Lucknow cricket stadium renamed after Atal Bihari Vajpayee

In a significant leap toward sustainable urban mobility and coastal tourism, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has greenlit the ambitious Mangaluru Water Metro Project (MWMP). The approval was announced during a high-level Water Transport Board meeting held in Bengaluru, marking a milestone in the coastal city’s development roadmap.

Originally unveiled in the state budget earlier this year, the project takes inspiration from the acclaimed Kochi Water Metro and is designed to redefine water-based commuting and recreational transit in Mangaluru. The water metro will chart a 30-km course along the Gurupura and Netravathi rivers, offering both scenic journeys and practical connectivity for locals and tourists alike.

“The purpose of this project is to enhance tourism and recreation activities while also decongesting the city’s road traffic,” a senior officer from the Karnataka Maritime Board (KMB) stated. The KMB will lead preliminary studies and planning for MWMP implementation.

The proposed water route will interconnect 17 strategic locations, including:

•    Kulur Bridge

•    Bangrakulur

•    New Mangaluru Port

•    Sultan Battery

•    Tannir Bhavi

•    Old Port

•    Bengre

•    Hoige Bazaar

•    Ullal

•    Bolar Sea Face

•    Someshwar Temple … and more, covering densely populated, industrial, and tourist-friendly zones.

Planned as a green, affordable, and efficient public transport system, the Water Metro will deploy modern catamarans, with options for electric or low-emission diesel propulsion—positioning Mangaluru as a model for eco-conscious urban infrastructure in India.

With its blend of functionality and scenic charm, the MWMP is expected to not only transform the city’s transport landscape but also boost employment, local businesses, and regional tourism.

Pope Francis, the beloved spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide, has passed away at the age of 88. After battling age-related illnesses and spending over a month in the hospital, he departed peacefully, leaving behind a legacy of compassion, humility, and service. His death marks the end of an era and opens a sacred and solemn chapter of transition for the Roman Catholic Church.

The Final Hours and Ancient Rituals

With the pope’s passing, the Vatican enters the interregnum — a time between the end of one papacy and the beginning of another. The camerlengo, the Church's administrator of temporal affairs, performs a centuries-old ritual to confirm the pope’s death. He gently calls the pontiff’s baptismal name three times. If there is no response, the pope is declared dead — a symbolic moment of both loss and tradition.

An earlier custom involved tapping the pope's forehead with a small silver hammer, a practice discontinued after 1963.

The camerlengo then seals the papal apartment and prepares for the destruction of the Fisherman’s Ring and the papal seal — powerful symbols of papal authority. Their destruction signifies the official end of the pontiff’s reign.

A Funeral Rooted in Legacy

In accordance with the constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, the pope’s funeral must be held within four to six days. It will most likely take place at St. Peter’s Basilica, unless otherwise requested by the pope himself. A nine-day mourning period, known as novemdiales, follows the funeral.

The Sacred Search for a Successor

Around 15 to 20 days after the pope's passing, the papal conclave begins — a profoundly secretive and spiritual election process. Cardinals under the age of 80 gather in the Sistine Chapel, cut off entirely from the outside world, including phones and media.

They vote in repeated rounds. After each, ballots are burned. Black smoke rising from the chimney signals no decision. White smoke proclaims that a new pope has been chosen.

"Habemus Papam" — A New Dawn

Once a cardinal is elected and he accepts the sacred role, he chooses a papal name — often in honor of past saints or spiritual inspirations. Then, from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the senior cardinal deacon steps forward and declares to the world:

“Habemus Papam” — We have a pope.

A moment of silence gives way to thunderous cheers as the newly chosen pope steps forward, greeting the faithful and offering his first blessings. The bells of the Vatican ring out in joy, marking the beginning of a new spiritual journey for the Church and its followers.

New Israeli strikes have killed over a dozen people, including seven children, in the besieged territory as the regime is pressing ahead with its bloody military onslaught against Palestinians.

Gaza's civil defense agency said the bodies of 10 people, including seven children, were brought to the hospital following an Israeli airstrike that targeted the al-Farra family home in central Khan Younis.

Witnesses reported continuous and intensive Israeli tank fire in the city. 

Moreover, one Palestinian was killed and four others were wounded following an aerial attack on a group of civilians in Rafah.

In central Gaza, Israeli drones struck a group of civilians in Deir el-Balah, following which a number of casualties were transferred to the al-Aqsa Hospital.

Two more people killed in an Israeli strike that targeted a group of civilians in the al-Atatra area in the northern city of Beit Lahia.

On Friday morning, the Israeli military released an “urgent and serious” evacuation notice for residents living in various neighborhoods east of Gaza City.

The United Nations on Friday said its analysis of 36 recent Israeli strikes in Gaza showed only women and children were killed and decried the human cost of the war.

Spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani cited an April 6 strike on a residential building of the Abu Issa family in Deir al-Balah, which reportedly killed one girl, four women, and one four-year-old boy.

Even the areas where Palestinians were being instructed to go in the expanding number of Israeli "evacuation orders" were also being subjected to attacks, she said.

Israel has said its troops are seizing "large areas" in Gaza and incorporating them into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants.

The UN rights office warned that expanding Israeli evacuation orders are resulting in the "forcible transfer" of people into ever-shrinking spaces in the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

"Let us be clear, these so-called evacuation orders are actually displacement orders, leading to displacement of the population of Gaza into ever shrinking spaces," Shamdasani said.

"The permanently displacing the civilian population within occupied territories amounts to forcible transfer, which is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and it is a crime against humanity."

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Shamsadani said between March 18 and April 9, there were some 224 incidents of Israeli strikes on residential buildings and tents for internally displaced people.

"In some 36 strikes about which the UN Human Rights Office corroborated information, the fatalities recorded so far were only women and children," she said.

"Overall, a large percentage of fatalities are children and women, according to information recorded by our Office," she added.