This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.
It’s the 9th of July and here are today's headlines.
Worli Police today arrested Mihir Shah, son of CM Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader Rajesh Shah, who was absconding for three days after he allegedly mowed down a woman with his speeding BMW. The accused hit a 45-year-old victim in Worli while driving a BMW car around and was suspected to have consumed alcohol at Global Tapas Bar. The speeding BMW car owned by the Shinde Sena leader rammed into a two-wheeler on which she was travelling and dragged her on the bonnet for nearly two kilometres before flinging her on the road, in Mumbai on Sunday morning, police said.
In light of the subdued showers, the India Meteorological Department has downgraded the red alert and now sounded a yellow alert in Mumbai which is slated to remain in place until tomorrow morning. The weather department has indicated that the city may witness heavy rainfall in isolated pockets today. While no warning has been issued in Mumbai till tomorrow, a yellow alert has been sounded again between Thursday and Saturday.
In another indication that he intends to continue playing an active role in the BJD, party chief Naveen Patnaik has removed all state-level office-bearers of the BJD and got himself a first-ever ‘political secretary’. The removal of leaders across state units was done by Patnaik hours after he had attended the Rath Yatra in Puri. An order signed by the former chief minister said that the new officer-bearers will be appointed soon. The choice of the political secretary also sent a message, with Patnaik picking a former corporate executive who joined the BJD before the elections – and lost – Santrupt Misra.
Describing Russia as a trusted ally and all-weather friend at a community event in Moscow this morning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the opening of two new Indian consulates in the country — in Kazan and Yekaterinburg — to enhance travel and trade. On a two-day visit to Russia, PM Modi hailed President Vladimir Putin‘s leadership in strengthening the bilateral relationship over the past two decades during his address to the Indian diaspora. Meanwhile, Russia has broadly heeded to India’s call to end the recruitment of Indians as support staff to the Russian military and ensure the return of those still operating in the force, according to top sources.
As Modi met Putin in Moscow, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Tuesday expressed "huge disappointment", calling it a "devastating blow to peace efforts". Speaking about an attack on a children's hospital in the capital Kyiv, Zelenskyy wrote on X, quote, "It is a huge disappointment and a devastating blow to peace efforts to see the leader of the world's largest democracy hug the world's most bloody criminal in Moscow on such a day," Unquote.
This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.
