News18 Evening Digest: PM Modi Takes Dig At Congress, Sends Stern Message To Pakistan & Other Top Stories
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We are also covering: Man Killed, Another Injured In Sword Attack In Karnataka's Mangaluru, Akshay Kumar Reacts To Paresh Rawal's Hera Pheri 3 Exit, and other latest stories.
News18 Evening Digest: In today's evening digest, we are covering PM Modi's jibe at Congress after Operation Sindoor's success, YouTuber Jyoti Malhotra's spygate, and other top stories.
In a clear jibe at the Congress party, which infamously asked for proof of the Balakot air strikes in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said cameras had captured the impact of 'Operation Sindoor' so that no one asks for evidence domestically. This was the first such political attack by the PM regarding the operation against terror sites in Pakistan. READ MORE
US President Donald Trump plans to terminate the federal government's remaining contracts with Harvard University, worth an estimated $100 million, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The directive is part of a broader push to completely sever Washington's longstanding business relationship with the Ivy League institution.
A two-month-old video uploaded by Jyoti Malhotra, an alleged spy who was arrested on allegations of spying for Pakistan, purportedly showed that she was provided high security during her visit to the neighbouring country. READ MORE
New Delhi and Islamabad have each hired prominent figures from US President Donald Trump's inner circle as lobbyists in Washington DC, signaling a strategic push for influence amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan after Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor counter-terror operation. READ MORE
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Indian Express
24 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Top Gujarat Congress leader arrested over Op Sindoor post: Who is Rajesh Soni?
Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) general secretary Rajesh Soni, arrested for an alleged objectionable post on Operation Sindoor, belongs to a family of jewellers and is a first-generation politician, say his party colleagues. Many in the Congress refer to Soni as the go-to person for 'publicity-related tasks'. At least three top party leaders told The Indian Express that the credit for putting up maximum hoardings and billboards during Congress party events goes to him. However, according to his detractors in the party say 'his billboards would mostly be of his mentors and patrons in the party'. Soni, who is in his forties, was arrested by the Gujarat State Cyber Crime Cell on Friday under sections 152 (endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India) and 353 (making, publishing or circulating statements that could lead to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita (BNS) for alleged posts on his social media handles and pages that were 'demoralising for the Army', as per the FIR. Originally from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Soni joined the Congress in 2015 with his team of supporters. 'Within just a couple of years of his joining the party, he was made an All India Congress Committee (AICC) delegate. Promotions came early for him compared to other senior leaders,' said a Congress leader in the Ahmedabad city unit. He was appointed general secretary of the state unit in 2022 when former MP Jagdish Thakor was the state party president. Thakor described Soni as a person 'who did a lot of charity and was always at the forefront to help during natural calamities', while state Congress spokesperson Amit Nayak recalled how, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Soni ran a community kitchen. Former Union minister Bharatsinh Solanki, who was the state Congress president from 2015 to 2018, told The Indian Express, 'Soni holds an event every year to distribute notebooks to children and this time he invited me. I suggested that he also distribute tablets. He obliged and gave tablets to some five children.' Soni's father, a jewellery businessman from Pali in Rajasthan, came to Ahmedabad for business and the family decided to settle down in the city's Isanpur area, where Soni was born. When he was young, Soni joined his father's business. 'Later, he got into the construction business and launched his own company called Soni Corporation,' said Nayak. Soni's party colleagues said one of the reasons he was being 'targeted' because he is an 'RTI activist' and participates in television debates.'Soni is being targeted because he is a kattar agevan (staunch leader), has been in charge of the party's IT Cell earlier. He is part of our TV debate team and his appearances must have bothered the BJP government,' said Nayak. The spokesperson, who said he was also booked for his social media posts in 2023, added, 'We have decided that all top leaders of the party will repost Rajesh Soni's (alleged objectionable) post and then go to the DGP's (Director General of Police) office to court arrest.' Top Congress leaders such as state Congress president Shaktisinh Gohil and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Amit Chavda have criticised the action against Soni and demanded immediate bail. Gohil said Friday that the Gandhinagar Police cyber crime team picked up Soni as if he were a 'terrorist'. He said Soni's post was more about giving credit to the soldiers for their bravery and saying that 'money from the public treasury should not be used for publicity and … political gains should not be taken in the name of Operation Sindoor'.
News18
30 minutes ago
- News18
Who Is Miguel Uribe, Colombian Senator And Presidential Hopeful Shot In Bogota?
Last Updated: Miguel Uribe, a Colombian senator, was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt while addressing a political event in Bogota. He comes from an influential family in Colombia. Miguel Uribe Turbay, a Colombian opposition senator and candidate in next year's presidential election, was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt in Bogota on Saturday, while he was addressing a rally in the country's capital. Uribe, 39, was in a critical condition, and the suspected attacker was in custody, according to Bogota Mayor Carlos Galan. Uribe was rushed to the hospital and was receiving emergency care, and the 'entire hospital network" of the Colombian capital was on alert in case he needed to be transferred, Galan informed. Colombia's presidency issued a statement saying the government 'categorically and forcefully" rejected the violent attack, and called for a thorough investigation into the events that took place. 'I don't know how to ease your pain. It is the pain of a mother lost, and of a wounded homeland," Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X. Who Is Miguel Uribe? The 39-year-old senator, who is running for the presidency in 2026, is a member of the opposition right-wing Democratic Centre party founded by former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The two men are not related. He belongs to a prominent family in Colombia, which has links to the country's Liberal Party. Uribe's father was a businessman and union leader. His mother was journalist Diane Turbay, who was kidnapped by notorious narco-terrorist Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel and killed during a rescue operation. Last October, he announced his intention to run in the 2026 presidential election. While Colombia has for decades been embroiled in a conflict between leftist rebels, criminal groups descended from right-wing paramilitaries, and the government, an assassination attempt on a high-profile political figure has not been seen since the 1990s, according to CBS News. Assassination Attempt On Uribe The Democratic Centre party issued a statement condemning the attack, saying Uribe was hosting a campaign event in a public park in the Fontibon neighbourhood of Bogota when 'armed subjects shot him in the back." A video circulating on social media shows 39-year-old Miguel Uribe giving a speech in front of several people when gunshots suddenly ring out. Other images show him being carried by several people as he was slumped against the hood of a car. Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez meanwhile said on X that authorities were offering a reward of around $700,000 for information leading to the capture of those behind the attack. (with agency inputs) Get breaking news, in-depth analysis, and expert perspectives on everything from geopolitics to diplomacy and global trends. Stay informed with the latest world news only on News18. Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: June 08, 2025, 07:10 IST
Indian Express
30 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Tavleen Singh writes: Political poster boys
An unforeseen consequence of Operation Sindoor has been that South Asia's two poster boys of dynastic democracy surfaced and made fools of themselves. I speak of Bilawal Bhutto and Rahul Gandhi. They would not be considered political leaders at all if it were not for their illustrious surnames. As someone who believes dynastic succession should have ended when feudalism did, I watched the performance of these two political princes with real interest. The first performance came from Bilawal Bhutto, who made a speech on the banks of the Indus a day after India decided to suspend the Indus Water Treaty. In this speech, he threatened that either water would flow down the Indus or the 'blood of our enemies'. His Urdu remains bad, so he used melodrama to compensate and, in the manner of a crazed messiah, shrieked 'the Indus has always been ours, is ours, and will be ours'. This one speech was proof that not only was the heir to the mighty Bhutto dynasty linguistically challenged, but that he was politically challenged as well. But Pakistan's military rulers were clearly impressed with his performance and sent him off to Washington to convince people that it was Pakistan that was the victim of terrorism and that India's allegations were lies. It took Shashi Tharoor, who was also in Washington, one minute to demolish the narrative that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's heir was trying to weave. Tharoor said he sympathised with Bilawal because his mother had been killed by jihadi terrorists, but he seemed to have forgotten Hillary Clinton's warning to Pakistan. If you breed vipers in your backyard, you cannot expect that they will only attack your neighbour. Pakistan's terrorists are home-bred. Last week came a performance from the heir to our own storied dynasty. Rahul has, since Operation Sindoor, made statements that have been applauded in Pakistan even by Hafiz Saeed. But last week, he outdid himself. In the manner of a schoolboy discussing a cricket match, and with a sneery grin on his face, he imitated Donald Trump having a conversation with our prime minister on the phone and saying 'Narendra, Surrender'. And then he mimicked Narendra Modi saying 'ji huzoor'. The point the Leader of the Opposition was trying to make was that when his grandmother was prime minister, the Seventh Fleet was sent by Richard Nixon to warn her that breaking up Pakistan would have consequences. And she had courageously remained fixed on the course that she had set. A dangerous analogy to evoke, because Indira Gandhi also ended up snatching defeat from the jaws of victory (to use that useful cliché) by signing the Simla Agreement. All the cards were in India's hands. There were more than 90,000 prisoners of war in the custody of the Indian Army, so she could have told Bhutto that there would be no agreement without a signed guarantee that the Kashmir issue would end now. Instead, the agreement has a feeble reference to Kashmir being decided bilaterally. Years later, I happened to learn from a close associate of Bhutto that he boasted afterwards that he had outdone her. What exactly was the point that Indira's grandson was trying to make? Was he trying to prove the debunked falsehood that Modi agreed to a ceasefire because of pressure from Trump? Was he trying to say that the war should have continued indefinitely? Or was he trying to say what Congress spokespersons have said in TV debates, which is that the war should have continued until Pakistan is broken up once more? This was never the objective of Operation Sindoor. It had the limited objective of destroying Pakistan's terrorist infrastructure and from all accounts this objective was achieved. To return, though, to the poster boys of dynastic democracy. Bilawal has lost his relevance in Pakistani politics and is now merely a spokesman for the military men who control the political chessboard. Rahul remains relevant because he is fully in control of our oldest political party. And the only national party, we have other than the BJP. We have no choice but to take what he says seriously, which is why it is worrying that he continues to sound like a schoolboy with a special grudge against Modi for daring to usurp India, which he considers his birthright to rule since his family once did. It is this idea that India remains the private property of the Dynasty that is destroying the Congress Party. If you have been following recent events, you would have noticed that the Congress leaders in the parliamentary delegations have done an extremely good job. The only people who have let the party down are those who constitute the coterie around our own poster boy of dynastic democracy. It could be time for those who want Congress to survive and thrive to come together and urge the Dynasty's heirs to consider playing the role that the Chairman Emeritus plays in companies. If they agree, they can continue to have relevance in the family firm, but can move away from playing an active role. How long does the Congress Party want to pretend that Rahul is its prime minister-in-waiting when he has been unable to win a single Lok Sabha election for the party? One way or another dynastic democracy is a bad idea. And it is abundantly obvious that India's voters saw this before our political leaders have.
