Morning Digest: Law Ministry puts draft Bill to amend Advocates Act on hold; meeting between Centre, Punjab’s protesting farmers remain inconclusive, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on February 23, 2025

The Union Law Ministry on Saturday (February 22, 2025) announced that it would bring in a new draft Bill to amend the Advocates Act after receiving public feedback on the existing draft Bill. The Ministry, proposing to amend the Advocates Act by making sweeping changes in the definitions of what a legal practitioner and a law graduate mean, had put the draft The Advocates (Amendment) Bill, 2025, on its website for public feedback and comments.

Even as groups of farmers in Punjab have been protesting for over a year for their demands, including a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, their meeting with the Union government on Saturday in Chandigarh remained inconclusive. Another round of meetings between the two sides will be held on March 19 in Chandigarh to continue the deliberations.

Pope Francis was in critical condition on Saturday (February 22, 2025) after he suffered a long asthmatic respiratory crisis that required high flows of oxygen, the Vatican said. The 88-year-old Francis, who has been hospitalised for a week with a complex lung infection, also received blood transfusions after tests showed a condition associated with anemia, the Vatican said in a late update.

A knife attack on Saturday (February 22, 2025) in eastern France left one person dead and at least two others wounded, authorities said, in violence labelled as Islamic extremism by President Emmanuel Macron. A 37-year-old Algerian man was arrested, prosecutors said. The attack occurred in the French city of Mulhouse near a covered canal-side market. The area borders Germany and Switzerland.

On Saturday (February 22, 2025), following the Governor’s appeal, people of the Kuki-Zomi community in Churachandpur district surrendered 16 looted and illegal weapons. The weapons, including AK rifles, under-barrel grenade launchers and gelatine sticks, were surrendered with the joint efforts of Assam Rifles, State intelligence agencies, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Manipur Police.

Eight persons were trapped 14 km inside an under-construction tunnel of the Srisailam Left Bank Canal project after a part of its roof collapsed on Saturday morning in Nagarkurnool district of Telangana.

A man armed with a pistol and carrying zip ties entered a Pennsylvania hospital’s intensive care unit on Saturday (February 22, 2025) and took staff members hostage before he was killed by police in a shootout that also left an officer dead, authorities said.