Top news of the day: Several feared trapped in Bengaluru building collapse; Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee suspended after smashing glass bottle during heated exchange at Waqf Bill meeting, and more

Several workers feared trapped in Bengaluru building collapse; Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee suspended after smashing glass bottle during heated exchange at Waqf Bill meeting, and more in The Hindu’s top news of October 22, 2024.

An under-construction building collapsed in Babusapalya near Hennur in Bengaluru on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) following incessant rains, trapping as many as 17 labourers. So far, six people have been rescued and an operation is underway to rescue the others trapped under the debris.

TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was suspended from the Joint Committee meeting on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 on Tuesday (October 22, 2024), after he reportedly broke a glass bottle during an argument with BJP MPs. Reportedly, Mr. Banerjee smashed a glass water bottle and threw it away during a heated exchange of words with BJP’s Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the eve of the BRICS summit that he wanted peace in Ukraine and that New Delhi was ready to help achieve a truce to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two. Mr. Putin, who ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022, wants the BRICS summit to showcase the rising clout of the non-Western world after the United States and its European and Asian allies tried to isolate Russia over the war.

A day after the Foreign Secretary announced that India and China have reached an agreement on patrolling and disengagement in Eastern Ladakh, Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi sounded a cautionary note stressing that they are trying to “restore trust” and “reassure each other” and once that is restored other stages — disengagement, de-escalation and normal management of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) — will follow through. Meanwhile, China on Tuesday confirmed that it has reached an agreement with India to end the standoff between the two armies in eastern Ladakh. “Over a recent period, China and India have been in close communication through diplomatic and military channels on issues related to the China-India border,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing in Beijing.

A well-marked low-pressure area over the Bay of Bengal intensified into a depression on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) morning as it rolled towards the eastern coast with the likelihood of turning into a severe cyclonic storm, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. In its bulletin, the IMD said the well-marked low-pressure area over the east-central Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards, concentrated into a depression and lay centred at 730 km southeast of Paradip in Odisha and 770 km south-southeast of Sagar island in West Bengal around 5.30 a.m.

Nearly 50 domestic and international flights of Indian carriers received bomb threats on Tuesday (October 22, 2024), taking the total number of flights that have received the threats since Monday (October 21, 2024) night to around 80, according to sources. The sources in the know said 13 flights each of Air India and IndiGo, over 12 flights of Akasa Air and 11 flights of Vistara received the threats on Tuesday (October 22, 2024). On Monday night, 10 flights each of Air India, IndiGo and Vistara had received the threats, with three Jeddah-bound IndiGo flights getting diverted to airports in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (October 22, 2024) reserved its verdict on pleas challenging the Allahabad High Court judgment, which declared the 2004 Uttar Pradesh law on madrasas as unconstitutional on the ground of it being violative of the principle of secularism. A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) D. Y. Chandrachud and Justices J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard a battery of lawyers on behalf of eight petitioners besides Additional Solicitor General K.M. Natraj for the Uttar Pradesh government for almost two days before reserving the verdict.