Daily Bulletin: Mike Pompeo to arrive in India today; S Jaishankar to file his Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat; day's top stories

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo arrives in India today

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo will arrive in India on Tuesday on a two-day visit. He is expected to hold talks that are aimed at laying the ground for a meeting between US president Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the week at a G20 meeting in Japan.

Mike Pompeo. File Image. Reuters

Pompeo is on a nearly week-long visit to the Indo-Pacific region. New Delhi will be his first stop and South Korea his last. He will also be stopping over at Sri Lanka and Japan.

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US state department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said Pompeo will travel to the Indo-Pacific region on 24  June through 30 June to broaden and deepen America's partnership with key countries to advance their shared goal of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

"The secretary's first stop will be in New Delhi, India. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi's recent election victory provides an excellent opportunity for him to implement his vision for a strong and prosperous India that plays a leading role on the global stage," Ortagus said.

On Monday, Pompeo held talks with leaders in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates about countering the military threat from Iran by building a broad, global coalition that includes Asian and European countries.

11 arrested for Jharkhand hate crime, two cops suspended

Eleven people have been arrested and two police officers suspended amid outrage across the country over the fatal mob attack on a man in Jharkhand last week. The police are on the lookout for at least one more person accused of beating 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari on 18 June for allegedly stealing a motorcycle.

A Special Investigation Team has been set up to look into the lynching case.

A video of the incident shows the mob beating Ansari and asking him to chant "Jai Shri Ram" and "Jai Hanuman" as he is seen chanting and pleading with the mob to stop the assault.

"We want action against the police personnel who were on duty at that time," a relative of the victim said.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to file his Rajya Sabha nomination from Gujarat

The BJP on Monday fielded External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and party leader JM Thakor as its nominees for the by-elections to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat. The move came hours after Jaishankar, a career diplomat, formally joined the party in the presence of BJP working president JP Nadda.

"The Central Election Committee decided to nominate Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Jugalji Mathurji Thakor for the by-elections to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) from Gujarat," a press release from the BJP read.

Jaishankar, who replaced BJP leader Sushma Swaraj as the Minister of External Affairs, is regarded as a close aide of the prime minister and his "crisis manager" on foreign affairs. He had served as the foreign secretary during Modi's first term as prime minister.

Modi to reply to President's Address in Parliament

The prime minister will reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address in Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

The first session after the commencement of 17th Lok Sabha is underway. During the session on Monday, controversy erupted as Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury made an objectionable statement against Modi. Chowdhury mocked the BJP and said it won 2019 elections because Modi was a "very big salesman".

The prime minister was present in the House while Chowdhury made these comments.

Also, Bengali film stars-turned-All India Trinamool Congress politicians Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan are to be sworn in as MPs on Tuesday.

SC to hear ED's appeal against Delhi HC order allowing Rajiv Saxena to travel abroad for treatment

The Supreme Court on Tuesday will hear the Enforcement Directorate's appeal challenging a Delhi High Court order that allowed Rajiv Saxena, accused-turned-approver in a money-laundering case related to AgustaWestland case, to travel abroad for medical treatment.

A vacation bench of the apex court headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice BR Gavai has agreed to hear the ED's appeal.

On 10 June, on a petition filed by Saxena, the Delhi High Court had allowed him to travel abroad between 25 June and 24 July on health grounds but with certain conditions. A Special CBI, on 1 June, had approved Saxena's plea to travel to the United Kingdom, UAE and Europe for treatment. He was directed to deposit a fixed deposit receipt of Rs 50 lakh as security.

The ED had, however, challenged the trial court's order, contending that the investigation in the case was at a crucial stage and allowing Saxena to go out of the country might hamper the inquiry.

 SC to to hear a plea seeking safety and security of women lawyers in courts

The Supreme Court will hear a plea on seeking safety and security of female lawyers in courts in the wake of the recent murder of Uttar Pradesh Bar Council president Darvesh Singh Yadav, who was shot dead in the Agra court premises on 12 June.

A vacation bench of justices Deepka Gupta and Surya Kant termed it a "serious mater" and said it will hear the petition filed by advocate Indu Kaul next Tuesday.

Yadav, who was the first female president of the Bar Council, was shot thrice by another lawyer Manish Sharma, who had been her long-time acquaintance. Sharma died in hospital during treatment on Saturday.

Following Yadav's killing inside the Agra court complex, the state government had said it was committed to providing adequate security at the high court and district court premises.

England eye resurgence against confident Australian side in ICC World Cup

England, who started their World Cup campaign with four resounding wins from their first five games, suffered a shocking 20-run loss to Sri Lanka on Friday. The hosts will be looking to bounce back against Australia when they meet their traditional rivals on Tuesday at Lord's.

Australia, currently occupy the second position in the points table, with five wins in six matches, and will be aiming to extend their winning run.

SEBI to allow IPOs by tech companies with superior voting right shares

Capital markets regulator SEBI plans to allow technology companies having superior voting right shares launch their IPOs, subject to enhanced corporate governance among several other conditions.

The regulator is planning to issue a new set of norms for differential voting rights to allow listing of firms having some shareholders with superior voting right shares, but it may not allow as yet shares with lower or fractional voting rights.

The new norms are particularly aimed at helping new technology companies with asset light business model, where promoters or founders may be key to the company's success and may need to retain controlling powers even when they prefer equity over debt for raising funds.

iOS 13, iPadOS and macOS Public Betas are now available

The public beta releases of macOS for Macs, iOS 13 for iPhones and iPadOS for Apple iPads are now available to everyone. The new operating systems bring with them a raft of new features, including a dark mode in iOS, home screen widgets in iPadOS and Project Catalyst on macOS.

Anyone with a compatible device can try the betas, but be warned, this software is still being tested and will be buggy.