1970s.
As well as a law degree at Otago University Luyten completed a Bachelor of Science in 2005 and then went on to complete post-graduate studies in sports medicine in 2009.
Pauline-Jean Henrietta Luyten with Sina Latu of the Tonga Society in South Canterbury. Image: RNZ Pacific
She is also a founding member of the Tongan Society South Canterbury which was established in 2016.
Opportunities for Pasifika families On her rugby involvement, she said the game provides opportunities for Pasifika families and she is happy to be contributing as an administrator.
“Where I know I can contribute has been in that non-playing space and sort of understanding the rugby system, because it’s so big, so complex and kind of challenging.”
Fighting the stereotypes that “Pasifika can’t be directors” has been a major one.
“Some people think there’s not enough of us out there. But for me, I’m like, nah we’ve got people,” she stated.
“We’ve got heaps of people all over the show that can actually step into these roles.
“They may be experienced in different sectors, like the health sector, social sector, financial, but maybe haven’t quite crossed hard enough into the rugby space. So I feel it’s my duty to to do everything I can to create those spaces for our kids, for the future.”
Call for two rugby votes Earlier this month the group registered the New Zealand Pasifika Rugby Council, which moved a motion, with the support of some local unions, that Pasifika be given two votes within New Zealand Rugby.
“So this was an opportunity too for us to actually be fully embedded into the New Zealand Rugby system.
“But unfortunately, the magic number was 61.3 [percent] and we literally got 61, so it was 0.3 percent less voting, and that was disappointing.”
Luyten said she and the Pacific advisory team will keep working and fighting to get what they have set their mind on.
For Scoon, the acknowledgement was recognition of everyone else who are behind the scenes, doing the work.
Annie Scoon, of Cook Islands heritage, has been involved with softball since she played the sport in school years ago. Image: RNZ Pacific
She said the award was for the Pasifika people in her community in the Palmerston North area.
Voice is for ‘them’ “To me what stands out is that our Pasifika people will be recognized that they’ve had a voice out there,” she said.
“So, it’s for them really; it’s not me, it’s them. They get the recognition that’s due to them. I love my Pacific people down here.”
Scoon is a name well known among the Palmerston North Pasifika and softball communities.
The 78-year-old has played, officiated, coached and now administers the game of softball.
She was born in the Cook Islands and moved with her family to New Zealand in 1948. Her first involvement with softball was in school, as a nine-year-old in Auckland.
Then she helped her children as a coach.
“And then that sort of lead on to learning how to score the game, then coaching the game, yes, and then to just being an administrator of the game,” she said.
Passion for the game “I’ve gone through softball – I’ve been the chief scorer at national tournaments, I’ve selected at tournaments, and it’s been good because I’d like to think that what I taught my children is a passion for the game, because a lot of them are still involved.”
A car accident years ago has left her wheelchair-bound.
She has also competed as at the Paraplegic Games where she said she proved that “although disabled, there were things that we could do if you just manipulate your body a wee bit and try and think it may not pan out as much as possible, but it does work”.
“All you need to do is just try get out there, but also encourage other people to come out.”
She has kept passing on her softball knowledge to school children.
In her community work, Scoon said she just keeps encouraging people to keep working on what they want to achieve and not to shy away from speaking their mind.
Setting a goal “I told everybody that they set a goal and work on achieving that goal,” she said.
“And also encouraged alot of them to not be shy and don’t back off if you want something.”
She said one of the challenging experiences, in working with the Pasifika community, is the belief by some that they may not be good enough.
Her advice to many is to learn what they can and try to improve, so that they can get better in life.
“I wasn’t born like this,” she said, referring to her disability.
“You pick out what suits you but because our island people — we’re very shy people and we’re proud. We’re very proud people. Rather than make a fuss, we’d rather step back.
“They shouldn’t and they need to stand up and they want to be recognised.”
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laurence Orlando, Senior Lecturer, Product Formulation and Development, Analytical Methods, Monash University
Retinol skincare products suddenly seem to be everywhere, promising clear, radiant and “youthful” skin.
But what’s the science behind these claims? And are there any risks?
You may have also heard retinol can increase your risk of sunburn and even make acne worse.
For some people, retinol may help reduce the appearance of fine lines. But it won’t be suitable for everyone. Here’s what you need to know.
What is retinol?
Retinol is part of a family of chemical compounds called retinoids. These are derived from or related to Vitamin A, a nutrient essential for healthy skin, vision and immune function.
You can buy retinol in creams and other topical products over the counter.
These are often promoted as “anti-ageing” because retinol can help reduce the appearance of fine lines, wrinkles and even out skin tone (for example, sun spots or acne scars).
It also has an exfoliating effect, meaning it can help unclog pores.
Stronger retinoid treatments that target acne will require a prescription because they contain retinoic acid, which is regulated as a drug in the United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Australia.
With age, the skin’s barrier becomes weaker, making it more prone to dryness, injury and irritation.
Retinol can help counteract this natural thinning by stimulating the proliferation of keratinocytes – cells that form the outer skin layer and protect against damage and water loss.
Retinol also stimulates the production of collagen (a key protein that creates a scaffolding that keeps skin firm and elastic) and fibroblasts (cells that produce collagen and support skin structure).
It also increases how fast the skin sheds old cells and replaces them with new ones.
Over time, these processes help reduce fine lines, fade dark spots and even out skin tone. It can also make skin appear clearer.
While effective, this doesn’t happen overnight.
You may have also heard about a “retinol purge” – a temporary flare of acne when you first start using topical retinoids.
Studies have found the skin may become irritated and acne temporarily worsen in some cases. But more research needs to be done to understand this link.
The idea of a retinol purge is popular on social media. TikTok, CC BY-NC-ND
So, is retinol safe?
At typical skincare concentrations (0.1–0.3%), side effects tend to be mild.
Most people who experience irritation (such as redness, dryness, or peeling) when starting retinol are able to build tolerance over time. This process is often called “retinisation”.
However, retinol increases the skin’s sensitivity to UV radiation (known as photosensitivity). This heightened reactivity can lead to sunburn, irritation and an increased risk of hyperpigmentation (spots or patches of darker colour).
For this reason, daily use of broad-spectrum sunscreen (SPF30 or higher) is strongly recommended while using retinol products.
Who should avoid retinol?
Teenagers and children generally don’t need retinol unless specifically prescribed by a doctor, for example, for acne treatment.
People with sensitive skin or conditions such as eczema (dry, itchy and inflamed skin) and rosacea (chronic redness and sensitivity) may find retinol too irritating.
Using retinol products alongside other skincare treatments, such as alpha-hydroxy acids, can over-exfoliate your skin and damage it.
Importantly, the active form of retinol, retinoic acid, is teratogenic (meaning it can cause birth defects). Over-the-counter retinol products are also not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding.
Choose and store retinol products wisely
Since retinol is classified as a cosmetic ingredient, companies are not required to disclose its concentration in their products.
These are precautionary measures aimed to limit exposure for vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, given the risk of birth defects.
It’s therefore recommended to use products that clearly state the retinol concentration is between 0.1% and 0.3%.
Retinol is also a notoriously unstable molecule that degrades with exposure to air, light or heat.
Choosing a product with airtight, light-protective packaging will help with potential degradation problems that could lead to inactivity or harm.
What’s the safest way to try retinol?
The key is to go low and slow: a pea-sized amount of a low-concentration product (0.1%) once or twice a week, preferably at night (to avoid UV exposure), and then the frequency and concentration can be increased (to a maximum of 0.3%) as the skin adjusts.
Wearing sunscreen every day is a must when using retinol to avoid the photosensitivity.
If you experience persistent redness, burning, or peeling, it’s better to stop using the product and consult your doctor or a dermatologist for personalised advice.
Laurence Orlando is affiliated with the Australian Society of Cosmetic Chemists.
Professor Ademi currently serves as a member of the Economics Sub Committee of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee within the Department of Health, Australia which assesses clinical and economic evaluations of medicines submitted for listing on the PBS. She leads the global economics initiative for the Lp(a) International Task Force and Member of Professional Advisory Board of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH) Australia. Zanfina Ademi receives funding from FH Europe Foundation to understand the population screening for LP(a), globally. Received funding from National Health and Medical Research Council, Medical Research Future Fund not in relation to to this work, but work that relates to health economics of prevention and cost-effectiveness.
Zoe Porter does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Emergency services are at the scene of a serious crash near the intersection of Clyde and Fox Streets, Hamilton East, involving a car and a pedestrian.
Police were called about 7.12pm.
Initial indications are the pedestrian has received critical injuries.
I want to share a writer’s journey — of living and writing through the Genocide. Where I live and how I live could not be further from the horror playing out in Gaza and, increasingly, on the West Bank.
Yet, because my country provides military, intelligence and diplomatic support to Israel and the US, I feel compelled to answer the call to support Palestine by doing the one thing I know best: writing.
I live in a paradise that supports genocide I am one of the blessed of the earth. I’m surrounded by similarly fortunate people. I live in a heart-stoppingly beautiful bay.
Even in winter I swim in the marine reserve across the road from our house. Seals, Orca, all sorts of fish, octopus, penguins and countless other marine life so often draw me from my desk towards the rocky shore. My home is on the Wild South Coast of Wellington. Every few days our local Whatsapp group fires a message, for example: “Big pod of dolphins heading into the bay!”
I live in Aotearoa New Zealand, a country that, in the main, is yawning its way through a genocide and this causes me daily frustration and pain. It drives me back to the keyboard.
I am surrounded by good friends and suffer no fears for my security. I am materially comfortable and well-fed. I love being a writer. Who could ask for more?
I write, on average, a 1200-word article per week. It’s a seven days a week task and most of my writing time is spent reading, scouring news sites from around the world, note-taking, fact-checking, fretting, talking to people and thinking about the story that will emerge, always so different from my starting concept.
I’m in regular contact with historians, ex-diplomats, geopolitical analysts, writers and activists from around the world and count myself fortunate to know these exceptional people.
This article is different, simpler; it is personal — one person’s experience of writing from the far periphery of the conflict.
I don’t want to live in a country that turns a blind or a sleep-laden eye to one of the great crimes against humanity. I have come to the hurtful realisation that I have a very different worldview from most people I know and from most people I thought I knew.
Fortunately, I have old friends who share in this struggle and I have made many new friends here in New Zealand and across the world who follow their own burning hearts and work every day to challenge the role our governments play in supporting Israel to destroy the lives of millions of innocent people. To me, these people — and above all the Palestinian people in their steadfast resistance — are the heroes who fuel my life.
Writing is fighting Most of us have multiple demands on our time; three of my good writer friends are grappling with cancer, another lost his job for challenging the official line and now must work long hours in a menial day job to keep the family afloat. Despite these challenges they all head to the keyboard to continue the struggle. Writing is fighting.
There’s so little we can all do but, as Māori people say: “ahakoa he iti, he pounamu” – it may only be a little but every bit counts, every bit is as precious as jade.
That sentiment is how movements for change have been built – anti-Vietnam war, anti-nuclear, anti-Apartheid — all of them pro-humanity, all of them about standing with the victims not with the oppressors, nor on the sideline muttering platitudes and excuses. As another writer said: “Washing one’s hands of the struggle between the powerful and the powerless means to side with the powerful, not to be neutral.” (Paolo Friere) Back to the keyboard.
My life until October 7th was more focussed on environmental issues, community organisation and water politics. I had ceased being “a writer” years ago.
One day in October 2023 I was in the kitchen, ranting about what was being done to the Palestinians and what was obviously about to be done to the Palestinians: genocide. My emotions were high because I had had a deeply unpleasant exchange with a good friend of mine on the golf course (yes, I play golf). He told me that the people of Gaza deserved to be collectively punished for the Hamas attack of October 7th.
I had angrily shot back at him, correctly but not diplomatically, that this put him shoulder-to-shoulder with the Nazis and all those who imposed collective punishment on civilian populations. My wife, to her credit, had heard enough: “Get upstairs and write an article! You have to start writing!”
It changed my life. She was right, of course. Impotent rage and parlour-room speeches achieve nothing. Writing is fighting.
’40 beheaded babies survived the Hamas attack’ My first article “40 Beheaded Babies Survived the Hamas Attack” was a warning drawn from history about narratives and what the Americans and Israelis were really softening the ground for. Since then I have had about 70 articles published, all in Australia and New Zealand, some in China, the USA, throughout Asia Pacific, Europe and on all sorts of email databases, including those sent out by the exemplary Ambassador Chas Freeman in the US and another by my good friend and human rights lawyer J V Whitbeck in Paris.
As with historians, part of a writer’s job is to spot patterns and recurrent themes in stories, to detect lies and expose deeper agendas in the official narratives. The mainstream media is surprisingly bad at this. Or chooses to be.
Just like the Incubator Babies story in Iraq, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in Vietnam, reaching right back to the sinking of the USS Maine in Havana in 1898, propaganda is often used as a prelude to atrocities. The blizzard of lies after October 7th were designed to be-monster the Palestinians and prepare the ground for what would obviously follow.
The narrative of beheaded babies promoted by world leaders, including President Biden, was powerfully amplified by our mainstream media; journalists at the highest level of the trade spread the lies.
I have to tell you, it was frightening in October 2023 to challenge these narratives. Every day I pored through the Israeli news site Ha’aretz for updates. Eventually the narrative fell apart — but by then the damage was done. Thousands of real babies had been murdered by the Israelis.
Never before have so many of my fellow writers been killedFollowing events in Palestine closely, it still comes as a shock when a journalist I have read, seen, heard is suddenly killed by the Israelis. This has happened several times. When it does I take a coffee and walk up the ridiculously steep track behind my house and sit high above the bay on a bench seat I built (badly).
That bench is my “top office” where I like to chew thoughts in my mind as I see the cold waves break on the brown rocks below. High up there I feel detached and better able to ask and answer the questions I need to process in my writing.
Why does our media pay little attention to the killing of so many fellow writers? Why don’t they call out the Israelis for having killed more journalists than any military machine in history? Why the silence around Israel’s “Where’s Daddy?” killing programme that has silenced so many Palestinian journalists and doctors by tracking their mobile phones and striking with a missile just when they arrive back home to their families? Why does “the world’s most moral army” commit such ugly crimes? Where’s the solidarity with our fellow journalists?
Is it because their skin is mainly dark? Is that why, according to Radio New Zealand’s own report on its Gaza coverage, New Zealanders have more in common with Israelis than we do with Palestinians? RNZ refers to this as our “proximity” to Israelis. They’re right, of course: by failing to shoulder our positive duty to act decisively against Israel and the US we show that we share values with people committing genocide.
Is this why stories about our own region — Kanaky New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, the Marshall Islands and so on, get so little coverage? I have heard many times the immense frustration of journalists I know who work on Pacific issues. The answer is simple: we have greater “proximity” to Benjamin Netanyahu than we do to the Polynesians or Melanesians in our own backyard. Really?
Such questions need answers. Back to the keyboard.
Solidarity I try not to permit myself despair. It’s a privilege we shouldn’t allow ourselves while our government supports the genocide. Sometimes that’s hard.
There’s a photo I’ve seen of a Palestinian mother holding her daughter that haunts me. In traditional thobe, her head covered by her simple robe, she could easily be Mary, mother of Jesus. She stares straight at the camera. Her expression is hard to read. Shock? Disbelief? Wounded humanity? Blood flows from below her eyes and stains her cheek and chin. Her forehead is blackened, probably from an explosive blast. She holds her child, a girl of perhaps 10, also damaged and blackened from the Israeli attack. The child is asleep or unconscious; I can’t tell which. The mother holds her as lovingly, as poignantly, as Mary did to Jesus when he came down from the cross. La Pietà in Gaza.
Why do some of us care less about this pair? Where is our humanity that we can let this happen day after day until the last syllable of our sickening rhetoric that somehow we in the West are morally superior has been vomited out.
I’ll give the last word to another writer:
“Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
Eugene Doyle is a writer based in Wellington. He has written extensively on the Middle East, as well as peace and security issues in the Asia Pacific region. He contributes to Asia Pacific Report and Café Pacific, and hosts the public policy platform solidarity.co.nz.
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Lindenmayer, Distinguished Professor of Ecology, Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National University
Until now, Victorians believed their state was the sole home for Leadbeater’s possum, their critically endangered state faunal emblem. This tiny marsupial is clinging to life in a few pockets of mountain ash and snow gum habitat in the Central Highlands of Victoria.
But a few days ago, seven grainy photos taken by a trail camera in New South Wales revealed something very unexpected: a Leadbeater’s possum hundreds of kilometres away in the wet forests of Kosciuszko National Park.
For decades, we and other researchers have sought proof this possum existed in these forests. Now we have it. This is a moment of celebration. But it also signals the importance of well-resourced biodiversity surveys in uncovering our most threatened species and large national parks for conserving them.
While this newly discovered population reduces the risk of extinction, it doesn’t change the decline and risk of extinction of its Victorian relatives – or the steps needed to safeguard them.
These photos from Kosciuszko National Park are the first proof that Leadbeater’s possum has a NSW population. NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, CC BY-NC-ND
Detected entirely by chance
In 2024, New South Wales threatened species ecologists Fred Ford and Martin Schulz set about looking for an entirely different species, the endangered smoky mouse. To find it, they set up a wide array of camera traps throughout wet forest areas of Kosciuszko National Park. A year later, they collected them and trawled through millions of photos.
Among all these images (including of smoky mice), there were seven which stunned them. A camera deployed near Yarrangobilly Caves captured a tiny possum scampering through leaf litter, holding its distinctive club-shaped tail erect. The possum looks around the monitoring site, showing its back and face stripes and heart-shaped face.
Experts at The Australian National University and Zoos Victoria verified the photos, setting the ecology world abuzz.
While we are delighted at this remarkable discovery, the detection is not a complete surprise.
Over three decades ago, this article’s lead author searched for Leadbeater’s possum around Yarrangobilly and many other parts of Kosciuszko National Park, guided by a bioclimatic model suggesting the cool wet forests in Kosciuszko National Park should suit the possum.
But detection cameras were not available then, and this possum is notoriously hard to spot. It’s tiny, nocturnal and spends its waking hours dashing through the dense understory of some of the world’s tallest forests looking for nectar, sap and insects.
Species experts from Zoos Victoria and Deakin University have also scouted parts of Kosciuszko National Park over the past decade, identifying potentially promising habitat.
In 2010 we got confirmation the possum had once occurred in the area, when jaw bones were identified among bones regurgitated by owls on the floor of a nearby cave.
But other bones from the cave floor date back an estimated 140–200 years. The bones were far from proof of a living population.
The possum’s existence remained an open question until these photos.
What does this mean for this possum?
We don’t know anything about this newly discovered Leadbeater’s possum population in NSW, other than the fact that it exists. Given the distance from the Victorian populations, we suspect that they may be genetically distinct.
In theory, the existence of a separate population 250 km away from the Victorian populations cuts the risk a single megafire or other catastrophe could push the species to extinction.
But while welcome, the discovery doesn’t reduce the need to urgently protect surviving Victorian populations, which remain highly threatened by bushfire, climate change, predation by cats, and the legacy of logging and land clearing.
In Victoria, some populations have dwindled as low as 40 animals and inbreeding is now a concern.
The possum typically relies on large old trees with hollows where it can breed and den. But these trees have substantially declined in Victoria over the past 150 years. Leadbeater’s possum also needs smaller trees for feeding and movement.
Surveys across the historical range of the species in Victoria since 2017 have failed to find any other hidden populations. Most surveys have found the habitat highly degraded from logging and fire.
In welcome news, the NSW Environment Minister announced the possum’s state conservation listing will be fast-tracked.
Of surveys and parks
Why did it take so long to find the possum? The main reason: a lack of resources preventing targeted investigations.
Even basic inventories of species have not been done across many of Australia’s important conservation areas.
Without well conducted surveys and monitoring, we are left overly reliant on chance detections for critical information. There could be other populations of imperilled species waiting to be rediscovered.
Properly managing our growing number of threatened species shouldn’t be based on luck. It should be enabled by adequate resources for threatened species recovery teams to discover, map, protect and manage threatened species and their habitat.
Trail cameras, call playback and environmental DNA sampling mean we can now survey large and remote natural areas with relatively little effort for long periods of time.
Big parks are essential
Kosciuszko National Park supports much more than Australia’s highest mountains. The huge park spans 690,000 hectares, much of it forest.
Many of our most imperilled species are hard to detect. Protecting extensive areas of good-quality habitat boosts the survival chances for these species, even if we don’t yet have proof of life.
With so little high-quality habitat left in Australia, proper protection through new national parks (including in Victoria) is vitally important for the possum and many other species.
Passive protection isn’t enough either – adequate funding is critical to stop the environmental condition of parks from declining, due to threats like invasive species and extreme fires.
The world still contains wonder
These seven photos have given ecologists and nature lovers a real boost to their spirits. As detection techniques improve, what else is out there waiting to be found?
The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Leadbeater’s possum experts Dan Harley, Arabella Eyre, John Woinarski and Brendan Wintle to this article.
David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian Government and the Victorian Government. He is a Councillor with the Biodiversity Council and a Member of Birds Australia.
Darcy Watchorn works for Zoos Victoria, a not-for-profit zoo-based conservation organisation. He is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia, the Australian Mammal Society, the Society for Conservation Biology, and the Royal Society of Victoria.
Jaana Dielenberg was employed by the now-ended Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program, which conducted research on the Leadbeater’s possum in Victoria. She is a Charles Darwin University Fellow and is employed by the University of Melbourne and the Biodiversity Council.
South Koreans will go to the polls in a snap election on Tuesday, voting for a president to replace Yoon Suk Yeol, who was ousted from office in April after his brief martial law attempt sent shockwaves through the country.
Here are key events from martial law to Yoon’s impeachment, arrest, and indictment, and election day.
December 3, 2024: Shortly before 10:30 p.m. (1330 GMT), Yoon declares on national television he is imposing martial law to root out “anti-state forces” and overcome political deadlock.
An hour later the military issues a decree banning activity by political parties and lawmakers, and troops and police descend on the opposition-controlled parliament. Staffers use barricades and fire extinguishers to ward off special operations soldiers who arrive by helicopter and break windows as they enter parliament.
Lawmakers hop fences to avoid the security cordons and crowds of protesters gather.
December 4: Defying the military’s order, 190 lawmakers in the early hours unanimously vote to reject Yoon’s declaration and troops begin to leave.
About three and a half hours later, Yoon gives another televised speech, announcing he is lifting martial law. The decree was in effect for about six hours.
Opposition parties submit motion to impeach Yoon.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says Yoon “badly misjudged” his decision to declare martial law, which was “deeply problematic” and “illegitimate.”
December 5: Yoon’s People Power Party, although divided, decides to oppose his impeachment.
Yoon accepts the resignation of Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun. Police investigate Yoon, Kim and the interior minister on accusations of treason and related crimes over the declaration of martial law after opposition parties and activists filed complaints.
December 6: PPP leader Han Dong-hoon says Yoon must be removed from power for trying to impose martial law. Some party members urge Yoon to resign.
December 7: Yoon addresses the nation to apologise, saying he will put his fate in the hands of the PPP but not saying he will resign.
A vote to impeach Yoon fails as the PPP boycotts, depriving parliament of a quorum.
December 8: Prosecutors name Yoon as the subject of a criminal investigation over the martial law attempt. Ex-Defence Minister Kim is arrested.
December 9: The justice ministry bars Yoon from leaving South Korea.
December 10: Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, tells a parliamentary committee that Yoon gave an order to “drag out” lawmakers from parliament after declaring martial law.
Ex-Defence Minister Kim attempts suicide in jail.
December 11: Police try to search Yoon’s office but are blocked from entering the building.
December 12: Yoon says in another televised speech he will “fight to the end”, alleging North Korea had hacked South Korea’s election commission and expressing doubt over his party’s landslide election defeat in April. The National Election Commission denies the claim.
December 14: Parliament impeaches Yoon with the support of 204 of the 300 lawmakers in the one-chamber parliament. At least 12 PPP members vote to impeach.
Yoon’s presidential powers are suspended, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo becomes acting president.
December 16: The Constitutional Court begins reviewing the impeachment case.
December 27: Parliament impeaches and suspends acting President Han, less than two weeks after suspending Yoon. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok assumes the position of acting president.
The court holds first public hearing in Yoon’s impeachment case.
December 31: The Seoul Western District Court approves an arrest warrant requested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) after Yoon failed to appear for questioning over insurrection allegations.
Yoon’s lawyers say the arrest warrant is illegal and invalid because the CIO does not have the proper authority.
January 3: Presidential guards and military troops prevent authorities from arresting Yoon in a tense six-hour stand-off inside his compound in the heart of Seoul.
January 7: The Seoul Western District Court approves an extension of the arrest warrant after the CIO’s failed attempt.
January 14: The Constitutional Court adjourns the opening session of Yoon’s impeachment trial within minutes, after the embattled leader did not attend court.
January 15: Yoon agrees to leave his compound after around 3,000 police arrive for a second arrest attempt. Yoon says in a message he only submitted to avoid bloodshed, and the CIO says he refuses to answer questions. He is the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested.
January 19: Hundreds of Yoon supporters storm a court building after his detention was extended, smashing windows and breaking inside. Yoon continues to refuse to answer questions.
January 21: Yoon attends his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court for the first time. When questioned by a justice, he denies ordering military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament.
January 23: The CIO transfers its case to prosecutors and asks them to indict Yoon for insurrection and abuse of power.
January 24-25: A court twice rejects requests by prosecutors for an extension of Yoon’s detention while they do further investigation.
January 26: Prosecutors indict Yoon on insurrection charges and ask that he be kept in custody.
February 4-18: Constitutional Court holds five hearings in Yoon’s impeachment trial.
February 20: Seoul Central District Court questions Yoon concerning lawyers’ request to cancel his arrest as “unlawful”, holds preparatory hearing for insurrection trial.
Constitutional Court holds 10th hearing in Yoon’s impeachment trial.
February 25: Court holds final hearing in Yoon’s impeachment trial. In his closing statement, Yoon defends his decisions as lawful and necessary to protect the country.
Yoon attended eight of the 11 hearings.
March 9: Yoon walks free after prosecutors decide not to appeal a court decision to cancel his arrest warrant on insurrection charges. He spent 54 days in jail.
April 4: The Constitutional Court rules to remove Yoon permanently from office.
April 8: Government sets June 3 as date for snap election.
April 27: The liberal Democratic Party names its former leader and 2022 presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung as its candidate.
May 1: Acting president Han steps down to launch presidential run. Finance minister Choi resigns after Democratic Party vows to start impeachment proceedings, leaving education minister Lee Ju-ho as the country’s third acting president since December.
The Supreme Court reverses an appeals court ruling that cleared Lee of criminal violations of election law, and ordered a new sentence, threatening his eligibility to run for office.
May 3: Yoon’s former labour minister, Kim Moon-soo, wins the main conservative People Power Party primary. Kim and Han spend the next week clashing over plans for a unity ticket.
May 7: Appeals court delays ruling on Lee until after election.
May 11: Han drops presidential bid after PPP confirms Kim as nominee.
President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday extended heartfelt greetings to the people of Telangana on the occasion of the state’s Foundation Day, acknowledging its cultural legacy and strides in development.
In a post on X, President Murmu lauded Telangana’s cultural richness and its progress in economic and technological fields. “Warm greetings to the people of Telangana on Statehood Day! This young State has a rich cultural heritage and a vibrant modern ecosystem of economic and technological development. I wish that the people of Telangana march ahead on the path of progress and prosperity,” she said.
Prime Minister Modi also conveyed his best wishes on the platform, applauding Telangana’s role in India’s development. “Greetings to the wonderful people of Telangana on their Statehood Day. The state is known for making innumerable contributions to national progress. Over the last decade, the NDA Government has undertaken many measures to boost ‘Ease of Living’ for the people of the state. May the people of the state be blessed with success and prosperity,” said in a post on X.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister J.P. Nadda also marked the occasion with messages honouring the state’s cultural identity and aspirations for growth.
“On Telangana Statehood Day, warm greetings to our brothers and sisters of the state. With its rich culture, heritage, and hardworking people, Telangana shines brightly on India’s ethno-cultural map. May the state reach new heights of prosperity,” Amit Shah posted on X.
J.P. Nadda noted the vibrancy of Telangana’s festivals and the warmth of its people. “On Telangana Statehood Day, I extend my heartfelt greetings to all the brothers and sisters of this beautiful state. Telangana stands out for its unique culture, vibrant festivals and above all, the warmth and kindness of its people. May the state and its people continue to progress with prosperity and happiness,” he said.
Telangana, India’s youngest state, was formed on June 2, 2014, after a prolonged movement demanding a separate state to ensure better governance and development. The state was officially carved out from Andhra Pradesh as the 29th state of India.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
A 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of Japan’s Hokkaido early Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The earthquake occurred at 3:52 a.m. local time (1852 GMT Sunday) at a shallow depth, measuring 4 on the Japanese seismic intensity scale of 7 in areas such as Taiki and Urahoro in the eastern region of Hokkaido Prefecture, the agency said.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
Zheng Qinwen returns a shot during the women’s singles 4th round match between Liudmila Samsonova of Russia and Zheng Qinwen of China at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros, Paris, France, June 1, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen has set up a quarterfinal clash with top seed Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open.
Less than a year after her historic Olympic triumph on the Paris clay, the Chinese sensation recorded her best result at Roland Garros, reaching the quarterfinals with a 7-6 (5), 1-6, 6-3 victory over Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova on Sunday.
The Australian Open finalist battled for nearly three hours to secure the win.
The first set stayed on serve through six games before the players exchanged breaks in the next four. Tied at 5-5 in the tiebreak, Zheng held her nerve, striking a patient inside-in forehand winner and forcing Samsonova to net a shot to close out the grueling 76-minute set.
Samsonova responded strongly in the second, breaking Zheng twice and serving out the set. Zheng struggled with the Russian’s wide angles and squandered seven break point opportunities.
Regrouping in the final set, Zheng broke Samsonova in the sixth game when the Russian sent a backhand down the line long.
Serving for the match at 5-3, the 22-year-old Zheng fell behind 0-30 but reeled off four straight points, sealing victory after a forehand error from Samsonova.
“I am super happy, honestly,” Zheng said. “There are not many words that can describe my emotions, because I’ve been trying every year, and that’s the real first time for me to be in quarterfinals in Roland Garros.”
Sabalenka continued her consistency at the majors with a 7-5, 6-3 win over American 16th seed Amanda Anisimova to reach her third straight French Open quarterfinal.
Sabalenka won her first six meetings with Zheng, including the 2024 Australian Open final. However, Zheng earned her first victory over the Belarusian last month – on clay – in Rome.
“It’s always tough matches against her,” Sabalenka noted. “She’s a great player. Of course, I expect a great battle, and I’m super excited to face her in the quarterfinals, and I want to get my revenge. I want to get this win after Rome, so I’m happy to face her in the quarters.”
Four-time winner Iga Swiatek had to dig deep to extend her 24-match winning streak in Paris, overcoming No. 12 seed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 6-3, 7-5.
“It means a lot,” said the fifth-seeded Pole. “I think I needed that kind of win to feel these feelings that I’m able to win under pressure, and even if it’s not going the right way, you know, still turn the match around to win it.”
Swiatek will next face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who outplayed Italian fourth seed Jasmine Paolini 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-1.
On the men’s side, reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz clinched a hard-fought 7-6 (8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory over American Ben Shelton after three hours and 19 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier to reach his fourth straight quarterfinal in Paris.
“Today I fought against myself, against the mind,” second seed Alcaraz said. “I just tried to calm myself. In some moments I was mad, I was angry with myself. Talking not really good things, but I am really happy to not let those thoughts play against me. I tried to calm myself down, and I tried to keep going. That is what I tried.”
The Spaniard will next face Tommy Paul, after the 12th seed defeated Australia’s Alexei Popyrin 6-3, 6-3, 6-3.
Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti brushed aside Holger Rune of Denmark 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to set up a last-eight meeting with American Frances Tiafoe, who overcame Daniel Altmaier of Germany 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4).
On the eve of peace talks, Ukraine and Russia sharply ramped up the war with one of the biggest drone battles of their conflict, a Russian highway bridge blown up over a passenger train and an ambitious attack on nuclear-capable bombers deep in Siberia.
After days of uncertainty over whether Ukraine would even attend, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Defence Minister Rustem Umerov would meet Russian officials at the second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday.
The first round of the talks more than a week ago yielded the biggest prisoner exchange of the war – but no sense of any consensus on how to halt the fighting.
Amid talk of peace, though, there was much war.
At least seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge in Russia’s Bryansk region, neighbouring Ukraine, was blown up over a passenger train heading to Moscow with 388 people on board. No one has claimed responsibility.
Ukraine attacked Russian nuclear-capable long-range bombers at a military base deep in Siberia on Sunday, a Ukrainian intelligence official said, the first such attack so far from the front lines more than 4,300 km (2,670 miles) away.
Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service, the SBU, acknowledged it carried out the attack, codenamed “Operation Spider’s Web,” planned for more than a year and a half.
The intelligence official said the operation involved hiding explosive-laden drones inside the roofs of wooden sheds and loading them onto trucks that were driven to the perimeter of the air bases.
A total of 41 Russian warplanes were hit, the official said. The SBU estimated the damage at $7 billion and said Russia had lost 34% of its strategic cruise missile carriers at its main airfields.
Zelenskiy expressed delight at the “absolutely brilliant outcome,” and noted 117 drones had been used in the attack.
“And an outcome produced by Ukraine independently,” he wrote. “This is our longest-range operation.”
RUSSIA SAYS AIRCRAFT FIRES PUT OUT
A Ukrainian government official told Reuters that Ukraine did not notify the United States of the attack in advance.
Russia’s Defence Ministry acknowledged on the Telegram messaging app that Ukraine had launched drone strikes against Russian military airfields across five regions on Sunday.
Air attacks were repelled in all but two regions — Murmansk in the far north and Irkutsk in Siberia – where “the launch of FPV drones from an area in close proximity to airfields resulted in several aircraft catching fire.”
The fires were extinguished without casualties. Some individuals involved in the attacks had been detained, the ministry said.
Russia launched 472 drones at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said, the highest nightly total of the war. Russia had also launched seven missiles, the air force said.
Russia’s military reported new drone attacks into Sunday evening, listing 53 attacks intercepted in a period of less than two hours, including 34 over the border Kursk region. Debris from destroyed drones triggered residential fires.
Russia said it had advanced deeper into the Sumy region of Ukraine, and open source pro-Ukrainian maps showed Russia took 450 square km of Ukrainian land in May, its fastest monthly advance in at least six months.
U.S. President Donald Trump has demanded Russia and Ukraine make peace and he has threatened to walk away if they do not – potentially pushing responsibility for supporting Ukraine onto the shoulders of European powers – which have far less cash and much smaller stocks of weapons than the United States.
According to Trump envoy Keith Kellogg, the two sides will in Turkey present their respective documents outlining their ideas for peace terms, though it is clear that after three years of intense war, Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart.
Russia’s lead negotiator, presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky, was quoted by TASS news agency as saying the Russian side had received a memorandum from Ukraine on a settlement.
Zelenskiy has complained for days that Russia had failed to provide a memorandum with its proposals.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on prospects for a settlement and the forthcoming talks in Turkey, Lavrov’s ministry said.
Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops. The United States says over 1.2 million people have been killed and injured in the war since 2022.
In June last year, Putin set out opening terms for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine must drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw its troops from the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
According to a copy of the Ukrainian document seen by Reuters with a proposed roadmap for a lasting peace, there will be no restrictions on Ukraine’s military strength after a deal is struck. Nor will there be international recognition of Russian sovereignty over parts of Ukraine taken by Moscow’s forces, and reparations for Ukraine.
The document also stated that the current front line will be the starting point for negotiations about territory.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the 81st Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) on Monday at around 5 PM at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. The Prime Minister will also address the global gathering on the occasion.
The IATA AGM and World Air Transport Summit (WATS) is being held in India after a gap of 42 years — the last such meeting took place in 1983. This year’s edition, scheduled from 1 to 3 June, brings together over 1,600 participants including global aviation industry leaders, senior government officials, and international media representatives.
The Prime Minister’s participation underscores India’s commitment to building world-class air infrastructure and improving connectivity as part of its broader goal of economic growth and inclusive development.
The summit will deliberate on key challenges and opportunities in the aviation sector, including the economics of the airline industry, air connectivity, energy security, sustainable aviation fuel production, financing decarbonisation, and innovation in aviation technology.
Six people were injured on Sunday when a 45-year-old man yelled “Free Palestine” and threw incendiary devices into a crowd in Boulder, Colorado where a demonstration to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza was taking place, authorities said.
Six victims aged between 67 and 88 years old were transported to hospitals, the FBI special agent in charge of the Denver Field Office, Mark Michalek, said. At least one of them was in a critical condition, authorities said.
“As a result of these preliminary facts, it is clear that this is a targeted act of violence and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism,” Michalek said.
Michalek named the suspect as Mohamed Soliman, who was hospitalized shortly after the attack.
FBI Director Kash Patel also described the incident as a “targeted terror attack,” and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said it appeared to be “a hate crime given the group that was targeted.” Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn said he did not believe anyone else was involved.
“We’re fairly confident we have the lone suspect in custody,” he said.
The attack took place on the Pearl Street Mall, a popular pedestrian shopping district in the shadow of the University of Colorado, during an event organized by Run for Their Lives, an organization devoted to drawing attention to the hostages seized in the aftermath of Hamas’s 2023 attack on Israel.
In a statement, the group said the walks have been held every week since then for the hostages, “without any violent incidents until today.”
The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the United States over Israel’s war in Gaza, which has spurred both an increase in antisemitic hate crime as well as moves by conservative supporters of Israel led by President Donald Trump to brand pro-Palestinian protests as antisemitic. His administration has detained protesters of the war without charge and cut off funding to elite U.S. universities that have permitted such demonstrations.
In a post to X, a social network, Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said Soliman had overstayed his visa and been allowed to work by the previous administration. He said it was further evidence of the need to “fully reverse” what he described as “suicidal migration.”
When asked about Soliman, the Department of Homeland Security said more information would be provided as it became available.
VICTIMS BURNED
Brooke Coffman, a 19-year-old at the University of Colorado who witnessed the Boulder incident, said she saw four women lying or sitting on the ground with burns on their legs. One of them appeared to have been badly burned on most of her body and had been wrapped in a flag by someone, she said.
She described seeing a man whom she presumed to be the attacker standing in the courtyard shirtless, holding a glass bottle of clear liquid and shouting.
“Everybody is yelling, ‘get water, get water,’” Coffman said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a prominent Jewish Democrat, said it was an antisemitic attack.
“This is horrifying, and this cannot continue. We must stand up to antisemitism,” he said on X.
The attack follows last month’s arrest of a Chicago-born man in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. Someone opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
The shooting fueled polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
Colorado Governor Jared Polis posted on social media that it was “unfathomable that the Jewish community is facing another terror attack here in Boulder.”
Paris St Germain held victory celebrations on the Champs Elysees and at their Parc des Princes stadium for thousands of cheering supporters on Sunday after crushing Inter Milan 5-0 to win their first Champions League title.
Dressed in the club’s blue-and-red colours, fans gathered in the French capital’s most famous avenue to welcome their Parisian heroes, just landed from Munich.
The players showed off the coveted trophy from their open top bus and joined in the crowd’s singing.
“We are the champions!”, “Ici c’est Paris!” (Paris is here) and other chants reverberated throughout the avenue.
The squad then headed for the nearby Elysee palace where they were greeted by President Emmanuel Macron.
“You won this Champions League, and you did it in a sublime, phenomenal way. You are the champions, and you put Paris at the top of Europe. And it was magnificent,” Macron said.
“We all felt the excitement. There were 11 of you on the pitch, but there was clearly a 12th man – the French public … regardless of traditional allegiances.”
PSG’s young team achieved what the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe could not do in their colours, becoming only the second French side to win the trophy after Olympique de Marseille in 1993.
“It’s unbelievable,” said one fan Leo Rogue, 22, standing in the middle of the packed crowd in a vintage PSG top. “I don’t have the words … We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”
SECURITY LIMIT
Police capped numbers at 100,000 for security reasons.
Some youngsters climbed on scaffolding or news stands to better take in the moment.
Jamel, 55, was disappointed to be stopped near an entrance to the parade as numbers had reached a maximum, but was not letting that spoil his celebration.
“Yesterday I partied and today I’m partying,” he said.
Wild celebrations erupted across the French capital and beyond on Saturday night, although skirmishes with police later threatened to spoil the atmosphere.
The club condemned violence on X. “Paris St Germain calls on everyone to show responsibility and respect, for that historic win to remain a moment of pride shared by all,” it said.
At the Parc des Princes stadium on Sunday evening, police deployed tear gas when dozens of ticketless fans sought to enter the security perimeter.
Inside the arena, after a show that featured DJ Snake, the players came to greet the crowd with man-of-the-final Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and coach Luis Enrique the most cheered, before club president Nasser al Khelaifi and captain Mqrauinhos showed the trophy to the fans.
After the stadium emptied out, supporters threw fireworks at police, who responded with tear gas.
Punjab Kings batter Shreyas Iyer played a captain’s knock as the Indian Premier League (IPL) table toppers beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the second qualifier on Sunday to set up a tantalising final with Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
Punjab had won the toss and opted to field before the rain came down and delayed the start of the game by more than two hours. But they did not lose any overs, with the match eventually finishing at well past 1:30 a.m.
Chasing a target of 204 for victory, Iyer smashed an unbeaten 87 off 41 balls with eight clean sixes as Punjab returned to the final for the first time in 11 years.
The result means Tuesday’s final at the same venue will crown a new IPL champion, with Bengaluru also falling short in the summit clash in 2009, 2011 and 2016.
Punjab lost to Bengaluru in the first playoff match on Thursday, but they will now have another shot at winning their maiden trophy.
“I love big occasions. I always tell my team, the bigger the occasion, the calmer you are,” said Iyer, who captained Kolkata to the title last year before moving to Punjab.
“We shouldn’t think about where we went wrong (against Bengaluru) because throughout the season we’ve been playing amazing… One match cannot define us as a team.”
GOOD START
Punjab had a good start when Rohit Sharma fell cheaply in the third over but Jonny Bairstow (38) and Tilak Varma (44) went after the bowling before Suryakumar Yadav smashed three sixes and four boundaries in his quick-fire knock of 44.
A mammoth total looked on the cards but Yuzvendra Chahal dismissed Suryakumar while Azmatullah Omarzai picked up two wickets, including skipper Hardik Pandya, to restrict Mumbai to 203-6.
In response, Punjab scored 64 runs in the powerplay with Josh Inglis (38) leading the charge before Iyer and Nehal Wadhera stitched together an 84-run partnership for the fourth wicket to frustrate Mumbai.
While Iyer effortlessly accelerated the run rate with three consecutive sixes in an expensive Reece Topley over, Wadhera rode his luck with some loose shots that found the boundary to put the pressure back on Mumbai.
Wadhera fell for 48 but Iyer notched up his half-century in 27 balls before denying Jasprit Bumrah a wicket with a fine boundary off a yorker.
Iyer then welcomed Ashwani Kumar back into the attack with a high and handsome six before clearing the ropes three more times as the 19th over went for 26 runs and Punjab won the game with an over to spare.
“The way he batted, he took his chances. Some of the shots he played were really outstanding,” a bitterly disappointed Hardik said.
Four-time champion Iga Swiatek clawed her way back from the brink to reach the French Open quarter-finals by defeating her claycourt nemesis Elena Rybakina while men’s title holder Carlos Alcaraz also went through after a tough workout on Sunday.
Fifth seed Swiatek looked out of sorts as she trailed 6-1 2-0 on Court Philippe Chatrier, leaving the crowd stunned. But Swiatek found her groove and some grit to prevail 1-6 6-3 7-5.
Her final opponent from last year, Jasmine Paolini, was on the wrong end of another last-16 clash against 13th seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, the Italian wasting three match points in a 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1 defeat.
Svitolina will provide the next test for Swiatek, who continues her quest to become the first female player since tennis turned professional to claim the singles’ title four times in a row at Roland Garros.
The only women to win the singles at Roland Garros in four straight years were Jeanne Matthey from 1909-12 and Suzanne Lenglen from 1920-23 when only French players competed.
Since tennis turned professional in 1968, Swiatek is one of three women with Monica Seles and Justine Henin to enjoy three consecutive triumphs in Paris and on Sunday it looked like her quest for a fourth straight was going to crash to a halt.
The 12th-seeded Rybakina made a bullet start, putting Swiatek on the back foot with some powerful baseline play and racing to a 5-0 lead, threatening to inflict on the former world number one her first bagel at a Grand Slam.
“It was as if I was playing (men’s world number one and heavy hitter) Jannik Sinner,” Swiatek joked.
DOUBLE FAULTS
If there was any sign that Swiatek was rattled, it was her three double faults at 2-2 in the second set.
The fifth seed still held though and it proved to be a turning point as she went on to break to love and move 4-2 up, bagging 10 consecutive points in the process to send the clash into a decider.
At 4-4, with Rybakina serving at 15-40, the Kazakh appeared to have double-faulted on break point.
Both players were walking towards their benches when chair umpire Kader Nouni’s deep voice overruled the line judge’s call.
The reversal offered Rybakina an unexpected lifeline as the air filled with electricity.
Swiatek later saved a game point with a blistering forehand winner, but it was Rybakina who ultimately secured the crucial hold, shifting the weight of expectation squarely onto her opponent’s shoulders.
Swiatek cooled down and held, then broke and finished it off on the second match point before unleashing a huge scream and bumping her chest in a mix of released anger and relief.
“In the first set, with her playing like that I felt I did not have a single chance,” said Swiatek, who had lost to Rybakina in their two previous encounters on clay.
“Using the top spin was the plan from the beginning but I did not feel she gave me the space to do that. But I’m happy that I was patient enough to stay in the game and use any opportunity that came to me.”
Elsewhere in the top half of the draw, Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen battled on, the Chinese eighth seed overcoming Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova 7-6(5) 1-6 6-3, with a potential clash against world number one Aryna Sabalenka looming.
In the men’s draw, Carlos Alcaraz etched his name deeper in clay by overcoming American Ben Shelton 7-6(8) 6-3 4-6 6-4 for his 100th tour-level win on the surface to reach the quarter-finals for a fourth successive year.
Victory was far from simple and Alcaraz said he fought against himself in the mind.
“I just tried to calm myself. In some moments I was mad, I was angry with myself. Talking not really good things but I am happy to not let those thoughts play against me,” he added.
“I tried to calm myself down and I tried to keep going.”
Up next for him is world number 12 Tommy Paul, who blitzed Alexei Popyrin 6-3 6-3 6-3 to become the first American male player to reach the French Open quarter-finals in 22 years.
Paul matched Andre Agassi’s run from 2003 after Americans on Saturday equalled a 40-year-old record with five women and three men reaching round four of the clay court Grand Slam.
Another American in the last eight is Frances Tiafoe, who beat Germany’s Daniel Altmaier but will find himself with a mountain to climb in the next round as he takes on Italian craftsman Lorenzo Musetti.
World number seven Musetti beat Denmark’s Holger Rune 7-5 3-6 6-3 6-2, showing his impressive palette of claycourt game. He has reached at least the semi-finals of all three Masters events on the slow surface this season.
Sabalenka battled past 16th-seed Amanda Anisimova 7-5 6-3 to become the first player to reach the quarter-finals in 10 straight Grand Slams since American Serena Williams between 2014-17.
The Belarusian squandered a total of seven matchpoints before seeing off Anisimova to set up a clash with Zheng.
Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday addressed a National Memorial Symposium at the NDMC Convention Centre in New Delhi, commemorating the 60th anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s philosophy of ‘Integral Humanism.’
The symposium brought together scholars, policymakers, and thought leaders to reflect on the relevance of this philosophy in contemporary India.
Addressing the gathering, the Union Minister paid homage to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya and underlined the global relevance of his thought. “I bow at the feet of revered Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Ji. I say this with complete conviction: the solutions to the problems the world faces today lie in the philosophy of Integral Humanism. It is not a complex philosophy; rather, it is the essence of Indian thought,” he said.
Explaining the roots of the philosophy, Chouhan noted that Integral Humanism was Pandit Deendayal Ji’s response to Western political thought that had emerged post-monarchy under ideals such as liberty, equality, and fraternity. He said that Pandit Deendayal urged India not to imitate the West blindly, but to build its society on its own foundational values.
Speaking about agriculture, the Minister said farming is the backbone of India’s economy. “I am not just the Agriculture Minister; I live the term ‘agriculture’. Farming and farmers run in my veins,” he added.
Elaborating on different forms of human fulfillment, the Minister likened the joy of intellectual discovery to Newton’s experience with gravity and emphasized the balanced role of wealth in life. He said that Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya believed in the necessity of material resources for a dignified life but warned against making wealth an overriding pursuit.
Highlighting the philosophy’s environmental ethos, Chouhan said the principle of ‘single consciousness’ applies not just to humans, but to all of nature. “The Earth is not only for humans; all living beings have an equal right to it,” he said. As part of this thought, he urged people to join the ‘Ek Ped Ma Ke Naam’ (One Tree in Mother’s Name) plantation campaign to preserve nature in a sacred way.
The Minister also pointed to a decline in rural poverty and rising living standards as indicators of positive transformation. He emphasized the government’s commitment to women’s empowerment, mentioning the Lakhpati Didi Yojana as a significant step towards gender equity. “If we leave half of our population behind, the country can never progress,” he stated, adding that this is the land of Gayatri, Sita, Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati.
Chouhan also announced that two new paddy varieties have recently been developed. These varieties are expected to boost yield by 30%, use 20% less water, and mature 20 days earlier, thereby increasing productivity and sustainability.
World Champion Dommaraju Gukesh pulled off a stunning victory against former World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in Round 6 of the ongoing Norway Chess 2025 tournament, turning the game around from a losing position on Sunday.
This marked Gukesh’s first-ever classical win over the Norwegian grandmaster. The 19-year-old also became the second Indian player to beat Carlsen in the history of the competition after Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa.
Carlsen had an upper hand over Gukesh for most of the time in the match, but in the end, he couldn’t control his nerves, and the teenager turned the tables around and went on to win the match.
With this win, D Gukesh jumped to third spot in the Norway Chess 2025 points table with 8.5 points, and now he is just one point behind Carlsen and American Fabiano Caruana.
Earlier on May 27, the marquee clash of Round One at Norway Chess 2025 lived up to expectations as Magnus Carlsen launched a classic king hunt to defeat reigning World Champion D Gukesh in a thrilling encounter.
This was their first classical match since Gukesh won the world title, and it also marked Carlsen’s return to individual classical chess after nearly a year.
Reacting to the upset victory, Gukesh’s coach, Grandmaster Vishnu Prasanna, praised the teenager’s resilience and fighting spirit.
“We have to give a lot of credit to Gukesh for his stubbornness and for his resourcefulness because I think he was aware that he was dead lost for so long, yet he kept kicking, he kept kicking, and the time went lower, the more chances he had to actually do something with the position. I don’t think his intention was to win that, but yeah, I’m sure he is happy,” Vishnu Prasanna said.
The win has added further excitement to the tournament, with the race for the top spot tightening as it enters its final rounds.
Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal expressed optimism that India could finalise its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) ahead of the year-end deadline, citing minimal divergences between the two economic blocs.
Goyal emphasised the complementary nature of the Indian and European economies. “There are not too many issues where we have divergence of opinion. We have both complementary economies,” he stated. “In most cases, what is of offensive interest to India does not hurt the European economy. And likewise, goods and services that Europe would like to provide to India only support our growth story.”
The minister acknowledged that certain sensitive areas require careful negotiation on both sides. “Obviously, in any trading relationship, there are certain sensitive issues on both sides which we have to resolve amicably in the interest of both the European Union and India,” Goyal noted.
India has positioned itself strongly on key issues concerning the EU, particularly regarding gender equality and sustainability. “We are proud of our sisters and our women and the fantastic work they have done and continue to do,” Goyal said. “Therefore, if you have a subject like gender, India is on the front foot. When it comes to subjects like sustainability, India is right at the forefront.”
Both sides have raised specific concerns that must be addressed in the negotiations. “We have certain concerns about European Union practices and regulations. Likewise, they have certain areas of things they would like to discuss,” the minister explained.
Goyal expressed confidence that these issues could be resolved through fair negotiation. “Some issues are on the table and we will negotiate a fair balance and free trade agreement,” he said. “There would be many issues on both sides which will come up for discussion so that we can come up with a robust agreement that will support market access and promote easier trade.”
The minister clarified that free trade agreements operate independently of domestic business reforms. “Free trade agreements stand on their footing. They have no relationship to our internal domestic effort to make it attractive to do investments and businesses,” he explained.
Instead, FTAs focus on market liberalisation that benefits both economies. “Free trade agreements are more towards opening markets on both sides, which leads to greater competitiveness, improved productivity and efficiency in all processes,” Goyal said.
The agreement is expected to create broader economic opportunities across multiple sectors. “It opens the doors to larger engagement, be it in goods, services, investments, all areas related to the economy,” the minister noted. “All of this benefits 1.4 billion consumers.”
The India-EU FTA negotiations represent a significant step in strengthening economic ties between India and one of the world’s largest trading blocs. The agreement aims to reduce trade barriers, enhance market access, and create new opportunities for businesses on both sides.
With both economies showing complementary strengths and shared commitments to sustainability and gender equality, the successful conclusion of the FTA could mark a new chapter in India-Europe economic cooperation, potentially benefiting millions of consumers and businesses across both regions. (ANI)
The Indian stock market opened on a weak note on Monday, tracking negative cues from global markets. The benchmark BSE Sensex fell by 676.86 points or 0.83 per cent to 80,774.15 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty declined by 181.15 points or 0.74 per cent to 24,568.25.
Selling pressure was visible in broader market indices as well, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index down 104 points or 0.18 per cent at 57,315 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 index falling 69 points or 0.39 per cent to 17,813.
In the Sensex pack, HUL, Adani Ports, IndusInd Bank, Nestle, SBI, Eternal (Zomato), Asian Paints and Power Grid were among the few gainers. On the losing side were major players including HDFC Bank, HCL Tech, Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra.
Analysts suggest that the current market structure supports a continuation of the ongoing consolidation phase. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said that recent announcements by former US President Donald Trump, particularly the imposition of 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium, point towards a turbulent global trade environment. He noted that such developments could weigh on investor sentiment in the near term.
Despite global uncertainties, domestic fundamentals remain strong. India’s GDP growth for the fourth quarter came in at 7.4 per cent, surpassing expectations and offering optimism for continued economic expansion. Analysts also highlighted positive trends in consumption and capital expenditure, along with low inflation and the likelihood of an accommodative monetary policy, as encouraging signs for FY26.
Sectorally, the market presented a mixed picture. IT, financial services, metal, media, services and commodities saw losses, while FMCG, PSU banks, real estate and energy stocks witnessed buying interest.
Asian markets traded mostly in the red, with Tokyo, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Seoul posting losses. The Shanghai market was shut for a public holiday. On Wall Street, the Dow Jones closed 0.31 per cent higher on Friday, while the Nasdaq dipped 0.32 per cent, reflecting mixed investor sentiment in the US.
Market experts believe that while the long-term outlook remains positive, a short-term phase of consolidation is currently underway as investors assess global developments and await further clarity on domestic policy trends.
Headline: Panasonic Group launched “Panasonic Stories,” a new owned communication platform
Open in-house magazine “Panasonic Group Magazine” integrated into Panasonic Newsroom
Osaka, Japan – June 1, 2025 – The Panasonic Group integrated its open in-house magazine “Panasonic Group Magazine,” which has been widely accessible to people outside the company, into the Panasonic Newsroom, the Group’s official news website, and launched “Panasonic Stories,” a new owned communication platform.
Panasonic Group Magazine inherits the legacy of the company’s internal publications, which began nearly 100 years ago in 1927, when founder Konosuke Matsushita published the first issue. In March 2024, the Panasonic Group Magazine was launched online as an “open in-house magazine,” and has since been actively sharing a wide range of information. Its purpose is to share the Group’s Basic Business Philosophy and the activities of employees who embody this philosophy across the group, thereby contributing to the building of a strong corporate culture. At the same time, it aims to promote more active communication with employees’ families, customers, business partners, and others who are interested in learning more about the Group’s initiatives.
Through the Panasonic Newsroom, the Panasonic Group’s official news site, the Group has been promptly delivering news—including press releases, topics, in-depth feature stories, and videos.
The concept of “Panasonic Stories,” the new platform that was launched, is to communicate the Group’s vision in its own words and to share its initiatives through people. It combines the strengths of the Panasonic Group Magazine, which has conveyed the Group’s vision by highlighting individuals within the Group, and the Panasonic Newsroom, which has provided timely updates on the Group’s current activities in its own words.
Panasonic Stories is featured as a section within the Panasonic Newsroom site. Archived articles from the Panasonic Group Magazine will be accessible from the Panasonic Stories homepage.
The Panasonic Newsroom and Panasonic Stories will continue to be enhanced as media platforms that deliver the Group’s vision, initiatives, and commitment to embracing new challenges in a timely, in-depth, and reader-friendly manner.
