"Can Transform...": At Davos, Andhra Minister Talks On Impact Of AI On Jobs

01/22/25 7:41 PM

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, can "fundamentally transform governance", Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh told NDTV Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland's Davos.

"Monumental": Prince Harry After UK Tabloid Settles Lawsuit With Apology

01/22/25 7:18 PM

Prince Harry claimed a "monumental" victory over Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper group on Wednesday after the publisher settled his lawsuit, admitting unlawful actions at its Sun tabloid for the first time and paying substantial damages.

"Must Overcome Chauvinistic Mentality": Pope Promotes Vatican Nun

01/22/25 7:43 PM

Pope Francis warned Wednesday against a "chauvinistic mentality" in the Catholic Church, as he promoted a nun to head the executive administration of the tiny Vatican City state.

"PM Modi First To Call After Oct 7 Attack": Israel Minister To NDTV At Davos

01/22/25 5:23 PM

Israel's economy and industry minister Nir Barkat has sought Hamas to be replaced with people who recognise the state of Israel and who are "peace-seeking". In an interview to NDTV at Davos, Mr Barkat also spoke on a range of matters.

'Boss Sahab': Fijian Premier Praises PM Modi

01/22/25 2:25 PM

Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka effusively praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi and called him the real "Boss" of the world.

'Did not push hard enough': Navalny lawyer speaks of regrets

01/22/25 11:23 AM

by Anna SMOLCHENKOThe top lawyer of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died in a Russian prison in February last year, told AFP she regretted not finding the right words to stop him returning to Moscow in 2021.Olga Mikhailova, who defended Navalny for 16 years, said his return to Russia sparked a "tragic" chain of events leading to his death -- and to the jailing last week of three of his legal team on extremism charges.February 16 will mark the first anniversary of the charismatic politician's death in an Arctic penal colony, which his supporters regard as murder sanctioned by the Kremlin."Today I very much regret that I didn't do everything possible, everything in my power to prevent him from returning to Moscow," Mikhailova said in an interview in Paris. "I feel like I did not push hard enough."Navalny barely survived a poisoning in 2020 with the Soviet-designed nerve agent Novichok. Following treatment in Germany, he returned to Russia on January 17, 2021 and was immediately arrested and subsequently jailed. He died in a remote Arctic prison on February 16, 2024 in unclear circumstances. His allies and family say he was murdered on President Vladimir Putin's orders. Navalny himself predicted in his memoir he would be poisoned in jail."This decision to return on January 17 has had irreparable, tragic consequences," Mikhailova said. "For him, for his lawyers, for their families, for everyone."Last Friday, a Russian court found three members of Navalny's defense team guilty of participating in an "extremist organisation". Vadim Kobzev was sentenced to five and a half years, Alexei Liptser was handed five years and Igor Sergunin three and a half years.Even the fact that the three lawyers were sentenced on January 17 -- the day four years ago Navalny had chosen to return to Russia -- was not a coincidence, Mikhailova said."He was such a danger to them, they hated him so much that they continue to take revenge against his lawyers," she added.Mikhailova was on holiday abroad when the three lawyers were arrested in 2023. She decided against returning to Russia where a court subsequently ordered her arrest in absentia.- Wiretaps - She said the imprisonment of her colleagues was the toughest blow to legal advocacy in Russia since dictator Joseph Stalin, noting that for the first time in modern Russia lawyers faced accusations "along with their client"."A lot of lawyers were purged in 1937. And afterwards there were no more cases like that in the Soviet era," she said. She said authorities had wiretapped confidential conversations between Navalny and his lawyers in prison, later using those recordings against the defence team."Not only were they wiretapping, as I understand, there was a person behind the wall who was writing everything down," she said.Attorney-client privilege no longer existed in Russia, Mikhailova added.The lawyer also said the West made a "very big political mistake" by excluding Russia from the Council of Europe after Putin invaded Ukraine, meaning Russians could no longer take cases to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).Prison conditions for Navalny worsened after that, she said."The authorities did what they wanted. They realized that they could act with absolute impunity. Before, they had been held accountable," the lawyer added."Had Russia continued to remain in the Council of Europe and the European Court, perhaps the tragedy would not have happened to Alexei or to his lawyers."- 'Was not to be' -Mikhailova, 51, received asylum in France and is adjusting to her new life in Paris."All this time I've been talking myself into thinking that I am in a good city, a beautiful city, one of the most beautiful cities," she said. "It just wasn't my choice, right? I just found myself in this situation and when it's not your choice, it's very hard indeed."She is studying French every day."Alexei always told me 'learn foreign languages, learn foreign languages'," she said. "And so now I have to learn foreign languages."Navalny's death had crushed her, but she admitted "it has become a little bit easier to breathe now".She has not however mustered enough courage to read "Patriot", Navalny's posthumous memoir published last October."I started reading several times, and I knew some of the texts. I would literally start reading the first page, and I would know when it was written and how. And I would close the book, I just couldn't do it," she said. "When you read it, well, it's unbearably hard," she said, adding she had already read a few pages.Despite everything Mikhailova does not regret taking on Navalny as a client."For many years I was close to this absolutely amazing man," she said. "I've always loved my job very much. And a sense of duty always trumps all fears."In prison Navalny read a lot and changed a lot, Mikhailova said."He had toughened up so much, had grown up so much in every sense that I thought he would make an incredible leader for our country," she said."But this was not to be."© Agence France-Presse

'Hope This Time Trump 2.0 Will Be More Serious': Iran Official At Davos

01/22/25 7:31 PM

Iran hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will choose "rationality" in its dealing with the Islamic Republic, Iran's Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday, adding Tehran had never sought nuclear weapons.

'Love for humanity': Low-crime Japan's unpaid parole officers

01/22/25 11:28 AM

by Tomohiro OSAKITeruko Nakazawa once intervened in a knife fight between an ex-offender and their mother -- all in a day's unpaid work for Japan's army of volunteer probation officers.The 83-year-old, who jokes she is a "punk" as she puffs on a cigarette, devoted decades to supervising and helping rehabilitate convicted criminals on parole.But she did not take a single yen for her hard work under a long-running but little-known state scheme that some say contributes to the nation's famously low crime rate.Around 47,000citizen volunteers known as "hogoshi" far outnumber the 1,000 salaried probation officers in Japan."I never wanted to be thanked or rewarded," said Nakazawa, recalling once going to save a boy "surrounded by 30, 40 bad guys"."I did what I did because I wanted to," she told AFP. "You can't help but try to put out a fire when you spot one, right?"But the altruistic program faces an uncertain future, with around 80 percent of hogoshi aged 60 or over.The recent murder of a hogoshi by a parolee has also rattled the trust in ex-offenders' good nature underlying the system.For one of Nakazawa's former charges, "she was like a grandma"."I wouldn't dare do anything bad on her watch," he said, declining to be named because he hides his criminal past."I was scared of ever feeling guilty that I had betrayed her." The 34-year-old said Nakazawa "helped me a great deal" -- especially to apologize to his victims.- Stabbing -A 60-year-old hogoshi was fatally stabbed in Otsu, near Kyoto, by a man under his supervision in May.The incident raised fears that potential hogoshi -- who may already be wary of parolees whose crimes include theft, sex offences and sometimes murder -- could be scared away.Hogoshi have historically rejected proposals to be paid a regular wage.This is because their activity is "a symbol of selflessness" rooted in "love for humanity", legal experts said in an October report.Only some of their expenses are covered, and they must pay a yearly registration fee -- another factor blamed for the struggle to attract younger volunteers.Still, Japan "would be a different country without hogoshi", said Carol Lawson, a comparative criminal justice professor at the University of Tokyo, citing the nation's "extraordinary lack of post-war crime".The system's high "tolerance of risk" is unusual, she said. Hogoshi often invite parolees to their homes to develop a warm, familiar relationship.Countries such as the Philippines, Thailand and Kenya have made use of Japan's expertise to introduce similar systems.But "it's hard to even imagine the hogoshi system gaining any traction" in Anglo-American jurisdictions with a more "retributive" mindset, Lawson told AFP.- 'OK to exist' -Nakazawa said her daughter used to worry about her safety and would have urged her to quit had the Otsu homicide occurred before her retirement in 2018.But if society shuns ex-offenders, "they will only proliferate and commit even more heinous crimes," she said."We have to root for them so they won't reoffend."Hogoshi often recruit other hogoshi based on criteria such as reputability, stable income and sufficient free time.Mieko Kami, a 74-year-old Tokyo flower arrangement teacher, had no experience with criminals before joining the scheme.When first approached, "I thought, 'there's no way I can do this'", Kami told AFP.But after three years she changed her mind and was soon sipping tea with a yakuza gangster, helping a young man in a squalid apartment and hurrying at night to a blood-soaked suicide attempt."Learning about their upbringing sometimes makes me think it's inevitable they turned out this way," Kami said."I feel they want to be assured it's OK to exist," she said, describing herself as "sometimes being their mother"."So I praise, acknowledge them... I feel fond of them." - 'Good listener' -Currently on parole in Osaka, Ueko, who only gave his nickname, recalls taking illegal drugs "to be set free of my painful life" trying to fit in as a gay person in Japan.Initially, his hogoshi's life seemed so impeccable "I doubted he could possibly understand the feelings of us ex-prisoners," the 47-year-old told AFP at drug rehab centre DARC.But now "he's a very good listener for me".It is not uncommon for parolees to skip their twice-monthly appointments with hogoshi and fail to bond.Still, Nakazawa's once-rowdy charges sometimes visit her cafe for tearful reunions, or phone her asking about her health."They even jokingly tell me, 'don't mess around', which is exactly what I used to tell them!" Nakazawa laughed."I spent my whole life caring about other people. But now I'm old and getting weak, they're caring about me." "They're my hogoshi now."© Agence France-Presse

'More evidence of their intent': Senator slams Trump's day one move as 'designed chaos'

01/20/25 9:12 PM

In less than 24 hours, the CBP One app, which the Customs and Border Protection used for appointments for asylum-seekers applying for entry into the United States, was shut down. According to one senator, chaos is the goal.According to a video posted by Washington Post Texas correspondent Arelis R. Hernández, those who had appointments at 12:20 p.m. were told, "Those appointments are no longer valid." The mobile app was also shut down. The video she posted with the note showed a migrant woman in Ciudad Juárez falling into tears. ALSO READ: The first victims of Trump's hit list"Effective January 20, 2025, the functionalities of CBP One™ that previously allowed undocumented aliens to submit advance information and schedule appointments at eight southwest border ports of entry is no longer available, and existing appointments have been cancelled," said the app website. Joe Biden's administration instituted the app as a better way to process large numbers of people. U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to the news of the app being killed as intentional. "They killed the bipartisan border bill because they want chaos," he said on X. "And today, more evidence of their intent. CBP One is the app for LEGAL entry to the U.S. So, all eliminating it does is encourage a million migrants to enter illegally. Designed chaos. You get this, right?"

'Please let us in': Trump crackdown leaves migrants in tears

01/21/25 11:21 AM

by Herika Martinez with Zina Desmazes in TijuanaMargelis Tinoco broke down in tears after her asylum appointment was canceled as part of a sweeping immigration crackdown announced by US President Donald Trump on his first day in office."I don't know what will become of my life anymore," said the 48-year-old Colombian, who made the long and dangerous journey from South America with her husband and son.Trump began his second term in office with a series of announcements intended to drastically reduce the number of migrants entering the United States.He vowed to declare a national emergency at the border with Mexico, immediately halt "all illegal entry" and begin the process of deporting "millions and millions of criminal aliens."Minutes after he was sworn in, an app introduced by his predecessor Joe Biden to help process claims for entering the United States went offline."Look what it says," Tinoco said, pointing to a message on her cellphone screen informing users of CBP One that existing appointments had been canceled."Have compassion and let us cross," she pleaded, saying that she had endured "six months of suffering" after leaving Venezuela where she had been living with her family.Yaime Perez, a 27-year-old Cuban, also made an emotional appeal to Trump."Since we are here, please let us in, please, after all the work we have put in to get here, let us enter your country, so that we can better ourselves in life and be somebody," she said.Antony Herrera arrived at the border with his wife and three children after a long journey from their native Venezuela only to discover that their appointment had been canceled."We don't know what is going to happen," said the 31-year-old, one of millions of people who have left crisis-hit Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro was inaugurated this month for a third term after a disputed election victory.- Caravan heads for border -During his first term in the White House from 2017 to 2021, Trump put heavy pressure on Mexico to turn back a tide of migrants from Central America.On Monday, he quickly moved to reinstate the "Remain in Mexico" policy that prevailed under his last administration.Under that rule, people who applied to enter the United States at the Mexican border were not allowed to enter the country until their application had been decided.Mexico agreed during Trump's first term to receive deportees from other countries in exchange for the Republican withdrawing his tariff threats.It is unclear if the current Mexican government would do the same this time round.President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that Mexico would receive its own deported nationals, without mentioning how it would proceed with other foreigners expelled from the United States.Congratulating Trump on his inauguration, she called for "dialogue, respect and cooperation" between the closely connected neighbors.In southern Mexico, hundreds of US-bound migrants ignored Trump's warnings and set off on foot from near the border with Guatemala.The caravans are a way for migrants to pressure the Mexican authorities to issue permits allowing them to transit through the country without being detained."I'm a little scared because with everything we've been through, everything we've fought for, with all the sacrifices we've made, it's very hard to have the doors closed on us and not be able to cross," said Jefferzon Celedon, a 24-year-old Venezuelan.Despite the gloomy mood, fellow Venezuelan Leonel Delgado said he was still determined to reach the Mexican-US border."We have to keep going and not be swayed by what people say, whether they close it or not. We will see when we arrive," the 42-year-old said.© Agence France-Presse