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The digital age amplifies voices, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent posts on X (formerly Twitter) condemning the Hamas attacks on Israel have certainly not gone unnoticed. Whilst there has been uproar and viral retweets across the Arab world, the absence of India's reaffirmation on the Israel-Palestine two-state solution at the leadership level is stark.

Hasan Alhasan, a Middle East expert at IISS, told India Today, "The Indian Prime Minister, within a few hours of the Hamas attack took a very partisan, very clear stance on Twitter by tweeting that India stood in solidarity with Israel." He went on to mention the potential fallout from this stance, pointing out that "India has associated its own reputation now with the Israeli response."

Nearly a month after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau levelled allegations of a potential link between Indian government agents and the death of terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, Australia's domestic intelligence chief has said he has "no reason to dispute" Canada's claims. 

The remarks by Mike Burgess, Director of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), in California, on the sidelines of a historic public gathering of Five Eyes intelligence partners, came after he was asked for his assessment of Canada's allegations. 

A tug of war has started in the three-party alliance MahaYuti over seat-sharing for 2024 Lok Sabha election, with each partner demanding significant numbers of seats. Maharashtra has a total of 48 Lok Sabha seats. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has demanded 22 seats, while deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP is seeking 11 seats. The third alliance partner BJP has 22 MPs in the current Lok Sabha.

BJP leader and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that no talk on seat-sharing has started with alliance partners. He said that no one has put any demand so far. “We will have discussion over seat-sharing with alliance partners and whatever seats are decided that will be given to them. There is no fight and clashes over seat-sharing,” Fadnavis said.

Political strategist Prashant Kishor said on Wednesday that Janata Dal (United) is set to face a big defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, which will be held next year. Speaking at an event, Kishor claimed that the Nitish Kumar-led party is a sinking ship and that after the Lok Sabha elections, there will be a split in the party. He also said that JDU is in its final stage, which is why the leaders of the party are going to other parties.

The Centre on Wednesday raised the dearness allowance (DA) by four percentage points to 46% for 4.86 million central government employees along with a similar increase in the dearness relief (DR) for 6.8 million pensioners ahead of the festive season and crucial assembly polls even as retail inflation eased substantially in September.

The new rates will be applicable from July 1, 2023, Union information and broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur said after the cabinet meeting.

The decision will have a combined annual impact of ₹12,857 crore on the exchequer.