Breaking News, September 22

Ukraine has become a totalitarian Nazi-like state where the norms of humanitarian law are trampled on. There is no surprise that their armed forces in the national battalions are using peaceful civilians as human shields

All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz issued press release regarding action (arrest) on Popular Front of India (PFI) members "PFI is trying to mislead the country by acting as the saviour of Islam. We've protested against their policies time & again & requested for their ban"

A brother-sister duo for cheating their partner to the tune of Rs 16 crores on the basis of forged documents to re-purchase his shares for Rs 900 only. While, approx same percentage of shares were issued to fresh investors for Rs 16 crores: Economic Offences Wing, Delhi Police

Mumbai: Accused Shaim Ahmed sent to NIA custody till October 1

A bevy of opposition leaders, including NCP's Sharad Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray and DMK's Kanimozhi, will be attending the Indian National Lok Dal's rally in Fatehabad, Haryana on September 25. JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi said RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury and BJP leader Birender Singh have also given their consent to attend the rally to mark the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister and INLD founder Devi Lal. Lok Sabha MP and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party's Hanuman Beniwal, a former BJP ally from Rajasthan, will also attend the rally, he said. "It will be a historic meeting that will mark the consolidation of like-minded forces against the ruling BJP in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," Tyagi said.

Congress General Secretary Madhusudan Mistry, via an official notification, on Thursday (September 22), announced the schedule for the upcoming Election for Congress President. The aforesaid elections for the party's new president are slated to be held on October 17 at all PCC, whose results shall be announced on October 19, immediately after the counting of votes. "I, the undersigned Madhusudan Mistry, Chairman, CEA, under the power vested in me by the provision of Article XVIII of Constitution of Indian National Congress hereby announced that the Election of the President of Indian National Congress will be held as per the schedule appended below," the notification announcing schedule read.As per Mistry signed notification, the nominations for the president post are to be filed from September 24 to September 30.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Thursday said the Mumbai civic body's decision to deny permission to it for Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park was expected and claimed it was "very bad script of the BJP". Former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar, the spokesperson of the Thackeray-led Sena, also accused the BJP of trying to corner her party with the denial of permission for the rally on October 5. Ajay Choudhary, leader of the Thackeray-led faction in the Maharashtra Assembly, asserted that the party's annual congregation will be held at at the iconic ground in central Mumbai irrespective of permission from the civic body.

Two suspected Maoist couriers were arrested in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district and a cache of explosives was recovered from them, police said on Thursday. The police intercepted the duo, identified as Hemla Santosh (23) and Baburao Karam (31), on Wednesday in Awapalli police station area when they were going on a motorcycle to allegedly deliver the explosives to Maoists, a police official here said. A bag containing five gelatin rods, detonators and cordex wire were recovered from their possession, he said, adding that they failed to produce any document in support of possessing these items. “During interrogation, the two persons, natives of Pegdapalli village in Tarrem area of the district, told the police that they had received explosives from unidentified persons and were tasked to deliver them to Maoists operating in Tarrem area,” he said. Their questioning is away which may facilitate the arrest of other Maoist suppliers active in the area, he said. 

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The four soldiers lay in the grass, sleeping bags and cans of food, some opened, scattered around them. Beneath nearby trees, their cars were smashed and torn by shrapnel. The men had been dead for months. This region of rolling fields and woodland near the Russian border was the site of fierce battles for months during the summer. Only now, after Ukrainian forces retook the area and pushed Russian troops back across the border in a blistering counteroffensive, has the retrieval of bodies scattered across the battlefield been possible. The area was of strategic importance as its high ground is among the positions where Russian artillery could easily strike Kharkiv, Ukraine's hard-hit second-largest city, said Col. Vitalii Shum, deputy commander of the 3rd Brigade of Ukraine's National Guard, whose team has been collecting the battlefield dead- both Ukrainian and Russian- for days.

The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed the plea of the 2017 actress assault victim to transfer the trial of the case, in which actor Dileep is also an accused, to another lower court. Justice Ziyad Rahman A A rejected the victim's plea in which she had alleged that Dileep, the eight accused in the case, had close ties to the trial judge- Honey M Varghese and her husband. The high court also denied her plea not to publish details of the order dismissing her petition. The petitioner had contended that she would not get justice if the lower court 

A man was sentenced to 20 years' of rigorous imprisonment by a POCSO court here for raping a nine-year-old girl in Rajasthan's Jhalawar district in 2020. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on the 25-year-old convict Kanhaiya Lal alias Kanha Bhil on Wednesday. On August 4, 2020, a case was registered against the accused at the Raipur police station.   Jhalawar SP Richa Tomar said in view of the seriousness of the crime, efforts were made for the success of the case by opting for the case officer scheme and coordinating with the court, prosecution officer and witnesses from time to time. Under the case officer scheme, officers are deputed for dealing with serious crimes.

Faced with frequent natural calamities, Odisha has decided to invest Rs 400 crore to bolster the state’s disaster management apparatus with modern equipment and intensive training of frontline units, officials said. The move was discussed at the State Executive Committee meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary S C Mohapatra. The investment would empower frontline agencies like the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force and Fire Service personnel, Development Commissioner-cum-Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena said. The amount will also be spent on modern relief and rescue equipment, he said.

The rupee depreciated 51 paise to an all-time low of 80.47 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve's interest rate hike and its hawkish stance weighed on investor sentiments. At the interbank foreign exchange, the local currency was trading at 80.47 against the dollar, down 51 paise from its previous close. The rupee opened at 80.27 and touched a record low of 80.47 a dollar in initial deals.

In a latest development in connection with pan-India raids at various premises of the Popular Front of India (PFI) on Thursday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has detained 105 activists of the front, and arrested its Delhi chief Pravez Ahmed. The raids were being conducted by the NIA and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 11 states. PFI's Chairman OMA Salam in Manjeri, Malappuram district has also been searched. Sources have claimed that more than 100 leaders of the PFI have been detained by both the agencies. "20 persons were held in Karnataka, 10 persons were held in Tamil Nadu, three in Puducherry, two in Rajasthan, five were held from Andhra Pradesh, nine were held from Assam, 20 from Maharashtra, four from Madhya Pradesh, eight from Uttar Pradesh, three from Delhi and 22 from Kerala," said an NIA source.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will arrive here on Thursday on a day-long visit to Assam to inaugurate a cultural event, officials said. He is scheduled to inaugurate folk festival 'Lokmanthan-2022', organised by cultural organisation Prajna Pravah at the Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra. Governor Jagadish Mukhi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will also be present on the occasion. Dhankhar will spend the afternoon at the Raj Bhavan. He is also slated to visit the Kamakhya Temple, atop the Nilachal Hills, before leaving for New Delhi in the evening, the officials said. 

Stepping up the preparations for upcoming assembly polls, the full Election Commission will visit Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat on Thursday to assess the readiness of the poll machinery in the two states. Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey are on a three-day visit to Himachal Pradesh beginning Thursday. They will meet top state government officials to review preparations and ensure that measures are in place for smooth conduct of elections.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday resumed the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' by planting a sapling brought from Lakshadweep at the premises of the Union Christian College Aluva. He also paid floral tribute to a mango tree planted by Mahatma Gandhi at the college on March 18, 1925. "Day 15 began at 6:20 am from UC College, Aluva with @RahulGandhi paying floral tribute at a mango tree planted by the Mahatma there on 18.03.1925. @RahulGandhi planted a sapling brought from Lakshadweep by a delegation of Athithi Yatris. This is the spirit of #BharatJodoYatra," senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted. Thousands joined Gandhi on the 15th day of the Bharat jodo Yatra, with one side of the national highway completely filled with Congress workers waving the party flag.

The Bombay High Court will on Thursday hear a petition filed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena seeking permission to hold its annual Dussehra rally at the iconic Shivaji Park in central Mumbai on October 5. The petition, seeking urgent hearing, was mentioned before a division bench of Justices R D Dhanuka and Kamal Khata on Wednesday. The bench posted it for hearing on Thursday. The plea said the party was constrained to approach the HC as the Mumbai civic body was yet to take a decision on their applications submitted in August seeking permission for the rally. The petition sought directions to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to forthwith grant permission for the Sena's Dussehra rally at the Shivaji Park.

A day after 230 whales were found stranded on the wild and remote west coast of Australia's island state of Tasmania, only 35 were still alive despite rescue efforts that were to continue Thursday. Half the pod of pilot whales stranded in Macquarie Harbour were presumed to still be alive on Wednesday, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said. But pounding surf took a toll overnight, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service manager Brendon Clark said.

The National Investigation Agency on Thursday morning launched a massive nationwide search operation against groups, including PFI, and individuals allegedly supporting terrorists, officials said.  In the "largest ever investigation till date", the searches are taking place at the premises of those allegedly involved in terror funding, organising training camps, and radicalising people to join proscribed organisations, they said.  "The raids are taking place at the homes of national, state and local leaders of PFI. The state committee office is also being raided. "We strongly protest the fascist regime's moves to use agencies to silence dissenting voices," the outfit said in a statement. 

Ukraine announced a high-profile prisoner swap early Thursday that culminated months of efforts to free many of the Ukrainian fighters who defended a steel plant in Mariupol during a long Russian siege. In exchange, Ukraine gave up an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Volodymr Zelensky said his government had won freedom from Russian custody for 215 Ukrainian and foreign citizens. He said many were soldiers and officers who had faced the death penalty in Russian-occupied territory. Russia officials didn't immediately confirm or otherwise comment on the swap.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested Wednesday that Russia's decision to mobilize some reservists showed that Moscow isn't serious about negotiating an end to its nearly seven-month-long war. Speaking by video to the UN General Assembly meeting of world leaders hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement, Zelenskyy insisted his country would prevail in repelling Russia's attack and forcing its troops out. "We can return the Ukrainian flag to our entire territory. We can do it with the force of arms," the president said. "But we need time."

The government on Wednesday released the draft Indian Telecommunication Bill, 2022, under which it has proposed a provision to waive off fees and penalty of telecom and internet service providers. The ministry has proposed provision for refund of fees in case a telecom or internet provider surrenders his license. "Seeking your views on the draft Indian Telecom Bill 2022," Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a post on a social media platform in which he also shared the link of the draft bill. The last date for public comment on the draft is October 20.

The anticipatory bail application of Pawan Agarwal, one of the owners of the hotel where four people died in a blaze earlier this month, was rejected by a local court on Wednesday. The court, while commenting on the investigation of the case, said the investigating officer failed to fix responsibility of officers of the departments concerned who kept their eyes closed and didn't act against the accused.

US President Joe Biden supports Germany, Japan and India as permanent members of a reformed United Nations Security Council, a senior official of his administration has said. At the same time, a lot of work needs to be done in this matter, the official told reports on Wednesday on condition of anonymity. "We have historically and continue to stand behind the idea that Germany, Japan and India should be permanent members of the Security Council," the official said in response to a question. Earlier on Wednesday, President Joe Biden in his address at the UN General Assembly reiterated his commitment to reforming the UN Security Council. Biden said he believes the time has come for the institution to become more inclusive so that it can better respond to the needs of today's world.