Breaking News, June 13

Three persons were arrested on Monday for allegedly killing a bear in the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district, a forest department official said. Gariaband Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Mayank Agrawal said after the arrest, the alleged poachers, identified only as Chaitram, Mohan and Pyarelal, all aged 50, were produced before a local court which sent them in 14-day judicial custody.

(PTI) A BJP municipal councillor here has resigned from the party in protest against the controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad by now-suspended party spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Tabassum Mirza, BJP's councillor from ward number 14 of Kota Municipal Corporation, South, on Monday sent her resignation letter to party's state unit chief Satish Poonia and Kota district president Krishan Kumar Soni, mentioning the reason behind her resignation.

Three people were killed and four wounded in a shooting during a warehouse party in Los Angeles early Sunday, authorities said.
One of the gunshot victims remained in critical condition on Monday morning, according to Officer Jader Chaves, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson. Detectives have not yet determined a motive in the shooting around 12:30 a.m. Sunday in the Boyle Heights neighbourhood. No suspect information has been released.

Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak on Friday warned that there is no place in the state for those obstructing development work and bulldozers will continue to be used against troublemakers. Talking to reporters after addressing the BJP's 'Garib Kalyan Sammelan' here, Pathak said the rule of law prevails in the state and any kind of disturbance, unrest and activities of anti-social elements will not be tolerated.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were collapsing in price Monday, after a major crypto lender halted all withdrawals citing “extreme market conditions.” It is the second collapse of a part of the cryptocurrency world in the last two months. The stablecoin Terra imploded in early May, erasing tens of billions of dollars in a matter of hours.

The Bombay High Court on Monday pulled up the Maharashtra government over the arrest of a 21-year-old student for alleged defamatory posts against NCP president Sharad Pawar and asked if the government would take cognizance of every tweet it deems offensive. The HC observed that even Pawar, a former Union minister and veteran politician, would not like that the student be kept in jail. A division bench headed by Justice S S Shinde directed the public prosecutor to take instructions from the state home department and let it know if they are willing to make a statement of no objection to the release of the pharmacy student.

West Bengal reported 113 new cases of Covid-19 contagion on Monday as the positivity rate jumped to 2.45 per cent from Sunday's 1.60 per cent, a state health bulletin said.

Two brothers were killed in a lightning strike during a thunderstorm in Khajura village of the district on Monday, police said.

The ruling BJP in Assam on Monday swept the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council elections, winning all the 26 constituencies, the State Election Commission (SEC) said. Congress, the principal opposition party in the state, scored a duck.

Gujarat reported 111 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday, raising its overall tally to 12,26,363, while no new death linked to the infection was registered in the state, the health department said. The number of fatalities remained unchanged at 10,945, said the department in a release. Also, 57 coronavirus patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours, pushing up their cumulative number to 12,14,586, it said.

Broadband and mobile Internet services were restored in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district while prohibitory orders were lifted from Doda, except in Bhaderwah town, on Monday, days after tension ran high in the Union Territory over now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma's controversial remarks over Prophet Mohammad.

Parts of northwest India braved intense heat on Monday, even though heatwave conditions have abated in the rest of the country, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said. Heatwave conditions prevailed in parts of Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, it said.
Major relief from the scorching heat is likely from June 15-16, according to the weather department.

Thousands of devotees from across the country have started arriving at this pilgrim town as the Odisha administration is all set to conduct the sibling deities - Lord Balabhadra, Devi Subhadra and Lord Jagannath’s, ceremonial bathing ritual known as 'Snana Ustav' in full public view on Tuesday. There is excitement among the devotees as the ritual will allow public participation after a gap of two years. The devotees were not allowed in the rituals in 2020 and 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic

Five people were arrested over the weekend in Noida for allegedly smuggling liquor from Delhi into Uttar Pradesh, officials said on Monday. Over 15 cartons of liquor were also seized on Saturday and Sunday and three vehicles in which the alcohol was being transported were also impounded, officials from the Gautam Buddh Nagar excise department said.

Researchers at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati have claimed to have developed an affordable prosthetic leg, specifically designed for Indian conditions such as uneven terrain and Indian needs such as cross-legged sitting and deep squatting.

Equity benchmarks had another rough day on Monday, with the Sensex plummeting 1,457 points and the Nifty tumbling to the 15,774 level, mirroring an extremely weak trend in global markets along with unrelenting foreign fund outflows. Index majors ICICI Bank, Infosys and Reliance Industries bore the brunt of heavy selling.

The Congress' Karnataka unit on Monday staged a protest against Enforcement Directorate (ED) issuing summons to party's national president Sonia Gandhi and top leader Rahul Gandhi and accused the BJP government at the Centre of indulging in "vendetta politics." The protest came on the day Rahul Gandhi appeared at the ED office in Delhi in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to the National Herald-AJL deal.

Kolkata Police on Monday summoned suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for questioning in connection with her controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad. She has been asked to appear at Narkeldanga Police Station on June 20 to record her statement, an official said.

A youth has been arrested in Rasra area here for allegedly posting an objectionable content against Prophet Mohammad on a social media site, a police official said on Monday. Krishna Kumar, who had posted the objectionable Facebook post on Sunday, was arrested, Circle Officer (Rasra) Shiv Narain Vaish said.

Number of Congress leaders and workers including Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) president G A Mir were detained Monday after they staged a sit-in and tried to take out a march here to protest alleged misuse of government agencies against opposition leaders by the BJP-led central government.

Five people including three children have died after a private bus carrying passengers overturned in Alluri Sitharama Raju district on Monday.
The incident took place at Edugurallapalli in Chintoor in the early hours of Monday. On information, police reached the spot.

A body of advocates in Prayagaraj have e-mailed a petition to the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court against the demolition of a house of the alleged mastermind of the June 10 violence here by the Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA). The building map of the house of the accused, Javed Ahmad, had not been approved by the PDA, according to an official of the agency.

Suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who was summoned by the Bhiwandi police in Maharashtra on Monday over her alleged objectionable remarks against Prophet Mohammad, has sought time to appear before the police to record her statement, a senior official said.

Sharma has been granted time and will not appear before the Bhiwandi police on Monday, he said.

A day after authorities demolished an "illegally constructed" house of an accused in the violence in Prayagraj, Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Monday said the "culture of bulldozing thrives" while the law sleeps. The Prayagraj Development Authority (PDA) on Sunday demolished the house of the alleged mastermind of Friday's violence in Prayagraj amid heavy police deployment.

Mizoram on Monday reported two new COVID-19 cases, the lowest single-day spike this year, taking the tally to 2,28,575, a health official said. The state had reported 28 cases on Sunday. The coronavirus death toll rose to 701 after a three-month-old infant succumbed to the infection at a COVID-19 health centre in Lunglei town on Sunday, he said.

Tension gripped Kamptee town in Maharashtra's Nagpur district after several members of a community gathered outside a police station, demanding action against a man and woman over their alleged derogatory posts on social media, officials said on Monday. A case was registered against the duo after the incident late Saturday night and police patrolling was intensified in the town, located 20 km from Nagpur city, they said.

An Israeli trekker went missing at Hampta Pass Trek between Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh, a senior disaster management official said here on Monday.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Monday that Turkey has “legitimate concerns” over terrorism and other issues that need to be taken seriously. Turkey has accused Finland and Sweden of supporting Kurdish militants and says it will not back the two Nordic nations joining NATO until they change their policies.

Ahead of the eighth International Yoga Day on June 21, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday that yoga has gained tremendous popularity globally.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his top deputies have pushed for a crackdown on officials who abuse their power and commit other “unsound and non-revolutionary acts," state media reported Monday, as Kim seeks greater internal unity to overcome a COVID-19 outbreak and economic difficulties.

In response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 people dead at Robb Elementary School, a bipartisan group of 20 senators led by Sens Chris Murphy (Democrat - Connecticut) and John Cornyn (Republican -Texas) on Sunday (local time) announced they have agreed to "a common-sense proposal" to curb gun violence.