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December 24, 2023 02:00 pm | Updated 03:23 pm IST
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Australians Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc broke all record at the Indian Premier League 2024 auction in Dubai (Left), Flash flood water in Ramanathapuram district of South Tamil Nadu on December 23 (Centre), Opposition MPs, who were suspended from the Parliament for the remainder of the Winter Session, protest in Parliament (Right)
Tensions have been escalating between the Opposition and the government as 146 members of the Opposition were suspended from both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha from December 14 to December 21 for the remainder of the 2023 Winter Session of Parliament, a figure unprecedented in the history of Parliament.
In both the Houses, Opposition MPs were protesting last week’s security breach in Parliament, demanding a statement from the Home Minister Amit Shah and a detailed discussion on the breach. BJP leaders were incensed that the protestors carried placards showing pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The below chart shows the list of suspended MPs and the parties they belong to.
After the suspension, only 42 MPs belonging to the INDIA bloc parties, which are opposing the BJP on a common platform, still remain in the Lok Sabha. In the Rajya Sabha, almost 50% of the Opposition strength has been depleted.
Normal life was paralysed in the southern districts of Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi and Kanniyakumari as overnight historic rains and flooding lashed the region on December 18. A massive rescue and relief operation is on with the help of defence forces to evacuate people from marooned homes in the districts, which have been cut off from the rest of Tamil Nadu.
Though the Regional Meteorological Centre had predicted extremely heavy rainfall – over 21 cm – in some areas, over 40 cm of rainfall was recorded in many places across southern Tamil Nadu, which was unprecedented. For instance, Kayalpattinam in Thoothukudi recorded 94.6 cm of rainfall in 24 hours – the amount it normally receives in a year.
The Tamil Nadu government said it had sought help from the armed forces in the relief and rescue efforts that were under way in full swing. Electricity supply was cut off in many places and mobile networks were down.
Freak weather dumped widespread, unprecedented extremely heavy rain in 39 places in southern districts. An upper air circulation dumping such a mind-boggling amount of rain in 24 hours was rare in the region, meteorology experts said.
“With climate change, we have to prepare for such extreme rainfall events in southern peninsular region during the north-east monsoon,” S. Balachandran, Additional Director General of Meteorology, Chennai said.
As per the daily information gathered by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), the total number of Palestinians killed in Gaza, since the beginning of hostilities on October 7 this year, has surpassed the 20,000-mark as shown in the updated statistics below. Out of the 20,057 killed, over 8000 of them have been children and around 6200 were women. Over 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and over 3,800 Palestinians in West Bank have been wounded since October 7.
Also read | Hamas calls for probe into ‘executions’ blamed on Israel
Ever since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel, over 1,338 Israelis have lost their lives, and an additional 6,171 have been wounded. While over 60% of the housing infrastructure in Gaza has been partially or completely destroyed, it is reported that around 55% of the Gazans report severe hunger. And an additional 31% report moderate hunger.
As of the hostilities in the Gaza Strip on December 22, 2023, heavy Israeli bombardments from air, land, and sea, continued across most of the strip while intense fighting continued between the Israeli army and the Palestinian armed groups in most areas except the southernmost governorate of Rafah, according to UNOCHA. Firing of rockets into Israel by the Palestinian armed groups continued as well.
Also read | War pushing Gaza to famine, UN warns
UNOCHA also reported that 92 truckloads of supplies were allowed to enter Gaza on December 22, 2023 from two crossings. This is still below 25% of the daily supplies that were coming in prior to October 7. Tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians continue to face overcrowded conditions inside and outside the shelters.
Less than 25% of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are functional as of December 22, 2023.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) Player Auction — held in Dubai on December 19 — saw records being tumbled after Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins were picked up for record-breaking prices, making the Australian duo the most expensive signings in the history of the league. In total, 72 players worth 230.45 crore rupees were snapped up by 10 teams.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc became the most expensive player ever to be sold at the IPL Auction when the Kolkata Knight Riders acquired the pacer’s services for Rs. 24.75 crore. Pat Cummins fetched the second-best bid, going to Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs. 20.50 crore.
The franchises also spent a whopping amount on uncapped Indian players. While Chennai Super Kings picked 20-year-old Sameer Rizvi for ₹8.40 crore, Delhi Capitals bought 19-year-old uncapped Jharkhand wicket-keeper Kumar Kushagra for ₹7.20 crore. Rajasthan Royals spent ₹5.80 crore to get uncapped batter Shubham Dubey. Shardul Thakur’s homecoming to Chepauk was greeted with loud cheers.
Foreign nationals were among at least 14 killed after a student opened fire at a university in Prague, authorities said on Friday. More than 20 others were also wounded in one of the Czech Republic’s worst mass shootings. The bloodshed took place on Thursday in the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the shooter was a student, Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said. The gunman also died, authorities said. His name has not been released.
Vondrasek said police believe the gunman killed his father earlier on Thursday in his hometown of Hostoun, just west of Prague, and that he had also been planning to kill himself. He didn’t elaborate. The chief described the shooter as an excellent student with no criminal record, but didn’t provide any other information.
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