Senegal’s jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, who has been on a hunger strike in prison to protest criminal charges against him, was hospitalized.

Sonko was imprisoned last week in advance of criminal proceedings against him on charges of calling for insurrection, conspiracy against the state and other charges.

Sonko announced on July 30 on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that he would start his hunger strike. The announcement came a day before a judge in the capital of Dakar ordered his imprisonment.

The latest charges against Sonko came weeks after a judge convicted him in a separate case of corrupting youth and sentenced him to two years in prison, which ignited deadly protests across the nation.

Sonko placed third in Senegal’s 2019 presidential election and is popular with the country’s youth. His supporters maintain the charges against him are part of a government effort to derail his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry has chided efforts by international officials meeting in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement for the war in Ukraine, saying the talks don't have “the slightest added value” because Moscow — unlike Kyiv — wasn’t invited.

Senior officials from around 40 countries gathered Aug 6  in Jeddah for a two-day meeting that aims to agree on key principles about how to end the conflict that has raged for more than 17 months.

The Malabar series of naval exercises featuring the navies of the US, India, Japan and Australia, the group informally called the QUAD, will get underway off the eastern coast of Australia this week.

The focus of the maneuvers planned this year includes air defence, sea operations and detecting under-sea threats with stress on interoperability.

The Royal Australian Navy is hosting the 10-day event for the first time from August 11 to 21 which will be divided into two phases, including a harbour phase at Sydney followed by sea exercises. The RAN will be fielding two warships HMAS Choules and HMAS Brisbane.

The Indian Navy is sending destroyer INS Kolkata and multi-role stealth frigate INS Sahyadri, while the US and Japan are sending a warship each. The maritime forces of the US, India and Australia shall be fielding Boeing P8I maritime surveillance aircraft also.

The Malabar series of maritime exercises commenced in 1992 as an IN-USN exercise and has grown in terms of complexities of the maneuvers. In 2015, the JMSDF joined Malabar as a permanent member. The 2020 edition witnessed participation of the Royal Australian Navy.

The previous, 26th, edition of the multinational maritime exercise MALABAR 22 culminated in the seas off Japan on 15 November 2022. This edition also marked the 30th anniversary of the exercise and was hosted by the JMSDF.

Immediately after the Malabar exercises, India and Australia will commence their bilateral exercise AusIndex. 

Ahead of President Joe Biden's visit to India, the US State Department says it has "regularly" raised the issue of human rights with India and plans to do so in the future. Notably, Biden will be in New Delhi next month as part of his presidential trip to attend the G20 Summit.

The BJP government under PM Modi has often been criticised for its handling of minorities in India. Critics and rights groups have continued to express concern over the Modi government's blind eye toward hate crimes and vigilante violence against Muslims and Christians. 

Pepperfry Co-founder and CEO Ambareesh Murty passed away in Leh due to cardiac arrest, company co-founder and COO Ashish Shah said.

Murty, 51 years, was also an angel investor. He recently announced completing 12 years at Pepperfry on his LinkedIn post.

He was an alumnus of IIT Calcutta, 1996 batch and completed his Bachelor in Engineering from the Delhi College of Engineering in 1994.

Murty called himself a closet sociopath on his X (formerly Twitter) profile and professed a love for history-reading epic fantasies.

He had 27 years of general management experience in FMCG, financial services and internet industries.

Murty started his career with Cadbury in their sales and marketing division, moving onto short stints in ICICI Prudential, Britannia and Levi's.

Indian-origin Vaibhan Taneja has been named Tesla's new Chief Financial Officer as the previous finance chief Zachary Kirkhorn announced his decision to step down.

Taneja, 45, was appointed Tesla CFO in addition to his current role as Chief Accounting Officer (CAO) of the US-based electric car major after Kirhorn, Tesla's Master of Coin and finance chief for the last four years, stepped down from the post.

Kirkhorn's 13-year tenure with the Elon Musk-led American EV giant was described as one of "tremendous expansion and growth" in the company filing.

China still accounts for the majority of automotive component imports in India with its share coming at 30% in the financial year 2022-23, according to data released by the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA)  

The last nine years have seen a near trebling of central government’s debt to Rs 155.6 lakh crore, according to minister of state for finance Pankaj Chaudhary, who however termed the center’s debt profit as “safe and prudent”. The central government’s debt had been at Rs 58.6 lakh crore in 2014.

However, as a percentage of India’s gross domestic product — or the total value of goods and services produced in the country — central debt has not seen such a sharp increase. Instead, it has grown to 57.1% of the GDP as of March this year from 52.2% in 2014.

The deterioration in the central government’s debt profile runs contrary to the target of reducing central debt to 40% of India’s GDP by March 2025 under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003.

Other major lenders to India include International Development Association (Rs 1.54 lakh crore), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (Rs 1.36 lakh crore), Russia (Rs 25,448 crore) and Germany (Rs 22,615 crore).