FRENCH PRESIDENT MACRON TRUSTS ‘FRIEND’ NARENDRA MODI TO BRING BOTH NATIONS TOGETHER TO BUILD PEACE

After India took over the G-20 Presidency, French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday tweeted a photo of himself with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and expressed confidence that the Indian PM will bring the two countries to build peace and a sustainable world.

"One Earth. One Family. One Future. India has taken over the presidency of #G20India! I trust my friend @NarendraModi to bring us together in order to build peace and a more sustainable world," Macron wrote in a tweet.

India formally assumed the G-20 Presidency on Thursday.

Earlier, United States President Joe Biden said he was looking forward to supporting 'his friend' Prime Minister Narendra Modi during India's G-20 Presidency. Biden said that the US and India will join hands while tackling challenges like climate, energy and food crises.

'PERFORM OR MAKE WAY FOR OTHERS': KHARGE'S STERN MESSAGE AT CONG MEET

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday sent out a stern message to leaders to perform or make way for others, and strongly pitched for accountability of office-bearers "from top to bottom" as he presided over the first meeting of the party's steering committee.

During the meeting at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi, the Congress also decided to hold its plenary session in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, in the second half of February, where Kharge's election as president would be ratified.

As the Congress plans to end the Bharat Jodo Yatra by January 26, the Committee decided to continue its mass outreach with the 'Haath Se Haath Jodo Abhiyan (Joining Hands campaign)' till March 26, during which foot marches will be taken out from village to block and district levels and will culminate as public rallies at state headquarters.

The party will also hand out a letter by Rahul Gandhi talking about the core message of the yatra, along with a "charge sheet'' against the Modi government. The party also plans to take out state-level marches by women party workers across the country which will be led by Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

In his introductory remarks at the meeting, Kharge batted for organisational accountability in the party and said those unable to fulfil their responsibilities will have to make way for their colleagues.

EX-NAVYMEN’S CUSTODY IN QATAR EXTENDED BY A MONTH, FAMILIES TOLD

The families of the eight former Navy officers in custody in Qatar learnt on Sunday that the duration of the men’s custody was increased by one more month at a court hearing.

Family sources said the news was communicated to them by officials at the company where the men had been working. The men were picked up by Qatari State Security personnel on the night of August 30. They have been held in solitary confinement since then, and there is no public information of the charges against them. Their families have been urging New Delhi to secure their expeditious release.

The company that they were working for, Dahra Global Technologies and Consultancy Services, provided services to the Qatari Navy, including imparting training and providing maintenance work for equipment as well as being involved in logistics.

On Saturday, at a customary press conference ahead of Navy Day, Navy chief Admiral R Hari Kumar, said the matter had been raised with the Qatari authorities by the “highest levels of the government”, and that he was hopeful that the matter would be resolved soon.

'MEDIA USED TO PRAISE ME 24 HOURS': RAHUL GANDHI ON HIS IMAGE

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday shared a 2.15-minute video clip in which he claimed to have revealed the truth about his image portrayed by the media and how the coverage turned from 24x7 praise in the initial years to personal attacks now.

In the video clip shared on social media, 'What is the real truth of my media image', Gandhi said the truth has come out finally even though thousands of crores of rupees have been spent in destroying his image for years.

"From the time I first came into politics in 2004 to 2008-09, the entire media of India used to praise me 24 hours. Then I raised two issues -- Niyamgiri and Bhatta Parsaul (land acquisition matters). The moment I raised the question of land and the moment I started to defend the right of poor people on their land, is when this whole media tamasha starts," he says in the video clip which also contains images from his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.

In the video clip, he said, "They spent thousands of crores to destroy my image and now people think it is harmful to me. The beauty of it is that it doesn't work….the amount of money that they use to destroy my image, they are giving me that much strength. Because the truth cannot be hidden or suppressed. If you fight with big powers, then there will be personal attacks.”

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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IRAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR SAYS MORALITY POLICE SHUT DOWN

The public prosecutor in Iran yesterday said that  the morality police, whose detention of a young woman triggered months of protests, had been shut down.

There was no confirmation of the closure from the Interior Ministry which is in charge of the morality police, and Iranian state media said Public Prosecutor Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was not responsible for overseeing the force.

Top Iranian officials have repeatedly said Tehran would not change the Islamic Republic's mandatory hijab policy, which requires women to dress modestly and wear headscarves, despite 11 weeks of protests against strict Islamic regulations.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the unrest which erupted in September after the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for flouting the hijab rules.

‘RUSSIA WILL NOT EXPORT OIL SUBJECT TO PRICE CAP EVEN IF PRODUCTION CUT’

Russia, the world’s second largest oil exporter, will not sell oil that is subject to a Western price cap even if it has to cut production, President Vladimir Putin’s point man on energy said. The G7 nations and Australia on Friday agreed a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil after EU members overcame resistance from Poland. The move by the West to prohibit shipping, insurance and reinsurance companies from handling cargoes of Russian crude above the cap, is an attempt to punish Putin for the Ukraine conflict.

Russian deputy PM Alexander Novak said on Sunday the move by the West was a gross interference which contradicted the rules of free trade and would destabilise global energy markets by triggering a shortage of supply. “We are working on mechanisms to prohibit the use of a price cap instrument, regardless of what level is set, because such interference could further destabilise the market,” said Novak, who is the Russian government official in charge of the country’s oil, gas, atomic energy and coal. “We will sell oil and petroleum products only to those countries that will work with us under market conditions, even if we have to reduce production a little,” he added. Novak said the Western cap could trigger trouble in the products markets and could affect other countries beside Russia.

TRUMP SHOCKS U.S. BY CALLING FOR SCRAPPING OF CONSTITUTION

Even accounting for his off-the-wall, offthe-cuff utterances over the years, former President Donald Trump jolted the US political establishment on Saturday by calling for scrapping of the US constitution because, he insisted, there was “massive fraud” in the 2020 presidential election, a claim that has been repeatedly disproved and rejected.

Trump’s unprecedented call on canning the constitution came after Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of Twitter, commissioned a journalist to scrutinise internal emails of the platform before he took over to show the previous dispensation had “censored” reports about the dissolute lifestyle of then presidential candidate Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

Musk, Trump, and their supporters implicitly argued that by censoring damaging reports and graphic photos of Hunter, Twitter helped Democrats win. The reports and photos showing Hunter in compromising situations were published in right-wing, proTrump media but the pre-Musk Twitter banned posts and links, effectively limiting its reach.

Trump’s call was received with alarm and consternation, even by many Republicans and conservatives who revere the constitution as a inviolable founding document in a country that prides itself as a constitutional republic.

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50% VOTING IN MCD POLLS; RESULTS ON WEDNESDAY

Around 50 per cent voting was recorded on Sunday in the election to the 250 municipal wards in Delhi, with main rivals BJP and AAP claiming victory in the high-stakes contest.

No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.

Several people in North-East Delhi and some other areas complained that their names were missing from the voters' lists. Anil Kumar, the Delhi Congress president, was among the people who could not vote. The BJP said it has filed a complaint with the state election commission over the missing names.

Garbage collection and landfills emerged as one of the biggest issues in the fight between the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, which has been controlling municipal bodies for 15 years.

The results will be announced on December 7.

TOP GUJARAT CLERIC SLAMS MUSLIM WOMEN IN ELECTIONS

The Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in Ahmedabad on Sunday said allotting tickets to women in elections is a rebellion against Islam and weakens the religion.

Talking to reporters here on the eve of the second and final phase of polling for the Gujarat Assembly elections, the Shahi Imam, Shabbir Ahmed Siddiqui, said women are not allowed to offer Namaz in mosques because they have a certain position in Islam. “If you talk about Islam...Do you see even a single woman offering Namaz? Namaz has great importance in Islam. Had it been justified in Islam for women to come before people, they (women) would not have been stopped (from entering) the mosque.

“Women are stopped from visiting mosques because they have a certain status in Islam. Whoever (whichever party) gives tickets to (Muslim) women rebels against Islam. Don’t you have men (candidates) that you are bringing in women? This will weaken our religion,” the Shahi Imam said.

Voting for 93 out of 182 Assembly seats will be held across 14 central and northern districts of Gujarat today.

NAGALAND KILLINGS: 'WE CAN FORGIVE, BUT CAN'T FORGET'

They have burnt down the grass to rid the spot where fellow villagers were gunned down on this day a year ago of the stench and stains of the blood that was spilled.

However, the memories of that fateful December 4, when a botched army operation claimed 14 lives in a case of mistaken identity, still pervade as people in this tiny hamlet of Nagaland remember the horror that overtook their humdrum lives.

“We have moved on in some ways, but the pain and feeling of suffering are still there. In Nagaland, we know to forgive, but we can't forget this tragedy,” a community leader of Oting, Kheatwang Konyak, said yesterday.

The people of Oting in Mon district in the northeastern state said they will erect a monolith in memory of the 14 people on the first anniversary of the killings.

On December 4 last year, six coal miners returning from work were killed in a botched ambush by the security forces at Oting village, while seven others were gunned down when angry villagers scuffled with them after discovering the bullet-riddled bodies of the labourers on an Army truck.

One security personnel was also killed in the melee. Another civilian was killed when a mob attacked an Assam Rifles camp at Mon town the next day.

E-RUPEE VS UPI: ANONYMITY A BIG DIFFERENTIATOR

All the wallet-to-wallet transactions of the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the retail segment are anonymous as those transactions are not reflected in the core banking system of banks — a feature that shall boost customer confidence to use the digital rupee in India.

On December 1, the pilot project for testing the digital currency was kicked off by the RBI, in which four banks are participating across four cities — Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Bhubaneswar.

In the first three days of the pilot, around 2,000 transactions took place and volumes are expected to pick up further this week, bankers said. The RBI has created Rs 1.71 crore worth of digital rupee for the pilot, which is expected to expand; four more banks, along with their customers, are set to join the pilot in the next two-three weeks. The target is to involve 50,000 merchants and customers in the next few days.

When a bank transfers the digital cash to a CBDC wallet, that transaction is recorded in the CBS — as it is similar to when a person withdraws money from the bank.

Later when transactions are made from one CBDC wallet to another, this leg of the transaction is not recorded in the core banking solution (CBS) of the bank, and remains anonymous — the same as physical cash, that is, when a customer spends the physical money in a grocery shop or in any other merchant establishment, such transactions do not have any trail.

However, there are digital trails of transactions between wallets. The RBI is said to be working on technology to erase such digital trails, too. This feature shall be implemented in the pilot at a later stage.

“The anonymity factor is critical for its acceptance,” Dinesh Khara, chairman of SBI said.

3 IFFI JURORS STAND BY LAPID’S STATEMENTS ON THE KASHMIR FILES

A statement posted on Twitter by International Film Festival of India (IFFI)  jury member Jinko Gotoh, with fellow jurors Pascale Chavance and Javier Angulo Barturen as the undersigned, Saturday, said they knew of and agreed with what Nadav Lapid said about The Kashmir Files at the event in Goa.

Jinko Gotoh is an Oscar-nominated American producer, Javier A Barturen, is a documentary filmmaker and journalist from France and Pascale Chavance is a film editor from France.

The lone dissenting member is the Indian juror, filmmaker Sudipto Sen.

Israeli filmmaker Lapid, who was invited to chair the jury at IFFI, described The Kashmir Files, a film directed by Vivek Agnihotri about the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandit community, as “vulgar” and “propaganda” at the festival’s closing ceremony on 29 November. This sparked huge controversy and debate in the country and even led to the Israeli envoy to India tweeting an open letter condemning Lapid’s remarks.

In their joint statement, the jurors highlighted that Lapid had said he did not mean to deny the tragedy of Kashmiri Pandits but had only commented on the movie’s “cinematic manipulations”, and that the tragedy “deserves a serious movie”.

FOOTBALL WORLD CUP: FRANCE, ENGLAND SET UP Q-FINALS CLASH

Kylian Mbappe was in another league yet again, while the ever-reliable Olivier Giroud netted a record goal, to send defending champions France into the quarter-finals of the World Cup with a 3-1 victory against Poland on Sunday.

France had to dig deep but scored on the stroke of halftime as Giroud became the outright all-time scorer for France with 52 goals before Mbappe's 74th-minute and stoppage-time screamers sealed Poland's fate.

Poland, in the knockout stage for the first time since 1986 and looking for a first quarter-final appearance since 1982, had a huge chance in the first half but the France midfield did a great job at cutting the feeding line to Robert Lewandowski, who reduced the arrears with a twice-taken, last-second penalty.

In the second match yesterday, England overcame a pedestrian start to surge to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Senegal as goals by Jordan Henderson, Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka swept them into a mouth-watering World Cup quarter-final clash with holders France.

England took a long time to impose themselves on the African champions, a team they had never faced before, and survived a couple of scares before two goals late in the first half changed the feel of the night and it was no contest after the break.

MEHIDY SHINES AS BANGLADESH EDGE INDIA IN 1ST ODI

Bangladesh's last wicket pair of Mehidy Hasan Miraj and Mustafizur Rahaman pulled off an absolute heist with a thrilling 51-run stand as India choked during final half an hour to lose a low-scoring opening ODI by one wicket in Mirpur on Sunday.

While India produced yet another poor batting show which saw them get all-out for 186 in 41.2 overs, the bowlers did a splendid job to reduce Bangladesh to 136 for 9 in the 40th over.

However KL Rahul, who was entrusted with keeping duties to fit him and another veteran Shikhar Dhawan in the same XI, dropped an aerial sitter when Bangladesh still needed 32 runs.

Washington Sundar also didn't go for an easy catch at third man earning the wrath of skipper Rohit Sharma as Bangladesh’s last two batsmen Miraj (38 not out off 39 balls) and Mustafizur (10 not out) got the team past the finishing line in exactly 46 overs.

The 51-run stand between Miraj and Mustafizur was Bangladesh's highest 10th wicket partnership and the fourth-highest 10th wicket partnership in a successful ODI chase.

On a track that assisted both seamers and spinners, Indian top-order barring KL Rahul (73 off 70 balls) flopped badly to be bowled out for a score below 200.

But the total that looked eminently gettable at the break turned into a sizeable one due to lion-hearted efforts from Mohammed Siraj (3/32), Shardul Thakur (1/21) and Washington Sundar (2/17).

RAWALPINDI TEST: ENGLAND SCENT VICTORY AFTER BOLD DECLARATION

(At End of Day 4: England 657 & 264/7 (decl); Pakistan 579 & 80/2)

England made a bold declaration and then used short-ball tactics to great effect to be on course for a comprehensive victory in the opening Test against Pakistan on Sunday.

Pakistan were bowled out for 579 in reply to England's first-innings 657.

Having taken a 78-run lead in the runfest, England declared their second innings on 264-7 to set Pakistan an improbable victory target of 343 with four sessions to go.

On a docile pitch where seven batsmen smashed hundreds, England's pace attack bent their backs and diligently pursued a short-ball strategy to dent Pakistan's top order.

The home side finished the penultimate day on 80-2, still 263 behind their target, with number three batsman Azhar Ali unlikely to bat again after retiring hurt with a damaged finger.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Take action. Success is not guaranteed, but inaction will guarantee failure. - Ken Poirot

OFF TRACK

Once a lawyer always a lawyer!

The doctor broke the sad news to his lawyer patient that the man had approximately 3 months to live.

The lawyer pondered a moment and asked, "Consecutively?"