ABP Live News Shots: From Biparjoy Fury In Gujarat To 'Adipurush' Release — Top Headlines From The Week

ABP Live News Shots: From Cyclone Biparjoy's destruction in Gujarat to 'Adipurush' release and controversies — bringing to you all big news that made headlines this past week, in case you missed it.

While Cyclone Biparjoy caused havoc in coastal Gujarat uprooting trees, flooding roads, and causing blackouts, violence-hit Manipur violence continued to witness more arson and clashes as mobs began targeting ruling BJP leaders' residences. A mob torched the house of Union Minister of State for External Affairs RK Ranjan Singh at Kongba in Imphal allegedly with petrol bombs. Meanwhile, the Congress and the BJP sparred over renaming the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library to 'Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya'. In another important development, the Delhi Police filed a chargesheet pertaining to sexual harassment allegations against outgoing WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and recommended dropping the POCSO case against him. On the entertainment front, Prabhas-starrer 'Adipurush' was released in theaters and opened to mixed reviews with a section of viewers objecting to the dialogues, VFX work, and other aspects of the film.

INDIA

wo civilians were injured in a fresh round of violence in Manipur after mobs clashed with security forces overnight in capital Imphal. The mob also attempted to torch the houses of Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leaders. Automatic gunfire was reported from Kwakta in the Bishnupur district of Manipur and Kangvai in the Churachandpur district through the night. A mob of approximately 1,000 people came together to try and burn down buildings near the palace compound. Another mob tried to set the house of MLA Biswajeet on fire. But an RAF column managed to disperse the crowd. Similarly, a crowd tried to vandalise the home of BJP (women's wing) president, Sharda Devi near Porampet in Imphal around midnight. Earlier in the week, a mob torched the residence of Union Minister of State for External Affairs RK Ranjan Singh at Kongba in Imphal. The minister said that the miscreants came with petrol bombs and damage has been done to the ground floor and first floor of his house. He said that he was shocked and that the law and order situation in Manipur has totally failed.

The Delhi Police filed a Cancellation report in the Protection Of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) case against Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh at Patiala House Court while it also filed a chargesheet in the Rouse Avenue Court in the second FIR pertaining to sexual harassment allegations against the outgoing WFI president. The Delhi Police had filed two FIRs against Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh. The first FIR relates to allegations by the minor wrestler and was registered under the POCSO Act while the second is related to outraging modesty. The FIRs narrate several alleged instances of sexual harassment, inappropriate touching, groping, stalking and intimidation by Singh at different times and places over a decade. "In the POCSO matter, after completion of investigation, we have submitted a police report under section 173 Cr PC requesting for a cancellation of the case based upon statements of the complainant i.e., the father of the victim and the victim herself," the Delhi Police said. A Cancellation Report is filed in cases when no corroborative evidence is found. 

Over 300 electric poles were uprooted in Gujarat after severe cyclone storm Biparjoy made landfall in the state on Thursday at around 6:30 pm. The storm brought heavy rains in Kutch and other coastal areas. Hundreds of trees have got uprooted due to strong winds damaging the power supply in as many as 940 villages and low-lying areas near the sea were flooded. The wind speed went as high as 140 kmph. Mandvi town in Gujarat’s Kutch, Maliya in Morbi witnessed a complete blackout as trees and poles got damaged. Winds broke electric wires hitting the power supply in many regions. Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel assessied the impact of cyclone Biparjoy at the State Emergency Operation Center in Gandhinagar. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel were engaged in road clearance operations in Bhuj and Dwarka while roads were waterlogged in several areas due to incessant rains. While approaching the Gujarat coast, cyclone Biparjoy moved at a speed of 13 kmph. During the landfall, the wind speed was 115-125 kmph gusting to 140 kmph, the IMD stated. Landfall indicates a cyclonic storm moving over land after being over water.

WORLD

At least 79 bodies were recovered after a fishing boat crammed with migrants seeking to make it from Libya to Italy capsized and sank a day earlier in deep waters off the Greek coast. Rescue workers transferred the bodies of dead migrants to refrigerated trucks while the Greek government announced a three-day period of national mourning for the victims of a shipwreck that occurred in international waters off the country's southwestern coast. Rescuers saved 104 passengers — including those from Egypt, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Palestine — but authorities feared that hundreds may still be trapped below deck. Greece declared three days of mourning and politicians suspended campaigning for a general election on June 25. An aerial photograph of the vessel captured before the incident was released by Greek authorities and it showed people crammed on the deck. Most could be seen not wearing life jackets.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that his brother Nawaz Sharif will return to the country and become the PM for the fourth time leading the nation to progress and prosperity He said Nawaz Sharif was the builder of modern Pakistan and during his reign, he eliminated energy shortages, laid down a network of roads, built infrastructure and developed agriculture, industry and other vital sectors of the economy. PM Shehbaz made the comments at the intra-party elections held during a general council meeting of the PML-N at the party’s secretariat where he was re-elected as president of the PML-N for four years. He said that the party post was temporary and would be given back to Nawaz Sharif upon his return to the country. PM Shehbaz said that he intentionally delayed the meeting of the PML-N general council and intra-party polls as he was waiting for his elder brother Nawaz Sharif to return to the country so that the latter could take charge of the party again. In the intro-party polls, Nawaz Sharif’s daughter Maryam Nawaz was elected senior vice president and chief organiser, while Ishaq Dar was elected president of overseas and international affairs.  

After a year-long investigation, a committee of British lawmakers said that former UK prime minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall. The report is the latest development in the “partygate” scandal since local news organisations reported that members of Johnson’s staff held a series of parties in 2020 and 2021 when such gatherings were banned due to pandemic restrictions. In his response, Johnson called the report, a “political assassination” and rejected the conclusions as a “load of complete tripe”. The House of Commons Privileges Committee, in its report, stated that Johnson’s actions and his response to the committee were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament. Condemning the former UK prime minister’s conduct, the report and its recommendation are largely symbolic as Johnson angrily quit as a lawmaker last week after the committee informed him of its conclusions.

SPORTS

Sunil Chhetri, star Indian football player and one of the greatest ever to have represented India at the international level, gave a pleasant surprise to his fans when he announced that he and his wife are expecting a baby. He did so in style with a unique celebration after netting a goal in India's match against Vanuatu in the Intercontinental Cup 2023. Chhetri's goal was the difference between the two sides as India registered a 1-0 win over their opponent.

During the recently passed IPL 2023, one of the biggest controversies transpired when Virat Kohli was involved in a verbal spat with Naveen-ul-Haq and former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir. The incident took place during the IPL 2023 game between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana International Stadium in Lucknow where in between the game, both Virat and Naveen had a bit of an exchange of words, and once the match was over, It was Kohli who again was involved in a heated exchange with Gautam Gambhir.  A month after the incident, Naveen opened up about it and spoke to BBC Pashto. 

Ahead of the Asian Games in China in September and the Paris Olympics next year, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) has revised the upper ceiling amount of boarding and lodging for Indian Athletes and team officials by 66%. This is for the athletes and officials participating only in international competitions, under the Ministry's Scheme of Assistance to National Sports Federations (NSFs), the Ministry informed in a release on June 16.

BUSINESS

India's retail inflation dropped to 4.25per cent in May from 4.7 per cent in April, according to a data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Monday. The consumer price-based index (CPI) inflation in May is lowest in 25 months. The food inflation also eased to 2.91 per cent in April. It was 3.84 per cent in the month of April. The food basket accounts for nearly half of the CPI. While, inflation in fuel and light also eased to 4.64 per cent, from 5.52 per cent in April. It was for the second month in a row that retail inflation remained within the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s comfort zone of below six per cent. Despite the huge 227-basis-point fall since January, CPI inflation remains above the central bank's medium-term target of 4 per cent for the 44th month in a row.

Over the past one week domestic airfare has dropped on several routes after the Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia asked airlines to rein them in, according to a report by The Economic Times (ET). The report cited data compiled by a private travel booking firm. It also said that while there are airfare declines from last month's highs, fares on several routes are still higher than this time last year. Reportedly, airfares on certain routes saw a significant rise after cash-strapped Go First stopped flying on May 3. The routes include Delhi-Srinagar and Delhi-Pune. Also, the reduction of capacity due to the Go First crisis has come at a time when the peak domestic air travel period is around the corner. The ET report noted that the supply side struggled to keep up with the demand as some other carriers also grounded planes due to late engine deliveries. 

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) decision to keep the repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent has brought cheers to home loan borrowers. This is the second instance when the central bank paused the rate hike, signalling interest rates are stabilising. For an existing home loan, a pause in repo rate will not impact equated monthly instalments (EMIs), but if someone has a floating rate loan, they can avail the benefit from the rate pause. However, the best for the home loan borrowers is yet to come when the regulator will start cutting the rate. The real estate sector also hails the RBI's rate pause decision. According to analysts, the call to maintain the rate at 6.5 per cent is a positive development that will support the housing sector's continued growth. To combat surging inflation, the RBI since May 2022 has increased the repo rate by 250 basis points (bps).

TECH

In a shocking claim, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has said that the Indian government pressurised the micro-blogging platform to ‘block’ many accounts during farmer protests and even threatened to close its offices, and raid the homes of employees if Twitter did not comply. In an interview with a YouTube news channel Breaking Points, Dorsey claimed that Twitter received many requests to block accounts covering farmers’ protests, and journalists critical of the government. 

Amazon Prime Lite membership which is cheaper than the original Amazon Prime membership has been launched for users in India. Unlike Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Lite will come with fewer benefits. This subscription tier was earlier available for only select users in the country, but now, it has been made available for all users.

WhatsApp users may be soon able to send video messages to their friends and family members. The feature is being tested, according to a report by WhatsApp beta tester WABetaInfo, and the feature would let users send short videos of up to 60 seconds with their contacts on the messaging platform. The Meta-owned company has started testing the ability to send messages in beta for both iOS and Android users.

SCIENCE & HEALTH

Earth takes 24 hours on an average to complete one rotation about its axis. Oftentimes, 24 hours seem less when one has a lot of tasks to complete. However, if we lived in the past, it would have been more difficult. This is because there was a time when Earth had 19-hour long days for a billion years, a new study, published June 12 in the journal Nature Geoscience, says. In the mid-Proterozoic era, Earth's day length was equal to about 19 hours due to tidal phenomena. The Proterozoic era was the period of Earth's history that began 2.5 billion years ago and ended 543 million years ago. The study says that the day length was equal to about 19 hours for about one billion years during the mid-Proterozoic. The reason why the day length was shorter was because the Moon was closer to Earth. 

The gas between stars and galaxies in the early universe was opaque, but one billion years after the Big Bang, these stars emitted enough light to heat and ionise the gas around them. This caused the gas to become completely transparent, marking the end of "reionization", and resulting in a clear universe. The Epoch of Reionization was an era which occurred more than 13 billion years ago, when the gas between galaxies, which was opaque to energetic light, was ionised and cleared, making it possible to observe young galaxies. James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) has proved that the light emitted by stars in young galaxies heated and ionised the gas between them, and cleared the view for the world. The Epoch of Reionization lasted for about 600 million years. Webb's findings appear in three papers in The Astrophysical Journal. 

A flying gecko species has been newly identified in Mizoram. Named the Mizoram parachute gecko, or Gekko mizoramensis, the species is one of 14 gecko species known to be able to fly. The newest member of the world's oldest group of lizards, geckos, unravels the hidden and underappreciated biodiversity of northeast India. The study describing the Mizoram parachute gecko was recently published in the journal Salamandra. The new species will encourage greater efforts to document the wildlife of northeast India. The authors noted in the study that the new species, Gekko mizoramensis, is most similar to its sister species Gekko popaensis. There are discrete differences in morphology and colour patterns between the two species. Gekko mizoramensis is separated from Gekko popaensis by the Arakan Hill Range, which may be a biogeographic barrier for the species.

ENTERTAINMENT

Adipurush, the much-anticipated and talked about movie by Om Raut, opened in theatres on Friday. The Prabhas, Kriti Sanon, Saif Ali Khan, Sunny Singh, and Devdatta Nage-starring movie has drawn a lot of flak online for its awkward VFX and dialogue. In the case of Hanuman, many people thought that the conversations seemed far too casual and overly simplistic and would harm the audience's feelings.

 Salman Khan is all set to host 'Bigg Boss OTT 2' which will begin streaming on Jio Cinema from Saturday night. Quite similar to the reality TV show but only on an OTT format, 'Bigg Boss OTT 2' premiere has begun. Salman Khan will be announcing all of the contestants on the show. The actor will also be joined by panelists- Ajay Jadeja, Sunny Leone, Pooja Bhatt and MC Stan.

Shah Rukh Khan was in Dubai on Tuesday for a promotional event of a real estate brand that belonged to his friend where he made heads turn in an all-black ensemble that included a black coat, shirt and trousers. After the event, he interacted with a few guests and fans. What caught everyone's attention was an overexcited fan who kissed him on the cheek. A video showing this has gone viral and netizens seem to be upset with this.