Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 10:30 am on 23 April 2024

In top national news: Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that the Congress could distribute the nation’s wealth among “infiltrators” and “those who have more children”, the Opposition party on Monday asked the Election Commission (EC) to take action against him for his “divisive, objectionable and malicious” speech, saying he levelled “blatantly defamatory”, “false” and “unverified allegations” against it. Stating that it was a “trial of the EC” too, the Congress said the poll panel “risks tarnishing its legacy and abandoning its Constitutional duty by setting a precedent of helpless inaction that will go down in infamy”.

The Karnataka BJP unit on Monday expelled former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa from the party for six years. The expulsion came after Eshwarappa filed his nomination as an Independent candidate from Shivamogga against sitting BJP MP and party nominee B Y Raghavendra, son of former chief minister B S Yediyurappa. Raghavendra is also the brother of Karnataka BJP unit chief B Y Vijayendra. In a letter addressed to Eshwarappa, 75, BJP state disciplinary committee president Lingaraja Patil said, “Ignoring the orders of the party, you are contesting as a rebel candidate from Shivamogga Lok Sabha constituency. This has caused embarrassment to the party and has violated the disciplinary code."

In other news: Participation of women in the workforce is a constitutional entitlement and denying mothers child care leave violates this, the Supreme Court said Monday. A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and J B Pardiwala was hearing a plea by a woman, an assistant professor in the Government College, Nalagarh, who said the Himachal Pradesh government had denied her child care leave to attend to her child who is suffering from a genetic condition. “Participation of women in the workforce is a matter not just of privilege but a constitutional entitlement protected by Article 15 of the Constitution,” the bench said in its order.

Kolkata Police said Monday that they have arrested a person from Mumbai, whose name had cropped up during the probe into the 26/11 terror attack for links with accused David Headley, for allegedly conducting a recce around the residence and offices of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. Identifying the suspect as Rajaram Rege, 53, the police said he was “planning something big” against the MP. Sources in the police said they suspected a possible “terror attack” and “threat” to Banerjee’s life.

In top international news: Donald Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt” the 2016 presidential election when he conspired to prevent damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of the former president’s historic hush money trial. A defence lawyer countered by saying that Trump “was innocent” and that the case should never have been brought. The opening statements launched the first criminal trial of a former American president, a case that will unfold against the backdrop of a closely contested White House race.

In other news: A review of U.N. Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has found that it has robust frameworks to ensure compliance with humanitarian neutrality principles though issues persist, in a report which could prompt some donors to review funding freezes. The report, released on Monday, also said Israel had yet to provide supporting evidence for its claim – based on a staff list it was given in March – that a significant number of UNRWA staff were members of terrorist organisations. The United Nations appointed former French foreign minister Catherine Colonna to lead the UNRWA neutrality review in February after Israel alleged that 12 UNRWA staff took part in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attacks, which triggered the Gaza war.

A court in Russia on Monday convicted the spokesperson of US technology company Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, of justifying terrorism and sentenced him to six years in prison in a swift trial in absentia, Russia’s independent news site Mediazona reported. According to the outlet, the charges against Meta communications director Andy Stone stem from his remarks in 2022 following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 that year. Stone, who is based in the United States, announced temporary changes to Meta’s hate speech policy to allow for “forms of political expression that would normally violate (its) rules, like violent speech such as death to the Russian invaders.’”

Lastly: The European Union on Monday demanded TikTok provide more information about a new app that pays users to watch videos and warned that it could order the video-sharing platform to suspend addictive features that pose a risk to kids. The 27-nation EU’s executive Commission said it was opening formal proceedings to determine whether TikTok Lite breached the bloc’s new digital rules when the app was rolled out in France and Spain. Brussels was ratcheting up the pressure on TikTok after the company failed to respond to a request last week for information on whether the new app complies with the Digital Services Act, a sweeping law that took effect last year intending to clean up social media platforms.

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