News Dabba for 5 January 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 Amazon planning to cut over 18,000 jobs, SC staying HC directions on removal of encroachments in Haldwani, to 11 Covid variants found in 124 international passengers in 11 days.

BBC reports Amazon to axe 18,000 jobs as it cuts costs

Amazon plans to cut more than 18,000 jobs, the largest number in the firm's history. A BBC report says that  most of the job losses will come from its shops including Amazon Fresh and Go and its human resources division. The report further says that the online giant which employs 1.5 million people globally, did not say which country the job cuts would be, but said they would include Europe. He said the announcement had been brought forward due to one of the firm's employees leaking the cuts externally. Read the full report here.

The Hindu: SC stays HC directions on removal of encroachments in Haldwani

The Hindu reported that the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a December 20 direction of the Uttarakhand High Court to Railways and the district administration to use paramilitary forces to evict thousands of poor families occupying railway land in Haldwani district within a week. A Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and A. S. Oka remarked that some of these people have been living on the land for 50 to 70 years and cannot be evicted within a week. The report also mentions that the court said the issue has a “human angle”.  The rights of the families on the land have to be examined. Even those who have no rights, but living there for years, need to be rehabilitated, it said. Read the full report here.

Arab News on UN to hold emergency meeting on Israeli visit to holy site

The UN Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on Thursday at the request of the Palestinians and other Islamic and non-Islamic nations to protest the visit of an ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister to a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site. Arab News reports that the demand to an end to Israeli extremist provocations and respect for the historic status quo at the site revered by Muslims and Jews was also put forth. Israel’s new National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a West Bank settler leader, on Tueday visited the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, Arabic for the Noble Sanctuary. The Palestinian UN ambassador, Riyad Mansour, told reporters Wednesday after meetings with Arab ambassadors, representatives of the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the 120-member Nonaligned Movement and others that there is not only widespread condemnation of Ben-Gvir’s visit. Read the full report here.

11 Covid variants found in 124 international passengers in 11 days, NDTV

About 124 international passengers have tested positive for COVID-19 after they were screened on their arrival in India over the last 11 days, official sources have said. NDTV reported that 19, 227 passengers arriving in India from other countries were screened between December 23 and January 3 at airports, seaports and land ports. These passengers were found to be infected with 11 various sub-variants of Omicron, sources say. Read the full report here. 

The Quint's report: What Kashmiri Journalist’s Release Means for Press Freedom

The Quint's report on Thursday talks about the release of Manan Gulzar, a 25-year-old Kashmiri photojournalist from Srinagar who was arrested last year by the National Investigative Agency (NIA) and what it could mean for press freedom. He was arrested as part of a sweeping crackdown in the aftermath of civilian killings that rattled Srinagar city in October 2021. Around two dozen individuals that the security agencies alleged were conspiring “physically as well as in cyberspace to undertake violent terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir” were arrested following the spate of targeted killings. The report says that the chargesheet against Manan and 24 others arrested in the conspiracy case was filed in April last year. Manan’s imprisonment had since drawn sharp responses from Global Rights watchdogs like Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Read the full report here.