Morning Filter: NDA, Opposition get ready to show their strength

1. 38 parties have confirmed participation in NDA meeting Tuesday: J P Nadda Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, BJP president J P Nadda said. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Nadda said NDA’s reach and scope have increased over the years. He said the NDA constituents are upbeat due to the positive impact of the Narendra Modi government’s schemes and policies. The meeting of the BJP-led coalition is scheduled to be held on a day several opposition parties are set to hold deliberations in Bengaluru to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 2. Ajit Pawar, his MLAs meet Sharad Pawar; Praful Patel says faction will attend NDA meet on Tuesday The Nationalist Congress Party faction under Ajit Pawar and 15 of his MLAs on Monday met Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai and asked him to ensure the party stays united. This is the second meeting of Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as Maharashtra deputy chief minister on July 2, and his MLAs with the NCP supremo in two days. Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel, who was part of the meeting, said he and Ajit Pawar would attend the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting in Delhi on Tuesday. 3. Sharad Pawar to attend Opposition conclave in Bengaluru on Tuesday Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, battling a crisis in his party, will attend the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru on Tuesday, a party spokesperson said. “Sharad Pawar has decided to attend the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru tomorrow. He will go there irrespective of what is happening here,” said NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase. Top leaders of 26 opposition parties are set to brainstorm in Bengaluru on Tuesday and are likely to start the work on a common minimum programme and announce a joint agitational plan to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 4. ‘United We Stand’ is Opposition’s slogan as leaders converge for 2-day brainstorming session Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving here on Monday for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “United We Stand” is the slogan on posters that dotted the streets of Bengaluru with pictures of opposition leaders, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, DMK chief M K Stalin and leaders of Left and some regional outfits. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in the Karnataka capital on a special plane and were received at the airport by state chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar. 5. PM Modi to inaugurate integrated terminal building at Port Blair airport on Tuesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the integrated terminal building of the Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair on Tuesday via video conferencing. Noting that boosting connectivity infrastructure has been a major focus of the government, the Prime Minister’s Office said the new facility, built at a cost of around Rs 710 crore, will play a key role in enhancing connectivity to the island, a union territory. With a total built-up area of around 40,800 sqm, the building will be capable of handling about 50 lakh passengers annually. An apron suitable for two Boeing-767-400 and two Airbus-321 type aircraft has also been constructed at the airport at a cost of Rs 80 crore, making it suitable for parking 10 aircraft at a time, the PMO said. 6. Monsoon session of Goa Assembly to begin on July 18 The 18-day monsoon session of the Goa legislative Assembly will begin from Tuesday, with the Opposition gearing up to corner Dr Pramod Sawant-led government on various issues. As per a circular issued by the state legislature department, the monsoon session will be held from July 18 to August 10, for 18 days excluding Saturdays and Sundays. A total of 2,387 questions have been submitted to the Goa Assembly, which include 589 starred and 1,798 unstarred questions, the Assembly data revealed. A senior member of the Opposition benches said the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) have already worked out a joint strategy to corner the state government on various issues. 7. SC asks CM Kejriwal, LG Saxena to rise above “political bickering”, asks them to meet and decide on DERC chief appointment The Supreme Court on Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to rise above “political bickering” and discuss who could head the national capital’s power regulator DERC, saying the two constitutional functionaries should get down to “serious work of governance” away from glare of publicity. In a bid to break the ongoing deadlock over naming a retired judge for the DERC post, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha suggested that the chief minister and the LG should meet and sit down together on Tuesday and reach a consensus either on one name or may exchange three names each. “The two constitutional functionaries have to rise above political bickering and they should give a name for the post of DERC chairperson.” The bench then fixed for Thursday the plea of the Delhi government over the issue of appointment of the chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission(DERC). 8. Japan’s prime minister visits the UAE as part of a Gulf trip focused on energy and commerce Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the United Arab Emirates on Monday as part of a swing through the Arab Gulf states focused on energy and commerce. He met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE, which will be hosting the COP28 UN climate summit later this year. Kishida visited Saudi Arabia over the weekend, where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two launched a joint initiative aimed at promoting clean energy. He will visit gas-rich Qatar on Tuesday. 9. EU’s Vestager to face lawmakers’ grilling on US economist on Tuesday EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager will appear at a European Parliament committee’s hearing on Tuesday where she will be grilled by lawmakers on her choice of a U.S. economist for a key EU antitrust job, her communications adviser told Reuters on Monday. The appointment of Fiona Scott Morton, 56, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama’s tenure, has been criticised by France and leaders of the main political groups at the European Parliament. Criticism has focused on Scott Morton’s nationality, with many asking why an EU citizen has not been picked to advise the European Commission on its investigations into Big Tech and its enforcement of a series of landmark rules to rein in the tech giants. 10. Typhoon Talim expected to move to South China Sea’s Beibu Gulf - Xinhua China’s National Meteorological Center expects Typhoon Talim to move to the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea, and says it may make a second landfall in the coastal area of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning, state media Xinhua reported. Typhoon Talim became the first typhoon to make landfall in China this year on Monday evening, prompting authorities in the Guangdong province to issue evacuations and close coastal tourist destinations. Nearly 230,000 people in Guangdong had been evacuated to safety as of 5 p.m. local time (0900 GMT) on Monday, Xinhua reported. 11. UN Security Council to hold first discussion on AI tomorrow The United Nations Security Council is all set to hold its first formal discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in New York on Tuesday.Britain holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month where it wants to encourage a multilateral approach to managing both the immense opportunities and risks that artificial intelligence presents, including its implications for international peace and security.The AI meeting will be chaired by James Cleverly, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, according to the UN. 12. Mercury hits new highs as heatwaves scorch the globe Temperatures reached new highs on Monday as heatwaves and wildfires scorched parts of the Northern Hemisphere, forcing the evacuation of 1,200 children close to a Greek seaside resort. Health authorities have sounded alarms from North America to Europe and Asia, urging people to stay hydrated and shelter from the burning sun, in a stark reminder of the effects of global warming. Near Athens, a forest fire flared in strong winds by the popular beach town of Loutraki where the mayor said holiday camps for youngsters had come under threat. “We have saved 1,200 children who were in the holiday camps,” said mayor Giorgos Gkionis. Greek police arrested a foreign man suspected of starting another of the ongoing wildfires, in Kouvaras, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Athens, fire service spokesman Yannis Artopios said. 13. EU competition chief to face MEPs over job for American MEPs will grill the European Commission’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday after France raised questions about her hiring of an American economist. Yale professor and former US anti-trust official Fiona Scott Morton has been appointed chef economist in Vestager’s directorate, despite not being an EU citizen. Several French ministers and MEPs have cried foul, arguing that an American should not hold a strategic European post that oversees EU efforts to regulate US tech giants. Some in Brussels have suggested that, despite Scott Morton’s academic reputation and record of criticising online monopolies, she may face a conflict of interest. 14. EU and Latin American leaders hold a summit hoping to rekindle relationship with long-lost friends Leaders from the European Union and Latin America gingerly hugged and huddled at the opening of their first summit of long-lost relatives in eight years. Monday’s opening session didn’t turn into a joyful reunion of long-lost friends. Latin American and Caribbean leaders brought century-old recriminations over colonialism and slavery across the Atlantic to the EU’s headquarters in Brussels, and added current-day complaints that Europe still doesn’t get how to treat former colonies as equal partners in the 21st century. “Most of Europe was, and still is, overwhelmingly the lopsided beneficiary in a relationship in which our Latin America, and our Caribbean, have been and are unequally yoked,” said St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who holds the presidency of the 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. 15. Developed economies under stress, there is demand slowdown: Piyush Goyal The developed economies are under stress, and there is a demand slowdown in the world market, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said amid a dip in the country’s exports. India’s exports contracted by 22 per cent, the steepest decline in the last three years, to USD 32.97 billion in June on account of global demand slowdown, especially in the Western markets like the US and Europe. “Over the last two years, we have had record exports. Unfortunately, the world seems to be moving towards a recession. Developed economies of Europe and America are under stress, very often overstocked, seen softening of commodities and commodity pricing and demand. Similarly, discretionary spending is very lukewarm,” he said at an event. 16. Sindhu, Srikanth will restart quest for first title of season in pre-Olympic year Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look for consistency in their quest for a maiden title of the season when they begin their campaign at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament here on Tuesday. A title has eluded Sindhu this year with more than half the season already over. She has not been able to string together a series of wins in a week after returning from a five-month long injury lay-off following a stress fracture on her ankle. The two-time Olympic medallist had reached the final of Madrid Spain Masters, her best finish this season. She showed sparks when she reached the semifinals of Canada Open but made a quarterfinal exit in the next event after going down to China’s Gao Fang Jie in the US Open. [logo] The Morning Filter 18 July 2023 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Morning Filter newsletter, your guide from The Hindu on the major news stories and events to follow today. [Arrow]Open in browser [Mail icon]More newsletters Here are the latest updates and the big news stories to follow today 1. 38 parties have confirmed participation in NDA meeting Tuesday: J P Nadda [BJP president J.P. Nadda ] Leaders of 38 parties have confirmed their participation in a meeting of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to be held in the national capital on Tuesday, BJP president J P Nadda said. Addressing a press conference on Monday, Nadda said NDA’s reach and scope have increased over the years. He said the NDA constituents are upbeat due to the positive impact of the Narendra Modi government’s schemes and policies. The meeting of the BJP-led coalition is scheduled to be held on a day several opposition parties are set to hold deliberations in Bengaluru to chalk out a joint strategy to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. 2. Ajit Pawar, his MLAs meet Sharad Pawar; Praful Patel says faction will attend NDA meet on Tuesday The Nationalist Congress Party faction under Ajit Pawar and 15 of his MLAs on Monday met Sharad Pawar at the YB Chavan Centre in Mumbai and asked him to ensure the party stays united. This is the second meeting of Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as Maharashtra deputy chief minister on July 2, and his MLAs with the NCP supremo in two days. Rajya Sabha MP Praful Patel, who was part of the meeting, said he and Ajit Pawar would attend the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting in Delhi on Tuesday.  3. Sharad Pawar to attend Opposition conclave in Bengaluru on Tuesday Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar, battling a crisis in his party, will attend the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru on Tuesday, a party spokesperson said. “Sharad Pawar has decided to attend the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru tomorrow. He will go there irrespective of what is happening here,” said NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase. Top leaders of 26 opposition parties are set to brainstorm in Bengaluru on Tuesday and are likely to start the work on a common minimum programme and announce a joint agitational plan to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 4. ‘United We Stand’ is Opposition’s slogan as leaders converge for 2-day brainstorming session Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving here on Monday for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “United We Stand” is the slogan on posters that dotted the streets of Bengaluru with pictures of opposition leaders, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, DMK chief M K Stalin and leaders of Left and some regional outfits. Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge arrived in the Karnataka capital on a special plane and were received at the airport by state chief minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar. 5. PM Modi to inaugurate integrated terminal building at Port Blair airport on Tuesday Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the integrated terminal building of the Veer Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair on Tuesday via video conferencing. Noting that boosting connectivity infrastructure has been a major focus of the government, the Prime Minister’s Office said the new facility, built at a cost of around Rs 710 crore, will play a key role in enhancing connectivity to the island, a union territory. With a total built-up area of around 40,800 sqm, the building will be capable of handling about 50 lakh passengers annually. An apron suitable for two Boeing-767-400 and two Airbus-321 type aircraft has also been constructed at the airport at a cost of Rs 80 crore, making it suitable for parking 10 aircraft at a time, the PMO said. 6. Monsoon session of Goa Assembly to begin on July 18 The 18-day monsoon session of the Goa legislative Assembly will begin from Tuesday, with the Opposition gearing up to corner Dr Pramod Sawant-led government on various issues. As per a circular issued by the state legislature department, the monsoon session will be held from July 18 to August 10, for 18 days excluding Saturdays and Sundays. A total of 2,387 questions have been submitted to the Goa Assembly, which include 589 starred and 1,798 unstarred questions, the Assembly data revealed. A senior member of the Opposition benches said the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) have already worked out a joint strategy to corner the state government on various issues. 7. SC asks CM Kejriwal, LG Saxena to rise above “political bickering”, asks them to meet and decide on DERC chief appointment The Supreme Court on Monday asked Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena to rise above “political bickering” and discuss who could head the national capital’s power regulator DERC, saying the two constitutional functionaries should get down to “serious work of governance” away from glare of publicity. In a bid to break the ongoing deadlock over naming a retired judge for the DERC post, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha suggested that the chief minister and the LG should meet and sit down together on Tuesday and reach a consensus either on one name or may exchange three names each. “The two constitutional functionaries have to rise above political bickering and they should give a name for the post of DERC chairperson.” The bench then fixed for Thursday the plea of the Delhi government over the issue of appointment of the chairperson of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission(DERC). 8. Japan’s prime minister visits the UAE as part of a Gulf trip focused on energy and commerce Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited the United Arab Emirates on Monday as part of a swing through the Arab Gulf states focused on energy and commerce. He met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the president of the UAE, which will be hosting the COP28 UN climate summit later this year. Kishida visited Saudi Arabia over the weekend, where he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two launched a joint initiative aimed at promoting clean energy. He will visit gas-rich Qatar on Tuesday. 9. EU’s Vestager to face lawmakers’ grilling on US economist on Tuesday EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager will appear at a European Parliament committee’s hearing on Tuesday where she will be grilled by lawmakers on her choice of a U.S. economist for a key EU antitrust job, her communications adviser told Reuters on Monday. The appointment of Fiona Scott Morton, 56, the former chief economist at the U.S. Department of Justice during former President Barack Obama’s tenure, has been criticised by France and leaders of the main political groups at the European Parliament. Criticism has focused on Scott Morton’s nationality, with many asking why an EU citizen has not been picked to advise the European Commission on its investigations into Big Tech and its enforcement of a series of landmark rules to rein in the tech giants. 10. Typhoon Talim expected to move to South China Sea’s Beibu Gulf - Xinhua China’s National Meteorological Center expects Typhoon Talim to move to the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea, and says it may make a second landfall in the coastal area of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on Tuesday morning, state media Xinhua reported. Typhoon Talim became the first typhoon to make landfall in China this year on Monday evening, prompting authorities in the Guangdong province to issue evacuations and close coastal tourist destinations. Nearly 230,000 people in Guangdong had been evacuated to safety as of 5 p.m. local time (0900 GMT) on Monday, Xinhua reported. 11. UN Security Council to hold first discussion on AI tomorrow The United Nations Security Council is all set to hold its first formal discussion on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in New York on Tuesday.Britain holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council this month where it wants to encourage a multilateral approach to managing both the immense opportunities and risks that artificial intelligence presents, including its implications for international peace and security.The AI meeting will be chaired by James Cleverly, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, according to the UN. 12. Mercury hits new highs as heatwaves scorch the globe Temperatures reached new highs on Monday as heatwaves and wildfires scorched parts of the Northern Hemisphere, forcing the evacuation of 1,200 children close to a Greek seaside resort. Health authorities have sounded alarms from North America to Europe and Asia, urging people to stay hydrated and shelter from the burning sun, in a stark reminder of the effects of global warming. Near Athens, a forest fire flared in strong winds by the popular beach town of Loutraki where the mayor said holiday camps for youngsters had come under threat. “We have saved 1,200 children who were in the holiday camps,” said mayor Giorgos Gkionis. Greek police arrested a foreign man suspected of starting another of the ongoing wildfires, in Kouvaras, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of Athens, fire service spokesman Yannis Artopios said. 13. EU competition chief to face MEPs over job for American [BJP president J.P. Nadda ] MEPs will grill the European Commission’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager on Tuesday after France raised questions about her hiring of an American economist. Yale professor and former US anti-trust official Fiona Scott Morton has been appointed chef economist in Vestager’s directorate, despite not being an EU citizen. Several French ministers and MEPs have cried foul, arguing that an American should not hold a strategic European post that oversees EU efforts to regulate US tech giants. Some in Brussels have suggested that, despite Scott Morton’s academic reputation and record of criticising online monopolies, she may face a conflict of interest. 14. EU and Latin American leaders hold a summit hoping to rekindle relationship with long-lost friends Leaders from the European Union and Latin America gingerly hugged and huddled at the opening of their first summit of long-lost relatives in eight years. Monday’s opening session didn’t turn into a joyful reunion of long-lost friends. Latin American and Caribbean leaders brought century-old recriminations over colonialism and slavery across the Atlantic to the EU’s headquarters in Brussels, and added current-day complaints that Europe still doesn’t get how to treat former colonies as equal partners in the 21st century. “Most of Europe was, and still is, overwhelmingly the lopsided beneficiary in a relationship in which our Latin America, and our Caribbean, have been and are unequally yoked,” said St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who holds the presidency of the 33-nation Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. 15. Developed economies under stress, there is demand slowdown: Piyush Goyal The developed economies are under stress, and there is a demand slowdown in the world market, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said amid a dip in the country’s exports. India’s exports contracted by 22 per cent, the steepest decline in the last three years, to USD 32.97 billion in June on account of global demand slowdown, especially in the Western markets like the US and Europe. “Over the last two years, we have had record exports. Unfortunately, the world seems to be moving towards a recession. Developed economies of Europe and America are under stress, very often overstocked, seen softening of commodities and commodity pricing and demand. Similarly, discretionary spending is very lukewarm,” he said at an event. 16. Sindhu, Srikanth will restart quest for first title of season in pre-Olympic year [BJP president J.P. Nadda ] Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth will look for consistency in their quest for a maiden title of the season when they begin their campaign at the Korea Open Super 500 tournament here on Tuesday. A title has eluded Sindhu this year with more than half the season already over. She has not been able to string together a series of wins in a week after returning from a five-month long injury lay-off following a stress fracture on her ankle. The two-time Olympic medallist had reached the final of Madrid Spain Masters, her best finish this season. She showed sparks when she reached the semifinals of Canada Open but made a quarterfinal exit in the next event after going down to China’s Gao Fang Jie in the US Open. 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