Breaking News, April 16 | LIVE UPDATES

The police in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar went on a high alert and carried out intensive patrolling in the wake of the communal clashes in the northwestern part of Delhi Saturday evening, officials said. Patrolling and foot marches were conducted in all three police zones - Noida, Central Noida and Greater Noida -- by the police force officials on instructions of Commissioner Alok Singh, they said.

A policeman was injured after a man shot at him to try and free his accomplice here on Saturday, officials said. Constable Gauri Shankar, who is posted with the Sector-29 Police Station, was chasing two motorcycle-borne persons in his mobile van, they said. When he cornered the duo, policemen caught hold of one of them, the officials said, adding that the other shot at and injured the constable to free his accomplice.

Pakistan’s former president Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday indicated that the PPP may not join the Cabinet of newly-elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who is still struggling to finalise his core team. Shehbaz, who took the oath of office on April 11, is without any minister as he is unable to convince all of coalition partners on the formation of the Cabinet.

The Congress is a "dead horse" and there is no point in flogging it, the AAP said on Saturday after poll strategist Prashant Kishor attended the grand old party’s meeting presided over by Sonia Gandhi and also expressed his readiness to join it. Fresh from its stupendous victory in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) also projected its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal as the "only" challenger to the BJP at the national level.

Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth will pay an eight-day visit to India beginning Sunday to further strengthen the vibrant ties between the two countries. Announcing the visit, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday that Jugnauth will travel to Gujarat as well as Varanasi apart from his engagements in New Delhi.

Five members of a family, including three children, besides two others, were found dead in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district in separate incidents, police said on Saturday. While the five family members and one woman were found dead in their homes, one man was killed in an attack near his home.

To mark the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti on Saturday, members of Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal organised a bike rally in Hyderabad.

Maharashtra Minister Dada Bhuse has announced that a special drive, Amrut Jawan Abhiyan, will be held in the state between May 1 and June 15 to clear pending works of Armed Forces personnel. The state ex-servicemen welfare minister and Palghar guardian minister made the announcement on Friday during a meeting of senior officials in the district. Families of martyrs, ex-servicemen and soldiers on duty have work in various government departments and the drive will be undertaken for immediate disposal of their pending work, Bhuse said.

India's fuel sales fell in the first half of April as a record rise in prices in a short 16-day period dented demand, preliminary industry data showed on Saturday. Petrol sales fell almost 10 per cent in the first half of April when compared with the same period in the preceding month, while diesel demand slid 15.6 per cent. Even cooking gas LPG, which had consistently shown growth even during the pandemic period, saw a 1.7 per cent month-on-month fall in consumption during April 1-15.

Amid an uptick in COVID-19 cases in Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar, the Uttar Pradesh government on Saturday put all the National Capital Region (NCR) districts on alert mode, according to an official statement. Directions to this effect were given by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath while chairing a meeting on COVID-19 management in the state, the statement said. During the meeting, the chief minister observed that over the past few days, there has been a rise in COVID-19 cases in the state's neighbouring areas and its impact can be seen in the NCR districts. He asked officials to put all the NCR districts on alert mode, it said.

Qasim Khan Suri resigned as deputy speaker of Pakistan's National Assembly on Saturday, less than an hour before a session of the House where voting on a no-trust motion against him was to take place for favouring the previous government led by Imran Khan. Suri from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party had been functioning as the acting speaker following the resignation of Speaker Asad Qaiser, who resigned on April 9 stating that he cannot hold a vote of no-confidence against Khan.

On the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled a 108 feet statue of Lord Hanuman in Gujarat's Morbi on Saturday via video conferencing."We have been seeing a similar grand Hanuman statue in Shimla for years now. The second has been established in Morbi today. I have been told that two more statues will be established in Rameswaram and West Bengal," said PM Modi.

Three people were killed and 10 others injured after the mini-truck in which they were travelling collided with a canter truck in Uttar Pradesh's Firozabad district, police said on Saturday. The accident took place at the Jasrana-Etah road on Friday night, they said. The passengers of the mini-truck were returning from Etah after attending the last rites of a relative, Superintendent of Police (rural) Akhilesh Narayan said.

US President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American diplomat Rachna Sachdeva Korhonen as his envoy to Mali, the White House has said, the third such nomination of an Indian-American in over a month. A career member of the US Foreign Service, Korhonen currently serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary and the Executive Director of the combined Executive Offices of the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs. She previously was the Consul General and Principal Officer of the US Consulate in Dharan, Saudi Arabia, the White House said in a statement on Friday.

The Security forces in Rajouri foiled a terror plot by recovering an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) on Rajouri Gurdan road, said an official statement by the Rajouri police.The recovered IED was later taken to a safer location and was destroyed. According to the statement, a credible input was received by Jammu and Kashmir police about suspicious movements in Gurdan Chawa village on Rajouri Gurdan road.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday greeted people on Hanuman Jayanti and said Lord Hanuman symbolises strength, courage and restraint. May everyone's life be filled with strength, intelligence and knowledge with Lord Hanuman's blessings, he tweeted.

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The Delhi Police has busted a gang that defrauded people selling them air tickets online only to cancel them later, officials said on Friday. The two masterminds of the operation, identified as Pravin Tiwari, a resident of Bahraich (UP), and Rohit Kumar, a resident of Rewari (Haryana)- both aged 34 years- have been arrested. The officials said they have recovered a gold chain from the accused- purchased from the cheated money- and seized Rs 61,267 found in their bank account.

An FIR has been registered, days after the official Twitter handle of the United Grants Commission (UGC), which has 2.98 lakh followers, was allegedly hacked and 24,000 spam messages were tweeted from it, the Delhi Police said on Friday. According to the FIR, the Twitter handle of the UGC (ugc_india), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Education, was hacked at around 1.30 am on April 10. "A complaint has been registered with Twitter as well. Twitter has provided regain access and now the handle is being used officially. But the spam tweets, approximately 24,000, have to be deleted manually, as informed by Twitter," the FIR stated.

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and his wife Usha Naidu visited the temple cities of Ayodhya and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh on Friday. The vice president offered prayers at the Ram Janmabhoomi site amid the chanting of hymns by priests. Naidu and his wife reached Ayodhya from Lucknow on a special train. They were received at the Ayodhya railway station by Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Faizabad MP Lallu Singh and other public representatives.

The families of those who have been slapped with charges under the stringent UAPA in connection with the February 2020 Delhi riots gathered at an iftar celebration here on Friday and shared how their lives changed after their loved ones were arrested. The gathering was organised by the Students' Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) and saw the presence of Asif Iqbal Tanha and Safoora Zargar, who are currently out on bail in connection with the case. Several activists were arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with a case of a larger conspiracy in connection with the Delhi riots.

The Jammu and Kashmir administration has redeveloped and renovated 535 ponds in Udhampur district of the Union Territory. The information was provided by district officers to the Commissioner secretary, Forest, Ecology and Environment, Sanjeev Verma, during his visit to Udhampur to review the progress of development projects. Verma asked the officers to also focus on the rejuvenation of water bodies with the involvement of panchayat members and NGOs.

The Delhi Police has launched a probe on the basis of a complaint received about the alleged impersonation of an official posted at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), officials said on Friday. Taking to Twitter, Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana posted a screenshot of the e-mails exchanged between the impersonator and the official. "We have received a complaint regarding forgery, impersonation and identity fraud of an office bearer at the Prime Minister's Office. Matter is under investigation," he tweeted from his official Twitter handle and tagged the PMO and the Home Minister's Office (HMO).