The Evening Wrap: U.N. chief Antonio Guterres appeals for aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza

“We are witnessing a paradox: behind these walls we have two million people that are suffering enormously, have no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire, that needs everything to survive,” said U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, issuing a passionate call for humanitarian aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza. “On this side,” he continued, standing a few metres on the Egyptian side of the border crossing and pointing to the convoy carrying lifesaving supplies, “we have seen so many trucks loaded with water, with food, with medicines – exactly the same thing that is needed on this side of the wall. These are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza.” To see the convoy stuck at the border makes what needs to happen very clear, he said. “What we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of this wall, to make them move as quickly as possible and as many as possible,” he said, adding that the UN was “now actively engaging with all the parties” related to conditions set for cross-border aid deliveries in the Israel-United States announcement and the related Egypt-Israel agreement. Egyptian state-linked broadcaster Al Qahera News said the Rafah border crossing — the only one in and out of besieged Gaza not controlled by Israel — would open on Friday. The ongoing Israeli airstrikes have forced seven hospitals and 21 primary healthcare centers in Gaza to become “out of service.” Additionally, 64 medical staff members have lost their lives in the ongoing conflict, CNN quoted a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health as saying on Friday. “Due to the Israeli violations, seven hospitals are out of service and 21 Primary Health care centers as well. 64 medical staff were killed and 23 ambulances were destroyed,” said the health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon. “A short while ago, the Northern Command informed the mayor of the city of the decision. The plan will be managed by the local authority, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Defence,” the Israeli ilitary said in a statement. Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India as row over separatist killing grows Canada said Thursday it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India — fallout from a bitter row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. New Delhi planned to revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada’s diplomats and their families by Friday, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said. We have facilitated their safe departure from India,” Joly added. “This means that our diplomats and their families have now left.” Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which New Delhi has denied. Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. “Revoking the diplomatic immunity of 41 diplomats is not only unprecedented, but also contrary to international law,” Joly said Wednesday, but said Canada did not plan to retaliate in kind, so as to not “aggravate the situation.” “Canada will continue to defend international law, which applies to all nations and will continue to engage with India,” she said. “Now more than ever we need diplomats on the ground and we need to talk to one another,” Joly added. Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation but New Delhi has rejected the allegations and taken countermeasures, such as shutting down visa services for Canadians. Ottawa also expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said last month in New York that his country would be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada. We have actually been badgering the Canadians. We’ve given them loads of information about organised crime leadership which operates out of Canada,” Jaishankar said, referring to Sikh separatists. “We have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made (that are) interference in our politics,” he said. The Indian government has called the Canadian accusations over the killing “absurd” and advised its nationals not to travel to certain Canadian regions “given the increase in anti-Indian activities.” New Delhi also temporarily stopped processing visa applications in Canada. Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple near Vancouver in June. Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal group calling for creating a separate state of Khalistan. The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India, where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the state of Punjab in the 1980s. Hundreds of Sikh protesters rallied outside Indian diplomatic missions in Canada last month, burning flags and trampling on pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi have created a delicate situation for close Canadian ally Washington, which has in recent months taken steps to move closer to India as the United States seeks to limit Chinese influence in the region. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast History of the Israel-Palestine conflict – Part 1 (Origins) The Israel-Palestine conflict has turned into a giant humanitarian crisis over the past week, with thousands of civilians, including women children being killed. Many of them were killed when hospitals were bombed. The UN Security Council’s attempt to pass a resolution calling for a humanitarian pause in the bombing campaign by Israel was blocked by the US and its allies. International public opinion has become sharply polarised into two camps – those defending Israel’s right to do whatever it wants to wipe out Hamas, and those calling for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a peace process premised on ending the Israeli occupation of Gaza and West Bank. While this conflict dates back to the 19th century, if not earlier, a lot of the background and nuances are often lost in the polemics of the present. This episode is the first in a three-part series on the Israel-Palestine conflict where we seek to detail the history, context, and developments around this conflict from the beginning till the present. In this episode, we trace the origins of this conflict: What was the nature of historical Palestine? What was the Balfour declaration? And how exactly did Palestine become the chosen homeland for Jews from around the world? Supreme Court flags pendency of 21 names for appointment & transfer of HC judges, says ‘pick and choose’ creates problem Flagging the pendency of 21 names recommended by its collegium for appointment and transfer of high court judges, the Supreme Court told the Centre on Friday its tendency to “pick and choose” was creating a lot of problems. A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said as per the current position, five reiterated names, five recommended for the first time and 11 for transfers are pending with the government. The Centre requested the bench, also comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Manoj Misra, to grant it two weeks and said the process is underway. The top court said in the appointment process, when the government appoints somebody and doesn’t appoint others, the “very premise of seniority gets disturbed”. “This pick and choose creates a lot of problems,” observed Justice Kaul, who is also a member of the apex court collegium. The court was hearing two pleas including the one alleging delay by the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges. The bench said the appointment process is consultative but in case of transfers the person whose name has been recommended is already a judge, and in the wisdom of five senior judges of the collegium, he or she is supposed to serve better in another court. It said there should not be an impression that for somebody there is a delay while for somebody else there is no delay. “I must appreciate there have been considerable movements in the last one month, (something) that had not happened in last five-six months,” Justice Kaul said. “In the appointment process, when you appoint some and don’t appoint others, the very premise of seniority gets disturbed,” he, however, said. The bench said the incentive to join the bench changes when there is a delay in the process of appointment and a person takes it or leaves it depending on where he or she will stand. The counsel appearing for one of the petitioners said as far as reiterated names are concerned the apex court has already fixed a timeline for clearing them. “On transfers, don’t take it to a level where we have to say should they (the judges recommended for transfer) perform their task in the present courts or should not perform their tasks there,” the bench told the Centre’s counsel. After the Centre’s counsel sought two weeks to have the process expedited, the bench said, “We appreciate what has been done but more push in necessary.” One of the advocates appearing for the petitioners also deprecated the exercise in “pick and choose” by the Centre with regard to the collegium’s recommendations for appointment and transfers. “That is troublesome,” the court acknowledged. “The idea is to put you to notice that it should not happen,” the bench told the Centre’s counsel. The bench said due to the delay in the process some people, out of frustration, have withdrawn their names for elevation as judges. “We have lost good people. I keep saying it is a challenge these days to make people come to this side (to bench). It becomes a greater challenge to make people come if this happens,” Justice Kaul said. The bench posted the matter for next hearing on November 7 while noting that the Centre’s counsel has assured the court that these issues were being sorted out. When the Centre’s counsel said the matter can be posted for a week after November 7, the bench said, “Let us have some progress before Diwali. We will celebrate it better”. The appointment of judges through the collegium system has often become a major flashpoint between the Supreme Court and the Centre, with the mechanism drawing criticism from different quarters. The top court was hearing the petitions, including the one filed by the Advocates Association Bengaluru seeking contempt action against the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for allegedly not adhering to the timeline set by the court in a 2021 judgement. One of the pleas in the apex court has alleged “wilful disobedience” of the time frame laid down in its April 20, 2021 order to facilitate the timely appointment of judges. In that order, the apex court had said the Centre should appoint judges within three-four weeks if the collegium reiterates its recommendations unanimously. Mahua Moitra case takes an unexpected turn in the High Court The hearing on Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra’s case before the Delhi High Court took an unexpected turn on Friday when senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was representing Moitra, withdrew from the case. The senior advocate made the call after advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, Moitra’s estranged partner, complained to the High Court that Sankaranarayanan contacted him Thursday night to withdraw his CBI complaint against Moitra in lieu for custody of a dog, Henry, which has been a subject of dispute between the former couple. Hearing this, the High Court remarked it was “appalled” and questioned Sankaranarayanan if he was still eligible to appear in this case as he “played the role of a mediator”. “It’s something that you (Mr. Sankaranarayanan) need to answer yourself,” the High Court remarked, prompting Sankaranarayanan to withdraw himself from the case. The high court then posted the case for further hearing on October 31. During the brief hearing, advocate Dehadrai said Sankaranarayanan had a 30-minute call with him Thursday night during which the senior advocate asked him to withdraw the CBI complaint in exchange for the dog. Advocate Dehadrai said the issue involved “serious conflict of interest”. Responding to this, Sankaranarayanan clarified that he approached Dehadrai as they had worked together in the past. Mr. Sankaranarayanan said he had requested Moitra to let him discuss the matter with Dehadrai, to which she consented. Moitra is at the centre of a political storm after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday that she had allegedly taken bribes from a business house to ask questions in Parliament. In his complaint to the Lok Sabha Speaker on October 15, Dubey, cited a letter from Dehadrai to accuse Moitra of “breach of privilege, contempt of the house, and criminal offence”. Moitra has denied the allegations. In her plea before the high court, Moitra has sought an order directing “defendant no. 1 (Mr. Dubey) and 2 (Mr. Dehadrai) to publish a retraction and an apology to the plaintiff in three English newspapers, three Hindi newspapers and three Bengali newspapers for the false and defamatory statements/allegations” made by them against her. Moitra said Dehadrai was her close friend until recently when the cessation of this friendship soon took a bitter turn, and he “resorted to sending vile, threatening, vulgar messages to the plaintiff and also trespassed into plaintiff’s official residence and stole some personal possessions of the plaintiff including her pet dog Henry [the same was returned later]”. Italy PM splits from partner after his sexist TV comments Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she had separated from her television journalist partner Andrea Giambruno, who has drawn criticism in recent weeks for sexist comments made on and off air. “My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” PM Meloni wrote on her social media accounts. “Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it,” she added. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter. Giambruno is the presenter of a news programme transmitted by Mediaset, part of the MFE media group owned by the heirs of the late Silvio Berlusconi, the former premier and Meloni ally. On two days this week, another Mediaset show broadcast off-air excerpts from Giambruno’s programme showing him using foul language and appearing to make advances to a female colleague. “Why didn’t I meet you before?” he tells her. In the second, more explicit recording aired on Thursday, Giambruno is heard boasting about an affair and telling female colleagues they can work for him if they take part in group sex. The TV journalist had already been widely criticised in August for apparent victim-blaming comments following a gang rape case. “If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk -- there shouldn’t be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem. But if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf,” he said during his programme. PM Meloni had said after that episode that she should not be judged for comments made by her partner, and that in future she would not answer questions about his behaviour. In Brief: PM Modi flags off country’s first Namo Bharat train Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 20 inaugurated the country’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) called Namo Bharat in Ghaziabad. The 17 km priority section on the Delhi-Meerut line from Sahibabad to Duhai will be open to passengers from October 21. The entire Delhi-Meerut corridor is scheduled to be completed by 2025. Delhi High Court dismisses AAP leader Sanjay Singh’s plea against arrest in money laundering case The Delhi High Court on October 20 refused to interfere with the arrest of AAP leader Sanjay Singh as well as his subsequent remand in Enforcement Directorate’s custody in a money laundering case related to the now-scrapped excise policy of the city government. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed his petition challenging the arrest as well as the remand in the matter, saying “no ground” was made out to grant him the relief. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 20 October 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appeals for aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza “[We are witnessing a paradox: behind these walls we have two million people that are suffering enormously, have no water, no food, no medicine, no fuel, that is under fire, that needs everything to survive]( said U.N. chief Antonio Guterres, issuing a passionate call for humanitarian aid trucks to be allowed into Gaza. “On this side,” he continued, standing a few metres on the Egyptian side of the border crossing and pointing to the convoy carrying lifesaving supplies, “we have seen so many trucks loaded with water, with food, with medicines – exactly the same thing that is needed on this side of the wall. These are a lifeline. They are the difference between life and death for so many people in Gaza.” To see the convoy stuck at the border makes what needs to happen very clear, he said. “What we need is to make them move, to make them move to the other side of this wall, to make them move as quickly as possible and as many as possible,” he said, adding that the UN was “now actively engaging with all the parties” related to conditions set for cross-border aid deliveries in the Israel-United States announcement and the related Egypt-Israel agreement. Egyptian state-linked broadcaster Al Qahera News said the Rafah border crossing — the only one in and out of besieged Gaza not controlled by Israel — would open on Friday. The ongoing Israeli airstrikes have forced seven hospitals and 21 primary healthcare centers in Gaza to become “out of service.” Additionally, 64 medical staff members have lost their lives in the ongoing conflict, CNN quoted a spokesperson for the Palestinian Ministry of Health as saying on Friday. “Due to the Israeli violations, seven hospitals are out of service and 21 Primary Health care centers as well. 64 medical staff were killed and 23 ambulances were destroyed,” said the health ministry spokesperson Ashraf Al-Qidra. Meanwhile, Israeli authorities announced plans to evacuate the northern city of Kiryat Shmona on Friday, after days of clashes with Hezbollah fighters along the border with Lebanon. “A short while ago, the Northern Command informed the mayor of the city of the decision. The plan will be managed by the local authority, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Defence,” the Israeli ilitary said in a statement. Canada withdraws 41 diplomats from India as row over separatist killing grows [Canada said Thursday it had withdrawn 41 diplomats from India]( — fallout from a bitter row over the killing of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil. New Delhi planned to revoke diplomatic immunity for all but 21 of Canada’s diplomats and their families by Friday, forcing Ottawa to pull out the others, Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly said. We have facilitated their safe departure from India,” Joly added. “This means that our diplomats and their families have now left.” Relations between India and Canada have plunged since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which New Delhi has denied. Nijjar, who advocated for a separate Sikh state carved out of India, was wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. “Revoking the diplomatic immunity of 41 diplomats is not only unprecedented, but also contrary to international law,” Joly said Wednesday, but said Canada did not plan to retaliate in kind, so as to not “aggravate the situation.” “Canada will continue to defend international law, which applies to all nations and will continue to engage with India,” she said. “Now more than ever we need diplomats on the ground and we need to talk to one another,” Joly added. Canada has called for India to cooperate in the investigation but New Delhi has rejected the allegations and taken countermeasures, such as shutting down visa services for Canadians. Ottawa also expelled an Indian diplomat over the affair. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said last month in New York that his country would be willing to examine any evidence presented by Canada. We have actually been badgering the Canadians. We’ve given them loads of information about organised crime leadership which operates out of Canada,” Jaishankar said, referring to Sikh separatists. “We have a situation where actually our diplomats are threatened, our consulates have been attacked and often comments are made (that are) interference in our politics,” he said. The Indian government has called the Canadian accusations over the killing “absurd” and advised its nationals not to travel to certain Canadian regions “given the increase in anti-Indian activities.” New Delhi also temporarily stopped processing visa applications in Canada. Nijjar, who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015, was shot dead by two masked assailants in the parking lot of a Sikh temple near Vancouver in June. Canada is home to some 770,000 Sikhs, who make up about two percent of the country’s population, with a vocal group calling for creating a separate state of Khalistan. The Sikh separatist movement is largely finished within India, where security forces used deadly force to put down an insurgency in the state of Punjab in the 1980s. Hundreds of Sikh protesters rallied outside Indian diplomatic missions in Canada last month, burning flags and trampling on pictures of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi have created a delicate situation for close Canadian ally Washington, which has in recent months taken steps to move closer to India as the United States seeks to limit Chinese influence in the region. Listen to today’s episode of the In Focus podcast History of the Israel-Palestine conflict – Part 1 (Origins) [The Israel-Palestine conflict has turned into a giant humanitarian crisis over the past week]( with thousands of civilians, including women children being killed. Many of them were killed when hospitals were bombed. The UN Security Council’s attempt to pass a resolution calling for a humanitarian pause in the bombing campaign by Israel was blocked by the US and its allies. International public opinion has become sharply polarised into two camps – those defending Israel’s right to do whatever it wants to wipe out Hamas, and those calling for an immediate ceasefire, humanitarian aid to Gaza, and a peace process premised on ending the Israeli occupation of Gaza and West Bank. While this conflict dates back to the 19th century, if not earlier, a lot of the background and nuances are often lost in the polemics of the present. This episode is the first in a three-part series on the Israel-Palestine conflict where we seek to detail the history, context, and developments around this conflict from the beginning till the present. In this episode, we trace the origins of this conflict: What was the nature of historical Palestine? What was the Balfour declaration? And how exactly did Palestine become the chosen homeland for Jews from around the world? Supreme Court flags pendency of 21 names for appointment & transfer of HC judges, says ‘pick and choose’ creates problem [Flagging the pendency of 21 names recommended by its collegium for appointment and transfer of high court judges, the Supreme Court told the Centre on Friday its tendency to “pick and choose” was creating a lot of problems.]( A bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said as per the current position, five reiterated names, five recommended for the first time and 11 for transfers are pending with the government. The Centre requested the bench, also comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Manoj Misra, to grant it two weeks and said the process is underway. The top court said in the appointment process, when the government appoints somebody and doesn’t appoint others, the “very premise of seniority gets disturbed”. “This pick and choose creates a lot of problems,” observed Justice Kaul, who is also a member of the apex court collegium. The court was hearing two pleas including the one alleging delay by the Centre in clearing the names recommended by the collegium for appointment and transfer of judges. The bench said the appointment process is consultative but in case of transfers the person whose name has been recommended is already a judge, and in the wisdom of five senior judges of the collegium, he or she is supposed to serve better in another court. It said there should not be an impression that for somebody there is a delay while for somebody else there is no delay. “I must appreciate there have been considerable movements in the last one month, (something) that had not happened in last five-six months,” Justice Kaul said. “In the appointment process, when you appoint some and don’t appoint others, the very premise of seniority gets disturbed,” he, however, said. The bench said the incentive to join the bench changes when there is a delay in the process of appointment and a person takes it or leaves it depending on where he or she will stand. The counsel appearing for one of the petitioners said as far as reiterated names are concerned the apex court has already fixed a timeline for clearing them. “On transfers, don’t take it to a level where we have to say should they (the judges recommended for transfer) perform their task in the present courts or should not perform their tasks there,” the bench told the Centre’s counsel. After the Centre’s counsel sought two weeks to have the process expedited, the bench said, “We appreciate what has been done but more push in necessary.” One of the advocates appearing for the petitioners also deprecated the exercise in “pick and choose” by the Centre with regard to the collegium’s recommendations for appointment and transfers. “That is troublesome,” the court acknowledged. “The idea is to put you to notice that it should not happen,” the bench told the Centre’s counsel. The bench said due to the delay in the process some people, out of frustration, have withdrawn their names for elevation as judges. “We have lost good people. I keep saying it is a challenge these days to make people come to this side (to bench). It becomes a greater challenge to make people come if this happens,” Justice Kaul said. The bench posted the matter for next hearing on November 7 while noting that the Centre’s counsel has assured the court that these issues were being sorted out. When the Centre’s counsel said the matter can be posted for a week after November 7, the bench said, “Let us have some progress before Diwali. We will celebrate it better”. The appointment of judges through the collegium system has often become a major flashpoint between the Supreme Court and the Centre, with the mechanism drawing criticism from different quarters. The top court was hearing the petitions, including the one filed by the Advocates Association Bengaluru seeking contempt action against the Union Ministry of Law and Justice for allegedly not adhering to the timeline set by the court in a 2021 judgement. One of the pleas in the apex court has alleged “wilful disobedience” of the time frame laid down in its April 20, 2021 order to facilitate the timely appointment of judges. In that order, the apex court had said the Centre should appoint judges within three-four weeks if the collegium reiterates its recommendations unanimously. Mahua Moitra case takes an unexpected turn in the High Court [The hearing on Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra’s case before the Delhi High Court took an unexpected turn on Friday when senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, who was representing Moitra, withdrew from the case.]( The senior advocate made the call after advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, Moitra’s estranged partner, complained to the High Court that Sankaranarayanan contacted him Thursday night to withdraw his CBI complaint against Moitra in lieu for custody of a dog, Henry, which has been a subject of dispute between the former couple. Hearing this, the High Court remarked it was “appalled” and questioned Sankaranarayanan if he was still eligible to appear in this case as he “played the role of a mediator”. “It’s something that you (Mr. Sankaranarayanan) need to answer yourself,” the High Court remarked, prompting Sankaranarayanan to withdraw himself from the case. The high court then posted the case for further hearing on October 31. During the brief hearing, advocate Dehadrai said Sankaranarayanan had a 30-minute call with him Thursday night during which the senior advocate asked him to withdraw the CBI complaint in exchange for the dog. Advocate Dehadrai said the issue involved “serious conflict of interest”. Responding to this, Sankaranarayanan clarified that he approached Dehadrai as they had worked together in the past. Mr. Sankaranarayanan said he had requested Moitra to let him discuss the matter with Dehadrai, to which she consented. Moitra is at the centre of a political storm after Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey complained to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday that she had allegedly taken bribes from a business house to ask questions in Parliament. In his complaint to the Lok Sabha Speaker on October 15, Dubey, cited a letter from Dehadrai to accuse Moitra of “breach of privilege, contempt of the house, and criminal offence”. Moitra has denied the allegations. In her plea before the high court, Moitra has sought an order directing “defendant no. 1 (Mr. Dubey) and 2 (Mr. Dehadrai) to publish a retraction and an apology to the plaintiff in three English newspapers, three Hindi newspapers and three Bengali newspapers for the false and defamatory statements/allegations” made by them against her. Moitra said Dehadrai was her close friend until recently when the cessation of this friendship soon took a bitter turn, and he “resorted to sending vile, threatening, vulgar messages to the plaintiff and also trespassed into plaintiff’s official residence and stole some personal possessions of the plaintiff including her pet dog Henry [the same was returned later]”. Italy PM splits from partner after his sexist TV comments [Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday she had separated from her television journalist partner Andrea Giambruno]( who has drawn criticism in recent weeks for sexist comments made on and off air. “My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” PM Meloni wrote on her social media accounts. “Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it,” she added. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter. Giambruno is the presenter of a news programme transmitted by Mediaset, part of the MFE media group owned by the heirs of the late Silvio Berlusconi, the former premier and Meloni ally. On two days this week, another Mediaset show broadcast off-air excerpts from Giambruno’s programme showing him using foul language and appearing to make advances to a female colleague. “Why didn’t I meet you before?” he tells her. In the second, more explicit recording aired on Thursday, Giambruno is heard boasting about an affair and telling female colleagues they can work for him if they take part in group sex. The TV journalist had already been widely criticised in August for apparent victim-blaming comments following a gang rape case. “If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk -- there shouldn’t be any kind of misunderstanding and any kind of problem. But if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf,” he said during his programme. PM Meloni had said after that episode that she should not be judged for comments made by her partner, and that in future she would not answer questions about his behaviour. In Brief: PM Modi flags off country’s first Namo Bharat train Prime Minister [Narendra Modi on October 20 inaugurated the country’s first Regional Rapid Transit System]( (RRTS) called Namo Bharat in Ghaziabad. The 17 km priority section on the Delhi-Meerut line from Sahibabad to Duhai will be open to passengers from October 21. The entire Delhi-Meerut corridor is scheduled to be completed by 2025. Delhi High Court dismisses AAP leader Sanjay Singh’s plea against arrest in money laundering case The [Delhi High Court on October 20 refused to interfere with the arrest of AAP leader Sanjay Singh]( as well as his subsequent remand in Enforcement Directorate’s custody in a money laundering case related to the now-scrapped excise policy of the city government. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed his petition challenging the arrest as well as the remand in the matter, saying “no ground” was made out to grant him the relief. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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