According to The Hindu, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated that the government’s decision was influenced by the current situation in West Asia, particularly the conflict involving Israel, the United States, and Iran. Meloni’s administration, previously considered one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, has recently criticised Israeli military actions in Lebanon, which have affected Italian peacekeepers serving under a United Nations mandate.

As reported by Hindustan Times, the suspended agreement, originally approved in 2006 and reviewed every five years, covered cooperation in defence industries, military training, research, and information technology. Tensions between Italy and Israel intensified after Italian officials accused Israeli forces of firing warning shots at a convoy of Italian UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani described Israeli attacks on Lebanese civilians as “unacceptable,” and subsequently visited Beirut to express solidarity with Lebanon’s leadership.

As highlighted by The Indian Express, Meloni emphasised the necessity of diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the conflict and restore stability in the region. She specifically mentioned the importance of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage for global oil and fertiliser shipments, which has been disrupted by the ongoing hostilities. “It is necessary to continue working to advance peace negotiations, making every possible effort to stabilise the situation and reopen the Strait,” Meloni said, underlining the economic and strategic significance of the waterway.

“In light of the current situation, the government has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defence agreement with Israel,” Meloni was quoted as saying in Verona, according to Italian news agencies.

Coverage revealed that the regional crisis has led to broader diplomatic and economic repercussions, with Italy’s move reflecting growing unease in Europe over the widening conflict. The suspension comes amid heightened scrutiny of Israel’s military operations and increased calls for peace negotiations from European leaders.

Italy’s decision follows a series of diplomatic exchanges, including Israel summoning Italy’s ambassador after Rome condemned Israeli strikes in Lebanon. In addition, Meloni publicly supported Pope Leo after criticism from Donald Trump, defending the independence of religious institutions and reiterating Italy’s commitment to humanitarian principles as diplomatic tensions rose.

Analysis showed that the suspension of the defence pact marks a significant development in Italy-Israel relations, with potential implications for military cooperation and broader European engagement in the Middle East as regional dynamics shift.

“It would have been politically difficult to keep it going,” an Italian diplomatic source confirmed, reflecting the impact of recent events on bilateral ties.

Reporting indicated that Italy’s stance is part of a wider European response to the conflict, as governments reassess their positions on military cooperation and humanitarian engagement in light of ongoing violence and instability in the region.

Note: This article is produced using AI-assisted tools and is based on publicly available information. It has been reviewed by The Quint's editorial team before publishing.

Only Asha chose rebellion. By the time my generation found its singing voice, Asha tai had stepped out of the shadow of her illustrious older sister, and we amateur singers had found an unlikely guru.

Early Struggles: Finding a Voice

Like Lata, Asha started singing when she was around ten-years-old. When she was sixteen, Asha tai eloped with a thirty-one-year-old man called Ganpatrao Bhosle, who turned out to be a wife-beater.

In 1960, she walked out of the abusive marriage with two kids in her arms and the third one in her womb. Being a single mother, she was desperate for work, but good work was hard to come by. Her sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the default choice of music directors, and if they wanted a vivacious singer, they turned to the dulcet-voiced Geeta Dutt.

At this time, Asha tai briefly benefited from the fallout between the Dutts and Waheeda Rehman, which is why it was Asha, and not Geeta, who sang Bhanwra Bada Nadaan Hai for the Guru Dutt–Meena Kumari–Waheeda Rehman starrer Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam (1962). A discerning listener can detect how heavily Asha tai was influenced by Geeta Dutt in her early years.

Slowly but surely, she found a unique style and established her own space in the industry.

Breaking Through: Owning Her Space

Owing, perhaps, to her scandalous personal life, many composers initially avoided Asha or gave her only cabaret numbers to sing. Asha would often get a song or two in albums where other female playback singers dominated. It was OP Nayyar who exploited Asha tai's potential fully, giving her albums where she was the sole female playback singer in films like Naya Daur (1957), Kashmir Ki Kali (1964), and Mere Sanam (1965). With Nayyar’s backing, she started getting more offers, which helped her explore her range fully.

Composers such as SD Burman, Roshan, and Madan Mohan recognised her talent. Raj Khosla’s Bambai Ka Babu (1960) was one of the films from that decade where she sang all the songs for the heroine (Suchitra Sen). The album was composed by SD Burman, who also gave Asha two songs in Bimal Roy’s Bandini (1963)—Ab Ke Baras Bhej Bhaiya and O Panchhi Pyare.

Madan Mohan gave her Jhumka Gira Re in Mera Saaya (1966), and the song, picturised on Sadhana, became a huge hit. Roshan gave her memorable qawwalis like Nigahen Milane Ko Jee Chahta Hai from Dil Hi To Hai (1963). Nayyar also made Asha the voice of the hit heroine Asha Parekh, giving her songs such as Jayiye Aap Kahaan Jayenge (Mere Sanam, 1965).

By the year 1974, Nayyar and Asha had a massive fallout. Fortunately for her, a powerhouse called RD Burman was waiting to step into her life. Their partnership continued till his untimely death in 1994.

The Pancham Era: Audacity, Freedom, and Reinvention

RD Burman may have inherited his creative genes from his famous father, but he believed in challenging the existing order. He specialised in songs of liberation—audacious songs that set everyone free—music that uplifts and makes one feel alive.

The singer, the actor, and the listener became one in that cosmic moment when nothing else matters but the music—Asha was RD Burman’s equal partner in creating songs of quiet rebellion.

Teesri Manzil (1966), RD Burman’s breakthrough film, had Mohammed Rafi singing Aaja Aaja Main Hoon Pyar Tera, to which Asha responded with the now-iconic line—“A-aa-aaja, a-a-aaja…” 

Asha tai, who had a terrific sense of humour, once recalled in an interview how she practised singing this in the backseat of a car, and the driver, alarmed, asked if she was alright. She simply told him, “Tu gaadi chala (just drive the car).”

In Caravan (1971), when RD Burman screamed “Monica!”, Asha responded with a full-throated Piya Tu Ab To Aaja. When she broke into “Kya khushi kya gham…”, in Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1971) urging you to keep going, it felt like both of them were defying convention—and asking you to do the same.

In Jawani Diwani (1972), Asha tai dropped her voice to a whisper in “Tum kahaan?”, to which Kishore Kumar responded on a soaring high note—“Main yahaan!” Their back-and-forth in Nahi Nahi Abhi Nahi remains the gold standard for restless songs of youth.

Beyond Labels: Sensuality, Range, and Legacy

Every time she sang a seductive number, Asha Bhosle showed us that "vulgarity", like beauty, is subjective. Her songs were never vulgar; they were always true to the situation and the character.

Asha tai demolished the perception that a saree-clad, “homely” woman cannot sing sensuous numbers convincingly. She became the first choice of film makers who wanted to spice up their film with a classy number.

From Mera Naam Shabnam Hai (Kati Patang, 1970) to Raat Akeli Hai (Jewel Thief, 1967), and O Babua Yeh Mahua (Sadma, 1983), she brought nuance, playfulness, and control.

Asha Bhosle was neither a pushover nor a fuddy-duddy. She was a blithe spirit who refused to age. 

In 1996, after RD Burman’s death in 1994, she teamed up with Leslie Lewis to remix popular Pancham numbers like O Mere Sona Re for Rahul and I, while continuing to work with newer composers. When Ram Gopal Verma set out to re-launch Urmila Matondkar, he and AR Rahman chose Asha tai for Rangeela (1995). She sang with such ferocity that you believed every word —“Chal mere sang-sang… ho ja rangeela re"— enthralling yet another generation as we neared the turn of the millennium.

Her range remains staggering. She moved effortlessly across genres—ghazals like Dil Cheez Kya Hai (Umrao Jaan, 1981), semi-classical gems like Piya Baanwari (Khubsoorat, 1980), bhajans like Tora Mann Darpan Kehlaye (Kaajal, 1965), and qawwalis like Na Toh Karwaan Ki Talaash Hai (Barsaat Ki Raat, 1960).

Her non-film work, in India and abroad, is equally celebrated—from Dil Padosi Hai (1987), with RD Burman and Gulzar, to her 2005 tribute to ghazal greats like Mehdi Hassan and Jagjit Singh. Her Grammy nominations—for Legacy (1997), with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, and You’ve Stolen My Heart (2005), with the Kronos Quartet—came late, but fittingly. Not that she ever complained. 

Like her sister, Asha tai stepped away from awards at her peak so others could shine. Even so, she received two National Awards, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, and the Padma Vibhushan.

The Woman Who Became Every Woman

The magnificent Mangeshkar sisters were straightjacketed into ‘good girl’ and ‘bad girl’ categories early in their careers. With her versatile singing, Asha tai rejected all such binaries. My generation owes a lot to her—she liberated women through her voice.

She once told a contestant on a reality show, “Khul ke gao. Pet se gao, gale se nahi (sing freely, sing from your stomach not your throat).” And then she demonstrated exactly how. Asha tai believed that singers, like actors, cannot afford to be shy. If you commit to something, you must believe in it wholeheartedly—you must become that character.

Asha tai was the diva who beckons in Jewel Thief (1967) with “Raat Akeli Hai”; the nautch girl in Umrao Jaan (1981) who wonders, “Mere liye bhi kya koi udaas, beqaraar hai?”; and the seductress who croons, “Yeh hai reshmi zulfon ka andhera”; the playful lover in a blonde wig from Apna Desh (1972), who befools the villain with “Duniya mein logon ko dhokha kabhi ho jata hai”; the royal courtesan in Lekin… (1991), dancing to “Joothe Naina Bole Saanchi Batiyan”; the child-bride in Khushboo (1975), accepting her fate—“Dulhaniya mar jayegi”; the lonely, mute girl in Namkeen (1982), beckoning the clouds with “Phir se aaiyo badra bidesi”; and the beloved who comforts her man with “Jahan main aisa kaun hai” in Hum Dono (1961).

She was the playful lover, the rebel, the dreamer, the lonely girl. Indeed, Asha tai was every woman.

(Nirupama Kotru is a senior civil servant. She has co-edited an anthology on 1970's Hindi cinema, 'The Swinging Seventies', and has also released an album of Nirgun Bhajans titled 'Upasana'.)

What does he say?: In the video, Tharoor can be heard talking about the "colonisation of India," saying that Indian diplomacy was now being colonised at the hands of Pakistan.

"I mean, it is such a sad spectacle to see Steve Witkoff and JD Vance right there in Islamabad, while they could have stopped by India for a cup of tea. I believe that it's a huge diplomatic failure, there is no other justification, and what India is suffering right now is complete colonisation. It is no different than what the British did to us. Pakistan has done to same to India in terms of diplomacy and diplomatic posture. I feel lost and sad. I am overwhelmed and unable to fully express my true feelings right now," he reportedly said.

(Archived versions of more posts sharing this claim can be seen here and here.)

Is it true?: No, the video was manipulated using AI.

How did we find out the truth?: We ran a reverse image search on the video, which led us to an X post by news agency ANI, shared on 11 April.

• Responding to a question about Pakistan mediating Iran-US negotiations, he spoke about Washington writing statements on behalf of Pakistan's prime minister, noting that the language used was similar to that of the US and its President Donald Trump, and Pakistan's relations with Iran.

• He did not mention Witkoff, Vance, diplomacy or diplomatic failure, or make the statement mentioned in the claim.

• Since the video did not carry any of the things mentioned in the claim, we ran it through AI-generated content detection tools.

• Hiya's Deepfake detection tool gave the audio an authenticity score of two out of 100, noting that the sampled voice was likely a deepfake.

Similarly, Hive Moderation's tool said that the audio was 98.3 percent likely to be AI-generated or deepfake content.

Conclusion: An AI-manipulated video of Congress MP Shashi Tharoor is being shared to falsely claim that he compared India's and Pakistan's diplomacy, criticising the former.

(Not convinced of a post or information you came across online and want it verified? Send us the details on WhatsApp at 9540511818 , or e-mail it to us at webqoof@thequint.com and we'll fact-check it for you. You can also read all our fact-checked stories here.)

An experiment conducted by a team led by Almira Osmanovic Thunström, a medical researcher at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, yielded these findings.

The experiment was carried out to test whether large language models (LLMs) would ingest misinformation and present it as a legitimate medical condition.

The experiment carried out by Osmanovic Thunström involved her and the team uploading two preprints about a made-up condition named ‘bixonimania’ to the academic social network Sciprolfis, and included a fake name for the researcher and a photograph of him created with AI.

She also included multiple red flags throughout the preprint to make it clear to any medical staff that the condition is made up. 

The results showed that not only did these AI models present this false information as truth, but numerous researchers have cited the made-up research paper on Bixonimania in their studies. 

This has raised concerns among researchers, as over 23 crore people worldwide use AI chatbots for health-related concerns every year.

AI Hallucinations

Misinformation by AI chatbots is not limited to accessing fake research papers. AI hallucinations are another common form of how false information is spread. AI hallucination occurs when the chatbots generate information that seems plausible but is actually misleading or inaccurate.

The following graph is based on a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a US-based health policy organisation. The survey sample included 2,428 US adults. The graphs show how often the individuals interact with AI.

While explaining why chatboxes give incorrect responses, Anupam Guha, a researcher in AI policy and professor at IIT Bombay, told us how AI lacks a human sense of the world, during a story about how AI spreads misinformation.

AI chatbots often give false diagnoses, unreliable advice and even invent body parts in response to medical reports, according to a report by Emergency Care Research Institute, an American healthcare research nonprofit organisation. They also discussed how the risk of using chatbots in healthcare becomes even more concerning as healthcare expenses reduce access to healthcare and increase dependency on these tools.

As part of a study by nature, researchers gathered 234 samples of distorted ChatGPT responses to understand how ChatGPT generates distorted or misleading information. These responses were distributed across different categories.

The following chart visualises how frequently each error type appeared.

AI Healthcare in India

According to a research paper, AI in Indian healthcare: From roadmap to reality, the use of AI and robots in the health sector in India is increasing, aiming to account for the shortage of medical professionals and healthcare workers in the country.

The study says that one of the key strengths of AI is its ability to provide personalised advice based on the patient's medical history, their response to treatment and their lifestyle.

India has enabled multiple AI tools to support the country's healthcare sector, including e-Sanjeevani, which performs AI-assisted differential diagnosis. In the current context, where people are dependent on AI for health to a large extent, the spread of misinformation warrants caution. 

According to Hindustan Times, the revised monthly wages in Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad are now set at ₹13,690 for unskilled workers, ₹15,059 for semi-skilled workers, and ₹16,868 for skilled workers. The decision was made by a high-powered committee and approved by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath late on 13 April. The government stated that the revision followed consultations with both employer groups and labour organisations.

As reported by Maktoob Media, the wage hike was implemented after several days of protests in Noida’s industrial clusters, where workers cited rising living costs and recent wage increases in neighbouring Haryana as key factors. The government clarified that claims of a uniform ₹20,000 minimum wage were inaccurate and not based on official notifications.

Coverage revealed that the revised interim rates also apply to other municipal corporation areas, where unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers will receive ₹13,006, ₹14,306, and ₹16,025 per month, respectively. In the remaining districts, the rates are ₹12,356, ₹13,591, and ₹15,224. The government described the outcome as “balanced and practical” after reviewing suggestions and objections from stakeholders.

In a statement, the administration emphasised the need for a harmonious approach, noting that “the problems and demands raised by workers are relevant, important, and worth considering.” Reporting indicated that the government is committed to ensuring timely payment of wages, social security benefits, and safe working conditions across industries.

“The wage increase has been done by the high-powered committee. The decision was approved by CM UP late last night,” said Gautam Buddh Nagar District Magistrate Medha Roopam.

Analysis showed that the wage revision aligns with the new labour codes and aims to address both worker welfare and industrial stability amid global economic pressures. The government also dismissed social media rumours about higher uniform wages as misleading.

As highlighted by Financial Express, the protests were driven by demands for pay parity with Haryana, where a recent 35% wage hike had widened the gap between states. Workers also raised concerns about overtime pay and food provisions, with some reporting monthly earnings between ₹11,000 and ₹15,000 despite long shifts.

At the end of the protests, further details emerged that over 300 people were detained and several FIRs registered in connection with the violence. The government formed a committee to investigate the causes of the unrest and to facilitate ongoing dialogue between workers and employers.

“Our government stands with workers; it will provide security to entrepreneurs and protection to labourers, while ensuring fair wages,” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stated during the aftermath of the protests.

Following reports, the unrest in Noida was partly triggered by Haryana’s wage hike, which led to demands for similar increases in Uttar Pradesh. Despite the announcement of revised wages, protests continued briefly as workers awaited implementation and clarity on the new pay structure.

Note: This article is produced using AI-assisted tools and is based on publicly available information. It has been reviewed by The Quint's editorial team before publishing.