His arrest on November 25 sparked protests, culminating in violent clashes between his followers and law enforcement outside the Chattogram Court Building on November 27, which resulted in the death of a lawyer.
| Photo Credit: PTI

A court in Chattogram has refused to grant bail to Chinmoy Krishna Das, the former ISKCON leader, following a hearing held with heightened security on (January 2, 2025), The Daily Star reported.

The bail request was turned down by Chattogram Metropolitan Sessions Judge Md Saiful Islam after about 30 minutes of hearing both parties’ arguments, according to Metropolitan Public Prosecutor Advocate Mofizur Haque Bhuiyan. Earlier today, 11 Supreme Court lawyers were set to participate in the bail hearing of Chinmoy Krishna Das.

While speaking to The Daily Star, lawyer Apurba Kumar Bhattacharjee had said, “We have come to Chattogram under the banner of Ainjibi Oikya Parishad, and we will move for Chinmoy in the court for his bail.”

Earlier on December 3, 2024, Chittagong court had fixed January 2 for bail hearing as the prosecution submitted a time petition and there was no lawyer to represent Chinmoy.

The unrest in Bangladesh stems from the sedition charges filed against Chinmoy Krishna Das for allegedly raising a saffron flag above Bangladesh’s national flag in Chittagong on October 25.

His arrest on November 25 sparked protests, culminating in violent clashes between his followers and law enforcement outside the Chattogram Court Building on November 27, which resulted in the death of a lawyer. The situation worsened following additional arrests.

In Pat Cummins absence, Steve Smith or Travis Head will lead Australia in Sri Lanka.© AFP

Kusal Perera cracked a career-best 101 off just 46 balls as Sri Lanka secured a consolation seven-run victory in the third and final Twenty20 match against New Zealand in Nelson on Thursday. Sri Lanka posted 218-5 in their 20 overs and New Zealand replied with 211-7. New Zealand had already wrapped up the series after winning the first two games by eight and 45 runs respectively when the Sri Lankan middle order failed to fire.

But Perera was determined to show there was fight in the visitors as he plundered four sixes and 13 fours to register the fastest century by a Sri Lankan in T20 internationals.

He was helped by being dropped on 15 and 60 before he was caught at point by Rachin Ravindra off Daryl Mitchell in the penultimate over.

He was also shaken by the first ball he faced from Zak Foulkes which was edged towards third man.

“It was a wake-up call so I had to back myself and try to execute my normal game,” Perera said.

“The coach had said ‘once you get a start you have to finish the game’, so that’s why I was trying to do my best.”

Sri Lanka captain Charith Asalanka said he always felt his side were capable of beating New Zealand despite the first two losses.

“It’s a good win for us. Throughout the series we have played good cricket but couldn’t manage to get a win and finally we got it,” he said.

Perera featured in partnerships of 41 with Avishka Fernando (17) and then 100 with Asalanka, who hammered 46 off just 24 deliveries with five sixes and one four.

Sri Lanka, opening the batting for the first time in the series, had 24 on the board inside three overs before Pathum Nissanka went for 14 after an exceptional catch by Mitchell Hay.

Wicketkeeper Hay had to sprint back to the boundary to take the top-edge and then throw it in the air as he stepped over the boundary before returning to the field of play to complete the dismissal. 

New Zealand maintained the required 11-an-over run rate through 15 overs led by 69 off 39 balls from Ravindra.

Tim Robinson added 37 off 21 and Daryl Mitchell smacked 35 off 17 including four sixes in the final over by Asalanka.

Asalanka, a part-time bowler, had 3-25 off his first three overs and finished with 3-50.

New Zealand and Sri Lanka play the first of three one-day internationals in Wellington on Sunday.

Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson termed India’s inability to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy as “unfortunate” but said the ICC showpiece will offer star batters Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma a chance to liberate themselves from a prolonged form slump. The global governing body has adopted the ‘Hybrid’ model for this edition of the CT with India scheduled to play its matches at a neutral venue in Dubai.

“It’s unfortunate that things have worked out that way for sure. But there’s no doubt that what everyone loves seeing — the India-Pakistan games. Whenever they come together, whether it’s an ICC event, it is a really special time because we’ve got a sense of what’s on the line,” Watson told the media here during the Champions Trophy Tour.

“It’s unfortunate that India aren’t travelling to Pakistan for this Champions Trophy. But, unfortunately, that’s just the way it is right now,” he added.

Watson said the CT offers cricket a fresh context, breaking the long lull of four years between two ODI World Cups.

“The CT is a critically important tournament in world cricket because the One Day World Cup is only once in every four years. It is great because it breaks up those four years,” he noted.

The 43-year-old also said the CT keeps the ODI format alive amidst the rightful prominence Test cricket receives and the upsurge of T20s.

“You keep giving one-day cricket the energy that it needs because it is a great game. It’s a great format. It provides that balance between Test cricket and T20 cricket.

“We never want to lose the format of one-day cricket, but there needs to be context as often as possible. And the CT certainly provides that.” “When you play a CT where there’s only eight teams, there is something riding on every ball. And as a team, you have to hit the ground sprinting. Otherwise, you’ll be out like it was for the Australian team in 2013.” Then defending champions Australia had finished at the bottom of Group A with a solitary win and crashed out of the tournament, which India won eventually under MS Dhoni.

Current form no worry for Rohit, Kohli

Both Rohit and Kohli were part of that victory in England 12 years back, but now these two superstars are finding it tough to make big runs as they did in the past.

But Watson was not worried over the Indians’ patchy form for talks surrounding their retirement.

“I don’t think it (current poor form) will really play a part at all with Rohit Sharma and Virat’s impact in one-day cricket. It’s going to be different conditions where they’re playing in Dubai. One-day cricket does really free them both as well,” said Watson.

He placed his faith in Kohli’s extraordinary ODI numbers — 295 ODIs, 13906 runs, Average: 58.18 with 50 hundreds and 72 fifties.

“Kohli is an absolute master of one-day cricket.” “Yes, he’s a master of all formats, but especially ODIs. You see his extraordinary numbers over a long period of time, averaging around 57 and a strike rate of 93 over a long period of time. It’s crazy to think the control that he has over his innings.” Watson said Rohit could be back to his best in ODIs.

“We’ll see that again in the Champions Trophy. Rohit, like we saw in the one-day World Cup (2023), when he was at his very best, he was taking on the game.

“It’s more difficult to be able to do that in Test cricket. He hasn’t been able to find that balance here in Australia. But when he goes out for the batting in one-days, he lets loose. That’s when we see the very best of Rohit Sharma.” “So I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t perform really well in the Champions Trophy, knowing that he probably doesn’t have a lot of time left, whatever that is, but a lot of time left in international cricket. So I’m sure he’ll let the handbrake off,” he added.

Pat for Nitish Kumar Reddy

Watson said Nitish Kumar Reddy who made a hundred in the Boxing Day Test, will have to improve as a bowler to realise his full potential as an all-rounder.

“It’s exciting to see a young all-rounder coming through, be able to do what he did in the IPL just from a batting perspective. (because of) The impact player, which is sort of one of the rules that I don’t particularly like…someone like Reddy didn’t get an opportunity to be able to really bowl much.

“But now we’re seeing it in Test cricket and he will fit beautifully into one-day cricket and T20 cricket because of the versatility he provides. He’s got all the gears from a batting perspective and his bowling is only going to get better the more exposure he gets,” he concluded.

Paris, France:

Swiss socialite Jocelyne Wildenstein, also known as “catwoman” due to her extensive plastic surgery, has died aged 79, her partner said on Wednesday.

“It is with heavy heart and with great sadness that Mr Lloyd Klein announces the unexpected death of his beloved fiance and longtime companion Jocelyne Wildenstein,” the fashion designer said in an English-language statement sent to AFP.

“Mrs Wildenstein died peacefully in her sleep in the late afternoon of December 31st, 2024 in her… suite in Paris where the couple had taken temporary residence since August of 2024,” he added.

He tried to wake her from a nap so she could get ready for New Year’s Eve dinner, but she was unresponsive, he said. “Early reports from the doctors called to the scene indicate that she had endured heart failure and passed peacefully in her sleep,” Klein added.

Born in Switzerland in 1945, Jocelyne Perisset became a New York socialite after marrying art dealer Alec Wildenstein, with whom she had two children. She kept his name after their messy divorce in the late 1990s.

Some media reports gave her age as five years older. In a recent interview, she had blamed the confusion on people mixing up her birth year with that of her ex-husband, 1940.

The cosmetic surgery aficionado, with more than a million followers on Instagram, became known as “catwoman” in the tabloids for the feline-like shape of her eyes.

She had been living between New York and Miami, she told French media in recent months.

‘$2.5-billion divorce’

Wildenstein last posted a video of herself and Klein posing for photographers outside the Ritz Paris on December 23, to the soundtrack of Wham’s “Last Christmas”.

“I never wanted to change my face,” she told French television news channel C8 this autumn, though admitting she might have wanted her lips to be a little thicker.

She denied rumours she embarked on cosmetic surgery to try to keep her ex-husband. She received $2.5 billion from their divorce, making it one of the most expensive at the time, according to Klein.

Asked if she had found love again, she said she had with Klein, who was 21 years her junior.

Klein and Wildenstein “met during New York Fashion Week in 2001 when Lloyd was presenting his fashion collection on the runway,” he said in his written statement.

“She was a front-row guest and after that show the two became romantically involved and had remained inseparable since that time.”

“Jocelyne was my best friend, my partner, my fiance. She had a zest for life, and had a wicked sense of humour,” he added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Australia’s southeastern regions were treated to a breathtaking spectacle of the Aurora Australis, ushering in the new year with a stunning light show. On New Year’s Day, the southern lights graced the skies over Tasmania and parts of Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and New South Wales, leaving observers in awe.

From the evening of January 1 through to the early hours of January 2, brilliant streaks of green and purple illuminated the skies. The phenomenon was visible to the naked eye, thanks to clear skies and an intense geomagnetic storm, which combined to produce an extraordinary auroral display. Photos and videos of the lights flooded social media, as many users shared their excitement and wonder.

One user shared a time-lapse video of the Aurora, captured in Perth, Western Australia.

Aurora Timelapse From Last Nights G4 KP8 Solar Storm From Perth, Western Australia Between 10:20pm And 11:00pm ???? #AuroraAustralis #MooningCrew #Perth #PerthNews #PerthWeather #SouthWestWA #SolarStorm #WesternAustralia pic.twitter.com/GnHeParqTi

— Weather WA (@weather_wa) January 1, 2025

Another post had a series of photos of spectacular Aurora Australis, highlighting the strong geomagnetic activity “with the Kp index fluctuating around 6 and 7!”

The sun surprised people who were under a clear sky in Northern Europe with beautiful New Year’s Eve Aurora Borealis. Kp above 5 – at times above 6! The “Australis” variant continues in Australia and New Zealand right now with the Kp index fluctuating around 6 and 7! pic.twitter.com/VTWslGRx9e

— AuroraNotifier (@aurora_notifier) January 1, 2025

The Kp index is a scale used to measure the strength of geomagnetic activity. The higher the Kp index, the stronger the geomagnetic storm.

Here are a few more posts with stunning images of Aurora Australis.

Aurora now
Look south
Huge naked eye beams #Tasmania #auroraaustralis pic.twitter.com/VSimlJqQ4R

— Vince Taskunas (@VinceTaskunas) January 1, 2025

Took the Canon EOS 1200D out to Queenstown Airport Tasmania and got these
Aurora Australis 01 01 2025 (@BrownSquirrel) pic.twitter.com/DROqE7PuWU

— Courtney Lee (Eli Noah’s Mum) ????x 5 (@CeeEllEss_33) January 1, 2025

Aurora Australis right now. Tasmania. pic.twitter.com/Ow30l4n87K

— James L (@JKyL5) January 1, 2025

In Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, the aurora was so vivid that it was visible despite the usual interference from city lights. The light show dazzled with vibrant hues of green and purple, clearly visible in the urban area, according to ABC News.

I’m up late but wow the Aurora from my window has made it worth it!#tasmania #auroraaustralis pic.twitter.com/voQQjAZHl1

— Chris Bowditch (@chrisbowditch) January 1, 2025

Similarly, residents of Western Australia enjoyed the spectacle in well-lit locations near Perth, where the aurora was visible in its full glory.

Further south, the picturesque town of Margaret River, known for its wine and food tourism, also saw the southern lights illuminate the sky.

The Aurora Australis, which occurs as a result of a geomagnetic storm, is produced when charged particles from the sun collide with Earth’s magnetic field. This interaction causes the atmospheric colours that are visible during such events. With the sun nearing the peak of its 11-year magnetic cycle, solar activity is at an all-time high, resulting in an increased frequency of auroral displays.

U.S. President Joe Biden. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

President Joe Biden is bestowing the second highest civilian medal on Liz Cheney and Bennie Thompson — the lawmakers who led the congressional investigation into the violent January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot by Donald Trump’s supporters, and who Trump has said should be jailed.

Mr. Biden will award the Presidential Citizens Medal to 20 people in a ceremony Thursday (January 2, 2024) at the White House, including Americans who fought for marriage equality, a pioneer in treating wounded soldiers, and two of the President’s longtime friends, former Sens Ted Kaufman, D-Del, and Chris Dodd, D-Conn.

“President Biden believes these Americans are bonded by their common decency and commitment to serving others,” the White House said in a statement. “The country is better because of their dedication and sacrifice.”

Also Read | Capitol riot panel blames Donald Trump for January 6 ‘attempted coup’

Mr. Biden last year honoured people who were involved in defending the Capitol from the rioters, or who helped safeguard the will of American voters during the 2020 presidential election, when Trump tried and failed to overturn the results.

Ms. Cheney, who was a Republican representative from Wyoming, and Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, led the House committee that probed the insurrection. Ms. Cheney later said she would vote for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 Presidential race and even campaigned with her, raising Mr. Trump’s ire. Mr. Biden has been considering whether to offer preemptive pardons to Cheney and others Trump has targeted.

Mr. Trump, who won the 2024 election and will take office on January 20, still refuses to back away from his lies about the 2020 Presidential race and has said he would pardon the rioters once he takes office.

During an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Trump said, “Cheney did something that’s inexcusable, along with Thompson and the people on the un-select committee of political thugs and, you know, creeps,” claiming without evidence they “deleted and destroyed” testimony they collected.

“Honestly, they should go to jail,” he said. Mr. Biden is also giving the award to attorney Mary Bonauto, who fought to legalize same-sex marriage, and Evan Wolfson, a leader of the marriage equality movement.

Other honorees include Frank Butler, who set new standards for using tourniquets on war injuries; Diane Carlson Evans, an Army nurse during the Vietnam War who founded the Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation; and Eleanor Smeal, an activist who led women’s rights protests in the 1970s and fought for equal pay.

He’s also giving the award to photographer Bobby Sager, academics Thomas Vallely and Paula Wallace, and Frances Visco, the President of the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Other former lawmakers being honored include former Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J.; former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, the first woman to represent Kansas; and former Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who championed gun safety measures after her son and husband were shot to death.

Mr. Biden will honour four people posthumously: Joseph Galloway, a former war correspondent who wrote about the first major battle in Vietnam in the book “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young”; civil rights advocate and attorney Louis Lorenzo Redding; former Delaware state judge Collins Seitz; and Mitsuye Endo Tsutsumi, who was held with other Japanese Americans during World War II and challenged the detention.

The Presidential Citizens Medal, created by President Richard Nixon in 1969, is the country’s second highest civilian honour after the Presidential Medal of Freedom. It is awarded to those who “performed exemplary deeds of service for their country or their fellow citizens.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (January 2, 2025) lauded the Maharashtra government’s efforts to ensure all-round development in the State’s remote and Maoist-affected areas.

The Prime Minister’s comments came a day after Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis visited Gadchiroli, a district affected by left wing extremism, and asserted that the dominance of Naxalites in remote areas of the district was ending.

A number of Naxal cadres laid down their arms during his visit, with Mr. Fadnavis also unveiling several development initiatives.

PM Modi said on X, “I laud the Maharashtra Government’s efforts to ensure all-round development in remote and Maoist-affected areas. This will certainly boost ‘Ease of Living’ and pave the way for even more progress. A special congratulations to my sisters and brothers of Gadchiroli and the surrounding areas!”

He was responding to a post by Fadnavis on his government’s efforts to eliminate the violent movement from the region.

New Delhi:

The BJP and AAP have launched aggressive poster campaigns against each other to sway public sentiment ahead of the Delhi assembly elections. The BJP alleged that AAP is resorting to voter fraud in a bid to retain power. 

The party shared a poster of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, alleging that multiple fraudulent voter entries, ranging from ages 40 to 80, were registered at a single address without the homeowner’s knowledge. BJP described this as “a new game by Kejriwal to rig votes.”

दिल्ली में केजरीवाल का नया खेल! वोटों का फर्जीवाड़ा करके सत्ता बचाने की कोशिश।

मकान मालिक को नहीं पता और उसके घर के पते पर सैंकड़ों वोट बना दिया था इस ठग ने वो भी एक विशेष समुदाय का (और नये वोटर की उम्र – 40 साल से लेकर 80 साल तक)#AAP_के_फर्जी_वोटर pic.twitter.com/xt11LKFFPH

— BJP Delhi (@BJP4Delhi) January 2, 2025

AAP countered with a video poster of Mr Kejriwal labelled “GOAT” (Greatest of All Time).

G.O.A.T. pic.twitter.com/RoNdSZGXFb

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) January 2, 2025

Mr Kejriwal yesterday accused the BJP of hypocrisy, claiming that while the party opposes honorariums for religious leaders, it simultaneously pushes for temple demolitions.

“People are angry,” Mr Kejriwal said in a post on X. Delhi Chief Minister Atishi expanded on these claims, stating that the BJP-led central government had empowered the Lieutenant Governor (LG) to order temple demolitions without consulting the elected Delhi government.

Atishi alleged that on November 22, the Religious Committee, which now reports directly to the Lt Governor, approved the demolition of temples in areas such as West Patel Nagar, Dilshad Garden, and Sultanpuri, along with a Buddhist temple in Sundar Nagari.

“The BJP’s dual face is clear. They claim to protect Hinduism but work to destroy temples,” Atishi said during a press conference. 

The BJP responded with a list of unmet promises by the AAP government. BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi accused Mr Kejriwal of failing to address critical issues like clean water, women’s safety, slum rehabilitation, pollution, and the cleaning of the Yamuna River.

“Instead of solving these problems, Kejriwal’s government has done nothing,” Mr Trivedi said. He claimed that while the BJP, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has brought credibility to politics, AAP has done the opposite.

Another BJP leader, MP Praveen Khandelwal, dismissed AAP’s recent announcements, including honorariums for priests and granthis, as political gimmicks. “The Delhi treasury is empty. Kejriwal only makes announcements to gain electoral benefits,” Mr Khandelwal remarked.
 

Hopes of a recovery in the manufacturing sector took a fresh hit as factory activity levels in India’s private sector stumbled to a 12-month low in December. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Hopes of a recovery in the manufacturing sector took a fresh hit as factory activity levels in India’s private sector stumbled to a 12-month low in December from an already weak November performance, with both new orders and output levels slipping to the lowest through 2024, as per a private survey-based index.

Manufacturing activity expansion, which had slipped a joint-11-month low in November, plummeted further as per the seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which dropped from 56.5 in November to 56.4 in December. A reading of over 50 indicates a rise in activity levels.

India’s manufacturing sector reported a growth of just 2.2% in the July to September quarter of this financial year and the latest PMI reading suggests there is no ostensible rebound likely in the October to December quarter or the third quarter of 2024-25.

Although new export orders rose at a slower rate than total new business for surveyed factories, they marked the fastest uptick in international shipment deals since July.

Input costs continued to firm up, with firms reporting an uptick in container, material and labour costs in December, but the overall rate of input price inflation was moderate and eased from November. However, having raised selling prices at the fastest pace in 11 years during November, producers continued hiking prices for customers at a rate that was higher than the extent of rise in cost burdens.

Although firms continued to stock up on inputs, the rate of accumulation was the weakest since December 2023. Meanwhile, post-production inventories of finished goods contracted at the fastest pace in seven months, with firms attributing this to high sales volumes. This marks a reversal from November when finished goods’ stocks had risen for the first time since August 2017.

However, capacity pressures among Indian manufacturers remained mild, implying there are no immediate need for them to undertake investments and expand workload. While manufacturers were confident of a rise in output over 2025, the sentiment was “nevertheless curbed by concerns around inflation and competitive pressures”.

Despite the downturn in expansion levels, factories continued to hire at a broader level although some producers have initiated layoffs last month. “Not only did manufacturing employment increase for the tenth month in a row during December, but also the rate of job creation quickened to the fastest in four months. Around one-in-ten companies recruited extra staff, while fewer than 2% of firms shed jobs,” S&P Global, which conducts the PMI surveys, said in a note.

HSBC economist Ines Lam said India’s manufacturing activity ended a strong 2024 with a soft note amidst more signs of a slowing trend, albeit moderate, in the industrial sector.

“The rate of expansion in new orders was the slowest in the year, suggesting weaker growth in future production. That said, there was some uplift in the growth of new export orders, which rose at the fastest pace since July. The rise in input prices eased slightly, wrapping up the year when Indian manufacturers felt the strain of sharp cost pressures,” Ms. Lam added.