Times top10

Today: Kerala goes for a two-day complete lockdown; Amit Shah to meet CMs, DGPs & Chief Secys of all NE states in Shillong; Tokyo Olympics: Mirabai Chanu in women’s weightlifting 49 kg medal event, B Sai Praneeth vs Misha Zilberman of Israel in badminton. Tomorrow: Tokyo Olympics: PV Sindhu vs Polikarpova Ksenia of Israel (badminton); PoK Legislative Assembly polls

• Tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron as the pandemic-delayed 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics formally opened Friday night with cascading fireworks and made-for-TV choreography that unfolded in a near-empty stadium. The cauldron sat atop a peak inspired by Mount Fuji.
• Normally a star-studded display, the ceremony was low-key, with fewer than 1,000 people in attendance, and strict social distancing rules.
• The display recapped Japan's path to the Games, the challenges the world has faced during the pandemic, and the struggles athletes had to go through during lockdowns. A moment of silence was held "for all those family and friends we have lost" to Covid-19; a special mention was made of the Israeli athletes slain at the 1972 Munich Games.
• Japanese Emperor Naruhito declared the Games open, with fireworks bursting over the stadium after he spoke.

Stars to watch out for today: American Katie Ledecky in action in swimming; Novak Djokovic (Serbia) vs Bolivia's Hugo Deliien in the first round men's singles tennis; Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar (Slovenia) in men’s cycling road race; Alex Morgan (US vs NZ in women’s football)

Karnataka High Court on Friday quashed a notice Uttar Pradesh police had issued to Twitter India chief over a case related to a video of a man alleging he was a victim of hate crime.

• The court said the notice issued by the UP Police under Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) has not been backed by any evidence to show the involvement of Twitter India MD, Manish Maheshwari. Section 41a empowers a police office to arrest an accused without an order from a magistrate and without a warrant.
• “The provisions of the statute cannot be permitted to become tools of harassment,” the single-judge bench said. The court, however, said UP Police could record Maheshwari's statements online as a witness under section 160 of the Cr.PC.

The petition:

• Twitter India MD Maheshwari had approached the High Court after the UP Police, in a notice, asking him to appear at the Loni police station in Ghaziabad.
• The police had registered an FIR against the company, its MD as well as news publication The Wire, journalists Rana Ayyub, among others, over a video of an elderly Muslim man who alleges he was a victim of hate crime. In a previous hearing, the court had barred the UP police from taking any coercive action against Maheshwari.
• The executive argued in the petition that Twitter Communications India Private Ltd, the entity he is MD of, was involved in market research and advertising but has no control over the content on Twitter, which is a prerogative of Twitter INC, the US-based company.

Note: Under India's new IT Rules, it is the responsibility of the resident grievance officer to address complaints regarding the content on a social media platform. The Rules also call for establishing a chief compliance officer and a nodal officer who would coordinate with investigation agencies in case of a formal probe. Twitter India, after much delay, has appointed a resident grievance officer.

In a visit that was kept under wraps till it was over, Xi Jinping became the first Chinese President to visit Tibet in over three decades as also a town near the Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh.

Where and when?

• Jinping landed at the Nyingchi Mainling Airport in the southeast of Tibet on Wednesday. Nyingchi is a town located close to the Arunachal Pradesh border of India where, according to the official CCTV, he was given a “warm welcome by cadres and masses of all ethnic groups.”
• The official Xinhua news agency said the visit coincided with the 70th anniversary of Tibet's "peaceful liberation." Jinping checked in on the planning of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. He also visited the Nyingchi City Planning Museum with his main focus said to be the urban planning of the city.
• On Thursday, Jinping caught a train to the Tibetan capital Lhasa where he visited a monastery but more importantly, dropped in at the Potala Palace Square — the palace being the traditional residence of the Dalai Lama. According to a report, he underlined the importance of "governing Tibet in a new era and writing a new chapter of lasting stability and high quality development for the plateau region."

The significance

• Interestingly, the Chinese official media, which is quick to play up propaganda visits, made no mention of Jinping’s trip till two days after, on Friday. While Jinping has visited Tibet twice earlier, in 1998 as Fujian province's party chief and in 2011 as China’s vice-president, this is the first time he’s visited as President — the last time a Chinese President visited Tibet was in 1990 when Jiang Zemin was the country’s Head of State.
• His visit to a town near the Indian border comes amidst a continuing military standoff with India since last year which claimed the lives of 20 Indian and an unconfirmed number of Chinese soldiers, with both sides unable to resolve the border demarcation issue. Nyingchi is also the place where the Chinese are constructing a dam on the Brahmaputra river against which India has serious concerns.
• Moreover, China has never recognised India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh and considers it a disputed region, claiming it to be a part of Tibet, to the extent that a report earlier this year said the Chinese had built a village inside Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Jinping’s visit to Tibet, a region where Beijing’s policies have attracted worldwide criticism especially since reports emerged last year that it had implemented a mass labour system akin to the one for Uighur Muslims, comes just weeks after Chinese troops intruded into Indian territory in Ladakh’s Demchok, protesting against the birthday celebrations of the Dalai Lama.

1. 48 athletes to watch at the Tokyo Olympics
Such a massive group of elite athletes are sure to bring thrilling competition, gripping rivalries and moments for the record books.

2. Is Kanoa Igarashi the LeBron of Surfing?
Born in Surf City USA, and the descendant of an actual samurai, Japan’s surfing superstar is ready for the sport’s debut on the world stage.

3. The rise of 'financial therapy'
Why some people are turning to professionals to reduce money fears.

Brazil. Bharat Biotech has terminated a memorandum of understanding to sell its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin to Brazil’s Precisa Medicamentos, the Indian company said on Friday without disclosing the reason. It added that it will continue to work with Brazilian healthcare regulator Anvisa to obtain all required approvals for the use of Covaxin in the country. There have been allegations in Brazil of irregularities in the government’s efforts to buy 20 million doses of the vaccine using Precisa as an intermediary.