Latest news with #Navy
India Today
2 hours ago
- General
- India Today
Indian Navy Agniveer 2025 result declared, download stage 2 admit card
The Indian Navy has officially declared the results for the Agniveer Senior Secondary Recruit (SSR) and Matric Recruit (MR) examinations for who passed the SSR/MR exams can now download StageII call letters online. The written test took place between May 22, to 26, 2025 and candidates can now view their results on the official recruitment portal: the result announcement, the Navy has released StageII admit cards for those who passed the SSR/MR exams. Qualified candidates should visit the same portal, log in with their details, and download their admit These hall tickets contain instructions and venue details for the next RESULT 2025: STAGE II SELECTION PROCESSThe Stage II round will include the Physical Fitness Test (PFT), followed by a written test, medical examination, and document PFT will assess applicants' fitness through running, push-ups, and sit-ups. Aspiring Agniveers should carefully check their admit cards for dates, times, and venue RESULT 2025: HOW TO CHECK YOUR RESULT, DOWNLOAD ADMIT CARDTo access your result and admit card:Visit the official website of on the 'Indian Navy SSR/MR result' link on the official home pageUse your credentials, your email ID and password to log inClick on results option, view and save your resultDownload the StageII admit card and take a printout for the next stageadvertisementDirect link to view SSR/MR results 2025 and download Stage II admit cardAfter the physical and medical rounds, those who meet all requirements will proceed to the final merit list and training at Indian Naval institutions. This merit-based selection ensures that only candidates meeting Navy standards are are advised to keep checking the portal or registered contact details for further updates.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Trick or TACO? Why has Trump set a 2-week deadline for Iran?
US President Donald Trump announced he will decide within two weeks whether the U.S. will intervene in the Israel-Iran conflict, hinting at potential negotiations while demanding "unconditional surrender." This delay could be a strategic move to deceive Iran, allow military repositioning, and give Israel time to weaken Iranian nuclear capabilities. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Also Read: The spy dossier that triggered Israel to rain missiles on Iran Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads What could be Trump's 14-day Iran strategy? White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that President Donald Trump will decide whether the US should get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict within the next two weeks. "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks," Trump said in the statement read out by decision to delay making any decision on the Iran-Israel conflict for two weeks points at his signature approach to deal making -- to make a hard decision and then dilute it or reverse it altogether. He has imposed and then reversed or brought down tariffs on numerous occasions. His style has led to coining of an acronym, TACO, meaning "Trump always chickens out," which was used to describe an investment approach in response to Trump's volatile tariff Trump going TACO with Iran? Trump had claimed on Wednesday that Iran has reached out to negotiate. 'Iran wants to negotiate,' he told reporters. But he quickly added, 'I said it's very late.' According to Trump, Iranian negotiators had even suggested visiting Washington. 'They suggested they come to the White House,' he said. 'But it's difficult.' He appeared unmoved by the offer. 'Two very simple words: unconditional surrender,' Trump said. 'I've had it.' That remark followed his earlier comment: 'Iran's got a lot of trouble and wants to negotiate,' before adding, 'They should have negotiated.'A day after signalling that he was not interested in negotiations with Iran any more, Trump has reversed his stance to say there is still scope for negotiations. Trump faces several challenges: a US involvement in the conflict can result in heavy damage to its assets and soldiers; there is the risk of a wider war breaking out with other players jumping in; and Trump's MAGA base is still unconvinced that the US should get drawn into another foreign finds himself in a complex situation where various pulls and pushes keep him undecided. However, his two-week ploy could actually be a well-planned move. Some experts have told The New York Times that it is also possible that Trump is trying to deceive the Iranians and get them to let their guard down and surprise them with a sudden move. 'That could be cover for a decision to strike, immediately,' James G. Stavridis, a retired Navy admiral and the former supreme U.S. commander in Europe, said on CNN. 'Maybe this is a very clever ruse to lull the Iranians into a sense of complacency.'While Trump keeps the world, including the Iranians, guessing whether the US would join Israel's bombardment of Iran's nuclear and missile sites, the US military has moved some aircraft and ships from bases in the Middle East that may be vulnerable to any potential Iranian attack, two US officials told Reuters on Wednesday. One of the officials said aircraft that were not in hardened shelters had been moved from Al Udeid base in Qatar and naval vessels had been moved from a port in Bahrain, where the military's 5th fleet is per the NYT report, Trump's two-week deadline allows time for a second American aircraft carrier to get into place, giving US forces a better chance to counter the inevitable Iranian retaliation while Israel too will get more time to destroy the air defenses around the Fordo enrichment site, Iran's key nuclear site which can be destroyed only with American latest statement that there's still a substantial chance of negotiations could be aimed at pleasing his European allies. The European powers, who were not part of Iran's nuclear negotiations with the US, had grown increasingly frustrated by the US negotiating strategy in the talks. They deemed some of the demands unrealistic, while fearing the possibility of a weak initial political framework that would lead to open-ended negotiations. Two diplomats told Reuters there were no great expectations for a breakthrough in Geneva, where the European Union's foreign policy chief will also could also believe that the pounding of Iranian nuclear sites by Israel, which is likely to intensify in the two-week period, might soften Iranian position. The plan that the US last offered to Iran was a ban on all uranium enrichment. An Iran weakened by Israeli strikes and facing the threat of the US joining the conflict might be more willing to consider that now.(With inputs from agencies)
USA Today
2 hours ago
- Politics
- USA Today
As a gay man, I'm finally flying a pride flag. I don't know what took so long.
As a gay man, I'm finally flying a pride flag. I don't know what took so long. | Opinion Having witnessed one attempt after another by the current administration to erase LGBTQ+ people, I'm no longer OK with being a quiet gay. Show Caption Hide Caption WorldPride marched through DC for Pride month, in defiance of Trump WorldPride, The global festival promoting LGBTQ+ visibility, held it's anniversary parade in D.C. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've never bought a pride flag, much less displayed one, in my 60-some years. I've been gay for all those years, and openly, publicly so for almost all of them, but have never flown the rainbow flag. But recently, lost in thought on my front lawn here in a small town in central North Carolina, I looked up at the American flag I fly from the front porch. Five years ago, I wrote why I decided to hang the Stars and Stripes, reclaiming it as a flag of all the people, not just some. I remember thinking I was making a statement about inclusion, equality under the law and, yes, patriotism. No one, no political party, should hold the U.S. flag hostage. When people ask me where I live, I proudly tell them, 'It's the house with the Stars and Stripes. You can't miss it.' A friend's flag helped me find a reason to show my pride Then, my neighbor and friend Pier Carlo Talenti, also a gay man, posted a photo of his charming cottage with a big pride flag hung on the front porch, seeming to wave at anyone passing by. He wrote, 'For the first time ever, I'm flying a Pride flag.' And then he went on to tell us why. Talenti was angry that the Department of Defense had decided to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, erasing the gay civil rights leader from the Navy vessel that has borne it since 2021. Milk was assassinated in 1978 because of his sexual orientation; Talenti was sure the announcement of the change had been made specifically to coincide with Pride Month. 'So petty and hateful,' he wrote. He added, 'I need my neighbors who … represent a broad political spectrum (to understand) that there's a gay man living and working here and making their community better. America belongs to all of us.' In just a few hours, dozens of his friends and neighbors had commented, all of them echoing this one: 'I support this message.' A friend in Washington, DC, added, 'Maybe a few of your friends will even join you.' Well, it didn't take long. A Louisville friend posted, 'We've never flown flags either until now. We've got one, too.' That's when I went online and purchased what's known as the 'Progress Pride Flag," which includes five half-size stripes in an arrow shape representing trans and nonbinary individuals, marginalized communities of color and those living with HIV/AIDS on top of the traditional rainbow flag. That particular flag makes a clear statement in support of everything the Trump administration has tried to erase. Opinion: I wrote a book on finding joy. Even now, it's easier than you think. Trump administration trying to erase LGBTQ+ community President Donald Trump and Republicans have made their own statement on the LGBTQ+ community. It started with Trump's anti-transgender attacks, central to his reelection campaign in 2024. Once back in the Oval Office, he called on Congress to pass a bill stating that there are "only two genders' and signed an executive order in January halting federal funding for hormonal and surgical intervention for trans minors. Erased. Anti-trans decision: Supreme Court turned its back on trans youth. Our community never will. | Opinion Then, Trump fired members of the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees, became chairman and canceled all the events planned to celebrate LGBTQ+ rights for June's World Pride festival in the nation's capital. Erased. Not having done enough damage, Trump has now banned transgender people from serving in the military. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that he'd scrub the name of the USNS Harvey Milk, who served as a Navy operations officer on rescue submarines during the Korean War then went on to become the first openly gay man elected to public office in California. If all that wasn't enough, the administration announced plans to end a suicide hotline explicitly created for LGBTQ+ youth. Why haven't I flown a pride flag before? But it made me wonder why I had never done this before. I have been writing about LGBTQ+ issues for decades: books, columns, public talks. I'm no shrinking violet (one of the seven colors in the rainbow flag, and one of many more on some of the newer variations). My identity is no secret. Still, I had my reasons for not identifying my house. I live not far from Ku Klux Klan country, and in recent years KKK members have visited our town, white robes flowing and Confederate flags flying. They've made threats. They've left abhorrent literature on people's front porches. A 2019 invasion frightened many in town, especially my Black and Brown neighbors, who witnessed a hate they thought belonged to another time. I'd been fearful, too, and did not want my house to become a target. As a journalist, I'd already faced a home invasion from a reader who stalked me online for months, finally deciding to confront me by trying to break down my front door. This was in 2018, just before five journalists were killed in Annapolis, Maryland. There was another reason, too, which has only congealed for me. Over the years ‒ decades ‒ I'd changed. At one time, I had enthusiastically and regularly marched in San Francisco Pride, but I hadn't participated in years. I'd once lived in the Castro District (one of this nation's gay meccas), but I'd moved to the suburbs and then to North Carolina. I had once been single, but I'd married my husband and committed to our two dogs. My god, I even got rid of the flashy fake diamond stud that I'd sported for many years. Was it just age, my older self not being as out there as my younger one? Or had something else happened, and I just wasn't 'that kind of gay' anymore? I wasn't even sure what that meant, but it seemed I'd become the kind of gay who didn't hang a pride flag from his front porch. Well, I am again. Like Talenti and other friends, it's time for me to step it up. Having witnessed one attempt after another by the current administration to erase LGBTQ+ people, I'm no longer OK with being a quiet gay. It's time to be a more visible and vocal member of our community ‒ to be counted and to be seen. I've said for many years that I refuse to let fear drive how I live, not realizing I'd already succumbed in this very important way. I think of others in the LGBTQ+ community who live lives at much greater risk than I do, thanks to their sexual identity and the color of their skin, and I know that I need to step into the light on behalf of those who must still live in the shadows. That's why I've hung the pride flag on my front porch, for everyone to see. It's a beacon in these dark times. Now, when people ask me where I live, I tell them, 'It's the house with the pride flag. You can't miss it.' Steven Petrow is a columnist who writes on civility and manners and the author of seven books, including 'The Joy You Make' and "Stupid Things I Won't Do When I Get Old." Follow him on Threads: @
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Eyes that scroll: A Cannes Lions Social and Creator Special: BE Extraordinary
These are campaigns that stood out for use of social media and creator-led strategies . From playful "sonic branding" challenges, to a B2B strategy disguised as consumer engagement or leveraging a social media platform's community, each one had a unique story to tell. Oreo "Name this Oreo', VML Oreo transformed its iconic cookie into a playful exercise in "sonic branding" and social engagement. The campaign leveraged the simple act of twisting, licking, and dunking an Oreo, translating these actions into a "Morse code" for the brand. Different combinations of cookie and cream created distinct auditory responses, challenging a community of Oreo lovers to "guess the sound." This innovative use of social media didn't just showcase the product; it invited active participation and interpretation, turning the familiar cookie into an auditory puzzle. It bordered on sonic branding, demonstrating how the very act of consuming an Oreo could be playfully interpreted through sound, galvanizing a community around a shared, multisensory experience. Lay's Bar Crawl, Slap Global Lay's amplified its "No Game Without Lay's" slogan with a clever social media campaign featuring football legends Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi on a pub crawl. The premise was simple: the stars would attempt to watch a game at various pubs. Upon entering, their first question would be, "Do you have Lay's?" If a pub didn't stock the chips, the celebrity duo would simply leave and move on. This highly engaging social experiment was designed to be filmed and shared, creating immediate, viral content. It leveraged the immense fan base in pubs, turning every potential sighting of the stars into a demand for Lay's. The implicit message was clear: if you want football legends to watch the game at your establishment, you better have Lay's on hand. This was a brilliant B2B strategy disguised as consumer engagement, driving demand for Lay's in pubs by appealing directly to the desires of their patrons and the influence of iconic athletes. US Navy "Subreddit Hunt", VML The US Navy faced a dual challenge in recruitment: a high benchmark for candidates and difficulty reaching this niche audience. They devised an incredibly intelligent and targeted recruitment campaign using the popular online platform Reddit. Playing on the homophone between "submarines" and "subreddits," the Navy began hiding intricate clues, quizzes, and IQ tests within various subreddits. These challenges were designed to appeal to individuals with the specific skills, intensity, and knowledge required for Navy service. Finding and solving these hidden puzzles demanded significant intellect and persistence, effectively pre-qualifying potential recruits. This highly innovative approach turned a digital space into a sophisticated recruitment tool, leveraging an online community's characteristics to identify and engage a highly specialised talent pool for the US Navy. (At BE Extraordinary, a series about the winners at Cannes Lions written in collaboration with Harsh Kapadia, CCO, Grey India, we peer outside the Grand Prix winners, and look at clutter breaking work that picked the silvers and the bronzes, but don't often get discussed.)
The Journal
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Who is Zach Bryan, the country rocker set to play three nights in Phoenix Park?
ZACH BRYAN IS not necessarily a household name – but he's getting there. The musician released his first album in 2019, coming to global success in 2022, and already he's managed to snag three nights at the Phoenix Park – that's a combined 180,000 people (although at the time of writing, he has not managed to sell it out). Bryan has ascended to the spot of being the second-most listened to artist in Ireland, surpassed only by Taylor Swift. However, there seems to be a generational divide in the 29-year-old's reach in Ireland: half of The Journal 's newsroom had never heard of him. So, who is he? And why has he amassed such success in Ireland? Zachary Lane Bryan Bryan was born in 1996 in Japan and raised in Oologah, Oklahoma in the United States. In 2013, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the US Navy, becoming an Aviation Ordnanceman – described as 'enlisted sailors that serve as aircraft armament specialists charged with handling weapons'. In 2016, his mother passed away. The following year, in 2017, he began uploading self-produced music to YouTube, and in 2019, he released his first album, DeAnn, which was dedicated to his late mother. He had his first concert that October. In 2020, he released his second album, which was also self-produced. He married Rose Madden, who also served in the Navy, that same year. Eight years after joining the Navy, he signed a deal with Warner Records and subsequently was formally discharged to pursue his music career full-time in 2021. He also got divorced from Rose Madden. The song most people will be familiar with from Bryan is 'Something in the Orange'. This was released in 2022 and propelled him into the mainstream music scene. To this day, the song has over 1.25 billion streams on Spotify. If that's not ringing a bell, 'I Remember Everything' with Kacey Musgraves has over 1.1 billion streams on the same platform. Advertisement The latter song also took Bryan and his collaborator home a Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group performance in 2024. In the end of 2023, he was arrested for refusing to comply with a police officer after he and his security guard were pulled over for alleged speeding. Bryan gained more – negative – traction online with the end of his relationship with influencer Brianna LaPaglia (also known as Brianna Chickenfry) in late 2024. LaPaglia has millions of followers across a number of TikTok accounts and Instagram, and is the host of a popular podcast. The two parted ways on bad terms and LaPaglia later alleged emotional abuse had resulted in the end of the relationship. As of now, he has released five studio albums, and is embarking on his tour 'Quittin' Time'. His Spotify claims that this is 'his last tour ever', although no other formal announcement appears to have been made. Zach Bryan performs during the Quittin Time Tour at The Amerant Bank Arena on 22 July, 2024 in Sunrise, Florida. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Phoenix Park Peter Aiken of Aiken Promotions, which is tasked with promoting Byran's Irish shows, told reporters during a press conference on Tuesday that Bryan has 'come from nowhere'. 'His songs are about heartbreak and loss and all the things that people don't like talking about any more,' he said. 'Maybe [those] in Dublin aren't aware of him, but people outside Dublin are very well aware of him,' Aiken added, describing him as the 'real deal' and 'not country per se, but very Springsteen.' Bryan's last performance in Dublin was in 2023, when he played the comparatively humble Helix. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
