The Latest: Top stories of the day
1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated an Afghan-India "friendship" dam in Afghanistan, on the first stop of his five-nation tour, which will include another trip to the United States.
2. Maharashtra Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse resigned after allegations of receiving calls from wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim and illegally buying government land.
3. Uttar Pradesh Police arrested more than 300 protesters and recovered a large arms cache after clashes in Mathura killed 24 people.
Weekend Reads:
1. Abhishek Angad in the Indian Express discovers the story of life inside the cult that led the clashes against the police in Mathura over the last few days.
2. From AgustaWestland to the Bhandari-Vadra allegations, Indian politics is full of name-and-shame tactics that crucially don't include much real action, writes Shekhar Gupta in the Business Standard. (Paywall).
3. C Raja Mohan in the Indian Express says Modi, who will be in America again this week, finally has a chance to coordinate the Indian and American policies towards Pakistan.
4. Modi will be off to South Africa also soon, and Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the Telegraph says India must not lecture and instead has much to learn from the country.
5. Sudeep Chakravarti in Mint says that the current protests over the permit system in Manipur are just the beginning of public unrest in the state.
6. Blink has a special monsoon issue, including Veena Venugopal discovering Jaisalmer, the town that India's rainy season forgot.
7. The New York Times has a leader ahead of Modi's visit saying if India wants to be included in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, it needs to open negotiations with Pakistan and China on curbing nuclear weapons.
8. Kathryn Schulz in the New Yorker tells the story of an Afghan man named Zarif Khan who went to America in 1909 and became Hot Tamale Louie, a beloved Mexican vendor in Wyoming.
9. Mint profiles the heroes who foster injured bats, save turtles from slaughter and rehab snakes in their bathrooms.
10. David Remnick in the New Yorker has the final word on the outsized life of Muhammad Ali.
Reading
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1
What a meeting with a woman entrepreneur in Kolkata taught a German diplomat about women in India
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2
‘Inviting Modi for Christmas event ignores plight of persecuted Christians,’ says citizens’ group
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3
‘Dune: Prophecy’ review: Palace intrigue overtakes magic in fantasy series
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4
‘Modernity, Print and Sahitya’: A well-researched book about how Odia literature shaped its culture
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5
Interview: East India Company to Big Tech – how corporations think about knowledge
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6
Centre changes election conduct rules days after HC tells EC to provide poll documents to petitioner
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7
The ugly history of Boer prisoner-of-war camps in India
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8
Translated fiction: Gyan Chaturvedi’s novel about the free-market economy and excessive consumerism
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9
Backstory 2024: When I trekked two hours in Himachal for an interview
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10
1971 surrender photo removed from Army chief’s office, replaced by Mahabharata-inspired painting