 "FirstUp: ICC Champions Trophy kick starts, BJP to pick Delhi CM… The news today")
The buzz around the Russia and US talks continues. The two sides met in Riyadh to negotiate the ending of the Ukraine war on Tuesday. However, Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy did not have a seat at the table.
Today the focus on the outcome of these negotiations will continue. And the ICC Champions Trophy will begin. Before you start your routine, here’s a look at what you can expect from the headlines.
1. Lavrov back in Russia
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was in Riyadh yesterday. He was one of the key figures representing his country in talks with the US on the Ukraine war .
Today, he is expected to address the State Duma, one of the chambers of the Russian Parliament. He will take to the floor during the government hour session as part of the plenary meeting. Will he provide more insights on talks with the US?
2. Germany’s Olaf Scholz to chair last Cabinet meeting
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will chair his last weekly Cabinet meeting ahead of the general elections on Sunday (February 23).
The country will hold an early general election after the collapse of Scholz’s centre-left coalition government last year. Polls suggest that the incumbent will lose to CDU conservative challenger Friedrich Merz .
3. UN nuclear chief to inspect Fukushima soil
The Japanese government needs to decide what to do with the soil – enough to fill 10 baseball stadiums – scraped from the wider Fukushima region as part of efforts to remove harmful radiation. That is on top of the monster task of decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which went into meltdown after being hit by a tsunami in the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will tour the plant today. He will also be shown some of the 13 million cubic metres of soil and 300,000 cubic meters of ash from incinerated organic material.
If this material is confirmed safe, authorities want to use it for building road and railway embankments among other projects.
4. ICC Champions Trophy 2025 begins
Let’s talk about cricket. The ICC Champions Trophy begins today. Eight teams participate in the tournament, which has grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. It will be held in Pakistan and the UAE.
The first game will see a clash between Pakistan and New Zealand . Play starts at 2.30 pm IST.
5. Delhi CM announcement likely
Moving on to news from India…
The suspense over who will be the Delhi chief minister is likely to end today. The BJP, which won the Delhi Assembly elections, will hold a legislature meeting today. Following this, the name of the next Delhi CM is expected to be revealed.
Among the front-runners are BJP MLA Rekha Gupta; Parvesh Verma , the Jat leader who defeated Arvind Kejriwal; and Manoj Tiwari, the BJP MP and former Delhi BJP president. Ashish Sood, Satish Upadhyay, and Shikha Roy are among the other names doing the rounds.
6. New poll chief takes over
Gynanesh Kumar, India’s newly pointed Chief Election Commissioner, will take charge today.
His appointment was announced after the Prime Minister-headed high-level panel met to select the new CEC to succeed Rajiv Kumar.
Gyanesh Kumar was appointed to the Election Commission on March 14, 2024 after he retired from the IAS. He served as the Election Commissioner until now.
His tenure as the CEC will last until January 26, 2029.
7. SC to hear pleas challenging law on EC appointments
The Supreme Court is set to hear a batch of petitions today, challenging the validity of the law governing the appointment of the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners.
The 2023 law dropped the Chief Justice of India from the selection panel for Election Commissioners.
On February 17, the government appointed Gyanesh Kumar as the next CEC. He is the first CEC to be appointed under the new law.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi asked the government to defer the appointment until the SC decides on the petitions challenging the new appointment process. However, the Centre went ahead.
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