Israel today continued to bombard Gaza as its troops pressed into the enclave with a ground assault. Israel has been pounding Gaza after Hamas attacked Israeli towns on October 7 and killed about 1,400 people. The Hamas operatives also took at least 239 hostages.

According to the Israeli government, more than half the hostages held by Hamas have foreign passports from 25 countries, including 54 Thai nationals.

Medical authorities in the Gaza Strip on Sunday said that 8,005 people – including 3,324 minors – had been killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to “crush” Hamas operatives, who have an extensive tunnel network in and around Gaza City.

Here are the live updates on the Israel-Hamas war:

Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy’s 70-hour work week comment has sparked a huge debate online. Mr Murthy made the remark on a podcast hosted by former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai.  

Now, days after the interview, Mr Pai has shared “interesting data”. He added that NR Narayana Murthy’s “advice was for youngsters.” The data talks about how many hours each week do urban men between the age group 15 and 59 work? The illustration also featured India’s map along with region-wise data. As per the illustration, the Indian average stands at 61.6 hours per week. The source of the data was Time Use Survey (2019). 

Mr Pai said, “Interesting data! This is for all ages. NRN advice was for youngsters, people below 30! Prosperity needs hard work, data shows.”

Interesting data! This is for all ages. NRN advice was for youngsters, people below 30! Prosperity needs hard work, data shows pic.twitter.com/15j6nCd9uA

— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) October 28, 2023

NR Narayana Murthy, on the first episode of  3one4 Capital’s podcast ‘The Record’, said, “India’s work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. Unless we improve our work productivity, unless we reduce corruption in the government at some level, because we have been reading, I don’t know the truth of it, unless we reduce the delays in our bureaucracy in taking this decision, we will not be able to compete with those countries that have made tremendous progress.”

He added, “So therefore, my request is that our youngsters must say ‘this is my country. I’d like to work 70 hours a week”.

Giving an example of how other nations have enhanced their productivity, Mr Murthy said, “This is exactly what the Germans and Japanese did after the Second World War…they made sure that every German worked extra hours for a certain number of years.”

Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia will remain in jail for six more months as the Supreme Court today refused him bail in the Delhi liquor policy case. A money trail of Rs 338 crore has been established in the case, the court noted and ordered that the trial be completed in 6-8 months.

Mr Sisodia can apply for bail again if the trial proceeds slowly, said a two-judge bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and SVN Bhatti.

“We have referred to the arguments and some of the legal questions but we have not answered most of them. In the analysis, there are certain aspects which are doubtful regarding the transfer of Rs 338 crore transfer is established. We have rejected the bail,” said Justice Khanna.

BJP MP Manoj Tiwari said the Supreme Court denying bail to Mr Sisodia makes it clear that the AAP leadership is involved in corruption. “Arvind Kejriwal will certainly be arrested because the AAP leadership is involved in corruption,” said Mr Tiwari.

Mr Sisodia, top aide of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, was arrested in connection with the alleged liquor scam in February and has been in jail since.

He faces two cases – one each by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the other by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), but denied any wrongdoing.

Mr Sisodia, who was the Deputy Chief Minister in Kejriwal government at the time of his arrest, resigned from the cabinet on February 28. He was handling 18 portfolios at the time, including the Excise Department.

The AAP had earlier said Mr Sisodia’s arrest was an “attack on the Delhi model of governance”.