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Karnataka state authorities have blamed Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and its partners for a fatal stampede during last month’s IPL victory celebrations, Al Jazeera reported.

According to a report released Thursday, the team held a parade in Bengaluru on June 4 without formal police permission, despite a rejected request. The event drew massive crowds near M Chinnaswamy Stadium, resulting in a stampede that killed 11 people, aged 14 to 29, and injured over 50 others.

The report cited poor planning and lack of coordination by RCB, event organisers DNA, and the state cricket association. Four individuals, including a senior RCB executive, have been detained in connection with the incident, according to Al Jazeera.

RCB has not commented on the findings.

A South Korean court on Friday denied former President Yoon Suk-yeol’s request for release, keeping him in custody amid an ongoing investigation into his failed martial law attempt, Reuters reported.

The Seoul Central District Court upheld the legality of Yoon’s detention, which stems from charges including insurrection, abuse of power, and falsifying documents. The investigation, led by Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk, began in June.

Yoon was impeached in April after the Constitutional Court found his martial law push unconstitutional.

The EU has approved a new round of sanctions against Russia, described as one of its toughest yet, according to foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas.

The package includes a lower price cap on Russian oil exports—cut from $60 to $47.60 per barrel—and measures to permanently block the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. It also targets a Russian-owned refinery in India and blacklists over 100 vessels linked to sanction evasion, according to Xinhua.

Slovakia, which had delayed the deal over energy concerns, backed the move after receiving assurances from the European Commission.

Construction of the road connecting Ramaroshan, a major tourist destination in the Sudurpaschim Province, remains incomplete seven years after work began. The delay has affected both locals and tourists, causing hardship and hampering tourism potential. 

The Infrastructure Development Office in Achham is overseeing the construction of a 68.976-kilometer road, divided into three sections: Bannigadhi Jayagadh Rural Municipality to Jayagadh-Majhthana-Gauta Khola (12.438 km), Darna-Mujabagar (38.850 km), and Mujabagar-Ramaroshan (17.688 km). Three different companies were contracted to complete the project.

Bajraguru Construction Company Pvt Ltd signed a contract in fiscal year 2018/19 to complete its section by 1 July 2022, for Rs 30m. Anak Jayadevi JV was assigned the Darna-Mujabagar section with a contract worth Rs 137m, while PS Baniya JV was contracted for the Mujabagar-Ramaroshan section for Rs 574m in 2019/20.

According to Nayan Bahadur Budha, Accounts Officer at the Infrastructure Development Office, Bajraguru has so far received Rs 236m, Anak/Jayadevi JV Rs 67.4m, and PS Baniya JV Rs 265m. However, no payments were made to PS Baniya JV in FY 2020/21 and 2024/25, Anak/Jayadevi JV in FYs 2021/22, 2023/24, and 2024/25, and Bajraguru in FY 2023/24, due to lack of progress.

Office Engineer Dipendra Thapa said that the contract deadlines for all three companies have been extended twice. Anak/Jayadevi JV’s work has been stalled since 2021/22, after a flood damaged its section. “Baniya is working now, and Bajraguru is expected to begin blacktopping in August. We’ve made repeated requests. Anak/Jayadevi JV’s variation order has been submitted to the Council of Ministers multiple times, but there has been no response. Anak had completed about 35 percent of the work, which was washed away by the 2020 flood in the Kailash River,” he said.

Under the Public Procurement (Fourteenth Amendment) Regulations 2025, contractors can apply for a deadline extension if the work could not be completed on time due to various reasons. They must submit an application detailing the incomplete work and required timeline, along with a commitment not to claim additional funds. The concerned authority is required to decide on the extension within 30 days, failing which departmental action may be taken against responsible officials.

The 18 Aug 2020 flood in the Kailash River caused extensive damage in the Ramaroshan area. Seventeen people lost their lives in Sain Bazaar, and infrastructure including roads, bridges, police stations, and hydropower plants was destroyed.

“If road access here were better, more foreign tourists could visit,” said Purna Bahadur BK, Executive Director of the Ramaroshan Area Tourism Development and Management Committee. “Physical infrastructure is key to unlocking Ramaroshan’s potential and contributing to the national economy. Even now, tourists come despite poor roads—if improved, the numbers would increase significantly.” He blamed contractor negligence for the delays.

The delay has severely impacted tourism development in the area. Jhapat Bohara, then a Provincial Assembly member from Achham-1 (B) and now a central committee member of the CPN-UML, had allocated budget for blacktopping the Jaigad-Ramaroshan road when he served as Minister for Economic Affairs and Planning in the Sudurpaschim Provincial Government.

“Justice must not only be done, but must also be seen to be done”. This is what Lord Hewart, the then chief justice of England, said while pronouncing the verdict in the case of Rex v Sussex Justices, in Sussex in 1924. A century later, this aphorism coming from a court of law in Sussex has become a law of sorts onto itself. 

With the executive and the legislative falling miserably short of public expectations by landing in one scandal after another, the sovereign people have been pinning high hopes on another vital organ of the state—the judiciary—for quite some time. In this day and age of information and communication technology, where the people have information and knowledge at their fingertips, even the hallowed chambers of law cannot escape public scrutiny. 

People and the fourth estate—the free media—split hairs over judgments coming from the court of law, which is actually good for democracy, human rights and the rule of law. If it is bad for the rule by law, then so be it. At a time when the image of the executive and the legislature has taken a huge beating, the judiciary is under tremendous strain to maintain the sanctity of state institutions. The final interpreter of the Constitution can shoulder this task of Himalayan magnitude only by keeping itself above controversies galore. 

As they say, action speaks louder than words. Talking about action, a division bench of the Supreme Court has issued a verdict in a case related to ancestral property, stating that daughters married before 1 Oct 2015 cannot lay claim to ancestral property. Through this judgment, the court has put to rest a long-pending dispute over ancestral property, at least for now.  

As indicated earlier, the onus is on the top court to remain squeaky clean by minimizing extraneous influence to the maximum possible extent. For quite some time, the judiciary has been courting controversy over the appointment of justices close to a party or the other. It is a given that such appointments increase the risk of miscarriage of justice that can lead to all sorts of unwanted consequences for the country and the people. 

Some lay people, including skeptics, predicting judgments based on the benches hearing the cases is no good tiding—neither for the judiciary, nor for the state as a whole. As the top court of the country continues to deal with piles and piles of important cases ranging from property disputes to the protection of national boundaries and more, here’s wishing that an infallible sense of justice prevails in the hallowed chambers, driven by international conventions, precedents, our customs, traditions, societal norms and values as well as our own charter. 

Four people have died and more than 1,300 have been evacuated as torrential rains hit South Korea, prompting the government to issue its highest disaster alert, BBC reported.

Among the victims were two elderly men, a man killed by a collapsed wall, and one who suffered cardiac arrest. Seosan, the worst-hit city, saw over 400mm of rain in just 12 hours — a level described as a once-in-a-century event.

Authorities have warned of ongoing risks from landslides and flash floods and urged people to avoid riverbanks and underground spaces. While rains are expected to ease, forecasters warn of possible heatwaves next week, according to BBC.

Israel has urged the UN Human Rights Council to dismantle a commission probing alleged rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories, calling it biased and discriminatory.

In a letter, Israeli envoy Daniel Meron accused the commission of one-sided reporting, particularly over its criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas attacks. He said the body reflects institutional prejudice against Israel, according to Reuters.

The commission, created in 2021, has authority to gather evidence for international legal proceedings. A Council spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter but noted that only its 47 member states can dissolve the commission.

Israel left the Council in February, Reuters reported.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Thursday signed the Kensington Treaty, a landmark agreement aimed at strengthening cooperation between the two nations, according to Reuters.

Described as the most significant UK-Germany treaty since World War II, the agreement covers joint defense exercises, cybersecurity, arms export coordination, and migration policy. It also reaffirms both countries’ commitment to climate goals set in the Paris Agreement, including limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

The treaty pledges closer trade ties within existing UK-EU frameworks and aims to promote open markets and job growth.

Calling it a “first of its kind,” Starmer said the deal reflects the deepening partnership between the two countries amid global uncertainty, Reuters reported.