Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru have pledged one million Indian rupees ($11,654) to each family of the 11 fans who died in a crowd surge outside the team's home stadium on Wednesday during celebrations following their maiden IPL title.

The franchise will also launch a support fund for the injured. At least 11 people died and 47 were injured in the crowd surge as thousands of people lined the streets around the Chinnaswamy Stadium as the team's bus arrived.

Bengaluru were celebrating their win over Punjab Kings in the final of the IPL's 18th edition, the world's richest T20 cricket league. The team had given away free passes for the event on their website but said that numbers would be limited.

As the celebrations continued, some fans without passes tried to push through the gates while others climbed trees and the stadium wall for a better view. Images from the scene showed people climbing over each other.

"The unfortunate incident in Bengaluru yesterday has caused a lot of anguish and pain to the RCB family," the team said in a statement on Thursday.

"As a mark of respect and a gesture of solidarity, RCB has announced a financial support of 10 lakh (one million) Indian Rupees to each of the 11 families of the deceased.

"In addition, a fund called RCB Cares is also being created to support fans injured in this tragic incident."

Karnataka State Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who uses only one name, said the venue could not handle the size of the crowd, adding that the stadium's capacity was 35,000 but 200,000 to 300,000 people had turned up for the celebrations.

"In the wake of the tragic stampede during RCB's victory celebrations, the Karnataka Government will bear the full medical expenses of all those injured, whether admitted in government or private hospitals," Siddaramaiah said in a statement on Thursday.

"Orders have been issued to the Health Department and Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust (SAST) to ensure this without delay."

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HED: Russia says it will respond to Ukrainian attacks as and when it sees fit

DEK: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, at his daily briefing with reporters, highlighted comments made by Putin a day earlier about the railway attacks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon in Moscow, Russia, March 17, 2025.

Reuters

MOSCOW, June 5

Russia will respond to Ukraine's latest attacks as and when its military sees fit, the Kremlin said on Thursday, accusing Kyiv of state terrorism and confirming that President Vladimir Putin had told Donald Trump that Moscow was obliged to retaliate.

Ukraine used drones to strike Russian heavy bomber planes at air bases in Siberia and the far north at the weekend, and Russia also accused it of blowing up rail bridges in the south of the country, killing seven people.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, at his daily briefing with reporters, highlighted comments made by Putin a day earlier about the railway attacks.

"The president described the Kyiv regime as a terrorist regime, because it was the regime's leadership that consciously gave the order, the command, the order to blow up a passenger train. This is nothing other than terrorism at the state level. This is an important statement by the president," said Peskov.

Russia has not yet provided evidence that Ukrainian leaders ordered the rail attacks, and Kyiv has not acknowledged responsibility.

Ukrainian attacks inside Russia and Russian air strikes and advances on the battlefield have escalated the war that began in February 2022, damaging prospects for peace talks that the two sides resumed in Turkey last month.

Peskov noted, however, that Putin had supported the view of Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a meeting on Wednesday that working-level contacts with Ukraine should continue.

Peskov said Putin and Trump did not discuss holding a face-to-face meeting when they spoke on Wednesday. He said there was a general understanding that such a meeting was necessary, but it had to be properly prepared.

The two did not discuss the possible lifting of sanctions against Russia, Peskov said in reply to a question.

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HED: Norway lawmakers oppose blanket ban by wealth fund on companies in Israeli-occupied areas

DEK: The minority Labour government has for months been resisting pressure from pro-Palestinian campaigners to instruct the fund to divest from all firms with ties to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

A view of new buildings around the Israeli settlement Talmon B near the Palestinian town of Mazraa Al-Qibleyeh near Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, November 20, 2024.

Reuters

OSLO, June 4

Norway's parliament on Wednesday rejected a proposal to have the country's $1.9 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The minority Labour government has for months been resisting pressure from pro-Palestinian campaigners to instruct the fund to divest from all firms with ties to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and parliament had been expected to vote against.

"We have an established ethical regime for the fund," Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg told the chamber earlier in the day, during a debate on several aspects of the way the fund is run. "We divest from the companies that contribute to Israel's breach of international law, but we do not divest from all companies that are present on the ground."

Lawmaker Ingrid Fiskaa from the small Socialist Left opposition party told the chamber: "Without Norwegian oil fund money, it would be more difficult for Israeli authorities to demolish the homes of Palestinian families."

The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, wrote to Stoltenberg to alert him to what she called the "structural entanglement of Israeli corporations ... in the machinery of the occupation both in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and the violence that sustains it".

"International corporations benefiting from (the Norwegian fund's) investments are critical components of the infrastructure sustaining the economy of the occupation," she wrote, in a letter dated May 20.

Stoltenberg replied that the government was "confident that the investments do not violate Norway's obligations under international law".

He noted that the fund follows ethical guidelines set by parliament, and that compliance is monitored by a separate body.

That watchdog has over the past year recommended divestments from Israeli petrol station chain (PAZ.TA)and telecoms company (BEZQ.TA), and is looking at more potential divestments in Israel.