DELHI RED-FLAGS HAMAS TERROR, REITERATES STAND ON PALESTINE STATEHOOD

On October 7, hours after the Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted a statement on X expressing his deep shock at the “terrorist attacks” and that “we stand in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.”

Five days later, in its first official statement on the Israel-Hamas war, New Delhi has sought to nuance this.

Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, in response to questions at the weekly briefing, said that there is a “universal obligation to observe international humanitarian law,” and there is also a global responsibility to fight the menace of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

The phrase — “universal obligation to observe international humanitarian law” — is seen as aimed at Israel which is conducting aerial strikes in Gaza.

New Delhi also reiterated its traditional position on the Israel-Palestine conflict, as the MEA spokesperson said India has advocated the resumption of “direct negotiations” towards establishing a “sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine living within secure and recognized borders, side by side at peace with Israel”.

India is also sending a chartered flight today to bring back about 230 Indian nationals. There are about 18,000 Indians in Israel, and about 16 in Palestine — a dozen in the West Bank and 3-4 people in Gaza, the MEA spokesperson said.

AMID DIPLOMATIC ROW, CANADIAN SPEAKER SKIPS G20 SPEAKERS' SUMMIT

Amid a diplomatic row, Speaker of the Canadian Senate Raymonde Gagne has decided to skip the Presiding Officers' Summit of Parliaments of G20 nations that began in New Delhi Thursday.

Gagne had earlier confirmed her presence at the Parliament-20 meeting chaired by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

"The Canadian Speaker is not attending the Summit. Schedules keep changing," Parliamentary sources said.

Earlier, Birla had said he would raise "several issues" in his informal talks with the Speaker of the Canadian Senate.

The P20 meeting got underway on Thursday with Parliamentarians of G20 nations participating in the Parliamentary Forum on LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment), a movement proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

MODI’S VISIT TO GUNJI IRKS NEPAL OPPOSITION

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Gunji near Kalapani, Uttarakhand has triggered an uproar in Nepal. Nepal’s Opposition parties claimed Modi “came to our territory” without informing authorities and asked how it happened.

Prominent Nepalese parliamentarians, including Thakur Prasad Gaire of main opposition Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist, Rabi Lamichhane of Rastriya Swatantra Party and Dipak Bahadur Singh of Rastriya Prajatantra Party, claimed “Gunji in Kalapani was Nepal’s territory” and the visit by Modi therewithout “permission” was a breach of diplomatic traditions.

Kalapani, Limpiadhura and Lipulekh on the India-Nepal border are included in the official maps of both countries, although they are under India’s administration. Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal, after a visit to India in June, said Modi assured him of “doing everything to resolve the dispute”.

OPPN WRITES TO SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS’, DEMANDS NEUTRALITY DURING POLLS

The opposition INDIA bloc has written to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai over their social media platforms' alleged role in "aiding communal hatred" in the country and demanded that the platforms maintain neutrality in the upcoming elections.

The letters came after the Washington Post newspaper flagged alleged bias of Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube towards the ruling BJP and the Narendra Modi dispensation.

Sharing the letter to Zuckerberg on X, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Letter by INDIA parties to Facebook's Mr. Mark Zuckerberg (@finkd) citing the exhaustive investigations by the Washington Post that Meta is culpable of abetting social disharmony and inciting communal hatred in India." "INDIA parties also write to Google's Mr. Sundar Pichai on exhaustive investigation by the Washington Post that Alphabet and specifically YouTube is culpable of abetting social disharmony and inciting communal hatred in India," he said in another post while sharing the letter to Pichai.

"You may be aware of the recent exposes by the Washington Post newspaper about the role of WhatsApp and Facebook in aiding the communal hatred campaign of the ruling BJP. Specifically, the article cites details of how this vile, communally divisive propaganda is carried out using WhatsApp groups by BJP members and supporters.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

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NO WATER, POWER TO GAZA UNTIL HOSTAGES FREED: ISRAEL

Amid the ongoing war between Hamas and Israel that has claimed thousands of innocent lives, Israel's Energy Minister has warned that Tel Aviv will not allow humanitarian aid or any essential resources into Gaza until Hamas releases captives, Al Jazeera reported.

"Humanitarian aid to Gaza? No electric switch will be turned on, no water tap will be opened and no fuel truck will enter until the Israeli abductees are returned home," Energy Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday.

Israel has vowed to destroy Hamas and declared a 'full siege' on the Gaza Strip in punishment for the attack on Saturday, which it claims resulted in more than 1,300 deaths and 3,000 injuries.

According to Palestinian sources, over 1,350 people have died and more than 5,000 have been injured as a result of Israel's air raids on the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Thursday, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant briefed 31 of his counterparts at a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) meeting in Brussels. "Hamas is the 'ISIS' of Gaza, a savage organization, funded and supported by Iran. Hamas is ISIS. The 'ISIS' of Gaza will not exist, on our borders. The IDF will destroy Hamas. And we will hunt down every last man, with the blood of our children, on his hands," Gallant said.

Gallant briefed them about atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists against children, women, men and the elderly.

"We have been hit hard. Yet make no mistake -- 2023 is not 1943. We are the same Jews, but we have different capabilities. The State of Israel is strong. We are united, and powerful," he said.

He expressed appreciation for the global show of support for Israel.

AS LONG AS AMERICA EXISTS, ...: BLINKEN VOWS SUPPORT TO ISRAEL

In a joint presser with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed his support to Tel Aviv. "The message that I bring to Israel is this -- you may be strong enough on your own to defend yourself, but as long as America exists, you will never, ever have to. We will always be there by your side….That's the message that President Joe Biden delivered to the prime minister from the moment that this crisis began," he said.

Condemning the killings done by Hamas of civilians in Israel, Blinken further highlighted, "Babies slaughtered, bodies desecrated, young people burnt alive, women raped, parents executed in front of their children-- how are we even to understand this? To digest this? And yet, at the same time, we have been shocked by the depravity of Hamas. We have also been inspired by the bravery of Israeli citizens...The grandfather who drove over an hour to a kibbutz under siege armed only with a pistol and rescued his kids and grandkids...the mother who died shielding her teenage son with her body, giving her life to save his."

"The people of Israel have long and rightly prided themselves on their self-reliance, on their ability to defend themselves even when the odds are stacked against them," Blinken continued.

ELON MUSK'S X REMOVES PRO-HAMAS ACCOUNTS

In the aftermath of the recent Hamas attacks on Israel, the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has removed hundreds of Hamas-affiliated accounts, stating "there is no place on X for terrorist organisations".

"X is committed to serving the public conversation, especially in critical moments like this and understands the importance of addressing any illegal content that may be disseminated through the platform. There is no place on X for terrorist organisations or violent extremists groups and we continue to remove such accounts in real time, including proactive groups," said the social media platform's CEO, Linda Yaccarino.

The swift response from X was prompted by a 24-hour ultimatum issued by European Union industry chief Thierry Breton to Elon Musk, urging him to combat the spread of disinformation on X and ensure compliance with new EU online content regulations. Breton voiced concerns over the platform's alleged use in distributing illegal content and disinformation within the European Union.

THE REST

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COMMITTED TO SPEEDY BORDER GROWTH, SAYS PM NARENDRA MODI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reiterated the government’s commitment to effective and speedy border development saying unlike past governments that kept the borders undeveloped, “new India does not fear anything”.

“Neither new India fears anything, nor does it induce fear among others,” the PM said at a gathering in the border district of Pithoragarh, during his day-long visit to Uttarakhand where he earlier offered prayers at ‘Parvati Kund’ and also prayed at Jageshwar Dham in Almora.

The PM said more than 4,200 km of roads, 250 bridges and 22 tunnels had been built in border areas in nine years and plans were underway to bring railways too.

OPERATION AJAY: FLIGHT CARRYING 212 INDIANS FROM ISRAEL LANDS IN DELHI

A flight carrying the first batch of Indians, who were stranded in Israel amid the ongoing war, landed in New Delhi under 'Operation Ajay' on Friday morning. As many as 212 Indian nationals from Israel have arrived at the Delhi airport. Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar was present at the airport to welcome them. He reassured the passengers, saying India's commitment to the safety of every Indian is unwavering. Prime Minister Modi is determined to protect them, he added.

"Our government will never leave any Indian behind. Our government, our Prime Minister is determined to protect them and bring them back home safely. We are grateful to EAM Dr S Jaishankar, the team at the External Affairs Ministry, the flight crew of this Air India flight for making this possible, for bringing our children back home safely and soundly and back home to their loved ones," Chandrasekhar said.

WE CAN’T KILL THE CHILD, NEED TO BALANCE OUT RIGHTS OF UNBORN CHILD, SAYS SC

Stating that the rights of a woman “must trump” when it comes to a request for Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP), the Supreme Court said Thursday it will also have to “balance out the rights of the unborn child”.

“We can’t kill the child,” said Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud who was heading a three-judge bench that took up a married woman’s request for ending her 26-week pregnancy, a day after a two-judge all-woman bench disagreed on giving the go-ahead for the MTP procedure and referred her plea to the CJI.

The bench of CJI Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra asked the woman if she was willing to wait a few more weeks in which case the child would have a better chance of being born healthy and could be given for adoption if she wished. It asked Advocates Amit Mishra and Rahul Sharma, counsel for the woman, and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, who appeared for the Centre, to talk to her. The matter will be heard again today.

INDIA 111TH ON HUNGER INDEX; GOVT SAYS THE REPORT IS FLAWED

India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index-2023, which was rejected by the government as erroneous and having malafide intent.

The index, released on Thursday, also stated that India has the highest child wasting rate in the world at 18.7 per cent, reflecting acute undernutrition.

india's neighbouring countries Pakistan (102nd), Bangladesh (81st), Nepal (69th) and Sri Lanka (60th) have fared better than it in the index.

The Women and Child Development Ministry said the index suffers from "serious methodological issues and shows a malafide intent". "The index is an erroneous measure of hunger and suffers from serious methodological issues. Three out of the four indicators used for calculation of the index are related to the health of children and cannot be representative of the entire population. The fourth and most important indicator 'Proportion of Undernourished (PoU) population' is based on an opinion poll conducted on a very small sample size of 3,000," it said.

"The percentage of child wasting, as seen on the Poshan Tracker, has been consistently below 7.2 per cent, month-on-month, as compared to the value of 18.7 per cent used for child wasting in the Global Hunger Index 2023," the ministry said in a statement.

REPORT ON PMAY-G POINTS TO SOME SPECIFIC CORRUPTION CASES

A political party taking “cut money” for funds in West Bengal; panchayat officials collecting bribes in Bihar; the “stopping” of funds by a village secretary in Rajasthan; and the sarpanch “forcibly” taking funds in Madhya Pradesh.

These are among the cases flagged by the National Level Monitoring (NLM) agents after assessing the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) — the BJP-led Centre’s flagship programme to provide pucca houses to eligible beneficiaries — in the three reports on the same available with the Union Ministry for Rural Development. The reports were compiled by the Delhi-based CMI Social Research Centre and have been submitted to the ministry.

The ministry can depute NLM agencies for regular monitoring of its major schemes; special monitoring of an individual scheme; and in case of complaints or enquiries.

The special monitoring exercise was rolled out in three phases: 42 NLM agents visited 85 districts in 10 states (January 2022); another 45 went to 111 districts across 25 states (May 2022); and 43 agents visited 110 districts across 24 states (December 2022).

The NLMs were required to visit the selected districts to “assess the ease of living from the experience of PMAY-G beneficiary and the ease of governance from the point of view of the efficacy of implementation processes”.

The Phase-I report speaks of instances of “rent-seeking or corruption” , which although are “reported in very small numbers”, point “towards a corrupt practice”.

BATLA HOUSE ENCOUNTER: HC REDUCES ARIZ KHAN'S DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE

The Delhi high court on Thursday commuted to life term the death penalty awarded to Ariz Khan following his conviction in the sensational 2008 Batla House encounter in which Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma lost his life, saying while it was conscious that the country lost a decorated police officer in the line of duty, the case did not fall in the "rarest of rare" category to merit capital punishment.

In its order, the court also considered the "psychological assessment report" of Khan, which did not reflect that he was "incapable of reformation" and "indicated a balanced personality, without any propensity for psychological or emotional disorder", and modified the trial court's order of sentence.

‘GANGAJAL IS EXEMPTED FROM GST’, CLARIFIES GOVT AFTER CONGRESS CHARGE

The CBIC on Thursday said that there is no GST on Gangajal, amid Congress claims that the government has imposed an 18 per cent tax on it.

“Gangajal is used in pooja by households across the country and puja samagri is exempt under GST... All these items have been exempt since the introduction of GST," the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said in a post on X.

Earlier in the day Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in a post on X said that the government has imposed an 18 per cent GST on Gangajal, terming it as the "height of loot and hypocrisy".

RETAIL INFLATION EASES TO 5.02%, IIP OUTPUT HITS 14-MONTH HIGH

INDIA’S INDUSTRIAL output jumped to a 14-month high of 10.3 per cent in August, primarily driven by a base effect along with an uptick in manufacturing, mining, capital goods and consumer durables.

Inflation rate for consumers, or retail inflation, also eased to a three-month low of 5.02 per cent in September with a sharp moderation in food prices, especially of vegetables, and the impact of the LPG price cut, data released by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday showed.

Factory output gained on the back of a 9.3 per cent increase in manufacturing, which accounts for 77.6 per cent of the weight of the IIP (Index of Industrial Production). Manufacturing output had grown by 5 per cent in July and had contracted by 0.5 per cent in August 2022. In absolute terms, it improved to 143.5 in August from 141.8 in July and 131.3 in the year-ago period.

WORLD CUP, MATCH 10: S AFRICA STEAMROLL AUSTRALIA TO CONTINUE WINNING RUN

South Africa reaffirmed their status as serious contenders as their pacers fired in tandem after Quinton de Kock's blazing century, paving the way for a dominant 134-run win over Australia in the World Cup in Lucknow on Thursday.

If de Kock showed his class with a masterful 109 off 106 balls to take the Proteas to 311/7, the fast bowlers were at their ruthless best, bundling Australia for 177 in 40.5 overs for their second consecutive win.

Australia bowled without a plan, looked equally clueless with the bat -- losing wickets in clumps -- and were sloppy on the field, dropping as many as five catches. The loss will severely dent their confidence. They were also outplayed by India in their opener and sit second last in the 10-team table. But it's still a long tournament.

Results so far: S Africa Played 2 Matches, Won both. Australia Played 2, lost both

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THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: what are we busy about? - Henry David Thoreau

OFF TRACK

While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication, Manoj and his wife Priya listened to the instructor, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other."

He addressed the man, "Can you describe your wife's favorite flower?"

Manoj leaned over, touched his wife's arm gently and whispered,

"It's Aashirvaad, isn't it?

The rest of the story gets rather ugly, so I'll stop right here.