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Top News Highlights: The Supreme Court questions ED and CBI on Delhi excise policy case, Heavy rainfall leads to five deaths and 42 missing people in north Sikkim, UK government proposes a cigarette buying ban for younger generations, and more.
Today’s Latest News Transcript at 10:30 AM on 5 October 2023
In top national news: The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which are probing the Delhi excise policy case, why it had not made the political party that allegedly received the proceeds of the crime an accused. Justice Sanjeev Khanna, presiding over a two-judge bench, asked while hearing former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s plea seeking bail: “As far as PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) is concerned, your whole case is that it went to a political party. That political party is still not an accused. How do you answer that? He is not the beneficiary, the political party is the beneficiary,” The AAP leader was arrested on February 26.
Meanwhile, The Supreme Court said Wednesday that it will examine if MPs or MLAs are entitled to immunity in respect of a vote given or speech made in Parliament or Assembly where there is criminality attached to such acts but added that it will restrict itself to the question of re-examining the question of privileges only so far as the offence of bribery is concerned. “You are entirely right because we should not be entering issues which strictly don’t arise before us” said Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, presiding over a 7-judge Constitution Bench, which is re-examining “the correctness” of a 1998 five-judge Constitution Bench judgment in the P V Narasimha Rao case.
In other news: Delhi Police’s Special Cell obtained custody of Prabir Purkayastha, founder and editor-in-chief of NewsClick, and Amit Chakraborty, the portal’s administrative officer, for 7 days under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. This is related to their investigation into alleged fund routing to the portal and Purkayastha’s long-standing association with rights activist Gautam Navlakha, who is currently under house arrest in the Elgar Parishad-Maoist link case. The Indian Express has learnt that in its FIR against NewsClick, the Special Cell has alleged that the portal had been receiving funds since 2018 from three different entities – two linked to US-based businessman Neville Roy Singham and a third to his wife’s NGO.
In news from Sikkim: At least five persons died and 42 people, including 22 Army personnel, went missing on Wednesday after heavy rainfall triggered a lake outburst in parts of the highly vulnerable Lhonak Lake in north Sikkim and resulted in a flash flood in the Teesta river basin, officials said. They said a search operation was on to trace those missing. The Army’s Eastern Command said that some establishments along Lachen Valley were affected by the flood, which was worsened by the release of water from the Chungthang dam. Later in the evening, one of the missing soldiers was rescued. His condition was stated to be stable.
In top international news: Britain’s government on Wednesday proposed banning younger generations from ever buying cigarettes, a move that would give the country some of the world’s toughest smoking rules and hurt the sales of major tobacco firms. If passed into law, the smoking age would rise by one year every year, potentially phasing out smoking among young people almost completely as soon as 2040, a briefing paper said. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told the Conservative Party conference, where he announced the plan that Smoking costs Britain’s health services 17 billion pounds ($20.6 billion) a year, adding the government also needed to act on youth vaping.
In news from the US: Picketing began Wednesday morning at Kaiser Permanente hospitals as some 75,000 healthcare workers go on strike in Virginia, California and three other states over wages and staffing shortages, marking the latest major labour unrest in the United States. Kaiser Permanente is one of the country’s largest insurers and healthcare system operators, with 39 hospitals nationwide. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing about 85,000 of the health system’s employees nationally, approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, and for one day in Virginia and Washington, DC.
In news from Spain: Emergency services on the Spanish Canary Islands said Wednesday that more than 500 migrants reached there in four large wooden boats in a span of 24 hours earlier this week. One of the boats arriving on Tuesday was carrying 280 migrants, the islands’ emergency service said on X, formerly known as Twitter. The state news agency EFE says it was the largest number in a single boat since human traffickers began to regularly use the Canary Island route in 1994. Spanish Red Cross coordinator Jose Antonio Rodriguez Verona told The Associated Press he had not seen so many people in one boat since 2008 when 234 arrived in a single vessel.
Lastly in news from Russia: Sirens wailed across Russia and TV stations interrupted regular programming to broadcast warnings Wednesday as part of sweeping drills intended to test the readiness of the country’s emergency responders amid the fighting in Ukraine. The exercise that started on Tuesday follows Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and other cities. As the readiness drill went on, the Russian Defence Ministry said air defences shot down 31 Ukrainian drones over border regions early Wednesday. As part of the drills, TV stations broadcast a notice saying: “Attention everyone! The readiness of the public warning system is being tested! Please remain calm!”
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