The Catch Up: 18 June

This is the Catch Up on 3 Things for the Indian Express and I'm Flora Swain.It’s the 18th of June and here are the top stories of the week.Hearing petitions highlighting the alleged irregularities in this year’s National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (Undergraduate) exams, the Supreme Court today told the Centre and the National Testing Agency that “even if there is 0.001% negligence on the part of anyone, it should be thoroughly dealt with”. The bench said that all these matters ought not to be treated as adversarial litigation. The court also referred to the effort candidates put in to prepare for the exam.Saddam Qureshi, who was among three people allegedly assaulted by a mob in Chhattisgarh’s Raipur while they were transporting cattle, died in hospital today after battling for his life for 10 days. The two others with him died on June 7 – the day of the alleged attack. According to doctors the 23-year-old had been in a coma until his death. Chhattisgarh Police had registered a case of attempted murder and culpable homicide in the case after Qureshi’s relative Shoaib said he had received a frantic call from him while the three were being assaulted.Curfew was imposed in Odisha’s Balasore town late last night following a clash between two communities over suspicion of cow slaughter earlier in the day. Though the administration initially imposed prohibitory orders under CrPC Section 144 in certain pockets of the town, it later decided to impose curfew in the entire town to prevent the situation from escalating. The state government has also ordered suspension of internet services in Balasore town and nearby areas. Additional director general of police, law and order, said 34 people from both communities have been arrested and the number is likely to go up.AAP Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal has written to NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi, the Shiv Sena’s (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray and the Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav seeking appointments with them to discuss the assault she was allegedly subjected to at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s home. All the parties are constituents of the Opposition INDIA bloc. Maliwal also alleged that she had been receiving “multiple rape and death threats” since the AAP started a “smear campaign” against her in “electronic and social media to undermine my reputation, character and credibility”.With 172 nuclear weapons, India is now ahead of Pakistan in the ranking of nuclear-armed countries across the world, according to findings of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the report, India’s nuclear arsenal has seen a slight expansion in a year, growing from 164 warheads in January 2023 to 172 warheads in January this year, placing it 6th among the world’s nuclear-armed states. Pakistan, meanwhile, has recorded no increase in the number of warheads which stood at 170 both in January 2023 and 2024. In the same period, China’s nuclear arsenal has increased significantly from 410 warheads in January 2023 to 500 by January 2024.This was the Catch-Up on the 3 Things by The Indian Express.