After helping Argentina win the 2022 World Cup in a stunning penalty shootout victory over France on Sunday, Lionel Messi has said he would not retire from international football.
“I won the Copa America and the World Cup in a short time. I love what I do, being in the national team, and I want to continue living a few more games being a world champion. I am going to take the Cup to Argentina to enjoy it with you,” said Messi as quoted by ESPN.
Argentina’s first global championship since Diego Maradona led them to victory in Mexico in 1986 was the fulfilment of a “childhood dream” according to Messi.
“It’s anyone’s childhood dream. I was lucky to have achieved everything in this career … and this one that was missing is here. It’s madness … look how she [the World Cup] is, she’s gorgeous. I wanted her so much. I had a vision that this would be the one … she was getting closer. We suffer, but we already have it (the World Cup). I wanted to close my career with this. I can no longer ask for anything else, thank God, he gave me everything,” said the 35-year-old talismanic striker.
Argentina’s head coach Lionel Scaloni said during a post-match interview that Messi is welcome to play for the team in the 2026 World Cup. “First of all, we need to save him a spot for the World Cup 2026. If he wants to keep playing, he will be with us. I think he is more than entitled to decide whether he wants to keep playing or what he wants to do with his career. It is such a huge pleasure for us to coach him and his teammates. Everything that he transmits to his teammates is something unparalleled, something I have never seen before a player, a person who gives so much to his teammates,” expressed Scaloni.
After announcing that the 2022 World Cup would be his last, Messi, 35, set the record for most World Cup appearances on Sunday when he played in his 26th match.
At the Lusail Stadium in Doha, Qatar, Messi first scored from the penalty spot before adding another goal in extra time when the ball dropped to him in the 6-yard box.
A few minutes later, France’s Kylian Mbappe scored a penalty to complete his hat trick, but Argentina prevailed 4-2 in the shootout to win their third World Cup.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has directed the chief secretary to recover Rs 97 crore from the Aam Aadmi Party for political advertisements it published in the guise of government advertisements, official sources said on Tuesday.
Identifying specific advertisements published by the government which were in ”stark violation of guidelines”, a Committee on Content Regulation in Government Advertising had in 2016 directed the Directorate of Information and Publicity (DIP) to quantify the amounts spent by it in such advertisements and recover the same from the ruling AAP, they added.
The DIP quantified that Rs 97,14,69,137 had been spent or booked on account of ”non-conforming advertisements”. ”Of this, while payments amounting to over Rs 42.26 crore had already been released by the DIP, Rs 54.87 crore for advertisements published were still pending disbursal,” a source said.
The DIP in 2017 directed the AAP to pay over Rs 42.26 crore to the state exchequer immediately and directly pay the pending amount of Rs 54.87 crore to the advertising agencies or publications concerned within 30 days. ”However, even after the lapse of five years and eight months, the AAP has not complied with this DIP order,” the source said.
China says Chinese-Russian naval drills beginning Wednesday aim to “further deepen” cooperation between the sides whose unofficial anti-Western alliance has gained strength since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The drills will be held off the coast of Zhejiang province south of Shanghai through next Tuesday, according to a brief notice posted Monday by China’s Eastern Theater Command under the ruling Communist Party’s military wing, the People’s Liberation Army.
“This joint exercise is directed at demonstrating the determination and capability of the two sides to jointly respond to maritime security threats and further deepen the China-Russia comprehensive new-era strategic partnership of coordination,” the notice said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the Varyag missile cruiser, the Marshal Shaposhnikov destroyer and two corvettes of Russia’s Pacific Fleet would take part in the maneuvers.
The ministry said the Chinese navy planned to deploy several surface warships and a submarine for the exercise, and that aircraft from the sides would also take part.
The Chinese side gave no immediate word on what units would be taking part. Setting aside decades of mutual distrust, China and Russia have stepped up such drills as part of their aligning of foreign policies to oppose the U.S.-led liberal Western political order.
China has refused to criticize Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the United Nations, or even to refer to it as such, has condemned Western sanctions against Moscow and has accused Washington and NATO of provoking Vladimir Putin into taking action.
China declared a “no limits” friendship with Russia just weeks before the invasion and remains a major customer for Russian oil and gas bought at a heavy discount, although it is not known to have sold military hardware to Moscow.
In November, Tu-95 bombers of the Russian air force and Chinese H-6K bombers flew joint patrols over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.
As part of the drills, the Russian bombers landed in China for the first time, and the Chinese bombers flew to an air base in Russia. In September, China sent more than 2,000 troops along with more than 300 military vehicles, 21 combat aircraft and three warships to take part in a sweeping joint exercise with Russia.
Russia, in turn, has strongly backed China amid the tensions with the U.S. over Taiwan.
China last week also sent a squadron of navy ships through straits near Japan into the Western Pacific as Beijing blasted Tokyo’s adoption of a new national security strategy putting itself on a more offensive footing largely as a result of the perceived threat from China.
Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Rai on Monday took a jibe at Union minister Smriti Irani and said that she comes to her constituency Amethi only to do “latke-jhatke” and goes away. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rai was talking to reporters here in Sonbhadra.
In reply to a question on the chances of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 General Elections, Rai said, “Amethi is certainly the Gandhi family’s seat and will remain so. Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and many members of the Gandhi family have served in the place.”
Talking about Irani, who had dethroned Rahul Gandhi from his bastion Amethi in the 2019 elections, giving an unflattering reference to dance moves Rai said, “She only visits the constituency and ‘latke-jhatke dekar chali jaati hain.” (She does ‘latke jhatke’ and goes away).
Rahul Gandhi who is currently representing Kerala’s Wayanad constituency in Lok Sabha had won from Amethi parliamentary seat three times in a row.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde | Image : Twitter/@mieknathshinde
The ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’ faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday took possession of the existing office of Shiv Sena on the premises of the Nagpur Legislative Assembly complex on the first day of the winter session.
MLAs of the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray were allotted another office, a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction leader said.
Workers of both sections of Shiv Sena were engaged in a war of words in the afternoon over the allotment of the office, which has been used by Shiv Sena for three decades.
Portraits of Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aaditya Thackeray were removed from the office by workers of the Eknath Shinde faction and the portrait of Shinde’s political mentor late Anand Dighe was displayed.
Later, CM Shinde visited the office. Employees of the Shinde-led faction asked the existing staffers, including two women, working for Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) camp to vacate and shift to the new office, a Thackeray camp leader claimed.
Some of the existing staffers at the office broke down. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Mumbai MLA Ravindra Waikar said, ”these employees have done the legislative work of all MLAs of Shiv Sena including Eknath Shinde for the past 30 years. Now, CM Shinde has shown them the door”.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said he was ”opening a shop of love in the market of hate” through the Bharat Jodo Yatra and urged BJP leaders questioning his cross-country foot march to do the same.
Addressing a rally here on the sidelines of the Yatra, he asked each minister in the Rajasthan Cabinet to undertake a yatra once a month across the desert state to reach out to the common people and redress their grievances.
Gandhi also hit out at BJP leaders for criticising the use of English in schools, saying that children of Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP chief ministers, MPs and MLAs study in English medium schools while they talk against the use of English language.
”The Yatra has been going on for over 100 days, I find friends on the road, some of them standing atop BJP offices. First I wave but they don’t respond as they are not allowed to do so. They want to respond but it is not allowed, then some of them wave back when I do it again. ”And then I do this,” Gandhi said and gestures blowing kisses while addressing a major rally here in the presence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Sachin Pilot and other state leaders.
”I don’t hate them (BJP leaders), I fight against their ideology but I like them, I like all beings. Some of them (BJP) gesture and ask me what I am doing, my answer is: ‘Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan khol raha hoon (Opening a shop of love in the market of hate),” he said.
Gandhi said the BJP leaders can hate him or abuse him as they wish but he does not mind it. ”Your ‘bazaar is of nafrat’ (the market is of hatred), but my shop is of love,” he stressed.
He said this was not just his thinking but that of the entire Congress organisation and great leaders of the country such as Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, BR Ambedkar, and Abul Kalam Azad. ”All of them had opened a shop of love in the market of hatred,” he added.
”This is what we do. So this is my answer to the people of the BJP. Come, you also start opening a shop of love in the market of hatred,” he said in a message to his critics in the BJP. ”You will have to do it because our religion, our country is one of love and not of hate,” he added.
Gandhi also heaped praise on the Ashok Gehlot government for its welfare schemes. The best scheme in the country for the poor is probably in Rajasthan – Chiranjeevi Swasthya Bima Yojana, he said.
”People used to tell me on the road we have to get a kidney transplant done, get a stent but don’t have the money…. This is not happening in Rajasthan,” he said.
”So, the Chiranjeevi scheme has removed fear from the minds of lakhs of people and it must be applauded,” he said.
This scheme can show the way to the entire country, the former Congress chief added. Gandhi also launched a scathing attack on BJP leaders for criticising the use of English in schools.
”Leaders opposed to us in the BJP, wherever they go, they talk against English. They say there should be no English in schools. There should be Bengali, and Hindi but no English,” he said.
Gandhi urged people to go to such leaders and ask where their children study. ”From Amit Shah to their CMs, MPs MLAs, their children go to English medium schools and they give speeches that no one should speak English. They don’t want the children of poor farmers and labourers to learn English because they want that you should not dreams big, that you don’t get out of performing labour, from farms that is why they say don’t learn English,” Gandhi claimed.
”I am not saying don’t study Hindi. You must study Hindi, Tamil and all Indian languages but if you want to talk to the world, be it from America, Japan, or England then Hindi will not be useful, English will work there. We want the poorest of poor farmers to go to America and outdo the children there in competition in their language,” he said.
This is the Congress’ view, Gandhi said and noted that the Gehlot government has opened 1700 English medium schools, and recruited 10,000 English teachers.
”Ashok Gehlot ji, this is less, as every child in Rajasthan must have the opportunity to learn English. Every child must feel that he can speak in his mother tongue and also speak with the entire world…. He or she must feel that they can go and hoist the national flag abroad,” Gandhi said.
He also lauded the Rajasthan government for introducing a scheme providing sanitary napkins to women. ”For men here this may be a small issue but women know that this is very important,” he said.
Gandhi also urged the state government to provide social security to workers employed in the gig economy.
Work on the railways’ ambitious bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad has gained momentum, with the ministry claiming on Monday that more than 98 per cent of the land has been acquired for the project in Maharashtra.
Piers have been erected for a distance of more than 118 kilometres, girders are being launched and the work on the construction of bullet train stations has also started, the railway ministry said. With the change of government in Maharashtra, the pain points in the project in terms of forest clearances and land acquisition seem to have been overcome.
In a series of tweets, the ministry claimed that while 98.22 per cent land has been acquired in Maharashtra, in Gujarat, 98.87 per cent land has been acquired and in Dadra and Nagar Haveli, 100 per cent of the land has been acquired for the project.
The physical progress till November 23 was 24.1 per cent, the ministry said, adding that while almost 30 per cent of the work has been completed in Gujarat, in Maharashtra, around 13 per cent has so far been achieved.
The Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project is of 508 km and most of it is in Gujarat.
In Maharashtra, the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the implementing agency of the project, has to develop the Bandra-Kurla Complex and the network in Thane, Virar and Boisar. Officials said almost all the civil work have been allotted in Gujarat, along with construction of piers (pillars) and all small and big bridges across rivers. The work of placing girders on the piers has also started.
The contract for the construction of a bullet train station at the Bandra-Kurla Complex and the one for the construction of an underground tunnel have also been allotted. Pier and girder works will soon be visible in Maharashtra like in Gujarat, officials said.
In Gujarat, the construction of bullet train stations has started in Anand, Surat, Vadodara, Bharuch, Vilimora, Vapi and Navsari districts.
Joint Opposition on Monday staged a walkout from Rajya Sabha as their demand to hold a debate over the recent clashes along the LAC between the Indian and Chinese forces at the Tawang sector in Arunachal Pradesh was disallowed.
Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (CPI), the Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena and the Kerala Congress were among other parties to stage the walkout when the Zero Hour was being conducted in the Upper House.
The opposition sought to raise the issue with Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mallikarjun Kharge saying nothing is bigger than the nation and sought a detailed debate on clashes along the LAC between the Indian and Chinese forces at the Tawang sector on December 9.
“They (China) are encroaching on our land. If we don’t discuss this issue then what else should we discuss? We are ready for discussion on this issue in the House,” said the LoP in Rajya Sabha.
Kharge said the Rajya Sabha Chairman has residuary powers on rules for admitting adjournment notices submitted by several MPs to hold discussions on the India-China border situation issue.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, however, asked the opposition MPs to not convert it into a classroom and rejected the demand of the Opposition. Dhankar said he can’t give attention to notices that fail to follow rules, and reprimanded MPs of Rajya Sabha for “more than 100 minutes of disruptions” of proceedings in the House.
Amid the din, the Chairman continued the Zero Hour following the Opposition staging walkout from the House. The Opposition MPs soon after held a press conference outside the House and attacked the government for fleeing away from holding a discussion on the India-China border issue. RJD leader Manoj Jha said bunkers and semi-permanent structures are being constructed on the LAC.
“We don’t have doubt on the capacity of the Indian Army but your (government) diplomacy is completely failed,” Jha said in the media briefing. AAP leader Sanjay Singh asked the question “why Modi ji’s government is fleeing away from holding a discussion on India-China border clash issue?” “Why are you (the government) giving business to China? Indian Army has sacrificed many of their soldiers and the Modi government is giving tenders to Chinese companies,” said Singh.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said “We are asking these questions not to the Army but to the government. We are all standing with the soldiers but the government should hold a discussion and inform about the current situation on India-Chinaborder. “The clash near Yangtse along the LAC in the sensitive sector took place on December 9 after the over 30-month border standoff between the two sides in eastern Ladakh. “On December 9, PLA troops contacted the LAC in Tawang Sector which was contested by own (Indian) troops in a firm and resolute manner. This face-off led to minor injuries to few personnel from both sides,” the Indian Army had said in a statement.
“Both sides immediately disengaged from the area. As a follow up of the incident, own (Indian) commander in the area held a flag meeting with his counterpart to discuss the issue in accordance with structured mechanisms to restore peace and tranquillity,” it had said.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier had informed the Rajya Sabha that China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops tried to transgress the LAC in the Yangtse area of Tawang Sector in Arunachal Pradesh and unilaterally change the status quo but they went back to their locations due to timely intervention of Indian military commanders.
Giving a statement in the House, the Defence Minister had also assured the Upper House that “our forces are committed to protecting our territorial integrity and will continue to thwart any attempt made on it”.
NCP MLA Saroj Ahir from Nasik district attended the Maharashtra state assembly winter session in Nagpur with her newborn baby on Monday.
The NCP leader stressed the importance of attending the session and said, “I am a mother and a people’s representative. For the past two and half years due to corona pandemic, no assembly session has been held here in Nagpur. I am a mother now but to put my points and to raise questions, I have come here to get answers for my voters.”
Ahir’s baby is two and a half months old. The NCP MLA delivered a baby on September 30 and was seen addressing the media briefing.
The Nagpur Winter session, started today, and saw more hi-tech sessions, with a new app designed for members.
Earlier Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, speaking on the border issue with Karnataka in the Legislative Assembly on Monday, said that there should not be any politics on it now.
“For the first time, the Union Home Minister has mediated in the inter-state border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka. There should be no politics on this issue now. We should stand together with the border residents,” said Chief Minister Shinde.
A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) concerning the overcrowding of prisoners in the Tihar Prison Complex has been withdrawn from the Delhi High Court on Monday. The Plea stated that the number of inmates in Tihar Jail has exceeded the actual capacity of each Barrack and it is on record that there is a huge rise in the total number of inmates in the said Complex.
The bench of Justice Satish Chander Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad allowed the petitioner to withdraw the petition and file a new one with better facts and research.
“Do your homework and then file a fresh petition,” said the Bench. The petition was moved by an NGO Nyaya Foundation which stated that the unnecessary overcrowding of such jails amounts to the denial of the inmates’ Fundamental Rights as guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India, wherein a peaceful and dignified lifestyle of an individual is covered. Due to the overcrowding of this Prison Complex, the inmates’ lives are largely affected because of mental and physical tortures caused to them, stated the plea.
The plea also stated if the persons who are in the Tihar prison complex, in any case, which is punishable for lesser than 3 years and the ones who are first-time offenders, their probation report must be considered to release them on bail.
It further said, “unnecessary arrests congest the Jail Complex. In such cases, if an innocent person is arrested, he, on confronting the situation inside the Jail, cause himself to committing crimes, which would not have happened but for the illegal/unreasonable arrest.” Despite the law laid down by the Top Court, the casual arrests have not stopped and the accused persons are being taken into custody and put behind the bars is a sheer violation of the law.
The congestion caused as a result of the same acts as a catalyst to the mental agonies of the inmates, reducing their lives to nothing is a mockery of Human Rights Laws, it said.
