News Dabba for 27 June 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 CBI arresting two from Patna in NEET-UG case, Arundhati Roy winning PEN Pinter Prize 2024, to Nato allies' struggle to agree on long-term funding for Ukraine.

Arundhati Roy wins PEN Pinter Prize 2024, Hindustan Times

Arundhati Roy has been awarded the PEN Pinter Prize 2024, an annual award set up in 2009 by English PEN in memory of Nobel laureate playwright Harold Pinter. Hindustan Times reports that Roy will receive the award in a ceremony co-hosted by the British Library on October 10. She will also deliver an address. The prize is awarded annually to a writer of outstanding literary merit resident in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland or the Commonwealth, who in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel Prize in Literature speech, casts an ‘unflinching, unswerving’ gaze upon the world and shows a ‘fierce intellectual determination … to define the real truth of our lives and our societies’. As per the report, the jury said, "her powerful voice is not to be silenced." Read the full report here.

CBI arrests two from Patna in NEET-UG case: Indian Express

Indian Express reports that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which has taken over the NEET-UG paper ‘leak’ case from Bihar’s Economic Offences Unit (EOU), Thursday arrested two people from Patna. The two had allegedly made arrangements for accommodation for NEET-UG examinees on May 4, a day before the exam – the same day they allegedly memorised the solved paper. The report says that four examinees are among 13 accused in the case, besides five more arrests made later. The CBI arrested Manish Prakash from Patna for allegedly arranging accommodation on the request of one Ashutosh Kumar, who was also arrested later from the state capital. Read the full report here.

The Wire: Two Muslim men in Assam's Nagaon shot dead by forest guards

Two Muslim brothers were killed in Assam’s Nagaon district on Saturday, June 22, when a forest guard opened fire at them after they allegedly tried to enter the Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary illegally. The Wire reports that the deceased – Samaruddin (35) and Abdul Jalil (40) – were residents of Dhingbari Chapari village of the Nagaon district. While the police describe it as a case of a forest guard firing at them in “self-defence”, there are allegations from civil society organisations which term it a “fake encounter”. Read the full report here.

Bolivian police arrest leader of apparent coup attempt, BBC reports

Bolivian police have arrested the leader of an apparent attempted coup, hours after the presidential palace in La Paz was stormed by soldiers, BBC reports. Hundreds of troops and armoured vehicles had taken up position on Murillo Square where key government buildings are located. One armoured vehicle smashed down the main gate of the presidential palace, allowing soldiers to enter. They all later withdrew. The rebel military leader in charge, Gen Juan José Zúñiga, had said he wanted to "restructure democracy", the report says. Read the full report here.

The Straits Times on Nato allies' struggle to agree on long-term funding for Ukraine

Several Nato allies are baulking at committing to a specific multi-year spending pledge on military aid for Ukraine that is aimed at giving Kyiv more predictability over the long term. The Straits Times reports that despite early enthusiasm for Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg’s proposal – where allies would spend at least €40 billion per year on lethal and non-lethal aid for Ukraine – nations are now at loggerheads over how to make the spending commitment work for future years, according to people familiar with the Nato discussions. The allies won’t have any problem hitting the €40 billion target in 2024 – the US alone will surpass that with its supplemental package of US$60 billion for Ukraine. Read the full report here.