Morning Digest | First phase of much-awaited J&K Assembly election begins today; exploding pagers kill at least nine, injure thousands in Lebanon, Syria, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on September 18, 2024

Ending a decade-long wait, the first phase of Assembly election in 24 constituencies in seven districts of Jammu and Kashmir will be held today (September 18, 2024). Multi-tier security arrangements have been put in place for the Assembly election, the first in the Union Territory after the revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 in August 2019.

Hundreds of handheld pagers exploded near simultaneously in parts of Lebanon and Syria, killing at least nine people — including members of the militant group Hezbollah and a young girl — and wounding several thousand, officials said. They pointed the finger at Israel in what appeared to be a sophisticated, remote attack. Among those wounded was Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon. The mysterious incident came amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah

Members of the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front told the Supreme Court that they would “in principle” want to rejoin work after over a month of protests against the brutal rape and murder of their young colleague at the R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata following assurances from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at a meeting, but they were still haunted by a “fear psychosis”. Appearing before a three-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, senior advocate Indira Jaising, for the junior doctors, confided in the courtroom that those responsible behind the “cover-up” about the gruesome crime on August 9 were still “roaming” in the hospital and would subject them to victimisation on rejoining work.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal ended the suspense over his successor by naming 43-year-old Atishi Marlena (now known only by her first name) as the new Delhi Chief Minister. With her elevation to the top post, Ms. Atishi will be third woman Chief Minister of the Union Territory after Sushma Swaraj and Sheila Dikshit.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted important steps taken by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government for the poor, farmers, youth, and women during the first 100 days of its current term. “Today marks 100 days of the NDA government’s current term. In this time, numerous key decisions have been made to benefit the poor, farmers, youth, and to empower women. Among these, the government has committed to build three crore new concrete houses and announced a ₹2 lakh crore package aimed at uplifting the youth,” Mr. Modi said addressing beneficiaries of Subhadra, a newly launched scheme for women in Odisha, at Bhubaneswar.

Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said the two years of Project Cheetah have been challenging, with several hurdles, from habitat adjustments to ensuring the cubs’ survival in the wild, successfully overcome. Mr. Yadav said the project, envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is a globally pioneering effort, symbolising hope for successfully restoring lost wildlife populations and ecosystems.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said his party guarantees the rights of Jammu and Kashmir and will ensure it gets back the status of a full-fledged state. Mr. Kharge also highlighted the party’s promise of free treatment of  ₹25 lakh for every family and a super-specialty hospital in every district. He said this will create a healthy society.