It was a valiant effort from the batters, but Mumbai Indians prevailed in the end to beat Punjab Kings by nine runs in the 2024 Indian Premier League in Mullanpur. Punjab captain Sam Curran put the visitors in to bat first after winning the toss with Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma giving Mumbai a good start. However, the real fireworks were yet to come with Suryakumar Yadav coming in first drop after Kishan’s wicket. The 33-year-old struck 78 off 53 balls, a relatively sedate innings from somebody who tends to strike at above 200. Sharma and Tilak Varma too chipped in with contributions while ..read more

In November 2023, Geert Wilders’ stridently anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim party swept the Dutch elections in what the media called a political earthquake. The magnitude of his win came as a shock to the centre and left parties in the Dutch legislature. They jointly decided that “Europe’s most dangerous man” should never become prime minister. The Dutch are not alone in seeking an institutional fix against hard-right populism. In legislatures across the European Union, politicians are erecting a “cordon sanitaire” against extremism – a red-line tactic to block far-right parties from entering gov ..read more

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday named Union minister Narayan Rane as its candidate for Maharashtra’s Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency, wresting the seat from Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Kiran Samant. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will have to contest elections from “someplace across the oceans” in the future. Congress’ Jairam Ramesh, meanwhile, announced that Puducherry will be given full statehood if the INDIA bloc comes to power after the polls. Here’s a look at today’s top developments: In its thirteenth list of c ..read more

The additional chief electoral officer in Goa has referred to the Election Commission a complaint alleging that the state government signed a mining lease with Vedanta Limited in violation of the Model Code of Conduct, reported The Indian Express on Thursday. The Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the election commission that political parties, candidates and governments have to follow while campaigning. The guidelines came into effect on March 16 when the poll body announced the schedule for the Lok Sabha elections. On April 5, the non-governmental organisation Goa Founda ..read more

The British parliament is set to finally approve a divisive law this week to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, but further legal hurdles could yet hold up or derail one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s key policies. The “Safety of Rwanda” bill aims to cut immigration by deterring migrants from arriving without permission, but refugee rights groups say it criminalises genuine asylum seekers, and Britain’s Supreme Court ruled last year that the East African nation was not a safe country to send people. Sunak has invested huge political capital in the Rwanda scheme, promising that it will stop ten ..read more

The Congress is not interested in opposing the Bharatiya Janata Party ideologically or politically because it has “degenerated itself into a B-team of the BJP”, said Kerala Chief Minister and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday, reported The Hindu. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Congress are partners in the Opposition INDIA bloc that is taking on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. However, they are contesting the polls alone in Kerala. Tensions emerged within the bloc after the state-level Congress-led United ..read more

Date: 9 August, 20-whatever At your service, Respected Prime Minister Sir, Government of India, The Prime Minister’s Office, North Block, New Delhi – 110001. Your Excellency, I, Rajesh Kushwaha, of India, am not a city dweller, but a villager. Sir, it is a matter of great pride that I am being able to come face-to-face with my country’s prime minister. I am certain that my grievances will be looked into. Please accept my apologies for saying such disappointing things at the beginning of my letter – I have no choice and no other way. My father wants a tractor to appear at our doorstep within t ..read more

A Hindutva mob vandalised a school run by a missionary congregation in Telangana’s Mancherial district on Tuesday after the principal told some Hindu students not to wear saffron-coloured clothes to class without permission, reported The Indian Express. The incident occurred in St Mother Teresa English Medium School in Kannepalli village. The principal had reportedly asked the Hindu students, who were wearing saffron clothes in observance of the religious custom of Hanuman Deeksha, to bring their parents to school. On Tuesday, a discussion between the parents and the school administration tur ..read more

All 15 Cerelac baby cereal products sold by Swiss food-processing conglomerate Nestlé in India contain on average nearly three grams of added sugar per serving, an investigation by Public Eye and the International Baby Food Action Network has found. Public Eye is a Swiss non-governmental organisation campaigning for fair globalisation and the International Baby Food Action Network is a network of public interest groups working to reduce morbidity and mortality among infants and young children globally. In South Africa too, all Cerelac baby cereals contain four grams or more of added sugar per ..read more

In 2014, India’s young first-time voters played a crucial role in bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party to power at the Centre. Exit polls found that turnout in that election among Indians ages 18 to 25 surpassed that of the general population for the first time – at around 70%. In that election, the BJP represented hope but five years later, in 2019, it represented a mixture of fear and hope. There was fear that the state would repress those who dissented and disagreed with it. But Prime Minister Narendra Modi's larger-than-life reputation and oratory skills kept the hope alive for those who s ..read more