The Evening Wrap: Jubilation, gunfire on streets of Syria as Assad flees

Crowds gathered in Syria’s Damascus on Sunday to celebrate the fall of Bashar Assad’s government with chants, prayers and the occasional gunfire after opposition fighters entered the capital following a stunning advance. Syrian rebels declared President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, ending his family’s iron-fisted rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for West Asia. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday two senior army officers said to Reuters. Just hours earlier, rebels announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread. In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and former rebels took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule. Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad”. The Israeli military issued a warning on Sunday to five towns in southern Syria, calling on residents to stay at home “until further notice” due to ongoing combat in the area. The Syrian rebel coalition said on Sunday it is continuing work to complete the transfer of power in Syria to a transitional governing body with full executive powers. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria, was formerly an al Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front until its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016. HTS is Syria’s strongest rebel group and some Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule or instigate reprisals. UN war crimes investigators Sunday described Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power as a “historic new beginning” for Syrians, urging those taking charge to ensure the “atrocities” committed under his regime are not repeated. Assad long relied on allies to subdue the rebels. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds. But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad. Syria should have an 18 month transition period to establish “a safe, neutral, and quiet environment” for free elections, Hadi Al-Bahra, the head of Syria’s main opposition abroad, said to Reuters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Sunday. Al-Bahra, President of the Syrian National Coalition, said Syria should draft a constitution within six months, on which the first election would be a referendum. Assad long relied on allies to subdue the rebels. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds. But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad. World Chess Championship 2024: Gukesh takes lead in 11th game as Ding Liren blunders Grandmaster D Gukesh made a huge strike forward towards becoming the youngest-ever world champion defeating Ding Liren of China in the 11th game of the World Chess Championship in Singapore on Sunday. With just three games to come, Gukesh took the lead for the first time in the match, with scoreline now reading 6-5 in favour of the 18-year-old Indian. History is now on Gukesh’s side as no challenger in modern chess has ever scored a win after being tied 5-5 after the 10th game. For Liren, the only comforting thing could be the fact that he had won the 12th game in the last World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. The Indian started off with the Knight move on his first turn and was surprised as Liren went for a reverse Benoni opening. The move was shocking as it looked like it was an over-the-board decision rather than a planned one. After only five moves, Gukesh had a lead of over an hour on the clock, which is never too easy for the opponent to recover in crunch games. However, if everyone thought that the opening had gone seriously wrong for Liren, the Chinese had different ideas as he capitalised on an erroneous plan by Gukesh in the early middle game. Things turned upside down when Liren went for completing his development and missed out on a simple manoeuvre that would have probably given the defending champion slightly better prospects. Gukesh himself spent a lot of time in the middle game but the nature of the position remained double-edged. As the clouds began to clear, Gukesh came up with a spectacular pawn sacrifice on the queen side to give moving space for his rooks. Just as he doubled them on the file to exert pressure, Liren simply crashed and made the blunder in a blink. The Chinese player was left dejected as he immediately realised the mistake. Gukesh played the winning move in quick time. In the remaining three games, Liren will have two games as white and this would be the best chance for him if he has to stage a comeback. Gukesh is just three draws away from winning his maiden world championship title. Farmers suspend march to Delhi for today after some protesters injured with tear gas shells Farmers suspended ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Sunday, after some of them suffered injuries owing to tear gas shells at Shambhu along the Punjab-Haryana border. The Haryana Police used tear gas to disperse farmers and farm workers after they attempted to enter Haryana at the Shambhu-Ambala interstate boundary of Punjab and Haryana as a part of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ foot march to lay siege to the national capital. Earlier on Sunday, a ‘jatha’ (group) of 101 farmers resumed its foot march to Delhi on Sunday afternoon from the Shambhu protest site on the Punjab-Haryana border, but was soon halted by a multilayered barricading erected by the Haryana security personnel. Around half-a-dozen of the 101 farmers who started the march were injured. The farmers and farm labourers started their march from Shambu village towards Ambala in Haryana even as Haryana Police stopped them in the wake of a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. A group of farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — two umbrella bodies spearheading the farmers’ agitation in Punjab -- have been, since February 13, camping at Shambhu-Ambala and Khanauri-Jind, the inter-State boundaries between Haryana and Punjab, after being stopped from entering Haryana. They had then given the call for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press for fulfillment of their demands which include a legal guarantee for purchasing their crops at a Minimum Support Price (MSP) and farm loan waiver. KMM coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher said around eight farmers have suffered injuries and one of them was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh. Maharashtra special Assembly session: MLAs-elect of Maha Vikas Aghadi take oath on second day On the second day of the three-day Special Session of the Maharashtra Assembly, on Sunday, at least 105 members took oath as MLAs in the newly constituted Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The members included opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi [MVA] MLAs-elect who on Saturday, had boycotted the first day of the session alleging misuse of electronic voting machines [EVMs] and raising concerns over the massive mandate secured by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. They also protested the curfew and arrests at Markadwadi village in the Malshiras constituency of Solapur district as people demanded a mock poll using ballot papers. On the first day of the session, 173 MLAs took oath. 10 legislatures are to take oath on Monday. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee [MPCC] chief Nana Patole, other Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar, Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh and Vishwajeet Kadam, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Minister Aaditya Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party [SP] leaders Jitendra Awhad, Rohit Pawar and Rohit R.R. Patil were some of the prominent Opposition MLAs who took oath on Sunday. Meanwhile, BJP leader and Colaba MLA Rahul Narvekar, who served as the Speaker in the previous Assembly, is likely to be elected as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker unopposed in the House as the MVA alliance has not filed any nomination for the post. Narvekar filed his nomination in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, before the legislature secretary Jitendra Bhole. BJP State President Chandrasekhar Bawankule, senior leader Chandrakant Patil and several other legislators were also present during the occasion. The Speaker’s election will be formally announced in the House on December 9, 2024, and it will be followed by a trust vote of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government which was sworn-in on December 5. “There has been a long-standing tradition in the legislature where, if the Speaker of the Lower House was elected unopposed, the Deputy Speaker’s post was allocated to the Opposition. This practice was disrupted in the 2000s when the Sena-BJP alliance fielded a candidate for the Speaker’s post. At that time, the late Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that since the Sena-BJP alliance had broken the tradition, the Opposition would not be given the Deputy Speaker’s post,” Jadhav recounted. “We now hope that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will seize this opportunity to restore the tradition by granting the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition, particularly as the Speaker is expected to be elected unopposed. Furthermore, we urge the ruling side to allocate the Leader of the Opposition post to the single largest Opposition party,” he said. Foreign Secretary Misri to visit Dhaka tomorrow amid frosty India-Bangladesh ties Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri is expected to raise with Dhaka India's concerns over attacks on Hindus and other minorities as he embarks on a day-long visit to Bangladesh on Monday, in the first high-level trip from New Delhi after a massive uprising ended deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule in August. Misri is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Md. Jashim Uddin and meet the country's de-facto foreign minister Mohammad Touhid Hossain. It is learnt that the Indian foreign secretary is also likely to call on Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus during his nearly 12-hour visit to Dhaka. On its part, Bangladesh is likely to convey its concerns over India continuing to provide shelter to Hasina. Last month, Yunus said his government will seek Hasina's extradition from India, people familiar with Misri's visit said. The close ties between India and Bangladesh came under severe strain after Hasina was forced to leave the country in the face of a massive anti-government protest in August. Yunus came to power days after Hasina took shelter in India. The relations deteriorated further in recent weeks over attacks on Hindus and the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das. There have been spate of incidents of violence against Hindus and other minorities as well as attacks on temples in the neighbouring country in the last few weeks that triggered strong concerns in New Delhi. "Our position on the matter is very clear -- the interim government must live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on November 29. "We are concerned at the surge of extremist rhetoric, increasing incidents of violence and provocation. These developments cannot be dismissed only as media exaggeration. We once again call upon Bangladesh to take all steps for the protection of minorities," he said. India also hoped that the case relating to Bangladeshi monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, arrested on a charge of sedition, will be dealt with in a just, fair and transparent manner. In the meetings, the Bangladeshi side is also likely to raise an incident of storming of its mission in Agartala on Monday by a group of protesters. Subsequently, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Indian envoy to Dhaka Pranay Verma and lodged a protest over the incident. West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura witnessed protests in the last few days over the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and the arrest of Das. Das was arrested at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport last month in connection with a sedition case. India on Friday announced that Misri is travelling to Dhaka to attend a meeting under the framework of Foreign Office Consultations. "The foreign secretary is scheduled to visit Bangladesh for Foreign Office Consultations on December 9. This is part of our structured interactions with the Bangladesh side," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in brief remarks. In briefBorder-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia beats India by 10 wickets to level series in Pink-ball Test Australia registered an emphatic 10-wicket victory over the visitors in the second Test that concluded with two days to spare. And Pat Cummins and his men drew level at 1-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with three Tests remaining to be played. Australian openers Nathan McSweeney and Usman Khawaja had a stroll in the park as a minuscule 19 was needed during the host’s second innings. When the duo walked out, the giant-screen lapsed into dry humour: Australia needs 19 runs, India needs 10 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah kept it tight during the opening over, Mohammed Siraj, running into boos from the crowd, yielded a few runs, and Nitish Reddy found McSweeney picking his spots on the off-side for fours. In the fourth over, the winning runs were secured and the stage is now set for the third Test at Brisbane’s Gabba from December 14. Under-19 men’s Asia Cup: Bangladesh defends title defeating India by 59 runs in final The batters could not capitalise on the good job done by the bowlers as India suffered a massive 59-run defeat to Bangladesh in the low-scoring U19 Asia Cup title clash, in Dubai on Sunday. After India produced a fine performance with the ball to keep Bangladesh to a mere 198 in 49.1 overs, it looked like the job was half done since the batters had played their roles to perfection since defeat in the tournament-opener to Pakistan. However, in the crunch final, India lost wickets in a flurry on two occasions which broke the back of their chase, with Bangladesh bowlers and fielders doing their part well in exerting further pressure. Chasing 199, India were bundled out for 139 in 35.2 overs as none of their specialist batters could play an impact knock, including the youngest IPL star Vaibhav Suryavanshi who managed a mere 9 (7 balls, 2 fours). [logo] The Evening Wrap 08 December 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Jubilation and gunfire on streets of Syria as Assad flees marking end of family’s half-century rule Crowds gathered in Syria’s Damascus on Sunday to celebrate [the fall of Bashar Assad’s government]( with chants, prayers and the occasional gunfire after opposition fighters entered the capital following a stunning advance. Syrian rebels declared President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster after seizing control of Damascus on Sunday, ending his family’s iron-fisted rule after more than 13 years of civil war in a seismic moment for West Asia. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad boarded a plane and left Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday two senior army officers said to Reuters. Just hours earlier, rebels announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting, leaving Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread. In rural areas southwest of the capital, local youths and former rebels took advantage of the loss of authority to come to the streets in acts of defiance against the Assad family’s authoritarian rule. Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad”. The Israeli military issued a warning on Sunday to five towns in southern Syria, calling on residents to stay at home “until further notice” due to ongoing combat in the area. The Syrian rebel coalition said on Sunday it is continuing work to complete the transfer of power in Syria to a transitional governing body with full executive powers. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which spearheaded the rebel advances across western Syria, was formerly an al Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front until its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, severed ties with the global jihadist movement in 2016. HTS is Syria’s strongest rebel group and some Syrians remain fearful it will impose draconian Islamist rule or instigate reprisals. UN war crimes investigators Sunday described Bashar al-Assad’s fall from power as a “historic new beginning” for Syrians, urging those taking charge to ensure the “atrocities” committed under his regime are not repeated. Assad long relied on allies to subdue the rebels. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds. But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad. Syria should have an 18 month transition period to establish “a safe, neutral, and quiet environment” for free elections, Hadi Al-Bahra, the head of Syria’s main opposition abroad, said to Reuters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum on Sunday. Al-Bahra, President of the Syrian National Coalition, said Syria should draft a constitution within six months, on which the first election would be a referendum. Assad long relied on allies to subdue the rebels. Russian warplanes conducted bombing while Iran sent allied forces including Hezbollah and Iraqi militia to reinforce the Syrian military and storm insurgent strongholds. But Russia has been focused on the war in Ukraine since 2022 and Hezbollah has suffered big losses in its own gruelling war with Israel, significantly limiting its ability or that of Iran to bolster Assad. World Chess Championship 2024: Gukesh takes lead in 11th game as Ding Liren blunders [Grandmaster D Gukesh made a huge strike forward]( towards becoming the youngest-ever world champion defeating Ding Liren of China in the 11th game of the World Chess Championship in Singapore on Sunday. With just three games to come, Gukesh took the lead for the first time in the match, with scoreline now reading 6-5 in favour of the 18-year-old Indian. History is now on Gukesh’s side as no challenger in modern chess has ever scored a win after being tied 5-5 after the 10th game. For Liren, the only comforting thing could be the fact that he had won the 12th game in the last World Championship match against Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia. The Indian started off with the Knight move on his first turn and was surprised as Liren went for a reverse Benoni opening. The move was shocking as it looked like it was an over-the-board decision rather than a planned one. After only five moves, Gukesh had a lead of over an hour on the clock, which is never too easy for the opponent to recover in crunch games. However, if everyone thought that the opening had gone seriously wrong for Liren, the Chinese had different ideas as he capitalised on an erroneous plan by Gukesh in the early middle game. Things turned upside down when Liren went for completing his development and missed out on a simple manoeuvre that would have probably given the defending champion slightly better prospects. Gukesh himself spent a lot of time in the middle game but the nature of the position remained double-edged. As the clouds began to clear, Gukesh came up with a spectacular pawn sacrifice on the queen side to give moving space for his rooks. Just as he doubled them on the file to exert pressure, Liren simply crashed and made the blunder in a blink. The Chinese player was left dejected as he immediately realised the mistake. Gukesh played the winning move in quick time. In the remaining three games, Liren will have two games as white and this would be the best chance for him if he has to stage a comeback. Gukesh is just three draws away from winning his maiden world championship title. Farmers suspend march to Delhi for today after some protesters injured with tear gas shells [Farmers suspended ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on Sunday]( after some of them suffered injuries owing to tear gas shells at Shambhu along the Punjab-Haryana border. The Haryana Police used tear gas to disperse farmers and farm workers after they attempted to enter Haryana at the Shambhu-Ambala interstate boundary of Punjab and Haryana as a part of their ‘Delhi Chalo’ foot march to lay siege to the national capital. Earlier on Sunday, a ‘jatha’ (group) of 101 farmers resumed its foot march to Delhi on Sunday afternoon from the Shambhu protest site on the Punjab-Haryana border, but was soon halted by a multilayered barricading erected by the Haryana security personnel. Around half-a-dozen of the 101 farmers who started the march were injured. The farmers and farm labourers started their march from Shambu village towards Ambala in Haryana even as Haryana Police stopped them in the wake of a prohibitory order under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. A group of farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — two umbrella bodies spearheading the farmers’ agitation in Punjab -- have been, since February 13, camping at Shambhu-Ambala and Khanauri-Jind, the inter-State boundaries between Haryana and Punjab, after being stopped from entering Haryana. They had then given the call for the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to press for fulfillment of their demands which include a legal guarantee for purchasing their crops at a Minimum Support Price (MSP) and farm loan waiver. KMM coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher said around eight farmers have suffered injuries and one of them was rushed to the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh. Maharashtra special Assembly session: MLAs-elect of Maha Vikas Aghadi take oath on second day On the second day of the three-day Special Session of the Maharashtra Assembly, on Sunday, [at least 105 members took oath as MLAs]( in the newly constituted Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The members included opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi [MVA] MLAs-elect who on Saturday, had boycotted the first day of the session alleging misuse of electronic voting machines [EVMs] and raising concerns over the massive mandate secured by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. They also protested the curfew and arrests at Markadwadi village in the Malshiras constituency of Solapur district as people demanded a mock poll using ballot papers. On the first day of the session, 173 MLAs took oath. 10 legislatures are to take oath on Monday. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee [MPCC] chief Nana Patole, other Congress leaders Vijay Wadettiwar, Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh and Vishwajeet Kadam, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former Minister Aaditya Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party [SP] leaders Jitendra Awhad, Rohit Pawar and Rohit R.R. Patil were some of the prominent Opposition MLAs who took oath on Sunday. Meanwhile, BJP leader and Colaba MLA Rahul Narvekar, who served as the Speaker in the previous Assembly, is likely to be elected as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker unopposed in the House as the MVA alliance has not filed any nomination for the post. Narvekar filed his nomination in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, before the legislature secretary Jitendra Bhole. BJP State President Chandrasekhar Bawankule, senior leader Chandrakant Patil and several other legislators were also present during the occasion. The Speaker’s election will be formally announced in the House on December 9, 2024, and it will be followed by a trust vote of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government which was sworn-in on December 5. “There has been a long-standing tradition in the legislature where, if the Speaker of the Lower House was elected unopposed, the Deputy Speaker’s post was allocated to the Opposition. This practice was disrupted in the 2000s when the Sena-BJP alliance fielded a candidate for the Speaker’s post. At that time, the late Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that since the Sena-BJP alliance had broken the tradition, the Opposition would not be given the Deputy Speaker’s post,” Jadhav recounted. “We now hope that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will seize this opportunity to restore the tradition by granting the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition, particularly as the Speaker is expected to be elected unopposed. Furthermore, we urge the ruling side to allocate the Leader of the Opposition post to the single largest Opposition party,” he said. Foreign Secretary Misri to visit Dhaka tomorrow amid frosty India-Bangladesh ties Foreign Secretary[Vikram Misri is expected to raise with Dhaka India's concerns]( over attacks on Hindus and other minorities as he embarks on a day-long visit to Bangladesh on Monday, in the first high-level trip from New Delhi after a massive uprising ended deposed Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's 15-year rule in August. Misri is scheduled to hold wide-ranging talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart Md. Jashim Uddin and meet the country's de-facto foreign minister Mohammad Touhid Hossain. It is learnt that the Indian foreign secretary is also likely to call on Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus during his nearly 12-hour visit to Dhaka. On its part, Bangladesh is likely to convey its concerns over India continuing to provide shelter to Hasina. Last month, Yunus said his government will seek Hasina's extradition from India, people familiar with Misri's visit said. The close ties between India and Bangladesh came under severe strain after Hasina was forced to leave the country in the face of a massive anti-government protest in August. Yunus came to power days after Hasina took shelter in India. The relations deteriorated further in recent weeks over attacks on Hindus and the arrest of Hindu monk Chinmoy Krishna Das. There have been spate of incidents of violence against Hindus and other minorities as well as attacks on temples in the neighbouring country in the last few weeks that triggered strong concerns in New Delhi. "Our position on the matter is very clear -- the interim government must live up to its responsibility of protecting all minorities," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on November 29. "We are concerned at the surge of extremist rhetoric, increasing incidents of violence and provocation. These developments cannot be dismissed only as media exaggeration. We once again call upon Bangladesh to take all steps for the protection of minorities," he said. India also hoped that the case relating to Bangladeshi monk Chinmoy Krishna Das, arrested on a charge of sedition, will be dealt with in a just, fair and transparent manner. In the meetings, the Bangladeshi side is also likely to raise an incident of storming of its mission in Agartala on Monday by a group of protesters. Subsequently, Bangladesh Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Indian envoy to Dhaka Pranay Verma and lodged a protest over the incident. West Bengal, Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura witnessed protests in the last few days over the persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh and the arrest of Das. Das was arrested at Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport last month in connection with a sedition case. India on Friday announced that Misri is travelling to Dhaka to attend a meeting under the framework of Foreign Office Consultations. "The foreign secretary is scheduled to visit Bangladesh for Foreign Office Consultations on December 9. This is part of our structured interactions with the Bangladesh side," Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in brief remarks. In brief Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Australia beats India by 10 wickets to level series in Pink-ball Test [Australia registered an emphatic 10-wicket victory]( the visitors in the second Test that concluded with two days to spare. And Pat Cummins and his men drew level at 1-1 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with three Tests remaining to be played. Australian openers Nathan McSweeney and Usman Khawaja had a stroll in the park as a minuscule 19 was needed during the host’s second innings. When the duo walked out, the giant-screen lapsed into dry humour: Australia needs 19 runs, India needs 10 wickets. Jasprit Bumrah kept it tight during the opening over, Mohammed Siraj, running into boos from the crowd, yielded a few runs, and Nitish Reddy found McSweeney picking his spots on the off-side for fours. In the fourth over, the winning runs were secured and the stage is now set for the third Test at Brisbane’s Gabba from December 14. Under-19 men’s Asia Cup: Bangladesh defends title defeating India by 59 runs in final The batters could not capitalise on the good job done by the bowlers as [India suffered a massive 59-run defeat to Bangladesh]( in the low-scoring U19 Asia Cup title clash, in Dubai on Sunday. After India produced a fine performance with the ball to keep Bangladesh to a mere 198 in 49.1 overs, it looked like the job was half done since the batters had played their roles to perfection since defeat in the tournament-opener to Pakistan. However, in the crunch final, India lost wickets in a flurry on two occasions which broke the back of their chase, with Bangladesh bowlers and fielders doing their part well in exerting further pressure. Chasing 199, India were bundled out for 139 in 35.2 overs as none of their specialist batters could play an impact knock, including the youngest IPL star Vaibhav Suryavanshi who managed a mere 9 (7 balls, 2 fours). Today’s Top Picks [[Syria war timeline: Assad's fall followed years of bloodshed and division] Syria war timeline: Assad's fall followed years of bloodshed and division]( [[Bomb hoax at three major commuter stations in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow] Bomb hoax at three major commuter stations in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow]( [[Women professionals on house-hunt in Tamil Nadu turned away at the doors] Women professionals on house-hunt in Tamil Nadu turned away at the doors]( [[Watch | Cyclone Fengal: Flood leaves Villupuram battered] Watch | Cyclone Fengal: Flood leaves Villupuram battered]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [click here]( Manage your newsletter subscription preferences [here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](