Author: i2wtc
Bhartendu Kumar Singh Pakistan is clearly a powerful military nation given its geographic size and population: it ranks 9th in military strength on the globalfirepower.com website, despite being 46th in GDP size and having a per capita income of $1,680 in 2024 (much lower than Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and India). BangladeshGenerous budgetary allocations (often at the cost of neglecting other important sectors) have helped Pakistan in the past to be recognised as a military and nuclear power. The massive 17.6 percent increase in Pakistan’s defence budget (24-25) announced a few days ago is merely a continuation of the pampering of…
PARIS: France will hold the first round of parliamentary elections on Sunday, with opinion polls suggesting the far right is likely to win in the two parliamentary elections that end on July 7.Here are some key facts about the election and what’s coming next.How does voting work?There are 49 million registered voters in France. There are 577 constituencies, one for each seat in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, that hold elections.The candidate who receives the absolute majority of votes in a constituency is elected in the first round. In most cases, no candidate meets this criteria, so…
According to findings from Go Gearfire’s recently released “Sporting Q1” Retail Sales and Inventory Management Snapshot Report, enthusiasts aren’t just waiting to buy their next gun, they’re also cutting back on their budgets in a variety of ways: Enthusiasts are buying more ammunition, but are choosing boxes of ammunition with fewer rounds, resulting in less spending overall. The study also offers an in-depth look at retail trends and more sophisticated gun-purchase forecasts, factors in National Instant Criminal Background Check System check denials and multiple purchases, and includes a comparison of inventory and sales for 2023 and 2024. Much of the…
PARIS (AP) — Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s resurgent National Rally, cast her first round of snap legislative elections called after her party swept past French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist bloc in European Parliament elections. Highly unpopular President Macron decided to dissolve parliament in a major gamble that could bring France’s far-right to power for the first time since World War II. The two rounds of voting will determine who will become prime minister and which party will control France’s lower house of parliament.This is breaking news. See AP’s previous coverage below.PARIS (AP) — Voters in mainland France began…
There’s a red phone on Palmer Luckey’s desk at the Costa Mesa headquarters of military technology company Anduril Industries.The phone is a real one used by the U.S. nuclear military, and it was once connected to a network dug into the Rocky Mountains west of Colorado Springs that led to an underground bunker from which the end of the world could be ordered. Luckey owned the red phone before he founded Anduril, a company known only for inventing the Oculus virtual-reality headset from a trailer parked in the driveway of his Long Beach home and selling the company to Facebook…
Clacton-on-Sea, United Kingdom — In a sludgy, slow-motion trajectory, the pale yellow milkshake reached its target on the first day of Nigel Farage’s insurgent campaign to win a seat in the British Parliament.But voter discontent in the air couldn’t stop the country’s most cheerfully polarizing public figure from shaking up what had previously been seen as a relatively calm battle between Britain’s two biggest parties. With the ruling Conservative Party already expected to suffer a decisive defeat at the hands of the left-wing Labour Party, Mr Farage came forward in a surprise announcement in early June. Some observers believe the…
Homeless advocates warn that the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in a landmark case on camping bans will worsen the homelessness crisis and trap more people in a cycle of prison, debt and life on the streets.On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Grants Pass, a small town in Oregon with a large homeless population. According to a lawyer for Grants Pass who spoke to USA Today, the Supreme Court said the town can go ahead with a ban on sleeping in public places, which would prohibit homeless people from living in public parks. Anyone who violates the ban…
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday gave his approval to the government’s heavily taxed Finance Bill 2024, which was heavily criticised by the opposition as an IMF-driven document and detrimental to the people in the new financial year, according to media reports.Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the budget in parliament on June 12 but drew sharp criticism from opposition parties, particularly the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), headed by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, and the Pakistan People’s Party, which is part of the ruling coalition led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. Parliament on Friday passed Pakistan’s Rs18.877…
summary Tom Cruise and Jon Bon Jovi made brief uncredited cameos in the Young Guns series. Young Guns and its sequels played a key role in reviving the Western genre in the 1990s. A third Young Guns movie is scripted and in the works, but its future is unclear. If it does happen, it’s likely the tradition of hidden cameos will continue. On the surface, Tom Cruise and Jon Bon Jovi may not seem to have much in common, but they share a unique Western Common characteristics: The 1980s was arguably the worst time for Westerns. Heaven’s GateThis 1980 blockbuster…
India beat South Africa to win the Men’s Cricket World Cup on Saturday, ending a tournament winless streak that stretched back more than a decade despite the country dominating other areas of global talent, money and influence.The tournament was played on several Caribbean islands, with some matches held in the United States, including in a temporary stadium in New York. Back home, it was nearly midnight, and jubilant crowds spilled into the streets of several cities when India claimed victory in the final in Barbados.”It might sink in after a few hours but it feels amazing,” said India captain Rohit…