HDK, the new Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries, expresses deep gratitude to Modi

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls and will be the candidate from Julana. Along with Phogat, Bajrang Punia also joined the party.

Meanwhile, Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh took a jibe at the wrestlers saying, "God has punished them for cheating."

"Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And they stopped the wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?... You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same, " Brij Bhushan said, as reported by ANI.

Additionally he also called out Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

"I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda is responsible for that. If they (BJP) will ask me (to campaign in the Haryana polls), I can go. One day Congress will have to regret it...," he said.

Both Phogat and Punia met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence before officially joining the party at an event at headquarters in the presence of General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Vinesh Phogat, who defied several odds to make the final of the women’s freestyle 50 kg event of the Paris Olympics, was disqualified after being overweight by a few grams.

Now, Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

The United Nations has warned that Israel is using “lethal war-like tactics” against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, more than a week after the occupying entity launched a massive military aggression in the Palestinian territory, killing dozens of people.

At a press conference in New York on Tuesday, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Stéphane Dujarric, said that the Tel Aviv regime had resumed its aggression in Tulkarm and Jenin.

“The UN has recorded more than two dozen fatalities over the past week, including children,” he said, adding that multiple organizations mobilized by the OCHA were set to carry out an assessment in Jenin but were denied access by the Israeli authorities. 

“OCHA warns that access impediments are impacting the ability to provide meaningful humanitarian response,” Dujarric said, noting that the movement of ambulances and medical teams has been impeded and delayed since the onset of the current aggression.

In the early hours of August 28, the Israeli military conducted its biggest operation – dubbed “Camps of Summer” – in the West Bank in over 20 years, deploying hundreds of troops and airstrikes on Jenin, Tulkarem, and Tubas, which are major centers of Palestinian resistance against the occupying entity.

The ongoing military aggression in the West Bank is currently concentrated in the city of Jenin, whose streets and infrastructure have been damaged by over 70 percent since the onset of the “Camps of Summer”, according to its municipality.

Dujarric also warned that Israeli forces continue to employ “lethal war-like tactics” in the West Bank, including airstrikes, with people being killed, injured and displaced.

While in Tulkarem on Saturday, OCHA teams verified that 120 Palestinians, including over 40 children, were displaced due to the destruction of their homes.

“At the time of the assessment, 13,000 people in Nour Shams refugee camp experienced water cut-offs, attributed to damages caused to the water network, and sewage overflow was observed. The teams also noted that the population was traumatized and in need of psychosocial support,” the OCHA report said.

Since the onset of the current aggression in the West Bank, the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces has increased to 34. This includes 19 in Jenin, 8 in Tulkarm, 4 in Tubas, and 3 in al-Khalil. The total death toll in the occupied West Bank has now reached 685 since October 7 last year.

The heightened tensions in the occupied West Bank come as the Israeli regime has since October been conducting a barbaric onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, claiming the lives of more than 40,000 people, most of them women and children. 

NRI professionals hailing from the coastal and Malnad regions of Karnataka, now based in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Australia, have been urging the Indian government and airlines to introduce a direct flight between Mangalore International Airport (MIA) and Singapore’s Changi Airport.

These professionals argue that Singapore’s strategic location as a hub connecting India with East Asia makes this flight essential. They highlight that this route would serve over 12 million people from the coastal and hill regions of southern India, fostering stronger ties with East Asian economies.

The group, consisting of individuals from Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Chikkamagaluru, Kodagu, Shivamogga, and Hassan, is spearheaded by Rajesh H Acharya, director of HQ Connections Pte Ltd, Singapore, and coordinator of the Singapore Tuluver community. Acharya emphasized the significance of the Indian government’s Act East policy, which aims to strengthen relationships between India and ASEAN, East Asia, and the Asia-Pacific region.

“This flight will open new doors for cultural, trade, tourism, and technological exchanges between these regions,” Acharya said.

The Mangalore Chapter of IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) has also proposed positioning the region as the 'Silicon Beach of India.' A direct flight would provide greater opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors from both Singapore and Mangaluru, boosting business exchanges.

Moreover, Singapore’s Changi Airport could see increased tourism from the Karnataka coast, while Coastal Karnataka would benefit from a surge in visitors from ASEAN countries, the Far East, Australia, New Zealand, and the US West Coast.

While a similar attempt in 2017 did not succeed, Acharya and his team are hopeful that this time their appeal will be taken seriously, tapping into the immense growth potential of the eastern half of the globe.