Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi cabinet minister Atishi has challenged the BJP government and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to find any evidence of corruption in the house or bank lockers of arrested AAP leader Sanjay Singh. Atishi stated that despite over 500 ED and agency raids in the last 15 months across the country, no evidence related to the alleged “made up excise policy case” has been found. She suggested that the ruling party may be searching for scapegoats due to the lack of evidence in this matter. Atishi was speaking a day after Sanjay Singh was arrested by ED from his house in connection with his alleged involvement in the Delhi Excise Policy case. Dig deeper

The toll from the flash floods triggered in Sikkim on Wednesday after a glacial lake overflowed following torrential rains has increased to 14 even as continuing rainfall and damaged infrastructure hampered search and rescue operations when it resumed on Thursday morning. Officials said they feared the toll could mount further as 102 people remained missing in the Himalayan state, which remained cut off from the rest of the country. Experts attributed the floods to unusually intense showers and a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the South Lhonak Lake in northwestern Sikkim around 1am. Dig deeper

The Latest News:

Madhya Pradesh government introduces 35% reservation for women in recruitment ahead of the assembly elections. Dig deeper

One person was arrested by the Canadian police for his involvement in the desecration of temples in the country. This marked the first arrest since Aug 12 incident Dig deeper

India News:

Amit Shah on Thursday inaugurateed the 3rd anti-terror conference, and said that the Modi government is committed to oust terrorism Dig deeper

The Allahabad high court on Wednesday paved way for reopening of the Sanjay Gandhi Hospital in Amethi by staying the state government’s order suspending its license Dig deeper

Orange alert in disaster-hit Sikkim, heavy rain warning for West Bengal, parts of Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh and few other states by the IMD Dig deeper

World News:

Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant has begun the release of second batch of its treated and diluted water into the sea, NHK World reported Dig deeper

Forbes releases list of the world’s richest billionaires in 2023; Elon Musk falls to number two, Mukesh Ambani is at 9th spot this year Dig deeper

Sports Goings:

Jyothi Surekha Vennam, Aditi Swami and Parneet Kaur continued India’s stellar show in archery at the Asian Games 2023. They won gold after beating Yi-Hsuan Chen, I-Jou Huang, and Lu-Yun Wang of Chinese Taipei in a pulsating final by one point. This was India’s second gold medal in archery at the 19th Asian Games after the top finish in the mixed team event of compound archery. They have more medals confirmed as three of their archers are in the final of the individual event. The Indian trio had little difficulty in making it to the final. On Thursday, they started off by knocking over Hong Kong China in the quarterfinal and then made light work of Indonesia in the semis. Dig deeper

Health and lifestyle:

Metabolism plays an important role when it comes to nutrient absorption and also losing weight. An optimum metabolism ensures you get benefit of what you consume, and your body is able to efficiently convert food into energy that’s then used for various body functions. Metabolism may become slow as you age, and it also depends on various genetic factors. When your metabolism is slow, you tend to put on weight as the body is unable to burn more calories and fat gets stored. Dietitian Manpreet Kalra shares top foods that can help boost metabolism Dig deeper

That’s all we have at this hour in our afternoon briefing. Catch you in the evening.