Former US President Donald Trump was indicted late on Thursday (June 8) on charges of mishandling classified official documents after he stepped down as President in 2021, making him the first former president in US history to face criminal charges brought by the federal government.The AP reported that the US Justice Department was expected to make public a seven-count indictment ahead of a “historic” court appearance next week, even as Trump has launched a bid to contest the 2024 US Presidential elections. Here’s what this case is about.In May 2021, a few months after Trump left office in January of that year after losing the 2020 Presidential election, he was asked to hand over certain classified government documents in his possession. The government’s National Archives and Records Agency (NARA) notified him that he had failed to turn over at least two dozen boxes of original records.The New York Times had reported at the time, “The investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents began in earnest in May 2022 with a subpoena. It sought the return of any classified material still in his possession, after he had voluntarily handed over an initial batch of records that turned out to include almost 200 classified documents.”In December that year, his team told the Archives that they had located some of the records and proceeded to return them. Trump’s lawyer M. Evan Corcoran gave investigators more than 30 documents in response to the subpoena. Around the same time, another lawyer, Christina Bobb, asserted that a “diligent search” had been conducted at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s private estate in Palm Springs, Florida, assuring prosecutors there were no more documents with classification markings.However, in August 2022, the FBI arrived at Mar-a-Lago to conduct a search and discovered more than 100 additional classified documents.It must be mentioned that Trump’s Vice-President Mike Pence and current US President Joe Biden have also faced scrutiny for having classified materials in their possession and an investigation is underway in Biden’s case.However, the Biden and Pence cases differ from that involving Trump. A signiifcant difference is that documents in their possession were voluntarily turned over to investigators as soon as they were found, the AP reported.“In the case of Trump, prosecutors have focused on a few key questions: Did Trump knowingly remove the sensitive records from the White House and did he willfully hold on to them in violation of the Espionage Act? Moreover, did he try to hinder investigators from figuring out why or where he kept them,” The New York Times said.What can happen as a result of this?Trump has now been charged with a total of seven counts, including willfully retaining national defence secrets in violation of the Espionage Act, making false statements and an obstruction of justice conspiracy, according to people familiar with the matter, The New York Times reported.The Justice Department lodged federal criminal charges against Trump and the former President is expected to appear in court on Tuesday (June 13).Trump’s lawyer James Trusty said on Thursday (June 8) on CNN that the indictment includes charges of willful retention of national defence information, obstruction of justice, false statements and conspiracy.If Trump is charged, that won’t legally affect his ability to run for the post of President. “There are no legal obstacles to running for president as a convicted felon or even from behind bars,” Politico reported.Assuming he wins the elections, determining whether he could actually take on the job would “open a constitutional can of worms”, it added, saying many legal experts believe it would ultimately be possible for him to do so.What has Trump said about this?Trump announced on Truth Social, his social media platform, that he had been indicted, saying that he had been charged “over the boxes [of documents] hoax”. He has previously described the case – and the other cases against him – as part of a “witch hunt”.He termed the indictment “a DARK DAY for the United States of America,” and said in a video, “I’m innocent and we will prove that very, very soundly and hopefully very quickly.” Within 20 minutes of breaking the news, his 2024 presidential campaign sent out a fundraising call from his supporters.In what other cases is he in trouble?In May 2023, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E Jean Carroll, a writer and former advice columnist for Elle magazine, and awarded her $5 million in damages. However, it rejected Carroll’s claim that Trump had raped her.Before that, Trump was in the middle of a New York criminal case related to hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He is also under investigation over alleged attempted interference in the state of Georgia during the 2020 election and for his role in the insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. Trump has denied all the allegations.(With AP, The New York Times inputs)
Former US President Donald Trump is facing a number of active lawsuits, including the case involving missing White House documents. Accused by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) of stashing classified material at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump was asked to return what he took. Instead, his team returned only some of the documents, with the rest discovered by the FBI during a search of the property this August. It is unclear whether more documents are still in his possession.The FBI recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during its search as well as 90 empty folders labelled as “classified,” according to unsealed court records. The agency found that at least 18 documents were labelled top secret, 54 were marked as secret and 21 were deemed confidential.For both taking the documents and refusing to surrender them, Trump faces multiple investigations.In May 2021, just four months after leaving office, Trump was notified by the NARA that he had failed to turn over at least two dozen boxes of original records. In December, his team told the Archives that they had located some of the records and proceeded to return them.In February this year, the US House of Representatives announced that they were launching an investigation into the matter. In April, the Justice Department (DOJ) followed suit and later that month, the White House Counsel’s Office formally requested that the NARA give the FBI access to the documents they recovered in December.In June, Federal investigators served Trump with a grand jury subpoena, seizing more documents from his private estate. However, even that failed to uncover all that was taken.On August 8, Federal agents executed a search warrant at Trump’s Florida property after receiving reports that the former president had not been forthcoming with authorities. They found more than twice the amount of documents than Trump voluntarily parted with. Some of the material was so sensitive that the FBI and Justice Department officials conducting the search required special clearances to review it.Two weeks later, Trump asked the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida for an independent arbiter to review the documents. Earlier this month, the Court ruled on his behalf, blocking government agencies from accessing the material retrieved until an arbiter assessed them. The judge in question was appointed by Trump.Despite that temporary respite, the judge’s decision is likely to be overturned on appeal and once the investigation resumes, Trump could be criminally charged.The main charge levied against Trump is violation of the Presidential Records Act (PRA), a piece of legislation passed to prevent former president Richard Nixon from destroying classified information related to the Watergate scandal after he resigned from office. Under the PRA, every presidential document is supposed to go directly to the NARA as the material is considered to be the property of the American people.Anne Weismann, a lawyer who represented watchdog groups that have sued Trump over violations of the Presidential Records Act, told CBS News that the former president “clearly violated” the Presidential Records Act in “multiple ways,” including by ripping up records.But “the real problem is there’s absolutely no enforcement mechanism in the Presidential Record Act and there’s no administrative enforcement provision,” she said.Although the PRA itself doesn’t specify any penalties, violations could trigger two federal statutes that make it a penalty to mishandle government property.The first law states anyone who “willfully injures or commits any depredation against any property of the United States” faces a fine or up to one year imprisonment if convicted. The second law states anyone who “willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates or destroys … any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited … in any public office” is subject to a fine or up to three years in prison if convicted.Additionally, the Justice Department is investigating if Trump violated the Espionage Act by gathering, transmitting, or losing national defence information.Trump for his part has argued that he didn’t violate any federal laws because he declassified the documents in question before leaving office. However, even if he did, and there is no evidence of the same, he could still be charged for removing or destroying them.Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under George W Bush, argues that the declassification of documents for an improper purpose could be a crime in and of itself.Beyond criminal prosecution for violating federal law, the Justice Department could pursue civil lawsuits against Trump. They could also drop the charges altogether.Depending on the severity of the findings, Trump could face a lengthy jail term. He could also potentially be prohibited from running from office again. However, it’s worth noting that although the law pertaining to destroying government documents stipulates that a convicted offender would be disqualified from holding office, many legal scholars point out that the Constitution may supersede legislation. As per Constitutional requirements for presidential candidates, being behind bars does not preclude them from running.According to veteran journalist Timothy L. O’Brien, there are three potential reasons why Trump would want to keep top secret information to himself.The first stipulates that Trump took the documents simply because he was careless, indifferent to legal procedures and/or unaware of what he was doing. There is some precedent from his time in office that this may be the case.During his presidency, Trump was alleged to have blurted out classified information provided by Israel during a meeting with two high level government officials. Two years later, he tweeted a sensitive photo of a failed Iranian rocket launch despite being advised against doing so by his advisors.Trump also demonstrated a flagrant disregard for record keeping. In 2018, Politico reported that Trump had a habit of tearing up official papers that were handed to him after he was done with them. The problem became so bad that multiple civil servants were reportedly tasked full time with repairing the documents with scotch tape to comply with the PRA.In February, The Washington Post reported that Trump’s team routinely used burn bags to incinerate a wide range of records based on personal discretion. Additionally, The New York Times wrote that staff periodically found clumps of documents clogging White House toilets. They later released photos of some of the alleged found documents.According to O’Brien, another reason why Trump could have stolen the documents was to satiate his lifelong “unfettered greed.”O’Brien writes that Trump’s financial pressures raise alarms “for any rational observer concerned that Trump might have been inspired to use the powers and access to records that his presidency provided to rake in lucre by peddling classified information after he left the White House.”Lastly, according to O’Brien, Trump could have been motivated by a desire to preserve his own reputation. Amongst the missing documents there is believed to be communications between Trump and a litany of foreign leaders including North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Given that his exchanges with the latter led to the first of his two impeachment proceedings, Trump may have been trying to cover up evidence that would further implicate him.Trump for his part has denied all the allegations, arguing at different times that he declassified the documents, that he took them with him to work from home, that the FBI search was a witch hunt, and that former president Barack Obama also kept 33 million documents after leaving office. While all those claims are dubious, the last was blatantly debunked by the National Archives.The most obvious example of presidential misconduct pertains to Richard Nixon and the Watergate scandal. Nixon was believed to have complied with requests to turn in information after leaving office.Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s national security advisor held onto records for years before turning them over to the Johnson Presidential library. Those records showed that the campaign of his successor (Nixon), was secretly communicating with the South Vietnamese government in the final days of the 1968 presidential race in an effort to delay the opening of peace talks to end the Vietnam war. Confident of his impending victory, Nixon’s team was believed to have wanted to stall talks until he assumed the presidency so that he could claim all the credit.It is worth noting that the PRA was not in operation at that time and before it was activated, former presidents were free to handle official documents as they saw fit.After the act was passed, it was violated by Fawn Hall, a secretary in Ronald Reagan’s administration. Hall testified that she altered and helped shred documents related to the infamous Iran-Contra affair to protect Oliver North, her boss at the White House National Security Council.Similarly, Sandy Berger, national security advisor under Bill Clinton, pleaded guilty in 2005 to removing and destroying classified records from the NARA. Berger was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay a USD 100,000 fine.More recently, Obama’s CIA director, David Petraeus, was forced to resign and plead guilty to a federal misdemeanour for sharing classified material with a biographer with whom he was having an affair.Lastly, Hillary Clinton, while serving as Secretary of State under Obama, faced scrutiny pertaining to her use of a private server to handle sensitive information. While the FBI recommended that no criminal charges be brought against her, it did criticise Clinton for her “extremely careless” behaviour. That rebuke (timed days before the election) played a huge role in Trump’s victory, especially because he repeatedly called for her to be “locked up” over the matter.In May 2021, Attorney General (AG) Merrick Garland issued a memorandum to all Justice Department personnel, warning them that “law enforcement officers and prosecutors may never select the timing of public statements (attributed or not), investigative steps, criminal charges, or any other action in any matter or case for the purpose of affecting any election,” nor should they take any action that may create “the appearance of such a purpose.”Garland’s memo echoed similar memorandums issued by his predecessor Bill Barr in 2020, by AG Loretta Lynch in 2016, AG Eric Holder in 2012, and AG Michael Mukasey in 2008. In other words, the Justice Department has long been cautious about taking any action that could change the result of an election or cast doubt on the institution’s impartiality. It is because of these norms that FBI Director James Comey’s decision to publicly disparage Clinton’s email server was met with much criticism.The US institutions are justifiably cautious in levying charges against any high profile politicians, let alone a former president. The DOJ knows that it took a considerable risk when it started an investigation into the Mar-a-Lago documents and it is unlikely to have done so without sufficient evidence. We may not know all the details, but if we go by the Justice Department’s decision to prosecute, we can reasonably suspect that there is more to matter than meets the eye.
In the next 36 hours, the very severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy is set to intensify and will be heading north-northwestwards in the next two days, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted.As per the weather agency, the cyclone over the east-central Arabian Sea was located 840 kilometers west-southwest of Goa and 870 km west-southwest of Mumbai at 11:30 pm on June 8.“Very severe cyclonic storm Biparjoy over east-central Arabian Sea at 2330 hours IST of 08th June, 2023 over about 840 km west-southwest of Goa, 870 km west-southwest of Mumbai. To intensify further gradually during next 36 hours and move nearly north-northwestwards in next 2 days,” IMD said in a tweet.The IMD has advised fishermen not to venture into cyclone-hit areas in the Arabian Sea.Meanwhile, coastal districts of Gujarat are gearing up for the likely impact of cyclone Biparjoy brewing in the east-central Arabian Sea. The administration has readied cyclone shelters and drawn plans to evacuate people from vulnerable areas and activate control rooms at the block levels.Collectors of coastal districts, including Kutch, Jamnagar, Dwarka, and Porbandar, held meetings with officers of the respective district administrations to prepare for the likely impact of Biparjoy.Moreover, in Maharashtra, the progress of the southwest monsoon that brings rain across the Indian sub-continent is being monitored after it arrived in Kerala on Thursday, seven days later than the normal arrival date, an India Meteorological Department official said.The normal date for onset of monsoon in Maharashtra is June 10 and in Mumbai is June 11, said S G Kamble, the Mumbai head of IMD Regional Meteorological Centre.Weather forecastConditions are favourable for further advance of the Southwest monsoon into some more parts of the central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, IMD predicted.The Southwest monsoon might advance into some more parts of the southwest, Central and northeast Bay of Bengal, and some parts of northeastern states during the next 24 hours, as per the weather department.🌧️ GujaratLight to moderate rain is very likely at isolated places in the South Gujarat region namely Navsari, Valsad, and in Daman, Dadara Nagar Haveli, the IMD said.Further, dry weather is expected in all the districts of Saurashtra-Kutch, and Diu.🌧️ South IndiaLight rainfall with thunderstorms is very likely over Kerala, Lakshadweep, Coastal & South Interior Karnataka whereas isolated to scattered activity is expected over North Interior Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh during the next 5 days, as per IMD.Meanwhile, heavy rainfall is very likely at isolated places over Andaman & Nicobar Islands on June 9 and 10; Kerala from June 9 to 13; Lakshadweep from June 9 to 11; and Coastal & South Interior Karnataka during June 10-13.🌧️ Northeast IndiaScattered to fairly widespread rainfall with thunderstorms very likely over the northeast region during the next 5 days, the weather agency reportedMoreover, very heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over Manipur, Mizoram, and Tripura on June 9 and Assam and Meghalaya on June 12 and 13; isolated heavy rainfall over Arunachal Pradesh and Assam and Meghalaya and Manipur & Mizoram during June 09-13.Northwest IndiaAccording to IMD, a rise in maximum temperatures by about 2°C is very likely over the plains of NorthwestIndia (except Rajasthan) during the next two days. (With ANI inputs)
A cyclonic storm that formed over east-central and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea near Goa at 11.30 pm on Tuesday, is likely to move nearly northwards and intensify into a severe cyclonic storm, and then into a very severe cyclonic storm during the next 24 hours, the India meteorological department (IMD) said in its morning bulletin.“The cyclonic storm ‘Biparjoy’ (pronounced as ‘Biporjoy’) over eastcentral and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea remained practically s stationary during last 3 hours and lay centred at 0230 hours IST of 7th June, 2023 over the same region near latitude 12.5°N and longitude 66.0°E, about 900 km west-southwest of Goa, 1,020 km southwest of Mumbai, 1,090 km south-southwest of Porbandar and 1380 km south of Karachi,” the meteorological department bulletin read,Cyclonic storm “Biparjoy” over eastcentral and adjoining southeast Arabian Sea at 0230 IST of 07 June near lat 12.5°N and lon 66.0°E, about 900km WSW of Goa. Likely to move nearly northwards and intensify into SCS during next 06 hour.@WMO@ndmaindia@DDNewslive@airnewsalerts pic.twitter.com/jXdgDJcHFR— India Meteorological Department (@Indiametdept) June 7, 2023Gale winds with speed 80-90 km per hour to 100 km per hour are expected to prevail over the eastcentral Arabian Sea and the adjoining areas of westcentral and southeast Arabian Sea. It is likely to escalate to 105-115 km per hour to 125 km per hour over the same area from Wednesday evening. the IMD said. The areas adjoining westcentral and south Arabian Sea and those along the north Kerala-Karnataka-Goa coasts are likely to experience squally winds with speed 40-50 km per hour to 60 km per hour.According to the IMD, the intensity of Cyclone Biparjoy, its location of formation in the Arabian Sea and its subsequent movement are likely to affect the onset of the southwest monsoon over Kerala.This is the second cyclone to form within three weeks in the North Indian Ocean. Cyclone Mocha, which formed in the Bay of Bengal, barrelled into Bangladesh and Myanmar causing massive destruction.In 2021, Cyclone Yaas had formed at the time of the monsoon onset.
Two of India’s key batsmen died a stroke-less death, shouldering arms and watching the ball bend back to hit the stumps. It’s the most mind-crushing path to perdition, torn until your next success, with the guilt of not shielding the ball with your only weapon in hand. You could have nicked, you could have chopped on, you could have been beaten, but you could console yourself that you at least played a stroke.The shocked anguish on the face of victims captures the story. Shubman Gill was reaction-less after his ill-timed leave of Scott Boland left his stumps and heart in tatters. There were no signs of a stroke of indiscretion. He was judging lengths well; moving well. Getting behind the line and playing the right stroke to the right ball. Gill had unzipped his innings with a gorgeous punch through extra-cover off Pat Cummins. Later, he would pull him through long-on for another four. Two salivating strokes, before an unwatchable error in judgement kicked in. It was no shrewd set-up, no hooping devil, but a staple in-ducker. Rather, it was an imagined set-up.It was just the fourth ball Boland had bowled to Gill. The first three — all angled in and not seaming either way — were defended stoutly on the front-foot. Gill sniffed a trap. His instinct would have whispered to him that the next ball would bend away. But Boland’s deadliest gift is the one that snakes back in from a good length, he is not much of an out-swing proponent. So it turned out to be. Gill’s front-foot strode out. Then it stopped, frozen by the inward angle. The existential dilemma of Test openers set in — to leave or not to leave. He shouldered arms, nervously and unsurely. Perhaps, he trusted the bouncy nature of the deck — Oval is bouncier than most other surfaces in England and you could at the start of the inning, leave safely on length. Perhaps, he thought he had covered the line of the ball with his pads outside the off-stump.pic.twitter.com/40W7RI4wZb— Shami Khan (@x2fb8) June 8, 2023Whatever he imagined was far from reality. It could happen to green batsmen in England — it was just his third innings in the country. You hear so much about the virtues of the leave and are almost mentally bound to execute it. There is little doubt that it’s a prerequisite for success in any condition — so indispensable that it is the second most employed (non) stroke in cricket after the forward defensive. Call it the phantom stroke. It has game changing potential, as one of the greatest leavers in Test cricket, Geoff Boycott would observe: “Let him (bowler) see you refusing to drive so that he is tempted to land the ball a foot closer to you. Then bang. Get on the front foot and drive the ball away.” At the hands of an efficient purveyor, it becomes as much an attacking weapon as a defensive one. Without even putting bat on the ball, it could disrupt the bowler’s thinking. “If a batter is leaving the ball well, you can see their game is in good order and for me I thought if they were leaving me easily then they were imposing themselves on me as well,” former England quick Simon Jones would once say.Every successful cricketer has it. Then every cricketer had misjudged the leave at least once, if not more times, in their career. Even some of the finest leavers could end up misjudging, like Cheteshwar Pujara. The leave is one of the bricks that had gone into the making of one of the finest stonewallers of this era. But here, the usual faithful judgment deserted him. Like Boland, Cameron Green too was angling most of his balls in. Just one of Green’s five previous balls to Pujara had shaped away. As were most of the balls he faced off Boland.Perhaps, Pujara was spooked by the past, where Cummins would make one ball hold the line after angling in. Boland had produced a similar delivery in the previous over. Maybe, it was playing in his mind. The fuller length almost convinced him that the ball would seam away after landing. Rather, it swerved back in, not lavishly but just enough to peg his off-stump. He just swayed the bat in shame rather than anger and rushed back to the solitude of the dressing room. Like Gill, he too was batting fluently and positively, before the moment of miscalculation.Pujara misjudging just like shubhman. #WTC23Final pic.twitter.com/yRjFUMUH9t— John Haseena Shah (@johnHaseena) June 8, 2023Should Pujara have hung on the back-foot and defend it, as he so often does to similar lengths in similar conditions? But in this innings, he was making a conscious effort to get forward to most of the balls. It was perhaps to eliminate the half-prod position that he often gets into. But here, it backfired — there was a bit of predetermination — as he left a ball that he would have defended comfortably.Then this is what pitches in England do. They weigh and play on your mind, they make you imagine, they make you see illusions. Even in the mind of someone scoring a bucketful of runs in County cricket, and even in the mind of the most talented young batter. It’s not the easiest of strokes — judgment, prudence, reflexes and second-guessing go into it. But to die a stroke-less death is an agony that has few equivalents in the game. Not even self-goals. The guilt consumes you like fire.
Two of India’s key batsmen died a stroke-less death, shouldering arms and watching the ball bend back to hit the stumps. It’s the most mind-crushing path to perdition, torn until your next success, with the guilt of not shielding the ball with your only weapon in hand. You could have nicked, you could have chopped on, you could have been beaten, but you could console yourself that you at least played a stroke.The shocked anguish on the face of victims captures the story. Shubman Gill was reaction-less after his ill-timed leave of Scott Boland left his stumps and heart in tatters. There were no signs of a stroke of indiscretion. He was judging lengths well; moving well. Getting behind the line and playing the right stroke to the right ball. Gill had unzipped his innings with a gorgeous punch through extra-cover off Pat Cummins. Later, he would pull him through long-on for another four. Two salivating strokes, before an unwatchable error in judgement kicked in. It was no shrewd set-up, no hooping devil, but a staple in-ducker. Rather, it was an imagined set-up.It was just the fourth ball Boland had bowled to Gill. The first three — all angled in and not seaming either way — were defended stoutly on the front-foot. Gill sniffed a trap. His instinct would have whispered to him that the next ball would bend away. But Boland’s deadliest gift is the one that snakes back in from a good length, he is not much of an out-swing proponent. So it turned out to be. Gill’s front-foot strode out. Then it stopped, frozen by the inward angle. The existential dilemma of Test openers set in — to leave or not to leave. He shouldered arms, nervously and unsurely. Perhaps, he trusted the bouncy nature of the deck — Oval is bouncier than most other surfaces in England and you could at the start of the inning, leave safely on length. Perhaps, he thought he had covered the line of the ball with his pads outside the off-stump.pic.twitter.com/40W7RI4wZb— Shami Khan (@x2fb8) June 8, 2023Whatever he imagined was far from reality. It could happen to green batsmen in England — it was just his third innings in the country. You hear so much about the virtues of the leave and are almost mentally bound to execute it. There is little doubt that it’s a prerequisite for success in any condition — so indispensable that it is the second most employed (non) stroke in cricket after the forward defensive. Call it the phantom stroke. It has game changing potential, as one of the greatest leavers in Test cricket, Geoff Boycott would observe: “Let him (bowler) see you refusing to drive so that he is tempted to land the ball a foot closer to you. Then bang. Get on the front foot and drive the ball away.” At the hands of an efficient purveyor, it becomes as much an attacking weapon as a defensive one. Without even putting bat on the ball, it could disrupt the bowler’s thinking. “If a batter is leaving the ball well, you can see their game is in good order and for me I thought if they were leaving me easily then they were imposing themselves on me as well,” former England quick Simon Jones would once say.Every successful cricketer has it. Then every cricketer had misjudged the leave at least once, if not more times, in their career. Even some of the finest leavers could end up misjudging, like Cheteshwar Pujara. The leave is one of the bricks that had gone into the making of one of the finest stonewallers of this era. But here, the usual faithful judgment deserted him. Like Boland, Cameron Green too was angling most of his balls in. Just one of Green’s five previous balls to Pujara had shaped away. As were most of the balls he faced off Boland.Perhaps, Pujara was spooked by the past, where Cummins would make one ball hold the line after angling in. Boland had produced a similar delivery in the previous over. Maybe, it was playing in his mind. The fuller length almost convinced him that the ball would seam away after landing. Rather, it swerved back in, not lavishly but just enough to peg his off-stump. He just swayed the bat in shame rather than anger and rushed back to the solitude of the dressing room. Like Gill, he too was batting fluently and positively, before the moment of miscalculation.Pujara misjudging just like shubhman. #WTC23Final pic.twitter.com/yRjFUMUH9t— John Haseena Shah (@johnHaseena) June 8, 2023Should Pujara have hung on the back-foot and defend it, as he so often does to similar lengths in similar conditions? But in this innings, he was making a conscious effort to get forward to most of the balls. It was perhaps to eliminate the half-prod position that he often gets into. But here, it backfired — there was a bit of predetermination — as he left a ball that he would have defended comfortably.Then this is what pitches in England do. They weigh and play on your mind, they make you imagine, they make you see illusions. Even in the mind of someone scoring a bucketful of runs in County cricket, and even in the mind of the most talented young batter. It’s not the easiest of strokes — judgment, prudence, reflexes and second-guessing go into it. But to die a stroke-less death is an agony that has few equivalents in the game. Not even self-goals. The guilt consumes you like fire.
With the BJP on Thursday appointing election heads for all 48 Lok Sabha and 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has found itself on the back foot. The party, however, tried to downplay the move, saying that it will not sour their alliance as it was an attempt to build the party base and asserted that it will contest all 22 seats like the undivided Shiv Sena did in the 2019 elections.“We have an alliance with BJP. There is nothing wrong if BJP appoints election heads. These election heads have been appointed for building the organisational network and expanding its base,” Shinde Sena spokesperson Naresh Mhaske told The Indian Express on Friday.“Our leaders and BJP leaders will be working in coordination in all Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. The election heads appointed by BJP will help its candidate in a particular constituency from where the party is contesting. Similarly, the election heads will also work for our candidate where BJP is not contesting,” he added.Mhaske said the Shinde Sena will contest 22 seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections. “In 2019, the Shiv Sena which was in alliance with BJP had contested 22 seats. This time too, we will contest 22 seats,” he said. In 2022, the Shiv Sena split following a rebellion led by Shinde; the other faction is led by Uddhav Thackeray.MP Shrirang Barne, who was elected twice from the Maval Lok Sabha constituency, also said that the appointment of an election head does not mean that the same person would be fielded by the BJP. “It is their strategy to build their party and organisational network. But one thing is certain. I will be contesting from Maval Lok Sabha in 2024,” Barne told The Indian Express on Friday. The BJP has appointed Prashant Thakur, party MLA from Raigad district, as its Maval Lok Sabha election head. Three Assembly seats from Raigad district are part of the Maval Lok Sabha constituency.On the other hand, BJP’s Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge has been appointed as the Shirur Lok Sabha election head. Landge is keen to contest the Lok Sabha election. “I am one of the aspirants for the Shirur Lok Sabha seat,” he said.Amit Gorkhe, who has been appointed as BJP’s election head for Pimpri, said that he was an aspirant for the Pimpri Assembly seat. “But my appointment does not mean I will be automatically contesting the Assembly seat. My job is to expand the party’s network and make the party stronger in the seat. If a Sena candidate contests from here, both BJP and Sena will work together in the constituency for his victory,” Gorkhe said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde announced Monday that the Shiv Sena and BJP have decided to jointly contest all elections including the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, state Assembly and local body polls. This was decided during a meeting between Shinde, Deputy CM and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, and Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.In a tweet, Shinde said, “It was also decided in this meeting that Shiv Sena and BJP will jointly contest all upcoming elections in the state (including elections to Lok Sabha, Vidhan Sabha, local bodies)”.काल, रविवारी रात्री मी आणि उपमुख्यमंत्री @Dev_Fadnavis यांनी दिल्लीत केंद्रीय गृह आणि सहकार मंत्री @AmitShah यांची भेट घेतली.कृषि, सहकार विभागाशी संबंधित विविध बाबींवर आम्ही चर्चा केली. राज्यात शेतकरी, महिला सक्षमीकरण अशा विविध क्षेत्रात गतीने कामे सुरू असून अनेक रखडलेले… pic.twitter.com/MdLoqiPoy2— Eknath Shinde – एकनाथ शिंदे (@mieknathshinde) June 5, 2023Shinde said that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance for Maharashtra’s development is “strong”. “In the future, we will contest elections together and win with a majority to make Maharashtra the number one state in the country in all fields, to continue the race of development,” he added.Several issues of the state including agriculture and cooperation were discussed during the meeting with Shah. Shinde said that pending projects in the state have been streamlined now and they are on way to completion.“We have always received guidance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for various projects. We met Shah to discuss issues related to the cooperation sector,” the chief minister said.The visit comes ahead of the completion of one year of Shinde-Fadnavis led government in the state.
Shiv Sena and BJP will contest all future elections together, including civic polls, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde sadin on Monday. Shinde, whose Shiv Sena shares power with the BJP in Maharashtra, met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in Delhi on Sunday.“During the meeting, it was decided that all future elections (including the Lok Sabha, Assembly and civic bodies) will be contested jointly by the Shiv Sena and BJP. We will contest and win the elections with majority,” the CM tweeted.— mieknathshinde (@mieknathshinde) Shinde and Fadnavis went to Delhi on Sunday evening and held a meeting with Shah."Our alliance for the development of Maharashtra is strong and since the last 11 months we have taken various development decisions and implemented them, clearing stalled projects. In the future, we will contest elections together and win with a majority to make Maharashtra the number one state in the country in all fields, to continue the race of development," he added.The CM said issues related to agriculture and cooperation were discussed during the meeting with Shah.Several pending projects in the state have been streamlined now and they are on way to completion, he said."We have always received guidance from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for various projects. We met Shah to discuss issues related to the cooperation sector," Shinde said in the tweet.Last year, Shinde along with 39 other MLAs revolted against the Shiv Sena (then undivided) leadership.The revolt led to a split in the Shiv Sena and collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.Shinde later joined hands with the BJP and became the CM.
Before-and-after images of the area downstream from a dam that collapsed Tuesday vividly show the extent of the devastation of a large, flooded swathe of southern Ukraine.Before the Kakhovka dam on the Dnieper River broke, farm fields appear green and crossed by peaceful streets and farm roads and dotted with trees. Afterward, only metal roofs and treetops poke above the murky water. Greenhouses and homes are almost entirely submerged.The pre-collapse satellite photos were taken in May and early June. Photos of the same area taken after the dam collapsed clearly show how much of it has become unlivable. Brown water as high as people covers much of the territory captured in the images.Paired with exclusive drone footage of the Ukrainian dam and surrounding villages occupied by Russia, the before-and-after satellite images illustrate the profound changes wrought by the disaster.Ukraine has warned since last October that the hydroelectric dam was mined by Russian forces, and accused them of touching off an explosion that has turned the downstream areas into a waterlogged wasteland. Russia said Ukraine hit the dam with a missile.But while the AP footage clearly shows the extent of the damage to the region, it offered a limited snapshot of the partially submerged dam, making it difficult to categorically rule out any scenario. Experts have said the structure was in disrepair, which could also have led to its collapse.
By Guy FaulconbridgeA huge Soviet-era dam on the Dnipro River that separates Russian and Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine was breached on Tuesday, unleashing floodwaters across the war zone. Ukraine said Russia had destroyed it, while Russian officials gave conflicting accounts, some saying it was destroyed by Ukrainian shelling and others saying it collapsed due to earlier damage.What is the dam and what happened – and what do we not know?THE KAKHOVKA DAMThe dam, 30 metres (98 feet) tall and 3.2 km (2 miles) long, was built in 1956 on the Dnipro river as part of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.* The reservoir also supplies water to the Crimean peninsula, which Russia claims to have annexed in 2014, and to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is also under Russian control.* It holds an 18 km3 reservoir – a volume about equal to the Great Salt Lake in the U.S. state of Utah.WHAT HAPPENED?* Ukraine, which commented first, said Russia was responsible: “Russian terrorists. The destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam only confirms for the whole world that they must be expelled from every corner of Ukrainian land,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.“The Kakhovka (reservoir) was blown up by the Russian occupying forces,” the South command of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said. “The scale of the destruction, the speed and volumes of water, and the likely areas of inundation are being clarified.”* Some Russian-installed officials blamed Ukraine:The Russian-installed Kherson administration said Ukraine shelled the dam at around 2300 GMT, damaging the hydraulic valves. “On Tuesday, June 6, the Ukrainian armed forces hit the Kakhovsky hydroelectric dam, as a result of which the upper part of the hydraulic structure was damaged,” it said.* Other Russian-installed officials said no attack took place.Vladimir Rogov, a Russian installed official in Zaporizhzhia, said the dam collapsed due to earlier damage and the pressure of the water. Russia’s state news agency TASS carried a report to the same effect.WHAT IS THE HUMAN IMPACT?With water levels surging higher, many thousands of people are likely to be affected. Evacuations of civilians began on both sides of the front line.22,000 people living across 14 settlements in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region are at risk of flooding, Russian installed officials said. They told people to be ready to evacuate. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that up to 80 settlements were at risk of flooding.CRIMEAThe Russian-backed governor of Crimea said on Tuesday that there is a risk that water levels in the North Crimea Canal, which carries fresh water to the peninsula from the Dnipro river, could fall after rupture of the dam.The Crimean peninsula is dependent for fresh water on the canal. Ukraine previously blocked water supplies to Crimea after Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014, causing water shortages in the region.NUCLEAR PLANTThe Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Europe’s largest, gets its cooling water from the reservoir. It is located on the southern side, now under Russian control.The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Twitter it was closely monitoring the situation but that there was “no immediate nuclear safety risk at (the) plant”.Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Tuesday there was no threat to the Moscow-controlled nuclear plant.
