OPINION

Following numerous controversies involving Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook, Whatsapp and YouTube among others, Silicon Valley has been riding a rough tide. Allegations pertaining to market dominance and anti-competitive practices against Google recently surfaced, Facebook was blamed with privacy violations and widening the political divide whereas Whatsapp has faced backlash for spreading fake news and mob violence.

Construction of 45 vessels in planned in the first phase. Thereafter the numbers would increase to 78, thus making it the largest ‘electric ferries network' in the world. There are at least three stakeholders involved in this project; the boats will be jointly constructed by the CSL and German Siemens, and Swedish energy Technology Company Echandia has been contracted to build the battery systems.

A delegation of the Taliban Political Commission had visited Pakistan at the invitation of the Imran Khan government last week -- a trip which was supposedly a part of efforts to strengthen the process of national peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan but ultimately turned out to be a huge farce.

The Boxing Day Test match in Melbourne at the scenic MCG is considered to be an event which brings the curtains down on the years sporting activities. India will need to showcase sheer determination and resilience in order to achieve success. Let's hope they are as strong as their coach to mentally do so.

India hopes to promote the IPOI by drawing upon existing regional cooperation mechanisms such as the EAS as also by creating new partnerships with like-minded countries as far as western Pacific Ocean. The initiative is already resonating with Australia and Japan who have agreed to lead IPOI pillars on Maritime Ecology and Connectivity respectively, while India would take the lead in Disaster Risk Reduction and Maritime Security.

Like always the world has taken notice of the positives and showed faith in India's story once again as visible in the growth numbers of segments such as foreign direct investment (FDI), foreign policy investment, and corporate bond market inflows. It all points to strong investor faith in India's economic resilience.

We have eight trading sessions remaining in the current calendar year before 2020 draws to the close. FII's have not yet taken their customary holiday. Bulls are in no mood to blink and markets refuse to take a breather. What should investors do? First of all, they must take money off the table.

The latest protest was during Australia-India day and night test match outside the Adelaide Oval where the protesters, holding placards displaying "We stand with farmers", demanded the Indian government to listen to the concerns of the farmers.

Dadsara, a village in Tral, is said to have created the maximum number of militants among all villages and towns across the valley. It was because of the people of Dadsara and other villages that a two-lakh strong procession gathered to form Wani's funeral procession. Four years later, Dadsara is singing to a different tune.

Like the rest, for the film industry too, the year started on a normal note. Films released as scheduled. In the earlier practice, the filmmaking was basically a tripartite business. A filmmaker earned the trust and confidence of the distributors whom the exhibitors trusted. These three sectors worked as an extended family. None was complete without the other.