Breaking News, February 6 | HIGHLIGHTS

A 48-year-old man was arrested in Rajasthan's Baran district for allegedly repeatedly raping the 13-year-old daughter of his live-in partner, resulting in her pregnancy, police said. The accused, identified as Kedar Singh, was arrested on Sunday.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday held wide-ranging talks with his visiting Canadian counterpart Melanie Joly focusing on boosting cooperation in a range of areas, including trade, security and mobility of students. In their strategic dialogue, the two sides also looked forward to the proposed Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA), according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). 

The 27-year-old labourer who went missing after an avalanche in Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul & Spiti district is still to be traced as unfavourable weather conditions hit rescue operations, officials said on Monday. Nepal native Passang Chhering Lama is feared buried under the snow but the rescue operations had to be halted due to the harsh weather, they said.

A relief of Rs 20,000 per hectare would be provided to Cauvery delta farmers for loss of yield to the tune of 33 per cent or more for ready to harvest paddy crop affected by unseasonal heavy rainfall, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin announced here on Monday.

A 26-year-old man was arrested for allegedly killing his mother after she refused to let him buy a motorcycle, police said on Monday. The weapon used in crime has been seized, they said.

The Telangana government on Monday presented a budget of Rs 2,90,396 crore for 2023-24, up from about Rs 2.57 lakh crore last year with welfare programmes getting a lion's share of allocation. Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who presented the budget in the Legislative Assembly, allotted Rs 2,11,685 crore towards Revenue Expenditure and Rs 37,525 crore for Capital Expenditure.

Congress workers here on Monday staged a protest march amid heavy police deployment demanding a detailed inquiry into the Hindenburg allegations against the Adani group, conducted, either by a Joint Parliamentary Committee or the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The party also handed over a memorandum of its demands, addressed to the President of India, to the Commissioner of Police.

A 15-year-old boy was injured in a landmine blast along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on Monday, sources said. Mohammad Shoaib was grazing his cattle as the landmine exploded in the forward area, they said.

The rupee fell by 65 paise to close at 82.73 (provisional) against the US currency on Monday, weighed down by gains in the greenback in the overtseas markets and a muted trend in domestic equities.

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Monday claimed that the "secret" behind Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai not expanding the Cabinet is to avoid making BJP strongman B S Yediyurappa's son as a minister. Speaking to reporters, he also alleged that "getting more bribes" was the other reason why Bommai is not undertaking the exercise and keeping many portfolios with himself.

Mumbai Police have banned the flying of drones, paragliders, all type of balloons and remote-controlled microlight aircraft on February 10 for security reasons, in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the city, official said on Monday. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) issued an order to this effect on February 3 under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged global investors to explore investment opportunities in the country's energy sector, saying India is the most opportune place at present. Modi in his inaugural address at the India Energy Week 2023 said the Budget (for 2023-34) has provided Rs 10 lakh crore for capital expenditure, which will give a boost to green hydrogen, solar power and road sectors.

Suspended Congress MLA Irfan Ansari on Monday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) here in connection with the cash seizure case. Ansari reached zonal office of the federal agency here around 11 am in connection with its investigation into the cash seized from a car in which he was travelling along with party MLAs Rajesh Kachchap and Naman Bixal, an official said.

A woman is entitled to maintenance under provisions of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (DV Act) even after divorce, the Bombay High Court has said. A single bench of Justice R G Avachat in the order of January 24 upheld a May 2021 order passed by a sessions court directing the man, a police constable, to pay a maintenance of Rs 6,000 to his divorced wife per month.

Equity benchmark Sensex declined more than 200 points in early trade on Monday, tracking losses in index-heavyweights Infosys, TCS and HUL amid a broadly negative trend in global markets. Besides, a weak rupee against major rivals dented the domestic equity market sentiments, traders said.

Maoists hacked to death a 40-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party functionary in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district while he was attending a wedding function, police said on Monday. The incident took place on Sunday in Paikram village where the victim, Neelkanth Kakem, who was the president of Awapalli mandal of the BJP, had gone with his family to attend the marriage of a relative, Inspector General of Police (Bastar range) Sundarraj P said.

The Rupee fell 35 paise to 82.43 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly will begin a two-day visit to India on Monday to hold wide-ranging talks with her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. The talks between the two foreign ministers will be held on Monday evening, officials said. Besides ways to boost bilateral ties, the two sides are also expected to focus on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of growing global concern over China's increasing military muscle-flexing in the region. In November, Canada came out with a comprehensive strategy for the Indo-Pacific that aimed to promote peace, resilience and security.

The Delhi municipal House is set to convene on Monday to elect a mayor for the city after failing to complete the poll in two previous attempts.

As per the DMC Act 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to elected in the very first House that convenes after the civic polls. However, it's been two months since the municipal elections were held, and Delhi is still to get a mayor.

BJP leader Amardeep was shot dead by an unidentified man in Jagjeetpur, Haridwar on Sunday night when he was at his residence. The murder of Amardeep, a former president of Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya Student Union triggered outrage in the area.

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake hits near Gaziantep in Southern Turkey on Monday morning.

Two labourers were killed and another went missing after an avalanche on Shinkula–Darcha road in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday evening. Three casual labourers got buried in the snow along with snow cutter/dozers as avalanche hit Chika village in the district, officials said.

The bodies of Ram Budha from Nepal and Rakesh from Chamba have been recovered while 27-year-old Passang Chhering Lama, a resident of Nepal, remains missing and feared buried in snow, according to the state emergency operation centre. A rescue team consisting of police, health officials, and members of district disaster management authority rushed to the spot and began the rescue operation. The rescue operation was stopped at night as the temperature and visibility dropped. The rescue operation will be resumed on Monday morning.

Here is the list of Grammy winners in top categories-

Early winners on Sunday in the top categories at the 65th Grammy Awards:
— Best alternative music performance: “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg
— Best alternative music album: “Wet Leg,” Wet Leg
— Best rock album: “Patient Number 9,” Ozzy Osbourne
— Best rock performance: “Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile
— Best rock song: “Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile
— Best rap performance: "The Heart Part 5,” Kendrick Lamar
— Best rap song: “The Heart Part 5” by Kendrick Lamar
— Best melodic rap performance: “WAIT FOR U” by Future featuring Drake & Tems
— Best R&B album: “Black Radio III,” Robert Glasper
— Best R&B performance: “Hrs & Hrs” by Muni Long
— Best traditional R&B performance: “PLASTIC OFF THE SOFA” by Beyoncé
— Best progressive R&B album: “Gemini Rights,” Steve Lacy
— Best audio book, narration and storytelling recording: “Finding Me” by Viola Davis
— Best traditional pop vocal album: “Higher,” Michael Bublé
— Best solo country solo performance: “Live Forever,” Willie Nelson
— Best country duo/group performance: “Never Wanted To Be That Girl,” Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
— Best country album: “'Til You Can't,” Cody Johnson
— Best jazz vocal album: Samara Joy
— Best dance/electronic recording: “Break My Soul,” by Beyoncé
— Best metal performance: “Degradation Rules” by Ozzy Osbourne featuring Tony Iommi
— Best engineered, non-classical album: “Harry's House,” Harry Styles
— Best compilation soundtrack for visual media: “Encanto”
— Best score soundtrack for visual media: “Encanto,” Germaine Franco
— Best score soundtrack for video games and other interactive media: “Assasin's Creed Valhalla: Dawn of Ragnarok,” Stephanie Economou

Three boys and a woman died when a boat carrying at least 41 migrants crashed on Sunday on a rocky coast on the Greek island of Leros, authorities said. Greece's Coast Guard said it was alerted by a person who saw a body floating at sea. Three vessels and a helicopter, joined by a detachment that went overland, reached the point and retrieved the woman's body, as well as an unconscious boy and 39 other people, six of whom had made it to the rocky coast. One of the boys who died had been found unconscious but was briefly revived in the hospital, the Coast Guard said. Two others who were conscious when they were found also died on Sunday evening in the hospital. Three more minors and two adults were hospitalized early in the afternoon.

Cybersecurity agencies in Europe are warning of ransomware attacks exploiting a 2-year-old computer bug as Italy experienced widespread internet outages. The Italian premier's office said on Sunday night the attacks affecting computer systems in the country involved “ransomware already in circulation" in a product made by cloud technology provider VMware. A Friday technical bulletin from a French cybersecurity agency said the attack campaigns target VMware ESXi hypervisors, which are used to monitor virtual machines. Palo Alto, California-based VMware fixed the bug back in February 2021 but the attacks are targeting older, unpatched versions of the product. The company said in a statement Sunday that its customers should take action to apply the patch if they have not already done so.