News Dabba for 06 September 2023: Five stories for a balanced news diet

Indie Journal brings you the daily updates that the internet is talking about through various news websites. Here's a glance through some of the National and International news updates, from the first meeting of the panel on 'One Nation, One Election', the Editors Guild's plea for protection from arrest, to Russia's Wagner to be declared a terrorist organisation by the UK.

First meeting of panel on 'One Nation, One Election' today, NDTV reports

The first official meeting of the 'One Nation One Election' committee that was formed to examine the policy, is likely to take place today under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind at his residence in the national capital, NDTV reports, as per its sources. The Union Law Ministry on Saturday named eight members to the committee, headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, that will examine the issue of simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha, Assemblies, municipalities and panchayats. Apart from the Chairperson, the committee will include Home Minister Amit Shah, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Finance Commission chairperson NK Singh, senior advocate Harish Salve, former Lok Sabha Secretary General Subhash C Kashyap and former Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjay Kothari, the report mentions. However, Chowdhury has declined to serve on the panel. Read the full report here.

SC to urgently hear Editors Guild's plea for protection from arrest, The Hindu

Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud on Wednesday agreed to urgently hear, within the next few hours, a plea by the Editors Guild of India (EGI) to protect its president and other senior journalists from arrest by the Manipur police. The Hindu reports that making an urgent oral mentioning before the Chief Justice’s Bench, senior advocate Shyam Divan, for the EGI, urged the court to take “emergent steps” to protect the right to free speech and personal liberty of the journalists. He said the EGI had commissioned a fact-finding report to travel to Manipur and investigate complaints about biased reporting by the local media about the ethnic violence in the State. Read the full report here.

Reuters on UK to declare Russia's Wagner a terrorist organisation

The Russian mercenary Wagner Group is set to be proscribed as a terrorist organization by the British government, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. Reuters report says that this will make it illegal to be a member or to support the group. A draft order due to laid before parliament will allow Wagner's assets to be categorised as terrorist property and seized, the ministry said in a statement. Britain's interior minister Suella Braverman described the Wagner Group as "violent and destructive". Read the full report here.

Sonia Gandhi writes letter to PM, raises 9 issues: Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times reports that Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss nine issues during the upcoming special Parliament session later this month. These include those on the prevailing economic situation with focus on price rise and unemployment, recent revelations on the Adani group and the demand for a JPC and the urgent need to conduct a caste census, party leader Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday. In her letter, Gandhi also demanded discussions on the alleged attack on the country’s federal structure, natural disasters in the backdrop of the recent floods in many states, the situation at the India-China border, incidents of communal tension in various parts of the country and the prevailing situation in Manipur, the report adds. Read the full report here.

The Straits Times: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen visits last African ally Eswatini

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen arrived on Tuesday in Eswatini, Taipei’s last African ally, The Straits Times reports. She said the island will continue to confidently engage with the world and show it is a force for good. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory with no right to state-to-state relations, now has formal ties with only 13 countries. The report says almost all are small, less developed nations in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, such as Belize and Nauru. In March, Honduras ended decades of ties with Taiwan. Read the full report here.