Breaking News, April 25 | LIVE UPDATES

Two people died while four sustained injuries after a three-story building collapsed in South West Delhi on Monday afternoon, a police official said. 

A hybrid terrorist and his accomplice, planning to target labourers from outside, have been arrested from Jammu and Kashmir's Awantipora, officials said on Monday.

After a court in Assam's Kokrajhar district granted bail to Gujarat Independent MLA Jignesh Mevani in a case over a tweet by him against Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, he was rearrested on the charge of "assaulting and outraging" the modesty of a woman police officer four days ago.

The police on Monday launched a probe into the fire incident at Gautam Buddh Nagar chief medical officer's office here on April 22 in which several documents, including birth and death registration certificates, were destroyed, officials said.

Israeli tanks fired into southern Lebanon early on Monday in response to a rocket fired from the country, the Israeli military said. The incident along Israel's northern border comes at a time of heightened tensions between Israelis and Palestinians.

A fire broke out in about 35-40 shanties at Joga Bai Extention, Batla House, Jamia Nagar. A total of 11 fire tenders were rushed to the site. "No casualty reported has been reported," said Delhi Fire Service

The Punjab Police on Monday launched a multifunctional web portal for the people of the state to report cyber frauds and crimes with ease, officials said. It also gives users the option to report a complaint anonymously, Director General of Police V K Bhawra said after launching the portal of the cyber crime division.

A PIL was filed in the Rajasthan High Court on Monday against the demolition of a 300-year-old Shiva temple in Alwar, in which Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the District Collector have been made the party.

Assam police on Monday re-arrested Independent Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani soon after a court in Kokrajhar district granted bail to him, six days after he was arrested by Assam police in connection with an "objectionable" tweet against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

A fire broke out on Monday at an oil depot in Bryansk, a large Russian city near the Ukraine border.

Two young children were allegedly thrown in a well by their father in Nayepura village of the district, police said on Monday.
The bodies have been brought out of the well and the father has been arrested, police said.

As many as five laborers were trapped in the debris of a house that collapsed in southwest Delhi on Monday afternoon, a Fire Department Official said.

Former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole died due to cardiac failure at his residence in Maharashtra's Pune city on Monday, family sources said. He was 85. Before taking voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service in March 1993, Godbole served as the Union home secretary.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Monday condoled the demise of former Governor K Sankaranarayanan, and said it is a loss to the nation. The 89-year old senior Congress leader, who served as governor of various states, passed away at his residence in Kerala's Palakkad on Sunday.

The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan has started taking steps to shift terrorist groups away from the regions along the country's border with Pakistan to other parts after a series of recent attacks drew strong reaction from Islamabad.

Officials familiar with the development told The Express Tribune on Sunday that Pakistan after recent spate of cross-border terrorist attacks conveyed to the Afghan Taliban in clear terms to take action against terrorist groups or face the consequences.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday adopted a bill empowering the state government to appoint Vice-Chancellors to various universities in the state, in an apparent bid to clip the wings of the Governor on the matter.Chief Minister MK Stalin recalled that the Punchhi Commission on Centre-State relations had, while dealing with the subject of VC appointments, said "there would be a clash of functions and powers" if the authority to choose the top academician was wrested with the Governor.

The ruling DMK's move came on a day when state Governor R N Ravi inaugurated a two-day conference of VCs at Udhagamandalam, attended by among others, Zoho Corporation CEO Sridhar Vembu, whose participation in the event was questioned by the Congress party.

In an apparent jibe at the opposition BJP in Maharashtra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said some people were getting anxious after losing power. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event, Pawar, whose party shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra, said it is a good thing that the state government has decided to call an all-party meeting over the issue of loudspeakers at religious places, and he will be very happy if something good comes out of the meet.

After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the Shiv Sena parted ways with long-term ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party then tied-up with the NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.

Nine people have been arrested in three separate incidents and cannabis worth Rs 4.50 crore was allegedly recovered from them, police in Chhattisgarh's Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district said on Monday. In one case, a truck was apprehended at Kariam RTO barrier under Gaurela police station limits on Sunday night and 20.30 quintals of cannabis worth Rs 4 crore were seized, said GPM Superintendent of Police Trilok Bansal. Two persons, identified as Firoz Khan, a native of Odisha, and Girish Yadav, a resident of GPM district, were arrested, the SP said.

On-demand convenience platform, Swiggy on Monday said it has launched an accelerator programme that allows its delivery executives to transition into full-time, managerial-level jobs with a fixed salary and additional benefits. Under its 'Step-Ahead' programme, Swiggy said it is aiming to give an opportunity to those executives who want to move from their current flexible engagement with the company to a dedicated, managerial role, it said in a statement.

Swiggy is formalizing this process and intends to reserve at least 20 per cent of all Fleet Manager hires for its delivery executives, it added.

The future of India-Israel cooperation and relations is very bright, Israeli envoy to India Naor Gilon said on Monday. Gilon's remarks came during the celebrations of 30 years of diplomatic relations between Israel and India. To mark the milestone, the cultural department of the Israeli Embassy in India collaborated with Delhi Street Art to conceive and execute a wall art project.

Gilon along with Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture of India Meenakashi Lekhi unveiled a mural at Connaught Place in Delhi, which depicts and pays tribute to Indian-Jewish actresses who made a mark in the early years of Indian cinema.

Former Union Home Secretary Dr Madhav Godbole passed away at the age of 85 due to cardiac failure at his home in Pune surrounded by his family.

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider listing after summer vacation the pleas challenging the Centre's decision to abrogate provisions of Article 370 which had given special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

A bench comprising Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justice Hima Kohli took note of the submissions of senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for one of the petitioners, that the plea needed urgent hearing in view of the delimitation exercise being carried out in the state.

“This is the Article 370 matter. The delimitation is also going on,” the senior lawyer said.

An aged man was killed after a fire broke out in his furniture shop in Maharashtra's Nagpur district on Monday, police said. The blaze erupted around 3 am in the shop located in Katol town, about 60 km from the district headquarters, they said.

The furniture shop was located on the ground floor of a building, while the family owning the shop lived in a house on the first floor.

In the wake of a political row in Maharashtra over the recitation of Hanuman Chalisa, the Shiv Sena on Monday hit out at the BJP and said the Hindutva ideology is a culture and not chaos. An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' claimed the BJP's "rotten brain" was behind independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana's earlier call to recite Hanuman Chalisa outside Maharashtra Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray's private residence 'Matoshree', that resulted in angry protests by Shiv Sainiks outside the couple's home here on Saturday.

The Marathi daily alleged that the Rana couple wanted to vitiate the city's atmosphere, and said they should conduct this programme in the office lobby of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Two days after All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) corporator Nazir Ahmed Honyal was arrested in connection with the stone-pelting incident in Karnataka's Hubballi, party chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday advised his party workers to not get themselves involved in civil disputes and further advised them to let the law take its own course.

Addressing the party workers at an event, Owaisi said, "I have come here to advise you all to not interfere in any kind of land or constructions issues. Recently, a land dispute erupted in an area wherein two of my party workers were given notice by the authorities concerned. Following this, I called them to the office and spoke to them. The workers have accepted the fault and regretted it."

"In such scenarios, I advise you all to let the law take its own course. I am once again informing you all to not interfere in this civil dispute unnecessarily. We are here to help the people. Don't create problems for the public," he said.

Five people, including four Indian tourists, were killed after their car collided head-on with a bus in Nepal's Dhading district, the police said on Monday. The accident occurred on Sunday night along the Prithvi Highway in the Thakre area, according to the police. The four Indian nationals were returning to Kathmandu after visiting Pokhara. The Nepalese driver of the car was also killed in the accident.

The rupee declined 23 paise to 76.65 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Monday tracking the strength of the dollar in the overseas market. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a muted note at 76.58 against the American dollar, then fell and touched an early low of 76.65 in initial deals, registering a fall of 23 paise over its previous close. On Friday, The rupee declined by 25 paise to close at 76.42 against the US currency.

The rupee opened weaker against the US dollar weighed by hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell last week, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities. Most Asian and emerging market peers are trading weaker this Monday morning and could weigh on sentiments.

With 2,541 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, India's total tally of COVID-19 cases rose to 4,30,60,086, while the active cases increased to 16,522, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 5,22,223 with 30 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.

The active cases comprise 0.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded as 98.75 per cent, the ministry said.

An increase of 649 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

The daily positivity rate was recorded as 0.84 per cent and the weekly positivity rate as 0.54 per cent, according to the ministry.

Equity markets opened the trade on a lower note on Monday, extending the previous day's fall, with the Sensex tanking 785 points in early trade, mirroring an extremely weak trend in Asian markets. Also, unabated foreign fund outflows and selling in index majors Reliance Industries, Infosys and TCS added to the weak sentiment.

The BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 785 points lower at 56,412.14. The NSE Nifty declined 243.35 points to 16,928.60.

Among the 30-share Sensex pack, Hindustan Unilever, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, Wipro, Larsen & Toubro, Tech Mahindra, Titan, TCS, Asian Paints and Infosys were the major laggards in early trade.

Shares of ICICI Bank on Monday gained nearly 2 per cent after the company reported a 59 per cent jump in standalone net profit for the fourth quarter of 2021-22. The stock jumped 1.89 per cent to Rs 761.50 on the BSE. At the NSE, it went up by 1.83 per cent to Rs 761.35.

The private sector lender on Saturday reported a 59 per cent jump in standalone net profit to Rs 7,019 crore for the fourth quarter of 2021-22.
The bank had earned a profit of Rs 4,403 crore in the corresponding January-March period of the last year.

Total income of the bank rose to Rs 27,412 crore in January-March from Rs 23,953 crore in the year-ago quarter, ICICI Bank said in a regulatory filing. Net interest income (NII) increased 21 per cent to Rs 12,605 crore from Rs 10,431 crore in the same quarter a year ago, it said.

Egypt released more than three dozen prisoners on Sunday, a week before the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is typically a time of amnesty, a political party and state-run media said. Political activists and family members confirmed several high-profile detainees were freed.

The Reform and Development Party said those freed had been political prisoners being held in pre-trial detention. The English edition of the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram said 41 prisoners in all were released.

The government's human rights body said in a statement only that there had been a release of individuals held in pre-trial detention but gave no details.

The move came a week before the Eid holiday marking the end of Ramadan. It is typically a time when prisoners are released on presidential pardons, but the number of those freed was one of the largest in recent years.

The US has announced new military assistance for Ukraine and a renewed diplomatic push in the war-ravaged nation as President Joe Biden's secretary of state and Pentagon chief completed a secrecy-shrouded trip to Kyiv: AP

Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul on Sunday became the first batter to score three centuries against the same opponent in the IPL.
Rahul achieved this feat as he smashed an amazing century in the 37th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 against Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

LSG skipper smashed an unbeaten 103 against five-time champions MI to guide his team to a total of 168, where they defeated MI by 36-runs. This is Rahul's third century against Mumbai Indians in the IPL.

Shiv Sena in its mouthpiece 'Saamana' on Monday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its desperation to oust the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is orchestrating the 'Hanuman Chalisa' row.

"The recent ruckus stirred up by the BJP in the name of Hindutva cannot be supported...the BJP is behind this (controversy). They had planned to disturb the peace of Mumbai using (MP-MLA) Rana couple and everything happened on their instructions that outraged the Shiv Sena workers and the couple was not allowed to step outside their house," the 'Saamana' editorial argued.

The Nicaraguan government has said it is closing the Nicaragua offices of the Organization of the American States and expelling the staff.

The announcement was the latest in a string of dozens of expulsions or jailings carried out by the government of President Daniel Ortega. In March, Nicaragua suffered the humiliating criticism of the country's own ambassador to the OAS criticising the arrests.

Ortega was elected to a fourth consecutive term in November 7 elections that were broadly criticised as a farce. Seven likely challengers to Ortega had been arrested and jailed in the months prior to the election.

The OAS General Assembly voted to condemn the elections, saying they “were not free, fair or transparent, and lack democratic legitimacy.”

Singapore last week effectively moved into the post-COVID-19 era as the city-state announced the most significant lifting of pandemic restrictions to date. The government announced on Friday, April 22, that from next Tuesday, residents will no longer be required to use TraceTogether, a system for COVID exposure contact tracing and that all vaccinated travellers can enter Singapore without restrictions and with no need for testing. The announcement was warmly welcomed by those in the travel industry and one of the main beneficiaries is Singapore Airlines. 

Singapore's national carrier had earlier announced that it will be launching A380 services to New Delhi and Mumbai in anticipation of the high demand for flights from those two cities to Singapore and beyond. SIA's configuration on the Superjumbo allows it to accommodate over 470 passengers in four classes.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy has seized a vessel allegedly smuggling 150,000 litres of fuel in the waters off the country's southeastern coast, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

A number of Iranian and foreign nationals were arrested, Mohammad Nozari, the Commander of the IRGC Navy's Imam Ali base in Chabahar city, was quoted as saying.

The vessel plans to deliver the fuel to a neighbouring country, he said, without giving further details.

This is at least the third such seizure in April, Xinhua news agency reported.

Four Katyusha rockets landed near a Turkish military base in Iraq's northern province of Nineveh, without causing casualties, a local official said.

The rockets, fired by unknown militants on Sunday evening, targeted the Bashiqa base housing Turkish forces in the Zlikan area, nearly 400-km north of Baghdad, Mohammed Amin Gharib, Mayor of the Zlikan area, told Xinhua news agency.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, Xinhua news agency reported.

Iraq has repeatedly accused Turkey of violating its sovereignty by entering its territory without permission, including Turkey's military presence in the Bashiqa base.

Latching on Kerala minister's denial that no officials from the state visited Delhi to learn about education model of the Kejriwal government, the BJP on Sunday demanded action against AAP MLA Atishi for her "false" claim.

Kerala Education Minister V Sivankutty in a tweet said that no "officials" from the state visited Delhi to learn about the education model of Kejriwal government as was claimed by AAP MLA Atishi on Saturday.

The Delhi government will soon distribute 10,000 DIY(do it yourself) kits to promote urban farming announced in the annual budget 2022-23, officials said on Sunday.

Promoting urban farming was one of the 20 areas announced in the Kejriwal government's annual budget presented last month by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.

The government has targeted creation of two million job opportunities in the next five years through initiatives including promotion of urban farming.

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday wrote to Tamil Nadu Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy, asserting that the Common University Entrance Test (CUET) does not infringe upon the rights of the States and Union Territories.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly on April 12 adopted a resolution tabled by Chief Minister M K Stalin urging the Centre to drop the test.

"Education being matter of Concurrent list enables the central government also to take measures for development of education in the country," Pradhan said.

"The CUET aims at eliminating the need for taking coaching, offers choice of 13 languages as the medium and reduces financial burden while increasing access," he added.

Fifteen people were killed, including nine soldiers, in coordinated jihadi attacks in northern Burkina Faso on Sunday, the army said. Two military detachments in Gaskinde and Pobe Mengao in Soum province in the Sahel region were hit by “terrorists” Sunday morning, wounding more than two dozen people, said the army in a statement. Security operations are underway in both areas, it said.

The attacks are the latest in a series of increased violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State across the country that's killed thousands and displaced 2 million people.

Afghanistan's acting defence minister said that the Taliban administration would not tolerate "invasions" from its neighours after protesting against airstrikes it says were conducted by neighbouring Pakistan

In view of the 400th Parkash Purab of the ninth Sikh Guru, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced that the biggest ground in Panipat, spread over 25 acres along the national highway, will be named after Guru Tegh Bahadur.

Khattar was attending the celebrations of the Parkash Purab of the ninth Sikh guru at the Sector 13-17 ground, where he announced to rename it after Guru Tegh Bahadur.

Among other announcements, the Chief Minister said that the road from GT road leading to the venue will also be named as Guru Tegh Bahadur Marg.

Ukraine presidency says Zelensky meeting with US Secretary of State Blinken and Secretary of Defense Austin in Kyiv

Western leaders congratulated Emmanuel Macron for winning the French presidential election with 58.8 per cent of the votes on Sunday (local time).

In a congratulatory message, European Council President Charles Michel said, "We can count on France for five more years."

Taking to Twitter, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shared a photo with Macron and said, "I am happy that we will continue our good cooperation."

US President Joe Biden will visit Israel in the coming months following an invitation from Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. 

"The President (Joe Biden) accepted the Prime Minister's (Naftali Bennett) invitation to visit Israel and announced that he intends to visit Israel in the coming months," the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

This comes after the two leaders spoke on Sunday (local time).

Oil India Limited's registered headquarter at Assam's Duliajan is under a ransomware attack which led to company shutting down its computers and IT systems. FIR registered, probe underway. Our production operations functioning normally: OIL spokesperson Tridiv Hazarika 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the seventh edition of the Raisina Dialogue, India's flagship multilateral foreign policy and geo-economics conference today. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the dialogue, which will be held over three days from April 25 to April 27, will witness the participation of European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen as the chief guest.

The Raisina Dialogue 2022, based on the theme "Terranova- Impassioned, Impatient, Imperilled", will be modelled along six thematic pillars --Rethinking Democracy: trade, technology and ideology; End of Multilateralism: a networked global order; Water Caucuses: turbulent tides in the Indo-Pacific; Communities Inc: first responders to health, development, and planet; Achieving Green Transitions: common imperative, diverging realities; Samson vs Goliath: the persistent and relentless technology wars.