Could Supply Small Nuclear Power Plant For Musk's Mars Mission: Russian Envoy

Russia could supply a small nuclear power plant for a mission to Mars planned by billionaire entrepreneur and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, President Vladimir Putin's international cooperation envoy said on Thursday.

The envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, said Moscow could discuss the offer with Musk by video conference. It was the second time Dmitriev has spoken of potential cooperation with Musk this month.

The proposal comes after US President Donald Trump launched talks with Russia aimed at reviving bilateral ties which were languishing at their lowest level in decades due to Russia's war in Ukraine. Moscow is seeking to develop economic cooperation with Washington, even as US sanctions against Russia over the conflict remain in place.

Musk, a close Trump associate, said earlier this month that his Starship rocket would blast off for Mars by the end of next year despite various failures in tests and amid scepticism from some space experts about Musk's projected timeline.

In a post on X, Musk said human landings could take place as early as 2029, but that "2031 was more likely." He spoke last year of plans to build a "self-sustaining city in about 20 years" on Mars, something that would need a power source.

Speaking in Murmansk on the sidelines of an Arctic Forum, Dmitriev, who is also head of a fund that works to attract foreign investors, said Russia could contribute a lot to a potential Mars mission.

"Russia can offer a small-sized nuclear power plant for a mission to Mars and other advanced technological capabilities," the state RIA news agency cited him as saying.

"We believe that Russia has a lot to offer for a mission to Mars, because we have some nuclear technologies that I think could be applicable," he added, saying Russia regarded cooperation with Musk, whom Dmitriev hailed as a "great visionary", as important.

Yuri Borisov, the then head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency, said last year that Russia and China were considering putting a nuclear power plant on the moon from 2033-35, something he said could one day allow lunar settlements to be built.

Russia said in 2022 it would start work on its own Mars mission after the European Space Agency (ESA) suspended a joint project after the start of the war.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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"These Things...": Thakur's Blunt Message On Getting Unsold In IPL Auction

Shardul Thakur continued his dream comeback with a four-wicket haul to help Lucknow Super Giants restrict a power-packed Sunrisers Hyderabad to 190 for nine in an IPL match on Thursday. Opting to bowl, Shardul (4/34) gave LSG a fiery start, removing Abishek Sharma and last match centurion Ishan Kishan in consecutive balls in the third over. Shardul sent packing Sharma with a short delivery before getting Ishan Kishan caught behind off an innocuous delivery down the leg side. Travis Head (47 off 28), however, looked in ominous form as he took the attack to the opposition and used his brute power to deal in boundaries and sixes.

Shardul Thakur, after the innings ended, opened up on not getting picked up by any team in the IPL 2025 mega auction. Thakur only joined LSG after Mohsin Khan was ruled out due to injury. 

"I feel all these things happen in cricket. It was a bad day for me in the auction (I didn't get picked by any franchise.) LSG was the one who approached me first due to the injuries to their bowlers, so it was always on the cards. I had to accept it with Zaheer Khan around. You have to go through such things (ups and downs) in cricket. Winning in the game is important for me. I don't look at the wickets or runs column. I want to create an impact and a match winning performance. The batters are coming hard at the bowlers, why not the bowlers go hard at them, that was our plan against SRH. They have been scoring heavily on flat pitches. It fell in our pockets initially (earlier today).

Head was particularly brutal against Avesh, who sprayed the ball on both sides, with the Australian hitting him for two sixes and one four to pick up 18 runs in the fourth over.

Head, however, was lucky as he got two reprieves.

Head skied Ravi Bishnoi's first ball down the ground, and Pooran stationed at long-on had all the time in the world to get under the ball and take a simple catch but the West Indian put it down.

The missed chance proved costly as Head slammed Bishnoi over covers for a maximum.

Bishnoi had another chance to claim the wicket of Head in the fifth ball of the sixth over but he failed to latch on to a difficult return catch.

But Head's luck finally ran out when fast bowler Prince Yadav disturbed his timbers to pick up his first IPL wicket.

Henrich Klaasen (26 off 17) was looking dangerous but got out in a bizarre fashion, run out by Yadav off his own bowling as a straight drive from Nitish Reddy ricocheted on to the sumps from the bowlers follow through.

Young Aniket Verma played a 13-ball 36-run cameo that included five sixes but fell to leg-spinner Disvesh Rathi, caught by David Miller.

SRH skipper Pat Cummins (18 off 4) hit three sixes of his first three balls before departing.

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"Time We Re-Wrote What Black Means": Kerala Bureaucrat To NDTV

Kerala Chief Secretary Sarada Muraleedharan, who triggered a long overdue conversation online about colorism after facing the brunt of it, told NDTV today that she had deleted her post and then restored it after being asked to by a number of people. "It is high time we re-wrote what black means," she said, "because unless we claim its beauty it will just be absence of colour," she added. 

The Chief Secretary had posted her response after being at the receiving end of comments that juxtaposed her skin colour against her work to imply there was something wanting.

It was "interesting", Ms Muraleedharan told NDTV. While she has been used to comments about her dark skin since a young age, and comparison of her tenure with that of her husband -- former Kerala Chief Secretary V Venu. 

"It was interesting to see both of them brought together under one colour paradigm," she told NDTV in an exclusive interview. 

The third dimension there, she added, was that of gender. In her post on Facebook, the 1990-batch IAS officer had said she heard a comment on her performance as Chief Secretary: "that it is as black as my husband's was white".

She said she had initially deleted her post because of the "overwhelming response".

"But people called up to say as a Chief secretary what she said was important and brings out an issue that needs to be discussed," she added. 

Ms Muraleedharan said the common perception about black was what she had absorbed -- so much so that as a four-year-old, she had asked her mother to put her back in the womb and "bring me out again, all white and pretty".

That perception changed only when she saw herself with the eyes of her grown up children. Today, she said, "I dig black".

"Black is the all-pervasive truth of the universe. Black is that which can absorb anything, the most powerful pulse of energy known to humankind. It is the colour that works on everyone, the dress code for office, the lustre of evening wear, the essence of kajol, the promise of rain," she wrote.

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Get Caught, Defecate: Smelly Criminal Finally Lands In Delhi Police's Net

He was wanted for several knife attacks and chain snatchings in North Delhi and had also been caught in the past but managed to give police the slip every time using a smelly method - he would defecate in his pants. But when a patrolling team spotted him on Monday and he tried the same trick again, the cops happened to be prepared and used masks and gloves to catch him and ensure he didn't escape.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Raja Banthia said Deepak, 27, had more than half a dozen cases against him. "This criminal has escaped in this manner many times. As soon as a policeman would catch him, he would immediately activate his filthy plan," Mr Banthia said. 

Deepak, officials said, was involved in several cases of knife attacks and mobile theft in North Delhi's Sadar Bazar area. They said Deepak would defecate in his pants every time he was caught, forcing cops to cover his nose and step away from him. The 27-year-old would use this opportunity to escape. 

On Monday, a patrolling team spotted a man behaving suspiciously in the area and realised it was Deepak. When they caught him, he used his smelly trick again, but the cops had masks and gloves with them. They arrested him and took him to the Sadar Bazar police station. 

"A knife, which Deepak said he calls his 'lucky knife' and keeps on his person at all times, was also recovered. A case has been registered under the Arms Act," said an official.
 

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India, China To Have Issues "For The Foreseeable Future": S Jaishankar

As China and India push to mend ties, strained for nearly half a decade, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that "what happened in 2020 was not the way to address issues". The minister's remarks recalled the way China had unilaterally tried to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control or LAC.

Mr Jaishankar also acknowledged that India and China will continue to have issues in the "foreseeable future", but said that "there are ways of addressing them" without getting into a conflict.

"We know that, between India and China, at least in the foreseeable future, there will be issues, but there are ways of addressing those issues, and what happened in 2020 was not the way," External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a conversation with non-profit Asia Society.

The minister was speaking about the way ties between India and China have evolved over the years. After China's unilateral decision to alter the status quo is eastern Ladakh, which led to a military clash followed by a standoff in 2020, ties between the two Asian giants went into a deep freeze for nearly five years.

"We feel that from October, 2024, the relationship has seen some improvement. What we are trying, step by step, is to see if we can rebuild, undo some of the damage which happened as a result of the actions in 2020," Mr Jaishankar said.

China's actions and the subsequent military standoff led to a feeling of betrayal and severe distrust in New Delhi. Anti-China sentiment surged across the nation, impacting everything from people-to-people ties, business and bilateral ties, trade, technology, visas, and even air travel.

It was only in October 2024, after dozens of rounds of talks, both at the diplomatic and military levels, that the two countries reached an agreement - to return to the status quo in place before 2020. It was only on the basis of this understanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia.

India and Tibet (China) share an over 4,400 km border in two parts known as the Line of Actual Control and the MacMohan Line respectively. The LAC stretches across Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Sikkim, while the MacMohan Line stretches across Arunachal Pradesh.
 

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Explained: Controversy Over "Yeshu Yeshu Prophet" Thrashing Woman Employee

Punjab's self-styled Christian pastor Bajinder Singh -- who was caught on camera beating a man and a woman -- kept his staff in check using force and dirty tricks, the woman has claimed in an interview to NDTV.  The woman, who agreed to speak to NDTV on condition of anonymity, used to work for Singh. She has quit her job after the thrashing episode. She has also filed a complaint against him with the police on the thrashing. 

"He has accused many of the staff of theft and got police cases filed against them. He gets young women to accuse men of misbehaviour and file police cases against them," she said.

In her case, Singh has alleged that she committed irregularities with the church funds and bought a car, her fourth.

WHO IS BAJINDER SINGH

Singh, who is based in Jalandhar, leads 'The Church of Glory and Wisdom' and calls himself "Prophet Bajinder". He became a Christian preacher in 2012, with his supporters claiming that his church has many branches in India and abroad.

The church holds congregations where a large number of people come in anticipation of curing their ailments. These congregations are broadcast live on the YouTube channel '"Prophet Bajinder Singh', which has 3.74 million subscribers.

WHAT THE WOMAN SAID

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the woman denied this. She admitted her family has four cars, one of which, she said, was purchased by her son and one was an old car. Another, she said, was "gifted" by the pastor. Her newest vehicle, she said, `was bought on loan and she has been paying EMIs on it.

The pastor, she said, had targeted her over the man's sister failing to attend church, the woman told NDTV.

"It was her family that had the objection, but he blamed me and started beating me," she said.

A video footage of Singh's office last month shows him throwing objects and slapping the man and the woman. He is seen slapping the man, arguing with the woman and throwing a book at hr. When she confronts him, Singh slaps her.

Asked whether the pastor's allegation, that it was a doctored video, is correct, the woman denied it. 

Asked why the man, who was also seen being beaten up in the video, had not backed up her version of events, she said, "He is young. Can you imagine the kind of pressure he is under?"

BAJINDER SINGH's DEFENCE

The self-styled pastor has claimed that the woman ws responsible for massive financial irregularities, which could be to the tune of Rs 15 crore.

He also said the video was an instance of her maliciously targetting him on the eve of a verdict against him in a sexual harassment case.

CASES AGAINST BAJINDER SINGH

Singh has cases of sexual assault, cheating and manipulation against him. In 2017, he was accused of sexual harassment. He has also been raided by the Income Tax Department.

In 2018, he was arrested for allegedly raping a woman from Zirakpur, Punjab, after luring her with false promises of assistance to travel abroad.

He also faces an allegation of sexual harassment but was not arrested in the case lodged in March this year

His aides -- Jatinder, Akbar Ali, Sitar Ali, Sucha Singh, Rajesh Chaudhary and Sandeep Pehlwan -- have also been named in the FIR registered under IPC Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), 354 (outraging modesty of woman), 294 (obscenity), 323 (causing hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) and Section 67 (transmitting sexually explicit content) of the Information Technology (IT) Act at Zirakpur police station.

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Goli Soda Rebranded, Bubbling To Success In US, UK Gulf Countries: Centre

India's traditional beverage Goli Soda, rebranded as Goli Pop Soda, is registering strong consumer response in the global market, including the US, UK, Europe and the Gulf, according to the Ministry of Commerce & Industry. 

In a statement, the ministry said the demand is driven by strategic expansion and innovative reinvention. 

"Bharat's very own GOLI POP SODA returns to wow tastebuds worldwide! Kudos to @APEDADOC for promoting the revival of the traditional Indian Goli Soda," Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said on X. 

Bharat's very own GOLI POP SODA returns to wow tastebuds worldwide! 🇮🇳

Kudos to @APEDADOC for promoting the revival of the traditional Indian Goli Soda.

📖 https://t.co/Ask6n6YCCl pic.twitter.com/T7XZmc1xmc

— Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) March 25, 2025

Once a household staple, the iconic beverage is making a remarkable comeback on the global stage, "driven by its innovative reinvention and strategic international expansion", the ministry said. It added that the product has already made strong inroads in global markets, with successful trial shipments to the US, UK, Europe and Gulf countries.

India has partnered with Fair Exports to ensure steady deliveries of Goli Soda to Lulu Hypermarket, one of the largest retail chains in the Gulf region, the commerce ministry's arm Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) said. 

"What sets Goli Pop Soda apart is its innovative packaging, featuring a unique pop opener that recreates the nostalgic fizzy burst Indian consumers fondly remember. This rebranding has captivated international markets, positioning the drink as an exciting and trendy product," it said.

It added that the demand for the product in the global market proves that homegrown Indian flavours can compete with international giants, opening new avenues for domestic exports. 

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