The Don shows tough love to friends and allies on Valentines DayThe author of The Art of the Deal has no patience with the weatherworn adage — Build Bridges, Not Walls. Donald Trump has a penchant for doing the exact opposite to ‘win friends and influence people.’In a fresh display of tough love ahead of Valentine’s Day, Trump accusing Canada of trying to “take advantage of America” threatened to block the opening of a new bridge between the US and its northern neighbour.In a lengthy post on his mouthpiece Truth Social, Trump doubled down on his often-cited claim that Canada has “treated the United States very unfairly for decades.”Demanding that the US be “fully compensated for everything we have given them,” Trump claimed that Canada will own both sides of the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge connecting Detroit, Michigan, to Windsor, Ontario. He also accused Ontario of refusing to stock some US-produced alcoholic products in shops and complained about Canada’s tariffs on dairy products.The latest spat with Canada came weeks after Prime Minister Mark Carney earned his wrath at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January for boldly asking middle powers to stand up to “great powers” using economic pressure.This time the provocation came from nearer home with six Republican lawmakers joining Democrats to adopt a House resolution to block Trump’s Canada tariffs.Not the one to retreat, he defiantly dug in accusing Canada of having “taken advantage of the United States on Trade for many years,” and suggesting, “They are among the worst in the World to deal with, especially as it relates to our Northern Border.”Then came the inevitable ominous warning to the lawmakers: “Any Republican, in the House or the Senate, that votes against TARIFFS will seriously suffer the consequences come Election time, and that includes Primaries!”Faithful MAGA followers were quick to endorse with, “Hey Canada👇 your days are numbered‼️😆”Then as America’s European allies gathered at the annual security conference in Munich under the looming shadow of an absent Trump, German chancellor Friedrich Merz offered him a rare public rebuke.Under Trump in his second term, the United States’ claim to global leadership “has been challenged, and possibly squandered,” said Merz warning Washington not to make things worse and further squander the trust of its allies.“In the era of great power rivalry, even the United States will not be powerful enough to go it alone,” he said even as he acknowledged a more vigorous Europe, better able to defend itself and its own interests, would help “forge a healthier trans-Atlantic relationship.”But the staff at the security conference was more blunt. In a report before the gathering, they called Trump a “wrecking ball” and one of the “demolition men” destroying the norms and institutions of the international order.And at home, Trump took his wrecking ball to the climate change fight by erasing a 2009 bedrock scientific finding that greenhouse gases threaten human life.At a White House event Trump, who has referred to climate change as “a hoax” and a “scam,” hailed the decision to erase limits on emissions from cars, power plants and other industries “the single largest deregulatory action in American history.”As a part of his attempt to boost the fossil fuel industry, Trump later signed an executive order instructing the US military to purchase more coal-based electricity and said that the Energy Department will pay for upgrading coal plants in four states.Meanwhile, the ghost of Epstein that has dogged Trump for more than a year, again loomed large as the Justice Department released about three million pages of documents related to its years long investigation into the convicted sex offender.The New York Times found more than 5,300 files with references to Trump and related terms, including salacious and unverified claims, as well as documents that had already been made public.Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche was quick to absolve Trump saying the Justice Department looked into sexual misconduct allegations against the President, but did not find credible information to merit further investigation.Trump himself praised Attorney General Pam Bondi for her “fantastic” performance “under intense fire from the Trump Deranged Radical Left Lunatics,” at a Congressional “Hearing on the never ending saga of Jeffrey Epstein.”“The one thing that has been proven conclusively, much to their chagrin, was that President Donald J. Trump has been 100% exonerated of their ridiculous Russia, Russia, Russia type charges,” he posted proclaiming, “Actually, it is the SLIMEBALL Democrats, many of them big Donors and Politicians, that have been proven GUILTY!”But Bondi, according to an NBC report, is under pressure from Trump to produce a result more than a year after she created a “Weaponization Working Group” to prosecute his perceived enemies. The group was created ostensibly to root out “abuses of the criminal justice process” by federal law enforcement officers in their investigations of Trump when he was out of power.Even as he has criticized Bondi in private, Trump publicly declared his trust in her saying,“Pam is doing an excellent job. She has been my friend for many years. Tremendous progress is being made against radical left lunatics, who are good at only one thing, cheating in elections and the crimes they commit.”Come Valentine Day, Trump greeted his followers with three cards “Made just for you 💌”One with a map of Greenland in a heart served notice on his latest object of desire asking, “It’s time we define our situationship.”The second took a dig at Democrats avowing “My love for you is as strong as Democrats’ love for illegal aliens” and “l’d fly 1,537 miles to have a drink with you!”And the third one depicted POTUS 45 & 47 holding his latest fiat “Executive Order: 4547” proclaiming, “UR MyValentine” — Love it or hate it!(By arrangement with The American Bazaar, www.americanbazaaronline.com)

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Amit Shah addressing a public meeting in Puducherry’s Karaikal

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday accused Congress leader V Narayanasamy of turning Puducherry into an “ATM for the Gandhi family” during his tenure as chief minister of the poll-bound Union territory.The senior BJP leader also alleged that the Narayanasamy administration “sold” PG and diploma seats, including those for reserved category candidates, to “wealthy individuals.”Narayanasamy served as chief minister from June 2016 to February 2021.“Narayanasamy’s government had turned Puducherry into an ATM for the Gandhi family. They openly auctioned PG and diploma seats and even sold the reserved seats for SC and ST to wealthy individuals for the sake of money. Transport mafias were given free rein to trouble the public,” Shah said at a public meeting in Puducherry’s Karaikal.The former BJP president added that Congress leader’s tenure as chief minister was marked by “corruption and chaos,” which the BJP — part of the All India NR Congress-led incumbent government — has worked to eliminate.He further asserted that the saffron party’s focus is now on transforming Puducherry into a developed Union territory over the next five years.“For five years, the Congress government created an environment of corruption and chaos here. In five years, we eliminated corruption and transformed chaos into order, and now it is time to transform Puducherry into a developed Puducherry in the next five years. Earlier, the decisions regarding Puducherry were taken by the Gandhi family in Delhi; now the decisions regarding Puducherry are being taken by Puducherry itself,” Shah told the gathering.Noting that the BJP-All India NR Congress alliance secured 44% of the vote in the 2021 Puducherry assembly elections, he set a target of 60% for the upcoming polls, expected in April.“PM Narendra Modi has worked to make India prosperous as well as secure. The people of Puducherry have expressed their trust in the NDA, BJP, and our leader N Rangaswamy and PM Modi. In the 2021 assembly elections, the people of Puducherry gave us 44% of the votes. This time, the alliance of BJP, AINRC and AIADMK is aiming to secure 60% of the votes,” he added.(With ANI inputs)

File photo: Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman

India has sharply increased its spending on climate action over the past six years, with allocations rising from around 3.7 per cent of GDP to nearly 5.6 per cent, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday.Speaking at the ‘Degrees of Instability: Climate Security in a Warming World’ townhall during the Munich Security Conference in Germany, she said the country was taking strong domestic steps to meet its environmental commitments rather than depending solely on international support.

Spending more, not waiting for aid

Highlighting the jump in allocations, Sitharaman said, “India has increased its commitment to climate action. We were at something like 3.7 per cent of our GDP six years ago… but today, we are somewhere close to 5.6 per cent. So more than doubled in a matter of six years”.She underlined that India had already put money on the table. “We have invested the funds. We are not waiting for financing and technology to come from elsewhere but they must come,” she said, as quoted by news agency PTI.While acknowledging that global technology transfers and financial flows remain important, she stressed that India has moved ahead with its own resources to achieve its nationally determined commitments (NDCs).She also pointed out that many African nations may find it difficult to match such levels of spending due to economic constraints.

Focus on adaptation and fairness

The finance minister argued that climate policy must go beyond emission cuts. Equal weight, she said, should be given to resilience and adaptation to avoid severe consequences for people and livestock.“As much attention we give for the emission control, we need to look at resilience and adaptation. Otherwise, you’re going to sacrifice a lot,” she said. She added that “technologies will have to talk to each other” and cautioned that no country can claim to have found a perfect solution to climate change.Sitharaman also pressed for what she described as differentiated treatment in sharing the financial burden of climate action. According to news agency ANI, she said the global community must follow a “polluter pays” principle.“It cannot be that countries which have less contributed to emission are made to pay equally,” she said, adding that countries with lower historical emissions should contribute less towards climate costs.

Renewable push and carbon capture funding

Detailing India’s domestic progress, Sitharaman said the country has already achieved two-thirds of its renewable energy commitments under its NDCs and that too four years ahead of schedule.She added that the Union Budget 2026-27 has earmarked funds and incentives for carbon capture strategies. These technologies are being encouraged across the mainland and in remote regions to help businesses cut their carbon footprint and support India’s transition to a greener economy, reported ANI.Reiterating India’s position, the minister said the country would continue to invest steadily in renewable energy while pushing for fair and practical global cooperation on climate finance and technology.

New Delhi: Hours before the truncated Indian Super League (ISL) season gets underway on Saturday, it became official that FanCode had sub-licensed the linear TV rights to Sony Pictures Network India (SPNI). Under the agreement, as reported by TimesofIndia.com, Sony Sports Network will hold exclusive TV broadcast rights for India and non-exclusive rights for Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. The position on international broadcast, however, is still in the works.All 91-matches will be telecast on Sony Ten 2 and pushed to other channels too if there is a double header at the same time.

This is not the first time Sony Sports Network and FanCode will work together. Both platforms carried tennis’ French Open in 2025 with Sony retaining the primary broadcast and sub-licensing the streaming aspect of all courts to Dream Sports-owned FanCode.Last year, a similar ploy was employed between Sony Sports and JioHotstar for cricket’s India tour of England. Under those terms, Sony kept the television broadcast rights while JioHotstar was responsible for the digital streaming.“The macro observation on this is (that) there’s so much opportunity (in the sports industry). (It) is so large that honestly there’s just so much to be done in the industry that collaboration is probably more apt at this moment than competition because there’s so much opportunity,” explained FanCode co-founder Yannick Colaco of the sub-licensing strategy to TimesofIndia.com.“And the way we look at it is very clear. We are a digital-first platform. So the two things that are unique about Fancode is (that) we are digital first and we are sports only.“Our product, our approach has always been focused on technology, focused on experience, focused on how we are available across 11 operating systems, focused on innovation on the digital side. And we neither have, nor (a) desire, to have any focus on building a linear TV business. “So when you look at those two unique pieces, there is tremendous opportunity to collaborate with other large media companies, which have a much bigger mandate and ambit. Very politely, we are a much smaller player in this overall media landscape. “And I think that’s the way we look at it in the sense that while younger audiences are all digital first, and even some of the older audiences are migrating to digital, there is still a large audience which consumes sports content on linear television. “So when we’re working with partners like the AIFF (All India Football Federation) and the ISL, we’re very conscious of the fact that to help the sport grow, help the event be successful, give it maximum amount of distribution, we need to be collaborating with partners who have the linear TV presence so that we are able to reach out and basically able to reach out to all sports fans and all ISL fans across the country,” he continued.Less than two weeks ago, FanCode acquired the broadcast rights — linear TV and digital — for the ISL at Rs 8.62 crore. Even though the company has presence only in digital streaming space, it consciously bid for both aspects knowing there were few, if any, players interested in just the linear TV rights.

During conversations between FanCode, AIFF and the ISL interim committee, the provider made it clear they wanted to help ensure the top-division football was showcased to as many viewers as possible.After officially bagging the rights, the company entered into conversations with multiple national providers and even some regional ones.“We immediately started speaking to a bunch of people about this, including regional broadcasters, and we took a bunch of proposals that we got, we put them all together. We shared them with the AIFF and the interim committee. We got on a call with them. I shared the pros and cons of each one with them. And on that basis, a decision was made to accept Sony’s proposal,” said Colaco.While that was happening, FanCode also spoke to ISL club representatives to understand their expectations on how to improve the product. It was at this stage that the concept of each club’s ‘superfan’ recording visuals behind the scenes came into being.

FC Goa manager Manolo Marquez in training ahead of ISL season start. (Image: AIFF)

ISL will have commentary in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Bengali and Tamil (only for Chennaiyin matches).Doing all this, why give away market share to a competitor like Sony Sports?“I’m making it easier for people who prefer to watch the game on linear television to watch it. And yes, (if it comes) at the cost of us also, that’s okay. I think it’s important to think consumer first. So I believe that eventually our product is what will give users the choice and deliver a great experience. And if it’s good enough, which I hope it is, and I believe it is, consumers will come,” reasoned Colaco.“I don’t think it should be forced and that’s always what we (have) believed. And I also think that you know a partner like Sony will help in raising the promotion levels and contribute (to the) marketing. (As the saying goes) A rising tide lifts all boats,” he added.Sony add to their growing portfolio

Logo of the Indian Super League.

On their part, Sony Sports Network, who had attended the pre-bid conference for the broadcast rights but chose not to make a final bid, sees this as an opportunity to add to their football portfolio which is largely led by European competitions.“While we were keen to add ISL to our sports portfolio, back then, we needed more time to evaluate the property before putting in our financial offer,” said Rajesh Kaul, Chief Revenue Officer and Business Head – Sports and International, SPNI, to TimesofIndia.com.Yet this won’t be their first foray into Indian football having previously showcased the I-League and Durand Cup.“Our aim is to cater to football fans and expand the football ecosystem in India. Sony Pictures Networks India is the Home of Football in India and we have a diverse and expansive portfolio of both International and Indian football properties that includes UEFA EURO 2028, the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Nations League, Bundesliga, FA Cup along with India’s very own legacy tournament Durand Cup. Last year, we were also the official broadcasters of I-League which is also homegrown football league,” he stated.