Breaking News, January 10

A youth Congress worker has been taken into custody in connection with the murder of an SFI activist at Govt Engineering College, Idukki district, Police said.

"Murder of Dheeraj Rajendran, a student of Govt Engineering College, Idukki & an SFI activist, is extremely sad & condemnable. Attempts to create riots in colleges will not be allowed. Police have been directed to bring Dheeraj's killers before law," Kerala CM in a Facebook post.

For those who say that Hinduism is in danger, the President, PM & CMs of this country are Hindu... Hindutva may be in danger but Hinduism was never in danger & will never be in the future, said Congress leader Digvijaya Singh in Indore.

There have been some media reports alleging that PSA plants installed in Chhattisgarh through PM-CARES funds are not being maintained well. Such media reports are fallacious and ill-informed and not based on facts, the government said.

It is clarified that 122 PSA plants are being installed from various sources in Chhattisgarh, of which 49 plants were installed & commissioned under PM-CARES. After 1000 hours of run, Zeolite, an absorbent used in PSA plants to produce medical oxygen, needs to be replaced, it said.

As per industry norms, the shelf-life of Zeolite is 3-5 years and has to be replaced only after this period. The funds for this have been sanctioned by Chhattisgarh government. 13 out of 49 plants were not functional due to site/vendor issues which have been already shared with State, it added.

Faridabad Police arrested an accused in a murder of a 22-year-old girl. "During interrogation, the accused revealed that he is a serial killer who had killed three minor girls earlier as well for opposing rape attempt," police said.

Kerala: Income Tax Department carried out a search and seizure operation on January 5 on two groups, engaged in the business of quarry operation. More than 35 premises spread across Kottayam, Eranakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad & Kannur have been covered in the search operation, said CBDT.

NCP President Sharad Pawar Saheb will address a Press Conference on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 at 4 pm, informed party leader Nawab Malik. He hasn't informed on which issue he will address media.

Mumbai Police has registered a non-cognizable offence against an unknown person for allegedly threatening the complainant in 'Bulli Bai' app case and is investigating how the complainant's numbers reached unknown persons, says an official.

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla called on Lyonpo Loknath Sharma, Minister for Economic Affairs of Bhutan during his visit to India. Discussions covered economic cooperation, with a special focus on the hydropower sector, said MEA.

National Commission for Women chairperson writes to Twitter India "to immediately block actor Siddharth's tweet on shuttler Saina Nehwal, calls it "misogynist and outrageous."

The actor later said, "Nothing disrespectful was intended, reading otherwise is unfair."

SAI to shut down training centres amid rise in COVID-19 cases but camps for elite athletes to continue

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Monday said it has decided to close its 67 training centres across the country due to rising COVID-19 cases but national camps for elite athletes will continue in bio-bubbles. The decision will not impact the National Centres of Excellence (NCOE) like the ones in Patiala and Bengaluru where camps for elite athletes are in progress across multiple disciplines.

With just over a month to go for Assembly elections in Goa, political observers feel the Congress may upset BJP’s plans for retaining power in the coastal state, but appear less enthused about Trinamool Congress, whose entry has added colour to the poll campaign.

The Supreme Court Monday rapped the West Bengal government for not filing status report on proving dry rations to sex workers in the state, observing that fundamental rights are guaranteed to all citizens irrespective of vocation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 25th National Youth Festival in Puducherry on January 12, the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda which is observed as National Youth Day. He will inaugurate the event via video-conferencing. 

PM to inaugurate 11 new govt medical colleges across TN on Jan 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually inaugurate 11 new government medical colleges across Tamil Nadu and the new campus of Central Institute of Classical Tamil in Chennai, on January 12. The new medical colleges are being established at an estimated cost of about Rs 4,000 crore, out of which around Rs 2,145 crore has been provided by the Centre and rest by the Tamil Nadu government.

Observing that it can't allow every person who thinks of some solution to COVID-19 to file a petition, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea alleging that China is deliberately spreading the virus as a biological weapon. A bench comprising Justices S K Kaul and M M Sundresh dismissed a plea filed by a lawyer, and said this was only a publicity move. The top court rapped the petitioner for filing the PIL, and said, "Is it the court's job to see what is the international ramification, whether China is committing genocide or not?.

One person was killed and at least two injured in a gas leak incident from an industrial area in suburban Ghatkopar here on Monday morning. 

A court in Myanmar sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on Monday after finding her guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions, a legal official said. Suu Kyi was convicted last month on two other charges and given a four-year prison sentence, which was then halved by the head of the military-installed government.

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition seeking an independent inquiry into the Haridwar 'Dharm Sansad' speeches allegedly inciting violence against minority community.Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing in the PIL, mentions the matter before a Bench headed by CJI NV Ramana that the slogan of the country seems to have changed from 'Satyameva Jayate' to 'Shasatrameva jayate'.

After more than two days of continuous rain, residents of Delhi-NCR on Monday woke up to a foggy morning. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has pegged the maximum and minimum temperatures at 17 and 9 degrees Celsius, respectively.

After over 400 Parliament staffers tested positive for Covid-19 during random testing and with the rise in the cases in the national capital, the meetings of several parliamentary committees have been cancelled.

The personnel of Chinar corps of Indian army along with BSF troops evacuated one soldier of BSF & 3 critically ill civilians from Tangdhar to Srinagar. The troops airlifted the patients for medical attention. They have been identified as Nasreen Fatima, 50, Sobiya Begun, 30, and Rizwan Ahmad, 10. Read more here

India got a helping hand from Iran to transport humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. As External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar had a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the latter offered to allow transportation of Indian wheat, life-saving drugs and Covid vaccines to Afghanistan through its territory.

A fire broke out in a wood godown situated in the Byculla area of Mumbai on Monday. No casualties have been reported so far.

Two unidentified terrorists have been killed in an encounter between security forces and terrorists in the Hasanpora area of Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam, the police informed on Monday. "Two unidentified terrorists killed. Identification and affiliation are being ascertained. Incriminating materials including arms and ammunition recovered," police said.