Breaking News, July 12

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Attorney General Suella Braverman are the two Indian-origin members of Parliament to make the initial shortlist of eight candidates in the race to replace Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader and British Prime Minister at the close of nominations on Tuesday evening.

A 10-year-old working as a domestic help in an upscale neighbourhood here in the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province was brutally tortured to death allegedly by his employers for eating fruits from a refrigerator, police said on Tuesday. Kamran's 6-year-old brother, Rizwan, also employed as a help in the same house, was severely injured, they said.

Two policemen were injured on Tuesday after being attacked allegedly by an accused they caught hold of for chasing another person with an intention to harm him with a shaving blade, a senior officer said.

Jammu and Kashmir Police officer was killed and two constables were injured when terrorists attacked a police team in the outskirts of the city on Tuesday, officials said. The incident happened around 7:15 pm when the terrorists fired upon the police naka at the Lal Bazar area, the officials said.

Maharashtra on Tuesday recorded 2,435 fresh COVID-19 cases and 13 fatalities, taking the tally to 80,07,648 and the toll to 1,47,991, the health department said in a bulletin. Mumbai recorded 420 cases and zero fatality.

Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday announced the constitution of a transgender welfare board for the protection of the rights and interests of the minuscule population.

The kin of a 14-year-old girl killed in a crocodile attack in Gujarat's Vadodara district on July 1 were given a compensation cheque of Rs 5 lakh by local Member of Parliament Ranjan Bhatt on Tuesday, officials said.

President Joe Biden will try to reaffirm and recalibrate US relationships in the Middle East during his first trip to the region since taking office, but it won't be easy in a corner of the world that's asking fresh questions about the future of American influence.

The BJP parliamentary board will meet this week to pick its vice presidential candidate, who will be all but certain to occupy the position as the ruling National Democratic Alliance has a majority in the electoral college.

Failure to fulfill promises of the past could cause the BJP to lose power in the next Lok Sabha polls, the opposition RJD in Bihar said on Tuesday, hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi set foot on the state's soil.

Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has kept ally Samajwadi Party guessing on whom it will vote for in the presidential election, will take a call on Saturday after meeting SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, a party leader said. As chinks appear in the opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the SBSP has been sending mixed signals on whether its MLAs will vote for opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha or ruling NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.

European Union nations on Tuesday approved fresh aid for Ukraine as the country faces growing economic damage from Russia's invasion. Finance ministers from the 27-nation EU gave the go-ahead on Tuesday to 1 billion euros ($1 billion) in loans to the Ukrainian government.

A fifth sentinel survey conducted by the health department found that the Covid-19 positivity rate in nine districts of West Bengal was more than 10 per cent last week, an official said on Monday. The survey, conducted from July 7-8, revealed that the test positivity rate (TPR) had crossed 20 per cent in some areas also.

Two persons were killed and four others critically injured when the vehicle in which they were travelling hit the railing of a bridge in Assam's Dhemaji district on Tuesday, police said.

A Class 12 girl student was attacked by her alleged stalker when she was coming out of the house of her tutor in Mission compound locality in Jhansi.

Former WWE wrestler Dalip Singh Rana, better known as The Great Khali, has been accused of slapping a toll worker in Ludhiana following a heated argument. A purported video of the incident in which Rana can be heard arguing with some of the toll workers has gone viral on social media. However, the clip does not show the former wrestler slapping the toll worker.

President Joe Biden will host the first four-way virtual summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan with a focus on food security during his visit to Israel this week, a top US official has said. The new four-nation grouping is known as 'I2U2' with "I" standing for India and Israel and "U" for the US and the UAE.

At least 10 persons, including a woman, were injured on Tuesday when a scuffle took place inside Araliyagaha Mandir, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's official residence, occupied by Sri Lankan protesters since Saturday, the media reported on Tuesday.

A revenue official was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh for issuing a victory certificate to a man elected as village sarpanch in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district on Tuesday, an official said. The Lokayukta's special police establishment (SPE) caught tehsildar Sudhakar Tiwari accepting the bribe amount from the complainant at his government residence in Khaniyadhana town, 95 km from the headquarters, the SPE's Superintendent of Police (SP) Rameshwar Singh said.

The hotel industry's revenues and margins are expected to return to pre-COVID levels in 2022-23 despite potential impact on demand in case of further waves of the pandemic, according to ratings agency ICRA. Domestic leisure and transient travel will be the main demand drivers, although there will be a gradual recovery in business travel and foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs), ICRA said in a statement. Pan-India premium hotel occupancy is expected to be at 68-70 per cent for FY2023, it said adding the average room rate (ARR) is expected to hover around Rs 5,600-5,800. "The improved operating leverage along with sustenance of cost-optimisation measures will support margins and accruals for hotels," it said. Notwithstanding the potential impact on demand with further COVID waves, if any, ICRA said it expects the industry's revenues and margins to return to pre-COVID levels in FY2023.

Former Himachal Pradesh BJP president Khimi Ram on Tuesday joined the Congress. Ram, a former minister and deputy speaker in the state, said he takes pride in joining the party that helped the country attain freedom. "I am not joining the Congress out of any anger towards the BJP. I have taken a well-thought out decision to take the Congress forward in Himachal Pradesh," he said. Ram said he is confident that the Congress will be able to form the government in the state as there is a lot of corruption, unemployment, inflation and pending employee issues including those related to the pension scheme. "We will bring these issues before the people of the state and help form the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh," he said.  AICC in-charge for Himachal Rajiv Shukla welcomed him into the Congress fold, and said it is an indication of the winds blowing in the state.
AICC Secretaries Sudhir Sharma and Tejinder Bittu were present on the occasion. 

Two persons drowned in a river and as many others were rescued from different water bodies in three incidents in Maharashtra's Thane district, officials said on Tuesday. On Monday, 12 students went on a picnic to Malanggad fort in Ambernath area. Two of the students went for a swim in the Ambe river nearby and one of them started drowning. Two others from the group jumped into the river to save them but they drowned, an official from Hill Line police station said. The student who was drowning was later rescued, he said.

NDA presidential nominee Droupadi Murmu met BJP lawmakers from West Bengal on Tuesday to seek their support for the July 18 election. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar and Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly, along with central leaders of the party were present at the hour-long meeting held at a hotel. According to sources of the state BJP unit, the party lawmakers assured her of the support in the poll. Murmu is visiting various states to garner support from lawmakers. Earlier in the day, she visited the ancestral house of Swami Vivekananda in north Kolkata. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had recently said that Murmu, a tribal BJP leader from Odisha, could have been a consensus candidate had the saffron camp discussed with the opposition parties before fielding her.

Three children were crushed to death as an oil tanker overturned in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district on Tuesday, police said. The incident occurred at Jangiburu in Manjhari block after the brakes of the tanker failed and the driver lost control over it, an officer said. The tanker started rolling down the slope and turned turtle, Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar said. A police team rushed to the spot and recovered the bodies, the SP added. Chief Minister Hemant Soren expressed grief over the incident and expressed condolences to the bereaved families. "The district administration has sent a team to provide medical aid to the injured," Soren tweeted. 

Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said the BJP has nothing to do with the "rebellion" in the state Congress Legislature Party. On Sunday, five of the total 11 Congress MLAs in Goa went incommunicado, fuelling speculations about a split in the party. But, they attended the monsoon session of the state Assembly which began on Monday and claimed there was "nothing wrong" in the opposition party. Ten of the Congress MLAs also attended a meeting chaired by senior party leader Mukul Wasnik in Panaji on Monday night. Some reporters outside the Assembly complex on Tuesday asked CM and senior BJP leader Sawant about developments in the state Congress. “Let me reiterate that the BJP has nothing to do with the rebellion in the Congress Legislature Party,” Sawant said before walking away without answering any further questions.

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad has seized nearly 70 kg of heroin estimated to be worth over Rs 350 crore from a container near the Mundra port in Kutch district, an official said on Tuesday. As the search operation is still on, the quantity and value of the seized contraband may go up, he said. Based on a specific tip off, the ATS searched a shipping container, which arrived from another country some time back and was kept at a container freight station outside the port. The ATS found nearly 70 kg of heroin concealed in the cargo, the official said.

Heavy showers occurred at isolated places in east Rajasthan while a few other parts of the state recorded light to moderate rains, the weather department said. Mount Abu and Pratapgarh recorded a maximum of 8 cm of rainfall in a day. Sangod in Kota recorded 7 cm of rain in a day, while Tatgarh in Ajmer and Bagidora in Banswara both recorded 6 cm of rainfall, according to the meteorological department. The department has forecast heavy rain in parts of Banswara, Sirohi, Rajsamand, Pratapgarh, Jhalawar, Chittorgarh, Barmer, Pali, Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Nagaur districts till tomorrow morning. 

Heavy rains and strong winds lashed Mumbai and suburbs on Tuesday morning and flooded many parts of the city within a couple of hours, throwing road traffic out of gear at some places, officials said. A tree fell near a petrol pump close to the Dockyard railway station of the Harbour Line, due to which traffic movement was affected. The tree was later moved aside and the traffic resumed but it was slow, a police official said. Some commuters claimed that the local trains, considered as the lifeline of Mumbai, were running late by five to 10 minutes.

The country's exports are likely to register a "reasonable level" of growth in the current financial year despite the global uncertainties on the trade front, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said. Clearly, there are signs of a global slowdown in international trade and India is keeping a "watchful" eye on the developments by talking to all the export promotion councils and large exporters, and engaging with the Indian missions abroad, he said. In the current global situation, "our exports will stand on the basis of price competitiveness and quality…We will calibrate the expectations of exports based on the ground reality," the minister told news agency PTI. 

The government on Tuesday will release the key data on June retail inflation which will be factored by the Reserve Bank in its next bi-monthly monetary policy to be announced in early August. The retail inflation has remained above 6 per cent since January this year forcing the central bank to go for two back-to-back hikes in policy rates (repo). The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based retail inflation, which was at 7.04 per cent in May, is unlikely to reach the RBI's comfort zone of below 6 per cent soon amid high commodity prices due the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. The data on CPI is scheduled to be released at 5.30 in the evening by the National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).

Security has been beefed up in Bengaluru in the backdrop of Hindu activists and Federation of Chamarajpet Citizens observing bandh on Tuesday demanding retaining of the Idgah Maidan as a playground and not to accede the land to the Waqf Board. There is a tense situation in the surrounding areas of Idgah Maidan. The traders in the locality have extended their support to the bandh and posted handbills regarding it in front of their shops and commercial establishments. A holiday has been declared in schools and colleges in the locality. The police department has 4 ACP's, 12 Police Inspectors, 30 PSI, 60 ASI's, 350 police constables and 4 platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and 3 platoons of City Armed Reserve (CAR). About 50 organisations, including Hindu Jana Jagriti Samithi, Vishwa Sanatana Parishat, Sri Rama Sena, Bajrang Dal, Hindu Jagaran Samithi have extended their support to the bandh. Home Minister Araga Jnanendra has stated that he had given directions to maintain the law and order situation in the region during the bandh. Additional police security would be given during the bandh, he added.

The first warning signal has been issued at Dowaleswaram Barrage near Rajamahendravaram in Andhra Pradesh as flood level in river Godavari rose to 12.10 lakh cusecs on Tuesday morning. State Disaster Management Authority Managing Director B R Ambedkar issued an alert asking people living in habitations along the Godavari course to be cautious and take precautionary measures in view of the surge in flood. Already, NDRF and SDRF teams have been deployed in vulnerable places to undertake rescue and relief operations where required. Ambedkar said a state control room has been opened with number 1070 for people to contact in case of emergency. The SDMA MD also spoke to the revenue officials concerned in the two Godavari districts, Alluri Sitarama Raju and Ambedkar Konaseema districts and directed them to be on high alert. 

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The seven accused in the killing of Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan's Udaipur will be produced in a designated NIA court in Jaipur on Tuesday. The court had earlier remanded the accused to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) custody until July 12, special public prosecutor TP Sharma said. Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor, was killed by cleaver-wielding men- Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad- at his shop on June 28 in Udaipur's Dhan Mandi police station area over a controversial post on social media. The accused had posted a grisly video of the crime online. Both Akhtari and main Mohammad were nabbed in Rajsamand hours after the crime. Two days later, on the night of June 30, Mohsin and Asif were arrested. They were allegedly involved in the conspiracy of the killing and had conducted a recce of Kanhaiya's shop. The NIA later arrested Mohammad Mohsin, Wasim Ali and Farhad Mohammad Sheikh on different dates. All of them were produced in court separately. The NIA had sought their remand till July 12 so that they could be produced in the court together. 

The new leader of the UK’s ruling Conservative Party who will succeed Boris Johnson as the British Prime Minister will be announced on September 5, the body responsible for the Tory leadership elections has said. The 1922 Committee of Conservative backbench MPs on Monday set out the timetable and rules of play for the elections, which will officially open and also close for nominations on Tuesday. So far, 11 candidates led by frontrunners such as British Indian former minister Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss have declared their intention to contest.

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The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam that rocked the Mayawati government has returned to haunt the BSP. The court of special judge, CBI, here has termed prima facie death of former deputy CMO Dr Y.S. Sachan as murder. On June 26, 2011, Sachan had died under mysterious circumstances in Lucknow jail where he was lodged in a case related the NRHM scam. The state government had gone overboard to term it as a case of suicide. Samriddhi Mishra, special judicial magistrate, CBI court, passed the order on the plea of Malti Sachan, wife of late Dr Sachan.

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Malian authorities arrested nearly 50 soldiers from Ivory Coast who came to Mali to work for a contracting company of the United Nations mission in Mali. The government made the announcement Monday calling the Ivorian soldiers “mercenaries,” in a move that could raise tensions between the two West African countries. Two aircraft arrived at Mali's international airport Sunday with the 49 soldiers “with their weapons and ammunition of war, as well as other military equipment,” said Malian government spokesman Col. Abdoulaye Maiga. They “were illegally on the national territory of Mali,” and the transitional government considers them mercenaries, he added.

Commercial wheat imports from India have emerged as a key supply line for Yemen in the wake of the Ukraine war, the UN deputy relief chief said, as New Delhi stressed the need to ensure the civilian nature of the ports in the Hudaydah governorate from the food security perspective. Joint Secretary (UNP) in the Ministry of External Affairs Prakash Gupta told the UN Security Council briefing on Yemen on Monday that in order to mitigate the supply changes in the global commodity markets and their adverse impact on food security, India has been providing financial assistance as well as supplying food grains to countries in need. "India has exported more than 2,50,000 tons of wheat to Yemen, in the last three months,” he said.

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The White House on Monday said it believes Russia is turning to Iran to provide it with “hundreds” of unmanned aerial vehicles, including weapons-capable drones, for use in its ongoing war in Ukraine. U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said it was unclear whether Iran had already provided any of the unmanned systems to Russia, but said the U.S. has “information” that indicates Iran is preparing to train Russian forces to use them as soon as this month.

A two-and-a-half feet tall man managed to nab a five feet tall thief in Bihar's Buxar district. Santosh Kumar, sub-inspector of Krishnabrahma police station confirms the incident. He said that the accused Dhodha Bind, a native of Turiganj was nabbed the the two and half feet person named Ranjeet Paswan and handed over to the police but his associate managed to flee from the spot. The incident was reported from Nuaon village under Krishna Brahma police station on Sunday night when Dhodha Bind along with his associate jumped the wall and entered into the house of Paswan. He and his wife were sleeping at that time.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday directed ministers, MLAs and officials to be on alert and be available to people in view of the forecast of heavy rains continuing for the next three days. Rao held a meeting with ministers and officials here and spoke to others in the rain-hit areas on the situation arising out of heavy downpour in the state, an official release said Monday night. The government machinery should be ready to deal with any situation, he said. He directed the irrigation department officials to discharge the Godavari flood waters reaching SRSP and other reservoirs following incessant rainfall in neighbouring Maharashtra and the catchment areas in Telangana.

Shares of Twitter slid more than 11% in the first day of trading after billionaire Elon Musk said that he was abandoning his $44 billion bid for the company and the social media platform vowed to challenge Musk in court to uphold the agreement. Twitter is now preparing to sue Musk in Delaware where the company is incorporated. While the outcome is uncertain, both sides are preparing for a long court battle. Musk alleged Friday that Twitter has failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts on its service. Twitter responded in a weekend letter disclosed Monday that his “purported termination is invalid and wrongful” and that the company has continued to provide the information he “reasonably requested.” Twitter said last month that it was making available to Musk a ″ fire hose ” of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets.

The United Nations has announced it will start monitoring the war in Ukraine and conflicts in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Africa's central Sahel region for violations against children, including killings, injuries, recruitment, rape and other forms of sexual violence. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his annual report to the Security Council on children and armed conflict Monday that those four new conflicts have been added to 21 conflicts that the U.N. already is monitoring for violations of the rights of children. He said the latter conflicts saw “a high number of grave violations” in 2021.

Two people were killed and three were wounded in shootings before dawn Monday at four 7-Eleven stores in Southern California, authorities said. At least three of the four shootings are believed to be linked to the same lone gunman. The shootings appear to have occurred after predawn robberies or attempted robberies at the four convenience stores on July 11, or 7/11 — a day when the national 7-Eleven brand is celebrating its 95th birthday by giving out free Slurpee drinks. “Our hearts are with the victims and their loved ones," 7-Eleven, Inc. said in a statement. "We are gathering information on this terrible tragedy and working with local law enforcement.”

Days after former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's assassination, his party vowed to use its victory in a parliamentary election to achieve his unfinished goals, including strengthening the military and revising the country's pacifist, postwar constitution. While the comfortable majority secured Sunday by the governing Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito could allow Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to rule uninterrupted until a scheduled election in 2025, the loss of Abe also opened up a period of uncertainly for his party. The promised constitutional amendment, for one, faced an uphill battle.