Morning Digest | Central team of officials to visit Nipah-hit areas, Joe Biden’s son Hunter indicted on gun charges, and more

Central team of officials to visit Nipah-hit areas

A Central team of officials is expected to visit Maruthonkara and Ayancheri areas in Kozhikode district of Kerala on Friday where two persons died due to Nipah infection recently. Five people have so far tested positive for the virus, of whom two are dead. The others are undergoing treatment. Restrictions are continuing in at least nine grama panchayats in Kozhikode district, where a holiday has been declared for educational institutions till Saturday. The Central team reached Kozhikode on Thursday morning and held parleys with State officials. According to sources, they will coordinate with the State departments of Health and Animal Husbandry in taking up containment measures.

Joe Biden’s son Hunter indicted on gun charges

U.S. President Joe Biden’s son Hunter was indicted on Thursday for illegally buying a gun five years ago at a time when he admits he was using drugs heavily .Mr. Hunter Biden was charged with two counts of making false statements, for claiming on forms that he was not using drugs illegally at the time he bought a Colt revolver in Delaware. A third charge said that, based on the false statements, he illegally possessed the gun — a charge that can bring up to 10 years in prison. The charges were filed by Justice Department Special Counsel David Weiss, who has been investigating Mr. Hunter Biden since 2018.

Asia Cup 2023, SL vs PAK | Sri Lanka’s Mendis and Asalanka script a thrilling win over Pakistan

After displaying a clinical approach in its run-chase, Sri Lanka’s nerves showed towards the end in a two-wicket win over Pakistan at the R. Premadasa Stadium here on Thursday as it booked a date with India in the final of the Asia Cup. The host lost five wickets for 36 runs and was forced to scramble over the line, into the teeth of a thrilling final over, bowled by Zaman Khan. Defending seven runs, the debutant conceded just two runs off the first four balls before the ball took the edge of Charith Asalanka’s blade and went for a boundary. With two needed off the last delivery, Zaman fatally strayed on the pads and the left-hander flicked it for a couple amidst the deafening roar of a capacity crowd.

Business jet veers off Mumbai airport runway, breaks into two

Flight operations at Mumbai’s busy international airport were halted for an hour and 45 minutes on Wednesday, after a business jet arriving from Vishakapatnam veered off the runway .The jet, with a call sign of VT-DBL, “veered off” on the primary runway (runway 27) and then skidded off onto the adjoining grass surface, following bad weather and continuous rainfall.  Photographs of the ill-fated aircraft indicate that it broke into two parts from the cockpit portion, due to the impact of the accident. The eight people on board, including two pilots, were injured and rushed to hospitals by the airport authorities. 

Congress mulls Bharat Jodo Yatra 2.0 ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Many in the Congress are discussing whether a second edition of Bharat Jodo Yatra (Unite India March), from east to west, should be be held before the 2024 general election .With a growing demand from the rank and file within the Congress, all eyes are on the first meeting of the newly constituted Congress Working Committee (CWC) that will be held over the weekend on September 16 and 17 in Hyderabad. The Bharat Jodo Yatra led by former Congress President Rahul Gandhi began from Kanniyakumari on September 7 last year covering 4,000 km and went on for 136 days culminating in Srinagar on January 30.  

Jana Sena, TDP to fight 2024 Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls together

Jana Sena Party (JSP) President K. Pawan Kalyan on Thursday announced that his party and the Telugu Desam Party would form an alliance and together contest against YSR Congress Party in the 2024 Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Kalyan made the announcement immediately after meeting former Chief Minister and TDP Chief N. Chandrababu Naidu, who is lodged at the Rajamundry Central Prison (RCP). “The decision has been taken only for the welfare of the peoples development of the State. It is purely not only meant for political mileage”, said Mr. Kalyan. Mr. Kalyan, along with Chandrababu Naidu’s son Nara Lokesh and Mr. Naidu’s brother-In-law and actor Nandamuri Balakrishna, held talks for about 45 minutes with the former chief minister in the prison, after they were permitted to interact under the ‘Mulakhat’ facility.

SC dismisses appeal against meat ban in Lakshadweep school mid-day meal menu

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal against the Lakshadweep administration’s decision to stop serving meat in mid-day meals for school children in the islands. A Bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M. Trivedi rejected arguments by the petitioner, advocate Ajmal Ahmed, a resident of the Union Territory, that meat was part of the islands’ culture and an essential dietary ingredient for the children, who were mostly from tribal families. But the Bench insisted that the decision to pull out meat from the menu was government policy. There was no apparent illegality or arbitrariness in the decision.

BJP ticket fraud case: Many big names involved, claims arrested Hinduvta activist Chaitra Kundapura

A day after the arrest of Hindutva activist Chaitra Kundapura for allegedly cheating a businessman of crores of rupees after assuring him of a BJP ticket to contest from Byndoor in the Assembly elections, the prime accused claimed that there are many big names involved in the case and the arrest of a Swamiji will bring out the truth. Replying to the media question while being escorted to the CCB interrogation center from the State home for women where he was housed for overnight stay, the accused said that her arrest is part of a “conspiracy related to Indira canteen pending bill issue”, and the arrest of a Swamiji will bring many big names out in the open.

Tourists throng Bharat Mandapam to view special installations days after G-20 Summit

The area outside Pragati Maidan’s Bharat Mandapam, which was the venue for the recently concluded G-20 Summit, has become a tourist attraction as Delhi residents and those from neighbouring cities are visiting it in large numbers to take selfies and admire the fountains, lights, and other art installations there. Many people are in awe of the huge statues of lions and panthers installed in New Delhi police district and hope that the authorities would be able to maintain these in future.

Mandatory insurance cover, wearing helmets on two-wheelers applicable to electric vehicles: HC

The Delhi High Court on Thursday said relevant provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act and Central Motor Vehicles Rules are already applicable to electric vehicles, specifically pertaining to mandatory insurance cover, wearing helmets on two-wheelers, and penal provisions for non-compliance of the provisions. A Bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad made the observations while dismissing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea seeking directions to the authorities to make insurance cover compulsory for electric two-wheelers in accordance with the provisions of the Motor Vehicle Act. The PIL, filed by Mr. Rajat Kapoor, an advocate, also sought direction to the authorities for mandatory wearing of helmets on all types of electric motorcycles and scooters.

Over 95% chance of El Nino conditions from January-March 2024: U.S. forecaster

There is a more than 95% chance that the El Niño weather pattern will continue through the Northern Hemisphere winter from January – March 2024, a U.S. government forecaster said on Thursday, bringing more extreme conditions .“In August, sea surface temperatures were above average across the equatorial Pacific ocean, with strengthening in the central and east-central Pacific,” the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) said. El Nino is a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific, and can provoke extreme weather phenomena from wildfires to tropical cyclones and prolonged droughts. The naturally occurring phenomenon is already spurring calamities across the globe, with the stakes seen higher for emerging markets more exposed to swings in food and energy prices.

Veteran actor Govinda may be questioned in connection with Ponzi scheme

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Odisha Police may summon veteran actor Govinda for his alleged involvement in promotion of Solar Techno Alliance (STA), a Ponzi scheme, through which many gullible investors had allegedly lost their investment. The STA is said to be one of the largest crypto currency-based Ponzi schemes in India that involved ₹1,000 crore and 2 lakh people. Last month, the EOW, Odisha had unearthed the scam arresting Gurtej Singh Sidhu (40), the India head of STA. The STA is headed by one David Gez, a young Hungarian national who had visited India multiple times, while Sidhu was said to have reached the top level of STA’s Pyramid structure (Kohinnor leadership in STA language).

Study shows COVID-19 variant XBB is highly infectious, favours booster dose to protect people

A cohort study, which has indicated that one of Omicron’s subvariant, XBB, is highly evasive from available vaccines as 81.1% of the studied infected persons were vaccinated, has highlighted the urgent need for polyvalent vaccines. It also underscores the need for continuous genomic surveillance of SARS-COV-2 to keep a close watch on the emergence of new variants in the community. Tamil Nadu’s State Public Health Laboratory (SPHL), where a whole genome sequencing (WGS) laboratory is functioning, decided to take a closer look at samples that tested positive for XBB variants of Omicron reported from September 2022 to January 2023.

Suu Kyi party says Myanmar junta depriving her of medical care

Myanmar’s junta is endangering the life of jailed democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, her political party said on Thursday, accusing the military of depriving her of medical care and food. Suu Kyi has been detained since the generals seized power in February 2021, ending a 10-year democratic experiment and plunging the Southeast Asian country into bloody turmoil. In recent days, local media have reported the Nobel laureate, 78, was suffering dizzy spells, vomiting and unable to eat because of a tooth infection. “We are particularly concerned that she is not receiving adequate medical care and they are not providing healthy food nor accommodation sufficiently with the intention to risk her life,” the National League for Democracy said.

Most Libya flood casualties could have been avoided: U.N.

The United Nations said Thursday that most of the thousands of deaths in Libya’s flood disaster could have been averted if early warning and emergency management systems had functioned properly. With better functioning coordination in the crisis-wracked country, the human toll could have been far smaller, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said. It warned that other conflict-hit countries faced similar, dangerous deficiencies to their early warning systems. If the system in Libya ad worked properly, “the emergency management forces would have been able to carry out the evacuation of the people, and we could have avoided most of the human casualties,” WMO chief Petteri Taalas told reporters in Geneva.