Breaking News, September 13

Policemen and good Samaritans saved several lives in the fire tragedy at a hotel at Secunderabad here on Monday night in which eight people were killed. Rakesh, a constable with the Market police station, who was on patrolling duty in the area, was one of the first to arrive at the spot when the fire broke out Monday night.

Seven persons have been arrested by police in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra for allegedly killing a 31-year-old man over an inter-faith relationship.

A sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) and other officials were beaten up by the suspected liquor mafia in Madhya Pradesh's Dhar district on Tuesday when they tried to intercept a liquor-laden truck, police said. The accused persons also tried to abduct one of the Revenue department officials and fired at the officials. Police said the SDM and other officials didn't receive any major injuries requiring hospitalisation.

A man died on Tuesday evening after his scooty met with an accident with a DTC bus in west Delhi's Punjabi Bagh area, police said. According to the police, on Tuesday at 6.22 pm, they received information regarding the accident.

West Bengal minister Becharam Manna was injured on Tuesday as his SUV hit a police vehicle in his convoy in Purba Bardhaman district, police said.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday warned of "moderate flash flood risk" in the next 24 hours in a few areas in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra.

New research suggests at least 17 million people in the European Union may have experienced long Covid symptoms during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic, with women more likely than men to suffer from the condition, the World Health Organisation said Tuesday.

A woman has allegedly been duped of Rs 77 lakh by seven people, including a property dealer, on the pretext of selling a plot which was already acquired by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HSVP), police said on Tuesday.

The mercury in the national capital dropped by a few notches and the maximum temperature settled at 35.4 degrees Celsius, the India Meteorological Department. The relative humidity was recorded at 58 per cent in the evening, it said.

A 26-year-old Indian citizen has pleaded guilty in the first-ever cryptocurrency insider trading case, in which he along with his brother and their Indian American friend made ill-gotten profits totalling over a million dollars.

Mumbai Police's Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) has conducted raids and arrested three persons, including a Nigerian, for the possession of MD drugs worth over Rs 40 lakh, an official said on Tuesday. The trio was held from suburban Ghatkopar and Kalina in Mumbai, and Mumbra in the neighbouring Thane district.

The Asia-Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering has rated Pakistans level of effectiveness as 'low' on 10 out of 11 international goals on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terror (AML/CFT), even though the country is now compliant on 38 out of 40 technical recommendations. 

Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Tuesday (September 13) said India is not defending the rupee and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is taking necessary steps to ensure that the movement of the rupee is gradual and in line with market trends. Nageswaran further said that the rupee is being managed in a manner that reflects the fundamentals of the economy. 

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A mob of around 200 people on Tuesday (September 13) stormed into a police station in Odisha's Gajapati district and assaulted officers there, hours after a local youth was arrested on charges of ganja smuggling. As many as eight police personnel suffered injuries in the incident, of which two had to be taken to a government hospital nearby, one of the officers stated. "Protesters broke open the gate of the police station, thrashed personnel and ransacked properties. All of them were armed. At least seven to eight personnel were injured in the melee," the officer, who was at the scene, said. Senior police officers are currently trying to pacify the protesters, he added. Agitators, including women, alleged that the police picked up a youth of Jharanapur village on Monday (September 12) night on false charges, and demanded that he be released immediately.

A call about a bomb threat sparked panic at a hotel in Gurugram on Tuesday and a search is on to trace it, police said. The call was received at Leela Hotel in the Ambiance Mall complex around 11:35 am. The police were immediately informed following which bomb disposal and dog squads reached the hotel and evacuated it, sources said. A senior police officer said that the threat call to the hotel was made from a mobile number which was found switched off. "The search is on and the police are trying to identify the caller," the official added. 

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday (September 13) said many countries have evinced interest for bilateral trade in the rupee after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a mechanism recently. Speaking at Hero Mindmine Summit, she said this along with other steps taken by the government is towards full capital account convertibility. "It isn’t the ruble-rupee which was in the old format. Now this (bilateral rupee trade) formulation, which I am glad the RBI has come up at a time which was so critical," she said when asked if India is ready for capital account convertibility.

A government accountant was arrested here accepting a bribe of Rs 6,000 for making a solvency certificate, police said on Tuesday. Lekhpal Purshottam Gangwar was arrested on Monday near a 'dhaba' in Bareilly in the act of accepting the bribe, said Omprakash Singh, In-Charge, Anti-Corruption Organisation, Bareilly unit. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered against Gangwar at Izzatnagar Police Station late on Monday night. Police said that Harish Kumar Rathore, a resident of Izzatnagar had lodged a complaint with the ACO that the lekhpal was demanding Rs 10,000 to make a solvency certificate, and had struck the deal finally at Rs 6,000. 

Heavy rains lashed Mumbai and neighbouring areas on Tuesday morning and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted more showers in the city. The IMD has also issued an 'orange alert' for Raigad, Ratnagiri and Satara, predicting heavy to very heavy rainfall at isolated places in the three districts. The MeT department's Santacruz observatory in Mumbai, representative of suburbs, recorded 93.4 mm rainfall in the 24-hour period till 8.30 am on Tuesday, marking another spell of heavy downpour here in the current monsoon season. The Colaba observatory, representative of the island city, recorded 59.2 mm rainfall during the same period, an IMD official said.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on Tuesday released its sixth annual Goalkeepers report, noting that nearly every indicator of the UN sustainable development goals is off track for achieving them by 2030 and noted the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the ongoing climate and food crises. Despite significant setbacks caused by overlapping global crises, the report is optimistic, underscoring opportunities to accelerate progress toward ending poverty, fighting inequality, and reducing the impact of climate change.

A three-and-a-half-year-old nursery student was raped allegedly by her school bus driver inside the vehicle in Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal, a police official said on Tuesday. The police have arrested the bus driver and a woman attendant who, according to the child's parents, was present inside the vehicle when the incident took place last Thursday, the official said. Asked if the school management allegedly tried to cover-up the matter, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra said the role of the school administration will be investigated and action will be taken accordingly.

As many as 79 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths due to the disease have been reported in Maharashtra's Thane district, a health official said on Tuesday. The new cases and deaths were recorded on Monday, raising the district's infection count to 7,43,917 and fatality toll to 11,956, he said. The district currently has 1,281 active COVID-19 cases, he said, adding that the recovery count has reached 7,31,357. 

The minimum temperature in Delhi on Tuesday settled at 23.8 degrees Celsius, even as the weather office forecast cloudy sky with light rain later in the day. The city recorded a relative humidity of 84 per cent at 8:30 AM, according to data shared by the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The minimum temperature on Monday was recorded at 27.4 degrees Celsius, two notches above normal. Hot and humid conditions prevailed in the national capital on Monday with the maximum temperature settling at 37.3 degrees Celsius, four notches above the season's average.

The rupee appreciated 28 paise to 79.25 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, tracking the dollar's decline versus its major peers and foreign fund inflows. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 79.30 against the dollar, then touched 79.25 in initial deals, registering a gain of 28 paise over its previous close. On Monday, the rupee rose 4 paise to close at 79.53 against the American currency. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.12 per cent to 108.20. Brent crude futures, the global

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Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal will hold a town hall meeting with sanitation workers in Ahmedabad on Tuesday (September 13) and also make a "guarantee" announcement, an AAP functionary said. Kejriwal will also hold meetings with local AAP leaders and welcome new members to the party on the second day of his visit to Gujarat where the Assembly elections are due later this year, he said.

A Los Angeles County resident with a compromised immune system has died from monkeypox, local health officials announced Monday. It's believed to be the first U.S. fatality from the disease. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced the cause of death, and a spokesperson said it was confirmed by an autopsy. The patient was severely immunocompromised and had been hospitalised. No other information on the person was released. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracks cases and has not confirmed any U.S. deaths from the disease. LA County officials say they worked with the CDC on their case.

The UN labour agency estimates that some 50 million people worldwide were living in “modern slavery” - either in forced labour or marriage – at the end of last year, marking a 25 per cent jump from its previous report five years ago. The International Labour Organisation and partners point to worrying trends such as “commercial sexual exploitation” affecting nearly one in four people who are subject to forced labour and with the poor, women and children hardest hit.

Renowned jazz pianist Ramsey Lewis, whose music entertained fans over a more than 60-year career that began with the Ramsey Lewis Trio and made him one of the country's most successful jazz musicians, has died. He was 87. Lewis is revered in jazz circles for 1960s hits like “The In Crowd,” “Hang on Sloopy” and “Wade in the Water.” He earned three Grammy awards and seven gold records. The trio's first record in 1956 was “Ramsey Lewis and the Gentlemen of Swing.” Lewis died Monday in his sleep at his Chicago home, according to his son, Bobby Lewis. “He was just at peace,” Bobby Lewis told The Associated Press on Monday night. “Most people say when they met dad that he was a class act. He was that way even through his last breath.” Ramsey Lewis described his approach to composing and performing in a 2011 interview with the AP. “Life is a solo, and it continues,” Lewis said, sitting at the dining room table in his downtown Chicago home. “I just know that when I put my hands on the piano it's going to flow.”

The third day of the Kerala leg of Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra commenced on Tuesday from Kaniyapuram near Kazhakootam here where the yatra ended on the previous day. The third day of the yatra, which commenced around 7.15 am, also saw an encouraging turnout of people like the previous two days of the Kerala leg of the foot march which is set to cover 3,570 kilometres from Kanyakumari to Kashmir over a 150-day period. When the yatra ended on Monday evening it had covered 100 kilometres. Addressing a large crowd at Kazhakootam, where the yatra had ended for the day, Gandhi had said that elections can be won with hatred, violence and anger, but this cannot solve the socio-economic problems facing the country.

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Terming former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad's remarks on Article 370 a "personal opinion", Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said her party will fight for its restoration and "end injustice" in the Union territory. At his maiden rally in Kashmir after quitting the Congress last month, Azad had on Sunday slammed those promising the restoration of Article 370, saying it was not in their hands and that he would not mislead people over the issue.

Chipmaker Micron's planned $15 billion investment in a new factory in the company's hometown of Boise will help protect the United States from the vulnerabilities of a globalized semiconductor market, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Monday. “It is time to get America making things again, with American parts and American labor,” Granholm told a crowd of about 250 guests and Micron workers invited to a tent-covered dirt field for a ceremonial groundbreaking. The event included setting off a ground-clearing explosion far from the crowd that emitted red, white and blue smoke.

A physician has allegedly received threatening calls from a mobile phone that had a US number, warning him not to support Hindu outfits or else, he will be beheaded. Dr Arvind Vats, who has been running his own clinic for two decades near the Lohia Nagar police outpost under the Sihani Gate police station limits, in his complaint on Monday said he reçeived threatening calls from a mobile number that had a United States number, Circle Officer Alok Dubey said. Vats alleged that he first got a call from the number on the night of September 1. He did not answer the call as he was asleep. He again got a call from the number on September 7 and the caller threatened him of dire consequences if he supported Hindu organisations, Vats said in the complaint. The caller also told Vats that neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath would be able to protect him. A probe in the matter is on, Dubey said. 

Congress on Monday alleged that the BJP has pushed the Jammu and Kashmir into unprecedented political uncertainty by failing to maintain law and order and indulging in politics of hate. J&K Congress chief Vikar Rasool Wani also hit out at the parties who have allied with the right wing party in the past and said "parties who have allied with the BJP cannot be trusted by the people of Jammu and Kashmir". "BJP ever since getting access to power in Delhi had been on a rampage of dispossessing and disempowering common people of Jammu and Kashmir. It's not about a particular community or a sect, they have went berserk against all of us collectively. We have been used as political cannon fodders by BJP all across the country", Wani said. He said people want change, as the BJP has failed on all fronts of governance especially unchecked price rise, record unemployment besides other anti-employees, anti-trade, anti-poor politics in J&K.

As Russian troops were retreating in northeastern Ukraine amid a fierce counteroffensive by Kyiv, Muscovites were celebrating the 875th anniversary of the city's founding. Fireworks boomed and President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a huge Ferris wheel, a new transportation link and sports arena. The Russian capital's festive holiday weekend stood in stark contrast to the military debacle unfolding in Ukraine that seemed to catch the Kremlin by surprise in the nearly 7-month-old war.

US President Joe Biden has announced an ambitious plan to reduce cancer deaths in the United States, which is the second most cause of death in the country after heart disease. Despite the progress of lives extended, and lives saved, cancer is still the number two cause of death in America, second only to heart disease. For too many cancer patients and their families, instead of hope, there's bewilderment, the feeling of being on your own, Biden said.