INDIA-CHINA TIES: EAM S JAISHANKAR, WANG YI MEET, BUT NO PROGRESS ON LAC

Another attempt to revive India-China ties ended in an apparent stalemate as there was no fresh Chinese response to resolve the border stalemate or the issue of re-entry of Indian students during an hour-long meeting between Foreign Ministers S Jaishankar and Wang Yi on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia, on Thursday.

“Began my day in Bali by meeting FM Wang Yi of China. The discussion lasted one hour. Focused on specific outstanding issues in our bilateral relationship pertaining to the border situation. Also spoke about other matters, including students and flights,” Jaishankar had tweeted after the meeting.

“The minister called for an early resolution of all outstanding issues along the LAC in eastern Ladakh,” said an MEA statement.

Jaishankar reiterated that the India-China relationship was best served by observing mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests. “He reaffirmed the importance of fully abiding by bilateral agreements and protocols, and the understandings reached between the two ministers during their previous conversations.

“In this regard, both ministers affirmed that the military and diplomatic officials of the two sides should continue maintaining regular contact and looked forward to the next round of senior commanders’ meeting at an early date,” the MEA statement added.

“The China-India border area is generally stable at the moment. The two sides have the will and capability of jointly maintaining peace and tranquillity in the China-India border areas,” said the Chinese MFA.

TMC WATCHFUL ABOUT TRIBAL VOTES, NOT SURE ABOUT BACKING YASHWANT SINHA

Trinamool Congress (TMC)-governed West Bengal is not likely to feature in the travel itinerary of joint Opposition nominee for presidential elections Yashwant Sinha, who plans to visit, among other places, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, and Bihar ahead of the polls on July 18.

“One should not read too much into it. He has to visit many other states and there is very little time. In the case of West Bengal, the majority of votes are assured in his favour in any case,” the functionary said. A TMC leader also stressed that Banerjee had directed every MLA and MP to vote for Sinha.

The TMC had taken the lead in forging consensus in the Opposition bloc about fielding a joint candidate. But with the BJP-led NDAfielding former Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu, who belongs to the Adivasi community, the TMC has been maintaining a strategic distance from Sinha’s campaign.

West Bengal has a sizable Santhal Adivasi community to which the former Jharkhand Governor belongs. The Santhal footprint in the state is spread across five Lok Sabha seats and more than 30 Assembly segments, and the community makes up over 80 per cent of Bengal’s tribal population.

DON’T JAIL JOURNALISTS FOR WHAT THEY SAY: GERMANY

Days after the arrest of Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of fact-checker website Alt News, on charges of promoting religious enmity in a tweet from 2018, the German Foreign ministry referred to the case and said “journalists should not be persecuted and imprisoned for what they say and write”.

The spokesperson at the German ministry said that they are in contact with European Union partners, and freedom of press is part of discussions between the EU and India. Hours later, India responded with a terse statement that “uninformed comments are unhelpful and should be avoided”.

Asked about Germany’s position, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said: “Let me emphasise that there is a judicial process underway in this case. And I don’t think it would be appropriate for me or anyone else to comment on a case that is sub-judice. I think the independence of our judiciary is well recognised, and uninformed comments are unhelpful and should be avoided.”

EDUCATION SYSTEM CREATED BY BRITISH NOT PART OF INDIAN ETHOS: PM MODI

The education system created by the British was never part of the Indian ethos, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at the inauguration of the Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Samagam on implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) in Varanasi yesterday.

The aim of the NEP is to elevate education from the narrow mindset and connect it with the modern ideas of the 21st century, the PM said.

Lauding the effort that went into the preparation of the NEP, the PM also talked of a big overhaul of the education infrastructure in the country.

COVID DASHBOARD – INDIA

As of 0800 IST / July 8

from mohfw.gov.in ,

New Cases on Thursday 18,815

Active Cases 1,22,335 (+2,878)

Total Deaths (Deaths Yesterday) 5,25,343 (22)

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

BOJO QUITS AS TORY HEAD, STAYS ON AS INTERIM PM

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday announced his decision to step down as the Conservative Party leader, saying he was sad to give up the best job in the world.

Johnson, 58, will remain in charge at 10 Downing Street until the process of electing a new leader is completed by the time of the Conservative Party conference, scheduled for October.

In his address, Johnson said that in politics, no one is “remotely indispensable”. He thanked the British public “for the immense privilege you have given me”.

The move came after days of high drama and a steady stream of resignations from his Cabinet since Tuesday and just minutes after his newly appointed Chancellor to replace Rishi Sunak wrote a public letter calling for him to “go now”.

There have been over 50 resignations since Johnson's apology on Tuesday, after days of changing messages from Downing Street over the hiring and handling of the now-suspended Chris Pincher, who quit as Deputy Chief Whip in charge of Tory party discipline last week after admitting drunken misconduct.

It comes in the wake of the partygate scandal of covid law-breaking parties in Downing Street, which had resulted in a no-confidence vote last month which Johnson just about survived.

His resignation will now trigger a fierce leadership battle within the Conservative Party.

To take part in the race, a Tory MP has to be nominated by eight colleagues. If more than two MPs put themselves forward and secure enough nominations to run for leader, a series of secret ballots are held to whittle them down.

US OLYMPIAN PLEADS GUILTY TO DRUGS CHARGES IN RUSSIAN COURT

US basketball star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty to a drugs charge in a Russian court on Thursday but denied she had intentionally broken the law. Griner was speaking at the second hearing of her trial on the narcotics charge that could see her sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, days after she urged US President Joe Biden to secure her release.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist was detained in February at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport with vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia, and has been kept in custody since.

In a handwritten note, she appealed to Biden directly earlier this week to step up US efforts to bring her home. "I realize you are dealing with so much, but please don't forget about me and the other American detainees..." Griner wrote.

US officials and many athletes have called for the release of Griner -- or "BG" as she is known to basketball fans -- who they say has been wrongfully detained.

Her case has also prompted concerns that Moscow could use it as leverage to negotiate the release of a high-profile Russian citizen in US custody.

Russian authorities say there is no basis to consider Griner's detention illegal and that the case against her is not political despite Moscow's fraught relations with United States over the Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

THE REST

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PUNJAB CM BHAGWANT MANN GETS MARRIED AT A LOW-KEY EVENT

There were no large crowds or the usual pomp and show of a typical big fat Punjabi wedding, yet the exuberance was evident as Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann tied the knot with Dr Gurpreet Kaur in the presence of select invitees, including AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.

The wedding was a simple and private affair with Kejriwal played the role of the groom’s father.

The bride, Gurpreet Kaur, hails from Pehowa in Haryana’s Kurukshetra and completed her MBBS from a private university in Haryana four years ago.

It is Bhagwant Mann’s second marriage – he got divorced in 2015.

ZUBAIR SENT TO SIX-DAY POLICE CUSTODY IN UP, MOVES SC

Citing death threats, Mohammed Zubair, the co-founder of fact-checker website Alt News, approached the Supreme Court on Thursday seeking quashing of the FIR and grant of bail “urgently” in a case filed against him in UP’s Sitapur over a tweet that allegedly referred to some religious leaders as “hate mongers”.

The move came on a day when a Sitapur court sent Zubair to six days’ police custody.

In the Supreme Court, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves told the bench that Zubair’s role was to identify hate speech and forward it to police stations. “He made many enemies. An FIR was lodged against him…my main argument would be that a look at that FIR itself would show no crime,” he said. The top cpurt is likely to take up the case today.

Last week, the Delhi Police’s cyber crime unit had arrested Zubair on charges of promoting enmity and hurting religious sentiments with a 2018 tweet linked to Lord Hanuman. Subsequently, the UP Police moved the Sitapur court seeking a warrant, which was then served in Tihar jail where Zubair was lodged.

MAHUA STICKS TO HER STAND

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra defended her recent comments on the “meat-eating and alcohol accepting” Goddess Kali and said she would continue to resist “the BJP’s attempt to foist a brand of aggressive, North Indian Hindutva on Bengalis”. “Don’t come to Bengal to teach us how to worship our goddess,” she said.

“The people of Bengal are laughing at the antics of the BJP’s monkey vahini,” Moitra said, adding that the BJP had not “taken lease of the Hindu religion”. The Trinamool MP, showing off three amulets on her wrist that she got from the Tarapith temple, stressed that it was an age-old practice to give “alcohol and meat” as offerings to the temple’s deity, Goddess Kali. “I myself am a worshipper of Ma Kali. How dare the BJP try to appropriate my goddess?” she asked, adding that her comments were based on “reality”. “It is the BJP that has hurt my religious sentiments,” she said.

Moitra dared the BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari to bring a bill in the Bengal assembly saying the practices at the Tarapith temple hurt Hindu sentiments. “If there is an iota of mistake in my statements, they should file an affidavit placing on record that this does not happen in Ujjain, in Kamakhya, in Tarapith,” Moitra said.

IT MIN ORDERED TO TAKE DOWN MANY ACCOUNTS, WITHOUT PROPER REASONS: TWITTER IN PETITION

Between February 2021 and 2022, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) is learnt to have issued 10 blocking orders to Twitter, directing the company to take down over 1,400 accounts and 175 tweets under Section 69 (A) of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Twitter has moved the Karnataka High Court, seeking to quash blocking orders for 39 of those links flagged by the Ministry, according to the petition filed by the social media giant.

Twitter has told the court that “increasingly” the Ministry has been issuing orders to block entire accounts without informing the company the specific tweets made by these accounts that call for their blocking. Several of the URLs contain political and journalistic content. Blocking of such information is a gross violation of the freedom of speech guaranteed to citizen-users of the platform,” the company said.

The company has also claimed that the Ministry has, in many cases, not provided “proper reasons” for issuing the blocking orders, a requirement under Section 69(A).

Last month, the MeitY had given the company “one last opportunity” to comply with its blocking orders issued under Section 69 (A) or risk losing its immunity as an intermediary, which shields it from legal action against content posted by users on its platform.

ED RAIDS VIVO AND ITS ASSOCIATED COMPANIES

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) yesterday alleged that the Indian arm of Chinese mobile phone maker Vivo “remitted” almost 50 per cent of its turnover (Rs 62,476 crore) to China to avoid paying taxes here. Vivo has a turnover of Rs 1,25,185 crore.

In a statement, the ED said it seized funds worth Rs 465 crore kept in 119 bank accounts by various entities, Rs 73 lakh cash and 2 kg gold during its pan-India raids that were launched on July 5 against Vivo Mobile India Private Limited and its 23 associated companies.

It also contended that Vivo ex-director Bin Lou left India in 2018 after incorporating a number of companies, which are being probed by the agency. The agency also alleged: “Employees of Vivo India, including some Chinese nationals, did not cooperate with the search proceedings and tried to abscond, remove and hide digital devices, which were retrieved by the search teams.” With this, the ED has claimed to have busted a major money laundering racket involving Chinese nationals and multiple Indian companies.

VIRGINITY TEST: CHANGES IN MBBS SYLLABUS CLEARED

The National Medical Commission (NMC) on Thursday approved changes to the MBBS curriculum. Students will be taught how the two finger virginity test is unscientific, inhumane and discriminatory. They will also be taught how to appraise the courts of the unscientific nature of the signs of virginity and its test, in case the court orders the same in matrimonial disputes.

This has been done on the recommendations of a panel constituted by the NMC undergraduate board president Aruna Vanikar on the orders of the Madras HC recently to address issues related to LGBTQIA+ community in the MBBS curriculum.

The panel expanded its ambit to include the review of virginity tests. Panel member Prof Indrajit Khandekar said: “No MBBS book ever mentioned the ‘signs of virginity’ of a male. The mention of virginity of a female is discriminatory and unscientific.”

ELON MUSK ON HIS 9 KIDS: "DOING MY BEST TO CONTROL UNDERPOPULATION CRISIS"

Tesla chief Elon Musk has responded to reports that he and Shivon Zilis, a top employee at his brain chip startup Neuralink, had twins in November 2021.

Taking to Twitter, Mr Musk said that he is doing his “best to help the underpopulation crisis.” He even added that a “collapsing birth rate is the biggest danger civilisation faces by far.”

The news of the twins brings Elon Musk's total count of children to nine. He has five children with Candian author Justine Wilson and two with with singer Grimes.

HARDIK'S ALL-ROUND SHOW SINKS ENGLAND IN 1ST T20i

Hardik Pandya reigned supreme with a magnificent all-round performance as India thrashed England by 50 runs in the first T20 International in Southampton on Thursday.

The swashbuckling all-rounder led India's aggressive batting display with a blistering 33-ball 51, propelling the visitors to 198/8 after they opted to bat first.

The pace bowler claimed 4/33, as England were bowled out for 148 in 19.3 overs. He became only the fourth player from full member nations to score a fifty and take four wickets in a T20I match.

This was Pandya's maiden fifty in T20 Internationals, helping India score at a brisk pace in the middle overs after Rohit Sharma (24 off 14 balls), Deepak Hooda (33 0ff 17) and Suryakumar Yadav (39 off 19) set it up with their enterprising knocks.

Motoring along at 178/5 at the end of 17th over, India failed to finish their innings with a flourish on a belter of a pitch. But that did not matter in the end, despite India spilling a few catches.

RYBAKINA DOWNS HALEP TO SET UP JABEUR FINAL

Elena Rybakina powered into the Wimbledon final by dismantling former champion Simona Halep 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday with a clinical display to reach her maiden Grand Slam showpiece.

Halep was caught in the crosshairs of an onslaught from the Russian-born Kazakh, who pummelled her Romanian opponent with rasping serves and savage forehands.

The 17th seed  became the first player from Kazakhstan to reach a Grand Slam final, where she will meet Tunisian 3rd seed Ons Jabeur.

Jabeur lifted the spirits of an entire continent as she became the first Arab and first African woman to reach the Wimbledon final with a rousing 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over her barbecue buddy Tatjana Maria on Thursday.

Before she stepped on court, American great Billie Jean King said Jabeur was "using tennis as a platform to help Tunisia, help Africa and help Arabs" and the 27-year-old did just that as she finally ended the remarkable run of mum-of-two Maria.

INJURED NADAL PULLS OUT OF WIMBLEDON; KYRGIOS IN FINAL

Rafael Nadal's hopes of completing a rare calendar year Grand Slam ended on Thursday when the Spaniard pulled out of his highly-anticipated Wimbledon semi-final showdown against Australian Nick Kyrgios with an abdominal strain.

"Unfortunately, I have to pull out from the tournament," the dejected Spaniard told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference, less than 24 hours before his semi-final. "As everybody saw yesterday (in the quarter-final), I have been suffering with abdominal pain. I knew something was not okay there. Yeah, that's confirmed. I have a tear in the muscle in the abdomen.

With the Spaniard's withdrawal, unseeded 27-year-old Kyrgios became the first Australian to reach the men's singles final at the All England Club since Mark Philippoussis in 2003.

INDICATORS

Sensex 54,178 (+427), Nifty 16,133 (+143), Trading Value NSE (Rs.crores) 46,324

Nasdaq 11,621 (+259) Dow 31,385 (+347), S&P 3,903 (+58)

US$-Rs. 78.96 GBP-Rs. 94.60, Euro-Rs. 80.39, UAE Dhm-Rs.21.49, Can$-Rs. 60.74, Aus$- Rs. 53.89

GBP 0.83 /US$, Euro 0.98 /US$, Jap.Yen 135.89 /US$, Aus$ 1.46 /US$, Sing 1.40 /US$, Bang Taka 91.72 /US$, Can$ 1.29 /US$, Mal Ring 4.42 /US$,

Pak Re 205.97 /US$, Phil Peso 55.92 /US$, Russian Rouble 63.13 /US$, NZ$ 1.61 /US$, Thai Baht 36.07 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 29.29 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 22,057.80

Dollar Index 106.77 Brent Crude 104.36 BDI 2,073

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 1,743 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 5,111 / 4,685, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 62,400

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Men of integrity, by their existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community. - John W. Gardner

OFF TRACK

Some notations on Medical Charts from various hospitals:

On the second day, the knee was better, and then on the third day it disappeared.

The patient refused autopsy.

Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

Patient's medical history has been remarkably insignificant with only a 40-pound weight gain in the last three days.

She is numb from her toes down.

Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.

Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities.

The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.