Top 10 world news: PM Modi speaks to Shubhanshu Shukla; Netanyahu denies reports on shooting Palestinians seeking aid, and more

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a video interaction with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, marking a historic moment as the Indian Air Force officer became the first Indian astronaut to board the International Space Station (ISS).

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz denied media reports claiming Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching aid sides in Gaza.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a video interaction with Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, marking a historic moment as the Indian Air Force officer became the first Indian astronaut to board the International Space Station (ISS). Shukla, serving as mission pilot on Axiom Space’s Ax-4 mission, launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on June 25 aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The Prime Minister also shared a video of the exchange on social media platform X, calling it a ‘wonderful conversation’ and praising Shukla for his milestone achievement in India’s space journey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz denied media reports claiming Israeli soldiers were ordered to shoot at Palestinians approaching aid sides in Gaza. The findings of the report, published in the left-leaning Israeli daily Haaretz, were “malicious falsehoods designed to defame” the military, they said. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, over 500 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds have been wounded while seeking food during aid distribution since the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation started providing aid in the territory around a month earlier.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday (Jun 28) awarded outgoing Polish President Andrzej Duda with the Order of Freedom, the highest Ukrainian distinction that can be awarded to a citizen of another country. The two leaders met in Kyiv as part of a farewell gesture ahead of Duda’s departure from office in August. Duda also joined Zelensky in a wreath-laying ceremony honouring fallen soldiers at an event, which took place on Ukraine’s Constitution Day.

The police on Saturday (Jun 28) arrested a security guard of South Kolkata law college in Kasba, where a 24-year-old student was allegedly gang-raped on Wednesday (Jun 25) evening. The arrest is the fourth in the case after earlier arrests of a staffer, Monojit Mishra (31), and two students – Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukherjee (20) – on Thursday (Jun 26). According to the police, the incident took place between 7:30 pm and 10:50 pm on Wednesday.

The Centre on Saturday (Jun 28) appointed Parag Jain as the new chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). Jain, who is a 1989-batch IPS officer of Punjab cadre, will serve a two-year term and will succeed Ravi Sinha, whose tenure will end on June 30. Currently the head of the Aviation Research Centre, Jain played a vital role in gathering intelligence on Pakistani armed forces and locations of terror sites during Operation Sindoor. His leadership during the operation paved the way for intelligence-led targeting with years of groundwork and secretive network development.

A Mumbai-bound Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Addis Ababa was forced to make an emergency landing early Friday (Jun 27) after seven people onboard fell ill due to cabin depressurisation. The aircraft made an emergency landing in Mumbai at 1:42 am, according to a Times of India report. This comes amid increased scrutiny over safety concerns in Boeing aircraft after the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad that killed 241 people.

In a shameful incident, two teenage boys in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district killed a 19-year-old to steal his iPhone to make high-quality reels for social media. According to Police reports, the victim Shadab was lured in the pretext of making videos, and then brutally slit his throat and smashed his head before running away with his phone.

Eric Trump has suggested that he, or another member of the Trump family, could run for president in the future, saying the road to the White House would be an “easy one” if he chose to take it.

The death of actress and model Shefali Jariwala at the age of 42 on Friday has shocked the whole nation. Earlier it was reported that she had died due to cardiac arrest and was rushed to the hospital by her husband Parag Tyagi and three others. In the latest development, as per reports, the Mumbai Police has stated her death and has revealed key details about the cause of her passing away.

In a shocking development coming from the Caribbean, West Indies newest pace sensation, Shamar Joseph, who rose to the limelight following his Gabba heroics last year, is accused of rape, sexual assault, harassment and unwanted advances by at least 11 women, including his teen cousin, per a June 27 report by Kaieteur News in Guyana.