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After a 13-hour flight to Kuwait, Anindita Chatterjee boarded a connecting flight to Mumbai, but that’s when things took a terrifying turn due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

An Indian travel creator recently took to Instagram to recount the “scariest experience” she had on a flight, triggered by rising tensions in the Middle East. In her post, Anindita Chatterjee shared that she was returning to Mumbai from New York with her baby daughter after spending three months in the United States. After a 13-hour flight to Kuwait, she boarded a connecting flight to Mumbai, but that’s when things took a terrifying turn due to the ongoing conflict in the region.

“We flew 13 hours to Kuwait, had a short layover, and then boarded our connecting flight to Mumbai. But mid-air, things took a terrifying turn. Iran bombed Qatar, and we were flying through that very airspace. It was unreal and terrifying,” she wrote in the caption of the post

A study describes how the Beijing Institute of Technology researchers used the mechanics of bubble formation to encode brief messages in ice.

The extremely low temperatures in the icy Arctic and Antarctic areas often limit devices that require a lot of energy, making communication difficult. Scientists from China, Korea, and the Czech Republic have discovered a new method for writing and preserving messages: making patterns of air bubbles trapped in ice sheets.

A study, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, describes how the Beijing Institute of Technology researchers used the mechanics of bubble formation to encode brief messages in ice.

Their method is based on controlling the size, shape, and placement of air bubbles that occur when water freezes naturally. This unconventional technique uses ice-trapped air bubbles to create different bubble forms that can be used to encode messages in binary or Morse code, per the New York Times.

The concept of bubble messages was inspired by the air bubbles that naturally develop in glaciers. The researchers looked into the dispersion of bubbles in ice to find a simple method of communicating and storing information for extended periods of time.

Our recent research found this imbalance has more than doubled over the last 20 years.

How do you measure climate change? One way is by recording temperatures in different places over a long period of time. While this works well, natural variation can make it harder to see longer-term trends.

But another approach can give us a very clear sense of what’s going on: track how much heat enters Earth’s atmosphere and how much heat leaves. This is Earth’s energy budget, and it’s now well and truly out of balance.

Our recent research found this imbalance has more than doubled over the last 20 years. Other researchers have come to the same conclusions. This imbalance is now substantially more than climate models have suggested.

In the mid-2000s, the energy imbalance was about 0.6 watts per square metre (W/m2) on average. In recent years, the average was about 1.3 W/m2. This means the rate at which energy is accumulating near the planet’s surface has doubled.

These findings suggest climate change might well accelerate in the coming years. Worse still, this worrying imbalance is emerging even as funding uncertainty in the United States threatens our ability to track the flows of heat.

The woman has recently switched to cruise travel, not only because it gives her the chance to travel the world but also because she loves the experience of being lost at sea.

Sharon Lane, 77, began daydreaming about life on board as soon as she learnt that a cruise line was conducting a global tour. In mid-June, she departed California to live on the residential cruise ship Villa Vie Odyssey, which will be sailing around the world.

Ms Lane, a former California high school teacher, loves to travel. She used to teach foreign languages and enjoyed taking her students on European vacations. She moved to Cape Town, South Africa, in the 1990s for two years of adventure.

She has recently switched to cruise travel, not only because it gives her the chance to travel the world but also because she loves the experience of being lost at sea.

This is not a short cruise holiday for Ms Lane. The 77-year-old Californian intends to spend the next 15 years travelling around the world’s oceans and making port calls at places like Japan and New Zealand.

Being a “residential” cruise ship, guests usually do not board Villa Vie Odyssey for a brief excursion. The Odyssey is a newly rebuilt, three-decade-old ship, and its cabins are sold permanently, or for as long as the ship is expected to last.

According to CEO Mikael Petterson of Villa Vie Residences, cabin rates begin at $129,000 for a 15-year stay, plus monthly costs of $2,000 per person for double occupancy and $3,000 for single occupancy. Cabins outside start at $169,000, and each person’s monthly fee goes up by $500.

Ms Lane purchased her cabins at the end of 2024, and she boarded the ship a few months later when the ship arrived in her hometown of San Diego, California.

Kajol Can’t Save Maa From a Weak NarrativeFronted solidly by Kajol in the guise of a woman who fights fiercely to prevent her daughter from falling prey to an old curse that hangs over the family and their village, Maa is a confused concoction. Faith, fear and feudalism flow into a feminine fable both fantastical and feeble.  

The mythological drama pans out in a remote Bengal village – its name is a Punjabified ‘Chandarpur’ and not ‘Chandrapur’ as it would be pronounced and spelled by a Bengali – off a forest that nobody dares to enter.  

That is pretty much the fate of Maa, helmed by Vishal Furia, whose fame rests on the 2016 Marathi horror flick Lapachhapi (remade in Hindi as Chhori by the director himself). It is way too erratic to be aware where it is going.  

Maa forgets what it wants to be – a straight up horror movie or a mish-mash of many things ranging from a good-versus-evil tale to a celebration of a benign, doting mother’s power to be destructive when her child is threatened by a force she can barely comprehend.   

The killing of the girl unleashes a curse that casts a shadow on all young village girls on the cusp of adulthood. They are hounded by a daitya (demon), a personification of a fearsome giant tree that spreads terror around the zamindar’s mansion that is now up for sale.  

Javed Akhtar extended his support and said the Censor Board and government should be a little more sympathetic towards the film’s release in India

Indian screenwriter, lyricist, and poet Javed Akhtar recently in conversation with NDTV Creators Manch, addressed the ongoing Diljit Dosanjh controversy over his Punjabi film Sardaar Ji 3, featuring Pakistani actor Hania Aamir. He shared his thoughts on the ongoing situation and whether it is fair for the singer-actor.

On being told that the makers say it was shot before the Pahalgam attack earlier this year, he said, “Ab kya karein bechara. The movie was shot earlier. Usko pata toh nahi tha ki aisa hoga. Iss mein Pakistani aadmi ka paisa toh nahi doobega, Hindustani ka paisa doobega. Toh phir kya faayda?”

He adds, “Usko pehle pata hota yeh hone wala hain, toh woh thodi na leta Pakistani actress. I think the government and the censor board should look at the situation with a little sympathy. And say that don’t do this again, but since you made this film before, then release it. But it should not happen again.”

Kaalidhar Laapata is an emotional and heartfelt story, and the remake of the Tamil film Karuppu Durai, featuring Abhishek Bachchan and Daivik Baghela in the road thriller premiere. It has been directed by Madhumita and produced under Zee Studios. The story takes you to Kaalidhar, a man who has failed to fulfil his wishes in life, sees a turning his life once he meets Ballu, a young boy. Together, they embark on a journey to fulfil their long bucket list.

Kaalidhar Laapata gives us a glimpse of Abhishek Bachchan as a middle-aged man suffering from memory loss and family betrayal decides to disappear in the crowd of Maha Kumbh Mela. he meets Ballu on his escape, who is a confident and aspiring boy of eight years. Their bond strengthens through laughter, warmth, and opportunities for the second time. The trailer promises a heartfelt story of rediscovery and happiness. Both of them start to fulfil their bucket list and leave the tension behind. The film beautifully explores the theme of transformation, dignity and abandonment.

The story features Abhishek Bachchan as the protagonist, with Daivik Baghela, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Shruti Vyas, Prakash Belawadi, and Varun Buddhadev. It has been directed by Madhumita and produced under the banner of Zee Studios. The writers are Madhumita and Sreekar Prasad. Music has been given by Karthikeya Murthy, and cinematography done by Balasubramaniem.

Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms.

The United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There’s little to celebrate.

Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms. Its longtime credo of “multilateralism” is under siege.

And as conflict between Israel, Iran and now the United States flares, it watched from the sidelines.

Four generations after its founding, as it tries to chart a new path for its future, a question hangs over the institution and the nearly 150,000 people it employs and oversees: Can the United Nations remain relevant in an increasingly contentious and fragmented world? With its dream of collaboration drifting, can it even survive?

When the United Nations was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the UN Charter was stated in its first words: “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

The White House signaled trade progress with China on Thursday, with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States.

After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing had agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s products.

China also committed to easing some non-tariff countermeasures, but US officials later accused Beijing of violating the pact and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths.

Both sides eventually agreed on a framework to move forward with their Geneva consensus following talks in London this month.

On Thursday, a White House official told AFP that President Donald Trump’s administration and China have “agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement.”

The demolition of a Durga Temple in Dhaka had led to a sharp response from India over the treatment of minorities in Bangladesh. Authorities in Bangladesh have justified the move, calling it a ‘makeshift structure’, built illegally. 

Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “We understand that extremists were clamouring for the demolition of the Durga temple in Khilkhet, Dhaka. The interim government, instead of providing security to the temple, projected the episode as a case of illegal land use and allowed the destruction of the temple today.”

“This has resulted in damage to the deity before it was relocated. We are dismayed that such incidents continue to recur in Bangladesh. Let me underline that it is the responsibility of the interim government of Bangladesh to protect Hindus, their properties, and their religious institutions,” Mr Jaiswal said. 

India has repeatedly voiced concern about the targeting of minorities in Bangladesh under the interim government led by Muhammad Yunus. Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue with Mr Yunus during the meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok. 

Prime Minister Modi had also underlined India’s concerns related to the safety and security of minorities in Bangladesh, including Hindus, and expressed his expectation that the Government of Bangladesh would ensure their security, including by thoroughly investigating the cases of atrocities committed against them, during the meeting with Muhammad Yunus.