Author: GlobalNewsAdmin

New DelhiJul 8, 2025 19:31 IST First published on: Jul 8, 2025 at 19:31 IST Share The BJP leadership’s move to appoint Pathankot MLA Ashwani Kumar Sharma as the Punjab unit’s working president has followed calls for “serious introspection” from within the party following its defeat in the June 19 Ludhiana Assembly bypoll. A senior leader, Sharma had also been the Punjab BJP president earlier. His current appointment was seen in BJP circles as the party’s first step towards “forming an effective front” ahead of the 2027 state Assembly polls. According to BJP insiders, Sharma’s new role is also being…

NPR speaks with esports journalist Rod Breslau about the second annual Esports World Cup starting Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, where 2,000 players are expected to compete from more than 100 countries. LEILA FADEL, HOST: The second annual Esports World Cup starts today in Saudi Arabia with 2,000 players expected to compete from more than a hundred countries. Last year, the prize pool was $62 million. This year it’s $70 million, the biggest prize pool so far for an esports tournament. To tell us more, we’re joined by Rod Breslau. He’s a longtime esports journalist and analyst. Good morning.ROD BRESLAU: Hi.…

Jennifer Harlan, an editor at The New York Times Book Review, recommends three dystopian novels to read this summer.

The Chenab, one of the three rivers allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty, seen from the riverbank in early June in Punjab province, Pakistan. Betsy Joles for NPR hide caption toggle caption Betsy Joles for NPR ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — High in the Himalayas, the Indus River flows over the Tibetan Plateau before branching into a web of tributaries that stretch through India and Pakistan and converge to empty into the Arabian Sea. For more than six decades, this river network has been divided between the two countries according to the Indus Waters Treaty, which broadly allocates three rivers…

A local resident leaves a church after voting in an election in Cumming, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall/AP hide caption toggle caption Charlie Neibergall/AP In a break with decades of tradition, the Internal Revenue Service says it will allow houses of worship to endorse candidates for political office without losing their tax-exempt status. The surprise announcement came in a court document filed on Monday. Since 1954, a provision in the tax code called the Johnson Amendment says that churches and other nonprofit organizations could lose their tax-exempt status if they participate in, or intervene in “any political campaign on behalf of (or…

We asked our listeners: What’s your favorite Pixar movie? Clockwise from left: Coco, Inside Out, Toy Story 3, WALL-E, Ratatouille and Finding Nemo Pixar; Disney/Pixar; Alamy hide caption toggle caption Pixar; Disney/Pixar; Alamy In the 30 years since the release of Toy Story, Pixar has established a track record of producing critic- and audience-beloved stories. But let’s be real: There are distinct hierarchies within this catalog, and many people have very strong opinions about where each of these movies might fall, especially when it comes to the sequels. So we recently asked our Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners to help…

An Amazon worker delivers packages in Los Angeles. Damian Dovarganes/AP hide caption toggle caption Damian Dovarganes/AP Out: Amazon’s Prime Day that’s actually one day. In: Prime Day that’s stretched to a four-day affair, in hopes of enticing both shoppers and sellers at a time of pricing uncertainty given ever-shifting tariff plans. The midsummer sales, between July 8 and 11, might offer an early test of the long-touted consumer resilience that’s been propelling the U.S. economy through the Trump administration’s shakeup of import costs. Spending across U.S. retailers over these four July days is once again expected to reach records, equivalent…