News Dabba for 27 February 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 railways restoring passenger train fees, ED's 8th summons to Kejriwal, to the names of the four astronauts set to be part of India's first manned space programme.

Railways restore ‘Passenger Train’ fares: The Hindu reports

The Indian Railways on Tuesday restored the Second Class Ordinary Fares on ‘Passenger Trains’ renamed as ‘Express Specials’ or ‘MEMU/DEMU Express’ Trains, The Hindu reports. Post-COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, the Railways had gradually withdrawn ‘Passenger Trains’ by changing their nomenclature. The ‘Ordinary Class’ fares were dispensed with and the minimum cost of ticket was increased from Rs 10 to Rs 30 on par with Express Train fares, the report adds. The Chief Booking Reservation Supervisors were informed that the minimum fare in Second Class Ordinary Trains had been reversed with effect from the wee hours of Tuesday. Read the full report here.

Hindustan Times on ED's 8th summons to Kejriwal

Hindustan Times reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued the eighth summons to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asking him to appear before the agency on March 4 for questioning in the money laundering case related to the alleged irregularities in the now-scrapped 2021-22 Delhi excise policy. The fresh notice was issued a day after Kejriwal skipped the seventh summons. Kejriwal, who was first summoned for questioning in November last year, has maintained the summons are “illegal” and asked ED to withdraw them, the report adds. ED has filed a complaint against Kejriwal for “disobeying” its summons in a Delhi court. Read the full report here.

Biden hopes for ceasefire by next week, BBC reports

US President Joe Biden has said he hopes to have a ceasefire "by next Monday" in the Israel-Gaza war, BBC reports. His comments come amid reports of some progress reached in ongoing negotiations involving Israel and Hamas representatives in Qatar. "My national security adviser tells me that we're close," Biden said. Israel has launched a large-scale air and ground attack in Gaza since October 7. Gaza Health Ministry says that at least 29,878 people have been killed in the territory since then. Read the full report here.

US cautions after Hawaii neighbor Kiribati gets Chinese police, Reuters

The United States on Monday cautioned Pacific Islands nations against assistance from Chinese security forces after Reuters reported that Chinese police are working in the remote atoll nation of Kiribati, a neighbor of Hawaii. Reuters reported that Kiribati's acting police commissioner Eeri Aritiera told Reuters last week uniformed Chinese officers were working with police in community policing and a crime database program. Kiribati is a nation of 115,000 people whose closest island is 2,160 km south of Honolulu. The report says that the news comes as Beijing renews a push to expand security ties in the Pacific Islands in an intensifying rivalry with the United States. Read the full report here.

PM Modi reveals names of 4 astronauts for Gaganyaan mission, Indian Express

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday announced the names of the four astronauts that will fly to low-Earth orbit as part of the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Gaganyaan, which will be the first crewed Indian space mission. Indian Express reports that the PM made the announcement while visiting the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. Group Captain Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair, Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan and Shubanshu Shukla have been selected to be the astronauts on India’s first crewed mission to space.  They are all either wing commanders or group captains in the Indian Air Force (IAF) and have extensive experience working as test pilots. Read the full report here.