News in Brief-(2024-03-09)

Russia's Medvedev says Biden
is a 'mad' disgrace to America
MOSCOW, Mar 08: Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, called Joe Biden a "mad" disgrace to the United States on Friday and said the US president had no right to compare himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Biden opened his State of the Union address on Thursday with a reference to a 1941 speech to Congress in which Roosevelt said the union faced an unprecedented turning point in history. Biden also accused Republican rival Donald Trump of kowtowing to Russia and, just over two weeks after calling Vladimir Putin a "crazy SOB", said he had a message for the Russian President on Ukraine: "We will not walk away." — Reuters
Former UK leader Theresa May
to step down as MP
LONDON, Mar 08: Former UK prime minister Theresa May on Friday announced that she will stand down as a member of parliament at the next general election, due to take place later this year. May, 67, is the most senior member of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's Conservative party to announce they will not seek re-election. The Tories have consistently trailed the main opposition Labour party since October 2022 and are widely seen as on course to be dumped out of power after 14 years. May has represented the constituency of Maidenhead in southeast England since 1997 and served as prime minister between 2016 and 2019 -- a tumultuous period in the UK as it attempted to negotiate its departure from the European Union. — AFP
Rupert Murdoch is engaged
once again-at 92
NEW YORK, Mar 08: Media magnate Rupert Murdoch is not giving up on love-even at age 92. Murdoch announced Thursday that he plans to wed his girlfriend, Elena Zhukova, in June, The New York Times reported. Murdoch has been married four times before. His roller-coaster personal life is often fodder for the tabloid newspaper industry that he helped create on three continents. Last year, Murdoch announced his engagement to dental hygienist-turned-conservative radio host Ann Lesley Smith, but called off the planned nuptials less than a month later. Zhukova, who immigrated to the United States from Russia, is a retired molecular biologist who at 67 is a quarter century younger than Murdoch, The Times said. — AFP
India deports Myanmar
nationals who fled fighting
NEW DELHI, Mar 08: India on Friday began deporting Myanmar nationals who had fled a recent surge in fighting between the ruling junta and rebels in a border region, a top state official said. "First batch of Myanmar nationals who entered India illegally deported today," N. Biren Singh, chief minister of Manipur state which borders Myanmar, said in a post on social media platform X, without providing specific numbers. Although India is not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention, it has given shelter & aid to those fleeing the crisis in Myanmar on humanitarian grounds with a systematic approach," Singh said. — AFP