North Carolina Republicans Override Governor's Veto, Pass Law to Strip Newly Elected Democrats of Their PowerThe fall of the Assad regime in Syria continues to reshape the country and the greater Middle East. In Damascus, leaders of the armed group HTS have retained most services of the civilian government but vowed to dissolve Assad’s security forces and shut down Assad’s notorious prisons. “People have this sense of regained freedom,” says Syrian architect and writer Marwa al-Sabouni in Homs. Still, she warns oppression in the country has left the populace weakened and vulnerable. “Syria is up for grabs now. ... We are completely disarmed.” In northeast Syria, more than 100,000 people have been displaced due to fighting between Turkish-backed forces and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Israel continues to seize more land in the Golan Heights and has carried out over 480 airstrikes on Syria since Sunday. Swiss Syrian left-wing activist and scholar Joseph Daher explains how civil society is attempting to rebuild democracy through “struggle from below,” and how that could unleash popular support for Palestine. “Israel wanted a weak Assad and is not happy with the fall of this regime,” says Daher. “A democratization process in the Middle East is the biggest threat for Israel.” This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. NERMEEN SHAIKH: We begin today’s show looking at the toppling of the Assad regime in Syria and how it could reshape the Middle East. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan for emergency talks on Syria. He heads to Turkey next. This comes as celebrations continue in Syria over the fall of Bashar al-Assad, but many are concerned about what might happen next. In northeast Syria, more than 100,000 people have been displaced due to fighting between Turkish-backed forces and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Israel has carried out over 480 airstrikes on Syria since Sunday. Israeli troops have also seized part of the Syrian Golan Heights. In Geneva, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights, Ben Saul, criticized Israel’s actions in Syria. AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, in Damascus, the head of the armed group HTS that led the coalition against Assad has vowed to dissolve Assad’s security forces and shut down his notorious prisons, including Sednaya, which has been described as a “human slaughterhouse.” We begin today’s show with two guests. Joseph Daher, a Swiss Syrian left-wing activist and scholar, author of Hezbollah: The Political Economy of the Party of God , as well as Syria After the Uprisings: The Political Economy of State Resilience , he’s in Geneva, Switzerland. And in Homs, Syria, we’re joined by Marwa al-Sabouni, award-winning Syrian architect, urban thinker and writer, author of two internationally acclaimed books, The Battle for Home and Building for Hope . We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Marwa, let’s begin with you in Homs. Just describe the scene there after the fall of Assad. MARWA AL-SABOUNI: Well, thank you for having me, Amy. The general atmosphere is an atmosphere of relief, of joy, of celebration, like you mentioned in your report. But also there’s this background of apprehension, of uncertainty, of observing what — the strikes that Israel has been conducting since the first moment of the Assad’s fall. NERMEEN SHAIKH: And, Marwa, could you talk about your piece for Middle East Eye ? You wrote, “Syrians have flown the cage. We must not lose our freedom again.” If you could elaborate on the points you make in the piece? MARWA AL-SABOUNI: Well, primarily, we were, for now over 50 years, under one oppressional regime that, you know, was denying Syrians from all liberties. And now with the lift of this regime, people have this sense of regained freedom. But like I mentioned in the piece, there are a number of dangers around us, mainly by the foreign powers, which are looking at the map of Syria, proposing division, also planning the future of Syria, mostly by the vacuum and the absence of Syrians from the political scene due to the oppressional regime. You have something that is rarely on the news, that is the control of the U.S. over the petrol in the eastern part of Syria, where the Kurdish forces, backed by the U.S., do the guarding effort for that. And for the past 14 years, even under the Assad regime, we were denied as Syrian citizens from access to fuel, from access to electricity. We don’t have electricity. Imagine living, you know, and having two hours of electricity within the 24 hours. So, it’s each six hours, you had half an hour of electricity. And imagine how this will reflect on the economy, on health sector, on production and all of that. Also you don’t have heating. You don’t have fuel for commuting. So, each car has access to only 20 liters of fuel every 15 days. So, the U.S., you know, just grabbed this piece of resource and put its hand, while the regime was here, and continues to do that until now. And so, mainly, Syria is up for grabs now. You have all those powers who can have access to those resources. And now, like your report mentioned, we are completely disarmed. We are in a sitting duck position. And God knows what could happen to the Syrians afterwards. NERMEEN SHAIKH: So, I’d like to bring in Joseph Daher into the conversation. If you could respond to what Marwa said? You’ve followed Syrian politics for decades. You wrote a book called Syria After the Uprisings: The Political Economy of State Resilience . Your response to, you know, first of all, the fall of the Assad regime, what you see happening in Syria, the celebrations across the country, Assad statues being toppled and so on, Hafez al-Assad’s tomb being burned? Your response to what’s happened, and then, also, the role of foreign powers in his fall? In particular, you’ve focused on Turkey. Joseph? JOSEPH DAHER: Thank you. Good morning. I think the key issues to understand, first of all, following the overthrow of the regime, is how little and small the popular base of the regime was. It fell just like a house of cards. It was weakened structurally, politically, militarily, economically, and was basically surviving because of the assistance of Russia and Iran. And when these two forces were themselves weakened, this allowed the opportunity for the fall of this regime, which had, first of all, initially, a military dynamic which remained dominant, but, as we can see throughout the process, people started to go out in the street, attack symbols of the regime. And we can see in the past few days a large majority of the Syrian people were opposed to this regime, in all its sects, ethnicities. We saw statues being brought down in Kurdish-majority inhabited areas, but also in the coastal areas, Damascus, Aleppo, Suwayda. So, this is the first thing to say, that for the first time in decades, Syrians have a hope for the future, to build a more equal, democratic, social society. Obviously, there is fear, but fear was existing for the past five decades. But at least there’s an opportunity to be seized. With this opportunity to be seized, a lot of challenges exist. First of all, I think, internally, the groups, the armed opposition groups, such as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or the Syrian National Army, are far from being democratic. Quite the opposite, they’ve shown the authoritarian behavior, policies in the past. Therefore, there will be a need to rebuild, you know, democratic movement, new popular organizations, trade unions, feminist organizations, and to rebuild basically struggle from below, to build the possibility of an alternative political structure, you know, social structure. Again, there’s another kind of threat. There’s also the ethnic division between Arabs and Kurds that must be tackled. It must be tackled. And unfortunately, Turkey is playing a very negative role by pushing, you know, SNA forces, Syrian National Army, which is acting as a proxy of Turkey to attack Kurdish-held areas. Just to precise something, autonomous administrative areas, where you have the majority of oil production, sold part of its oil to the regime. But even if, you know, the same unity came back and they had access to all the oil in the northeast, it won’t be enough for internal consumption. The vast majority of oil was imported from Iran, was provided from Iran. And after, I want to speak about the external threat. Obviously, Turkey, I talked about it, but Israel, as well. Israel has no interest to see a democratization process in Syria, just as in the larger Middle East, because it knows it will bring more solidarity with the Palestinian cause. And this is why the day after, the actor that was the regime, the Assad regime, protecting the road with Israel for the past 40 years, preventing any form of resistance, attacked all the military infrastructure’s capacity, so at least a large majority of them, throughout the country to destroy them, to make the future Syrian state weaker and also send a political message to the future people that will be in power in Syria, that any kind of hostile and belligerent position towards Israel will be attacked by Israel and could create instability. So, these are the two main threats, internal and external, as well. AMY GOODMAN: So, if you can talk about these Israeli attacks? There have been hundreds and hundreds, well over 500, attacks, as you just began. You have the U.N. the envoy, special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, condemning Israel’s assault. What Israel is trying to accomplish right now in this massive bombing campaign of Syria? And you’ve written a book called Hezbollah . Where that fits into this at this point? JOSEPH DAHER: Well, I think what we’ve seen in the past few days is this demonstration that as soon as the Assad regime fell — and again, it’s important to remind the auditors that contrary to some commentators that saw the Assad regime as a resistant actor against Israel, Israel had to intervene now to bomb massively the military structures, infrastructures of the Syrian state, because it was scared that the main actor protecting its borders for the past 40 years disappeared, and, again, sending a message, a clear message, to the future forces that will be in power in Syria that any hostile position could be punished directly. Similarly, I think there’s another thing to take into consideration, is that Israel wanted a weak Assad and is not happy with the fall of this regime. Moreover, there have been increasingly documents that have been leaked showing that Assad regime was collaborating, in a way or another, with the Israeli state. In this perspective, more largely, I think, definitely, Iran and Hezbollah are the great loser of the fall of the regime. But no resistance against Israel can be built with supporting authoritarian regimes or participating in the repression of people struggling for democracy, freedom and social justice. So, the weakening of Hezbollah and Iran is definitely the result also of Israel’s war on Lebanon and attacks in Syria against a pro-Iranian position, pro-Hezbollah position. But more largely, we have seen that these actors have not acted largely in the interests of the liberation of the region, of the popular classes, but, moreover, of the Palestinians. And one other indicator in this direction is the latest statements of Hamas and Islamic Jihad. I personally don’t disagree with — I personally disagree with their politics, while supporting the right of resistance. But they saluted the liberation of the Palestinian people — or, the Syrian population from the dictatorship of Assad. That shows us that, basically, the key importance for a future strategy of liberation for Palestine is connected to the liberation of the population of the region. And we have to come back to the statement made by Foreign Minister of Israel Avigdor Lieberman in 2011 following the overthrow of Mubarak in Egypt, that a democratic Egypt is a bigger threat to Israel than Iran. Similarly, a democratization process in the Middle East is the biggest threat for Israel. AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go — last month, the ICC, the International Criminal Court, decided to indict Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as the Hamas commander Mohammed Deif. The Biden administration rejected the ICC decision, claiming it doesn’t have jurisdiction to try Netanyahu. Well, this week, a reporter asked State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller if the U.S. would support Assad standing in front of the ICC as a war criminal. This begins with Matt Miller, who’s then interrupted by the Associated Press reporter Matthew Lee. AMY GOODMAN: A jurisdictional dispute, Joseph Daher, if you could talk about that? JOSEPH DAHER: Well, who will be surprised that the U.S. has double standards? We’ve seen this continuously and that U.S. has never pushed an agenda for real democratization of the region and has foreign policy according to its own geopolitical interests. So, this is, for me, not a surprise to see the difference in this kind of behavior. We have to remind that the U.S. is the key actor allowing for the continuous genocide of the Palestinians in Gaza, for the continuous annexation of lands in the West Bank. Israel would not have been able to continue its genocidal war without the support of the U.S. Actually, Israel is only the implementer of U.S. politics, according to the Palestinians. Similarly, Israel could not have been leading a war on Lebanon without U.S. support. And finally, Israel informed the U.S. of the invasion of Syrian lands, of the bombing of military infrastructures in Syria, with the support of the U.S., that also are seeking to protect its key ally in the region, Israel. So, it’s not a surprise at all to see these kind of double standards by the U.S. or any kind of Western states. AMY GOODMAN: By the way, Yoav Gallant, who was one of those charged by the ICC, for whom there is an arrest warrant, just met with Brett McGurk in Washington, D.C., this week. NERMEEN SHAIKH: And before we end, Joseph Daher, if you could talk about what you see unfolding in the next weeks in Syria? You spoke earlier a little bit about the different groups, not just HTS, that are now operating in Syria. How do you see this playing out in terms of the plan that they’ve laid out, and, in fact, of their changing political orientation, ideological orientation, as the head of HTS has suggested they will do? JOSEPH DAHER: Well, there’s a clear strategy by the HTS that started in 2016, following its break with al-Qaeda, to present itself as a rational, moderate actor, not only locally but also regionally and internationally. It has, you know, branded itself as would like to participate any kind of counterterrorist campaigns, that it’s not a threat to the West. It’s also sending messages to regional actors. And we’re seeing a change, according to regional, international actors, towards HTS. Does that mean that HTS, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is a democratic organization? No, far from it. It is an authoritarian organization with an Islamic fundamentalist ideology and that is seeking to basically consolidate its power now in Syria. One of the latest indicators is the nomination of a prime minister that was previously the head of the government of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s first priority is to consolidate its power in the region it took control over. And this is a challenge for the Syrian democratic and social aspiration of Syrian popular classes in the country. This is why I was saying that we have a lot of — Syrians, in general, have a lot of hope, but also there’s contradictions and challenges in the space that was opened by the fall of the regime. And obviously, there will be a lot of work of rebuilding to do among democratic and progressive sectors of the society to constitute a bloc to challenge the power of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, but also of the Syrian National Army. And the developments in the following weeks and months will depend on the ability of democratic and social groups to develop, and also, according, as I was saying, to regional and international developments, because a lot of the country, despite their differences, also want to see a form of authoritarian stability reimposed on Syria, that basically meaning a damage control for the region. So, again, the hope is back, but there’s a lot of challenges. There’s a lot of obstacles. But at least, for decades, we have the ability as Syrians to think of a better future. Nothing is done yet, but, again, there’s a lot of hope. And it will depend on the balance of forces within the country and the ability to constitute democratic, progressive bloc, challenging the Arabic-Kurdish division, on the ability of challenging these authoritarian local forces, but also regional and international forces, because none of them have the best interests of the Syrian popular classes. AMY GOODMAN: We just have 30 seconds, but I just wanted to ask you about the significance of the finding of the corpse of Mazen al-Hamada. Tens of thousands of Syrians in Damascus now are gathering to attend his funeral. JOSEPH DAHER: Well, it’s a tragedy, like thousands, hundreds of thousands, of other disappeared, forcibly disappeared, of political prisoners that we don’t know what happened with them. This is a reflection of the barbarism of what was the Assad regime for the past 54 years, a regime that not only killed Syrians, but attacked Lebanese, occupied Lebanon, attacked Palestinians, Palestinian national movement, and has been really a center of authoritarianism and reactionary politics, not only for the Syrians, but for the whole region. AMY GOODMAN: Joseph Daher, thank you so much for being with us, Swiss Syrian left-wing scholar and activist in Geneva, Switzerland. We’ll link to your recent piece for The New Arab , “From Syria to Palestine, liberation comes from below.” And thanks also to Marwa al-Sabouni, the Syrian architect and writer in Homs, in Syria. We lost our connection with her in the middle of the conversation. When we come back, we’ll speak with Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council. He’s just left war-torn Ukraine. Stay with us.

BJP to prioritise loyalists in organisational reshufflePresident-elect Trump’s crushing reelection victory has driven much of the corporate media into despair, including Lesley Stahl and Van Jones. Tee hee. Van Jones is a far-left contributor at CNN, which is itself a far-left misinformation outlet that spreads conspiracy theories and promotes political violence. The disgraced Lesly Stahl hails from 60 Minutes, which is from a fake news outlet that, in an effort to rig the 2020 presidential election, lied about Hunter Biden’s laptop being Russian disinformation. 60 Minutes is a CBS News production, the same CBS News that rigged this year’s vice presidential debate. This might be a good place to stop, lay aside our political differences, and, as human being to human being, thank Van Jones and Lesley Stahl for the contributions they have personally made to destroy the influence and credibility of the legacy media. Normal People will never be able to thank them enough for exposing just how dishonorable and dishonest the media are. Anyway... Here’s Van Jones admitting that the “mainstream [media] has become the fringe and the fringe has become mainstream” through alternative media, especially podcasts. “There are people out there getting 14 million streams,” Jones admitted, “and we’re on cable news getting one or two million. The political class is way off.” And here is the comically pompous Lesley Stahl despairing over the same: “I’m extremely worried about the press. I despair. I worry greatly. We’re at the point where if [ sic ] the POTUS is going to say ‘Legacy media is dead.’ I’m very dark about it.” Eat it, sweetheart. If the knowledge that Lesley Stahl is despairing and in a dark place does not make you want to stand up and cheer, you must be a feminist. You see, throughout the 2024 campaign, the corporate media were Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense . They didn’t know they were dead. Being ignorant of their own death, they played all their usual games assuming it would drag Kamala Harris — Celebrity Obama 2.0 — over the finish line. Stahl’s own 60 Minutes went so far as to dishonestly edit Kamala’s interview to make her sound smart. Van Jones’ own CNN raged on and on about Trump’s “Nazi rally” at Madison Square Garden and spread the hoax about Trump calling for Liz Cheney’s execution. Then... The “too big to rig” results came in on Election Night and it finally hit them: We’re dead . No one believes us anymore. Our influence is gone. We can’t rig elections anymore with our lies and hoaxes. Despair! Despair! Despair! Donald Trump visiting podcast after podcast, doing Joe Rogan, sitting down for a handful of Breitbart News interviews, is as big a sea change in politics as when John F. Kennedy embraced television in 1960. Radio was declared dead. TV was king. Well, now, the legacy media is dead and alternative media is king. But there is one important difference between 1960 and 2025, and that’s this: The 1960 switch was based on technology, the difference in what radio and TV offered. The 2025 switch is based on the legacy media’s credibility implosion, in other words... Springfield Bomb Threat Hoax Trump Called for Liz Cheney to Be Executed Hoax Violent Crime Down Under Biden/Harris Hoax Arlington Cemetery Hoax Kamala Was Never America’s Border Czar Hoax Russia Collusion Hoax Hands Up, Don’t Shoot Hoax Jussie Smollett Hoax Covington KKKids Hoax Very Fine People Hoax Seven-Hour Gap Hoax Russian Bounties Hoax Trump Trashes Troops Hoax Policemen Killed at Mostly Peaceful January 6 Protest Hoax Rittenhouse Hoax Eating While Black Hoax Border Agents Whipping Illegals Hoax NASCAR Noose Hoax Georgia Jim Crow 2.0 Hoax Trump Assaulted Secret Service Agents and Grabbed Steering Wheel of Beast Hoax MAGA Assaulted Paul Pelosi Hoax COVID Lab Leak Theory Is Racist Hoax Hunter Biden’s Laptop Is Russian Disinformation Hoax Joe Biden Will Never Ban Gas Stoves Hoax COVID Deaths are Overcounted Is a Conspiracy Theory Hoax Mass Graves of Native Children in Canada Hoax Trump Killed Japanese Koi Fish Hoax Trump Told People to Drink Bleach Hoax Hamas Hospital Hoax If Reelected, Trump Will Execute People Hoax The 900,000 Kids Hospitalized with Coronavirus Hoax Dozens of Environmental Hoaxes The Alfa Bank Hoax Libs of TikTok Murdered Non-Binary Teen Hoax Aaron Rodgers Sandy Hook-Truther Hoax ‘Bloodbath’ Hoax Biden ‘Sharp-as-a-Tack’ Hoax Iowa Poll Hoax And now the legacy media is dead: A death by credibility suicide... A death by a thousand self-inflicted cuts... I saw it happen in real time this year as the fake media launched one dishonest attack after another against Trump only to see the lie or hoax or double standard immediately swatted away in alternative media. And I use the word “swatted” deliberately because it was that easy to debunk and correct the record. Why? Because we have the power now. Don’t get me wrong, these lying assholes in Big Media will always be around, but they have castrated themselves to a point where no one outside their asshole bubble listens anymore. What a wonderful thing to witness. FREE-FREE-FREE for the holidays: an autographed bookplate if you purchase John Nolte’s first and last novel, BORROWED TIME, between now and December 20. After you’ve made the purchase, email your request to JJMNOLTE at HOTMAIL dot COM with an address and any personalization requests. For example, something like; “To Rachel Levine: The sexiest man alive.” Borrowed Time , is winning five-star raves from everyday readers. You can read an excerpt here and an in-depth review here . Also available in hardcover and on Kindle and Audiobook .The China Fund, Inc. Declares Distributions

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan returned to the silver screen with a bang in 2023 by delivering three massive hits and once again returned to hiatus this year as he had no movies releasing on the big screen. However, Khan’s life remained eventful on the sporting field since his Kolkata Knight Riders won the coveted Indian Premier League for the third time since the inception of the cash-rich tournament. Despite remaining absent on the big screen, Khan shattered a new record and surpassed his colleague Akshay Kumar or even cricket icon Virat Kohli to become the highest tax-paying celebrity in the country this year. As per a list prepared by Forbes in September, Khan paid Rs 92 crore in taxes. This was expected especially after the success of three back-to-back movies last year. Bollywood’s Mr Dependable could not live up to the expectations since all his releases, except Singham Again, bombed at the Box Office. He began the year by teaming up with Tiger Shroff with his Eid release Bade Miyan Chote Miyan. The action thriller hit the silver screen with higher expectations but opened with negative reviews and ended with a whimper. His other two releases Sarfira and Khel Khel Mein remained impactless and tasted unimpressive run at the Box Office. Akshay made a small appearance in 2024’s biggest hit Stree 2 and was also a part of the other major release of the year Singham Again. The two releases were saving grace. Fans expect Kumar to return as a Box Office rockstar in the coming years. Shraddha Kapoor-Rajkummar Rao-Pankaj Tripathi: The tio-Shraddha Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao and Pankaj Tripathi-joined to deliver one of the biggest hits of the year-Stree 2. Winning hearts with its perfect comic timing and strong acting, the tale of the headless ghost was successful in minting a worldwide gross of Rs 858.4 crore. Shraddha became one of the most sought-after actors in Bollywood following her convincing performance in the horror comedy. The actor spent some tense days in 2024 after he repeatedly received death threats with reports suggesting Lawrence Bishnoi gang was behind it. Earlier this year, shots were even fired by alleged members of the gang outside Khan’s Bandra residence. From playing a robot who romanced Shahid Kapoor to producing his own film, Kriti Sanon continued to impress her fans with her progressive stance every year. She began 2024 with her first release for the year titled Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. Starring opposite Shahid Kapoor, Kriti played the unconventional role of a robot in the science-fiction romantic-comedy movie which was released on February 9 ahead of Valentine’s Day. The movie gained mixed reviews in the market from critics and movie lovers alike. In March, just ahead of Holi, Kriti teamed up with two Bollywood beauties- Kareena Kapoor and Tabu- for their haste comedy Crew. The movie, which also featured Bengali actor Saswata Chatterjee, left film lovers happy and the Box Office lit up with its performance. Remaining busy in 2024, Kriti added one more feather to the successful crown when she turned into a producer with the movie Do Patti. The movie featured Kajol, her Dilwale co-star, in the lead role. Speaking about her journey as a producer, Kriti told Variety: “I really enjoyed the whole process of how that film was made. And I felt that I want to eventually also get involved in certain films that I feel passionate about, beyond just being an actor, [to] creatively be there in the whole filmmaking process.” The movie was released on Netflix in November. The Bollywood rumour mill was meanwhile buzzing with her dating news which was further fuelled by her attendance in a family wedding with UK-based businessman Kabir Bahia. She also shared a photo with Kabir Bahia on social media from their Greece vacation. After a fairytale marriage following years of romance, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh became parents when they welcomed their adorable baby girl Dua on September 8, 2024. She had an eventful working career this year when three of her movies- Fighter, Singham Again and Kalki 2898 AD- released on the big screen. From playing Air Force squadron leader Minal “Minni” Rathore in Fighter to a tough cop Shakti Shetty, Deepika Padukone preferred to showcase her dynamism onscreen by playing a bouquet of tough characters. Ranveer Singh returned as Sangram “Simmba” Bhalerao in Singham Again and put up a cracking performance in the Diwali release. Away from movies, Singh became a father to baby girl Dua this year. After playing serious role for years, actor Vicky Kaushal experimented by showcasing a romantic hero in Bad Newz where he fought Ammy Virk onscreen to win the heart of Triptii Dimri in the movie that revolves around the theme of heteropaternal superfecundation, which according to Biomedica is an extremely rare phenomenon that occurs when a second ova released during the same menstrual cycle is additionally fertilized by the sperm cells of a different man in separate sexual intercourse. It is the birth of fraternal twins from two different fathers. Karthik was back as ‘Rooh Baba’ to fight ghosts and spirits in the horror comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 which stood as one of the major Box Office hits of the year. Karthik’s golden run at the box office continued and he maintained his trend of delivering hits every year. Kathik experimented and played the character of India’s first Paralympics gold medallist Murlikant Petkar in director Kabir Khan’s Chandu Champion. Triptii Dimri: Tripti emerged as one of the most sought-after actors of the Indian film industry after she made her brief appearance in Animal in 2023. Tripti soon became a national crush and a sex symbol. This year, her presence in commercial movies grew stronger and she returned to the big screen with two films- Bad Newz and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3. Hrithik Roshan romanced Deepika Padukone onscreen for the first time in Fighter and their chemistry left the audience feeling the heat even in the month of January. The high-octane Indian Air Force-based movie remained one of the early hits of the year and the gripping storyline, backed with stellar performance by the actors, left movie lovers amazed. Years back, when Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan tied the knot, they broke the headlines as India celebrated a fairytale marriage that remained the talk of the town. That was 2007. The couple welcomed their baby girl Aaradhya in 2011. The country followed the power couple of Bollywood over the years until recent developments left fans shocked when rumours buzzed that they were planning to get divorced. Gossip even brewed that Abhishek Bachchan is involved in a relationship with actress Nimrat Kaur. There has been no official statement from the couple but the alleged discontent in their relationship kept followers busy at the fag end of the year. Yami Gautam perhaps delivered one of the best performances onscreen with her real-event-based movie Article 370. The movie moves around the events that led to the abolition of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, a landmark moment in Indian politics. Bollywood beauty Anushka Sharma and her cricketer husband Virat Kohli became parents for the second time when they welcomed their second child- Akaay. The baby boy was born in February. While they spend more time in London where they have a property, it is likely the couple would permanently shift to the UK. Vikrant Massey: Vikrant Massey was slowly marking his name in Bollywood as a thinking actor who played unconventional characters on the silver screen. His performance in 12th Fail earned him fame. His film The Sabarmati Report also made headlines owing to its subject- Godhra train burning on 27 February 2002, an incident that triggered the infamous Gujarat riots. However, leaving his followers shocked, Vikrant announced in December that he is retiring from films. Later it was reported that he is taking a long break, not completely retiring. “The last few years and beyond have been phenomenal. I thank each and everyone of you for your indelible support. But as I move forward, I realise it’s time to recalibrate and go back home. As a Husband, Father & a Son. And also as an Actor,” he wrote on Instagram, announcing his supposed retirement. “So coming 2025, we would meet each other for one last time [sic.]. Until time deems right. Last 2 movies and many a years of memories [sic.]. Thank you again. For everything and everything in between. Forever indebted,” the actor wrote in a note. Man of the Match Actor Ajay Devgn appeared in several movies in 2024 with Shaitaan marking his first release where he competed with R Madhavan to impress his fans in the supernatural drama. The two actors were praised for their performances and Shaitaan was one of the year’s most sought-after movies. Apart from Shaitaan, Ajay was seen in Naam, a movie which was finally released after getting postponed for years, the critically-acclaimed sports drama Maidaan, the romantic tale Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha and finally Singham Again. The multistarrer saw Ajay once again stepping into the shoes of DCP Bajirao Singham and fighting his way to deliver one of the major hits of 2024.

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has assured ANC supporters the party is pushing back against the DA’s demands to have certain clauses of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act scrapped. President Cyril Ramaphosa signed the act into law in September but delayed the implementation of two clauses, 4 and 5, by three months to allow for further parliamentary discussions. This as ANC’s GNU partner, the DA, has rejected the two clauses in the act. The debated clauses deal with policies on admission to public schools proposing changes to the authority of school governing bodies in determining admission policy. The other clause deals with language in schools. Mashatile, speaking at the Steve Tshwete Memorial Lecture on Saturday in the Eastern Cape, said the ANC is fighting for the clauses not to be excluded. “We will continue to invest in the promotion of our indigenous languages. It is in this regard that we are convinced that we in government were correct to get the Bela Bill passed by parliament. There are people who want to remove it. I was reading on social media as I was coming here that there is an agreement somewhere that some of the clauses in the act should be scrapped. We are saying no, we cannot exclude the clauses,” Mashatile said. Solidarity Movement, which protested with the DA against the act, on Thursday said there was a settlement for the disputed provisions not to be implemented. Mashatile, however, disputed this saying the government has not reached an agreement regarding proposed exclusion of Bela act provisions. “The president appointed me to chair the clearing house on behalf of all parties so that we can fix this thing. Other people are forward saying no this ‘Language and admissions is not important, we will see it some other time.’ No, we want it now. It must be sorted now,” he said. Solidarity Movement in a statement had said: “In terms of the settlement, the controversial sections in the Bela Act will no longer be implemented on 13 December. Norms and standards and national policies and regulations must first be developed which will, among other things, determine that schools which are running at their full capacity may not receive instructions to change their language and admission policy. This will all form part of a process in which the minister of basic education Siviwe Gwarube will make comprehensive recommendations to Ramaphosa for his due consideration.”Sony Middle East & Africa, Modern Home Unveil Cutting-Edge Products In QatarA role reversal doomed the No. 22 Xavier Musketeers in their only loss of the season, against Michigan at the Fort Myers Tip-Off on Wednesday. Normally a team that avoids committing turnovers and pressures its opponent into making them, Xavier (6-1) will try to recapture its early-season winning form when it hosts South Carolina State on Sunday in Cincinnati. Through their six wins, the Musketeers had just 58 turnovers while forcing 82 by their opponents. But against the Wolverines, they lost the turnover battle 19-10 and the game 78-53. The Musketeers committed 14 turnovers in the first half and fell behind 41-30. Xavier head coach Sean Miller credited his team for typically playing an up-tempo style while avoiding mistakes, while also acknowledging that the turnover bug really bit them against the Wolverines. "We lost to a really good team; no shame in that," Miller said. "We, on top of that, didn't play well." "And that (avoiding turnovers) is something you (usually) do well? That's going to be hard to overcome against a quality team like Michigan." Leading scorer Ryan Conwell (17.6 points per game) gave the Musketeers a boost with 19 points. Zach Freemantle, second on the team at 15.4 ppg, added 14 points and 10 rebounds. Problematically, however, they also contributed to the turnover problem with three apiece. "We didn't play well enough to win the game," Miller said. "The game got out of hand. It's not like our guys quit. Their depth just continued to wear on us." The Musketeers also get 11 points and a team-high 4.4 assists per game from Dayvion McKnight. The guard had just one turnover against Michigan, but he also made just one of his eight shot attempts. Xavier may have an opportunity get right in the turnover area against the Bulldogs (4-4), who are No. 207 in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.11. South Carolina State is fresh off an 82-53 road loss to Marshall on Wednesday, in a game in which turnovers weren't a huge problem. But assists and made shots were hard to come by for the Bulldogs. Leading scorer Drayton Jones (12.0 ppg) again paced his team in points with 10 vs. Marshall, but the Bulldogs as a team managed just six assists and shot terribly at the 3-point (18.8 percent) and the free-throw (47.1 percent) lines. Jones is also the team's leading rebounder with 5.1 a game, but no Bulldogs player is averaging more than two assists. It's all part of the learning process for coach Erik Martin, whose first team went 5-26 in 2022-23. The Bulldogs improved to 14-18 last season, including 9-5 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. "The only way you can grow sometimes is by failure or by struggling," Martin said this offseason. "You have to fail in order to learn how to deal with failure and move on and become the person you're supposed to be." --Field Level MediaHow Is Lil Durk Connected To 2022 Chicago Murder? Federal Prosecutors Reveal New Evidence Ahead Of Detention Hearing

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