Breaking News, April 19

The Taliban government has spurned reports regarding the presence of Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants in Afghanistan.

India's second largest IT services firm Infosys has said that the situation in Ukraine has not impacted the demand environment when it comes to European clients, and the company will see over the next few quarters on how things pan out.

Sri Lankan police on Tuesday opened fire at anti-government protestors in the southwestern region of Rambukkana, killing at least one person and injuring 12 others - the first death during the ongoing protests over the worst-ever economic crisis in the country's history.

Jahangirpuri violence: Locals say they got info through WhatsApp forwards

A special court here has sentenced two men to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for trafficking of minors. A court for Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act on April 16 also imposed a fine of Rs 5.64 lakh on each of the culprit Mohammed Qudus and Mohammed Yunus.

Shares of HDFC Bank extended their southward journey on Tuesday, falling nearly 4 per cent. The stock declined 3.73 per cent to settle at Rs 1,343.30 apiece on the BSE. During the day, it dropped 4.82 per cent to Rs 1,328.

Shanghai reported seven more deaths due to COVID-19 as the Chinese financial hub grapples with a record outbreak, taking the death toll in the country to 4,648 with over 21,400 new cases, most of them from the city.

A total of 33 children below the age of 18 figure among the 107 new Covid-19 cases in Gautam Buddha Nagar of Uttar Pradesh in last 24 hours.

An 80-year-old woman and her grandson, 40, were found dead in their village home near Phulpur town in the district on Tuesday, police said. The police suspected that Lalita Devi and her grandson Arvind Maurya of Dhokri village died of consuming poison.

The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to provide land free of cost to set up a regional centre of the National Centre for Disease Control in Lucknow, officials said. The Cabinet also gave its approval for heliports in Agra, Mathura, Prayagraj and Lucknow.

In the latest development in connection with the Jahangirpuri violence in Delhi, new CCTV footage has surfaced in which the alleged rioters can be seen gathering sticks. This footage is said to be of the night of April 15.

Two persons were hospitalised in Odisha's Mayurbhanj district after a quack allegedly administered them doses of an injection used for treating animals, police said on Tuesday.

Two persons have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping and murdering a 25-year-old man in Thane district, a police official said on Tuesday.

Shares of HDFC twins - HDFC Bank and HDFC have been on a bearish trend right after the announcement of the merger.

The Yogi Adityanath government, on Tuesday, allotted residential and agricultural plots and houses to 63 Hindu families who had migrated from East Pakistan in 1970.

Three back-to-back blasts happened in the west of Kabul on Tuesday morning, two near a school and one near a tuition center, leaving five people wounded, according to initial information and interviews of eyewitnesses, Tolo News reported.

The intelligence agencies have reported a cyber-security breach in the military and a high-level probe has been ordered, sources said here on Tuesday.

A fire broke out at a furniture manufacturing factory in the national capital on Tuesday afternoon, a Fire Department official said.

Terrorists on Tuesday opened fire on security forces guarding a minority village in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, but there was no report of any damage, officials said.

The ultras opened fire towards a bunker of the security forces guarding a village inhabited by members of the minority community at Heerpora in Shopian around 10 am, a police official said.

He said there was no loss of life or injury in the incident. 

Indian private sector has to drive the carbon transition efforts as the country's significant economic development needs will constrain the government's ability to extend sufficient financial support, said Moody's Investors Service.

According to Moody's, many large corporations have launched a wide range of emission targets through 2050.

"India's (Baa3 stable) 2070 net-zero target and intermediate goals through 2030 present significant policy implementation challenges for the government, carving a more central role for private companies and investors to drive the transition, according to a new report by Moody's.

Homegrown FMCG major Dabur India Ltd on Tuesday said it plans to induct a fleet of 100 electric vehicles (EVs) in its supply chain for last-mile product distribution in the next 12 months.

The first batch of the new EVs has been inducted into its fleet in North India and has commenced deliveries in Haryana's Sonipat area. All the 100 vehicles would be inducted within the next 12 months across the nation, Dabur India Ltd CEO Mohit Malhotra said in a statement.

Three persons were killed in Arunachal Pradesh's Kurung Kumey district in a massive landslide triggered by heavy rains, officials said on Tuesday. Incessant rains over the last one week have ravaged the state, snapping road connectivity in several areas, besides uprooting trees and damaging houses, they said.

A massive landslide hit Sulung Tapin village in Koloriang circle on Monday, damaging at least 15 houses and burying three people alive, Additional District Commissioner (ADC) Ocean Gao said.

The insurance scheme for healthcare workers engaged in COVID-19 related duties has been extended further for a period of 180 days from Tuesday, and 1,905 claims have been settled under it so far, the Government said on Tuesday.

The Union Health Ministry said it has been decided to extend the policy to provide a safety net to dependents of health workers who are deputed to take care of COVID-19 patients.

A group of ministers, tasked by the Goods and Services Tax Council to look into rate rationaliation, hasn't taken a view on the issue yet, an official source said.

The seven-member GoM (Group of Ministers), which is led by Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai and includes finance ministers from West Bengal, Kerala Goa, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan as members, is likely to meet early next month.

The group hasn't taken up a proposal to raise the lowest or threshold slab under GST to 8 per cent from 5 per cent, said the source who wished not to be identified.

Explosions targeting educational centers injured at least seven children in Afghanistan's capital city Tuesday, with reports of at least three bombs detonating in a mostly Shiite neighborhood, police said.

The blasts, which occurred in rapid succession, hurt several children and more casualties were feared, according to Kabul police spokesman Khalid Zadran and the city's Emergency Hospital.

The explosions occurred near Abdul Rahim Shaheed High School and inside an education center, where exams are taken in the Dasht-e-Barchi neighborhood of Kabul.

Pakistan Acting President Sadiq Sanjrani on Tuesday administered the oath to the 34-member council of ministers of the newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which included 31 Cabinet Ministers. The oath-taking ceremony began with the recitation of the Holy Quran. A total of 31 federal ministers and three ministers of state took the oath, reported Dawn.

The swearing-in was postponed after President Arif Alvi refused to administer the oath to the ministers. Ruling PML-N leader Khawaja Asif, in a private TV show last night, revealed the names of some of the PML-N leaders who were set to take up ministries in the new Cabinet.

The names of Talha Mahmood, Syed Aminul Haq, Syed Faisal Ali Sabzwari, Muhammad Israr Tareen, Nawabzada Shah Zain Bugti, and Tariq Bashir Cheema were approved as federal ministers, reported The Express Tribune.

Dozens of residents of the southern province of Kandahar staged protests in reaction to recent Pakistani attacks on Afghan territory, Tolo News reported.

On April 16, the Pakistani military carried out airstrikes on the Spiri area of Khost province and also targeted the Shiltan district of Kunar province with shelling.

"No one takes action. We call on the Islamic Emirate to give a strong response to Pakistan," a protestor said.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs is likely to approve the proposal sent by the Central Armed Police Forces' to re-designate the designation of Second- In-Command or 2-I/C to Additional Commandant.

Explaining the difficulties, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) said in the proposal to the Ministry said that the CAPF officers after superannuation in the rank of Second-In Command find it difficult to explain the rank and profile to the civil society.

"Even in various government organisations/departments, the rank of Second-In-Command is difficult to explain," the CRPF said in its proposal.

Two labourers were taken ill after consuming soft drink in Bihar's Gopalganj district, an official said.

Sailendra Kumar Mahto and Ramesh Mahto, who were returning from Chennai on Monday, de-boarded at Sher railway station and purchased soft drink and soon after consuming it, started vomitting blood.

Confirming the incident, Dhananjay Kumar, the SHO of Sidhwalia police station, said: "As there was scorching heat, the two labourers went to a vendor on a railway station and purchased a soft drink bottle and consumed it. Soon, they started vomiting blood. The nearby people immediately informed us and we rushed to the spot. With the help of local passengers, we rushed them to Sadar hospital," Kumar said.

The UAE had adopted a new liberalised Entry and Residence Scheme, including new categories and expanding the scope of beneficiaries.

The initiative is aimed at supporting the country's competitiveness in the tourism, economic and educational sectors.

Aiming at attracting and retaining global talent, the UAE has updated the Golden Residence rules as a part of the new Entry and Residence Scheme. The scope of beneficiaries has been expanded to offer more benefits, including 10 years of renewable residence.

Japan's health ministry on Tuesday formally approved Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, a fourth foreign-developed tool to combat the infections as the country sees signs of a resurgence led by a subvariant of fast-spreading omicron. The ministry approval comes the day after its experts panel endorsed use of Novavax's protein vaccine, which is designed with similar technology used to fight diseases such as the flu and hepatitis B, for the first two shots and a booster.

Health Minister Shigeyuki Goto told reporters that Novavax product adds variety to the choices available and could appeal to those who are hesitant to use COVID-19 vaccines such as Pfizer's and Moderna's, which are designed with newer technologies.

Jabs using Novavax vaccine are expected to start as early as late May.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth will lead a roadshow from the Ahmedabad airport on Tuesday evening, civic officials said. The roadshow will commence around 6 PM after Modi and Jugnauth land at the Ahmedabad airport from Jamnagar, where Modi will lay the foundation stone for the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicines.

The Mauritius prime minister will be accorded a grand welcome, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials said, adding that 30 platforms have been erected at regular intervals on the two-km roadshow route from the airport circle to the Indira Bridge where troupes will perform.

At least 15,000 people are expected to greet both the prime ministers who will travel from the airport to Raj Bhavan, as per the release.

The country's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has raised its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by 10 basis points (bps) or 0.1 per cent across all tenures, a move that will lead to an increase in EMIs for borrowers. The lending rate revision by SBI is likely to be followed by other banks in the days to come.

With the increase, EMIs will go up for those borrowers who have availed loans on MCLR, not for those, whose loans are linked to other benchmarks.

SBI's EBLR rate is 6.65 per cent, while the repo-linked lending rate (RLLR) is 6.25 effective April 1.

Banks add Credit Risk Premium (CRP) over the EBLR and RLLR while giving any kind of loan including housing and auto loans.

Shanghai reported seven more deaths due to COVID-19 as the Chinese financial hub grapples with a record outbreak, taking the total death toll in the country to 4,648 with over 21,400 new cases, most of them from the city.

Seven new deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Monday in Shanghai in addition to the three a day earlier, the first in the recent outbreak, taking the total death toll in the country due to coronavirus since it emerged in Wuhan in 2019 to 4,648, according to figures released by China’s National Health Commission on Tuesday.

The administration freed the Madhya Pradesh government's land worth Rs 300 crore from the illegal possession in Bhopal, an official said on Tuesday.

A team comprising officials of the Bhopal district administration and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation freed this land in the Chuna Bhatti area on Monday, an official statement said.

The rupee depreciated 6 paise to 76.35 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, weighed down by the strength of the greenback and significant foreign fund outflows. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.34 against the American dollar, then lost ground to quote at 76.35, registering a fall of 6 paise from the last close.

On Monday, The rupee depreciated for the third straight session to close 10 paise lower at 76.29 against the US dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.14 per cent higher at 100.92.

It was a sunny morning in the national capital on Tuesday with the minimum temperature settling at 23.7 degrees Celsius, two notches above the season's average, the Met office said.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the day's maximum temperature is likely to hover around 42 degrees Celsius.
Delhi has recorded seven heatwave days so far, the IMD official said.

However, some respite is likely as the weather office has forecast thunderstorms and light rain in parts of the city between April 19 and April 22.

Benchmark indices bounced back in early trade on Tuesday after facing heavy drubbing in the previous session, with Sensex jumping 293.15 points.

Sensex was trading 293.15 points higher at 57,459.89 points while the Nifty was up 102 points at 17,275.65 points.

However, as the session progressed, both the benchmark indices gave up the early gains in choppy trade. Sensex declined 44.03 points to 57,122.71 points at 09:44 hours while Nifty traded lower by 12.05 points at 17,161.60 points.

Sri Lanka’s state oil entity has raised its retail price from Monday midnight, a day after the Indian Oil Company’s local operation raised its prices, adding to the woes of the people who are impacted by the island nation's worst economic crisis.

The state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation's (CPC) new price of 92 octane petrol Rs 338 per litre is an increase of Rs 84 and now matches the per litre price of Lankan Indian oil company (LIOC).

This was the second price hike by CPC within a month whereas the LIOC’s yesterday hike was the fifth in six months.

After days of regrouping and reinforcing, the Russian military began a new and potentially climactic phase of the war in Ukraine by launching its long-feared, full-scale ground offensive to take control of the country's industrial heartland, the Donbas, Ukrainian officials said.

The stepped-up assaults began Monday along a broad front of over 300 miles (480 kilometers), Ukrainian officials said.

“The Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in a video address. He said a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a three-day visit to Gujarat, will inaugurate the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine at Jamnagar on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Ayush and the Government of Gujarat on Monday organized a curtain-raiser press conference to discuss two pertinent developments in the field of traditional medicine in India- the groundbreaking event of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) and the convening of the Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit (GAIIS).

With 1,247 coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,45,527, while the active cases increased to 11,860, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday.  

The death toll climbed to 5,21,966 with one fresh fatality being reported from Uttar Pradesh, the data updated at 8 am stated.

Sri Lanka's president acknowledged Monday that he made mistakes that led to the country's worst economic crisis in decades and pledged to correct them. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the admission while speaking to 17 new Cabinet ministers he appointed Monday as he and his powerful family seek to resolve a political crisis resulting from the country's dire economic state.

Sri Lanka is on the brink of bankruptcy, with nearly USD 7 billion of its total USD 25 billion in foreign debt due for repayment this year. A severe shortage of foreign exchange means the country lacks money to buy imported goods.

A Ukrainian military official said street battles have begun and evacuation is impossible in the town of Kreminna. That's one of only two spots where the Ukrainians said the Russians managed to break through on Monday along a front stretching for hundreds of miles.

Luhansk regional military administrator Serhiy Haidai said the town came under heavy artillery overnight, setting seven residential buildings on fire, and that the Olympus sports complex where the nation's Olympic team trains was targeted.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.0 occurred at around 6:53am, 779 km NNE of Kotamobagu, Sulawesi, Indonesia today: National Center for Seismology

Kupwara Police along with Army recovered a huge cache of arms & ammunition including 10 pistols, 17 pistol magazines, 54 pistol rounds & 5 grenades, during a search operation at Hajam Mohallah, Tad Karnah. Case registered. Investigation in progress: Kashmir Zone Police

Mayor Vadym Boichenko said in an interview on Ukrainian television that the civilians have been “forcibly deported” to Russia or to Russian-controlled regions of Ukraine.

The Israeli military says it intercepted a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on Monday. It was the first time in months that a rocket has been fired into Israel from the blockaded Palestinian territory controlled by the Hamas militant group. Israeli-Palestinian tensions have soared following clashes at a Jerusalem holy site and a wave of attacks and military raids.

Hours earlier, the leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group had issued a brief, cryptic warning, condemning Israeli “violations” in Jerusalem.

A woman who was facing marital problems allegedly consumed some poisonous substance outside the venue where Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar holds his weekly public interaction programme on Monday, a police officer said. She was taken to a hospital and is now out of danger.

The incident took place in the evening and by the time, the “Janata Ke Darbaar Mein Mukhyamantri” programme was over, Patna Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Manavjit Singh Dhillon said.

The prices of cars, SUVs and commercial vehicles in Delhi may go up as the transport department proposes a hike in road tax of some categories of vehicles, official sources said on Monday.

The proposal for raising road tax on specific categories of vehicles has been forwarded by the transport department to the finance department, they claimed.

Russian forces launched missile attacks on the western city of Lviv and pounded a multitude of other targets across Ukraine on Monday in what appeared to be an intensified bid to grind down the country's defenses ahead of an all-out assault on the east.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday cancelled the leaves of all police and administrative officials in the state till May 4 and asked all those on leave to report within 24 hours. He also directed the officials from police station to ADG level to hold dialogues with religious leaders and eminent personalities within the next 24 hours to ensure peace during the upcoming festivals, and said mikes can be used at religious places but no new permission of their installation should be given.

Nearly a dozen people have been injured in protests that started on Friday last week after a car driver was allegedly killed by security officials for not stopping at a checkpost in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province.

On April 15, a car driver was allegedly killed by law enforcement officers after he speed away without permission from a checkpost in Nokkundi and Dalbandin areas of the province.

The incident brought widespread condemnation and scores started protesting and demanded justice for the deceased.

Russia launched its long-feared, full-scale offensive to take control of Ukraine's east, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Monday.

“Now we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas," he said in a video address. Zelenskyy said a "significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.”

The Donbas is Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukrainian forces for the past eight years and have declared two independent republics that have been recognised by Russia.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster and announced a range of measures to respond to the rain-triggered devastating floods in which over 400 people have died, dozens are still missing and more than 40,000 left homeless across the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

The new State of Disaster follows just a fortnight after Ramaphosa announced the end of one that was imposed for over two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The floods followed four days of unprecedented torrential rain, which Ramaphosa said on Monday could be attributed to climate change.

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi on Monday evening.

Mufti had an hour-long meeting with Gandhi and refused to speak with the media thereafter.

According to sources, it was a private meeting during which the two leaders discussed the situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the country.

United States sanctions on Russia over its military operations in Ukraine can be reversed if Moscow changes its behaviour, a US Treasury official said, ahead of a major economic meeting in Washington this week.

"We always want to make sure that any sanctions that we put in place can at some point - if behaviour changes - be reversed in order to make sure that threat actor knows that once sanctions are put in place, the goal is behavioural change ultimately," US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in a virtual discussion organized by the Peterson Institute for International Economics on Monday (local time), Sputnik reported.

The United States will continue to carefully monitor the level of support China may show towards Russia with respect to Ukraine, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Monday (local time).

"We're going to continue to keep a careful eye, a careful watch on the level of support the PRC (People's Republic of China) exhibits towards Russia," Price said during a press briefing.

Price added that there will be strong consequences for China if it provides weapons or supplies to Russia for its operation in Ukraine or if it helps Moscow evade Western sanctions.

India's sugar exports surged by 64.9 per cent to $4.6 billion in the financial year 2021-22 from $2.79 billion recorded in the previous year, the government data showed on Monday.

As per data released by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCI&S), India exported sugar to 121 countries across the world during the financial year ended March 2022.

Sugar export has increased by 291 per cent since Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government came into power in 2014. In 2013-14, sugar exports stood at $1.17 billion. This rose to $4.6 billion in 2021-22, which is 291 per cent higher when compared with the exports during 2013-14.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first Semicon India 2022 Conference in Bengaluru on April 29, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced on Monday.

As per a press release from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Semicon India 2022, a 3-day conference, is being organised to take forward the vision of PM Modi to make India a leader in electronics manufacturing, semiconductor design, manufacturing and innovation.

US President Joe Biden has no plans to visit Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday (local time).

"There are no plans for the President to go," Psaki said regarding the Biden administration's plans to send a high-level US official to Kiev soon.

The US earlier had announced to provide Ukraine with an additional 800 million US dollars' worth of military aid including heavy artillery as Washington anticipated a "wider assault" by Russia in eastern Ukraine.

Amidst the pioneering fintech revolution, the biggest risk of cryptocurrency could be money laundering and its use for financing terror, said Union Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday (local time).

In her address at a seminar during the ongoing spring meet of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Sitharaman said: "I think the biggest risk for all countries across the board will be the money laundering aspect and also the aspect of currency being used for financing terror."

"I think regulation using technology is the only answer. Regulation using technology will have to be so adept, that it has to be not behind the curve, but be sure that it is on the top of it. And that's not possible. If any one country thinks that it can handle it. It has to be across the board," the Minister said.