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Houston, Sep 9 (IANS) At least two juveniles were injured following a shooting at a park in Uvalde, a small town in Texas where a mass school shooting earlier this year had killed 19 students and two teachers.

The Uvalde Police Department said it responded to the shooting "with injured victims" at Uvalde Memorial Park around 5.30 p.m. on Thursday, reports Xinhua news agency.

The injured were air-lifted to a San Antonio hospital.

It was a suspected gang-related shooting, said the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).

"This information is preliminary, as the situation develops we will work with local law enforcement to provide updates," the DPS tweeted.

Authorities are looking for a juvenile suspect, San Antonio ABC affiliate KSAT reported, adding that it's "not a dangerous situation for the general public".

An investigation is underway, said the report.

Students in Uvalde just returned to classrooms on Tuesday for their first day of the new school year, which was pushed back to give local schools extra time to take a number of new security measures in the wake of the May 24 shooting at the Robb Elementary School.

--IANS
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London, Sep 9 (IANS) Queen Elizabeth II became a cultural staple during her long and eventful reign. She was the most photographed woman in history -- gracing the cover of 'Time' magazine at age three, the first of several such appearances -- and was depicted on the big screen, the small screen, the stage, in music, and in art, says 'Variety' in a special report.

She is the subject of the Netflix original series 'The Crown', which follows the Queen from the 1940s to modern times and examines her relationship with the various prime ministers -- Liz Truss was the 15th she invited to lead Her Majesty's Government 48 hours before her passing -- as well as with other figures, both within the Royal Family and outside it.

Over the show's six seasons, each of which covers approximately a decade in her life, she has been portrayed by three different actors: Claire Foy, who won a Golden Globe for her portrayal, and Olivia Colman, who earned both a Golden Globe and an Emmy, and Imelda Staunton, who will portray the Queen in her 70s and 80s during the show's fifth and sixth (also believed to be its final) season. Season 5 will premiere on Netflix in November this year, notes 'Variety'.

Helen Mirren also memorably played the British monarch in the 2006 film 'The Queen', written by 'The Crown' creator Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Frears. The film was set in the aftermath of Princess Diana's death, a low point for the British royal family, and won Mirren a best actress Oscar for her performance, adds 'Variety'.

Mirren went on to play Elizabeth again in the West End and on Broadway, in the stage hit 'The Audience'.

The monarch also made an appearance in 'Spencer', played by Stella Gonet -- the film stars Kirsten Stewart as her daughter-in-law Princess Diana -- while the Queen's early childhood was portrayed in the Oscar-winning 2010 film, 'The King's Speech', starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush and Helena Bonham.

The 2015 British comedy drama film 'A Royal Night Out' offered a fictionalised glimpse of the night Elizabeth (played by Sarah Gadon) and her sister Princess Margaret (Bel Powley) were allowed secretly to slip out of Buckingham Palace to join the crowds celebrating V-E Day on the streets of London in 1945.

In 2016, the Queen, played by Penelope Wilton, was a character in 'The BFG', Steven Spielberg's adaptation of the book by Roald Dahl and 'The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!' also tackled the British monarch, according to 'Variety' -- literally.

In this 1988 comedy, Leslie Nielsen's character uses a running tackle to save the Queen from what he wrongly believes to be an assassination attempt. The actress who plays her in the film, Jeannette Charles, has made a career of royal impersonation, standing in as Elizabeth in about 20 movies and TV programmes over a 40-year period.

In animated form, notes 'Variety', the Queen in her Cinderella-like royal coach survived an attempted robbery of her crown in the 2015 film 'Minions' and a rear-ending by Homer Simpson in a 2003 episode of 'The Simpsons' (titled 'The Regina Monologues').

She wasn't so lucky in a 2012 episode of 'Family Guy', in which a high-speed chase of her carriage ends in a royal fatality, and in 2007, according to 'Variety', an episode of 'South Park' sparked outrage after it showed her dying by suicide on the throne. She also made an appearance in Gary Janetti's short-lived animated comedy 'The Prince', which ran for one season on HBO Max.

In 2022, the Queen delighted viewers around the world by guest-starring in a video with Paddington Bear. In the skit, which was filmed at Windsor Castle and broadcast before the Platinum Jubilee concert, Paddington is invited to the Queen's abode for tea where chaos ensues.

At one point in the video that went viral globally, the bear offers Her Majesty a marmalade sandwich fished out of his hat, as he tells her: "I always keep one for emergencies." In response, the Queen replies, "So do I" and opens her handbag to pull out a marmalade sandwich of her own.

--IANS
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London, Sep 9 (IANS) Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland on Friday offered tributes to Queen Elizabeth II, who died the previous day aged 96, describing her an extraordinary person who lived an extraordinary life and her devotion to duty was only matched by her skill as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations.

In a tribute, Scotland said: "It is with the greatest sorrow and sadness that we mourn the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. After a long life of faith, duty and service, a great light has gone out.

"Her Majesty was an extraordinary person, who lived an extraordinary life: a constant presence and example for each of us, guiding and serving us all for as long as any of us can remember.

"Throughout her reign, and seven decades of extraordinary change and challenge, Her Majesty was the epitome of duty, stability, wisdom and grace.

"Her Majesty loved the Commonwealth, and the Commonwealth loved her. During her reign she travelled more than any monarch in history, visiting every part of our family of nations. Between 1971 and 2018, she missed only one Heads of Government Meeting. Her devotion to duty was only matched by her skill as Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, always a generous host and consummate diplomat."

The Secretary-General said in Her Majesty's final Commonwealth Day message, she described "our family of nations as a modern, vibrant and connected Commonwealth that combines a wealth of history and tradition with the great social, cultural and technological advances of our time".

"That the Commonwealth stands ever taller is a credit to all who have been involved. The growth and vibrancy of our modern Commonwealth is a credit to her and testament to her dedication, wisdom and leadership.

"In 1947, before she ascended to the throne, she stated that 'whether my life be long or short I will dedicate it to the service of the Commonwealth. Her Majesty honoured that promise," Scotland added.

As the sixth Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, she said she would always be "grateful for her warmth and kindness to me".

"Our interactions were a delight, and it was wonderful to see her passion and animation whenever discussing anything relating to the Commonwealth. Her long years of interaction and partnership with generations of world leaders and their people, particularly the young, gave her extraordinary insight, which brought ever-more life and meaning to her service," the Secretary-General added.

Elizabeth breathed her last at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, one of her four 'royal' residences and possibly her favourite.

Her family from near and afar had gathered there to be at her side in her final moments.

--IANS
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By Yashwant Raj
Washington, Sep 9 (IANS) For some Americans, no Indian-American will ever be American enough. Not even when one of them is elected to the US Congress to represent millions of Americans.


Indian-American lawmaker Pramila Jayapal was allegedly stalked by a man who would drive by her home in Seattle, Washington hurling insults and invectives in her direction. He told the police after his arrest that he would do that every day till she packs her bags and left for India.

The Washington Post on Thursday reported her 47-minute ordeal on the night of July 9 when she was home and experienced for the first time the man's hatred. She was watching a psychological thriller "Mindhunter" with her husband, Steve Williamson, when it started.

That was the first time they saw and heard the stalker, who and his black car with gold rims driving past their house had been a familiar sight to neighbours.

It was 10:38 p.m.

"F...... C...," said one of the men, according to voices captured by security cameras. Another voice said something that included "India".

"But I will continue to drive by here and voice my opinion, until she goes back to India - or something else," Brett Forsell, 49, one of the two men said as he sat in a police car after his arrest.

Jayapal was born in Chennai, India and immigrated to the US at the age of 18. After two years in Washington state politics - serving in the state senate - she was elected to the House of Representatives in 2016, becoming the first Indian woman to do so (Kamala Harris became the first Indian American woman elected to US senate the same year - their respective terms started in 2017). A Democrat, she is now in her third term and heads the party's congressional liberals as chairperson of the House Progressive Caucus.

Jayapal has also been a strident critic of former President Donald Trump and blamed him for the stalker. "The person that occupied the White House, the highest office in the land, actually used and unleashed and mobilised all of that violence and white supremacy using the tools of the federal government," she said shortly after the incident.

Many Indian-Americans will identify with her experience. A group of them found themselves yelled at by a woman in Plano, Texas recently. "Go back to India," their tormentor, a woman who introduced herself to them as Mexican-American, told them repeatedly, among other things. She was arrested later.

Srinivas Kuchibhotla, a software engineer with GPS major Garmin, was killed in a bar outside the company premises in Olathe, Kansas in 2018 by a man who yelled at him to "leave my country". The killer claimed he had mistaken Kuchibhotla for someone from the Middle East.

"I've had people forever telling me to go back to India," Jayapal told The Washington Post. "But I will say that this was different. This was really different."

Forsell had planned to pitch a tent close to Jayapal's house to serve her as a constant reminder. And on the night of his arrest, he was carrying a Glock pistol, which he claimed to the police, was meant only for self-defence.

The US' top federal investigative agency FBI tracks discriminatory rhetoric and actions as hate crimes - race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender and gender identity.

Crimes against Indians and Indian-descent Americans are covered under the category of religion as "Anti-Hindu". The 2019 FBI hate crime report said there was a 7 per cent increase in cases against Hindus. These were the most recent publicly available data on bias crimes.

--IANS
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Damascus, Sep 9 (IANS) Russian airstrikes on positions of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front in northwestern Syria reportedly killed 120 rebels.

The Russian warplanes attacked a Nusra Front training camp in the Sheikh Youssef area of Idlib province and destroyed observation points, drones, and missile launchers, state news agency SANA cited Russian military sources in Syria as saying, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based war monitor, also reported the Russian airstrikes in Idlib, saying the Russian warplanes carried out 14 airstrikes on Thursday and fired one surface-to-surface missile on rebel-held areas in the province.

Occupied by a number of rebel groups, including ultra-radical ones like Nusra Front, Idlib has emerged as the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.

--IANS
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London, Sep 8 (IANS) Queen Elizabeth is under medical supervision at Balmoral after doctors became concerned for her health, Buckingham Palace has said, BBC reported.

All the Queen's children are either at, or are travelling to, her Scottish estate near Aberdeen.

"Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen's doctors are concerned for Her Majesty's health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision," a statement said.

The Queen is comfortable, it added.

It is very unusual for Buckingham Palace to put out a statement like this - it is usually unwilling to provide a commentary on the 96-year-old monarch's medical matters, which are seen as private, BBC reported.

Prince Charles has travelled to Balmoral with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall.

The Duke of York and the Count and Countess of Wessex are travelling to the Scottish estate, about 40 miles (64km) west of Aberdeen.

The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, was already in Scotland undertaking engagements.

The Duke of Cambridge is also on his way, with the Duchess of Cambridge remaining in Windsor with their children on their first full-day at school.

Barriers are being placed outside one of the entrances to the estate.

There are clearly pressing concerns for the Queen's health - much more explicitly put than before and without any reference to this only being about difficulties with mobility.

There are also warnings against unfounded speculation, such as that she might have had a fall. And on Tuesday she was on her feet and photographed smiling as she appointed new Prime Minister Liz Truss, BBC reported.

But from the last-minute cancellation of what would only have been a virtual meeting of the Privy Council - of senior ministers - there is no mistaking the fragility of the Queen's health.

--IANS
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Islamabad, Sep 8 (IANS) Amid the destructive monsoon rainfall and unprecedented levels of flooding, the afflicted women in Pakistan continue to face difficulties in maintaining menstrual health and hygiene.

The aftermath of the monsoon rains have affected 33 million people during the floods. According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), there are at least 1.6 million women, females and young girls, who critically require menstrual health aid.

These women also include about 650,000 pregnant females who are due in September 2022, and are currently in need of immediate maternal health and reproductive services.

Among all the necessary items being distributed at flood-hit areas, menstrual hygiene kits have been neglected considering it as not so essential relief aid product, which threatens health and hygiene conditions including the risk of water and vector borne diseases.

Therefore, not ignoring this essential necessity of women and breaking all the society taboos two young girls took this initiative to ensure provision of menstrual health products to the flood affected females.

Working effectively on the ground and ensuring rapid access to essential health services to the flood affected females, Anum Khalid, a university student of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan and her online friend Bushra Mahnoor, who is also a student of University of Punjab in Lahore, initiated a social media campaign called "Mahwari Justice", primarily focused on collecting menstrual products and funds to be provided to women and children of the flood affected areas across Pakistan.

"In 2010, I was only 10 years old when the floods hit Pakistan. As I am originally from Attock city, there were many areas in our surrounding that were hit by the floods. I went there with my parents to provide relief aids. There me and my mother saw a girl whose shalwar (pants) had blood marks. My mother took her into the tent and found out that her periods had started and she had nothing to handle it," narrated Bushra Mahnoor as she talked about how she and her online friend Anum felt the need to start Mahwari Justice campaign.

"Then this year, when these floods are even worse than that of 2010, I got a call from a woman from Lasbela in Balochistan. She said in this dreadful condition in a tent her periods have started and she has nothing but a plant leaf to use as a pad," added Bushra.

This call from Lasbela forced both long distance friends Anum and Bushra, to raise the seriousness of the matter and campaign through social media.

"Mahwari Justice Campaign has provided MHM kits to at least 12,000 people. The kit is a package that also has a pictorial description of how to use the pads for even illiterate females to see and understand," said Anum Khalid.

MHM kits are the basic health necessities for those who menstruate. "We are hoping to increase the outreach to at least 50,000 more females," said Bushra Mahnoor.

From being trolled on social media to breaking the stereotypes, Anum Khalid and Bushra Mahnoor face multiple challenges on a daily basis for raising voice on female menstrual health, they are criticized by predominantly females on social media, who lash out at them for talking about what they take as a very private matter for females in the name of modernisation, which has for decades, kept within the females herself.

Unfortunately, menstrual health is not part of any NGO's policy, it is an uneasy thing to be associated with for other organisations and when we requested a reputed company (menstrual pads manufacturing company) to donate us and support us with menstrual pads; we were donated 150 pads and were asked to buy pads from them, said Anum Khalid.

But despite having such serious challenges of societal neglect, criticism and outright neglect, Anum and Bushra are adamant to not lost their focus on what their target is.. which is to provide menstrual relief aid to females in flood affected areas, who are suffering to menstrual hygiene related issues.

"Periods do not stop during floods. Women need assistance and we will make sure that they get it at the earliest," said Anum Khalid.

--IANS
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Washington, Sep 8 (IANS) The US State Department has approved the potential sale of F-16 aircraft sustainment and related equipment to Pakistan in a deal valued at up to $450 million, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DCSA).

The principal contractor will be Lockheed Martin Corp, Geo News reported citing the DSCA as saying in a statement.

"The State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the government of Pakistan of F-16 Case for Sustainment and related equipment for an estimated cost of $450 million," the statement said.

The package includes the US government and contractor engineering, technical, and logistics services to support Pakistan's F-16 fleet.

The statement further said that this sale does not provide Pakistan with any new capabilities, weapons, or munitions, Geo News reported.

The agency underscored that "this proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the US by allowing Pakistan to retain interoperability with US and partner forces in ongoing counterterrorism efforts and in preparation for future contingency operations".

It further said the proposed sale will continue the sustainment of Pakistan's F-16 fleet, which greatly improves Pakistan's ability to support counterterrorism operations through its robust air-to-ground capability, reports Geo News.

Pakistan will have no difficulty absorbing these articles and services into its armed forces, it said.

It said the proposed sale of this equipment and support will not alter the basic military balance in the region.

There will be no adverse impact on U.S. defense readiness as a result of this proposed sale, it added.

--IANS
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By Ashe O
Washington, Sep 8 (IANS) US President Joe Bidens approval rating has bounced back to its highest level, leading his predecessor Donald Trump by six points from its summer time lows, a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll has revealed.


Biden is leading Trump in a 2024 rematch by the widest margin since March, the poll said, adding that the presidential run was still years away and did not mean that Biden is the winner.

The survey of 1,634 US adults conducted from September 2-6 immediately after the combative primetime speech in which Biden blasted "Trump and the MAGA Republicans" as "extremists" who "threaten the very foundations of our republic", showed that if the next presidential election "were held today", 48 per cent of registered voters would choose the incumbent, while 42 per cent would choose the former.

Biden's new 6-point lead is 3 points larger than his edge in the previous Yahoo News/YouGov survey from late August (Biden 45 per cent, Trump 42 per cent) and 4 points better than his average lead across all Yahoo News/YouGov surveys conducted between April and July (Biden 44 per cent, Trump 42 per cent).

The poll's margin of error is approximately 2.6 per cent, media reports said.

The last time Biden led Trump in a Yahoo News/YouGov poll by 6 percentage points or more among registered voters was in March 2022 (Biden 47 per cent to Trump 39 per cent). The time before that was in May 2021 (Biden 48 per cent to Trump 39 per cent).

Notably, Biden's support today (48 per cent) matches those previous highs.

None of this means Biden is a lock to defeat Trump in 2024, the survey said adding, the election is still years away, and Trump won in 2016 despite losing the national popular vote (largely because Republican voters tend to live in rural states that are overrepresented in the Electoral College).

Meanwhile, more Americans still disapprove than approve of Biden's performance in office, the poll observed.

But the President's improving numbers against his former (and possibly future) opponent represent a modest sign that he is rebounding from a prolonged summer slump. Possible reasons for his rising popularity include falling gas prices and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which will lower the cost of prescription drugs, electric vehicles and solar panels, among other provisions.

Biden's gains are mainly concentrated on the left, while Republicans remain near unanimous in their opposition to the President and his reforms.

Among all Americans, the President's approval rating now stands at 40 per cent approve (unchanged since late August) to 52 per cent disapprove (down from 53 per cent in late August). Among registered voters, Biden's numbers are 43 per cent and 53 per cent, respectively.

This is the Biden's best showing since May and it's because his approval rating climbed 7 points among Democrats (to 79 per cent) and 6 points among independents (to 32 per cent over the last month, the poll pointed out.

At the same time, more Democrats now say America is "generally headed in the right direction" (48 per cent) than "off on the wrong track" (38 per cent). In early August, those numbers were reversed.

As a result, Biden has strengthened his standing for 2024, which had been looking unusually weak for an incumbent.

Whereas in early August, Democrats and independents who lean Democratic preferred "someone else" over Biden as the Democratic nominee by a 55 per cent to 27 per cent margin, the number who now say they prefer Biden is up 8 points, to 35 per cent, and the number who say they prefer someone else is down 13 points, to 42 per cent.

Among Democrats only, Biden has gained even more ground. He now leads "someone else" by 4 points here (41 per cent to 37 per cent); one month ago, he trailed 29 per cent to 52 per cent.

Likewise, Democrats now say by a 14-point margin that Biden should run again in 2024 (44 per cent yes, 30 per cent no); in early August, more Democrats said he shouldn't (43 per cent) than said he should (35 per cent).

Over the same period, the share of Democrats who believe the president is "up to the challenges facing the US" has increased by 10 points (to 64 per cent).

Meanwhile, Trump has made his own gains recently, mainly because Republicans seem to have rallied round him after the FBI's raid on his Florida residence Mar-a-Lago on August 8.

A full 55 per cent of Republicans and independents who lean Republican now prefer Trump over "someone else" for the party's 2024 nomination, up from 54 per cent in the previous Yahoo News/YouGov survey and 47 per cent in early August.

The poll hastened to add that there were still signs of vulnerability for Trump as new revelations emerge about his handling of highly classified documents.

Less than half of Republicans and Republican leaners now prefer Trump (48 per cent) over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (34 per cent).

A growing number of independents, 39 per cent, up 7 points from two weeks ago, believe Trump would be a weaker candidate in 2024 than in 2020. And a full 55 per cent of Americans say the former president should be barred from serving again in the future if he is found guilty of "mishandling highly classified documents" or "obstructing" the ongoing Justice Department investigation.

Only a quarter of Americans say Trump should be allowed to serve again in that scenario.

--IANS
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