Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman of the Yemeni armed forces, stated in a statement on Friday morning that the operations against Israel will continue until the regime ceases its aggression in the Gaza Strip.
Saying that Ansarullah’s military operations will stop as soon as Israel’s aggression in Gaza ends, Yahya Saree said, “Yemen’s Ansarallah will continue to prevent the sailing of Israeli ships in the Red Sea.”
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, launched an operation against the Zionist Israeli regime on October 7 in response to more than seven decades of occupation of Palestine and nearly two decades of blockade of Gaza and imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinians. It killed more than 1,200 Zionists soldiers and settlers and took more than 220 of them to the enclave as prisoners.
In retaliation to Hamas’s operation, which was called the al-Aqsa Storm operation, the Zionist regime launched heavy attacks against Gaza and put this area under complete siege.
The Yemenis has so far fired ballistic missile nd drones against the occupying region and have captured a ship belonging to the regime.
Nifty hit a fresh record high on Friday, as faster-than-expected economic growth in the September-quarter added to optimism over the global interest rate outlook.
The NSE Nifty 50 index rose as much as 0.52% to 20,238.45, a new record high, while the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.44% at 67,286.16, as of 9.35 am.
The Indian economy expanded 7.6% in the September-quarter, faster than the 6.8% forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and the Reserve Bank of India’s estimate of 6.5%, led by manufacturing growth.
“India’s growth outlook remains positive, with various capex initiatives of the government likely to trigger consumption at the bottom of the pyramid,” Pramod Gubbi, founder of Marcellus Investment Management, said.
The expectation that we are at the peak of the interest rate cycle in the US has facilitated the move of flows towards more risky assets like emerging equities, especially India, Gubbi added.
Nifty and Sensex posted their best month in 2023 in November, aided by the return on foreign portfolio investor (FPI) inflows.
FPIs snapped a two-month selling streak in November, adding stocks worth 90 billion rupees ($1.1 billion).
Wall Street equity indexes rose overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average clocking its best month since October 2022, after consumer spending data signalled cooling demand, boosting the rate outlook.
Meanwhile, exit polls for state elections showed a narrow advantage for Bharatiya Janata Party in the key states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, while the Congress is seen to be leading in Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
“A decisive BJP win will reinforce consensus that the party is on the front-foot for 2024 general elections and likely add another leg of rally to markets,” said three analysts led by Madhavi Arora, lead economist at Emkay Global Financial Services.
India’s general elections are due early next year.
The top Iranian diplomat visited the Yemeni Embassy in Tehran on Thursday to convey the Islamic Republic’s gratitude towards Sana’a for the support.
“Yemen’s support for the people of Gaza [Strip] and the [occupied] West Bank is admirable,” Amir-Abdollahian said, meeting with Yemeni Ambassador, Ibrahim Mohammed al-Dailami, Press TV reported.
The meeting came amid a war that the Israeli regime has been waging against Gaza since October 7, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 15,500 Palestinians. The regime has also intensified its attacks against the West Bank since the onset of the war.
Yemeni forces have staged several operations against the occupied territories since the beginning of the Israeli military campaign, including ballistic and cruise missile attacks, and have seized at least three Israeli ships traveling through Yemen’s territorial waters.
The forces have also staged at least two operations targeting the United States’ interests in protest at Washington’s unreserved military and political support for the Israeli war. “We consider defending the people of Palestine and Gaza to be our duty, and will continue supporting Palestine as long as it is necessary,” the Yemeni envoy said.
“The decision by the [Yemeni] leaders in Sana’a towards targeting the Zionist regime’s interests in the occupied territories and at sea is in line with our strong belief in defending the people of Gaza,” he added.
Also on Thursday, Yemen’s Armed Forces released a statement, pledging to renew their attacks against Israeli targets if the regime resumed its war on Gaza following an underway truce that is expected to expire later on Friday.
Canada has alleged the involvement of Indian agents in killing of a Khalistani terrorist
London:
On Canada’s accusation of Indian involvement in the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Vikram Doraiswami, on Thursday, said, “Let the inquiry committee come to a decision. We share values and interests with our partners.”
“The government that has had anything to do with it. There is an inquiry that’s on let that come up with it,” Doraiswami said while speaking to the media after the conclusion of the Indo-Pacific Conference in London on Thursday.
Moreover, when asked about whether Canada’s accusation is wrong or not, Doraiswami said, “It’s an accusation. It’s not anything more than that as far as anything’s concerned.”
“And anyway, this is not about India-Canada relations. This is about the Indo-Pacific,” he said, as they concluded the Indo-Pacific Conference in London.
Regarding the reliability of partnerships between India and Australia, he said, “This is something that everybody has to assess their own history.”
“I think partnerships are based on interests and values, and we share them with all our partners,” Doraiswami said.
Moreover, Australian High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, highlighted that, as far as India is concerned, Australia shares a long-standing history, tradition, and approach with India. “So we’re both democratic countries, we both respect the rule of law, we both respect laws of contract, and we work carefully and closely with each other,” Smith said.
Further, agreeing with Doraiswami, the Australian High Commissioner to the UK said, “There’s an investigation of that matter underway. We should allow the results of the investigation to be brought forward.”
Earlier in June, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the involvement of “agents of the Indian government” in the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
However, India rejected the allegations as “absurd and motivated” and expelled a Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move over Canada’s decision.
The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday said that Canada has consistently given space to anti-India extremists.
The MEA spokesperson, while responding to a query, said that India expects the Canadian government to live up to its obligations under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations.
He said that India has seen interference from Canadian diplomats in India’s internal affairs and called it “unacceptable.”
“In so far as Canada is concerned, we have said that they have consistently given space to anti-India extremists and that is the heart of the issue. Our diplomatic representatives in Canada have borne the brunt of this. So, we expect the Government of Canada to live up to its obligations under the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations. We have also seen interference by Canadian diplomats in our internal affairs and that is unacceptable” MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called on the Indian government to cooperate with Canada in the investigation of the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, CBC News reported.
Earlier this week, the Indian High Commissioner in Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, said that India is only asking for “specific and relevant” evidence in the killing of India-designated terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar so that it can help Canada in reaching the conclusion of the investigation.
In an interview with Canadian journalist Tahir Gora at TAG TV Toronto, he said, “India is only asking for specific and relevant information so that we can help you. We can help the Canadian investigators reach their conclusion, to the extent that it will be viable for them to go for legal action…I will urge my Canadian friends and colleagues. I can assure them that we will certainly look into them.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman of the Yemeni armed forces, stated in a statement on Friday morning that the operations against Israel will continue until the regime ceases its aggression in the Gaza Strip.
Saying that Ansarullah’s military operations will stop as soon as Israel’s aggression in Gaza ends, Yahya Saree said, “Yemen’s Ansarallah will continue to prevent the sailing of Israeli ships in the Red Sea.”
The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, launched an operation against the Zionist Israeli regime on October 7 in response to more than seven decades of occupation of Palestine and nearly two decades of blockade of Gaza and imprisonment and torture of thousands of Palestinians. It killed more than 1,200 Zionists soldiers and settlers and took more than 220 of them to the enclave as prisoners.
In retaliation to Hamas’s operation, which was called the al-Aqsa Storm operation, the Zionist regime launched heavy attacks against Gaza and put this area under complete siege.
The Yemenis has so far fired ballistic missile nd drones against the occupying region and have captured a ship belonging to the regime.
The government set up a committee led by the Finance Secretary to review the system.
New Delhi:
The government has no plans to set up the eighth Pay Commission for some 5.4 million central government employees and pensioners ahead of the national election next year, Finance Secretary TV Somanathan has said.
“There is nothing in the offing regarding setting up the 8th Pay Commission. It’s not due at present,” Mr Somanathan said on Thursday.
In the past, in the run-up to elections, governments have used the establishing or implementation of the Pay Commission as an effective tool to win over central government employees, armed forces personnel and family pensioners. The 7th Pay Commission was set up by the Congress-led UPA government in September 2013, months before state and general elections.
The BJP, however, has steered clear of such a move, instead focusing on a review of a new pension scheme that has become a point of contention for new state and central government employees.
Under the current scheme, employees contribute 10 per cent of their basic salary, while the government pays 14%. It has become politically contentious, with several opposition-ruled states switching to the old pension scheme that guarantees pensioners 50 per cent of their last drawn salary monthly, without any employee contribution.
The government set up a committee led by the Finance Secretary to review the system.
“We have completed consultations with all concerned and our report should be submitted soon,” Mr Somanathan said.
The government may bring about changes to ensure employees get at least 40 to 45 per cent of their last salary.
With elections looming, there is increasing political pressure on the Finance Ministry to announce and notify the 8th pay commission, irrespective of the outcome of the results of elections in five states. State poll results to be announced on Sunday are widely seen to be the semi-final ahead of the 2024 national election, in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will seek a third straight term.
The accused did not give back the cars worth Rs 51 lakh to the respective owners.
Thane:
The Navi Mumbai police in Maharashtra have registered a case against the owner of a company for allegedly duping 11 car owners of nearly Rs 62 lakh after taking their vehicles with the promise of “attractive” monthly rent, an official said on Friday.
Accused Satyaprakash Varma, who claimed to run a financial services company, allegedly cheated the car owners between April and August this year, the official said.
Varma allegedly not only failed to pay the cumulative rent of Rs 10.97 lakh, but also did not give back the cars worth Rs 51 lakh to the respective owners, the official said.
Acting on the car owners’ complaints, the Rabale MIDC police on Thursday registered a cheating case against Varma, the official said, adding that no arrest has been made yet.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Vicky Kaushal in a still from the film. (courtesy: vickykaushal09)
Playing out on a vast and varied canvas, Sam Bahadur crams a lifetime into its two and a half hours. The film covers four decades of active military service, five wars, anti-insurgency operations and brushes with Prime Ministers. Inevitably, Meghna Gulzar’s ambitious biographical film feels a tad rushed. But for sure it has nary a dull moment.
The film fires on the fronts that matter. Driven by a high-spirited performance from Vicky Kaushal, it delivers a rounded, rousing portrait of Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, a gentleman and an officer whose grit and gallantry, joie de vivre, power of repartee and an unwavering sense of purpose are the stuff of legend.
An intense character study more than an action-heavy war movie, Sam Bahadur hits most of its targets. It blends the story of an illustrious life – it isn’t exactly a from-the-cradle-to-the-grave affair although it does begin with the protagonist as a newborn in a crib – with the exploits of a legendary army man who brought remarkable dexterity to bear upon his job as a soldier and a leader.
The screenplay by Bhavani Iyer, Shantanu Srivastava and Meghna Gulzar adroitly picks incidents and encounters that aid in imparting a vivid, vibrant quality to the picture. As much about an individual as about a nation, Sam Bahadur has the sprawl of an epic and the delicate touches of an intimate chronicle.
As the film flits from one point in time to another from the early 1940s (when Japanese soldiers march into Burma) to the early 1970s (when the Indian Army enters Bangladesh’s war of liberation), it has its share of ellipses. But no matter how glaring the gaps are, they do not restrict the sweep of the consistently arresting saga.
The screenwriters graft just enough narrative meat on to the condensed storyline to be able to do justice to the charismatic general whose career it explores in the context of the nation’s eventful history before and after Independence.
I fight to win, Manekshaw frequently asserts, often in so many words. That might make him sound like an insuperable Hindi action film hero. But the director makes it a point not to turn the protagonist into a larger-than-life figure – which he probably was to the men he led.
Keeping hysteria out of history, she presents the great soldier not as a single-hued, punchline-spouting general but as a believable human – a man of conviction – intelligent, confident and cocky – and a master strategist who revelled in speaking his mind.
The Sam Bahadur we see on the screen isn’t a Bollywoodised version of a hero from the pages of Indian military history, but a man rooted in the real world but endowed with exceptional acumen and courage of conviction.
What’s in a name? In the case of Sam Manekshaw, as the film about him tells us, there is a whole lot. In the opening sequence, we learn that Sam’s parents had christened him Cyrus but were constrained to rename him because a thief named Cyrus had just been nabbed in the neighbourhood.
In the next scene – it is repeated later in film – an 8th Gorkha Rifles jawan, when Manekshaw asks him if he knows the name of the Indian Army chief, lisps “Sam Bahadur”. The apt moniker sticks.
Played with panache by Vicky Kaushal, who walks the tightrope between caricature and authenticity and never keels over on to the side of the former, Sam Manekshaw emerges as a man and an icon who was both enormously charming and dauntingly firm.
Falling back on a jaunty gait, dialogue delivery faintly reminiscent of Hum Dono‘s Dev Anand and demeanour that exudes both hauteur and amiability – Kaushal livens up the portraiture with distinct mannerisms that are far removed from his own.
One of the most striking aspects of Sam Bahadur is that it eschews flag-waving militarism while celebrating the bravery of India’s soldiers. It treads gently and thoughtfully through the life-threatening minefields that infantrymen have to negotiate in the line of duty. There are battle scenes and punchlines aplenty in the film, but they do not overshadow the less flashy components with which the lively biopic is constructed.
Sam Bahadur isn’t only about a man delivering rousing speeches to lift the spirits of his men or stamp his personality on the army under him. It is also about the human and personal aspects of a general’s life, which are underscored in the moments that he has with his wife Silloo (Sanya Malhotra) and family.
Since the film harks back to a time when love for the nation was not coloured by any manner of religious exceptionalism, it showcases an ethos that hinged on a celebration of unity in diversity, the cornerstone of the idea of India. The war cries of the various regiments (in the film’s climactic passages) point to the variegated backgrounds of Indian soldiers marching towards a common goal.
In a significantly resonant scene, a court of inquiry charges Manekshaw with being anti-national because the defence academy he presides over has portraits of British soldiers rather than those of Indian political leaders. The general’s response to the flimsy allegation is illuminating. The academy trains soldiers, not politicians, he asserts.
Sam Bahadur slips up a bit in its sketchy portrayal of Jawaharlal Nehru (played by Neeraj Kabi). Indira Gandhi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) receives far better treatment. Not only does India’s third Prime Minister get greater play in the narrative, she also has a scene or two is which she nearly steals Sam’s thunder.
In one sequence, Mrs Gandhi puts Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in his place (using chief of army staff Manekshaw as her trump card) when he threatens India with dire consequences if she attacks Pakistan on the eastern front.
Newsreel footage of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman exhorting his people to rise in revolt, sequences of Dhaka University students being gunned down by the Pakistan army and flashes of General Yahya Khan (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub), Manekshaw’s friend in their pre-Partition defence academy days, planning to precipitate a confrontation with India are woven into the lead-up to the Bangladesh war. So, Sam Bahadur isn’t just talk. There is enough in here to keep the film on the boil all through.
It would be easy to describe Sam Bahadur as a Vicky Kaushal show because it is who dominates every major scene in the film. But without the fine balance that Meghna Gulzar strikes between ambition and restraint, neither the spirited central performance nor its emotional (and cinematic) payoff would have been quite as remarkable.
Cast:
Vicky Kaushal, Sanya Malhotra, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub and Neeraj Kabi
TikTok and the videos on its platform are now frequently caught up in global politics
TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew and other top executives met recently with 40 influential leaders, including many from the tech industry, who were pushing for more moderation of antisemitic content and questioning why pro-Palestine videos were so popular on the short-video app.
The meeting four weeks ago included TikTok executives Adam Presser, head of operations, and Michael Beckerman, head of public policy, according to Anthony Goldbloom, an investment partner at AIX Ventures, who was among the tech industry attendees.
Goldbloom’s group was armed with data analysis of TikTok content and a letter signed by 90 professionals, including former Meta Platforms Inc. Chief Revenue Officer David Fischer, Tinder co-founder Sean Rad and Bonobos Inc. co-founder Andy Dunn.
The effort was made to push TikTok to uphold its commitment to “prevent harm,” Goldbloom said. Many of the letter signatories felt the app was in violation of its own community principles as claims of harassment on the site have ballooned since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel. TikTok’s principles also call on it to “enable free expression.”
The Israel-Hamas war has unleashed a wave of hate crimes targeting Jews, Muslims and Arabs across the world. The conflict has been magnified through social media platforms including TikTok, owned by China’s ByteDance Ltd, and Elon Musk’s X. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US and EU. TikTok has banned content supportive of violent and hateful organizations, according to its community guidelines.
Once known mostly as a place for lipsync videos and comedic skits, TikTok and the videos on its platform are now frequently caught up in global politics. The app has become wildly popular, especially among young people, and counts more than 1 billion users. Its ubiquity, and Chinese ownership have made it a frequent target for politicians who have recently renewed calls to ban the app due to the amount of anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian content.
TikTok has met with other high-profile critics amid public pressure to reign in antisemitic harassment. Earlier this month, more than a dozen Jewish TikTok creators and celebrities, including actors Sacha Baron Cohen, Debra Messing and Amy Schumer, spoke with Presser and others, according to the New York Times.
In the video meeting with Chew earlier this month, the tech industry group walked TikTok’s team through data compiled from publicly available hashtag information from the app. Based on their analysis, the group found 54 views on pro-Palestine hashtags for every view for #standwithIsrael. That compares with data from an October Harvard Caps Harris poll among 18-24 year olds that showed support for Israel and Palestine as near equal, according to the group.
The tech group showed TikTok executives analysis that more than half of some pro-Palestine videos are coming from countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan, and asked how prevalent cross-border videos are in the US. TikTok said during the meeting that there aren’t a lot.
TikTok has said counting the number of videos associated with a hashtag doesn’t “provide sufficient context” on the leanings of the videos. The hashtag #standwithIsrael may appear on fewer videos than #freePalestine, but it has 68% more views per video in the US, which means more people are seeing the content, the company said earlier this month. TikTok has said 90% of videos posted in the US that were tagged with #standwithIsrael were posted in the prior 30 days.
The company has also said, based on polling data, that attitudes among young people skewed toward Palestine long before TikTok existed.
“This is an extremely difficult time for millions of people around the world and in our TikTok community,” a TikTok spokesperson said in response to request for comment on the video call. “We feel it’s important to meet with and listen to creators, human rights experts, civil society and other stakeholders to help guide our ongoing work to keep our global community safe.”
After the meeting, TikTok released a statement saying analysis of the platform using hashtags is flawed, Goldbloom said. TikTok had previously used hashtag comparisons itself, in response to questions about related hashtags on the app.
TikTok has said that it has removed more than 1.1 million videos in the conflict region for breaking its content rules from Oct. 7 to Nov. 17. During the same period globally, TikTok removed 1.6 million videos including hate speech and hateful behavior videos, which includes antisemitism.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
