BBC presenter Susan Rae thanks listeners for support after Alzheimer's diagnosis

Radio 4 announcer Susan Rae was diagnosed last year and her sons launched an appeal to fund her care.

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Nazi monument at Swiss cemetery sparks controversy

The origins of a long forgotten block of granite in the centre of a Swiss town spark controversy.

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18 Dead After Devastating Tornadoes, Storms Sweep Through US States

The death count from a major storm system that has lashed the south-central and eastern US with devastating winds and powerful tornadoes has risen to 18, with dozens of others injured, officials said Saturday.

A spokesperson for the emergency management agency in Tennessee, one of the states hardest hit by storms which have struck since Friday, confirmed seven weather-related fatalities to AFP.

That came on top of 11 deaths reported earlier in Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama in the south, and Indiana and Illinois in the Midwest. The storm system on Saturday was bearing down on the US east coast, with thunderstorms, hail and powerful winds predicted through late Sunday.

On Friday, the storm had sent multiple tornadoes -- some of exceptional size and power -- sweeping through Arkansas, including in the capital Little Rock, where they killed at least five people, the state's governor said.

Daylight revealed extensive damage, with several homes torn apart, cars overturned, power lines toppled and trees ripped out of the ground.

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has declared a state of emergency and activated the national guard to help with recovery efforts.

She said she had spoken to President Joe Biden, who had promised to expedite federal aid.

The city of Wynne, in northeastern Arkansas, was "cut in half by damage from east to west," Mayor Jennifer Hobbs told CNN.

The National Weather Service had also issued tornado warnings for several other states, from as far north as Iowa to the southern state of Mississippi, where a twister last week killed 25 people and caused extensive property damage.

Calamity struck in the Illinois town of Belvidere, outside of Chicago, when severe weather caused the roof and part of the facade of the Apollo Theater to collapse while a heavy-metal band played on stage inside.

TV footage showed emergency personnel carrying out injured concert-goers on stretchers, while video posted on social media showed waist-high rubble on the floor of the concert venue, and a gaping hole in the roof.

Belvidere Fire Chief Shawn Schadle reported one death and 28 injuries, including five people hospitalized with serious injuries.

In the neighboring state of Indiana, three people were killed by a storm in Sullivan County, on the border with Illinois, several US media reported, citing local authorities.

Overnight tornadoes also claimed one life in Pontotoc County, Mississippi, and one in Madison County, Alabama, emergency officials reported Saturday.

More than 600,000 homes were without power Saturday, according to the poweroutage.us website.

As the storm tracked north-eastward, the highest number of outages on Saturday afternoon were in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Several mid-Atlantic states were under high wind warnings.

"Maximum wind gusts could approach 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour throughout much of the Appalachians, upper Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic today," the National Weather System warned.

Tornadoes are common in the United States, especially in the center and south of the country.

President Biden on Friday visited the Mississippi city of Rolling Fork, one of the worst-hit areas in last week's tornado.

In December 2021, tornadoes killed about 80 people in Kentucky.

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

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Andrew Tate: See luxury villa where brothers are under house arrest

The BBC's Lucy Williamson is outside the compound where Andrew Tate and brother Tristan are confined.

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As China's Birth Rate Falls, Students Given Off To "Fall In Love": Report

Political advisors to the government have made many recommendations to increase the birth rate, as population concerns in China have already reached a high point. Now, several colleges are also coming up with a unique plan to support the national concern.

Nine colleges in China are giving students a week off to "fall in love" in April.

According to NBC News, the Mianyang Flying Vocational College, one of nine colleges run by the Fan Mei Education Group, first announced the spring break on March 21, which has a specific focus on romance. The time off, which lasts from April 1 to April 7, encourages students to "learn to love nature, love life, and enjoy love through enjoying the spring break."

"I hope that students can go to see the green water and green mountains and feel the breath of spring. This will not only broaden students' horizons and cultivate their sentiments, but also enrich and deepen the teaching content in the classroom," Liang Guohui, deputy dean of Mianyang Flying Vocational College, said in a statement.

Homework for students includes writing diaries, keeping track of personal development, and making travel videos.

This effort is an attempt to serve the purpose of finding ways to boost the birth rate.

The government has come up with more than 20 recommendations to boost birth rates, though experts say the best they can do is slow the population's decline.

China dug itself into a demographic hole largely through its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015. Authorities raised the limit to three in 2021, but even during stay-at-home COVID times, couples have been reluctant to have babies.

Young people cite high childcare and education costs, low incomes, a feeble social safety net, and gender inequalities as discouraging factors.

The proposals to boost the birth rate, made at the annual meeting of China's People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) this month, range from subsidies for families raising their first child, rather than just the second and third, to expanding free public education and improving access to fertility treatments.

Experts took the sheer number of proposals as a positive sign that China was treating its ageing and declining demographics with urgency, after data showed the population shrinking for the first time in six decades last year.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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Judy Blume worried about intolerance and book banning in the US

Judy Blume says banning books "has become political... it's worse than it was in the 80s".

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AI Images Showing Mark Zuckerberg Walking The Ramp Take Internet By Storm

Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is generally seen in a regular attire of t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers; it's a little different to see him wearing a designer Louis Vuitton outfit and also walking on the ramp. But the artificial technology has made it possible, causing a lot of confusion among internet users because the images appear very real.

It would be challenging to distinguish the fake images produced by AI from real ones since they are so uncannily realistic. Zuckerberg can be seen maintaining the flawless expression that models frequently sport during the rampwalk.

Mark Zuckerberg doing rounds on the runway, pure fashionista.

💬Prompt in alt https://t.co/GQB0nXRzHs pic.twitter.com/xYE3zkaGAm

— Linus (●ᴗ●) (@LinusEkenstam) March 29, 2023

It's not the first time artificial intelligence (AI) images have swept the internet. Many of the expert artists who have employed this technology have produced sometimes unimaginable images.

A few days ago, AI enthusiast Jyo John Mulloor posted a series of images showing Game of Thrones characters, including Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, Arya Stark, and many others, in royal Indian attire.

"If George R. R. Martin has hired an Indian costume designer for Game of Thrones," the caption of the post read.

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A post shared by Jyo John Mulloor (@jyo_john_mulloor)

In the caption, Mr. Mulloor revealed that he created the pictures using an AI application called Midjourney.

Mr. Mulloor had posted a series of images showing famous people, including Mahatma Gandhi, B. R. Ambedkar, Mother Teresa, and Elvis Presley, taking a selfie.

"Upon retrieving my old hard drive, I discovered a treasure trove of selfies sent to me by friends from the past," the artist wrote in the caption of the post.

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A post shared by Jyo John Mulloor (@jyo_john_mulloor)

Apart from the aforementioned names, the pictures also featured Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin, former US President Abraham Lincoln, scientist Albert Einstein, Jamaican singer Bob Marley, and Argentine Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, among others.

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