1. Monsoon session ends with farewell to VP Venkaiah Naidu: The monsoon session of the parliament ended yesterday, four days in advance, with seven bills passed in the Lok Sabha and five in the Rajya Sabha. The upper house also bid farewell to Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu. The next session will have Jagdeep Dhankhar chairing the house.
2. Nitish Kumar to become Mahagatbandhan CM with Tejashwi Yadav as Deputy CM: Nitish Kumar today broke the alliance with BJP and joined the Mahagatbandhan (Grand Alliance) of seven parties and one independent. After resigning from the Chief Minister’s post, he approached the Bihar Governor with Tejashwi Yadav and other opposition leaders, requesting him to invite the Mahagatbandhan to form a new government.
3. Maharashtra cabinet expands with 18 ministers inducted: The BJP – Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena faction led Maharashtra government’s cabinet expansion saw eighteen ministers taking oath today. Nine legislators from BJP and nine from the Shinde faction joined the government at a ceremony held in Mumbai’s Raj Bhavan.
4. IMD forecasts for Goa and Maharashtra: The Met department has predicted extremely-heavy rainfall in the ghat areas of Madhya Maharashtra, Vidarbha, Goa, and the entire Konkan belt between Monday and Wednesday (Aug 8-10). As a precaution, a red alert has been given to the regions.
5. Government mulling universalizing chargers: The consumer affairs ministry will be meeting industry representatives to arrive at a framework to adopt only two types of chargers — one that covers digital devices, like smartphones, tablets, laptops, and earbuds, and the other for feature phones.
6. The mosque of Fakireshwar Swami: Karnataka village, Hirebidanur, has no single Muslim family. However, it has the custom of celebrating Muharram for over 100 years. Hirebidanur has a mosque built by two brothers a long time ago. And after their demise, the locals continued to worship at what they call the “Mosque of Fakireshwar Swami” in traditional Hindu ways.
7. Taiwan FM says China is preparing to invade: Taiwan FM Joseph Wu claimed that China is getting ready for an invasion with its air and sea drills encircling the island nation. Terming “threats from China are more serious than ever,” he added that Beijing is trying to alter the status quo in Taiwan Straight.
8. Students in Bangladesh protest fuel price hike: Dhaka witnessed demonstrations by students protesting against the massive hike in fuel prices. The Bangladesh government increased Kerosine and Diesel prices by 42.5 percent and petrol by 51.1 percent. The rise in fuel prices immediately reflected upon public transport fares.
9. Gaza crossings re-opened: A Egyptian-brokered truce has brought fighting to a halt between Islamic Jihad and Israel. Earlier, airstrikes by the Israeli army killed two top commanders of the militant outfit along with 44 people, including 15 children. Following the ceasefire, border crossings into Gaza were reopened by Israel.
10. US senate approves climate and health plan by Joe Biden: After nearly ten months of negotiations and a night-long debate, US senate on Sunday passed a climate, tax, and healthcare plan. The $430 billion spending plan, will go to the House of representatives. Then it will be signed into law by US President Joe Biden.
Image: PTI