The Evening Wrap: China sanctions Pelosi, cancels key U.S. dialogues over Taiwan row

China on Friday said it would sanction United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for her visit to Taiwan this week, as well as cancel or suspend eight key dialogue mechanisms with the U.S. The measures came as the Chinese military continued for a second day its live-fire drills in six regions surrounding Taiwan. The military exercises, that have effectively blockaded the waters and airspace in the six regions and resulted in major disruptions to shipping and flights to Taiwan, will continue until Sunday. China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said Pelosi had “insisted on visiting China’s Taiwan region” in “disregard of China’s grave concerns and firm opposition”. “In response to Pelosi’s egregious provocation,” a statement said, “China decides to adopt sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family members in accordance with relevant laws of the People’s Republic of China.” The statement did not specify what exactly the sanctions would entail. The visit has also brought wider ramifications for China-U.S. relations. Washington on Friday said it had summoned the Chinese envoy, Qin Gang, and issued a demarche over China’s military exercises, which have for the first time seen the Chinese military fire missiles over Taiwan as well as conduct some drills within 12 nautical miles of the coast. Beijing said it would cancel three key bilateral military dialogue mechanisms and suspend five others. The three cancelled dialogues – a Theatre Commanders meet, Defence Policy Coordination Talks, and talks under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) – underlined further eroding trust between the two militaries and the closure of channels that were designed to increase communication. Beijing said it would also suspend bilateral talks on climate change, as well as put on hold cooperation on the repatriation of illegal immigrants, legal assistance in criminal matters, transnational crimes, and counternarcotics. China’s State media on Friday continued to highlight the military’s exercises, and reported that the PLA had sent an aircraft carrier group featuring at least one nuclear-powered submarine to the drills. Taiwan’s Military of National Defence said it had tracked 13 Chinese naval vessels and 68 PLA aircraft crossing the median line, calling it “highly provocative”. In a televised address, President Tsai Ing-wen described the firing of missiles into “some of the busiest transportation corridors in the world” as “dangerous” and “irresponsible”. China has defended the exercises as a countermeasure to Pelosi’s visit, the most high-level from the U.S. to Taiwan in 25 years, and Chinese analysts have said the exercises were aimed at sending a message to both Taiwan and the U.S. by bringing in a new normal in increased military activity around Taiwan. The drills marked the first firing of conventional missiles over Taiwan as well as aircraft and warships crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait. The exercises, analysts said, had laid the groundwork for future blockades and area denial for foreign warships that might intervene in a future conflict. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China’s military exercises aimed at Taiwan including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone represent a “significant escalation”. Congress MPs stage protest against price rise; Rahul, Priyanka among several leaders detained Wearing black clothes, Congress leaders hit the streets on Friday to protest against price rise and unemployment with a host of them, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, being detained by police amid dramatic standoffs outside Parliament and the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. Congress MPs, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex and then proceeded to take out a march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan as part of the party’s nationwide stir against price rise, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike on essential items and unemployment. The protesting MPs of the opposition party raised slogans against the government demanding that the GST hike on essential items be withdrawn, with party chief Sonia Gandhi standing with the women MPs holding a banner outside gate number 1 of Parliament. The protesters were, however, stopped by the Delhi Police and not allowed to proceed towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the march. The other MPs were detained by police at Vijay Chowk. Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi were among the 64 MPs detained and taken away from Vijay Chowk in a police bus, party sources said. Talking to reporters at Vijay Chowk, Gandhi said, “We are here to raise the issue of price rise.” He also said “democracy is being murdered”. Asked if the MPs were manhandled, he answered in the affirmative. “Our job is to resist these forces, our job is to ensure that democracy in India is protected, our job is to raise the issues of people. We are doing that,” the former Congress chief said. He alleged that some of the party MPs were even “beaten up” by police. Posting pictures from the protest at Vijay Chowk, Gandhi tweeted: “Democracy is a memory.” Earlier, in a tweet in Hindi, he said, “This dictatorial government is scared. From the condition of India, from the back-breaking inflation and historic unemployment, from the ruin brought by his policies, the one who is afraid of the truth threatens those who raise their voice!” Several Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, wore black shirts, black kurtas or black bands on their arms. Also dressed in black, Priyanka Gandhi staged a sit-in protest outside the AICC headquarters. She jumped across the police barricades put up on the road outside the party headquarters and squatted on the road, with the police personnel asking her to move from there as section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is in force in the entire area of New Delhi district except Jantar Mantar. Amid dramatic scenes outside the AICC headquarters, the Congress general secretary was forcibly put in a vehicle by police and taken away. In a video shot inside a police vehicle and shared by the Congress with reporters, Priyanka Gandhi said, “They think that by putting up a show of power, they can silence us and force us into a compromise. Why will we do that?” “Their ministers cannot see the price rise, so we wanted to walk to the prime minister’s house and show him the high inflation, show him the gas cylinder the price of which is sky high,” she said. “There is no inflation for Modi-ji. He has given away the country’s wealth to a few people.... Only those few people have become very rich, but the common man is suffering. They have a lot of money, they cannot see the price rise. Flour, rice, cooking gas -- everything has become expensive,” Priyanka Gandhi said. In a tweet, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Again today, Congress MPs denied democratic right to protest against price rise, unemployment and GST. Bundled into police vans at Vijay Chowk. It’s clear, only those who are afraid try to instill fear!” Ever since the Congress president announced the Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir “Bharat Jodo Yatra” around three months ago, “Dhamki-jeevi” has intensified his “toxic politics of vendetta” and intimidation against the Congress and its leadership, Ramesh said, adding that “it is not a coincidence”. Chowdhury, the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, said the party is trying to draw the attention of a government that is completely “indifferent to the astronomical price rise”. At Vijay Chowk, the Congress protesters were seen resisting police personnel who were trying to take them away. Party leader Manish Tewari posted a video message on Twitter from a police bus, saying they were attempting to take out a march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan when they were detained at Vijay Chowk. Leaders and workers of the Congress assembled at the party headquarters here to participate in the nationwide protest against price rise, the GST hike on essential items and unemployment. Top Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, reached the party headquarters in the morning. The Delhi Police has denied permission to the opposition party to stage a protest in the national capital as prohibitory orders are in place in New Delhi district. Supreme Court moots verdict to help unmarried women gain ‘bodily autonomy’ under MTP Act The Supreme Court on Friday said it may loosen the restrictive grip of a 51-year-old abortion law which bars unmarried women from terminating pregnancies which are up to 24 weeks old, saying the prohibition was “manifestly arbitrary and violative of women’s right to bodily autonomy and dignity”. A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and J.B. Pardiwala considered pronouncing a judgment which would put these unmarried women on par with anguished women with less than 20-week-old pregnancies who run the danger of suffering a mental breakdown because they had conceived due to the failure of “family planning devices or methods”. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 and its Rules of 2003 prohibit unmarried women who are between 20 weeks to 24 weeks pregnant to abort with the help of registered medical practitioners. “An unmarried woman suffers an unwanted pregnancy, why should she be excluded from termination up to 24 weeks if a married woman is allowed it… The danger to life is as much in the case of an unmarried woman as in the case of a married woman,” Justice Chandrachud, asked the Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati. The court noted that the Rules permit termination of pregnancies of up to 24 weeks in seven specific categories, including survivors of rape or sexual assault, minors, in case of physical disabilities and fetal malformation. Bhati said these seven categories represent women who were “extremely vulnerable”. The intention of the law is “not to allow abortion freely to all, not to liberalise”. But Justice Chandrachud said an unmarried woman whose pregnancy is over 20 weeks may have also conceived in a similarly vulnerable situation. “Such an unmarried woman may have been exploited… The source of her pregnancy may also be the same vulnerability that applies to other women… You must have a forward-looking interpretation of the law,” Justice Chandrachud responded to Bhati. “Ultimately what does the legislature intend… The legislature has not just used the word ‘husband’. It has also used the word ‘partner’. So the legislature is not just concerned about women who undergo pregnancy within marriage, but outside marriage too. Medical risk is the same for both married and unmarried women,” Justice Chandrachud observed. The judge pointed to how Explanation 1 of Section 3 (when pregnancies may be terminated by registered medical practitioners) of 1971 Act allows women who are less than 20 weeks’ pregnant to terminate if they had conceived due to the “failure of a family planning device”. The law presumes that such a pregnancy would be a cause of mental anguish and constitute a “grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman”. Explanation 1 reads “For the purposes of clause (a), where any pregnancy occurs as a result of failure of any device or method used by any woman or her partner for the purpose of limiting the number of children or preventing pregnancy, the anguish caused by such pregnancy may be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman”. The ‘clause (a)’ mentioned in the Explanation is of Section 3(2) which deals with termination of pregnancies less than 20 weeks old. Justice Chandrachud said the court could remove the restrictive phrase “for the purpose of clause (a)” from the Explanation. “If we excise the words ‘for the purpose of clause (a)’ from the Explanation, the benefit of termination of pregnancy on the ground of mental anguish would be available to women whose pregnancy term is between 20 weeks and 24 weeks. The expression ‘mental health’ is broad. The failure of a family planning device is presumed to be a cause of mental anguish. But that presumption is made available to clause (a), that is, women who are less than 20 weeks’ pregnant. So if we strike down those words, the Explanation would apply to all… The law will no longer be restrictive,” Justice Chandrachud explained. Bhati was asked to file written submissions and the court posted the case on Wednesday. RBI increases policy rate by 50 bps to counter inflation The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided unanimously to increase the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.4%, with immediate effect. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate stands adjusted to 5.15 per cent; and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 5.65%. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his monetary policy statement on Friday. Elaborating the MPC’s rationale for its decisions on the policy rate and the stance, he said against the prevailing adverse global environment, the MPC noted that domestic economic activity was resilient and progressing broadly along the lines of the June resolution of the MPC. “Consumer price inflation has eased from its surge in April but remains uncomfortably high and above the upper threshold of the target. Inflationary pressures are broad-based and core inflation remains at elevated levels,” he said. “The volatility in global financial markets is impinging upon domestic financial markets, including the currency market, thereby leading to imported inflation,” he added. Das said with inflation expected to remain above the upper threshold in Q2 and Q3, the MPC stressed that sustained high inflation could destabilise inflation expectations and harm growth in the medium term. “The MPC, therefore, judged that further calibrated withdrawal of monetary accommodation is warranted to keep inflation expectations anchored and contain the second-round effects,” he said. “Accordingly, the MPC decided to increase the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.4%. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth,” he added. In Brief The Met office has put eight Kerala districts on orange alert, four on yellow alert and three on green alert on Friday. Those regions under orange alert can expect heavy to very heavy rainfall. Intense rainfall activity is likely for the next two days. Although at a lower intensity, due to cyclonic circulations that persist over coastal Andhra Pradesh, west central Bay of Bengal and Central Karnataka, the rainfall is predicted to sustain till August 9. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow [logo] The Evening Wrap 05 AUGUST 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( China sanctions Pelosi, cancels key U.S. dialogues over Taiwan row China on Friday said [it would sanction United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi]( for her visit to Taiwan this week, as well as cancel or suspend eight key dialogue mechanisms with the U.S. The measures came as the Chinese military continued for a second day its live-fire drills in six regions surrounding Taiwan. The military exercises, that have effectively blockaded the waters and airspace in the six regions and resulted in major disruptions to shipping and flights to Taiwan, will continue until Sunday. China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday said Pelosi had “insisted on visiting China’s Taiwan region” in “disregard of China’s grave concerns and firm opposition”. “In response to Pelosi’s egregious provocation,” a statement said, “China decides to adopt sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family members in accordance with relevant laws of the People’s Republic of China.” The statement did not specify what exactly the sanctions would entail. The visit has also brought wider ramifications for China-U.S. relations. Washington on Friday said it had summoned the Chinese envoy, Qin Gang, and issued a demarche over China’s military exercises, which have for the first time seen the Chinese military fire missiles over Taiwan as well as conduct some drills within 12 nautical miles of the coast. Beijing said it would cancel three key bilateral military dialogue mechanisms and suspend five others. The three cancelled dialogues – a Theatre Commanders meet, Defence Policy Coordination Talks, and talks under the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement (MMCA) – underlined further eroding trust between the two militaries and the closure of channels that were designed to increase communication. Beijing said it would also suspend bilateral talks on climate change, as well as put on hold cooperation on the repatriation of illegal immigrants, legal assistance in criminal matters, transnational crimes, and counternarcotics. China’s State media on Friday continued to highlight the military’s exercises, and reported that the PLA had sent an aircraft carrier group featuring at least one nuclear-powered submarine to the drills. Taiwan’s Military of National Defence said it had tracked 13 Chinese naval vessels and 68 PLA aircraft crossing the median line, calling it “highly provocative”. In a televised address, President Tsai Ing-wen described the firing of missiles into “some of the busiest transportation corridors in the world” as “dangerous” and “irresponsible”. China has defended the exercises as a countermeasure to Pelosi’s visit, the most high-level from the U.S. to Taiwan in 25 years, and Chinese analysts have said the exercises were aimed at sending a message to both Taiwan and the U.S. by bringing in a new normal in increased military activity around Taiwan. The drills marked the first firing of conventional missiles over Taiwan as well as aircraft and warships crossing the median line in the Taiwan Strait. The exercises, analysts said, had laid the groundwork for future blockades and area denial for foreign warships that might intervene in a future conflict. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that China’s military exercises aimed at Taiwan including missiles fired into Japan’s exclusive economic zone [represent a “significant escalation”](. Congress MPs stage protest against price rise; Rahul, Priyanka among several leaders detained  Wearing black clothes, [Congress leaders hit the streets on Friday to protest against price rise and unemployment]( with a host of them, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, being detained by police amid dramatic standoffs outside Parliament and the AICC headquarters in New Delhi. [Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sits in a police vehicle after being detained during a protest in New Delhi on August 5, 2022. ] Congress MPs, including former party chief Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in the Parliament House complex and then proceeded to take out a march towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan as part of the party’s nationwide stir against price rise, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) hike on essential items and unemployment. The protesting MPs of the opposition party raised slogans against the government demanding that the GST hike on essential items be withdrawn, with party chief Sonia Gandhi standing with the women MPs holding a banner outside gate number 1 of Parliament. The protesters were, however, stopped by the Delhi Police and not allowed to proceed towards the Rashtrapati Bhawan. Sonia Gandhi did not take part in the march. The other MPs were detained by police at Vijay Chowk. Rahul Gandhi, senior Congress leaders K C Venugopal, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi were among the 64 MPs detained and taken away from Vijay Chowk in a police bus, party sources said. Talking to reporters at Vijay Chowk, Gandhi said, “We are here to raise the issue of price rise.” He also said “democracy is being murdered”. Asked if the MPs were manhandled, he answered in the affirmative. “Our job is to resist these forces, our job is to ensure that democracy in India is protected, our job is to raise the issues of people. We are doing that,” the former Congress chief said. He alleged that some of the party MPs were even “beaten up” by police. Posting pictures from the protest at Vijay Chowk, Gandhi tweeted: “Democracy is a memory.” Earlier, in a tweet in Hindi, he said, “This dictatorial government is scared. From the condition of India, from the back-breaking inflation and historic unemployment, from the ruin brought by his policies, the one who is afraid of the truth threatens those who raise their voice!” Several Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, wore black shirts, black kurtas or black bands on their arms. Also dressed in black, Priyanka Gandhi staged a sit-in protest outside the AICC headquarters. She jumped across the police barricades put up on the road outside the party headquarters and squatted on the road, with the police personnel asking her to move from there as section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) is in force in the entire area of New Delhi district except Jantar Mantar. Amid dramatic scenes outside the AICC headquarters, the Congress general secretary was forcibly put in a vehicle by police and taken away. In a video shot inside a police vehicle and shared by the Congress with reporters, Priyanka Gandhi said, “They think that by putting up a show of power, they can silence us and force us into a compromise. Why will we do that?” “Their ministers cannot see the price rise, so we wanted to walk to the prime minister’s house and show him the high inflation, show him the gas cylinder the price of which is sky high,” she said. “There is no inflation for Modi-ji. He has given away the country’s wealth to a few people.... Only those few people have become very rich, but the common man is suffering. They have a lot of money, they cannot see the price rise. Flour, rice, cooking gas -- everything has become expensive,” Priyanka Gandhi said. In a tweet, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “Again today, Congress MPs denied democratic right to protest against price rise, unemployment and GST. Bundled into police vans at Vijay Chowk. It’s clear, only those who are afraid try to instill fear!” Ever since the Congress president announced the Kanyakumari-to-Kashmir “Bharat Jodo Yatra” around three months ago, “Dhamki-jeevi” has intensified his “toxic politics of vendetta” and intimidation against the Congress and its leadership, Ramesh said, adding that “it is not a coincidence”. Chowdhury, the Congress leader in the Lok Sabha, said the party is trying to draw the attention of a government that is completely “indifferent to the astronomical price rise”. At Vijay Chowk, the Congress protesters were seen resisting police personnel who were trying to take them away. Party leader Manish Tewari posted a video message on Twitter from a police bus, saying they were attempting to take out a march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan when they were detained at Vijay Chowk. Leaders and workers of the Congress assembled at the party headquarters here to participate in the nationwide protest against price rise, the GST hike on essential items and unemployment. Top Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, reached the party headquarters in the morning. The Delhi Police has denied permission to the opposition party to stage a protest in the national capital as prohibitory orders are in place in New Delhi district. Supreme Court moots verdict to help unmarried women gain ‘bodily autonomy’ under MTP Act The Supreme Court on Friday [said it may loosen the restrictive grip of a 51-year-old abortion law]( which bars unmarried women from terminating pregnancies which are up to 24 weeks old, saying the prohibition was “manifestly arbitrary and violative of women’s right to bodily autonomy and dignity”. A Bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and J.B. Pardiwala considered pronouncing a judgment which would put these unmarried women on par with anguished women with less than 20-week-old pregnancies who run the danger of suffering a mental breakdown because they had conceived due to the failure of “family planning devices or methods”. The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 and its Rules of 2003 prohibit unmarried women who are between 20 weeks to 24 weeks pregnant to abort with the help of registered medical practitioners. “An unmarried woman suffers an unwanted pregnancy, why should she be excluded from termination up to 24 weeks if a married woman is allowed it… The danger to life is as much in the case of an unmarried woman as in the case of a married woman,” Justice Chandrachud, asked the Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati. The court noted that the Rules permit termination of pregnancies of up to 24 weeks in seven specific categories, including survivors of rape or sexual assault, minors, in case of physical disabilities and fetal malformation. Bhati said these seven categories represent women who were “extremely vulnerable”. The intention of the law is “not to allow abortion freely to all, not to liberalise”. But Justice Chandrachud said an unmarried woman whose pregnancy is over 20 weeks may have also conceived in a similarly vulnerable situation. “Such an unmarried woman may have been exploited… The source of her pregnancy may also be the same vulnerability that applies to other women… You must have a forward-looking interpretation of the law,” Justice Chandrachud responded to Bhati. “Ultimately what does the legislature intend… The legislature has not just used the word ‘husband’. It has also used the word ‘partner’. So the legislature is not just concerned about women who undergo pregnancy within marriage, but outside marriage too. Medical risk is the same for both married and unmarried women,” Justice Chandrachud observed. The judge pointed to how Explanation 1 of Section 3 (when pregnancies may be terminated by registered medical practitioners) of 1971 Act allows women who are less than 20 weeks’ pregnant to terminate if they had conceived due to the “failure of a family planning device”. The law presumes that such a pregnancy would be a cause of mental anguish and constitute a “grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman”. Explanation 1 reads “For the purposes of clause (a), where any pregnancy occurs as a result of failure of any device or method used by any woman or her partner for the purpose of limiting the number of children or preventing pregnancy, the anguish caused by such pregnancy may be presumed to constitute a grave injury to the mental health of the pregnant woman”. The ‘clause (a)’ mentioned in the Explanation is of Section 3(2) which deals with termination of pregnancies less than 20 weeks old. Justice Chandrachud said the court could remove the restrictive phrase “for the purpose of clause (a)” from the Explanation. “If we excise the words ‘for the purpose of clause (a)’ from the Explanation, the benefit of termination of pregnancy on the ground of mental anguish would be available to women whose pregnancy term is between 20 weeks and 24 weeks. The expression ‘mental health’ is broad. The failure of a family planning device is presumed to be a cause of mental anguish. But that presumption is made available to clause (a), that is, women who are less than 20 weeks’ pregnant. So if we strike down those words, the Explanation would apply to all… The law will no longer be restrictive,” Justice Chandrachud explained. Bhati was asked to file written submissions and the court posted the case on Wednesday. RBI increases policy rate by 50 bps to counter inflation The monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has [decided unanimously to increase the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.4%]( with immediate effect. Consequently, the standing deposit facility (SDF) rate stands adjusted to 5.15 per cent; and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 5.65%. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his monetary policy statement on Friday. Elaborating the MPC’s rationale for its decisions on the policy rate and the stance, he said against the prevailing adverse global environment, the MPC noted that domestic economic activity was resilient and progressing broadly along the lines of the June resolution of the MPC. “Consumer price inflation has eased from its surge in April but remains uncomfortably high and above the upper threshold of the target. Inflationary pressures are broad-based and core inflation remains at elevated levels,” he said. “The volatility in global financial markets is impinging upon domestic financial markets, including the currency market, thereby leading to imported inflation,” he added. Das said with inflation expected to remain above the upper threshold in Q2 and Q3, the MPC stressed that sustained high inflation could destabilise inflation expectations and harm growth in the medium term. “The MPC, therefore, judged that further calibrated withdrawal of monetary accommodation is warranted to keep inflation expectations anchored and contain the second-round effects,” he said. “Accordingly, the MPC decided to increase the policy repo rate by 50 basis points to 5.4%. The MPC also decided to remain focused on withdrawal of accommodation to ensure that inflation remains within the target going forward, while supporting growth,” he added. In Brief [Residents gather near the Aluva Siva Temple, flooded due to an increase in water level of the Periyar river, following monsoon rains in Kochi on August 5, 2022. ] The [Met office has put eight Kerala districts on orange alert]( four on yellow alert and three on green alert on Friday. Those regions under orange alert can expect heavy to very heavy rainfall. Intense rainfall activity is likely for the next two days. Although at a lower intensity, due to cyclonic circulations that persist over coastal Andhra Pradesh, west central Bay of Bengal and Central Karnataka, the rainfall is predicted to sustain till August 9. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow  Today’s Top Picks [[Self-rule the most relevant solution: Mehbooba Mufti] Self-rule the most relevant solution: Mehbooba Mufti]( [[Chhattisgarh tribals’ long, arduous road to freedom] Chhattisgarh tribals’ long, arduous road to freedom]( [[Ransomware attacks jump 51% this year: CERT-In] Ransomware attacks jump 51% this year: CERT-In]( [[Kalki’s epic lends prominence to this location] Kalki’s epic lends prominence to this location]( Copyright @ 2022, THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. If you are facing any trouble in viewing this newsletter, please [try here]( If you do not wish to receive such emails [go here](