1) A cheap fix to
global warming is finally gaining support:
Global support for one
of the cheapest and most powerful climate actions is accelerating—and it
couldn't come at a more urgent time.
Countries are starting
to get more serious about slashing avoidable methane emissions from fossil fuel
production, as the rapidly warming planet forces leaders to double down on
solutions that can rein in scorching temperatures within decades.
Last month Bloomberg
Green reported that U.S. officials are discussing with their Turkmenistan
counterparts ways to help the central Asian nation cap some of the world's
worst methane emissions that spew from its aging oil and gas operations.
Separately, European Union rules could pave the way for cuts to the greenhouse
gas seeping out from the continent's coal mines
If all the gas that's
leaked or vented by Turkmenistan's energy sector was salvaged and burned
instead and the EU rules take effect, the combined measures would have roughly
the same short-term climate effect as wiping out roughly 290 million tons of
CO2 each year, according to calculations by Bloomberg and energy think tank
Ember. That's like canceling the emissions of Taiwan—the world's leading
chip-maker and its 21st worst polluter. In the U.S., the Environmental
Protection Agency also is expected to outline its plan in coming weeks for
implementing a new fee on methane emissions mandated by the sweeping climate
law enacted last year.
Although massive emissions
reductions of the gas from the energy sector are still needed from many more
countries globally, including from major emitters like China and Russia, the
measures may mark a shift toward concrete climate action.
"The potential
U.S.-Turkmenistan deal and the new EU legislation show demonstrable progress in
reducing global methane pollution, demonstrating that the 2021 Global Methane
Pledge is more than just a promise,'' said Alice C. Hill, a senior fellow at
the Council on Foreign Relations.
Halting methane that is
intentionally released or accidentally leaked from coal mines or natural gas
and oil production is some of the lowest hanging fruit in the fight against
climate change because minimizing those emissions is often as simple as
upgrading infrastructure and making it more efficient.
Those refurbishments can
generate more product operators can sell. The International Energy Agency
estimates that around 40% of oil and gas emissions could be implemented at no
net cost. There is also significant potential to curb methane releases from
large, porous underground coal mines, according to the agency. Although burning
methane, the primary component of natural gas, still produces carbon dioxide,
the warming impact is significantly less than if the uncombusted gas escapes
directly into the atmosphere. In Europe, coal mines already control or capture
much of the methane spewing from their mines, but often fail to combust or
process it and ship it to markets, according to Ember methane analyst Sabina
Assan, who estimates the new EU rules could slash the bloc's coal mine methane
emissions nearly 40% by 2040. The regulations must still pass through final
negotiations with the bloc's member states and could change.
"This is basically
just asking mines to improve the systems they already have in place,'' said
Assan. "It's really something that they should already be doing, and it
won't necessarily cost much.''
Although some climate
activist groups expressed disappointment the EU rules aren't more ambitious,
the rules focus on measuring and mitigating emissions from both active and
abandoned mines, which is an important because so many shafts continue leaking
methane long after they stop production, according to Assan.
Although sparsely
populated and rarely in the international news, Turkmenistan is a crucial piece
of the global climate puzzle because it sits atop the world's fourth-largest
natural gas reserves and spews more methane per unit of oil and gas output than
any other major oil- or gas-producing country. The majority of the world's 500
most intense global methane releases since 2019 that have been traced back to
the oil and gas sector were in Turkmenistan, according to analysis of satellite
data by Kayrros SAS.
President Serdar
Berdymukhamedov approved a roadmap that includes measures to study how the
country could potentially join the Global Methane Pledge, a U.S. and EU-led
initiative committed to slashing global emissions of the gas 30% by the end of
the decade. About 7% of Turkmenistan's gas is currently believed to be wasted
through deliberate venting or flaring and accidental leaks.
The U.S. could
potentially provide financial assistance possibly through the Export-Import
Bank with oil service providers like Halliburton Co. and SLB, formerly named
Schlumberger, working to track down leaks and replace equipment in
Turkmenistan, people familiar with the discussions said.
"It is very
encouraging that Turkmenistan is stepping up efforts to mitigate its methane
emissions, and that international partners are ready to support Turkmenistan in
this journey," said Manfredi Caltagirone, head of the International
Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), an initiative of the United Nations
Environment Program.
The U.S. government also
is moving on several fronts to attack methane emissions from the oilfield. A
marquee plan the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to finalize late
this year would mandate routine monitoring for leaks at even small wells,
require company blueprints for plugging them and curtail the use of flaring,
when natural gas at oil wells is burned off as less-potent carbon dioxide.
U.S. regulators say oil
and gas operators stand to claim over 80% of the revenue from the sale of
natural gas that would be newly captured under the requirements. The expected
methane emissions reductions from the EPA's proposed mandates aren't linear and
the agency didn't give an annual breakdown.However, averaging the estimated
cuts over the 12-year timeframe provided by the agency shows the rules would
block roughly 2.7 million metric tons of methane from entering the atmosphere
annually. Because methane is a potent greenhouse gas, the short term climate
impact would be equivalent to eliminating 225 million metric tons of carbon
dioxide every year or canceling Pakistan's emissions.
The U.S. and EU made
methane a top issue ahead of COP26 in 2021, ultimately rallying some 150
nations behind the global pledge. Nearly two years after that pact was
unveiled, focus has moved beyond enrolling more countries in the initiative to taking
action on the ground.
The goal for 30%
reduction in global methane emissions by 2030 isn't likely to be met, according
to David Oxley, head of climate economics at research group Capital Economics.
However, Oxley wrote in a recent note that efforts to tackle methane emissions
"give us confidence" that releases will start to decline this decade.
2) A new tool to
study complex genome interactions, by Max Delbrück Center for Molecular
Medicine:
 |
| dna-5 |
People who owned black-and-white television sets until the 1980s didn't know what they were missing until they got a color TV. A similar switch could happen in the world of genomics as researchers at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology of the Max Delbrück Center (MDC-BIMSB) have developed a technique called Genome Architecture Mapping ("GAM") to peer into the genome and see it in glorious technicolor. GAM reveals information about the genome's spatial architecture that is invisible to scientists using solely Hi-C, a workhorse tool developed in 2009 to study DNA interactions, reports a new study in Nature Methods by the Pombo lab. "With a black-and-white TV, you can see the shapes but everything looks gray," says Professor Ana Pombo, a molecular biologist and head of the Epigenetic Regulation and Chromatin Architecture lab. "But if you have a color TV and look at flowers, you realize that they are red, yellow and white and we were unaware of it. Similarly, there's also information in the way the genome is folded in three-dimensions that we have not been aware of."
Understanding DNA
organization can reveal the basis of health and disease. Our cells pack a
2-meter-long genome into a roughly 10 micrometer-diameter nucleus. The
packaging is done precisely so that regulatory DNA comes in contact with the
right genes at the right times and turns them on and off. Changes to the
three-dimensional configuration can disrupt this process and cause disease.
"We've known for a
long time that diseases run in families," says Dr. Robert Beagrie,
co-first author of the study and a molecular biologist at the University of
Oxford, formerly at the Pombo lab. "More recently, we've come to
understand that a great deal of this predisposition is because we inherit DNA
sequence variants from our parents that affect how our genes are switched on
and off." GAM provides more complex information
 |
| Ana Pombo in the lab. Credit Pablo Castagnola, Max Delbrück Center |
Techniques such as Hi-C
and GAM allow scientists to freeze and study the interactions between
regulatory sequences and genes. In Hi-C, chromatin is cut into pieces using
enzymes and then glued together again in such a way that two-way DNA
interactions are revealed upon sequencing. In GAM, first described by the Pombo
team in Nature in 2017, scientists take hundreds of thin slices of nuclei, each
from individual cells, and extract DNA from them. They sequence the DNA and
statistically analyze the data to learn which regions interact.Using this
technique, the team created a map of the three-dimensional interactions. When
they compared this with existing 3D maps of the genome created using Hi-C, they
found many novel interactions. This puzzled them until they realized they were
seeing more complex interactions using GAM, with multiple regions of DNA coming
together at the same time. "These more complex contacts contain active
genes, regulatory regions, and super enhancers, which regulate important genes
that determine cell identity," says Dr. Christoph Thieme, co-first author
of the study and a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Pombo lab.
In comparison, Hi-C
captured mostly two-way interactions. Both techniques are complementary as two
in three contacts detected by GAM were not visible using Hi-C—and
vice-versa."I was super excited to see that we had uncovered a really
strong effect," Beagrie says. "It is clear that these complex
interactions were much more common than we had previously appreciated."
3) Lab-grown human
embryo models spark calls for regulation ,by Daniel Lawler:
 |
| The labs found different ways to encourage stem cells to grow into a structure that resembles a human embryo, for research purposes |
Several different labs
around the world have released pre-print studies in the past seven days
describing their research, which experts said should be treated with caution as
the research has not yet been peer-reviewed.
The labs used different
techniques to encourage human embryonic stem cells, which can become any type
of cell, to self-assemble into a structure that resembles an embryo—without
needing sperm, an egg or fertilization.The aim is to give scientists a model
with which to study human embryos in ways never before possible because of
ethical concerns, in the hopes of gaining new insight into the causes of birth
defects, genetic disorders, infertility and other problems during pregnancy.The
first announcement was last Wednesday, when Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz of
Cambridge University and the California Institute of Technology described her
team's work at the International Society for Stem Cell Research's annual
meeting in Boston.
Her presentation was
first reported by The Guardian newspaper.
 |
Dr Jacob Hanna working at Israel's Weizmann Institute of Science last year. |
On Thursday, the team of
Jacob Hanna at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel published a
pre-print study detailing their own work on stem cell-based human embryo
models.The Zernicka-Goetz team then quickly published a pre-print of their own,
giving more information. Other labs based in China and the United States
followed suit, releasing pre-prints late last week.
Researchers have pushed
back against media reports calling the clumps of cells "synthetic
embryos," saying that they are neither strictly synthetic, having grown
from stem cells, nor should they be considered embryos.
'Almost uncanny'
The flurry of data has
highlighted the highly competitive nature of research in this field.
Within a few weeks of
each other in August last year, both the Zernicka-Goetz and Hanna teams
published papers about their work creating the first embryo-like structures
using stem cells from mice.
Both teams told AFP that
their new studies were under review at peer-reviewed journals—and that they had
presented their work at conferences months before the recent media
attention.Hanna rejected the idea that either team was "first",
saying they had achieved quite different feats.
He told AFP that his
models had a "placenta, a yolk sac, amniotic cavity" and other embryo
features that he said the Zernicka-Goetz structures lacked.
Other researchers seemed
to agree that Hanna's models were more advanced, also praising his team for
using only chemical and not genetic modifications to coax the cells into
embryo-like structures.
"The similarity (of
Hanna's model) to the natural embryo is remarkable, almost uncanny," said
Jesse Veenvliet, a researcher at Germany's Max Planck Institute of Molecular
Cell Biology and Genetics.
Darius Widera, an expert
in stem cell biology at the UK's University of Reading, told AFP that it was
best to wait for peer review before comparing the research. But "the
impact of both studies is immense", he added.
"We should try to
avoid unhealthy hype since this technology is at an early stage—but already,
new guidelines are going to be needed."
Inside the 'black
box'?
Both labs said they had
developed their embryo models for 14 days, the legal limit for growing human
embryos in the lab in many countries. After 14 days embryos start organizing
cells to form organs including the brain, a period called the "black
box" because little is known about human embryos beyond that point.
Regulations for research
in this area differ between countries but most apply to embryos that have been
fertilized—a loophole the new embryo-like models slip through.
Cambridge University
said on Friday it had launched a project to develop the first governance
framework for stem cell-based human embryo models in the UK.
The scientists involved
have emphasized that they are not intending to implant their embryo models into
a human womb—and that even if this was done, it would not lead to a baby.An
embryo model implanted in a female macaque as part of earlier research did
induce some signs of pregnancy, but did not survive, Widera said.
James Briscoe of
Britain's Francis Crick Institute called for researchers to "proceed
cautiously, carefully and transparently"."The danger is that missteps
or unjustified claims will have a chilling effect on the public and
policymakers, this would be a major setback for the field."
4) Tooth fossil
found at Smithsonian turns out to be from ancient hippo-like creature ,by Bob
Yirka , Phys.org:
 |
| Image Description: Desmostylus sp. (USNM PAL 706595), lower molar (likely m2). Tooth in (a) lateral view; (b) lingual view; (c) ventral view; (d) occlusal view; (e) anterior and (f) posterior views. Abbreviations: cpl, cuspule; E, entoconid; EX, extra cusp; H, hypoconid; M, metaconid; P, protoconid; Y and Z, distal talonid (sensu Inuzuka et al. [5]). Credit: Royal Society Open Science (2023). DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221648 |
A pair of
paleobiologists with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural
History has found evidence of a long extinct herbivore marine mammal living in
what is now the Skooner Gulch Formation in northern California. In their paper
published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, Kumiko Matsui and Nicholas
Pyenson describe their study of an uncatalogued tooth they found among the
Institution's massive collection and what they learned about it.
%20The%20front%20side%20of%20the%20original%20handwritten%20label,%20(b)%20transcribed%20handwritten%20text%20in%20(a)..jpg){kind=spacer} |
| The original labels and photographs that are associated with USNM PAL 706595. (a) The front side of the original handwritten label, (b) transcribed handwritten text in (a). |
Prior research has shown
that millions of years ago, a type of marine animal that somewhat resembles the
modern hippopotamus lived along the shores of what is now the North Pacific.
Known as Desmostylus, the creature belonged to the genus Desmostylia.
In this new effort, the
research pair found a Desmostylus tooth that had been sitting unstudied in a
drawer at the Institution since the 1960s. Along with the tooth were some field
notes describing how the specimen had been dug up at a site in the Schooner
Gulch—a geological formation in northern California. The pair undertook a study
of the tooth to learn more about its possible origins. The work by the team
involved measuring the tooth and noting its physical characteristics compared
to others of its kind, and noting any differences. In so doing, they found
features that were expected along with some that were so different that the
research pair wondered if the tooth had come from a different species.
 |
| Desmostylus sp. |
The tooth, a molar, was
quite large, measuring 6.35 centimeters by 3.8 centimeters. It was also darker
than expected as well as shiny and heavy. They also noted that it had six large
cusps and that its enamel was extremely thick. Taken together, the characteristics
of the tooth suggested very strongly that it was a Desmostylus. The researchers
note that despite its appearance, the tooth features suggest the creature
likely behaved more like a sea lion than a hippo—it probably ate seaweed and
spent most of its time in shallow parts of the sea. The characteristics of the
tooth also suggested that it was older than most of the other specimens that
have been found over the years, which further suggested it was likely between
22 and 23 million years old, putting it in the early part of the Miocene.
5) Neanderthal cave
engravings identified as oldest known, more than 57,000 years old :
 |
| Trine Freiesleben and Jean-Claude discussing the fingerprints and where to take OSL samples. Credit Kristina Thomsen |
Markings on a cave wall
in France are the oldest known engravings made by Neanderthals, according to a
study published June 21, 2023, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by
Jean-Claude Marquet of the University of Tours, France and colleagues.
Research in recent
decades has revealed a great deal about the cultural complexity of
Neanderthals. However, relatively little is known about their symbolic or
artistic expression. Only a short list of symbolic productions are attributed
to Neanderthals, and the interpretation of these is often the subject of
debate. In this study, Marquet and colleagues identified markings on a cave
wall in France as the oldest known Neanderthal engravings.
.%20On%20the%20left%20the%20circular%20panel%20ogive-shaped%20tracings)and%20on%20the%20right%20the%20wavy%20panel%20(two%20contiguous%20tracings%20forming%20sinuous%20lines.jpg) |
| Examples of engravings discovered in the Roche-Cotard cave (Indre et Loire–France). On the left the circular panel ogive-shaped tracings)and on the right the wavy panel (two contiguous tracings forming sinuous lines |
The cave is La
Roche-Cotard in the Center-Val de Loire of France, where a series of
non-figurative markings on the wall are interpreted as finger-flutings, marks
made by human hands. The researchers made a plotting analysis and used
photogrammetry to create 3D models of these markings, comparing them with known
and experimental human markings. Based on the shape, spacing, and arrangement
of these engravings, the team concluded that they are deliberate, organized and
intentional shapes created by human hands. The team also dated cave sediments
with optically-stimulated luminescence dating, determining that the cave became
closed off by infilling sediment around 57,000 years ago, well before Homo
sapiens became established in the region. This, combined with the fact that
stone tools within the cave are only Mousterian, a technology associated with
Neanderthals, is strong evidence that these engravings are the work of
Neanderthals.
Because these are
non-figurative symbols, the intent behind them is unclear. They are, however,
of a similar age with cave engravings made by Homo sapiens in other parts of
the world. This adds to a growing body of evidence that the behavior and
activities of Neanderthals were similarly complex and diverse as those of our
own ancestors.
The authors add,
"Fifteen years after the resumption of excavations at the La Roche-Cotard
site, the engravings have been dated to over 57,000 years ago and, thanks to
stratigraphy, probably to around 75,000 years ago, making this the oldest
decorated cave in France, if not Europe."
6) Physicists
discover a new switch for superconductivity ,by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology :
But what exactly drives
this transition in the first place? The answer could help scientists improve
existing superconductors and discover new ones.Now, MIT physicists have
identified the key to how one class of superconductors undergoes a nematic
transition, and it's in surprising contrast to what many scientists had
assumed.
The physicists made
their discovery studying iron selenide (FeSe), a two-dimensional material that
is the highest-temperature iron-based superconductor. The material is known to
switch to a superconducting state at temperatures as high as 70 kelvins (close
to -300 degrees Fahrenheit). Though still ultracold, this transition
temperature is higher than that of most superconducting materials.
The higher the
temperature at which a material can exhibit superconductivity, the more
promising it can be for use in the real world, such as for realizing powerful
electromagnets for more precise and lightweight MRI machines or high-speed,
magnetically levitating trains.
For those and other
possibilities, scientists will first need to understand what drives a nematic
switch in high-temperature superconductors like iron selenide. In other
iron-based superconducting materials, scientists have observed that this switch
occurs when individual atoms suddenly shift their magnetic spin toward one
coordinated, preferred magnetic direction.But the MIT team found that iron
selenide shifts through an entirely new mechanism. Rather than undergoing a
coordinated shift in spins, atoms in iron selenide undergo a collective shift
in their orbital energy. It's a fine distinction, but one that opens a new door
to discovering unconventional superconductors."Our study reshuffles things
a bit when it comes to the consensus that was created about what drives
nematicity," says Riccardo Comin, the Class of 1947 Career Development
Associate Professor of Physics at MIT. "There are many pathways to get to
unconventional superconductivity. This offers an additional avenue to realize
superconducting states."Comin and his colleagues published their results
in a study appearing in Nature Materials. Co-authors at MIT include Connor
Occhialini, Shua Sanchez, and Qian Song, along with Gilberto Fabbris, Yongseong
Choi, Jong-Woo Kim, and Philip Ryan at Argonne National Laboratory. Following
the thread
The word
"nematicity" stems from the Greek word "nema," meaning
"thread"—for instance, to describe the thread-like body of the
nematode worm. Nematicity is also used to describe conceptual threads, such as
coordinated physical phenomena. For instance, in the study of liquid crystals,
nematic behavior can be observed when molecules assemble in coordinated
lines.In recent years, physicists have used nematicity to describe a
coordinated shift that drives a material into a superconducting state. Strong
interactions between electrons cause the material as a whole to stretch
infinitesimally, like microscopic taffy, in one particular direction that
allows electrons to flow freely in that direction. The big question has been
what kind of interaction causes the stretching. In some iron-based materials,
this stretching seems to be driven by atoms that spontaneously shift their
magnetic spins to point in the same direction. Scientists have therefore assumed
that most iron-based superconductors make the same, spin-driven transition.But
iron selenide seems to buck this trend. The material, which happens to
transition into a superconducting state at the highest temperature of any
iron-based material, also seems to lack any coordinated magnetic
behavior."Iron selenide has the least clear story of all these
materials," says Sanchez, who is an MIT postdoc and NSF MPS-Ascend Fellow.
"In this case, there's no magnetic order. So, understanding the origin of
nematicity requires looking very carefully at how the electrons arrange
themselves around the iron atoms, and what happens as those atoms stretch
apart."
A super continuum
In their new study, the
researchers worked with ultrathin, millimeter-long samples of iron selenide,
which they glued to a thin strip of titanium. They mimicked the structural
stretching that occurs during a nematic transition by physically stretching the
titanium strip, which in turn stretched the iron selenide samples. As they
stretched the samples by a fraction of a micron at a time, they looked for any
properties that shifted in a coordinated fashion.Using ultrabright X-rays, the
team tracked how the atoms in each sample were moving, as well as how each
atom's electrons were behaving. After a certain point, they observed a
definite, coordinated shift in the atoms' orbitals. Atomic orbitals are
essentially energy levels that an atom's electrons can occupy. In iron
selenide, electrons can occupy one of two orbital states around an iron atom.
Normally, the choice of which state to occupy is random.But the team found that
as they stretched the iron selenide, its electrons began to overwhelmingly
prefer one orbital state over the other. This signaled a clear, coordinated
shift, along with a new mechanism of nematicity, and superconductivity.
"What we've shown
is that there are different underlying physics when it comes to spin versus
orbital nematicity, and there's going to be a continuum of materials that go
between the two," says Occhialini, an MIT graduate student.
"Understanding where you are on that landscape will be important in
looking for new superconductors."
1) I know how
Himanta Biswa Sarma operates: Congress leader on Kuki militant chief's claim,
By Poulomi Ghosh :
As the Assam Congress
questioned the allegation of Himanta's link with the Kuki militant group,
Digvijaya Singh said the connection was old.
As a 2019 letter by Kuki
militant leader SS Haokip alleging that BJP took help from the militant groups
to win elections in northeast states come to the surface, the Congress trained
its gun against former Congressman Himanta Biswa Sarma as his name featured in
the letter. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said Himanta Biswa
Sarma's 'contacts with militants is old news'/ "I know how Himanta
operates," the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh said.
As a 2019 letter by Kuki
militant leader SS Haokip alleging that BJP took help from the militant groups
to win elections in northeast states come to the surface, the Congress trained
its gun against former Congressman Himanta Biswa Sarma as his name featured in
the letter. Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday said Himanta Biswa
Sarma's 'contacts with militants is old news'/ "I know how Himanta
operates," the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh said. The 2019
letter written by Haokip was reportedly submitted as an annexure in an NIA
court early this month in connection with the ongoing violence in Manipur. It
said 'Hemanta Bishwas Sarma' and Ram Madhav took the help of the Kuki militant
groups to win the 2017 assembly election. Despite a different spelling, the
Congress said it was certain that Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was
mentioned in the letter. "I took a very important role in the formation of
BJP-led government in the state. To be very frank had these been not supported
by us it would have been almost impossible to install the BJP-led government in
the state. In the recently concluded Parliamentary Election, BJP candidate
secured almost 80-90 per cent votes within the area of our operation,” the
letter as quoted by reports said.
While Himanta did not
comment on the allegations, Ram Madhav refuted the charges and said he did not
remember meeting Kuki militants. On Wednesday, Assam Congress president Bhupen
Kumar Borah sat on a dharna demanding the immediate arrest of the Assam chief
minister under the National Security Act. "What has long been believed is
now proven in black and white. It reinforces what I have been saying all along:
Manipur is burning today because of the politics of the RSS/BJP," Congress
general secretary Jairam Ramesh said. "Does cohabitating with a militant outfit
not violate the oath of office by Assam CM? Does he have right to continue in
office till the conclusion of the investigations?" Congress's Randeep
Singh Surjewala said.
2) PM Modi
exchanges special gifts with US President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden :
The leaders exchanged
gifts during a private dinner hosted by Joe Biden and Jill Biden for PM Modi at
the White House. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on the third leg of his
maiden state visit to the United States, on Wednesday (local time) was welcomed
by US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House where
they exchanged special gifts.
PM Modi gifted a
lab-grown 7.5-carat green 'Made in India' diamond to Jill Biden. The diamond
reflects earth-mined diamonds' chemical and optical properties and is certified
by the Gemological lab, IGI.
It is also eco-friendly,
as eco-diversified resources like Solar and wind power were used in its making.
PM Modi also gifted a Kashmiri exquisite 'papier mache' box in which the green
diamond is placed US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden gifted PM
Modi a handmade, antique American book galley from the early 20th Century,
according to the White House Joe Biden also gifted Prime Minister Modi a
vintage American camera, accompanied by an archival facsimile print of George
Eastman's Patent of the first Kodak camera, and a hardcover book on American
wildlife photography. Jill Biden gifted PM Modi a signed, first-edition copy of
"Collected Poems of Robert Frost
Thanking US President Joe
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for hosting him at the White House PM Modi
tweeted, "I thank @POTUS @JoeBiden and @FLOTUS @DrBiden for hosting me at
the White House today. We had a great conversation on several subjects
3) KT Rama Rao to
meet Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh during 2-day visit to Delhi :
This development comes
on a day when 18 non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties are meeting in Patna
as part of efforts to unite ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls Bharat Rashtra
Samithi (BRS) working president and Telangana minister for industries and
Information Technology KT Rama Rao is on a two-day visit to New Delhi where he
will meet union home minister Amit Shah and defence minister Rajnath Singh.
This development comes on a day when 18 non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
parties are meeting in Patna as part of efforts to unite ahead of the 2024 Lok
Sabha polls.
BRS chief and Telangana
chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, who has been one of the key interlocutors
for the unity, also decided against attending the meeting. KTR will be meeting
Shah for the first time. The last time he had visited the national Capital was
in June 2022, when he met union minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep
Singh Puri.
A BRS leader familiar
with the development said KTR’s Delhi visit is essentially meant for taking up
various pending projects pertaining to Telangana. According to the BRS leader
quoted above, KTR will not discuss politics during his meeting with the central
ministers.
“The BRS working
president will only take up with Centre issues like allotment of defence land
at Secunderabad cantonment for construction of flyovers and skyways, allocation
of land belonging to home ministry for expansion of road at Rasoolpura,
development of airport at Mamnoor in Warangal, central assistance for expansion
of metro rail network, among others” he said.Telangana BJP president Bandi
Sanjay said there was a conspiracy behind KTR’s Delhi visit to meet the union
ministers, particularly Amit Shah in the name of pursuing developmental works
pertaining to Telangana, ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections in
Telangana.“It appears KTR wants to blame the BJP government at the Centre, if
it did not respond to the proposals put forth by him during the meetings with
central ministers just before the elections. He wants to create an issue by
saying the Centre is not cooperating with the state in developmental
programmes,” Sanjay alleged.
4) Key opposition
meet to chart roadmap for Lok Sabha polls: Check who all are attending By
Shobhit Gupta :
Opposition meet in Patna: Nitish Kumar, who snapped ties with the BJP last year, has held discussions with several top leaders in the last few months.
The Opposition leaders
on Friday set the stage to get into a huddle in Bihar's Patna to chalk out the
strategy for the 2024 general elections. Hosted by Bihar chief minister Nitish
Kumar, the key parties, most of the non-BJP parties, regional and national,
would arrive at a consensus to forge a united opposition front to take on the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the next year's Lok Sabha elections.
Nitish Kumar, who
snapped ties with the BJP last year, has held discussions with several top
leaders in the last few months and has emerged as the fulcrum of the campaign
to cobble up opposition unity. A total of 15 parties are attending the meeting.
However, BJP has
dismissed the opposition meeting as a 'futile exercise', saying that such an
"opportunistic alliance would not yield any results”.
Here is a list of
the leaders who are attending the crucial meet:
1. Bihar chief minister
Nitish Kumar (JDU)
2. West Bengal chief
minister Mamata Banerjee (AITC)
3. Tamil Nadu chief
minister MK Stalin (DMK)
4. Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge (INC)
5. Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi (INC)
6. Delhi chief minister
Arvind Kejriwal (AAP)
7. Jharkhand chief
minister Hemant Soren (JMM)
8. Uddhav Thackeray
(SS-UBT)
9. Sharad Pawar (NCP)
10. Lalu Prasad Yadav
(RJD)
11. Punjab chief
minister Bhagwant Mann (AAP)
12. Akhilesh Yadav (SP)
13. Sitaram Yechury
(CPIM)
14. Omar Abdullah (NC)
15. TR Baalu (DMK)
16. Mehbooba Mufti (PDP)
17. Dipankar
Bhattacharya (CPIML)
18. Bihar deputy chief
minister Tejashwi Yadav (RJD)
19. Congress general
secretary KC Venugopal (INC)
20. Abhishek Banerjee
(AITC)
21. Derek O’Brien (AITC)
22. Aaditya Thackeray
(SS-UBT)
23. D Raja (CPI)
24. Supriya Sule (NCP)
31. Lalan Singh (JDU)
32. Sanjay Jha (JDU)
5) Rice
distribution should be free of politics: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah appeals to
Union Home Minister:
Siddaramaiah who met
with Shah late on Wednesday in New Delhi and discussed the issue of rice supply
to the State told him that the Centre's policy was causing obstacles in supply
of food for the poor, according to the Chief Minister's office.
Karnataka Chief Minister
Siddaramaiah has urged Union Home Minister not to do politics of hate or any
other politics regarding the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, which provides additional 5
kg of rice for each member of BPL families in the State. Siddaramaiah who met
with Shah late on Wednesday in New Delhi and discussed the issue of rice supply
to the State told him that the Centre's policy was causing obstacles in supply
of food for the poor, according to the Chief Minister's office.
Shah said he will
discuss the issue with Union Food Minister Piyush Goyal. Speaking to reporters
at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday morning before leaving for
Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said during his meeting with Shah, it was brought to
the attention of the Home Minister that the rice distribution to the State has
been suspended by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) a day after giving a
letter of consent.
Amit Shah has promised
to speak to the concerned ministers, Siddaramaiah said. Siddaramaiah also
informed that two Indian Reserve Police (IRP) battalions have been provided to
the State and a request has been made to provide two more battalions.
Karnataka Chief Minister
had earlier alleged that the Union Government was not allowing the Food
Corporation of India (FCI) to sell rice to the State to roll out its "Anna
Bhagya" scheme. Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya on Saturday rejected the
allegations. Underlining that food security should be of "paramount
concern" at all times, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also alleged on
Wednesday that the Union Government's June 13 circular banning the sale of rice
to states from the Food Corporation of India under the Open Market Sale Scheme
was an "attempt" to scuttle the 'Anna Bhagya' scheme, one among five
poll promises made by the grand old party in the Karnataka.
BJP and Congress leaders
are engaged in a war of words over the ban on the sale of rice to states after
the Siddaramiah-led Congress government returned to power in the state by
securing an emphatic victory in the May 13 poll results. (ANI)
6) ‘See, what
happened in Karnataka?’: Rahul Gandhi before Opposition meet in Bihar By
Poulomi Ghosh:
Congress will win
Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh as it did in Karnataka,
Rahul Gandhi said ahead of Opposition's meeting in Patna.
Congress leader Rahul
Gandhi addressing the party workers in Patna ahead of the mega meet of the
opposition leaders said Congress will win in Telangana, Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh by defeating the BJP. “You saw what happened in Karnataka. The BJP
leaders toured everywhere, made long speeches and claimed that they will have a
sweep. But did you see what happened? I am saying this from this stage that you
won't see the BJP in Telangana, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh or Madhya Pradesh. Why?
Because the Congress is standing with the poor,” Rahul Gandhi said. “The entire
country now understands that BJP means the progress of two-three people. On the
other hand, Congress means the development of the poor people,” Rahul Gandhi
said.
"Aap ka mood kaisa
hai? Mood achha hai?" Rahul Gandhi said as he began his speech. This is
the first public address of Rahul Gandhi after his US visit.
"You all know there
is a battle of ideologies going on in India. On one hand, there is Congress's
Bharat Jodo ideology, on the other hand, there is RSS, BJP's Bharat Todo
ideology. We have come here because the Congress's DNA is in Bihar. People from
Bihar contributed a lot to our Bharat Jodo Yatra. Everywhere I used to ask
people where they came from. The answer was Bihar. You joined the yatra because
you believe in the ideology," Rahul Gandhi said. "You know hatred
can't end hatred. Only love can. All opposition party leaders are here
today," Rahul Gandhi said.
Before Rahul Gandhi,
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said if the party wins Bihar, they can
win across the country.
Leaders of around 20
parties, including chief ministers of opposition-ruled states are in Patna to
attend the meeting convened by Nitish Kumar. The meeting aims to chart out a
road for the opposition unity in 2024 Lok Sabha election.
7) “Embarrassing
Spectacle”: Progressive Dems Boycott Modi’s Congress Speech:
Progressive Democrats
boycotted Narendra Modi’s speech to Congress Thursday, citing the Indian prime
minister’s terrible human rights record.
Modi met with President
Joe Biden earlier in the day to discuss strengthening the relationship between
their two countries. Democrats in both the House and Senate had urged Biden to
press Modi on human rights issues. In a letter to the president on Tuesday, 75
lawmakers cited “the shrinking of political space, the rise of religious
intolerance, the targeting of civil society organizations and journalists, and
growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access.”
Modi’s speech to Congress,
though, was widely attended—minus several prominent progressive Democrats.
Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar had said Wednesday that they would
boycott the address. They were joined a few hours later by Representative
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
Tlaib, Omar, Cori Bush,
and Jamaal Bowman released a joint statement ahead of the speech Thursday
explaining their intention to boycott the address, which they called an
“embarrassing spectacle.”
“When it comes to
standing up for human rights, actions speak louder than words,” the statement
said. “By bestowing Prime Minister Modi with the rare honor of a joint address,
Congress undermines its ability to be a credible advocate for the rights of
religious minorities and journalists around the world.”
Tlaib, Omar, Cori Bush,
and Jamaal Bowman released a joint statement ahead of the speech Thursday
explaining their intention to boycott the address, which they called an
“embarrassing spectacle.”
“When it comes to
standing up for human rights, actions speak louder than words,” the statement
said. “By bestowing Prime Minister Modi with the rare honor of a joint address,
Congress undermines its ability to be a credible advocate for the rights of
religious minorities and journalists around the world.” The activists said it
might be tricky for Indian American lawmakers to speak out against Modi’s
visit, lest they face the same kind of pushback.
Seventy-five
Democratic senators and
members of the House of Representatives on Tuesday urged United States
President Joe Biden to raise human rights issues with Prime Minister Narendra
Modi during his visit to Washington.
In a letter to Biden,
the legislators said they were concerned about the shrinking of political
space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society
organisations and journalists and growing restrictions on press freedoms and
internet access in India.
“We do not endorse any
particular Indian leader or political party – that is the decision of the
people of India – but we do stand in support of the important principles that
should be a core part of American foreign policy,” the leaders said.
8) Manipur violence
| Amit Shah calls all-party meeting on June 24:
 |
| A makeshift roadblock placed in the middle of a street by a mob during protests in Imphal on June 19, 2023 |
The meeting was
announced after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Mr. Shah . Nearly
50 days after ethnic violence erupted in Manipur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah
has convened an all-party meeting on June 24 to discuss the situation in the
State.
The Union Home Ministry
tweeted on Wednesday that the meeting would be held at 3 p.m. in Delhi. More
than 100 people have been killed in the ongoing violence in the northeastern
State and more than 50,000 people have been displaced.
The meeting was
announced after Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Mr. Shah late on
Wednesday.
The Home Minister had
visited Manipur from May 29 to June 1 and met Kuki and Meitei representatives.
Mr. Shah later tasked Mr. Sarma to carry forward the dialogue with the two
groups even as violence continued in the State despite an appeal for peace by
the minister. Mr. Shah will be in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on June 22 and
he is expected to visit Jammu and Kashmir on June 23.<SU>Several members
of legislative assembly (MLA) from Manipur are camping in Delhi expecting to
meet prime minister Narendra Modi. Mr. Modi is on a two-nation visit to U.S and
Egypt from June 21-26.<LQ>The delegation comprising the Meitei MLAs met
defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Sambit Patra, BJP incharge of Manipur.
Three injured in
blast
Three persons, including
two minors, were injured when a car bomb exploded near Moirang in Bishnupur
district on Wednesday evening. The three have been hospitalised.
Meanwhile, the Mizoram
government has sought ₹10 crore from the Centre to provide relief to 11,785
people displaced by the violence. A government spokesperson said Mizoram Chief
Minister Zoramthanga had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 16 and
May 23 seeking the funds.
Manipur violence:
Dissent brews against CM Biren Singh
Differences have emerged
among BJP legislators on Singh’s handling of the issue and some of them want
him to quit to ensure an early resolution of the crisis
GUWAHATI/New Delhi
Rumblings against the N Biren Singh government grew louder in Manipur and New
Delhi on Tuesday, with even lawmakers from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party
and its allies expressing dissatisfaction with the volatile situation in the
northeastern state that has been grappling with ethnic strife.
Differences have emerged
among BJP legislators on Singh’s handling of the issue and some of them want
him to quit to ensure an early resolution of the crisis. Speaking on condition
of anonymity, senior leaders in the Capital said that there were concerns
within the party that the continued violence may hit the BJP’s “double-engine government”
plank and hamper their electoral prospects in the states scheduled to go to the
polls this year, including Mizoram.
Manipur has been on the
boil since May 3 witnessing widespread ethnic clashes between the Meitei
community, who are dominant in Imphal valley, and the Kuki community, who are
in majority in the hill districts. The violence has claimed at least 115 lives,
injured over 300 and displaced as many as 40,000 people from both communities.
Singh, who is a Meitei, has been blamed by Kuki groups for taking sides.
“Ten Kuki MLAs,
including seven from the BJP, have gone public with their opposition to the
chief minister. Though there’s no open and vocal opposition among other BJP
MLAs, there are some of us who are unhappy with how he has handled the crisis
in Manipur till date and want some changes so that there is an early
resolution,” a BJP MLA from Manipur said on Tuesday, seeking anonymity. Nine
state legislators, including eight from the BJP and an independent who supports
the state government, submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister’s Office
(PMO) in New Delhi on Monday that said there was complete breakdown of law and
order in the state.
“At present, there is no
trust and confidence in the government and administration. Public have lost
complete faith in the present state government,” the memorandum said. “Some
special measures for proper administration and function of the government by
following rule of law may kindly be resorted to so that the trust and
confidence of the general public is restored.”
“The present crisis is
going on for long and people are unhappy with the way it’s being handled.
That’s why we want the Centre to intervene and find some solution to it. Hence,
we went to the PMO and submitted the memorandum,” BJP MLA Yumnam Radheyshyam
said on Tuesday.
Radheyshyam was among
the nine MLAs who went to the PMO and among 30 odd lawmakers from the BJP and
its allies in Manipur who on Monday met Union defence minister Rajnath Singh.
Later, 23 of them met finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The legislators
apprised both central ministers about the situation in the border state
The National Peoples
Party (NPP), the second largest party in the 60-member assembly with seven
MLAs, and an ally of the BJP, has threatened to withdraw support if the
situation doesn’t improve within the next few days.
“Things have gone out of
hand for more than a month now. It can’t remain the way it is, or else the
people won’t forgive us,” Yumnam Joykumar, former deputy chief minister and
national vice president of NPP, said on Tuesday. “We will watch the situation
for the next three days. If it doesn’t improve, we will seriously reconsider our
support to the state government.”
9) Sexual
harassment case against Brij Bhushan transferred to MP, MLA court :
Chief metropolitan
magistrate (CMM) Mahima Rai Singh assigned the matter to ACMM Harjeet Singh
Jaspal. The matter has now been listed for further hearing before the court on
June 27.
A Delhi court on
Thursday transferred the sexual harassment case filed against former Wrestling
Federation of India (WFI) chief Brijbhushan Sharan Singh by the Delhi police to
the additional chief metropolitan magistrate (ACMM) MP/MLA court for further
hearing.
The Delhi police had on
June 15 filed a 1,082 charge sheet against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP
before a vacation judge charging him with sexual harassment, stalking, and
assault or force to outrage the modesty of a woman based on several complaints
filed by woman wrestlers, including a minor.
Chief metropolitan
magistrate (CMM) Mahima Rai Singh assigned the matter to ACMM Harjeet Singh
Jaspal. The matter has now been listed for further hearing before the court on
June 27. ACMM Jaspal is currently also hearing an application moved by the
wrestlers seeking a court-monitored probe into the matter.
Special Public
Prosecutor (SPP) Atul Srivastava had in the previous hearing submitted before
the court that a related matter was being heard by ACMM Jaspal and this matter
should be also sent to the same court. The court had thus on June 15 listed the
matter before the CMM for further hearing.The Delhi police had registered two
cases against Singh after the intervention of the Supreme Court on April 28–
one by six women wrestlers and another by a minor woman wrestler who later
changed her statements.
The Delhi police had
later filed a 552-page cancellation report in Delhi Patiala House Court in the
case filed by the minor woman wrestler which is listed for hearing on July 5.
The minor was among the
women athletes who levelled sexual harassment charges against Singh, who headed
WFI for 12 years. Against Singh, renowned Indian wrestlers, including Olympian
medallists held protests at Jantar Mantar for 38 days demanding Singh’s
immediate arrest until the Delhi police uprooted their tents there on May 28.
They suspended their protest after Union minister Anurag Thakur on June 7 met
Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi Malik and assured them that the
charge sheet in the case would be filed by June 15. According to deputy police
commissioner Pranav Tayal Singh– a six-time BJP MP– was charged under sections
354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual
harassment) and 354D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). His aide,
former WFI assistant secretary Vinod Tomar, was charged under the Indian Penal
Code sections 109 (abetment), 354, 354A, and 506 (criminal intimidation), added
Tayal.
10) Opposition
Patna Meet Live Updates: Amid Cong vs AAP, Oppn leaders agree to fight BJP
together in 2024 Lok Sabha polls:
 |
| Bihar CM Nitish Kumar greets Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge ahead of the Opposition meet |
Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge informed that the Opposition leaders will next meet in
Shimla to finalise the modalities of the front. Following the first meeting of
the Opposition parties to forge a common front against the ruling BJP for the
2024 Lok Sabha elections in Patna today, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, while
addressing a press meet, said that all the leaders have agreed to fight
unitedly against current regime in the Centre. Congress president Mallikarjun
Kharge further informed that the next meet in Shimla will finalise the
modalities of the front. This comes despite differences between AAP and the
Congress during the meeting, where the former made it clear that it would be
“very difficult” for it to be part of an alliance until the Grand Old Party
denounced the Centre’s ordinance in Delhi.
Reacting to the meet,
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack, with Union Home
Minister Amit Shah calling it a “photo session” and saying that the various
Opposition parties can never be united. BJP MP Sushil Modi said, “This is a
‘Gathbandhan of Thugs’. They are preparing to fool the country. They have no
principle, or policy and all are involved in corruption”.
Raising the pitch for a
united Opposition front in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress president
Mallikarjun Kharge said that “Congress’ ideology can never be separated from
Bihar”. He also said that Rahul Gandhi was instrumental in bringing together
Opposition leaders from across the country. Kharge added, “If we win Bihar, we
will win India. Kharge was addressing party workers at the Congress office in
Patna, ahead of the joint Opposition meeting.
Oppn parties have single
goal of defeating BJP: MK Stalin
DMK President and Tamil
Nadu CM MK Stalin, while addressing the media following the Opposition meet in
Patna, said: “A consultative meeting of various opposition parties was held in
Bihar today to save India's democracy. All Opposition parties have a single
goal — to defeat the BJP. We haven’t decided yet on who will be the PM
candidate.”
There will be no
polls in future if this 'dictatorial' govt returns: Mamata Banerjee
There will be no more
elections in future if this "dictatorial" government returns, West
Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee warned on Friday while
asserting that leaders of all non-BJP parties have decided to unitedly fight
the saffron party in 2024.
"If this
dictatorial government returns this time, there will be no elections in
future," she said at a press conference. "We are united, we will
fight unitedly. Do not call us the opposition, we are patriotic and we love
'Bharat Mata'. We also feel the pain when Manipur burns. The BJP is running a
government dictatorially," Banerjee asserted.
The TMC supremo said the
first meeting of opposition leaders was organised in Patna as "whatever
starts from Patna, takes the shape of the public movement". "We
resolve that we all are united and will fight unitedly against the BJP,"
she said and added that "the BJP wants to change history, but we will
ensure history is saved".
11) On the table as
Modi meets Biden: purchase of armed drones, NASA-ISRO joint mission,
semiconductor boost:
 |
| Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden during the State Arrival Ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, in Washington DC |
White House officials
also said that the US will open two new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad
while India will establish a mission in Seattle, and they are going to launch a
pilot to decide on renewals of H1B visas without having to travel back to
India.
Ahead of Prime Minister
Narendra Modi’s meeting Thursday with US President Joe Biden for official
talks, the two leaders discussed a wide range of issues at a private dinner
hosted by the US President and First Lady Jill Biden at the White House
Wednesday night.
While Indian government
sources said that they reviewed the possible outcomes of the formal bilateral
meeting, White House officials previewed the possible outcomes of the visit: a
mega deal on the purchase of General Atomics MQ-9 “Reaper” armed drones by India,
a joint mission by the NASA and ISRO to the International Space Station in 2024
and New Delhi joining the Artemis Accords, which brings like-minded countries
together on civil space exploration.
 |
| Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in the United States |
The officials also said that Micron Technology with support from the Indian National Semiconductor Mission will make an investment of more than USD 800 million and US firm Applied Materials will establish a new semiconductor centre for innovation. They said the US will also announce its support for India becoming a member of the Mineral Security Partnership to strengthen the critical minerals supply chain. White House officials also said that the US will open two new consulates in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad while India will establish a mission in Seattle, and they are going to launch a pilot to decide on renewals of H1B visas without having to travel back to India.
1) India beats
Lebanon to win Intercontinental Cup title :
Sunil Chhetri and
Lallianzuala Chhangte got on the scoresheet to guide the Blue Tigers to the
Intercontinental title win against Lebanon.
 |
| Indian football team players celebrating after being champion in the Hero Intercontinental Cup 2023 final match after beating Lebanon at Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar. |
India lifted the
Intercontinental Cup as it tamed a young Lebanon side by two second-half goals
at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday.Having held to a goalless draw by Lebanon
in the last league outing of the tournament, India doubled its bid to find the
break as Lebanon dug its heels in defence. Finishing woes continued to bother
India in the unproductive opening session which saw the host making a few
openings but failing to convert.India made a powerful shout for a penalty in
the sixth minute when Ashique Kuruniyan went down inside the Lebanon box after
being tripped by the opposition defender Hussain Zain. The referee disregarded
the call as India renewed its search for the goal without much avail.
Sahal Abdul Samad weaved
past a couple of Lebanon defenders in the 16th minute before making a square
pass to Chhetri. But before the Indian captain could reach the ball, the
Lebanon defence intercepted. The change of ends altered India’s fortune and the
host found the lead in the very first minute when Chhetri found his 87th
international goal thanks to a nice coordination on the right flank between
Nikhil Poojary and Chhangte. The goal charged up the Indian camp as it went in
search of more to seal the victory.
India doubled its lead
in the 66th minute when substitute Naoram Mahesh Singh was released by Chhetri
on the left. The winger fired a rasping left-footer which was blocked by
Lebanese goalkeeper Ali Sabeh. Chhangte was lurking close by to score from the
rebound. This was enough to secure India’s win as Lebanon was effectively
restricted by a disciplined performance by the Indian defence – Sandesh Jhingan
and Anwar Ali in the centre. And Nikhil Poojary and Akash Mishra on the flanks.
The win also broke a
long-standing jinx for India which collected its second win against Lebanon
after a break of 46 years. India had won the first meeting in 1977 as the next
six meetings saw three draws and three losses for the host. The triumph
completed India’s camp at Bhubaneswar. The focus now moves to Bengaluru where India
will be starting its next campaign on June 21 to defend its SAFF Championship
crown.
The result: India 2
(Chhetri 46, Chhangte 66) bt Lebanon 0..
2) India vs
Pakistan, SAFF Championship 2023 Highlights: Sunil Chhetri scores hat-trick as
India win 4-0:
SAFF Championship 2023,
India vs Pakistan Football Match Highlights: This was the first football match
between India and Pakistan since September 2018.
 |
| Indian Captain Sunil Chhetri with team mates celebrates after scoring a goal during the match against Pakistan at SAFF Championship 2023 at Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru |
Indian football team got off to the best possible start in the SAFF Championship after drubbing the Pakistan side 4-0, thanks to three goals from talisman Sunil Chhetri. two of Chhetri’s goals came from the penalty spot while he capitalised on a blunder from the Pakistan keeper Saqib Hanif to score his first of the night.
Udanta Singh scored
India’s fourth goal on a night they dominated their arch-rivals, who had faced
many troubles even getting to Bengaluru for the tournament. Many members of the
Pakistan team arrived just hours before kick-off after the team did not receive
their visas in time.
This was the first
football match between India and Pakistan since September 2018. On that day
five years ago, India had defeated the neighbours 3-1 in the semifinal of the
SAFF tournament. After the win over Pakistan, India will take on Nepal on June
24, and Kuwait on June 27. Pakistan, meanwhile, are scheduled to face Kuwait on
June 24 and Nepal on June 27 after today’s game.
3) Archery World
Cup Stage-3: Compound archers bag two team bronze medals :
The second-ranked men’s
team, consisting of Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale and Prathamesh Jawkar, beat
Chile 237-228 and Slovenia 237-223 before losing 237-237 (27-29) to Mexico in
the semifinals
 |
| Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale and Prathamesh Jawkar of India during the Archery World Cup Stage -3 |
Indian compound men and
women teams have won bronze medals in the Archery World Cup Stage-3 at
Medellin, Colombia
The second-ranked men’s
team, consisting of Abhishek Verma, Ojas Deotale and Prathamesh Jawkar, beat
Chile 237-228 and Slovenia 237-223 before losing 237-237 (27-29) to Mexico in
the semifinals. India beat the host 236-228 in the bronze medal match.
The top-placed Indian women’s
team, comprising Aditi Swami, V.Jyothi Surekha and Parneet Kaur, received a
first-round bye and defeated El Salvador 230-223 before going down 232-232
(28-29) to the USA in the semifinals. India edged out Mexico 232-232 (29*-29)
by shooting closer to the centre in the shoot-off for the bronze.
4) Bhavani Devi
becomes first Indian fencer to win medal in Asian Championships:
Olympian C.A. Bhavani
Devi created history by securing India’s first-ever medal — a bronze — at the
Asian fencing championships in Wuxi, China, on Monday.
 |
| Trend-setter Bhavani’s bronze is India’s first in the continental event |
Bhavani lost to
Uzbekistan’s Zaynab Dayibekova in a hard-fought semifinal 14-15 of the women’s
sabre event, but ensured India its maiden medal in the event.
 |
| Bhavani’s performance will give her the impetus for her next assignment in World championships |
Earlier, she shocked
reigning world champion Misaki Emura of Japan 15-10 in the quarterfinals, her
first win against the Japanese fencer.Bhavani said her dream to beat a few
top-ranked players in the world had been realised and she was particularly
happy to get the better of Misaki. “It feels great to become the first Indian to
win a bronze for the country at the Asian meet. Beating Misaki was huge because
she is a good and consistent fencer. I had lost in the round of 16 to Misaki in
the previous Asians, but I had a plan this time and it worked,” Bhavani told
The Hindu over phone from Wuxi.
The Indian gave it her
all before losing the last-four clash. At 14-14, the referee flashed the red
card against Bhavani for ‘early start’. She wanted a video referral, but the
referee rejected it on the grounds that it is available only for ‘blade
contact’. Both fencers had received a yellow card earlier in the match.
The 29-year-old
Bhavani’s next assignment will be the World championships in Milan from July 22
to 30.
5) Global Chess
League: Competing after nearly eight months, Viswanathan Anand defeats Duda to
seal win for Ganges Grandmasters:
The Ganges Grandmasters
will return on Friday for a game against the SG Alpine Warriors, which will see
Anand take on recently-dethroned world champion Magnus Carlsen
 |
| Viswanathan Anand and Jan-Krzysztof Duda exchange handshakes after their match. |
Five-time men’s world
champion Viswanathan Anand and four-time women’s world champion Hou Yifan led
the Ganges Grandmasters to a 10-4 victory over the Chingari Gulf Titans on the
first day of the first edition of the Global Chess League.
What made the win
special for the Indian was the fact that it was his first competitive game in
nearly eight months.
“It was a nice game and
there were bits of it which I was very proud of. But I did notice one or two
inexact moves slip in, especially after I made them. You make them and then
realise and think ‘I wish I had seen the other move earlier,’” the 35-year-old
Anand told Tania Sachdev after the game.
 |
| Five-time men’s world champion Viswanathan Anand and four-time women’s world champion Hou Yifan led the Ganges Grandmasters to a 10-4 victory over the Chingari Gulf Titans |
Asked if beating a young
player like 25-year-old Duda was extra special in the time format, the
five-time world champion said: “Of course, you have to say this year Duda has
been playing incredibly well. I was very happy to start off on the right foot.
I’ll take any win, but winning against Duda was extra nice.”
Yifan, meanwhile, took
down Alexandra Kosteniuk in a battle of former women’s world champions. There
is a touch of history between the two players. It was the Russian Kosteniuk who
had beaten Yifan when the Chinese player first competed in a women’s world
championship final. Yifan was 14 years old at that point. She went on to bounce
back from that defeat with four world titles, marking her as one of the
greatest players the sport has seen.
On Thursday, the Ganges
Grandmasters had won the toss and chosen to play all their boards with white.
It’s a novelty introduced in the league: a win for a player playing with white
earns you three points, while a win with black earns you four. A draw is worth
a point for each player.
The scoring system is
likely to have an impact on games as witnessed in the first game of the night
where the upGrad Mumba Masters pipped the Triveni Continental Kings by a
one-point margin. The Kings, playing white, were leading thanks to a win by
China’s Wei Yi over Vidit Gujrathi, which accounted for three points. But
Alexander Grischuk upset the Kings’ applecart with a win over Yangyi Yu, which
was worth four points.
Anand, though, said he
did not believe that the decision to pick white or black was a game changer, at
least for now.“You have to pick a colour, and Pravin Thipsay (Ganges
Grandmasters team manager) chose white. But it’s 50-50. I don’t think it’s such
a big decision yet. Yes, the four points that black gets for winning is quite
intriguing, because we saw it decided the first game. Although I have to say
that they (upGrad Mumba Masters) needed several Hands of God (slices of luck)
to win. They had more Hands of God than Diego (Maradona) himself. They were so
busted!” chuckled Anand.
The Ganges Grandmasters
will return on Friday for a game against the SG Alpine Warriors, which will see
Anand take on recently-dethroned world champion Magnus Carlsen. “It’s the big
match. An old friend,” smiled Anand.
Saturday and Sunday will
see four matches each. Before Carlsen meets Anand, he will be slotted to take
on another ‘old friend’ in the form of Ian Nepomniachtchi — the man who he beat
to seal his last world championship title — as the SG Alpine Warriors face off
against the Balan Alaskan Knight
6) Indonesia Open
2023 badminton: Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy create history; beat
world champions for doubles title:
The reigning Asian
champions beat the world No. 3 Malaysian pair of Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik in
the final to win India’s first BWF World Tour Super 1000 title.
Asian men’s doubles
champions Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy beat the reigning world
champions Aaron Chia and Soh Wooi Yik to win India’s maiden BWF Super 1000
title at the Indonesia Open 2023 badminton tournament in Jakarta on Sunday.
The Indian pair, sixth
in men’s doubles badminton rankings, registered a 21-17, 21-18 win over their
world No. 3 Malaysian opponents in 43 minutes.
Before this tournament,
no Indian pair had ever gone beyond the semi-finals in a BWF Super 1000 World
Tour event.
Chirag Shetty and
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy were slow to get off the blocks in the first game but
unleashed a flurry of attacking shots to win six consecutive points and take a
9-7 lead. The Indian pair then protected their slender lead and closed the game
with two straight points.Both teams took an aggressive approach in the second
game and were level at 6-6. However, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
demonstrated quicker reflexes to stun their higher-ranked opponents and went
into the break with a four-point lead.
Just like in the first
game, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy never allowed Aaron Chia and
Soh Wooi Yik to mount a comeback and registered their first-ever win over the
Malaysian duo in nine meetings."In the earlier eight matches against them,
we would hold ourselves back, but today we stuck to the plan," Chirag
Shetty said. "We felt they are humans, they are players, and they will
also make mistakes. We stuck to the plan right till the end and never really
gave them a chance to come back."
“Even in the second game
when they took a couple of points, we were like we don’t have to hold ourselves
back and play safe that would have made the game a little slow and they are
good at capitalising on. Am really happy and we really needed this win,” Chirag
Shetty added.Chirag Shetty-Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Aaron Chia-Soh Wooi Yik
had also met in the semi-finals of the 2022 world championships in Tokyo which
the Indian pair lost in three games.The win at Indonesia Open was the sixth
title for Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy on the BWF World Tour.
Their last BWF title came at the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament in March.
However, the Indian pair entered the Indonesia Open after suffering a
first-round exit at the Singapore Open earlier this month.
1) Tiku Weds Sheru
Nawazuddin Siddiqui and
Avneet Kaur’s “Tiku Weds Sheru” was supposed to be released in theaters, but
producer Kangana Ranaut released this movie as a direct OTT movie on Prime
Video. This movie started streaming on June 23rd at 12 am IST.
2) Kisi Ka Bhai
Kisi Ki Jaan
After having a grand
theatrical release, “Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan” is finally coming to OTT Zee5.
It is all set to stream on Zee5 on June 23rd, 2023, in multiple languages.
3) John Wick
Chapter 4
“John Wick Chapter 4” is
finally streaming on OTT after having a grand theatrical release. This movie is
available on OTT and the great thing is, it is available in Hindi language. You
can watch it on Amazon Prime as an add-on Lionsgate Channel.
4) Aseq
“Aseq” is a Jio Cinema
original movie starring actors Vardhan Puri and Sonali in lead roles. After a
long time, Vardhan is coming in any movie. Before this, he appeared in the
movie “Yeh Saali Aashiqui,” and Sonali appeared in “Jai Mummy Di.” This movie
is streaming now on Jio Cinema for free.
5) Kafas
“Kafas” is a Sony Liv
original dark thriller crime drama series that is streaming now on Sony Liv
with 6 episodes in multiple languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada,
Malayalam, and many more.
Book Of This Week:
The Code Breaker:
Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race by Walter
Isaacson:
Driven by a passion to
understand how nature works and to turn discoveries into inventions, she would
help to make what the book’s author, James Watson, told her was the most
important biological advance since his co-discovery of the structure of DNA.
She and her collaborators turned a curiosity of nature into an invention that
will transform the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Known as
CRISPR, it opened a brave new world of medical miracles and moral questions.
The development of
CRISPR and the race to create vaccines for coronavirus will hasten our
transition to the next great innovation revolution. The past half-century has
been a digital age, based on the microchip, computer, and internet. Now we are
entering a life-science revolution. Children who study digital coding will be
joined by those who study genetic code.
Should we use our new
evolution-hacking powers to make us less susceptible to viruses? What a
wonderful boon that would be! And what about preventing depression? Hmmm…Should
we allow parents, if they can afford it, to enhance the height or muscles or IQ
of their kids?
After helping to
discover CRISPR, Doudna became a leader in wrestling with these moral issues
and, with her collaborator Emmanuelle Charpentier, won the Nobel Prize in 2020.
Walter Isaacson: a professor of history at Tulane, has been CEO of the
Aspen Institute, chair of CNN, and editor of Time. He is the author of
'Leonardo da Vinci; The Innovators; Steve Jobs; Einstein: His Life and
Universe; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life; and Kissinger: A Biography, and
the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. Visit him at
Isaacson.Tulane.edu and on Twitter at @WalterIsaacson (less)
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