The Evening Wrap: Fadnavis returns as Maharashtra CM with Shinde and Pawar as deputies

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Legislature Party Leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the 21st Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening in a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, witnessed by thousands. State Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Fadnavis, who steered the BJP-led Mahayuti to victory in the Marathi State, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and several Union Ministers besides Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled States. Fadnavis’s spouse Amruta and daughter Divija and the family members of Shinde and Pawar were seated among the audience. The Opposition MLAs skipped the swearing-in ceremony. This marks the third time Fadnavis, 54, an MLA from Nagpur South-West, would occupy the coveted Chief Minister’s office on the sixth floor of the Mantralaya (State administrative headquarters). His previous terms were from 2014 to 2019 and briefly in November 2019, when his government lasted only 72 hours due to a lack of majority support. Outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, leader of a breakaway Shiv Sena faction, took the oath as Deputy Chief Minister, alongside Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar. No other leaders were inducted into the Council of Ministers, with the Cabinet formation expected in the coming days. The new government was formed after two weeks of negotiations following the November 20 State Assembly polls, whose results were declared on November 23. A special session of the Maharashtra Legislature will be held from December 7 to 9 in Mumbai for the swearing-in of newly elected members. The Winter Session is likely to follow in Nagpur from December 16 to 23. Fadnavis, an RSS swayamsevak, emerged as the frontrunner for the post after the BJP secured 132 seats in the 288-member Assembly. With allies the Shiv Sena and the NCP, the Mahayuti coalition holds a commanding majority of 230 seats. On Wednesday Fadnavis, accompanied by Shinde and Pawar, met Governor Radhakrishnan to stake their claim to form the government, presenting Letters of Support from coalition partners. Following the meeting, the Governor invited Fadnavis to lead the new administration. Downplaying titles, Fadnavis said, “Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister is just a technical arrangement. The three of us — myself, Shinde, and Pawar — will work together and make joint decisions as we have done so far.” His comments came amid reports that Shinde was unhappy about being denied a second term as Chief Minister. Fadnavis began his political journey in Nagpur, the headquarters of the RSS, becoming a corporator at just 22. By 27, he became Nagpur’s youngest Mayor in 1997. His early involvement with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, in 1989, laid a strong ideological foundation and positioned him within the BJP. In 1999, he contested and won his first Assembly election and has since maintained an unbroken winning streak. Unlike many leaders across the political spectrum in Maharashtra, he has remained untainted by accusations of corruption. Known for his articulate style, he gained prominence by targeting the previous Congress-NCP Government over the alleged irrigation scam, a portfolio held by Pawar, now his coalition partner. With the backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who famously called him “Nagpur’s gift to the country”, Fadnavis first became Chief Minister in 2014, becoming only the second Brahmin to hold the post after Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi, and the first from the BJP. Before him, late Union Minister Gopinath Munde had reached the position of Deputy Chief Minister in 1995 during the Shiv Sena-BJP Government. During his first term, Fadnavis focused on infrastructure development, earning the trust of urban voters. His administration spearheaded projects like the expansion of the Mumbai Metro and extensive road-building initiatives, showcasing a commitment to modernising the State’s urban infrastructure. He also prioritised improving the ease of doing business, attracting investments, and launching the ambitious Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan, aimed at water conservation in drought-hit regions. However, his government faced several challenges. Unpredictable weather led to significant crop losses, prompting widespread demands for farm loan waivers. Initially hesitant, Fadnavis announced a waiver in 2017, balancing fiscal responsibility with political pressures. The Maratha reservation issue was another test of his leadership. His government passed a law granting reservations to the Maratha community, temporarily calming protests. However, the Supreme Court later struck it down, leaving many Marathas dissatisfied and blaming Fadnavis for the setback. The 2019 Assembly elections marked a turning point in his career. Despite the BJP’s strong performance, its alliance with Shiv Sena broke down over the Chief Minister’s post. Uddhav Thackeray’s (erstwhile) Shiv Sena allied with the NCP and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government, sidelining Fadnavis. In a dramatic twist, Fadnavis briefly formed a government with Pawar in November 2019. However, the alliance collapsed within 72 hours due to insufficient majority support. This episode, though a setback, demonstrated Fadnavis’s bold decision-making and strategic acumen. Following the 2022 Shiv Sena split led by Shinde, many expected. Fadnavis to return as Chief Minister. However, he was asked by the BJP leadership to serve as Deputy Chief Minister under Shinde. Initially reluctant, Fadnavis accepted the role, showcasing his loyalty to the party and long-term strategic patience. As Fadnavis takes office for the third time, he faces a complex set of challenges. Chief among them is the unresolved Maratha reservation issue, which continues to spark protests. He also had the responsibility of balancing the interests of the BJP, coalition partners, and the wider electorate. ISRO successfully launches PSLV-C59 rocket with European Space Agency’s Proba-3 satellites After being rescheduled for a day due to an anomaly detected, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday successfully launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C59 rocket. The vehicle took off with a powerful roar, precisely at 4.04 p.m. from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, the home to several rocket launches in India. “The PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 mission is successfully accomplished. The spacecraft has been placed in the right orbit,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said. ISRO said the mission had successfully achieved its launch objectives, deploying ESA’s satellites into their designated orbit with precision. Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the ESA, said: “The latest member of ESA’s family of in-orbit demonstration missions, Proba-3 comprises two spacecraft launched together which, once safely in orbit, will separate to begin performing precise formation flying... Almost instantaneously after separation, Yatharagga station in Australia started to receive the spacecraft’s signal. Telemetry is flowing to ESA’s mission control centre in Belgium,” he added. The ESA on its site mentioned: “A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.” According to the ESA, stacked together, the two satellites separated from their upper stage about 18 minutes after launch. The pair will remain attached together while initial commissioning takes place, overseen from mission control at the European Space Security and Education Centre, in Redu Belgium. Proba-3 mission manager Damien Galano said, “Today’s liftoff has been something all of us in ESA’s Proba-3 team and our industrial and scientific partners have been looking forward to for a long time.” Details shared by the ESA show that if Proba-3’s initial commissioning phase goes to plan then the spacecraft pair will be separated early in the new year to begin their individual check-outs. The operational phase of the mission, including the first observations of the corona through active formation flying, should begin in about four months. The PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission is the 61st flight of PSLV and the 26th using PSLV-XL configuration, carrying ESA’s PROBA-3 (Project for Onboard Autonomy) satellites into a highly elliptical orbit. World Chess Championship: 9th game between Gukesh and Liren ends in a draw Stalemate continued in the World Chess Championship as the ninth game between Indian challenger D. Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China ended in yet another draw to still level on points here on Thursday. The sixth consecutive draw -- and seventh of the match -- left both players on an identical tally of 4.5 points each, still shy of 3 points in order to win the championship. The two players signed peace after 54 moves. Friday is a rest day and they will resume the battle on Saturday. Just five more classical games are left to be played in the $2.5 million prize money championship and if a tied result happens after 14 rounds, there will be games under faster time control to determine the winner. The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening game while the 18-year-old Gukesh had emerged victorious in the third game. The second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth games had ended in draws. The Catalan opening has featured in top level games for many decades now and Gukesh chose it this time to test Liren’s preparation. The Chinese yet again sank in to a long thought in the opening and found some creative ideas to keep the white forces at bay. The first exchange took place on the 14th turn with Gukesh using just 15 minutes of his allotted two hours in the first time-control while Liren had used over 50 minutes. Gukesh probably got his only chance to exert some pressure on his 20th turn but the Indian went for what optically looked better for white only to find Liren surprising him with some well-disguised tricks. It looked as though not much had slipped but once he was under 30 minutes, the Chinese came up with a series of correct moves to leave the position level. Gukesh used up all his extra time and by the 23rd move he was actually behind Liren by a few minutes. Another couple of pawns had changed hands by then along with two minor pieces making the position just very close to equal. In counting, Gukesh had an extra pawn to boast off but it was evident that it was about to fall soon. It was time for Gukesh to decide if he would go for an easy draw or still try for some unwarranted complications. After making his 24th move, Gukesh was seen staring at his score sheet, a pretty clear indication that he had come to terms with what the result was going to be. Liren halted for sometime before playing the equalizing capture of the extra pawn of white. Gukesh exchanged queens soon and then a pair of rooks to let the position be just a dead-draw. The players still had to complete 40 moves as per rules before the point could be split and suddenly Liren started to get ambitious although the game never really left the boundaries of a draw. A pure rook and pawns endgame was soon on board and eventually the players changed everything to be left with bare kings. The game lasted 54 moves. In the remaining five games, Liren will have white thrice. Rajya Sabha passes the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 Parliament on Thursday passed a bill to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act and further improve the ease of doing business in the aviation space. The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 was passed in the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote. It was earlier approved by the Lok Sabha on August 9. The bill seeks to remove redundancies and replace the Aircraft Act, 1934, which has been amended 21 times. Replying to the debate on the bill in the Upper House, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the change in title of the bill from English to Hindi, to which many members raised objections, was done to "showcase the India's heritage and culture", and "there was no violation of Constitutional rule". It will be difficult to pronounce the name of the bill in Hindi initially but one will get used to it, he added. Responding to concerns of some MPs over skyrocketing airfare, the minister said the government has worked on improving accessibility to a certain extent through Udaan scheme and is committed to making it affordable for passengers. Syrian army says it has withdrawn from the city of Hama after insurgents broke through its defenses The Syrian army has withdrawn from the central city of Hama after insurgents broke through its defences, the military said on Thursday, in another setback for President Bashar Assad. The announcement came hours after opposition fighters said they had entered the city and were marching toward the center. The Syrian army said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect the lives of civilians. The capture of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, is another blow for Assad days after insurgents captured much of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest city. On Thursday morning, Syrian insurgents said they entered Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on its outskirts, part of an ongoing offensive. The Syrian army said in a statement later that a number of troops were killed after resisting the insurgents for days. It accused the attackers of relying on suicide attacks to break through the defenses of the city. Hama is one of the few cities that remained under full government control during Syria's conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising. Its capture would be a major setback for President Bashar Assad. The offensive is being led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as well as an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Their sudden capture of the northern city of Aleppo, an ancient business hub, was a stunning prize for Assad's opponents and reignited the conflict which had been largely stalemated for the past few years. The next target of the insurgents is likely to be the central city of Homs, the country's third largest. Homs is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama. Aleppo's takeover marked the first opposition attack on the city since 2016, when a brutal Russian air campaign retook it for Assad after rebel forces had initially seized it. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other militant groups has allowed Assad to remain in power. The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Assad’s main regional and international backers are preoccupied with their own wars. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the renewed fighting, which began with the surprise opposition offensive Nov. 27. The insurgents claimed on their Military Operations Department channel on the Telegram app Thursday that they have entered Hama and are marching toward its center. “Our forces are taking positions inside the city of Hama,” the channel quoted a local commander identified as Maj. Hassan Abdul-Ghani as saying. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said fierce battles were fought inside Hama. “If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started,” the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press before the city's capture. Hama is a major intersection point in Syria that links that country’s center with the north as well the east and the west. It is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Assad. The city's name is known for the 1982 massacre of Hama, one of the most notorious in the modern Middle East, when security forces under Assad's late father, Hafez Assad, killed thousands to crush a Muslim Brotherhood uprising. Taliban ban women from health studies, nursing and midwifery courses Senior employees at several institutions offering nursing and midwifery courses in Afghanistan on Tuesday said women would be barred from classes, following an edict by the Taliban supreme leader. Health officials met with directors of education institutes on Monday in the capital Kabul to inform them of the ruling, an official from the public health ministry who was not authorised to speak to the media told AFP. "There is no official letter but the directors of institutes were informed in a meeting that women and girls can't study anymore in their institutes," he said. "They were not provided with any details and justification and were just told of the order of the supreme leader and were asked to implement it." The manager of an institute who attended the meeting and asked not to be named for fear of reprisal said dozens of managers were in attendance. A senior employee of another centre told AFP his boss had been at a separate meeting with health officials on Tuesday after confusion about the rule. The employee said institutes had been given 10 days to hold final exams. Some managers petitioned the ministry for clarity, while others carried on as normal in the absence of a written order. Not long after Taliban authorities swept back to power in 2021, they barred girls from education beyond secondary school as part of restrictions labelled "gender apartheid" by the United Nations. Women students then flocked to health institutes, one of the few avenues still open to them. They now make up the majority of students in these centres. Afghanistan has around 10 public and more than 150 private health institutes offering two-year diplomas in 18 subjects, ranging from midwifery to anaesthesia, pharmacy and dentistry, with a total of 35,000 women students, health ministry sources said. "What are we supposed to do with just 10% of our students?" one manager said. Aysha -- not her real name -- a midwifery teacher at a private institute in Kabul, said she received a message from management telling her not to come to work until further notice with little explanation. "This is a big shock for us. Psychologically, we are shaken," the 28-year-old said. "This was the only source of hope for the girls and women who were banned from universities." The United Kingdom's charge d'affaires said he was "deeply concerned" by the reports. "This is another affront to women's right to education and will further restrict access to healthcare for Afghan women and children," he posted on social media platform X. The health ministry source said the ban would squeeze an already suffering health sector. "We are already short of professional medical and para-medical staff and this would result in further shortages." In brief: Rohit Sharma had a half-smile when asked about batting in the middle-order in the Canberra game against the Prime Minister’s XI. This was a teaser aimed at getting a breaking news quote from the Indian captain. “We were just looking at getting some time against the pink ball,” he said with a straight face as the press conference warmed up at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. A few minutes later, he was directly asked about the opening combination for the second Test and this time he was quick: “K.L. Rahul will open, I will bat somewhere in the middle-order.” Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 05 December 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Devendra Fadnavis returns as Maharashtra Chief Minister for third term with Shinde and Pawar as deputies The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Legislature Party Leader Devendra Fadnavis was[sworn in as the 21st Chief Minister of Maharashtra]( on Thursday evening in a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan, Mumbai, witnessed by thousands. State Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan administered the oath of office to Fadnavis, who steered the BJP-led Mahayuti to victory in the Marathi State, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and several Union Ministers besides Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of NDA-ruled States. Fadnavis’s spouse Amruta and daughter Divija and the family members of Shinde and Pawar were seated among the audience. The Opposition MLAs skipped the swearing-in ceremony. This marks the third time Fadnavis, 54, an MLA from Nagpur South-West, would occupy the coveted Chief Minister’s office on the sixth floor of the Mantralaya (State administrative headquarters). His previous terms were from 2014 to 2019 and briefly in November 2019, when his government lasted only 72 hours due to a lack of majority support. Outgoing Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, leader of a breakaway Shiv Sena faction, took the oath as Deputy Chief Minister, alongside Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar. No other leaders were inducted into the Council of Ministers, with the Cabinet formation expected in the coming days. The new government was formed after two weeks of negotiations following the November 20 State Assembly polls, whose results were declared on November 23. A special session of the Maharashtra Legislature will be held from December 7 to 9 in Mumbai for the swearing-in of newly elected members. The Winter Session is likely to follow in Nagpur from December 16 to 23. Fadnavis, an RSS swayamsevak, emerged as the frontrunner for the post after the BJP secured 132 seats in the 288-member Assembly. With allies the Shiv Sena and the NCP, the Mahayuti coalition holds a commanding majority of 230 seats. On Wednesday Fadnavis, accompanied by Shinde and Pawar, met Governor Radhakrishnan to stake their claim to form the government, presenting Letters of Support from coalition partners. Following the meeting, the Governor invited Fadnavis to lead the new administration. Downplaying titles, Fadnavis said, “Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister is just a technical arrangement. The three of us — myself, Shinde, and Pawar — will work together and make joint decisions as we have done so far.” His comments came amid reports that Shinde was unhappy about being denied a second term as Chief Minister. Fadnavis began his political journey in Nagpur, the headquarters of the RSS, becoming a corporator at just 22. By 27, he became Nagpur’s youngest Mayor in 1997. His early involvement with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the RSS, in 1989, laid a strong ideological foundation and positioned him within the BJP. In 1999, he contested and won his first Assembly election and has since maintained an unbroken winning streak. Unlike many leaders across the political spectrum in Maharashtra, he has remained untainted by accusations of corruption. Known for his articulate style, he gained prominence by targeting the previous Congress-NCP Government over the alleged irrigation scam, a portfolio held by Pawar, now his coalition partner. With the backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who famously called him “Nagpur’s gift to the country”, Fadnavis first became Chief Minister in 2014, becoming only the second Brahmin to hold the post after Shiv Sena’s Manohar Joshi, and the first from the BJP. Before him, late Union Minister Gopinath Munde had reached the position of Deputy Chief Minister in 1995 during the Shiv Sena-BJP Government. During his first term, Fadnavis focused on infrastructure development, earning the trust of urban voters. His administration spearheaded projects like the expansion of the Mumbai Metro and extensive road-building initiatives, showcasing a commitment to modernising the State’s urban infrastructure. He also prioritised improving the ease of doing business, attracting investments, and launching the ambitious Jalyukt Shivar Abhiyan, aimed at water conservation in drought-hit regions. However, his government faced several challenges. Unpredictable weather led to significant crop losses, prompting widespread demands for farm loan waivers. Initially hesitant, Fadnavis announced a waiver in 2017, balancing fiscal responsibility with political pressures. The Maratha reservation issue was another test of his leadership. His government passed a law granting reservations to the Maratha community, temporarily calming protests. However, the Supreme Court later struck it down, leaving many Marathas dissatisfied and blaming Fadnavis for the setback. The 2019 Assembly elections marked a turning point in his career. Despite the BJP’s strong performance, its alliance with Shiv Sena broke down over the Chief Minister’s post. Uddhav Thackeray’s (erstwhile) Shiv Sena allied with the NCP and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government, sidelining Fadnavis. In a dramatic twist, Fadnavis briefly formed a government with Pawar in November 2019. However, the alliance collapsed within 72 hours due to insufficient majority support. This episode, though a setback, demonstrated Fadnavis’s bold decision-making and strategic acumen. Following the 2022 Shiv Sena split led by Shinde, many expected. Fadnavis to return as Chief Minister. However, he was asked by the BJP leadership to serve as Deputy Chief Minister under Shinde. Initially reluctant, Fadnavis accepted the role, showcasing his loyalty to the party and long-term strategic patience. As Fadnavis takes office for the third time, he faces a complex set of challenges. Chief among them is the unresolved Maratha reservation issue, which continues to spark protests. He also had the responsibility of balancing the interests of the BJP, coalition partners, and the wider electorate. ISRO successfully launches PSLV-C59 rocket with European Space Agency’s Proba-3 satellites After being rescheduled for a day due to an anomaly detected, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday [successfully launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-3 mission]( aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C59 rocket. The vehicle took off with a powerful roar, precisely at 4.04 p.m. from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, the home to several rocket launches in India. “The PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 mission is successfully accomplished. The spacecraft has been placed in the right orbit,” ISRO Chairman S. Somanath said. ISRO said the mission had successfully achieved its launch objectives, deploying ESA’s satellites into their designated orbit with precision. Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the ESA, said: “The latest member of ESA’s family of in-orbit demonstration missions, Proba-3 comprises two spacecraft launched together which, once safely in orbit, will separate to begin performing precise formation flying... Almost instantaneously after separation, Yatharagga station in Australia started to receive the spacecraft’s signal. Telemetry is flowing to ESA’s mission control centre in Belgium,” he added. The ESA on its site mentioned: “A pair of spacecraft were launched together today from India with the potential to change the nature of future space missions. ESA’s twin Proba-3 platforms will perform precise formation flying down to a single millimetre, as if they were one single giant spacecraft. To demonstrate their degree of control, the pair will produce artificial solar eclipses in orbit, giving prolonged views of the Sun’s ghostly surrounding atmosphere, the corona.” According to the ESA, stacked together, the two satellites separated from their upper stage about 18 minutes after launch. The pair will remain attached together while initial commissioning takes place, overseen from mission control at the European Space Security and Education Centre, in Redu Belgium. Proba-3 mission manager Damien Galano said, “Today’s liftoff has been something all of us in ESA’s Proba-3 team and our industrial and scientific partners have been looking forward to for a long time.” Details shared by the ESA show that if Proba-3’s initial commissioning phase goes to plan then the spacecraft pair will be separated early in the new year to begin their individual check-outs. The operational phase of the mission, including the first observations of the corona through active formation flying, should begin in about four months. The PSLV-C59/PROBA-3 Mission is the 61st flight of PSLV and the 26th using PSLV-XL configuration, carrying ESA’s PROBA-3 (Project for Onboard Autonomy) satellites into a highly elliptical orbit. World Chess Championship: 9th game between Gukesh and Liren ends in a draw Stalemate continued in the World Chess Championship as the ninth game between Indian challenger[D. Gukesh and defending champion Ding Liren of China ended in yet another draw]( to still level on points here on Thursday. The sixth consecutive draw -- and seventh of the match -- left both players on an identical tally of 4.5 points each, still shy of 3 points in order to win the championship. The two players signed peace after 54 moves. Friday is a rest day and they will resume the battle on Saturday. Just five more classical games are left to be played in the $2.5 million prize money championship and if a tied result happens after 14 rounds, there will be games under faster time control to determine the winner. The 32-year-old Liren had won the opening game while the 18-year-old Gukesh had emerged victorious in the third game. The second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth games had ended in draws. The Catalan opening has featured in top level games for many decades now and Gukesh chose it this time to test Liren’s preparation. The Chinese yet again sank in to a long thought in the opening and found some creative ideas to keep the white forces at bay. The first exchange took place on the 14th turn with Gukesh using just 15 minutes of his allotted two hours in the first time-control while Liren had used over 50 minutes. Gukesh probably got his only chance to exert some pressure on his 20th turn but the Indian went for what optically looked better for white only to find Liren surprising him with some well-disguised tricks. It looked as though not much had slipped but once he was under 30 minutes, the Chinese came up with a series of correct moves to leave the position level. Gukesh used up all his extra time and by the 23rd move he was actually behind Liren by a few minutes. Another couple of pawns had changed hands by then along with two minor pieces making the position just very close to equal. In counting, Gukesh had an extra pawn to boast off but it was evident that it was about to fall soon. It was time for Gukesh to decide if he would go for an easy draw or still try for some unwarranted complications. After making his 24th move, Gukesh was seen staring at his score sheet, a pretty clear indication that he had come to terms with what the result was going to be. Liren halted for sometime before playing the equalizing capture of the extra pawn of white. Gukesh exchanged queens soon and then a pair of rooks to let the position be just a dead-draw. The players still had to complete 40 moves as per rules before the point could be split and suddenly Liren started to get ambitious although the game never really left the boundaries of a draw. A pure rook and pawns endgame was soon on board and eventually the players changed everything to be left with bare kings. The game lasted 54 moves. In the remaining five games, Liren will have white thrice. Rajya Sabha passes the Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 Parliament on Thursday [passed a bill to replace the 90-year-old Aircraft Act]( and further improve the ease of doing business in the aviation space. The Bharatiya Vayuyan Vidheyak 2024 was passed in the Rajya Sabha by a voice vote. It was earlier approved by the Lok Sabha on August 9. The bill seeks to remove redundancies and replace the Aircraft Act, 1934, which has been amended 21 times. Replying to the debate on the bill in the Upper House, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said the change in title of the bill from English to Hindi, to which many members raised objections, was done to "showcase the India's heritage and culture", and "there was no violation of Constitutional rule". It will be difficult to pronounce the name of the bill in Hindi initially but one will get used to it, he added. Responding to concerns of some MPs over skyrocketing airfare, the minister said the government has worked on improving accessibility to a certain extent through Udaan scheme and is committed to making it affordable for passengers. Syrian army says it has withdrawn from the city of Hama after insurgents broke through its defenses The Syrian army has [withdrawn from the central city]( Hama after insurgents broke through its defences, the military said on Thursday, in another setback for President Bashar Assad. The announcement came hours after opposition fighters said they had entered the city and were marching toward the center. The Syrian army said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect the lives of civilians. The capture of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, is another blow for Assad days after insurgents captured much of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest city. On Thursday morning, Syrian insurgents said they entered Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on its outskirts, part of an ongoing offensive. The Syrian army said in a statement later that a number of troops were killed after resisting the insurgents for days. It accused the attackers of relying on suicide attacks to break through the defenses of the city. Hama is one of the few cities that remained under full government control during Syria's conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising. Its capture would be a major setback for President Bashar Assad. The offensive is being led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as well as an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Their sudden capture of the northern city of Aleppo, an ancient business hub, was a stunning prize for Assad's opponents and reignited the conflict which had been largely stalemated for the past few years. The next target of the insurgents is likely to be the central city of Homs, the country's third largest. Homs is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama. Aleppo's takeover marked the first opposition attack on the city since 2016, when a brutal Russian air campaign retook it for Assad after rebel forces had initially seized it. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other militant groups has allowed Assad to remain in power. The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Assad’s main regional and international backers are preoccupied with their own wars. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the renewed fighting, which began with the surprise opposition offensive Nov. 27. The insurgents claimed on their Military Operations Department channel on the Telegram app Thursday that they have entered Hama and are marching toward its center. “Our forces are taking positions inside the city of Hama,” the channel quoted a local commander identified as Maj. Hassan Abdul-Ghani as saying. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said fierce battles were fought inside Hama. “If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started,” the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press before the city's capture. Hama is a major intersection point in Syria that links that country’s center with the north as well the east and the west. It is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Assad. The city's name is known for the 1982 massacre of Hama, one of the most notorious in the modern Middle East, when security forces under Assad's late father, Hafez Assad, killed thousands to crush a Muslim Brotherhood uprising. Taliban ban women from health studies, nursing and midwifery courses Senior employees at several institutions offering nursing and midwifery courses in Afghanistan on Tuesday[said women would be barred from classes]( following an edict by the Taliban supreme leader. Health officials met with directors of education institutes on Monday in the capital Kabul to inform them of the ruling, an official from the public health ministry who was not authorised to speak to the media told AFP. "There is no official letter but the directors of institutes were informed in a meeting that women and girls can't study anymore in their institutes," he said. "They were not provided with any details and justification and were just told of the order of the supreme leader and were asked to implement it." The manager of an institute who attended the meeting and asked not to be named for fear of reprisal said dozens of managers were in attendance. A senior employee of another centre told AFP his boss had been at a separate meeting with health officials on Tuesday after confusion about the rule. The employee said institutes had been given 10 days to hold final exams. Some managers petitioned the ministry for clarity, while others carried on as normal in the absence of a written order. Not long after Taliban authorities swept back to power in 2021, they barred girls from education beyond secondary school as part of restrictions labelled "gender apartheid" by the United Nations. Women students then flocked to health institutes, one of the few avenues still open to them. They now make up the majority of students in these centres. Afghanistan has around 10 public and more than 150 private health institutes offering two-year diplomas in 18 subjects, ranging from midwifery to anaesthesia, pharmacy and dentistry, with a total of 35,000 women students, health ministry sources said. "What are we supposed to do with just 10% of our students?" one manager said. Aysha -- not her real name -- a midwifery teacher at a private institute in Kabul, said she received a message from management telling her not to come to work until further notice with little explanation. "This is a big shock for us. Psychologically, we are shaken," the 28-year-old said. "This was the only source of hope for the girls and women who were banned from universities." The United Kingdom's charge d'affaires said he was "deeply concerned" by the reports. "This is another affront to women's right to education and will further restrict access to healthcare for Afghan women and children," he posted on social media platform X. The health ministry source said the ban would squeeze an already suffering health sector. "We are already short of professional medical and para-medical staff and this would result in further shortages." In brief: Rohit Sharma had a half-smile when asked about [batting in the middle-order]( in the Canberra game against the Prime Minister’s XI. This was a teaser aimed at getting a breaking news quote from the Indian captain. “We were just looking at getting some time against the pink ball,” he said with a straight face as the press conference warmed up at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday. A few minutes later, he was directly asked about the opening combination for the second Test and this time he was quick: “K.L. Rahul will open, I will bat somewhere in the middle-order.” Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. Today’s Top Picks [[Allu Arjun, Sandhya theatre management booked for stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere] Allu Arjun, Sandhya theatre management booked for stampede during Pushpa 2 premiere]( [[‘Father’ of 138 voters in Bihar legislative council byelection raises suspicions] ‘Father’ of 138 voters in Bihar legislative council byelection raises suspicions]( [[‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ movie review: What is your point, Pushpa?] ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ movie review: What is your point, Pushpa?]( [[Rashid urges Taliban government to reconsider ban on medical training for women] Rashid urges Taliban government to reconsider ban on medical training for women]( Copyright© 2024, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [click here]( Manage your newsletter subscription preferences [here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](