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Israeli strikes Gaza after truce collapse, 136 still held hostage. All you need to know

The Palestinian militants also freed 25 others outside the scope of the truce deal, most of them Thai farm workers, bringing to 105 the number of captives released during the pause in hostilities.

With five hostages having already been freed before the truce, a total of 110 captives have returned home alive — 33 children, 49 women and 28 men — out of an initial group of around 240.

As Israel resumes its offensive in Gaza, we look at who is still believed to be in captivity. The Israeli army said Friday that five more hostages had died, bringing the total number to seven, and 136 were still being held.

The government said 125 Israelis, eight Thais, one Nepali, one Tanzanian and a French-Mexican identified as Orion Hernandez-Radoux, 32, by his family.

Baby boy

AFP has managed to identify 110 of the remaining hostages, mainly through interviews with their relatives or Israeli media reports. It is far from certain that all are alive.

Hamas claims the youngest hostage, 10-month-old Kfir Bibas, was killed in an Israeli air strike on Gaza along with his mother Shiri Bibas, 32, and four-year-old brother Ariel.

Israel has yet to confirm the fate of the family, which has come to symbolise the brutality of the hostage-taking.

The Israeli government on Friday confirmed the deaths of two hostages: Noa Marciano, a 19-year-old soldier, and Yehudit Weiss, a 65-year-old woman from Beeri kibbutz.

17 women and children

Besides the Bibas boys, there are no child hostages known to be left in Gaza.

The last minor to be released was 17-year-old Aisha al-Zayadna, who was freed on the final day of the truce on Thursday along with her 18-year-old brother.

Seventeen women and children are still being held in Gaza, including Shiri Bibas.

The oldest are Ofra Keidar and Judith Weinstein Haggai, both aged 70.

The women also include Noa Argamani, a 26-year-old who was filmed screaming “Don’t kill me!” as Hamas militants took her away on a motorbike from the Tribe of Nova desert rave. Argamani appeared in a video from Gaza shortly afterwards, drinking a bottle of water on a couch.

Five women aged 18-19 were performing their military service when they were kidnapped.

As soldiers, they were excluded from the prisoner swap.

Men in their 80s

At least 91 men are still being held, including 10 aged between 18 and 22, most of whom were on military service at the time of the October 7 attack.

Some of the men are fathers of children who were freed with their mothers, relatives or other families in the past week.

They include David Cunio, whose wife Sharon and twin three-year-old daughters Emma and Yuli were released on Monday, along with Tal Shoham, whose wife Adina, son Naveh, eight, and daughter Yahel, three, were released on Saturday.

The father of a French-Israeli boy, 12-year-old Eitan Yahalomi who was returned on Monday to his mother, is still held.

Some of the men are in their 70s and 80s.

Over a month after Hamas released two elderly women, Yocheved Lifshitz and Nurit Kuper, their husbands Oded Lifshitz, 83, and Amiram Kuper, 85, are still also held.

Oded Lifshitz was described by his family as a passionate human rights defender from Nir Oz kibbutz, who used to drive people from Gaza to hospital.

Dozens of ravers

At least 33 people abducted during the Hamas massacre at the Tribe of Nova festival are still held hostage. Only five were released during the truce, including 21-year-old French-Israeli Mia Shem.

Of the others, at least 28 come from Nir Oz kibbutz near the Gaza border, which had at least 71 of its roughly 400 residents abducted.

 

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Updated: 02 Dec 2023, 11:22 AM IST

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PM Modi meets King Charles at COP28, says ‘an important voice…’

After participating in the Conference of Parties-28 (COP28) in Dubai on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared a post on social media platform X, of COP28 and reiterated his willingness to work together for a better planet.

“Earlier today in Dubai, I had the opportunity to interact with King Charles, who has always been passionate towards environmental conservation and sustainable development. He is an important voice in the fight against climate change. @RoyalFamily,” said PM Modi in a post on X.

Modi highlighted key moments in the video he shared on X, the social media platform.

“Thank you, Dubai! It’s been a productive #COP28 Summit. Let’s all keep working together for a better planet,” PM Modi wrote in the post.

In addition to his bilateral meetings, he interacted with global leaders, and he spoke at the summit about the importance of all countries contributing to climate change mitigation.

In the video, PM Modi was also seen shaking hands and engaging with many world leaders on the sidelines of the COP28 World Climate Action Summit in Dubai.

PM Modi met with King Charles III during the summit. In the fight against climate change, PM Modi referred to King Charles as a significant voice.

The Prime Minister of India met with the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Pham Minh Chinh, and both leaders exchanged views on a number of topics.

“Met Prime Minister of Vietnam, Mr. Pham Minh Chinh and had a great conversation on various issues,” PM Modi posted on X.

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Top news of the week: Uttarkashi tunnel rescue, Tata Tech market debut, Charlie Munger death and more

Adani Group’s m-cap posts biggest rise since Hindenburg report

The Adani Group of stocks showed its biggest increase in market capitalization of over a trillion rupees for the first time since the Hindenburg report surfaced, days after the Supreme Court reserved its judgement on a bunch of public interest litigations pleading for a court-monitored investigation into allegations of corporate malfeasance and manipulation against the ports to renewables conglomerate. Read more

Workers exit Silkyara tunnel after 17 days, CM announces review of new routes

41 workers were rescued from a collapsed section of the Silkyara-Barkot tunnel on Tuesday evening after some 400 hours in the dark. Read more

Charlie Munger passes away: 7 things that Buffett said about the ace investor

Charlie Munger, who helped Warren Buffett build Berkshire Hathaway, died at a California hospital on Tuesday. He was 99. Read more

Tata Motors total sales in November drops 1.7% YoY to 74,172 units

Tata Motors on Friday reported a 1.7% drop in total sales in the domestic and international market for November 2023 at 74,172 vehicles, compared to 75,478 units during November 2022. Read more

Climate change: COP28 okays $475 mn loss and damage fund

On the opening day of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP28, the UAE has greenlit a crucial decision, making the loss and damage fund for developing nations operational. Read more

Ant Group’s Alipay to exit Zomato in $395 mn block deal

Alipay’s share sale follows a partial stake sale by Softbank Group in the food delivery aggregator last month where the Japanese investor sold 1.1% stake for ₹1,200 crore. Read more

Go First tells Delhi HC it has exhausted CoC funds

Go First on Thursday informed the Delhi High Court that it had exhausted the funds provided by the Committee of Creditors and was dealing with a shortage of manpower and financial constraints. The airline had received interim financing of Rs100 crore from the CoC for service maintenance costs. Read more

Siemens AG set to acquire 18% stake in Siemens

Siemens announced that Siemens AG, based in Germany, will purchase an 18 percent stake in the company from Siemens Energy Holding BV at a rate of ₹2952.86 per share, on December 1. Read more

Prosus cuts valuation of Byju’s by half to sub-$3 bn

Dutch investor Prosus Ventures on Wednesday axed the valuation of Byju’s by more than half to below $3 billion, in another setback for the edtech giant battling lenders, lawsuits and investigations. Read more

FIIs make a stellar comeback! Turn net buyers in last 6 sessions with net inflow of ₹13,474 crore

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have made a stellar comeback in Indian markets over the country’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals and the resilience shown by the economy and domestic markets. Foreign investors have emerged as net buyers of Indian equities for the six straight sessions. Read more

UltraTech to acquire Kesoram’s cement business

UltraTech Cement Ltd, the flagship company of Aditya Birla group, has acquired the cement business of Kesoram Industries in a share-swap deal, according to a filing with the exchanges on Thursday. UltraTech will be issuing one share for every 52 shares of Kesoram, implying an offer price of ₹173.15 per share, a 34% premium to Kesoram’s last close. Read more

Tata Coffee board approves ₹450 crore investment in Vietnam-based facility

Tata Coffee’s board of directors, on Thursday, approved the capacity expansion of its Vietnam-based subsidiary firm at an investment of ₹450 crore.

As part of the expansion plan, the board approved the setting up of an additional 5,500 tonne freeze-dried coffee facility in Vietnam, according to Tata Coffee’s BSE filing. Read more

Sony-Zee merger in turmoil over leadership dispute, claims report

Sony Pictures Networks India (Sony) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) are facing hurdles in finalising their proposed merger due to a deadlock over leadership arrangements for the merged entity, as per a report in the Financial Express. Read more

Asia’s 2023 Heroes of Philanthropy: KP Singh, Nandan Nilekani, Nikhil Kamath

Forbes has released its 17th annual list of philanthropists who donated generously and showed commitment to causes of their choice over the past year. The unranked list showcases names from the Asia-Pacific region. Read more

Deepak Chemtex IPO: Issue subscribed more than 403 times on the last day

Deepak Chemtex IPO is likely to see SME listing on the bourses with tentative listing date expected on as Monday, December,11 2023. Read more

Bitcoin surges 2.87% to its highest level this year

Bitcoin rallied to its highest price in 2023 as the cryptocurrency jumped 2.87% to a high of $38,834 on Friday. The surge in Bitcoin’s value marks its peak since May 2022 just before the disruption of the TerraUSD stablecoin ecosystem, causing a ripple effect in the sector and initiating a gradual decrease in asset values. Read more

Mid- and small-cap indexes shine in November 2023 derivative expiry, says Nuvama

Mid- and small-cap realms were the real heroes of the November 2023 derivative expiry series, according to brokerage Nuvama Institutional Equities. Read more

Flair Writing share price makes stellar debut, stock lists with 65% premium at ₹501 on NSE

Flair Writing share price made a stellar debut on the bourses today. On NSE, Flair Writing share price today was listed at ₹501 per share, 64.8% higher than the issue price of ₹304, and on the BSE, Flair Writing shares were listed at ₹503 apiece. Read more

LPG price hike: Govt increases commercial cylinder rates

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) increased the prices of commercial LPG cylinders by ₹21 per cylinder in various locations throughout the country. The hike will come into effect from today i.e. 1 December. Read more

Tata Tech soars 163%, registers highest listing gain in two years

Investors chasing listing-day gains made a killing on Tata Technologies Ltd, which debuted on the Street with the best gains in two years for an offer above ₹500 crore. The stock gained 162.85% from its issue price of ₹500 to close at ₹1,314.25 on Thursday. Read more

Market cap of BSE-listed firms hit $4 trillion mark for the first time ever

The market valuation of BSE-listed companies crossed a record $4 trillion for the first time on November 29, on the back of positive market sentiment in Indian equities. Read more

I-T dept conducts survey at Hinduja Group entity

The survey operation is being undertaken as part of a tax evasion investigation and offices in Mumbai and some other cities are being covered. Read more

Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Telecom targets its biggest-ever rupee bond issuance in India with $961 million plan

Bharti Telecom Ltd., owned by Sunil Bharti Mittal, is planning to raise as much as 80 billion rupees ($961 million) in the local-currency bond market, according to people familiar with the matter. Read more

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Updated: 02 Dec 2023, 10:39 AM IST

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Walking Pneumonia: Will China face travel ban? 5 Senators urge Biden to impose tourist restrictions, China reacts

Amid reports of a surge in respiratory illnesses among children in China, five Republican senators led by Marco Rubio on Friday have written to President Joe Biden’s administration to impose a travel ban between the United States and China.

In a letter signed by Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, along with Senators J.D. Vance, Rick Scott, Tommy Tuberville and Mike Braun said, “We should immediately restrict travel between the United States and (China) until we know more about the dangers posed by this new illness.”

Last week, the World Health Organisation requested additional information from China regarding the increase in cases, citing a study on pediatrics pneumonia cases that went undetected by the Programme for Monitoring Emerging Diseases.

In a statement released on November 23, 2023, WHO disclosed China’s National Health Commission’s (NHC) update on the increase in respiratory disease incidences addressed at a press conference on 13 November 2023. This increase was attributed to the lifting of restrictions on COVID-19 and the circulation of known pathogens like influenza, mycoplasma pneumonia (a bacterial infection usually seen in children under the age of five), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19). The health system must be strengthened to handle patients and enhance disease surveillance in healthcare facilities and communities.

A Biden administration official said the United States was closely monitoring the uptick in respiratory illnesses in China, but added, “We are seeing seasonal trends. Nothing is appearing out of the ordinary. … At this time, there is no indication of a link between the people seeking care in U.S. emergency departments and the outbreak of respiratory illness in China.”

In response to Rubio’s letter, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said, “The relevant claims are purely ill-intentioned fabrications. China firmly opposes them.”

Maria Van Kerkhove, acting director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemic and pandemic preparedness and Prevention, said earlier this week the increase appeared to be driven by a rise in the number of children contracting pathogens that they had avoided during two years of COVID-19 restrictions.

Although travel between the US and China has been increasing over the past few months, it is still far below the levels seen in 2019. On November 9, the allowed amount increased from 12 per week in August to 35 per week for each country.

In January 2020, then-President Donald Trump barred most non-US citizens who had recently been in China from entering the United States over COVID-19 concerns but did not restrict flights between the two countries.

The United States lifted the unprecedented travel restrictions for fully vaccinated international visitors starting in November 2021, including from China. The US rescinded a separate requirement that air travellers test negative before arriving in June 2022.

The United States in January had started requiring air passengers to get negative COVID tests after Beijing decided to lift its stringent zero-COVID policies but lifted the requirements in March.

Common symptoms

The symptoms of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in children younger than 5 years of age may differ from those in older children and adults. In contrast, they may experience the following cold-like symptoms, according to CDC include sneezing, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, watery eyes, wheezing, vomiting, and diarrhea.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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Air pollution news: Delhi’s air continues to remain ‘very poor’, AQI at 356

The air quality in the national capital was recorded in the ‘very poor’ category in several areas, as per the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The overall air quality in the national capital stood at 356 at 9 am, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) data.

As per the CPCB data, the air quality in Anand Vihar and Ashok Vihar was recorded as ‘Very Poor’ category with AQI at 379 and 382 respectively. Anand Vihar had an AQI reading of 388. However, this is a slight improvement in both areas, as air quality in Anand Vihar and Ashok Vihar was recorded as ‘severe’ with AQI readings of 412 and 405, respectively, at 6 am on Friday.

As per the CPCB, AQI in Aya Nagar stood at 347, IGI airport recorded 378, 362 in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, 400 in RK Puram, 398 in Rohini, 381 in Wazirpur. However, some areas also witnessed ‘severe’ category air. Dwarka Sector 8 recorded AQI at 407 while Jahangirpuri recorded AQI at 409, as per CPCB. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai said that Grap-3 has been lifted in the national capital but the government is trying to ensure that Grap-1 and 2 are strictly implemented.

The air quality index from 0 to 100 is considered ‘good’, 100 to 200 ‘moderate’, 200 to 300 ‘poor’, 300 to 400 ‘very poor’ and from 400 to 500 or above ‘severe’.

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed the authorities concerned to “disclose a comprehensive prevention plan to ensure that the air quality in Delhi is maintained at an acceptable level”.

Along with the plan on air quality management for the entire National Capital Region (NCR), the tribunal has also sought a “comprehensive study” on the contributory factors causing air pollution.

The NGT was hearing a matter where it had taken suo-motu (on its own) cognisance of a media report regarding the worsening air quality in Delhi and the NCR.

Earlier, it had directed the authorities concerned, including the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) for NCR and Adjoining Areas, to take “stringent measures” for improving the Air Quality Index (AQI).

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COP28 Summit 2023: PM Modi returns to Delhi, shares glimpses of World Climate Action Summit | 10 updates

After participating in the Conference of Parties-28 (COP28) in Dubai on Friday, Modi landed at Delhi airport late at night. Prime Minister Modi shared a video on the X platform, highlighting the key moments of the World Climate Action Summit. The video included glimpses of his bilateral meetings and interactions with global leaders. During his UAE visit, PM Modi noted that climate change has had an immense impact on countries in the Global South.

Here are the latest updates on COP28 SUmmit 2023:A group of 36 countries co-chaired by Germany and Chile aims to ambitiously tackle industrial emissions. It’s called the “Climate Club,” which first arose at a Group of Seven summit last year and has now formally launched.

COP28: How much does loss and damage from climate change cost?

Vietnam launched its plan for how it’ll spend the $15.5 billion that rich nations have pledged to hasten its pivot away from fossil fuels as a part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership or JETP at the U.N. Climate Change conference in Dubai.Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to end new construction at the home of unabated coal-fired power plants, in a show of clearer determination than in the past, toward achieving net zero.

COP28 presidency mobilizes $2.5 bn to support food-climate agenda

France and Kenya will launch a coalition of countries in favour of creating an international tax within two years that would raise billions of dollars for developing countries most exposed to climate change. French President Emmanuel Macron told the COP28 climate conference in Dubai that his country, Kenya, Barbados, and “several others” were starting an “international task force” that will deliver its conclusions at next year’s G20 summit in Rio.

PM Modi proposes India as host of COP33 at climate change summit in Dubai

More than 110 countries want the COP28 climate negotiations to adopt a goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday proposed to host the UN climate conference in 2028 and also launched a ‘Green Credit Initiative’ focused on creating carbon sinks through people’s participation.A loss and damage fund to help vulnerable countries cope with the impact of climate change has been officially launched. The initial funding is estimated to be $475 million — host UAE pledged $100 million, the European Union promised $275 million, $17.5 million from the US, and $10 million from Japan.About COP28:

COP28, the annual United Nations (UN) climate meeting, is being held in Dubai this year. Hundreds of world leaders have gathered together at the big UN climate summit to discuss tackling climate change. The COP28 Summit 2023 began on 30 November and will continue till 12 December.

What is the purpose of the COP Summit?

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is an international climate summit in which world leaders gather to work together on solutions to tackle climate change. There are now 198 Parties (197 countries plus the European Union) to the Convention, constituting near-universal membership.

COP28: What is it and why is it important? Mint explains

Significance of COP28

The COP28 will keep alive the goal of limiting long-term global temperature rises to 1.5C. In 2015, all countries agreed to fulfill this promise in Paris.

The 1.5C target is crucial to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change. However, recent estimates suggest the world is currently on track for about 2.4C to 2.7C of warming by 2100.

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Updated: 02 Dec 2023, 09:21 AM IST

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Parliament Winter Session 2023: All-party meet today; Know key agendas

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi is scheduled to convene an all-party meeting of floor leaders in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Saturday. The meeting is anticipated to be attended by prominent BJP figures, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

The Parliament’s winter session for 2023 is scheduled to start on December 4 and extend until December 22.

Notably, the outcomes of five state assembly elections (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Telangana) will be disclosed on December 3. These election results are expected to significantly influence the parliamentary session, where the government aims to pass crucial bills.

Also Read: Parliament Winter Session to begin on 4 December and continue till 22 December

Earlier, Joshi had said, “Winter Session, 2023 of Parliament will commence from 4th December and continue till 22nd December having 15 sittings spread over 19 days. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to discussions on Legislative Business and other items during the session.”

What to expect in Winter Session 2023

The government has outlined 18 Bills for consideration during the session. Among them are two bills aimed at extending the provisions of the women’s reservation law to Jammu and Kashmir and Puducherry, as well as three bills intended to replace existing criminal laws.

The government will also present a bill to seek Parliament’s approval for adjustments to the Centre’s ₹35 trillion spending programme in the current fiscal, Mint reported.

Also Read: Bills for GST appellate tribunals, spending likely in winter session

The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, led by BJP’s Vinod Sonkar, has presented its findings, proposing the expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha. The report pertains to the alleged cash-for-queries scandal and has faced opposition from members of the Opposition within the committee.

Also Read: Cash-for-query case: Lok Sabha panel to table report seeking expulsion of Mahua Moitra on Monday

Meanwhile, another significant bill awaiting consideration in Parliament concerns the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners.

Introduced initially in the Monsoon session, the government opted not to push for its approval during a special parliamentary session, primarily due to opposition and resistance from former chief election commissioners.

Additionally, according to the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the government intends to introduce a bill to raise the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly’s strength from 107 to 114. This initiative is designed to ensure representation for Kashmiri migrants, displaced individuals from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, and Scheduled Tribes.

Also Read: Women’s Reservation Bill gets President Murmu’s nod, becomes law

Furthermore, three noteworthy bills, to substitute the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Evidence Act, are anticipated to be discussed in this session. The standing committee on Home has recently endorsed these three reports, clearing the path for their consideration.

Also Read: Govt to bring criminal laws to replace IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act by year-end: Report

The upcoming Winter Session of Parliament is slated to take place in the newly inaugurated building. In September of this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new Parliament building as a significant component of the government’s ambitious initiative to revamp the British colonial-era architecture in New Delhi.

Also Read: New Parliament Building: How Indian States and UTs contributed to the construction; 10 points

The recently inaugurated parliament complex stands as the focal point of a $2.4 billion initiative, featuring state-of-the-art technologies. With a collective seating capacity of 1,272 across two chambers, this new facility surpasses the old building by almost 500 seats.

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Updated: 02 Dec 2023, 08:37 AM IST

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Smartphone sales to rebound on AI gains, Morgan Stanley says

Smartphone sales will mount a comeback starting in 2024, defying growing warnings of a prolonged slump across the mobile sector, according to separate projections by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley reviewed by TechCrunch.

Morgan Stanley’s report predicts global smartphone shipments will rebound by nearly 4% in 2024 and by 4.4% in 2025, shrugging off comparisons to the PC industry’s multi-year downdrafts.

Driving the smartphone turnaround will be new on-device AI capabilities unlocking fresh demand, Morgan Stanley says. The investment bank raised its projections for 2025 worldwide phone volumes, citing the sizable potential of so-called edge AI to enable advances from enhanced photography to speech recognition while protecting user privacy.

Smartphone makers including Apple, Vivo, Xiaomi and Samsung have already started to express their bullishness on AI. Vivo’s new X100 with on-device AI saw explosive sales, while Xiaomi touted 6x usual volume for its AI-packed flagship. Samsung plans built-in generative AI for 2024 models, aiming to offer ChatGPT-style features processed directly on phones, not the cloud.

“The largest pushback is that there is no visibility on when the ‘killer app’ will be developed. If we take desktop internet and mobile internet as examples, the emergence of a new killer app usually comes 1-2 years after the initial breakthrough,” Morgan Stanley wrote in a report this week.

“While there is no guarantee that the killer app in Edge AI will follow the same timetable, the emergence of Microsoft’s CoPilot as the potential PC AI killer app could set the early foundation for popularizing AI at the edge (implying AI features/function on the device, not relying on cloud), and help to give investors confidence that a similar, but different, killer app for the smartphone will also emerge.”

Smartphone projection by Morgan Stanley. India is the only market slated for a double digit growth. (Chart and data: Morgan Stanley)

Goldman Sachs estimates that global smartphone volumes will dip 5% in 2023 to 1.148 billion units, down from an estimated 1.206 billion phones shipped last year. The 2023 decline would mark a second straight annual drop following much steeper falls in 2022.

But Goldman said momentum will rebuild in 2024 and 2025, fueled by new product launches. It forecasts worldwide smartphone shipments rising 3% to 1.186 billion in 2024, then climbing another 5% to 1.209 billion in 2025.

“With the holiday season and continuous restocking, along with better guidance from the supply chain on a market recovery, we revised up 2023-25E smartphone shipments; however, we continue to expect low single digit growth in 2024-25E, and global smartphone shipment to gradually get back to the 2022A level by 2025E,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote.

The brightening mobile outlook diverges from consensus views that maturing smartphones face similar inertia and substitution threats as personal computers over the last decade. But Morgan Stanley said replacement cycles and use cases still favor mobile phones.

“Tablets and smartphones have been taking share from PCs since 2011. In other words, PC shipment declines have been caused by the emergence of new devices, not the disappearance of demand in general. We do not see smartphones facing a similar substitution risk from technologies like AR/VR anytime soon. Smartphone replacement cycles are shorter because they are used more frequently and have smaller batteries. Use cases for smartphones are still expanding, with Edge AI set to unlock a new wave of innovation.”

Goldman Sachs’ projections for top smartphone vendors. (Chart and data: Goldman Sachs)

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Gajraj System: Railways to install AI-based surveillance system to prevent elephant deaths on tracks. 5 points

The Indian Railways will be installing an AI-based surveillance system to prevent elephant deaths on railway tracks. These surveillance system will be installed on 700 kilometres of route passing through forest areas. 

Announcing this, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday said, “We have identified forest areas in Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Kerala, Jharkhand and some parts of Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu which are home to elephants.” The Minister also said that the technology, which was created by the railroads in association with a few start-ups, was implemented on a 150-kilometer section of Assam last year and has shown to be quite beneficial.

Asked if the railways has officially named the system, the minister said, “You can call it ‘Gajraj System’.” The minister, during his interaction with reporters, referred to the introduction of the system in the NFR.

Top 5 points to know about the AI-based surveillance system

1. As per Railway Minister, the AI-based surveillance system can alert loco pilots well in time about the presence of elephants on tracks.

2. The total cost of the project implementation on the 700-km tracks will be ₹181 crore.

3. Vaishaw also mentioned that many elephants had been saved up to this point with the aid of this technology. “We made some improvements in the system based on our field experience and now it detects the presence of elephants on tracks with 99.5 per cent accuracy,” he stated. Moreover, he also added that his officials are in touch with the forest departments to identify more such areas to expand the scope of the project.

4. Earlier in September 2023, the Northeast Frontier Railway had hailed the system and said its introduction in 11 elephant corridors in the Northeast helped eliminate elephant deaths due to train collisions.

5. The Intrusion Detection System (IDS) was introduced by the Northeast Frontier Railway (NFR) in December 2022 in 11 elephant corridors – five in Alipurduar division and six in Lumding division.

According to the NFR, in the last eight months between its launch in December 2022 and July this year, the system sounded 9,768 alerts, or an average 41 alerts daily. It added that since the launch of the system, these 11 corridors have not reported any train-elephant collision.

How does the system work?

Every time an elephant steps on to the track, the system generates an alert to the train controller, station master, train drivers and other stakeholders who take precautionary measures to avoid the imminent danger.

As per the government data, an average 20 elephants die due to train collisions in the country every year and a majority of these incidents take place in the Northeast Frontier Railway. The success of the IDS holds out hope that such accidents will be a thing of the past, officials said.

They said the optical fiber cable (OFC) that the railways has laid beneath the tracks for tele-communication and signalling purposes comes in handy for the installation of IDS. The device, fitted in the OFC network, captures the vibration when an elephant comes on the track and sends out a real-time alert to the division control room and a mobile application. The system is able to detect and locate moving elephants up to 5 metres from the fibre optical cable.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Updated: 01 Dec 2023, 12:45 PM IST

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‘Whatever I think shows up in fiction’

In her new collection of short stories, ‘Welcome To Paradise’, Twinkle Khanna examines themes of mortality

It was a chilly November morning in London. The boiler in Twinkle Khanna’s bathroom wasn’t functioning; the water was lukewarm. She was running late for this interview. After a delay of a few minutes, she logged in for the video call in an emerald sweater, kohl-ed eyes and dishevelled hair—just like a writer’s.

“I was standing there, looking at the lukewarm water and thinking it could be used as a metaphor in a story where someone is in a relationship which is not freezing, not really warm, but they are hoping it will get warmer; then they give up,” she said. Khanna’s latest book, Welcome To Paradise—a collection of five short stories published by Juggernaut—released last week. Fresh from completing a master’s programme in fiction writing from London’s Goldsmith college, she is brimming with writerly learnings.

Khanna has been writing professionally for a decade as a columnist for DNA and The Times Of India and has authored three books, Mrs Funnybones (2015), The Legend Of Lakshmi Prasad (2016) and Pyjamas Are Forgiving (2018). While juggling two different writing careers, she launched the digital content platform, Tweak India, and a publishing company, Tweak Books. Her breezy prose punctuated with her trademark wit signalled her fourth book would be an easy read too, but it was not so. Themes of mortality and elderly isolation underpin the stories; The Man From The Garage opens with a funeral, Nearly Departed deals with euthanasia, and the last story, Jelly Sweets, is about a grieving young mother.

In an interview with Lounge, Khanna, 50, talks about her writing process, tools of fiction and truth being like a potato. Edited excerpts:

Did you plan to write a book about mortality?

I did not. Before Goldsmiths, I completed two short-term writing courses in Oxford, and one of the things we were taught is to never decide the theme before writing a story. The story always comes first. But I am 50, I have already lost a number of people, and with the amount of coffee I drink as my primary fluid, I don’t think I am going to make it to 100. You know, the truth of my existence appears in my writing. The truth is like a potato: You can make French fries or aloo jeera but the chemical composition does not change. You could call it a mid-life crisis or an existential crisis; but whatever I think shows up in fiction.

Why did you pursue these courses?

In the pandemic, for the first time, I realised that I was a writer. At one point I was unable to process the world because I just couldn’t write. So, I signed up for two courses in Oxford that ran for three months each: One was beginner’s life writing, followed by advanced fiction. Then I felt the need to learn more by pursuing a master’s degree in fiction writing at Goldsmiths.

In this programme, for the first time, I was able to analyse the text of my peers as well as other writers’ work. It helped me to take a critical look at mine. Apart from that, I was always intrigued by how time works in linear and non-linear narratives. I did a dissertation on the non-linear stories in Alice Munro’s work. It helped me find ways to use time as an effective navigational tool in fiction. In Welcome To Paradise, some stories move back and forth rapidly. There are two ways of writing a short story: One is where it is centred on a monumental event, and the other is when an entire lifespan plays out. I fall in the latter group and I was struggling with time, because there’s a lot of back and forth. Look at it as the behind-the-scenes work, almost like what you are seeing (or reading) is on stage and then there’s all the scaffolding to hold it up.

Can you illustrate this with an example from the book?

In the story Nearly Departed, there’s a passage where the 85-year-old protagonist Madhura is looking out of the window at the rain. I used the framework of the rain to bring up her past in the 1970s when she is with her partner and the ceiling is leaking. I had to mention the year and age of characters to peg the narrative to a certain point in time. There is a part when they are teenagers, and it flips to the present when she an octogenarian living with Parkinson’s. To indicate this, there’s a scene where her phone falls, and her fingers are trembling. It’s deliberate attempt to bring the physicality of the characters into the narrative. Other cues would be significant events, like the Emergency, food such as drinking Gold Spot, and cars that were fashionable, like the Fiat. These elements appear in the narrative to ground the reader.

What prompted you to create these characters, especially sketches of ageing women?

When I was younger, I had this notion that 60 is a grand age to reach. Now, I am 50 and feel very young compared to what I planned to be my evolution at 60. The other thing is, I have always been fascinated by older people; as someone gets older, they start turning invisible to the world. I see them and I like observing them because they are so much more. They have led a rich life, acquired a depth of experience, and have layers to them that younger people may not have. It comes up in this book. A protagonist in her 30s is not as interesting as her mother or aunt in their 60s. So, there is a fascination with getting older and it’s something that I have been preparing for since I was young. This is not to say that any stage in one’s life, be it 20s, 30s or 40s, is lesser than the other. It’s a progression: First you run, then walk and finally sit.

What is your writing process?

I am extremely disciplined; in fact, my discipline is like a straight jacket, and I would like to be less disciplined. I start writing between 4.30-5am, and this book came to life with my daughter sleeping beside me, while I was propped up in bed in a dark room illuminated by the laptop screen. By about 12pm, my neurons go on a strike and I stop. The second half of the day is reserved for columns and Tweak. I try and write every single day. There is no such thing as waiting for a muse: you sit at your desk and if the muse is on their way to someone else, you are right there to catch them and bring them to your desk. I love taking day flights, because that’s where uninterrupted and thorough editing happens. If I am in-between books (like now), or only have to write columns, then I will take a night plane. I don’t use inflight Wi-Fi; maybe it’s the Gujarati in me that doesn’t want to spend any extra money just for this. After a decade of writing, I can finally call myself a professional writer.

When did you start working on this book?

It’s very difficult to say when or how a book begins; because so much of it lives in my head for a while before I actually put anything on paper. I began working on the story Jelly Sweets about eight years ago. I used to be a columnist with DNA then, and the editor Sarita Tanwar had seen the notes of this story. She encouraged me to finish it, but it needed time and some thinking. It was the last story I finished in this book. So, how do I tell you when I began working on this book: what’s the timespan. The quickest story in this book was probably The Man In The Garage that took three months.

What were you reading while working on it?

I was a student, and there was a lot of course material. We read extensively—almost a book a week. There were stories by Alice Munro, Zadie Smith and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. If you want specific book titles, there’s Cursed Bunny by Bora Chang, The End Of The Affair by Graham Greene and Family Life by Akhil Sharma. I like science fiction—Ted Chang is my favourite—and need to read those every night. After completing A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, I banged my head on a window thinking I would never be able to write like that. I go through four-five pages of God Of Small Things practically everyday and like to read them aloud. This is my copy, as you can see, there are some 300 post-its. I remember somebody commenting about Arundhati Roy’s writing and saying Saraswati sits on her typewriter.

I approached the book as a light read but was overcome with emotion and paused several times…

I don’t want you to feel miserable. I had somebody, a friend, who said it made them feel really lonely. But it’s validation for me when you are feeling lonely, or overcome with emotion… we are mean writers, we want you to feel everything.

So, what’s next for your readers?

I am completely in transition and my brain is unable to focus on this next project. I am thinking of doing something in the speculative fiction genre—a deep interest. I want to stay away from redoing things. It’s easy to grow horizontally but I am trying to grow in different directions. This book challenged me and I set myself up for these things; maybe I have some sort of persecution complex that leads me to feel the need to struggle. I like that notion of stretching myself; physically I don’t do so much, so I like to do things with the mind.

₹297.”>

Welcome To Paradise By Twinkle Khanna Juggernaut Books, 224 pages, ₹297.

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