Bhai Dooj, also known as Bhai Tika, Bhaubeej, Bhai Phonta, or Bhratri Dwitiya, is a festival that celebrates the special bond between siblings. The day marks the culmination of the five-day-long Diwali festivities in many states. Every year, Bhai Dooj is celebrated two days after the festival of lights. This year Bhai Dooj will be celebrated on two days, November 14 and 15.  

Bhai Dooj 2023: Puja Vidhi

On this occasion, sisters apply tilak on the forehead of their brothers and pray for their long and happy lives, while carrying a colourful thali filled with sweets, roli, and coconut. While applying tilak, the brother’s face should be towards the north or northwest and the sister’s face should be towards the northeast or east. Then brothers and sisters treat each other with traditional Indian sweets and celebrate this special day with the exchange of gifts. Both brothers and sisters have to fast till the pooja is done.

If, for some reason, the brother cannot visit the sister, then the sister can send the tilak and dry coconut to her brother. Women without brothers worship Moon Chandra, as is customary in Maharashtra and Haryana on the auspicious occasion of Bhau-beej. 

Raksha Bandhan and Bhai Dooj are quite similar up to an extent, however, on Bhai Dooj, sisters do not tie a thread or Rakhi on the wrists of their brothers like they do on Raksha Bandhan.

Bhai Dooj 2023: Auspicious Time To Apply Tilak and Shubh Muhurat 

According to Drik Panchang, Bhai Dooj will start on November 14 and continue till November 15.  The auspicious Muhurat will start in the afternoon on Tuesday and end on Wednesday. 

Bhai Dooj aparahna time: 01:21 PM to 03:33 PMDuration: 02 Hours 12 MinsShubh muhurat on November 14: Dwitiya tithi begins at 02:36 PMShubh muhurat on November 15: Dwitiya tithi ends at 01:47 PM

As per Hindu mythology, it is believed that Goddess Yamuna fed her brother Yamraj on Kartik Dwitiya at her own home. Since then this day is also known as Yama Dwitiya.

The US Supreme Court on Monday adopted its first formal code of conduct governing the ethical behavior of its nine justices, bowing to months of outside pressure over revelations of undisclosed luxury trips and hobnobbing with wealthy benefactors.

The court released its code “to set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the members of the court,” according to a brief introductory statement.

Unlike other members of the federal judiciary, the Supreme Court’s nine life-tenured justices had long acted with no binding ethics code.

That absence, the statement said, “has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the justices of this court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct.”

The court has been buffeted for months by revelations regarding justices over undisclosed trips on private jets, luxury vacations, real estate and recreational vehicle deals, and more.

The issue had become an political flashpoint, with Democrats in Congress calling on the court to adopt an ethics code, while many Republicans viewed the ethics narrative involving the court as cooked up by liberals upset at its rightward leanings.

The ethics drum beat added pressure to a court already facing declining public approval following major rulings in its past two terms powered by its conservative majority. The court ended its recognition of a constitutional right to abortion, expanded gun rights and rejected affirmative action collegiate admissions policies often used to increase Black and Hispanic student enrollment.

Most of the ethics revelations in recent months involved Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court’s most conservative members.

The news outlet ProPublica has detailed luxury trips taken for years by Thomas provided by Texas businessman Harlan Crow as well as real estate transactions involving the justice and the billionaire Republican donor. ProPublica also reported that the conservative Koch network of political donors, which has had multiple cases before the court, has brought Thomas in recent years to its summit meetings.

A report by Senate Democrats in October also found that Thomas apparently failed to repay at least a “significant portion” of a $267,230 loan he received from longtime friend Anthony Welters to buy a luxury motor coach.

The armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas said on Monday they told Qatari mediators that the group is ready to release up to 70 women and children held in Gaza in return for a five-day truce.

“The truce should include a complete ceasefire and allowing aid and humanitarian relief everywhere in the Gaza Strip,” Abu Ubaida, the spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, Alqassam Brigades,. said in a recorded audio published on the group’s Telegram channel.

He went on to accuse Israel of “procrastinating and evading” the price of the deal.