Breaking News, June 10

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said nurses and paramedic staff's role is as important as that of doctors in providing proper medical care to the patients. Handing over appointment letters to newly selected 1,442 staff nurses at an event here, Adityanath said, “This is a crucial area. You will all agree that a strong medical system is important for good health, just as a strong educational system is for any civilised society.” Stressing the importance of nursing and paramedic staff, he said, “Through their care and assistance to patients, the nursing staff can significantly contribute to the achievement of the goal of recovery and wellness.”

Train number 38830 -One wheel of Midnapur Howrah local dislocated from the track in Kharagpur yard. The train was dead slow and no injuries have been reported. The officers and staff are at the site to lift the wheel back to track. (With inputs from Gonika Arora) 

A 65-year-old man suffering from cancer committed suicide at a hospital here in Maharashtra, police said on Saturday. According to police, he was frustrated due to the disease. He hanged himself in the bathroom of Rastra Sant Tukdoji Regional Cancer Hospital from the hook using a stole on Friday. The deceased was a resident of Madhya Pradesh.

Around 800 cartons of illicit liquor were seized from a truck in the IMT, Manesar area in this district, the Gurugram Police said on Saturday. An FIR has been registered at the Manesar police station and the truck driver has been arrested, they said. According to police, the crime unit, Sikenderpur was patrolling the IMT, Manesar Sector 2 area on Thursday night when it received information about the truck carrying illegal liquor. Based on the information, the team reached near an electricity substation where the truck was parked on the roadside and the driver was inside the vehicle.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday accused Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray of betraying the BJP for the chief minister's post after the Maharashtra Assembly elections in 2019 by joining hands with Nationalist Congress Party and Congress. Addressing a rally at Nanded as a part of the BJP's outreach campaign to mark the completion of nine years of the Narendra Modi government, Shah said the BJP didn't bring down the Thackeray-led MVA government last year, but they were Shiv Sainiks who were tired of Thackeray's policies and were not ready to go with the NCP headed by Sharad Pawar. "I as (then) BJP president and (the then chief minister) Devendra Fadnavis had carried out negotiations in which Thackeray agreed that if the NDA emerged victorious, Fadnavis will be the chief minister (again). However, after the results (in 2019), Thackeray broke the promise and sat in the Congress-NCP's lap," Shah added. The Shiv Sena (undivided) and the BJP contested the 2019 Assembly polls together, but the former walked out of the alliance over the post of chief minister.

Objecting to BJP leaders' remarks "glorifying" Nathuram Godse, the Congress on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should either throw out such "devotees" of Mahatma Gandhi's assassin from his party or end the "sham" of bowing before Gandhi's statues. The opposition party targeted the prime minister a day after Union minister Giriraj Singh termed Godse a "saput" (worthy son) of India. Another BJP leader, former Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, called Godse a "patriot" a few days earlier.

DMK president and Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday demanded that BJP leader and Union Minister Amit Shah release a list of special schemes implemented for Tamil Nadu in the past nine years by the saffron party-led Central government. Referring to Shah's visit to the State on June 11 as part of preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Stalin asked whether the Union Home Minister was ready to spell out the schemes for Tamil Nadu. Shah is set to address a public meeting in Vellore and chair party events here. "I am asking this question," Stalin said addressing a meet of party functionaries here and listed the special initiatives implemented during the UPA dispensation (2004-14) in which the DMK was a constituent.

A Naxal, wanted in 11 criminal cases, was arrested in Jharkhand's Khunti district, police said on Saturday. Vishram Kongari alias Sukra, a self-styled area commander of the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI), was arrested from Barkatoli village in Rania police station area on Friday evening, they said. "Kongari went there to collect levy. He was arrested with a country-made gun, live cartridges, PLFI pamphlets and slips. He was wanted in 11 cases," Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Torpa Omprakash Tiwary said.

The Madhya Pradesh government on Saturday transferred Rs 1,000 each to the accounts of 1.25 crore women in the state as it rolled out the ‘Ladli Behna Yojana’, a scheme billed as a game-changer by the BJP in the poll-bound state. Assembly elections are due by the year-end in the BJP-governed MP. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan pressed a button at an event at the Garrison Ground here to transfer the first dole of the scheme under which beneficiaries will receive Rs 1,000 a month. Addressing the function, he said that the scheme will empower women socially and economically. The beneficiaries can withdraw the money from Sunday onwards, said officials.

Police arrested five vehicle lifters here on Saturday and recovered 10 stolen motorcycles and a van from their possession, police said. The accused have been identified as Sahab alias Sukkha, Asif, Hariom, Mohammad Zaheer and Arshad alias Kala. All five were arrested by the team of crime unit Sohna led by sub-inspector Satya Prakash on Saturday morning from the Sohna area. ACP (Crime) Varun Dahiya said, “The accused were active in vehicle theft and confessed to stealing 11 vehicles.” “All the accused have already gone to jail earlier. Asif, Zaheer and Kala were wanted in five cases of vehicle theft,” he said. The 11 stolen vehicles have been recovered from their possession and they are being questioned,” Dahiya said.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday called on his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh here and said he will report to Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the ongoing situation in the trouble-torn state. Sarma flew down from Guwahati earlier this morning for this meeting to discuss the situation in Manipur where sporadic violence continues a month after ethnic clashes began in this northeastern state. “During my stay here, I met the honourable chief minister, his cabinet colleagues, our party leaders and civil society organisations. For us, peace and stability in Manipur are very very important. Whatever I have learnt during the day, I will report the same to the honourable Union Home Minister for further necessary actions,” Sarma told reporters. Shah had visited Manipur from May 29 to June 1 to take stock of the situation.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Saturday welcomed NDRF's first climbing expedition team after its return from the Bhagirathi-2 peak in Uttarkashi district. The expedition (SAAHAS) concluded formally with the chief minister receiving the flag from the mountaineering team at his camp office here. He congratulated the NDRF personnel for successfully completing the difficult expedition.

Five shops at GB Road caught fire on Saturday, officials said. According to the fire department, they received information about the blaze at 3.54 pm, following which 10 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire that had broken out in one shop at Gali Sitara slowly spread to four others in the neighbourhood. No casualty has been reported yet, it said.

An 85-year-old man was killed in a fire in his apartment in a residential building in southwest Delhi's Dwarka area, officials said on Saturday. A senior official said a call alerting the fire department about the blaze on the seventh floor of Mass Apartments in Dwarka Sector-10 was received at 8.26 pm Friday, following which nine fire tenders were rushed to the spot. Around 11.10 pm, it was reported that household items in Sadan Chandra's flat caught fire and it spread to the eighth floor, burning curtains and an air-conditioner unit of a flat there, the fire department official said.

Delhi Water Minister Saurabh Bhardwaj on Saturday accused Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena of claiming credit for the efforts of the Kejriwal government in cleaning the Yamuna river, dismissing the LG's claims as "misleading and baseless." There was no immediate response from the LG's office. Bhardwaj's statement came a day after the LG Secretariat issued a press release stating that the biological oxygen demand (BOD) levels in the Najafgarh drain, which accounts for approximately 70 per cent of wastewater discharge into the Yamuna, had decreased by 33 per cent compared to the previous year. The reduction was attributed to the intervention of a high-level committee headed by Saxena.

Six-year-old Julie, a canine of the NDRF, has been awarded with a commendation certificate for sniffing out and helping rescuers to save the life of a little girl who was buried under mounds of rubble in earthquake-hit Turkiye in February, officials said Saturday. The female Labrador was part of the Indian National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team that was sent as part of 'Operation dost' to rescue and provide relief to the victims of the massive 7.8 magnitude quake that struck Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on February 6. Julie has been awarded the 'director general's commendation role' for undertaking excellent search and rescue work during this operation. She has been chosen for this award for the specific role she played in sniffing out life from the debris of a multi-storey building which led to the rescue of six-year-old girl Beren who was trapped for more than 70 hours, a senior officer said.

Thousands of people who fled their homes in the central Philippines to escape a restive volcano have to contend with another threat that's complicating the ongoing evacuations: monsoon rains that could be unleashed by an approaching typhoon. More than 6,000 villagers have been forced to leave rural communities within a 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) radius of Mayon volcano's crater in northeastern Albay province. Thousands more need to be moved to safety from the permanent danger zone, officials said. Others living outside the perimeter have packed their bags and voluntarily left with their children for evacuation centres in Albay, which was placed under a state of calamity on Friday to allow more rapid disbursement of emergency funds in case a major eruption unfolds.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday called on his Manipur counterpart N Biren Singh to discuss the ongoing situation in Manipur where sporadic violence continues a month after ethnic clashes began in this northeastern state. Sarma flew down from Guwahati earlier this morning for this meeting. Sources said that the Assam CM was carrying a message from Delhi as all sides work to find a solution to the ethnic violence in the state that claimed over 100 lives since May 3. No official briefing was held to inform the media about the meeting. A total of 37,450 people are currently sheltered in 272 relief camps. Clashes first broke out on May 3 after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on Saturday that oil companies will be in a position to look at the issue of reducing petrol and diesel prices if the international crude cost remains stable and these firms have a good next quarter. He, however, added that he was not in a position to make an announcement on the issue. "As we go along we will see what can be done," the minister told a press conference at the BJP headquarters where he was asked several questions on petroleum prices and whether bringing them down is on the government's agenda.

The Bihar government has asked all departments to carry out development works in border areas of the state adhering to security guidelines issued by the Ministry of Defence. The Building Construction department in a letter (dated June 6) to all executive engineers has advised them to carry out developmental or construction work of small nature, which includes construction, repair and maintenance of government buildings like schools and hospitals, in border areas of the state adhering to security consideration on construction activities issued by the Ministry of Defence. The letter of the Building Construction department is in the possession of the PTI.

The Centre has constituted a committee in Manipur headed by the governor to facilitate the peace-making process among various ethnic groups and initiate dialogue between conflicting parties, the Union home ministry said on Saturday. The members of the peace committee include the chief minister, a few ministers, MPs, MLAs, leaders from different political parties and civil society groups, it said.

An explosion at a rocket and explosives factory has killed five workers, Turkiye's defence ministry said. The explosion occurred early on Saturday in the district of Elmadag, on the outskirts of the capital, Ankara. The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.

A Dalit man died after being allegedly thrashed by a hotel owner belonging to an upper caste community and his accomplice following an argument, during which they also hurled casteist slurs at the victim in Gujarat's Mahisagar district, police said on Saturday. The victim, Raju Vankar (45), died while undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Vadodara city on Friday night, two days after being thrashed by the hotel owner and his counter manager, an official of Bakor police station said. Dalit leader and Congress MLA Jignesh Mevani demanded immediate arrest of the accused, whom he called "casteist goons" and warned of a protest.

Vehicular movement on the Jammu-Srinagar national highway was restored on Saturday, after remaining suspended for nearly 12 hours due to repair and maintenance works on the stretch between the Nashri and Navyug tunnels, officials said. The works on the 270-km road were undertaken by the National Highways Authority of India following a landslide, they said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday said in the last nine years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi fulfilled the dreams of the middle class by opening new educational institutions, providing subsidised homes and creating lakhs of jobs. Shah said the financial condition of the middle class has rapidly ascended in the nine years of the Modi government. "PM @narendramodi Ji unveiled an era of #9YearsOfEnabledMiddleClass by realizing their aspirations. Whether it is opening up new educational institutions for their children to excel, handing them over subsidized homes, or creating lakhs of jobs, Modi Ji fulfilled their dreams," he tweeted.

The BSF has seized more than 5.5kg of heroin airdropped by a Pakistani drone near the international border in Punjab's Amritsar, a spokesperson of the force said on Saturday. The Border Security Force troops noticed the movement of the unmanned aerial vehicle coming from the Pakistan side at around 4 am Saturday and immediately moved to intercept it, the official said. The sound of something heavy falling was heard in a field in Rai village and the troops launched a search at the spot.

The husband of a 35-year-old woman lawyer was arrested after an encounter here Saturday morning for being involved in her killing, a senior police officer said. Anjali Garg was shot dead on Wednesday in TP Nagar area here by some unidentified people when she was returning home after buying milk, Additional SP Piyush Kumar Singh had earlier said. Garg was involved in a dispute with her husband, Rohit Verma alias Kakul, and also had differences with her in-laws over a property. Verma was made a suspect in the case.

Senior leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday expressed concern over the recent incidents of communal unrest witnessed in parts of Maharashtra, including Kolhapur. Addressing an event held here to mark completion of 24 years of the NCP's formation, party MP Supriya Sule said these incidents were not good for democracy, while its state unit chief Jayant Patil claimed that creating communal unrest through social media was something that never happened in the past. Tension gripped Kolhapur on Tuesday after two men allegedly put 18th-century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan’s image along with an offensive audio message as their social media status. The next day, the police had to disperse hundreds of protesters after they hurled stones during a demonstration in the city against the alleged use of Tipu Sultan’s image.

A day after three persons were killed as an illegally-operated coal mine collapsed in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district, the administration on Saturday set up a committee to probe into the incident, an official said. The two members of the probe committee are Abhishek Kumar Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Sindri and Parmesh Kushwaha Circle Officer (CO) Jharia. "A two-member committee has been set up to probe the incident that occurred at the Bhowra colliery area of Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL). The committee will submit its report within 24 hours," Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner Sandip Singh told PTI.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has held discussions with the heads of the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer in New York. The meeting, attended by senior vice-presidents of the company and higher officials of the state government, was held in a hotel where the Loka Kerala Sabha is being held, a CMO statement here said on Saturday. Initial talks were held regarding the opening of a branch of the company's Chennai-based research centre in Kerala.

Odisha: Fire broke out in a compartment of goods train at Rupsa railway station in Balasore district. Cause of the fire is yet to be known. The fire was brought under control by the fire brigade

The national capital on Saturday recorded a minimum temperature of 26.7 degrees Celsius, one notch below the season's average, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The weather office has predicted partly cloudy sky and very light rain with strong surface winds during the day. The maximum temperature is likely to settle around 40 degrees Celsius.

An 85-year-old man was killed in a fire that broke out at an apartment in a residential building in southwest Delhi's Dwarka area, officials said on Saturday. A call was received at 8.26 pm on Friday regarding the fire at the seventh floor of Mass Apartment in Dwarka Sector-10, and nine fire tenders were rushed to the spot, a senior official said. The fire department official said that around 11.10 pm, it was reported that household items had caught fire at an apartment on the seventh floor while curtains and an air-conditioner unit of a flat on the eighth floor were gutted.

Trinamool Congress MP Shatrughan Sinha said that a united opposition could work a "miracle" in next year's Lok Sabha polls.
Sinha, who is on a trip to his home town Patna, told journalists on Friday that he was sanguine about the opposition parties' meet scheduled here on June 23. Lauding Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the "initiative", he also expressed delight that his party chief Mamata Banerjee has agreed to attend the meeting. "I have always held that Mamata Banerjee is a game changer. It is great that she will be there with people like national icon Rahul Gandhi, who has acquired heroic stature after Bharat Jodo Yatra," said Sinha, who was briefly with Congress before joining TMC.

Attackers killed one U.N. peacekeeper and seriously injured eight others Friday in Mali's northern Timbuktu region, an area where extremists continue to operate, the United Nations said. The peacekeepers were part of a security patrol that was targeted first by an improvised explosive device and then by direct fire in the town of Ber, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. The United Nations joins the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, El-Ghassim Wane, in srongly condemning the attack, Dujarric said.

Delhi University's Executive Council (EC) on Friday gave its nod to a controversial notification on the teacher-student ratio for lectures and tutorials, despite opposition from some of its members. Vice Chancellor (VC) Yogesh Singh used his emergency powers in the matter, according to an EC member. In a notification issued last month, the university had capped the class size for lectures and tutorials at 60 and 30 respectively. The resolution was passed in Friday's meeting despite opposition from some of the members. The VC used his emergency powers to pass the resolution, the EC member cited above said. Three members of the EC disapproved of the use of emergency powers by Singh.

A Canadian government appointee looking into allegations of Chinese interference in Canada announced on Friday that he is stepping down from his role, citing the highly partisan atmosphere around his work. Former Governor General David Johnston said in a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that his leadership of the government's probe into purported meddling by China has not helped build trust in democratic institutions because of partisanship.

Full service carrier Vistara is facing a shortage of cabin crew uniforms and some of its cabin crew members will soon be wearing black-coloured uniforms as a temporary solution. Vistara, a joint venture between the Tata Group and Singapore Airlines, has said it is actively working with suppliers to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. The airline, which is to be merged with Air India, is expanding its fleet as well as staff strength.

Colombia's government and its largest remaining guerrilla group agreed on Friday to a six-month cease-fire at talks in Cuba, in the latest attempt to resolve a conflict dating back to the 1960s. The government and the National Liberation Army, or ELN, announced the accord at a ceremony in Havana attended by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, top guerrilla commander Antonio García and Cuban officials. The cease-fire takes effect in phases, goes fully into effect in August and then lasts for six months. “This effort to look for peace is a beacon of hope that conflicts can be resolved politically and diplomatically," top rebel negotiator Pablo Beltrán said at the ceremony.

The three-day national executive meeting of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) concluded on Friday with a resolution to take the ideas of the Congress party to the masses through the medium of its campaign "Youth Jodo, Booth Jodo", party officials said. Addressing the party leaders and workers after the meeting in Hyderabad, IYC national president Srinivas B V said youngsters will connect with the Congress in the upcoming Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) declared the results for Class 12 exams on Friday, marking the successful culmination of the maiden academic session of the union territory and Ladakh under the Uniform Academic Calendar 2023. A total of 1,27,636 students were enrolled for the Class 12 exam in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, an official spokesperson said. Girls excelled again by scoring a higher pass percentage than boys. "Girls have yet again outperformed boys in higher secondary school examinations with a pass percentage of 68 as against boys' 61," the spokesperson said.

At least three people were killed as an illegally-operated coal mine collapsed in Jharkhand's Dhanbad district on Friday, officials said.
The incident happened around 10.30 am in the Bhowra colliery area of Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL), about 21 km from Dhanbad town, they said. Deputy Superintendent of Police of Sindri Abhishek Kumar said the exact number of people killed and feared trapped would be known after the rescue operation is complete. An eyewitness said many villagers were engaged in illegal mining when a portion of the mine's roof caved in.

The High Court of Karnataka on Friday quashed a case registered against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar during the Mekedatu padayatra for violating COVID-19 guidelines last year. Complaints were lodged against Shivakumar for flouting the COVID-19 norms during the Congress' 'Mekedatu Padayatre' in January 2022. Justice M Nagaprasanna also stayed two related cases filed in Kanakapura town police station against Shivakumar.

BJP president J P Nadda chaired a meeting with the party's national general secretaries on Friday as they took stock of organisational and political matters. The meeting came amid marathon deliberations among the ruling party's senior leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, Nadda and general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh.