A look at the headlines today:
1. Delhi schools might reopen today
The Delhi government had on Friday decided to shut all schools till Tuesday after a Supreme Court mandated panel declared a public health emergency in the Delhi-NCR region in the wake of rising level of pollution. The schools are set to be reopened today. As the pollution level in the region entered the "severe plus" category", the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority banned construction activity till November 5 and bursting of crackers during the winter season. The blanket of haze over Delhi thickened on Friday morning with the national capital's pollution levels increasing overnight. An AQI between 0-50 is considered 'good', 51-100 'satisfactory', 101-200 'moderate', 201-300 'poor', 301-400 'very poor' and 401-500 'severe'. Above 500 falls in the 'severe-plus emergency' category. In an earlier tweet, Kejriwal said Delhi has turned into a "gas chamber" due to smoke arising out of crop burning in Punjab and Haryana.
2. Navy gears up for relief ops as Cyclone Maha approaches Gujarat coast
As Cyclone Maha over East-Central Arabian Sea intensified into an 'Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm', the Navy said its western command has prepared for humanitarian and disaster relief (HADR) operations along the Gujarat and north Maharashtra coast. Four warships of the Western Naval Command have been loaded with HADR materials like food packets, water, medical supplies and other essential commodities. Naval units of Gujarat Naval Area are ready with emergency response teams equipped with underwater diving equipment and inflatable boats. Additionally, naval aircraft and helicopters are also on standby, it said. Naval authorities in Gujarat are in constant liaison with civil authorities to ensure seamless coordination, it added. Maha is expected to make landfall near Veraval by tonight with winds up to 35-40 knots.
3. Delhi High Court to hear petition on lawyer-police clash
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Bar Council of India and other bar associations in the national capital in connection with a series of clashes between a group of lawyers and policemen at Tis Hazari Courts. The HC issued notice on a petition filed by the Centre urging that the order for no coercive action against advocates, passed on Sunday following the clash, should not be applicable on the subsequent incidents. Some of the lawyers associations also approached the high court seeking ban on the media from showing videos of the recent incidents saying they could worsen the situation. The court, however, refused to pass an interim order and posted the matter for further hearing on Wednesday.
4. Supreme Court summons chief secretaries of Delhi, neighbour states
The Supreme Court has summoned Delhi Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Dev today, saying there cannot be a large-scale exodus due to scientific data pointing out that life span of people is being reduced because of severe pollution in the region. The apex court, which also summoned the chief secretaries of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh today, said every year a "piquant situation" of severe pollution arises in the region for substantial period and the Delhi government, civic bodies and other state governments concerned are not performing their duties as enjoined upon them. "This is blatant and grave violation of right to life of the sizeable population by all these actions and the scientific data which has been pointed out indicates that life span of the people is being reduced by this kind of pollution which is being created and that people are being advised not to come back to Delhi or to leave the Delhi due to severe pollution condition which has been created," a bench comprising justices Arun Mishra and Deepak Gupta said.
5. Asian Shooting Championships: Deepak bags India's 10th Olympic quota in shooting, Manu Bhaker also wins gold
Birthday boy Deepak Kumar secured India's 10th Olympic quota in shooting while Manu Bhaker claimed the women's 10m air pistol gold medal in the 14th Asian Championship on Tuesday. Deepak gifted himself a bronze medal in men's 10m air rifle on the opening day of the championship. The Jakarta Asian Games silver medallist shot 227.8 in the eight-man final to finish third on the podium and add to India's quotas for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Later in the day, 17-year-old Bhaker shot 244.3 to win the top prize in her event. The Haryana sensation, though, had already secured an Olympic quota at the Munich World Cup in May. China's Qian wang and Ranxin Jiang won the silver and bronze respectively in Bhaker's event. The other Indian competing in the event, Yashaswini Singh Deshwal finished sixth in the final. The third Indian in the fray, Annu Raj Singh shot 569 for a 20th place finish. The Indian trio claimed the team bronze with a total of 1731, behind Korea and China respectively.
6. China Open: Satwik notches up twin wins
World Champion P.V. Sindhu suffered a shock defeat to lower-ranked Pai Yu Po of Chinese Taipei in the opening round to be ousted but India's doubles campaign was off to a good start in the USD 700,000 China Open here on Tuesday. World No.6 Sindhu, who made early exits in China, Korea and Denmark, lost 13-21 21-18 19-21 to world No.42 Pai in a 74-minute women's singles match here. However, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy gave the Indian camp reason to be cheerful with twin victories in the men's and mixed doubles categories. Thailand Open champions Satwik and Chirag Shetty, who had reached the French Open finals last month, defeated the American pair of Phillip Chew and Ryan Chew 21-9 21-15 to set up a second-round meeting with sixth seeds Japanese Hiroyuki Endo and Yuta Watanabe.
7. ISIS-K attempted suicide attack in India last year, says US official
The Khorasan group of the IS or the ISIS-K, which operates in south Asia, last year attempted a suicide attack in India, a top American official told lawmakers. In fact, of all the branches of the IS, ISIS-K is the outfit that is of the most concern to the US, Russel Travers, Acting Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of Director of National Intelligence, said on Tuesday. "Of all of the branches and networks of ISI, ISIS-K is certainly one of those of most concern, probably in the neighbourhood of 4,000 individuals or so," Travers said in response to a question from Indian-origin Senator Maggie Hassan. "They have attempted to certainly inspire attacks outside of Afghanistan. They attempted last year to conduct a suicide attack in India. It failed," Travers said when Hassan asked about the ability of ISIS-K to carry out terrorist attacks in the region. Hassan had travelled to Afghanistan and Pakistan last month, during which she said she heard firsthand the concerns of the US military about the growing and very real threat of ISIS-K, the IS affiliate in Afghanistan.
