Rush Hour: India ‘can't do much' to save Kerala nurse, Delhi-Beijing ties on positive path and more
The Union government has told the Supreme Court that it cannot do much more to prevent Yemen from executing Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya. Her execution is reportedly scheduled for Wednesday.
'Looking at the sensitivity of Yemen...it's not diplomatically recognised...blood money is a private negotiation,' Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court. Yemen has been locked in a civil war since 2014.
Under Islamic Sharia law, there is a provision for release if the victim's family accepts 'blood money', or the amount paid in compensation to the family of a person who has been killed. Besides, New Delhi does not recognise the Houthi regime that controls the part of Yemen where Priya is jailed.
Hailing from Kerala's Palakkad, Priya was imprisoned in Yemen for the alleged murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi in July 2017. In 2020, Priya was sentenced to death by a trial court in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. On December 30, news reports claimed that Rashad al-Alimi, the chairperson of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, had approved the sentence. Read on.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that relations between India and China were 'steadily improving' and called for the continued normalisation of ties. He is in China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers' meeting.
During a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, Jaishankar highlighted that the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra was widely appreciated in India and added that 'continued normalisation of our ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes'.
This is Jaishankar's first visit to China since the skirmishes of 2020, when border tensions between the two countries had escalated. Read on.
An Indore-based cartoonist, Hemant Malviya, has agreed to delete his social media post that depicts Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in a purportedly 'undignified' manner.
On July 3, the Madhya Pradesh High Court denied anticipatory bail to Malviya, stating that he had 'clearly overstepped' the limits of free speech. Malviya had challenged this order in the Supreme Court.
After the top court remarked that his social media post was immature and inflammatory, Malviya agreed to issue a statement saying he was not endorsing the allegedly objectionable comments made by amending his original caricature. Read on.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah scaled the fence of Srinagar's Martyrs' cemetery to pay tribute to the 22 civilians who were shot dead by the forces of Dogra ruler Hari Singh in 1931. This came a day after the police confined political leaders, including Abdullah, inside their homes to prevent them from visiting the cemetery on Kashmir Martyrs' Day.
Abdullah alleged that the restrictions on Sunday were imposed on the 'clear instructions' of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. 'The unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K,' he said in a social media post.
July 13, marked as Martyrs' Day to honour the 22 civilians, was dropped as a public holiday after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government in August 2019 abrogated Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Several regional parties in the Union Territory have been demanding the resumption of the official ceremony to commemorate the day. Read on.
President Droupadi Murmu has appointed new governors for Haryana and Goa and a new lieutenant governor for Ladakh. Kavinder Gupta, the former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir will take over as the lieutenant governor of Ladakh, stated the President's Secretariat.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
34 minutes ago
- Time of India
Why Supreme Court's approval of 1,400 US Education Department layoffs is called 'willfully blind' and 'naive'
US Education Department layoffs: Why Supreme Court's decision to allow 1,400 cuts is 'willfully blind' and 'naive,' judges warn US Education Department layoffs 2025: The US Supreme Court has allowed President Trump to proceed with his plan to lay off nearly 1,400 employees from the US Department of Education, effectively enabling a large-scale downsizing of the agency. This ruling reverses a preliminary injunction issued by Boston's Judge Myong Joun, who had blocked the layoffs, citing concerns that the cuts would cripple the department's operations. The decision has sparked sharp criticism from three liberal justices, who dissented, branding the Supreme Court's ruling as "willfully blind" and "naive." The dissenters argue that the ruling threatens the constitutional principle of separation of powers by allowing the executive branch to effectively dismantle a federal agency by firing its employees. Supreme Court backs Trump's plan despite legal challenges The Supreme Court's order permits the Trump administration to move forward with the mass layoffs, pausing Judge Joun's injunction that had prevented the terminations. The Education Department staff affected by the layoffs had been on paid leave since March, according to the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252. Without the injunction, these employees would have been terminated in early June. The case involves two consolidated lawsuits, one filed by several school districts in Massachusetts and education groups including the American Federation of Teachers, and another by a coalition of 21 Democratic attorneys general. Both suits argue that the layoffs amount to an illegal closure of the Education Department, leaving it unable to fulfil its statutory duties such as supporting special education, distributing financial aid, and enforcing civil rights laws. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson and Elena Kagan, wrote that the majority was "either willfully blind to the implications of its ruling or naive," warning of a "grave" threat to the US Constitution's separation of powers, as reported by the Associated Press. Department of Education response and ongoing disputes Education Secretary Linda McMahon criticised the delay caused by the lower court's injunction and welcomed the Supreme Court's intervention, calling it "a shame" it took the highest court to confirm the president's authority over federal staffing and agency operations, as reported by the Associated Press. Meanwhile, more than 20 US states have filed lawsuits against the administration over billions of dollars in frozen education funding that support after-school care, summer programmes and other initiatives. The department has indicated it is "actively assessing how to reintegrate" the affected employees, requesting updates on their employment status to ensure a smooth return to duty if possible. Summary of key details Issue Detail Number of layoffs Nearly 1,400 employees Initial court action Judge Myong Joun issued an injunction blocking layoffs Supreme Court ruling Allowed layoffs to proceed in a 6–3 decision Dissenting justices Sotomayor, Jackson, Kagan Lawsuits Filed by Massachusetts school districts, education groups, and 21 Democratic attorneys general Department duties affected Special education, financial aid distribution, civil rights enforcement Employee status On paid leave since March; no full return to work during injunction The Supreme Court ruling thus permits the Trump administration's controversial downsizing plan to continue despite ongoing legal challenges and warnings from dissenting justices about the potential damage to the Education Department's capacity and constitutional governance. TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us here . Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
India Today
35 minutes ago
- India Today
Kerala woman's UAE horror: Kills child, self after dowry torture, molestation
5:04 External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, his first visit to China in five years. During the meeting, Jaishankar raised concerns about trade restrictions imposed by China, including controls on rare earth material exports that affect India's EV sector and the blocking of tunnel boring machines for the bullet train project. He stressed the need to normalize relations and people-to-people exchanges, stating, 'It is also essential in this context that restrictive trade measures and roadblocks are avoided.' The discussions also covered the need to complete the border disengagement and de-escalation process and the sharing of hydrological data for the Brahmaputra River. This meeting occurs as efforts are underway to repair relations following the October 2024 meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi in Kazan.
Hindustan Times
36 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
SC notice to UP, Uttarakhand govts on QR code directive on Kanwar Yatra route
The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response of the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments on a petition challenging the directive mandating display of QR codes on food stall owners along the 'kanwar' yatra route revealing the names and identities of owners. The court will hear the matter next on July 22. (PTI photo) The Kanwar Yatra began on July 11 and is expected to conclude by August 9. The court will hear the matter next on July 22. The court was hearing separate applications filed by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra and professor Apoorvanand Jha challenging the June 25 order issued by the UP administration requiring shop owners to display QR codes containing details of shop ownership outside their establishment. Also Read: Traffic restrictions in Delhi-NCR till July 23 amid Kanwar Yatra: Check alternate routes The applications pointed out that such a directive violated a July 22, 2024 order passed by the top court when the state was prohibited from coercing food stall owners to display their identities being in breach of their right to privacy. A bench of justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh issued notice on the applications and sought a response from the two state governments before the next date of hearing on Tuesday. Senior advocate Shadan Farasat appearing for Moitra told the court that the matter required urgent consideration as the June 25 directive is already being implemented. He requested for an early date but the bench kept the matter after a week to facilitate responses from the state governments. Jha, who is one of the petitioners who approached the court against similar directive last year, cited a press released issued by the UP government on June 25. He said, 'The new measures mandate the display of QR codes on all eateries along the Kanwar route, which reveal the names and identities of the owners, thereby achieving the same discriminatory profiling that was previously stayed by this court.' While dealing with the issue last year, the top court on July 22, 2024 issued an interim stay on the enforcement of such directives, observing that the display of personal identity was neither backed by law nor necessary for the stated purpose of public order or food safety compliance. The court had clarified that no food stall owner can be forced to display the identity while it was open for persons to do so voluntarily. The directive issued last year required shopkeepers selling food items on the Kanwar Yatra route to display names of owners and the employees at a prominent place outside the shop, dhaba or restaurant. Besides Moitra and Jha, non-government organisation Association for Protection of Civil Rights had challenged the state's order last year. The present applications filed by Moitra and Jha accused the state authorities of 'circumventing the stay' issued by the top court by reintroducing the same directive requiring the name of the shop owner to be clearly displayed at each shop in QR code form under the garb of public safety and maintenance of law and order. 'These steps effectively serve the same unconstitutional end through digital means, in wilful disobedience of this court's directions,' Jha said in his application filed through advocate Akriti Chaubey. Further, asking owners to reveal religious, caste identities couched under the garb of 'lawful license requirements' breaches the right to privacy of the shop, dhaba, restaurant owners, the application said, adding that the owner's identity is already displayed inside the shop on the license certificate. Apprehending risk to fundamental rights of the shop owners, the application sought an immediate stay on the state's directive.
