Daily News Dose: Ukraine sees room for compromise as 20,000 escape Mariupol | March 16, 2022

Hello listener, this is your daily dose of news from Onmanorama. I'm your host, Vishnu, and these are the major news stories of the day:

1. Ukraine sees room for compromise as 20,000 escape Mariupol

2. KSU woman leader, 3 others injured in SFI attack at the Thiruvananthapuram Law College 

3. DYFI leader AA Rahim is CPM's candidate in Rajya Sabha polls, Congress too likely to consider youngsters

4. Police seize Rs4.4 crore unaccounted cash from vehicle in Malappuram

5. India lose to England by 4 wickets in the ICC Women's World Cup

Let’s get into the details.

1) Ukraine said it saw possible room for compromise in talks with Russia despite Moscow's continuing bombardment of Kyiv and new assaults on the port city of Mariupol, from where an estimated 20,000 civilians managed to flee through a humanitarian corridor. The fast-moving developments on the diplomatic front and on the ground came as Russia's invasion neared the three-week mark and the number of Ukrainians who have left the country amid Europe's heaviest fighting since World War 2 eclipsed 3 million. After delegations from Ukraine and Russia met on Tuesday via video conferencing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia's demands were becoming more realistic.

2) Three Kerala Students Union activists, including a woman, and a Students Federation of India activist were injured in clashes at the Government Law College in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday night. 

Video footage of the incident shows KSU's Safna Yakub being thrashed by a group of SFI members. The injured have been admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. Talking to reporters on Wednesday, Safna said the clash occurred shortly after KSU celebrated its victory in the college union elections. Meanwhile, Congress MLA Shafi Parambil said such vile acts of SFI goons must be stopped immediately. He also promised to raise the issue both inside and outside the Assembly.

3) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to field A A Rahim as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections. The decision was taken by the party's state committee on Wednesday. Rahim is a member of the CPM state committee and the national president of its youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India. Similarly, the Congress party too is likely to name a young candidate for the lone seat it is certain to win. M Liju and Satheeshan Pacheni appear to be the front-runners for the ticket. V T Balram, who is the vice-president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, is also in the reckoning. 

4) Police recovered Rs4.4 crore from a hidden compartment of a vehicle during an inspection along the Valanchery-Pattambi stretch in Malappuram on Tuesday morning. This is apparently the biggest seizure of unaccounted cash in Kerala.

A vehicle check was launched on the spot following a tip-off by the district police chief. The passengers P Hamza of Vengara and Fahad of A R Nagar were taken into custody, while the vehicle was impounded. District police chief said the money was being smuggled from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu to Vengara in Malappuram. Over the past week, the total amount of unaccounted money seized from Malappuram had touched Rs9 crore.

5) An inconsistent India paid the price for a shoddy batting effort as England infused new life into their title defence with a four-wicket win in the league-stage game of the ICC Women's World Cup cricket on Wednesday. The Indian batting lineup was bundled out for a meagre 134 by England, who chased it down in just 31.2 overs to record their first win in the tournament after a hattrick of defeats. Despite the defeat, India cling on to their third spot in the 8-team standings. 

Now, let’s check out the covid update

6) India on Monday logged 2,876 new cases, pushing the overall tally to 4,29,98,938, while the active cases dipped to 32,811.

The death toll climbed to 5,16,072 with 98 more fatalities, according to the Union Health Ministry.

While the daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.38 per cent, the weekly positivity rate stood at 0.44%.

That brings us to the end of this episode. Be sure to come back tomorrow. As always, thanks for listening to Daily News Dose.