France edged past Belgium 1-0 to book their place in the final of the FIFA World Cup in a rip-roaring semi-final clash here on Tuesday.

Centre-back Samuel Umtiti headed home from close range in the 51st minute and that proved to be the winner in a match littered with goal-scoring opportunities.

Belgium played with a lot of gusto as skipper Eden Hazard led from the front making jinking runs throughout the game down the right channel.

But the goal would just not come for the Roberto Martinez-coached side who were in the semis for the first time since 1986.

France, who will play the World Cup final for the first time since 2006, will either take on England or Croatia in the summit clash on Sunday.

The match began at a breakneck pace with Belgium bossing possession initially only for the French to catch up.

Kylian Mbappe danced forward inside the first 10 seconds and crossed low for Antoine Griezmann who failed to get on the end of it.

Hazard then put in a dangerous cross which was turned behind by Umtiti. It was an end-to-end affair as Kevin De Bruyne lobbed a pass to Hazard who shot past the post.

France took time to work Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois who smothered a Blaise Matuidi effort in the 19th minute.

Then, moments later, at the other end, Hazard’s goal-bound shot was flicked over the bar by the retreating Raphael Varane.

Hugo Lloris was forced into a brilliant save at the other end too when his Tottenham teammate Toby Alderweireld took aim after a corner.

For France, Olivier Giroud and Griezmann came close to scoring after the half-hour mark before Benjamin Pavard was set up by the brilliant Mbappe only for Courtois to stick his leg out and divert the ball.

It was travesty that both teams went into the break locked goal-less.

Belgium fell behind minutes into the second period when Umtiti leaped ahead of Marouane Fellaini to head home a corner taken by Griezmann.

Belgium probed on numerous occasions as Lukaku came the closest to scoring in the dying minutes of the game after De Bruyne’s stunning lofted pass teed the Manchester United striker up.

Six minutes of injury time provided Belgium with hope but France ran the clock down and almost made it 2-0 as Griezmann and then Corentin Tolisso’s shots were well saved by Courtois.

(IANS)

New Delhi: Former Mumbai police commissioner Julio Ribeiro, former chief information commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and 41 other retired bureaucrats have demanded that Union minister Jayant Sinha be sacked for felicitating eight people convicted in a lynching case, saying his action shows “there is a licence to kill minorities”.

The Minister of State for Civil Aviation stoked controversy after he felicitated eight convicts in the Ramgarh lynching case after they came out of prison on bail last week.

Meat trader Alimuddin Ansari was beaten to death on June 29 last year by a mob at the Bazaar Tand area under Ramgarh police station on suspicion that he was carrying beef in his car.

Expressing happiness over their release from jail after being granted bail on June 29 this year by the Jharkhand High Court, Sinha garlanded them and offered them sweets.

“The larger and chilling message that Shri Sinha’s action sends out is that there is a licence to kill minorities and that those who are accused of such crimes will be enthusiastically supported financially, legally and politically,” the bureaucrats said in a public statement.

They said Sinha felicitated the convicts as if they were “some revolutionaries in a freedom struggle”.

In the past, the bureaucrats said, when there were protests against partisan support for such revolting actions, the central government “conveniently used the fig leaf” of constitutional separation of powers to argue that the locus standi lay with the states concerned, despite most of these states being ruled by the BJP, which is also in power at the centre.

“Now that a Union minister has openly questioned a criminal case where his own party government in the state had, admirably in our opinion, prosecuted and brought to justice the accused, we would like to know what stand the Government of India proposes to take.

“We demand the immediate resignation/removal of Shri Jayant Sinha from the Council of Ministers and an apology to the people of India from the party he represents for brazenly sympathising with those convicted of murder,” the bureaucrats said.

They also sought to know the stand the Union government proposes to take after Sinha’s action.

“The latest episode comes on the heels of repeated incidents which highlight the contempt which representatives of the ruling party and their followers have for the rule of law,” they said.

Besides Ribeiro and Habibullah, the officials who have demanded Sinha’s sacking include former Pune police commissioner Meeran Borwankar and former Prasar Bharti CEO Jawhar Sircar.

In April, the retired civil servants attacked the central government following the rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua district of Jammu after a few state BJP lawmakers had come out in support of the accused in the case.

“In post-Independence India, this is our darkest hour and we find the response of our government, the leaders of our political parties inadequate and feeble,” they had said then in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On March 21, a fast-track court sentenced the 11 convicts in the Ramgarh lynching case to life imprisonment.

Eight of the 11 convicts were granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court on June 29. Two are in Hazaribag Central Jail and a juvenile is in a correction home. Another secured bail on July 4.

(PTI)

Former higher education minister B A Moideen passed away following a brief illness at a hospital in Bengaluru on Tuesday. He was 81.

Born to Abdul Khader and Haleema at Pejawar in Bajpe village in May 1938, Moideen, joined Congress in 1969 and held various positions in the party before getting elected to Karnataka Legislative Assembly in 1978 from Bantwal assembly constituency in Dakshina Kannada district.

The Congress party denied him the ticket which forced him to joint Janata Dal in the later days. He won from Bantwal constituency in 1978 and has served as MLC between 1990-2002. He was minister for higher education between 1995-99. He was conferred with the Devaraj Urs Award instituted by the State Government in 2016.

(Agencies)

Within hours of a flag meeting to maintain ceasefire on the international border (IB) in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Rangers fired mortars at Indian positions on Tuesday.

Police said around 1 a.m. the Pakistan Rangers fired two-to-three mortars in the Akhnoor sector of the IB.

“Border Security Force (BSF) troopers did not retaliate. No casualty or damage was caused in the Pakistani shelling,” a police officer said.

On Monday, a sector commanders level flag meeting was held in Suchetgarh between the BSF and Pakistan Rangers for two hours.

The meeting was held on Pakistan’s request and the two sides agreed to respect the ceasefire agreement in letter and spirit.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will participate in the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Johannesburg (South Africa) on Monday (June 04).

The meeting is expected to lay the foundation for next month’s annual summit of the grouping which will also be held in Johannesburg.

The BRICS comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

She will also chair a meeting of Foreign Ministers of IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa), another bloc working to deepen coordination among the three countries on major global issues.

The External Affairs Minister will also attend a series of events marking the 125th anniversary of the historic incident where a young Mahatma Gandhi was thrown out of a train compartment in Pietermaritzburg railway station in 1893.

Hindusthan Samachar/Shri Ram Shaw

H D Kumaraswamy takes oath as Chief Minister of Karnataka | Photo: ANI

Janata Dal (Secular)’s H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday took oath in Bengaluru’s Vidhan Soudha as the 24th Chief Minister of Karnataka, while Congress’ G Parameshwara took oath as Deputy Chief Minister, administered by Governor Vajubhai Bala.

Several prominent Opposition leaders and chief ministers attended the ceremony and used it as a “show of strength” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, among others, attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Meanwhile, BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday said that “hunger, greed and power” were the basis of the JD(S)-Congress alliance, adding that such an alliance would “not even last three months”.

Ahead of taking the oath, Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said he would be under certain limitations in a coalition government and would take consent of the Congress, adding he would waive farm loan once he improves the state’s economic condition.

“They (Congress) too have their own programmes in their manifesto. We have to compile the manifesto of two parties and after improving the economy of the state, we will waive farm loans. There is no question of my backtracking,” said Kumaraswamy after he visited Chamunda Hill to worship revered Goddess Chamundeshwari in Mysuru.

The Janata Dal (Secular) leader also appealed to the farmers to not take any drastic steps and to keep faith in him.

“I want to tell the people of the state not to give in to any fear. Give up your obsession for caste. I don’t belong to one community but the 6.5 crore population of the state and I am only a public servant,” Kumaraswamy added.

(Agencies)

Bengaluru: A group of Muslim organisations on Tuesday demanded to appoint a Muslim as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The group asked that either seven-time Congress MLA from Shivajinagar R Roshan Baig or any other leader from the Muslim community be made the Deputy Chief Minister in Karnataka.

Reacting to the demand, Mr. Baig said that he does not find any problem in the demand.

“What is wrong in it? Why not? If people from other communities can make demands then why can’t people from my community? I am also a senior Congress leader, I am a seven-time MLA. But, in the end, high command will decide,” Baig told news agency ANI.

The Congress, which emerged as the second largest party after recently-held Karnataka state assembly elections, will form a government in the state in alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular), with H.D. Kumaraswamy as the Chief Minister.

On Saturday, Kumaraswamy was invited by Governor Vajubhai R. Vala to form the government in the state, after Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) B.S. Yeddyurappa stepped down ahead of the floor test in the state assembly.

Kumaraswamy is set to take oath on Wednesday.

(ANI)