Congress to kick-start the election campaign with 'Bharat Nyay Yatra' from January 14 from Manipur-Mumbai 2
The Congress has announced ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ from Manipur in the east to Mumbai in western India, covering 14 states and 85 districts, beginning January 14. The yatra would be led by Rahul Gandhi and other veteran Congress leaders. The yatra will conclude on March 20, covering around 6,200 km. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chiefs Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will address the rally, according to party leaders.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference, “After the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress will take out a Bharat Nyay Yatra under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi ji,”. The Bharat Nyay Yatra will focus on securing economic, social, and political justice for the people of the country, Ramesh said.
The Congress is all geared up for next year’s Lok Sabha elections with its mega rally ‘Hain Tayyar Hum’ to be held in Maharashtra’s Nagpur city on Thursday, the party’s 139th foundation day.
“It will be a historic moment for the people of the country,” Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said on Wednesday, addressing a press conference at the venue of the event.
The mega event assumes significance as it will be held in Nagpur, where the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) headquarters and ‘Deekshabhoomi’, the historic place where Dr B R Ambedkar embraced Buddhism, are located.
'Parasite' actor Lee found dead amid drug accusations 4
Lee Sun-kyun, an actor in South Korea’s Oscar-winning film “Parasite”, was found dead on Wednesday by authorities following up a report that he had gone missing, a fire official in the capital said. Lee, 48, who played the head of a wealthy household in the film, had faced an investigation over accusations of illegal drug use amid a government crackdown in which police questioned him three times, with one session running 19 hours over the weekend.
The actor had said he was tricked into taking drugs by a bar hostess trying to blackmail him, the Yonhap news agency reported. Authorities found Lee in a search triggered by the report that he was missing, the fire official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, as the matter is a sensitive one.
Earlier, citing police, Yonhap said Lee was found in a car at a park in Seoul, after his manager told police the actor had left home, leaving an apparent suicide note. Officials at Seoul’s Jongno and Seongbuk police stations did not immediately respond to telephone calls from Reuters to seek comment.
Lee’s agency, HODU&U Entertainment, also did not respond to calls. Infringements of South Korea’s tough drug laws can lead to six months in jail or up to 14 years for repeat offenders and dealers.
A 2019 dark-comedy thriller directed by Bong Joon-ho, “Parasite” won the Academy Award in February 2020 in the four categories of best picture, best director, best original screenplay, and best international feature film. It had received six Oscar nominations.
In the film, Lee acted as Mr. Park, whose affluent home is infiltrated by members of a lower-class family posing as highly qualified domestic workers in a tangled scheme that leads to a gory end. Lee, born in 1975, had leading roles in South Korean films such as the 2012 thriller “Helpless” and 2014’s “All About My Wife.”
He played the lead in Apple TV+’s first Korean-language original series, which rolled out in 2021. A six-episode sci-fi thriller, “Dr. Brain,” unspooled the tale of a cold-hearted neurologist hunting for clues to a mysterious family accident through brain experiments.
Israel Embassy blast: Two youths caught on CCTV, security beefed up in Delhi 6
The Delhi Police has intensified its probe into a low-intensity blast that occurred near the Israel Embassy here and sources said two youths were caught on camera walking on the road close to the spot shortly before the explosion.
The police have also beefed up security in the national capital after Tuesday’s blast near the embassy in the Chanakyapuri diplomatic enclave, an official said.
Areas around the Israel embassy and Jewish establishments in Delhi have been put under the watch of security personnel. The local police have been asked to increase the vigil in the national capital, an official said Wednesday.
According to police sources, CCTV footage has been recovered from near the spot where two youths were found walking on the road shortly before the blast. ”It is yet to be ascertained whether they are suspects,” the officer said.
The security agencies have collected multiple CCTVs from the lanes of Abdul Kalam Road and Prithviraj Road.
Security officials who visited the spot said since no remnants of the explosive were found at the spot, the possibility of a ”chemical explosion” cannot be ruled out.
No one was injured in the blast but an ”abusive” letter addressed to the Israeli ambassador was found near the site, officials said.
The letter is ”abusive” in nature. It has been sent to the forensic lab to check for fingerprints, they said.
”It’s a one-page letter written in English. It is suspected to be related to some organisation with the name ‘Sir Allah Resistence’, and the words like Zionists, Palestine, and Gaza mentioned in the letter,” a police source said Tuesday.
The explosion and the recovery of the letter are a grim reminder of the 2021 blast near the embassy, in which some cars were damaged. The National Investigation Agency had probed the case.
Security has been upped around the Israel embassy since the war between Israel and Hamas began earlier this year, the oficials said.
Federalism forms part of the basic structure of the Indian Constitution, and it cannot be said it is diluted or violated by the use of the expression ”Central government” instead of ”Union government”, the Delhi High Court has said while dismissing a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking to replace the term ”Central government” with ‘Union’ or ‘Union government’ in all orders, notifications, and correspondences.
A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Manmohan said ”Central Government”, ”Union of India” as well as ”Government of India” have been used vastly in various statutes and connote the government of the country in interchangeable expressions, and the petitioner’s statement that the use of the expression ”Central Government” implies that state governments are subordinate to it is totally unacceptable.
”Thus, when the Constitution as well as other Statutes have applied various expressions to connote the Government of the country, this Court will not enter into the arena of legislation, which is not within the domain of this Court,” the bench, also comprising Justice Mini Pushkarna, said in the order passed on the PIL.
”The Federal Structure of the Constitution of our country is one of the essential and basic features of the Constitution. Federalism, which is the basic structure of our Constitution, cannot be said to be diluted or violated in any manner by use of the expression ‘Central Government’. Basic structure of our Constitution is the foundation on which the governance of our country is rooted…The contention of the petitioner that use of the expression ‘Central Government’ gives the wrong impression that State Governments are subordinate to the Union Government, is totally unacceptable,” the court added.
The court had dismissed the PIL on December 19 but a detailed order was uploaded on its website later.
Atmaram Saraogi, an 84-year-old Kolkata resident, had moved the high court earlier this year seeking a direction to the Union of India, through the Ministry of Law and Justice, to use the expression ‘Union’, ‘Union government’ or ‘Union of India’ instead of ‘Central government’, ‘Centre’ or any other similar reference.
The petitioner sought striking down the definition of ”Central government” as defined under Section 3(8)(b) of the General Clauses Act, 1897 as being ultra vires the Constitution.
”Under our Constitution, India is a ‘Union of States’, and there cannot be any conceptualisation of a ‘Central government’ as existed under the British Raj. However, this archaic phraseology continues to be employed wholly contrary to our system of governance,” the plea said.
”The present PIL has only been filed by the petitioner being 84 years of age with a genuine concern to correct this continued error of usage of terms, which has the potential to denude the relationship and ties between the Union government and the State governments, thereby shake the very edifice of our Constitution,” the plea added.
During a hearing held on December 19, the court had rejected the PIL and said it would pass a formal written order on issue.
The counsel for the petitioner had contended that the term ”Central government” found no place in the Constitution of India and even a parliamentary committee favoured the usage of ”Union government”. The court had then responded that the committee only made a recommendation and that in spite of being referred to as the Supreme Court, the top court was also called the ”Apex court”.
Six labourers killed and four injured in Haridwar brick kiln wall collapse 9
Six workers were killed and another four injured on Tuesday when a brick kiln wall collapsed on them in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar district, police said.
The accident occurred in Laboli village, said a police officer who was on the spot.
Six people were killed and four others, injured in the collapse, have been hospitalised, he said.
They were working at the brick kiln when the wall collapsed, the police officer said.
”We are looking into the circumstances that led to the accident. Tough legal action will be taken against whoever is found responsible for it,” the police officer added.
PM selfie booths at railway stations brazen waste of taxpayers' money: Cong chief Kharge 11
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Tuesday that setting up ”selfie booths” at railway stations with photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a ”brazen waste” of taxpayers’ money while opposition states await MGNREGA funds.
In a post on X, Kharge said, ”Self-obsessed promotion by Modi govt knows NO bounds!” ”Absolutely brazen waste of taxpayers money by installing Modiji’s 3D selfie points at railway stations,” he added.
The Congress chief alleged that earlier, the blood and sacrifice of the country’s brave soldiers were politically used by ordering the armed forces to install 822 such selfie points with prominent cut-outs of the prime minister.
”Modi govt hasn’t provided drought and flood relief to states. MGNREGA funds for opposition ruled states are also pending. But it has the audacity to generously splurge public money on these cheap election stunts!” he said.
Kharge also shared a copy of a reply obtained under the Right to Information (RTI) Act, which listed the stations under the Central Railway where temporary and permanent selfie booths have been installed.
According to the RTI reply, the approved cost for the temporary selfie booths for category ”A” stations is Rs 1.25 lakh each, whereas the permanent selfie booths for category ”C” stations have an installation cost of Rs 6.25 lakh each.
For the first time in the history of Mumbai, Samudra Aarti was organised on December 25 13
Hindu culture is unique and comprehensive, with the worship of trees, plants, birds, animals, soil, and water considered very sacred. The Hindu religion worships all those elements that play a vital role in their routine lives. Sufi Sant Arvind Mohan Nagar, Dayanidhi Sharan and President of Sanatan Seva Nyas Shivom Mishra organised Samudra Aarti On December 25, with the divine blessings and inspiration of Vedanta Yogi Shri Kalikananda Saraswati,. It was a very spiritual scene that included Vedic chants, prayers, and sacred rituals.
Yogi Kalikananda Saraswati Ji said, “When a pious master prays, his blessings reach the entire universe. Bhajan is true devotion. I am happy that Mumbai has chosen this day for sea prayer. Jai Sanatan.”
In Hinduism, sea prayer is considered very auspicious, and worshipping the sea is considered a means of raising one’s spiritual level. At this time, a resolution was also taken to celebrate December 25th as Samudra Aarti Day every year across India. The Mumbai Koli (fishermen) community does sea prayers every year as part of all their community rituals, but this Maha-Aarti is done by all the citizens.
Sufi saint Arvind Nangar ji said, I will travel across India and organise Samudra Maha Aarti to bring peace and prosperity to our countrymen and make people understand the religious magnitude of the ocean. They will also give information about how the sea should be made clean and beautiful with a religious spirit, not just as a tourist destination. Samudra Pooja is performed to seek the blessings of the sea, which is the largest part of Mumbai.”
He further stated that “the atmosphere created by performing the Samudra Aarti here was amazing. Children are brought to the beach to tell who the Christmas Santa is, but they are never told that there are religious beliefs about the sea. I want this Samudra Aarti day to be celebrated. I will travel across India and pray across the seas so that peace, prosperity, and goodwill prevail among the people of India.”
The event was organised at Juhu Chowpatty. Many devotees enjoy pleasing the sea god by indulging in bhajans here.
Yogi Dayanidhi Sharan said, “As a priest, this is my small contribution towards Sanatan Dharma. And we will work to carry the vast culture of Hinduism to the next generation.”
Biden orders strike on Iranian-aligned group after 3 US troops injured in drone attack in Iraq 15
President Joe Biden ordered the US military to carry out retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three US servicemembers were injured in a drone attack in Northern Iraq.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said one of the US troops suffered critical injuries in the attack that occurred earlier on Monday.
The Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, under an umbrella of Iranian-backed militants, claimed credit for the attack.
Biden, who is spending Christmas at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, was briefed on the attack. and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and Biden’s national security team quickly drew up plans and presented him with options in a call and Biden directed strikes against three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups. The US strikes were carried out at about 4:45 a.m. on Tuesday in Iraq.
“The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way,” Watson said. “The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue.” The latest attack on US troops follows months of escalating threats and actions against American forces in the region since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the devastating war in Gaza.
The US has blamed Iran, which has funded and trained Hamas, for the rising violence by its network of proxy groups across the region, including attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against commercial and military vessels thorough a critical shipping choke point in the Red Sea.
The Biden administration has sought to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from spiraling into a wider regional conflict that either opens up new fronts of Israeli fighting or that draws the US in directly.
The administration’s measured response—where not every attempt on American troops has been met with a counterattack—has drawn criticism from Republicans.
The US has thousands of troops in Iraq training Iraqi forces and combating remnants of the Islamic State group, and hundreds in Syria, mostly on the counter-IS mission. They have come under dozens of attacks, though as yet none fatal, since the war began on October 7, with the US attributing responsibility to Iran-backed groups.
Serbia police fire tear gas as protesters storm streets over 'unfair elections' 17
Riot police fired tear gas and pepper spray at opposition supporters in Serbia on Sunday, demanding the annulment of elections tainted by extensive fraud charges, according to Al Jazeera. Hundreds of protesters attempted to storm Belgrade City Hall on Sunday evening during demonstrations against the results of the December 17 parliamentary and local elections, which international observers say were marred by vote-buying, ballot stuffing, and President Aleksandar Vucic’s improper influence.
Opposition supporters, some yelling “Vucic thief” and “Vucic is Putin,” tried to storm into the capital’s administration building with flagpoles and rocks but were repulsed by riot police, according to Al Jazeera. According to preliminary results given by electoral authorities, Vucic’s ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) was returned to power with a parliamentary majority after gaining nearly 47 per cent of the ballots.
The centre-left opposition group Serbia Against Violence garnered 23.56 per cent of the vote, followed by the Socialist Party of Serbia with 6.56 per cent, Al Jazeera reported, citing the electoral authorities. Antigovernment protests in May shook Vucic and his party. They began as protests against back-to-back mass shootings that killed 18 people, including nine children, before morphing into a broader antigovernment movement targeting issues such as rising inflation and perceived government corruption.
"I have severed ties with wrestling": Former WFI chief Brij Bhushan 19
BJP MP and former wrestling federation chief, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, severed all ties with the sport on Monday, and his upcoming meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah will have nothing to do with it. His remark assumes significance, as, on Sunday, the Union Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs issued an official release stating that it had suspended the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) along with its newly elected chief and other office-bearers.
The decision of the Sports Ministry came close on the heels of the newly elected WFI president Sanjay Singh announcing the hosting of the U-15 and U-20 nationals at Nandini Nagar in the Gond district of Uttar Pradesh by the end of the year. The Sports Ministry termed the decision “hasty” and a “complete disregard to the sports code.”
Bhushan held a press conference later in the day saying, “Sanjay Singh is not my relative. I have withdrawn myself from wrestling affairs of the country.” On Monday, he reaffirmed that he had broken all ties with the sport and wouldn’t be involved with activities related to the sport.
“Whatever I had to say, I said yesterday. I have taken retirement from wrestling administration and have nothing to do with the sport anymore. As far as meeting Union HM Amit Shah is concerned, if it happens, we will not discuss wrestling. Sanjay Singh should do his work, I am doing mine. The wrestling issue is between the government and the elected federation, I have nothing to do with this,” Brij Bhushan told reporters. Meanwhile, the newly elected WFI president, Sanjay Singh, weighing in on the decision of the Sports Ministry earlier, said the future of children pursuing the sport is in peril and he would soon hold talks with the government.
“We will speak to the central government, PM Modi and the Sports Minister. The future of our children is in peril. Some members of our executive committee will hold talks with the Centre,” Singh told ANI. On his ties with former WFI president Brij Bhushan, he said they come from different communities but they share a bond of friendship, adding that he was the joint secretary of the federation during the former’s tenure as the chief of wrestling’s top governing body in the country.
“After the new federation was formed, he (Brij Bhushan) received a send-off and today, he said he has retired from wrestling administration. (Olympian) Sakshi Malik has also retired. With neither of them now associated with the sport, let the federation run peacefully. Him (Brij Bhushan) and I are from different communities. So, could we be relatives? When he was the president of the federation, I was joint secretary. It’s the bond of friendship that has held us close,” Singh added. On Thursday, Sanjay Singh was elected as the new president of the WFI following the conclusion of the election.
An hour later, Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik addressed the press conference and announced her retirement from the sport, claiming that the Centre went back on its word to not allow an aide of Brij Bhushan to be elected to any post in the WFI. She put her shoes on the table during the press conference, announcing her decision to quit wrestling.
