Cancer patients are often guided by social media influencers to quit traditional treatment, including basic chemotherapy, and opt for alternative methods such as drinking juices and eating healthy food to reverse the disease without treatment
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a podcast interview with American scientist Lex Fridman on Sunday, slammed the United Nations and other international organisations amid the rising global conflicts – referring to the ongoing Middle East wars and China – US tensions. According to PM Modi, the organisations have become “almost irrelevant” as there is “no reform” left in them.
“The international organisations that were created have become almost irrelevant, there is no reform in them. Institutions like the UN cannot play their role. People in the world who do not care about laws and rules are doing everything, no one is able to stop them,” he said.
Amid the raging global tensions, the PM reflected on the lessons from Covid-19 – which exposed the limitations of every nation and underscored the need for unity.
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“Covid-19 has exposed the limitations of all of us. No matter how much we consider ourselves a great nation, very progressive, very scientifically advanced, whatever it may be, everyone in their own way, but in the times of Covid-19, we all came down to earth, every country of the world. And then it seemed that the world would learn something from it, and we would move towards a new world order. But unfortunately, the situation was such that instead of moving towards peace, the world disintegrated, a period of uncertainty came, and the war put it in more trouble,” PM Modi told Mr Fridman.
PM Modi also called for a shift from conflict to cooperation, advocating for a development-driven approach as the way forward. He reiterated that expansionism will not work in an interconnected and interdependent world, emphasising the need for nations to support one another.
“As I said earlier, the world is interdependent, interconnected…Everyone needs everyone, no one can do anything alone. And I see that in all the different forums I have to go to, everyone is worried about conflict. We hope to get relief from it very soon,” the PM added.
Last year, PM Modi, in his address to the UN’s ‘Summit of the Future’, made a clarion call for change from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) lectern, noting that reform is the key to relevance. He added that global action “must match” global ambition.
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For decades, India has been arguing that it deserves to be a member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). New Delhi has said that the 15-nation council founded in 1945 is not fit for its purpose in the 21st Century and does not reflect contemporary geo-political realities. India last sat at the UN high table as a non-permanent member in 2021-22.
At present, the UNSC comprises five permanent members and 10 non-permanent member countries, which are elected for a two-year term by the General Assembly of the United Nations. The five permanent members are Russia, the UK, China, France, and the United States, which have the power to veto any substantive resolution. Ealrlier, UK, France and the US have voiced their support towards India becoming a part of the UNSC.
The International Criminal Police Organization, also known as Interpol, has issued a global alert in search of an Indian-origin student, Sudiksha Konanki, who went missing in the Dominican Republic.
Ms Konanki, a Virginia resident studying at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, mysteriously disappeared during a spring break visit to the Caribbean country.
Interpol’s yellow notice, which is issued for missing persons such as victims of kidnappings or “unexplained disappearances”, said that Ms Konanki was last seen in Punta Cana on March 6.
The 20-year-old is 1.6-metre tall and has three piercings on her right ear, the Interpol notice read. She has black hair and brown-coloured eyes, it added.
Ms Konanki was reported to be vacationing with five female college friends at a resort in Punta Cana. Surveillance video showed her and her friends walking toward the beach. The others later returned to the hotel, while she was seen with Joshua Riibe, a senior at St Cloud State University in Minnesota, who has now been named the “person of interest”.
Joshua Riibe has reportedly accepted that he was with Sudiksha Konanki on the night she disappeared.
According to a transcript obtained by NBC News, Mr Riibe said they were “in waist-deep water, talking and kissing a little” when a strong wave pulled them out to sea.
Mr Riibe, who is a trained pool lifeguard, claimed he tried to hold Ms Konanki under his arm while swimming back to shore, making sure she could breathe. He struggled to stay afloat, saying, “I took in a lot of water.”
When they reached shallower waters, Mr Riibe set Ms Konanki in front of him and saw her “walking at an angle in the water.” He last asked if she was okay but didn’t hear her response as he began vomiting the seawater he had swallowed.
By the time he recovered, she was nowhere to be seen. Thinking she had left, Mr Riibe passed out on a beach chair. Surveillance footage later recorded him returning to his hotel alone, hours later.
While Dominican authorities initially suspected that Sudiksha Konanki drowned, her family has urged investigators to explore other possibilities, like abduction.
The family also finds it unusual that Ms Konanki’s phone and wallet were left with her friends, as she always carried her phone with her.
She reportedly lives with her family in Loudoun County, Virginia and studies biology and chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh.