Breaking News, April 19 | Highlights

In an operation aimed at flushing out criminals from their hideouts, the Mumbai Police has arrested 30 persons who were absconding and wanted in various crimes, officials said on Wednesday. A total of 135 people were arrested under the NDPS Act during 'Operation All Out' which began after 11 pm on Tuesday and concluded at 5 AM on Wednesday. Combing drives were conducted at 130 places and vehicles were checked at nakabandis at different locations.

All senior police officers of Mumbai Police were on duty during this special operation, an official said. "During the operation, police teams examined a total of 930 accused persons who were wanted and absconding on the records of the Mumbai Police. At least 81 non-bailable warrants were executed and 30 accused persons arrested," he said.

The Delhi BJP on Wednesday termed a "sham" the AAP government's order to conduct a special audit of discoms over power subsidies released to them. Speaking at a press conference, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva demanded an audit of power subsidy by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).

"We do not accept the audit of power subsidy by CAG empanelled audit. The government and discoms can easily influence such an audit," Sachdeva alleged. A source in the Delhi government, however, said it was surprising that the BJP was opposing the audit, and added that it would clear everything regarding the subsidy.

India and the UK held the second meeting of the India-UK Financial Markets Dialogue in London on 19 April 2023. Both sides welcomed holding the first in person financial dialogue since 2017. The Dialogue focused on six themes: (1) Banking (2) Payments and Cryptoassets, (3) Insurance and reinsurance, (4) Capital Markets (5) Asset Management, and (6) Sustainable Finance. Following the government-to-government discussion, private sector partners were invited to the discussion, led by the co-chairs of the India-UK Financial Partnership (IUKFP), Bill Winters and Uday Kotak.

Mumbai | Income Tax raids underway at the office of producer Vinod Bhanushali and some other production houses of Bollywood since today morning, over allegations of tax evasion. Raids are underway at the premises of Jayantilal Gada too, said Income Tax.

Delhi reports 1767 fresh COVID19 cases, 1427 recoveries and 6 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Mumbai | FIR registered against film actor and bodybuilder Sahil Khan & his female friend at Oshiwara Police Station, for allegedly threatening and giving life threats to a woman. IPC sections 500, 501, 509, 504, 506 and 34 invoked in the FIR. Further investigation underway. 

Farmers will be given Rs 50,000 per acre and Rs 1.25 lakh per hectare for their land annually. It has been decided to provide electricity to the farmers during the day through the solar power that will be generated, said Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against Oxfam India and its office-bearers for allegedly violating the provisions of India's foreign funding rules, following a reference from the MHA, said Officials.

Congress releases a list of star campaigners for the upcoming Lok Sabha by-election to Jalandhar constituency. Former Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot, Himachal CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Sachin Pilot, Manish Tewari and others to campaign.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand on Wednesday resolved to work towards taking India-Canada defence partnership to the next level. During a telephonic conversation, Anand briefed Singh about Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy and the importance it attaches to enhancing engagement with India.

On his part, Singh highlighted India as an attractive destination for defence manufacturing with competitive land and labour costs and conveyed to her that Canadian defence companies can look for co-production of military hardware in the country. "Glad to speak with Canadian Defence Minister Ms @AnitaAnandMP. Welcomed Canada's Indo-Pacific strategy. Excellent discussion on ways to develop the bilateral defence relations including industrial collaboration. Invited Canadian defence companies to invest & manufacture in India," Singh tweeted.

New Delhi: The Centre has asked states to incorporate certain provisions in the contracts of outsourced workers to protect their rights amid concerns about underpayment of wages and other benefits. The Ministry of Labour and Employment recently incorporated six statutory obligations on GeM (Government e Marketing) portal in the contract of hiring manpower through outsourcing agencies in Government of India offices in order to protect the interest of the contractual workers, a labour ministry statement said.

Of late in a letter addressed to Chief Secretaries/Administrators of all States/UTs, Union Labour Secretary Arti Ahuja has expressed concern about the underpayment of contractual workers engaged in State/UT offices through outsourcing agencies due to unauthorized deduction in wages of such workers made by the manpower hiring agencies.

Congress fields Ajay Kumar as its candidate for the ensuing by-election to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly from Chhanbey constituency.

Panaji: The third day of the Health Working Group meeting on Wednesday under India's G20 Presidency witnessed engaging technical sessions on digital health innovations with a people-centric approach, and the issue of digital divide among others. In line with the "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" or "One Earth, One Family, One Future," theme of India G20 Presidency, the discussions emphasised the country's commitment to "healthcare for all" through vibrant global and local collaborations.

Three panel discussions were held on the issue with the first focusing on "Innovations in Healthcare - Health service delivery aided by Technology Interventions", a health ministry statement said. The session saw health experts pushing for a lifecycle-care framework where open-source software can enable data innovations, it said.

Suggestions such forming a central organisation/coalition in the world to guide national governments, along with regional implementation hubs, paradigm shift towards artificial general intelligence (AGI) and AGI-enabled digital public goods were put forward, the statement said. Stakeholders also emphasised the need to make concerted efforts to demystify technology and build trust among citizens through legislation on data privacy and other checks.

Dharamshala: The G20 Research and Innovation Initiative Gathering (RIIG) Conference on Eco-Innovations for Energy Transition concluded in Dharamshala on Wednesday with a call to prioritise shifting away from fossil fuel consumption. Twenty-nine foreign delegates and 30 Indian experts and invitees from various scientific departments and organisations of the government of India participated in the conference.

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar, who chaired the meeting, gave the call for shifting away from fossil fuels. "We are at a pivotal moment in our existence and must prioritize transitioning away from fossil fuel consumption as the potential for harnessing renewable energies is enough to meet our requirements. But capturing, converting and storing them on a large scale requires a monumental effort which can be accomplished by working together," he said, addressing the delegates.

RIIG is a new initiative of the G20 Forum which began during the Indonesian Presidency in 2022. G20 countries and international organisations which participated in the conference included Indonesia, Turkey, the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the UAE, the UK, Netherlands, France, the Netherlands, Republic of Korea, Russia, Spain, European Union and the International Solar Alliance (ISA).

Apple CEO Tim Cook meets Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "Thank you Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the warm welcome. We share your vision of the positive impact technology can make on India’s future — from education and developers to manufacturing and the environment, we’re committed to growing and investing across the country," he tweets.

Bihar: A 72-year-old woman was killed with a brick in Patna’s Phulwari Sharif. Dog squad was called. Relatives and neighbours were questioned.  We are looking at all angles. Soon we will find the accused and the reason behind the murder, said Vikram Sihag, ASP, Phulwari.

Union Minister for Environment Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav will release Cubs in the arena of white tiger enclosure at Zoological Park in New Delhi tomorrow, 20th April. 

All 12 Cheetahs brought from South Africa on Feb 18 to Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh, released from quarantine to bigger acclimatisation enclosures successfully yesterday after clearance from Animal Quarantine and Certification Service (NR), said Cheetah Project Chief SP Yadav.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will chair a meeting of the Head of Departments of Member-States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), dealing with the Prevention and Elimination of Emergency Situations, in New Delhi tomorrow, 20th April.

Hearing in the Supreme Court in the same-sex marriage matter concludes for the day, hearing to continue tomorrow. Centre has filed a fresh affidavit in the same-sex marriage matter and urged the Supreme Court to make States and Union Territories as a party in the matter.

The Nationalist Congress Party on Wednesday accused the BJP of fuelling speculation of a split in the NCP ranks even after senior party leader Ajit Pawar clarified his position. NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde must ask the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) why it was trying to put so much "pressure" on him and his Shiv Sena. Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Ajit Pawar on Tuesday said he would work for his party till he is alive and scotched speculation that he and a group of MLAs loyal to him might align with the ruling BJP. Pawar said is no truth in reports about any rift in the NCP and his joining hands with the BJP.

A BJP youth wing functionary was killed at a temple festival in Kottur here by a group of persons who got into a brawl with him, police said on Wednesday. Praveen Kumar, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Dharwad unit member and gram panchayat vice president, was stabbed to death on Tuesday night, they said. Three unidentified persons have been detained and are being questioned. Superintendent of Police B Lokesh said the incident took place during Goddess Udachamma Devi temple festival at Kottur village in the district.

India has surpassed China to become the world's most populous nation with 142.86 crore people, UN data showed. China has a population of 142.57 crore, according to the UN world population dashboard.

Two people died after allegedly falling off a moving train, railway police said on Wednesday. The deceased were identified as Amit Kumar (32) and Manish (42), residents of Kanpur. Bodies of two people were found lying on the down line under Roja Police Station on Wednesday. Railway police took them into custody, In-charge of Shahjahanpur Railway Police Dharmendra Singh said. He said prima facie it appears that both died after falling from a moving train, adding that an investigation into the matter is on. The bodies have been sent for postmortem and information has been sent to the relatives of the deceased, Singh added.

Nationalist Congress Party's Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule has indicated that there will be two "blasts" (political), one in Delhi and another in Maharashtra, in the next 15 days. She made the comments when some reporters asked her here on Tuesday about Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar's statement that there will be (political) "bomb blasts" in the next 15 days in the state. "There will be one in Delhi and the other in the state," Sule, the daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, said without elaborating. Notably, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who is the nephew of Sharad Pawar, on Tuesday said he would work for his party till he is alive and scotched speculation that he and a group of MLAs loyal to him might align with the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).

Six railway personnel, including two locomotive pilots, were injured when a moving freight train derailed after hitting a stationary goods train in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol district on Wednesday, railway officials said.

Two persons were killed and six injured in a collision between a pickup van and a sand-laden mini-truck near Ghiwahi railway crossing in Uttar Pradesh's Sonbhadra district, police said on Wednesday. Accompanied by his relatives, a resident of Baghadu village had gone to Tumiya village for the wedding of his daughter. The accident took place late on Tuesday night when they were returning home in the pickup van, SHO Vindhamganj Arvind Gupta said. The victims were travelling in the pick-up van. The deceased have been identified as Basant Lal (26) and Rajnarayan (55), he added.  The police have sent the bodies to for post-mortem and the injured have been admitted to a hospital.

A fast track POCSO court in Udupi district of Karnataka has sentenced a youth to rigorous imprisonment of 20 years for raping a girl from Byndoor on multiple occasions after befriending her. The Udupi district additional and sessions court handed out the punishment to 23-year-old Sahil for raping the girl around two years ago. According to the chargesheet, Sahil was working in a shop near a hotel in Sagar town of Shivamogga district. The victim, a native of Byndoor in Udupi, was residing at Sagar as her father owns the hotel there. The youth entered into a relationship with her. In July 2021, Sahil travelled to Byndoor for the girl's birthday celebrations. After the birthday party, he took the victim to a deserted place and raped her. The youth promised to marry her and repeatedly committed the act after the first incident, the chargesheet said.

Following several days of scorching summer heat in Andhra Pradesh, the Meteorological department has forecast thunderstorms on April 21 and 22 in parts of the state that could bring some relief to people from the hot weather. The Met department forecast thunderstorms accompanied by lightning and gusty winds with speeds of 30 to 40 kilometres/hour at isolated places over the north coastal, south coastal, Yanam and Rayalaseema regions. "Lower tropospheric south easterly/south westerly winds prevail over Andhra Pradesh and Yanam," the Met department said in a release.

Nine Indonesian fishermen are feared drowned and another 11 have been rescued after spending six days without food or water on a barren island off the northwest Australian coast in the aftermath of a powerful tropical cyclone, authorities said on Wednesday. Two primitive wooden Indonesian fishing boats were caught in the path of Cyclone Ilsa, which on Friday became the most powerful storm in eight years to cross the Australian coast, with winds gusting at an apparent record of 289 kilometres (180 miles) per hour. One of the boats, Putri Jaya, sank in “extreme weather conditions” on April 11 or 12 while Ilsa was gathering strength over the Indian Ocean as it tracked southeast toward the coast, Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement, citing survivors.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has discussed the situation in violence-hit Sudan with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). India is closely watching the situation in Sudan, especially in view of its concerns over the Indians residing in the African country. On his phone conversation with foreign minister of the UAE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Jaishankar said they exchanged views on the situation in Sudan.

Nepal President Ramchandra Paudel will be airlifted to India on Wednesday for treatment after he was admitted to a hospital here for the second time within a month after he complained of shortness of breath, his press aide said. Paudel, 78, was admitted to TU Teaching Hospital here on Tuesday. President Paudel will undergo treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, (AIIMS), New Delhi, the aide was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post newspaper. Kiran Pokharel, the press adviser to the President, told the Post, that the President will be medevacked to India in an air ambulance at 9:30 am. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Purna Bahadur Khadka, among other leaders, visited him to inquire about his health condition.

Twitter has quietly removed a policy against the “targeted misgendering or deadnaming of transgender individuals,” raising concerns that the Elon Musk-owned platform is becoming less safe for marginalised groups. Twitter enacted the policy against deadnaming, or using a transgender person's name before they transitioned, as well as purposefully using the wrong gender for someone as a form of harassment, in 2018. On Monday, Twitter also said it will only put warning labels on some tweets that are “potentially” in violation of its rules against hateful conduct. Previously, the tweets were removed.

Four people were fatally shot at a house in Maine on Tuesday shortly before gunfire wounded three others on a busy highway, in a pair of crimes that are linked, authorities said. Hours later, a man was charged with murder. Police closed a portion of the interstate highway and residents and businesses in the area were ordered to shelter in place for about 90 minutes before authorities determined there was no threat to the general public. The shootings are among a spate of recent mass killings that have shaken communities both large and small, including a Christian elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee; a bank in Louisville, Kentucky and a Sweet 16 party in a small city in Alabama.

A 22-year-old woman has alleged that a man tried to rape her here and threatened to kill her when she resisted, police said on Tuesday. The accused, Khushwant, is known to the woman, they said. According to a complaint lodged by the woman, Khushwant called her to the Housing Board Colony in Sector 33 and tried to rape her. When the woman resisted, the accused abused and thrashed her. He also threatened to kill her, the police said.

A 78-year-old Covid positive man with co-morbidities died on Tuesday, taking the death toll due to the disease in Gautam Buddha Nagar to 492, health department officials said. The patient was earlier hospitalised at the Government Institute of Medical Sciences (GIMS) in Greater Noida since April 14 and on Tuesday evening brought to the Covid hospital in Noida, a senior official said. "The patient was a 78-year-old male. He had severe anemia with end-stage sepsis. His RBC and WBC counts were also below normal. The patient had fever and cough for a few days prior to his hospitalisation," Chief Medical Officer Sunil Kumar Sharma said.

India’s Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu Tuesday met the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy and had a discussion on further strengthening the India-US partnership. “Continued our fruitful discussions on further strengthening India-US partnership and other issues of mutual interest,” Sandhu said in a tweet after the meeting he had with Speaker McCarthy at the US Capitol.

One person was killed when a parking garage partially collapsed Tuesday in lower Manhattan's Financial District, Mayor Eric Adams said. Five people were injured. The three-storey building fell around 4 pm a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge. It is an about half a mile (0.8 km) from the New York Stock Exchange. Bystander video showed cars hanging precariously from a buckled upper deck of the three-story building, a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, and about half a mile (0.8 km) from the New York Stock Exchange. “It felt like an earthquake,” said Liam Gaeta, a student at nearby Pace University. He said he heard “a large noise and a big rumbling, and then we all got evacuated.”