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China on Tuesday announced the first astronaut candidates from its special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong, with the latter calling it a "glorious page" in the city's history. Beijing has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme as it pursues ambitious plans for a manned lunar landing by 2030. The China Manned Space Agency said Tuesday that a payload specialist from Hong Kong and another from Macau were among 10 candidates for the country's fourth batch of astronauts. Hong Kong leader John Lee called it "a glorious page in Hong Kong's history". "This is... the first time that a Hong Kong citizen was selected as a payload specialist in China's manned space programme, with a chance to become an astronaut to go to space in person, to participate in research and to contribute the country's space programme," Lee said. Sun Dong, Hong Kong's tech and innovation secretary, said the winning candidat

An Indian-origin man in New York shot his brother dead, injured his mother, and then killed himself, according to police. Karamjit Multani, 33, shot his brother Vipanpal, 27, on Sunday in their home in the Richmond Hill neighbourhood and went out and turned the gun on himself at a place about two kilometres away, police said. Police said that when they went to their house after getting a call about a shooting, they found Vipanpal "unresponsive" with several gunshot wounds, and their 52-year-old mother with an injury to her stomach. Later, Multani was found dead near a street corner with a gunshot wound to his head and a gun nearby, according to police. The mother, who was not identified by name, was taken to a hospital where she was said to be out of danger. Richmond Hill has a large concentration of Asians, most of them of Indian descent from India or the Caribbean, accounting for 26 per cent of the area's population. According to the city, "The southern portio

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced he was dissolving parliament and called snap legislative elections after the far-right trounced his centrist alliance in EU polls. The first round of elections for the lower house National Assembly will take place on June 30, with the second round on July 7, Macron announced in an address to the nation. The outcome of the EU elections, he acknowledged, is "not a good result for parties who defend Europe." Macron noted that, including the top scoring National Rally (RN), far-right parties in France managed to take almost 40 percent of the vote in the EU elections in France. "Far right parties... are progressing everywhere in the continent. It is a situation to which I cannot resign myself," he said. "I decided to give you the choice... Therefore I will dissolve the National Assembly tonight. "This decision is serious and heavy but it is an act of confidence. Confidence in you, dear compatriots, and i

As Narendra Modi took oath as the Prime Minister for the third consecutive term, a number of global events are lined up, where India's participation will play a crucial role in shaping geopolitics. India has emerged as a strong voice in the past decade. PM Modi has prioritised positioning India as the 'Voice of the Global South' with the 'Vishwa Bandhu' approach. The G20 Summit was held under India's presidency with the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. Here are the major events that will take place in recent months after Modi 3.0 taking charge: BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting The first assignment for India's foreign policy will come with the BRICS Foreign Ministers' meeting which is scheduled to take place on June 10-11, in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, with participation from foreign ministers of the member states. BRICS is an intergovernmental organisation comprising 10 nations. The organisation includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South

Hamas' armed al-Qassam Brigades said on Saturday that some hostages were killed in Israel's hostage freeing operation at al-Nuseirat refugee camp and nearby areas in central Gaza. Israel, "by committing horrific massacres, was able to free some its hostages, yet it killed some others during the operation," al-Qassam Brigades' spokesperson, Abu Ubaida, said in a statement on his Telegram channel. Israeli forces rescued four hostages held by Hamas since October in a raid in Gaza on Saturday while over 200 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes in the same area, according to Hamas officials, in one of the bloodiest Israeli assaults of the war. It was not immediately clear if the hostage rescue and the Israeli air assault were part of the same operation but both took place in Gaza's al-Nuseirat, a densely built-up and often embattled area in the eight-month-old war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian territory's ruling Islamist group. Saturday's

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced Saturday that his government will suspend coal exports to Israel while it continues its war against Hamas in the Gaza strip. "We are going to suspend coal exports to Israel until the genocide stops," the leftist leader wrote on X. In May, Petro -- who describes Israel's campaign in Gaza as "genocidal" -- announced Colombia would sever ties with Israel over the conflict and open an embassy in Ramallah in the Palestinian territories. He also said that Bogota would stop purchasing weapons made by Israel, one of the main suppliers of the South American country's security forces. According to the Colombian government, the coal export ban will enter into force five days after the decree published in the official gazette and will not affect goods that have already been authorized for shipment. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV

Ukrainian strikes targeting a shop in a Russian-held part of the southern Kherson region killed at least 19 people on Friday, occupation authorities said. "Following the bombardment of the village of Sadove by Kyiv's fighters... a shop with a large number of visitors and employees was destroyed. Nineteen people died and five others were wounded," Vladimir Saldo, head of Russian occupation authorities in Kherson, wrote on Telegram. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/McTiWsQ