Explainers
FirstUp: Biden gears up for Jinping meet, PM Modi in MP… The news of the day
India will be celebrating the birth of its first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru today. It will also see PM Modi host a mega roadshow in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh. Far away, in the US, President Biden will arrive in San Francisco for the APEC summit. Here’s what to expect from the day
FP Explainers November 13, 2023 16:42:14 IST 
US president Joe Biden will be in San Francisco from today where he will host the APEC summit. File image/Reuters
India continues its celebrations; after Diwali, today (14 November) is Children’s Day, also known as Bal Diwas. The day commemorates the birth anniversary of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who advocated for children’s education and rights.
This year, students in the national capital, Delhi, will be devoid of any celebrations in school as the government has shut schools until 18 November in view of rising pollution levels across the city.
As we mark this joyous day, here’s also a look at other events which are likely to make headlines across the country and the world.
PM Modi’s mega roadshow in Madhya Pradesh
The state of Madhya Pradesh will go to the polls on 17 November and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leaving no stone unturned to ensure its victory in the Assembly elections. In an attempt to woo voters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a mega roadshow in the state covering the length and breadth of it.
According to the party, PM Modi will cover 11 km, passing through five-six constituencies of the state. The roadshow will be held in two phases – starting from Indore 1 Assembly constituency and conclude in the Indore-3 Assembly segment.
The second part of the rally will begin from Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Bhavan in Rau Assembly constituency and end at Vishranti Square.
‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ begins today
To celebrate the birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress will launch the ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ programme today. Under this programme, street children across the country will be provided with food starting. The initiative is being taken by the Congress’ Jawahar Bal Manch and will be initiated as a pilot project in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.
Jawahar Bal Manch president, GV Hari announced recently that the ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukaan’ project will focus on distributing food packets among street children every week to ensure they get access to balanced nutrition.
US president Joe Biden in San Francisco
US president Joe Biden will make his way from Washington, DC to San Francisco today as he will host the APEC summit. APEC is a forum of 21 Asia-Pacific economies. APEC’s member economies are home to more than 2.9 billion people and make up over 60 per cent of the global GDP.
On the sidelines of this meet, scheduled from 14 to 17, Biden will also have a face-to-face talk with China’s Xi Jinping. The two leaders, who haven’t met since the G20 Summit in Bali in November last year, will discuss global issues from the Israel-Hamas war to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s ties with Russia, Taiwan, the Indo-Pacific, human rights, fentanyl, artificial intelligence, as well as fair trade and economic relations.
The meet assumes even more significance as relations between the two countries grew frosty after Biden ordered the shooting down in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States.
Sundar Pichai to take the stand
Google CEO Sundar Pichai is likely to testify today in Epic’s lawsuit against Google in a US court. Epic plans to call Pichai as a witness as it makes its case alleging that Google Play is an unlawful monopoly.
Pichai’s appearance isn’t a total surprise, as the CEO appeared as one of 53 witnesses Epic said it may or may not call before the trial kicked off.
The lawsuit was filed after Google pulled Fortnite from the Play store. Epic is arguing that Google’s monopolistic control on its Google Play Store for Android smartphones violates both state and federal antitrust laws.
Meanwhile, Google offered a $147 million deal to game developer Epic Games to launch its popular game Fortnite on Google Play store, the tech giant told the court.
A royal birthday
The day, 14 November, also marks the birthday of Britain’s King Charles. According to reports, the King will be holding a celebration with his friends and family at Clarence House in London for his 75th birthday. However, his younger son, Prince Harry and wife Meghan, will not be attending.
King Charles’ birthday will also see the launch of the Coronation Food Project which aims to eliminate food waste. The new legacy project, which will span five years, is one of the King’s ideas to combat the cost of living crisis and reduce waste.
On this day: BBC broadcast its first radio programme
Today, 101 years ago, the BBC ran its first-ever radio broadcast from 2LO, a famous London studio. The first words uttered on air by a BBC announcer at 5.33 pm on 14 November 1922 – the man who had that honour was Arthur Burrows – as the video above reveals, were: “2LO, Marconi House, London, calling.”
Sweet news: It’s World Diabetes Day
Today mark World Diabetes Day. It is marked each year to raise global awareness of diabetes, it’s prevention, management, and the complications associated with it. It was created by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the increasing prevalence of diabetes worldwide.
According to the WHO, about 422 million people worldwide have diabetes with studies estimating that more than 1.31 billion people could be living with diabetes by 2050 worldwide.