The big news: Sushma Swaraj calls Pakistan’s sentence to Jadhav murder, and nine other top stories
In other headlines: An Amnesty report said China carried out the most executions in the world in 2016, and petrol pumps have called for Sundays off from May 14.
A look at the headlines right now:
- Pakistan’s death penalty for Kulbhushan Jadhav is an act of premeditated murder, says Sushma Swaraj: The minister warned Islamabad of how the decision would affect its ties with India as there was ‘no evidence of any wrongdoing’ by the former Navy officer.
- China remained top executioner, India carried out zero death penalties in 2016, says Amnesty report: Last year saw a near 37% drop in the number of executions carried out annually worldwide – 1,032 in 23 countries from 1,634 in 25 countries.
- Petrol pumps to remain shut on Sundays from May 14 unless Centre meets dealers’ demands: A consortium of 53,000 fuel bunk operators is also considering cutting back working hours to a one-time shift of eight to nine hours.
- United Airlines drags passenger out of an overbooked flight, social media outraged: The airlines apologised for the ‘overbook situation’, but not for the incident.
- Pulitzer Prizes announced, Colson Whitehead wins fiction award, The New York Times gets three for journalism: The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy and The Miami Herald were honoured for explanatory reporting for their Panama Papers scoop.
- A lion and a bear, the last surviving animals of a Mosul zoo, flown out of Iraq: Simba, the male lion, and Lula, the female bear, have been taken to Jordan by the Four Paws International, an animal welfare group.
- Even uttering ‘talaq’ 300 times will not materialise into a divorce, says AIMPLB vice president: Dr Maulana Syed Kalbe Sadiq said an amendment in the Muslim rule was the ‘need of the hour’.
- It was an indefensible slip on my part, Tarun Vijay says about ‘black South Indians’ remark: The word ‘black’ was not used in reference to any other state – it was, like we say in Hindi – people of all colours are around us, said the BJP leader.
- Man opens fire in California school, kills wife, a student and then himself: One more student was injured in the incident that took place in a classroom which had 15 children with special needs.
- Lok Sabha passes amendments to Motor Vehicles Act that includes heavy fines for traffic violators: Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Bill seeks to save lives, crack down on fake driving licences and bring in transparency to the sector.