Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 10:30 am on 2 May 2024

In top political news: The Congress continued its attack on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over sex abuse allegations against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, with both Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stepping up their attack on Wednesday. JD(S) and BJP are allies in Karnataka. In a post online, Rahul wrote, “As usual, Narendra Modi has maintained a shameful silence on the gruesome crimes against women in Karnataka. He will have to answer why, despite knowing everything, they (BJP) promoted the monster who exploited hundreds of daughters, just for the sake of votes? How did such a big criminal escape from the country with such ease?”

Meanwhile, Reports in the US and Australian media about operations allegedly by Indian “intelligence officials” overseas have caught the establishment off-guard and there is a sense of disquiet in New Delhi at what it sees as a “concerted pushback” from its key Western strategic partners, sources said. On Tuesday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that “Indian spies were kicked out of Australia after being caught trying to steal secrets about sensitive defence projects and airport security, as well as classified information on Australia’s trade relationships”. The Australian and the Sydney Morning Herald said that two Indian “spies” were asked to leave.

In news from Mumbai: The principal of the Somaiya School in Mumbai has been asked by the school management to resign, allegedly over her posts on social media platform X on the issue of Palestine and the Hamas-Israel conflict. Parveen Shaikh, who has had a 12-year association with the Somaiya School in Vidyavihar and became its principal 7 years ago, has refused to resign “because I have given hundred per cent to the organisation”. Web portal OpIndia published a report on April 24, highlighting Shaikh’s likes and comments, via her X handle, on posts that were pro-Palestine and sympathetic to Hamas.

In September last year, a teacher at a Ujjain ashram “came to the aid” of a minor rape victim who was going door to door seeking help. He has now been arrested along with a caretaker for allegedly sexually abusing at least three minor boys at their ashram. Police registered three FIRs under relevant provisions of the IPC as well as under multiple sections of the POCSO Act against the 21-year-old teacher, Rahul Sharma, and ashram caretaker Ajay Thakur. Both have been sent to judicial custody, police said, adding that many more victims haven’t filed a complaint yet. Ujjain SP Pradeep Sharma told The Indian Express: “So far three children have come forward and made the allegations.”

In top international news: Mounting tensions on U.S. campuses boiled over on Wednesday when pro-Israel supporters attacked an encampment of pro-Palestinian protesters at UCLA, hours after police arrested activists who occupied a building at Columbia University and cleared a tent city from its campus. Eyewitness videos from the University of California at Los Angeles, verified by Reuters, showed people wielding sticks or poles to hammer on wooden boards being used as makeshift barricades to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters before police were called to the campus. The university cancelled classes for the day on Wednesday, and UCLA Chancellor Gene Block said the school would conduct an investigation “that may lead to arrests, expulsions and dismissals.”

In news from France: French police said they arrested 45 people in Paris and that 12 officers had been injured during traditional May Day protests on Wednesday, though the demonstrations were far more subdued than last year. Riot police used tear gas and batons to disperse some of the demonstrators. Police put the number of protesters in the French capital at about 18,000, though the hard-left CGT union put the figure at around 50,000. Protesters were mainly angry about the cost of living and reform of unemployment benefits, though some also waved Palestinian flags to show solidarity with the people of Gaza. Police said a total of around 121,000 protesters took part in May Day rallies across France.

In news from Turkey: Turkish police detained 217 people on Wednesday, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said, after tear gas and rubber bullets were used to stop the protesters from reaching Taksim Square, the traditional focal point of May Day rallies in Istanbul. President Tayyip Erdogan said on the eve of May Day that the annual protests would not be allowed to take place in Taksim Square, which was cordoned off by police. Legal experts say this stance violates the right of Turks to organise public meetings and demonstrations, a right upheld by the Constitutional Court in a ruling last October.

Lastly: The United States on Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow’s circumvention of Western measures, including through China. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200 targets and the State Department designated more than 80 in one of the most wide-ranging actions against Chinese companies so far in Washington’s sanctions aimed at Russia. The U.S. imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China’s support for Russia’s military, including during recent trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the country.

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