Washington: A gunman killed 18 students and one adult at an elementary school in Texas in a second mass shooting in the US in the last 10 days. The gunman, identified as Salvador Ramos, first shot his grandmother, who is alive but in critical condition, before hitting Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, about 83 miles west of San Antonio in Texas, with two assault rifles that he had bought shortly after he turned 18 recently. He was killed by law enforcement officers.His motive had not been ascertained yet.A white gunman, also 18, had opened fire at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York on May 14, killing 10 African Americans. He gave himself over to law enforcement. He was motivated by racism and had intended to kill African Americans and chose a grocery frequented by them for his carnage. “As a nation, we have to ask: When in God’s name we are going to stand up to the gun lobby. When in God’s name we do (that) we all know in our gut needs to be done,” US President Joe Biden in remarks to the nation from the White House. He learnt of the shooting on the flight back from Tokyo.Biden said of the visit that he was struck by the fact none of these other nations experienced these shootings, with such frequency.Biden went on to say, with frustration and anger: “Why? They have mental health problems. They have domestic disputes in other countries. They have people who are lost. But these kinds of mass shootings never happen, with the kind of frequency they happen in America. Why? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen? Where in God’s name is our backbone?”Gun control laws introduced in Australia, whose Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among the leaders Biden met in Tokyo, after a 1996 massacre that left 36 people dead is now cited as the gold standard world over and has been used as a model. It has been discussed in the US as well. The Tuesday shooting was the 27 school shootings in the US in 2022, according to Education Week, which tracks these incidents. There have been 212 mass shootings this year. The Washington Post has said 300,000 school students have been exposed to gun violence at school since the worst of them all, the Columbine school shooting, in 1999 in which 13 people were killed. In some of the worst school massacres 20 first-graders and 6 adults were killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut in 2013 and 17 students and staff in 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. Gun violence is a politically sensitive issue in the United States. Calls for commonsense controls peak after every incident of mass shooting and peter out after a while as the powerful gun lobby pushes back with its army of supporters among lawmakers, policy circles and media.—IANS

A gunman killed 18 students and one adult at an elementary school in Texas in a second mass shooting in the US in the last 10 days. 

18 Children Killed In Texas School Shooting, Biden Rages

Texas: A student in the US state of Texas was caught with firearms outside a high school a day after a deadly shooting at a school in Uvalde killed 19 students and two teachers, media reports said on Wednesday (local time). Police arrested a suspect walking towards a Richardson high school in Texas with what appeared to be a rifle. This comes a day after an 18-year-old shooter had killed over a dozen students. “On May 25, 2022, at 10:55 AM, the Richardson Police Department received a phone call from a business in the 1500 block of East Spring Valley Road reporting a male holding what appeared to be a rifle. The male was last seen walking towards Berkner High School, located at 1600 East Spring Valley Road,” the Richardson Police Department said in a news release.Within minutes of the call being dispatched, numerous police officers from various units within the Richardson Police Department responded to Berkner High School and initiated a search and investigation into this incident. Nearby schools were notified of the police activity. Based on the information provided, Police officers were able to identify the male suspect as a juvenile student of Berkner High School. The suspect was located inside Berkner High School, but no weapons were found. Further investigation led to the discovery of a vehicle used by the suspect in the parking lot of 1551 East Spring Valley Road. Inside the vehicle, officers observed what appeared to be an AK-47 style pistol and a replica AR-15 style Orbeez rifle.“The juvenile suspect was arrested and charged with Unlawful Carrying Weapons in a Weapon-Free School Zone, T.P.C. 46.02, a State Jail Felony. No further information is being released on the suspect due to his age,” the Police said. The head of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) asked on Wednesday: how many more children will die before leaders act?“Tragedy after tragedy, shooting after shooting, young life after young life: how many more children will die before government leaders act to keep children and their schools safe?” asked Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF. “Because until they do, these horrors will continue.” This shooting incident comes amid growing criticism of constitutionally protected US gun laws, especially those allowing the sale of automatic weapons to young people, under 21 years of age.On Wednesday, Governor Greg Abbott confirmed that the Texas school shooter used an AR-15 assault rifle. Over half of Americans supported making gun violence laws more strict, The Hill reported citing a poll conducted between the mass shootings that took place this month in New York and Texas. According to the American publication, 54 per cent of those surveyed in a CBS News-YouGov poll out Wednesday said they would like to see stricter laws regulating the sale of guns. A total of 30 per cent said they wanted gun laws to remain the same, and 16 per cent said they wanted gun laws to be less strict, the report added.—ANI

A student in the US state of Texas was caught with firearms outside a high school a day after a deadly shooting at a school in Uvalde killed 19 students and two teachers, media reports said on Wednesday (local time).

Texas student caught with firearms after deadly shooting

Alon Ben-Meir*I am at a loss for words to describe my utter outrage, my excruciating pain, and my revulsion at yet another massacre in what has become an unending cycle of carnage wrought by guns. The perpetrators are not only the murderers themselves but the Republican members of Congress who enable them to commit such heinous crimes and thus become complicit in this unfathomable American tragedy. Righting the Wrong New York (The Hawk): Yet another elementary school shooting massacre has left 19 children and two teachers dead – this time in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman was an 18-year-old who is also dead. The victims in this case were mostly 8, 9, and 10-year-olds. The bloodletting that this country is experiencing daily due to gun violence is inflicting such suffering that it cannot be measured or grasped. Suffering that leaves every parent choked in anguish that cannot be assuaged, that cannot be compensated for, explained, or given some greater meaning. This is absolute, unfathomable loss. These parents who have lost children to inexplicable, murderous rage have been plunged into a nightmare from which they will never wake. This is a horror which defies any and all explanation, a horror which any decent society would prevent by any means necessary. Are we really willing to live in a country where a parent taking their 4-year-old to school must wonder whether their child will be alive at the end of the day, whether their child will be subjected to unspeakable terror? Just to grasp how epidemic mass shootings have become in this country, consider the fact that since the May 14 massacre in Buffalo NY that left ten people dead, sixteen mass shootings have occurred. Five mass shootings occurred the very next day on Sunday, May 15, claiming four lives and injuring twenty-three. How on earth can we as a country pretend that this is in any way normal, acceptable, or anything less than an indictment of our society which has become so desensitized to gun violence? Every American should be standing up and crying out for an end to this awful and shameful epidemic which is permitted to continue because we apparently regard the right to have easy access to lethal firearms as of greater merit and legitimacy than the right to live free from violence, mayhem, and senseless killing.President Biden said in the aftermath of yesterday’s shooting, “I am sick and tired of it. We have to act.” The New York Times reports today that Texas has seen eight mass shootings in the last 13 years – but it is important to note that the Times is defining a mass shooting as an incident in which a lone shooter has killed at least four people. That is not how it is defined by the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as an incident in which “a minimum of four victims [are] shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident.”Under that definition there have been 179 mass shootings in Texas, since January 1, 2017. We have had literally decades to say enough is enough, now we must act. Yet no action or meaningful legislation is forthcoming – no action will be taken to strengthen background checks for gun buyers, no action will be taken to ban the sale of assault rifles which were used in Uvalde and in over 165 mass shootings in this country since the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre on December 14, 2012.The heartbroken parents who have had to endure unspeakable pain are told by political leaders that they have the prayers of the country; that they and the children they have lost will be remembered in the prayers of concerned Americans all across the nation. Prayers? Parents who lost a child do not need anybody’s prayers, good wishes, or social media self-displays of condolence and commiseration. They want their child to come back from school alive, to be held again, kissed again, and loved again. Offering prayers sounds disgustingly irrelevant to the nature of the crisis at hand.What the parents and every American that has lost a loved one to senseless shooting needs now is serious action—actual legislation that will curb the spate of gun violence which is consuming this country from within. The whole world is watching as America continues to destroy itself, its social bonds of trust, its duty to its children, through its obsession with protecting gun rights at all costs.We have fetishized the Second Amendment; we have turned it into an idol, an altar on which to sacrifice our children – as if we exist to serve and protect this single right. Do we truly need to protect at all costs whatever the right for people to have unimpeded access to firearms that belong nowhere but on the battlefield?Is this what any serious person could think the Second Amendment is about? Is anyone supposed to believe that the Founding Fathers were so concerned that an 18-year-old should be able to purchase an assault rifle for his birthday that they would safeguard that right above the right of an 8-year-old not to be gunned down in the middle of school?Senator Ted Cruz is scheduled to speak at the NRA’s annual meeting on Friday. What is he going to say, given that he claimed to be “sickened” by what occurred in Uvalde? Is he going to rise to the moment and tell the NRA that the country can no longer bear to watch this horror unfolding day by day?Is he going to say that the right to guns can be protected while enacting basic common-sense laws which will prevent this needless, and unimaginably cruel killing of society’s most innocent and vulnerable members? Is he going to say that enough is enough, that we must all, Democrats and Republicans alike, wake up and together pass legislation to end this American tragedy?Or will he simply repeat the same platitudes and refuse to lay any responsibility at the door of an organization whose overriding concern has been to protect America’s right to deadly firearms for profit? For politicians to seek the support of a corrupted organization to be elected, and close their eyes and numb their hearts to the bloodletting of thousands of innocent men, women, and children – if this is not an American tragedy, then what is?No, we can no longer settle for prayers, we can no longer settle for platitudes, we can no longer settle for promises. We need action and we need it now. Any Republican who refuses to pass sensible legislation that at a minimum reduces the frequency and the scope of these mass shootings has the blood of the dead on their hands. They must be held responsible for failing to act because they know full well that their inaction will certainly lead to the next mass shooting, and by refusing to act, they become complicit to the killings.The American tragedy is not limited to the carnage that is daily sweeping the nation. Our real tragedy is when the lives of our citizens become fair play and those who refuse to act are still in power. *Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies for over 20 years.

Yet another elementary school shooting massacre has left 19 children and two teachers dead – this time in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman was an 18-year-old who is also dead. The victims in this case were mostly 8, 9, and 10-year-olds.

The American Tragedy

Washington: Netflix has added a warning card to the 'Stranger Things 4' premiere in the wake of the Texas school shooting incident. The warning card reads, "We filmed this season of 'Stranger Things' a year ago. But given the recent tragic shooting at a school in Texas, viewers may find the opening scene of episode 1 distressing. We are deeply saddened by this unspeakable violence, and our hearts go out to every family mourning a loved one."This warning will appear before the prior season recap that auto-plays at the beginning of 'Stranger Things 4' Episode 1 for viewers in the US only, Variety reported. Netflix has also edited the description for the premiere to include the note, "Warning: Contains graphic violence involving children," and added "disturbing images" to the show rating advisories.The incident took place on Tuesday (local time) after an 18-year-old gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The gunman killed at least 19 children and two adults The gunman was later killed by law enforcement officers.—ANI

Netflix has added a warning card to the 'Stranger Things 4' premiere in the wake of the Texas school shooting incident.

Stranger Things 4: Netflix adds warning to premiere post Texas shooting

Washington: Launching an attack against Democrats for not backing measures to increase security in schools, former United States President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to be defending prominent gun-rights lobbying group National Rifle Association amid growing calls for gun reforms. This comes as nationwide outrage is being witnessed after a teenage gunman killed 19 children and two elementary school teachers in yet another mass shooting in the US. Trump made these remarks while addressing the NRA annual meeting amid growing calls for stronger gun control measures after the killing in the town of Uvalde in Texas.The former US President defended the NRA and rejected calls to cancel its annual convention."Every time a disturbed or demented person commits such a hideous crime, there's always a grotesque effort by some in our society to use the suffering of others to advance their own extreme political agenda," Trump said at the event in Houston, Texas. "Even more repulsive is their rush to shift blame away from the villains who commit acts of mass violence and to place that blame onto the shoulders of millions of peaceful, law-abiding citizens who belong to organisations such as our wonderful NRA," he said while referring to gun reform advocates.The former president called for increasing school security instead of focusing on gun reform."If the United States has USD 40 billion to send to Ukraine, we should be able to do whatever it takes to keep our children safe at home," he said.Amid the public uproar over the killings, NRA and Republican officials painted the Uvalde gunman as deranged and evil, directing the blame to the gunman himself.NRA's CEO and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said the group disagrees with US President Joe Biden's position on the law that grants US citizens to bear arms but is on the same page with him on other steps that can be taken to address gun violence. "We do not agree with President Biden on the second amendment, but we share common ground on this. Last week, the President said we do not agree with President Biden on the second amendment. But we share common ground on this: NRA members know that to be true. There are absolutely certain things we can and must do," LaPierre said during remarks at the annual NRA convention.—ANI

Launching an attack against Democrats for not backing measures to increase security in schools, former United States President Donald Trump on Friday appeared to be defending prominent gun-rights lobbying group National Rifle Association amid growing calls for gun reforms.

Trump rejects gun control calls after Texas shooting

Uvalde: Investigators in Texas were seeking to determine on Saturday how critical mistakes were made in the response to the deadly Uvalde shooting, including why nearly 20 police officers remained outside a grade school classroom as children placed panicked 911 calls for help. Why the officers waited in the hallway nearly an hour before entering and fatally shooting the gunman is at the heart of an ongoing probe by the Texas Department of Public Safety into the massacre of 19 children and two teachers in the deadliest U.S. school shooting in nearly a decade.Investigators are also still searching for a motive for the attack. Salvador Ramos, a high school dropout, had no criminal record and no history of mental illness.At least two children placed 911 calls from a pair of adjoining fourth-grade classrooms after 18-year-old Ramos entered on Tuesday with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, Colonel Steven McCraw, director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said earlier this week."He's in room 112," a girl whispered on the phone at 12:03 p.m., more than 45 minutes before a U.S. Border Patrol-led tactical team stormed in at 12:51 p.m. and ended the siege at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, a town of 16,000 people west of San Antonio.The same girl had implored the 911 operator to "please send the police now" at 12:43 p.m. and again four minutes later.The on-site commander, the chief of the school district's police department, believed at the time that Ramos was barricaded inside and that children were no longer at immediate risk, giving officers time to prepare, McCraw said."From the benefit of hindsight where I'm sitting now, of course, it was not the right decision," McCraw said. "It was the wrong decision, period." Standard law enforcement protocols call for police to confront an active school shooter without delay, rather than wait for backup or more firepower, a point McCraw acknowledged. McCraw described other moments when Ramos might have been thwarted. A school officer, responding to calls about an armed man who crashed a car at the funeral home across the street, drove past Ramos as he crouched beside a vehicle on school property. Police have said Ramos fired at two people standing outside before scaling a fence onto school grounds.The door that gave Ramos access to the building had been left propped open by a teacher, McCraw said, in violation of school district security policies.As criticism of the response by law enforcement grew, police officers from cities as far away as Houston and Dallas began arriving in Uvalde to help support local authorities, in some cases providing protection to Uvalde's own police, the mayor and the gun shop where Ramos purchased his arsenal.Police cruisers were parked outside the home of Pedro Arredondo, the school district's police chief. The police response to the shooting has been sharply criticized by McCraw and Texas Governor Gregg Abbott, among others. Questions about police efforts to stop Ramos came as the United States' leading gun-rights advocacy group, the National Rifle Association, held its annual convention 275 miles (443 km) away in Houston.Abbott, a Republican and staunch gun rights proponent who addressed the meeting in a pre-recorded video, seized on apparent police lapses in Uvalde, telling a news conference later he was misled and "livid about what happened."Abbott denied newly enacted Texas gun laws, including a controversial measure removing licensing requirements for carrying a concealed weapon, had "any relevancy" to Tuesday's bloodshed. He suggested state lawmakers focus renewed attention on addressing mental illness. President Joe Biden, a Democrat who has urged Congress to approve new gun restrictions, will visit Uvalde on Sunday to comfort families and pay respects to the young victims.—REUTERS

Investigators in Texas were seeking to determine on Saturday how critical mistakes were made in the response to the deadly Uvalde shooting, including why nearly 20 police officers remained outside a grade school classroom as children placed panicked 911 calls for help.

Investigators question delayed police response in Texas school shooting

Uvalde:&nbsp;President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hoping to console a city stricken by grief and anger when they meet with families affected by the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers.The visit to Uvalde on Sunday is Biden's second trip in as many weeks to comfort a community in mourning after a staggering loss. On May 17, he was in Buffalo, New York, to meet with victims' families and condemn white supremacy after a shooter espousing the racist "replacement theory" killed 10 Black people at a supermarket.The shootings in Texas and New York and their aftermath have put a spotlight on the nation's entrenched divisions and its inability to forge consensus on actions to reduce gun violence."Evil came to that elementary school classroom in Texas, to that grocery store in New York, to far too many places where innocents have died," Biden said Saturday in a commencement address at the University of Delaware. "We have to stand stronger. We must stand stronger. We cannot outlaw tragedy, I know, but we can make America safer." Biden was to visit the makeshift memorial outside Robb Elementary School before attending Mass at a local Catholic church. He was also scheduled to meet with family members at a community center and then with first responders at the local airport before returning to Washington, the White House said. He was not expected to deliver formal remarks.Mckinzie Hinojosa, whose cousin Eliahana Torres was killed Tuesday, said she respected Biden's decision to mourn with the people of Uvalde."It's more than mourning," she said. "We want change. We want action. It continues to be something that happens over and over and over. A mass shooting happens. It's on the news. People cry. Then it's gone. Nobody cares. And then it happens again. And again." "If there's anything if I could tell Joe Biden, as it is, just to respect our community while he's here, and I'm sure he will," she added. "But we need change. We need to do something about it." The Bidens' visit to Uvalde comes amid mounting scrutiny of the police response to the shooting. Officials revealed Friday that students and teachers repeatedly begged 911 operators for help even as a police commander told more than a dozen officers to wait in a hallway. Officials said the commander believed that the suspect was barricaded inside an adjoining classroom and that there was no longer an active attack.The revelation prompted fresh anguish and questions about whether more lives were lost because officers did not act faster to stop the gunman, who was ultimately killed by Border Patrol tactical officers.On Wednesday, before details about the delayed officer response were known, Biden had praised their efforts, saying, ''brave local officers and Border Patrol agents intervened to save as many children as they could." Authorities have said the shooter legally purchased two guns not long before the school attack: an AR-style rifle on May 17 and a second rifle on May 20. He had turned 18 just days earlier, permitting him to buy the weapons under federal law.Speaking on Saturday, Biden said something had to change in response to the attack."I call on all Americans at this hour to join hands and make your voices heard, to work together to make this nation what it can and should be," Biden said. "I know we can do this. We've done it before.'' Hours after the shooting, Biden delivered an impassioned plea for additional gun control legislation, asking: "When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?" With Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children — though not to gun violence — spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived."To lose a child is like having a piece of your soul ripped away," Biden said. "There's a hollowness in your chest. You feel like you're being sucked into it and never going to be able to get out." Over the years, Biden has been intimately involved in the gun control movement's most notable successes, such as the 1994 assault weapons ban, and its most troubling disappointments, including the failure to pass new legislation after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.In the White House, Biden has tried to chip away at gun violence through executive orders. He faces few new options now, but executive action might be the best the president can do, given Washington's sharp divisions on gun control legislation. Lawmakers restarted long-stalled negotiations on expanding background check requirements and encouraging "red flag'' laws meant to keep guns out of the hands of those with mental health issues, but the talks face an uphill battle on Capitol Hill.—PTI

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden are hoping to console a city stricken by grief and anger when they meet with families affected by the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers.

Biden called again to mourn with a city stricken by grief

San Francisco:&nbsp;Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle company Tesla is reportedly investigating executive Omead Afshar, the official overseeing the construction and production of Giga Texas, in an internal probe.The internal investigation is centred around the executive's part in a plan to purchase hard-to-get construction materials. These materials, according to the report, were identified as suspicious, citing Bloomberg, Teslarati reported.Unidentified sources said that Tesla had already fired some employees in relation to the investigation. They also said that Tesla plans to part ways with the executive most likely through a leave of absence.The report noted that the investigation was led by Tesla's Acting Head of Legal, David Searle. The goal is to determine whether or not a special kind of glass was to be used by Musk for personal use.Currently, the global supply chain disruptions have been making this specific glass difficult to secure. The article noted that Tesla's reputation made it easier for them to get the materials in high demand.The report also said that Afshar requested the purchase order of glass to be created and said it was for a secret project.Meanwhile, recently, Tesla has laid off 229 annotation employees from its Autopilot team and closed one of its offices in the US. —IANS

Elon Musk-owned electric vehicle company Tesla is reportedly investigating executive Omead Afshar, the official overseeing the construction and production of Giga Texas, in an internal probe.

Tesla probes top executive over suspicious order: Report

Texas: Four Indian-American women have been racially abused and smacked by a Mexican-American woman in the United States state of Texas who hurled racist slurs at them that they are 'ruining' America and should 'go back to India'.
The incident took place on Wednesday night in a parking lot in Dallas, Texas.
The woman, who has now been arrested, is seen in the video identifying herself as a Mexican-American and assaulting a group of Indian-Americans. "I hate you Indian. All these Indians come to America because they want a better life," Esmeralda Upton is seen saying in the video.
The video shows her telling the group of women to 'Go back to India. You... people are ruining this country', the CBS News reported.
The video has now gone viral and sent shock waves among the Indian-American community across the United States.
The video shows Upton using racial slurs, and at one point physically smacking at least two of the women.
The person who posted this video wrote, 'this incident occurred in Dallas, Texas after my mom and her three friends went to dinner'.
The mom is seen contesting the arguments made by the Mexican-American woman and requesting her not to make racial slurs. At one point in time, the Mexican-American woman, who says she was born in the United States, is seen assaulting the mom and her other friends as well.
"Everywhere I ... go, you Indians are ... everywhere," she is seen screaming in the video.
"If life was so great in India, why are you here," she shouted while inserting the f-word and suddenly started assaulting the four Indian women. Plano Police Detectives arrested Esmeralda Upton of Plano on Thursday afternoon.
She has been charged with assault, bodily injury and terroristic threats and is being held on a total bond amount of $10,000.
'This is so scary. She actually had a gun and wanted to shoot because these Indian-American women had accents while speaking English. Disgusting. This awful woman needs to be prosecuted for a hate crime,' Reema Rasool said on Twitter. This incident is currently under investigation by the Plano Police Department's Crime Against Persons Unit as a hate crime.
Groups in North Texas with ties to the South Asian American community condemned the attack and said they were relieved that a suspect had been arrested.
Urmeet Juneja, president of the India Association of North Texas, said he thinks North Texas has largely been a welcoming and safe place for people who are of South Asian descent, The Dallas Morning News reported.
"We are happy that law enforcement has taken swift action and arrested this person. Still, we also think that they should conduct a fair investigation and get to the bottom of the matter and take this hate crime investigation to its conclusion," Juneja said. "The events in Plano remind me of stories my parents and their friends told me over and over in the wake of 9/11 -- of fellow Americans seeing them as others and enemies," said Saatvik Ahluwalia, a spokesman for Asian Texans for Justice was quoted as saying by the report.
Chanda Parbhoo, executive director of South Asian American Voter Engagement of Texas, said in a statement: 'While we are relieved our community members are safe, listening to their cries for help from the verbal, physical, and racist abuse this woman was unleashing in that dark parking lot is infuriating.' —PTI

 Four Indian-American women have been racially abused and smacked by a Mexican-American woman in the United States state of Texas who hurled racist slurs at them that they are 'ruining' America and should 'go back to India'.

4 Indian-American Women Racially Abused In Texas, Told To 'Go Back'

New Delhi (The Hawk): Addressing a roundtable on “Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership” at Houston, Texas, Union Minister of Petroleum &amp; Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri. Hardeep S. Puri, remarked that 25% of global energy demand growth in the next 2 decades is going to emanate out of India.  He noted that India’s energy strategy is mindful of commitments to the global commons, to Green Transition and to ensure Energy Availability, Affordability and Security to all. India had taken many steps towards low carbon development, including through emerging fuels like hydrogen and bio-fuels. He emphasised that despite the current challenging energy environment, India’s commitment to energy transitions and its climate mitigation goals, is not going to diminish.
Shri Hardeep S. Puri chaired a roundtable  on “Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership” organized by US-India Strategic Partnership Forum. The roundtable brought together over 60 participants from 35 companies, including Senior leadership of energy majors like Exxonmobil, Chevron, Chieniere, Lanzatech, Honeywell, BakerHughes, Emerson, Tellurian to name a few. Indian Energy PSUs also attended the event.
Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas stated that India was undertaking major reforms to rationalize and incentivise Exploration &amp; Production by reducing the no-go areas by 99% opening up approx. 1 million sq kms, making good quality geological data available through the National Depository Registry etc.
As a gesture of commitment of GOI to E &amp; P sector, the special Coal-bed Methane (CBM) round &amp; offshore bid rounds in the oil and gas capital of the world (Houston) offering over 2.3 Sq lakh km, after opening up over 1 million sq kms of No Go areas recently, was launched by the Minister.
In a series of tweets, Shri Hardeep Puri stated that the immense potential between the two countries in areas of biofuels, gas based economy, green hydrogen, petrochemicals &amp; upstream sectors is evident and is being furthered by collaboration by our private sector companies. He further stated, “Due to reform measures by Modi Govt, there is unprecedented interest in Indian E&amp;P by global oil companies.”
The discussion was concluded with broad-based support from the participants to push forth with potential partnerships which will bring the best-in-class technologies in both traditional energies and new energies to India.&nbsp;

Addressing a roundtable on “Opportunities in the India-US Strategic Partnership” at Houston, Texas, Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri. Hardeep S. Puri, remarked that 25% of global energy demand growth in the next 2 decades is going to emanate out of India. 

India’s energy strategy is mindful of commitments to global commons, to Green Transition

San Francisco (The Hawk): Elon Musk's company Tesla announced $3.3 billion in net profits for the third quarter (Q3), more than doubling from the same period last year, while its automotive revenue increased by 55%.
The electric carmaker stated in a letter to shareholders late Wednesday that the third quarter was another strong quarter, with record revenue, operating profit, and free cash flow.
"In the recent year, our free cash flow surpassed $8.9 billion. In Q3, our operating margin was 17.2 percent "According to a business release.
Tesla's automotive revenue was $18.69 billion, up 55% from the previous year.
"We remain committed to boosting vehicle production as rapidly as feasible by raising our weekly build rate in Fremont and Shanghai and steadily working through the production ramps in Berlin and Texas," the company added.
Musk hinted at a probable share buyback during an earnings call.
"I can't emphasise enough that we have tremendous demand for Q4 and intend to sell every car we build for the foreseeable future. The facilities are running at full capacity, and we are delivering every car we produce while maintaining healthy operating margins "He informed analysts.
Musk suggested that Tesla may conduct a "major repurchase" next year, potentially worth $5 billion to $10 billion.
"I believe we can significantly outperform Apple's present market cap. In fact, I believe Tesla has the potential to be valued more than Apple and Saudi Aramco combined. That doesn't guarantee it will happen or be simple "He took note.
According to the corporation, logistics unpredictability and supply chain bottlenecks remain immediate challenges, albeit they are improving.
"We continue to expect that battery supply chain bottlenecks will be the primary impediment to long-term EV market growth. Despite these obstacles, we intend to deliver every vehicle produced while maintaining good operating margins "The electric vehicle manufacturer stated in a statement.
(Inputs from Agencies)

Elon Musk's company Tesla announced $3.3 billion in net profits for the third quarter (Q3), more than doubling from the same period last year, while its automotive revenue increased by 55%.

Tesla's Q3 net profit doubled to $3.3 billion, on sales of automobiles that increased by 55%

Houston (The Hawk): Near the middle of an air display, two World War II-era aircraft collided in Dallas, Texas, in the United States.
Although the exact number of casualties is yet unknown, based on the occupancy of the two planes, up to six individuals are presumed dead.
The B-17 Flying Fortress bomber and the P-63 Kingcobra fighter were the two aircraft that collided. The number of people on board the aircraft was not disclosed by the officials, but according to Hank Coates, head of the business that organised the airshow, a P-63 has a single pilot and a crew of four to five for a B-17.
The two aircraft collided, exploding into a ball of flames and sending black smoke into the air. Multiple perspectives of the collision were captured on camera and posted online.
Nearly 16 kilometres outside the city's centre, at the Dallas Executive Airport, emergency personnel rushed to the scene of the accident. The jets' wreckage was seen in a grassy area inside the airport's perimeter in news footage from the incident. There were no injuries among those on the ground, Dallas Fire-Rescue reported to The Dallas Morning News.
Witnessing the collision of the two aircraft, Anthony Montoya said, "I remained still. I was utterly shocked and incredulous. Everyone in the area was gasping. Everyone started crying at once. Everyone was stunned."
According to Coates of Commemorative Air Force, which also owned the planes, there were no paying passengers on board. Highly skilled volunteers, frequently retired pilots, fly their planes, he claimed.
On Sunday, a group of National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators will reach the crash site.
(Inputs from Agencies)

Near the middle of an air display, two World War II-era aircraft collided in Dallas, Texas, in the United States. Although the exact number of casualties is yet unknown, based on the occupancy of the two planes, up to six individuals are presumed dead.

Two WWII aircraft collide in midair at a US air show, killing six people

Houston : Indian-born US professor Ganesh Thakur has been appointed vice president of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Technology (TAMEST), an organisation that brings together the state's leading scientists and researchers to further research, innovation, and industry in Texas.
Thakur, a Distinguished Professor of Petroleum Engineering at UH, was elected vice president by the TAMEST board of directors on Tuesday. Brendan Lee will lead the organisation as president.
Thakur is the first member of the UH faculty to serve as TAMEST director. He is originally from Jharkhand.—Inputs from Agencies

 Indian-born US professor Ganesh Thakur has been appointed vice president of the Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, Science, and Technology (TAMEST), an organisation that brings together the state's leading scientists and researchers to further research, innovation, and industry in Texas.

Indian-origin professor to lead ‘best and brightest’ scientists and researchers in Texas

Indian-origin professor to lead ‘best and brightest’ scientists and researchers in Texasa

Washington: The Indian-origin stepfather of a six-year-old boy, who is feared dead, stole $10,000 from a convenience store company in Texas where he worked, before fleeing to India with his wife and six other children, police said.

The FBI and other US federal agencies are seeking to extradite and arrest Arshdeep Singh and his wife Cindy Rodriguez-Singh for abandoning/endangering their child with special needs, Everman Police Chief Craig Spencer said this week.

Arshdeep now also faces a felony theft charge for fraudulently altering cash deposit records to steal cash, and depositing $8,000 into his account hours before leaving the country, Spencer said.

Noel Rodriguez-Alvarez was one of the 10 children born to Cindy Rodriguez-Singh.

Three siblings lived with their grandparents, while Noel and the others lived with their mother in a shed in Everman, a suburb of Fort Worth.

Spencer said that Arshdeep Singh, Cindy, and six other children got on a plane and travelled to India just before a welfare check conducted on March 20 at the family's home found Noel missing.

At the time Cindy told police that Noel was in Mexico with his biological father, which investigators later found out to be false.

"We want these fugitives arrested and extradited to the US so that we can seek answers for the disappearance of Noel," Spencer had said in a previous news conference.

Police investigations found that Cindy neglected and abused Noel, which included depriving that child with food and water.

She had reportedly told relatives that the child was "evil" or "possessed".

According to multiple media reports, Noel was born prematurely and suffered from several physical disabilities and developmental disorders.

At the time the couple flew to India, there were reportedly no warrants against them, thus helping them board the flight.

Police said that the body of the child is yet to be found, adding that extensive search operations involving sniffer dogs have already begun. IANS

Missing Texas child's Indian-origin stepdad stole $10K before fleeing to India

Hyderabad: Mortal remains of 27-year-old Aishwarya Thatikonda, who was killed in a mass shooting at a mall in the United states on May 6, have been brought home.

The body arrived at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport Hyderabad late Wednesday and the last rites will be performed Thursday.

The woman engineer from Hyderabad was among nine persons killed in a mass shooting at a mall near Dallas.

Aishwarya and eight others were killed when a gunman opened fire at Allen Premium Outlets mall in Allen near Dallas in Texas State.

Her Indian friend was also injured. A total of seven persons were wounded in the incident.

A resident of Saroornagar area in Hyderabad, Aishwarya was working as project manager in a company called Perfect General Contractors LLC in Texas.

Her father Narsi Reddy works as a judge in Rangareddy district court. The family was planning to leave for the US to bring the mortal remains. However, Telugu Association of North America (TANA) made the arrangements to send the body in coordination with various agencies.

Aishwarya, who obtained a Bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Osmania University, did her MS in construction management from Eastern Michigan University. IANS

Mortal remains of 27-year-old Aishwarya Thatikonda, who was killed in a mass shooting at a mall in the United states on May 6, have been brought home.

Body of woman killed in US mall shooting arrives in Hyderabad

New York: Ken Mathew, a native of Kerala, was recently sworn in as the mayor of Stafford in the US state of Texas. He has become the first Indian-American and the first person of colour to hold this position.
According to the Fort Bend Star, Mathew, a former member of the Stafford City Council, defeated Cecil Willis, the incumbent mayor, in a runoff election this month by a margin of only 16 votes. Mathew credits his victory to God.
He was administered the oath of office by Missouri City Mayor Robin Elackatt, also an Indian-American, at a special event attended by his family members and top officials.
Indian-American Fort Bend County Judge, K.P. George, who was present on the occasion, tweeted: "Congratulations to Stafford Mayor-elect Ken Mathew! It was an absolute pleasure to attend his swearing-in ceremony this evening. Wishing him all the best as he embarks on this important role."
Former Missouri City Mayor Owen Allen and Texas representatives Ron Reynolds and Suleman Lulani also graced the occasion.
Minister of State for electronics and information technology , Rajeev Chandrasekhar, also tweeted his congratulations to Mathew.
"Congratulations to Ken Mathew from Kerala for becoming the elected Mayor of Stafford, US. He is the first Indian to be elected to the post, in 67 years' history of Stafford," Chandrasekhar wrote.
Mathew served on Stafford Council since first being elected in 2006, and served on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission for several years before then.
After graduating from the University of Bombay, the Star reported he immigrated to the United States in the 1970s.
An MBA, Mathew  worked as an accountant and financial executive for several corporations, including Toshiba in the Houston area. He settled in Stafford back in 1982.—Inputs from Agencies

Ken Mathew, a native of Kerala, was recently sworn in as the mayor of Stafford in the US state of Texas. He has become the first Indian-American and the first person of colour to hold this position

In a first, Indian-American takes oath as Stafford Mayor

Washington: After the successful retrieval of samples from asteroid Bennu, NASA now aims to transport the pristine 250 grams of rock and dust to its facility in Texas, from where it will be distributed to global scientists, on Monday. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (short for Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security - Regolith Explorer) on Sunday delivered on Earth a capsule of rocks and dust collected from asteroid Bennu in 2020.  It landed at 10:55 a.m. EDT (8.25 p.m. IST) on Sunday, in a targeted area of the Department of Defense’s Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City. “Congratulations to the OSIRIS-REx team on a picture-perfect mission -- the first American asteroid sample return in history -- which will deepen our understanding of the origin of our solar system and its formation. Not to mention, Bennu is a potentially hazardous asteroid, and what we learn from the sample will help us better understand the types of asteroids that could come our way,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, in a statement. Now the OSIRIS-REx team will transport the Bennu sample in an unopened canister by aircraft to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas on Monday. Curation scientists there will disassemble the canister, extract and weigh the sample, create an inventory of the rocks and dust, and, over time, distribute pieces of Bennu to scientists worldwide, NASA said. After travelling billions of miles to Bennu and back, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft released its sample capsule toward Earth’s atmosphere at 6:42 a.m. EDT (4:42 a.m. MDT). The spacecraft was 102,000 kilometres from Earth’s surface at the time -- about one-third the distance from Earth to the Moon. Travelling at 44,500 kph, the capsule pierced the atmosphere at 10:42 a.m. EDT (8:42 a.m. MDT), off the coast of California at an altitude of about 133 kilometres. Within 10 minutes, it landed on the military range. Along the way, two parachutes successfully deployed to stabilise and slow the capsule down to a gentle 11 mph (18 kph) at touchdown. Within an hour and a half of touchdown, the capsule was transported by helicopter to a temporary clean room set up in a hangar on the training range, where it now is connected to a continuous flow of nitrogen -- one of the OSIRIS-REx team’s most critical tasks.  Nitrogen is a gas that doesn’t interact with most other chemicals, and a continuous flow of it into the sample container inside the capsule will keep out earthly contaminants to leave the sample pure for scientific analyses. The returned samples collected from Bennu will help scientists worldwide make discoveries to better understand planet formation and the origin of organics and water that led to life on Earth, as well as benefit all of humanity by learning more about potentially hazardous asteroids. —PTI

After the successful retrieval of samples from asteroid Bennu, NASA now aims to transport the pristine 250 grams of rock and dust to its facility in Texas

NASA’s Asteroid Sample Secure, To Be Transported To Texas

A National Guard helicopter assigned to patrol duty along the US-Mexico border crashed in Texas on Friday, killing two soldiers and a US Border Patrol agent who were aboard and injuring another soldier, military officials said.
The UH-72 Lakota helicopter went down near Rio Grande City, Texas, around 2:50 pm (2050 GMT) while conducting aerial "monitoring and detection" operations at the border, said US Army Major Ryan Wierzbicki.  The cause of the crash was under investigation, the Army said. Wierzbicki said he had no information about weather conditions at the time of the accident.  The names of the dead and injured were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.  The chopper was assigned to a federal Southwest border support mission with Joint Task Force North, attached to the army outpost at Fort Bliss, Texas, Wierzbicki said.  The aircraft was not part of Operation Lone Star, a state-directed border enforcement program launched in 2021 by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, using Texas National Guard troops and the Texas Department of Public Safety, the major said.
—Reuters

Two soldiers and a US Border Patrol agent killed in a National Guard helicopter crash near Rio Grande City, Texas, during a border monitoring mission.

Three dead in Texas crash of US military helicopter on border patrol

Houston: An Indian-origin man whose 11-year-old son was branded with a hot iron rod as part of a religious ceremony in 2023 has sued a Hindu temple in the US state of Texas and its parent company seeking more than $1 million in damages.
Vijay Cheruvu, a Fort Bend County resident, said his son was branded with a hot iron rod during a religious ceremony at the Sri Ashtalakshmi Hindu temple in Sugarland, Texas in August last year.  According to a lawsuit filed this week in Fort Bend County, the boy suffered extreme pain and permanent disfigurement.  Cheruvu is seeking more than $1 million in damages in the lawsuit against the temple and its parent organisation, Jeeyar Educational Trust (JET) USA, Inc.
“I was shocked. I didn’t know how to handle it. My primary concern is for my son’s well-being,” Cheruvu said at a press conference here.  He said his son was branded in two spots on his shoulder in the shape of a Hindu god, Vishnu.  The lawsuit claims that over 100 people participated in the ceremony at the Ashtalakshmi Temple off Synott Road in Sugar Land in August. Three of those participants were children, including Cheruvu's son.  Cheruvu's attorney, Brant Stogner, said the boy was branded in both shoulders, resulting in extreme pain and permanent disfigurement, and subsequently developed an infection as a result of the branding.  The boy attended the ceremony with his mother and was branded against his will and without the knowledge or consent of his father, according to Stogner, who said branding, tattooing or scarring a child is illegal in Texas even with parental consent.  "This is happening basically in our backyard over here, so that's the reason we filed the lawsuit," Stogner said.  "We want to make sure our community is aware of this and want to make sure it doesn't happen to anybody else, anybody else's child or any child at all."  The child was not identified, but attorneys read an impact statement from the boy.  "I was so surprised. I did not know that anything was going to happen like this. I was shocked when they did it on my shoulder and it hurt so much that I almost cried," he said in part.  "They knew what they did was very wrong because they told me to keep it secret from everyone else. But I had to tell my dad when the pain got worse and it became infected," he said.  Cheruvu says that his son was taken to the temple by his ex-wife. The son was branded, but the mother was not.  "He goes to see a therapist. He’s so deeply scarred, mentally scarred, and then there’s all the pain," said the father.  When the temple was contacted, there was no response to constant calls or emails.
—PTI

Father sues Texas Hindu temple for over $1 million after son, 11, branded with hot iron in religious ceremony, causing permanent disfigurement.

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