Breaking News, November 5

Congress leader Naseem Khan was injured in a car accident on Wednesday while travelling to Nanded in Maharashtra from Hyderabad. Khan, a former Maharashtra minister, was going to Nanded to join Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra which will be entering the state on November 7, party sources said.

A 30-year-old journalist from Bhosari area of Pune city in Maharashtra was arrested on Saturday for allegedly killing his 28-year-old girlfriend, police said. The accused, working with a web portal in Pimpri Chinchwad township, had lodged a missing complaint in August, following which a search operation was launched by the police to trace the woman. However, the investigation revealed that he had killed the woman and disposed of her body near Bhor Taluka in the Pune district.

Busting a sex racket being run in a posh residential society here, police on Saturday arrested five men and rescued three women from their clutches. 

Hundreds of climate protesters blocked private jets from leaving Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Saturday in a demonstration on the eve of the COP27 UN climate meeting in Egypt.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be on a five-day visit to West Bengal in January, during which he will hold closed-door meetings with functionaries and address swayamsevaks in Kolkata, office-bearers of the organisation said on Saturday.

Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena has sent a proposal to the home ministry recommending that non-consensual sex with wife aged between 15 to 18 years will amount to rape and punishable under the Indian Penal Code, according to Delhi Police sources.

The expansion of civilisations is not possible without rivers and the Ganga is a symbol of India's cultural heritage that binds the nation together, said Union Minister of Jal Shakti Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Saturday.

Himanshu Vyas, Secretary, Incharge of Indian Overseas Congress resigned from his post and the party's primary membership today and has joined hands with the BJP.

The Uttarakhand High Court has stayed the arrest of former DGP BS Sidhu in a case in which he is accused of encroaching upon reserve forest land in Mussoorie division and felling more than two dozen trees.

The decision to introduce uniform price on 916 purity 22 carat gold has been taken at a meeting between officials of Malabar Gold and Diamonds, one of the largest gold and diamond retail chains in the country and key members of All Kerala Gold and Silver Merchants Association which sets the board rate for gold.

Top commanders of the Army will carry out a comprehensive review of India's national security challenges along the borders with China and Pakistan and ways to enhance combat prowess of the 1.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the death of India's first voter Shyam Saran Negi, who died aged 106 at his residence in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur on Saturday morning.

Addressing a public rally in Himachal Pradesh's Sundarnagar today, PM Modi said that he felt happy to be in the state.

A court here sent the main accused in the murder case of Shiv Sena (Taksali) leader Sudhir Suri to seven-day police remand on Saturday.
The accused, Sandeep Singh, 31, was presented before the court amid tight security.

President Droupadi Murmu Saturday concluded her two-day visit to Sikkim and left for Bagdogra in an Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter on way to the national capital.

A fire broke out in a parcel van of the Mumbai-bound Shalimar Express at Nashik Road railway station in Maharashtra on Saturday morning, but nobody was injured in it, officials said.

A letter, allegedly written by Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor Arya Rajendran to a top ruling CPI(M) leader asking the priority list of party cadres to be appointed in temporary posts in the civic body, has kicked up a huge political controversy in Kerala with opposition Congress and BJP demanding her immediate resignation.

For Right to Information (RTI) activist Makhan Dhakad it was an occasion that he had to celebrate as he was finally getting 9,000 pages of information, which he had sought, after a two-month-long struggle and payment of Rs 25,000.

Bihar government has asked the authorities of all 38 districts in the state to ensure the registration of around 4000 unregistered temples, mutts and trusts in the state within three months, Bihar Law Minister, Shamim Ahmad has said.

The Congress on Saturday released its manifesto for the November 12 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections in the presence of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar on Saturday began a five-day visit to Japan to attend the International Fleet Review, the inaugural ceremony of the Malabar exercise and hold talks to further expand bilateral maritime ties.

President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday arrived at Namchi and left for Siddheshwara Dham where she will pay obeisance on the last day of her two-day visit to Sikkim.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at Radha Soami Satsang at Beas in Amritsar on Saturday. He is scheduled to meet sect head Baba Gurinder Singh Dhillon.

Authorities in Oklahoma say at least one person has died as tornadoes ravaged areas of that state and neighboring Texas, leaving some people trapped and dozens of homes in ruins.

Jay Narayan Vyas, a former Gujarat Minister, on Saturday announced that he has resigned from the BJP after being associated with the party for almost 30 years.

A deputy governor of China's central bank is under investigation on suspicion of “serious violations of discipline and law,” the ruling Communist Party's corruption agency said Saturday.

Three persons were killed and one injured when a sports utility vehicle (SUV) hit a tree in Madhya Pradesh's Niwari district, police said on Saturday.

Bypoll to the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant following the death of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav will be held on December 5 along with byelections to five assembly constituencies spread across as many states, the Election Commission said on Saturday.

The Enforcement Directorate has arrested Abbas Ansari, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party MLA from Mau and son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, in a money laundering case, officials said on Saturday.

The Pakistan Army has rejected as "baseless and irresponsible" the allegations made by former premier Imran Khan that one of its senior officers was among the people involved in the conspiracy to kill him and demanded the government to conduct a probe and take legal action against those maligning the state institution.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies in Maharashtra - on November 10 and 18 - as part of his 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' that will arrive in the state on Monday, a senior party leader said. The yatra that began on September 7 from Kanyakumari, is scheduled to reach Madnur Naka at Deglur in Maharashtra's Nanded district from neighbouring Telangana at 7 pm on November 7. "Rahul Gandhi will address two rallies during the yatra in Maharashtra. He will address the first rally on November 10 in Nanded district, while the second one will be held on November 18 at Shegaon in Buldhana district," senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat, who is the state coordinator for the yatra, said. The Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress's mass contact initiative, will traverse through 15 Assembly and 6 parliamentary constituencies in the state during its 14-day sojourn. It will cover a distance of 382 kms across five districts before entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20.

The Indian government needs to invest at least 50 per cent of its annual education budget in skilling engineers to handle cyber threats, given the massive digitalisation taking place across the country, an industry expert has suggested. “First thing is that India needs to have a lot of cybersecurity awareness programmes across the country, covering all - big and small enterprises, government departments and citizens,” said Nilesh Jain, Vice President for South East Asia and India at the Japanese-origin Trend Micro. India produces a lot of engineers but they are not explicitly trained to handle cyberattacks, he said, adding that the time is now to “invest heavily in specialists. Universities must come out with specialists to handle threats.”

Five prominent Indian-American politicians are in the race for the US House of Representatives when the country goes for its midterm polls on November 8. If the pollsters and opinions of political pundits are to be believed, Indian-Americans are likely to have a 100 per cent strike rate for the House of Representatives. The four incumbents – Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna and Pramila Jayapal - are likely to be re-elected. All four are from the Democratic party. Adding to the so-called Samosa Caucus of Indian-Americans in the House of Representatives would be the entrepreneur and businessman Shri Thanedar, who is seeking his election from the 13th Congressional District of Michigan.

Storms ripped through parts of Texas on Friday, flattening homes and toppling trees, with local officials in one county reporting at least two dozen people injured. One community hit hard was Powderly, Texas, near the border with Oklahoma and about 120 miles (193 kilometers) northeast of Dallas. Randi Johnson, chief of the Powderly Volunteer Fire Department, told The Paris News newspaper that she wasn't aware anyone had been killed but knew of injuries.

AICC leader Rahul Gandhi will address a massive public meeting on November 7 at Jukkal before entering Maharashtra as Bharat Jodo Yatra is set to finish the Telangana leg on the same day, party sources said. Senior Congress leaders from the state, including Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president Revanth Reddy, paid a visit to the venue on Friday. The Telangana leg of the foot march began on October 24 and will end on November 7 before entering Maharashtra. Meanwhile, after a day break on Friday, the yatra resumed from Choutukur in Andole constituency on Saturday and will halt in the night at Alladurg after covering over 20 km. During the day, Gandhi will address a street corner meeting at Peddapur, Congress sources said. Saturday's march marks the tenth day of the yatra in the state.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address two rallies in Sindar Nagar and Solan on Saturday in his campaign for the BJP in the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls scheduled for November 12. Official sources said he will also visit Radha Soami Satsang in Beas in Punjab. The sect has a large following in the hill state as well. The BJP will release its 'vision document' (manifesto) for Himachal Pradesh a day later in Shimla on Sunday. It was earlier expected to be released on Friday. The BJP is in power in the state and is pulling out all stops to remain in the saddle by breaking the precedent of the incumbent being voted out.

Seven women were killed and 11 injured in a head-on collision between an auto-rickshaw and a truck at a village in Chittaguppa taluk here late on Friday. These women were labourers and were returning home after work in the auto-rickshaw when it collided with the truck near Bemalakheda government school. They have been identified as Parvathi (40), Prabhavathi (36), Gundamma (60), Yadamma (40), Jaggamma (34) Ishwaramma (55) and Rukmini Bai (60), police said. The drivers of the two vehicles were among the 11 injured. Police said two of them are in a critical condition.
A case has been registered.

Unanimously reelected as president of the Apna Dal (Sonelal), Union minister Anupriya Patel on Friday said she would never retreat from the path of fighting for social justice whatever be the challenges, including those from "own people". The Apna Dal (S) is a constituent member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and is part of the BJP governments at the Centre as well as in Uttar Pradesh. Patel was chosen as party president at its one-day national convention here, the first after Apna Dal (S) has been recognised by the Election Commission as a state level party.

Iran on Friday marked the 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran as its theocracy faces nationwide protests after the September death of a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the country's morality police. Meanwhile, activists in southeast Iran claimed security forces killed at least 16 people in protests there. Iranian state-run television aired live feeds of various commemorations around the country, with some in Tehran waving placards of the triangle-shaped Iranian drones Russia now uses to strike targets in its war on Ukraine. But while crowds in Tehran looked large with chador-wearing women waving the Islamic Republic's flag, other commemorations in the country appeared smaller, with only a few dozen people taking part. Iran's hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, speaking to people gathered in front of the former U.S. Embassy building, criticized those protesting the theocracy. "Anyone taking the smallest step in the direction of breaching security and riots, must know that they are stepping in the direction of enemies of the Islamic Revolution," he said.

Taking a dig at Arvind Kejriwal, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday urged Delhi'ites to wear masks to protect themselves from pollution as the Delhi chief minister was busy in poll campaign in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. Alarmed by hazardous pollution levels and health warnings, the Delhi government on Friday announced that primary schools will remain shut from Saturday and 50 per cent of its staff will work from home, while private offices have been advised to follow suit. Delhi's air quality remained "severe" for a second day on the trot. "The people of Delhi are urged to wear masks and protect themselves from air pollution because Kejriwal-ji is busy talking about free 'rewari' in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and putting up advertisements by spending crores of rupees of Delhi taxpayers' money," he said in a tweet in Hindi. 

Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said the party will not tolerate infighting during the panchayat polls due next year and asked every leader to fight unitedly against the opposition. Banerjee also cautioned party leaders against using strong-arm tactics in panchayat polls saying that such incidents dent the image of the party. Banerjee held a closed-door meeting with party workers and local leaders in Amtala area in South 24 Parganas district on Friday evening. Amatala falls within the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, from where Banerjee had twice won. "Our party leader Abhishek Banerjee has clearly said that infighting will not be tolerated. The party has to put up a united fight in the panchayat polls. He has also cautioned against any violence as such incidents dent the party's image," a local TMC leader said on condition of anonymity.

Medical courses will be taught in English as well as Hindi in Uttarakhand from the next academic session, State Medical Education Minister Dhan Singh Rawat said Friday. Uttarakhand will be the second state in the country to do so after Madhya Pradesh. For this, the State Medical Education Department has constituted a four-member expert committee under the chairmanship of Dr CMS Rawat, Principal of Government Medical College, Srinagar in Pauri district, the minister said. According to the minister, the committee will prepare a draft of a new syllabus for the colleges of Uttarakhand after studying the Hindi syllabus of MBBS implemented in Madhya Pradesh government colleges.

German officials urged environmental activists to engage in “constructive” protests and avoid endangering lives on Friday as government-appointed experts warned that the key European Union country risks missing its climate targets for 2030. A heated debate has broken out over activists' methods after road blockades caused by a Monday protest delayed a specialist rescue crew from reaching a cyclist fatally injured in a traffic accident in Berlin. Some German media declared the protesters “shared the blame” for the woman's death. Climate activists also were criticized for gluing themselves to a dinosaur exhibit, throwing food over valuable paintings and spraying political party offices with paint.

The US military said it's finished draining three pipelines connecting Pearl Harbor to a fuel storage facility that last year spilled jet fuel into the military installation's tap water and sickened 6,000 people. About 1 million gallons (3.79 million liters) of fuel had been sitting in the pipelines since the military stopped using the Red Fuel Bulk Fuel Storage Facility after last November's spill. The pipeline draining ended Thursday after starting a little more than a week earlier. The military said it will next repair equipment at the Red Hill tank farm to allow it to safely remove fuel from storage tanks in preparation for closing the facility. The Hawaii Department of Health ordered the Navy to shutter the facility after the spill, which also contaminated the ground underneath the tanks and threatened the health of an aquifer that provides water to 400,000 people in Honolulu.