Breaking News April 2 | HIGHLIGHTS

Uttar Pradesh's Minister for Sugarcane Development and Sugar Mills Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary on Sunday said that the state government will ensure that sugar mills pay the dues of sugarcane farmers within a week.

"At present, sugarcane farmers in 105 sugar mills of the state are getting payment within 10 days," he told reporters.

Hitting out at the opposition parties, Chaudhary said, "During previous governments, ensuring prompt payment to sugarcane farmers was considered a difficult task.
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He informed that over Rs 2.04 lakh crore has been paid to farmers for their sugarcane produce within a period of six years.

More than 4,200 criminals were arrested in 10 districts of Ajmer and Udaipur division in Rajasthan on Sunday, an official said.

A campaign on direction by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is being run to catch criminals.
Under this, as many as 4,255 criminals were arrested in districts under Ajmer and Udaipur range on Sunday, Director General of Police Umesh Mishra said.

In total, 2,111 criminals were arrested in the Ajmer range and 2,144 were arrested in the Udaipur range.
Inspector General (IG) Ajmer Rupinder Singh and IG Udaipur Ajaypal Lamba monitored the raids.

A delivery executive was stabbed to death while his three relatives sustained injuries in an alleged attack by their neighbours following a scuffle here, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Saturday evening in central Delhi's Anand Parbat area, they said.

While returning from work, Karan (22), got into an argument with some people near his house in Prem Nagar over a petty issue following which he was attacked with sticks.
As his family members intervened, they too were thrashed, according to the police complaint.

Former US president Donald Trump, who has been indicted by a federal court in New York, would deliver remarks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Tuesday night, his office said on Sunday.

Trump, who is the first former US president to face a criminal charge, will be arraigned on Tuesday.

 Tense moments prevailed at Anna Salai, one of the arterial roads in Chennai, as a fire erupted on the top floor of the multi-storey Life Insurance Corporation of India building on Sunday here, official sources said.

However, there were no casualties in the incident, sources added.

The blazing fire and thick plumes of smoke were seen billowing from the top floor of the city's iconic structure in the evening, even as a video of the incident went viral.

A court here has ordered framing charges of rioting and arson against five people for allegedly setting ablaze a mosque during the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, saying their identification through a video cannot be termed illegal or inadmissible in evidence at this stage.

Additional Sessions Judge Pulastya Pramachala was hearing a case against Ankit, Sourabh Sharma, Rohit, Rahul Kumar and Sachin, who were accused of being part of a riotous mob that torched Allah Wali Masjid at Shahid Bhagat Singh Colony here in February 2020.

"Identification of the accused through video cannot be termed as illegal or inadmissible in evidence.
The same would require to be appreciated on the basis of the overall situation behind such identification and this exercise can be done only after the trial,” the judge said.
 

Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged his Russian counterpart, in a rare phone since the Ukraine war, to immediately release a Wall Street Journal reporter who was detained last week as well as another imprisoned American, Paul Whelan, the State Department said Sunday.

In the call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Blinken conveyed “grave concern” over the Kremlin's detention of journalist Evan Gershkovich on espionage allegations, according to a State Department summary of the call.
Blinken called for his immediate release.

Three members of a family were killed when an unidentified vehicle hit their scooter in this district on Sunday, police said. The accident occurred near village Simbli, about 23 km from here, in the afternoon when a man and his parents were travelling to Phagwara on a scooter, they said. According to investigating officer in the case, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Mehtiana police station Onkar Singh, the deceased belonged to Ajram village and were identified as Sunny Kumar (23), his father Tarsem Singh (60) and mother Charanjit Kaur (59). When the three reached near Simbli, an unidentified vehicle hit their two-wheeler. The driver sped away after the accident, police said, adding that the matter is being investigated.

The accused lured the 11-year-old girl under the pretext of offering her fruits and food to his room and sexually assaulted her on Saturday afternoon. After returning home, the girl confided in her parents who approached the police, an official said. A case was registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) including rape and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act (POCSO), the official added.

An official in Burundi says the bodies of 13 gold miners have been recovered from two pits in which they were trapped by flood water. Nicodème Ndahabonyimana, a district administrator in the northwestern province of Cibitoke, said the miners could not be saved after the pits collapsed on Friday night amid torrential rainfall. The bodies of two other miners who were missing and presumed dead have not been recovered, he said, urging artisanal miners to avoid pits during the rainy season.

Targeting former Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his 'I am not Savarkar' remark, BJP leader Kapil Mishra on Sunday said that he can never be like the freedom fighter who was a patriot. Mishra also said that Congress leaders once questioned the existence of Lord Ram while living in big houses but today when Lord Ram's magnificent temple is ready, they "are losing their bungalow". “The biggest lie was told just a few days back that 'I am Gandhi and not Savarkar'. ...You are not even a real Gandhi and you cannot be Savarkar because the first condition of being a Savarkar is to be a patriot and to have unshakable faith in the nation of 'Akhand Sanatan Bharat',” Mishra said. "Just as a trader based in Moradabad puts up a board saying 'Agra ka petha is made here', a board in the name of 'Gandhi' has been put so that their business keeps on running," the BJP leader said.

Students of Delhi Model Virtual School (DMVS) will get free Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) coaching from its upcoming session, Delhi Education Minister Atishi said on Sunday. Holding a review meeting with the officials of the flagship project, the Delhi minister provided several suggestions and directed the officials to prepare a five-year action plan for the virtual school.  "Delhi's education model is being applauded across the world and this is the reason why children across the country are willing to become part of it. Our government's DMVS is working to connect them to us," Atishi said.  She said the government's aim is to make quality education more accessible and inclusive so that students from all states can become a part of it.

Five Naxalites involved in several incidents of violence have been arrested in Kanker and Sukma districts of Chhattisgarh, police said on Sunday. Naxalites Sumand alias Suman Anchala, Sanjay Usendi and Parasram Thangul were apprehended by the District Reserve Guard (DRG) during a search operation in Koylibeda police station limits on Sunday, Kanker Superintendent of Police Shalabh Sinha said. The trio were involved in arson, planting explosives to target security forces and other violent incidents in the area, he added.
Meanwhile, two Naxalites, including a woman, were nabbed at Maraiguda-Linganpalli Road mobile check post on Saturday.

Former president Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday said barring Narendra Modi, who spoke about building toilets from the ramparts of the Red Fort, no other prime minister had laid stress on the subject. Kovind was speaking at the National Conference on Sociology of Sanitation where Modi's message was also read out. The prime minister's message said: "Making people aware of the transformational outcomes of sanitation and cleanliness will also help in preparing domain-specific professionals and generate more opportunities for employment and self-employment." Speaking at the event, Kovind recalled the words of Mahatma Gandhi, who had always prioritised cleanliness.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday promised free electricity and jobs for all youths in Assam if his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is voted to power in the Northeastern state.
He also claimed the AAP government changed the face of Delhi in seven years, and that “nothing but dirty politics” took place in Assam, even though BJP has been in power in the state for the same duration. AAP governments in Delhi and Punjab are giving free electricity to their states, and it will be the same in Assam, too, if the party forms government, Kejriwal said at a rally here.

A woman and her daughter were killed and 38 injured on Sunday when an Uttarakhand Roadways bus in which they were travelling from Mussoorie to Dehradun fell into a deep gorge, police said. The accident occurred on a turning near the ITBP camp when the driver lost control of the vehicle, plunging the bus into a 70-metre-deep gorge, Mussoorie police station SHO D S Kohli said. There were 40 passengers -- 16 women, 19 men and five children -- in the bus at the time of the accident, he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday asserted that the BJP will dislodge the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ from power in the next assembly polls in Bihar where the government was “BAD”, characterised by ‘bhrashtachar’ (corruption), ‘arajakata’(anarchy) and ‘daman’ (oppression). Shah coined the acronym at a public meeting in Hisua, falling under Nawada district and the eponymous Lok Sabha constituency, squarely blaming the Nitish Kumar government for the communal tension that forced him to cancel a scheduled visit to Sasaram, one of the riot-hit towns, earlier in the day. Widely regarded as the BJP's principal strategist, Shah described his impression of the situation in Sasaram with a rhetorical flourish, claiming ‘log maare jaa rahe hain’ (people were being killed) and ‘goliyan chal rahi hain’ (guns were blazing).

Israeli airstrikes hit several sites in Syria's Homs province early Sunday, wounding five soldiers, Syrian state media reported. In Iran, state media reported that an Iranian adviser who was wounded in an Israeli strike on Friday died of his wounds. Since the start of Syria's conflict in March 2011, Iran has been a main supporter of President Bashar Assad's government and has sent advisers since the early days of the war. Sunday's strike marked the ninth time Israel has struck targets in Syria since the beginning of the year, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition-linked war monitor.

A roadways bus lost control and fell off the gorge on Mussoorie-Dehradun route in Uttarakhand. Rescue operation underway. Police, fire service team and ambulance on the spot.  Around 22 people, including the driver, were in the bus that fell into a ditch on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road. All the passengers were injured in the accident and were rescued, condition of three of them is serious, said Mussoorie police. Two girls dead in a bus accident on the Mussoorie-Dehradun road. Treatment of all the other injured is going on in the hospital, police added.

E-cigarettes are easily available at tobacco shops and sold to anyone without any age verification, the findings of a joint survey have revealed. The findings have been shared with the Union health ministry. The survey conducted across six states -- Assam, Goa, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana -- and Delhi also found that e-cigarettes get delivered within a couple of days when ordered online (through e-commerce websites, exclusive vape websites, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and other social media sites) and are sold without any age verification.

Kargil war hero Subedar Major Tsewang Murop, Vir Chakra lost his life in a road accident last night near Leh.  Fire and Fury Corps commander Lt Gen Rashim Bali met his family including his father Naib Subedar Chering Mutop Ashok Chakra (Retd) to express condolences on behalf of the Indian Army.

Cheetah Oban, one of the cheetahs brought from Namibia, entered Jhar Baroda village of Vijaypur which is 20 kms away from Kuno National Park. Monitoring team has also reached the village. Efforts are underway to bring the cheetah back, said Forest Officer.

An earthquake of magnitude 3.6 occurred at 1100 hours 218km east-northeast of Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, said National Center for Seismology.

Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, West Bengal BJP President meets victims of recent violence during his visit to a temple in Howrah.

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde takes part in BJP-Shiv Sena's  'Savarkar Gaurav Yatra' in Thane.

"Law & order has collapsed in West Bengal," said Dr. Sukanta Majumdar, State BJP President on Howrah violence and death of BJP leader Raju Jha was shot dead by unidentified miscreants in Purba Bardhaman.

Rahul Gandhi is likely to travel to Surat, Gujarat tomorrow as an appeal will be moved in the Sessions court there against his conviction and two-year- sentence in defamation case, said Congress sources.

Indian Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral Sanjay Jasjit Singh lays a wreath at National War Memorial.

India reports 3,824 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours; the active caseload stands at 18,389.

Former cricketer Salim Durani passes away after prolonged illness.

Devotees offer prayers at St. Joseph's Metropolitan Cathedral in Thiruvananthapuram, on the occasion of Palm Sunday.

Police personnel deployed in Biharsharif, Nalanda as Section 144 is imposed in the city after a fresh clash erupted last night following violence during Ram Navami festivities.

G20 delegates participate in a Yoga session on the second day of the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Siliguri.

Union Minister Kiren Rijiju flags off 'IIFL JITO Ahimsa Run' from Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi.