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China's Commerce Ministry on Sunday slammed the Donald Trump-led US government's plan to impose another 100% tariff on Chinese imports (up and above the existing levies), calling it a "classic case of 'double standards'." Amid rising trade tension between the two trade giants, Beijing restated its consistent stance and said it does not "want to fight, but are not afraid to fight." The ministry further stated that these actions "have severely harmed China's interests and undermined the atmosphere for bilateral economic and trade talks." "Since the US-China economic and trade talks in Madrid, the US has continuously introduced a series of new restrictions against China," the ministry stated. These actions include blacklisting Chinese entities, as the US "added multiple Chinese entities to its export control entity list and specially designated nationals list."The Commerce Ministry demanded that the US "promptly correct its erroneous practices."The ministry's sharp words came as it defended China's new export controls on rare earth materials, measures that have drawn international attention.China defends new rare earth rulesIn defending the rare earth export controls, which began on October 9, the ministry provided several key reasons for their implementation. It explained the measures are "designed to better safeguard world peace and regional stability" and also "designed to better fulfill international obligations such as non-proliferation."Moreover, the ministry assured global markets the rules do not constitute a total ban on exports. It confirmed that applications meeting requirements "will be granted licenses." China also maintained it followed proper procedure by "notified relevant countries and regions through bilateral export control dialogue mechanisms" before the changes were implemented.Despite global concerns, the ministry predicted the measures would have an "extremely limited impact" on supply chains, adding that China is "willing to strengthen dialogue" with all nations to maintain global supply stability.What has the US said and why?On Friday, the US threatened a major escalation in trade tensions by announcing plans for an additional 100% tariff on all Chinese imports, starting November 1 or even earlier.China has significantly tightened export controls on rare earth elements and related processing technologies, citing the need to safeguard national security and prevent foreign military use. Rare earths are critical minerals for high-tech manufacturing, including defence systems and semiconductors. The new curbs mandate special export approval, sparking US concerns over supply chain disruption.(With Reuters inputs)

Hamas said on Saturday that the group will not participate in the formal signing of the Gaza peace treaty set to take place in Egypt on Monday, distancing itself from the high-profile summit convened to mark a reportedly breakthrough moment in efforts to end the now two-year war. “The official signing — we will not be involved,” said Hossam Badran, a member of the group’s political bureau, in an interview with AFP. He added that Hamas had engaged “principally through Qatari and Egyptian mediators” during ceasefire negotiations, signaling the group’s intention to remain outside the diplomatic spotlight. Hamas officials have also rejected a key element of US President Donald Trump’s proposed roadmap for Gaza — the disarmament of the militant group. “The proposed weapons handover is out of the question and not negotiable,” one senior official told AFP, underscoring the deep divisions that still threaten the agreement’s next phase. Trump’s 20-point plan envisions amnesty for Hamas members who lay down their weapons and offers them the option to leave Gaza. The US administration has said that the disarmament issue will be addressed in the second phase of implementation — a stage that Hamas insiders warn “contains many complexities and difficulties.” Despite the ceasefire holding ahead of Monday’s 72-hour deadline for releasing Israeli hostages, disarmament and the withdrawal of Israeli troops remain the most contentious obstacles to lasting peace. Ceasefire holds ahead of prisoner exchange As diplomatic preparations continue in Sharm el-Sheikh, Hamas is expected to begin releasing Israeli hostages on Monday morning, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. “According to the signed agreement, the prisoner exchange is set to begin on Monday morning as agreed,” Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP. The swap is part of the first stage of Trump’s plan, which aims to de-escalate tensions before the international summit chaired by Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. More than 20 nations are expected to attend the long-awaited meet, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Every social observer worth their moth-eaten notepad keeps a sepia-tinted document with two axioms scribbled on top: Bollywood and cricket. These are not simply entertainment forms. They are parallel mythologies that have grown into each other like two intertwined banyan roots. Cinema borrows cricket’s swagger. Cricket borrows cinema’s stardust. One gives drama. The other gives storyline.Together they have built India’s only two dependable mass spectacles. Everything else—hockey, football, kabaddi, kho-kho, athletics—has existed at the edges of this light, basking in the reflected glow of the marquee.NATION OF PUNDITS, NOT PLAYERSWe are not, if we are honest, a nation of sportsmen. We are a nation of sports-discussing pundits. A billion selectors, fluent in strike rates and field placements, armed with post-factum wisdom. Cricket is built for this temperament. Its pauses invite pontification. Its statistics seduce the amateur analyst. Its rivalries keep conversations alive in living rooms, offices and WhatsApp groups.Try sustaining the same national chatter around the tactical angles of kho-kho or the shape of a badminton rally.Even football, the global language of sport, cannot match the conversational churn that cricket generates in India.Ours is a civilisation that experiences sport through commentary rather than participation.INTERNATIONAL MIRAGEThis inclination shows up in the record books. Across 26 Olympic Games, India has managed 41 medals. The Tokyo haul—seven medals and one golden Neeraj—was a bright comet against a dark sky. We celebrate individual brilliance, but rarely build the scaffolding beneath it. Our sporting system remains ornamental, not institutional. We produce moments but never machines.KABADDI’S FLICKERKabaddi was the unexpected insurgent. When the Pro Kabaddi League arrived on television, it did not simply broadcast a rural sport. It turned it into spectacle. Floodlights, pounding music, dramatic camera angles. Raids became theatre. At its peak, the league crossed 220 million viewers and became the only non-cricket property to breach that number more than once.Spectacle, however, builds curiosity, not community. Community needs school competitions, coaching pipelines and patient investment. Kabaddi’s television success is real. Whether it can grow deep roots is still unclear.FOOTBALL’S RISE AND RETREATFootball had its moment of borrowed IPL optimism. The Indian Super League entered with glamour owners, imported stars and noisy stadiums. In its first season, the league claimed more than 400 million viewers. A decade later that figure has fallen to about 130 million. Attendance in Kerala has dipped. Goa’s stands have thinned out. Bengal’s passion has aged into nostalgia. The decline is not of feeling. It is of faith. Supporters did not abandon football. Football failed to give them a product worth their loyalty.POWER, POLITICS AND THE PITCHThe political class understood this landscape early. Cricket offers cultural capital that no other sport can match. BCCI has long been home to politicians from across the spectrum. Stadium inaugurations give camera time. IPL auctions offer proximity to power. Victory podiums deliver reflected glory. Other federations remain side portfolios. They are praised when medals come but ignored when budgets are drawn. IA’S ONE-TRACK MINDThe media has rarely found a non-cricket story that can feed its engines. Cricket is not just a sport. It is an ecosystem. The IPL keeps newsrooms busy for months with auctions, previews, gossip, buildups and mid-innings chatter. Kabaddi arrives for a season. Volleyball flickers briefly. Hockey revivals falter. Without reliable calendars and compelling narratives, advertisers drift away. When media does not tell a story, fandom does not form.GLIMMERS OF POSSIBILITYLook closely and there are cracks of light. Kabaddi has shown that an indigenous sport can be modernised without losing its soul. Khokho’s reboot is modest but meaningful. Badminton, boxing and wrestling have delivered podiums because of patient investment, not slogans. Women’s sport, especially women’s cricket, has proved that visible pathways and serious structures create compounding effects.The ingredients are not a mystery. Governance must come before glamour. Calendars before campaigns. Local rivalries before imported allegiances. Media storytelling before media hype. Above all, political and corporate incentives must look beyond the boundary rope.ROAD BEYOND THE BOUNDARYNon-cricket sports can grow in India. The change will not come from another season launch or celebrity endorsement. It will come from schools that treat sport as serious work. From federations that behave like adults. From media that stays for the long game.From fans willing to look beyond the familiar green oval. Cricket is not the villain here. It is the elder sibling who learned early to speak the language of television. For the younger ones to grow, they need parents who invest, coaches who persist and storytellers who care. Until then, every new league will remain a bright meteor in the cricketing night sky. Dazzling for a moment, then quietly fading into the dark.The writer is a senior advisory professional

The US Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) case against Gautam Adani has run into a double delay - with India's law ministry yet to serve the summons to the billionaire industrialist, and the US government shutdown forcing SEC staff off work.The SEC on Friday informed a US court that it last contacted the Indian ministry on September 14, but the summons had still not been effected. With most of its personnel furloughed due to lapsed federal funding, the SEC has sought an extension in the proceedings.The agency noted that the counsel assigned to the Adani case has been furloughed and is "unavailable to work on this matter," as federal law bars furloughed employees from volunteering. Citing 31 U.S.C. 1342, the SEC requested that the next status report be filed 60 days after funding resumes, effectively pausing the case until Washington reopens.ET has reviewed the court documents.The update follows a series of procedural filings this year on the SEC's attempts to serve summons and complaints on the Adani Group and related defendants in India. The regulator said the defendants are "located in India and the SEC's efforts to serve them are ongoing," including a request to Indian authorities under the Hague Service Convention. Despite repeated correspondence - most recently on September 14, 2025 - "those authorities have not yet effected service," the SEC said, adding it "will continue communicating with the India MoLJ (law and justice ministry) and pursuing service via the Hague Convention."The SEC's November 20, 2024, complaint accuses Gautam Adani, Sagar Adani, and others of violating US federal securities laws by "making false and misleading representations about Adani Green Energy Ltd in connection with a September 2021 debt offering." Because the defendants are in India, service falls under Rule 4(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, allowing the SEC to serve them "by any internationally agreed means reasonably calculated to give notice."The furloughs of SEC personnel follow the Trump administration's October 1 shutdown, which halted non-essential federal operations. Enforcement and litigation, including the Adani case, are frozen, leaving one of the most closely watched cross-border proceedings stalled until US funding resumes.

Fifteen army officers, both serving and retired, against whom arrest warrants were issued for alleged involvement in "disappearances and crimes against humanity" during Sheikh Hasina's tenure, have been taken into military custody."15 former and current army officers accused of crimes against humanity have been taken into military custody," Major General Md Hakimuzzaman, Adjutant General of the Bangladesh Army, told reporters on Saturday.He added that the Bangladesh Army would "fully support" the ongoing legal process.Earlier, on October 8, Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal (ICT) issued warrants against 30 accused, including former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, in two separate cases related to crimes against humanity committed through enforced disappearances during the Awami League regime.The ICT ordered that the accused be arrested and produced in court by October 22. The three-member bench of the tribunal, led by Justice Md Golam Mortuza Majumder, passed the order on Wednesday.Apart from Hasina, arrest warrants were also issued against former Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, retired Major General Tariq Ahmed Siddique, who served as the former Prime Minister's defence adviser, and former police chief Benzir Ahmed. Twenty-seven of the remaining defendants are former or serving army officers.The prosecution filed two formal complaints of enforced disappearance with the ICT. Chief Prosecutor Mohammad Tajul Islam presented both complaints to the tribunal and sought the issuance of arrest warrants, which were subsequently granted.In one case, 17 people, including Hasina and her adviser Tariq Ahmed Siddique, have been charged with abducting opposition activists and detaining them at the secret Taskforce for Interrogation (TFI) cell, allegedly operated by the Rapid Action Battalion, where victims were reportedly tortured.The prosecution has brought five charges of crimes against humanity in this case.In the second case, Sheikh Hasina, Tariq Siddique, and 11 others have been charged with detaining victims at the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence's (DGFI) Joint Interrogation Cell (JIC) and torturing them.This case also includes five charges of crimes against humanity and names five former DGFI directors general among the accused.