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“My biggest support system is my father, but after him, he (Tendulkar) knows a lot. Arjun and I have been friends since we were eight or nine years old. Sir also used to be there. He has seen,” Shaw said in an interview with News24.

“Hardly two months ago, he was practising at MIG for the (International) Masters League. I was also there. At such a time, you need a mentor who gives a spark,” Shaw stated.

Shaw revealed that Tendulkar continues to give him words of advice and retains the belief that he can bounce back from his struggles.

“He still believes in me. ‘Prithvi, I have belief and I will continue to believe.’ He has seen me. He has trust. ‘Get back on track. Everything is still possible.’ That belief is very precious to me. Just like my father and a few friends believe,” Shaw spoke about Tendulkar.

Meanwhile, Shaw on Monday ended his ties with home team Mumbai after being granted a No Objection Certificate by the MCA to sign up with a new domestic side for his “growth and development as a cricketer”. Shaw has been out of reckoning from the red ball set-up for some time but has played white ball cricket. However, his off-field disciplinary issues have grabbed more air time than his on-field performances. The Mumbai Cricket Association confirmed receiving Shaw’s request and has given its approval to it.

“The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) would like to inform that cricketer Prithvi Shaw had formally requested a No Objection Certificate (NOC) to represent another state as a professional player in the upcoming domestic season. After due consideration, the MCA has granted the NOC,” the MC stated MCA Secretary Abhay Hadap said the body appreciates Shaw’s contributions over the years.

“Prithvi Shaw has been an exceptional talent and has contributed significantly to Mumbai cricket. We respect his decision and wish him the very best in his future endeavours,” he stated.

In the letter that Shaw sent to the MCA, the 25-year-old said he was grateful for the time he spent in the Mumbai team, for which he made his debut in 2017, but desires to move on now.

Fielding lapses haunted India as they dropped eight catches, a factor that significantly influenced England’s advantage.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, despite scoring a ton for India vs England in the 1st Test in Leeds, got quite a lot of flak due to his fielding follies. During the entire Test, India dropped as many as eight catching opportunities, which tipped the scales in England’s favour. The eight dropped chances cost India a whopping 250 runs, a valuable tally that held the power to change the visitors’ fate. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the prime offender with four dropped chances, followed by other top fielders. 
Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar was not pleased with the fielding of Team India. “I don’t think there will be any medal given. T Dillip gives those after a match. This is what was really very, very disappointing. Yashasvi Jaiswal is a very good fielder but he hasn’t been able to hold on to anything this time,” Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating, said.

Stuart Broad was also critical. “Crucially, and I mean this in the kindest possible way, they have to take their catches. They can’t lob three or four of them on the floor when you’re trying to get 10 wickets to take a test match,” he said. 

However, former India fielding coach R Sridhar has come in defence of Yashasvi Jaiswal. “He’s actually an excellent gully fielder. Make no mistake. He’s had just two bad games — one in Melbourne, one here in Leeds. Otherwise, he’s been exceptional. The catches he took against Bangladesh in Kanpur were outstanding. It’s easy to sit in the commentary box and criticise, but these are challenging conditions, and for many of them, it’s their first experience of this environment,” he told Sportstar.

Sridhar, however, said that India’s ground fielding level was not good at all.

“The standard of ground fielding which is exhibited is not acceptable. Unlike catching, ground fielding is something which is totally in your control. You should know which ball to put your body behind, which ball to attack, which ball to play safe,” he said.

“You know when to pick up the right cues, you know, based on the breeze. Wind is another big factor. As the television visuals showed, Leeds was extremely blustery and cold when we were fielding. But even then, Karun Nair took two brilliant catches, and so did KL Rahul.”

The former coach urged everyone to show some patience with the Indian cricket team.

Despite their immense wealth, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding invitation has been criticized for appearing uninspired and lacking finesse.
The wedding festivities for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former news anchor Lauren Sanchez have already begun in Venice, but the couple has found itself at the centre of an unexpected criticism – their wedding invitation.

A glimpse of the invite, obtained by ABC News, has triggered a wave of ridicule online. The couple, together for six years, will exchange vows in a multi-day celebration said to include an official ceremony on the picturesque island of San Giorgio Maggiore on Friday, June 27.

Far from the elegance expected of a billionaire’s wedding, the invitation’s design – a collage of butterflies, birds, feathers, and shooting stars in shades of pink and blue, set against a stark white background – has been branded “atrocious” and “ugly” by social media users.

The card included a message requesting guests not to bring gifts. It read, “We are excited for you to join us! We have one early request: please, no gifts.”
Instead, the invite said the couple would make charitable contributions on behalf of attendees. “Donations on your behalf are being made to the UNESCO Venice Office to safeguard this city’s irreplaceable cultural heritage, to CORILA to restore the vital lagoon habitats that protect Venice’s future, and to Venice.”

“This magical place has gifted us unforgettable memories. Our hope is that through these efforts and by you joining us, Venice will continue to inspire wonder for generations to come,” the invitation added.

While the intention appeared thoughtful, the visual presentation left many unimpressed.

People on X (formerly Twitter) quickly began mocking the invite.

One user joked, “Was the invitation made in Microsoft Paint?”
“This invitation looks like an 11-year-old made it,” wrote another user

New Delhi:

Sending a stern message to India’s neighbours, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has refused to sign a joint statement at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet because it did not mention the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 innocent lives and did not reflect India’s strong position on terror. While skipping any mention of Pahalgam, the document mentioned Balochistan, tacitly accusing India of creating unrest there. Pahalgam’s exclusion from the document appears to have been done at Pakistan’s behest as its all-weather ally, China, holds the Chair now. 

India has consistently trashed Pakistan’s allegations about its involvement in Balochistan and said Islamabad must look within and stop backing terror instead of making wild allegations. 

“India is not satisfied with the language of the joint document. There was no mention of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, there was mention of the incidents that happened in Pakistan, so India refused to sign the joint declaration, and there is no joint communique either,” a Defence Ministry source said.

Mr Singh is currently in China’s Qingdao to attend the SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting. The summit is being attended by member states, including Russia, Pakistan and China, to discuss issues related to regional and international security. Established in 2001, SCO aims to promote regional stability through cooperation. The bloc currently has 10 member states — Belarus, China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Addressing the summit, the Defence Minister called upon SCO members to unite to eliminate terrorism for collective safety and security. He said the biggest challenges faced by the region are related to peace, security and trust deficit, with radicalisation, extremism and terrorism being the root cause of these problems.

“Peace and prosperity cannot co-exist with terrorism and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction in the hands of non-state actors and terror groups. Dealing with these challenges requires decisive action. It is imperative that those who sponsor, nurture and utilise terrorism for their narrow and selfish ends must bear the consequences. Some countries use cross-border terrorism as an instrument of policy and provide shelter to terrorists. There should be no place for such double standards. SCO should not hesitate to criticise such nations,” Mr Singh, taking in a veiled swipe at Pakistan.

Referring to the Pahalgam terror attack, he said India had exercised its right to defend against terrorism and pre-empt as well as deter further cross-border attacks. “During the Pahalgam terror attack, victims were shot after they were profiled on religious identity. The Resistance Front, a proxy of UN-designated terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) claimed responsibility for the attack. The pattern of Pahalgam attack matches with LeT’s previous terror attacks in India. India’s zero tolerance for terrorism was demonstrated through its actions. It includes our right to defend ourselves against terrorism. We have shown that epicentres of terrorism are no longer safe and we will not hesitate to target them,” he said.

He stressed the need to hold perpetrators, organisers, financiers and sponsors of terror and to bring them to justice. He termed any and every act of terrorism as criminal and unjustifiable. SCO members, he said, must condemn this evil unequivocally.

The Defence Minister’s refusal to sign the joint statement reflects India’s stern stand against terror now and falls in line with the global messaging in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor. Eight delegations were sent abroad to articulate New Delhi’s stand on terror and how it plans to tackle it going forward.

Hyderabad:

In a shocking revelation in the probe into a Telangana man’s murder a month after his wedding, police have found that Tejeswar’s wife Aishwarya and her lover Tirumal Rao discussed the Raja Raghuvanshi honeymoon killing in Meghalaya and considered making a similar plan to eliminate Tejeswar and keep the cops guessing.

According to Gadwal police chief T Srinivasa Rao, Aishwarya and Tirumal Rao have told them during questioning that they had initially planned to kill Tejeswar in the same manner as Raja Raghuvanshi. The plan was simple: Aishwarya would convince Tejeswar to take her out on a bike. On the way, the killers would attack them. Tejeswar would be murdered and Aishwarya would flee with Tirumal Rao. The cops, they thought, would be confused and chase a murder-cum-kidnapping angle.

This is exactly how the Raja Raghuvanshi case played out, where Raja’s body was found and his wife, Sonam, remained missing for days before police eventually unearthed her role in the conspiracy. Aishwarya and Tirumal Rao, however, have said they discussed the plan but later shelved it and considered other options.

Police have also found that 23-year-old Aishwarya got a GPS device on her husband’s bike so that they could track his movements. They also hired a neighbour Mohan to monitor Tejeswar’s movements and report to them.

Eight people have been arrested in the case. These include Aishwarya, Tirumal Rao, her mother Sujatha, who is believed to have known about the plan to eliminate Tejeswar, Tirumal’s father, a former head constable who allegedly helped his son, three hired assassins Nagesh, Parshuram and Rajesh, the neighbour, who was tailing Tejeswar. 

Tejeshwar’s rotten body was found in a field at Panyam in Andhra Pradesh’s Nandyal district on June 21, three days after his family in Telangana’s Gadwal reported that he was missing. It was only on the basis of a tattoo ‘Amma’ in Telugu on his forearm that he was identified.

The family suspected his newly-wed wife Aishwarya’s involvement in the killing. “We warned Tejeswar not to marry Aishwarya as she was said to be in a relationship with a bank manager, but she convinced Tejeswar that she was in love with him,” said Tejavardhan, elder brother of Tejeswar. “When he went missing, I was observing her, she did not shed a tear, no sadness, so I told the police my suspicions and they investigated,” he said.

As police from the two adjoining states got to work, the probe revealed a grisly crime that snuffed out an unsuspecting young man’s life.

According to the officials part of the probe, there were as many as five failed attempts on Tejeswar’s life and he survived all, till luck ran out and he ended up dead in a canal.

A Mother-Daughter Love Triangle

Cops have found that Aishwarya’s mother, Sujatha, worked as a sweeper at a Non-Banking Financial Company. There, she met an officer, Tirumal Rao, and the two started a relationship in 2016. Later, when Sujatha went on leave, Aishwarya replaced her. She, too, had a relationship with Rao. The bank officer was married in 2019, and police found that he had also planned to get his wife killed.

When Sujatha found that her daughter was involved with Rao, she pressured her to end the relationship and marry Tejeswar, whom she had known for a while. Aishwarya refused. Sujatha managed to bring her around and reached out to Tejeswar. A wedding date was fixed, but Aishwarya went missing. Then she returned and told Tejeswar that she was incognito because her mother does not have the money to pay dowry. She insisted that she wanted to marry him. Tejeswar’s family advised him against this, but he agreed to the May 18 wedding.

The Plan — And The Murder

Tejeswar’s family members have said she was constantly on the phone with Rao, even during her wedding. Her call records revealed that they exchanged over 2,000 phone calls between February and June. District police chief T Srinivas Rao told NDTV the two would be on video calls for hours even when he was in office and even after she got married. Even on the day of Aishwarya’s wedding, they were on a video call.

The police said Tirumal found the killers to eliminate Tejeswar. Three people had approached him for obtaining loans, and he told them they would get the loan — and some more money — if they completed the hit job.

A police officer showed CCTV footage of Tejeswar, who worked as a land surveyor and dance teacher, getting into a car. “The killers took him in a car on the pretext of surveying a land. He was on the seat beside the driver when they hit him on the head, slit his throat and subsequently stabbed him in the stomach,” said Gadwal police chief T Srinivasa Rao. They pulled the body from the front to the back of the car and their clothes were bloodied. Tirumal Rao bought new clothes for them and they threw away the blood-stained clothes, the police said.

The killers, police said, showed the body to Tirumal Rao over the phone and then, on his instructions, disposed of it in the canal. “The plan was to bury him in the layout of a land they had gone to survey in Kurnool, but noticing some people there, they dumped it in a canal. But there wasn’t enough water in it. We used cell phone signals to track Tejeswar’s location. By the time we found the body, it was putrefied. A tattoo on his arm saying ‘amma’ in Telugu helped us identify the body,” said the district police chief.

Escape Plan That Did Not Work

Rao and Aishwarya had hoped that Tejeswar’s body would not be found and he would be reported missing. They also had an escape plan. According to reports, Rao had taken a Rs 20-lakh loan and booked tickets for himself and Aishwarya to flee to Ladakh. Andaman was also a destination they explored.

Even after Tejeswar was killed, Aishwarya stayed at her in-laws’ home, ostensibly to avoid raising suspicion. This did not work. As soon as Tejeswar went missing, his family approached the police and shared their suspicions about Aishwarya and Rao.

As Gadwal cops worked overtime to trace Tejeswar’s whereabouts, they got a tip-off from police at Kurnool in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh that villagers had found a body in an agricultural field. The Telangana cops rushed to the spot and confirmed it was Tejeswar’s. Rao’s father, a retired cop allegedly tried to protect his son from the police, but to no avail.

Four days after a deadly stampede in Bengaluru, a family in Karnataka’s Kolar was handed a financial compensation for the damage that cannot be compensated – the loss of their 24-year-old daughter.

Kolar deputy commissioner MR Ravi visited the home of Sahana, one of the 11 people who died in the June 4 stampede that occurred in front of the Chinnaswamy stadium during the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) team’s IPL victory celebrations. Forty-seven were injured in the tragedy.

Her mother broke down as she was offered the cheque of Rs 25 lakh compensation by the officer. Sahana’s father, who was trying to hold back his tears, burst out crying as soon as he touched the cheque. As other family members comforted them, the parents were seen weeping uncontrollably.

All the victims of the stampede were in the 20-30 years age group with a 14-year-old being the youngest – Divyanshi (14), Doresha (32), Bhoomik (20), Sahana (24), Akshata (27), Manoj (33), Shravan (20), Devi (29), Shivalinga (17) and Chinmayi (19) and Prajwal (20).

“They also informed me that the Governor is also coming, I only went there. I don’t know anything apart from that I only went there after I was invited, they didn’t invite me to the stadium,” Siddaramaiah said.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, facing a barrage of criticism over the stampede in Bengaluru last week, today said he was present at the event only because he was invited and was told that the Governor would also attend.

“The secretary and treasurer of KSCA (Karnataka State Cricket Association) came and invited me to the event. We didn’t organise the function, the KSCA did,” Mr Siddaramaiah told reporters today. 

“They also informed me that the Governor is also coming, I only went there. I don’t know anything apart from that I only went there after I was invited, they didn’t invite me to the stadium,” he added.

The Chief Minister and the other leaders were present outside the Vidhan Soudha near the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the day’s victory march of fans ended and there, they had met the cricketers.  

But the VIP presence had divided the police strength, spreading the 1500-strong police force too thin on the ground. The state’s Opposition BJP  had pointed to this as one of the key causes of the stampede that occurred shortly after at the stadium. 

The state has accused the police for not making adequate preparations to handle the event. Three top officers of the force, including the city police chief, have been accused of “dereliction of duty” and suspended. 

The India Meteorological Department has issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts.

Heavy rain lashed many districts of Kerala on Friday, disrupting normal life and causing waterlogging.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued red alerts for Idukki, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts and orange alerts for the remaining districts today.

Authorities in several districts have declared holidays for educational institutions under their jurisdiction.

As per the India Meteorological Department (IMD), strong westerly winds are likely to persist at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region for the next two to three days, resulting in widespread rainfall.

The IMD stated, “Strong westerlies likely to continue at lower tropospheric levels over Kerala and the Lakshadweep region during the next 2-3 days. Under the influence of these, widespread rainfall activity with scattered Heavy rainfall to Very Heavy rainfall with isolated Extremely Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur over Kerala on 29th & 30th May 2025. Heavy rainfall is very likely to occur at isolated places over Kerala on 31st May, 1st and 2nd June 2025.”

District administrations across Kerala have declared a holiday for all educational institutions in several districts on May 30 (Friday).

The precautionary measure applies to professional colleges, anganwadis, tuition centers, madrassas, and special coaching classes.

Kannur District Collector announced a holiday for all educational institutions, including anganwadis, madrassas, tuition centers, and special classes. The district declared a similar holiday on the previous day due to intense rainfall.

According to the police, the victim had been living with her two daughters in a rented house in a village after separating from her husband.

A 34-year-old woman was hacked to death and her teenage daughter seriously injured in an attack in this hill district, police said here on Monday.

Another daughter of Praveena was also missing after the attack, they added.

The incident occurred at their residence under the Tirunelli police station limits in the late evening on Sunday, they said.

According to the police, the victim, Praveena, had been living with her two daughters in a rented house in a village after separating from her husband.

Police believe the attack was carried out by her male friend. Praveena’s 14-year-old daughter sustained deep wounds to her neck and ear. She is currently being treated at a government hospital, they said.

Her nine-year-old daughter is missing, along with the suspect.

A police team is investigating the case.

Search efforts are ongoing for the missing girl, but strong winds and heavy rain are hampering the operation, they added.

Police booked a man on Saturday after disturbing visuals of him “brutally assaulting” his eight-year-old daughter went viral on social media recently.

In the footage, the man could be seen beating the child and trying to slam her head against the wall as she cries in fear.

As the issued triggered widespread outrage on social media platforms, Health, Women and Child Development Minister Veena George and General Education Minister V Sivankutty came out strongly condemning the act and assured stringent leagal measures against the accused.

Following circulation of the video, the police launched a probe and identified the man as Jose alias Mamachan, living in a rented house in Cherupuzha of this district.

A senior police official said he was summoned to the local station in the morning.

His estranged wife and two children were also called to the station to record their statements, K Vinod Kumar, Deputy SP, Payyannur said.

“As soon as the video came to our notice yesterday, we contacted the man and the children. But, they claimed that it was a prank video,” he told a TV channel.

They claimed that it was picturised to bring back their mother who was staying separated from them.

“But, prima facie, we don’t think it is a prank video. Even if it is a prank video as claimed by them, a video showing brutality to children cannot be taken like this,” he said.

Responding to the criticism about police inaction, Kumar said the children were shifted to their paternal aunt’s house with their consent on Friday itself.

The officer further said legal action would be taken in connection with the incident and a case would be registered after recording the statements of the man, his wife and the children.

Later in the day, Cherupuzha police said a case has been registered against him and he was being interrogated.

“He still claims that it was a prank video. A detailed statement of the children should also be taken and procedures for it are are going on,” a police officer belonging to the station said.

The man was booked under Section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act (cruelty to children) and various sections of the BNS including Section 115 (voluntarily causing hurt), he said.