Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan on Thursday honored three girl students who secured top three positions in PSEB Class 12 results. Mann praised Mansa’s Supneet Kaur and Ludhiana’s Suhani Chauhan and Divyanshi, who scored 500 out of 500. The Chief Minister gave a cash award of Rs 50,000 to each student for his exceptional achievement. Interacting with the students, Mann said, “It is a matter of immense pride and satisfaction that all three toppers are national and state level players, which clearly shows that they are excelling in every field.” He said, “All the toppers are from ordinary backgrounds and want to achieve excellence in life through hard work and dedication. The Punjab government will provide them full support and cooperation in realizing their dreams.” Highlighting the continued excellent performance of girls in education, Mann said, “It is a matter of great pride and satisfaction for all of us that with the spread of education in the society, girls have outperformed boys not only in education but in every field.” “Time has proved that girls are not inferior to boys in any context and by excelling in education they have shown that their intelligence, skills and expertise are unmatched,” he said. Terming the achievement as a reflection of true empowerment, Mann said, “This is the real empowerment of girls, which marks a new beginning for their socio-economic resurgence and the stupendous progress of Punjab and the country.” Mann said that around 2.65 lakh students had appeared for the examinations, out of which around 2.42 lakh students passed, taking the total passing percentage to around 91.46 per cent. “The passing percentage of girls has been 94.73 percent, while the passing percentage of boys has been 88.52 percent,” he said, adding that Amritsar recorded the highest pass percentage in the state at 96 percent. Mann also said that Patiala district recorded the highest number of merit holders, with 59 students making it to the list. Continuing the trend of last year, girls have once again defeated boys in the results. Out of total 278 students, 217 are girls, while 61 are boys. 122 students from government schools have secured a place in the merit list, which is more than 50 per cent of the total merit holders. “It is a matter of immense pride and satisfaction that 416 government schools have recorded 100 percent results in these examinations,” Mann said. During the conversation, one of the toppers expressed his desire to join the Indian Air Force as a pilot. Encouraging her, Mann said, “Girls interested in joining the armed forces should enroll in Mai Bhago Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls at SAS Nagar, Mohali.”

Zhou Kunfei is one of the most remarkable self-made success stories in the global technology industry. Born into poverty in rural China, she left school as a teenager and worked in factories grinding watch glass to support her family. Decades later, she became the founder of Lens Technology, a company now valued at approximately $26 billion. Zhou recently attracted global attention after sitting down with Elon Musk And Tim Cook attended a high-profile state banquet in Beijing attended by Chinese and US business leaders.

Zhou Kunfei’s journey from factory worker to $26 billion company

Zhou was born in 1970 to a poor family in Hunan province. Her mother died when she was five, while her father became partially blind and disabled after an accident at work. Financial difficulties caused Zhou to leave school at the age of 15 and move to Guangdong to work in factories making watch parts and glass products.She reportedly spent her days working on assembly lines grinding glass, while studying accounting, computer operations and other technical skills at night. Those years helped shape the discipline and technical expertise that later defined his business career.In 1993, Zhou used about 20,000 yuan of savings and the support of relatives to start a small workshop in Bao’an District of Shenzhen. The business initially focused on printing and processing watch-glass. Zhou personally handled machine repair, production management, and sales during the early years of the company.As China’s mobile-phone industry expanded in the early 2000s, the workshop received orders for phone screens from domestic manufacturers including TCL Technology. Zhou recognized the huge potential of mobile phone glass and founded Lens Technology to focus on the manufacturing and research of phone screens.A major success came when the company won contracts from international brands including Motorola. Lens reportedly invested heavily to meet Motorola’s strict quality standards and later supplied glass for the Motorola Razr V3, one of the world’s best-selling mobile phones at the time. This success helped Lens secure further partnerships with Nokia and Samsung.

Apple The partnership that changed the company

The biggest turning point for lens technology came in 2007 when Steve Jobs first unveiled it iPhone. Apple needed durable, high-quality touchscreen glass, and Lens Technology became one of its key suppliers after working closely with Apple engineers to mass-produce glass panels for the device.As iPhone sales grew globally, Apple became the lens technology’s largest customer, accounting for more than half of the company’s annual revenue in the early 2010s. Lens later expanded its role in Apple’s supply chain by producing components for the iPad, MacBook and other products.The partnership transformed Lens Technology into one of the world’s leading manufacturers of touchscreen glass and consumer-electronics components. The company was later listed on Shenzhen’s ChiNext index in 2015, helping Zhou become one of China’s richest self-made women. Lens also completed a Hong Kong listing in 2025.Zhou attracted global attention after appearing between Musk and Cook at a state banquet hosted by Xi Jinping during Donald Trump’s visit to China. The dinner was attended by several prominent Chinese officials along with American business leaders and officials. Over the past decade, the company has expanded beyond smartphones into smart vehicles, AI hardware, robotics, wearable devices, and aerospace-related manufacturing.Lens Technology now supplies smart cockpit systems, exterior structural parts and advanced glass products to automakers including BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Li Auto. The company has also been linked by investors to projects involving Tesla’s Optimus robot program and SpaceX due to its work in robotics and aerospace manufacturing.

Emphasis of lens technology in AI and robotics

Lens Technology is now attempting to transform itself from a smartphone-component supplier to what it describes as a “one-stop precision manufacturing solutions provider” for the AI ​​hardware industry. Its business now spans AI glasses, smart vehicles, embodied intelligence, wearable devices and commercial aerospace.In December, the company said at an investor forum that it had worked for nearly a decade with “major North American customers” on smart cockpits, humanoid robots and aerospace-related products. Lens also said it has developed ultra-thin photovoltaic glass modules and flexible glass products designed for space applications.The market value of lens technology recently reached about 180.6 billion yuan, or about $26.6 billion. Last year, the company recorded annual revenue of 74.4 billion yuan, while net profit rose 10.9% to 4 billion yuan. Smartphones and computers remained its largest business segment, generating revenues of more than 61 billion yuan.Zhou’s rise from factory worker to billionaire entrepreneur has made him one of the most recognizable figures in China’s technology industry.

The Jamiat report said the Supreme Court’s Ayodhya verdict shows that ‘majoritarian politics has penetrated deeply into legal recognition’ (Image credit: ANI)

New Delhi: Noting that the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s order declaring the disputed Bhojshala complex in Dhar district as a temple only validates the apprehensions and concerns that he has continuously raised since 2019. Ayodhya verdictJamiat Ulama-e-Hind (JUH) released a report on Friday arguing that the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Places of Worship Act shows “how deeply majoritarian politics has penetrated legal recognition”.JUH said that it was just a coincidence that the report was being released on the same day when the order for Bhojshala came. Speaking at the event attended by senior lawyers, legal experts, former judges, researchers and intellectuals, JUH president Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani said the controversies did not end with the Babri Masjid issue; Rather, new controversies related to Gyanvapi, Mathura Idgah, Kamal Maula Masjid and other religious places are now arising, reopening old wounds.The report titled “A Critical Analysis of the Babri Masjid Judgment and the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act 1991 Case” provides a detailed analysis of key Supreme Court judgments, including the Ismail Faruqui case and the Ayodhya judgment, claiming that certain judicial interpretations have weakened constitutional principles relating to the protection of religious places.In particular, the report discusses the far-reaching implications of comments made in the Ismail Faruqui case, in which a mosque was not considered an essential part of Islamic practice in every circumstance. “As the judiciary increasingly accommodates Hindutva majoritarianism, Muslim holy sites have become legally unsafe, culturally contested, and politically targeted,” the report said.The report said the Places of Worship Act 1991 was designed to stabilize the religious character of places of worship as they existed on August 15, 1947. “Yet recent court decisions have interpreted the Act so narrowly that new claims against mosques in Varanasi, Mathura and elsewhere are now being advanced.”“The arguments made in those cases relating to essential practices, beliefs, archaeological evidence and civilizational memory are now being replicated in ongoing litigation involving the Gyanvapi Mosque in Sambhal, the Shahi Idgah in Mathura and others,” the report said.The report recommends that the judiciary should uphold the Places of Worship Act as intended and it should be strictly enforced and the protection of religious places should be treated as a constitutional obligation. It further recommended that “communal politics and historical claims should not be allowed to become instruments of legal disputes.

Patna: A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch has revealed that almost half of the ministers in the reorganized Bihar cabinet have declared criminal cases, while an overwhelming 90% are ‘crorepatis’. The findings were released on Friday after analyzing the self-affidavits of 31 of the 35 ministers, including CM Samrat Chaudhary, following the cabinet reshuffle on May 7.The affidavits were filed ahead of the 2025 Bihar Assembly and Legislative Council elections. According to the report, out of the 31 ministers analyzed, 15 or 48% have declared criminal cases against themselves. Nine of these ministers, or 29%, are facing serious criminal charges.The ADR clarified that the two ministers—JD(U)’s Ashok Chaudhary and BJP’s Pramod Kumar—are not required to submit affidavits as they are nominated members of the Legislative Council. The report also excludes RLM’s Deepak Prakash and JD(U)’s Nishant Kumar, as both do not currently belong to either house of the legislature.The wealth profile of the cabinet also came into sharp focus. Of the 31 ministers probed, 28 were found to be ‘crorepatis’, with average declared assets of Rs 6.32 crore. BJP minister Rama Nishad emerged as the richest among them, declaring assets worth Rs 31.86 crore. At the other end, Sanjay Kumar of LJP (RV) reported the lowest assets at Rs 22.30 lakh.On education, eight ministers or 26% stated qualifications between Class 10 and Class 12. Twenty-two ministers, or 71%, were graduates or held higher degrees, while one minister declared a diploma qualification.The age profile revealed that six ministers were in the age group of 30 to 50 years, while 25 were in the age group of 51 to 80 years. With only five ministers in the 35-member cabinet, women remained under-represented at only 14%.

Donald Trump departing from China (Image/AP)

US staffers and members of the traveling press accompanying President Donald Trump reportedly threw away all materials handed to them by Chinese officials before boarding Air Force One on Friday.The move came as Trump concluded his high-profile two-day visit to Beijing following meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.According to the White House press pool, U.S. officials collected and threw away several items issued during the trip, including press credentials, delegation pins, and burner phones used by White House staff. The material was reportedly thrown into a bin placed near the plane’s stairs shortly before departure from Beijing Capital Airport.The unusual move came despite friendly public optics surrounding Trump’s meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a two-day state visit aimed at strengthening ties between Washington and Beijing.Behind the scenes, however, tensions reportedly emerged between Chinese and US officials over security and media access during several summit-related events, according to The Hill. During Trump and Xi’s visit to Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, a US Secret Service agent accompanying the US press pool was reportedly denied entry by Chinese authorities because the agent was carrying a firearm as part of standard security protocol.According to pool reports, the disagreement led to an approximately 90-minute delay in allowing media into the venue, leading to what journalists described as ‘intense discussions’ between US and Chinese officials.More friction was reported during Trump’s departure, when Chinese authorities reportedly prevented members of the US press pool from immediately joining the presidential convoy before US allies intervened and escalated security sanctions.The tension was similar to similar confrontations during previous US presidents’ visits to China. During former President Barack Obama’s visit to Hangzhou for the G20 summit in 2016, US and Chinese officials were involved in public disputes over press access and security arrangements.Trump left China after holding several meetings with Xi and senior Chinese leaders at Zhongnanhai, the heavily guarded leadership compound of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing.Speaking before leaving, Trump described the visit as ‘historic’ and praised Xi, saying the two sides would continue to strengthen engagement and maintain direct communications.The visit also included a state banquet, a formal reception and discussions on trade, global security and regional stability. Trump said Xi was expected to visit the United States later this year in what he described as a “reciprocal” visit.The China visit was Trump’s first visit to the country in nearly a decade and came amid ongoing geopolitical tensions, trade talks and discussions on global economic stability.