The Supreme Court on july 1 castigated suspended BJP leader Nupur Sharma for her "disturbing" remark against Prophet Mohammad, saying it has led to unfortunate incidents in the country. The court said the remark was made either for cheap publicity, political agenda or some nefarious activities.

Referring to her apology for the Prophet remarks, the apex court also said that it was too late and her comment led to unfortunate incidents.

"These remarks are very disturbing and smack of arrogance. What is her business to make such remarks? These remarks have led to unfortunate incidents in the country. These people are not religious. These people don't have respect for other religions," the court said on the suspended BJP leader's plea to club FIRs against her for Prophet remarks.

The court also refused to entertain her plea to club FIRs in various states for her remark and allowed her to withdraw the petition.

"What has Delhi police done? Don't make us open our mouth? What was the TV debate for? Only fan an agenda? Why did they choose a sub judice topic?," said Justice Surya Kant.

Sharma's remark against the Prophet, made during the course of a TV debate, triggered protests across the country and invited sharp reactions from many Gulf countries.

The BJP had subsequently suspended her from the party.

The court's observations against the suspended BJP leader comes in the backdrop of the brutal murder of a tailor in Udaipur by two men, who had posted videos online that said they were avenging an insult to Islam.

The top court said she has a "loose tongue" and has made all kinds of "irresponsible statements and claims to be a lawyer of 10 years standing." "She should have apologised for her comments to the whole country."

Senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Sharma, said she had apologised for her remarks.

The bench said, "Her apology came too late and that too conditionally saying if religious sentiments are hurt and so on. She should have been on TV immediately and apologised to the nation."

The court said her petition smacks of arrogance and that she thinks that the magistrate of the country is too small for her.

Two persons were arrested from Udaipur on june 30  for conspiring the brutal beheading of a tailor.

Tailor Kanhaiya Lal was killed on june 28  afternoon by two cleaver-wielding men, Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, who posted a grisly video of the crime online claiming responsibility for the “beheading”.

Both the accused were arrested in Rajsamand hours after the crime.

The arrested accused were identified as Mohsin and Asif.

The case is being investigated by National Investigation Agency (NIA) with support of the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police.

In a bid to regulate fuel prices in the domestic market, the government on july 1 raised excise duty on export of petrol, diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF) from 1 July 2022. It has raised excise by Rs. 6 per litre on ATF, Rs 6 per litre on petrol and Rs 13 per litre on diesel. The government will charge a cess of Rs. 23250 per tonne on crude. Import of crude would not be subject to this cess.

The decision seems to have been taken after private fuel retailers like Jio-BP and Nayara Energy reportedly exported oil to other countries, after acquiring cheap crude from Russia.

Ever since western countries sanctioned Russian oil and gas, following its military operations in Ukraine, India has raised its oil import from Russia manifold. It is estimated that crude oil imports from Russia surged by 286% in the January-April 2022 period. In previous years, India's imports of oil and gas stood at 2% or less.  Subsequently, private refiners reportedly increased exports to Europe and the US, where they are making profit margins of $14-15 per barrel on refined products from Ural/Russian crude oil. However, this is impacting the Indian market too

Last month, there were several reports that petrol pumps operated by state-owned fuel retailers were going out of stock in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat due to sudden surge in demand. The reason was that private fuel retailers like Jio-BP and Nayara Energy raised prices at some locations or curtailed their sales. Therefore, people are opting for state-owned petrol pumps Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), who are selling petrol and diesel at lower rates (Rs. 15-25 a litre lower than private pumps).

To stop this, the government has expanded the scope of Universal Service Obligation (USO), which mandates licensed entities to maintain petrol and diesel sales at all petrol pumps, including in remote areas, for specified working hours. Following the government’s order these companies will be obligated to extend the USO to all the retail consumers at all the retail outlets.

These USOs include maintaining supplies of petrol and diesel throughout the specified working hours and of specified quality and quantity; making available minimum facilities as specified by the Central government.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on july 1 appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mumbai  to record his statement in connection with a money-laundering probe.

The ED had summoned the Rajya Sabha member for questioning in the money laundering probe linked to the re-development of a Mumbai 'chawl' and other related financial transactions involving his wife and friends.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on july 1 defended his vision of the “one country, two systems" framework against accusations by the U.S., U.K. and others that Beijing has undermined the freedoms and autonomy promised to Hong Kong for 50 years.

In a speech marking 25 years since the city became a semi-autonomous Chinese region following its handover from Britain in 1997, Xi said the “one country, two systems” framework — which allows Hong Kong to have its own laws and government — had achieved “universally recognized success.”

“There is no reason for such a good system to change, and it must be maintained for a long time,” he said, in what appeared to be an attempt to reassure residents that Hong Kong could retain their relative freedoms even after 50 years.

But Xi also emphasized that Beijing had “comprehensive jurisdiction” over Hong Kong, and that Hong Kong should respect Chinese leadership, even as Beijing allows regions like Hong Kong and Macao to maintain their capitalist system and a degree of autonomy.

He warned that there would be no tolerance for foreign interference or traitors meddling in Hong Kong's affairs, and that “safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests” is of the highest priority.

Xi last visited Hong Kong in 2017 for the July 1 celebrations, during which he warned that there would be no tolerance for any activities seen as threatening China’s sovereignty and stability.

The months of pro-democracy protests in 2019 were seen by China’s ruling Communist Party as just such a threat.

Since the protests, Beijing and Hong Kong authorities drafted a national security law that was then used to arrest scores of activists, media figures and democracy supporters; introduced a more “patriotic” curriculum in schools; and revamped election laws to keep opposition politicians who are deemed not patriotic enough out of the city’s Legislature. The changes have all but eliminated dissenting voices in the city and have driven many to leave.

Xi's two-day trip to Hong Kong is his first outside of mainland China since the pandemic took hold in January 2020.

Xi also officiated the swearing-in ceremony of Hong Kong's new leader John Lee, a former security official who oversaw the crackdown on dissent in the city since 2019 pro-democracy protests. 

The Pakistan government has steeply hiked petroleum prices to implement the tough preconditions set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to revive the stalled USD 6 billion bailout package for the cash-strapped country.

Prices of all petroleum products went up by about Rs14-19 per litre after the decision came into effect from midnight on June 30

According to a notification issued by the finance ministry, the government imposed a Rs 10 per litre petroleum levy on petrol and Rs 5 each on high-speed diesel (HSD), kerosene and light diesel oil (LDO).

As a result, the per-litre price of petrol has been increased by Rs 14.85, HSD by Rs 13.23, kerosene by Rs 18.83 and LDO by Rs 18.68. The ex-depot price of petrol now stands at Rs 248.74 per litre, HSD at Rs 276.54, kerosene at Rs 230.26, and LDO at Rs 226.15.

Finance Minister Miftah Ismail told the media that the petroleum levy was imposed to revive the IMF programme suspended four months ago after the previous government led by Imran Khan reneged from signed agreements.

This is the fourth hike in petroleum under the incumbent government which took power in April.

The IMF has set tough preconditions like hiking electricity tariffs and imposing a levy on petroleum products to revive the stalled bailout programme.

The IMF Fund also asked Pakistan to set up an anti-corruption task force to review all the existing laws that were aimed at curbing graft in the government departments.

The Taliban's reclusive supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada showed up on july 1 at a major gathering of clerics in the Afghan capital called to rubber-stamp the hardline Islamist group's rule over the country.

Akhundzada, who has not been filmed or photographed in public since the Taliban returned to power in August

His arrival, broadcast on state radio, was greeted with cheers and chants including "Long live the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan", the Taliban's name for the country.

The head of the Lanka IOC, the subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation in Sri Lanka, has been granted a special resident permit in line with the new policy of wooing foreign investments to the cash-starved island nation.

The new scheme was introduced by the new minister of Investment Promotion Dhammika Perera, a former business tycoon who became minister early last month.

Perera's action plan to generate forex included granting longer-term resident visas for foreign investors.