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  • Research finds long-term health challenges in survivors of childhood cancer

    Research finds long-term health challenges in survivors of childhood cancer

    Researchers at City of Hope®, one of the largest and most advanced cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States with its National Medical Center ranked among the nation’s top cancer centers by U.S. News & World Report, today published a new study which found that some survivors of childhood cancer are more at risk for serious health issues as they grow older, including new cancers and chronic conditions like heart disease. 

    While a cause for concern, the findings published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology also point to a silver lining: The ailments are potentially manageable if caught early and treated.

    Our study underscores the importance of partnership among patients, their primary care providers and cancer survivorship programs to ensure survivors receive necessary screening for the early detection, prevention and treatment of conditions, including secondary cancers, resulting from lifesaving treatment. We at City of Hope are continuing to learn more about what health conditions survivors of childhood cancer are at risk for at different times in their life to inform the updating of evidence-based guidelines for cancer survivors.”


    Rusha Bhandari, M.D., pediatric hematologist-oncologist at City of Hope and corresponding author of the new study

    The City of Hope-led study is the first to look at childhood cancer survivors who reached the age of 50, a population that is expected to grow as cancer treatments continue to improve and become more targeted and personalized. 

    Nearly 15,000 children and adolescents in the United States are diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or other types of cancer each year. The rate of young patients surviving cancer for at least five years is now 85%, up from 58% a few decades ago. 

    To determine long-term risks, Dr. Bhandari, Saro Armenian, D.O., M.P.H., a pediatric hematologist-oncologist at City of Hope Children’s Cancer Center, and their colleagues reviewed a national database that tracks about 40,000 people who were diagnosed with cancer before they turned 21. The researchers identified individuals who were still alive at age 50 and then compared any new incidence of cancer with the rate of cancer found in the general population. The risks for chronic health conditions were compared to the patients’ siblings. 

    Having overcome cancer at an early age, survivors face new risks when they turn older, the study found. Young patients have a higher risk of secondary cancers and are five times more likely to die from the disease compared to other individuals over the age of 50.

    Cancer survivors face increased risks for heart disease as well. In fact, pediatric cancer survivors had a higher incidence of heart problems at age 55 compared to their 70-year-old siblings. They were also more frail, had trouble with physical exertion and suffered poorer health in general. 

    Looking at the type of cancer treatment survivors had received, the team found that radiation therapy was the main culprit for future risks, rather than chemotherapy. 

    “Radiation causes cellular DNA damage that can lead to mutations and the development of new cancers,” said Dr. Armenian, senior author of the study. 

    The study was based on treatment regimens used in the 1970s and 80s. There have been vast improvements since then, including delaying or avoiding radiation in favor of targeted cancer drugs and emerging treatments such as immunotherapy and precision oncology. Still, Dr. Bhandari urges greater vigilance to protect against future health problems. 

    “Some survivors should screen for conditions like breast or colon cancer at an earlier age than is recommended for the general population,” Dr. Armenian said. “Teamwork is needed to ensure survivors receive necessary screening and preventative care for conditions, including secondary cancers.”

    While young cancer patients faced more health problems as they got older, the study did find a bright spot when it came to mental health. Cancer survivors were no more likely to report mental health issues than their siblings at age 50. 

    “This mental health finding may reflect the resilience and positive mindset of our long-term survivors who have battled cancer,” Dr. Bhandari said. “This is a wonderful example of how our patients continue to inspire us as they navigate their cancer and survivorship journeys.”

    Source:

    Journal reference:

    Bhandari, R., et al. (2025) Health Outcomes Beyond Age 50 Years in Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Report From the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study. Journal of Clinical Oncology. doi.org/10.1200/JCO-25-00385.

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  • Anthony Albanese says Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘in denial’ about crisis in Gaza | Australian politics

    Anthony Albanese says Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘in denial’ about crisis in Gaza | Australian politics

    Benjamin Netanyahu is “in denial” over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Anthony Albanese claimed after a phone call with the Israeli leader, saying frustration with Israel’s military campaign in the besieged territory was part of Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

    The prime minister’s escalating public criticism of Israel comes as the French president, Emmanuel Macron, overnight welcomed Australia’s commitment to recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN general assembly in September.

    “I spoke with prime minister Netanyahu. He, again, reiterated to me what he has said publicly as well – which is to be in denial about the consequences that are occurring for innocent people,” Albanese told ABC TV.

    Albanese yesterday said Australia’s pledge to recognise a Palestinian state was “predicated” on conditions agreed to by the Palestinian Authority, which included no role for terror group Hamas in a future government. The prime minister said the international community could block Hamas from standing in future elections in Palestine, but refused to say whether Australia would revoke its plans to recognise if such conditions were not met.

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    “You can [stop Hamas from standing in elections] if you have the Arab states in the Middle East all speaking as one, as well as the Palestinian Authority, as well as the international community. Yes, you can,” he told Nine.

    In a press conference, Albanese went on to say that violence in the region, including Israel’s planned military occupation of Gaza City, “just cannot continue into the future without an end point”.

    “The international community is coming up with an end point, which is, how do we resolve this? How do we get a permanent security position?” he said.

    Macron, who declared in July that France would recognise Palestinian statehood at the General Assembly, said Australia was “joining the momentum” of a global push toward resolving the crisis in Gaza.

    “This reflects our commitment to the two-state solution and to the need to collectively rebuild a political pathway, without which there can be no peace and security for all,” he wrote.

    There are a raft of unanswered questions including how the Palestinian state will be formed, how it would be demilitarised, and where Australia would establish an embassy. Albanese and the foreign minister, Penny Wong, shrugged off repeated questions in media interviews on Monday and Tuesday about how Australia would respond if the Palestinian Authority’s commitments were not met, or if they would reverse their recognition pledge.

    “What we will also do is work with the international community to hold the Palestinian Authority to its commitments,” Wong told the ABC’s 7.30 program on Monday night.

    The Coalition opposition is critical of the Labor government’s decision, claiming it rewards Hamas, and that the government has failed to answer outstanding questions.

    The opposition leader, Sussan Ley, said on Tuesday the government had not clarified its position on how those conditions will be met.

    “[Albanese] actually refuses to say what will happen if the conditions that he sets out for recognition are not met,” she told 2GB radio.

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    “Those conditions are unlikely in many views to be met. One of them is that there can’t be a role for the terrorists in any future Palestinian state, but Hamas is there, they’re on the ground, they’re in control.”

    The former Liberal prime minister Scott Morrison claimed Jewish Australians would feel a “sense of betrayal” at the government’s shift.

    “It will prove a hollow gesture, like for all those who have taken this step before it. None should take any comfort in it. Meanwhile the suffering will regrettably continue in Gaza and the hostages will remain in captivity,” Morrison wrote on his website.

    Israel’s government has been deeply critical of Anthony Albanese’s decision, and also said Labor is rewarding Hamas.

    In a statement on X, Israel’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sharren Haskel, said the move was about domestic politics, not peace.

    “50 of our hostages remain in Hamas’s dungeons of torture, being starved to death – being forced to dig their own graves, yet the Australian government has decided now is the right time to reward the monsters of October 7 with recognition of a Palestinian state,” she wrote.

    “This decision by Australia won’t change anything in Israel or Gaza, but let’s be quite clear, this is all about domestic politics, not peace.”

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  • Task-based functional connectivity in infants after exposure to regular white noise during natural sleep measured by fNIRS

    Task-based functional connectivity in infants after exposure to regular white noise during natural sleep measured by fNIRS

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  • Researchers develop machine learning models to identify biomarkers for chronic fatigue syndrome

    Researchers develop machine learning models to identify biomarkers for chronic fatigue syndrome

    When cells expire, they leave behind an activity log of sorts: RNA expelled into blood plasma that reveal changes in gene expression, cellular signaling, tissue injury and other biological processes.

    Cornell University researchers developed machine-learning models that can sift through this cell-free RNA and identify key biomarkers for myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). The approach could lead to the development of diagnostic testing for a debilitating disease that has proved challenging to confirm in patients because its symptoms can be easily confused with those of other illnesses.

    The findings were published Aug. 11 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The lead author is Anne Gardella, a doctoral student in biochemistry, molecular and cell biology in the De Vlaminck lab.

    The project was a collaboration between the labs of co-senior authors Iwijn De Vlaminck, associate professor of biomedical engineering in Cornell Engineering, and Maureen Hanson, Liberty Hyde Bailey Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

    By reading the molecular fingerprints that cells leave behind in blood, we’ve taken a concrete step toward a test for ME/CFS. This study shows that a tube of blood can provide clues about the disease’s biology.”


    Iwijn De Vlaminck, associate professor of biomedical engineering, Cornell Engineering

    De Vlaminck’s lab previously used the cell-free RNA technique to identify the presence of Kawasaki disease and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) – puzzling inflammatory conditions that have also proved difficult to diagnose. After hearing De Vlaminck deliver a presentation about a project involving cell-free DNA, Hanson, who studies the pathophysiology of ME/CFS, reached out about a potential collaboration.

    Using cell-free RNA to measure system-wide cellular turnover in patients is a relatively new concept, and it seemed particularly well-suited for unraveling the mystery of ME/CFS.

    “ME/CFS affects a lot of different parts of the body,” said Hanson, who directs the Cornell Center for Enervating NeuroImmune Disease (ENID). “The nervous system, immune system, cardiovascular system. Analyzing plasma gives you access to what’s going on in those different parts.”

    There are no laboratory diagnostic tests for ME/CFS, so doctors must rely on a range of symptoms, such as exhaustion, dizziness, disturbed sleep and “brain fog.”

    “The problem is a lot of the symptoms that a patient might come to a primary care physician complaining about could be many different things,” Hanson. “And what that primary care physician would really like to have would be a blood test.”

    Blood samples were collected from ME/CFS patients and a control group of healthy, albeit sedentary, people. Then De Vlaminck’s team spun down the blood plasma to isolate and then sequence the RNA molecules that had been released during cellular damage and death.

    They identified more than 700 significantly different transcripts between the ME/CFS cases and the control group. Those results were parsed by different machine-learning algorithms to develop a classifying tool that revealed signs of immune system dysregulation, extracellular matrix disorganization and T cell exhaustion in ME/CFS patients.

    Using statistical analysis methods, they were able to map where the RNA molecules originated by deconvolving the patterns of gene expression based on known cell type-specific marker genes, as determined from a previous ME/CFS single-cell RNA sequencing study from the Grimson Lab at Cornell.

    “We identified six cell types that were significantly different between ME/CFS cases and controls,” Gardella said. “The topmost elevated cell type in patients is the plasmacytoid dendritic cell. These are immune cells that are involved in producing type 1 interferons, which could indicate an overactive or prolonged antiviral immune response in patients. We also observed differences in monocytes, platelets and other T cell subsets, pointing to broad immune dysregulation in ME/CFS patients”

    The cell-free RNA classifier models had 77% accuracy in detecting ME/CFS – not high enough for a diagnostic test yet, but a substantial leap forward in the field. The researchers are hopeful the approach can help them understand the complex biology behind other chronic illnesses, as well as differentiating ME/CFS from long COVID.

    “While long COVID has raised awareness of infection-associated chronic conditions, it’s important to recognize ME/CFS, because it’s actually more common and more severe than many people might realize,” Gardella said. 

    The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the WE&ME Foundation. 

    Source:

    Journal reference:

    Gardella, A. E., et al. (2025) Circulating cell-free RNA signatures for the characterization and diagnosis of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome. PNAS. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2507345122.

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  • Fifteen-year study shows major gains in diabetes technology use and patient outcomes

    Fifteen-year study shows major gains in diabetes technology use and patient outcomes

    A new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found big increases in the use of continuous glucose monitoring and insulin delivery devices by children and adults with type 1 diabetes over a 15-year period, with corresponding jumps in optimal blood-sugar control.

    For their study, the researchers used a large national database of de-identified electronic health records to analyze nearly 200,000 individuals with type 1 diabetes across five three-year periods from 2009 to 2023. The research team tracked individuals’ adoption of continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump devices, as well as blood tests. 

    From the 2009–2011 period to the 2021–2023 period, the proportion of individuals under 18 with optimal glucose control rose from 7% to 19%-a 171% increase-while the proportion of adults with optimal control rose from 21% to 28%-a 33% increase. The researchers used a standard blood test for the percentage of hemoglobin bound by glucose (HbA1c) to measure glucose control. A test result below 7% is recommended to prevent long-term complications.

    From the first period to the last period, the proportion of type 1 diabetes patients using continuous glucose monitoring devices rose from 4% to 82% among youths under 18-a more than twentyfold increase-and from 5% to 57% among adults-more than a tenfold increase. The proportion of patients using insulin pumps during these periods rose from 16% to 50% among youths and 11% to 29% among adults. The concurrent use of both devices also increased dramatically during this period, from 1% to 47% among youths and from 1% to 22% among adults.

    The study was published online August 11 in JAMA Network Open.

    Improving glucose control in patients with type 1 diabetes has been challenging, so these big increases are exciting for the field. These improvements have likely been driven by the widespread adoption of new monitoring and delivery technologies.”


    Michael Fang, PhD, MHS, study first author, assistant professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology

    About 2 million Americans, including 304,000 children and adolescents, have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association. The once-fatal autoimmune disorder typically strikes in childhood when immune cells, often triggered by a viral infection, mistakenly attack and wipe out insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

    Insulin, discovered and introduced clinically in the 1920s, was a game-changer for individuals with type 1 diabetes. The standard treatment involved insulin injections after meals. This kept patients alive, but glucose control was not always stable or reliable. In recent decades, continuous blood glucose monitoring devices and insulin pumps have allowed patients to optimize blood glucose levels throughout the day. 

    The sample used for the analysis totaled 186,590 individuals with type 1 diabetes, including 159,737 adults and 26,853 patients under 18. 

    The findings varied by race and insurance type, with non-Hispanic white patients and those with commercial health insurance having higher rates of technology adoption and glucose control. Among individuals under 18 in the 2021–2023 period, 21% of non-Hispanic white patients had glucose control, versus 17% of Hispanic and 12% of non-Hispanic Black patients. 

    The researchers say that policies that make it easier for type 1 diabetes patients to access devices such as continuous glucose monitoring devices could help reduce these disparities.

    “While we should be celebrating the improvements, we must remember that most patients with type 1 diabetes don’t have optimal glucose control, and there is a lot of room for improvement,” says study senior author Jung-Im Shin, MD, PhD, associate professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Epidemiology.

    The team plans to use the same vast health-records database for further studies of type 1 diabetes patients and trends in common complications such as cardiovascular and kidney disease. 

    “Trends and Disparities in Technology Use and Glycemic Control in Type 1 Diabetes” was co-authored by Michael Fang, Yunwen Xu, Shoshana Ballew, Josef Coresh, Justin Echouffo Tcheugui, Elizabeth Selvin, and Jung-Im Shin.

    Support for the research was provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (K24 HL152440) and the National Institute for Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (K01 DK138273, R01 DK115534, R01 DK139324).

    Source:

    Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

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  • US$15 million investment in and strategic partnership with Chocolate Finance: Allen & Gledhill

    US$15 million investment in and strategic partnership with Chocolate Finance: Allen & Gledhill







    12 August 2025

    Allen & Gledhill, as transaction counsel, advised Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd. (“Nikko Asset Management”), which led the US$15 million Series A+ investment in, and entered into a strategic partnership with, Singapore-based “neobank” Chocolate Pte. Ltd., which operates the FinTech group, Chocolate Finance.

    Chocolate Finance is a licensed fund management company headquartered in Singapore with S$866 million in assets under management, as of 31 December 2024. As a fund manager, Chocolate Finance offers cash savings solutions by offering stable, target returns benchmarked above fixed deposit returns but with no lock-ins.

    Nikko Asset Management is one of Asia’s largest asset managers with US$234.8 billion in assets under management, as of 31 December 2024.

    A separate team from Allen & Gledhill advised Peak XV Partners, which was one of the returning investors in the Series A+ round.

    Advising Nikko Asset Management were Allen & Gledhill Partners Julian Ho and Adrian Ang.

    Advising Peak XV Partners was Allen & Gledhill Partner Wong Yi Jia.

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  • Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025

    Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025

    The 2025 edition of the Tour de Romandie Féminin will deliver 249.69km of racing over 3 stages with 3,356m of elevation gain, starting with a race against the clock to start opening up the gaps on the overall from the very first day. The key mountain stage is then on day two of the racing with a punchy day of racing around an Aigle loop to close out the proceedings on Sunday.

    Stage 1: Huémoz – Villars-sur-Ollon ITT

    Stage 1 ITT profile of the Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025 (Image credit: Tour de Romandie Féminin)

    An uphill slope across the 4.39km opening individual time trial adds 295m of elevation gain as riders work their way through from the ski area of Huémoz to the scenic views of Villars-sur-Ollon.

    Stage 2: Conthey – La Tzoumaz

    Stage 2 profile of the Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025

    Stage 2 profile of the Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025 (Image credit: Tour de Romandie Féminin)

    The second day of racing from Conthey starts off relatively flat, the exception being when it loops twice past the category 3 Chamoson climb. The bulk of the 1,657m of climbing is in the final 13km of the 123.2km stage, with the category 1 summit finish of La Tzoumaz likely to deliver the most crucial GC moment of the tour.

    Stage 3: Aigle

    Stage 3 profile of the Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025

    Stage 3 profile of the Tour de Romandie Féminin 2025 (Image credit: Tour de Romandie Féminin)

    The flattest part of the 122.1km final stage, which starts and finishes in Aigle, comes as the race loops north through Vionnaz, Noville and Roche but that flatter profile doesn’t last given the 1,404m of vertical ascent on the agenda. The climbs aren’t long but they regularly punctuate the terrain, with the five category 3 ascents beginning just a little before the race hits the 50km mark. The last of the climbs, Antagnes, then tops out at around 10km to go, but there is another gradual uphill toward the final finish line in Aigle.

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  • Sharifs convene in Murree to discuss by-polls – Pakistan

    Sharifs convene in Murree to discuss by-polls – Pakistan

    PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz in Murree for the meeting. —Courtesy PML-N media cell

    LAHORE: The ruling PML-N senior leadership discussed upcoming by-poll, local bodies elections in Punjab and overall performance of the federal and provincial governments at a huddle in Murree hill station.

    PML-N president Nawaz Sharif presided over the meeting at his Murree residence in which Prime Min­ister Shehbaz Sharif, Dep­uty Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, federal cabinet mem­bers Rana Sana­ullah, Ahsan Iqbal, Kha­waja Asif, Azam Nazir Tarar, Dr Tauqeer Shah and Ameer Muq­­am, Sen­ator Pervaiz Ras­hid, Kha­waja Saad Raf­ique, Mur­taza Javed Abbasi, Anusha Rehman and retired Capt Muh­ammad Safdar were present.

    “The meeting discussed upcoming by-polls and local body elections. Suit­able candidates will be finalised once the schedule of all by-election is anno­unced. The huddle was told that the local body election had already been delayed and now it’s time to conduct it,” PM’s a­dviser and PML-N Punjab president Rana Sanaullah told Dawn after the meeting.

    Twelve opposition Paki­stan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) lawmakers in Punjab have been disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) following their conviction in the May 9, 2023 cases.

    The disqualified lawmakers comprise eight National Assembly and four Punjab Assembly legislators. The NA-129, Lahore, fell vacant after the death of MNA and former governor Mian Azhar. PTI patron-in-chief Imran Khan has barred his party from contesting the by-polls except on NA-129 where Azhar’s son Hammad Azhar is likely to be the party’s candidate.

    “We will not field any candidates in the by-elections for the seats of our unjustly disqualified members. These individuals stood firm with PTI despite extreme challenges. Therefore, the party will completely boycott these by-elections,” Imran Khan had said in a post on X.

    When asked after the PTI’s boycott, the PML-N has been given a ‘walkover’ in the by-election, therefore, why the leadership felt the need to discuss it in the huddle in which all the party heavyweights were present, Rana Sanaullah said: “We have information that the PTI is not boycotting the by-poll, therefore, it featured in the meeting.”

    Mr Sanaullah further said he told the meeting that the party workers would be mobilised once the schedule of the local government election was announced. “However, before the announcement of its schedule, there is a need to amend the local government law regarding delimitations,” he added.

    To a question about ‘reconciliation’ between CM Maryam and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif in the meeting over the issue of the arrest of Sialkot’s additional deputy commissioner revenue, Sanaullah said: “There has been no issue between them as it was only played up by the media.

    Regarding the proposed 27th amendment, he said it did not come under discussion.

    According to sources, discussion on the “smooth functioning” of the federal and Punjab governments was also discussed in the meeting.

    Khawaja Asif says Maryam is like his daughter

    The defence minister uploaded a clip of his talk with a digital media platform on his X account clarifying the reports about his reported conflict with CM Maryam over the arrest of a bureaucrat of his native town, Sialkot. “Maryam Nawaz is like a daughter to me. She is our future leader. I pray for her like my own daughter. There has been no issue [between us] at all .”

    Meanwhile, the Punjab government has cautioned the PTI from staging a protest on the Independence Day.

    “The nation will celebrate Independence Day with great fervour and will also mark the success of Operation Bunyanum Marsoos while a disruptive faction, PTI, is conspiring to create unrest on this national occasion which will not be allowed,” Punjab Minister for Information and Culture Azma Bokhari said in a statement.

    “Protesting on a national day is not the agenda of any patriotic political party. This is the same group that emerged from the 2014 sit-ins and has since made agitation and protests their hobby. The PTI has no regard for national events as its politics revolves solely around creating division and chaos.” Issuing a strong warning, Bokhari said the law would take its course if anyone tried to stage violent protest.

    Advising the PTI leadership, she urged it to call off their planned protest on Aug 14.

    Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2025

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  • Dissolving India’s worst fears – Pakistan

    Dissolving India’s worst fears – Pakistan

    RAHUL Gandhi’s chilling exposé of fraud in Indian elections offers far-reaching health benefits for Indian democracy even if it may not change the facts on the ground anytime soon. A change would require nationwide street- and village-level mobilisation, which is a big ask for the current state of the opposition. The revelations about the election commission’s involvement in preparing fraudulent electoral rolls that evidently helped the BJP win successive elections is reverberating across the country.

    Everyone other than Narendra Modi’s handpicked election commission and core supporters of BJP is convinced that Rahul has found a treasure trove of evidence that Hindutva’s rise as a fascist threat to India was about rigged elections and not mass support as many feared. Fascism rides on popular support, which Narendra Modi does not have, contrary to the myth circulated by the media with the help of suspect elections. Modi may remain a challenge as an autocrat, but the stories of his popularity are now shown to have been excessively cooked up. That is the evidence Rahul Gandhi and his core team of experts have found from a mountain load of polling lists they secured from a grudging and hand-picked election commission.

    In one flourish, Gandhi may have helped dissolve widespread fears of a religio-fascist takeover of India. Fascism is a terrifyingly popular phenomenon as Europe witnessed close to a century ago. Men and women — workers, capitalists, intellectuals, soldiers — and even schoolchildren were smitten by Hitler’s charisma. There was no need to manipulate EVMs or draw up false voters’ lists. It’s the autocrats on the other hand that need rigging, and that threat remains intact in India.

    That the exposé came at the time of jubilations for Indian cricket, which triggered a nation’s reaffirmation of its waning legacy of multi-religious, multilingual and multicultural plurality is what this piece is about.

    In one flourish, Gandhi may have helped dissolve widespread fears of a religio-fascist takeover of India.

    Cricket and cinema have had an influence beyond the ordinary on politics in India. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh venerated their movie actors and scriptwriters who doubled as political leaders to determine the course of power and governance in the southern states. Bollywood has produced many MPs, elected and nominated. Of course, cricketers like Chetan Chauhan, Kirti Azad and Mohammed Azharuddin have also been members of the Lok Sabha by popular vote, for this or that party.

    It was thus that Mohammed Siraj, India’s new bowling sensation and Shubman Gill, the young classy batsman and skipper of India’s cricket squad did something unknowingly together with their teammates at the end of the Test series in England that no one has done for the country before them. They reaffirmed faith not just in India’s cricketing prowess, which has gained respect since the days of M.A.K. Pataudi, Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev. The young duo and their cheering teammates may not have realised that they had helped set back the fascist project for the Hindu rashtra for the foreseeable future. Siraj, the lion-hearted pace bowler, played all five Tests against England and bowled his heart out. His grabbing a win from the jaws of defeat with the last ounce of energy on the last day of the final Test at the Oval is now etched in the public psyche as a turning point for the future of Test cricket. Gill was declared the man of the series.

    What made their contributions crucial for Indian democracy was the timing of it. Rahul Gandhi’s revelations, and the joy of seeing the players toast their colleagues, though unrelated, melded into a heart-lifting reality. Siraj is the son of a Muslim auto-driver from Hyderabad, and Shubman’s father is a Sikh farmer who wanted to become a cricketer himself but never could. Both players had faced trolling amid calls to remove them from the team on their lean day. We don’t have to go over the calumny and invectives that in recent years have been heaped on their respective communities by the majoritarian forces of the Hindu right, forces that form the backbone of India’s current ruling dispensation.

    When the Sikh farmers were protesting their stolen rights, Sikhs were dubbed terrorists by Modi’s loyal media. When the 2024 elections were in full swing, Modi described Muslims as thieves, stealing Hindu women’s mangalsutra and their cattle. The cricket team would have none of that as they embraced and delighted in the glorious game as one team.

    The duo captured the love of a billion-plus compatriots at a time when Rahul Gandhi had put his political career at stake and, many say, his life on the line to dissolve the worst fears Indians were confronted with in recent years — the fear of religious fascism supplanting democracy.

    Modi changed the law recently about the nomination of the election commissioner. The PM, the leader of the opposition and the chief justice of India would select the chief election commissioner. He has done away with the chief justice in the process and appointed his home minister in the judge’s place. It gives him two-thirds control of the selection.

    Gandhi’s questions to the election commission have not elicited a mea culpa. Instead, the poll body has embarked on a drive to delete hundreds of thousands of legitimate names from the voters’ list in Bihar, of those bearing officially recognised ID cards.

    TV journalist Karan Thapar highlighted the dangers inherent in the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls presently underway in Bihar. The election commission has released the draft rolls confirming that 6.56 million names have been deleted, nearly nine per cent of those who lived there before the exercise began. “This is already disturbing,” wrote Thapar.

    Given Bihar’s high fertility rate it’s odd that the total number of registered voters should fall rather than increase in 2025, says Thapar. That’s one more proof should one be needed, that Hindutva has failed to conquer the imagination of Indians, and it needs to rig elections.

    The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

    jawednaqvi@gmail.com

    Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2025

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  • Issue of US$300 million senior notes by Boroo Pte. Ltd. : Allen & Gledhill

    Issue of US$300 million senior notes by Boroo Pte. Ltd. : Allen & Gledhill







    12 August 2025

    Allen & Gledhill advised Boroo Pte. Ltd. (“Boroo”) on the issue of US$300 million 9.500% senior notes due 2032 (“Notes”).

    The Notes are issued by Boroo’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Boroo Investments Pte. Ltd., and guaranteed by Boroo and certain of its subsidiaries.

    Advising Boroo was Allen & Gledhill Partner Glenn David Foo.

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