News Dabba for 31 May 2023: 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 mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar on June 1, the beginning of the salvage operation to stop a catastrophic oil spill off Yemen, to Filipinos demanding the right to divorce.

The Hindu: Naresh Tikait announces mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar on June 1

The Hindu reported that BKU leader Naresh Tikait said a 'mahapanchayat' will be held in Muzaffarnagar's Soram village on Thursday, June 1 to discuss the ongoing protest by wrestlers against WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment charges. Tikait, the head of Balyan khap, on Tuesday night said the matter will be discussed in detail in the mahapanchayat. Some of India's best wrestlers accompanied by hundreds of supporters had gathered on the banks of the Ganga in Haridwar on Tuesday, threatening to immerse their World and Olympic medals in the holy river. The report adds that but they refrained after being convinced by Khap and farmer leaders who sought five days to address their grievances. On May 28, the Delhi Police had detained the wrestlers and filed FIRs against them for violation of law and order. Read the full report here.

BBC on UN's salvage operation to stop catastrophic oil spill off Yemen

The United Nations has started an operation to remove 1.1 million barrels of oil from a decaying supertanker moored off Yemen's Red Sea coast, BBC reports. A salvage vessel with a crew of experts reached the FSO Safer on Tuesday. They will undertake work to make it secure for oil to be transferred to another tanker, Nautica, which is due to sail from Djibouti next month. BBC reports that there is an imminent risk that the Safer could explode or break apart, causing an environmental catastrophe. Read the full report here.

Gyanvapi case to continue in court: NDTV reports

NDTV reports that the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea from the mosque committee challenging the maintainability of a civil suit filed by Hindu women worshippers seeking the right to worship inside the Gyanvapi mosque complex in Varanasi. The court's decision allows the case to continue in a local Varanasi court. The Anjuman Intezamia Masjid (AIM) Committee and the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Waqf Board had petitioned the high court to dismiss the case. The report adds they argued that it is not maintainable under the Places of Worship Act of 1991 and the Central Waqf Act of 1995. Read the full report here.

Tamil Nadu CM requests Centre to resume Chennai-Tokyo direct flight, Hindustan Times

Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin requested Centre to reintroduce the direct flight connectivity between Tokyo and Chennai. Hindustan Times reports that he also demanded that the government should increase the number of flights between Singapore and Madurai. He is returning home on Wednesday from his 9-day trip to Singapore and Japan. The Tamil Nadu government has signed more than a dozen Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Japan and Singapore during Stalin’s visit, the report adds. Read the full report here.

Filipinos demand right to divorce: A report by The Straits Times

The Philippines is the only place outside the Vatican where divorce is outlawed. The Straits Times reports on this issue, saying that those in favour of legalising divorce say the ban makes it difficult to escape violent or otherwise abusive spouses, or even for couples to amicably cut ties. People wanting to end their marriage can ask a court for an annulment or a declaration that the nuptials were invalid from the start. But the report adds that the government can appeal against those decisions. Read the full report here.