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“Matushka Olga” fulfilled role of spiritual mother counseling women who had suffered abuse, griefs such as miscarriage, widely admired for her compassion and piety.

“St. Olga of Kwethluk, Matushka of All Alaska,” as she is officially known, was canonized on June 19 as the first female Orthodox saint from North America.

Orthodoxy – the world’s second-largest Christian communion — gained a foothold in the present-day United States with the 18th and 19th century arrival of Russian Orthodox missionaries to what was then the czarist territory of Alaska.

While the Orthodox are a small minority within the Christian population in the state and the nation, Alaska is often considered a holy land for the now-independent Orthodox Church in America.

Olga Michael was born in 1916 in Kwethluk, where she resided her entire life with her Yup’ik family and neighbors. The Yup’ik, like the Tlingit, Inupiat and Aleuts, are broadly called Alaska Natives. The town’s name is derived from the Yup’ik term for “dangerous river.

A study describes how the Beijing Institute of Technology researchers used the mechanics of bubble formation to encode brief messages in ice.

The extremely low temperatures in the icy Arctic and Antarctic areas often limit devices that require a lot of energy, making communication difficult. Scientists from China, Korea, and the Czech Republic have discovered a new method for writing and preserving messages: making patterns of air bubbles trapped in ice sheets.

A study, published in Cell Reports Physical Science, describes how the Beijing Institute of Technology researchers used the mechanics of bubble formation to encode brief messages in ice.

Their method is based on controlling the size, shape, and placement of air bubbles that occur when water freezes naturally. This unconventional technique uses ice-trapped air bubbles to create different bubble forms that can be used to encode messages in binary or Morse code, per the New York Times.

The concept of bubble messages was inspired by the air bubbles that naturally develop in glaciers. The researchers looked into the dispersion of bubbles in ice to find a simple method of communicating and storing information for extended periods of time.

The Atacama, home to the world’s darkest skies, has for decades been the go-to location for the world’s most advanced telescopes.

Residents of the world’s driest desert, the Atacama in northern Chile, woke up Thursday to a jaw-dropping spectacle: its famous lunar landscape blanketed in snow.

“INCREDIBLE! The Atacama Desert, the world’s most arid, is COVERED IN SNOW,” the ALMA observatory, situated 2,900 meters (9,500 feet) above sea level, wrote on X, alongside a video of vast expanses covered in a dusting of white

The observatory added that while snow is common on the nearby Chajnanator Plateau, situated at over 5,000 meters and where its gigantic telescope is situated, it had not had snow at its main facility in a decade.

University of Santiago climatologist Raul Cordero told AFP that it was too soon to link the snow to climate change but said that climate modelling had shown that “this type of event, meaning precipitation in the Atacama desert, will likely become more frequent.”

A US Air Force pilot’s account of the Iran strike offers a glimpse into Operation Midnight Hammer, a mission to destroy Iran’s underground nuclear sites.

A US Air Force pilot has described the detonation of a 14,000-kg bomb over Iran’s underground nuclear facility at Fordow as “the brightest explosion I’ve ever seen – it looked like daylight”. The pilot’s account offered a glimpse into the top-secret mission known as Operation Midnight Hammer.

The Pentagon released new information about the June 21 strike carried out by B-2 stealth bombers. The mission was shrouded in secrecy and backed by years of meticulous preparation, advanced weapon development and intelligence gathering.

According to General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the elite aircrew launched from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri not knowing whether they would return. Caine said, “A commander told me, ‘This is a moment in the lives of our families they will never forget.’” One crew member likened the experience to the Super Bowl.

The operation, launched under US President Donald Trump’s directive, targeted three nuclear facilities in Iran – Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Of the three, Fordow was considered the most challenging, built deep within a mountain and fortified against nearly every conventional attack.

Indus Waters Treaty: Calling the self-appointed panel unlawful and in “brazen violation” of the treaty itself, India’s foreign ministry unequivocally trashed its claims and “concerns”.

India has, in a strongly-worded statement, rejected a “supplemental award” by an “illegal” Court of Arbitration set up supposedly over the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty. Calling the self-appointed panel unlawful and in “brazen violation” of the treaty itself, India’s foreign ministry unequivocally trashed its claims and “concerns”.

In a five-point statement, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said, “Today, the illegal Court of Arbitration, purportedly constituted under the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, albeit in brazen violation of it, has issued what it characterizes as a ‘supplemental award’ on its competence concerning the Kishenganga and Ratle hydroelectric projects in the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.”

Kajol Can’t Save Maa From a Weak NarrativeFronted solidly by Kajol in the guise of a woman who fights fiercely to prevent her daughter from falling prey to an old curse that hangs over the family and their village, Maa is a confused concoction. Faith, fear and feudalism flow into a feminine fable both fantastical and feeble.  

The mythological drama pans out in a remote Bengal village – its name is a Punjabified ‘Chandarpur’ and not ‘Chandrapur’ as it would be pronounced and spelled by a Bengali – off a forest that nobody dares to enter. Here, newly-pubescent girls disappear only to return within days without any recollection of what happened to them and where they went. 

That is pretty much the fate of Maa, helmed by Vishal Furia, whose fame rests on the 2016 Marathi horror flick Lapachhapi (remade in Hindi as Chhori by the director himself). It is way too erratic to be aware where it is going.  

Maa forgets what it wants to be – a straight up horror movie or a mish-mash of many things ranging from a good-versus-evil tale to a celebration of a benign, doting mother’s power to be destructive when her child is threatened by a force she can barely comprehend. 

Forty years ago, twins, a male and a female, are born in an aristocratic home on the night of Kali Puja. The birth of the boy is greeted with joy all around. The girl is taken away and done to death under a massive banyan tree that is destined to become a key ‘character’ in the story and spread its tentacles way beyond the jungle.  

Indian screenwriter, lyricist, and poet Javed Akhtar recently in conversation with NDTV Creators Manch, addressed the ongoing Diljit Dosanjh controversy over his Punjabi film Sardaar Ji 3, featuring Pakistani actor Hania Aamir. He shared his thoughts on the ongoing situation and whether it is fair for the singer-actor.

When asked about Diljit Dosanjh starring alongside Pakistani actress Hania Aamir in Sardaar Ji 3, and the backlash he received, Javed Akhtar said that he wasn’t aware when the movie was shot.

On being told that the makers say it was shot before the Pahalgam attack earlier this year, he said, “Ab kya karein bechara. The movie was shot earlier. Usko pata toh nahi tha ki aisa hoga. Iss mein Pakistani aadmi ka paisa toh nahi doobega, Hindustani ka paisa doobega. Toh phir kya faayda?”

Kaalidhar Laapata is an emotional and heartfelt story, and the remake of the Tamil film Karuppu Durai, featuring Abhishek Bachchan and Daivik Baghela in the road thriller premiere. It has been directed by Madhumita and produced under Zee Studios. The story takes you to Kaalidhar, a man who has failed to fulfil his wishes in life, sees a turning his life once he meets Ballu, a young boy. Together, they embark on a journey to fulfil their long bucket list.

The story features Abhishek Bachchan as the protagonist, with Daivik Baghela, Geetika Vidya Ohlyan, Shruti Vyas, Prakash Belawadi, and Varun Buddhadev. It has been directed by Madhumita and produced under the banner of Zee Studios. The writers are Madhumita and Sreekar Prasad. Music has been given by Karthikeya Murthy, and cinematography done by Balasubramaniem.

Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms.

The United Nations, a collaborative global dream built into reality out of the ashes of World War II, marks its 80th anniversary this month. There’s little to celebrate.

Its clout on the world stage is diminished. Facing major funding cuts from the United States and others, it has been forced to shed jobs and start tackling long-delayed reforms. Its longtime credo of “multilateralism” is under siege.

And as conflict between Israel, Iran and now the United States flares, it watched from the sidelines.

Four generations after its founding, as it tries to chart a new path for its future, a question hangs over the institution and the nearly 150,000 people it employs and oversees: Can the United Nations remain relevant in an increasingly contentious and fragmented world?

When the United Nations was born in San Francisco on June 26, 1945, the overriding goal of the 50 participants who signed the UN Charter was stated in its first words:

The White House signaled trade progress with China on Thursday, with an official saying both sides have reached an understanding on issues including expediting rare earth shipments to the United States.

After talks in Geneva in May, Washington and Beijing had agreed to temporarily lower steep tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s products.

China also committed to easing some non-tariff countermeasures, but US officials later accused Beijing of violating the pact and slow-walking export license approvals for rare earths.

Both sides eventually agreed on a framework to move forward with their Geneva consensus following talks in London this month.

On Thursday, a White House official told AFP that President Donald Trump’s administration and China have “agreed to an additional understanding for a framework to implement the Geneva agreement.”

This clarification came after Trump told an event that Washington had “just signed” a deal relating to trade with China, without providing further details.

Asked about Trump’s remarks on Bloomberg TV, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick referred to the London negotiations, saying the framework deal — which needed top-level approval — has now been “signed and sealed.”

Separately on Thursday, the White House also indicated that Washington could extend a July deadline when steeper tariffs impacting dozens of economies are due to kick in.

While Trump imposed a sweeping 10 percent levy on most trading partners this year, he unveiled — then halted — higher rates on dozens of economies while negotiations took place.

That pause is set to expire July 9.

Asked if there were plans to further the pause, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: “Perhaps it could be extended, but that’s a decision for the president to make.”

“The deadline is not critical,” she said. “The president can simply provide these countries with a deal if they refuse to make us one by the deadline.”

This means Trump can “pick a reciprocal tariff rate that he believes is advantageous for the United States,” she said.

Lutnick told Bloomberg TV that Washington will announce some deals in the next week or so.

“Those who have deals will have deals, and everybody else who’s been negotiating with us, they’ll get a response from us,” he said.

“July 9 will go forward. And as the president said, if people want to come back and negotiate further, they’re entitled to, but that tariff rate will be set, and off we’ll go,” Lutnick added.