Daily Briefing: Latest from COP28; remembering India’s first Antarctic expedition; and more

Speaking at the high-level segment of the COP28 meeting in Dubai on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched India as the host for COP33, the 2028 climate change conference, after a gap of 26 years.

🌏 He also said, “Countries need to rise above their narrow self-interests, and fulfil their all their climate obligations…  We must develop innovative technology… and the developed countries must agree to transfer this technology to others.”

We also take a look at the ‘loss and damage fund’ that was officially launched on the first day of the COP28 summit, and explain why it is needed by vulnerable countries, and how it will operate.

Allu Arjun movies, card games, murmura and muffled voices from outside. 

For this week’s Big Picture, Rajendra Bedia, one of the 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand’s Silkyara tunnel, spoke to Abhishek Angad on what kept them going during those 17 days before they were rescued in an unprecedented operation.

"People like… the cabinet secretary, defence secretary and the chief of naval staff… they were addressing us and we were discussing strategy… and we were not allowed to tell any of this outside. We couldn’t tell our wives. We felt like we were in a James Bond movie. It was very exciting."

December 1 is celebrated as Antarctica Day each year, to mark the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959. We take a look back at ‘Operation Gangotri’, India’s first scientific expedition to the icy continent, which was kept under wraps from the public. 

In our Opinion section today, Sanjaya Baru writes on the Nijjar-Pannun episodes, in the context of India’s ‘vishwaguru’ agenda: “To imagine the future is the present, that we are already in ‘Amrit Kaal’, that the world ‘looks up to India’ is nothing more than political propaganda at home. To be aware of the distinction between rhetoric and reality is in the national interest. To be delusional and believe one’s own propaganda is not.”

Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga, of Arjun Reddy/Kabir Singh fame, is back with his latest offering, Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor and Rashmika Mandanna. Check out Shubhra Gupta’s review here: “Animal ricochets off target after having raced full-tilt to the mid-point: if it had come to an end at the interval, it would have made its point.”

Want to read our review of Sam Bahadur? Click here

Business As Usual by E P Unny