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.

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Morning Digest | Djokovic downs Medvedev in U.S. Open to win record-tying 24th Slam; Turkey President says any grain initiative that isolates Russia is bound to fail, and more

No relief for Chandrababu Naidu as court orders 14-day judicial remand

A marathon session of arguments in the ACB court in Vijayawada over former Chief Minsiter N. Chandrababu Naidu’s alleged involvement in the skill development scam ended with the III Additional District and Sessions-cum-ACB Court Judge B.S.V. Himabindu ordering on September 10 that he should be sent to judicial remand for 14 days .Forceful arguments were made by both sides for almost 10 hours. Additional Advocate-General P. Sudhakar Reddy represented the State/CID and senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and others argued on behalf of the former CM. The CID officials submitted a 28-page remand report to the court earlier in the day, in which he was mentioned as A-37. 

In Manipur, Army and paramilitary forces face a constant challenge — armed men in police uniforms

Armed men in police uniforms are a constant challenge for the Central security forces in violence-hit Manipur, a defence source said on September 10. There have been several instances of uniformed men carrying automatic weapons, firing at Central security forces deployed in buffer zones, preceded by blockade and protest by women-led groups .Meanwhile, around 4,500 additional Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel will be sent to the State after the conclusion of the G-20 summit in Delhi, a senior government official said, adding that a request has been made to the State government to provide accommodation to the Central forces since schools and colleges have reopened. Other than the CAPF, around 36,000 Central forces including the Army, are deployed in the State.

A drone attack kills at least 40 in Sudan’s capital as rival troops battle, activists say

A drone attack Sunday (September 10) on an open market south of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, killed at least 40 people, activists and medical workers said, as the military and a powerful paramilitary group battle for control of the country .At least three dozen others were injured in the attack in Khartoum’s May neighborhood, where paramilitary forces battling the military were heavily deployed, according to an activist group known as the Resistance Committees and two health care workers at the Bashair University Hospital, where the casualties were treated.

ED serves notice to Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee in West Bengal recruitment scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has served a notice to Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee to appear before the agency on September 13 in the alleged recruitment scam .Reacting to the notice by the ED, the Trinamool leader said on Sunday that the notice required him to appear before the agency on September 13, the very day when the Opposition INDIA bloc’s coordination committee is scheduled to meet in Delhi. Mr. Banerjee is a member of the INDIA grouping’s coordination committee and is scheduled to attend the meeting.

CM Shinde summons all-party meeting to resolve deadlock over Maratha quota issue

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has called an all-party meeting on September 11 to break the deadlock over the Maratha reservation issue .Speaking in Pune, Deputy CM and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar said that the meeting would be held at ‘Sahyadri’ State Guest House, where representatives of all parties had been invited. Mr. Pawar said while several meetings had already been held on the issue and talks held with a number of delegations on behalf of quota protestors, activist Manoj Jarange Patil — who has emerged as a prominent face of the protests — had yet to be convinced.

Ukraine not a ‘wedge issue’ between West and Global South at G-20, says Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday attributed the absence of criticism of Russia for its invasion on Ukraine to gaps in positions between Russia, China and the G-20. Specifically, Mr. Biden said the Russia-Ukraine war was not a “wedge issue” between the Global South and the U.S. or the West.  Speaking at a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, shortly after the conclusion of his whirlwind trip to New Delhi for the G-20 Summit, a visibly exhausted Mr. Biden was questioned on the language describing the war in Ukraine in the New Delhi declaration. The document did not name Russia directly or call it out for the invasion of Ukraine, unlike the G-20 Bali declaration from 2022. 

NCP has not allied with BJP for selfish reasons, says Ajit Pawar

Stressing that his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction had not allied with the ruling BJP and the Shiv Sena coalition led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for “selfish reasons”, Deputy Chief Minister and rebel NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday reiterated that almost every legislator within the undivided NCP had wanted to join the BJP-Shinde government soon after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) last year .Mr. Pawar’s NCP faction staged a massive show of strength in the ‘sugar belt’ district of Kolhapur on Sunday evening, where Mr. Pawar addressed a public rally in which he criticised his uncle Sharad Pawar for not allying with the BJP-Shinde government sooner.

Any grain initiative that isolates Russia is bound to fail: Turkey President

Any initiative that isolates Russia in the Black Sea Grain Initiative is bound to fail, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would return to the “collective implementation” of the grain deal “the same day” their conditions for export of own grain and fertilizers to the global markets are met. “We believe that any initiative that isolates Russia is bound to fail. Its success is a very little possibility. We believe that any step that may escalate the tensions in the Black Sea should be avoided… We are going to have continuous talks…,” Mr. Erdogan said at a press conference here. He said representatives of Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations would meet very soon on this issue.

Spain’s football chief Luis Rubiales announces resignation

Spanish football federation chief Luis Rubiales, engulfed in a scandal over allegations he gave an unsolicited kiss to a player on the women’s World Cup team last month, said on Sunday he will resign from his position as president .Rubiales announced his resignation in a statement. A Spanish prosecutor filed a complaint with the High Court against Rubiales last week for sexual assault and coercion over his allegedly unsolicited kiss on the lips of Jenni Hermoso. Rubiales had also been suspended for three months from all football activities by FIFA pending an investigation by soccer’s world governing body into his actions after Spain clinched their World Cup victory in Sydney on Aug. 20.

Joe Biden ‘very humble’, says Indian priest after holding communion service for U.S. president

Father Nicholas Dias, secretary for the liturgy commission for the Delhi Archdiocese, has described U.S. President Joe Biden as a “very humble” person who expressed that his grandmother was a great influence in his life. Father Dias met Mr. Biden during a 30-minute holy communion service for the U.S. president at a hotel where he was staying in New Delhi on Saturday, ahead of the G-20 summit. Talking to PTI, Fatherr Dias said their conversation was around faith, Goa and India. “I mentioned to him about the origin of Christianity in India and recalled that Indian Church is as old as Christianity in the world,” said the priest, who hails from Benaulim in Goa.

Those opposing India’s name change can leave the country: Dilip Ghosh

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Medinipur Lok Sabha MP, Dilip Ghosh, on Sunday said India will be renamed Bharat and those opposing it “are free to leave the country” .Speaking at Kharagpur, the former West Bengal BJP president added: “When our party comes to power in West Bengal, we will remove all statues of foreigners in Kolkata.” Mr. Ghosh has in the past made several comments not only directed at his political opponents but also against his own party leaders. In May 2022, the BJP national leadership censured Mr. Ghosh for targeting his party leaders.

U.S. Open 2023 Final | Novak Djokovic downs Daniil Medvedev to win record-tying 24th Slam

Novak Djokovic defeated Daniil Medvedev in straight sets on Sunday to win his fourth U.S. Open and a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam singles title, avenging his loss to the Russian in the final two years ago .The 36-year-old Djokovic won 6-3, 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to become the oldest men’s champion in New York in the Open era and match Margaret Court’s all-time mark for most Grand Slam victories. The Serbian is the first man to win three Grand Slam events in the same season four times, crowning his impending return to world number one in the most fitting of ways inside Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Rain woes at Pragati Maidan, AAP hits out at L-G; water cleared in an hour: official

With heavy rain lashing the city since Saturday, images and videos of stagnant water at Bharat Mandapam, the G-20 Leaders’ Summit venue, surfaced on social media on Sunday. Sharing one such video on X (formerly Twitter), Delhi Urban Development Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bharadwaj took a swipe at Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena, demanding that “heads must roll” .A Raj Niwas official said a contingency plan to deal with rain-related problems was activated on Saturday night soon after it began to pour. The official added that the authorities had cleared the rainwater hours before the delegates arrived for the second day of the summit.

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