The prospect of retaking one of India's most competitive exams was so daunting for 19-year-old Sheikh Sana that a day before the test, the pressure became unbearable. Instead of preparing again for the exam, she wrote "I am sorry" on a plain sheet of paper and took her own life, her family said. Her death, along with the suicides of other aspiring students who sat medical college entrance exams only to face retakes after it emerged that test papers had been leaked, has become a focus for thousands of young protesters demanding accountability from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. On Saturday, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned over the protests. About two months of protests have evolved from demands for action over the leaks into a broader expression of frustration over education, opportunity and accountability in a country where 65% of the population is under the age of 35. More than two million students sat the pen-and-paper...
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday voted overwhelmingly to extend the term of UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk for four more years, despite opposition from Russia and Israel and a US threat to reassess its funding and engagement. Turk, an outspoken critic of Russia's war in Ukraine and Israel's conduct in Gaza, who has also called for investigations into deaths in US immigration custody, had drawn strong opposition from all three countries over his willingness to challenge major powers. The vote highlighted a deepening confrontation between the Trump administration and the UN. Washington has cut funding for UN agencies and withdrawn from dozens of UN entities, and rights groups say the human rights post is more critical than ever as autocracies gain influence globally. A large majority in the 193-member General Assembly earlier voted against a Russian counter-proposal to extend Turk's term by just over two months to the end of 2026. Read:...