'Will enter Karnataka like China invaded...', says Sanjay Raut on Maharashtra-K'taka border row
Nagpur, Dec 21: Amid the simmering border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday stoked a controversy, saying they will enter the neighbouring southern state the way China has "invaded" Indian territory.
Amid the tension in border areas of the two states, Maharashtra minister Shambhuraj Desai said if Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai does not stop making irresponsible statements, Maharashtra will have to rethink about water supply from its dams to the neighbouring state.
A day before, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jayant Patil had said Maharashtra should raise the height of the upstream dams to "rein in" Karnataka.
"The way China has invaded (Indian territory), we will do the same in Karnataka. We do not need anyone's permission to do so," Raut told reporters in Delhi.
"We want to resolve the issue through dialogue but the Karnataka chief minister is setting everything ablaze (with his statements). Maharashtra has a weak government (in power) and thus could not take any stand against that state," he said.
Addressing reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Nagpur earlier in the day, minister Desai slammed Bommai over the Karnataka government's stand that not an inch of land will be given to Maharashtra.
Desai and his cabinet colleague Chandrakant Patil were appointed as nodal ministers to coordinate with the legal team regarding a court case on the state's border dispute with Karnataka.
The Karnataka legislature has reiterated the state's stand that the border issue is a settled one, and not an inch of land will be given to the neighbouring state.
During a debate on the border dispute in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, CM Bommai himself suggested passing a unanimous resolution in both Houses of the state legislature reiterating and asserting the stand.
Desai said he condemned such comments, which do not suit Bommai as he holds a constitutional post.
When the case is sub-judice, a chief minister using such a "threatening language" is not good and he should stop it, he said.
"Even Maharashtra can reply in the same language and he should not provoke us," Desai said.
Maharashtra is maintaining patience and the Karnataka CM should keep in mind that the southern state is very much dependent on water supply from the Koyna and Krishna dams (in Maharashtra) during the dry season of March and April, he said.
"If Karnataka does not stop (making such statements), then Maharashtra will have to rethink over the water being supplied to the neighbouring state," Desai said.
Maharashtra stands firm with the Marathi-speaking people residing in the border areas, he added.
The border issue dates back to 1957 after the reorganisation of states on linguistic lines.
Maharashtra laid claim to Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, as it has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. It also laid claim to more than 800 Marathi-speaking villages which are currently part of Karnataka.
Karnataka maintains the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report as final.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Pope urges 'all people of all nations' to silence arms and overcome divisions in Christmas address
Vatican City, Dec 25: Pope Francis in his traditional Christmas message Wednesday urged “all people of all nations” to find courage during this Holy Year “to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions” plaguing the world, from the Middle East to Ukraine, Africa to Asia.
The pontiff's “Urbi et Orbi” — “To the City and the World” — address serves as a summary of the woes facing the world this year. As Christmas coincided with the start of the 2025 Holy Year celebration that he dedicated to hope, Francis called for broad reconciliation, “even (with) our enemies.”
"I invite every individual, and all people of all nations ... to become pilgrims of hope, to silence the sounds of arms and overcome divisions,'' the pope said from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica to throngs of people below.
The pope invoked the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, which he opened on Christmas Eve to launch the 2025 Jubilee, as representing God's mercy, which “unties every knot; it tears down every wall of division; it dispels hatred and the spirit of revenge.”
He called for arms to be silenced in war-torn Ukraine and in the Middle East, singling out Christian communities in Israel and the Palestinian territories, “particularly in Gaza where the humanitarian situation is extremely grave,” as well as Lebanon and Syria “at this most delicate time.”
Francis repeated his calls for the release of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
He cited a deadly outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the suffering of the people of Myanmar, forced to flee their homes by “the ongoing clash of arms.” The pope likewise remembered children suffering from war and hunger, the elderly living in solitude, those fleeing their homelands, who have lost their jobs, and are persecuted for their faith.
Pilgrims were lined up on Christmas Day to walk through the great Holy Door at the entrance of St. Peter's Basilica, as the Jubilee is expected to bring some 32 million Catholic faithful to Rome.
Traversing the Holy Door is one way that the faithful can obtain indulgences, or forgiveness for sins during a Jubilee, a once-every-quarter-century tradition that dates from 1300.
Pilgrims submitted to security controls before entering the Holy Door, amid new security fears following a deadly Christmas market attack in Germany. Many paused to touch the door as they passed and made the sign of the cross upon entering the basilica dedicated to St. Peter, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church.
“You feel so humble when you go through the door that once you go through is almost like a release, a release of emotions,'' said Blanca Martin, a pilgrim from San Diego. "... It's almost like a release of emotions, you feel like now you are able to let go and put everything in the hands of God. See I am getting emotional. It's just a beautiful experience.”
A Chrismukkah miracle as Hanukkah and Christmas coincide
Hanukkah, Judaism's eight-day Festival of Lights, begins this year on Christmas Day, which has only happened four times since 1900.
The calendar confluence has inspired some religious leaders to host interfaith gatherings, such as a Hanukkah party hosted last week by several Jewish organizations in Houston, Texas, bringing together members of the city's Latino and Jewish communities for latkes, the traditional potato pancake eaten on Hanukkah, topped with guacamole and salsa.
While Hanukkah is intended as an upbeat, celebratory holiday, rabbis note that it's taking place this year as wars rage in the Middle East and fears rise over widespread incidents of antisemitism. The holidays overlap infrequently because the Jewish calendar is based on lunar cycles and is not in sync with the Gregorian calendar, which sets Christmas on Dec. 25. The last time Hanukkah began on Christmas Day was in 2005.
Iraqi Christians persist in their faith
Christians in Nineveh Plains attended Christmas Mass on Tuesday at the Mar Georgis church in the center of Telaskaf, Iraq, with security concerns about the future. “We feel that they will pull the rug out from under our feet at any time. Our fate is unknown here,” said Bayda Nadhim, a resident of Telaskaf.
Iraq's Christians, whose presence there goes back nearly to the time of Christ, belong to a number of rites and denominations. They once constituted a sizeable minority in Iraq, estimated at around 1.4 million.
But the community has steadily dwindled since the 2003 US-led invasion and further in 2014 when the Islamic State group swept through the area. The exact number of Christians left in Iraq is unclear, but they are thought to number several hundred thousand.
German celebrations muted by market attack
German celebrations were darkened by a car attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday that left five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, and 200 people injured. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier rewrote his recorded Christmas Day speech to address the attack, saying that “there is grief, pain, horror and incomprehension over what took place in Magdeburg.” He urged Germans to “stand together” and that “hate and violence must not have the last word.”
A 50-year-old Saudi doctor who had practiced medicine in Germany since 2006 was arrested on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. The suspect's X account describes him as a former Muslim and is filled with anti-Islamic themes. He criticized authorities for failing to combat “the Islamification of Germany” and voiced support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
