Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News at 10:30 am on 29 April 2024

In top national news: National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah spoke to The Indian Express on fighting the Lok Sabha elections in J&K, the importance of the polls post the abrogation of Article 370, and what explains the calm in the Valley. When asked by Muzamil Jaleel, Deputy Editor, The Indian Express: This is the first major election after August 5, 2019. What is the situation on the ground? Omar Abdullah said: "I had the opportunity to travel to some of the Assembly segments of that Parliament seat in the hills of Jammu. I was pleasantly surprised that people were cutting across religious divide because the BJP in these areas has often tried to divide voters, particularly on religious lines."

The United States customs authorities refused 31 per cent of all spice-related shipments exported by Mahashian Di Hatti (MDH) Pvt Ltd over salmonella contamination in the last six months. The refusal rate since October 2023 has doubled from 15 per cent for all shipments sent in the year prior. The surge in refusal rate over salmonella contamination in recent months comes at a time when both Singapore and Hong Kong have suspended sales of certain MDH and Everest Food Products Pvt Ltd products after the alleged detection of a carcinogenic pesticide in spice mixes.

Meanwhile, fires that have been raging in the forests of Nainital and Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand were mostly man-made, the state forest department said Sunday even as the firefighting operation with the help of an IAF helicopter continued for the second day. The blaze had been brought under control in several areas, officials said. Teams of forest officials from Rudraprayag have identified and arrested at least three miscreants responsible for causing the fire, the officials shared on X. Some were accused of carelessly setting their farmlands on fire, which in turn spread to the nearby forest areas.

In other news: Hours after the Karnataka government decided to form a Special Investigation Team to probe the alleged role of JD(S) MP and its Hassan candidate Prajwal Revanna in a sex scandal reportedly involving several women, a woman, in her complaint to police, also named his father HD Revanna, Holenarasipura MLA and son of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, as an accused. Prajwal is said to have left the country for Germany. The woman complainant told Holenarasipura police that she decided to step forward and name Revanna and Prajwal after watching online clips of other victims narrating their ordeal. Detailing her case, she alleged that the abuse took place between 2019 and 2022.

Moving on to top international news: Nepal’s two-day investment summit kicked off Sunday with its government soliciting external investment in 150 projects and promising the most favourable climate for them. The summit inaugurated by Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda is being attended by over a thousand delegates from more than 55 countries, including 140 from India. “We offer… the best climate for investment that will be mutually beneficial and Nepal to move on the path of economic prosperity,” Dahal said. India’s Minister for Commerce Piyush Goyal said in his Zoom- delivery that investing in Nepal was not only a profit-inspired move of India, but a part of PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Neighborhood First Policy.’

In news from Thailand: Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara has resigned, the government said on Sunday, after being removed from the post of deputy prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle, at a time when the Southeast Asian country seeks to help resolve a conflict in Myanmar. His unexpected resignation leaves the foreign ministry rudderless as he headed the team on Myanmar affairs and last month launched a humanitarian initiative that seeks to pave the way for talks between warring camps after three years of instability and violence triggered by a coup. Parnpree had a key role in securing the release of dozens of Thai hostages who were captured by Hamas in Gaza.

In news from Japan: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing party, stung by an extensive slush funds scandal, appeared to have lost all three seats in Sunday’s parliamentary by-elections, according to media exit polls and preliminary results. The Liberal Democratic Party’s loss is considered a voter punishment for its links to a yearslong corruption saga that erupted last year and has undermined Kishida’s leadership. His party’s loss of power is unlikely, however, because of the fractured opposition. “The results were extremely severe,” LDP Secretary-General Toshimitsu Motegi told reporters in Tokyo.

Lastly: A senior Qatari official has urged Israel and Hamas to show “more commitment and more seriousness” in cease-fire negotiations in interviews with Israeli media, as pressure builds to reach a deal that would free some Israeli hostages and bring a cease-fire in the nearly seven-month-long war in Gaza. Qatar, which hosts Hamas headquarters in Doha, has been a key intermediary and was instrumental, along with the US and Egypt, in helping negotiate a brief halt to the fighting in November that led to the release of dozens of hostages. But in a sign of frustration, Qatar this month said it was reassessing its mediator role.