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Scores of Palestinians hurt as Jerusalem protests rage

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by Al Jazeera

Thousands of Palestinians have taken to the streets of Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip to protest against the US decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, a contentious move that has inflamed tensions in Palestine and across the region.

In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians clashed with Israeli forces in a handful of cities throughout Thursday.

Over 50 Palestinians were injured in the protests, and 16 were sent to hospital, according to local health authorities in the West Bank.

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid, reporting from Ramallah, said the clashes were dissipating after “several hours of quite vigorous confrontation between the youth and the Israeli army”.

Palestinian protesters gathered at the central Al Manara square in Ramallah and marched towards El Bireh, where they were met by Israeli troops firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

Protests were also held in Hebron, Nablus, Jenin, Tulkarem and Jericho in the West Bank, according to Anadolu news agency, as well as in East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

At least four Palestinians were injured in Gaza after Israeli soldiers fired live ammunition at dozens of demonstrators who assembled east of Khan Younes, in the southern part of the coastal territory, according to Palestinian news agency, Wafa.

Trump’s ‘escalation’
Trump, ignoring warnings from the international community, announced on Wednesday that the US formally recognises Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and will begin the process of moving its embassy to the city, breaking with decades of US policy.

The decision has been condemned by world leaders who have described it as a “dangerous escalation” and a final nail in the coffin of peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, while Israel says the city, which is under Israeli occupation, cannot be divided.

Trump’s “announcement has the potential to send us backwards to even darker times than the ones we are already living in”, said Federica Mogherini, high representative of the European Union for foreign affairs.

In a speech in Gaza City on Thursday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has said the US decision is a “war declaration against Palestinians”, and called for a new Intifada, or uprising.

Haniya said US President Donald Trump’s recognition “killed” the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

“This decision has killed the peace process, has killed the Oslo [accord], has killed the settlement process,” he said.

“The US decision is an aggression, a declaration of war on us, on the best Muslim and Christian shrines in the heart of Palestine, Jerusalem. We should work on launching an Intifada in the face of the Zionist enemy,” Haniya said.

Days of Rage
Palestinians had called for three days of rage in response to Trump’s announcement on Wednesday, and for the closure of local schools and stores.

Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from East Jerusalem on Thursday, said a small-scale protest had been ongoing for most of the day outside Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Old City.

“There has been a good deal of anger and just disbelief at what has happened overnight coming out of the White House,” he said.

Israeli police, meanwhile, attempted to break up the protest and confiscated Palestinian flags, he reported.

In Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Abdel-Hamid said “another round of confrontations” between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers was expected on Friday.

“We expect more scenes [of] violence and unrest across the entire occupied West Bank,” she said.

Ignoring warnings
On Thursday, Mustafa Barghouti, secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative, told Al Jazeera from Ramallah that Trump was “joining Israel in the war crimes and in confirming the annexation of the occupied Palestinian Territories”.

“I hope that the Palestinian Authority will not accept to meet with this American team any more,” he said.

“Israel decided it wants everything. They want everything? Fine. We will also fight for everything,” he said.

“We might be talking about a popular wide uprising but non-violent one, similar to the first Intifada. That’s what we need. Israelis should see the Palestinian resistance everywhere.”

India to host senior women’s, men’s boxing World Championships

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India will host the Senior Women’s World Boxing Championships next year and the Senior Men’s World Championships in 2021, Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore announced on Friday.

“Our boxers need more international exposure and more international tournaments need to be held in India. From now on, we will try to hold at least one high quality international boxing tournament in India every year,” he told the media.

“We need to ensure that the best boxers from the top boxing nations come and compete in India. This will help to improve our infrastructure,” Rathore added.

He went on: “We recently held the Youth Women’s World Championships and it was perhaps the best World Championships ever organised.”

Praising the Indian junior women’s boxing squad for their performance at the junior World Championships, Rathore said Indian boxers have the ability to do well at the Olympics.

Rathore was speaking a function to felicitate the Indian women’s squad which registered a tally of five gold and two bronze medals at the Youth Women’s World Championships in Guwahati last month.

“It seems that the women boxers have more prospects of winning medals at the international level. So we will try to give them the best facilities and best coaches,” he said.

Asserting that willpower and extreme dedication to training were the only way to sporting success, the Olympic silver medallist asked the young boxers to keep working hard irrespective of results.

“Earlier we used to think that only we in India have problems while foreign athletes have all the facilities. This is a fallacy. Everybody in this world have their share of what they have and don’t have,” Rathore said.

“It is willpower that wins an tournament or a match. Just having financial resources and facilities is no guarantee of sporting success. Look at the list of medal winners in Olympics and see how many corporate heads, kings and queens you can spot. The list is full of people from middle class families.

“What makes you win is your ability to pursue your passion absolutely undeterred. You have to live your passion and keep working hard irrespective of whether you win medals or not.”

(IANS)

SIBM Bengaluru to organize a Fundraiser 5km & 10km Run

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Bengaluru: Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM)
Bengaluru is all set to organize the Fundraiser 5K & 10K Run – ‘Life Dart 2017’ on this Saturday, 9 th December. Life Dart 5K & 10K Run is being organized by Rotaract Club and Social Responsibility Committee of SIBM Bengaluru in association with the Rotary Club of Indiranagar (District 3190). This year, we are associating ourselves with various NGOs.

These NGOs steer children towards a better life with better awareness, life skills, and opportunities, in the journey from childhood to livelihood.

India has a very high number of underprivileged children who do not have access to the basic necessities of life, education being out of question. Life Dart 5K & 10K Run is a fund-raiser event which is organized to help the cause of child welfare, well-being and education. The 1 st edition of the event was conducted in 2015. This year, in January, funds amounting to Rs.1,96,000 was collected and the proceeds went to Make a Difference (MAD), a leading NGO in India

The event will commence at 6:30 AM with several warm up activities such as Zumba and
Aerobics followed by the run. The winners will be taking home attractive prizes. There will be prizes for the Top 3 runners and the Top woman runner. Through this event, the students of SIBM Bengaluru hope to bring about awareness for the cause of improving the lives of the underprivileged children and also, highlighting the importance of taking care of one’s health and staying fit.

Date & Time: 9 th December, 2017 at 6:30 AM
Venue: Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM) Bengaluru, #95/1, #95/2
Electronic City Phase – 1, Hosur Road, Bengaluru 560100
Registration Cost: Rs.350/500 per ticket. On the spot registrations are allowed.
Tickets Online: lifedart.sibmbengaluru.edu.in
Bookmyshow: https://goo.gl/Rz5J4y

For each 2-tickets that you purchase, you sponsor a child’s education for a month.

FIR lodged against Ananth Kumar Hegde for insulting CM Siddaramaiah

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Mysore: An FIR has been lodged against Union Minister Ananth Kumar Hegde for allegedly using inappropriate language against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Kittur, Belagavi recently.

Mysore City Police registered an FIR against Hegde on Sunday after the city Magistrate court directed the police to file an FIR against the Minister.

Mysore Congress workers moved the Mysore city court with a private complaint alleging that Minister Hegde insulted CM Siddaramaiah calling him “bootlicker”. The court directed the police to take up necessary actions.

However, since the speech was made in Kittur, the Mysore police is now contemplating to seek permission of the court to transfer the case to Belgaum district that will be the jurisdiction Police.

(Agencies)

Campaigning concludes, first phase of Gujarat polls Saturday

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Ahmedabad: A vituperative campaign for the first phase of the crucial Gujarat Assembly polls that saw emotive issues of religion and caste competing with that of development as the main rivals, BJP and Congress, launched no-holds-barred attacks on each other ended Thursday evening.

The sparring between the two parties while canvassing for the polls, dubbed as a prestige battle for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a litmus test for the leadership of soon- to-be Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, continued till the very end with Manishankar Aiyar’s “neech aadmi” jibe at Modi triggering a controversy.

A total of 89 seats — out of 182 — spanning the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions, are up for grabs in the first phase with 977 candidates in the fray, including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Polling will be held on Saturday.

Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) B B Swain said around 2.12 crore of the 4.35 crore voters of the state were expected to exercise their franchise on Saturday.

The Election Commission (EC) had earlier announced that Gujarat would be the second state after Goa where the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system would be used, along with electronic voting machines (EVMs), at all the 50,128 polling booths.

Modi and Gandhi had aggressively led their parties’ campaigns in Saurashtra and south Gujarat which often turned personal.

The poll narrative kept changing with issues such as the Ayodhya title suit, Gandhi’s imminent elevation as the Congress president and his visits to temples being raised by the BJP brass.

The campaign mainly shaped up as a duel between Modi and Gandhi, with the latter emerging as the Congress’ pivot to take on the might of the prime minister on his home turf.

While the BJP is fighting anti-incumbency and struggling to alter a seemingly negative perception about demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rollout, the Congress, galvanised by an assertive Gandhi, has mainly targeted the “hollow Gujarat development model” to slam Modi.

Saurashtra and Kutch are crucial for the ruling BJP as these two regions have the highest concentration of seats in the first phase.

Political pundits believe that the party winning the maximum number of seats from Saurashtra and Kutch will be better placed to form the next government in the state.

Saurashtra, located on the Arabian Sea coast, covers 11 districts of the state.

Kutch is the largest district in Gujarat, comprising 10 talukas, 939 villages and six municipalities.

Of the 58 seats in Saurashtra and Kutch, the BJP had won 35 in the 2012 Assembly polls and the Congress 20. Of the remaining three seats, two were won by the now-defunct Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) of Keshubhai Patel and one by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

In 2007, the tally of the BJP and the Congress in Saurashtra and Kutch stood at 43 and 14 respectively, while the NCP had bagged one seat.

Of the 35 seats spread across the seven districts of south Gujarat, the BJP had won 28 and the Congress six in the 2012 polls. The remaining seat was won by “Others”.

The 2009 tally for the BJP and the Congress stood at 19 and 14 seats respectively in south Gujarat, while two constituencies had gone to “Others”.

Prominent candidates in the fray for the Saturday battle include Rupani, who is contesting from Rajkot (West) against the Congress’ Indranil Rajyaguru, Shaktisinh Gohil (Mandvi) and Paresh Dhanani (Amreli) — both from the Congress.

Rajput strongman Gohil has locked horns with the BJP’s new face, Virendrasinh Jadeja, also a Rajput, in the Muslim- dominated seat.

In Patidar-dominated Amreli, Dhanani (the sitting Congress MLA) is pitted against BJP heavyweight Bavkubhai Undhad, the legislator from the nearby Lathi seat.

The contest for the 12 seats in Surat, the diamond and textile hub of the country as well as a BJP bastion, is being viewed as a referendum on the note ban and GST, as the BJP is facing a stiff opposition from the trading community.

The campaign was marred by a number of controversies, with the latest being Aiyar’s off-the-cuff remarks against Modi, which the latter termed an “insult to Gujarat” while addressing a rally in Surat.

Earlier, a row had erupted over the Youth Congress’ online magazine tweeting a meme of Modi, mocking his English speaking skills and raising his “chaiwalla” past.

Similarly, Gandhi’s visit to the famous Somnath temple had triggered a controversy over his faith.

Shedding his “reluctant politician” persona, Gandhi, during his campaign, had interacted with the traders in Surat, who vented their ire against demonetisation and the “complicated GST structure”.

Subsequently, the Congress vice-president had attacked the Modi government over the “four-tier” GST structure and sought rationalisation of the indirect tax rates.

For the BJP, Union ministers Arun Jaitley and Smriti Irani had held the fort to defend the GST and note ban, while trying to allay the concerns of the traders and textile merchants during their interactions with them.

On the campaign trail, Modi had addressed about 15 rallies, while Gandhi had spent more than seven days in Saurashtra and south Gujarat, addressing a number of meetings.

BJP president Amit Shah, the chief poll strategist of the saffron party, had also addressed a number of rallies, mainly targeting the Congress and Gandhi.

The BJP had also drafted in Union minister Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, besides Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The Congress had fielded former prime minister Manmohan Singh and prominent leaders such as P Chidambaram, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, to name a few, for canvassing.

A big takeaway for the Congress from these polls is ensuring the support of the Hardik Patel-led Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS), an umbrella organisation of the numerically strong Patidar community, which has traditionally formed the bedrock of the BJP’s support in Gujarat.

In its bid to form a caste bloc against the BJP, the Congress has won over Alpesh Thakor, Patel and Jignesh Mewani, who have emerged as the young Turks representing the OBCs, Patidars and Dalits respectively.

The Congress, in political wilderness in Gujarat for nearly 22 years, is desperate to break the jinx. It has raised issues such as the BJP’s “hollow development model”, “the prime minister’s proximity with select industrialists”, besides demonetisation and GST, at the hustings.

Polling for the second and final phase, comprising 93 seats spanning north and central Gujarat, will be held on December 14. The counting of votes will be taken up on December 18.

(Agencies)

BJP MP Nana Patole quits party and Lok Sabha

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Mumbai: Dissident BJP Maharashtra leader Nana Patole, who has been publicly attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, announced on Friday that he had resigned from the Lok Sabha and quit the party too.

Patole, elected from Bhandara-Gondiya, said he submitted his resignation to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s office and also to the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership. He said he was “deeply anguished and felt let down by the party”.

His brief resignation letter addressed to Mahajan read: “Respected Madam, I hereby tender my resignation of my seat in the House with effect from today i.e. 08/12/17.”

The development is seen as a blow to the BJP, coming a day ahead of the first round of the Gujarat Assembly polls on Saturday.

Patole, who has been highly critical of the BJP leadership in recent months, said he had quit the Lok Sabha and the party since he was “deeply anguished and felt let down by the party”.

“The objectives with which I had joined the (BJP) party have been belied, but now (post-quitting) I am free of the turmoil in my mind,” Patole told the media shortly after submitting his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

He said he had not made up his mind on which party to join but would consider throwing his lot with “some like-minded” political outfit.

Patole created a sensation in September when he told a public function that Modi doesn’t like to be questioned and criticized.

He also alleged that all central ministers “were always in a state of fear” and that he was “on the hit list but I am not afraid of anyone”.

(IANS)

Journalist Ravi Belagere arrested by CCB for paying supari to kill former employee

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Bengaluru: Ravi Belagere, editor of Kannada ‘Hi Bangalore’, was arrested by the Crime Branch of police over allegations that he gave ‘supari’ to kill former colleague Sunil Heggaravanahalli.

The police picked up a gunrunner, Tahir Hussain, for questioning four days ago. Tahir led the investigators to Shashidhar, a contract killer.

Shashidhar was arrested from Vijayapura district. He told police that he had taken ‘supari’ from Belagere to kill Sunil three months ago. Based on Shashidhar’s statements, Belagere was arrested.

Police sources said Belagere wanted to get Sunil killed for personal reasons. They said Belgere sent his office boy along to show the killers the house of his former colleague.

He was produced before a magistrate on Friday and has been remanded to custody till December 18.

Belagere was among two editors who was given one year in jail for breach of privilege by the speaker of the Karnataka Assembly. However, he got a stay on from the Karnataka high court.

(Agencies)

Palestinian fury ahead of US Jerusalem recognition

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Palestinian women in Gaza shouted slogans during a protest against the US intention to move its embassy to Jerusalem and to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel [Mohammed Salem/Reuters]

Al Jazeera

Protests have broken out in the Gaza Strip in response to US President Donald Trump’s expected decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, as Palestinian leaders called for three days of rage against the move.

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza City on Wednesday, carrying banners denouncing Trump, hours ahead of his impending declaration that would also see the US embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The declaration, which is expected at 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, comes amid global condemnation of the decision.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh described Trump’s decision as a “flagrant aggression”.

“This decision is an uncalculated gamble that will know no limit to the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim reaction,” he said.

“We call on stopping this decision fully because this will usher in the beginning of a time of terrible transformations, not just on the Palestinian level but on the region as a whole. This decision means the official announcement of the end of the peace process.”

Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith, reporting from Gaza, said people did not bother to wait for the announcement and spontaneously gathered to protest against the plans.

‘Ball of fire’
“This is an indication of what might come after Trump speaks later today. People here compared the protests to a small ball of fire that would roll and turn into a much larger ball later on,” Smith said.

“The move by the US seems to have further unified the Palestinians. Hamas and the smaller factions in Gaza have given their full support to Mahmoud Abbas’ Fattah movement in their opposition to the US move. There is full unity on the Palestinian streets behind this cause,” he added.

Similar sentiments came from protesters in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where hundreds gathered in the Palestinian refugee camp Bourj el-Barajneh to protests against Trump.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict as Palestinians want Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.

Leaders in the Middle East and elsewhere warned Trump that his plans would have grave implications for the so-called peace process and on regional stability.

Hours ahead of Trump’s expected announcement, British Prime Minister Theresa May said she intended to speak to the US president about the status of Jerusalem, adding that the fate of the city should be determined through negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Jerusalem should ultimately form a shared capital between the Israeli and Palestinian states,” May said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US move was “because of their incompetence and failure”, while the Syrian foreign ministry released a statement saying: “[The move] is the culmination of the crime of usurping Palestine and displacing the Palestinian people.”

In his weekly address, Pope Francis said that the status quo that governs Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque compound should be respected. The state of Jordan has been the custodian of all Muslim and Christian sites in Jerusalem since 1994.

Status quo
US officials said that Trump “remains committed to achieving a lasting peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians and is optimistic that peace can be achieved”.

One official said that Trump’s decision “doesn’t change the status quo with respect to the holy sites and other sensitive issues”.

But Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifada said that one would have to be “living on another planet for the last few decades to believe that the US was ever an honest broker”.

“What [Trump’s move] achieves is truth in advertising,” he told Al Jazeera.

“It is a more honest expression of American policy, which is to support Israel unconditionally, including Israel’s illegal colonisation and settlement-building in East Jerusalem,” he said, adding that “this has effectively been US policy for many, many years and Trump is simply coming out and being open about it”.

Amit Shah should act as a responsible national political leader: Ramalinga Reddy

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Bengaluru: Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy has clarified that there was no proposal to ban the entry of BJP National President Amit Shah into Karnataka.

Addressing the media here, he said Shah “He should act as a responsible national political leader and not incite violence,”

Reddy also said that Pratap Simha should avoid creating violence and should change ways of campaigning. He said that Hunsur chaos was created because of Simha.

“Disturbing the peace is not the right way to capture vote banks,” he added.

(Agencies)

India win series 1-0 after 3rd Test ends in draw

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New Delhi: Sri Lanka’s unheralded youngsters, led by Dhananjaya De Silva, cashed in on the ineffectiveness of Indian spinners, holding on for a draw in the third Test even as the home team collected its ninth successive series victory here today.

While the win in Nagpur ensured a 1-0 series win for India, it will certainly be a moral victory for a beleaguered Sri Lankan team, which also had to endure physical discomfort due to pollution in the national capital.

Sri Lanka were never going to chase 410 but did well enough to bat as many as 103 overs in the second innings, finishing at 299 for five. The captains decided to shake hands after the end of seven mandatory overs.

(Agencies)

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