Daily Bulletin: ICJ verdict in Kulbhushan Jadhav case likely today; SC to pass order on rebel Karnataka MLAs’ resignations; day's top stories

Kulbhushan Jadhav case: India hopes for relief as ICJ set to deliver verdict today The verdict in the Kulbushan Jadhav case is set to be announced by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday. The judgment carries significant weight as far as India’s bilateral ties with Pakistan are concerned. [caption id=“attachment_4435745” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Kulbhushan Jadhav. News18[/caption] The ICJ’s rulings are obligatory, but its verdicts have not always been accepted by the member states. Hence, irrespective of the court’s decision, the resolution of the Jadhav case depends on the evolving dynamics of the India-Pakistan relationship. With a vulnerable economy, each passing day weakens Pakistan’s bargaining position. Whatever be the ICJ’s ruling on the Jadhav case, Pakistan can demonstrate its sincerity as far as improving ties with India is concerned, by ordering the release of Jadhav. Pakistan’s military courts had charged Jadhav with terrorism and espionage in 2017. He was sentenced to death in April that year, which was endorsed by Chief of Army Staff Qamar Bajwa. But Jadhav’s execution was stayed after India approached the ICJ for mediation. India challenged the Pakistani court’s ability to pass a judgment, maintaining that Pakistan violated the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations as Pakistan did not allow consular access to Jadhav. Pakistan countered India’s allegations at ICJ regarding the relevance of the Vienna Convention. The primary argument of Pakistan is that since Jadhav is an Indian spy who illegally entered Pakistan, he was not entitled to receive consular access. 13 dead, several feared trapped after building collapses in Dongri in Mumbai as rescue operations continue today At least 13 people were killed after a four-storey residential building collapsed around noon in south Mumbai’s congested Dongri area on Tuesday, trapping over 40 people under the debris. The site of the building crash in south Mumbai’s congested Dongri area was crowded and chaotic as hundreds of onlookers created hurdles in the rescue operation even as NDRF and civic personnel attacked the rubble with bare hands to reach survivors.

Mumbai: Death toll rises to 13 in the Kesarbhai building collapse incident in Dongri, which occurred yesterday. Search and rescue operation is still underway. pic.twitter.com/5AAq15qX4z

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2019

The Kesarbai building was located in a bustling narrow lane in Tandel Street of the Dongri area in south Mumbai, Maharashtra housing minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said. Some part of the building was left standing after the collapse. The narrow road leading to the ill-fated four-storeyed building meant National Disaster Relief Force jawans could not get earth-moving equipment near the rubble, leaving them with no option but to carry out the search-and-rescue operation manually. The rescue work is expected to get prolonged because of this, a NDRF official at the site said. Onlookers crowding the site and lanes leading to it threw up problems of quick evacuation of the injured to ambulances and onward to hospitals, an official said. Several people in the area were also seen lending a helping hand or trying to stay out of the way of those officially tasked with bringing out those trapped. Karnataka crisis: SC reserves order in rebel MLAs’ case for today at 10.30 am The Supreme Court on Tuesday reserved its order in the rebel Karnataka MLAs’ resignations for Wednesday at 10.30 am, after holding a hearing in the case that lasted several hours. The Chief Justice-headed bench will pronounce the order on the petition of 15 dissident MLAs of Congress and JD(S) seeking a direction to Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to accept their resignation and not proceed with the application for their disqualification. It needs to be noted that the trust vote for the HD Kumaraswamy government in Karnataka is likely to be held on Thursday. A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi concluded the hearings of the rebel MLAs, the Speaker and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday. Summing up the arguments, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the 15 MLAs, sought that the interim order directing the Speaker to maintain status quo on the issue of resignations and disqualification of the MLAs be continued The counsel for the rebel MLAs also asked the bench that if the House assembles for business, the 15 rebel MLAs be exempted from appearing on the basis of the whip of the ruling coalition which, he said, has been reduced to a minority government. Floods in Assam, Bihar claim 55 lives, over 70 lakh people affected; red alert sounded in Kerala The flood fury continued in Bihar and Assam on Wednesday with the death toll in the region mounting to 55, even as a red alert was sounded in Kerala after the weather office predicted extremely heavy rains in the state. Heavy rains continued to lash Punjab and Haryana in the north, while the national capital received light showers for the second consecutive day. An India Meteorological Department (IMD) bulletin said extremely heavy rains, over 204 mm rains in 24 hours, are likely in six districts of Kerala. In flood-hit Bihar, 33 people have so far been killed in flash floods and 25.71 lakh people affected in 16 districts. According to officials, unusual torrential rainfall in catchment areas in Nepal and subsequent massive discharge of water in rivers led to flash floods in Bihar where more than one lakh people have been moved to safer areas. With over 150 anti-poaching camps in the Kaziranga National Park affected by the Assam floods, the authorities are working round-the-clock to check poaching at the UNESCO World Heritage site. According to Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) report, Brahmaputra river and its tributaries are flowing above the danger level in most of the affected districts, including in Guwahati DHFL lenders willing to take haircuts as part of debt restructuring plan Lenders to  Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) are prepared to accept limited haircuts as part of a debt restructuring plan being worked out for the troubled firm, said sources involved in talks to Reuters. The country’s fourth-largest housing finance company, which warned on Saturday that its financial situation was grim and business had ground to a halt, met with lenders and other debt holders last week to discuss the contours of the rescue package. Sources at banks, mutual funds and the company told Reuters efforts were being made to arrive at a consensus and sign off on the plan that is set to be formally submitted by the firm to its lenders later this week. “Even if we must end up taking say around a 20 percent haircut on the commercial loan part of the book which is big, it is still manageable,” a banker who attended the meeting said. The banker and other sources asked not to be named as they have not been authorised to discuss the matter with media. Microsoft to allow third-party voice assistants in Windows 10 In the next update, Windows 10 is opening up to third-party voice assistants like Amazon’s Alexa. The September update will allow Alexa to be integrated into the lock screen and activate using wake words such as “Alexa”. Although it isn’t clear how it works, the Windows 10 Amazon app enabled the Alexa wake word that could later be used in other applications. Hope to wrap up Dabangg 3 by September end: Arbaaz Khan Actor-filmmaker Arbaaz Khan says his next production Dabangg 3 is shaping up well and the shooting of the film will be completed by September end. Arbaaz had turned producer with 2010 blockbuster film Dabangg, featuring his superstar brother Salman Khan as a small-town cop, Chulbul Pandey. The filming of the third installment touted as a prequel, is currently underway.​