Breaking News, September 15 | HIGHLIGHTS

A doctor at LNJP Hospital was attacked by two men who robbed her purse and mobile phone in central Delhi, police said on Friday. The accused have been identified as Tushar (21), a resident of staff quarters, Maulana Azad Medical College, and Mohammad Umar (24), a resident of Nai Basti, Bada Hindu Rao, they said.

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang on Friday announced a 4 per cent hike in Dearness Allowance (DA) for government employees. "All the government employees will get a 4 per cent DA hike with retrospective effect from January 2023," he said at a function in Namchi district.

Drones have been pressed into service to pinpoint the location of terrorists who have taken positions in the forest area on a hilly terrain in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district, officials said on Friday as the operation to flush out the ultras entered the third day. Additional Director General of Police (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar said the operation was launched based on specific input and is currently underway.

In a major setback to CPI (Maoist), the Telangana Police on Friday arrested Sanjoy Deepak Rao, Central Committee member of the banned organisation here. He was arrested Friday morning at Kukatpally in the city by Cyberabad Police following intelligence inputs, state DGP Anjani Kumar told reporters. The Maharashtra government had announced Rs 25,00,000 reward for the informant leading to his apprehension, he said.

A Kerala-based woman has accused her husband of living with another woman in south Delhi's Kidwai Nagar and lodged a police complaint, officials said on Friday. Officers at Kotla Mubarakpur police station received a PCR call late on Thursday during which the woman complained that her husband was quarrelling with her, they said.

A court in Odisha's Ganjam district on Friday sentenced a 31-year-old man to life imprisonment for abducting and killing a one-year-old baby boy, an official said. The Additional District and Sessions Judge Court also slapped a fine of Rs 22,000 on the accused, a resident of Hariharpur area in Nayagarh district, public prosecutor Gyanendra Jena said.

A court in Odisha's Ganjam district on Friday sentenced a 31-year-old man to life imprisonment for abducting and killing a one-year-old baby boy, an official said. The Additional District and Sessions Judge Court also slapped a fine of Rs 22,000 on the accused, a resident of Hariharpur area in Nayagarh district, public prosecutor Gyanendra Jena said. The incident took place in Baulajholi area in Berhampur Sadar police station area in 2014.

A special NIA court in Uttar Pradesh has sentenced two men to death for killing a retired school principal in furtherance of a conspiracy hatched by the proscribed terror group ISIS, an official said on Friday. Atif Muzaffar and Faisal Khan, both residents of Kanpur Nagar, have been sentenced to death in a separate case registered against them in March 2017 for being members of the global terror group.

A sessions court here has sentenced a 30-year-old man to ten years in jail for raping a young woman suffering from psychiatric issues, saying that his act demonstrated an "inhuman mind". The 19-year-old victim died before she could testify at the trial, but the court accepted the testimonies of the prosecution witnesses.

A 50-year-old receptionist was stabbed to death during a robbery bid in southeast Delhi's Sarita Vihar area, police said on Friday. A PCR call was received at 9.24 pm on Thursday regarding a person being stabbed and the attackers robbed of his mobile phone, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Rajesh Deo said.

BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah, on Friday lauded the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a survey named him as the leader with the highest approval rating globally following the conclusion of the G20 Summit.

The ruling BRS in Telangana on Friday demanded the Centre to pass the women's reservation bill and also take legislative measures to provide a 33 per cent quota for OBCs in Parliament and state Legislatures in the special session of Parliament beginning September 18. A meeting of the BRS parliamentary party here, presided by party president and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, passed a unanimous resolution to this effect.

Amid the row over the Sanatan Dharma remarks by DMK leaders, Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday hit out at the opposition INDIA bloc accusing it of opening a "mega mall of hatred" under the garb of 'Mohabbat ki dukan' (shop of love).

Sixteen people, including an Indian-origin "ringleader", part of a west London-based organised crime group involved in international money laundering and people smuggling, were handed jail sentences totalling more than 70 years on Friday.

Three members of a family were booked for dowry death after a 25-year-old woman died here under mysterious circumstances, police said on Friday. On Wednesday night, Nahida Parveen was brought to a local hospital in an unconscious state by her husband Munnawar, SHO (Kaithun) Hari Singh Meena said.

Kashmir is reeling from a heat wave after the valley earlier this week witnessed the second-hottest September day in recorded history, causing hardships to locals and tourists alike. On Tuesday, Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 34.2 degrees Celsius, six degrees above normal, Met Office (Srinagar) Deputy Director Mukhtar Ahmed told PTI.

A man has been booked for allegedly sexually abusing stray dogs in west Delhi's Rajouri Garden area, police said on Friday. The FIR was lodged at the Rajouri Garden police station based on a complaint by a woman who is an animal activist and a member of the People for Animals (PFA), they added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday vowed to ban a dangerous breed of dog known as American XL Bully behind a number of recent attacks, most recently believed to be behind a man’s death this week in Staffordshire.

Police have arrested a woman for allegedly stealing a gold ring worth Rs 95,000 from a jewellery shop in Alibag town of Maharashtra's Raigad district, officials said on Friday.

In some relief to BRS leader K Kavitha, the Enforcement Directorate Friday told the Supreme Court it will extend by 10 days the summons issued to her for appearance in the Delhi excise policy case.

A man has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife and dumping her body in a forest area in Maharashtra's Raigad district, police said on Friday. The decomposed body of a woman was found in Umberwadi in Pali taluka on September 9, an official said.

An 18-year-old believed to be dead by his family was found to be alive by the police just in time, before the wrongly identified body – thought to be him – could be cremated by his kin, officials said on Friday.

"Jai Hind Papa." A stoic six-year-old Kabir dressed in army-style fatigues saluted his father one last time before Colonel Manpreet Singh, killed in the gunfight with terrorists in Kashmir valley, was cremated at his village in Punjab's Mohali district on Friday.

BJP president JP Nadda on Friday hit out at opposition alliance INDIA and claimed the agenda of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, top leaders of its key constituent Congress, was to "abuse and disrespect" Sanatan Dharma.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to declare the destruction caused by heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh a "national disaster", just like the Kedarnath tragedy of 2013. In a letter to Modi, Gandhi also sought financial assistance for providing relief to the victims and their families as well as for rebuilding the state. Flash floods and landslides triggered by the rains wreaked havoc in Kullu and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh on July 14 and 15.

The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday issued a notice to the union territory administration seeking its response on a petition filed by Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq over his house arrest since August 2019. Farooq’s lawyer, Nazir Ahmad Ronga said the court has given four weeks’ time to the administration to file its response.

The BJP on Friday took a swipe at the Congress over the opposition INDIA bloc's decision to boycott 14 broadcast media anchors, saying shunning media or any other institution will do it no good and the party can only benefit by boycotting Rahul Gandhi as he has no strength. There is no institution in India that this opposition alliance has not attacked, be it the Election Commission or courts, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters.

Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath on Friday said India is home to many religions and Sanatan Dharma does not teach anyone to keep other faiths away. His statement comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the opposition INDIA bloc of trying to "destroy" Sanatan Dharma. Speaking at events in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on Thursday, the PM alleged that the newly-formed front of anti-BJP parties wants to erase Bharat as well as its rich culture of thousands of years.

The Manipur government has approved a compensation scheme for women victims of sexual assault and other crimes, an official order said. The order issued by Commissioner (Home) T Ranjit Singh on September 14 said that the state government has approved the 'Manipur Compensation Scheme for women victims/survivors of sexual assault/other crimes, 2023'. Under the scheme gang rape victims will be entitled to a minimum amount of Rs 5 lakh to a maximum of Rs 10 lakh while rape victims will get Rs 4-7 lakh.

The Supreme Court on Friday adjourned to September 18 the hearing on Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren's plea against the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) summons in an alleged money laundering case. A bench of Justices Aniruddha Bose and Bela M Trivedi deferred the matter after it was informed that senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi would appear in the matter for Soren. "I am requesting the matter be heard on Monday. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi is leading us," a junior counsel said. The bench agreed to the submission. Soren has moved the apex court challenging the summons sent to him to depose on August 14 at the federal agency's office in Ranchi and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

Three days after rolling out its first ‘Parivartan Yatra’ from south Chhattisgarh, the BJP will kick-start the second such mass-contact programme from the northern part of the state on Friday, intensifying its campaign against the ruling Congress ahead of the upcoming assembly polls. BJP president JP Nadda will flag off the Parivartan Yatra (March of Change) from Jashpur district after offering prayers at Balaji temple in Jashpur town, a party functionary said.

The Assam assembly was adjourned multiple times on Friday as the opposition MLAs sought answers from the government over the allegations that a company linked to CM Himanta Biswa Sarma's wife received central subsidy in connection with a plot of land. The issue was first raised by Congress MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha during Question Hour, when he asked Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Jogen Mohan if the land in the Kaliabor area was allotted under the state's 'Basundhara' scheme.

The DMK government's flagship Rs 1,000 monthly financial assistance scheme for women was rolled out here on Friday by Chief Minister M K Stalin on the birth anniversary of Dravidian icon C N Annadurai. Stalin launched the scheme here and distributed bank debit cards to several beneficiaries and state ministers rolled out the programme in their districts. A basic income programme, it is named after former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and the state government has christened the assistance the "right" of women. The government has identified as many as 1.06 crore women (1,06,50,000) as beneficiaries under the plan and the Rs 1,000 assistance is paid to beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer.

TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, who has been remanded to 14 days in judicial custody for his alleged role in a multi-crore Skill Development Corporation scam, has filed two bail petitions, interim and regular, in a local court.

The mortal remains of Major Ashish Dhonchak, who was killed in a gunfight with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag, reached Haryana's Panipat where the last rites will be conducted on Friday. The mortal remains of Colonel Manpreet Singh, who was also killed in the gunfight, have been brought here and are expected to reach his home in Mullanpur in Mohali district shortly, sources said. Major Dhonchak had planned to shift to a new house in Panipat in October. The family had been living in a rented accommodation. The Major's mortal remains reached his Panipat home in an Army vehicle. Scores of people turned up on Friday at the residence of Dhonchak.

As many as 175 people were killed, and 1,108 others injured while 32 are missing in the ethnic strife that has rocked Manipur since early May, police said. Altogether, 4,786 houses were set on fire and 386 religious structures vandalised, they said. Addressing a press conference here, IGP (Operations) I K Muivah said, “In this challenging time that Manipur is in, we can reassure the public that the police, central forces and the civil administration are trying round-the-clock to bring normalcy back."

The Dominican Republic's president announced on Thursday he would close all borders with neighbouring Haiti starting Friday in a dispute over a canal on the Haitian side that would use water from a river along their frontier. President Luis Abinader said air, sea and land borders would close at 6 am local time on Friday and would remain shuttered “until necessary", signalling that last-minute talks between the countries had failed to head off the closure. It is a rare move for the Dominican Republic, and could hit economies in both countries, though it will be most acutely felt in Haiti.

Congress MLA Mamman Khan has been arrested in connection with the July 31 Nuh violence case, police said on Friday. The Ferozepur Jhirka legislator, who was named as an accused in an FIR lodged after the communal clashes, was arrested late last night. Satish Kumar, Ferozepur Jhirkha Deputy Superintendent of Police and the head of the SIT investigating the case, confirmed the arrest.

The mortal remains of Major Aashish Dhonchak was brought to his residence in Haryana's Panipat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US during the United Nations General Assembly. Zelenskyy's trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden's request to provide as much as USD 24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.

The US Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked a lower court order curbing Biden administration efforts to combat controversial social media posts on topics including COVID-19 and election security. White House communications staffers, the surgeon general and the FBI are among those affected by the order, which resulted from a lawsuit claiming the White House and executive branch agencies unconstitutionally squelched conservative points of view. The administration asked the Supreme Court to put the order on hold while it prepares an appeal.

Aditya L1 spacecraft, India's first space-based mission to study the Sun, during the early hours on Friday, underwent the fourth earth-bound manoeuvre successfully, ISRO said. "The fourth Earth-bound manoeuvre (EBN#4) is performed successfully. ISRO's ground stations at Mauritius, Bengaluru, SDSC-SHAR and Port Blair tracked the satellite during this operation, while a transportable terminal currently stationed in the Fiji islands for Aditya-L1 will support post-burn operations," the space agency said in a post on X, a platform formerly known as Twitter.