For the first time since the war broke out in Ukraine in February, Russia on Thursday said that Indian students who left Ukraine can continue their education in Russia as the medical syllabus is the same in both countries.
“Indian students who left Ukraine can continue their education in Russia as the medical syllabus is almost the same (as Ukraine). They know the language of the people, as, in Ukraine, most of them speak Russian. They’re most welcome in Russia,” Russian Consul General Oleg Avdeev said in Chennai.
Thousands of Indian medical students were left stranded with their future hanging on the cliff when Russia attacked Ukraine at the end of February 2022 and several were evacuated from Ukraine to India.
Responding to a question on Russian oil exports, the Russian diplomat said that since the beginning of this year, the exports of Russian oil have increased from 2 to 22 pc, which is a very dramatic increase.
“Since the beginning of this year, the exports in Russian oil have increased from 2 to 22 pc. It is a very dramatic increase and now Russia has displaced Iraq and Saudi Arabia as leading producers of oil,” Oleg Avdeev said.
He also appreciated Jaishankar’s remarks on Russian oil imports which stated that “Indian government is a responsible govt and it has to look after the interests of Indian consumers.”
On Tuesday, EAM Jaishankar reiterated the deep ties between India and Russia, and said, “India’s relationship with Russia has worked to its advantage and New Delhi would like to keep that going.” The Russian Consul General also highlighted how students keep going to Russia for studies and that it is an upward trend. “As far as students are concerned, students keep going to Russia for studies. It is an upward trend. More and more students are applying for scholarships in Russia,” the Russian diplomat said. Every year, numerous Indian students travel to both Ukraine and Russia to study medicine and other specialised courses.
Notably, Russian forces launched military operations in Ukraine on February 24, three days after Moscow recognized Ukraine’s breakaway regions – Donetsk and Luhansk as independent entities.
Several countries including the UK, the US, Canada, and the European Union have condemned Russia’s military operations in Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Moscow. These countries have also promised to help Ukraine with military aid to fight Russia.
Ahead of the MCD elections slated to be held on December four, the Congress party on Thursday appointed Jagdish Tytler as a member of election committee.
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal today appointed Jagdish Tytler as one of the forty members of the Pradesh election committee for municipal corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections.
In a press note issued here today, Venugopal stated that AICC has approved the proposal for the constitution of various committees for the upcoming MCD polls with immediate effect.
Apart from the Pradesh election committee, Congress set up campaign, coordination, manifesto, media, publicity and digital & social media committees. Subhash Chopra has been made chairman of the six-member campaign committee with Arvinder Singh Lovely, Sandeep Dikshit, Parvez Hasmi, Alka Lamba and Rajesh Lilothia as its members.
Similarly, Devender Yadav will be the chairman of coordination committee with CP Mittal, Naseeb Singh, Dr. Naresh Kumar and Mirza Javed Ali as its members. While Haroon Yusuf is heading the manifesto committee with Abhishek Dutt, Rohit Chaudhary, Aman Panwar, Amrita Dhawan as its members.
Besides, Anil Bhardwaj has been appointed as chairman of media committee and Dr. Ragini Nayak, Mudit Agarwal, Abhishek Dutt, Wg. Cdr. (R) Anuma Acharya, Dr. Adarsh Shastri, Ritu Choudhary, Bhupesh Yadav, Parvez Alam and Akansha Ola have been taken as its members. Hari Shankar Gupta is heading publicity committee Mukesh Sharma, Jai Kishan, Laxman Rawat, Sumesh Shokeen and Jitender Kochar as its members.
Durgesh Kumar will be chairman of two-member digital & social media committee with Abdul Kadir as its vice chairman.
The other pradesh election committee members are Anil Chaudhary, Ajay Maken, Jai Prakash Agarwal, Manish Chatrath, Devender Yadav, Subhash Chopra, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Krishna Tirath, JK Jain, Sandeep Dixit, Parvez Hashmi, Ramesh Kumar, Haroon Yusuf, Rajesh Lilothia, Dr. Udit Raj, Kiran Walia, Rajkumar Chauhan, Dr. Narender Nath, Ramakant Goswami, Mangat Ram Singhal, Jai Kishan, Ali Mehdi, Shivani Chopra, Mudit Agarwal, Abhishek Dutt, CP Mittal, Rohit Chaudhary, Tarun Kumar, Alka Lamba, Naseeb Singh, Mateen Ahmed, Mukesh Sharma, Bijender Singh, Kamal Kant Sharma, Manoj Yadav, Rannvijay Singh Lochav, Amrita Dhawan, Sunil Kumar and Kunal Sehrawat.
Filing of nominations for MCD polls began after issuance of a notification in this regard on November 7. The last date of filing papers is November 14. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is November 19. Voting for the polls will be on December 4 and the results will be announced after counting of votes on December 7.
Fairy-tale love story of Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik comes to an end 4
When India and Pakistan’s relations were not stable, the environment here was not so favourable for neighbouring countries. That time Sania Mirza took a bold step to fall for a Pakistani nationalist back in the days, keeping in mind the political issues between both countries. It created a stir all across the nation with many backlashing the excellent Tennis player. But as they say, love wins it all and so did her relationship with Shoaib Malik, which eventually took over all the hate and criticism. They were the paparazzi’s favourite couple. Their social media accounts are flooded with their cute romantic love story. But there is a saying: love never guarantees permanency.
Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik officially got divorced in a private space. Some close friends of the couple hinted to the media that they have decided to part ways already and only formalities are now left before their paperwork is done. Sania is currently in Dubai while Malik is in Pakistan, working for Sports during the T20 World Cup 2022 as an expert. Sania recently uploaded a picture on Instagram which gave fire to separation rumours. At first, they seemed to be rumours but now a close friend of the couple has revealed that the couple will be divorced soon.
At the same time, another reporter quoted a team member of Shoaib Malik’s management department that the divorce is on. “Yes, they are officially divorced now. I can’t disclose more than that but can confirm that they have separated,” InsideSport quoted a person who was part of Malik’s management team in Pakistan.
As most know, Sania first got engaged to Shoaib back in 2009 but the wedding was called off soon after. The couple reconciled and finally tied the knot in April 2010 in a Hyderabadi Muslim wedding ceremony followed by a Walima ceremony in Sialkot. They’re blessed with a baby boy that was welcomed into the world in October 2018. It was around 5 days ago that Sania Mirza shared a picture with her baby boy Izhaan and captioned the post, “The moments that get me through the hardest days.” The cryptic post along with many other hints speculates that there’s trouble in her married life with Shoaib Malik.
Sania Mirza is living separately but co-parenting their baby boy. While the actual reasons behind their big step remain unknown, the gossip mill has it that Shoaib Malik cheated on his wife. On the other hand, Shoaib Malik also recently shared a post on his Instagram on the occasion of Izhaan’s birthday and seemingly confirmed the split. “When you were born, we became more humble and life meant something special to us. We may not be together and meeting every day but Baba is always thinking about you and your smile every single second. May Allah give you everything you ask for @izhaan.mirzamalik Baba & Mama love you,” he wrote.
The two sports personas who fell in love with each other and got married in 2010 hit rock bottom. Mirza is an offensive baseliner with a very powerful groundstroke and is known for setting up good attacks with the sheer velocity of her groundstrokes. Her main strength is her forehand, as well as her volleying skills. Her power game has drawn comparisons to Romanian legend Ilie Năstase. She is also a great returner of serve to find many return winners during matches. Mirza goes for winners, which means she goes from many angles.
Sania was referred to as “Pakistan’s daughter-in-law” and unfit to be a representative of an Indian state after she was appointed the Telangana state’s brand ambassador. The comment referred to Mirza’s husband, Shoaib Malik being a Pakistani cricketer. Telangana chief minister Kalvakuntla Chandrashekar Rao presented Mirza with ₹1 crore on two occasions. She was summoned by the tax department for non-payment of service tax on the payment received, however, she responded that the ₹1 crore given was a training incentive, and not towards becoming the state’s brand ambassador.
In July 2016, Mirza published an autobiography titled Ace Against Odds chronicling her journey to the top. The book also lists some of her memorable encounters on and off the court and talks about the people and relationships that have contributed to Mirza’s growth as a person and a sportsperson.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said that it will hear the plea seeking a stay on the demolition of Afzal Khan’s tomb on Friday. The tomb is located in Satara, Maharashtra.
Advocate Nizam Pasha mentioned the matter today before the Supreme Court.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice Hima Kohli and Justice JB Pardiwala said that it will hear the matter tomorrow.
The plea was filed by Hazrat Mohd Afzal Khans Memorial Society seeking to direct the State of Maharashtra to ensure that no damage is caused to the tomb/dargah of Afzal Khan situated in Pratapgarh, Satara, Maharashtra.
According to the petition, since today morning, i.e., 10.11.2022, there is the widespread belief that the Tomb of Afzal Khan will be demolished today.
“A local online news channel has been running live coverage of the demolition of unauthorized structures around Afzal Khan’s Tomb in Satara, Maharashtra. Screenshots from the said live coverage show that men have climbed the roof of the tomb/dargah with the help of a ladder and are attempting to demolish it,” the plea said.
The petitioner submitted that they are apprehensive that damage will be done or the tomb of Afzal Khan may be demolished today and beseeches the top Court to issue appropriate directions to protect the tomb of Afzal Khan that has existed on site since before November 1659.
According to the petition, Afzal Khan was a general who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of the Bijapur Sultanate in India and played an important role in the southern expansion of the Bijapur Sultanate by subjugating the Nayaka chiefs who had taken control of the former Vijayanagara territory.
Afzal Khan was defeated and killed by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on 20.11.1659, the petitioner said. According to the petition, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur which formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire and is a duly venerated and important leader in Indian history.
Six persons were arrested in connection with the Coimbatore bomb blast case, said officials on Thursday.
The arrests were made after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at 43 locations across Tamil Nadu and one location in Kerala.
The NIA officials also seized digital devices and incriminating documents from these spots.
The searches were made in connection to a case pertaining to a bomb blast in a car laden with explosives in front of Kottai Eswaran Temple of Coimbatore district on October 23 this year.
“These searches were conducted in eight districts of Tamil Nadu namely Chennai, Coimbatore, Thiruvallur, Thiruppur, Nilgiris, Chengalpatu, Kanchipuram and Nagapattinam. One location had also been carried out in the Palakkad district of Kerala,” read an official statement.
According to preliminary investigations, accused Jamesha Mubeen, allegedly after taking an oath to ISIS, was planning to carry out a suicidal attack and cause extensive damage, with the intention to strike terror, according to a statement from NIA.
The case was initially registered with the police station in Ukkadam, Coimbatore district, Tamil Nadu, and re-registered by NIA on October 10, 2022.
The statement said that the accused persons had conspired with deceased Jamesha Mubeen to procure different chemicals and other ingredients for fabrication of improvised explosive devices (IED), including vehicle-borne IED, from online shopping platforms to commit terrorist acts. Further investigations are in progress, the agency added.
Bharat Jodo Yatra: Aaditya Thackeray to walk with Rahul Gandhi 8
Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar will not join Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, but Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray and NCP legislator Rohit Pawar will take part in the march in Maharashtra. Both Sena and NCP leaders have confirmed the participation of their young leaders.
While Aaditya is likely to join Rahul on November 11, Rohit will be part of the yatra three days later at Hingoli. Congress leaders said they have asked younger MLAs from across opposition parties to join the yatra. Sharad Pawar won’t join Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, says Jairam Ramesh Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar will not join the Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra due to health issues, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday. Addressing media persons, Ramesh said Pawar (81) had earlier agreed to participate in the foot march.
Aaditya said Uddhav had asked him to join the march. “The exact dates are being finalised, but we are surely joining the yatra. All the alliance partners the Shiv Sena-NCP and Congress-are seeing that there is a big threat to democracy and the Constitution. It is important to stand together to save democracy and the Constitution,” Aaditya said. The Sena young gun, who is an MLA from Worli, was a cabinet minister in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in which the Congress and the NCP were partners.
The march, a mass outreach initiative which began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, entered its 61st day on Monday and reached Deglur in the Nanded district from neighbouring Telangana. Rahul addressed a rally in Nanded on November 10 and his second rally will be held on November 18 at Shegaon in the Buldhana district. The Bharat Jodo Yatra will traverse through 15 assemblies and 6 parliamentary constituencies in the state during its 14-day sojourn. It will cover a distance of 382 km across five districts before entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20.
Top knocks from openers Alex Hales and Jos Buttler powered England to an emphatic 10-wicket win over India in the second semi-final of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup in Australia at Adelaide on Thursday.
With this, the final between England and Pakistan is set.
Chasing 169, England openers Jos Buttler and Alex Hales gave their side a powerful start. Both were dealing in fours and sixes from the get-go. India did not get to have a dominating powerplay with the ball as both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh were smashed around mercilessly. England breached the 50-run mark in just 4.5 overs.
At the end of the powerplay in six overs, England was at 63/0, with Hales (33*) and Buttler (28*) at the crease. Hales soon brought up his half-century in just 28 balls.
At the end of 10 overs, England was at 98/0, with Hales (57*) and Buttler (37*) at the crease. England touched the 100-run mark in 10.1 overs. Buttler also brought up his half-century, his 19th in the format in just 36 balls. The Men in Blue had no answers for the England batting.
At the end of 15 overs, England stood at 156/0, with Hales (81*) and Buttler (71*) unbeaten. England finished their innings at 170/0 in 16 overs, with Buttler (80*) and Hales (86*) unbeaten.
Earlier, Hardik Pandya rose to the occasion to play a blazing half-century knock, guiding India to 168/6 against England at the Adelaide Oval in the ongoing T20 World cup on Thursday.
Virat continued his love affair with the Adelaide ground to smash a fifty and held the innings together for the team. Pandya 63 (33) meanwhile applied the finishing touches, and a late flourish from him propelled India to a par score after a slow start.
Electing to field, England could have not asked for a better start as they dismissed KL Rahul in the 2nd over after the batter slashed a boundary over point on the first ball of the innings.
The right-hander could not replicate his last match’s heroics and could only score 5(5). The leading run-scorer of the tournament, Virat Kohli walked out to bat and stamped his authority right away by smashing a beautiful six over covers to Chris Woakes on the first ball of the third over.
Captain Rohit Sharma also joined in on the action and smashed two consecutive boundaries to Sam Curran, releasing pressure off the batter. He also got Adil Rashid away for a boundary in the sixth over to take India to 38/1 after the end of the powerplay.
India’s star batter Virat continued his aggressive intent and struck Liam Livingstone for a boundary in the seventh over meanwhile, Rohit struggled to put bat to ball. Pacer Chris Jordan was hit superbly for a boundary over covers by the opener but the bowler had the last laugh as he got rid of him in the same over.
Rohit looked to launch the ball in the sky but lost his shape in the process and skied it towards mid-on where Sam Curran took an excellent running catch diving forward to dismiss him for 27(28). Talismanic batter Suryakumar Yadav occupied the crease and took India to 62/1 at the halfway mark, with the game hanging in balance.
All-rounder Ben Stokes came on to bowl his second over only to be smashed for a six and a boundary in the 11th over. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid proved to be the undoing of Suryakumar as the batter looked to hit him over the boundary but could only spoon the ball towards sweeper-cover, where Philip Salt held his nerves to complete the catch and hand England their biggest wicket of the night.
The onus then fell on Virat and Hardik Pandya to steady the Indian innings and provide it with some stability while making sure the scoring rate does not see a dip.
India squeezed in 10 runs from the 14th over and got things going from there on with Virat getting a boundary in the over. King Kohli smashed a scintillating boundary on the last ball of the 15th over to bring up India’s hundred. He escaped a leg before review narrowly after getting rapped on the boots to a superb yorker from Jordan.
The batter rubbed salt into the wounds of the bowler as he smashed a boundary in the extra cover region off the very next ball. India were off to a brilliant start in the 17th over as Pandya thumped Curran over covers for a majestic six. Virat and Pandya also ran hard and were lighting quick between the wickets to keep the scoreboard ticking.
The 18th over saw Pandya absolutely breaking free and pushing the accelerator with consecutive sixes off Jordan. Run machine Kohli brought up his fourth fifty of the tournament but was caught at short third man in the same over. Pacer Sam Curran was at the receiving end of Pandya in the 19th over as he was taken apart by the batter for two fours and a six, in the process bringing up his fifty off just 29 balls.
The final over yielded 12 runs courtesy of Pandya with India ending the inning at 168/6. Chris Jordan was the pick of the bowlers, clinching three wickets while giving away 43 runs.
Brief Score: India 168/6 (Hardik Pandya 63, Virat Kohli 50; Chris Jordan 3-43) vs England.
The South African national men’s team’s performance in the T20 World Cup will be reviewed by Cricket South Africa after they were eliminated at the group stage, suffering a shocking loss to the Netherlands, with the focus on moving on and not dwelling on the past. “It is important that we review what has happened. We are in the process of putting a panel together to ensure the review is very clinical. But the focus is hitting the reset button and not dwelling on the past. It’s important that we close a chapter and look at what lies ahead,” Enoch Nkwe, South Africa’s director of cricket (DOC), said after the team’s arrival from Australia as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Nkwe, who took over as DOC in July after assisting Mark Boucher as his assistant coach, has already named Malibongwe Maketa as South Africa’s interim coach ahead of a three-Test series in Australia and will shortly start the succession planning for Boucher’s permanent replacement.
With one year remaining on his contract, Boucher quit his position to join the Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Since white-ball captain Temba Bavuma has yet to decide on his future, all signs point to no sudden changes to South Africa’s organisational structure.
After South Africa’s loss on Sunday, Bavuma declared he wouldn’t be influenced by the feelings of the moment. He remarked three days later after the team’s failure to qualify for the semi-finals. “The emotions are not as raw, but in terms of the disappointment and the disbelief, that’s still there, It’s going to take me a couple of days,” Bavuma said.
Even though the first round of domestic first-class matches begins on Thursday (each side only plays seven games and there are only three rounds prior to the Tests in Australia), the entire squad will be given some time off before a decision is made regarding when the players will return to action.
They will primarily be in the Test team, which is currently second in the World Test Championship (WTC) points standings.
Their performance in the Test series in Australia will be essential in determining if they will have a chance at the WTC final in June, at which point South Africa, who is currently ranked 11th on that table, may also wind up competing in the 50-over World Cup Qualifier.
Nkwe has first-hand experience with the ups and downs of South Africa’s last three years–since former CEO Thabang Moroe decided to restructure the coaching system and establish a team director who was then quickly replaced by a coach, Boucher.
Concerns regarding China’s human rights violations in the Xinjiang region have been raised by the United Nations in its recent report.
A high-level United Nations panel has criticised China’s human rights abuses committed in western Xinjiang regions.
China has been committing human rights violations using “severe and undue restrictions” that are “characterised by a discriminatory component, as the underlying acts often directly or indirectly affect Uyghur and other predominantly Muslim communities,” Bangkok Post reported. The presentation, “The situation of Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim minorities in Xinjiang,” comes after the report issued by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
In the report, the OHCHR found evidence of patterns of torture, forced medical treatments, forced labour, incidents of sexual and gender-based violence, violations of reproductive rights and the destruction of religious sites.
In addition, the report highlighted the use of detention and re-education camps for more than a million residents. “In 2017, reports began to emerge of severe restrictions on the freedoms of religion or belief, movement, association and expression in Xinjiang, China. Over the past few years, numerous open source reports corroborated these accounts,” Bangkok Post cited the panel as saying in the statement. Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, while speaking in the context of the OHCHR report released in August expressed views regarding “crimes against humanity” and listed “sterilisation, forced abortion” among crimes.
After the release of OHCHR’s report, US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said, “The long-awaited United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights report on Xinjiang laid out the PRC’s human rights violations in horrifying detail: Forced confessions and stringent sentences for baseless charges; discriminatory detainment based on ethnic, religious, cultural identity and expression; cruel, inhumane, degrading punishment.”
Linda Thomas-Greenfield further said that these findings leave no room for doubt that China has committed “gross violations of human rights” and their actions are “crimes against humanity.” She asserted that the US will continue to shed light on genocide and crimes committed by China against humanity, Uyghurs and members of other religious and minority groups in Xinjiang.
“The United States will continue to shine a light on the PRC’s genocide and crimes against humanity, against Uyghurs and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups in Xinjiang. We will continue to push the PRC to fully implement the UN High Commissioner’s recommendations,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. “We will continue to stand with Uyghurs and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups, and hold perpetrators accountable,” she added.
Jewher Ilham, a noted Uyghur Rights Advocate, spoke about the crimes committed in Xinjiang. Ilham’s father who is an Islamic scholar has remained in solitary confinement for nine years in a Chinese prison as part of a life sentence, Bangkok Post reported. Notably, the ‘Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region’ is China’s only region with a Muslim population in the majority. The government led by the Chinese Communist Party has claimed that their actions are based on counter-terrorism and social “de-radicalisation efforts.”
National Investigation Agency, raids,Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore | Image: Representative/Agency
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has been conducting searches at 45 locations in Tamil Nadu in connection with its ongoing probe into October 23 Coimbatore LPG cylinder explosion that occurred in a car, sources said on Thursday.
A 29-year-old man Jameesha Mubin was killed in a car explosion near a temple in Coimbatore during the wee hours on October 23.
NIA officials, in coordination with state police, started its raids early Thursday at the residential premises of suspects related to incidents in areas like Kottamedu, Ponvizha Nagar, Rathinapuri, and Ukkadam.
The Central anti-terror agency’s massive search occurred nearly 15 days after it registered a case following the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order asking it to start a probe into the matter.
The MHA order was issued a day after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin recommended for NIA probe in the case.
Stalin, in a recommendation letter, to the MHA had requested to transfer the investigation of the case related to the car cylinder explosion in the Ukkadam area in Coimbatore to the NIA and directed police to ensure security in Coimbatore.
Tamil Nadu Police so far has arrested over half a dozen people in connection with the case, and have invoked the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Those arrested are learnt to be associates of Jameesha Mubin, who was charred to death in suspicious circumstances after an LPG cylinder inside a Maruti 800 he was driving exploded near a temple around 4 am.
As per police Mubin, 25, who was an engineering graduate, has been previously questioned by the NIA officials in 2019 for alleged terror links.
His name is mentioned as the primary accused in the case. Among the arrested people are Mohammad Thalka (25), Mohammad Asarudheen (25), Muhammad Riyaz (27), Feroz Ismail (27), Mohammad Navaz Ismail (27), and Afsar Khan, a relative of the deceased.
Khan is the cousin of the deceased and he was picked two days before the blast by the special investigation team.
The explosion occurred in Ukkadam which is a communally sensitive area.
In a raid, the state police had claimed to seize materials used to make explosives in Mubin’s house in Ukkadam. They seized 75 kgs of potassium nitrate, charcoal, aluminium powder and sulphur which can be used to make explosives.
