TODAY NEWS ON August 27, 2024

News Headlines for CAT,CLAT and IPM aspirants

Source: The Hindu

National Issues:

1. Champai Soren to join BJP on Aug 30: Himanta
2. National Conference, Congress announce seat-sharing deal for J&K polls
3. Education Ministry defines ‘literacy,’ ‘full literacy’
4. Video of man asking for rape of Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee’s daughter goes viral; rights body takes suo motu case
5. Bail should not suffer for lack of people to stand surety: SC
6. J&K polls: Congress announces first list of 9 candidates
7. Gujarat rains: 3.95 lakh cusecs water discharged into Narmada river, 280 people shifted in Bharuch
8. ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ is illegal, organisers did not seek permission: Bengal police
9. CBI conducts second round of polygraph tests on R.G. Kar hospital ex-principal, others
10. Ministry of Home Affairs announces five new districts in Ladakh
11. Bombay High Court grants interim stay to Pune court order permitting local burger joint to make use of ‘Burger King’ brand name
12. Odisha reports bird flu outbreak, over 5,000 chickens culled

International Issues:

1. Modi briefs Biden on Ukraine visit in call, discusses ‘shared concerns’ about Bangladesh
2. At least 39 killed in ‘coordinated’ attacks in southwestern Pakistan
3. Ukraine’s president says Russian overnight attack involved over 100 missiles and about 100 drones, at least three killed
4. Ukraine drone attack on Russia’s Saratov damages homes, injures one, Governor says
5. Israel-Hamas ceasefire, hostage talks to continue after weekend meetings fail to resolve gaps
6. Australia gives millions of workers ‘right to disconnect’
7. Social platform X edits AI chatbot after election officials warn that it spreads misinformation

Headlines in detail

Champai Soren to join BJP on Aug 30: Himanta

“Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and distinguished Adivasi leader of our country, Champai Soren ji met Union home minister Amit Shah ji... He will officially join BJP on August 30,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Sarma wrote on his official X handle

Modi briefs Biden on Ukraine visit in call, discusses ‘shared concerns’ about Bangladesh

India and the United States have “shared concern” about developments in Bangladesh, particularly over the safety of minorities, said the government after U.S. President Joseph Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to each other over the telephone on Monday (August 26, 2024).

National Conference, Congress announce seat-sharing deal for J&K polls

After hectic negotiations, the National Conference (NC) and the Congress on Monday announced a seat-sharing formula for the coming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls. While the NC will contest 51 seats, the Congress will field its candidates in 32 seats. One seat each has been allotted to the CPI(M) and the Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party (JKNPP).

Education Ministry defines ‘literacy,’ ‘full literacy’

In a letter to all States, the Ministry of Education (MoE) has defined ‘literacy,’ and what it means to achieve ‘full literacy,’ in the light of the renewed push for adult literacy under the New India Literacy Programme (NILP), a five-year programme (2022-27), which aims to onboard one crore learners per year above 15 years across all States and union territories.

Video of man asking for rape of Trinamool leader Abhishek Banerjee’s daughter goes viral; rights body takes suo motu case

The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights registered a suo motu case after a video went viral on social media where a man can be seen asking for the rape of the 11-year-old daughter of Trinamool Congress MP and National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee.

Bail should not suffer for lack of people to stand surety: SC

For Girish Gandhi, the problem was too much bail and too few people to stand surety for him. Gandhi got bail in 13 separate cases of criminal breach of trust, cheating and criminal intimidation, but could only get two pairs of people to stand surety for his bail. He faced the prospect of staying behind bars for his inability to find 22 others to sign as surety for the remaining 11 First Information Reports (FIRs).

Social platform X edits AI chatbot after election officials warn that it spreads misinformation

Social media platform X has made a change to its AI chatbot after five secretaries of state warned it was spreading election misinformation. Top election officials from Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Washington sent a letter this month to Elon Musk complaining that the platform's AI chatbot, Grok, produced false information about state ballot deadlines shortly after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.

J&K polls: Congress announces first list of 9 candidates

The Congress on Monday (August 26, 2024) issued its first list of nine candidates for the three-phase Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, fielding party general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir from Dooru and former State unit chief Vikar Rasool Wani from Banihal.

Gujarat rains: 3.95 lakh cusecs water discharged into Narmada river, 280 people shifted in Bharuch

As many as 280 people were shifted to safer places from the low-lying area in Gujarat’s Bharuch city after nearly 4 lakh cusecs (cubic feet per second) of water was released into the Narmada river from Sardar Sarovar Dam, officials said on August 26. Following a huge inflow of water from Omkareshwar dam in Madhya Pradesh upstream of Narmada, the Sardar Sarovar’s water storage on August 26 touched a height of 135.20m, just 3.48m less than its full capacity of 138.68m, a release by the State government stated. “With such a huge discharge coupled with incessant rains, the Narmada river is now flowing just below the danger level of 24 feet near Bharuch town, prompting the authorities to shift 280 people living in low-lying areas,” Bharuch collector Tushar Sumera said.

‘Nabanna Abhijan’ is illegal, organisers did not seek permission: Bengal police

Describing the proposed August 27 ‘Nabanna Abhijan’ rally, in the name of an outfit ‘Chhatra Samaj’ to demand the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the rape-murder of a doctor at R G Kar hospital as “illegal”, West Bengal Police on August 26 said they have taken necessary precautionary measures due to concerns about potential law and order issues during the march. Talking to reporters, West Bengal additional director general and inspector-general of police (law and order) Manoj Verma said no individual or organisation has sought permission to hold such a rally to the state secretariat, ‘Nabanna,’ which is a restricted area.

CBI conducts second round of polygraph tests on R.G. Kar hospital ex-principal, others

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on August 26 started a second round of polygraph tests on former R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital (RGKMCH) principal Sandip Ghosh and five others as part of their investigation into the rape-murder of a woman doctor at the institution. According to an officer, over the last 10 days, Mr. Ghosh provided inconsistent answers during questioning, prompting officers to conduct another round of polygraph tests.

Ministry of Home Affairs announces five new districts in Ladakh

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, on August 26 said that the central government will create five new districts in the Union Territory of Ladakh. The new districts are Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang. In the X post, Mr. Shah said “In pursuit of Prime Minister @narendramodi Ji’s vision to build a developed and prosperous Ladakh, the MHA has decided to create five new districts in the union territory. The new districts, namely Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang, will take the benefits meant for the people to their doorsteps by bolstering governance in every nook and cranny.”

Bombay High Court grants interim stay to Pune court order permitting local burger joint to make use of ‘Burger King’ brand name

The Bombay High Court on August 26 put an interim stay on the Pune trial court’s order that permitted the Pune-based burger joint to use the brand name ‘Burger King’ as their trade mark. The U.S.-based food giant, Burger King Corporation had moved the Bombay High Court on August 26, challenging a Pune’s trial-court order. The global fast-food company has approached the High Court to protect its iconic brand name.

Odisha reports bird flu outbreak, over 5,000 chickens culled

More than 5,000 chickens were culled after the H5N1 strain of avian influenza or bird flu was detected in the Pipili area of Odisha’s Puri district, a government official said on Sunday, August 25. After mass deaths of chickens at a poultry farm in Pipili, the State government had sent a veterinary team, which collected samples and sent them for testing, he said. After the samples came back positive, the government started culling chickens in the farm and in the locality on Saturday, august 24, he added.

At least 39 killed in ‘coordinated’ attacks in southwestern Pakistan

Separatist militants killed 39 people in several overnight attacks in southwestern Pakistan, a government official said on August 26. “We have confirmed 39 people killed in several coordinated attacks carried out by the BLA (Baloch Liberation Army) terrorists,” Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the Balochistan provincial government, told AFP. Twenty-three people were fatally shot after being identified and taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail, a district in Balochistan province, senior police official Ayub Achakzai said. The attackers burned at least 10 vehicles before fleeing.

Ukraine’s president says Russian overnight attack involved over 100 missiles and about 100 drones, at least three killed

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on August 26 condemned Russia’s overnight and early morning barrage on his country as “vile” and said it involved over 100 missiles of various types and about 100 “Shahed” drones. Ukraine’s leader said there were deaths and dozens of injuries and that the attack caused a lot of damage to Ukraine’s energy sector. “Like most previous Russian strikes, this one was just as vile, targeting critical civilian infrastructure. Most of our regions — from the Kharkiv region and Kyiv to Odesa and our western regions,” Mr. Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine drone attack on Russia’s Saratov damages homes, injures one, Governor says

A woman was wounded and homes damaged in two key cities of Russia’s Saratov region as a result of Ukraine’s drone attack on August 26, the Governor of the region southeast of Moscow said. A residential complex in the city of Saratov was damaged by falling debris from drones destroyed by Russia’s air defence systems, regional Governor Roman Basurgin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Israel-Hamas ceasefire, hostage talks to continue after weekend meetings fail to resolve gaps

A round of high-level talks in Cairo meant to bring about a ceasefire and hostage deal to at least temporarily end the 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza ended August 25 without a final agreement, a U.S. official said. But talks will continue at lower levels in the coming days in an effort to bridge remaining gaps. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the talks, said lower level “working teams” will remain in Cairo to meet with mediators the United States, Qatar, and Egypt in hopes to addressing remaining disagreements. The official called the recent conversations, which began Thursday in Cairo and continued through Sunday, as “constructive” and said all parties were working to “reach a final and implementable agreement.”

Australia gives millions of workers ‘right to disconnect’

Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to “disconnect” on August 26, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours contact from employers, to the distress of big industry. People can now “refuse to monitor, read, or respond to” their employers’ attempts to contact them outside work hours - unless that refusal is deemed “unreasonable”. The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries. Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim a work-life balance.