Times Top10: Today’s Top News Headlines and Latest News from India & across the World

An earthquake of 6.1 magnitude struck a rural, mountainous area of japanese Afghanistan bordering Pakistan early Wednesday, killing 1,000 individuals and injuring 1,500.

Epicentre

• Pakistan's Meteorological Division stated the quake's epicentre was in Afghanistan's Paktika province, some 50 km southwest of the town of Khost.
• Tremors had been felt some 375 km away within the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Consultants put the depth at simply 10 km — an element that might result in extreme destruction.

Huge problem for Taliban

• The catastrophe posed a serious check for the Taliban-led authorities, which seized energy final 12 months when the US troops withdrew from the conflict ravaged nation following their two-decade-long conflict on terror.
• Rescuers rushed to the world by helicopter on Wednesday, however the response is more likely to be sophisticated since many worldwide support companies left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover.

Deadliest in a long time

• Massive components of South Asia come below a excessive seismic zone as a result of the Indian tectonic plate is pushing north into the Eurasian plate.
• In 2015, a serious earthquake killed over 200 individuals in Afghanistan and neighbouring northern Pakistan. An analogous 6.1 earthquake in 2002 killed about 1,000 individuals within the northern area of the nation.
• And in 1998, a 6.1-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tremors in Afghanistan’s distant northeast killed at the least 4,500 individuals

UN support

• The “response is on its manner,” the UN resident coordinator in Afghanistan, Ramiz Alakbarov, wrote on Twitter.

Breaking his silence over the continuing political disaster in Maharashtra, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday stated he was able to step down from his put up and that he can be joyful if a Shiv Sainik succeeds him as CM.

• Shinde ‘assured’: Insurgent MLA Eknath Shinde, tenting in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the assist of 34 legislators and handed a decision on Wednesday night reinstating himself because the chief of the Shiv Sena legislative occasion, a day after he was faraway from the put up by the Sena management.
• ‘Unnatural alliance’: He additionally stated the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was an “unnatural alliance” and that the Sena should stroll out of the coalition with the NCP and the Congress.
• Rising numbers: 4 extra MLAs from Maharashtra arrived in Gujarat's Surat on Wednesday afternoon, from the place they had been flown to Guwahati in Assam, the place different occasion rebels are tenting.
• The disaster has pushed the two-and-a-half-year previous Sena-led MVA authorities to the brink. The Sena has 55 members within the 288-member Maharashtra Meeting.
• Shifting to ‘Matoshree': Thackeray is leaving ‘Varsha', the official residence of the CM in South Mumbai, and going again to his non-public residence ‘Matoshree' in suburban Bandra, Sena chief Sanjay Raut stated, stressing that he'll keep put as CM.
• Pawar meets CM: NCP president Sharad Pawar known as on Thackeray on Wednesday night, however the particulars of the assembly weren't instantly recognized. Extra particulars right here

In what's seen as the most important financial institution fraud probe by the CBI, the federal company has registered a contemporary case towards erstwhile Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) promoters Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan for allegedly defrauding a consortium of banks led by Union Financial institution of India (UBI) for Rs 34,615 crore.

• Web widens: A crew of over 50 CBI officers carried out coordinated searches at 12 places in Mumbai belonging to the accused.
• Fees: UBI has alleged that the corporate had availed credit score facility to the tune of Rs 42,871 crore between 2010 and 2018 from the consortium below numerous preparations however began defaulting on commitments of reimbursement from Could, 2019 onwards.
• NPAs: The accounts had been declared non-performing property (NPAs) at totally different factors of time by lender banks, officers stated.
• Audit report: UBI claimed that KPMG in its audit red-flagged vital monetary irregularities, diversion of funds, fabrication of books, amongst others.
• Behind bars: Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan had been arrested in Could 2020 and are at the moment in jail within the Sure Financial institution fraud case. In September, Piramal Capital and Housing Finance's (PCHF) had accomplished the acquisition of DHFL for Rs 34,250 crore.

• A forecast: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday made a coverage U-turn forecast concerning the Agnipath scheme saying the Modi authorities can be compelled to roll again the recruitment mannequin for the armed forces because it did within the case of the three farm reforms legal guidelines final 12 months.
• Rahul Gandhi stated, “I had stated about farm legal guidelines that Modi ji must take them again and he did. Now, the Congress is saying Prime Minister Modi must withdraw the Agnipath scheme.”
• A jibe: “They used to speak of One Rank One Pension [OROP], now they've give you ‘no rank, no pension',” he stated.
• A cost: The Congress chief, who's being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged cash laundering case, claimed that the Chinese language military “is sitting on our land…has encroached over 100 kilometres of the Indian territory, a truth the federal government has admitted.”
• An alarm: He linked the Agnipath scheme to the border safety saying, “When there's a conflict, the outcomes of this will probably be evident…they're weakening the military, it would hurt the nation.”
• This got here a day after the three providers chiefs briefed PM Modi on Agnipath, and advised the press that the brand new scheme entailed no change within the present recruitment system and wouldn’t impression their fight capabilities and operational readiness.
• No scheme wapasi, the federal government has stated, arguing that the coverage goals to not “right-size” the armed forces however to decrease their age-profile and improve their total functionality.
• Agnipath, introduced on June 14 – in search of to recruit youths aged 17-and-half-21 years for 4 years – noticed violent protests in a number of components of the nation.

• Rupee rattled: Unabated outflow of overseas funds and losses incurred by the home equities weakened the rupee by 27 paise on Wednesday to a report low of 78.40 towards the US greenback. Nonetheless, foreign exchange commerce watchers pointed to receding crude oil costs within the worldwide markets that restricted a much bigger fall of the rupee.
• American pull: Coverage interventions within the US are serving to the greenback index, which gauges the dollar's energy towards a basket of six currencies, get stronger – on Wednesday it strengthened by 0.05% to 104.48.
• A sworn statement: The brand new low of the rupee has come forward of the US central financial institution’s chairman's testimony to the Congress. Market watchers anticipate the testimony to be a hawkish commentary to spice up the greenback additional.
• Fund outflow: One other issue, a long-term one, adversely affecting the rupee is pullout by the overseas portfolio traders for the previous 9 months. In June itself, overseas traders have pulled out round Rs 38,500 crore.
• Tumbling shares: Market sentiments ended the aid rally on the Indian fairness benchmarks, which returned to the pink zone on Wednesday after two days because the considerations about rate of interest hikes and fears of recession weighed heavy on the minds of the traders.
• Indices: The 30-share BSE Sensex plunged 710 factors or 1.35% to shut at 51,823. NSE Nifty shed 226 factors or 1.44% to settle at 15,413. All of the 15 sector gauges – compiled by NSE – ended within the pink.
• But to flatten: In the meantime, international brokerage agency BofA Securities stated the Indian inventory market indices might hit backside in subsequent two-three months over recession fears and consequent coverage interventions. Extra right here

• Numbers: The BJP-led NDA has shut to five.23 lakh of 10.86 lakh votes within the electoral faculty for the presidential election slated for July 18. It wants about 20,000 extra votes to cross the bulk mark. The selection of Draupadi Murmu, a member of the Santhal tribe from Odisha, seems to have made the duty simpler for the BJP’s marketing campaign managers.
• Help: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has already pledged his BJD’s assist – 31,705 votes – to Murmu. Patnaik, who met Pope Francis on Wednesday in Rome, urged the opposition events to make Murmu a consensus candidate – tantamount to withdrawing Yashwant Sinha, the previous Union minister and an ex-BJP chief, from the competition.
• Fortification: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who has a historical past of not voting for his alliance associate’s candidate within the presidential elections, additionally dedicated his JDU’s votes – 22,769 – to Murmu regardless of his current rumblings towards the BJP. His Andhra Pradesh counterpart YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP, which has 45,800 votes, can also be more likely to assist Murmu.
• Opposition disunity: Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren’s JMM was occasion to asserting Sinha because the opposition candidate. However with Murmu within the contest, Soren is alleged to be reconsidering his resolution. Like Murmu, Soren is a Santhal and has deep household relations in Mayurbhanj, her residence district.
• And, an issue for the Congress in states reminiscent of Chhattisgarh – with tribals comprising over 30% of its inhabitants. Its MLAs would discover it troublesome to vote towards Murmu for a candidate proposed by TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.
• Murmu as presidential candidate, the BJP might need hit the bull’s eye. She might get extra votes from the Northeast state assemblies – in 4 of the states, tribals have 68-95% share in inhabitants.

In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court docket (SC), the Uttar Pradesh (UP) authorities denied that the current demolitions had been towards rioting, claiming that they had been carried out for violations of Uttar Pradesh City Planning and Improvement Act, 1973.

The necessity for clarification

• The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind had in its utility alleged that the demolitions carried out in Kanpur and Prayagraj had been particularly focused at members of the Muslim group for protests towards the derogatory remarks towards Prophet Mohammad made by two BJP spokespersons.
• The SC too, had final week requested the state authorities to not perform any demolitions besides in accordance with the process laid down by legislation and had given the federal government three days time to show that the demolitions had been compliant with procedural and municipal legal guidelines.

Accusing the accuser

• Rebutting the Jamiat’s allegations, the state authorities stated that it had “intentionally obfuscated the true info to color a nefarious image of alleged mala fides on the a part of the Administration, and that too, with out stating any info on affidavit” and had “cherry-picked” the situations cited in its utility.
• The state authorities additionally claimed that each the Kanpur and Prayagraj Improvement Authorities had been autonomous our bodies impartial of the state administration. Submitting copies of present trigger notices that the federal government stated had been served to the property house owners, the state added that the proceedings for the demolition had been initiated a lot “sooner than the riots.”
• Alluding to the SC verdict within the alleged demolitions in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh, whereby the apex courtroom had dominated that solely the affected events may method the courtroom and never any political occasion, the state authorities identified that not one of the affected events within the Kanpur and Prayagraj demolitions had approached the courtroom.

• India’s home air passenger site visitors for final month closed in on the pre-pandemic ranges seen in Could 2019, with nearly 1.21 crore passengers flying throughout all airways collectively. This not solely represents an 11% rise in home air passenger site visitors over the month of April, however can also be only a shade lower than the 1.22 crore passengers who flew in Could 2019.
• By way of market share, Indigo maintained its dominant place with a share of 57.9%, although it was decrease than its market share in April, which stood at 58.3%. Go First was a distant second with a market share of 10.6%, adopted by SpiceJet and Vistara at 9.5% and eight.1% respectively. By way of passenger load issue (PLF), which is a measure of how a lot of an airline’s seating capability was used, SpiceJet led with a PLF of 89.1%, adopted by Go First with a PLF of 86.5%.
• Not one of the airways nonetheless, had a stellar report when it got here to on time efficiency (OTP), with none scoring an OTP of 95% or extra. The perfect was that of AirAsia India, with an OTP of 90.8%, adopted by Vistara at 87.5% and Indigo at 82.5. A majority of the delays — 71% — had been attributable to both late arrival of plane, crew or baggage from earlier journeys.
• The delays additionally proved expensive for airways, which cumulatively forked out over Rs 2.35 crore for his or her tardiness — with SpiceJet being the worst wrongdoer of all, doling out over Rs 1 crore delayed flights. As well as, the airways additionally collectively paid over Rs 1 crore for denial of boarding and cancellation of flights, as per information from the Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation (DGCA).