ANALYSIS: Rishi Sunak, the man in a hurry, is alleged to have stabbed BoJo in the back by resigning at the most opportune moment, triggering about 60 more resignations out of coincidence or conspiracy, hitting the nail in Johnson's coffin. Much maligned by a series of scams for quite some time, the voluble, pretentious, hilarious BoJo's support base among the Conservative party MPs had already been crumbling fast, even leading to a no-confidence vote which he narrowly survived a while ago.

Now that he had lost his "best job in the world", BoJo was determined to take revenge on Sunak, and launched vicious underground campaigns like the green card scam to tarnish his image he had been assiduously building up for long in anticipation.

The PM might have played a role in putting up Truss who was not in the reckoning in the beginning when nearly a dozen names were floated for the prime ministerial race. It is said Johnson mobilised support for her from the background, putting to use all the resources at his disposal. Truss thus became the dark horse, gradually taking on the front-runner Sunak.

Assuming for a moment Sunak were not to be a candidate this time, his bringing down the disgraced Prime Minister would have had an enormously positive political advantage for him for future use. The immediate public perception would not have been one of betrayal of BoJo (Although the reality would not change).

He had done many a thing in the immediate past to carve out an artificial image to promote his ambition. Even the $18 billion package might one day be seen as a freebie. Then everything happened in the month of July in supernatural speed. Later he was even directly questioned at several of the hustings about the integrity in bringing down BoJo.

The long and short of it is that morality in public life and literature as an integral part of British culture and long democratic tradition is an invincible force in the kingdom but at times mistakenly taken for granted!

What is the fallout?

LONDON, Sept 5: British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the new Prime Minister, it was announced on Monday at 12:30 pm local time (5 pm IST), after the counting of Conservative party votes. Truss defeated runner-up and former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak by 81,326 votes to 60,399. She will be the third woman Prime Minister of the UK after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

Delivering her victory speech, Truss said, "I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential...I know, we'll deliver, we'll deliver, we'll deliver."

Sunak tweeted, "I've said throughout that the Conservatives are one family. It's right we now unite behind the new PM, Liz Truss, as she steers the country through difficult times."

Mary Elizabeth Truss, 47, who has been the frontrunner in a neck and neck race with former Chancellor Rishi Sunak for No 10 Downing Street to replace Prime Minister Boris Johnson who had resigned, was declared elected by Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs and returning officer for the polling.

There were 1,60,000 voters across the country casting their postal ballots. The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, was the official organiser of the polls. Truss will be the PM for the ramainder of BoJo's term, till 2024.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel in the morning on Tuesday to Balmoral castle in Scotland where Queen Elizabeth is currently staying to hand over his resignation. Usually the function takes place in Buckingham Palace but not this time as due to health reasons she willl not be coming back to the palace soon. So also the PM-designate will reach there and accept the appointment from the Queen. A ritual called "kissing of hands" between the outgoing and the designate PMs follows, where actually nothing happens. At 4 pm the new PM will make a speech outside 10 Downing Street where as Prime Minister she will outline her plans and policies and launches herself as the new PM. By this time the Cabinet will be in place. At noon on Wednesday will be the customary Question Time in the House of Commons where the PM faces the Opposition leader.

Runner-up Rishi Sunak, who timed his resignation as Chancellor of the Exchequer recently such that it set off a chain of resignations by about 60 ministers and officials leading to a rattled Boris Johnson's resignation, earned the notoriety of stabbing in the back BoJo who gave him space in the Cabinet. Although the Britons called it only as questionable "integrity". He looked like having struck BoJo at the most opportune moment and in the fastest way. The PM had just managed a confidence motion not long ago! At the end of his farewell BoJo appeared to have had an emotional upheaval over having to leave the "best job" in the world as also the fact that sections of his partymen ditched him. He left the stage abruptly. But before leaving he had pointed to a section in the audience.

Boris Johnson was determined to hit back. Truss was not in the reckoning at that time when others began announcing their candidature. BoJo reportedly backed her and she emerged as the dark horse. It is said he did whatever he could in whatsover way to mobilise support for her to defeat Sunak who had for quite some been trying to earn the image of the next prospective PM candidate. And in that he succeeded. Once it was rumoured that BoJo was behind an underground camapign against Sunak that he is a US green card holder and will one day run away.

Conservative party members from across the UK numbering 1,60,000 cast their votes to choose a Prime Minister in place of Boris Johnson, who resigned as he was losing majority support in view of a series of scandals and a host of problems like uncontrolled inflation and rising cost of living mainly due to high energy costs and supply issues.

There had been five to six rounds of voting by party MPs to narrow down the list of contestants. Once the number came down to two, the party members from all over the country cast postal ballots to choose the new Prime Minister.

WHAT THEY PROMISED

SUNAK:

(Rishi Sunak, 42, served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022, previously was the Chief Secretary to the Treasury. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament for Richmond since 2015. Of Indian origin, he is a British born citizen.)

Taxes, inflation, cost of living, energy bills, Brexit, Net Zero: The UK is currently facing an enormous economic crisis eluding a resolution for several months now, especially made harder by the covid pandemic and the Ukrainean invasion. The problems are: Inflation has hit a 40-year record in July and the consumer prices increased 9.1% over the last 12 months. It's the fastest increase in prices since November 1981. High energy bill following Ukrainean invasion is the main contributor. There are also shortages of goods, recession, supply bottlenecks etc.

No tax cut: Sunak said he will not reduce taxes because taxes are required to balance the books after the pandemic dole-out and record borrowing. A $ 18 billion package was provided in May to set off cost of living crisis.

More support for households to neutralise price rise: Now he will again offer fresh support to lower income people. This may be unlike of a Conservative policy but he wanted to do really bold things.

As for green levies, he wanted it to continue to meet the target set for 2050.

About Brexit, he had been a supporter since 2016, the very beginning he was in the Governmnet.

About household heating bills shooting up, Sunak promised more money will be pumbed in to support the low income people as the situation has worsened. "I will act. Government efficiency savings will fund support," he said. Energy bills constitute a major chunk of the rising cost of living, which has emerged as the main issue. During the pandemic, he had offered substantial support to pay workers to prevent layoffs. Sunak claims wherever he goes people come up and say "thank you." He was bold in action, especially while doing things non-Conservative in nature.

TRUSS:

(Mary Elizabeth Truss, 47, is the British Foreign Secretary since 2021. She was Minister for Women and Equalities since 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, she has been Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk since 2010.)

Taxes to be cut: On the other hand, Truss said she "will start cutting taxes from day one," corporate etc. She claims this will lead to economic growth and that will take care of the problems. She assumed that that would put the country on 'autopilot.'

Interest rates: She said she will review the Bank of England's mandate to fix interest rates. But later she tended to make a volte face like she opposed Brexit in 2016. Betraying a lack of vision.

Climate: She is committed to 2050 net zero but said will slash the levies. Will try to find better ways to raise resources.

No concrete plans: She had always evaded a direct answer, saying she "will act immediately" upon taking over, not specifying any concrete plan, to help households get through the winter. She wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that she will get cracking within the first week. There will be immediate action on checking the price rise, rising energy bills and the supplies.

Thatcher: Dressing like Thatcher, wanting to be bold like her but not knowing what to do really. She is the third woman PM after Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May.

Brexit: She beat a hasty retreat on Brexit to be on BoJo's side.

Surveys like YouGov had projected Truss as the front-runner all through but at the closing hustings Sunak had recovered a lot of lost ground.

The new offer will enable H-1B speciality occupation visa holders in the US to apply for a Canadian work permit, while also offering study and work permit opportunities for their family members accompanying them.

The selected applicants will be granted an unrestricted work permit for a maximum period of three years. The IRCC will entertain 10,000 applications. The window is open for one year.

However, drinking alcohol in the trains and metro premises is strictly prohibited. Violators can be booked under the provisions of the Excise Act and the Indian Penal Code.

• Curfew was clamped on areas in Paris on Thursday lasting till Monday. The police apprehend an escalation of volence in the coming days. There will be "actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the State", they said.
• Under present law, the police have brute powers to deal with traffic violators. Young Nahel was shot point-blank by a cop for purported traffic violation and an anticipated crime.

Way back when on June 20 EST after searches were launched, India Travel Times had, on an analysis of the data available, indicated the probability of Titan undergoing a sudden and massive implosion (inward collapse) at great depths. (SEE: Titanic expedition goes missing: A ray of hope from sounds of bang) Now videos taken by a Canadian robot that reached the floor on Thursday evening, June 22, has confirmed it. The fragments are lying scattered. Horizon Arctic's ROV robot found the debris 1600 ft from Titanic bow.

The submersible imploded at 500 metres above sea bed, if we go by our calculations. The water pressure it had to withstand at that point was 2,345 kg per sq inch. The hull was not built to take that, as per the court cases fought by concerned people at the time of building the sub and going by the details revealed in the cancellation of booking by at least one ocean expert.

Sources said some people shifted places on the decks of the boat crammed with over 500 migrants and that tilted the vessel, while others said engine failure. It sank about 75 km from Pylos peninsular jetty on the Greek coast in the Ionian Sea bay in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday.

ChatGPT has 'duped' a New York lawyer of a federal court. A first-time user, Schwartz asked the bot to do the laborious research work on his behalf and bring out cases similar to the suit he was filing against Avianca airline. About six non-existing cases the chatbot "hallucinated" and Schwartz promptly submitted them. The judge could not find these "legal gibberish" in records and the lawyer stands thoroughly discredited and humiliated. What was all the excitement about ChatGPT? When we approach ChatGPT does it introduce itself as what it is and what it is not?

After reaching New York, the Cessna made a hairpin turn and flew back over Washington DC for inexplicable reasons. But why was the pilot unresponsive to air traffic controllers FAA for two hours in the air and the fighters' flares later? It is said the plane, flying at 34,000 feet, likely lost cabin pressure, the pilot slumping due to hypoxia that sets in in about 20 to 30 seconds! Did the auto pilot take over till fuel lasted? Why did it make a 360 deg turn? The moot point is, how secure is the White House!

• Angered over President Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the US last week, China has launched a three-day military drill to intimidate Taiwan and as a warning to the US. The patrol also has a standby nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (see pix below).
• Meanwhile, Tsai's meeting with Kevin McCarthy indicates a bipartisan move in the US, probably a Biden plan for legislation to end the ambiguity over official relations with Taiwan.
• And, next year's election in Taiwan will be fought by the US and China by proxy.
• The US seeks to check the growing Chinese military presence in the Pacific with new alliances.

ANALYSIS: The underlying crime that defendant ex-President Donald Trump, is said to have concealed by falsification of business records - which only will make the whole thing a felony and stand up in the court - is not specified in the indictment which is sketchy: may be because prosecutors can withhold details at this stage. Yet, the hush-money payment being federal election law violations, it cannot come under the jurisdiction and scope of State prosecutors. Deprived of substantial documentary evidence, how will the veteran District Attorney Alwin Bragg navigate through this complexity and prove the intent is to be seen. He will have an option to invoke State tax laws, where violation is serious crime. But that is another case. The trial will drag on for years, anyway!

What next: His fingerprints and mugshot will be taken like any defendant in criminal cases. Arrest is unlikely (Florida Governor can block any warrant, complicating matters). Trump's attorney Tacopina said Trump will turn himself in.

Can Trump contest presidential election? Yes. There is no existing US law to bar him. He can even serve as President from prison.

The loophole: The Grand Jury has no documentary evidence as the NDA was not signed either by Trump or Cohen (Trump's attorney who turned hostile) on his behalf. It is depending on the testimony of Cohen and Daniels.

Where do Republicans stand: At any rate, the 'stormy petrel' has cooked Donald Trump's presidential goose, although he thinks otherwise. The Republicans are a divided lot.

• The shooter, a former student of the school., entered through a side door, after breaking the glass door. She was shot dead by the police, but only after six lives were lost.
• Every time a shooting takes place in the US, every time the White House makes a statement: “Enough is enough.” It's funny, painful and cruel!. Mostly the mass shootings take place in the schools.

In a related development, the USCIS issued a clarification that those who have lost jobs in the ongoing layoffs in the tech sector can apply for a change of non-immigrant status or for a "compelling circumstances" employment authorization document and stay back. This followed an appeal to Biden by thousands of Indians who have been affected by the layoffs.

"Enough!" - In a sheer lack of sense of proportion, President Biden had reacted to yet another boy, just of 15 years, shooting dead five people in North Carolina some time ago, besides sounding like he is going to put an end to American gun violence instantly! After the latest LA episode, he is yet to react! Biden presents a brilliant comparison to Indian Chief Ministers for their stupid reactions in similar circumstances of recent months!

For sure, gun violence will continue as long as the gun is there! Primarily meant for self-defence, how many times - or what percentage of all firings - it has successfully defended the carriers and saved lives and how? Has there been a survey?

Cricketer Rishabh Pant had an attack of sleep at the wheel. The situation of a sudden attack of sleep during travel is not a sleep disorder like narcolepsy but a common occurrence when one does not get enough rest and, surely, is not preventable. Because no driver really knows the moment when sleep attack will come over, says a US study. The consequence can be disastrous, especially in long distance driving.

Darkness has descended on most of the US from the Great Lakes to Mexican border and from the Appalachian mountains in the east to the Rockies mountains in the west without power, and large swathes have gone under the snow. Several thousands of flights have been cancelled due to the howling blizzards and zero-visibility in the past few days and medical services are unable to operate sans accessibility. A fast-moving Guv Kathy Hochul has already declared emergency in New York and closed vulnerable airports. Christmas is washed out.

The story is no different in Canada, coming nearer to the pole where the cold vortex cycle has been blasted off (Arctic blast) by the hot winds from an Atlantic, warmed up due to climate change.

The life-threatening situation will continue for several days more. Too taxing for the hypothalamus!

A half-baked British media report has laid the 'blame' at the Indian High Commission's door for the assumed losses of the British tourists, who have en masse cancelled India trips for want of visas. In the first place, why one must book tour package and then look for visa in a busy season? Because that has been the practice with the tour operators and nothing new. They refund money if visa is not comimg. However, the article is silent on this and implicates the mission alleging it changed the visa rules, while that is contrary to the fact. The UK report, duplicated in India mindlessly, has defamed the Indian High Commission. However, there are some missing links!

A million visitors are queuing up to attend the longest-reigning Queen Elizabeth II Lying-in-State, making history; while a galaxy of world leaders land in London for the State funeral at Westminster Abbey at 11 am (3:30 pm IST) on Monday. It will be a huge gathering of world leaders never seen before. King Charles III hosted a reception at Buckingham Palace for them on Sunday evening. There were 500 dignitaries.

The queue from Southwark Park touches Tower bridge, London bridge, Southwark bridge, Millennium bridge, Blackfriars bridge, Waterloo bridge and Westminster bridge before crossing the Lambeth bridge to enter a zig-zag near the entrance.

The BBC gave a calculation of the length of the queue. The distance from Westminster to Southwark Park, the starting point of the queue, is 11 km. Then there is the zig-zag section of nearly 5 km to rough in. So the queue is meandering slowly up towards Westminster for a total of 16 km! (which in theory becomes a constant). Although, 16 km is quite a lot for standing and moving without any chance to cool your legs for a moment. "Very little opportunity to sit down as the queue will be continuously moving” - the Government itself cautioned a swelling stream of mourners pouring into London from across the kingdom day and night. The time taken can easily be 14 hours! Yet the determination keeps everyone fit as a fiddle.

The calculation doesn't take into account a queue to join the queue that has come up and the last-minute doubling of the official queue into a double lane.

The masses in the queues looked extremely solemn and serious too and displayed an amazing natural discipline that illustrated a national character evolved partly from a thousand years of democratic tradition.

The spectacle was an engineering marvel that took India to the world club of demolitions, even as in less than ten seconds it created a gap up in the sky incomprehensible for the layman. Where has it gone!

WHAT TO DO, WHEN... : IndiaTravelTimes does not guarantee the authenticity of the video (above) of the episode of the flight turbulence at Durgapur airport on May 1, yet this is being put out with a view to familiarising the ordinary fliers with such probabilities lest they are caught unawares and fail to react rationally to handle such terrible situations. The 'eternity' can last up to 15 minutes. Tighten your belts, believe in your pilot and shift your thoughts to reduce disabling anxieties! Rest assured, the aircraft can rock and fall but not more than a hundred feet anyway.