Good morning, Comedy or a tragedy? New Zealand’s attempt to “reproduce the whip-crack action” of Indian paceman Jasprit Bumrah during the practice session on Wednesday “manifested as wild, wide balls that pitched halfway down the pitch,” Sandip G describes. Bumrah, the player who always brings more heart, more heat and more will, to the game, “gives the fans not just hope, but he makes them dream.” The art of distorting stumps that motivated a teenaged Bumrah is what keeps him going even now. In a game between the batting and bowling royalty of our times, Bumrah has dominated the records - smoothly destroying some of the world-class batsmen, one ball at a time. With that, let’s move on to today’s edition: Reviving bilateral ties between India and China UN peacekeepers at work Of formulas and seats in Maharashtra 🚨 Big Story It was D-Day: In an attempt to revive bilateral ties, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping held talks on Wednesday, where they underlined that “maintaining peace on border should be our priority” and “mutual trust, mutual respect and mutual sensitivity should be the basis of our ties”. This was the first time since the Chinese incursion in eastern Ladakh triggered a military standoff along the Line of Actual Control. ‘Dialogue, not war’: PM Modi, in his address at the 16th BRICS Summit on Wednesday, underlined the challenges gripping the world at this time, and emphasized the ways in which the BRICS grouping can play a positive role in these areas. Calling for “single-minded, firm support of all” to “counter terrorism and terror financing”, he asserted that India supports “dialogue and diplomacy, not war”. ⚡ Only in Express In our Opinion section today, Ashutosh Varshney presents an overview of the factors at play in determining the winner of the presidential race in the upcoming US elections. He writes: “An unpredictable combination of gender/race/class/state will determine who wins. But whichever way this mix ultimately settles, it will be, substantially though not wholly, in answer to two fundamental questions. Is America ready for a Black woman president, or would White supremacy make a comeback via Trump?” Peacekeepers at work: Israel, recently, demanded that the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) should vacate its positions along the Blue Line, a 120-km-long “line of withdrawal” set by the United Nations in 2000 along Lebanon’s southern border in order to confirm the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory. Who are these UN peacekeepers? Are Indian troops part of UNIFIL? We unpack. 🔴 From the Poll Ballot Compromise, the key word: Ahead of next month’s crucial assembly elections in Maharashtra, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance finally has a consensus on seat sharing — each of the three parties will get 85 seats. As such, 33 seats are yet to be decided, despite two days of marathon meetings. The decision came despite the Congress and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) staking claim to more than 100 seats each. The “85-85-85 formula” is seen as a major climbdown by the Congress with a senior leader insisting the seat distribution was not final yet. “We will contest 105 seats at least at any cost,” he said. The other Sena: Loyalty doesn’t always pay off when it comes to politics but it sure does if one is part of Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. 37 of the 41 MLAs who had sided with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in his 2022 rebellion have found a place in the party’s first list of 45 candidates. While the Mahayuti’s final seat distribution has not been declared yet, the Shinde Sena is expected to contest 80-85 seats. 📌 Must Read Stay safe, Odisha: With Cyclone ‘Dana’ likely to make a landfall tonight, Odisha is gearing up to evacuate over a million people to safety shelters. Having been hit by multiple cyclones in the past few years and the Met office predicting a storm surge of around 1 metre (above the astronomical tide) during the landfall, the government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure safety of the people. Trains have been cancelled, flights postponed, schools and colleges shut and even tourist places made out of bounds for people. On October 20, militants killed seven people in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district who were working for an infrastructure company which is constructing the Z-Morh tunnel on the Srinagar-Sonamarg highway. Now, CCTV footage of the attack has showstwo militants carrying an American-made M4 Carbine assault rifle and an AK-47, spending around seven minutes at the workers’ camp before fleeing the spot. The attack took place at the camp when some employees were sitting in the dining area and others were heading for dinner. New cats: India has now turned to Kenya for sourcing of cheetahs. Under the ambitious Project Cheetah, which saw the intercontinental translocation of African cheetahs to Madhya Pradesh, the government’s aim is to introduce eight to 14 cheetahs each year, subject to availability. However, the plan this time is to source the cheetahs from Kenya as it is believed that they would adapt better to India’s tropical climate, as part of the African country lies in the northern hemisphere. Cheetahs sourced from southern hemisphere countries — Namibia and South Africa — had developed winter coats during Indian monsoon, and the dampness led to fatal infections under their radio collars. ⏳ And Finally. Yikes: McDonald’s has been on the receiving end in the last few days after a person died and multiple people fell sick due to an E.coli infection after eating their burgers. While the source of the infection is not known yet, the fast-food giant has stopped serving quarter pound patties and slivered onions in several states. What is the outbreak and should we be worried in India? Well, the outbreak is restricted to 10 states in the United States, so, we are just fine having that burger here in India. E.coli, which causes gastrointestinal symptoms, spreads through contaminated food and water. More than 500 outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases were reported across India in 2023, according to the National Centre for Disease Control. 🎧 In today’s edition of the ‘3 Things’ podcast, we recount the tragic crash of an Indian Air Force aircraft 56 years ago, talk about Italy and Switzerland re-drawing their borders and discuss about cyclone Dana that is scheduled to make landfall tonight. That’s all for today. Until next time, Ariba and Rounak Bagchi
