News Dabba for 9 February 2023: Five stories for a balanced news diet

Indie Journal brings you the daily updates that the internet is talking about through various news websites. Here's a glance through some of the National and International news updates, from Pakistan seeking IMF bailout, Kharge questions deletion of his remarks in Parliament from records, to Turkiye-Syria quake death toll rising to 16,000.

BBC on Pakistan seeking IMF bailout to stave off economic collapse

Pakistan is holding last-ditch talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to secure help to stem a deepening economic crisis that has all but emptied its foreign exchange reserves, BBC reports. It has enough dollars to cover less than a month of imports at normal levels and is struggling to service sky-high levels of foreign debt. The report adds that an IMF team is due to leave the country on Thursday after 10 days of talks with the government aimed at unlocking vital international funds. In January annual inflation soared to over 27 percent, the highest its been in Pakistan since 1975. Read the full report here.

Kharge questions why his remarks in Parliament were deleted from records, NDTV reports

Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday asked Rajya Sabha chairperson, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, why parts of his speech on Prime Minister Narendra Modi were scrubbed from parliament records, NDTV reports. The report says this comes a day after similar action against party leader Rahul Gandhi. Dhankhar tried to placate the Congress chief saying, "Chairman is the ultimate defender of the Leader of the Opposition." The deletion of Rahul Gandhi's remarks - which means they cannot be reproduced in any form by the media - has triggered a major controversy, with the opposition accusing the government of censoring its statements in parliament. Read the full report here.

Al Jazeera's live updates on Turkiye-Syria earthquake: Death toll tops 16,000

The death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquakes has passed 16,000. As per Al Jazeera reports, at least 12,873 people have died in Turkiye, while at least 3,162 have been killed in Syria. Hopes of finding survivors are quickly fading and residents of southeastern Turkiye and northwestern Syria are criticising what they call slow search and rescue efforts, the report adds. Amid the freezing cold, rescue workers are still pulling people out alive from the rubble, as search operations continue for a fourth day. Read the full report here.

The Hindu: BSF firing pushes back Pak drone spotted near border in Punjab’s Gurdaspur

A Pakistani drone was spotted close to the International Border in the Gurdaspur district of Punjab, a BSF official said on Thursday. The Hindu reports that the unmanned aerial vehicle flew back to Pakistan after the Border Security Force troops fired at it.  The drone was spotted near Adia border outpost in Gurdaspur at around 9:40 pm on Wednesday, said the official, as per the report. The BSF troops fired 16 rounds at the Pakistani drone and also used an illumination bomb, said the official. Read the full report here.

What happened to your data on Aarogya Setu? An Indian Express report

Contact tracing data of citizens that were collected through the Aarogya Setu app has been deleted and the feature disabled, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar has told Parliament. Indian Express today wrote a report on what happened to the data collected on the app that was launched as a contact tracing platform by the Centre during the first wave of Covid-19 in 2020. It has faced at least two lawsuits over the government’s insistence that it be mandatory for visiting key institutions like airports. The report says While it served as a contact tracing app, it collected personal details like a person’s name, phone number and gender, along with having access to their live location and Bluetooth. Read the full report here.