Daily Briefing: Messi wraps up India tour today

Chaos marred the Kolkata leg of the event. Chief organiser Satadru Dutta was arrested and sent to 14 days of police custody after angry fans went on a rampage at Salt Lake Stadium. The state government has constituted an inquiry committee, which inspected the stadium on Sunday.

And if you’re heading to the Arun Jaitley Stadium today, don’t forget to read the advisories. In the wake of the Kolkata fiasco, the Delhi Police have significantly tightened security arrangements.

On that note, let’s get to the rest of the edition👇

🚨 Big Story

In a ‘targeted antisemitic attack’, at least two gunmen opened fire at Australia’s famed Bondi Beach in Sydney, where people had gathered for the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, on Sunday. The death toll rose to 15 on Monday morning. Here’s what we know so far:

The suspects: The two gunmen are believed to be father and son. The 50-year-old father was killed at the site, while the 24-year-old son is in critical condition. The police are investigating whether a third gunman was involved. Meanwhile, authorities have said that the casualties could have been higher had a bystander not intervened. A viral clip shows Ahmed al Ahmeda, a fruit seller, tackling a man holding a rifle, before wrenching it from his hands. Ahmed, too, was shot twice in his arms.

Safety scare: The shooting was the latest and most serious in a string of antisemitic attacks in Australia ever since the war began in Gaza in October 2023. It has raised concerns over the safety of the Jewish population in Australia. Though the diaspora is small, it is deeply embedded in the wider community. Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar blamed the Australian government for failing to curb antisemitic attacks in the country.

Questions: Mass shooting events are rare in Australia, and Sunday’s incident is the worst since 1996, when a gunman killed 35 people at a tourist site in Tasmania. It has put Australia’s gun control under scrutiny. Though the government had introduced strict laws on firearm ownership after the 1996 horror, experts have lately warned of complacency and loopholes in the system.

⚡Only in Express

The contentious Sahyog portal, a central tool in India’s online censorship framework, was introduced in October 2024. In the one year since, the government issued more than 2,300 blocking orders to 19 online platforms, including WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram, to remove allegedly offensive or unlawful posts or accounts. WhatsApp received the most blocking orders. Here’s what data accessed by The Indian Express through an RTI application shows.

📰 From the Front Page

Top dawg: The BJP appointed Bihar Cabinet Minister Nitin Nabin as the party’s national working president. Nabin could take over the reins from the party’s national president, J P Nadda, in January. This marks a generational shift in the party’s leadership, as Nabin is the youngest-ever to hold the post.

Friends? Prashant Kishor’s electoral foray in Bihar ended in disaster, with the Jan Suraaj Party failing to win a single seat. Now, he appears to be turning over a new leaf — possibly with old allies. A recent meeting between Kishor and Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi has sparked considerable buzz, coming three years after his falling out with the Congress.

📌 Must Read

In the name of law: What happens when judges face increased scrutiny? Should past judgements be overruled? Should the government have veto power in judicial appointments? Justice Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai, who recently retired as the 52nd Chief Justice of India (CJI), answers all these and more at the latest Idea Exchange session. Read.

Hit & miss: The Union Cabinet has approved the Sabka Bima Sabki Raksha (Amendment of Insurance Laws) Bill, 2025, paving the way for its introduction in Parliament. The Bill proposes changes to three laws governing insurance providers in India with the aim of modernisation, wider coverage and stronger regulatory oversight. What’s in the Bill and what’s left out? We explain.

Heart health: Indians face greater risks of heart disease than many Western populations. The main culprit? LDL or low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, also known as the “bad cholesterol.” Doctors recommend that LDL levels should be between 55-70 mg/dL for people at high risk. But what happens if LDL becomes too low? Let’s learn.

⏳ And Finally…

You speak, I speak: Much of India’s rich diversity lives in the languages its people speak. This beauty is finding a tender, thoughtful voice in films emerging from the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), the country’s premier mass communication institute. From the Santali film Where Do the Trees Go, which traces a child’s aching separation from his mother, to the Mundari-language A River Colored Red, a growing number of student films are embracing stories told beyond Hindi and English.

🎧 Before you go, don’t forget to tune in to today’s ‘3 Things’ podcast episode, where we sit down with reporter Lalith Kalidas to discuss his recent investigation into the rigged selection system of cricketers in Puducherry.

That’s all for today, folks! Until tomorrow,
Sonal Gupta