Big Story 

Will Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and incoming Chief Minister Hemant Soren be the only one to take oath today?

Till last night, confusion reigned in the state after the party claimed Soren would be the only one to be sworn in today, but sources within Congress quickly sprung up the possibility of more leaders joining the ceremony.

Making of a cabinet: An insider in Jharkhand Congress said there was a “possibility” that one of its legislators along with an RJD MLA may join Soren, adding they were “in the process of ironing things out”.

‘One per four’ formula: JMM sources say that the 12-member Jharkhand Cabinet would be filled broadly on the “one ministerial berth per every four legislators” formula, with around two MLAs each from the state’s five administrative regions. Meanwhile, AICC general secretary in-charge of the state, Ghulam Ahmad Mir said that the expansion of the Cabinet will take place after the Vote-on-Account (on the floor of the House).

A quick recap: Last week, the INDIA bloc stormed to a historic second consecutive term in Jharkhand with JMM winning 34 of 81 Assembly seats while the Congress, RJD and CPI(ML)L won 16, four and two seats, respectively.

In Maharashtra, a deadlock continues…

The Chief Minister post in Maharashtra remained cloaked in suspense till Wednesday, until Eknath Shinde indicated that a consensus within Mahayuti was imminent. 

For the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, though, the troubles don’t seem to be heading to an end. There are rumblings within the defeated Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of Uddhav’s Sena coming under increasing pressure from its leaders to leave the alliance.

Only in Express

“Remember, anyone with any such issue, just tell them, ‘there is a guy called Robin on the other side of the world who is willing to listen’.”

The former destroyer of pure pace bowling, Robin Smith, caught up with Indian Express‘ Sriram Veera at a cafe in Perth city centre, months after he was at a hospital, fighting for his life. The avuncular and polite Smith opens up about the more gruesome battles he faced off the field during his cricketing years—his alcoholism, depression, suicidal thoughts, and how he survived them all.

From the Front Page

With ripples of the Shahi Masjid controversy still being felt across Sambhal, a local court in Ajmer has sent notices to the Home Office, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Ajmer Dargah Committee over a petition seeking a survey of the shrine. Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta claimed in his plea that the dargah — the mausoleum of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti – was a Shiva temple.

Eight carmakers, including Hyundai, Kia, Mahindra, and Honda, could be facing penalties up to the tune of Rs 7,300 crore owing to higher than mandated fleet emission levels in financial year 2022-23, The Indian Express has learnt. The penalty on Korean carmaker Hyundai is the highest, totalling over Rs 2,800 crore, followed by Mahindra (nearly Rs 1,800 crore) and Kia (over Rs 1,300 crore). This is owing to the companies not meeting India’s CAFE norms — a fuel consumption of not more than 4.78 litres per 100 km and carbon dioxide emissions of not more than 113 grams per km.

A research trip to Gujarat’s Lothal turned fatal for a 23-year-old PhD student from IIT-Delhi after an excavation pit near the Harappan Valley Civilisation site collapsed on her and her professor. The condition of her professor, who was rescued by the first responders, is said to be “fragile”. The incident took place when the joint team of four researchers from IIT-Delhi and IIT-Gandhinagar had gone to Lothal – the ancient port city – to study paleoclimatology.

Must Read

Ever wondered what a spyware company’s pitch to its clients would read like? Well, as far as sales pitches go, it couldn’t have been any more direct — “TURN YOUR Target’s Smartphone Into an Intelligence Gold Mine.”

This is what the Israeli spyware maker NSO Group was using to pitch its Pegasus product to potential customers as one “capable of collecting information from mobile devices”. The end use, according to these documents, would happen via the sale of licenses to a trio of innocuously-named delivery “vectors” — ‘Heaven’, ‘Eden’, and ‘Erised’ (desire written backwards) — all part of a hacking suite called “Hummingbird.” Simply put, vectors are entry points for attackers.

In a first step towards peace in the West Asia region, a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon came into effect on Wednesday. In today’s Explained section, Bashir Ali Abbas, an expert on the subject, answers a few questions — why did Israel agree to this deal? and what does this mean for the Israel-Lebanon frontier, and the region at large?

In recent days, Sambhal has been on the edge following violence and stone pelting over the survey of a mosque. In today’s Opinion section, Firoz Bakht Ahmed writes: “The Sambhal Shahi Masjid controversy is a cleverly engineered conspiracy to keep the Hindu-Muslim pot simmering. The way the petition was filed, and the speed with which the survey was ordered all raise questions about the sanctity of due process.”

And Finally…

For an 18-year-old playing at the greatest stage that Chess provides, there is a certain hint of Mahendra Singh Dhoni about the way Gukesh does things on the chessboard (yes, he greatly admires the former India captain). Falling to defeat in the first game of the World Chess Championship with white pieces would have been enough to rattle anybody’s confidence. But not Gukesh’s. He has bounced back to level the match with a confident win in Game 3.

In today’s edition of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we discuss the controversy surrounding the Sambhal mosque, talk about the harmful effects of social media, in light of Australia proposing to ban it for children and young adults, and also provide an update on the raging Adani controversy.