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India’s Farmers Rally Against Modi Over Unfulfilled Promises to Raise Crop Prices

India's Farmers Rally Against Modi

Police in India had blocked roadways to deter farmers from moving to New Delhi to demand higher crop prices promised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2021 when hundreds of growers camped on major highways leading to the country’s capital.

Some government ministers are set to meet with farm union leaders on Monday to avert a repetition of the year-long protest, which sought to force the government to scrap farm policies designed to de-regulate massive agricultural markets.

The march comes only months before India’s national elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is generally anticipated to win a third term. India’s millions of farmers comprise a crucial voting bloc, and ruling parties work hard to keep them on their side.

Television footage showed farmers in tractors moving into Delhi from the northern Indian breadbasket states of Punjab and Haryana, with barricades such as barbed wire fencing and cement blocks erected on the city’s outskirts to stop them. The police also issued orders preventing public gatherings in Delhi.

Farmers have responded to a request from union officials to seek more support or guaranteed prices for their produce and to force the government to deliver its commitment to quadruple farmers’ incomes.

“We will move peacefully, and our goal is for the government to listen to our demands,” Sarvan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, told news agency ANI.

Every year, the government publishes support prices for more than 20 crops to serve as a benchmark, but state agencies only purchase rice and wheat at the support level, benefiting just around 6% of farmers who grow those two commodities.

When Modi’s administration removed farm regulations in 2021 in response to farmer protests, the government stated that it would form a council of growers and government officials to examine ways to secure support prices for all farm commodities.

Farmers Rally in India

Farmers in India accuse the Modi government of violating that pledge.

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday for his eighth visit, greeted by tens of thousands of his countrymen ahead of upcoming elections.

Emirati President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan greeted Modi upon his arrival in Abu Dhabi, a man he has repeatedly referred to as his brother while striving to strengthen ties between the Arabian Peninsula nation and India.

The two leaders passed an honour guard before sitting down for their discussion, which resulted in bilateral agreements between the two countries.

Modi appreciated “our closeness and how we have moved forward in every field.” He said, “Brother, it is also a cause of satisfaction that we will sign a bilateral investment treaty. This will also have a long-term influence.

The two parties also discussed energy challenges. India continues to be a major consumer of Emirati oil and is now considering long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas, according to a statement from the Indian embassy.

“The UAE and India are united by our shared desire to advance the bilateral strategic partnership and create a better future for our peoples,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Modi in UAE

On Tuesday night, tens of thousands of Indians packed Zayed Sports City Stadium to witness Modi. The event in Abu Dhabi was only open to Indian nationals, according to organisers.

“You have created a new history in Abu Dhabi,” he stated. “You have come from all corners of UAE, and different states of India, but the hearts of everyone are connected.”

Modi’s arrival coincided with the use of tear gas by Indian police on Tuesday, who detained some farmers who clashed with them and attempted to break through barricades, preventing them from reaching New Delhi to demand guaranteed crop prices.

Farmers camped in the Indian capital for months in 2021 after Modi reversed unpopular agriculture rules that had sparked previous protests.

The protests could pose a huge threat to Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the upcoming elections in India, the world’s largest democracy. Modi is, nevertheless, generally predicted to win a third term.

Of the roughly 9 million individuals in the UAE, India believes that more than 3.5 million are Indian expats, making them the country’s largest national group, outnumbering Emirati natives.

India Modi UAE

While many are low-wage labourers, there is an increasing number of white-collar professionals and multigenerational Indian families.

Modi’s visit emphasises the countries’ long-standing economic and historical links, which range from spice trading and gold smuggling in the UAE’s early years to tens of billions of dollars in yearly bilateral commerce today.

In 2022, the countries inked a free trade agreement to triple bilateral commerce to $100 billion. The governments have agreed to allow India to settle certain payments in rupees rather than dollars, decreasing transaction costs.

The partnership also highlights the Emiratis’ realpolitik foreign strategy. The UAE has supported Modi, while Hindu nationalist parties in India intensify their attacks on Muslims.

Modi got the Emirates’ highest civilian honour in 2019 despite stripping Kashmir of its statehood. His initial visit to the UAE in 2015 was the first by an Indian prime minister in 34 years.

On Wednesday, Modi will address the World Government Summit in Dubai and unveil a new stone-carved Hindu temple near Abu Dhabi. He will then head to Qatar.

India to Build 1,200 Kilometer Border Wall on Myanmar Border

India to Build 1,200 Kilometer Border Wall on Myanmar Border

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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