Breaking News, September 29

Sonia Gandhi left her daughter, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's house to return to 10 Janpath, her residence.  

The Nehru-Gandhi family will remain our leader. Whoever becomes the party president will work under their leadership...Our priority is to see how the situation in the country improves, won't let the country divide or the constitution weaken: Digvijaya Singh, Congress MP

Sonia Gandhi was seen leaving her residence, 10 Janpath while a meeting of party leaders is being held at her home, sources reported on Thursday.   

Congress advises leaders to refrain from making public statements against any other leaders or internal matters

A meeting is being  held at Sonia Gandhi's residence in regard with the selection of the president of Congress party

Seven persons are missing after a mechanised boat carrying 29 passengers capsized in the Brahmaputra river in Dhubri district of Assam on Thursday, a government official said.

Two girls were injured after the wall of a temple in southwest Delhi's Kishangarh collapsed on them, police said on Thursday. According to police, the incident took place on Wednesday when the girls were passing by a temple and its wall caved in on them.

A couple allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan here on Thursday over harassment by money lenders, police said on Thursday. The deceased were identified as Satish Chandra (42) and his wife Mansa Devi (40), residents of Basant Vihar Colony, Additional Superintendent of Police (City) Sanjay Kumar said.

Sri Lanka’s Parliamentary panel headed by Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena has set up two special sub-committees on Thursday, including one to tackle the country’s economic crisis. The decision was taken during the inaugural session of the National Council, under Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

Taiwan on Thursday said it will end mandatory COVID-19 quarantines for people arriving from overseas beginning October 13. The Central Epidemic Command Centre announced that the previous week-long requirement will be replaced with a seven-day self-monitoring period. A rapid antigen test will still be required upon arrival, but those showing no symptoms will be allowed to take public transportation.

Three offices of the banned Popular Front of Assam (PFI) have been sealed in Assam and a strict watch is being maintained on its members since the government's announcement of ban on the organisation, a police official said on Thursday.

Iraq summoned the Iranian ambassador on Thursday to deliver a diplomatic complaint following a deadly drone bombing campaign, the Iraqi Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Right-wing Hindu outfit Bajrang Dal on Thursday said it was working towards curbing "love jihad" incidents that may take place at 'garba' venues amid Navratri in Gujarat.

Police have registered a case of gang-rape against three doctors of a hospital here, an official said on Thursday. A doctor posted at Kaili Hospital in Basti Sadar Kotwali befriended the girl from Lucknow on social media, Circle Officer (City) Alok Prasad said. He asked the woman to visit him at his hospital on August 10. He then took her to his hostel room where he and two colleagues allegedly raped her, Prasad said. A case was registered at Sadar Kotwali on the instructions of Superintendent of Police Ashish Srivastava. 

A quack was arrested and charged with culpable homicide following the death of a 20-year-old Maruti Suzuki India intern due to alleged wrong treatment in IMT, Manesar, police said. Footage from CCTV cameras installed at the deceased's PG accommodation showed the quack and his friend dumping his body near, the police added. Leeladhar, a native of Jaandwa village in Rajasthan's Churu district, was interning with Maruti at IMT and lived in a PG in Aliar village. In his complaint to the police, the deceased's uncle Ramavtar said he was informed about Leeladhar's death on Tuesday. The police handed over his body after a post mortem, but Ramavtar said he had a doubt that his nephew died under suspicious circumstances.

Sri Lankan lawmakers will debate next week on the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution aimed at empowering Parliament over the executive president. Party leaders agreed to take up the debate on the 22nd Amendment in Parliament on October 6 and 7, Communications Department of Parliament said on Thursday. The decision was taken at the Business Committee meeting held at Parliament Complex on Thursday morning chaired by Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena.

The Rajasthan home department on Thursday released an order empowering the state police to act against the Popular Front of India (PFI) and other similar organisations. The order was released following the Centre's notification banning the PFI and affiliates for five years. The department has ordered the Director-General of Police, Additional Director-General of Police (Anti-Terror Squad and Special Operations Group), commissioners of Jaipur and Jodhpur, Inspector General range and Superintendents of Police and district courts to act against these organisations under sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). In a notification issued late on Tuesday night, the Union Home Ministry said the central government is of the opinion that the PFI and its affiliates have been involved in subversive activities, thereby disturbing public order and undermining constitutional set up of the country and encouraging and enforcing a terror-based regressive regime. 

A factory in UP's Aligarh was vacated after reports of gas leakage were received today. Now, the situation is under control and stable in the factory. All the affected people are getting treatment in a hospital. The factory has been fully vacated after the incident took place on Thursday. 

Uttar Pradesh: Toxic gas leakage was reported in a factory in Aligarh.

A frail 87-year-old Rwandan accused of encouraging and bankrolling the country's 1994 genocide goes on trial at a United Nations tribunal Thursday, nearly three decades after the 100-day massacre left 800,000 dead. Félicien Kabuga is one of the last fugitives charged over the genocide to face justice, and the start of his trial marks a key day of reckoning for Rwandans who survived the killings or whose families were murdered. Naphtal Ahishakiye, the executive secretary of a genocide survivors' group known as Ibuka, said it's never too late for justice to be delivered.

National Institute of Technology (NIT), Hamirpur, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi, for research-related activities, academic workshops and scientific conferences. IIT-Mandi Director Prof Laxmidhar Behera and NIT-Hamirpur Director Prof Hiralal Murlidhar Suryawanshi signed the MoU here on Wednesday evening. NIT-Hamirpur Registrar Prof Vinod Kumar said the agreement would allow undergraduate and postgraduate students of both the institutes to carry out their studies and research work in joint consultation with the two faculties.

The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would take up on January 17, 2023 a plea by two students contending that WhatsApp's policy to share users' data with parent company Facebook and others is a violation of their privacy and free speech. A five-judge constitution bench headed by Justice K M Joseph asked the parties to complete pleadings in the matter by December 15. "We are inclined to adjourn the matter to January 17, 2023 for final hearing," the bench also comprising Justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy and C T Ravikumar said. The apex court was hearing the plea filed by two students -- Karmanya Singh Sareen and Shreya Sethi -- challenging the contract entered into between the two companies to provide access to calls, photographs, texts, videos and documents shared by users is violation of their privacy and free speech. 

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Partly cloudy skies are likely in the city which logged a minimum temperature of 23.3 degrees Celsius on Thursday. The maximum temperature is expected to settle at 35 degrees Celsius, the weather office said. The relative humidity recorded at 8.30 am was 87 per cent. The air quality index (AQI) of Delhi was recorded in the moderate (122) category around 9:15 am, data from the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR) showed. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered good, 51 and 100 satisfactory, 101 and 200 moderate, 201 and 300 poor, 301 and 400 very poor, and 401 and 500 severe. 

Telangana's 'Mission Bhagiratha' scheme which provides purified potable drinking water through taps to every household, has been bestowed with the Union government award again. A brainchild of Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, the 'Mission Bhagiratha' scheme provides safe drinking water to every habitation in the state without leaving out even a single tribal habitat in remote, forest and hilly areas, an official release said on Wednesday.
 The scheme stood as a role model for the entire country by providing purified drinking water to every house through tap, it said.

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US Vice President Kamala Harris is capping her four-day trip to Asia with a stop at the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone dividing the Korean Peninsula as she tries to demonstrate the U.S. commitment to the security of its Asian allies. The visit on Thursday comes on the heels of North Korea's latest missile launches and amid fears that it may conduct a nuclear test. Visiting the DMZ has become something of a ritual for American leaders hoping to show their resolve to stand firm against aggression. North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday, while Harris was in Japan, and had fired one before she left Washington on Sunday. The launches contribute to a record level of missile testing this year.

Australia could have tough new data protection laws in place this year in an urgent response to a cyberattack on a telecommunications company that stole the personal data of 9.8 million customers, the attorney-general said on Thursday. Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said the government would make “urgent reforms” to the Privacy Act following the unprecedented hack last week on Optus, Australia's second-largest wireless carrier. Dreyfus said “I think it's possible” for the law to be changed in the four remaining w

At least six people were wounded in a shooting at a school in Oakland on Wednesday, officials said. The scene of the shooting was “no longer active,” according to Alameda County Sheriff spokesperson Lt. Ray Kelly. Paramedics had transported six patients to hospitals, all with gunshot wounds, according to Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf tweeted that all of the wounded were adults and the shooting happened at Sojourner Truth Independent Study, an alternative K-12 school that is located on the same block as three other schools.Officials didn't say if any of the victims might be students age 18 or older.

American businesses are struck by how much more digital India has become and there is a broad sense of overall appreciation of the ease of doing business in the country, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. During a luncheon on Wednesday, USISPF president Mukesh Aghi presented Jaishankar with USISPF’s coffee table book titled, ‘We The People', chronicling 75 years of the US-India story, strengthened by the minister’s efforts. The US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) is committed to creating the most powerful strategic partnership between the U.S. and India.

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The Maharashtra government will conduct an inquiry into alleged irregularities in the purchase of vehicles by the relief and rehabilitation department when the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Agahdi (MVA) was in power, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Wednesday. He made the announcement after a regional news channel (ABP Majha) claimed to have accessed documents that, it said, showed the relief and rehabilitation department purchased vehicles allegedly at inflated prices during the coronavirus pandemic. The channel, citing the documents, claimed one of the vehicles - a mini bus - was purchased for Rs three crore when its market price was Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh.

Liquor businessman Sameer Mahandru, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the Delhi excise policy money laundering case, earned Rs 50 crore as "proceeds of crime" in less than a year by violating the provisions of the liquor scheme, the agency told a local court. Mahandru, the managing director of an alcoholic beverages manufacturing company called Indospirit, was taken into custody by the federal agency around 9 am on Wednesday and the court of special judge M K Nagpal later sent him to the Enforcement Directorate custody till October 6.

India strives to have a relationship with China that is built on mutual sensitivity, respect and interest, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said as he asserted that betterment and strengthening of the Indo-Pacific is a shared objective of New Delhi and Washington, amid Beijing’s growing military presence in the strategic region. China, which has territorial disputes with many countries in the strategic Indo-Pacific region, has been opposing the US’ proactive policy specifically in the disputed South China Sea. “We continue to strive for a relationship with China, but one that is built on mutual sensitivity, mutual respect and mutual interest,” Jaishankar told a group of Indian reporters here on Wednesday as he concluded his four-day visit to the city.