The new piecemeal legislation, a gun reform coming after three decades, is born of a compulsion to do something about gun violence in the background of the Texas school mass shooting that shocked the entire world and exposed the American reality. Just enhancing background checks for gun buyers under 21 and closing a 'boyfriend loophole' - the two major provisions - are not something great to celebrate as landmark achievement. They are not going to impact gun sales, but the Congressmen's crocodile tears may help in the forthcoming midterm election in November.

WASHINGTON, June 25: President Joe Biden signed on Saturday morning the gun-safety legislation passed by the Congress earlier in a rare show of bipartisan compromise following a spate of mass shootings in the US. Much acclaimed as a landmark achievement, the new piecemeal approach to dealing with the problem of raging gun violence, however, is not going to impact gun sales!.

This is nowhere near what Dems wanted. They wanted a ban on all assault-style weapons and background checks for all those wanting to buy a gun. Last time when the Congress enacted a serious legislation was in 1993 when assault weapons were banned but the law expired later on.

The new bipartisan legislation is not going to impact gun sales but, for electoral purpose (midterm polls), it has been projected as showing that the Democrats and the Republicans can come together for a national cause.

The urgent legislation follows last month's gruesome mass shootings at a New York grocery killing 10 people and the primary school in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers.

The House of Representatives passed the Bill on Friday with 234 to 193 votes, with 14 Republicans supporting. Earlier, the Senate had on Thursday voted 65-33 to approve it, with the back of 15 Republicans, including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.

A gun reform coming after three decades, although a small step, has been hailed as a landmark achievement in putting a brake on shootings which have become a daily incident in the US.

Gun control has been a divisive issue in American politics with the conservative Republican party backing the gun lobby that included the powerful National Rifle Association and the arms manufacturers, a pillar of national economy.

The new legislation includes enhanced background checks for gun buyers under 21 and eliminating a "boyfriend loophole" existing in the present laws.

'Boyfriend Loophole'

At present those convicted of domestic violence are barred from buying guns. This is applicable only if they are living with their partner, married to their partner or have a child with their partner. The law does not apply to dating partners and this came to be called the "boyfriend loophole." So, in the new legislation those convicted of abusing unmarried intimate partners ("dating relationships") will also be barred from buying guns.

The new legislation will also implement a "red flag" law to remove firearms from people considered a threat. The law prevents individuals who show signs of being a threat to themselves or others from purchasing or possessing any kind of firearm. The police can ask the court to disarm those posing a threat to others. 'Red flag' means signs exhibited by a person that he may be a harm to himself or others.

Besides, a major portion of $15bn in Federal funding to implement the law will be set aside for mental health programmes and school security upgrades.

Reacting to the Texas shooting, President Biden had pushed for a ban on assault weapons or at least a raise in the age limit for purchasing arms. But the Democrats did not have a majority in the Congress to pass such legislation. However, an agreement was worked out in the Senate for a minimum programme of background checks for buyers younger than 21 years.

It is significant that the legislation, though a patch-up one, received at least nominal support from the pro-gun lobby Republicans for a compromise deal. Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, a likely candidate for 2024 election, said the Bill "try to disarm law-abiding citizens rather than take serious measures to protect our children".

More than 20,900 people have been killed in gun violence in the US this year, including homicide and suicide, according to Gun Violence Archive.

The Constitution's Second Amendment gives the right to "keep and bear arms".

Supreme Court strikes down New York law on gun licence

Meanwhile, even as a furious campaign against gun violernce is surging, the Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a New York law that restricts gun-carrying rights. The law required citizens to prove "proper cause" or a good reason to carry firearms in public. Applicants seeking a concealed carry licence had to demonstrate a special need for self- defence. The verdict, in fact, expands the gun rights. The court said the law violates the US Constitution.

The six conservative judges ruled that Americans have a right to carry "commonly used" firearms in public for personal defence. The three liberal justices - Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor and Stephen Breyer - disagreed.

The Supreme Court was reversing a lower court order which upheld the 108-year-old New York law (year 1913) that restricted issue of gun licence.

"This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all," President Biden said. He is "deeply disappointed by the decision."

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Democrat, tweeted, "outrageous that at a moment of national reckoning on gun violence, the Supreme Court has recklessly struck down a New York law that limits those who can carry concealed weapons."

The Supreme Court verdict followed an appeal by two plaintiffs against denial of gun licences to them.

The new offer will enable H-1B speciality occupation visa holders in the US to apply for a Canadian work permit, while also offering study and work permit opportunities for their family members accompanying them.

The selected applicants will be granted an unrestricted work permit for a maximum period of three years. The IRCC will entertain 10,000 applications. The window is open for one year.

However, drinking alcohol in the trains and metro premises is strictly prohibited. Violators can be booked under the provisions of the Excise Act and the Indian Penal Code.

• Curfew was clamped on areas in Paris on Thursday lasting till Monday. The police apprehend an escalation of volence in the coming days. There will be "actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the State", they said.
• Under present law, the police have brute powers to deal with traffic violators. Young Nahel was shot point-blank by a cop for purported traffic violation and an anticipated crime.

Way back when on June 20 EST after searches were launched, India Travel Times had, on an analysis of the data available, indicated the probability of Titan undergoing a sudden and massive implosion (inward collapse) at great depths. (SEE: Titanic expedition goes missing: A ray of hope from sounds of bang) Now videos taken by a Canadian robot that reached the floor on Thursday evening, June 22, has confirmed it. The fragments are lying scattered. Horizon Arctic's ROV robot found the debris 1600 ft from Titanic bow.

The submersible imploded at 500 metres above sea bed, if we go by our calculations. The water pressure it had to withstand at that point was 2,345 kg per sq inch. The hull was not built to take that, as per the court cases fought by concerned people at the time of building the sub and going by the details revealed in the cancellation of booking by at least one ocean expert.

Sources said some people shifted places on the decks of the boat crammed with over 500 migrants and that tilted the vessel, while others said engine failure. It sank about 75 km from Pylos peninsular jetty on the Greek coast in the Ionian Sea bay in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday.

ChatGPT has 'duped' a New York lawyer of a federal court. A first-time user, Schwartz asked the bot to do the laborious research work on his behalf and bring out cases similar to the suit he was filing against Avianca airline. About six non-existing cases the chatbot "hallucinated" and Schwartz promptly submitted them. The judge could not find these "legal gibberish" in records and the lawyer stands thoroughly discredited and humiliated. What was all the excitement about ChatGPT? When we approach ChatGPT does it introduce itself as what it is and what it is not?

After reaching New York, the Cessna made a hairpin turn and flew back over Washington DC for inexplicable reasons. But why was the pilot unresponsive to air traffic controllers FAA for two hours in the air and the fighters' flares later? It is said the plane, flying at 34,000 feet, likely lost cabin pressure, the pilot slumping due to hypoxia that sets in in about 20 to 30 seconds! Did the auto pilot take over till fuel lasted? Why did it make a 360 deg turn? The moot point is, how secure is the White House!

• Angered over President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the US last week, China has launched a three-day military drill to intimidate Taiwan and as a warning to the US. The patrol also has a standby nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (see pix below).
• Meanwhile, Tsai's meeting with Kevin McCarthy indicates a bipartisan move in the US, probably a Biden plan for legislation to end the ambiguity over official relations with Taiwan.
• And, next year's election in Taiwan will be fought by the US and China by proxy.
• The US seeks to check the growing Chinese military presence in the Pacific with new alliances.

ANALYSIS: The underlying crime that defendant ex-President Donald Trump, is said to have concealed by falsification of business records - which only will make the whole thing a felony and stand up in the court - is not specified in the indictment which is sketchy: may be because prosecutors can withhold details at this stage. Yet, the hush-money payment being federal election law violations, it cannot come under the jurisdiction and scope of State prosecutors. Deprived of substantial documentary evidence, how will the veteran District Attorney Alwin Bragg navigate through this complexity and prove the intent is to be seen. He will have an option to invoke State tax laws, where violation is serious crime. But that is another case. The trial will drag on for years, anyway!

What next: His fingerprints and mugshot will be taken like any defendant in criminal cases. Arrest is unlikely (Florida Governor can block any warrant, complicating matters). Trump's attorney Tacopina said Trump will turn himself in.

Can Trump contest presidential election? Yes. There is no existing US law to bar him. He can even serve as President from prison.

The loophole: The Grand Jury has no documentary evidence as the NDA was not signed either by Trump or Cohen (Trump's attorney who turned hostile) on his behalf. It is depending on the testimony of Cohen and Daniels.

Where do Republicans stand: At any rate, the 'stormy petrel' has cooked Donald Trump's presidential goose, although he thinks otherwise. The Republicans are a divided lot.

• The shooter, a former student of the school., entered through a side door, after breaking the glass door. She was shot dead by the police, but only after six lives were lost.
• Every time a shooting takes place in the US, every time the White House makes a statement: “Enough is enough.” It's funny, painful and cruel!. Mostly the mass shootings take place in the schools.

In a related development, the USCIS issued a clarification that those who have lost jobs in the ongoing layoffs in the tech sector can apply for a change of non-immigrant status or for a "compelling circumstances" employment authorization document and stay back. This followed an appeal to Biden by thousands of Indians who have been affected by the layoffs.

"Enough!" - In a sheer lack of sense of proportion, President Biden had reacted to yet another boy, just of 15 years, shooting dead five people in North Carolina some time ago, besides sounding like he is going to put an end to American gun violence instantly! After the latest LA episode, he is yet to react! Biden presents a brilliant comparison to Indian Chief Ministers for their stupid reactions in similar circumstances of recent months!

For sure, gun violence will continue as long as the gun is there! Primarily meant for self-defence, how many times - or what percentage of all firings - it has successfully defended the carriers and saved lives and how? Has there been a survey?

Cricketer Rishabh Pant had an attack of sleep at the wheel. The situation of a sudden attack of sleep during travel is not a sleep disorder like narcolepsy but a common occurrence when one does not get enough rest and, surely, is not preventable. Because no driver really knows the moment when sleep attack will come over, says a US study. The consequence can be disastrous, especially in long distance driving.

Darkness has descended on most of the US from the Great Lakes to Mexican border and from the Appalachian mountains in the east to the Rockies mountains in the west without power, and large swathes have gone under the snow. Several thousands of flights have been cancelled due to the howling blizzards and zero-visibility in the past few days and medical services are unable to operate sans accessibility. A fast-moving Guv Kathy Hochul has already declared emergency in New York and closed vulnerable airports. Christmas is washed out.

The story is no different in Canada, coming nearer to the pole where the cold vortex cycle has been blasted off (Arctic blast) by the hot winds from an Atlantic, warmed up due to climate change.

The life-threatening situation will continue for several days more. Too taxing for the hypothalamus!

A half-baked British media report has laid the 'blame' at the Indian High Commission's door for the assumed losses of the British tourists, who have en masse cancelled India trips for want of visas. In the first place, why one must book tour package and then look for visa in a busy season? Because that has been the practice with the tour operators and nothing new. They refund money if visa is not comimg. However, the article is silent on this and implicates the mission alleging it changed the visa rules, while that is contrary to the fact. The UK report, duplicated in India mindlessly, has defamed the Indian High Commission. However, there are some missing links!

A million visitors are queuing up to attend the longest-reigning Queen Elizabeth II Lying-in-State, making history; while a galaxy of world leaders land in London for the State funeral at Westminster Abbey at 11 am (3:30 pm IST) on Monday. It will be a huge gathering of world leaders never seen before. King Charles III hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for them on Sunday evening. There were 500 dignitaries.

The queue from Southwark Park touches Tower bridge, London bridge, Southwark bridge, Millennium bridge, Blackfriars bridge, Waterloo bridge and Westminster bridge before crossing the Lambeth bridge to enter a zig-zag near the entrance.

The BBC gave a calculation of the length of the queue. The distance from Westminster to Southwark Park, the starting point of the queue, is 11 km. Then there is the zig-zag section of nearly 5 km to rough in. So the queue is meandering slowly up towards Westminster for a total of 16 km! (which in theory becomes a constant). Although, 16 km is quite a lot for standing and moving without any chance to cool your legs for a moment. "Very little opportunity to sit down as the queue will be continuously moving” - the Government itself cautioned a swelling stream of mourners pouring into London from across the kingdom day and night. The time taken can easily be 14 hours! Yet the determination keeps everyone fit as a fiddle.

The calculation doesn't take into account a queue to join the queue that has come up and the last-minute doubling of the official queue into a double lane.

The masses in the queues looked extremely solemn and serious too and displayed an amazing natural discipline that illustrated a national character evolved partly from a thousand years of democratic tradition.

The spectacle was an engineering marvel that took India to the world club of demolitions, even as in less than ten seconds it created a gap up in the sky incomprehensible for the layman. Where has it gone!

WHAT TO DO, WHEN... : IndiaTravelTimes does not guarantee the authenticity of the video (above) of the episode of the flight turbulence at Durgapur airport on May 1, yet this is being put out with a view to familiarising the ordinary fliers with such probabilities lest they are caught unawares and fail to react rationally to handle such terrible situations. The 'eternity' can last up to 15 minutes. Tighten your belts, believe in your pilot and shift your thoughts to reduce disabling anxieties! Rest assured, the aircraft can rock and fall but not more than a hundred feet anyway.