Thursday, December 18, 2025 | Vol. 69 No. 63 | 29 Pages THE FREE PRESS JOURNAL Reg.No MCS/048/2021-23; RNI No. 1541/1957 M.p.c.s office Mumbai. PIN 400001 International Migrant Day INDIA EDITION | www.freepressjournal.in ● Leader in E-paper circulation GAMES NATION Manufacturing declining in India, need to build good ecosystems, says Rahul in Germany STRATEGIC UPGRADE | India, Ethiopia are ‘natural partners’, asserts PM. In Muscat, holds discussions with Oman’s Deputy PM Urvi Mahajani & Milind Sajgure MUMBAI/NASHIK Maharashtra Sports Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Manikrao Kokate resigned on Wednesday evening after a Nashik court issued an arrest warrant against him, sharply escalating his legal and political troubles. In fast-moving developments, Maharashtra Gov- FPJ News Service MUMBAI Trump orders blockade of Venezuelan oil tankers PTI WASHINGTON US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy. Trump’s escalation comes in the wake of American forces seizing an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast last week, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region. In a post on social media Tuesday night announcing the blockade, Trump alleged Venezuela was using oil to fund drug trafficking and other crimes and vowed to continue the military buildup until the country gave the US oil, land and assets, though it was not clear why he felt the US had a claim. “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform. 4Contd on | nation Agencies Pakistan’s most powerful military chief in decades, Field Marshal Asim Munir, is facing the toughest test of his newly consolidated authority as the United States presses Islamabad to contribute troops to a proposed Gaza stabilisation force, an idea analysts warn could trigger serious domestic backlash. Munir is expected to travel to Washington in the coming weeks to meet US President ernor Acharya Devvrat accepted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s recommendation to allocate the Sports and Youth Affairs portfolio to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, leaving Kokate a minister without a portfolio. Following the court ruling, Fadnavis spoke to Pawar and sought clarity on who could be inducted into the Cabinet in Kokate’s place, signalling that the government is preparing for a LS clears N-energy bill amid Oppn ire OTT OUTSIDE CENSOR NET Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar MUMBAI FPJ News Service NEW DELHI I feel very much at home because my home state, Gujarat, is also home to lions... I am told that there is a saying in Ethiopia: when spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion. We in India believe that when hearts are united, even mountains give way. PM Narendra Modi in his address to the Ethiopian Parliament sonal parallel, he said his home state of Gujarat in India is also home to Asiatic lions, prompting warm applause from lawmakers, who interrupted his address more than 50 times. Modi said India and Ethiopia had decided to elevate their bilateral relationship to a Stra- tegic Partnership, a move that would unlock cooperation across a wide range of sectors including defence, security, technology, innovation, clean energy, mining, agriculture and capacity building. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | money The Centre on Wednesday introduced the Sustainable Harnessing of Atomic Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill in the Lok Sabha calling it a necessary legislation to address India’s growing energy needs and for increasing the share of nuclear power up to 10% of the energy mix. During the discussion, the Opposition criticised the bill for removing the clause on liability on suppliers of nuclear equipment saying this could prove disastrous in the event of a nuclear mishap. Moving the legislation, which was later passed by the House, Minister of State for Atomic Energy Jitendra Singh had described it as “a very important and historic Bill. He insisted that Navlakha can shift to Delhi: HC Urvi Mahajani MUMBAI The Bombay High Court on Wednesday allowed human rights activist Gautam Navlakha, accused in the Elgar Parishad Maoist links case, to shift to his hometown in Delhi. The court has, however, said that he will have to appear before the special NIA court for the trial hearings as and when required. A bench of Justices Bharati Dangre and Shyam Chandak has also asked Navlakha to ap- pear every Saturday before the local police station in Delhi to mark his presence and not to leave Delhi without permission from NIA court, Mumbai. Also, he has been asked to surrender his passport. “The applicant (Navlakha) will appear before the special court when the charges are framed and then he shall attend every date as required or directed by the special court until and unless he is exempted by the court,” HC said. Advocate Yug Chaudhary, representing Navlakha, sought relaxation with regard to appearance before local police, from once a week to once a month. 4Contd on | nation Australia beach shooter charged in 59 offences Delhi summons Dhaka envoy Agencies NEW DELHI Ashwin Ahmad SYDNEY/MANILA Naveed Akram, a suspected gunman in Sydney's Bondi Beach massacre was charged with 59 offences, including 15 charges of murder, on Wednesday, as hundreds of mourners gathered in Sydney to begin funerals for the victims. Police said that Naveed, the 24-year-old shooter, was charged on Wednesday after waking from a coma in a Sydney hospital, where he has been since police shot him at Bondi. The charges include one count of murder for each fatality and one count of committing a terrorist act. Akram was also charged with 40 counts of causing harm with intent to murder in relation to the wounded and with placing an explosive near a building with intent to cause harm. Police said the Akrams’ car, which was found at the crime scene, contained improvised explosive devices. 4Contd on | nation 4See also | world India on Wednesday summoned Bangladesh’s High Commissioner Riaz Hamdullah to convey its concerns over what it termed the “deteriorating security environment” in Bangladesh, particularly regarding threats to the Indian Mission in Dhaka. In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the envoy’s attention was drawn to the activities of certain extremist elements who have announced plans to create a security situation around the Indian Mission. 4Contd on | nation Pak quandary as US pushes Gaza plan ISLAMABAD Edit Linde India judgment: Time to strengthen RPT oversight Kokate quits after court issues arrest warrant MODI COURTS AFRICA, GULF Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday described India and Ethiopia as “natural partners” in regional peace, security and connectivity, asserting that the two countries share a common vision of a world that is “more just, more equal and more peaceful”, concluding his maiden bilateral visit to Ethiopia. Later in the day, the Prime Minister arrived in Oman on a two-day visit, marking the final leg of his three-nation tour. Earlier, addressing a joint session of the Ethiopian Parliament earlier in the day, Modi said India stood at the heart of the Indian Ocean while Ethiopia sat at the crossroads of Africa, making their partnership vital for regional stability and development. The address marked the 18th national parliament that the Prime Minister has addressed worldwide. Opening his speech with greetings in the local language — “Tena yistilign, Salaam” — Modi said he felt at home in Ethiopia, describing it as the land of lions. Drawing a per- Cinema Kirsten Dunst, Peter Dinklage on Roofman experience Shubman Gill sustains toe injury during training, likely to miss last T20I against SA Pak military chief runs the risk of being accused of ‘doing Israel’s bidding’ as Trump plans a force drawn from Muslim countries to oversee Gaza transition. Munir is set to meet the US prez in coming weeks Donald Trump, according to two sources cited by Reuters, one of whom is closely involved in the general’s economic diplomacy. The meeting would be Munir’s third with Trump in six months and is likely to centre on Washington’s plan for Gaza. Trump’s controversial 20- point Gaza plan envisages a force drawn from Muslim-majority countries to oversee a transition period focused on reconstruction and economic recovery in the Palestinian territory, which has been devastated by more than two years of Israeli military bombardment. However, many countries re- main wary of participating in a mission that would involve demilitarising Hamas, Gaza’s Islamist militant group, fearing it could draw them deeper into the conflict and inflame proPalestinian and anti-Israeli sentiment at home. 4Contd on | nation possible reshuffle, sources said. Kokate, a senior NCP leader headed by Ajit Pawar, has been convicted by a Nashik court and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in a 1995 cheating and forgery case linked to the illegal allotment of flats under a state government housing scheme. Meanwhile, NCP state president Sunil Tatkare said in New Delhi that he would meet Pawar in Mumbai on Thursday India wants to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, and increase nuclear energy production, which in some ways is better than renewable energy because that may not be available round the clock. Later in the day, after the House had discussed the Bill, Singh also stated that in light of “global benchmarks and global strategies”, India has set itself a target of 100 GW of nuclear energy capacity by 2047. 4Contd on | nation 4Contd on | nation 4See also | city, edit Election officers’ call final in local polls Kalpesh Mhamunkar MUMBAI The Centre has reiterated that content streamed on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and others will not come under CBFC’s jurisdiction, but will instead be governed by the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The clarification was given in Parliament by L Murugan, MoS for Information and Broadcasting, amid concerns over obscenity, misinformation and harmful digital content. CBFC, set up under Cinematograph Act, 1952, is mandated to examine and certify films only for public exhibition in theatres, he told Lok Sabha. to discuss the political and legal fallout of Kokate’s conviction. “We follow the law and the Constitution,” Tatkare said, without elaborating. Earlier in the day, Kokate approached the Bombay High Court challenging the sessions court order that upheld his conviction and two-year jail sentence in the nearly threedecade-old case. In a significant reform aimed at ensuring the timely conduct of local body elections, the Maharashtra Cabinet has decided that the election officer’s decision on the acceptance or rejection of nomination papers in Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections will be final and immune from challenge before district courts. The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday. To provide legal backing to the move, the Cabinet approved an amendment to Section 14(2) of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961. It also cleared the promulgation of the Maharashtra The Maha govt said reform was needed to ensure elections are conducted in a time-bound manner Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025. Once the ordinance comes into force, the provision allowing candidates to appeal before district courts against decisions of election officers on nomination papers will stand deleted. The State government said the reform was essential to ensure that elections to Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis are held in a time-bound manner. 4Contd on | nation