We’re building a brand-new studio to bring you bold ground reports, sharp interviews, hard-hitting podcasts, explainers and more. Support Scroll’s studio fund today.

The Union government has told the Supreme Court that it cannot do much more to prevent Yemen from executing Malayali nurse Nimisha Priya. Her execution is reportedly scheduled for Wednesday.

“Looking at the sensitivity of Yemen...it’s not diplomatically recognised...blood money is a private negotiation,” Attorney General R Venkataramani told the court. Yemen has been locked in a civil war since 2014.

Under Islamic Sharia law, there is a provision for release if the victim’s family accepts “blood money”, or the amount paid in compensation to the family of a person who has been killed. Besides, New Delhi does not recognise the Houthi regime that controls the part of Yemen where Priya is jailed.

Hailing from Kerala’s Palakkad, Priya was imprisoned in Yemen for the alleged murder of Yemeni citizen Talal Abdo Mehdi in July 2017. In 2020, Priya was sentenced to death by a trial court in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. On December 30, news reports claimed that Rashad al-Alimi, the chairperson of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, had approved the sentence. Read on.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that relations between India and China were “steadily improving” and called for the continued normalisation of ties. He is in China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation foreign ministers’ meeting.

During a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng, Jaishankar highlighted that the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra was widely appreciated in India and added that “continued normalisation of our ties can produce mutually beneficial outcomes”.

This is Jaishankar’s first visit to China since the skirmishes of 2020, when border tensions between the two countries had escalated. Read on.

An Indore-based cartoonist, Hemant Malviya, has agreed to delete his social media post that depicts Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in a purportedly “undignified” manner.

On July 3, the Madhya Pradesh High Court denied anticipatory bail to Malviya, stating that he had “clearly overstepped” the limits of free speech. Malviya had challenged this order in the Supreme Court.

After the top court remarked that his social media post was immature and inflammatory, Malviya agreed to issue a statement saying he was not endorsing the allegedly objectionable comments made by amending his original caricature. Read on.

Why MP High Court ordered a cartoonist to be arrested for lampooning Modi and RSS

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah scaled the fence of Srinagar’s Martyrs’ cemetery to pay tribute to the 22 civilians who were shot dead by the forces of Dogra ruler Hari Singh in 1931. This came a day after the police confined political leaders, including Abdullah, inside their homes to prevent them from visiting the cemetery on Kashmir Martyrs’ Day.

Abdullah alleged that the restrictions on Sunday were imposed on the “clear instructions” of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha. “The unelected nominees of New Delhi locked up the elected representatives of the people of J&K,” he said in a social media post.

July 13, marked as Martyrs’ Day to honour the 22 civilians, was dropped as a public holiday after the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government in August 2019 abrogated Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. Several regional parties in the Union Territory have been demanding the resumption of the official ceremony to commemorate the day. Read on.

President Droupadi Murmu has appointed new governors for Haryana and Goa and a new lieutenant governor for Ladakh. Kavinder Gupta, the former deputy chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir will take over as the lieutenant governor of Ladakh, stated the President’s Secretariat.

Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju, a Telugu Desam Party leader has been appointed as the governor of Goa, while Ashim Kumar Ghosh has been named as the governor of Haryana. Read on.

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Daily Brief newsletter.