India’s education minister resigns in victory for Cockroach youth movement protests

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Dharmendra Pradhan steps down after demonstrations over exam leak scandal, prompting celebrations among thousands of protesters

India’s education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, has resigned after a week of mass demonstrations, handing a major victory to a new youth movement that has posed an unprecedented challenge to Narendra Modi’s government.

In a statement on Saturday afternoon, Pradhan said he had submitted his letter of resignation to the prime minister after student pressure.

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Lou Koller, frontman of New York hardcore band Sick of It All, dies aged 59

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Koller, who co-founded the celebrated band in 1986, had been battling cancer of the esophagus

Lou Koller, the singer and co-founder of New York hardcore band Sick of It All, has died after a battle with cancer, his bandmates announced. Koller was 59.

In a social media post on the band’s Instagram page, a statement paid tribute to Koller and his work and said: “The level of loss that we feel at this time is overwhelming.”

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Indian celebrities fiercely criticised for silence on Cockroach protests

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Bollywood stars accused of ‘cowardice’ as hundreds of thousands of young Indians take to the streets to challenge government

Bollywood stars and other Indian celebrities have faced fierce criticism for staying silent in the face of some of the biggest protests India has seen in years.

Hundreds of thousands of young Indians took to the streets this week as part of a new youth movement that calls itself the Cockroach Janata party (CJP), demanding accountability over exam paper leaks in an unprecedented challenge to prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. Many vented their anger against what they saw as “cowardice” from India’s biggest celebrities.

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Iran-backed Houthis claim missile attack on Saudi Arabia as regional tensions escalate

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Saudi air defences intercept ballistic missiles as Iran reports first night without US strikes in two weeks

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed a missile attack on the southern Saudi city of Jizan on Saturday, after vowing retaliation against the kingdom for attacks this week.

Iran, meanwhile, reported no strikes overnight on Saturday for the first time after two weeks of US attacks. The Iranian health ministry spokesperson, Hossein Kermanpour, said: “Iran had a peaceful night” in a post on X. Tensions, however, remain high.

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How Ukraine’s strikes on Wildberries warehouses put Russians in a real jam – The Kyiv Independent

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  1. How Ukraine's strikes on Wildberries warehouses put Russians in a real jam  The Kyiv Independent
  2. Drone threat in Russia's Yekaterinburg disrupts Wildberries operations and athletics championships  Reuters
  3. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 24, 2026  Institute for the Study of War
  4. ‘Up in smoke’: Attacks on ‘Russia’s Amazon’ bring Putin’s war closer to home  CNN
  5. New Ukrainian Drone Strikes On Wildberries Warehouses Decimate Empire Of Russia’s Richest Woman  Forbes
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Canadian Intern at NATO Arrested on Espionage Charges in Belgium – Bloomberg.com

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  1. Canadian Intern at NATO Arrested on Espionage Charges in Belgium  Bloomberg.com
  2. Canadian intern at NATO military headquarters in Belgium faces spying charges  CBC
  3. Intern arrested on suspicion of spying inside NATO and 'being a member of a criminal organization'  Fortune
  4. Canadian Intern at NATO Military HQ Is Arrested on Suspicion of Spying  The New York Times
  5. Intern arrested on suspicion of spying at Nato military HQ  Financial Times
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Treasure as trinkets: Zendaya’s earrings renew debate on ownership of ancient artefacts

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Jewellery made from BC Iran worn at Odyssey photocall throws spotlight on the trade of rare archeological finds

The Odyssey has stormed cinemas, but while its take on the Homeric epic has created ripples among western classicists, it is an actor’s earrings that have made waves further afield.

Zendaya, who portrays the goddess Athena in the movie, provoked outrage when she appeared at a London photocall wearing earrings that were allegedly made from Iranian artefacts dating back to the 1st millennium BC.

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Wildfires in Spain and France force evacuation of 200,000 people – Al Jazeera

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  1. Wildfires in Spain and France force evacuation of 200,000 people  Al Jazeera
  2. Thousands evacuated in France and Spain as wildfires rage toward cities  CNN
  3. Fires Rage in Spain and France, Forcing Thousands to Flee  The New York Times
  4. France deploys massive cargo aircraft to dump flame retardant on wildfire  AP News
  5. Live: France deploys military plane as wildfires spread towards Bordeaux  France 24
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Southport killer ‘trying to retraumatise families from cell’, says lawyer

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Comment follows news Axel Rudakubana was transferred from prison to psychiatric hospital

The lawyer for the families of Axel Rudakubana’s victims has said the Southport killer is “trying to retraumatise the families from his cell” after it emerged he had been transferred from prison to a psychiatric hospital.

Rudakubana, now 19, was given a life sentence for the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and the attempted murder of eight other children and two adults.

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Lucy Harrison’s father was holding the gun that killed her but was never arrested. Now her mother wants Andy Burnham to take up the case

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Eighteen months after her daughter’s death in Texas, Jane Coates hopes new PM can persuade US authorities to reopen case

Lucy Harrison felt that 2024 was her best year yet. The 23-year-old had graduated from university with first class honours, landed her dream job and bought her first house with her boyfriend. She was a “big girl adult” now, Lucy would say. She shed tears of joy seeing her idol, Taylor Swift, at Wembley on the Eras tour that summer. Life could hardly get any better. “All the hard work, all the tears, everything was coming to fruition,” said her mother, Jane Coates, from Warrington in north-west England.

That Christmas, Lucy and her boyfriend, Sam Littler, flew to Texas to spend time with her father, Kris Harrison, who had left the family home when she was two. The pair had a complex relationship – Harrison was a recovering alcoholic – and Littler, 24, did not want them to go. But Lucy enjoyed seeing her two younger half-sisters at their home in Prosper, an affluent suburb 30 miles north of Dallas.

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Iran war: Houthis vow response to Saudi strikes on Hodeida – DW.com

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  1. Iran war: Houthis vow response to Saudi strikes on Hodeida  DW.com
  2. Saudi military strikes Houthi targets in Yemen after the Iran-backed militia attacked Red Sea shipping  CNBC
  3. Trump’s Threatened New Front in Iran War Could Strain U.S. Forces  The New York Times
  4. Houthi Claim Missile Strikes on Southern Saudi Arabia  Bloomberg.com
  5. Trump threatens 'major military punishment' after Houthi attacks on tankers in Red Sea  PBS
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Evacuated villagers in Cairngorms allowed home after wildfire threat lifts

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Scottish first minister thanks Nethy Bridge residents and aid workers after earlier requesting UK military aid to fight 10-day fire

Residents of Nethy Bridge have been told they can return to their homes after a large fire broke out in the Cairngorms national park.

Supt Judy Hill of Police Scotland said: “Thanks to the efforts of fire crews, gamekeepers, contractors, partners and many others over the past 24 hours, there is no longer the immediate threat which prompted the evacuation of properties in Nethy Bridge.

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India’s education minister resigns after weeks of student-led protests – AP News

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  1. India’s education minister resigns after weeks of student-led protests  AP News
  2. India’s Education Minister Steps Down, Handing Win to Protesters  The New York Times
  3. Victory of democracy: Wangchuk on Pradhan’s resignation  The Hindu
  4. Dharmendra Pradhan: India education minister resigns after Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests  BBC
  5. India’s education minister resigns after weeks of ‘Cockroach’ protests  Al Jazeera
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Home Office rejects Palestinian Jerusalemite woman’s UK visa but approves husband’s

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Officials not satisfied Therese Abdallah is a ‘genuine visitor’ and believe she would not leave after visit to son in London

A Palestinian Jerusalemite who lives in London has been left devastated after a planned trip by his parents had to be cancelled when the Home Office ruled his mother was not a “genuine visitor” but granted his father a visa.

Karim Abdallah, who has lived in the UK since 2019, was looking forward to hosting his parents, Therese Abdallah, 69, a retired English teacher, and his father, Ghassan Abdallah, a psychologist, for a few weeks.

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Ukrainian Attacks Kill 2 in Belgorod and Target Wildberries Warehouse in Urals – The Moscow Times

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  1. Ukrainian Attacks Kill 2 in Belgorod and Target Wildberries Warehouse in Urals  The Moscow Times
  2. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, July 24, 2026  Institute for the Study of War
  3. Drone threat in Russia's Yekaterinburg disrupts Wildberries operations and athletics championships  Reuters
  4. ‘Up in smoke’: Attacks on ‘Russia’s Amazon’ bring Putin’s war closer to home  CNN
  5. Wildberries, ‘Russia’s Amazon,’ says Ukrainian drones struck three more of its warehouses  NBC News
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