Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived Egypt on Jun 24  for a two-day state visit during which he will hold talks with the Egyptian leadership, including President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, as the two nations seek to enhance their strategic partnership.

Modi is visiting Egypt at the invitation of Egyptian President El-Sisi. This is the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Egypt in 26 years.

In a special gesture, Modi was welcomed at the airport by Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly with a warm embrace. He was accorded a ceremonial welcome and a Guard of Honour upon his arrival.

Modi will meet Egyptian President El-Sisi.

The Prime Minister will join a roundtable discussion with the India Unit of the Egyptian Cabinet led by his counterpart Madbouly.

Modi will call on Egypt's grand mufti Dr Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam and later hold discussions with prominent Egyptian intellectuals.

On  Jun 25 , Modi will visit the 11th Century Al-Hakim mosque, which was renovated with assistance from the Dawoodi Bohra community.

The Bohra community in India actually originated from the Fatima dynasty and they have renovated the mosque from the 1970s onwards.

He will visit the Heliopolis War Cemetery to pay respects to the Indian troops who gave their lives in the ultimate act of valour for Egypt during World War-1.

This memorial was built by the Commonwealth, although it is dedicated to the 3,799 Indian troops who lost their lives in different First World War conflicts in Egypt.

The Prime Minister's "very quick reciprocal visit" to Egypt was taking place within six months of President El-Sisi's visit to India as the chief guest of the Republic Day celebrations this year.

El-Sisi is also scheduled to travel to India in September for the G-20 Summit where Egypt has been invited as a special guest.

Embattled Adani group is eyeing a 20 per cent year-on-year growth in pre-tax profits to reach Rs 90,000 crore EBITDA in 2-3 years on the back of robust growth in businesses ranging from airports to energy, according to a company note.

EBITDA means Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization. It is the alternate method of measuring profitability in net income.

Earlier this month, the group repaid loans aggregating USD 2.65 billion to complete a prepayment programme to cut overall leverage in an attempt to win back investor trust post a damning report of a US short seller.

The ports-to-energy conglomerate is now looking at robust growth in sectors such as airports, cement, renewables, solar panels, transportation and logistics, and power and transmission, it said adding several of Adani's new infrastructure investments will also begin to fructify and generate cash in the coming years.

Adani is expected to see an increase of more than 20 per cent in EBITDA on a consolidated basis in the coming years as it drives robust and sustainable growth across its business portfolio.

Its target EBITDA of over Rs 90,000 crore is expected by FY23 . In recent years, the group has made substantial investments in ports and completed significant projects across renewables, transportation and ports.

The group's listed portfolio EBITDA increased 36 per cent yoy to Rs 57,219 crore in FY23 (April 2022 to March 2023 fiscal).

Core infrastructure businesses, which constitute 82.8 per cent of the portfolio including energy, transport, logistics, and flagship Adani Enterprise Ltd's infrastructure ventures, registered a robust 23 per cent yoy growth in EBITDA to Rs 47,386 crore.

As US-based chip maker Micron Technology announced its plan to invest $825 million to set up its semiconductor assembly and test plant in Gujarat, the government expects the company to manufacture the first made-in-India chip by December 2024.

While briefing the press, telecom minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that many big names in the semiconductor industry have sent their enquiry, and India will soon have 4-5 large semiconductor fabrication, packaging and testing plants.

Micron has already completed land acquisition, factory design work and tax compliance-related agreement. India approved the application of Micron, the world’s fifth-largest semiconductor manufacturing company under the government’s ‘Modified Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging (ATMP) scheme.  The company will receive 50% fiscal support for the total project cost from the Central government and incentives representing 20% from the Gujarat government. Subsequently, the total investment will be $2.75 billion, and it would generate up to 5,000 new direct and 15,000 indirect jobs in the next five years.

The government opened the application for Rs 76,000-crore Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme in January 2022. The government had received only three applications then -- Vedanta-Foxconn joint venture, Next Orbit Ventures (which has partnered with Israel’s Tower Semiconductor), and Singapore-based IGSS Ventures.

However, the government modified the scheme in May and asked for fresh applications. The minister said the market dynamics have changed a lot in the past two years as the electric vehicle industry has flourished and the telecom industry has grown. Earlier, there was a race for the lowest nodes, but now the demand is for mature nodes. 

Top American lawmakers have applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his address to the Joint Meeting of the US Congress that called for deepening the strong friendship between the two democracies, fostered by a range of close economic ties and expanded cooperation on areas like defence, trade and technology.

Representing 1.4 billion Indians, Modi who addressed the US Congress on Jun 22 , said it is always a great honour and an exceptional privilege to address the US Congress twice.

This is the second time that the prime minister has addressed the US Congress, the first time being in 2016.

House Foreign Affairs Indo-Pacific Subcommittee Chairwoman Young Kim and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul in a statement warmly welcomed Modi's visit and joint address to Congress, and the deepening of ties between the United States and India, including in defence and space cooperation, technology sharing, and people-to-people ties.

Congressman French Hill said during his address, Prime Minister Modi demonstrated his understanding of how important the relationship between our two nations is and how they must continue to build upon their economic partnership, shared values, and national security needs to expand democracy around the world.

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar, and Jamaal Bowman boycotted the joint meeting.

Suganthi K, an auxiliary nurse midwife in a village primary health centre in Tamil Nadu’s Virudhunagar figures among the 30 dedicated caregivers who have been awarded the prestigious National Florence Nightingale Award-2023.

President Droupadi Murmu conferred the National Florence Nightingale Awards for 2022 and 2023 on Jun 22 .  The awardees for 2022 include Tejavath Susheela (Telangana), Dr Poreddi Vijayalakshmi (Karnataka) and Ganapathy Santhi (Tamil Nadu).

Fourteen years after the alleged rape and murder of two young women Asiya and Neelofar of Shopian sparked a month-long agitation in Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir government on Jun 22 terminated the services of two doctors, who conducted a post-mortem of the two women, for allegedly fabricating evidence of the two women in 2009.

Lt Governor administration in separate orders terminated the services of  Dr Nighat Shaheen Chiloo, Consultant Gynecologist in Sub-District Hospital, in Sanat Nagar, and Dr Bilal Ahmad Dalal, Medical Officer, in Shopian.

Asiya and Neelofar were found dead in a stream in Shopian on May 29, 2009 in mysterious circumstances.  There were allegations that they were raped and murdered by security men. It sparked a 42-day-long agitation in Kashmir during which seven civilians were killed. The situation improved after the CBI started investigating the matter. The CBI probe found that they were never raped.

It was a deal that been finalised already. On Jun 22 , GE Aerospace formally announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to jointly produce GE's advanced F414 aircraft engines in India.

Coming amidst Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official state visit to the United States, GE Aerospace was quick to hail it as a major milestone and a key element in strengthening defence cooperation between the two countries.

The deal will require the final approval from the US Congress, but that is expected to sail through.

While the advanced  GE-F414 engines are to be fitted in the Tejas Light Combat Mk2 aricraft, the work on future fighters including the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA) and the twin-engine deck-based fighters is also proceeding. Besides the Tejas LCA Mk2, three other jets have the GE-F414 engines - the Super Hornets, Growlers and Gripens.

India has been using the GE Aerospace's F404, which are lighter than the GE 414 engines, to power its indigenous Light Combat Aircraft Tejas Mk1 and Mk 1A. 

India has lagged in engine-related technology and with time such tech will be sought even more as the Air Force is already down to around 30 combat Squadrons as against a sanctioned strength of 42.

As per GE, it was in 1986, that they began working with the Aeronautical Development Agency and HAL to support the development of India's Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) with F404 engines. Subsequently, GE Aerospace's F404 and F414 have been part of development and production programs of LCA Mk1 and LCA Mk2 programs.

In total, 75 F404 engines have been delivered and another 99 have been ordered for LCA Mk1A. Eight F414 engines have been delivered as part of an ongoing development program for LCA Mk2.

The latest agreement will advance GE Aerospace's earlier commitment to build 99 engines for the Indian Air Force as part of the LCA Mk2 program, said GE.

GE Aerospace is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and systems for commercial and military aircraft with a global service network to support these offerings. GE Aerospace and its joint ventures have an installed base of more than 40000 commercial and 26000 military aircraft engines.

A portion of the P A Sangma Football Stadium in Meghalaya's Tura which was inaugurated in December last year has collapsed.

The iconic stadium, inaugurated by Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, is part of the PA Sangma Sports Complex that is being built by the government at a cost of Rs 127 crore.

There were no casualties in the incident that took place on  Jun 22.