Transcription
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
Hello and welcome to First Post Vantage with me Horsoya. Let's get started.
In Iran, the mood is somber. People have taken to the streets. Crowds are bidding farewell to the former Iranian Supreme Leader. But look at the images coming out of Iran. Everyone is looking for one man. Moshtaba Kamin. It is beginning to feel like Iran's version of Where is Waldo? Where is Moshtaba Kamin?
The NATO secretary general is determined to stay in Mr. President's Good Books. Remember last year he called Donald Trump daddy? One imagines the NATO handbook will need a new chapter on family titles. Article 5 now also comes with daddy issues.
And in a remarkable intervention in the reparations debate, former British Home Secretary Soella Breman has suggested that Britain's former colonies, yes, the ones it stripped and looted, should pay Britain back. History called it, it wants its packs back. I have to say though, that is quite the audacity even by imperial standards.
And in India, Mumbai maximum city under maximum stress. The rains return, so does the flooded, so do the flooded streets. So does the civic apathy. And right on Q, the spirit of Mumbai is called upon once again. Whenever the system fails, the people are expected to pick up the slack.
In Sri Lanka, a deadly prison riot has left at least 25 people dead. Clashes broke out inside a prison city in the city of Nongo, pardon me. Stay tuned for that report.
Also, the thing about being in a toxic codependent relationship with your AI chatbot is it can be fatal. I'll tell you the five medical questions you most certainly should not ask Chat GPT. All this and more lined up. But first, the headlines.
Let's get started.
Microsoft took 4,800 jobs as it revamps Xbox. This is roughly 2% of its global workforce. The cuts include the deepest overhaul in Xbox's history. More than 3,000 gaming jobs will be shed. Four game studios will also be spun off or sold.
Russia fires missiles and drones into buildings in K for the second time in a week. The strikes killed at least 18 people. This comes on the eve of a crucial NATO summit in Turkey. It was the second attack in a week in which Russia deployed hard to intercept ballistic missiles.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins his three-nation Indo-Pacific tour. He landed in Indonesia to a grand welcome he was received by the Indonesian president in Jakarta. India is looking to boost its act east policy and strengthen efforts to ensure a free and open Indoacific. Prime Minister Modi will be visiting Australia and New Zealand next.
Morocco arrest 10 people over thwarted terror plots. This includes a minor. The suspects reportedly have links with the Islamic State group in the Sahel region. Simultaneous raids were carried out in several cities. Police also discovered a vehicle with its fuel tank modified for a suicide bombing operation.
And thousands evacuated in China after heavy rain and severe flooding from a typhoon. At least two people have been killed in the country's southern region. Torrential rain breached dams. Authorities have warned that more rain is likely in the coming days.
I love you.
Now, there's an unwritten rule in politics. Nothing revives a struggling government quite like an external enemy. And Iran may have just proved it. 7 months ago, the regime was battling angry protesters. Today, it is showcasing millions of moers. I'm talking about the funeral of Iran's slain Supreme Leader Ayat Ali Kam. It's a 6-day multi-ity state funeral which began on the 4th of July. Talk about irony with impeccable timing. Today is the third day of the ceremony. A procession covering nearly 6 miles or more than 9 km through the heart of the capital is taking place. The burial is scheduled to take place on the 9th of July.
The show that Iran put up on the first two days of the ceremony was anything but low-key. Millions poured into Thran over the weekend for prayer ceremonies. The coffins of Ali Kam and members of his family were carried through streets draped in black. His black turban rested on top of the coffin, a symbol not just of religious authority, but of political succession. The bodies of his dead relatives were also placed beside him, including the small coffin of his 14-month-old granddaughter. Crowds waved Iranian flags. Others carried banners declaring, "We will rise." With music blaring and free food and drinks on offer at hundreds of stalls, the area around the funeral ceremonies had the feel of a summer festival on Sunday. Volunteers provided fruit juice and water under a scorching sun in the capital city center. Take a look. This wasn't accidental. Governments understand optics and Iran understand symbolism better than most. The message was carefully choreographed. Look at us. We're organized. We are united. And most importantly, we are functioning, not collapsing.
Donald Trump's decision to escalate military confrontation may have achieved the exact opposite of what Washington intended. Instead of accelerating regime collapse, it handed something priceless, a martyr. And every political system knows the value of martyrdom. That explains another striking feature of this funeral. The enemies were everywhere. Not physically, but visually. Giant posters showed Donald Trump, other members of his administration, including JD Vance and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as wanted criminals. crosses all over their faces. Threats written in English, such as there will be blood and kill Trump. Iranians taking part in the ceremonies also burn the flags of the United States and United Kingdom. Take a look.
Washington reportedly spent days persuading countries not to attend. Iranian media claims at least 13 countries either cancelled or downgraded their delegations after American diplomatic pressure. Whether every detail is accurate is almost secondary. The perception itself matters because despite those efforts, delegations still arrived. Among them was India. Thran publicly thanked New Delhi saying the Iranian people would never forget the gesture. Yet amid this overwhelming display of unity, one face was missing. Kam's son, the current supreme leader of the regime, Mushtavak Kam. Although three of Kam's sons were filmed at the procession crying as the coffin of their father and other family members were carried, the most important figure of the regime stayed absent. In fact, Moshtabakam has not appeared publicly since becoming supreme leader. Officially, there's no explanation for this. Unofficially, there are many reports. Some suggest he is still recovering from severe injuries suffered during the attack that killed his father and much of his family. Others point to security. According to a New York Times report, Moshtabak Ham would be the highest value target for Israel if he makes a public appearance. An earlier report suggested Tel Aviv plotted to kill senior Iranian officials including the country's foreign minister during negotiations with Washington. Even Donald Trump pointed out the vulnerability in his remarks to Axis. He said, and I'm quoting him here, "They're all there. One shot and we can take them all out." The Nobel Peace Prize Committee should start taking notes because Donald Trump is working really hard to bring peace to the region with an asterisk the size of a missile. Whether Moshtabaka steps into public view before the funeral ends could become the defining image of Iran's attempt to prove that its revolution survives. Its most consequential transition yet.
For now, the funeral moves beyond Thran. Processions will continue through the holy Iraqi cities of Karbala and Najaf before the burial. The message, needless to say, cannot be ignored. 7 months ago, Thran streets echoed with chance against the regime. Today, those same streets are filled with millions mourning the man who symbolized it. What happened? Did Iran suddenly fall in love with its rulers? Or did one assassination and one war achieve what decades of state propaganda never could? Because this isn't just the funeral of Ali Kam. It is Iran's biggest political performance. a six-day spectacle designed to send one message and one message to Washington, Tel Aviv. The Iranian people, the Supreme Leader is dead. The regime isn't. And hidden behind the sea of black flags, free food, revolutionary songs, and carefully choreographed crowds is a question nobody can answer. Where is Iran's new supreme leader?
Now, let's look at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, what we all know is NATO. NATO is a political and military alliance. It has 32 members from North America and Europe. And to ensure coordination among its members, NATO is headed by a secretary general. For decades, the Secretary General had just one job. Keep the alliance together. Today he has another job. Keep Donald Trump happy. The Western Security Alliance is gathering in Turkey. The two-day summit begins tomorrow. It will take place in Anchora. And this time, the agenda for the group is not about stopping Russia or expanding its influence. Instead, it is saving itself from the group's strongest member, the United States.
Last month, NATO Secretary General Mark Rut was in Washington. It was his fifth visit to the White House since taking charge of NATO. Rut walked into the Oval Office and set up three large display boards. He then went on to flatter Trump showing a chart that read the Trump trillion written in big shiny golden letters. The chart showed how Europe and Canada have increased defense spending. This was Rut's way of showing Trump that NATO is serious about paying the bills. But Trump ignored the flattery completely. Instead, he spent 20 minutes criticizing NATO allies.
"And I was disappointed with Italy. I was disappointed with the UK. He's now gone. And you know, he had a lot of problems. But we were disappointed with the UK. We were disappointed with Germany and France. We're disappointed with most of them. Spain is a horror show. Spain is terrible even from your standpoint. I mean, they don't want to pay anything. They they think they're in for a free ride."
Now, Trump was referring to the war in Iran. NATO members like Italy, France, and Spain denied the United States access to their air bases. And that is why Trump is disappointed with NATO allies. Here's what he said.
"I just want their loyalty. We don't need their money. We don't need anything. We have the most powerful military in the world by far. But I just want loyalty. You know, we we're so loyal to them. We're always fighting for them. We have thousands of troops all over Europe. In Germany, we have 50,000 troops. And then you want a little give us a little nudge, give us a little kiss."
But the insults did not deter Mark Rutter. He held strong, continued with his charm offensive. First he called Trump a great president. Then he called Trump the leader of the free world.
"You have taken leadership here. Last week you signed the defense uh procurement act. You made it possible for companies to work together to be able therefore to ramp up their defense production. You have been very harsh with them a couple of weeks ago. I had one of them over in my office. Yeah, it was really harsh. Uh I had one of them over in my office. He was still trembling. But I just wanted to tell this story because ladies and gentlemen of the American media, this is important. Uh this is your president but also leaders of the free world taking the leadership role as is necessary."
This is not the first time Rout has openly flattered Trump. During last year's NATO summit, he called Trump and I'm quoting daddy.
"They're not going to be fighting each other. They've had it. They've had a big fight. Like two kids in a schoolyard, you know, they fight like hell. You can't stop them. Let them fight for about 2, three minutes, then it's easier to stop them."
"And then daddy has to sometimes use strong language."
Welcome to today's North Atlantic Treaty Organization where Europe treats the Security Alliance like a corporate appraisal and thinks appeasing the boss will get them brownie points. But despite Rut's efforts, NATO is walking on thin ice and we may soon find out if the alliance will survive Trump's presidency. The two-day summit in Turkey begins tomorrow as I mentioned and Donald Trump has already set the tone. First, Trump said he's only going because Turkey's president invited him and now he shared a post calling for a restraining order against Italy's Prime Minister Georgia Maloney. This will likely reignite the feud between the two leaders. The peace president started it when he claimed that Maloney had begged to take a picture with him during the recently concluded Group of Seven summit in France. Clearly, the US president is in no mood to mend ties with European allies. And here's the catch. Trump's demands keep changing. Yesterday, it was about money. Today, it is about loyalty. From Trump's perspective, being allies is not enough. Europe must take part in America's wars. NATO has moved from security sharing to loyalty tests. And the irony is impossible to miss.
During the Iran war, there was one other NATO member that denied the US access to its air bases. And I'm talking about Turkey. Rajeperdo was against Trump's war. The Turkish president went even further than his NATO counterparts. He openly sided with the Iranian regime. But Trump didn't hit back at Erdogan. Instead, he rewarded him with praise and weapons.
"I think that Erdogan is, look, he loves Turkey, right? He's doing a great job. He loves Turkey. I love the US, but he loves Turkey, and he's doing a great job. He's a respected man, a respected leader, and he's been a friend of mine. Now, I shouldn't say that because guys like Peter would say, "Oh, he likes what he likes." No, Peter won't. Peter doesn't some of the others, let's say. But but Erdogan is a strong man. Uh but he's been everything I've ever asked him for, he's done."
Trump says Erzo did everything he was asked to do.
"But we know that's not true."
Turkey did deny American war plananes access to its air bases, but Trump hasn't targeted Erdogan. Clearly, he has his favorites. For now, Mark Rut's charm offensive has bought NATO a few months of peace. But you cannot sustain a 32 member operation when the leader treats it like a reality show. NATO may survive tomorrow's summit in Anchora. But certainly, but uncertainty has become a permanent member of this group. And sometimes the louder signs of a crumbling alliance aren't tanks at the border. They are the cold smiles seen at the summit table.
So what does Monday look like to you? For most of us, it's traffic jams on the way to work or backto-back office meetings or planning for the week ahead. But in China, Monday is about launching a nuclear capable ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. The weapon was launched from under the ocean. This is the first time China has fired a ballistic missile that too from a submarine. A rare and highly escalatory step even as per Chinese standards. Australia, Japan, and New Zealand have issued a strong protest. They say they were given a moment's notice before the missile was fired. Beijing has defended its actions and called it a routine Monday. What missile did China launch? But most importantly, why today? Our next report tells you more.
If you want to know what peak gaslighting looks like, then consider what China just did in the Pacific region. On Sunday, the 5th of July, China warned Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Papa New Guinea of falling space debris. Beijing issued the formal warning through its official channel and warned commercial ships to stay entirely clear of a specific zone in the Pacific Ocean, citing the imminent fall of space debris. Fast forward to Monday and China's space junk story has completely evaporated. Instead, the Chinese Defense Ministry has confirmed that it fired a ballistic missile. At precisely 12:01 p.m. Beijing time today, the People's Liberation Army Navy pulled the trigger. A nuclearcapable submarine of the Chinese Navy lurking in the Pacific Ocean fired a submarine launched ballistic missile. Beijing said it was a routine test and it wasn't directed at any country.
"What I can tell you is that this is a routine military training. It does not target any specific country or target and relevant countries were notified in advance. The test launch complies with international law and international practices. The launch was conducted safely and professionally in compliance with regulations. We hope that relevant countries will not over interpret it."
China hasn't disclosed any information about the missile or the submarine that launched it. However, as per reports, it was a type094 ginclass nuclear submarine that launched the intercontinental JL3 missile. The type094 gen-class submarine is a nuclearpowered attack warship. China has a total fleet of nine such submarines. Each warship has a crew of up to 140 sailors and a total displacement of 11,000 tons. It can sail underwater for months at a time and has an unlimited range. The submarine carries 12 nuclear capable ballistic missiles like the JL3 that was fired today. This is an intercontinental submarine launched ballistic missile. It has an operational range of up to 9,000 km. It is guided by China's indigenous Bo navigational system. The missile can be equipped with a nuclear or conventional warhead, and it's designed to carry multiple independent re-entry vehicles, meaning it can rain down six individual nuclear warheads over a designated target area, making it next to impossible to intercept this weapon.
So, when Beijing launched this missile today, Pacific nations were quick to condemn the aggressive move. Australia, New Zealand, and Japan have already called out China. In response, Japan conveyed its grave concern regarding to China's increased military activity.
"From the standpoint of the security of Japan and the region, the government has concerns in regard to this missile launch. We will continue to maintain the highest level of vigilance and surveillance while closely monitoring related developments."
Beijing has brushed off the complaints and called it a routine test. However, reports indicate that this was no ordinary launch. In fact, this is the first time that China has fired a submarine launched ballistic missile. Normally, China confines its missile tests within its borders. The last time China fired a missile into the Pacific Ocean was back in September 2024. Even then, the weapon was launched from land into the Pacific Ocean, not from a submarine. But watch the timing of today's launch. It came just a few hours after Australia signed a mutual defense agreement with Fiji. But that's not all. China and Russia have also kicked off joint naval drills today. Chinese and Russian warships will patrol across the Pacific Ocean for the next 7 days. Clearly, Beijing did not launch the missile in a vacuum. The dummy warhead now lies at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, but China's actions have raised tensions in the Pacific to new heights. Beijing wants the world to buy its narrative that today's missile launch was routine. But just one navigational error, one technical malfunction, or one miscalculation over one of the world's busiest shipping lanes could have ended in catastrophe.
For my next story, I want to begin by asking a question. If someone emptied your bank account, occupied your house for let's say two centuries, made you pay to leave it, and then showed up decades later asking you to thank them for the renovations. What would you call that? Former British Home Secretary Soella Breman appears to have an answer. She calls it an investment. In a remarkable argument on the reparations debate, Breverman has suggested that Britain's former colonies should actually pay Britain back. You heard that right. It's one of those statements that makes you check the calendar and ask, "Is this 2026 or did someone just read out a copy of a speech from the Imperial War Museum?"
In a post on Xwella Breman, a right-wing politician who defected from the Conservative Party to the farright reform UK party earlier this year, declared, and I'm quoting, "The British Empire did so much good for the world." For context, in September, Jamaica is reportedly set to take its case for reparations directly to King Charles by lodging a formal petition. Responding to this news, Labour MP Bella Roberto Adi posted on X, and I'm quoting again, "It is getting harder and harder for British institutions to maintain their favored tactic of simply ignoring calls for reparations." And in response to this, Breman argued, "Of course, slavery was aborant, but to expect the British people of the 21st century to pay for actions that took place in the 18th century has no basis in law. If the government is seriously thinking about this, then former colonies should pay the British back for the considerable investment, effort, and contribution that this country made, which laid the foundations for many flourishing democracies today."
Now, those who follow British politics will know that making incendiary comments has long been Breman's political brand. As home secretary, she called the arrival of asylum seekers as an invasion and described homelessness a lifestyle choice. She subsequently quit the Conservative party and joined Reform UK, as I mentioned earlier, a hardright party best known for its anti-immigration politics. She defected arguing that the conservatives had failed to deliver on immigration. And despite the fact that she too is of Indian heritage, Breman has called Indians the largest group of visa overstayers in the UK. So such provocations aren't totally out of character for her. That's not the point. But with her latest comment, the UK MP has found herself facing an immediate backlash online. One ex user wrote, "Of course slavery was aborant, but is a wild way to start a sentence." Another said, "The British Empire did not invest its stole its colonies wealth and resources to benefit the British Empire, not its colonies." Not that this needs a reminder, but development invests in people and colonialism extracts from them. History is very clear about what Britain was doing. When British when Britain abolished the slavery, it compensated the slave owners, not the enslaved. To do that, the British government borrowed 20 million pounds in 1835. That is 26,698,000. That's about 40% of its annual budget. And according to Britain's own Treasury, that loan was only fully repaid in 2015. Now think about that. British taxpayers spent generations generations paying off a debt created to compensate slave owners. So when Breman asks why today's Britain should pay for history, Britain's own books show they already did. Remember slavery was no footnote to colonialism. It was one of its key engines. For 300 years, millions of Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic, forced into slavery, treated as property to generate wealth that fueled imperial economies.
And since we're on the topic, let's test this investment theory on India. Also, when the British arrived, India was one of the world's richest economies. When they left, India's share of global output had collapsed. Economist UTAs Patayak estimates Britain extracted the equivalent of $45 trillion from India between 1765 and 1938 using colonial trade and tax records.
Now there's another argument you hear every time reparations come up. Why are we still talking about colonialism? Move on. But here's the thing. History doesn't stop. It doesn't stop mattering just because it's inconvenient for you. Colonialism wasn't some sort of a conflict or diplomatic disagreement. It was one of the largest wealth transfers in human history. For nearly four centuries, European empires built global wealth using colonies as sources of land, labor, raw material, and markets. Britain built the largest empire the world has ever seen. At its peak, it ruled nearly a quarter of the world's land mass and roughly a quarter of its population. And empires weren't charities. They were businesses with armies. The effects of the centuries of colonialism did not just go away. They won't. They didn't go away the day former colonies gained independence. When the British left, it left behind economic havoc, institutional inequality, social trauma felt even today. So no, reparations are not about writing a check. Britain acknowledges that slavery cause immense suffering. But it insists there's no legal obligation to pay reparations. That's in that's convenient because colonies weren't customers, they were inventory. So the next time someone asks why can't former colonies just move on, remember this. Most former colonies have moved on. They've built nations entire economies. They've built democracies. But it's the former colonial powers that can't seem to let go of the idea that the empire was somehow a gift. It's a bit like someone who peaked in high school. You know, everyone else graduated, got on with life, but they're still telling stories about the glory days. So, Miss Breverman, you say Britain deserves repayment. Here's the problem. When you spent two centuries taking from someone, you don't get to send them an invoice because we haven't forgotten who emptied the account in the first place.
The visuals on your screen are from Mumbai. Mumbai today, India's maximum city is under maximum stress. Flights are delayed. Trains have been suspended. A bridge has collapsed outside the city in Mahabaleshwar. Trees have been uprooted. Roads have disappeared underwater. People are waiting through wasty flood water just to get to work. All because it rained. The me Mumbai has already received well over 200 mm of rain in several parts and in some pockets it has also been close to 300. Authorities in Mumbai warned of flooding, flash floods, transport disruptions, high tide and landslide risks. buildings. Today, barely 9 weeks after its grand inauguration, a new nearly 7,000 cross section of the Mumbai Pune Expressway was partially closed after a rain triggered landslide. The flagship project featuring one of the world's widest road tunnels was shut as a precaution. As a result, commuters were diverted onto the very route the project was built to bypass. Because of the poor weather, schools have been shut. The Maharashtra state assembly was also adjourned. Tragically, 13 people have already died across Maharashtra in rain related incidents.
But here's the thing. None of this is new. Not the rain, not the flooding, not the fallen trees. Certainly not the annual promises of better days. Every monsoon, Mumbai doesn't just receive rainfall. It receives déjà vu year after year. The monsoon doesn't just arrive. It exposes years of civic neglect. The rains are predictably intense. Yet somehow they're always treated as a surprise by city officials. Despite having India's richest civic body, every year it's the same excuse. The reigns were unprecedented. And the daily news reads like a ledger of civic failure. trees, their roots suffocated by improperly laid tar and concrete or left unpruned by municipal authorities, toppling, killing pedestrians. Just last week, one of them killed a student inside a school van. And even more dangerous are the city's manholes and storm drains open to manage the flooding. Last week, a citizen fell to his death in an uncovered manhole. It's a tragedy that echoes the 2017 death of Dr. Deepak Amrakar the prominent gastroenterologist who fell into an open drain after abandoning his car that was stranded to walk home. The Bombay High Court then ordered protective grills over the city's drainage network. Yet the wheels of bureaucracy have moved frustratingly slowly. Meanwhile, thieves keep stealing the cast iron manhole covers. And somehow, a city that calls itself India's financial capital and a 21st century global metropolis still hasn't managed to design a tamperproof rain cover. That is an administrative failure. The absurdity of of it all was captured in a viral video as well. A municipal official inspecting monsoon preparedness fell straight into an open drain while the mayor stood just a few feet away. Rain is an act of nature, but an uncovered manhole isn't. A tree that hasn't been pruned for years isn't. A building that collapsed because it was never made safe isn't. Rain did not kill these people. It was the infrastructure that failed them. And that is an important distinction to make because every time it rains the conversation quickly becomes about the weather when it should really be about governance. The monsoon comes every year. The India Med Department or IMD issues alerts every year. The BMC prepares a monsoon action plan every year and yet every year the city seems to be caught off guard. Mumbai civic body is India's richest. So this isn't a city that is starved of resources. The BMC has committed more than $17,000 cr rupees in its flagship. That's nearly $2 million road concretization project specifically aimed at reducing monsoon potholes. So the question is why are the results still missing? Why does every monsoon feel like a stress test that the city fails? Why do Mumbaiers keep paying the price with their time, livelihoods, mental health and far too often their lives?
Now, if you're from India, there is one phrase that is almost synonymous with the city, the spirit of Mumbai. The city is known for its legendary resilience, its relentless work ethic, which allows its residents to bounce back to life immediately after crisis. And that spirit is truly extraordinary. But Mumbai's resilience should be a source of pride, not an excuse for administrative failure. It's time to shift the conversation from the spirit of Mumbai to the state of it during monsoons.
Our next story is from Sri Lanka. A deadly riot has taken place. A prison riot which has left at least 26 people dead. Clashes broke out in a prison in the city of Nombo. Reports say two rival drug gangs began fighting on Sunday and the violence continued this morning as well. Prison guards tried to intervene but they got caught in the clashes. Seven guards have been killed. 19 prisoners have died as well. Women prisoners ran to the roof of the prison and requested evacuation. The situation has been deadly and chaotic. Our next report is all the details.
Police and riot gear barricading the gates. Security personnel beating people back and then taking the dead and wounded to a hospital. These were the scenes from Numbo prison in Sri Lanka on Monday morning. A deadly prison riot broke out the previous day. It continued overnight and by Monday morning, dozens had died in the violence. The official death toll has reached 26. Seven of the people slain were prison guards. 19 were prisoners. The riot was triggered by a fight between rival drug gangs. A drug trafficking operation was reportedly taking place inside the prison. But one inmate turned informant. This sparked the clashes between the drug gangs and prison guards could not contain the fighting. When they tried to intervene, the prison guards fell prey to the violence as well. Gunshots were reportedly heard from inside Nombo prison. Some of the victims bore injuries from blades. Amid the chaos, some prisoners tried to escape, but the police managed to hold them back. Meanwhile, some women prisoners from an adjoining section of the facility climbed to the roof. They demanded that they be released as the violence spread. But the police say that part of the roof collapsed, injuring some of the women. After the riot was brought under control, disturbing visuals began to emerge. Several injured individuals were seen being escorted out of the prison. Reports say they were taken to the General Hospital in Nigbo for treatment. The hospital director said that over a 100 people had been brought to the facility, but at least 18 people have reportedly been taken to Sri Lanka's capital, Columbbo. These are the people who have sustained serious injuries. They are being treated at the Columbbo National Hospital. As news of the riot spread, family members of the inmates gathered outside Nigo prison. A massive crowd gathered alongside the prisoner's relatives. Sri Lanka called in the military. A special task force was also deployed. The armed forces say they were kept on standby outside the prison as local law enforcement dealt with the riots. The presence of the military also kept the crowds outside the prison at bay as the situation unfolded. Once the riot ended, Sri Lanka's justice minister visited Nombo prison. He accepted responsibility for the incident and offered condolences to the families of the deceased.
"Whether they were inmates or associated with the underworld is not relevant to us at this moment. Human beings have died and there is a deep shock regarding that. This is something that should never have occurred."
Several of the inmates from Nongo prison have been transferred. The Sri Lankan government has initiated a probe into the riot. The core problem is reportedly overcrowding in prisons across the country. Sri Lanka's prison system is designed to hold about 10,000 prisoners. But there are almost 40,000 inmates in the country right now. Sri Lanka was forced to give amnesty to some prisoners after a riot back in 2020 at the height of the co pandemic. But unless the country's prison system is reformed, similar deadly riots may erupt again.
Now let's talk about the FIFA World Cup specifically about the latest controversy rocking the tournament. Team USA just received a major boost. Ferin Bullagan is back. He is their top goal scorer at the tournament. He has scored three goals for the team so far and he is now available to play in the match against Belgium. This despite Voligan getting a red card in his last match. He was sent off against Bosnia and Herszgavina. He got a straight red. The referee decided that he had stepped on a Bosnian player's ankle. So, Team USA's top striker was given his marching orders. But now that decision has been reversed. Why? Apparently, because of meddling by the American president. Yes, Donald Trump has inserted himself into the World World Cup again and arguably in the most direct way yet. Trump reportedly made three phone calls to FIFA. He told the global footballing body to undo the referee's decision. And what did FIFA do? It bent over backwards to accommodate the American president. Again, the decision has been met with outrage from across the footballing world. The Union of European Football Associations or UEFA has issued a statement. It says that the decision to let Boligan play crossed a red line. Team USA's next opponent, Belgium, says it is astonished. It has called out FIFA's hypocrisy and the special treatment being given to the American player. The Belgian Football Association has made an appeal to FIFA, asking it to undo its decision. And team Belgium's head coach has reacted with scathing sarcasm.
"As I was saying to your colleagues over there during the 1:1 interview, I didn't realize that at FIFA headquarters, July 5th was the equivalent of April 1st in Europe. That was news to me. I think we should refer to the statement issued by my federation, the Belgian Football Association. I think it was quite comprehensive. The Belgian Football Association isn't defending itself, nor is it defending the national team. It's defending football in general, the integrity and ethics. As far as I can recall, I think this is the first time in the history of the World Cup that such a decision has been made. That's it. As for me, I'm the coach. I'm going to focus on my team and on the match regardless of the USA's starting 11. That's it. What matters to me is what happens on the pitch, my team, and that we win and reach the quarterfinals."
Garcia was wrong about one thing. This has happened before at World Cup. But he can be forgiven for forgetting the last incident because it happened all the way back in 1962. That was 64 years ago. It was before Garcia was even born. The 1962 World Cup was held in the South American nation of Chile. Brazil beat the host nation in the semi-final. But their star player Garina was sent off in the match. However, the Brazilian superstar was allowed to play the next match. He played in the final despite the red card. And even though he didn't make much of an impact, Brazil went on to win and lift the trophy. So technically, there is a precedent. However, there is one major difference. Back in 1962, a suspension was not an automatic red card. The rules did not mandate it back then. Instead, FIFA's disciplinary committee would award suspensions on a case-byase basis. So, don't get me wrong, the Gina incident was also controversial. There are a lot of colorful anecdotes about it as well. But again, there was still some gray area back in 1962. That is not the case today. Today, a red card is absolute. The player who gets it will be sent off and they will miss the following match. Those are the rules.
Now, the Belgium fans are livid that the rules are being overturned.
"What is a red card? When we give a red card, it's because the player made a serious mistake and that's why they were given a red card. So why is it now that the player who was no longer supposed to play, how did they manage to erase that mistake? Did the referee make a mistake in doing his job? I don't think so. So was it the government using its influence and telling us, "We're stronger than you. You're weak." Or what is it? Why is that player going to play again? I don't understand any of this, and I'd really like someone to explain it to me."
This is not the first controversy caused by the United States hosting the tournament. The Iranian national football team was subjected to unfair treatment. They were not allowed to stay in the United States even though all their group stage matches took place there. Trump's war on Iran meant that even the football team was considered an enemy. The Iranian team had to stay in Mexico and they had to fly into the United States just 24 hours before their fixtures. This was unfair treatment. No other team got that little time to prepare for their matches. The Iranians could not make it past the group stage. Though to their credit, they did not lose a single game. They managed to draw all their group stage matches. But it wasn't enough to make it to the knockouts.
"It's a disaster world cup. It's a disaster. point of charge of uh I mean FIFA they have to solve every problem here but unfortunately they couldn't solve since the beginning."
Iran's treatment was a major controversy a classic example of political interference in the World Cup. Other examples include the treatment of fans from certain countries. Fans not given visas because their nation is blacklisted by the United States. Then there were the videos of the searches. Players from Sagal and Usbekistan were the targets here. They were subjected to very invasive searches as they got off their team bus. This World Cup has been full of controversy and most of it has been caused by the United States. Trump's latest move is another new low. The president of the host nation asking FIFA for favors to get an advantage for his national team. Some of you may think that Bologan deserves a break that his red card was not warranted. It's a valid point. But the head coach of the English team had the perfect response to sum up this fiasco.
"I think first of all to be very clear that it was not a red card. But V got involved and obviously three people from V and the referee checked it were then the opinion that it was a red card. So it's a decision is made. Who overturns this decision then and when and on what grounds and how far does this go now? So it's it's just"
Mark Zuckerberg fired 8,000 people this year. 7,000 more were reshuffled into AI teams which if you're keeping score is corporate speak for you still have a job but don't get too comfortable. And then months later on a live interview the meta boss looks into the camera and says AI will not replace human workers. It's not inevitable. Sir, your own memo disagrees with you. This is the biggest contradiction in the Silicon Valley right now. The men building the machines don't seem to trust the technology. Meta has spent the past few months behaving like automation is the future when it laid off thousands of employees in May. The reasoning was this, a nearly 145 billion investment on AI infrastructure. And it didn't stop there. Earlier this year, Meta experimented with software. They tracked employees mouse movements and keystrokes because nothing boosts employee morale quite like your computer becoming your snitch. The backlash was immediate. Meta paused that program. Executives later clarified that employee data wasn't actually used to train AI, but the damage had already been done because trust, unlike software, doesn't come with automatic updates. So when the same person who handed pink slips to so many employees due to AI says that the tech will not replace human workers, it sounds nothing but ironic. And there's more. Behind closed doors at an internal town hall, Zuckerberg admitted something very different. He told employees the AI agents had not progressed as quickly as he expected. He admitted the layoffs weren't clean. It gets murkier, though. Meta's chief technology officer called the roll out of the company's new AI division atrocious.
Now, Meta isn't alone. This is the season of AI confessions. Sam Alman says autonomous agents aren't reliable yet. Satya Nadella says Microsoft copilot still need a human babysitter. Google admits its AI still struggles with basic reasoning. Amazon is playing it cautious. And Dario Amade, the CEO of Anthropic, has warned that AI systems will still hallucinate too much to be trusted alone in high stakes rooms. Read between the lines and a pattern emerges. Every company telling you the AI revolution is quietly asking you not to believe the hype just yet. And it's not just tech. We have companies that have fired so many employees, banking on a future that has not yet arrived. Auto firm Ford rolled out AI for quality control, then rehired 350 human engineers because the machines weren't cutting it. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the tech firm IBM have also walked back their hiring plans. They're now focusing more on human capital. So, somebody tell me, is this the fourth industrial revolution or the world's most expensive trial and error experiment? We've confused technological capability with organizational reality. Just because AI can perform a task doesn't mean companies can instantly redesign themselves around it. Think about it. An AI model can draft reports, summarize meetings, write code. Absolutely impressive. But deploying AI across an entire organization isn't as simple as downloading an app. Businesses need new workflows and perhaps most importantly confidence that the AI won't confidently invent facts halfway through an important project. Technology evolves in months, organizations evolve in years. That's the real bottleneck, which brings me to perhaps the most interesting evidence. Researchers at Yale's budget lab recently examined employment trends across America since Chad GPT arrived in late 2022 and their conclusion. No statistically significant economywide labor market disruption. The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance found that 81% of surveyed institutions had adopted AI in some form. But there's a catch. Only 14% said that the tech has transformed their organizational strategy. Meanwhile, economists at the Dallas Federal Reserve found something very different. Young workers, particularly those between 22 and 25 in AI exposed occupations, experienced employment declines of roughly 13%. Contradictory? Not really. They're simply looking at different layers of the economy. The overall labor market remains resilient. Entrylevel knowledge workers, not so much. That's because automation isn't h happening evenly. It's happening selectively especially in the entry levelvel jobs. The question isn't will AI replace humans? The better question is this which humans with jobs and how fast? Every major technological revolution created disruption. But disruption rarely arrived overnight. Electricity didn't eliminate factories. It redesigned them. The internet didn't eliminate offices. It transformed how they functioned. AI may follow exactly that same path. This is the part the doom and boom crowd both miss. So no, AI probably isn't coming for everyone's job tomorrow, but neither is your job completely safe forever. The future won't belong to humans alone, nor to machines alone. It will belong to those who learn how to make both work together because artificial intelligence may be accelerating. But it's one thing to tell the world AI will replace humans. It's another to explain why you're hiring the humans back. It's the AI age and we're just living in it.
Let's be honest, some of us are getting a little too candid with our chat these days. People ask GPD everything. What to cook, what to wear, how to survive a bad date, and increasingly what's wrong with their body. But before AI becomes your primary care physician, here's a reality check. Five medical questions you should never rely on chat GPD to answer. Let's be honest, we're all getting a little too comfortable with AI, especially generative AI. Something feels off. Hey chat, a headache. Hey chat, what's causing this? A stomach ache. Hey chat, should I be worried? One weird symptom at 2:00 a.m. Hey chat, am I dying? AI is fast, free, and available around the clock. But while it can explain health in theory, it can't actually examine you. And just between you and I, that's a pretty important job description for a doctor. So, here are five medical questions you really shouldn't be asking Chad GPT or any AI for that matter. If diagnosing patients were that easy, medical school would be a multiplechoice quiz. Doctors don't just listen to symptoms. They examine patients, ask follow-up questions, order tests, and rule out other conditions. A chat isn't a doctor.
What's wrong with me? That's a bit like telling a mechanic, "My car made a funny noise and expecting them to know exactly which bolt fell off." Many illnesses share the same symptoms. A headache could be dehydration, stress, a migraine, or something much more serious. Without an examination, medical history or tests, AI is making an informed guess at best, not a diagnosis.
"Let Chad GPT help you understand possibilities, not decide what you have."
Sharp shooting pain in your chest? Please do not turn to chat. The difference between acidity and cancer diagnosis, turns out, may just be a vague, poorly worded prompt. AI may consider all possible serious conditions, but mentioning them doesn't mean they're the most likely explanation. Only medical tests and qualified professionals can confirm or rule out diseases like cancer. Don't confuse a list of possibilities with a diagnosis.
Number three, consulting Chad GPT for medication dosage or adjustment. Feeling better, having side effects, forgot why you were prescribed it in the first place. Whatever the reason, stopping medication without medical advice can sometimes be more dangerous than the illness itself. AI doesn't know your complete medical history or why your doctor prescribed that medicine. Never let a chatbot make the final decision about prescription medication.
Mental health is health and much like physical symptoms, mental health symptoms need proper care and diagnosis. AI cannot tell you if your nervous system is truly disregulated or you're just jittery because you had three coffees on an empty stomach. And it truly cannot replace the healing qualities of a real human conversation. AI assistance has its place, but it shouldn't replace medical advice when symptoms are severe, persistent, or getting worse. Think of Chat GPT as your medical encyclopedia, not your medical oracle. It's great at helping you understand health information, preparing questions for your doctor, and making medical jargon sound like actual English. AI is changing the way we access information and that's a good thing. It can help you understand a diagnosis after you've seen a doctor, explain complicated medical terms, prepare questions for your next appointment, and even then you shouldn't rely on it. It can't listen to your heartbeat, examine a swollen joint, interpret your body language, or notice the subtle clues that often make the difference between a minor illness and a medical emergency.
the last 6 years.
Because when it comes to your health, convenience should never replace clinical judgment. And while AI can generate answers in seconds, the best medical decisions are still made by trained professionals who can see the whole patient, not just the prompt.
So the British Grand Prix began with something the Brits probably never saw coming. A fullblown Bhangra performance on the Formula 1 grid. Doss, Punjabi beats, Formula 1 cars, reverse colonization jokes weren't far behind. From ruling India to dancing to Bangra before lights out. Now that's what you call a lap of history.
Heat. Hey, Heat. And now it is time for Vantage. shorts images that tell a story.
China and Russia kicked off joint naval drills in the waters and airspace of the Chinese city of Chinda on Monday. In India, thousands gathered to celebrate the Dalai Lama's 91st birthday with prayers and festivities as the spiritual leader delivered a sermon. And in Brussels, armored riders staged a dramatic jousting demonstration to celebrate a UNESCO listed medieval festival.
Finally, taking you back in history, on this day in 1892, Dada Bayan Aaroji won election to the House of Commons from a constituency in London, becoming the first Asian elected to British Parliament. He had previously in 1885 helped found the Indian National Congress. That's all for today. Thank you so much for watching. See you tomorrow.
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Y another boy for now. Thank you.