Transforming public sector financial analytics through big data innovation: A success story by Rajkumar Kyadasu
Under the leadership of Rajkumar Kyadasu, the Public Sector Large Deal Tracker project was undertaken at AT&T, representing a crucial collaboration between the Chief Data Office and Public Sector groups to revolutionize financial monitoring and reporting processes.
Pakistan determined to host full ICC Champions Trophy despite India impasse
PCB chief says he will ‘make the best decision for Pakistan’ at the ICC board meeting on November 29 to decide the tournament’s fate. Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi says he will “make the best decision for Pakistan” at the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) board meeting, which is expected to make a final call on the hosting rights for the Champions Trophy 2025. Pakistan is set to host the eight-team men’s cricket tournament from February 19 to March 9, but India’s refusal to travel across the border has thrown the competition’s logistics into disarray. Naqvi has remained adamant that the PCB will not accept a “hybrid” model, wherein all fixtures involving India are played at a neutral venue, insisting that the full tournament must be played in Pakistan. “The Champions Trophy will be held in Pakistan,” the PCB chief told reporters at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday. “Our stance remains the same: a hybrid model will not be accepted and we’ll do whatever is in the best interest of Pakistan,” he said. Earlier this month, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) informed the ICC that its team will not travel to Pakistan upon the instructions of its government. For many years, India’s government has barred the national cricket team from travelling to Pakistan because of ongoing political tensions between the neighbours. India has not visited Pakistan since 2008, and the rivals play each other only at multi-team events. The impasse has led to a conundrum for cricket’s governing body, which will now call upon all board members to resolve the issue at a meeting on Friday. The ICC is expected to present the PCB with the option of hosting India’s matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or another neutral venue, but Naqvi said Pakistan “will not sell out” and agree to monetary compensation in return for accepting a hybrid model. “How can it be [fair] that we always go to India to play cricket but [they] don’t come to Pakistan?” he said. “Whatever happens must be on equal terms and we have made our stance very clear to the ICC.” The PCB earlier wrote to the ICC, asking for a copy of the BCCI’s concerns about travelling to Pakistan. It has also sought advice from Pakistan’s government on tackling the issue, and Mohsin said the board will do “whatever the government says”. The Champions Trophy will be Pakistan’s first professional men’s ICC tournament since 1996, when it co-hosted the World Cup with India and Sri Lanka. Pakistan hosted the six-team Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Asia Cup in 2023, but India’s matches were played in Sri Lanka after their government did not allow the team to travel to Pakistan. Adblock test (Why?)
China says top military official suspended, placed under investigation
Probe into Miao Hua comes as China slams earlier reports of investigation into defence minister as ‘slanderous’. China has suspended a high-ranking military official suspected of “serious violations of discipline”, the latest in a series of senior figures targeted in a widening crackdown on corruption in the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence said on Thursday that Miao Hua, director of the political work department on the powerful Central Military Commission that oversees the People’s Liberation Army, was being investigated for disciplinary breaches, commonly read as a euphemism for corruption. The governing Communist Party “has decided to suspend Miao Hua from duty pending investigation”, ministry spokesperson Wu Qian told a news briefing. Wu did not provide further details about the charges against Miao, one of five high-ranking officials on the commission that oversees the military and is headed by President Xi Jinping. Xi’s campaign against corruption has focused in the past year on the armed forces, with nearly 20 military and defence industry officials removed since 2023, as well as defence ministers. Wu, the spokesperson, also criticised media reports that Defence Minister Dong Jun had been placed under investigation for corruption. British newspaper The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that Dong, who oversaw a recent thaw in military ties between China and the United States, had been caught up in the country’s sweeping anticorruption purge, quoting current and former US officials familiar with the situation. “The rumour mongers are ill-intentioned. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction with such slanderous behaviour,” Wu told reporters in a direct reference to the FT report. China’s former Defence Minister Li Shangfu at the 20th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore prior to his disappearance from public view [File: Caroline Chia/Reuters] While reports on the investigation into Dong remain unconfirmed, two other defence ministers have been caught in the anticorruption dragnet. Dong’s predecessor, Li Shangfu, was removed after seven months into the job, and then expelled from the Communist Party, for offences that included bribery, according to state media. He has not been seen in public since. Li’s predecessor, Wei Fenghe, was also kicked out of the party after serving in the post from 2018 to 2023, and referred to prosecutors for alleged corruption. A Communist Party statement at the time said the pair “betrayed the trust of the party and the Central Military Commission, seriously polluted the political environment of the military, and caused great damage to … the image of its senior leaders”. They were found to have received huge sums of money in bribes and to have “sought personnel benefits” for others, it said. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia threatens Europe with strikes while gnawing at Ukraine’s east
The United States on Tuesday provided the first official confirmation that its long-range Army Tactical Missiles (ATACMS) were in use in Russia, as Europe absorbed the ramifications of Russia’s retaliatory response with an intermediate ballistic missile that could strike “anywhere in Europe”. As the question of strategic escalation swirled around NATO capitals and Moscow, Russian forces continued a dogged advance through Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, seizing more villages. “Right now, they are able to use ATACMS to defend themselves, you know, in an immediate-need basis,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. “And right now, you know, understandably, that’s taking place in and around Kursk, in the Kursk oblast.” In a change of communications tactics, the Russian Ministry of Defence, too, acknowledged Ukrainian ATACMS strikes. Moscow authorities have often fudged Ukrainian missile and drone hits, claiming “falling debris” from a destroyed incoming missile has struck infrastructure and inflamed it. (Al Jazeera) But on Tuesday Russia’s Defence Ministry acknowledged that ATACMS struck an S-400 air defence radar at Lotarevka on Saturday and the Khalino airfield on Monday. Both objects are about 90km (560 miles) from Ukrainian front-line positions in Kursk. Geolocated footage confirmed the hits. The apparent reason for Russian acknowledgement is Russian President Vladimir Putin’s promise to retaliate as appropriate when ATACMS or other long-range weapons are used. Britain and France have licensed Ukraine to fire 200km-range (120-mile) SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles into Russia. Russia fired a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile at the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro last Thursday, in retaliation against the first ATACMS and Storm Shadow strikes earlier in the week. The missile, dubbed Oreshnik and carrying six warheads, was aimed at a missile and aerospace factory. Ukrainian officials said it caused no serious damage. (Al Jazeera) In a television address after the Oreshnik strike, Putin threatened those European countries whose weapons were used against Russia: “We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.” “It can hit targets throughout Europe,” said Sergei Viktorovich, commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces in a staged meeting with Putin on Friday. In a more menacing tone, Putin suggested a cluster of Oreshnik missiles would have the effect of a nuclear weapon. “Due to its striking power, especially when used in a massive, group manner, and in combination with other high-precision long-range systems that Russia also has, the results of its use against enemy targets will be comparable in effect and power to strategic weapons.” Can Russia fire many of these missiles? “We have a reserve of such products, a reserve of such systems ready for their use,” Putin said. Vasily Petrovich, first deputy chairman of the Military Industrial Commission, said the Oreshnik had been built “entirely on Russian technologies”, adding that “the issues of import substitution have been resolved” and that Russia’s defence industrial base “allows for the serial production of this type of weaponry”. (Al Jazeera) Non-Russian observers were not so sure. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian intelligence, told RBC-Ukraine that Russia did not have mass production capacity. “The missile is experimental. We knew for sure that two prototypes were supposed to be made by October, maybe a little more. But this is a prototype,” Budanov said. Oreshnik, which means hazelnut tree, was the codename for the research programme that produced the missile, he added. The missile itself was called Kedr, or cedar. Observers were also unsure that the Kedr represented a new Russian technology, as Putin was eager to suggest. Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said it was based on the RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile. Weapons analysts said it had been in development “for some time”. Kedr warheads were capable of travelling at speeds of 2.5 to 3 kilometres (1 to 2 miles) per second on their final approach to their target, said Putin, making them impossible to intercept with existing technologies. But Russia has used ballistic weapons on Ukraine already. The Kedr used on Thursday was part of a cluster of missiles that included a Kh-47 Khinzal ballistic missile and six Kh-101 cruise missiles. Ballistic missile warheads are very difficult to intercept because of their terminal speed and because they are unguided in their final stage, making them impossible to jam or disorient using electronic warfare. They can best be intercepted at the launch and ascent stages, but Budanov said the Kedr’s entire flight lasted only 15 minutes from launch to impact, leaving a very small interception window. (Al Jazeera) Ukraine and Russia traded more conventional aerial attacks during the past week. Ukraine’s general staff said their forces had struck a Russian oil depot in the Kaluga region on Monday. Russia launched a record number of drones and missiles into Ukraine on Tuesday, including four Iskander ballistic missiles and 188 drones. Russia’s advance in Donetsk was also speeding up, according to an assessment by the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think-tank. “The frontline in Donetsk Oblast is becoming increasingly fluid as Russian forces recently have been advancing at a significantly quicker rate than they did in the entirety of 2023,” said the ISW. Russian troops had accelerated their advance in Ukraine and had effectively disrupted Kyiv’s 2025 military campaign, Russian defence minister Andrey Belousov said last week. Russian forces had reportedly seized a string of villages north of Vuhledar, a town they had lost to last year’s Ukrainian counteroffensive but reconquered in October, partly thanks to the use of Starlink satellite communication terminals, which helped them to speed up their counterbattery fire. “Russian forces have significantly increased the tempo of their advances in the Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, Vuhledar, and Velyka Novosilka directions since September 1, having gained at least 1,103 square kilometres (426 square miles) in these areas,” said the ISW, in contrast with gains of just 387 square kilometres (150 square miles) in all of 2023. The ISW assessed that Russian gains in September averaged 14 square kilometres a day (5.4 square miles), but
RB investments unveils principles of work culture: Claims trust, relationships, instincts to be cornerstone of success
The foundation principles of work culture shared by this early-stage investment company can be utilized as a central approach and aid in the decision-making process.
Delhi Nursery admission 2025-26 begins today: Check key criteria, documents required, how to apply
The Delhi government’s Department of Education (DoE), in a circular issued on November 12, said the last date to submit registration forms is December 20, and the first general admission lists will be published on January 17, 2025.
Big update on ex-trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea, Delhi HC now…
Khedkar is accused of allegedly misrepresenting information in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022, to get reservation benefits.
Delhi reports one ‘isolated’ case of Japanese Encephalitis, here’s all you need to know
According to the IDSP data, in 2024, 1,548 Japanese Encephalitis cases were reported from 24 states and Union Territories, with 925 cases from Assam alone. The central government guidelines, two doses of the vaccine have been a part of the Universal Immunisation Programme since 2013.
Top 5 biggest political turkeys ripped by conservatives in 2024
As the 2024 election season comes to a close, several prominent figures in the media and Democratic Party found themselves on the short end of the stick with disappointing performances at the ballot box. Chuck Schumer & Nancy Pelosi Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Democratic Party lost the majority in the U.S. Senate in the November election, where Republicans now control the chamber “As I’ve said time and again, in both the majority and the minority, the only way to get things done in the Senate is through bipartisan legislation while maintaining our principles — and the next two years will be no different,” Schumer said in a statement following the November election. HARRIS DISAPPEARS FROM SPOTLIGHT, VACATIONS IN HAWAII AFTER ELECTION LOSS Despite Vice President Harris’ decisive loss to President-elect Donald Trump, the New York Democrat praised her for her “historic candidacy” that “inspired millions.” Both Schumer and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi vigorously campaigned for the Biden and Harris tickets, and Pelosi was reportedly instrumental in pushing Biden off the ticket in favor of Harris, which ultimately was not successful. Following the election, Pelosi has faced intense scrutiny from Democrats and liberal media outlets for her role in pushing Biden out at the last minute. Pelosi has pointed the finger at Biden, arguing after the election that he should have dropped out sooner. “And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in [a primary] and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened,” Pelosi told the New York Times. “And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.” Axios reported in a piece headlined “Scoop: House Dems sick of Pelosi,” that while she “still instills fear in the members she led for two decades,” some Democrats are “clearly frustrated Pelosi isn’t fading into the sunset like she promised when she lost the gavel two years ago.” CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR? ANOTHER WHITE HOUSE RUN? KAMALA HARRIS UNSURE OF NEXT STEPS AFTER LOSING ELECTION: REPORT George & Alex Soros The Soros money machine that has propped up progressive lawmakers and district attorneys across the country suffered significant losses in blue California on election night as voters overwhelmingly rejected progressives on the issue of crime. California voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of Prop 36, which rolled back key provisions of Proposition 47 that was advertised by Democrats in the state as progressive crime reforms that would make the state safer. When Proposition 47 passed in 2014, it downgraded most thefts from felonies to misdemeanors if the amount stolen was under $950, “unless the defendant had prior convictions of murder, rape, certain sex offenses, or certain gun crimes.” Progressives suffered another major loss in the city of Los Angeles, where District Attorney George Gascón, who co-authored Prop 47 and was backed by Soros, was defeated by former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman as crime was seen as a top issue of the election cycle. ADAM SCHIFF SAYS ‘ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC PARTY’ BEARS THE BLAME FOR HARRIS LOSS: ‘MYSELF INCLUDED’ In another loss for Soros-backed prosecutors in the Golden State, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price was recalled, less than two years after taking office, following backlash for her alleged soft-on-crime approach. Oakland Democrat Mayor Sheng Thao, who faced heat from her constituents amid rising crime, was also ousted from office after her recall effort passed with 65% of the vote. In San Francisco, where crime has been a major concern with voters, Democrat Mayor London Breed lost her re-election campaign. “I think that this is broader than just a message from people who care about crime,” Cully Stimson, senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation and co-author of the book “Rogue Prosecutors: How Radical Soros Lawyers Are Destroying America’s Communities,” told Fox News Digital. “This is a massive mandate and cry for help from the general population that we want our state back. We want our counties back, and we want our cities back and that our failed social experiments have had enough time, and they’re an absolute, abysmal failure.” Soros’ son, Alex, who has taken over as the main face of the Soros empire, faced heat from conservatives on the campaign trail when he publicly huddled with VP candidate Tim Walz in his New York City penthouse. Celebrities endorsing Harris Harris’ presidential campaign was perhaps the most star-studded in modern political history, with high profile names like Oprah Winfrey, George Clooney, Bruce Springsteen, Jon Bon Jovi, Usher, Beyoncé and many others hitting the campaign trail promoting her candidacy in person or in ads, which ultimately failed to move the needle with swing state voters. The Harris campaign, which shelled out more than $1 billion in a three-month spending spree, has faced scrutiny for spending millions of dollars on high-profile events with celebrities, including from the Chicago Tribune, whose editorial board wrote, “Having someone with a large following simply stand next to a candidate at a podium and say a few words, solo, is one thing; doing a whole livestreamed event with, say, Oprah Winfrey, is another.” “Better yet, rather than do such events, the Harris campaign would have been better advised to let its candidate answer questions from independent journalists and give her more of a chance to explain herself and lay out her plans for America’s future,” the editorial board wrote. “Celebrity osmosis did not work; voters wanted to hear more about what Harris would do for them.” Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Ohio, who won re-election in a state Trump won by more than 10 points, ripped his party this month for trotting out high-profile celebrity endorsements during the 2024 election cycle. DEMOCRATIC LEADER JEFFRIES REBUFFS ‘VIEW’ CO-HOST’S SUGGESTION ‘RACISM,’ ‘MISOGYNY’ COST HARRIS ELECTION “Like, no one cares what some of these – we like their movies, we like their music. Who they’re voting for? Eh, not so important,” the lawmaker told CNN anchor Kasie Hunt.
What is Evacuation Day? The forgotten holiday that predates Thanksgiving
When President Abraham Lincoln first proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday, little did he know he was spelling the beginning of the end to the prominence of the original patriotic celebration held during the last week of November: Evacuation Day. In November 1863, Lincoln issued an order thanking God for harvest blessings, and by the 1940s, Congress had declared the 11th month of the calendar year’s fourth Thursday to be Thanksgiving Day. That commemoration, though, combined with the gradual move toward détente with what is now the U.S.’ strongest ally – Great Britain – displaced the day Americans celebrated the last of the Redcoats fleeing their land. Following the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia in 1776, New York City, just 99 miles to the northeast, remained a British stronghold until the end of the Revolutionary War. Captured Continentals were held aboard prison ships in New York Harbor and British political activity in the West was anchored in the Big Apple, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. GEORGE WASHINGTON’S SACRED TRADITION However, that all came crashing down on the crown after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and new “Americans” eagerly saw the British out of their hard-won home on Nov. 25, 1783. In their haste to flee the U.S., the British took time to grease flagpoles that still flew the Union Jack. One prominent post was at Bennett Park – on present-day West 183 Street near the northern tip of Manhattan. Undeterred, Sgt. John van Arsdale, a Revolution veteran, cobbled together cleats that allowed him to climb the slick pole and tear down the then-enemy flag. Van Arsdale replaced it with the Stars and Stripes – and without today’s skyscrapers in the way, the change of colors at the island’s highest point could be seen farther downtown. In the harbor, a final blast from a British warship aimed for Staten Island, but missed a crowd that had assembled to watch the 6,000-man military begin its journey back across the Atlantic to King George III. SYLVESTER STALLONE CALLS TRUMP ‘THE SECOND GEORGE WASHINGTON’ Later that day, future President George Washington and New York Gov. George Clinton – who had negotiated “evacuation” with England’s Canadian Gov. Sir Guy Carleton – led a military march down Broadway through throngs of revelers to what would today be the Wall Street financial district at the other end of Manhattan. Clinton hosted Washington for dinner and a “Farewell Toast” at nearby Fraunces’ Tavern, which houses a museum dedicated to the original U.S. holiday. Samuel Fraunces, who owned the watering hole, provided food and reportedly intelligence to the Continental Army. Washington convened at Fraunces’ just over a week later to announce his leave from the Army, surrounded by Clinton and other top Revolutionary figures like German-born Gen. Friedrich von Steuben – whom New York’s Oktoberfest-styled parade officially honors. “With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable,” Washington said. Before Lincoln – and later Congress – normalized Thanksgiving as the mass family affair it has become, Evacuation Day was more prominent than both its successor and Independence Day, according to several sources, including Untapped New York. Nov. 25 was a school holiday in the 19th century and people re-created van Arsdale’s climb up the Bennett Park flagpole. Formal dinners were held at the Plaza Hotel and other upscale institutions for many years, according to the outlet. An official parade reminiscent of today’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade was held every year in New York until the 1910s. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP As diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom warmed heading into the 20th century and the U.S. alliance with London during the World Wars proved crucial, celebrating Evacuation Day became less and less prominent. Into the 2010s, however, commemorative flag-raisings have been sporadically held at Bowling Green, the southern endpoint of Broadway. On the original Evacuation Day, Washington’s dinner at Fraunces Tavern was preceded by the new U.S. Army marching down the iconic avenue to formally take back New York. Thirteen toasts – marking the number of United States – were raised at Fraunces, each one spelling out the new government’s hope for the new nation or giving thanks to those who helped it come to be. An aide to Washington wrote them down for posterity, and the Sons of the American Revolution recite them at an annual dinner, according to the tavern’s museum site. “To the United States of America,” the first toast went. The second honored King Louis XVI, whose French Army was crucial in America’s victory. “To the vindicators of the rights of mankind in every quarter of the globe,” read another. “May a close union of the states guard the temple they have erected to liberty.” The 13th offered a warning to any other country that might ever seek to invade the new U.S.: “May the remembrance of this day be a lesson to princes.”