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NEW DELHI:   The Supreme Court on Friday scoffed at the Kerala government’s approach of being a welfare state as the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government failed to show compliance of a January 2017 order requiring them to compensate victims who suffered tragic after-effects of endosuflan pesticide, besides setting up medical facilities to treat these persons for life-time complications involving cancer, mental derailment and physical disability. Upset over the state’s inaction, a bench of justices Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud and Surya Kant said, “All your activity started after we issued notice on the contempt petition. This should not be the approach of a welfare state.” The court order came on a contempt petition filed by eight victims who wanted implementation of the January 10, 2017 judgment directing payment of  ₹ 5 lakh compensation to every affected victim of endosulfan. The state government filed a compliance report this week before the top court identifying 3,714 victims...

Russia-Ukraine war highlights:  The Russia-Ukraine war, which began on February 24 with Russian troops arriving on Ukrainian soil on the orders of President Vladimir Putin, entered day 79 on Friday with no end in sight to the crisis.  On May 9, on the occasion of ‘Victory Day’, President Putin was expected to make a major announcement, possibly calling off the war; however, no such announcement was made. Meanwhile, on Thursday, Finland, which was contemplating joining NATO in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, announced it is in favour of applying for membership, ‘as soon as possible’.  This prompted a warning from Moscow, which said it will be ‘forced to take retaliatory steps of military-technical and other characteristics in order to counter the emerging threats to its national security’. Finland's neighbour, Sweden, is also likely to announce soon that it is in favour of being a member of the intergovernmental military alliance.

Ex Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar - who announced his resignation from the party Saturday in a Facebook Live post - reserved a few words of praise for senior leader Rahul Gandhi, whom he called 'a good person'. Jakhar - removed from posts last month over 'anti-party activities' - called on Gandhi to retake control and warned him to 'distance yourself from sycophants'. " Good luck and goodbye, Congress… " Jakhar said as he wound up his outburst. Jakhar's bombshell announcement comes as the Congress enters the second day of its Chintan Shivir meet in Rajasthan - a three-day meeting of senior leaders to review the party's disastrous results in five state elections held in February-March and plot a recovery ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. Sunil Jakhar 'worth his weight in gold', says Navjot Sidhu His comments today underlined how much work the Congress must do to put its house in order and emerge as a serious challenger to the BJP - ...

The United States on Saturday condemned the Israeli security forces for ‘intruding’ into the funeral procession of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed on May 10 while covering an Israeli raid in the city of Jenin, West Bank.  “We are deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner,” secretary of state Antony Blinken posted on Twitter.   We were deeply troubled by the images of Israeli police intruding into the funeral procession of Palestinian American Shireen Abu Akleh. Every family deserves to lay their loved ones to rest in a dignified and unimpeded manner.