Members of the Royal Family of Britain congratulated Duke Prince Harry and Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, for the birth of their daughter, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

“Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the birth of Lilibet Diana! The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted with the news. Lilibet is Her Majesty’s 11th great-grandchild,” tweeted The Royal Family. According to Variety, Lili was born on Friday, June 4 at 11:40 am at the Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California. At the time of birth, representatives for the couple told Lili weighed 7 lbs 11 oz., and that both mother and child are in healthy condition, settling in at home.

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, Duke of Cambridge Prince William and Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton also congratulated Harry and Meghan. Lili has been named after her great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, whose family nickname is Lilibet. Lili’s middle name, Diana, is in honour of her late grandmother, the Princess of Wales.

With ANI inputs

Amid the growing calls for shunning the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, a group of politicians from countries across Europe and North America launched coordinated legislative actions on Monday, calling for a diplomatic boycott of games citing “gross violations of human rights” by the Chinese government.

This action is aimed to mount pressure on governments, elected officials, and heads of state, to decline invitations to next year’s Olympics, South China Morning Post reported. “This coordinated effort by legislators in multiple democratic countries sends a message the IOC cannot ignore: if it can discuss postponing the Tokyo Games over public health concerns, it can certainly move the China games over the mass incarceration of millions in concentration camps,” said Tom Malinowski, vice-chair of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, in a statement.

Last month, a coalition of human rights groups had called for a complete boycott of the Winter Olympics, saying that participating in the games would be tantamount to endorsing China’s genocide against the Uyghur people”.

In a joint statement, a coalition representing Uyghurs, Tibetans, residents of Hong Kong and others had said that the Chinese government is committing genocide against the Uyghur people and waging an unprecedented campaign of repression in East Turkistan, Tibet and Southern Mongolia, as well as an all-out assault on democracy in Hong Kong.

“Participating in the Beijing Olympic Games at this time would be tantamount to endorsing China’s genocide against the Uyghur people, and legitimising the increasingly repressive policies of the totalitarian Chinese regime,” the coalition said in a statement. Demands for some form of boycott of the Beijing Games are continuously growing. With ANI inputs

A few minutes before his mandate to form a government expired last Wednesday, Yair Lapid, the leader of the Yesh Atid party, informed President Reuven Rivlin that he managed to cobble together a coalition government. If the new government — and it is a big if — gets a vote of confidence in the Knesset (the Parliament) this will mean that Israel will avoid holding the fifth election in just two years.

The eight-party coalition is an awkward alliance of former allies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with different ideologies ranging from right-wing to centre, to left-wing, and includes for the first time in Israeli politics a small Arab Islamist party called Raam (United Arab List). The glue that holds these eight parties together is their desire to oust Netanyahu, who ruled Israel for the past 12 years.

As the new coalition has a razor-thin majority of 61 in the 120-member Knesset (Parliament), it is not certain that it will survive a confidence vote that will be held probably this week. It is certain that the wily Netanyahu, who is fighting corruption charges, will fight tooth and nail against it and could play one of his devious tricks to make one or more Knesset members abandon the coalition.

Although the centrist Yesh Atid party has elected 17 members of the Knesset, its leader Yair Lapid, in view of the danger of failing to cobble together a coalition, due to the excessive demands of Yamina party leader Naftali Bennet, judged that the need to oust Netanyahu was of paramount importance and so gave in and agreed that the leader of Yamina party, which has only 7 seats in the Knesset, serve as Prime Minister in the first two years and then Lapid serve the final two years.

Both Lapid and Bennett served under Netanyahu, but he treated them wretchedly and they now intensely dislike him. Naftali Bennett, 49, is a former software entrepreneur, army commando and served as chief of staff to Netanyahu and Defence Minister. Yair Lapid, 57, is a former news anchor who served as finance minister under Netanyahu.

Netanyahu accused Bennett of being “the fraud of the century” while his allies and supporters have already organized demonstrations outside Bennett’s home and those of Yamina legislators, as well as launched virulent attacks in the social media, accusing Netanyahu’s former allies as traitors who sell out the right-wing values. Just like former US President Donald Trump, Netanyahu refuses to accept defeat and does not care if this is dangerous for the country’s democracy.

It should be said, however, that the eight parties making up the coalition have divergent views on the most important issues and are united basically by their determination to put an end to Netanyahu’s domination of the political scene in Israel. The “unity government” will be one of the widest-ranging governments in Israel’s history and is made of quite “strange bedfellows” whose views range from left to the far right. This will probably make the new government unstable and may lead to its collapse after a few months in power.

One of the most striking things in the proposed coalition government is the fact that for the first time in Israeli politics an Arab party Raam will be part of a governing coalition. The party which is headed by Mansour Abbas in a statement said that the coalition agreement “secures the position of the Arab parties as an influential and legitimate player in the political arena.”

According to Israel’s Army Radio, the concessions Abbas has secured include the legal recognition of Bedouin villages in southern Israel, an economic plan for investing about 9 billion dollars in Arab towns and a five-year plan for combating violent crime in Arab communities. Abbas also gained retroactive building permits for tens of thousands of structures built illegally and now facing demolition.

Phyllis Bennis, of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute of Policy Studies, says: “Despite the (likely short-lived) presence of centrist and left parties and a Palestinian party, the new coalition’s political power remains firmly in the centre-right to extreme right spectrum that reflects Israeli politics overall. There will almost certainly be no resumption of calls for a “two-state solution,” (something long ago rendered impossible anyway because of escalating Israeli expropriation of Palestinian land) since Bennett opposes it even more vociferously than Netanyahu.” With ANI inputs

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered a probe into railroad safety after a train collision on Monday left several dozens dead in the country’s Sindh province.

Taking to Twitter, Khan also expressed shock at the “horrific train” accident near Ghotki, Sindh. “Shocked by the horrific train accident at Ghotki early this morning leaving 30 passengers dead. Have asked Railway Minister to reach site and ensure medical assistance to injured & support for families of the dead. Ordering comprehensive investigation into railway safety faultlines,” Khan tweeted.

At least 36 people died and over 50 were injured after two trains collided.

The collision occurred in the Ghotki District when a Millat Express train — headed from Karachi to Sargodha — derailed, and another train, the Sir Syed Express coming from Rawalpindi, hit the Millat Express, Samaa TV reported citing Pakistan Railways officials.

According to local police, around 13 to 14 train cars derailed, while six to eight were completely destroyed. Apart from the death of 36 people, more than 100 have been reported to be injured by local media and several passengers remain trapped under the rubble.

A rescue operation is still underway for passengers trapped inside the trains. All sides of the tracks have been closed after the incident.

According to Samaa TV, rail accidents are common in Pakistan due to the old tracks and trains inherited from former colonial power Britain. With ANI inputs

In his recent complaint to the Antiguan Police Commissioner, fugitive diamantaire Mehul Choksi claimed that he was attacked by 8 to 10 men while he was on his way to meet a woman named Barbara Jabarica, with whom he claimed to have ‘friendly terms’. Choksi also alleged that Jabarica did not attempt to help him while he was being beaten up and placed on small watercraft. He said how Jabarica conducted herself pointed out that “she was an integral part of this entire scheme to kidnap him”.

In his complaint, Choksi said: “Over the past year, I have come to be on friendly terms with Barbara Jabarica. She used to originally reside opposite my residential complex in Jolly Harbour but later shifted to the Coco Bay Hotel. She was on friendly terms with my staff and we used to meet and interact regularly, often going for walks in the evenings.”

“On 23 May, she requested that we deviate from our normal schedule of meeting in a public place directly, and asked me to pick her up at her house, which is located on the road next to the Marina. Upon her request, I reached her house at 5-5:15 PM where she invited me in and indicated that she wanted to finish her wine, saying that we will step out in a few minutes,” he added.

The fugitive businessman further said that during his conversation with Jabarica, around eight to 10 heavily muscled men appeared from all entrances and brutally beat him. He claimed that they used tasers on his face, hands and exposed skin causing burns, bruises and immense pain, while they also took his cell phone, Rolex watch and wallet.

“They placed me on a wheelchair and I was in an almost comatose state. I was unable to resist when they tied my hands, legs and body to the wheelchair. A gag was placed in my mouth, obstructing my airways, causing me to gasp for air. They continued their onslaught and placed a mask on my head so my vision was also obscured,” he claimed in his complaint.

“From the small watercraft, I was shifted to a much larger boat where they removed my mask. I realised we could not possibly be going to St. John’s Police Station, as there was no need to utilize a boat to go there. Upon my asking where I was being taken, they gave very evasive answers and ordered me in a threatening manner to remain silent or to face further consequences. They even threatened me at knifepoint after which I remained silent as it would have been useless to struggle against my captors,” he further said.

He said that there appeared to be two Indians on board and three persons of Caribbean descent. Choksi said he was made to speak to a man who identified himself as Narinder Singh and said he was the chief agent in charge of his case. “I was told that I was brought to this location to give an interview to a high ranking “Indian politician”. He also told me that my citizenship would be “fixed” in Dominica and that I would soon be repatriated to India,” he claimed.

An eyewitness account revealed how Choksi was discovered in the vicinity of Roseau, where he was captured by the country’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID). According to the account of Dominican resident Harry Baron, Choksi started to run when the police approached him while he was disposing of some documents into the Caribbean sea. The eyewitness said police got suspicious and ran after him, but he could not run far and fell twice and got caught while escaping from the police, Writeups 24 reported. The eyewitness revealed how the fugitive might have sustained injuries amid the chase. Choksi, accused in the Rs 13,500-crore Punjab National Bank scam got interim relief from immediate repatriation to India by the Dominican court, which adjourned the matter of his detention on Thursday. As the next date of hearing is yet to be fixed and the court proceedings are likely to take time. With ANI inputs

The United States needs to delve deeper into the origins of Covid-19 and hold China accountable, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken in an interview aired on Sunday amid calls for a fresh probe into the origins of the virus.

“The most important reason we have to get to the bottom of this is that’s the only way we’re going to be able to prevent the next pandemic or at least do a better job in mitigating it,” Blinken said in an interview with Axios which was aired on HBO. Amid criticism surrounding the inconclusive international probe into the virus’ origins, Blinken said that the Joe Biden administration is determined to “get to the bottom” of the origins of the novel coronavirus.

On the issues of transparency of information on the virus, State Secretary told Axios that China has not “given us the transparency we need” and needs to be held accountable. He called on Beijing to make available all information relating to the pandemic and allow full access for international inspectors.

This recent push to get unearth more information on Covid-19 has come after Biden ordered the US intelligence community to produce a report re-examining the origins of the novel coronavirus and to help determine whether the disease leaked from a lab or spread from an infected animal to a human.

After the Biden administration’s push to “redouble their efforts” to conclude the origins of Covid-19, China appears to be on the backfoot and hit back at the US saying that it does not care about real facts.

“Some people in the US completely ignore facts and science, do not pay attention to ambiguous parts of their own research and their failures in the fight against the pandemic, over and over making the buzz that a re-investigation needs to be conducted regarding China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said last month.