Source: The Print Media ( The Hindu)

U.S. struck 3 Iranian nuclear sites, Trump says, joining Israeli air campaign

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel’s effort to decapitate the country’s nuclear programme in a risky gambit to weaken a long-time foe amid Tehran’s threat of reprisals that could spark a wider regional conflict. “We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran, including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” Mr. Trump said in a post on social media on Saturday (June 21, 2025). “All planes are now outside of Iran’s airspace. A full payload of bombs was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home,” he said.

Air India starts releasing interim compensation of ₹25 lakh each to relatives of crash victims, survivors

Air India on Saturday (June 21, 2025) said it has started releasing the interim compensation of ₹25 lakh each to the families of the deceased and survivors of the June 12 Ahmedabad plane crash. The airline said a team of trained psychologists and doctors has been deployed in Ahmedabad to provide trauma counselling and psychological support to the affected families or individuals. “The interim compensation began being released from June 20, with three families having received payments so far, and the remaining claims being processed,” Air India said.

FATF report links dual-use cargo seized by India in 2020 to Pakistan missile agency

A dual-use equipment seized by India from a Pakistan-bound merchant vessel in 2020 is linked to Islamabad’s National Development Complex, which is involved in the country’s missile development programme, a new report by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global anti-terror financing watchdog, has said. “In 2020, Indian customs authorities seized an Asian-flagged ship bound for Pakistan. During an investigation, Indian authorities confirmed that documents mis-declared the shipment’s dual-use items,” the FATF report said.

Invoking anti-gangster law to counter one communal violence incident triggered by a social media post is misuse: SC

The Supreme Court has concluded that the use of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act — a law meant to counter organised crime — in a solitary case of communal disturbance caused by an “incendiary” social media post amounts to a misuse of the stringent penal law. The recent judgment, authored by Justice Sandeep Mehta, came after the court heard an appeal filed by people accused under the State law for mobbing and vandalising the business establishment of a man who posted content derogatory to a particular religion on social media.

Mahmoud Khalil vows to continue protesting Israel’s war in Gaza after coming back home

A Palestinian activist who was detained for more than three months pushed his infant son’s stroller with one hand and pumped his fist in the air with the other as supporters welcomed him home Saturday (June 21, 2025). Mahmoud Khalil greeted friends and spoke briefly to reporters Saturday (June 21, 2025) at New Jersey’s Newark International Airport a day after leaving a federal immigration facility in Louisiana. “The U.S. government is funding this genocide, and Columbia University is investing in this genocide,” he said. “This is why I will continue to protest with everyone of you. Not only if they threaten me with detention. Even if they would kill me, I would still speak up for Palestine.”

At least eight dead as hot-air balloon catches fire in Brazil

A hot-air balloon caught fire and tumbled from the sky on Saturday (June 21, 2025) in Brazil’s southern state of Santa Catarina, killing eight people, firefighters said. Footage shared by local news outlet G1 showed billows of smoke coming from the balloon, which was in flames as it hurtled toward the ground in the municipality of Praia Grande. Thirteen people, including the pilot, managed to jump out but eight were unable to. Authorities have opened an investigation and the results will be made public within 30 days, Santa Catarina’s public safety secretary Col. Flávio Graff told journalists.

Ukraine received at least 20 bodies of Russian soldiers in recent exchanges: Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s President said that Russia repatriated at least 20 of its own dead soldiers in recent exchanges with Ukraine, describing it as a result of Moscow’s disorganisation in carrying out large swaps of wounded POWs and remains of troops. Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that an Israeli citizen was among the dead Ukraine had received in recent exchanges. He spoke to journalists on Friday but his comments were embargoed until Saturday (June 21, 2025). Officials did not disclose the identities of the bodies. “They threw the corpses of their citizens at us. This is their attitude toward war, toward their soldiers. And this is already documented. Sometimes these bodies even have Russian passports,” he said.

DGCA asks Air India to remove three officials from roles related to crew rostering

The DGCA on Saturday directed Air India to remove three officials, including a top executive part of the flight operations department, from their roles and responsibilities for “systemic failures” and “multiple violations” in flight crew scheduling. According to multiple sources. The DGCA order, a copy of which has been reviewed by The Hindu, states that internal disciplinary proceedings must be initiated against these officials without delay. An official confirmation from the DGCA is awaited.

In poll-bound Bihar, Nitish Kumar increases pension to ₹1,100 per month from ₹400

Ahead of the Assembly election, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday made a major announcement which would benefit 1,09,69,255 people in the State. Mr. Kumar has increased the pension under Social Security Scheme for the old age, differently-abled individuals and widows of Bihar. “I am pleased to inform you that under the Social Security Pension Scheme, all old age people, differently-abled individuals, and widowed women will now receive a pension of ₹1100 per month instead of ₹400,” Mr. Kumar said in the message posted on social media account ‘X’.

Sharing video footage of polling station breaches voters’ privacy: EC officials

Amid demands to make public webcasting footage of polling stations, Election Commission officials on Saturday said such a move is violative of privacy and security concerns of voters. They said that while such demand suits their narrative in making it sound quite genuine and in the interest of voters and safeguarding the democratic process, it is, in fact, aimed at achieving exactly the “opposite objective”.

Israel hits Iranian nuclear research facility as war continues into second week

Israel’s military said Saturday it struck an Iranian nuclear research facility overnight and killed three senior Iranian commanders in targeted attacks as the war between the two nations continued into a second week. Early Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where a local official said Israel had attacked the nuclear research facility in two waves.

CBI conducts searches in Bihar and Jharkhand in ₹100-crore fake GST claim case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday (June 21, 2025) conducted searches in Bihar and Jharkhand in a case registered against the then Additional Commissioner, Customs, Patna, and 29 others over bogus GST claims through fake export bills of nearly ₹100 crore. In a press statement, the agency said searches were conducted at seven places in Bihar and Jharkhand, including Patna, Purnia, Jamshedpur, Nalanda and Munger. The searches led to the recovery of seven gold bars, each weighing 100 gram, incriminating documents and mobile phones. It is alleged in the FIR that senior officials of the Customs department, including then Additional Commissioner and four Superintendents, entered into a criminal conspiracy with the accused.

olls can’t take place without govt’s support: Bangladesh election body chief

The government plays a central role in the election process, the head of Bangladesh’s Election Commission said on Saturday, asserting that holding polls is “not possible” without its support. Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said that no matter “how independent” the top election body is said to be, “it is not possible to hold an election without the government’s support.”

As sports embrace gender tests, Coventry and IOC may follow

As the gender furore that engulfed boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics rumbles on, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is weighing reintroducing testing, while several sports have already embraced testing for male chromosomes. Such testing has its critics and the Olympics have already tried it once only to abandon it in 1996. Incoming president Kirsty Coventry, who will become the first woman to lead the Olympic movement when she starts her term on Monday (June 16, 2025), signalled a change of direction on this politically inflammatory and scientifically complex issue when she was elected in March.