Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi met Emirates Cricket Board head Mubashir Usmani in Dubai amid deliberations on a hybrid model for the Champions Trophy to be held in February-March next year. According to a PCB statement regarding the meeting, Naqvi told Usmani that Pakistan was ready to host the Champions Trophy and all the preparations were on schedule. Usmani is also the chairman of the ICC’s associate members’ committee. According to sources, Naqvi also said that the situation in Pakistan was stable and all teams taking part in the mega-event would be provided state level security. He said the construction work at the stadiums which will host the tournament was also on schedule and the people of Pakistan were looking forward to watching the best teams and players play in the country.
On Friday, the International Cricket Council has told Pakistan to either accept the ‘Hybrid’ model of hosting for next year’s Champions Trophy or be prepared to be ousted from the event after the PCB’s adamant stand led to an inconclusive meeting of its executive board.
The emergency meeting in Dubai was meant to thrash out the schedule of the event in February-March next year but could not achieve a consensus after Pakistan once again rejected the ‘Hybrid’ model despite India’s firm refusal to travel there owing to security concerns.
It is understood that most of the ICC board members were sympathetic towards Pakistan’s situation, but Naqvi was, nonetheless, advised to accept the ‘Hybrid’ model as the only “plausible solution” for the current imbroglio.
If a ‘Hybrid’ model is adopted, India’s share of Champions Trophy matches will be held in the UAE.
The award of Commandant’s Banner symbolizes overall excellence and marks the conclusion of fiercely contested series of events, ranging from physical activities, sports, debate, quizzes, cultural events, cross-country runs, field camps, drill competition and academics.
Published Date – 30 November 2024, 04:50 PM
Hyderabad: A magnificent Commandant’s Banner presentation ceremony was held at Tejas Parade Ground, Air Force Academy (AFA), Dundigal here on Saturday.
The award of Commandant’s Banner symbolizes overall excellence and marks the conclusion of fiercely contested series of events, ranging from physical activities, sports, debate, quizzes, cultural events, cross-country runs, field camps, drill competition and academics.
The crescendo of this quest for excellence was marked by the prestigious Inter-Squadron Drill competition. Aquino Squadron sealed their claim for this coveted competition with impeccable drill movements, daunting words of command and synchronised team efforts.
The Flight Cadets and Under Trainee Flying Officers (UTFOs) captivated the audience, which included all instructional staff and senior officers of the Academy. Their disciplined march past blended perfectly with the stirring martial tunes played by the IAF Band.
During the event, Aquino Squadron was declared the Champion Squadron for the Autumn Term 2024 and Squadron Cadet Captain, Flight Cadet Phalke Saee Vikram marched forward with precision to receive the esteemed banner from Air Marshal S Shrinivas, Commandant, AFA.
Senior Iranian legal official Kazem Gharibabadi has called on the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW) to remove Israel from the global body over its bloody war and heinous crimes against women and girls in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
Gharibabadi, who is Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs, made the appeal in four identical letters addressed to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, President of the UN Economic and Social Council Bob Rae, Chair of the UN Commission on the Status of Women Abdulaziz M. Alwasil, and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.
“The presence of the criminal Zionist regime, which as per international human rights authorities, independent UN experts and independent human rights activists has turned Gaza into a slaughterhouse for civilians, particularly women and children, in the UN Commission on the Status of Women, whose nature is to promote the rights of women and girls and to prevent violence and discrimination against them, is an end to the credibility of international institutions and expectations of their efficacy during crises and humanitarian threats,” Gharibabadi wrote.
He drew attention to the published statistics about the scale and dimensions of the Zionist regime’s vicious crimes against civilians, especially women and children, in Gaza and Lebanon, wondering how such a major violator of human rights could remain in an international body that monitors, supports, and promotes the rights of women and girls.
More than 44,000 people have been killed and over 104,000 others injured in Gaza, and as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said in its report on November 8, nearly 70% of the fatalities are women and children, and about 80% of the victims died during attacks on residential buildings and similar structures, Gharibabadi pointed out.
“The child-killing Zionist regime kills a child in Gaza every 10 minutes. More than 17,000 Palestinian children have been so far martyred as a result of this brutal massacre, and more than 255,000 Palestinian children in Gaza have lost their fathers or mothers.
“Furthermore, hundreds of babies have lost their lives shortly after birth due to the indiscriminate bombardment of residential areas, hospitals, schools, internally displaced persons (IDPs) tent camps, and destruction of healthcare facilities,” the Iranian diplomat said.
Gharibabadi went on to point to the dire situation of Lebanese women, especially pregnant women, as a result of Israeli aggression and bombardment of residential buildings, noting that displacement and damage caused by intensive bombings have increased the cases of miscarriages, premature births and stillbirths, and significantly raised the risk of maternal deaths.
“It is no longer a secret to anyone that the Zionist regime has violated the fundamental rules of international law, the United Nations Charter, international human rights and international humanitarian rights in Gaza and Lebanon on a very large scale,” the senior Iranian legal official stated.
“It has perpetrated war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, racial profiling as well as genocide, grossly violated the four Geneva Conventions regarding the killing of women and girls, and has caused a lot of suffering for vulnerable people in Gaza and Lebanon in light of the US and certain Western governments’ support.”
Gharibabadi added that the Israeli regime has also committed a full-blown violation of the support mechanisms related to peacekeeping forces and UN institutions, banned the activities of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), killed hundreds of UN employees in Gaza, carried out attacks on UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, tore up a copy of the UN Charter at the General Assembly, declared the United Nations chief persona non grata, and flagrantly disregarded the interim rulings of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“It is absolutely clear that the Zionist regime, given its horrendous inhumane crimes, particularly against women and children, should never be allowed the possibility and permission to have a seat in or rejoin human rights institutions, including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women,” Gharibabadi underlined.
Rajasthan Royals head coach feels that the franchise would be able to provide 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi with “a good environment”
Published Date – 26 November 2024, 12:48 PM
Jeddah: Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid feels that the franchise would be able to provide 13-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi with “a good environment” for his upcoming stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The eighth standard student from Bihar’s Samastipur was picked up by the franchise for Rs. 1.10 crore, making him the youngest cricketer to earn an IPL contract.
“I think he’s (Suryavanshi) got some really good skills, so we thought it might be a good environment for him to grow in. Vaibhav just came to our trials and we were really happy with what he saw,” said Dravid in an IPL video. Suryavanshi recently became the youngest batter to score an international century, having attained the feat in a Youth Test for India Under-19 versus Australia U-19 in Chennai, making 104 in just 62 deliveries.
He also made his T20 debut for Bihar in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy versus Rajasthan on Saturday, managing a 6-ball 13. Having made an impact in the junior circuit, Suryavanshi has yet to play a meaningful knock in First-Class cricket, as he averages only 10 after five matches and has the best score of 41.
He hails from Samastipur and debuted at the age of 12 years and 284 days versus Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy last season, as he became the youngest player in the competition’s history. Also, Suryavanshi was only 12 years old when playing in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy for Bihar, aggregating nearly 400 runs in just five engagements.
HMI Managing Director Unsoo Kim said in a conference call that the car major would be expanding production to meet the growing demand in the domestic market as well as the export market in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia
Published Date – 14 November 2024, 11:33 AM
New Delhi: Hyundai Motor India (HMI), the country’s second largest carmaker, has drawn up ambitious expansion plans for making India a production hub that will also cater to the rising export demand for its vehicles in the emerging markets.
HMI Managing Director Unsoo Kim said in a conference call that the car major would be expanding production to meet the growing demand in the domestic market as well as the export market in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia.
“We are seeing the domestic volume is increasing and the export market is also increasing. And then, we have a very suitable product lineup for emerging markets,” Kim said.
Kim said that a healthy mix of domestic and export volumes will enable the company to not only secure profitability but gain a natural hedge against market fluctuations.
Hyundai Motor India has recently expanded its production capacity by acquiring a new plant in Pune to cater to the growing demand. The addition brings Hyundai’s overall manufacturing capacity in India to 1.1 million units.
“We are developing our EV ecosystem in India. We are planning to launch four EV models, including the CRETA EV. And we are also localizing EV supply chains like the battery pack, driver train and the battery shell,” Kim said.
Hyundai claims to have recorded a robust 30 per cent growth in registrations, further strengthening its market position. Inventory levels now stand at under four weeks.
Hyundai is also poised to launch new models like the Alcazar facelift and the highly anticipated Creta EV to push sales and garner a bigger market share.
However, during the July-September quarter ,export volumes slowed due to the disruption in shipping caused by the attacks in the Red Sea region which are a fallout of the geopolitical crisis in the Middle East.
Hyundai Motor India listed in the stock markets last month following a $3.3-billion IPO that was the country’s largest-ever primary share sale. The issue was subscribed over 2.37 times.
The offer received bids for 23.63 crore shares as against 9.97 crore shares on offer. The Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) category was subscribed 6.97 times. The Non Institutional Investors (NIIs) category was subscribed 0.60 times.
The Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) category was subscribed 0.50 times. The automaker’s share has slipped more than 10 per cent from its IPO price.
Billionaire Elon Musk has revealed what he and Barron Trump discussed while celebrating Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago. US President-elect Donald Trump hosted a lavish Thanksgiving dinner at his Flordia home, alongside family and special guests including Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk and his mother, Maye Musk. Several videos surfaced from the night, in which the Musks were seen sharing the same table as Mr Trump, his wife Melania, and their youngest son, Barron. The clip went viral and left many speculating what the VIP guests were discussing during the event.
One X user jokingly shared a screenshot of Mr Trump speaking with Barron, with a mocked conversation. “‘Is it okay if I’m friends with Elon?’ ‘I’ll allow it, Father,'” the caption of the post read. Mr Musk replied to the tweet, saying he had been talking to the president-elect’s son about “consciousness and video games”.
I was discussing consciousness & video games with Barron
Mr Musk’s mother, Maye, also joined the conversation and wrote, “They were talking all night. Barron is very smart.”
The Musk family presence at Mr Trump’s Thanksgiving celebration added a special touch to the family gathering, which also featured a moment when Mr Musk was seen grooving to the ‘YMCA’ song while seated alongside the president-elect. The clip captured Mr Trump playfully tapping Mr Musk on the shoulder, prompting the billionaire to raise his hand and move to the beat.
“Hope you had a great Thanksgiving,” Mr Musk later posted on X.
At the event, the billionaire was also spotted spending time with actor Sylvester Stallone. “I was telling @TheSlyStallone that I just watched Demolition Man again and how well it predicted the crazy woke future 30 years ago!” Mr Musk wrote on X, referring to the movie that stars Stallone.
Notably, Mr Musk has been using his social media platform X to endorse Mr Trump’s cabinet picks and promote his own preferred candidates. Mr Musk, who has over 206 million followers on X, posted or reposted about Mr Trump’s cabinet picks more than 70 times between November 7 and November 20, a Reuters review found. In between his constant postings of memes of himself and Mr Trump, the X boss has even embraced a title suggested for his role: “First Buddy”.
Speaking at a press conference at Telangana Bhavan on Saturday, Sravan stated that the Telangana Thalli statue was created by BRS President and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao after consulting those involved in the Telangana movement and experts, with the aim of inspiring the people during the movement.
Published Date – 30 November 2024, 04:58 PM
Hyderabad: Accusing Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of attempting to erase the legacy of the BRS government in an attempt to score political points, BRS leader Dasoju Sravan slammed the Congress government’s decision to make changes in the existing Telangana Thalli statue without considering the emotional connection people have with it.
Addressing a press conference at Telangana Bhavan here on Saturday, Sravan said the Telangana Thalli statue was created by BRS President and former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao after holding consultations with people involved in the Telangana movement and experts, to motivate the people during the movement. “People involved in the Telangana movement are deeply attached to Telangana Thalli and bringing changes in the statue will hurt their sentiments. Hence, the government should withdraw its proposal,”he suggested.
Coming down heavily on Revanth Reddy, the BRS leader said Revanth from the beginning was against Telangana and never took part in the Telangana movement. “Revanth wants to destroy all the things associated with the Telangana movement. As soon as he became CM he started erasing all the works of KCR and Telangana movement. Changes in Telangana Thalli statue too is an attempt to erase Telangana movement. Revanth is forgetting that no one can erase the contribution of KCR in the Telangana movement,”he said.
“I have the impression that life hasn’t taught any lessons to decision-makers in the White House, and they use all the opportunities that remain even for ‘lame ducks’ to harm us and prevent us from accomplishing the goals of the special military operation. But they will not succeed,” Sergey Ryabkov told TASS.
The diplomat was responding to a request to comment on news reports that US President Joe Biden had asked Congress for an additional $24 billion in aid for Ukraine.
“First we need to study what really happened and how much and for what purposes was requested. All this causes indignation and rejection on our part,” the diplomat said.
Politico earlier reported that US lawmakers on November 25 received a request from Biden to allocate $24 billion for Ukraine. According to the report, Washington wants to use $16 billion of that money to replenish the US stockpiles of weapons that were previously sent to Kiev. Another $8 billion would fund the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which allows the US Department of Defense to conclude contracts with manufacturers, rather than drawing down equipment and weapons from inventories.
Bernard-Henri Lévy, a self-proclaimed “philosopher,” has earned notoriety for himself as a supporter of controversial causes and illegitimate entities, most notably the Israeli regime.
He was at it again recently after jumping in defense of war criminals in Tel Aviv following the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against them over the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Introduced in the Western and Israeli media as an “intellectual,” “philosopher,” and “peace activist,” Lévy’s words and actions illustrate that he is a PR agent for the Israeli occupation.
While the ICC’s indictment of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant on Thursday for their roles in the regime’s war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza has been widely welcomed, the move has frustrated Zionists and their apologists.
Among them is Lévy, a French national and a Zionist at heart, who vented his disappointment on X (formerly Twitter) and other social networks where he is followed by hundreds of thousands of people.
He took to X on November 22 to criticize the Hague-based court for “distorting international law” and disfiguring the noble idea of international justice.”
The International Criminal Court distorts international law. It disfigures the noble idea of international justice invented in the 20th century to prosecute criminals in countries without proper judicial systems. For this reason, the #ICC must be abolished and replaced.
He posted similar rants on Facebook and Instagram, where he wrote that the ICC indictment was “shameful” and “disgraceful,” and that the same applies to calling Israeli crimes in Gaza genocide.
Lévy vehemently denied that genocide was taking place in Gaza, calling it “false, morally abject and a perverse inversion,” while linking his review to the US conservative news website The New York Sun.
In the article, he anachronistically argued that the use of “genocide” for the Israeli campaign of extermination is “insulting to the real victims of genocide,” or the victims of Nazism 82 years ago.
On November 25, he again took to X to defend the Zionist regime’s genocide in Gaza and decry the ICC for issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu.
“The ICC in The Hague is only competent for countries with failing judicial systems, unable of trying themselves their leaders’ misconduct,” he wrote.
The court, he hastened to assert, was “created (and I was part of this reflection and conceptualization) for countries like #Russia! #China! #Iran! #Nigeria” adding that it has “no jurisdiction over tiny but democratic #Israel!”
“This mandate, in other words, makes no sense. Netanyahu cannot, under any circumstances, be apprehended. Those who claim otherwise simply have no understanding of the international law.”
A simple truth that is too rarely heard: The ICC in The Hague is only competent for countries with failing judicial systems, unable of trying themselves their leaders’ misconduct.
This is clearly not the case for #Israel, a true democracy capable of sending a former prime…
Lévy’s outbursts were met with widespread criticism for their bias, whitewashing, contradictions, hypocrisy, and double standards, especially since he had welcomed the ICC arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin in March last year.
In his tweet on March 17, 2023, the French “philosopher” described the indictment of the sitting Russian president as “great news, glaring truth and justice.”
“The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir #Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the deportation of #Ukrainian children. The truth is glaring. Justice will prevail,” he wrote then.
Long-time Zionist
Lévy’s latest pro-Zionist rhetoric and inconsistencies are nothing new, but a continuation of his uncompromising apologetics in favor of the Israeli regime.
Late last month, he also produced a book, “Israel Alone,” in which he argued that the Tel Aviv regime, openly and unabashedly supported by the United States and European countries, as the title suggests, actually stands “alone.”
He dehumanizingly referred to the Axis of Resistance as “barbarians,” while spouting the classic clichés that anti-Zionism amounts to “anti-Semitism” and that the Zionist entity “fights for the entire collective West.”
Lévy’s statements to the media and on social media have also been riddled with such twisted interpretations, and in the last few weeks alone, he has used them to justify all of the most extreme moves by the Netanyahu cabinet.
In collaboration with the influential Zionist organization B’nai B’rith International, he regularly participates in pro-Israel conferences in Paris, defending Israeli genocidal actions against Palestinians in Gaza and Lebanese in Lebanon.
Despite the global outcry, he welcomed the Israeli ban on the operations of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees on whose aid millions of civilians depend, questioning the organization’s humanitarian mandate.
He has also supported the Israeli aggression against Iran and Lebanon, claiming that they are “not invading, but liberating Lebanon,” and that those who do not understand this have “lost all moral and political compass.”
According to available evidence, over the past quarter of a century, Lévy has been known as a fierce advocate of aggressive Israeli, American, and French foreign policies, justifying all of their wars, as well as their proxies in numerous conflicts.
He has often justified Israeli aggressions with the cliché of “the most moral army in the world,” which is a repetition of Ariel Sharon’s statements from 2004, as well as with the regime’s frequent demagogy of “the only democracy in the region.”
The same worn-out platitude about “democracy” was used by Lévy to glorify all terrorists backed by the aforementioned Western powers.
Bernard-Henri Lévy with Olivier Rafowicz and Israeli officials in occupied Palestine in this undated photo.
Part of a PR campaign
Although Lévy has a habit of defending his support for Zionism with so-called “political worldviews,” experts and investigative journalists have for years pointed to his direct cooperation with the top brass of the Israeli regime.
He was born into a Jewish Zionist family and visited the occupied territories as a teenager, but his stronger political engagement began at the beginning of this century, congruent with the then-US neocon-Zionist imperial ambitions.
Lévy is often placed in the context of the so-called “liberal hawks,” a group of public figures, often former Marxists and declared liberals, who ironically have justified Western military aggressions with “humanitarian” arguments.
Their sudden appearance in the mass media and public space was not spontaneous, but part of an organized PR campaign aimed at winning over Western public opinion from all sides of the political spectrum.
Lévy is thus branded as a “thinker, intellectual, or philosopher,” even though he briefly worked as a lecturer and did not produce any significant philosophical work or ideas, nor is he treated as a serious thinker by contemporary philosophers.
In fact, he has been widely criticized and ridiculed in philosophical circles for quoting Jean-Baptiste Botul, who is a fictional figure, which, as some suggest, shows his works are written by ghostwriters.
Political philosopher Perry Anderson called Lévy’s prominence “bizarre” and a reversion to national standards of taste and intelligence in France’s public sphere.
French investigative journalists Jade Lindgaard and Xavier De La Porte, in a co-authored book analyzing his words and works, called him a “pseudo-philosopher, an impostor, and an ace of postmodern agitprop.”
The duo states that he skillfully camouflages his Zionism and has invented a discourse that delivers both propaganda and the antidote to that propaganda, eluding critical grasp and making it impossible to criticize him.
For example, he claimed to support the creation of a Palestinian state, but he supported all Israeli moves and policies that tried to prevent that from happening.
Bernard Henri Lévy with members of Israeli military in occupied Palestine in this undated photo.
The unofficial IOF spokesman
Lévy is a long-time zealot advocate of the Israeli military (IOF) and has actively participated in the regime’s PR campaign to whitewash its genocidal crimes and improve its public image.
This collaboration began in 2002 during the Second Intifada when accompanied by soldier Olivier Rafowicz and with the permission of the Israeli regime, he visited their army barracks, giving eulogies about them to the media.
Accompanying him, Lévy visited the battlefield again in 2006 during the Israeli aggression on Lebanon, presenting Rafowicz as an ordinary soldier and an expert on the situation on the ground.
In reality, Rafowicz was the IOF’s spokesman to the foreign media; French-born and a perfect French speaker, in charge of PR relations with French journalists.
During the neatly choreographed tour, Lévy also visited minister of military affairs Amir Peretz, foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and former PM Shimon Peres, but he did not talk to a single Israeli opponent of the war, not one Palestinian refugee and no one from Lebanon.
Once again, in 2009, Levy covered the Israeli aggression on Gaza, telling foreign media that he entered Gaza City and there were no signs of any destruction.
The implicit message was that Israeli shelling had not been as destructive as claimed in the media, but his claims were quickly exposed as a lie because he did not visit Gaza but Abasan al-Saghira, a border town 20 km away.
Unlike foreign journalists, Lévy was not denied a visit to the troops, which, together with manipulative statements to the media, proves it was another regime PR stunt.
This time he also had ready access to the top dignitaries of the Israeli army and the regime, including PM Ehud Olmert, minister of military affairs Ehud Barak, and Yuval Diskin, the director of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal military service.
During all these excursions, Lévy delivered the regime’s PR mantra of “the most moral army in the world” to foreign media, and was awarded two honorary doctorates by Israeli universities for his propaganda activities.
He continued his role as an Israeli field operative later during the Arab Spring protests, when he met with militants in Libya and Syria, claiming to the media that they were ready to recognize the Israeli regime and establish diplomatic relations.
