News Dabba for 28 March 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 Arvind Kejriwal's address in Delhi HC, Baltimore bridge collapse update, to UN report in starvation in Gaza.

CBI closes corruption case involving Praful Patel as ‘Mahayuti’ readies for polls, The Wire reports

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has closed a corruption case involving Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) leader Praful Patel registered in 2017, The Wire reports. The CBI in May 2017, on the orders of the Supreme Court, registered a case against officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Air India to probe allegations of irregularities in leasing aircraft for Air India. The report adds that after investigating the case for around seven years, the CBI has closed the investigation, giving a clean chit to Praful Patel and then officials of MoCA and Air India. The closure report has been filed before the competent court in March 2024. On February 15, the NCP led by breakaway Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, said it would field Patel for the Rajya Sabha elections. Read the full report here.

Arvind Kejriwal slams ED's 31,000-page report in Delhi Court, Hindustan Times

Hindustan Times reports that Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal addressed the court himself while appearing before the Rouse Avenue Court bench on Wednesday. He has alleged that he has been arrested without any proof or allegations against him. Kejriwal ripped into the Enforcement Directorate, the report says, slamming the 31,000 page report filed by the agency in the Delhi excise policy case. The Delhi CM was arrested in relation with the Delhi excise policy case, where ED dubbed him the “kingpin” of the entire alleged scam. Read the full report here.

Ship pilot called for tugboat help before ploughing into Baltimore bridge: The Straits Times

The pilot of the cargo freighter that knocked down a highway bridge into Baltimore Harbour had radioed for tugboat help and reported a power loss minutes earlier, The Straits Times reports as per the information given by federal safety officials, citing audio from the ship’s “black box” data recorder. The head of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also said that Francis Scott Key Bridge, a traffic artery over the harbour built in 1976, lacked structural engineering redundancies common to newer spans, making it more vulnerable to a catastrophic collapse. New insights into the fatal disaster emerged a day after the massive Singapore-flagged container ship Dali sailing out of Baltimore Harbour bound for Sri Lanka reported losing power and the ability to manoeuvre before ploughing into a support pylon of the bridge, the report adds. The impact brought most of the bridge tumbling into the mouth of the Patapsco River almost immediately. Read the full report here.

Indian Express on 600 lawyers' letter to CJI

A group of lawyers have written to Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud “expressing… deepest concern” about the actions of a “vested interest group” which they alleged “is trying to pressure the judiciary, influence judicial process and defame… courts on the basis of frivolous logic and stale political agendas”. Indian Express reports that the signatories, numbering around 600, claimed that “this heated interest group operates in various ways. They create false narratives of a supposed ‘better past’ and ‘golden period’ of the courts, contrasting it with the happenings in the present. The letter added that the group “have also concocted an entire theory of ‘bench fixing’ – which is not just disrespectful and contemptuous” but “an attack on the honour and dignity of our courts”, the report adds. Read the full report here.

Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBC

After months of warnings, a recent UN-backed report offered hard statistical evidence that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is turning into a man-made famine. BBC reports that it has increased the pressure on Israel to fulfil its legal responsibilities to protect Palestinian civilians, and to allow adequate supplies of humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it. The UN's most senior human rights official, Volker Türk, said in a BBC interview that Israel bore significant blame, and that there was a "plausible" case that Israel was using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Türk, who is the UN high commissioner for human rights, said that if intent was proven, that would amount to a war crime. Read the full report here.