Breaking News, November 9 | HIGHLIGHTS

A differently abled girl was allegedly raped by a 21-year-old man in Yashodhara Nagar area of Nagpur, police said on Wednesday. The accused was identified as Dil Mohd Iqbal Ansari. He allegedly called the 14-year-old girl to his house on Tuesday afternoon and raped her, an official said. After the girl told her mother about the incident, a police complaint was filed and Ansari was arrested. An FIR for rape was registered and Yashodhara Nagar police are conducting further probe.

Penalties worth over Rs 9 lakh were issued to offenders, including two real estate developers, for violating guidelines of the Grade Response Action Plan (GRAP) in Noida and Greater Noida on Wednesday, officials said. In a statement, the Noida Authority said it issued penalties to violators in 11 cases where construction material was found kept in open, in violation of the anti-pollution rules. "Penalties totalling Rs 3.80 lakh were imposed on the offenders in these 11 cases," the Noida Authority said. In Greater Noida, the local authority said it penalized two real estate developers for violating the National Green Tribunal's norms for checking pollution.

The `Lion Safari' at Sanjay Gandhi National Park here will get a new pair of lions from Gujarat's Sakkarbaug Zoo by the end of November, Maharashtra forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said here on Wednesday. After the death of a 17-year-old lion last month, only one male lion is left at SGNP, he said. "The lion safari at the national park was fetching good tourist footfall. With a new pair of lions, we are hopeful of receiving more visitors," the minister said. Sakkarbaug Zoo in Gujarat is a nodal facility in the country for lion breeding. “There is a 12-hectare compound at the SGNP reserved for lions. The safari started in 1975-76, helping the park's earnings to soar,” said the state forest minister. 

The presence of Congress leader Kamal Nath at a Sikh religious event in Indore has led to controversy with kirtan singer Manpreet Singh Kanpuri lashing out at the organisers for inviting him. A group of people from the community, led by a local BJP leader, also `purified' the venue on Tuesday by sprinkling holy water. A video surfaced on social media on Wednesday showing a furious Kanpuri expressing anger over the organisers felicitating political leaders at the religious programme. He also made an oblique reference to the anti-Sikh riots that broke out after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984. Kanpuri, however, did not name Kamal Nath directly. The event had been organised on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti on Tuesday.

The confirmed number of dead from last week's shipwreck of an overloaded migrant smuggling boat in the western Aegean Sea has increased to 27 after another body was found on an island just east of Athens, Greek authorities said Wednesday. Five children are among the dead, while a further 29 people are still believed missing. The coast guard said Wednesday that the man's body was recovered from a southern beach on the island of Evia. The number of survivors remains at 12, all men from Egypt, Afghanistan and Iran, while a search operation continues in the area, more than a week after the sailing boat sank early on Nov 1.

Pulling off one of the biggest bank frauds in the country, fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi and his uncle Mehul Choksi created a complex web of deception through fraudulent Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) to siphon off Rs 14,000 crore from state-owned Punjab National Bank in connivance with some bank officials. After multiple twists and turns in a protracted legal case, Modi on Wednesday lost his appeal against extradition to India as the High Court in London ruled that his risk of suicide is not such that it would be either unjust or oppressive to extradite him to face charges of fraud and money laundering. The USD 2 billion-fraud not only triggered a political slugfest but also led to increased scrutiny on banking operations in the country. LoU is a form of guarantee issued by a bank to an entity for availing short term credit from the overseas branch of any Indian lender.

The Telangana High Court on Wednesday set aside the Preventive Detention Act filed against suspended BJP MLA T Raja Singh and ordered his release from prison. A Bench of Justice Abhishek Reddy and Justice Juvvadi Sridevi ordered the MLA to not make any provocative speech against any religion or post any derogatory or offensive posts on any social media platforms or participate and hold any celebratory rally or meeting after release. The police on August 25 arrested the Goshamahal legislator under a preventive detention provision, days after he got bail in a case relating to remarks against Prophet Mohammed and Islam. He was earlier arrested for allegedly making such remarks, but was released by a local court later as the police did not follow guidelines of the Supreme Court on the arrest. Subsequently, he was suspended from the BJP.

Russia’s military announced Wednesday that it’s withdrawing from Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson and nearby areas, in what would be another in a series of humiliating setbacks for Moscow’s forces in the 8-month-old war. Ukrainian authorities did not immediately confirm the move- and President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested in recent days that the Russians were feigning a pullout from Kherson in order to lure the Ukrainian army into an entrenched battle. Zelensky called attempts to convince civilians to move deeper into Russian-controlled territory “theater.” The top Russian military commander in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, reported to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday that it was impossible to deliver supplies to the city of Kherson and other areas on the western bank of the Dnieper River that it lies on. Shoigu agreed with his proposal to retreat and set up defenses on the eastern bank.

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut stepped out of jail on Wednesday evening after a special court in Mumbai granted him bail in a money laundering case related to the Patra Chawl redevelopment project in which he had been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on August 1 this year. With the Bombay High Court refusing to grant urgent stay to the bail order, Raut, a close confidante of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, left the Arthur Road jail in central Mumbai hundred days after his arrest under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. While granting him and co-accused Pravin Raut bail, the special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court judge M G Deshpande questioned why the ED did not arrest the main accused, Rakesh and Sarang Wadhawan of realty firm HDIL.

A record five Indian-American politicians from the ruling Democratic Party, including Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, Ami Bera and Pramila Jayapal, are headed to the US House of Representatives on Wednesday following the highly polarised midterm elections. The new US Congress will begin in January next year. Apart from these five politicians, many others from the community won across the country to state legislatures. 

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea challenging the acquittal of 32 accused including former deputy prime minister L K Advani in the Babri mosque demolition case, saying the appellants have no locus standi in the matter. A Lucknow bench of justices Ramesh Sinha and Saroj Yadav rejected the appeal by two Ayodhya residents - Haji Mahmood Ahmad and Syed Akhlaq Ahmad - in the admission stage. “The two appellants cannot be treated as 'victims', therefore, they have no locus to maintain the instant appeal," the court said. The leaders whose acquittal was challenged include the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh, senior BJP leaders M.M. Joshi, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, and Sadhvi Ritambhara.

The European Union on Wednesday unveiled a plan to provide Ukraine with around 18 billion euros (dollars) in financial aid next year in regular payments to help the war-ravaged country keep its energy and health care facilities running as well as to fund salaries and pension schemes. The EU's executive branch, the European Commission, said the aid would involve loans with extremely favourable terms worth around 1.5 billion euros every month, possibly starting in January. Ukraine would not have to reimburse the funds for at least a decade and EU member countries would cover the interest costs.

A meeting of the BJP central election committee got underway here Wednesday evening to finalise the party's candidates for the assembly polls in Gujarat, where the party is eyeing a victory for a seventh consecutive time. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, BJP president J P Nadda and other top leaders attended the meeting at the party headquarters here. Polling will be held in two phases in Gujarat on December 1 and 5. The saffron party is likely to finalise all 182 candidates during the meeting and announce their names in the next few days, sources said.

The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on Wednesday notified norms for permitting exporters to avail benefits under the foreign trade policy, even on realisation in rupee. The DGFT, under the commerce ministry, has already allowed invoicing, payment and settlement of exports and imports in Indian rupee, a move aimed at facilitating trade in the domestic currency. In July, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had asked banks to put in place additional arrangements for export and import transactions in Indian rupees in view of increasing interest of the global trading community in the domestic currency.

The dropout rates in primary schools in Assam have nearly doubled in 2021-22, mainly due to the impact of COVID-19 and identification of fake students' rolls, state Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said Wednesday. However, the dropout rate at the secondary level has declined from 31 per cent in 2020-21 to 20.3 per cent in 2021-22, he said The dropout rate in lower primary schools is 6.02 in 2021-22, up from 3.3 per cent the previous year, he said quoting the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data. In the case of upper primary schools, the dropout rate was 4.6 per cent in 2020-21 and 8.8 per cent in 2021-22.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be coming to Ramagundam in Peddapalli District of Telangana on November 12 to dedicate a plant of Ramagundam Fertilizers and Chemical Limited (RFCL) to the nation, said Bhagwanth Khuba, Union Minister of State of Chemicals & Fertilisers, on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters at Ramagundam, about 225 KM from here, he said five urea-manufacturing plants, closed for various reasons, have been opened after Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014. “Ramagundam Fertilizers stared commercial production last year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be dedicating it to the nation on November 12,” Khuba said.

The Kerala government on Wednesday decided to come out with an ordinance to replace the Governor as Chancellor of universities in the state and appoint eminent academicians to that post, a move which has been opposed both by Congress and BJP. The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting held during the day, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

Capital markets regulator Sebi has proposed a cloud framework for its regulated entities, highlighting key risks and control measures such entities need to consider before adopting cloud-based solutions. The proposed framework outlines the regulatory and legal expectations from Sebi-regulated entities (REs) if they adopt cloud computing solutions. "In recent times the dependence on cloud solutions for delivering information technology (IT) services is increasing.

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The BJP on Wednesday held protests in different parts of Karnataka, including Bengaluru, condemning state Congress Working President Satish Jarkiholi for his controversial statement that the word 'Hindu' is Persian and it has a "dirty" meaning. The saffron party is also targeting the Congress on the issue, calling it "anti-Hindu", and has also demanded for his sacking by the opposition party. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai questioned Congress leader Siddaramaiah for being silent on the issue and demanded his comments on the row. Former CM B S Yediyurappa said Jarkiholi must issue an apology and if not, "people will teach a lesson". At Mysuru Bank circle in Bengaluru, BJP workers staged a demonstration waving saffron flags and shouting slogans "Navella Hindu, Navella Ondu '' (We are all Hindus and are united). They burnt an effigy of Jarkiholi.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission not to issue till November 10 the notification for the assembly bypoll in Rampur Sadar in Uttar Pradesh, which fell vacant following the disqualification of Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan after his conviction in a hate speech case. A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud directed a special sessions court to hear and decide on Thursday itself the appeal of Khan seeking a stay on his conviction so that he survives disqualification as a lawmaker.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday assured the people of Himachal Pradesh that his Congress party would fulfil all its poll promises such as the restoration of old pension scheme, 300 units of free power and Rs 1,500 per month to women. Addressing a rally in favour of Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh here, he appeal to the electorate to say 'Jai Ram' (goodbye) to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and elect a Congress government following the tradition of voting out the incumbent. "The Congress does what it says. All promises will be fulfilled in Himachal as has been done in Chhattisgarh. Old pension scheme (OPS) is being implemented in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, and Himachal will be the fourth state to implement it," he told the gathering.

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to stay the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections which are scheduled for December 4. A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad said the State Election Commission (SEC) has already issued a notification and it will remain unchanged. "The Election Commission's notification is there. We cannot touch it now," the bench said. The SEC announced the election schedule for MCD on November 4, according to which polling for 250 municipal wards will take place on December 4 and the results will be announced on December 7. On Wednesday, three petitions challenging the delimitation of wards and their reservation were listed before the high court.

The ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (CCARI) has launched a Coastal Agricultural Information System (CAIS) for the benefit of farmers, scientists and policy makers. CAIS, developed by ICAR-CCARI, was launched during the ongoing 5-day international training program on "Diversification of Coastal Agroecosystems for Climate Resilience and Livelihood Security" that will conclude on November 11. The program was organised by ICAR-CCARI in collaboration with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and World Agroforestry (ICRAF). Speaking on the occasion, ICAR Director General (natural resource management) Suresh Kumar Chaudhari stressed on the importance of diversification, climate resilience and livelihood in coastal regions as different components of the training programme.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Wednesday staged a protest outside the dean's office of the Delhi University Law Faculty against alleged irregularities in the semester result. Students alleged that they were given zero marks or marked absent in the recently held examination. The ABVP claimed that 400 students have been declared as failed. "The results should be rectified and the administration should tell us the status of progress in the high-level committee formed to investigate the discrepancies," ABVP member Ambuj said. The varsity administration could not be reached for a response. The Delhi University's Faculty of Law last month said it had formed a committee to review the allegations of discrepancies in the LLB semester examination results. 

US President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts will hold their next scheduled summit in Lithuania next July, the military alliance's top civilian official said Wednesday, as Russia's war on Ukraine fuels security tensions in Europe and the North Atlantic region.

A 38-year-old Indian national has been sentenced to five years in prison by a court in the US state of Texas for telemarketing fraud and duping innocent customers via Indian call centres. Waseem Maknojiya pleaded guilty on September 13, 2021. US District Judge Lynn N. Hughes ordered Maknojiya to serve 60 months in federal prison, while issuing a verdict in this case on Tuesday, according to a press release from the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Texas said.

Air India has leased a fleet of six Airbus A320 neo aircraft from CDB Aviation, a wholly owned Irish subsidiary of China Development Bank Financial Leasing Co Limited, to boost the Tata Group-owned company's transformation journey, a statement said on Wednesday.

The Kerala Police Chief has directed registration of a case following a complaint against Sudipto Sen's movie 'The Kerala Story,' which claims that 32,000 women from the state were forcibly converted and recruited to the terror outfit Islamic State. A source in Kerala Police Headquarters confirmed that State Police Chief (SPC) Anil Kant on Tuesday directed the Thiruvananthapuram city police Commissioner to register a case and look into the complaint by a Tamil Nadu-based journalist.

Realty firm Godrej Properties on Wednesday reported a 54 per cent increase in its consolidated net profit to Rs 54.96 crore for the second quarter ended September on higher income. Its net profit stood at Rs 35.73 crore in the year-ago period.

Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday said people will vote for the AAP in the upcoming municipal polls to clear the "garbage of the BJP" and if the Arvind Kejriwal-led party comes to power in the MCD, it will make the "mountains" of trash disappear from the city in five years.

Sanjay Ghodawat, President of Sanjay Ghodawat Foundation, the CSR wing of Sanjay Ghodawat Group (SGG), was recently felicitated with the - Ahimsa International Award, for his impactful contribution in Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability and Social Impact. He received the award at the hands of Mr Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Governor of Maharashtra during the foundation day celebration of Ahimsa Vishwa Bharti and World Peace Centre held in Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.

Southeast Asian leaders convene in the Cambodian capital Thursday, faced with the challenge of trying to curtail escalating violence in Myanmar while the country's military-led government shows no signs of complying with the group's peace plan. U.S. President Joe Biden will be on hand for the Phnom Penh summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which comes as Washington and Beijing are increasingly jockeying for influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Muthoot Microfin, the microfinance arm of the Muthoot Pappachan Group, is planning to tap the capital markets with an initial share sale offer of Rs 1,500-1,800 crore by the last quarter of 2023. Delhi-based Muthoot Microfin is promoted by Muthoot Fincorp, which is the third-largest gold loan player and the flagship firm of Muthoot Pappachan Group.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal will hold a meeting with party leaders on Wednesday to chalk out a plan for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) polls, sources said.

Justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, who took over as India’s 50th chief justice of India, has played a pivotal role in digitisation of the judiciary and been part of benches that delivered landmark verdicts on issues such as the Ayodhya land dispute, Section 377 and right to privacy.

The BJP's top leadership will on Wednesday deliberate upon the candidates for Gujarat assembly polls, where the party is eyeing a win for the seventh time. The BJP's central election committee, also comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, will meet here in the evening to finalise the candidates. Elections in Gujarat will be held in two phases -- December 1 and 5.

A special court in Mumbai is likely to pronounce its order on Wednesday on the bail plea of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut in a money laundering case pertaining to the Patra Chawl redevelopment project. Special Judge M G Deshpande, designated to hear cases pertaining to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), reserved the order last week after hearing arguments from both sides.

BJP MP Saumitra Khan urged all opposition parties, including the Congress and the Left Front, to join hands with the saffron camp to defeat the Trinamool Congress in the panchayat polls due next year. The Congress and the Left Front, however, dismissed Khan’s proposal by terming the BJP and the TMC as “two sides of the same coin”.

The Ram temple's chief priest Acharya Satyendra Das has objected to the Sriram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust's decision to stop the distribution of 'prasad' among devotees from a makeshift temple where the idol is installed. The deity is at the temporary structure till the Ram temple is built. It was earlier placed in the mosque structure on the Ram Janmabhoomi complex on December 22, 1949.

The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote for Monday on a resolution that would call for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine, including by paying reparations.

 The United States and Russia will soon hold talks on resuming suspended nuclear arms control inspections that had been put on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic and languished after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the State Department said Tuesday. State Department spokesman Ned Price said negotiations on the inspections would take place “in the near future” under the terms of the New START treaty and would not include any discussion of the conflict in Ukraine.

 A senior member of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government announced his resignation Tuesday night after mounting allegations that he bullied colleagues. Gavin Williamson announced his resignation as minister of state without portfolio in letter posted on Twitter, four days after the Times of London published expletive-laden text messages he sent to another member of Parliament.

Strong tremors were felt across north India in the small hours of Wednesday after a 6. 3 magnitude earthquake struck the Himalayan region near Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand along the Nepal border. The National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said the epicenter of the earthquake was in Nepal, about 90 km east-southeast of Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand, and it struck at 1.57 am Wednesday. The tremors were felt in Delhi and surrounding areas of Ghaziabad and Gurugram and even in Lucknow, jolting people out of their sleep. 

An earthquake of magnitude 4.3 occurred in Pithoragarh, at around 6.27 am on Nov 9. The depth of the earthquake was 5 km below the ground, National Center for Seismology informed. 

Earthquake strikes Nepal, tremors felt in Delhi-NCR, North India

Identities of casualties are yet to be ascertained in Nepal earthquake. At least 1 woman and two children are among the deceased, said Officials

At least 6 people died, several injured, dozens of houses damaged with landslides at various locations across Nepal's Doti district, Chief District Officer Kalpana Shrestha informed.