News Dabba for 19 July 2024: 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 Microsoft worldwide outage, Bangladesh students protest, to UPSC's case against Puja Khedkar.

UPSC files FIR against Puja Khedkar, Indian Express reports

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) said on Friday it has registered a First Information Report (FIR) against IAS probationer Puja Khedkar for allegedly “faking her identity to fraudulently avail attempts beyond permissible limit”. Indian Express reports that the Commission has also issued her a show cause notice for the cancellation of her selection and debarment from future examinations. Khedkar, 32, who joined Pune Collectorate as part of her probationary training in June 2024, is also facing allegations of misusing the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Persons With Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) quotas to clear the UPSE Civil Services Examination, the report adds. UPSC said it had conducted an investigation and found that Khedkar had violated rules. Read the full report here.

BBC's live updates on Microsoft outage

Major IT outages have hit industries across the world, BBC reports. Almost 1,400 flights are cancelled and banking, healthcare and shops affected. Cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike has said that a "defect" in one of its software updates hit Windows operating systems. "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," the firm said in a statement, as per the report. Read the full report here.

India Today: Air India relief flight on way to Russia to rescue stranded passengers

A day after making an emergency landing in Russia, Air India on Friday stated that it is operating a relief flight from Mumbai to fly US-bound flight passengers who were stranded at Krasnoyarsk International Airport (KJA), India Today reports.After getting the regulatory clearance, Air India's relief flight has departed from Mumbai and will reach Russia's Krasnoyarsk International Airport at 8 pm today, the airline stated, as per the report. The San Francisco-bound Air India flight from Delhi was diverted to Russia on Thursday after the crew detected a potential issue in the cargo hold area. Read the full report here.

EU Commission head pledges ‘defence union’ as she wins vote for second term, The Straits Times

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was elected for a second term on Thursday, The Straits Times reports, after pledging to create a continental “defence union” and to stay the course on Europe’s green transition while cushioning its burden on industry. Members of the European Parliament backed Dr von der Leyen’s bid for another five-year term at the helm of the European Union’s powerful executive body. She had 401 votes in her favour and 284 against in a secret ballot in the 720-member chamber. After pledging to support Ukraine for as long as it takes in its fight against Russia, Dr von der Leyen said Europe’s liberty is at stake and it must invest more in defence. Read the full report here.

Hindustan Times on MEA advisory as Bangladesh students quota protest kills 39 people

The ministry of externals affairs (MEA) on Friday requested Indians in Bangladesh to follow the advisory issued by the high commission of India in Dhaka urging people to stay indoors amid a nationwide strike against the government’s job quota system. The high commission and the assistant high commissions are available for any help required by the Indian nationals in Bangladesh on the helpline numbers, the report said, as per MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal's social media post on X. Indian citizens in Bangladesh have been advised to stay indoors and avoid any unwanted travels by the High Commission. Read the full report here.