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1) New mRNA 'cancer vaccine' trial launches in UK By Nicoletta Lanese

The first U.K. patient has received a dose of "cancer vaccine" in a new trial. An 81-year-old man from Surrey became the first patient in the U.K. to receive a new "vaccine" designed to treat solid-tumor cancers, such as the skin cancer melanoma.

TYPES OF CANCER VACCINE

Therapeutic cancer vaccines act as a kind of immunotherapy, meaning they help train the immune system to fight cancer cells. They're different from vaccines that prevent cancer, such as the HPV vaccine that's incredibly effective at preventing cervical cancer. In the U.S., there are a handful of therapeutic cancer vaccines approved for melanoma, prostate cancer and bladder cancer.

The new vaccine being tested in the U.K. and elsewhere around the world is called mRNA-4359, according to a statement from the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, one of the institutions running the global trial. Similar to the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines against COVID-19, the treatment contains a genetic molecule called mRNA. This cousin of DNA can relay instructions to the protein-building factories in cells, prompting them to churn out specific proteins. In the case of mRNA-4359, the vaccine instructs cells to make proteins commonly found on cancerous solid tumors. These proteins then get presented to the body's immune system, which builds up an arsenal to go after the cancer cells.

mRNA-4359 is considered a "ready-made" cancer vaccine — it's designed to be used in any patient with a particular type of cancer, off-the-shelf, because it goes after proteins commonly present on those tumor types. Other mRNA cancer vaccines in development are more personalized. For example, there's a pancreatic cancer vaccine that's made using genetic information drawn from a patient's own tumors. Thus, it's tailored to target proteins found on that specific patient's cancer cells.

Dr David Pinato, who is leading the trial at Imperial.

The mRNA-4359 trial is testing whether the vaccine appears safe and tolerable to human patients. It will both be tested in isolation and as an add-on to an existing immunotherapy called pembrolizumab. As a secondary measure, the trial organizers will also see whether the treatment shrinks the tumors of lung and skin cancer patients. 

IMAGE DESCRIPTION : mRNA-based vaccine mode of action mRNA is taken up by antigen-presenting cells and peptides are loaded on MHC class I for antigen-specific CD8+ T-cell activation. Extracellular proteins are cross-presented on MHC class I or loaded on MHC class II for CD4+ T-cell activation. CD4+ T cells can co-activate protein-specific B cells, and B cells can activate CD4+ T cells after B-cell receptor-mediated antigen internalisation.

The effectiveness of the vaccine will be probed further in future studies. "This research is still in the early stages and may be a number of years from being available to patients," Dr. David Pinato, a clinician scientist at Imperial College London's Department of Surgery & Cancer and a consultant medical oncologist at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said in the statement. "But this trial is laying crucial groundwork that is moving us closer towards new therapies that are potentially less toxic and more precise."

First patient receives treatment

An 81-year-old man from Surrey with treatment-resistant malignant melanoma was the first person in the UK to receive mRNA-4359 in late October.The patient, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “I was pleased to be offered a chance to take part in a new trial. Fundamentally, it's a relief. I knew from my original diagnosis that I had something that was never going to go away, or unlikely to go away.

“I had a different immunotherapy, I had radiotherapy; the only thing I didn't have was chemotherapy. So, the options were either do nothing and wait, or get involved and do something.”On being the first patient: “It's been OK. Obviously you can't refer back to anybody else, but hopefully it's going to be given to many more patients and it is going to be successful. The other thing I realised from being on a trial before was that just because one person has a reaction of one kind, it doesn't mean that everybody will.

“It was a little strange thinking, well, ‘how are they going to measure this?’. But of course, obviously the whole point of a trial like this is to take something that you've done preliminary tests on and give it to patients to see what happens.”The first person treated in the U.K. arm of the trial wishes to remain anonymous, but said "I was pleased to be offered a chance to take part in a new trial."

"Fundamentally, it's a relief. I knew from my original diagnosis that I had something that was never going to go away, or unlikely to go away," he said in the statement. The man has a treatment-resistant malignant melanoma and he'd already received a different immunotherapy and radiotherapy prior to the trial.

The trial is sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Moderna and set to recruit patients around the world over the next three years. Each patient will be followed up for a period of up to 34 months after treatment.

Patients on the trial will receive either mRNA-4359 alone, or mRNA-4359 and Pembrolizumab, and will be followed up for a period of up to 34 months. Preclinical testing in both cell and animal models of cancer provided initial evidence that mRNA-4359 had an effect on the immune system, providing a rationale for it to be offered in early-phase clinical trials.

The advantages of mRNA vaccines in the context of cancer therapy.

The study is a Phase 1/2, non-randomised trial, so all patients receive the same treatment. It is also an open-label trial, so clinicians and patients know what they are receiving – unlike blinded trials, where patients don’t know which treatment they are receiving.

2)Bronze Age 'treasure' was crafted with extraterrestrial metal By Jennifer Nalewicki

The Treasure of Villena (left) is considered the most important prehistoric treasure in Europe

Researchers determined that two artifacts in the Bronze Age hoard were made with meteoric iron.A dazzling Bronze Age hoard discovered in Spain more than 60 years ago contains some out-of-this-world metal, as a new analysis reveals that parts of the treasures were made from meteoric iron.

The hoard, known as the Treasure of Villena and discovered by archaeologists in 1963, encompasses a total of 59 bottles, bowls and pieces of jewelry exquisitely crafted from gold, silver, amber and iron.Upon the hoard's discovery, in a gravel pit in the province of Alicante, however, researchers noticed a few curious details about some of the iron pieces. At the time, they described the items as being crafted of "a dark leaden metal. It is shiny in some areas, and covered with a ferrous-looking oxide that is mostly cracked," according to El País, a newspaper in Spain.Now, new research has revealed that the iron used in two of the artifacts originated from a meteorite that fell to Earth around 1 million years ago, according to a translated study published Dec. 30 in the journal Trabajos de Prehistoria.

The Treasure of Villena is one of the most important archaeological finds in Europe.

For the new study, researchers tested two of the iron pieces: a C-shaped bracelet and a hollow sphere topped with a gold sheet that may have once decorated a sword's pommel. Both items were crafted between 1400 and 1200 B.C.

"The connection between gold and iron is important, as both elements have a as both elements have a great symbolic and social value," study senior author Ignacio Montero Ruiz, a researcher at Spain's Institute of History, told Live Science in an email. "In this case, [the artifacts] were … probably hidden treasure that could have belonged to a whole community and not to a single person. There were no kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula at this historical period."

A sword pommel from the Villena hoard, made with iron from a meteorite and inlaid gold which forms a four-pointed star motif.

Using mass spectrometry, a technique that measures the mass-to-charge ratio of molecules, they measured traces of iron-nickel alloy that were comparable to that found in meteoric iron, according to the study.

Given that the compositions of the artifacts are very similar, "both objects could [have] come from the same meteorite," Montero Ruiz said.

"The iron technology is completely different to the copper-based metallurgy and to the noble metals (gold and silver)," he added. "So, people who started to work with meteoritic iron and later with terrestrial iron must [have had to] innovate and develop new technology."

He added that it is "fascinating" to see how cultures innovated with new technologies, noting that "experimentation and curiosity were a part of these past societies."

While researchers remain unsure of who crafted the objects and where they originated, they do know that these are both the first and oldest meteoritic iron objects found in the Iberian Peninsula, according to the study.The artifacts also offer new insight into metallurgy practices from the Late Bronze Age. The only known artifacts that include meteoric iron from the first millennium B.C. include an arrowhead from 900 B.C. found in Mörigen, Switzerland, and a few objects from Poland from around 800 B.C.

Replicas of artifacts that belong to the Villena hoard in Spain

As for where the hoard's artifacts came from, that's still up in the air."One option is [they] came from the eastern Mediterranean where other contemporary objects are known (for example, the dagger and other items from [King] Tutankhamun's tomb)," Montero Ruiz said. "We do not have arguments to support a more local production, because other meteoritic iron in Europe has later chronologies (from Poland or Switzerland)."

The items are part of the collection at the Archaeological Museum in Villena, Spain.

3) Viagra may help to lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, study finds by Ian Sample Science editor

PDE5 inhibitor drugs like Viagra improve blood flow in the brain, which may give a protective effect.

Research by UCL, which examined medical records of 260,000 men with erectile dysfunction, has provided ‘food for thought After a decades-long and largely fruitless hunt for drugs to combat Alzheimer’s disease, an unlikely candidate has raised its head: the erectile dysfunction pill Viagra.

Researchers found that men who were prescribed Viagra and similar medications were 18% less likely to develop the most common form of dementia years later than those who went without the drugs.

The effect was strongest in men with the most prescriptions, with scientists finding a 44% lower risk of Alzheimer’s in those who received 21 to 50 prescriptions of the erectile dysfunction pills over the course of their study.

While the findings are striking, the observational study cannot determine whether Viagra and similar pills protect against Alzheimer’s or whether men who are already less prone to the condition are simply more likely to use the tablets. “We can’t say that the drugs are responsible, but this does give us food for thought on how we move into the future,” said the lead author Dr Ruth Brauer at University College London. “We now need a proper clinical trial to look at the effects of these drugs on Alzheimer’s in women as well as men.”

Brauer and her colleagues analysed medical records for more than 260,000 men who were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction but had no evidence of memory or thinking problems.Just over half were taking PDE5 inhibitor drugs, including sildenafil (sold as Viagra), avanafil, vardenafil and tadalafil. The men were followed for an average of five years to record any new cases of Alzheimer’s.An estimated 55 million people live with dementia around the world, most of which is due to Alzheimer’s. New drugs that clear aberrant proteins from the brain have shown promise for slowing down the disease, but the effects of the medicines appear marginal.

Viagra was originally developed to treat angina and high blood pressure, but when Welsh miners who took part in a trial in Merthyr Tydfil remarked on its unexpected night-time side-effects, the drug became a multibillion dollar erectile dysfunction pill.

PDE5 inhibitors work by relaxing veins and arteries, allowing blood to flow more freely. Studies in animals show that this improves blood flow in the brain, which may help protect against Alzheimer’s. Further work has shown that PDE5 inhibitors raise levels of a compound called cGMP, which may also help to protect brain cells.

There are other possible explanations for the findings, published in the journal Neurology.Because the information is not recorded reliably in medical records, the researchers were unable to account for differing levels of physical and sexual activity among the men. It may be that the most physically and sexually active men, who had a low risk of developing Alzheimer’s, were most likely to use Viagra or similar pills.

Previous studies into Viagra and Alzheimer’s have found contradictory effects. In 2021, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio reported a 69% lower risk of Alzheimer’s among Viagra users, while a Harvard study in 2021 found no protective effect in patients with pulmonary hypertension.‘That’s just normal forgetting’: the difference between memory loss and dementia – and how to protect your brain

If PDE5 inhibitors do protect against Alzheimer’s, the drugs would be expected to work in women as well as men. “We think it would be very worthwhile to run a trial in a wide group of people,” Brauer said.

These drugs attack gunge called beta amyloid which builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.

“This is a significant development, as repurposing existing drugs for the prevention of dementia is a promising strategy to stop dementia from developing in the first place,” said Dr Ivan Koychev, a senior clinical researcher at the University of Oxford.

But he warned that it would be difficult to run a blinded placebo-controlled trial, where neither doctors nor patients know who receives which, given the prominent effects of the drugs.Dr Leah Mursaleen, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said developing drugs for Alzheimer’s disease was costly and could take many years.“Being able to repurpose drugs already licensed for other health conditions could help accelerate progress and open up new avenues to prevent or treat dementia-causing diseases,” she added.Dr Madhav Thambisetty, a senior investigator at the US National Institute on Aging, whose 2021 study found no protective effect of Viagra, said there is always a risk of unmeasured factors, such as the quality of people’s sleep or how well they control their diabetes, producing false results.He also questioned the plausibility of a drug like sildenafil, which is only used when needed in patients with erectile dysfunction, altering the course of a chronic, progressive neurodegenerative disease.

“While sildenafil is known to reach the brain from blood, can its levels in the brain be maintained at high enough concentrations over a sustained period of time that may be required to alter the trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease?” he said.“This is an important question to consider for drugs like sildenafil that are only used ‘as needed’ in comparison to drugs that are used every day or multiple times a day over a prolonged period of time.”

4) New species of Jurassic pterosaur discovered on the Isle of Skye : by University of Bristol

Reconstruction of Ceoptera evansae

A new species of pterosaur from specimens found on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, has been announced by scientists from the Natural History Museum, University of Bristol, University of Leicester, and University of Liverpool. The new pterosaur is part of the Darwinoptera clade of pterosaurs. Its discovery shows that the clade was considerably more diverse than previously thought, and persisted for more than 25 million years, from the late Early Jurassic to the latest Jurassic. During this period species within the clade spread worldwide.

The discovery underpins a new and more complex model for the early evolution of pterosaurs. The study "A new pterosaur from the Middle Jurassic of Skye, Scotland and the early diversification of flying reptiles" is published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Close up on part of the skeleton of Ceoptera evansae showing the shoulder region, parts of the wing and verterbae

The rarity of Middle Jurassic pterosaur fossils and their incompleteness have previously hampered attempts to understand early pterosaur evolution. This discovery shows that all principal Jurassic pterosaur clades evolved well before the end of the Early Jurassic, earlier than previously realized. The discovery also shows that pterosaurs persisted into the latest Jurassic, alongside avialans, the dinosaurs which eventually evolved into modern birds. The remains consist of a partial skeleton of a single individual, including parts of the shoulders, wings, legs and backbone. Many of the bones remain completely embedded in rock and can only be studied using CT-scanning.

Professor Paul Barrett, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum and senior author on the paper, said, "Ceoptera helps to narrow down the timing of several major events in the evolution of flying reptiles. Its appearance in the Middle Jurassic of the U.K. was a complete surprise, as most of its close relatives are from China. It shows that the advanced group of flying reptiles to which it belongs appeared earlier than we thought and quickly gained an almost worldwide distribution." Prof. Barrett and his colleagues described the new species, naming it Ceoptera evansae: Ceoptera from the Scottish Gaelic word Cheò, meaning mist (a reference to the common Gaelic name for the Isle of Skye Eilean a' Cheò, or Isle of Mist), and the Latin -ptera, meaning wing. Evansae honors Professor Susan E. Evans, for her years of anatomical and palaeontological research, in particular on the Isle of Skye.

3D models of skeleton. Credit Natural History Museum

Lead author Dr. Liz Martin-Silverstone, a palaeobiologist from the University of Bristol, said, "The time period that Ceoptera is from is one of the most important periods of pterosaur evolution, and is also one in which we have some of the fewest specimens, indicating its significance. To find that there were more bones embedded within the rock, some of which were integral in identifying what kind of pterosaur Ceoptera is, made this an even better find than initially thought. It brings us one step closer to understanding where and when the more advanced pterosaurs evolved."

5) AI reads ancient scroll buried by Vesuvius eruption:

Three researchers on Monday won a $700,000 prize for using artificial intelligence to read a 2,000-year-old scroll that was scorched in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. The Herculaneum papyri consist of about 800 rolled up Greek scrolls that were carbonized during the 79 CE volcanic eruption that buried the ancient Roman town of Pompeii, according to the organizers of the "Vesuvius Challenge."

AI unravels scrolls that haven't been read in 2,000 years

Resembling logs of hardened ash, the scrolls, which are kept at Institut de France in Paris and the National Library of Naples, have been extensively damaged and even crumbled when attempts have been made to roll them open.As an alternative, the Vesuvius Challenge carried out high-resolution CT scans of four scrolls and offered one million dollars spread out among multiple prizes to spur research on them.The trio who won the prize was composed of Youssef Nader, a Ph.D. student in Berlin, Luke Farritor, a student and SpaceX intern from Nebraska, and Julian Schilliger, a Swiss robotics student.The group used AI to help distinguish ink from papyrus and work out the faint and almost unreadable Greek lettering through pattern recognition.

"Some of these texts could completely rewrite the history of key periods of the ancient world," Robert Fowler, a classicist and the chair of the Herculaneum Society, told Bloomberg Businessweek magazine.The challenge required researchers to decipher four passages of at least 140 characters, with at least 85 percent of characters recoverable.Last year Farritor decoded the first word from one of the scrolls, which turned out to be the Greek word for "purple."

High-resolution CT scans of a scroll were taken at Diamond, the UK’s national synchrotron facility in Oxfordshire.

Jointly, their efforts have now decrypted about five percent of the scroll, according to the organizers.The scroll's author was "probably Epicurean philosopher Philodemus," writing "about music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures," wrote contest organizer Nat Friedman on X.The scrolls were found in a villa thought to be previously owned by Julius Caesar's patrician father-in-law, whose mostly unexcavated property held a library that could contain thousands more manuscripts.The contest was the brainchild of Brent Seales, a computer scientist at the University of Kentucky, and Friedman, the founder of Github, a software and coding platform that was bought by Microsoft.The recovery of never-seen ancient texts would be a huge breakthrough: according to data from the University of California, Irvine, only an estimated 3 to 5 percent of ancient Greek texts have survived.

One of the Herculaneum scrolls

"This is the start of a revolution in Herculaneum papyrology and in Greek philosophy in general. It is the only library to come to us from ancient Roman times," Federica Nicolardi of the University of Naples Federico II told The Guardian newspaper.In the closing section, the author of the scroll "throws shade at unnamed ideological adversaries—perhaps the stoics?—who 'have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular,'" Friedman said.The next phase of the competition will attempt to leverage the research to unlock 85 percent of the scroll, he added.

6) Innovation in stone tool technology involved multiple stages at the time of modern human dispersals, study finds :by Nagoya University

The increase in the productivity of stone tool cutting-edge (shown in white lines) did not occur before or at the beginning of Homo sapiens' wide dispersals in Eurasia but subsequently occurred after their initial dispersals, coinciding with the development of bladelet technology in the Early Upper Paleolithic. Credit: Reiko MatsushitaThe experimental setup and examples of the lithics.(a) Knapping footage. (b) Discoidal core and flakes. (c) Earlier (left) and later (right) handaxes. (d) Preferential Levallois core and flake. (e) Recurrent Levallois core and flakes. (f) and (g) Prismatic blade cores and blades

A study led by researchers at the Nagoya University Museum in Japan may change how we understand the cultural evolution of Homo sapiens at the time of their dispersal across Eurasia about 50,000 to 40,000 years ago. These findings challenge traditional beliefs about the timing and nature of cultural transitions during this critical period in human history.Published in Nature Communications, the researchers' insights into stone tool technology suggest that the commonly held view of a "revolution" in culture and technology that allowed anatomically modern humans to outcompete Neanderthals and other archaic humans was a more nuanced and complicated process of cultural evolution.

Investigation of mechanical properties of rocks suggested that paleolithic humans changed their choice of raw material to suit their stone tool morphologies and production techniques

The team of researchers focused on the Middle-Upper Paleolithic (MP-UP) cultural transition, an important boundary between two key phases in our evolution:

The Middle Paleolithic period (250,000 to 40,000 years ago) witnessed anatomically modern humans coexisting with Neanderthals and archaic humans existing at the same time. Culturally, anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals had similar stone tool technology, such as making tools using "Levallois methods," which involved striking stones with a hammer-like tool.

The Upper Paleolithic period (50,000 to 12,000 years ago) is the period in which anatomically modern humans made wide geographic expansions, and archaic humans went extinct. During this period, new cultural elements emerged in various realms, including tool technology, food acquisition, seafaring, and artistic expression in ornaments and cave art.

IMAGE 3 DESCRIPTION The experimental setup and examples of the lithics.(a) Knapping footage. (b) Discoidal core and flakes. (c) Earlier (left) and later (right) handaxes. (d) Preferential Levallois core and flake. (e) Recurrent Levallois core and flakes. (f) and (g) Prismatic blade cores and blades

Traditionally, scholars viewed the MP-UP transition as an abrupt change marked by the revolutionary emergence of new cultural elements. An example is the hypothesized sudden neural mutation in Homo sapiens, which resulted in their superior cognitive abilities. This change allowed them to ultimately outcompete other archaic humans and drive the Neanderthals to extinction. However, this study challenges this paradigm.

The researchers examined the productivity of stone tools with a cutting edge over a 50,000-year span that encompassed six cultural phases from the Late Middle Paleolithic, through the Upper Paleolithic, to the Epipaleolithic period. They discovered that the major increase in innovative productivity did not occur before or at the beginning of the widespread dispersal of Homo sapiens in Eurasia. Rather, it subsequently occurred after their initial dispersals, coinciding with the development of bladelet technology in the Early Upper Paleolithic.

This result shows a complicated process of cultural change involving multiple stages rather than a single "revolution."According to the lead researcher Professor Seiji Kadowaki, the cultural transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic was a complex, evolutionary process involving multiple aspects and changes occurring over an extended period.He said, "In terms of cutting-edge productivity, Homo sapiens did not start to spread to Eurasia after a quick revolution in stone tool technology, but rather the innovation in the 'cutting-edge' productivity occurred later, in tandem with the miniaturization of stone tools like bladelets."

1) Congress will protect tribal rights: Rahul during yatra in Jharkhand

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra at Bank More in Dhanbad on Sunday

The Congress party stands for ‘Jal-Jungle-Jamin’ (water, forest and land) of the tribal people and education and employment of youngsters from the community, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said. The Congress party stands for ‘Jal-Jungle-Jamin’ (water, forest and land) of the tribal people and education and employment of youngsters from the community, party leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said, as he slammed the Union government for its policies which, he claimed, are meant only for a few capitalists. Gandhi also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives like the demonetisation and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) system had “destroyed the country’s economy and broken the back of the industry that has led to widespread unemployment”.

The Congress leader, a Lok Sabha MP, was addressing the party’s ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in Jharkhand’s Dhanbad district when he made the remarks. After a night halt in Tundi area in the district on Saturday, the yatra resumed from Govindpur in Dhanbad city on Sunday.

“The Congress stands for ‘Jal-Jungle-Jamin’ of the tribal people, for education and employment of youths. Economic imbalance, demonetisation, GST and unemployment have ruined the future of youngsters in the country,” Gandhi told the crowd at Birsa Chowk in Bank More. The main objective of the yatra is to save public sector units from being sold to private entities, and ensure justice to unemployed youths and tribals of the country, he added.

A few billionaire friends of the Prime Minister are gradually getting control over all the resources, the former Congress president alleged. “The Prime Minister might soon hand over the steel mills of the state, like the one in Bokaro, to the same friends,” he said.

“The policies of the present central government are meant to benefit only three capitalists, even as the country belongs to everyone,” he added.The Prime Minister is “handing over the public sector undertakings (PSUs), which otherwise generated huge employment, to his friends”, he said. “Earlier, SCs, STs, OBCs and other categories of people used to get jobs in PSUs but due to privatisation, that process has also been affected, depriving such people with the job opportunities.” Gandhi also said that the Congress;s fight was against the alleged hatred in the hearts of the “BJP people”. “The BJP is spreading hate. We undertook a 4,000-km Bharat Jodo Yatra against this hatred and violence, coining the slogan ‘Nafrat Ke Bazaar Mein Mohabbat Ki Dukan’. No matter how much hatred they (BJP) spread or the violence they orchestrate, the Congress and its allies will open ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukan’ all over the country. Our fight is against the hatred in the hearts of the BJP people,” he said.

There was no immediate reaction from the BJP on Gandhi’s remarks.

2) PM Modi says he chose in 2014, didn't bring white paper on economy then

PM Modi addressing a global business summit on Friday.

PM Modi said India will be the 3rd largest economy in the 3rd term of the government and he is working on the roadmap of major decisions Modi 3.0 will take.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke on the white paper on the economy that his government presented in Parliament and said he could have brought those figures in 2014 soon after coming to power and it would have suited him politically but he did not do that because he did not see his political interest. "I was shocked seeing the figures in 2014. The economy was in shambles. Policy paralysis and scams plagued the economy so much that global investors were negative about India. Had I exposed all these at that time and a wrong signal was sent across, people would have lost confidence in the country. Like if you tell a patient that he is suffering from a serious disease, he will be held dead there," PM Modi said at ET Now Global Business Summit 2024.

I chose over and when after 10 years the situation became stable I thought now is the time to make people aware of what the economic situation was," PM Modi said.

India will be 3rd largest economy in NDA's 3rd term: PM Modi

PM Modi said India will become the third largest economy in the world in the third term of the government for which he is now preparing the roadmap. "This is my guarantee that this will happen in our third term. Be prepared, I don't hide anything. I give time to everyone for preparation. But people think he is a politician, he won't walk his talk. But now you are aware of my style. In the third term, there will be major and bigger decisions. I have been planning the roadmap for new projects for the last 1.5 years. I have taken suggestions from over 15 lakh people for this. I never issued any press note regarding this. This is the first time I am saying this. In the next 20-30 days, the roadmap will take a final shape," PM Modi said.

PM Modi's 'wine and cheese' attack on opposition over poverty

Explaining his 'money saved is money earned' policy, PM Modi said time-bound completion of projects helped his government to save money. PM Modi gave the example of Assam's Bogibeel Bridge the construction of which started in 1998. It was completed in 2018, PM Modi said. "Whose money was getting wasted by this delay in projects? Taxpayers' money. Our government respected the taxpayers' money. Be it Kartavya path, the new Parliament Building or Atal Setu -- we completed everything on time," PM Modi said.

The government earned ₹1,100 crore selling the waste cleared out from government offices in the cleanliness drive, PM Modi added. "I maintain distance from the policy of emptying the coffers to get a few votes....you are aware of the electricity policy of some governments but my policy is different. Rooftop solar project will enable people to produce electricity at their house," the prime minister said.The slogans of gareebi hatao have been raised for the last 70 years. But was poverty eliminated? They used to become crorepatis with every new way they suggested to eliminate poverty. Because those policies were made in AC rooms with wine and cheese. But in 2014 after a poor man became the prime minister, their shops got shut. I know how to fight poverty," PM Modi said adding that 25 crore people were lifted from poverty.

Is there any competition, not talking about the May one’: PM Modi

Talking about the speed of projects in his government, PM Modi said, “40,000 km railway line electrification was done in 10 years, double of what happened in the last 70 years. Is there any challenge? I am not talking about May."

PM Modi then explained the ‘curse of incremental thinking’ and said, “How do you set the target of your organisation? Many people will say it's based on last year's figures. If it was 5 in last year, 10 will be better this year. This is wrong because you are limiting yourself. When our government came to power, our bureaucracy too was in this thought of incremental thinking. I decided to free bureaucracy from this and started working faster and at a much bigger scale,” PM Modi said.

3) Uttarakhand assembly passes Uniform Civil Code, Pushkar Singh Dhami says ‘law not against anyone’

Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami in the Uttarakhand Assembly.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had tabled the contentious legislation in the house on Tuesday.The Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday passed the Uniform Civil Code bill, which seeks to replace religious personal laws that govern marriage, relationship and inheritance. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had tabled the contentious legislation in the house on Tuesday. With this, Uttarakhand has become the first state in India to have a law on the Uniform Civil Code.

Dhami said the draft of the bill was prepared in accordance with the Constitution.

"After independence, the makers of the Constitution gave the right under Article 44 that the states can also introduce the UCC at appropriate time... People have doubts regarding this. We made the draft as per the constitutional system," he said in the assembly.The implementation of the Uniform Civil Code was the Bharatiya Janata Party's main promise in the 2022 Uttarakhand Assembly election's manifesto.

Dhami said the law will be implemented after the President's assent."This law is of equality, uniformity and equal rights. There were many doubts regarding this but the two-day discussion in the assembly clarified everything. This law is not against anyone. It is for the women who have to face difficulty because of the social norms... This will strengthen their self-confidence. This law is for the holistic development of women... The bill is passed... We will send it to the President. We will implement it in the state as a law, as soon as the President signs it," he said. The Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya said rules were not followed for the passage of the bill.

"Instead of presenting the draft, the Bill was directly presented. Discussions began within 2 hours. But we participated in the discussion on both days. Our MLAs gave suggestions and also raised some objections. Government was asked to rectify the loopholes...The only way to amend these loopholes was to send this to the Select Committee and after examining the draft, it be brought back to the House, discussions be held again and then it be given the form of a Bill," he said.

Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has promised that his state will be the second to implement the law.

What is Uniform Civil Code bill?

The bill seeks to make sweeping changes in the institution of marriage and relationships of such nature. The highlight of the legislation is that it makes it compulsory to register live-in relationships.

Per the bill, live-in relationships need to be registered within one month of the date of entering the relationship. Adults will be required to obtain consent from their parents.

The bill also imposes a complete ban on child marriage and introduces a uniform process for divorce. The Code provides equal rights to women of all religions in their ancestral property.

The bill has fixed the minimum age for marriage in all communities -- 18 for women, 21 for men.

The registration of marriage is mandatory for all religions. Unions without registration will be deemed to be invalid.

Muslim bodies oppose bill

Leading Muslim bodies have opposed the code.

"Basically, there is no use of such a kind of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) when you are yourself saying that certain communities will be exempted from the Act. Then where is the uniformity? UCC means that the same laws should be implemented on each and every citizen of the state," Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, executive committee member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board told PTI. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind said Muslims won't be able to compromise on Shariah.

"We cannot accept any law that is against Shariah because a Muslim can compromise with everything, but he or she can never compromise on Shariah and religion," said the body. Owaisi slams proposed UCC law

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said today that the Hindu undivided family has been kept out of the ambit of the bill.

"The Uttarakhand UCC Bill is nothing but a Hindu Code applicable for all. Firstly, Hindu undivided families have not been touched. Why? If you want a uniform law for succession and inheritance, why are Hindus kept out of it? Can a law be uniform if it doesn’t apply to the majority of your state?" he wrote on X.

He also took exception to the fact that the tribals were left out of the ambit of the bill.

He claimed the bill violates the rights of the Muslim community to practice religion and culture.

4) Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge releases ‘black paper’ to counter Centre's ‘white paper’

Congress releases 'Black Paper' to counter Centre's 'White Paper'

The Congress 'black poaper' focuses on the 10-year governance tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday released a ‘black paper’ against the Centre's much-talked-about 'white paper'. Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman is expected to present the government's 'white paper' during the current Budget Session of Parliament.

“Today, we are bringing out a 'black paper' against the government. Whenever PM (Narendra) Modi presents his views in Parliament, he hides his failures. At the same time, when we speak about the failures of the government, it is not given importance. Therefore, we want to bring out a black paper and tell the public about the failures of the government,” Kharge said a press conference.

Reports indicated that the Congress's 'Black Paper' focuses on the 10-year governance tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government. He added, “There is discrimination being done with non-BJP states like Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana...”

The ‘black paper’ highlights the 'failures' of the Narendra Modi government in relation to unemployment, inflation and farmers' distress, Kharge said. He added, “Congress ensured country's independence and in 2024, it will take country out of BJP's 'darkness of injustice'”

Speaking to media, he also said, “There is a danger to democracy in the country...In last 10 years, 411 MLAs were taken on their by the BJP. They toppled so many Congress governments. They are finishing democracy.”

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge along with Pawan Khera and MP Nasir Hussain during the press conference at his residence in Delh

The Modi government had announced in the Union Interim Budget presented on February 1 that it would come out with a 'white paper' to compare the economic performance of 10 years of the Congress-led UPA government with that of 10 years of the BJP-led NDA government.A white paper serves as a government publication designed to showcase new policies and accomplishments, aiming to garner public support and assess reactions. Typically, it is distinguished by its white cover.

During the presentation of the Interim Budget 2024-25 in Parliament, Nirmala Sitharaman asserted that India's economy faced a "crisis" in 2014 when the Modi government took office. She attributed this predicament to the "mismanagement" of the preceding administration.

She declared that the government intended to present a White Paper in the House "to examine the period from the Congress-led government's tenure until 2014 and the present scenario, with the sole aim of learning from the mismanagement during those years".

The White Paper is expected to provide an overview, evaluation, and analysis of the Indian government's comprehensive economic strategy over the years, encompassing aspects such as fiscal policy, monetary policy, trade policy, and exchange rate policy.

The budget session commenced on January 31 with President Droupadi Murmu addressing the joint sitting of the two Houses. This session, the final one before the Lok Sabha polls anticipated in April-May this year, is set to adjourn on February 10.

5) Bengal budget: Mamata govt announces 4% hike in DA, more funds for Kanyashree, Lakshmi Bhandar schemes for women

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya before the presentation of the State Budget, in Calcutta.

D for development was replaced by D for dole in Bengal's budget.

The cash-strapped Mamata Banerjee government announced a slew of schemes for enlarging the pool of beneficiaries ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, which would further drain the state's meagre resources. Among the major announcements made on Thursday was an additional four per cent of dearness allowance for state employees, separate funds for fishermen, increase in financial assistance for women under Lakshmi Bhandar, trainee apprentices, artisans and weavers as well as 50 days minimum work guarantee for job card holders.

In the next fiscal, the highest allocation has been for the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme at ₹14,400.05crore, to provide monthly support of ₹1,000 for women from SC and ST and ₹500 for the general category. ₹10,501.95 crore has been marked for different pension funds. Under the Kanyashree scheme, which provides annual scholarships for girl students, ₹1,374.50 crore has been allocated. A special centre for minorities culture development has also been proposed at ₹20crore.The minister of state for finance (independent), Chandrima Bhattacharya, also announced the state government was considering revising the provisions of land ceiling under the West Bengal land and land reforms act."This budget seems to have been prepared keeping the Assembly polls in mind, not the Lok Sabha. Whoever forms the next government in Bengal will be in deep trouble," said Ashok Lahiri, economist and BJP MLA from Balurghat.

Figures provided by the state finance department reveal nearly half of the total capital expenditure was spent on repayment of loans. Out of ₹6,2,170.89 crore (revised estimate for 2023-24), ₹30,631.42 crore was spent on repayment.The total debt of Bengal in the current fiscal stands at ₹6,30,783.50crore. In 2011, when the Left Front government was voted out, the state's debt was above ₹One lakh crore. In the 13 years since then the financial health of the state has further weakened.

The Mamata Banerjee government's market borrowings stand at ₹73,000crore (revised from the estimated ₹78,946.49crore). The government expects to raise ₹79,727crore from the market in the next financial year.In the next fiscal Bengal's debt burden is expected to rise to ₹6,93,231.66crore.During her budget speech, Bhattacharya referred to the Centre's refusal to release funds for Bengal. Trinamul leaders led by Mamata Banerjee have been on a dharna at the Red Road demanding the funds be released.Mamata even went to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi last month. On Monday, leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari met vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar, Union home minister Amit Shah and Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman apprising them of the financial situation in Bengal.The state budget figures presented in the Assembly floor reveals, the state share of union taxes and duties was pegged at ₹76,843.55crore. The actual amount received by the Bengal government is ₹83,192.87crore. For the next fiscal the stare government's projection of the share from the central pie is ₹ 92,900.29croreMamata Banerjee and the Trinamul ministers claim the Centre's due to be around ₹15,000crore.For the cash-strapped Bengal government the main source of income remains the state goods and service tax (SGST), followed by Excise.Last year, the government had fixed a target of ₹37,791.85crore from SGST. The actual earnings from SGST in the 2023-24 fiscal was ₹42,858.14crore. For the next financial year, the revenue target from SGST is ₹47,336.55crore.From excise the government had expected ₹17,921.56crore as revenue. The revised figures from excise for the current fiscal is ₹18,851.06crore.

In stamp duty, another major source of revenue, the government's earning has dipped to ₹6,623.43 from the expected ₹7,473.79crore. In the next fiscal, the revenue projection from stamp duty is ₹7,300.45crore."The budget is completely directionless. Our legislator Manoj Tigga will submit cut motions. If the Speaker allows, we will participate in the voting," Adhikari said. "She keeps talking about Kurmis, Lepchas, OBCs and other communities but there is nothing for them."

6) Bharat Ratna awarded to 5 people so far in 2024, highest in a single year

From LK Advani, Narasimha Rao to MS Swaminathan  The 5 Men Who Joined India's Bharat Ratna List in 2024

PM Modi said former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, alongside scientist MS Swaminathan, will be awarded the Bharat Ratna. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Friday that former Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, alongside agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, will be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. This year's five recipients surpass the four awarded in 1999, marking the highest number of Bharat Ratnas awarded in a single year. Praising Rao for his liberalisation policies that transformed the economy, Singh for his advocacy for farmers' rights, and Swaminathan for his globally recognized contributions to agriculture, Modi commended their invaluable service to the nation.

Experience Delhi’s rich history through a series of heritage walks with HT! Participate Now Among the recipients, four will receive the honour posthumously, while Advani, aged 96, is the sole living recipient.

Here is the list of Bharat Ratna awardees this year

1. Karpoori Thakur (Posthumous) (politician and former Bihar chief minister): Karpoori Thakur, a well-known socialist leader from Bihar and former chief minister of the state, will be posthumously honoured with India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna. Fondly referred to as 'Jan Nayak' (people's leader), Thakur will become the 49th recipient of this prestigious award.

2. Lal Krishna Advani (politician and former deputy prime minister): Advani has held the position of president of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the longest duration since its establishment in 1980. Over the course of nearly three decades in parliament, he served as both the home minister and deputy Prime Minister under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 1999 to 2004. On February 3, PM Modi disclosed that Advani would be bestowed with India's highest civilian honour.

3. Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (Posthumous) (former Prime Minister of India): In honouring Rao, who passed away in 2004, PM Modi expressed admiration for his multifaceted service to the nation as a revered scholar and statesman. Modi highlighted Rao's notable contributions not only as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh but also as a Union minister and longstanding legislator in both the Parliament and the state assembly. Rao, a respected Telugu leader, served a full five-year term as prime minister from 1991 to 1996 and is widely lauded for his pivotal role in introducing economic reforms.

4. Chaudhary Charan Singh (Posthumous) (former Prime Minister of India): Singh, a prominent Jat leader hailing from western Uttar Pradesh, served as prime minister during 1979-80 and played a pivotal role in spearheading anti-Congress politics during an era when the party held dominant influence. Modi expressed gratitude for the opportunity to honour Singh with the Bharat Ratna, attributing it to his unparalleled contributions to the nation.

5. Mankombu Sambasivan Swaminathan (Posthumous) (agriculture scientist): Modi expressed immense delight in his government's decision to bestow the Bharat Ratna upon Swaminathan, acknowledging his significant contributions to agriculture and the welfare of farmers. Modi praised Swaminathan's visionary guidance, which revolutionised Indian agriculture, ensuring both food security and prosperity for the nation. Modi emphasised his close relationship with Swaminathan, valuing his wisdom and contributions. The renowned agronomist passed away last year.

 

1) Australia vs Pakistan, Semifinal U19 World Cup 2024 highlights: Ali Raza masterclass in vain as AUS enter 6th final

Australia are chasing the 180-run target against Pakistan.

Australia vs Pakistan U19 World Cup 2024, AUS vs PAK: Australia have set a rematch of the 2023 ODI World Cup final with India in South Africa.

Australia vs Pakistan, highlights U19 World Cup 2024, AUS vs PAK: Staging a comeback for Pakistan in the low-scoring contest, 15-year-old Ali Raza bowled a double-wicket maiden to turn the tie on its head. However, Raza's death-over heroics went in vain as Raf MacMilllan hit the winning runs in the in the 50th over to seal Australia's one-wicket win over Pakistan. Australia will meet defending champions India in the final on Sunday.

Australia are chasing the 180-run target against Pakistan.

Tom Straker led the Australian bowling charge with a six-wicket haul to bowl Pakistan out for 179 in 48.5 overs. Azan Awais kept Pakistan breathing with a gritty half-century, but the menacing Straker broke through to really dent the opposition's chances. At 5 down for 79, Pakistan needed a special partnership and it came from a fifty-plus stand between Awais and Arafat Minhas. That is before the partnership was broken and Pakistan went 6 down with less than 10 overs to go. All hopes were then pinned on Minhas, but after completing a half-century, the left-hander perished to drill the final nail in the coffin for Pakistan. Straker, who had picked three wickets by then, returned for his final over, wrapped up the Pakistan innings inside 50 overs with 7 balls remaining and finished with 6/24.

Earlier Callum Vidler, Straker and Raf MacMillan all struck to dismiss the top in the Pakistan line-up and have taken the bull by its horns. The Powerplay belonged to Australia as Straker took out Shamyl Hussain for 14 followed by Vidler removing Shahzaib Khan, who really struggled during his 30-ball stay for four runs. Any hopes of a comeback were further dented by Straker, who picked up his second wicket in the form of the Pakistan captain Saad Baig. Spin was introduced in the form of Raf MacMillan and the off-spinner took just two overs to get himself going. Pakistan lost half their side with Beardman cleaning up Haroon Ahmad. This was after Australia won the toss and captain Hugh Weibgen had no hesitation in batting first as he informed of the three changes made to his Playing XI. His counterpart Baig wanted to bat first. has been a fascinating and one heck of a tournament. Heavyweights India, the defending champions were the outright favourites to make it to the final and they did so almost without breaking a sweat. We say almost because they were tested by South Africa like no other team before and at one point, seemed to be kissing their campaign goodbye before Sachin Dhas and captain Uday Saharan stitched a Mohammad Kaif-Yuvraj Singh circa 2002 kind of a partnership. But as good as India were, Australia are equally challenging when it comes to ICC finals. India and Australia are yet to register an 'L' against their name, but have been occasionally pushed by oppositions. Having said that, they are a well-rounded squad, with an impressive stock of pacers, spinners and batters.

2) India vs Australia, U19 Cricket World Cup final: Road to final, squads, telecast and date - All you need to know

India face Australia in the U19 World Cup final.

India face Australia at the U19 World Cup final, in Benoni on Sunday. India will be looking to win back-to-back U19 WC titles. India take on Australia in the U19 Cricket World Cup final, at the Sahara Park Willowmoore Cricket Stadium in Benoni on Sunday. India will also be looking to win back-to-back titles, and are the most successful team in this tournament with five trophies. Australia qualified for the final after a thrilling win in the semi-finals against Pakistan, winning by one wicket. Lower-order batter Oliver Peake smacked a match-winning 49 to help his side seal a berth in the final. Meanwhile, India eased past South Africa in their semi-final fixture, winning by two wickets.

Road to final - India

India began their campaign with an easy 84-run victory against arch-rivals Bangladesh, followed by a massive 201-run win against Ireland. In their final group stage fixture, India thrashed hosts USA by 201 runs.

In the Super Six stage, India cruised past New Zealand (by 214 runs) and Nepal (by 132 runs), to set up a semi-final clash against South Africa, which they won by two wickets.

India have been the strongest team in this tournament, with three batters in the top-five run-scorers. Captain Uday Saharan is the tournament's highest run-scorer with 389 runs in six matches, followed by Musheer Khan in third place with 338 in six games. Meanwhile, Sachin Dhas is third with 294 runs in six fixtures. On the other hand, Saumy Pandey is the tournament's third-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets in six matches, including a four-fer. Road to final - Australia

The Aussies started off with a four-wicket win against Namibia and then hammered Zimbabwe by 225 runs, followed by a six-wicket victory against Sri Lanka. Then in the Super Six stage, Australia beat England by 110 runs (via DLS method) and then their fixture against West Indies was washed out due to rain. In the semi-finals, a narrow one-wicket win against Pakistan saw them reach the finals.

Squads

India: Arshin Kulkarni, Adarsh Singh, Rudra Mayur Patel, Sachin Dhas, Priyanshu Moliya, Musheer Khan, Uday Saharan (captain), Aravelly Avanish Rao, Saumy Kumar Pandey, Murugan Abhishek, Innesh Mahajan, Dhanush Gowda, Aaradhya Shukla, Raj Limbani, Naman Tiwari.

Australia: Hugh Weibgen (captain), Lachlan Aitken, Charlie Anderson, Harkirat Bajwa, Mahli Beardman, Tom Campbell, Harry Dixon, Ryan Hicks, Sam Konstas, Rafael MacMillan, Aidan O'Connor, Harjas Singh, Tom Straker, Callum Vidler, Ollie Peake.

3) India vs England 2nd Test Day 4: IND win the match by 106 runs, level the series 1-1

Jasprit Bumrah deservedly took the final scalp for India, getting the wicket of well set Tom Hartley on a score of 36.

India vs England 2nd Test Day 4: IND vs ENG, India have won the 2nd match in Vishakhapatnam by 106 runs, and levelled the series 1-1. Jasprit Bumrah was declared the Player of the Match deservedly for taking 9 wickets in the match.

India won the second Test at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Vishakhapatnam by 106 runs to level the series at 1-1. The two teams will now meet in Rajkot for the 3rd Test, which is expected to be another exciting encounter given the history of the last two matches.Opener Zack Crawley and nightwatchman Rehan Ahmed started the fourth day's play for England against Jasprit Bumrah and Axar Patel and needed 332 runs to win the match, but the total of 399 proved too much for England.

After being hammered by Ahmed, Axar dismissed the lower-order batsman for 23 to give India their first breakthrough of the day. England, however, continued to set the tempo, scoring at around 5 an over throughout the first session. Ollie Pope began his innings on an aggressive note, hitting Axar Patel for a boundary and maintaining a strike rate of over 100 throughout his innings.

Ollie Pope was also eventually dismissed when he tried to play a shot off Ashwin and was caught at slip by skipper Rohit Sharma. Meanwhile, Joe Root started his innings in a similar fashion, hitting Ashwin for two boundaries off the reverse sweep in the first three balls of his innings. Root was eventually dismissed for 16 when he tried to step out of his crease to hit Ashwin for a big shot.

Just before Lunch, India tilted the game in their favour with two crucial wickets of Jonny Bairstow and well-set Zack Crawley and two new batters were forced to take the crease in the second session of the day. After Lunch, Skipper Ben Stokes and Ben Foakes seemed to be making themselves comfortable at the crease in the 2nd session of the day when a direct hit from Shreyas Iyer put an end to Stokes' innings. Meanwhile, Foakes and Tom Hartley stitched together an over 50 run partnership to give a fickle of a hope to England but the English innings fell apart quickly after the wicket of Ben Foakes.Earlier in the game, India managed to score 255 runs in their 2nd innings on the back of a brilliant century from Shubman Gill while there were some important contributions from Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel. Gill hit 11 fours and 2 sixes. Shubman Gill is now the third Indian to score a century playing at number 3 after 2018.

Even prior to that, Indian bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah's ‘Sixfer’, dominated the DAY 2 play and restricted the visitors on a score of 255, taking a lead of 143 runs which proved  to be crucial in the game. For England Tom Hartley picked 4 wickets, Rehan Ahmed took 3 and James Anderson took 2 wickets. Debutant Shoaib Bashir clinched 1 wicket in the second innings.

4) Dion Gowda: New kid on the formula racing block:

Dion Gowda made an impressive debut in formula racing last year at the British Formula 4 Championship with consistent performances that included four wins, six podiums and three pole positions, finishing an overall fourth

After a solid show in the British Formula 4 Championship, the 16-year-old will be racing in the Italian Championship this year On a normal day, Dion Gowda is just like any other 16-year-old. But when the visor comes down, the teenager transforms into a racer with reaction times like a fighter pilot, g-forces pin him down too. All for one goal – to battle through cut-throat competition and progress in the world of formula racing.

Born in Bengaluru, Dion’s interest in racing was kindled at the age of 9 by a visit to a Singaporean kart track after he was inspired by watching Formula 1 great Lewis Hamilton. The Gowda family also have racing in their blood. Dion's father Santhosh is not just a motorsport enthusiast but also took part in the Indian National Rally Championship back in the 1990s.

Dion made an impressive debut in formula racing last year at the British Formula 4 Championship with consistent

 5) WTA Mumbai Open: Sahaja Yamalapalli's hard-won progress fills her with belief

Sahaja Yamalapalli produced the biggest victory of her career by knocking out top seed and world No. 92 American Kayla

In a little over 18 months, the 22-year-old has gone from being ranked in the 900s to 300s now, with a new career-high awaiting next week. Sahaja Yamalapalli was happy when she glanced through the draw of the WTA 125K L&T Mumbai Open. Odd, because she was slotted to face top seed Kayla Day first up.

"I wanted to see where I stand, in terms of my game and level," Sahaja said. The Indian wild card’s first outing on the WTA Tour ended by beating 92nd-ranked Kayla and going down to 162nd-ranked Polina Kudermetova on Thursday night, when she was one game away from a quarter-final spot leading 5-2 in the third set. The defeat, snatched from the jaws of victory, did hurt a little, but the 23-year-old took home from this tournament the belief of having it in her to compete at this level.

"Sahaja has been thinking and dreaming about getting into the Grand Slam stage (qualifiers) by the end of this year. And this tournament will be a huge confidence booster for her in believing that she has the level to do that," said Rituplawan Gogoi, head coach of the PBI (Peter Burwash International) Academy in Bengaluru where Sahaja trains. Sahaja may still be work in progress, but there has been definite progress over the last couple of years that has catapulted her to becoming the India No. 2 among women at 336.

She made her debut on the ITF tour in 2021 after graduating from the Sam Houston State University, where she made her mark playing collegiate tennis. Sahaja’s initial steps on the professional ladder were far from smooth, and began the 2022 season ranked 1335.

That’s when she decided to train at the PBI Academy, a call that added wings to her career. PBI, which opened its centre at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence six years ago, isn't exclusively for professionals but has a global footprint of teaching “over 3 million students, including Olympic and Grand Slam champions”, as its website states. Its presence in India goes back to the Britannia Amritraj Tennis foundation in the 1980-90s that produced the likes of Leander Paes. “One of the best things about Sahaja is how dedicated, professional and humble she is towards her work. So once that was in place, our job was to provide her with an ecosystem that would help develop her game further,” Gogoi said.

Part of that development was not only working on her strengths — solid groundstrokes, potent forehand and an attitude of not playing within herself — but also adding variety to her play. The serve has been an area of improvement, and so has her ability to try “different things out of my comfort zone", as Sahaja said she did in her matches in Mumbai.

“In the women's game, most in the top 150 or 200 have solid groundstrokes. So, to get to the top — and by that, I mean top 50 — there needs to be variety in your game. We have tried doing that with Sahaja, developing her slicing and volleying to go with the baseline play,” said Gogoi, who travelled with Sahaja to Mumbai. The results began to show. In 2022, Sahaja won a couple of ITF titles in Nagpur and Gurugram, going past the then India No. 2 Karman Kaur Thandi in the latter. The Solapur ITF title last year gave her a first top 200 victory, and the Mumbai WTA event her first top 100 scalp. In a little over 18 months since her Gurugram title in July 2022, she has gone from being ranked in the 900s to 300s now, with a new career-high awaiting next week.

Gogoi believes a good tournament or two this season can push her closer to her goal of getting into the Slam qualifiers, and getting a sponsor to fund her travel overseas would help. The “hunger” to get there and beyond, he said, is ingrained. “I don't want to put a number on the ranking (in terms of her goal). But of course, I want to build on this (Mumbai show)," Sahaja said. “There’s still a lot to learn and improve. I want to take the confidence and motivation from this and keep going. At the end of the year, I want to play the Grand Slams, get into the qualies at least. That's my goal, and I'm going to keep working hard and keep going towards it.”

 

 Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya

is a newly released Indian Hindi-language science fiction romantic comedy movie that was released in theatres on 9 February 2024. The film’s star cast is Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon. The film was produced under Maddock Films and Jio Studios. The movie writer and director are Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah, in their directorial debuts. According to sources, principal photography began in October 2022 and ended in April 2023.

Story of this film: Aryan meets a young woman Sifra and both fall in love. Aryan, deciding to introduce Sifra to his family, runs into trouble when he discovers that Sifra is a humanoid android robot.

Bhootpori

Bhootpori is a Bengali movie released on 9 Feb, 2024. The movie is directed by Soukarya Ghosal and featured Jaya Ahsan, Ritwick Chakraborty, Sudipta Chakraborty and Shaantilal Mukherjee as lead characters. Other popular actors who were roped in for Bhootpori are Bishantak Mukherjee and Abhijit Guha.

The film chronicles the tale of a deceased woman and a little boy who meets the restless soul of the departed woman. The woman seeks help from the little boy to unravel the mystery behind her death.

Bhakshak'

The film follows Pednekar as journalist Vaishali Singh as she uncovers the stories of abuse at a girls' shelter home. It also stars Sanjay Mishra, Aditya Srivastava and Sai Tamhankar.

Streamer Netflix on Wednesday unveiled the trailer of Bhumi Pednekar's upcoming movie "Bhakshak", about an investigative journalist who tries to expose a heinous crime.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan's banner Red Chillies Entertainment has backed the crime drama, which is inspired by true events. The film is directed by Pulkit and will debut on Netflix on February 9.

The Marvels

At the heart of every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie lies riveting characters that sweep you off your feet. In Marvel Studios’ 33rd MCU movie, The Marvels, we are presented with all-new story arcs for fans to enjoy and relish. From Captain Marvel trying to maintain order in the universe to Ms Marvel fighting alongside her superhero to Captain Monica Rambeau being in the middle of the chaos, the three come together to unleash powerful action, comedy, and chaos. Here’s a look at the five characters that bring you a thrilling new chapter of MCU.

The Marvels is all set to stream on Disney+ Hotstar from February 7.

Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, reclaims her identity from the tyrannical Kree and takes revenge on the Supreme Intelligence in The Marvels. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. It’s a tough one for Carol because she’s sort of decided to work alone because it’s too painful to try and deal with loss.

Ms Marvel: Ms Marvel is Jersey City’s local teen hero- Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani, and was introduced in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ Hotstar series, Ms Marvel. In The Marvels, she makes her second appearance in MCU and charms all with her antics as she goes from a fangirl of Captain Marvel to her trusted aide fighting beside her.

Rambeau: Scientist Captain Monica Rambeau, as in the late Maria Rambeau’s daughter and Carol’s estranged niece, is played by Teyonah Parris. She was rediscovered as an adult in another Marvel Studios series, the award-winning WandaVision.

BOOK OF THIS WEEK:

 

APRAGYTIHASIK :ISHRARER BAGAN: BY SOHOM GUHA

মাটির রং এবং মানুষের ভাষার সঙ্গে তালে তাল মিলিয়ে বদলে যায় কল্পবিজ্ঞান ও ফ্যান্টাসির গল্প। সোহম বয়সে তরুণ হলেও তাঁর দেখার চোখ অনেক পরিণত। তাই অবলীলায় সে এই বদলে যাওয়া ভাষাটা ধরে ফেলে ‘আমাদের’ গল্প বলতে পারে অনায়াসে। এ কারণেই তাঁকে বোধহয় অন্য কোনও দেশের থেকে ভাষা বা ভঙ্গিমা ধার করতে হয় না নিজের চরিত্রদের ফুটিয়ে তুলতে। সেই আশ্চর্য রকমের পরিচিত ভাষ্যে সুলেখক সোহম গুহ’র অনবদ্য বড় গল্পের সংকলন প্রকাশ পেয়েছে কল্পবিশ্বের হাত ধরে।

Soham Guha:

The universe is made of quarks and speculative dreams. As a part of this universe, Soham Guha (সোহম গুহ) finds himself often in his suburban home near Kolkata (India).

He writes in his mother tongue, Bengali, and English as well. His works were published in Kalpabiswa.com, Scroll.in, Mohs 5.5: Megastructure Anthology, Mithila Review, Meteotopia: Futures of Climate (In)justice, and The Gollancz Anthology of South Asian Science Fiction and Fantasy Vol II.

His collection of Bengali speculative fiction can be found in Archimedes and Other Stories (2022, Kalpabiswa Publications).

The heritage of SF in Bengal, both east and West, is rich, distinct, yet somewhat underrepresented to the global audience. Looking at the current status, the development may appear fragmented, even halted. The reason can be traced to the mainstream vernacular magazines, the respective publishing houses, and their treatment of SF entirely as MG fiction. Magazines play a crucial role in the emergence of genre fiction, as they are the first and foremost platforms for any aspiring and experimenting pen. However, looking at the SFs printed in these magazines, if someone compares them with the global standard, one might find the majority of the stories to be inadequate antiquities. Considering the lack of SF special issues, the reluctance to experimentation, the predominant absence of adult themes in the printed SFs, the prevalent atmosphere can be said to be stagnant. This is a stark divergence from the paths paved by SF-only magazines like Ashchorjo, Bismoy, and Fantastic. All three magazines were either edited or influenced by Adrish Bardhan.