LIVE: Canada stopped talks on free trade agreement, says Piyush Goyal

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The talks between India and Canada for a free trade agreement are on a pause as the latter stopped discussions due to some misconceptions, India’s trade minister Piyush Goyal said, according to a Bloomberg report. “There are some misconceptions among some Canadian politicians, which are baseless,” Goyal said at the the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit on Saturday. Goyal said the move would hurt Canada more as India’s market is big and offers more opportunities. He added talks with the UK around the agreement are progressing steadily. Canada-India ties have deteriorated since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused New Delhi of orchestrating the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader in British Columbia.Trade between the two nations stood at $8.16 billion in 2022-23, dwarfing in comparison to $128.7 billion in India’s bilateral trade with the US. However, India depends almost entirely on imports for its potash needs, and buys a large amount of the crop nutrient from Canada, the world’s biggest exporter.

The air quality in several areas of Delhi was recorded in the ‘severe’ category on Saturday as a thick toxic haze lingered over the city for the fifth consecutive day. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city’s maximum temperature stood at 29.5 degree Celsius, a notch below the season’s average. The city recorded a minimum temperature of 16.6 degree Celsius, one notch above the normal. The humidity oscillated between 88 per cent and 72 per cent, the IMD said. The air quality index (AQI) at many places in the National Capital Region (NCR) crossed the 450 mark. The national capital recorded an AQI of 433 at 7 pm, according to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The AQI at Anand Vihar was 488. It was 487 at Shadipur, 474 at Wazirpur, 465 at Punjabi Bag, 454 at Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range, 463 at Bawana, 448 at Okhla and 459 at Rohini, the CPCB data showed. In Delhi-NCR, the AQI in Greater Noida stood at 498 at 7 pm. It was 408 at Ghaziabad, 441 at Faridabad and 423 at Gurugram, the CPCB said. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered ‘good’, 51 and 100 ‘satisfactory’, 101 and 200 ‘moderate’, 201 and 300 ‘poor’, 301 and 400 ‘very poor’, and 401 and 500 ‘severe’. The IMD has forecast shallow fog for Sunday. The maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to hover around 30 and 17 degrees Celsius respectively, it said.

The health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip said Saturday at least 9,488 people were killed in the Palestinian territory since war with Israel erupted last month.

Chhattisgarh BJP leader murdered by Maoists 3 days before election, reports NDTV.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday announced that his government’s free ration scheme Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana for 80 crore poor will be extended for next five years. Modi was addressing a public meeting in Durg city of poll-bound Chhattisgarh. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani received fresh threat emails, warning him of serious consequences for ignoring previous messages of Rs 400 crore as extortion demand, Mumbai police said on Saturday. As per police, two threatening emails were received between October 31 and November and the sender introduced himself as Shadab Khan.

Three militants stormed a Pakistani Airforce training base in Mianwali, inflicting casualties. Three militants killed in response to attack, three others active in air base attack. Air Force Base attacked by militants in Central Pakistan. Three aircraft, fuelling tanker damaged in attack, reported Reuters cites Pakistan military

Following a suggestion by the Supreme Court to tender an unconditional apology to Rajya Sabha chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Member of Parliament Raghav Chadha has sought an appointment from the Chairman for an early meeting. Taking to X, Chadha said that he has sought the meeting appointment in pursuant to order of the Supreme Court which said that it hopes the Chairman would take a sympathetic view of the matter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday pushed back against growing US pressure for a humanitarian pause in the nearly month-old war to protect civilians and allow more aid into Gaza, insisting there would be no temporary cease-fire until the roughly 240 hostages held by Hamas are released. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made his third trip to Israel since the war began, reiterating American support for Israel’s campaign to crush Hamas after its brutal Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel. He also echoed President Joe Biden’s calls for a brief halt in the fighting to address a worsening humanitarian crisis.

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