The Daily Catch-Up | How India’s temples safeguard devotees’ offerings, and other top news

Each weekday, The Daily Catch-Up sifts through the day’s news so you do not have to. From temple hundis to the high seas, from the World Cup to the multiplex, we bring you the top stories, in plain language and without ceremony. Let us begin.

The Daily Catch-Up | How India’s temples safeguard devotees’ offerings, and other top news

An Indian Express examination of five major temples — Tirupati, Jagannath, Vaishno Devi, Siddhivinayak and Kashi Vishwanath — finds the donation-handling chain (hundi to counting hall to bank deposit) broadly similar everywhere, but the institutions governing it differ sharply. Unlike these temples, which operate under dedicated state legislation with statutory administrators, magistrates and mandatory audits, the Ram Temple runs on a trust-deed model with day-to-day control concentrated among a small group of RSS-linked office-bearers and no mandatory government audit.

‘Confusion, uncertainty must end’: Sangh reacts to Ayodhya donation row

Breaking its silence, the RSS said via General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale that the alleged theft of donations at the Ram Temple was “highly condemnable” and called for corrective steps to restore devotees’ faith. The statement follows the resignation of Trust general secretary Champat Rai and the arrest of eight men, including his driver, as part of the ongoing SIT probe.

2-year-old drowns in rainwater-filled trench in Pune district; IMD sounds red alert in Mumbai

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A toddler died after falling into an uncovered civic excavation trench in Pune district, prompting a negligence case against the contractor. The IMD has placed Mumbai, Thane and Palghar on red alert for heavy to very heavy rain through the weekend, while Delhi recorded its first July monsoon onset since 2021 and Odisha’s Koraput and Malkangiri districts remain under a red warning.

INS Trikand foils piracy attempt on merchant vessel in Gulf of Aden

Indian Navy stealth frigate INS Trikand intercepted a piracy attempt on the bulk carrier MV Golden Arsenal roughly 300 nautical miles from Djibouti, safely evacuating all 21 crew, including one Indian national, from the ship’s citadel and sanitising the vessel before it resumed its voyage.

UAE plans to regulate children’s content consumption after under-15 social media ban

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Following its June 18 Cabinet resolution banning social media accounts for under-15s, the UAE’s National Media Authority has unveiled a national content-standards guide and an age-classification framework for all media, including films, books and music, with platforms given 12 months to adopt AI-backed age-verification tools.

Supreme Court refuses to cancel Sonam Raghuvanshi’s bail in Meghalaya honeymoon murder

The Supreme Court declined to stay bail already granted to Sonam Raghuvanshi, accused of orchestrating her husband’s murder during their Meghalaya honeymoon, since she had already been released, even as the bench voiced reservations about the high court’s handling of the case and issued notice on the state’s challenge.

‘Curious’ to ‘Jaish link’: Behind the arrest of Jaipur woman with a secret online life

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Rajasthan ATS arrested 38-year-old Babita Dhakad under UAPA after investigators say her online curiosity about extremist content deepened into contact with alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed operatives, an online ‘marriage’, and a plan to travel to Pakistan via Nepal, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Tibetan activist dies after self-immolation outside UN headquarters in New York. Who was Lobsang Rangzen?

Lobsang Rangzen, a Tibetan activist and Uber driver who had lived in the US for two decades, died after setting himself on fire outside the UN headquarters in Manhattan, in protest against Chinese rule over Tibet, which is part of a decades-long pattern of self-immolation protests since 2009.

Spill The Expresso

Alpha movie review: A spy film so dull, Alia Bhatt-Sharvari-Hrithik Roshan can’t rescue it

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Shubhra Gupta’s review of the YRF spy universe’s female-led entry finds Alia Bhatt and Sharvari committed but the writing stale and derivative, undercut further by a Hrithik Roshan cameo that can’t lift a dull, formulaic film. Rating: 1.5 stars.

Baby Do Die Do movie review: Huma Qureshi fronts a fast-paced revenge drama

Huma Qureshi plays a deaf-mute contract killer working through a revenge plot in a grimy, Seoul-inspired Mumbai underworld thriller that commits fully to its aesthetic and rarely lets the pace flag. Rating: 3.5 stars.

Why Vitamin C and immunity boosters are not what you need: Liver Doc explains

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Hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips argues “immunity booster” is marketing fiction.Vitamin C, zinc and herbal blends have little proven effect and rising liver-injury risk, while the one scientifically validated way to strengthen immunity remains vaccination.

Must Read

Cristiano Ronaldo heads into history — just not with his head

Ronaldo’s penalty made him the oldest player to score in a World Cup knockout, but Portugal’s win over Croatia was really decided by Roberto Martinez’s late tactical switch and Goncalo Ramos’s header with data showing Ronaldo’s once-dominant aerial threat has faded sharply since 2020.

Siya-Ketan case: As police seek polygraph nod, how ‘lie-detector’ tests work — and don’t

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As Pune police seek court permission for polygraph tests on Siya Goyal and Chetan Chaudhary, this explainer traces how polygraph and narcoanalysis tests work, why the scientific community considers them unreliable, and how the Supreme Court’s 2010 Selvi ruling requires informed consent before any such test can be administered.

Still not done? Here’s more from the day.

PM Modi’s maiden visit to New Zealand next week; first meet after trade deal

PM Modi will make his first official visit to New Zealand next week, his first meeting with PM Christopher Luxon since the two countries signed a Free Trade Agreement in April granting duty-free access for Indian exports.

DMK legislator Anitha Radhakrishnan arrested over remarks on Tamil Nadu CM Vijay

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The Madras High Court denied anticipatory bail to DMK MLA Anitha Radhakrishnan over allegedly derogatory remarks against CM C Joseph Vijay, leading to his arrest and DMK protests outside the Thoothukudi SP’s office.

In Chhattisgarh’s dense Hasdeo forests, environmental nod granted for mining in Kente extension coal block

The Environment Ministry cleared mining in the Kente extension coal block within the biodiversity-rich Hasdeo-Arand forests, the third coalfield approved there, despite a 2021 assessment warning against mining in the area; nearly 4.48 lakh trees are proposed to be felled in phases.

Meta launches Pocket, an AI app that can generate games with simple prompts

Meta quietly launched Pocket, an experimental app built on its Gizmo acquisition that lets users generate simple games and interactive experiences from natural-language prompts, extending its AI creative tools beyond images and video.

Does E20 petrol reduce mileage of your car, bike? Centre answers

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri acknowledged E20 ethanol-blended petrol may slightly reduce mileage but said the drop stems from multiple factors, not ethanol alone, and denied that insurance coverage is affected.

Bengaluru daycare horror: First arrest over toddlers’ torture at IT campus

Police arrested caretaker Vijayalakshmiin, their first arrest, in  the Capgemini creche abuse case, as the NCPCR launched its own suo-motu inquiry and dispatched a fact-finding team to Bengaluru.

Fifth arrest in Bengaluru gym trainer murder; man held for disposing of body

The CID arrested a fifth accused for allegedly helping dispose of gym trainer Vijay Kumar’s body near Bengaluru’s Bannerghatta forest, as the probe, which is now under CID amid allegations against a senior police officer, widens.