Today’s Latest News Transcript at 10:30 AM on 27 March 2024
In top national news: In six lists released of candidates for just over 400 seats for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP has denied tickets to a fourth, or about 100, of its sitting MPs. This is a continuation of the 2019 trend when the party did not field 99 of its sitting MPs. In 2019, the BJP had fielded candidates on 437 Lok Sabha seats, leaving the rest for its allies. This time, the party has announced candidates for 405 seats. Adjusted for withdrawals and replacements, the party has already crossed the 400 mark in fielded candidates, thus still having a few dozen candidates left to field.
The BJP Tuesday lodged a formal complaint with Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over his “unauthorised use of power and authority” after the AAP said he had issued directions for the functioning of the Delhi government while in Enforcement Directorate custody. Two “directions” were issued to Water Minister Atishi and Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, one asking that complaints regarding water and sewer be addressed and the second asking that medicines be made available in all mohalla clinics in the city. The Chief Minister’s “directions” and the BJP’s complaint to the Lt Governor have sparked a debate on the next steps.
Meanwhile, with the Lok Sabha elections scheduled three weeks from now, the Congress party is bracing itself for another hefty demand from the Income Tax Department for “unaccounted transactions” totalling Rs 523.87 crore covering the period 2014-2021. This will deal another blow to the party, which only recently saw the I-T department withdrawing Rs 135 crore from its bank accounts for previous dues. The “unaccounted transactions” of Rs 523.87 crore were traced during I-T raids conducted before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. When contacted, Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member V K Tankha, a senior lawyer, said the party apprehended that a hefty penalty and interest would now be added to the Rs 523.87 crore for calculation of fresh demand.
In other news: A day after the body of a jeweller’s 12-year-old son, who was kidnapped from Auraiya in Uttar Pradesh, was found in Delhi, all eight abductors were arrested Monday after being shot in the leg in an encounter, police said. The accused are currently undergoing treatment for their gunshot wounds in a hospital. Doctors said their condition was stable. According to the police, Subhan, a class 6 student, was abducted from outside his home in the Erwa Katra area of Auraiya on Saturday. Auraiya SP Charu Nigam said those arrested included Riyaz Siddiqui, a neighbour of the victim, who planned the kidnapping for ransom. They have confessed to the crime.
In top international news: All the six workmen who went missing after the massive cargo ship collided with Baltimore bridge are presumed dead and the rescue operations stand halted until today morning, say officials. The Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in Baltimore on Tuesday. US President Joe Biden said he was briefed by senior members of his team on the bridge collapse, adding that he has directed the deployment of every federal resource towards the search and rescue operations that are underway. The container ship rammed into a major bridge in Baltimore, causing it to snap in a few places and plunge into the river below. The ship appeared to collide with the supports of the bridge.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy sacked the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council and replaced him with the head of his foreign spy agency on Tuesday in a new shakeup that follows the overhaul of the military high command last month. No reason for the changes was given in a series of dryly worded decrees that were published on the president’s website more than two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion. Oleksiy Danilov, the outgoing secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, had held his position since October 2019, just months after Zelenskiy took office. Zelenskiy appointed Oleksandr Lytvynenko, 51, head of the foreign intelligence service, who has no almost public profile whatsoever, to head the council.
In other news: The World Health Organization that one of its staff members was killed in an airstrike in Syria on Tuesday. Emad Shehab, an engineer in the city of Deir-ez-Zor, was killed in the early hours of Tuesday when his building was hit during a series of airstrikes across the area, WHO said. Shehab worked as WHO’s focal point for water, sanitation and hygiene in the city. “His untimely death is a stark reminder of the ongoing violence and suffering endured by the people of Syria. He will be greatly missed,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X.
Lastly: Hong Kong’s leader said Tuesday that prisoners convicted for serious national security crimes would not likely be granted early release under the tightened rules of a new national security law, signaling a hardening government stance against jailed political activists. Chief Executive John Lee said the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance stipulates that people found guilty of endangering national security must not be granted remission unless the commissioner of correctional services believes the move would not be a national security risk. This also applies to inmates who received sentences before the new law was introduced last Saturday, Lee said.
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