Washington, D.C.: US President-elect Donald Trump has selected John Ratcliffe as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), bypassing Kashyap 'Kash' Patel, who was previously considered a leading candidate for the position. Ratcliffe, a former Director of National Intelligence and a Texas Congressman, is known for his conservative political stance and close alignment with Trump’s policy views.

Ratcliffe has previously served as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) during Trump’s administration, holding office in the final eight months of Trump's presidency. A lawyer by training, Ratcliffe's career includes representing Texas in the US House of Representatives from 2015 to 2020 and serving as mayor of a Texas town for four terms.

Trump’s statement praised Ratcliffe's "fearless commitment to Constitutional Rights and national security" and expressed confidence in Ratcliffe's leadership at the CIA, particularly on issues like Israel and China. Ratcliffe has voiced strong criticism of President Joe Biden’s foreign policies, particularly regarding Israel and the US approach to China.

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Hathras (UP), Nov 22: More than 100 monkeys perished after inhaling a pesticide sprayed in a food godown and were stealthily buried in a pit, police on Friday said.

The bodies were taken out for a postmortem by a team of veterinarians on Friday.

Circle Officer Yogendra Krishna Narayan said police came to know about the deaths on Wednesday.

Police have registered a case against the employees of Food Corporation of India and started an investigation.

According to police, the chemical in question was aluminium phosphide sprayed on wheat sacks to protect it from insects and rodents in an FCI warehouse on November 7.

A troop of monkeys entered the warehouse through a broken window of the godown on the night of November 7 and ended up inhaling the gas.

When the workers opened the warehouse on November 9, they saw several monkeys dead.

They allegedly chose not to inform their seniors about deaths and buried the bodies in a pit.

The CO said the bodies were exhumed when some Vishv Hindu Parishad leaders came to know about the incident.

As per police count, more than 100 monkeys were exhumed from the pit.

Their bodies were in late stage decay, the officer said.