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Clockwise from top left: Ranil Wickremesinghe; Om Prakash Rajbhar; Rishi Sunak; Eknath Shinde (right) and Devendra Fadnavis with Narendra ModiSri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe resigned Saturday after party leaders in Parliament demanded both he and the embattled president step down. His resignation came after the biggest protest yet swept Sri Lanka as tens of thousands of people broke through barricades and entered President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s residence and nearby office to vent their fury against a leader they hold responsible for the nation’s worst economic crisis. Follow our live coverage on the crisis here.
With Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis holding marathon discussions, both the BJP and the Shiv Sena rebels appear to have finalised the size and members of their new government in Maharashtra. But they seem to be waiting for the July 11’s Supreme Court order on the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction’s plea challenging Shinde’s appointment. Sources said the details were finalised as Shinde and Fadnavis held discussions with senior BJP leader and Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday night in New Delhi. The two leaders also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday. Liz Mathew reports.
A day after the adjudicating authority of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) upheld imposing a penalty of over Rs 61 crore against Amnesty India and its former head Aakar Patel, the central agency said it has filed a prosecution complaint against the organisation for alleged money laundering in a separate case. The ED case is based on a CBI FIR against Amnesty International India and others under Section 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code and sections 11, 35 and 39 of the Foreign Contributions Regulation Act, 2010. The CBI filed a chargesheet in this case last December.
Elon Musk announced Friday that he will abandon his $44 billion offer to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts. Twitter immediately fired back, saying it would sue the Tesla CEO to uphold the deal. Musk’s action to bail out of the deal marks the latest twist in a long-running saga after he decided to buy Twitter in April. Why is Musk backing out of the deal? What happens next? Read here.
Subscriber Only Stories
A day after the Supreme Court granted him five days’ interim bail in connection with a case in Uttar Pradesh’s Sitapur, a court in Lakhimpur Kheri has summoned Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair on July 11 in a case registered last year on the charge of promoting enmity. According to the police, one Ashish Kumar Katiyar, who claimed to be a local TV journalist, got the case filed on September 18 against Zubair and Twitter at Mohammadi police station in Lakhimpur Kheri. Katiyar claimed the accused had circulated false news on content broadcast by his channel, disturbing communal harmony.
Political Pulse
Ties between allies Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) appear to have reached breaking point, with SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar Friday attending a dinner hosted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for NDA presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu. The SBSP has now set a deadline to the SP to reach out to it by July 12, before the presidential polls are held. Lalmani Verma reports.
After leading the anti-farm law agitation for over a year, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) splintered in the run-up to the Assembly elections earlier this year. Now, the SKM leadership’s move to bring back to the fold some of the outfits that had left has caused consternation in the organisation. The fissures in the coalition of farm unions appeared after the Centre acceded to its demand of repealing the three farm laws it was protesting against. The differences emerged over the issue of contesting elections. While the Bharatiya Kisan Union led by the Tikait brothers, one of the SKM’s largest constituents, wanted to keep away from active politics, others wanted to build on the platform provided by the protests and enter the electoral arena. Raakhi Jagga brings you this report.
Express Explained
Former chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his bid to become the UK’s next Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party. He kicked off his campaign with the release of a slick video on social media, where he emphasized his Indian heritage and that his “family is everything” to him. The Indian-origin Tory leader said he wanted to “restore trust, rebuild the economy and reunite the country”, and stressed the age old-conservative values of “patriotism, fairness, hard work.” In this Express Explained, a look at Rishi Sunak’s political career and the criticism against his policies.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councillor Wang Yi on July 7 at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting. The 17th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will happen in November in Bali. After Indonesia, India will assume the presidency of G20 from December 2022. What is the G20? How does it work? Read here.
Weekend Reads
Assam on a Plate: How a Guwahati-based chef is putting Assamese cuisine on India’s culinary map
Why a GI tag for the red weaver ant chutney from Odisha could be an answer to food security
Leaps of faith: The making of India’s jump queen Aishwarya Babu
From Delhi to Rataul, for the love of mangoes
ICYMI: Here’s a list of best news reports, Opinion, Explained, and features from The Indian Express this week.
Exclusive | Times Group’s top management questioned by ED in FEMA inquiry
Every Indian, not Muslims alone, needs an independent judiciary
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