Author: GlobalNewsAdmin

Good morning. You’re reading the Up First newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to the Up First podcast for all the news you need to start your day. Today’s top stories U.S. special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has arrived in Moscow and is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin today. His visit comes as President Trump’s deadline for the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine or face economic penalties was moved up to the end of this week. In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin greets…

Kari Lake, who is overseeing the U.S. Agency for Global Media, holds up a photo of the Voice of America newsroom as she testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the future of the agency on June 25, 2025. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images The conflict over Voice of America’s future is coming to a head as a federal judge demands answers from Kari Lake, who is overseeing its federal parent for the Trump White House. The stakes were sharpened Monday when Michael Abramowitz, the director of the government-funded…

Updated on: Aug 06, 2025 04:49 pm IST Last month, a female college student immolated herself on the campus after no action was taken over the harassment complaints she made against a professor. A female college student died after she allegedly set herself on fire in Odisha’s Kendrapara district on Wednesday because of blackmail by her boyfriend, news agency PTI reported, citing police. Last month, the Balasore college student’s self-immolation caused serious unrest across the state and the nation. (PTI/Representational Image) This is the second case of self-immolation since July 12, and third case of women dying due to burn…

The changes affect Moderna’s mRNA bird flu vaccine — a move the company itself disclosed in May — as well as numerous other programs, including “rejection or cancellation of multiple pre-award solicitations” from pharmaceutical giants Pfizer and Sano | Photo Credit: AFP President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday announced it would terminate 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, questioning the safety of a technology credited with helping end the Covid pandemic and saving millions of lives.The announcement, made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., marks his latest effort to weave vaccine skepticism into the core of US government policy.”We…

World champion Argentina has a huge fan following in Kerala. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO: Getty Images The Reporter Broadcasting Company, the Kerala Government’s commercial partner for bringing the Argentina football team and its star Lionel Messi to the State, has said that it might be forced to take legal recourse if the World Cup champion does not play in October or November.Reporter, the sponsor for the team’s visit to Kerala, said it had paid the full amount of ₹130 crore to the Argentine Football Association (AFA) on June 6 this year as per the agreement signed in December 2024. “As…

In January, an old post on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, became a concern for police in the Indian city of Satara. Written in 2023, the short message from an account with a few hundred followers described a senior ruling-party politician as “useless”.”This post and content are likely to create serious communal tension,” inspector Jitendra Shahane wrote in a content-removal notice marked “CONFIDENTIAL” and addressed to X.The post, which remains online, is among hundreds cited by X in a lawsuit it filed in March against India’s government, challenging a sweeping crackdown on social media content by Prime Minister Narendra…

New Delhi: The union government on Wednesday rejected the opposition’s demand for a discussion on the special intensive revision (SIR) of Bihar’s electoral rolls in the Lok Sabha, citing that the matter is under the consideration of the Supreme Court. Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said that matters concerning the functioning and responsibilities of the Election Commission of India (ECI), being an autonomous constitutional body, could not be discussed in the House. (Sansad TV) Union minister Kiren Rijiju urged members to allow proceedings to run smoothly amid the uproar in the House over demands to revoke the SIR. “We all know…

A 28-member group of tourists from Kerala has gone missing after the cloudburst in Uttarakhand triggered a massive slide and flash floods on Wednesday. Of the 28 individuals missing, 20 are reported to be from Kerala settled in Maharashtra, while the other eight are from different districts in Kerala(AFP) According to the relatives, cited in a PTI news agency report, the group was leaving from Uttarkashi to Gangotri at around 8:30 in the morning. Several people have gone missing after a cloudburst triggered flash floods in the Dharali area of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand on Tuesday. The huge torrent swept…

The domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 113.41 points to 80,823.66 in early trade, while Nifty was up 19.20 points to 24,668.75. File | Photo Credit: Reuters The rupee rose 15 paise to 87.73 against the U.S. dollar in early trade on Wednesday (August 6, 2025) amid a weakening greenback as markets awaited the outcome of the Reserve Bank’s MPC meet. However, a rise in global Brent crude prices and FII outflows capped further gains in the local unit, forex traders said, adding that markets continued to wait for the outcome on the U.S. tariffs. At the interbank…

A week after releasing the first song, “Aavan Jaavan”, from Ayan Mukerji’s upcoming spy thriller War 2, Yash Raj Films has now dropped the making of the film on its official YouTube channel. The video starts with the lead actors, Hrithik Roshan and Kiara Advani, practising the popular hook step in a rehearsal hall of HRX, Hrithik’s athleisure brand. The action then switches to the shoot in Italy. “We needed a backdrop to film this love song. It should be like this travel energy song, where two people are just in love and seeing the world together. So I was…