The Week's Biggest Stories
Final verdict: The Supreme Court reserved its judgement in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case after hearing arguments from all the concerned parties. The concluding day of the marathon hearing was marked by drama when Rajeev Dhavan, a senior counsel for the Muslim parties, tore a pictorial map provided by the Hindu Mahasabha purportedly showing the exact birthplace of Ram in Ayodhya. Meanwhile, the Sunni Waqf Board, one of the Muslim parties in the land dispute case, made a compromise offer to the Hindu parties through the mediation panel. Replying to the offer, a statement issued by other Muslim parties questioned the impartiality and integrity of the mediation panel, and emphasised settlement is out of question.
FATF blacklist: Pakistan has escaped for another four months the ‘Black List’ of the global terror watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), but has been severely indicted for failing to deliver on most of its 27 targets and not putting a stop to terror financing. The country's Ministry of Finance in a statement said Pakistan's delegation at the FATF reaffirmed its political commitment to fully implement the action plan.
'Great new deal': Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced what he said was a "great new deal" for Britain to leave the European Union, as leaders gathered in Brussels for talks. Giving their unanimous backing to Johnson, the European Union leaders said that the onus was now on him to get the approval of the British Parliament.
PMC bank crisis: In yet another shocking incident, an account-holder with the scam-hit Punjab and Maharashtra (PMC) Bank died of a heart attack in Mumbai, making it the fourth death of a depositor over the last week. With people dying every day, the Supreme Court refused to hear a plea filed on behalf of account holders in PMC Bank, which has been put under restrictions by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) following the discovery of a Rs 4,355-crore scam.
Brief respite: Turkey has agreed to a ceasefire to allow the Kurdish forces it was battling to safely withdraw from an area in northern Syria, a deal that came after US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met in Ankara for talks. However, the agreement essentially gives the Turks what they had sought to achieve with their military operation in the first place, removal of the Kurdish forces from the border "safe zone".
Nobel laureate: Indian-American Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer jointly won the 2019 Nobel Economics Prize "for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”. Addressing the ailing Indian economy, Banerjee said the Indian banking sector is facing a huge, deep-rooted crisis that requires immediate attention. Speaking in context of scam-hit PMC Bank and the emerging problems in the banking sector, he said this problem could be used as an opportunity to sell off country’s ailing banks.
Amit Shah exclusive: In a comprehensive interview to News18 Network Group Editor-in-Chief Rahul Joshi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke on a wide range of issues: the economic slowdown, the upcoming elections in Maharashtra, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam and Bharat Ratna to VD Savarkar.
In the net: The CBI filed a charge sheet before a Delhi court Friday in the INX Media corruption case accusing former finance minister P Chidambaram, and others, including bureaucrats of causing loss to the exchequer by allegedly committing offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. In the INX Media money laundering case, a Delhi court sent Chidambaram for custodial interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) till October 24 "to facilitate proper investigation in the case to reach a logical end".
'Poor to very poor': The national capital's air quality fluctuated between "poor" and "very poor" categories, and was expected to decline sharply over the weekend owing to changing weather and "significant" stubble burning. However, nearly 40 percent spike in the number of stubble burning incidents has been registered Delhi’s neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab over the past one month, compared to the same period last year, which is seen as the reason for deteriorating air quality.
Google Pixel 4: Google on Tuesday announced the new completely wire-free Pixel Buds, new Nest Mini and Nest Wi-Fi devices, and of course the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones. However, much to the chagrin of Indian customers, the new smartphones will not be launched here as it comprises radar technology.
On Reel
India is deliberating potential censorship on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. At present, India's existing legal and regulatory frameworks do not allow moderation of content on online platforms. Watch to know more.
Curated and compiled by Karan Anand
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