Prime Minister Narendra Modi on june 26  arrived in Munich  on a two-day visit to Germany during which he will attend the G7 summit and discuss issues like energy, food security, counter-terrorism, environment and democracy with the leaders of the powerful bloc and its partner countries.

Prime Minister Modi is attending the G7 summit, to be held on June 26 and 27, following an invitation by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The summit is being hosted by Germany in its capacity as the chair of G7, a grouping of the world's seven richest nations.

The G7 leaders are expected to focus on the Ukraine crisis that has triggered geopolitical turmoil besides fuelling a global food and energy crisis.

"During the sessions of the Summit, I will be exchanging views with the G7 counties, G7 partner countries and guest International Organisations on topical issues such as environment, energy, climate, food security, health, counter-terrorism, gender equality and democracy," Modi said in a statement ahead of his visit.

Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said  that Modi will hold bilateral meetings and discussions with the leaders of the G7 and also the guest countries on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

Besides India, Germany, the host of the G7 Summit, has also invited Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa as guests for the summit to recognise the democracies of the global south as its partners.

Modi said he also looks forward to meeting members of the Indian Diaspora from across Europe, who are contributing immensely to their local economies as well as enriching India's relations with European countries.

From Germany, Modi will travel to the United Arab Emirates on June 28 to pay his condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the former president of the Gulf nation.

Sheikh Khalifa passed away on May 13 after battling illness for the last several years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on june 26  took a fresh swipe at the Congress, this time in Munich while addressing the Indian diaspora, saying 47 years ago on June 26 an attempt was made to hold democracy hostage by invoking Emergency, but people gave a fitting response.

Modi is in Munich ahead of the G7 Summit, for which which he has been invited by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “People of India answered all conspiracies to crush democracy. Democracy is our pride and in the DNA of every Indian,” Modi said in his speech at a crowded Audi Dome stadium.

Lauding the contribution of the Indian diaspora, he said, “You are both India’s success story and the brand ambassadors of India’s success.” He also spoke about the success India achieved in exports, manufacturing, climate change, vaccination drive and upliftment of the poor. “Today’s India has come out of the mentality of ‘It happens, it runs like this.’ India has taken a pledge that work has to be done on time,” Modi said.

“In information technology, digital technology, India is making its presence felt. As many as 40% of digital transactions in the world are from India. India is making new records in data consumption,” he said.

Regarding climate change, the PM said even the youth of India are investing in electronic vehicles and other such pro-climate technologies.

“Sustainable climate practices are becoming a part of the lives of ordinary people of India today,” he added. Besides, the cleanliness drive in India has been effective and has become part of its lifestyle as even the youth are becoming conscientious. “Tax compliance is increasing, too, which indicates India is getting rid of corruption,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the G7 Summit in Germany in which leaders of the world's seven richest countries will discuss various important global issues, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, food security and counter-terrorism.

Prime Minister Modi, who is in Germany on a two-day visit from june 26  for the summit of the G7, will exchange views with the leaders of the bloc and its partners on issues such as energy, food security, counter-terrorism, environment and democracy.

The Group of Seven (G7) is an inter-governmental political grouping consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US.

The leaders of the world's seven richest countries are expected to focus on the Ukraine crisis that has triggered geopolitical turmoil besides fuelling a global food and energy crisis.

Modi is attending the G7 summit held in the Alpine castle of Schloss Elmau in southern Germany following an invitation by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The summit is being hosted by Germany in its capacity as the chair of G7.

In his remarks ahead of his departure, Modi said he was looking forward to meeting leaders of some of the participating G7 and guest countries on the sidelines of the summit.

Besides India, Germany, the host of the G7 Summit, has also invited Argentina, Indonesia, Senegal and South Africa as guests for the summit to recognise the democracies of the global south as its partners.

Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was conferred with the prestigious King Abdulaziz Medal  for his contributions to defence cooperation between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

During his official visit to the kingdom, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman conferred General Bajwa with the King Abdulaziz Medal of Excellent Class for his "distinguished efforts in consolidating and strengthening bonds of friendship and joint cooperation and developing Saudi-Pakistani relations".

Saudi Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Fayyad Al-Ruwaili, and a number of senior officials from both sides were present on the occasion.

General Bajwa also called on the Crown Prince and discussed matters of mutual interest, bilateral defence and security cooperation and regional peace and stability.

Both sides agreed upon enhancing defence cooperation in the fields of joint training, air defence, counter-terrorism and communication and information domain.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated the army chief for receiving the honour.

Ports-to-energy conglomerate Adani Group has forayed into copper manufacturing with tying up of finances from public sector lenders for a 1 million tonnes a year unit at Mundra in Gujarat.

"Kutch Copper Ltd (KCL), a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), is setting up a greenfield copper refinery project for production of refined copper with 1 million tonnes per annum in two phases," the company said in a statement.

For the phase-1 capacity of 0.5 million tonnes, KCL has achieved financial closure through a syndicated club loan for the greenfield copper refinery project at Mundra, Gujarat. It has executed "financing documents with the consortium of banks led by State Bank of India (SBI). The other consortium members are Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, EXIM Bank of India, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank, and Bank of Maharashtra," the statement said.

The consortium of banks has sanctioned and signed an agreement for the entire debt requirement of Rs 6,071 crore for the Phase-1 of the KCL Project.

India has exported 1.8 million tonnes of wheat to dozen-odd countries, including Bangladesh and Afghanistan, since the country banned exports of the grain on May 13, according to Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey.

About 33,000 tonnes of wheat as humanitarian assistance has already been supplied to Afghanistan against the commitment of 50,000 tonnes, he said.

Pandey, addressing a ministerial conference on 'uniting for global food security' held at Berlin, Germany on June 24, said India has always taken the needs of the world into consideration, even while meeting the onerous obligations of feeding its population of 1.38 billion people, an official statement said.

India has nonetheless continued with its commitment to cater for the genuine needs of neighbouring countries and food-deficit nations through Government-to-Government mechanism and also to fulfil supply commitments already made, he said.

"After the regulation until June 22nd this fiscal year, 1.8 million tonnes of wheat have been shipped out, almost four times from the previous year to countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Israel, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Thailand, UAE, Vietnam and Yemen," he said.

On May 13, the government suspended wheat export with immediate effect. It moved the export of all varieties of wheat, including high-protein durum, from "free" to the "prohibited" category.

The decision was aimed at controlling rising prices of wheat in the domestic market.

India had exported a record 7 million tonnes of wheat during 2021-22 fiscal, while typically, the country exports around 2 million tonnes which is around 1 per cent of global wheat trade, he said.

Stating that India is deeply conscious of its responsibilities towards the most vulnerable in various parts of the world, Pandey said the country continued to provide humanitarian assistance, both through the supply of vaccines as well as food consignments, during and beyond the pandemic.

For instance, the country has dispatched several shipments of humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan, including 33,000 tonnes of wheat of a total commitment of 50,000 tonnes made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and continues to do so in the wake of the devastation caused by the earthquake a couple of days ago, he said.

During the pandemic, India has also provided food aid in the form of wheat, rice, pulses and lentils to several countries around the world including Afghanistan, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Maldives, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Zambia, Zimbabwe and others, to strengthen their food security, he said.

During the Covid pandemic, India embarked on what can be described as the world's largest ever food support system to cover nearly 810 million people.

The government on june 25  notified the extension of goods and services tax (GST) compensation cess under 28% slab until March 2026.

The compensation cess levy was to end in June but was extended to enable states/UTs to repay the loans they had taken in the past two years. The extension has been given on the recommendation by the GST Council as many states incurred losses in the past two years during Covid pandemic.

September last year in Lucknow, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the scheme of paying compensation to states for revenue shortfall due to GST implementation will end in June 2022. However, the cess, imposed on luxury and demerit goods, will continue to be garnered until March 2026 to repay the borrowings done in FY 21 and FY22.

It's no secret that former India stumper and chief selector Kiran More played a huge role in fast-tracking MS Dhoni into the Indian side. Rest as they say is history with Dhoni clinching all coveted ICC trophies and becoming the most successful Indian captain ever. But not many know that the veteran from Baroda also contributed to Madhya Pradesh's meteoric rise in domestic cricket in the past two years.

Even as Madhya Pradesh fittingly culminated their excellent Ranji campaign by winning their maiden title beating domestic giants by six wickets in the final at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru on june 26 , the secretary of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA), Sanjeev Rao, expressed his gratitude towards More for his role in helping them hire services of renowned coach Chandrakant Pandit.

Pandit, the former India wicketkeeper-batter, had played for the state and fell agonisingly short of winning the coveted title in 1998-99 when the side led by him lost the final to Karnataka. Given his past connection and history with MPCA, Pandit agreed. 

With a few relaxations in place in June, Pandit, who already started meeting players virtually, arrived in Indore for one-on-one interaction.

The coach then conducted over 400 camps, organised sessions for players with consultants from Infantry School in Mhow to make them mentally tough and reached the venue for knockouts around 25 days ahead to ensure the cricketers get acclimatised with Bengaluru weather and also have some practice matches under their belt before the all-important summit clash. The efforts paid rich dividends as MP outclassed their more fancied rivals Mumbai in all departments to emerge triumphant.

Earlier resuming their day at 113/2, 41-time champions Mumbai could manage only 269 in their second innings, giving MP a modest target of 108 to chase and put their hands for the first time on the glittering trophy. Aditya Shrivastava-led side though suffered a few hiccups but that couldn't deter them from winning their first Ranji title. It was also Pandit's sixth title as a coach. He had won three with Mumbai and two with Vidarbha in the past.

The win even made Pandit, known as a hard taskmaster, emotional as with moistened eyes he first touched the ground and then gestured towards the Mumbai dressing room with folded hands as a mark of respect.

He was also all praise for the MPCA and termed the win a collective effort. MP batter Shubham Sharma (116 & 30) was adjudged Player of the Final while Mumbai's Sarfaraz Khan (982 runs in the season) was announced as Player of the Tournament.

Brief scores: Mumbai 374 & 269 in 57.3 ovs (Parkar 51, Sarfaraz 45; Kartikeya 4/98) lost to MP 536 & 108/4 in 29.5 ovs (Himanshu 37, Rajat 30 n.o; Mulani 3/41).