Author: Rahul M

England on Monday announced their playing XI for the fourth Test against India, which will be played at Old Trafford from Wednesday, July 23. Hampshire spinner Liam Dawson has replaced the injured Shoaib Bashir in England’s playing XI. This will be Dawson’s first Test appearance since July 2017. The Ben Stoke-led England are currently leading the five-match Test series 2-1 after a thrilling win in the third Test at the Lord’s. England line-up: 1.⁠ ⁠Zak Crawley 2.⁠ ⁠Ben Duckett 3.⁠ ⁠Ollie Pope 4.⁠ ⁠Joe Root 5.⁠ ⁠Harry Brook 6.⁠ ⁠Ben Stokes (c) 7.⁠ ⁠Jamie Smith (wk) 8.⁠ ⁠Liam Dawson …

BRUSSELS (AP) — Belgian police questioned two members of the Israeli army who were attending a music festival in Belgium over allegations of serious violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Brussels said in a statement Monday.In a statement to The Associated Press, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said an Israeli citizen and an Israeli soldier who were on vacation in Belgium “were taken in yesterday for interrogation and were released shortly afterward.” It said Israeli authorities “dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two.”It was not immediately clear why the Israeli Foreign…

Chennai: Marxist stalwart V.S. Achuthanandan died Monday at the age of 101 at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He had served as chief minister of Kerala from 2006-2011 and last held the post of chairman of Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission from 2016-2021. Achuthanandan retired from active politics in 2019 after suffering a mild stroke. He had since been living with his son V.A. Arun Kumar in Thiruvananthapuram where doctors restricted the number of visitors he could receive on account of age-related ailments. Achuthanandan was rushed to the private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram in June after he suffered a cardiac arrest. Show…

Independent MP from Purnia, Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, on Monday delivered remarks in veiled jibes at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, branding them as “arrogant Yuvrajs” when asked about being stopped by security personnel from boarding a protest truck during a recent INDIA bloc protest in Patna. He also claimed that he claimed that Rahul Gandhi rejected the offer to become Prime Minister. ‘Rahul Gandhi Rejected PM Post Offered by Manmohan Singh’: Pappu Yadav Speaking to news agency ANI during a podcast, Yadav claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had offered the PM post to…

(Bloomberg) — Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary has chosen former biotech executive George Tidmarsh as the agency’s top drug regulator, according to a person familiar with the decision.The naming of Tidmarsh, also a Stanford University-affiliated pediatrician, to director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research could be announced as soon as Monday, said the person who asked not to be identified because the appointment wasn’t public.At the CDER, the 65-year-old Tidmarsh will oversee one of the FDA’s largest and most important divisions with a staff of about 5,700 that reviews the vast majority of novel drug applications.…

New Delhi: Stating “madly in love with Rahul Ji, Sonia Ji,” Independent MP Pappu Yadav said as he is “waiting” for Congress to make a move before the Bihar Assembly polls later this year as he feels that the party has “never accepted him.” Notably, Yadav had won the last Lok Sabha polls from Bihar’ Purnea as an Independent candidate after the Congress denied him the ticket and gave the seat to its alliance partner RJD. Speaking exclusively with ANI, Pappu Yadav, who has a stronghold on Seemanchal region, emphasised that Congress needs a strong leadership in Bihar. Show Full…

LONDON (AP) — Twenty-five countries including Britain, France and a host of European nations issued a joint statement on Monday that puts more pressure on Israel, saying the war in Gaza “must end now” and Israel must comply with international law.The foreign ministers of countries including Australia, Canada and Japan said “the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths.” They condemned “the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food.”The statement described as “horrifying” the deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking…

IF CPI(M) veteran V S Achuthanandan came to be known as a relentless fighter, he began early.Having dropped out of school to join his elder brother’s tailoring shop at their native village Punnapra, Achuthan – as he was known then – was exposed to tales of oppression, including denial of wages, of toddy and coir workers. After he joined a coir factory at Aspinwall, he also got swept into trade unionism. In 1941, Communist leader P Krishna Pillai asked an 18-year-old Achuthanandan to organise the farm workers of Kuttanad in Alappuzha, who were unhappy about their abysmal working conditions and…

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday met with senior Union Ministers, including Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Nirmala Sitharaman Kiren Rijiju, and Arjun Meghwal. Sources said that the meeting, held at Parliament House in the national capital likely discussed and made decisions regarding the ongoing Monsoon Session, which began today.The Prime Minister was apprised about the discussions in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) and the opposition’s insistence on his making a statement in the House according to sources. The PM was also briefed about the opposition’s ruckus, particularly their demand for his availability to…

New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday announced the launch of a movement to safeguard Bengali language from the “severe assault it is facing,” at the Trinamool Congress’s annual Martyrs’ Day rally—signaling an aggressive political campaign against the BJP centred around cultural pride in the run-up to the 2026 state elections. If TMC’s campaign around this theme crystallises, it will effectively reprise its 2021 Assembly poll strategy, which had a similar focus, branding BJP as a party of “outsiders”, alien to Bengali identity and ethos. An influential section of the Bengali intelligentsia had rallied behind Banerjee at the…