At least one person was killed and seven wounded when a Tesla Cybertruck exploded outside a hotel belonging to US President-elect Donald Trump in Las Vegas, police said Wednesday.
The electric vehicle pulled up to the Trump International Hotel’s glass entrance before a “large explosion,” Las Vegas Sheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters.
Video footage shows the stainless steel truck parked at the hotel entrance before bursting into flames, followed by smaller explosions that appeared similar to fireworks.
McMahill said there was “one deceased individual inside the Cybertruck” while seven people received “minor” injuries.
Tesla chief Elon Musk said that the explosion was “caused by very large fireworks and/or a bomb carried in the bed of the rented Cybertruck,” adding in a post on X that it was “unrelated to the vehicle itself.”
Earlier, he said the “whole Tesla senior team” was investigating the blast, adding: “We’ve never seen anything like this.”
Police said they are still working to establish the cause of the explosion.
Musk, who backed Trump in the November election and was named by the Republican to head up a commission to trim government spending, said he would post more information “as soon as we learn anything.”
President Joe Biden was briefed on the explosion and directed his team to offer any federal assistance needed, the White House said.
He was earlier briefed on a car-ramming attack in New Orleans that left at least 10 people dead on Wednesday.
McMahill referenced that attack but did not explicitly link the two incidents, saying that authorities in Las Vegas were “taking all of the precautions that we need to keep our community safe.”
He said the hotel had been evacuated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Starting January 1, 2025, a slew of regulatory and financial changes will be coming into effect, affecting citizens across the country. From changes in the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) procedures to adjustments in LPG pricing and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the new year could have a significant impact on your wallet. Here’s a complete list of the changes that you can expect.
EPFO new rule
EPFO is set to streamline the pension withdrawal process from January 1, 2025 as part of the centralised pension payment system (CPPS). Pensioners will now have the convenience of withdrawing their pensions from any bank in the country, eliminating the hassle of additional verification.
Reports suggest that EPFO will be soon issuing an ATM card that will enable subscribers to withdraw money around the clock. Moreover, the EPF contribution cap is expected to be eliminated this year as well.
GST
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) will be made mandatory for taxpayers for better security on the GST portal. Additionally, E-Way Bills (EWBs) can only be generated for base documents not older than 180 days.
UPI and farmer loans
As per a recent circular by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), starting today, UPI 123Pay, using which feature phone users make online payments, will see an increase in its transaction limit from January 1, 2025. The new limit will be Rs 10,000, up from the previous Rs 5,000.
Additionally, the central bank has raised the cap on unsecured loans for farmers to Rs 2 lakh from Rs 1.60 lakh. This increase, effective today, is intended to provide more financial support to farmers, potentially aiding in better agricultural practices and investments.
Visa requirements
US Visa Appointment Reschedule:
Starting January 1, 2025, non-immigrant visa applicants in India will benefit from a policy allowing one free rescheduling of their visa appointment. However, any further rescheduling will necessitate a new application and payment of the visa fee, aiming to streamline the process while maintaining discipline in appointment scheduling.
Changes in the H-1B Visa Process:
New rules, effective from January 17, 2025, will modernise the H-1B visa process, making it more flexible for employers and accessible for Indian F-1 visa holders.
LPG pricing
The central government on Wednesday (Jan 1) slashed prices of commercial cylinders (19 kg) from Rs 1818.50 to Rs 1804, across cities, including Delhi and Mumbai. However, the price of domestic LPG cylinders (14.2 kg) remains unchanged at Rs 803.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has ended the year with a threat over Taiwan, saying “no one can stop the reunification” with China. He said this while addressing the nation on New Year’s eve. Beijing has, for long, stated that the entire nation of Taiwan is part of China. It has also shown an overt and muscular posturing by carrying out air force and naval drills around the island nation.
Beijing and Taipei represent two diametrically opposite ways of life. While Taiwan is a democracy, China is a communist country. In recent times, Beijing has intensified pressure on Taipei and has made all possible efforts to isolate the island nation from the rest of the world.
China has also carried out three rounds of major military drills since Taiwan’s democratic election saw President Lai Ching-te come to power in May. Irked by the latest election, Beijing has said it will not renounce the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. The last of these military drills, carried out earlier this month, was the largest in years according to Taiwanese officials, though Beijing has remained quiet over the manoeuvres. China has also violated Taiwan’s airspace on several occasions.
In his New Year’s speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can sever our blood ties, and no one can stop the historical trend of the reunification of the motherland.” President Xi’s comments come at a crucial time – just three weeks before Donald Trump takes office as US President.
Taiwan is a key point of contention between Beijing and Washington. Taiwan is US’s strategic ally in Asia and Washington is Taipei’s largest supplier of weapons too. Defending democracy over communism has also been a principled decision of the United States – the Cold War with Russia was entirely based on this principled stand.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHINA AND TAIWAN
China and Taiwan are separated by the Strait of Taiwan – a waterway that connects the South China Sea to the East China Sea between the two nations.
Before the communist revolution, led by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong, China was, for a brief period a democratic nation. There were three President’s in what was then known as the Republic of China (now the official name of Taiwan). The Republic of China became a sovereign nation in 1912 after the fall of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. This ended China’s imperial history.
Between 1912 and 1949 China saw four governments – The provisional or interim government in 1912, the Beiyang government from 1912 to 1928, which was led by the military; the nationalist government from 1925 to 1948 led by the Kuomintang; and Constitutional government from 1948 to 1949. The Constitutional government was overthrown by the civil war in China. The Communist Party, led by Chairman Mao overthrew the government in a crushing revolution, which later spread to Tibet and Xinjiang too. The constitutional government had to flee to Taiwan.
Between the mid-1920s and late 1930s, the Kuomintang had unified what was originally China (without the currently occupied nation of Tibet, and then regions of Xinjiang [part of East Turkestan Republic] in the west, and Soviet-controlled Manchuria in the east – a region separating rest of Russia and Mongolia from current-day North Korea). The Russo-Japan war saw Russia cede southern Manchuria to Japan in 1905, and decades later, in 1931, Japan took over all of Manchuria. Subsequently, during World War-II Japan invaded China.
The Kuomintang was led by Chiang Kai-shek, who was elected President of the Republic of China till the revolution by Mao Zedong forced him and his Kuomintang party to flee to Taiwan in 1948 and set up a government in exile in 1949. The United Nations recognised Chiang Kai-shek’s government as the legitimate government of China until 1971. It was Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China (Taiwan) which originally got a permanent seat to the UN Security Council.
Taiwan today is a democracy, but many nations in the world do not have diplomatic ties with it due to pressure from the People’s Republic of China – which, since 1949 was led by Chairman Mao’s party, currently led by Xi Jinping.
Only three countries in the world – United States, Russia, and China – have the ability to carry out docking of two spacecraft or satellites in outer space. India is now on the cusp of achieving that feat as ISRO’s last mission of 2024 – named SpaDeX – lift-off from Andhra Pradesh’s Sriharikota at 2200 hrs (10 pm) IST.
SpaDex is short for Space Docking Experiment. This involves an experimental docking, subsequent interlocking and pressure checks, and undocking of two satellites. The mission is important for ISRO’s future moon missions, including Chandrayaan 4. It is also particularly important for India’s plan to set up its own space station.
In October this year, the government had announced that India will have its own Space Station called the Bharatiya Antriksh Station by 2035.
ISRO’s PSLV-C60 carrying SpaDeX and its payloads, lifts off from the first launch pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, in Sriharikota
So far, there are two other space stations – the International Space Station, built by the United States (NASA) and Russia (Roscosmos). The US side of the ISS is built by NASA and European Space Agency or ESA. The second space station is being built by China, and is called the Tiangong Space Station. India aims to set up the third.
Every time astronauts or cosmonauts are sent to space, especially the International Space Station, the shuttle or capsule they travel in needs to perform a docking manoeuvre. Only after the docking procedure is complete, and the two objects are securely interlocked, can the astronauts get into the pressurised cabin of the space station.
ISRO’S DOCKING EXPERIMENT EXPLAINED WITH THE HELP OF ‘INTERSTELLAR’
Docking in space is one of the most difficult and complicated procedures – the slightest of errors can lead to a catastrophe – an example of which was shown in the epic sci-fi movie Interstellar – where Cooper and the crew had to navigate a near-impossible and heart-pounding docking scenario after a minuscule error by Dr Mann sends the Endurance space station into an uncontrolled spin due to a catastrophic decompression. The scene highlights a complex docking manoeuvre.
Just like in the movie, where there was a Lander spacecraft and a Courier spacecraft, ISRO’s mission has two spaceships – the Chaser (SDX01) and the Target (SDX02), each weighing 220 kilograms. As the names suggest, the aim of the mission will be for the chaser to chase the target while both are orbiting Earth at a high speed and dock with it expeditiously.
ALL ABOUT ISRO’S SPADEX MISSION
The SpaDex mission lift-off at 2200 hrs (10 pm) IST on December 30 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
ISRO’s launch was onboard the workhorse PSLV-C60 rocket, which put the two spacecraft in low-Earth orbit, roughly 475 km above the Earth’s surface. The inclination of the two spacecraft will be at 55 degrees facing the Earth. After being deployed in a circular orbit, the two spacecraft will grow apart by around 20 kilometers over 24 hours. The scientists will first carry out several other experiments under the POEM-4 mission – a parallel mission to SpaDex (explained below).
The scientists sitting at ISRO’s mission control in Bengaluru are expected to initiate the intricate and precise docking and undocking manoeuvre in the later half of the first week of January. If successful, India will create history by becoming only the fourth nation in the world to possess such technological ability.
According to ISRO, the main objectives of the SpaDeX mission include:
To develop and demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft.
The demonstration of the transfer of electric power between the docked spacecraft, which is essential for future applications such as in-space robotics.
Composite spacecraft control, including remotely controlling it both in space and from mission control.
Payload operations after undocking.
This mission is crucial for India’s ability to set up its own Space Station. It will also give India’s RLV or Reusable Launch Vehicle – India’s variant of NASA’s iconic space shuttle – docking capability in future.
India’s Reusable Launch Vehicle or RLV
HOW THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WAS BUILT
Among other key missions, NASA’s space shuttle was used by the United States to construct the US side of the International Space Station. Russia too used their own space shuttle to build the Russian side of the International Space Station. While NASA had a series of space shuttles, starting with Columbia and evolving into Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour, Russian space agency Roscosmos named their space shuttle Buran.
NASA’s Space Shuttle (L) and Russia’s Space Shuttle (R)
Here is a insightful video of how the International Space Station – the largest man-made space object – was built by the US and Russian space shuttles using the docking mechanism and robotic arms in addition to astronauts and cosmonauts:
ISRO’S POEM-4 MISSION – AND EXPERIMENT WITH MICROGRAVITY
Besides the space docking manoeuvre, there is another key mission objective. ISRO plans to experiment with microgravity during the PSLV rocket’s fourth-stage. ISRO aims to use the spent fourth stage, which it has termed POEM-4 or PSLV Orbital Experimental Module 4, as a platform for carrying our experiments with microgravity.
According to the space agency, it provides an opportunity for the scientific community to carry out certain in-orbit microgravity experiments for an extended duration of up to three months using the POEM platform, which otherwise would end up as space debris immediately after the mission objective of injecting the primary payloads of the mission.
A total of 24 payloads are part of the POEM-4 mission, of which 14 payloads are from ISRO/DOS centres and 10 payloads are from various Non-Government Entities (NGEs) comprising Academia and Start-ups that have been received through IN-SPACe.
One of the fourteen payloads by ISRO is of a robotic arm – again a crucial element to constructing India’s own space station in future. For now the experiment will involve a robotic arm to demonstrate the capturing of tethered debris.
The Delhi High Court has acquitted a man in a POCSO case, saying the use of the phrase “physical relations” by the minor survivor cannot automatically mean sexual assault.
A bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma allowed the appeal by the accused, who was given imprisonment for the rest of his life, and observed that it was unclear how the trial court concluded that there was any sexual assault when the survivor had voluntarily gone with the accused.
The court asserted that the leap from physical relations or “samband” to sexual assault and then to penetrative sexual assault must be established by evidence and cannot be deduced as an inference.
“The mere fact that the survivor is below 18 years cannot lead to a conclusion that there was penetrative sexual assault. The survivor, in fact, used the phrase ‘physical relations’, but there is no clarity as to what she meant by using the said phrase,” the court said in the judgment passed on December 23.
“Even the use of the words ‘samband banaya’ is not sufficient to establish an offence under Section 3 of the POCSO Act or under Section 376 IPC. Though consent would not matter if the girl is a minor under the POCSO Act, the phrase ‘physical relations’ cannot be converted automatically into sexual intercourse let alone sexual assault,” it held.
The court said the benefit of doubt ought to be in favour of the accused and, therefore, ruled, “The impugned judgement completely lacks any reasoning and also does not reveal or support any rationale for the conviction. Under such circumstances, the judgment is liable to be set aside. The appellant is acquitted”.
The complaint in this case was lodged in March 2017 by the minor girl’s mother, alleging that her 14-year-old daughter had been lured and kidnapped from her home by an unknown person.
The minor was found in Faridabad along with the accused, who was arrested and subsequently convicted for offence of rape under IPC and penetrative sexual assault under POCSO in December 2023 and later awarded imprisonment for the remainder of his life.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
