File photo: US President Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the American campaign against Iran was performing beyond expectations, rating it “about a 15” on a scale of 10 and pledging to press ahead with operations alongside Israel.“We’re doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15,” Trump told tech executives at the White House.He claimed Iran’s leadership was being decimated. “We’re in a very strong position now, and their leadership is just rapidly going. Everybody that seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead,” he said, adding that Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal was being “wiped out rapidly.”

Justification for the war

Trump repeated that the offensive was aimed at stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. “When crazy people have nuclear weapons, bad things happen,” he said, calling the previous Obama-era nuclear deal “the worst deal ever made” and “a road to a nuclear weapon”.He vowed to “continue forward” with the joint air campaign that, according to AFP, killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on the opening day of the conflict.The White House said Iran’s clerical leadership was being “absolutely crushed” and was “paying in blood,” but Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to confirm whether Trump was seeking regime change. She said he was “actively considering” a US role in Iran after the current operation concludes, reported AFP.

Expanding conflict and global fallout

A US submarine sank an Iranian warship in international waters, while Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran and Hezbollah positions in Lebanon. Iran has fired missiles at Israel and Gulf states.The war has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, over 50 in Lebanon and around a dozen in Israel, according to officials cited by news agency AP. The United Nations said 100,000 people fled Tehran in the first two days alone.Oil prices have surged after Iranian attacks on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, rattling global markets.

Domestic and diplomatic pressures

Trump’s stance has drawn criticism, especially given his earlier campaign pledge of starting “no new wars.” The US Senate is preparing to vote on a war powers resolution seeking congressional approval for further action, though it faces long odds.Leavitt rejected reports that Trump had agreed to arm Kurdish separatists in Iran, calling them “false,” though she confirmed he had spoken to Kurdish leaders regarding US bases in Iraq.Trump also referenced Venezuela, saying US engagement there had “worked out really great” and that oil extraction would benefit both nations.Despite mounting casualties and regional instability, Trump insisted the United States was in “very good shape now” and would continue its military campaign.

Mumbai: The incidence of breast cancer in India more than doubled between 1990 and 2023, according to an 204-country study that estimates another huge increase in cases by 2050 if “six modifiable risk factors” are not tackled.The Global Burden of Disease Study Breast Cancer Collaborators, published in ‘The Lancet Oncology’, said the incidence rate in India climbed from 13 per 1 lakh women in 1990 to 29.4 per 1 lakh in 2023. In the same period, the age-standardised mortality rate increased from 8.9 to 15.5, marking a 74% rise in breast cancer deaths in India.Globally, breast cancer continues to be the leading cause of cancer-related illness and premature death among women worldwide. In 2023, there were an estimated 23 lakh new breast cancer cases and 7.6 lakh deaths. By 2050, cases could rise by a third to 3.5 million despite advances and treatment, said the Lancet study.Globally, three times as many new breast cancer cases were diagnosed in women aged 55 or older in 2023 (161 vs 50 new cases per 1 lakh women) compared to women aged 20-54. However, rates of new cases have risen in women aged 20-54 (up 29%) since 1990, with rates in older women not changing substantially. These differences reflect changing age patterns as well as changes in risk factors, which vary between pre- and post-menopausal women.“In middle-income countries such as India, the total economic burden of breast cancer was estimated at $8.13 billion in 2021 and is projected to rise to $14 billion by 2030 as incidence continues to increase,” it added.The study also said that “over a quarter of healthy years lost to breast cancer are due to six modifiable risk factors, including high red meat intake, tobacco, high blood sugar, and high BMI—offering important opportunities for prevention.”“The projected rise in breast cancer burden by 2050 is not fate — it’s a forecast, and, therefore, preventable. This analysis is a policy blueprint. With organized screening, timely diagnostics, and universal access to evidence-based treatment, we can bend the curve. The science is ready. The time to act is now,” said Dr (Prof) Jyoti Bajpai, lead medical & precision oncologist from Apollo Hospital, Navi Mumbai.Tata Memorial Centre director Dr Sudeep Gupta pointed out that with increased levels of development, there is often a concomitant rise in the incidence of some cancers, in India it is breast cancer. “There is a change in reproduction pattern, increase in tobacco and alcohol use, among other reasons that have been seen across the globe,” said Dr Gupta.The latest study, however, shows that the breast cancer burden in the West has peaked there and associated deaths are lower.“This publication highlights the improvement in breast cancer detection in underprivileged countries, but also provides us the insight into the gap between the developed and the developing countries which we need to bridge,” said senior medical oncologist Dr Kumar Prabhash from Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel.The study’s authors said that progress towards ensuring all women have an equal chance to survive breast cancer can only be achieved through a combination of aggressive prevention strategies, ensuring well-functioning health systems capable of early diagnosis and comprehensive treatment, and making cancer services both accessible and affordable to all.

Artificial intelligence has generated both excitement and anxiety among students, fresh graduates and mid-career professionals, particularly in software development. Coding, built on structured logic and repeatable patterns, has proved especially amenable to AI training. As models grow more capable of generating, testing and even debugging code, many are asking a blunt question: what exactly should a software professional now learn to remain relevant? Vishal Chahal, VP at IBM India Software Labs, argues that the answer is not to compete with machines on speed, nor to abandon programming fundamentals. It is to elevate one’s thinking. “AI is redefining software. Coding is only one part of the software life cycle.” Design, architecture, deployment, support and continuous improvement remain firmly in human hands. “AI is redefining what you will do in your job (as a software developer)”.The productivity gains are real and this has implications. In Chahal’s own experience, developers can see “at least a 30 percent uplift in daily coding tasks”. Essentially, software can be built “much faster”, test cases can be generated more quickly, and iteration cycles have shrunk. This means teams can now experiment more freely because they can fail fast and try again without the same cost in time.

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The deeper shift lies in how engineers think. “Instead of spending your time writing code line by line, you should be thinking about systems,” he says. “How am I designing this system? What solution am I trying to achieve?” Once that clarity exists, structured prompts can guide AI tools to generate much of the code. For students, the message is not to discard programming languages either, even if AI can write much of the code. “We must continue to learn the fundamentals,” Chahal says. Understanding how software interacts with hardware, how prgramming languages translate into machine instructions and how systems behave under load remains essential. AI-generated code still needs to be understood, validated and improved.However, “coding itself is no longer the super skill,” he adds. “The super skill is the ability to take a requirement, turn it into a solution, and then express that solution clearly through structured prompts.”Vague instructions will yield vague results. “If you say ‘write a good JavaScript program’, that means nothing. You must define what ‘good’ means — secure, efficient, scalable, compliant. You must specify the constraints.”Chahal cautions strongly against intellectual complacency as well. “If you offload all your thinking to these tools at the start of your career, you will not develop the ability to design complex enterprise systems.” Building prototypes with AI is one thing, designing mission-critical digital infrastructure is another. Architectural judgement in this space is built through understanding gained over many years at the workplace.Security and governance, he argues, are also now becoming foundational skills. With AI generating code and developers pulling from open-source repositories, risks multiply. “You must know how to build secure, governed solutions,” he says. Engineers should be able to scan for vulnerabilities, detect data leaks and apply responsible AI principles.Chahal rejects the idea that entry-level roles are disappearing. “Jobs are not going away. They are transforming,” he says. Which is why Chahal and his team at IBM now look out for candidates who are adaptable. “The hunger to learn and the ability to unlearn. That’s what we look for.” he says. Linear, narowly defined career paths matter a lot less than evidence of flexibility — shifting domains at work, learning new tools and embracing change. Chahal’s advice is to try and highlight these competencies in your resume if you have them.For both young and mid-career professionals, his other bit of advice is to practice daily. “Spend half an hour or an hour every day using these AI tools.” The objective is to be intimately familiar with them — to understand the nuances of these AI models, their limitations, and their rapid evolution. Those who stay close to the change will recognise the shifts between one wave of models and the next and will be able to adapt in a cutthroat jobs marketplace more effectively because of it.

Since India‘s opening match of the T20 World Cup 2026, captain Suryakumar Yadav has not struck a single half-century. Ahead of the semi-final, there are concerns over Yadav’s form. However, SKY’s childhood coach dismissed all the concerns over his student.

Team India is all set to face England in the second semi-final of the tournament tomorrow. Ahead of the highly anticipated clash, some concerns are hovering around the Indian skipper. India captain Suryakumar Yadav’s childhood coach Ashok Aswalkar believes that there is nothing to be worried about Yadav.

Suryakumar Yadav’s batting causes worry ahead of India vs England Semifinal, T20 World Cup 2026

The Indian national cricket team is in Mumbai for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2026. As the captain of the defending champions, Suryakumar Yadav is in the middle of the stage right now.

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The right-handed batters kicked off their campaign in style. In their opening match, when the Indian batters were surprisingly struggling against the bowlers of the United States, the middle-order batter came to rescue the team. Because of the skipper’s unbeaten 84 -run knock, India registered the much-needed win.

After the challenging first match, the co-hosts of the ongoing event remained unbeaten until they faced South Africa in the first match of the Super 8. South Africa defeated India and made their semi-final equation complicated. India bounced back on time by defeating Zimbabwe and the West Indies in back-to-back matches.

Suryakumar Yadav’s childhood coach opined on his student’s recent performance

After the USA match, Yadav failed to deliver according to his calibre. Though his childhood coach said that Suryakumar Yadav is not out of form, he is doing well. The coach praised Yadav’s leadership qualities as well. Ashok Aswalkar said that Yadav might not be scoring enough runs, but his leadership skills reflect his class in every game.

Here’s the video