News Dabba for 10 January 2025: 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 SC staying action on well near Sambhal Masjid, AMU bomb threat, to LA wildfire updates.

AMU receives bomb threat mail, security arrangements intensified: The Hindu

Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) received a threat email "to blow up the campus", following which the security arrangements have been intensified, police said on Friday. As per a report by The Hindu, Superintendent of Police (City) Mrigank Shekhar Pathak said that checking at all sensitive areas in and around the campus has been ongoing since last evening all top varsity officials including the Vice Chancellor received the email. The authorities are "not taking any chances" on this threat, Pathak said. The police and university authorities are maintaining a strict vigil in all crowded areas, including the Maulana Azad library, the report says. Read the full report here.

SC stays action on well near Sambhal Masjid, Indian Express

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the execution of a ‘notice’ purportedly issued by Sambhal municipal authorities regarding a well situated near the disputed Shahi Jama Masjid in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district, Indian Express reports, and sought a status report in two weeks. The Uttar Pradesh government, meanwhile, told the court that the well is situated on government land. The court was hearing an application filed by the management committee of the masjid. A survey of the mosque had sparked violence in Sambhal that led to five people being killed. Read the full report here.

The Straits Times: China in contact with WHO on respiratory diseases

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Friday that it had maintained close communication with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on respiratory diseases, when asked about the rising cases of the human metapneumovirus (HMPV) in China, The Straits Times reports. The Chinese government takes the health of its people and that of foreign nationals in China seriously, but the HMPV is not a new virus and has been circulating in humans for more than 60 years, Guo Jiakun, a foreign ministry spokesperson, said at a regular press conference. China's Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said HMPV cases remained at high levels. Read the full report here.

NDTV on critically endangered Indian Pangolin rescued near LoC in Rajouri

The Indian Army and the Wildlife Protection Department rescued an Indian Pangolin, a critically endangered species, from a forest near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said on Friday, NDTV reports. The Indian Pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) is listed as a Schedule-I animal under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and is categorised as critically endangered in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is a rare and elusive species, the report mentions, highly sought after in the grey market (animal trafficking) due to its hard body scales, which are considered very precious, they said. Read the full report here.

LA fire chief warns of further destruction from high winds, BBC reports

Wildfires in Los Angeles have killed at least 10 people, BBC reports, as officials warn more high winds could further fan the flames. Five fives are still burning and a man has been detained on suspicion of starting the latest. But the local fire chief tells the BBC there is currently no "conclusive evidence" that the wildfires were started deliberately. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna says it has not been safe to reach many of the hardest-hit areas, with some expecting the death toll to rise, the report says. Read the full report here.