News18 Daybreak | Ahead of Modi-Xi meet, Chinese President Says He's Watching Kashmir and Other Stories You Need to Watch Out For

Today’s Big Stories

Ahead of Modi-Xi meet, Chinese President says he's watching Kashmir, will support Pakistan's core interests

In a meeting with PM Imran Khan on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he is watching the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and will support Pakistan in issues related to its core interests. Xi told Khan that the right and wrong of the situation was clear. The meeting comes a day ahead of Xi’s India visit during which he will engage in an informal summit with PM Modi. India took offense to the Kashmir reference, saying that Beijing is “well aware" of New Delhi’s position and it is not for other countries to comment on its internal affair. Tomorrow’s summit, which will take place in Chennai, will be a closely-watched affair given India’s and China’s differing stands on the matter.

Turkish troops advance into Syria as Donald Trump washes his hands of the Kurds

Turkey launched an assault on Kurdish positions in northern Syria on Wednesday with air strikes and explosions reported near the border. The offensive is said to have been triggered by a call between Donald Trump and Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan during which the US President handed over the reins of the campaign. He later defended the move by saying that the Kurdish fighters hadn’t helped them in the second world war. World governments reacted with concern after the offensive, while the UN Security Council plans to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the assault.

In Other News

Tourist entry allowed: Restrictions on the entry of tourists into Jammu and Kashmir, which was issued just days before the state was stripped of its special status, will be lifted from today. The Opposition in the state, however, called the move a “half-hearted" initiative to bring back normalcy.

False case: A Muzaffarpur-based advocate, who filed a case in a Bihar court against the 49 noted personalities who had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concern over the growing incidents of mob lynching in the country, was charged by police for filing a false case.

‘Global slowdown’: IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Wednesday said that the global economy is in the grips of a “synchronized global slowdown" and the effect will be more pronounced in some of the largest emerging economies like India. Georgieva blamed the slowdown on trade conflicts.

Nobel prize in Chemistry: Three scientists on Wednesday were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contributions to the development of lithium-ion batteries, which have reshaped energy storage and transformed cars, mobile phones and many other devices.

Rejected: The Reserve Bank on Wednesday rejected the proposed merger of Lakshmi Vilas Bank with Indiabulls Housing Finance. The bank had sought approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on May 7, 2019.

On Our Specials

Concession: In a bid to stamp out the rebellion brewing within the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the induction of ‘defected’ MLAs, Karnataka’s BS Yediyurappa government on Wednesday made key appointments to boards and corporations from among the dissidents. By-elections to 15 constituencies are due on December 5 after a total of 17 MLAs resigned from the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) in July to bring down their coalition government. Deepa Balakrishnan writes about how the BJP Karnataka is looking to stem rebellion in its ranks ahead of the bypolls.

Pawar interview: Ahead of the Maharashtra bypolls, Nationalist Congress President Sharad Pawar accused the BJP government of misusing central agencies like Enforcement Directorate (ED) and CBI to silence him and other opposition leaders. Pawar has been mired in an Enforcement Directorate case against him on the charges of money laundering. In an interview to Vinaya Deshpande, he said the government has adopted the policy of suppressing all the political leaders that work against the ruling party.

On Reel

Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya got a perfect reply from Zaheer Khan when he tried to pull the veteran fast blower's leg. The tweeter banter between the two sent social media into a frenzy.

(Curated and compiled by Karan Anand and Angana Chakrabarti)