Morning Digest | PM Modi arrives in Samarkand for SCO meeting, skips photo ops; Roger Federer retires from competitive tennis, and more

A select list of stories to read before you start your day

PM Modi arrives in Samarkand for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting, skips photo ops

Mr. Modi was the last of the leaders of eight SCO members and seven invitees to arrive in Samarkand, and missed both the Pre-Summit dinner hosted by Uzbekistan President Shovkat Mirziyoyev and tree-planting ceremony that all the leaders other than President Xi undertook, leading to speculation that Mr. Modi’s late arrival was meant to avoid any inconvenient “photo-ops” while relations with China and Pakistan remain tense.

Congress presidential election | Nothing to hide, says party poll panel chief

The entire process to elect a new Congress president is and will always be “open” and the party has nothing to hide, chairman of the party’s Central Election Authority, Madhusudan Mistry, said on Thursday. The clarification came after a section of the media reported that the Pradesh Congress Committees would authorise the Gandhis to pick a new party chief.

On the sidelines of SCO, all eyes on Russia-India-China ties

While a Russia-India-China trilateral summit, that had been outlooked by Kremlin officials last December is considered unlikely to happen on Friday given continuing tensions in India-China ties, experts say Mr. Putin could also play a role in “encouraging” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Xi to resolve differences over the military stand-off at the Line of Actual Control.

Media reports on judges’ criticism over new listing system ‘not correct’: Chief Justice of India