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Israel wasn’t slamming the door on renewed indirect prisoner swap negotiations with Hamas when it this week barred David Barnea, the head of Mossad, the country’s foreign intelligence agency, from travelling to Qatar to explore possibilities for renewed exchanges. Instead, it was manoeuvring for greater leverage in potential talks and expressing doubts about whether Hamas could deliver a second temporary truce in the Gaza war that would make further prisoner swaps possible.

BJP’s top leadership seems to act in unconventional ways. That relates to its unexpected choice of chief ministers in three states, Vishnu Deo Sai in Chattisgarh, Mohan Yadav in Madhya Pradesh and Bhajan Lal Sharma in Rajasthan. To the public at large, and often the know-it-all media, these names could have been randomly picked up.

So after all the “jalsas” to crown chief ministers of three states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, forget Telangana, it is ‘Congressi’ — a probe has been ordered on the Parliament security breach, with the Modi government’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi telling the country, shamed by a bunch of unemployed nondescripts, that things were on course when it's apparent that nothing about Parliament was or is on course.

As a singer Anup Ghoshal’s name was never taken in Bengal on the same breath as Hemanta Mukhopadhyay or even Dwijen Mukherjee; nor did his songs enjoy the popularity of Manna De or Shyamal Mitra. Yet Ghoshal who passed away in Kolkata on December 15, attained a unique distinction which none of the artistes of Bengal enjoyed. He was 78.

On Thursday (December 14, 2023), the President of Russia conducted his first end-of-year news conference since the commencement of the conflict in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin stated that he still has unchanged goals in Ukraine and will continue to pursue them until there is peace.

With a sankalp (pledge) at KV temple of Varanasi to get rid of the anti-people government of the BJP, the Uttar Pradesh Congress will launch its UP Jodo Yatra on December 20 from Shakumbhari Devi temple in Saharanpur and culminate at Naimisharanya (Sitapur) after covering 16 parliamentary constituencies in 10 western and central districts of UP over 25 days.

Only a few months ago, RSS-BJP clan had created hype around “Nari Shakti Vandan”, just after PM Narendra Modi government had introduce Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023 on September 19 in a special session of Parliament. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was the new epithet for the Bill which was brought forward as if BJP was the only champion of the women’s cause. In November 2023 state elections, RSS-BJP clan campaigned against ruling opposition states claiming women were not safe there, as if only opposition parties are at fault. However, in the beginning of December 2023, when Crime in India report for 2022 was released we knew that crime against in India rose sharply by 4 per cent, and situation was worse even in BJP ruled sates, such as Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. And now a victim woman judge in Uttar Pradesh seeks permission from Supreme Court of India to die with dignity, since she was unable to get justice.

Parliament attack 'mastermind' Lalit Mohan Jha is in police custody. Four of his underlings – if he is ‘mastermind’, indeed – have been charged with terrorism under various sections of the UAPA, supposedly one of the toughest anti-terror legislations anywhere in the world. Does that mean, Neelam Devi, Sagar Sharma, Manoranjan D., and Anmol Shinde, along with Lalit Mohan Jha, are deemed terrorists and “saffron terror” is god’s own truth, not the figment of some dervish imagination?

Come winter, a season of mellow fruitfulness, Kolkata springs up pleasant surprises. A three day festival on Sahir Ludhianvi, whose lines of love and protest are still hummed began on December 15 at Dhana Dhanyo stadium.

Britain is “dangerously close to recession,” the TUC warned the Sunak Government as news that the economy shrank in October dealt a blow to one of the Prime Minister’s five priorities. Gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have fallen by 0.3 per cent during the month, down from a 0.2 per cent growth in September, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.