While you were away: Top stories to bring you up to date

Wall collapse kills 22 people in Rajasthan, ICJ to hear Kulbhushan Jadhav case on May 15, and Yogi Adityanath wants to meet BJP MLA after he threatens to skin cops alive. Here’s a list of top stories to bring you up to date.

22 dead, several injured as wall collapses in Bharatpur, Rajasthan

People and police at the site of the wall collapse in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur.(HT Photo)

At least 22 people were killed and several others injured as a wall of a building used for wedding ceremonies collapsed amid heavy storm in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur on Wednesday, a police official said. A marriage function was going on in the building when the storm hit the area, the police said.

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International Court of Justice to hear Jadhav case on Monday; Pakistan says will review its jurisdiction

The International Court of Justice, which has stayed the death sentence of Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by Pakistan, will hold public hearings in the case on Monday. “The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by India,” the ICJ said in a release. Pakistan’s civilian government said it will review ICJ’s jurisdiction in the case but the Pakistani army appeared defiant. Pakistani military spokesman Asif Ghafoor said it will respond at an “appropriate level” to any query by the ICJ on Jadhav.

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‘Ummer was a brilliant student; he wasn’t scared’: Family and friends remember Kashmiri army officer killed by militants

Ummer Fayaz’s body was found at Harmain Chowk in Shopian on Wednesday morning, hours after he was abducted by masked assailants from the marriage venue of his cousin in an adjacent village. “My son was born in 1994, and was about to turn just 23 in a few weeks. He was a very good boy, my only one...” said Fayaz Ahmed, his father, before breaking down. Then he lapsed into silence, tears still streaming down his face, even as his relatives pitched in to narrate the story of the deceased soldier’s life.

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Debate on social media: Kashmiris divided on army officer’s killing

Several social media users in Kashmir, where militancy has support among sections of society, have criticised the killing of a young local army officer Lieutenant Ummer Fayaz after he was allegedly abducted by militants from the wedding ceremony of a cousin. “I do not think it was a right decision to kill an army officer, who was unarmed, and had come home to attend a marriage function. He was not a combatant. He was not fighting a war, neither he had done anything which was against the people’s cause,” wrote a local journalist on Facebook.

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Indian workers ‘held captive’ by company in Saudi Arabia, embassy intervenes

A group of Indian workers have been “held captive” by a company in Saudi Arabia over salary-related disputes, prompting the Indian embassy in the gulf country to make efforts for their repatriation. The embassy intervened in the matter after Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik sought help from external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and the Prime Minister’s Office.

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West Bengal cadre IAS officer Sanjay Mitra to be next defence secretary

The government on Wednesday approved the appointment of West Bengal cadre and 1982 batch officer Sanjay Mitra as the next defence secretary of the country. He will get a fixed tenure of two years as the defence secretary. Mitra, who was holding the charge of secretary in the ministry of road transport and highways till now, has been appointed officer-on-special-duty in the defence ministry and will assume charge on May 24 when incumbent G Mohan Kumar retires.

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After BJP MLA Agarwal threatens to skin cops alive, Yogi calls him to Lucknow

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday asked belligerent BJP MLA Radha Mohan Das Agarwal to meet him Lucknow shortly after he warned senior police officials that they would be ‘skinned alive’ if they failed to take action against woman IPS officer Charu Nigam for violating service rules. Agarwal had drawn flak after he was caught on camera berating Nigam during a agitation by women against unlicensed wine shops on Sunday.

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‘Blasphemy on internet is a punishable offence’: Millions of Pakistanis get warning text messages

Millions of Pakistanis have been receiving text messages from the government warning them against sharing “blasphemous” content online, a move rights activists said would encourage more vigilante attacks. It comes amid a surge in mob violence linked to accusations of insulting Islam including three attacks within the past month. “Uploading & sharing of blasphemous content on Internet is a punishable offence under the law. Such content should be reported on info@pta.gov.pk for legal action,” read the SMS.

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Iran elections: Ayatollah Khamenei says troublemakers in election will be ‘slapped’

Iran’s supreme leader warned Wednesday that anyone trying to foment unrest around the upcoming presidential election “will definitely be slapped in the face” — a sign authorities want to avoid a repetition of the violence that followed the country’s disputed 2009 poll. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came as the country’s intelligence minister said his agents already disrupted one plot to cause disruptions.

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Israeli TV news host can’t hold back tears as she announces end of longest running show

With an emotional signoff, Israel’s longest running TV news programme aired its last episode on Tuesday after a sudden cancellation following a political battle with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Choking back tears, Channel 1 News anchor Geula Even announced that the broadcast would be its last. The programme’s staff turned out for a tearful send-off and sang the national anthem.

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Opinion: Sexual violence against women in riots and other mass crimes is being ‘normalised’

We live in a social regime where women are seen as an embodiment of men’s izzat (honour). Attacking ‘their women’ then becomes the undoing of the whole community. The pattern of sexual violence one sees during pogroms is a part of what Paul Brass would call the “institutionalised riot system” through which violence in produced and re-produced. One needs to pay attention to the spirit behind the transgressions that becomes the driving force in the hypermasculinity towards women.

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Shreyas Iyer’s knock carries Delhi Daredevils to win vs Gujarat Lions in IPL

A scintillating 96 by Shreyas Iyer helped Delhi Daredevils maintain their winning record against Gujarat Lions in the Indian Premier League as they beat the hosts by two wickets with two balls to spare at Kanpur on Wednesday.

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