US President Donald Trump has repeated his claim of resolving the India-Pakistan conflict and asserted that Islamabad's leadership credited him for saving millions of lives. "We stopped a potential nuclear war between Pakistan and India. And the head of Pakistan, a highly respected General, he's a Field Marshal and also the Prime Minister of Pakistan, said President Trump saved 10 million lives, maybe more...", Trump said Monday. He made these remarks at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, flanked by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Navy Secretary John Phelan, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. "You know, eight planes were shot down. That war was starting to rage, and he actually said the other day that President Trump saved 10 million lives, maybe more. So we solved all these wars. The only one I haven't solved yet is Russia, Ukraine", he said. Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a "full and immediate" ceasefire after a "long night" of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he "helped settle" the tensions between the two neighbours. New Delhi has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
23 December,2025 01:17 PM IST | New York/Washington | PTIThe US military said Monday that it had conducted another strike against a boat it said was smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing one person. In a social media post, US Southern Command said, "Intelligence confirmed the low-profile vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations". Southern Command provided no evidence that the vessel was engaged in drug smuggling. A video posted by US Southern Command shows splashes of water near one side of the boat. After a second salvo, the rear of the boat catches fire. More splashes engulf the craft and the fire grows. In the final second of the video, the vessel can be seen adrift with a large patch of fire alongside it. Earlier videos of US boat strikes showed vessels suddenly exploding, suggesting missile strikes. Some strike videos even had visible rocket-like projectiles coming down on the boats. The Trump administration has said the strikes were meant to stop the flow of drugs into the US and increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. At least 105 people have been killed in 29 known strikes since early September. The strikes have faced scrutiny from US lawmakers and human rights activists, who say the administration has offered scant evidence that its targets are indeed drug smugglers and say the fatal strikes amount to extrajudicial killings. Meanwhile, the US Coast Guard has stepped up efforts to interdict oil tankers in the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration's escalating campaign against Maduro. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
23 December,2025 12:20 PM IST | Washington | APUS President Donald Trump has announced the appointment of Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry as special envoy to Greenland, signalling renewed attention to the strategically significant territory. Trump said the Louisiana Republican “understands how essential Greenland is to our national security, and will strongly advance our country’s interests for the safety, security, and survival of allies and the World.” The appointment comes against the backdrop of Trump’s long-standing interest in Greenland, which he first publicly expressed during his first term when he floated the idea of purchasing the island from Denmark. Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said his country insists that everyone, including the US, must respect “the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark” after Trump’s announcement of a special envoy to Greenland, whose goal would be to “make the territory part of the US”. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:53 AM IST | New York | AgenciesA concert in the Chinese city of Chengdu on Thursday saw Chinese American singer-songwriter Wang Leehom joined on stage by six humanoid robots, dressed in silver sequined outfits. The robots appeared during his performance of Open Fire and danced alongside the singer, performing a sequence of arm motions, leg kicks, turns and jumps, timed to the music, rather than limited to simple, repetitive gestures. The routine concluded with all six robots completing a Webster flip at the same time. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:44 AM IST | Beijing | AgenciesNASA and Boeing are testing longer, thinner wings that provide a smooth plane rides while saving fuel. When creating lift, longer, thinner wings can reduce drag, making them efficient. However, they can become very flexible in flight. NASA and Boeing recently completed wind tunnel tests of a “higher aspect ratio wing model” to gain desired efficiency without the potential issues these kinds of wings can experience. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:39 AM IST | Texas | AgenciesA small Mexican Navy plane transporting a young medical patient and seven others crashed Monday near Galveston, killing at least five people and setting off a search in the waters off the Texas coast, officials said. Four of the people aboard were Navy officers, and four were civilians, including a child, Mexico's Navy said in a statement to The Associated Press. It was not immediately clear which of them died. Two of the people aboard were members of the Michou and Mau Foundation, which is a nonprofit that provides aid to Mexican children who have suffered severe burns. The US Coast Guard confirmed that five people had been killed in the crash and that the cause of the crash is under investigation. The crash took place Monday afternoon near the base of a causeway near Galveston, along the Texas coast about 50 miles (80.5 kilometres) southeast of Houston. Mexico's Navy said in a statement that the plane was helping with a medical mission and had an 'accident.' It promised to investigate the cause of the crash. The Navy is helping local authorities with the search and rescue operation, it said in a post on the social media platform X. Teams from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have arrived at the scene of the crash, the Texas Department of Public Safety said on X. The Galveston County Sheriff's Office said officials from its dive team, crime scene unit, drone unit and patrol were responding to the crash. 'The incident remains under investigation, and additional information will be released as it becomes available,' the sheriff's office said in a post on Facebook, adding that the public should avoid the area so emergency responders can work safely. Galveston is an island that is a popular beach destination. It's not immediately clear if the weather was a factor. However, the area has been experiencing foggy conditions over the past few days, according to Cameron Batiste, a National Weather Service meteorologist. He said that at about 2:30 pm on Monday a fog came in that had about a half-mile visibility. The foggy conditions are expected to persist through Tuesday morning. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:37 AM IST | Galveston | APMore than 12.1 million people from 150 countries participated in what was billed as the largest collective meditation in history, led in New York by India’s spiritual leader Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, on World Meditation Day (December 21). From Indian cities and villages to communities in Africa, Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia, participants included students, professionals, farmers, and prison inmates, with organisers highlighting the scale of shared silence and collective stillness. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:32 AM IST | New York | AgenciesA federal judge ruled Monday that the Trump administration must give legal due process to Venezuelan migrants flown to a notorious prison in El Salvador, either by providing court hearings or returning them to the US. US District Judge James Boasberg ordered the government to come up with a plan within two weeks for the men, who have since been returned to Venezuela in a prisoner swap. 'Plaintiffs should not have been removed in the manner that they were, with virtually no notice and no opportunity to contest the bases of their removal, in clear contravention of their due-process rights,' Boasberg wrote. It's the latest development in a case that's been a legal flashpoint in the administration's sweeping crackdown on immigration. It started in March, after Trump invoked an 18th-century wartime law to send Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to a mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. Two planeloads of men were flown to the prison, despite a verbal order from Boasberg for the aircraft to turn around. Boasberg subsequently started a contempt investigation, though the dramatic battle between the judicial and executive branches has been paused by an appeals court. The administration has denied violating his order. The White House did not have immediate comment on Monday's ruling. More than 200 migrants were released back to Venezuela in a prisoner swap with the US in July. The ruling from Boasberg, who was appointed to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, opens a path for them to challenge the allegation that they're members of the Tren de Aragua gang and subject to removal under the Alien Enemies Act. 'This critical ruling makes clear that the Trump administration cannot simply spirit people off to a notorious foreign prison with zero due process and simply walk away. There are consequences,' said ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, who represents the migrants. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:28 AM IST | Washington | APThe United States Department of the Interior announced that it is pausing the leases for five large-scale offshore wind projects under construction due to national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports, the Department said in a statement. The statement said that this pause will give the Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects. "The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people," said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. "Today's action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centres. The Trump administration will always prioritise the security of the American people." The US has paused the leases for Vineyard Wind 1 (OCS-A 0501), Revolution Wind (OCS-A 0486), CVOW - Commercial (OCS-A 0483), Sunrise Wind (OCS-A 0487) and Empire Wind 1 (OCS-A 0512). "As for the national security risks inherent to large-scale offshore wind projects, unclassified reports from the US government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called 'clutter'. The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects," the Department of the Interior said. The Department of Energy, in a 2024 report, stated that a radar's threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some clutter, but an increased detection threshold could cause the radar to "miss actual targets." Defending the move on X, Doug Burgum termed offshore wind as an "expensive, unreliable, subsidy-dependent scheme." He wrote, "Offshore wind is one of the most expensive, unreliable, subsidy-dependent schemes ever pushed upon American taxpayers. Here's why @POTUS is prioritising energy projects like clean, beautiful coal and US natural gas that actually work." "Offshore wind forces consumers and taxpayers to pay CONSIDERABLY more for electricity than proven sources. The prices from the five paused offshore wind projects are, on average, 75 per cent higher than already-high grid prices on the East Coast," the Secretary added. He added that offshore wind is costlier than natural gas. "Even more stark is the cost of electricity produced by offshore wind versus natural gas: in New England, offshore wind is the most expensive source of energy, being nearly 12x more than natural gas," Burgum wrote on X. Interestingly, US President Donald Trump, in September 2025, had launched a sharp critique of climate science during his address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), terming climate change the "greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world" and criticising what he called a growing dependence on renewable energy sources. He asserted that the concept of a carbon footprint was a hoax and accused unnamed groups of having "evil intentions" in pushing environmental agendas. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:24 AM IST | Washington | ANIA state judge on Monday accepted plea agreements for the owners of a Colorado funeral home for the abuse of 191 corpses, many of which languished in a room-temperature building for years, over the objections of relatives of the victims. Authorities say Carie and Jon Hallford, who owned and operated Return to Nature Funeral Home in Colorado Springs, maintained a lavish lifestyle and gave fake ashes to some families of the dead over four years. The latest plea agreements would have Jon Hallford sentenced to between 30 and 50 years and Carie Hallford to between 25 and 35 years. The sentences would be served at the same time as their prison terms for related federal charges. Victims' family members wanted each of them sentenced to 191 years, which would include one year for each victim. Some also said the Hallfords shouldn't be able to serve both the state and federal sentences at the same time. Jon Hallford is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb 6, 2026. Carie Hallford is set to be sentenced on April 24. A statement by a group of victims' family members had said they wanted to have the cases proceed to trial. 'This case is not about convenience or efficiency,' said Crystina Page, whose son's body was among those found. 'It is about human beings who were treated as disposable. Accepting a plea agreement sends the message that this level of abuse is negotiable. We reject that message.' Kelly Schloesser said her mother, Mary Lou Ehrlich, looked peaceful after she died in 2022, but her final memories have been haunted after learning a year later that Ehrlich's body had been left to decompose. 'I apologise to my mother every day for trusting these people,' she told state District Judge Eric Bentley. Lawyers for both Hallford urged Bentley to accept the plea agreements, which will also ban them from working in the funeral home industry. Carie Hallford's lawyer, Beau Worthington, noted that she would be eligible to be sentenced to probation if she were convicted after a trial. In a rare decision, Bentley earlier this year rejected previous plea agreements that called for up to 20 years in prison, with family members of the deceased saying the proposed punishments were too lenient. Bentley praised the families of the victims for their advocacy in court, which he said resulted in the sentence ranges being lengthened dramatically. 'These are really meaningfully changes from where I sit,' he said. Bentley said he could not legally stack the state sentences on top of the federal ones because that would amount to punishing the Hallfords twice for the same conduct. The Hallfords are accused of dumping bodies and giving families fake ashes between 2019 and 2023. Investigators have described finding the bodies in 2023 stored atop each other in a bug-infested building in Penrose, a small town about a two-hour drive south of Denver. The scene was horrific, officials said, with bodies stacked atop each other in various states of decay ' some having been there for four years. While Jon Hallford was accused of dumping the bodies, authorities said Carie Hallford was the face of the funeral home. During a hearing in November, Bentley said he considered the need for deterrence in rejecting the plea agreement. Colorado, for many years, had some of the weakest funeral home industry regulations in the nation, leading to numerous abuse cases involving fake ashes, fraud, and even the illegal selling of body parts. In August, authorities announced that during their first inspection of a funeral home owned by the county coroner in Pueblo, Colorado, they found 24 decomposing corpses behind a hidden door. That investigation is pending as authorities have reported slow progress in identifying corpses that, in some cases, have languished for more than a decade. The Return to Nature case has helped trigger reforms, including routine inspections. The Hallfords also have admitted in federal court to defrauding the US Small Business Administration of nearly USD 900,000 in pandemic-era aid and taking payments from customers for cremations the funeral home never performed. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
23 December,2025 09:21 AM IST | Denver | APThe world’s largest music streaming service, Spotify, has been reportedly scraped by a group. Claims have surfaced suggesting that a huge amount of data linked to music streaming platform Spotify has been scraped and shared on the internet. According to a blog post from Anna’s Archive, which typically focuses on books and papers, have claimed that the project is part of its mission of "preserving humanity’s knowledge and culture" and described the Spotify scrape as an effort to "build a music archive primarily aimed at preservation." Claims emerge of massive data leak According to the claims, almost Spotify’s entire music catalogue has been archived and is being distributed through torrent files and the reported data size is said to be around 300 terabytes (TB), making it one of the largest alleged data scrapes involving a music streaming service. Read blog post here What has been allegedly leaked The claims come from Anna’s Archive, a group previously known for backing up books and research papers. In a blog post, the group said it had archived metadata for 256 million tracks and audio files for 86 million songs. According to the group, this collection covers about 99.6 per cent of all listening activity on Spotify. Anna’s Archive described the project as an effort to create the world’s first large-scale "music preservation archive". The metadata has already been released publicly, while the audio files are being shared gradually through torrents, starting with the most popular songs. Audio files were sourced directly from Spotify? Anna’s Archive claimed that most of the audio files were sourced directly from Spotify. Popular tracks are reportedly stored in their original 160 kbps format, while less popular songs have been re-encoded at lower quality to save storage space. The group also said that songs released after July 2025 may be missing from the archive. While the full metadata is currently available, the release of music files is happening in phases, based on song popularity. Spotify Responds Spotify has reportedly responded to a news reports. However an official public statement from Spotify was awaited. In a comment to a publication, Spotify said that it was actively investigating the incident. The company has not yet confirmed whether there has been a breach of its systems or how the data may have been accessed.
22 December,2025 09:49 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondentADVERTISEMENT
