Breaking News, August 15

Four-time world champion Adrien Broner withdrew Monday from his nationally televised fight against Omar Figueroa on Saturday night, citing mental health. Broner announced his decision on Instagram, apologizing to his fans and asking for prayers. He said mental health is real and that “I've watched a lot of people die playing with they boxing career and that is something I won't do ...”

Four architecture students were killed in a road accident in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh on Monday evening. According to police, the four – two boys and two girls – were going towards Chilakaluripeta on NH-16 when the car they were travelling in rammed into a stationary lorry at Tummalapalem village.

The international community should reinforce the UN-mandated travel ban on certain Taliban leaders as the group has misused the exemptions, Afghan diplomatic missions across the world said on Monday on the first anniversary of the fall of the democratically-elected government in Kabul.

Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal will be on a one-day visit to Gujarat on Tuesday and will attend a town hall in Bhuj in Kutch district, a party leader said here on Monday.

Six police personnel in a north Bihar district were on Monday suspended in connection with an embarrassing incident involving controversial politician Anand Mohan who was taken to the state capital in judicial custody and allegedly allowed to visit his residence there.

Odisha's COVID-19 tally rose to 13,23,052 on Monday as 381 more people, including 84 children, tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. The COVID-19 death toll rose to 9,156 as a 55-year-old woman died in Rayagada. Fifty-three other patients have died due to comorbidities so far, the health department said.

The security of India and Sri Lanka is enhanced by mutual understanding, mutual trust and cooperation, the Indian envoy here said on Monday, as India handed over a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft to the Sri Lanka Navy to further boost bilateral defence partnership. Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe was present at the handover ceremony.

Amid controversy over excluding first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the Karnataka government's newspaper advertisement on freedom fighters, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday took a veiled dig at the Congress without naming it as he pointed at attempts to "forget" national icons like B R Ambedkar and Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen met on Monday with a delegation of US Congress members in a further sign of support among American lawmakers for the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory. Taiwanese media showed the delegation arriving for the talks, but details of the meeting were not immediately released.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday said every Indian should be proud of the country and its parliamentary democracy. Addressing the gathering after hoisting the tricolour on the occasion of the 76th Independence Day at the Vidhan Bhavan here, Adityanath said, "The country's 135 crore people, in one voice and with the concept (parikalpana) of 'Ek Bharat, Sarva Shreshth Bharat' (One India, Best India), have hoisted the tricolour, which is the pride of India.

State-run miner NMDC has no plans of investing in new steel projects and it will continue to focus on the mining sector, its chairman and managing director Sumit Deb said. The PSU looks to increase its iron ore output to 100 MT by 2030 to support the country's ambitious steel production programme, the CMD told PTI.

The Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) on Monday launched a beta version of the DigiYatra app on the Android platform that will allow passengers to avail quicker check-in at the Indira Gandhi International Airport's Terminal 3. Under the Digi Yatra project, a passenger will pass through various checkpoints at the airport through paperless and contactless processing, using facial features to establish the identity which would be linked to the boarding pass.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday announced a reward of Rs two lakh each for drivers of the earth-moving machines engaged in averting a disaster after a dam wall breach in Dhar district. Addressing an Independence Day function at the Motilal Nehru Stadium in state capital Bhopal amid heavy rainfall, Chouhan said the danger was looming large following a leakage reported in the under-construction dam on the Karam river three days back.

A man died while five people were injured after stones fell on their jeep in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district, the state disaster management said on Monday. The deceased was identified as Karnail Singh, a resident of Jhuled village, they said Chamba District Emergency Operation Centre said the incident occurred at Tundi-Baneta road in Sihunta on Sunday night.

Malaysia's top court Monday began hearing a final appeal by former Prime Minister Najib Razak to toss out his graft conviction linked to the massive looting of the 1MDB state fund. He would become Malaysia's first former prime minister to be imprisoned if his case fails. Najib, 69, has reiterated his innocence and has been out on bail pending his appeals.

The Kerala High Court has directed a sessions court in Palakkad to expedite the trial in the case regarding the killing of an RSS worker who was hacked to death in November last year in that district. Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas issued the direction to the sessions court while granting bail to one of the accused, in the case, who is alleged to have conspired to commit the murder and also harboured three of the main accused.

The Chhattisgarh Congress's 'Azadi Gaurav Yatra', which began on August 9 on the August Kranti Diwas, will culminate in Raipur on the occasion of the Independence Day on Monday, a party functionary said. The march covered a distance of 6,750 kilometres while passing through all 90 Assembly constituencies of the state.

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President DK Shivakumar on Sunday demanded an apology from the Karnataka government for ignoring former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in the state government's advertisement for 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign.

Newly-appointed Maharashtra Cultural Affairs Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar on Sunday directed all officials of the state government to start telephonic conversations with "Vande Mataram" instead of greeting a phone call with a 'hello".

Wing Commander Deepika Misra, a pilot of the Indian Air Force, was on Sunday conferred with the Vayu Sena medal, becoming perhaps the first woman to bag the prestigious award. The government also conferred the Vayu Sena medal to Group Captain Rahul Singh and Group Captain Ravi Nanda for their respective roles during India's Operation Devi Shakti, the evacuation mission launched to bring back Indians from Kabul after its takeover by the Taliban.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday met families of nomadic and semi-nomadic castes who earn their livelihood by selling handmade wooden products here, an official statement said. The CM interacted with the families which have been living here for years after his cavalcade halted outside the area, it said.

A woman thrashed a residential society security guard here and hurled abuses at him for allegedly ill-treating stray dogs, with a video of the purported incident going viral on Sunday The Agra police said they have taken cognisance of the video and registered a case against the woman who claims to be an animal rights activist. In the about 2.10-minute clip, the woman, who appears to be in her late twenties, is purportedly heard threatening the man that she will complain about him to BJP MP and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi.