Breaking News, February 29 | HIGHLIGHTS

An Intermediate second-year student, who was "not able" to reach the examination centre on time allegedly committed suicide by jumping into an irrigation project in Adilabad district on Thursday, police said. The 17-year-old student, belonging to Mangurla village of the district, was to appear for a paper during the ongoing Intermediate year-end exams and reached Adilabad town by 9.15 am, they said.

The BJP's Central Election Committee (CEC) met in Delhi on Thursday night as its members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, held deliberations to finalise the first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha polls expected to be held in April-May. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda and Union ministers Amit Shah and Rajnath Singh were among those who attended the meeting as the ruling party looks to name its candidates for a sizeable number of the 543 Lok Sabha seats before the Election Commission (EC) announces the poll schedule.

A policeman was arrested in Thane for allegedly raping a 20-year-old student several times, an official said on Thursday. Anjay More (28) was arrested on Wednesday after a case was registered on the complaint of the student a day earlier, the Thane Nagar police station official said.

President Droupadi Murmu interacted with a group of women officers serving in the three armed forces and other women achievers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, officials said on Thursday. The Indian Air Force shared the information along with a photograph on X.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in West Bengal on March 1 and 2 to launch multiple development projects worth over Rs 22,200 crore, a visit which becomes politically significant as well as it comes amid the BJP's sharp attack on the state government over the Sandeshkhali issue. An official statement said that on March 2 Modi will launch many development projects, worth over nearly Rs 1.83 lakh-crore, from Bihar for across the country in his first visit to the state after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar quit the opposition bloc and joined hands with the BJP.

The first phase of deployment of more than 3.4 lakh central armed police forces (CAPFs) for the upcoming general elections in the country and assembly polls in few states will begin from Friday, official sources said Thursday.

The coast of Kochi is all set to witness the pinnacle of airborne supremacy of the Indian Navy next week when it inducts the aerial marvel, the MH 60R helicopter into its fleet, bolstering the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) capabilities. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will commission the newly inducted MH 60R Seahawk multi-role helicopter at the INS Garuda here on March 6, Navy officials said.

Supreme Court dismissed an appeal of Vedanta group seeking direction for reopening of its Sterlite copper plant in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi. Supreme Court said the plant is a chronic violator of air and water pollution laws.

BRS leader and Nagarkurnool MP Pothuganti Ramulu joined the BJP at party headquarters in New Delhi.

In a huge relief for Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the Congress on Thursday cleared that he will continue as Chief Minister. If sources are to be believed, the Congress party fears that the change might lead to rebellion by the Sukhu camp MLAs. Also, since there is not much time left for the Lok Sabha elections, it would be better to have the existing system in place to maintain stability in the state. Congress observers Bhupendra Singh Hooda and DK Shivakumar, who were rushed to the hilly state, meanwhile, held meeting with rebel MLAs on one-to-one basis.

Trinamool Congress on Thursday (February 29) suspended Sheikh Shahjahan, who was arrested this morning, from the party for six years. TMC leader Derek O'Brien made the announcement hours after the arrest of the party leader from the Sarberia area in the North 24 Parganas district. Shahjahan, who was the main accused in the alleged sexual atrocities on women and land grabbing at Sandeshkhali. 

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra may contest the Lok Sabha elections from Amethi and Rae Bareli respectively, sources said on Thursday (February 29). This may be the electoral debut for Priyanka Gandhi if the party announces her name for the Lok Sabha polls. Rahul Gandhi had suffered defeat in the traditional Congress' stronghold Amethi in front of then BJP candidate in 2019, Smriti Irani.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver his 19th and 29th in Russia’s modern history State of the Nation Address at noon on Thursday, TASS reported.

Aviation regulator DGCA on Thursday imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for the incident where an 80-year-old passenger collapsed and later died after walking from plane to terminal at the Mumbai airport after not getting a wheelchair. The incident happened on February 12. A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday said a penalty of Rs 30 lakh has been imposed on Air India as it failed to provide any wheelchair to the elderly passenger.

The US immigration agency has announced the launch of a system that will allow multiple people within an organisation, as well as their legal representatives, to collaborate on and prepare H-1B registrations, and H-1B petitions. The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a statement on Wednesday announced the launch of myUSCIS organisational accounts.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

Two girls were found hanging from a tree in a field near the brick kiln they were working in here in a village in the Ghatampur area -- days after they were allegedly raped, police said on Thursday.
Family members have alleged that the minor girls were raped a few days ago by the contractor of the brick kiln, Ramroop Nishad, (48), his son Raju (18) and nephew Sanjay (19), Additional CP (law and order) Harish Chandra said. All three accused have been arrested, he said.

The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear in March a plea seeking direction to the government to release Rohingya refugees who have been "illegally and arbitrarily" detained in jails and detention centres across the country.
A bench of Justice B R Gavai and Justice Sandeep Mehta agreed to list the plea after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter, saying the case has not been posted for hearing.

Absconding TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh, the main accused of sexual abuse and land grabbing in Sandeshkhali, was arrested in the early hours of Thursday after being on the run for 55 days that witnessed violent protests led by local women and a fierce political slugfest.
Additional Director-General of Police (South Bengal) Supratim Sarkar said Sheikh was arrested from a house in Bamanpukur in Minakhan police station area, around 30 km away from the island of Sandeshkhali on the outskirts of Sunderbans, in North 24 Parganas district.

An army personnel was injured when his service rifle went off accidentally near the Line of Control in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Thursday.
The incident occurred on Wednesday night.
The soldier, who was part of a patrolling team in the Balnoi area of the Mendhar sector, slipped after losing balance which led to accidental fire from his service weapon, officials said.

India and Bangladesh will hold their bi-annual DG-level border talks in Dhaka next month to discuss issues related to curbing a variety of cross-frontier crimes and measures to create better coordination between their security forces and agencies, official sources said on Thursday.
A delegation led by Border Security Force (BSF) Director General Nitin Agrawal is slated to travel to Bangladesh for the meeting to be held between March 5-9, the sources told PTI.

 Haryana Police on Thursday said they are verifying a post on social media, purportedly by UK-based gangster Kapil Sangwan, claiming responsibility for the killing of Indian National Lok Dal's state unit chief Nafe Singh Rathee.
Rathee and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) worker Jai Kishan were killed when unidentified assailants sprayed their vehicle with bullets in Jhajjar's Bahadurgarh on Sunday. The attack, which came ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, drew sharp reactions from the opposition parties in the BJP-ruled state.

US President Joe Biden is doing everything he can to improve the process related to the sought-after H-1B visa, Green Card backlog and other issues related to the country's legal immigration system, the White House has said.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise.

In a major development, Thailand will ban the recreational use of marijuana by the end of this year, but continue allowing its use for medical purposes, the health minister told Reuters in an interview.
Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to decriminalise cannabis, initially for medicinal use in 2021, and then for recreational use in 2022.

A 48-year-old woman from Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra has allegedly been cheated to Rs 1.92 crore in online share trading following which police have registered a case against four persons, an official said on Thursday.

Delhi recorded the best February air quality in nine years, with the air quality index remaining below 200 on most days, data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) showed.
The national capital also experienced 32.5 mm of rainfall in February this year, the highest in the month since 2013.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election, calling into question whether his case could go to trial before the November election.
While the court set a course for a quick resolution, it maintained a hold on preparations for a trial focused on Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss. The court will hear arguments in late April, with a decision likely no later than the end of June.

Seven days after the death of Shubhkaran Singh during clashes between protesting farmers and Haryana security personnel at the Khanauri border point, the Punjab Police registered a case of murder on Wednesday night.
Shubhkaran (21), a native of Bathinda, was killed and 12 security personnel were injured in clashes at Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border on February 21. The incident occurred when some protesting farmers were trying to head towards police barricades, put up to halt their "Delhi Chalo" march.

The ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday hailed the arrest of absconding party leader Shajahan Sheikh, accused of torturing villagers in trouble-torn Sandeshkhali area, and said it was possible only after the court cleared the decks and accused the opposition of exploiting the earlier "embargo" on his arrest.
The BJP dubbed the arrest as scripted and claimed he was in the safe custody of West Bengal Police.

 Fourteen people were killed and 20 others injured when a pick-up vehicle overturned in Madhya Pradesh's Dindori district in the wee hours of Thursday, a police official said.

The accident took place near Badjhar Ghat at around 1.30 am when the vehicle's driver lost control over the wheels.
As a result, the vehicle overturned, killing 14 people and injuring 20 others, the official said.