Breaking News, August 10 | HIGHLIGHTS

The Delhi government has formed a three-member committee of experienced engineers to suggest ways to prevent the recurrence of flood in the city, officials said on Thursday.

Many areas of the east were inundated due to a rise in the Yamuna river levels and nearly 27,000 people from the floodplains were evacuated and sheltered at safer places during the floods last month. The committee will serve advisory purpose, suggesting long-term and short-term steps to prevent flood situation in future, said an officer of the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department.

The Allahabad High Court has admitted mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's appeal against life term awarded to him by the Varanasi sessions court in the 1991 Awadhesh Rai murder case.

A division bench comprising Justice K J Thaker and Justice U C Sharma summoned the lower court record and fixed September 13 as the next date of hearing. In the court proceedings on last Thursday, Mukhtar Ansari's counsel Upendra Upadhya had pleaded on his behalf but the state counsel opposed his appeal.

The Meteorological Department has issued 'Red' Alert and 'Orange' Alert from 11 to 14 August 2023 in most of the districts of Uttarakhand: Uttarakhand Police

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said Sri Lanka seeks to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade bloc comprising China and Japan to bolster its economic connectivity within the broader Asian region amid impending financial challenges, an official statement said on Thursday.

Addressing the 56th anniversary of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) held at Indonesia's embassy in Colombo on Tuesday, he said Sri Lanka will work closely with ASEAN nations, the president's office said. “Sri Lanka's economic focus should now turn towards the East, given the rapid development in that region,” Wickremesinghe said.

Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar on Thursday evening felt uneasiness while addressing party workers and supporters in Abohar in Fazilka district but his condition was fine now, a close aide said.

The 68-year-old felt dizzy because of muggy and hot weather, the aide said. Jakhar was taken to a hospital for a medical check up and all his parameters were fine and he later went to his home, the aide said.

A man and his aide were arrested in Mumbai for possession of arms and later it came to light that one of them was also wanted in a rape case registered in the metropolis, police said on Thursday. The two were apprehended by the Unit-9 of the Mumbai police's Crime Branch under the Arms Act from suburban Andheri (West) on Wednesday, an official said.

Acting on specific information, a Crime Branch team laid a trap at New Link Road and intercepted the duo who was found to be carrying a country-made gun, a knife, pistol made of stainless steel and 20 'live' rounds, he said. With the help of weapons, the accused persons were planning to commit robberies in the city, said the official.

Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar will flag off a 'Har Ghar Tiranga' bike rally of MPs in Delhi on Friday, the Culture Ministry said.

Under the aegis of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), 'Har Ghar Tiranga' will be celebrated across the nation from August 13- 15 wherein people will be encouraged to hoist flags on the premises of homes, it said on Thursday. To ensure massive outreach of the campaign and ensure high 'Jan Bhagidari', a 'Tiranga' bike rally with MPs and ministers is being organized on August 11 morning at Pragati Maidan here, it said.

A CRPF jawan opened fire at his wife and her brother and seriously injured them in the Musafirkhana Kotwali area here on Thursday, police said. The two were shifted to a local hospital, where doctors referred them to the Trauma Center in Lucknow, they said.

Some dispute was going on between CRPF jawan Shivnarayan and and his wife Geeta for the past one year due to which the woman was living in her parents house, police said. Shivnarayan, who is posted in Chhattisgarh as a constable, was on leave.

A mob of over 10 men allegedly pelted stones at a man's house in a village here and threatened to kill the family, amid communal tension in the district, police said on Thursday.

The house owner Aslam, in his complaint, claimed that the mob attacked his house to incite communal tension in the area and demanded that strict action be taken against the accused. The incident took place in the Bhora Kalan village here on Wednesday morning when the group of men allegedly pelted stones at Aslam's house, leaving the windowpanes shattered, the police said.

The gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and murder of seven of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots were a "crime against humanity", TMC MP Mahua Moitra told the Supreme Court on Thursday, and accused the Gujarat government of having failed to exercise its constitutional mandate of protecting the rights of women and children by granting remission to 11 convicts in the "horrendous" case.

Besides the petition filed by Bilkis Bano, several other PILs including one by CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, independent journalist Revati Laul and former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University Roop Rekha Verma have challenged the remission. Moitra has also filed a PIL against the remission.

Senior BJP leader R Ashoka on Thursday wondered whether the Congress government in Karnataka was allegedly engaged in ‘fund collection’ as part of preparations for the Lok Sabha elections.

Speaking to reporters here, the former Deputy Chief Minister said the "prediction" made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah during the campaigning for the May Assembly elections that the Congress will use Karnataka like its ATM has come true. The BJP MLA said in the run-up to the May polls, the Congress in Karnataka ran 'PayCM' campaign targeting the then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai making baseless allegations of collecting 40 per cent commission on award of government contracts.

BJP national president JP Nadda to visit West Bengal on August 12-13 to meet the party workers who were injured in the recent Panchayat elections in the state. He will also hold a meeting with the party leaders in the state over preparations for Lok Sabha elections: Sources 

A man was held in Wagle Estate area in Thane allegedly with mephedrone and charas cumulatively worth Rs 2.90 lakh, a police official said on Thursday. Milind Dubey (42) was held by a team of Crime Unit V from Sambhaji Nagar on Wednesday evening, he said.

"We seized 70 grams of mephedrone and 27 grams of charas. We also seized a motorcycle, cash and other items cumulatively valued at Rs 65,000," Crime Unit V senior inspector Vikas Ghodke told PTI.

A 34-year-old man was on Thursday sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in Thane in Maharashtra for strangling his live-in partner in 2018.

Thane Sessions Judge Abhay J Mantri also fined Bhiwandi-resident Omprakash Kaul alias Adivasi Rs 30,000, which will be given to the three children of the deceased. Kaul's wife was in her native town and he started living in with Sonia Adivasi (30), but the couple frequently quarrelled as he sent a part of his income to his wife, as per the prosecution.

A man allegedly killed his five-year-old nephew and dumped the body in a well in a village falling under the Baldirai Police Station area in Uttar Pradesh's Sultanpur, police said on Thursday.

"One Chait Singh, a resident of Majre Dehli village, killed his nephew Ritesh (5) by slitting his trot with a sharp object and dumped the body in a well on Wednesday night," said Ashok Gaud, the SHO of Baldirai Police Station. The police recovered the body from the well and sent the body for a post-mortem examination.

Police have registered a case against 34 persons, including 22 women waiters, after conducting a raid at a bar in Bhiwandi tehsil of Maharashtra's Thane district, where they found the accused allegedly indulging in obscene acts, an official said on Thursday.

The operation was conducted in Rahnal village on Wednesday night, he said. "After receiving a complaint against the bar, a police team raided it around 9.45 pm on Wednesday and found the accused indulging in obscene acts," the police official said.

A Tricolour was hoisted on the newly-renovated iconic ‘Ghanta Ghar’ here on Thursday, as the city is preparing for the Independence Day celebrations, officials said.

The famous clock tower in the heart of the city was renovated recently under the Srinagar Smart City Project. The 'Tiranga' was hoisted atop the clock tower on Thursday morning to celebrate the country’s 76th Independence Day, the officials said.

The Congress' senior election observer for Rajasthan Madhusudan Mistry on Thursday expressed confidence in the party once again forming the government with a majority in the state.

Recently appointed by the Congress high command as the senior observer for the assembly elections due in the state later this year, Mistry was in Jaipur to hold talks with party leaders. "We will form the government with a majority," he told reporters at the airport here.

A man allegedly stabbed his 23-year-old brother-in-law with scissors in north-east Delhi's Khajuri Khas area, police said on Thursday. The incident took place on Wednesday around 11.30 am when Idrees, the victim, allegedly abused Shamshad (42) for torturing his sister, who got married to the accused 10 years ago, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North East) Joy Tirkey said.

When Idrees hurled abuses at Shamshad, he got enraged and allegedly picked up a pair of scissors and stabbed him in the neck, Tirkey said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday distributed smartphones among women under a new scheme during an event here. The devices were handed over to the beneficiaries of the Indira Gandhi smartphone scheme at the Birla auditorium. Under this scheme, smartphones equipped with internet connectivity will be distributed to women heads of families, officials said. “Knowledge is power. With this theme, smartphones are being given to women. The scheme will empower women,” Gehlot said.

Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary on Thursday said he will attend the opposition INDIA bloc's meeting in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1. Chaudhary's assertion comes days after he skipped the voting in the Rajya Sabha on the Delhi services Bill, setting off another round of speculation about his future move. Members of the INDIA alliance had opposed the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

National Investigation Agency (NIA) sleuths on Thursday searched the house of a person in Telangana's Karimnagar district over his alleged links with the banned Popular Front of India (PFI), official sources said. A NIA team, assisted by the local police, raided the house of the person, for his suspected links with the PFI, but he is currently abroad, they said.

Forty MLAs of violence-hit Manipur have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state requires complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security. These MLAs, most of whom are ethnic Meiteis, also demanded the withdrawal of the Suspension of Operations (SoO) Agreement with Kuki militant groups, implementation of NRC in the state and strengthening of the Autonomous District Councils (ADCs).

Reserve Bank on Thursday proposed to increase the per transaction payment limit to Rs 500 for UPI Lite in offline mode and announced other measures to further deepen the reach and use of digital payments in the country. Presently, a limit of Rs 200 per transaction and an overall limit of Rs 2,000 per payment instrument has been prescribed by the Reserve Bank for small value digital payments in offline mode, including for National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) and UPI Lite.

A first-year student of Jadavpur University in Kolkata died after allegedly falling from the second-floor balcony of the main hostel, police said on Thursday morning. The 18-year-old boy was an undergraduate student of Bengali (honours). He allegedly fell from the A2 hostel building around 11.45 pm on Wednesday, they said.

The government has listed a bill for introduction in the Rajya Sabha to regulate the appointment, conditions of service and term of office of the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners. The Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill also seeks to set up a procedure for transaction of business by the Election Commission.

As many as 33 rice mills in Maharashtra's Gondia district have been blacklisted for next three years as the rice supplied by them has been found to be inferior quality and not fit for human consumption, officials said. Gondia Collector Chinmay Gotmare issued an order to this effect on August 4.

Light rains are likely on Thursday in the city which witnessed a minimum temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, according to the weather department. The maximum temperature is expected to hover around 33 degrees Celsius. According to the data by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the overall Air Quality Index (AQI) at 9 am stood at 129 (moderate category). 

A tribal man suffering from snakebite was allegedly subjected to a superstitious ritual by his family members at a hospital in Maharashtra's Palghar district following which he developed health complications, officials said. The patient was then rushed to another hospital in the neighbouring Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli for treatment where his condition was reported to be stable, they said.

The Maharashtra government has approved the formation of a State Climate Action Cell (SCAC) that will focus on prevention, adaptation and mitigation related to climate change. The cell, which will function under the Department of Environment and Climate Change, will have five members with a director as its head, said a government order (GR) issued on Wednesday.

A vehicle driven by a customer struck three people on Wednesday in the service area of a Los Angeles auto dealership and fatally injured one of them, a woman who was briefly trapped beneath the vehicle, authorities and witnesses say.

The central government has ordered premature retirement of senior IPS officer Basant Rath, according to a home ministry notification. The notification, dated August 7, said the President requires Rath, a 2000-batch IPS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre, to "retire in public interest with immediate effect... ". Rath was earlier suspended by the central government for "repeated instances of gross misconduct and misbehaviour".

Class teachers of Delhi government schools will mark the attendance of students online using tabs or school computer system and the record will have a bearing on final examinations, according to an official circular. The circular further said that manual attendance marked by the class teacher will not be considered for any purpose. "Online attendance records will be considered final for examinations. The attendance data of the students submitted online by the class teacher and school will be reflected at HQ level," the Delhi government's Directorate of Education (DoE) said.

A truck belonging to the militant Hezbollah group overturned on a mountain road near the Lebanese capital on Wednesday and was followed by a shooting that left two people dead, security officials and Hezbollah said. Lebanese troops immediately cordoned off the truck filled with large boxes in the Christian town of Kahaleh on the highway that links Beirut to the eastern Bekaa Valley. The highway is believed to be used by Hezbollah to bring weapons from eastern Lebanon and Syria to its headquarters south of Beirut.