Breaking News, May 8 | HIGHLIGHTS

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Monday said that 60 people were killed, 231 injured and 1,700 houses including religious places burnt in the ethnic violence that rocked the northeastern state for the past few days.
Addressing a press conference here, the chief minister said that the state cabinet resolved to provide ex gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the families of the deceased, Rs 2 lakh to those who suffered major injuries and Rs 25,000 to those with minor injuries.
“These are very very unfortunate incidents. I appeal to people to bring peace together at the earliest,” Singh said.

Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal on Monday sought a report from the state government on the nine-minute power blackout during President Droupadi Murmu's speech at a university's convocation in Baripada.
The governor, who is also the chancellor of the universities, asked Chief Secretary P K Jena and Vice Chancellor of Maharaja Sriram Chandra Bhanjadeo University, Santosh Tripathy, to file a detailed report on the power disruption in the auditorium while the President was delivering her speech on May 6.
The governor has sought the report from the authorities within seven days.

Suburban services on the Harbour line of the Central Railway were affected for nearly 30 minutes on Monday night after a man climbed on the rooftop of a local train at CSMT, an incident which disrupted the train schedule, an official said.
He said the overhead wire supply was switched off for 25 minutes after a man climbed onto the rooftop of a local train on platform number 2 of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) at around 9.20 pm.

 A special flight carrying 25 students from Maharashtra who were stuck in violence-hit Manipur landed in Mumbai on Monday evening.
The flight was organised by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, said an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).
The students were shifted from Manipur to Guwahati where they boarded the flight to Mumbai.

The government on Monday banned the import of apples if its imported price is less than Rs 50 per Kg. The directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) said in a notification that the imports are free if the price is above Rs 50 per kg. "Import of apples... is prohibited wherever the CIF (cost, insurance, freight) import price is less than equal to Rs 50 per Kg," DGFT said in the notification. The minimum import price condition shall not be applicable for imports from Bhutan, it added.

Several farmers broke through police barricades on Monday to join the wrestlers' protest against Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh here even as Delhi Police denied any untoward incident at the site.
Purported videos showed farmers climbing the barricades and even dragging and pushing some of them away in a bid to enter the protest venue.
Hours later, the police barricades, which were damaged during the hustle, were welded together and placed at the site as part of a precautionary measure to ensure that no untoward incident takes place.

A man was arrested on Monday for allegedly trying to lure poor people in a village here to convert to Christianity, police said.
Superintendent of Police, South, Arun Kumar Singh said accused Subhash Rana was also allegedly telling poor people in Girdharpur village under the Gagha police station area that those who were weak and ill could be cured using holy water after embracing Christianity.
Rana has been arrested under sections 420 of the IPC, 15(3) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 and provisions 3 and 5(1) of the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, he said.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers on Monday staged a protest in Maharashtra's Nagpur city to demand the arrest of BJP MP and Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh who is facing sexual harassment allegations.
Expressing solidarity with wrestlers staging a sit-in at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, AAP workers led by their Vidarbha convenor gathered at the Variety Square in the city and raised slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over inaction against Singh.

The owner of the boat that capsized on Sunday evening, which resulted in the death of 22 people, including 15 children, was caught from the Kozhikode beach area of the district on Monday, police said.

The capture of the boat owner, Nasar, was confirmed by a senior police officer of Malappuram district.

"He has been caught from the Calicut (Kozhikode) beach area. He has not been arrested formally. He will be brought here (Malappuram)," the officer said.

According to Tanur police, in whose jurisdiction the tragic incident occurred, the owner of the boat had been absconding.

 A 31-year-old woman was stabbed and injured by her boyfriend for talking to another man in suburban Kalina here, police said on Monday.

The incident took place on Air India road in Kalina in the early hours of Sunday, an official from Vakola police station said.

The victim, who is an event manager, had partied with her friends and was talking to them on the side of the road when the accused arrived there and started assaulting her, he said.

Sahitya Akademi Award winning Bengali literateur Samaresh Majumdar, who is known for portraying the tumultuous Naxalaite period of the 1970s, died at a private hospital in Kolkata on Monday evening, an official of the establishment confirmed.

Majumdar, 79, has been suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and was undergoing treatment at the hospital for over a month.

"Majumdar has been suffering from COPD for more than 12 years.
He has been under our treatment for over a month.
His health has deteriorated recently and was on ventilator.

Chinese police have detained a man for allegedly generating fake news of a train crash and disseminating it online using artificial intelligence technology, in what was reported to be China's first arrest for misuse of ChatGPT.

Police in northwestern Gansu province said in a statement on Sunday that a suspect surnamed Hong had been detained for "using artificial intelligence technology to concoct false and untrue information".

The case first caught the attention of the cyber division of a county police bureau when they spotted a fake news article that claimed nine people had been killed in a local train accident on April 25, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported on Monday.

Senior officers of the ITBP and the Tamil Nadu Police that are deployed in Tihar Jail met the Delhi Prisons Director General Sanjay Beniwal on Monday to discuss ways to address security concerns in the wake of the brutal killing of gangster Tillu Tajpuriya inside the prison premises last week, officials said.

The meetings come after Beniwal wrote to the heads of the security agencies whose personnel are deployed at the Tihar, one of the largest prisons in Asia, as part of security arrangements.

"Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Indo-Tibetan Border Police Bhanwar Singh met DG Prisons today.
The two senior officials discussed various issues including security concerns in Tihar," a jail official said.

Former director general of police (DGP) RB Sreekumar moved a sessions court here on Monday seeking discharge in a case registered against him for fabricating evidence to frame innocent people and defame Gujarat in connection with the 2002 post-Godhra riots.

Sreekumar along with social activist Teesta Setalvad and ex-Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Sanjiv Bhatt are accused in the case.
According to the prosecution, they entered into a criminal conspiracy to fabricate evidence to procure capital punishment for innocent people in the post-Godhra riots cases.

The court of additional sessions judge Ambalal Patel issued a notice to the state government on Sreekumar's discharge plea and kept the matter for further hearing on May 22, his lawyer U D Shekhawat said.

 A raft carrying 13 people turned turtle in Chenab river in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district on Monday after hitting a pillar of a bridge, officials said.

All of them, including five women, fell into the river but were wearing life jackets, they said.
A rescue operation was immediately launched by the rafting operators and all 13 persons were rescued safely, they added.

Twenty-four people, after a visit to the cave shrine of Shiv Khori, were on the river in two rafts enjoying the recreational activity when they hit the bridge in Baradari area.

Five cheetahs -- three females and two males -- will be released from the acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park (KNP) before the onset of the monsoon in June, the Union Environment Ministry said on Monday.

It also said the cheetahs will be allowed to move out of KNP and will not necessarily be "recaptured unless they venture into areas where they are in significant danger".

So far, four of the eight cheetahs brought from Namibia have been released from the fenced acclimatisation camps into free-ranging conditions in KNP.

Equity benchmark BSE Sensex rebounded more than 1 per cent while Nifty reclaimed the 18,200 level on Monday, boosted by heavy buying in banking, financial and auto stocks amid a rally in global stock markets.

Besides, continuous foreign fund inflows further bolstered sentiment, traders said.
 

Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Monday alleged that Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi’s reference to "Karnataka’s sovereignty" has revealed the party's "deep conspiracy to disintegrate India". Thakur's strong reaction came after the official Twitter handle of the Congress posted,"CPP Chairperson Smt Sonia Gandhi ji sends a strong message to 6.5 crore Kannadigas: The Congress will not allow anyone to pose a threat to Karnataka's reputation, sovereignty or integrity." "By referring to 'Karnataka’s sovereignty', Sonia Gandhi Ji, you have revealed the Congress’ deep conspiracy to disintegrate India," Thakur said on Twitter.

Several farmers broke through police barricades on Monday to join the wrestlers' protest against Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh here even as Delhi Police denied any untoward incident at the site. Purported videos showed farmers climbing the barricades and even dragging and pushing some of them away in a bid to enter the protest venue. Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) Pranav Tayal said the incident occurred when some farmers were "in a hurry" to reach the dharna site. The barricades were removed to escort the farmers into the site and the meeting was being held peacefully, he added.

Life was crawling back to somewhat normal in violence-hit Manipur on Monday as people came out of their homes to buy essential items with the curfew being relaxed for a few hours in the morning, officials said. Drones and helicopters continued a close watch over the state and its border with Myanmar, while personnel of the Army and Assam Rifles held flag marches in different areas that have been rocked by ethnic violence over the last few days, they said.

One person was injured in a low-intensity explosion that took place on a heritage street near the Golden Temple here on Monday morning, close to the spot where a blast was reported on May 6, police said. No detonator has been found and it appears that the explosive was kept in a container, Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said, adding that it is too early to say whether the blast was someone's "mischief" or there's a terror angle to it. Police and forensic teams reached the spot soon after the explosion and security was stepped up in the area.

Assam Director General of Police GP Singh on Monday said a police team has reached violence-hit Manipur to provide help or facilitate the return of any person from the state stuck there. He said most people from Assam residing in Manipur are not willing to return but the state government has put in place all efforts to reach out and help, as required. "Some people are coming back, but most people don't want to return. We are helping those who want to come back," Singh said at a press conference here. He said a four-member police team, headed by an IGP-level officer, has already reached the neighbouring state.

A local BJP functionary was allegedly shot dead by unidentified persons on Monday morning when he was waiting in his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) for his wife to return from a temple near Vapi town Gujarat's Valsad district, police said. The motorbike-borne assailants came near the SUV of Shailesh Patel in Kocharva village and fired three-four rounds at him, an official from Dungara police station said.

The BJP on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi over the statement that the party will not allow anyone to pose a threat to Karnataka's "reputation, sovereignty or integrity" and requested it to issue direction for registration of FIR against her. The Congress, referring to Gandhi's speech at a campaign rally at Hubballi on Saturday, said in a tweet that the Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson "sends a strong message to 6.5 crore Kannadigas,' and also posted pictures of her speaking at the public meeting.

A MiG 21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed on a house in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan on Monday, leaving three women dead and as many others injured on the ground, police said. 
The pilot ejected from the plane and is undergoing treatment at the Suratgarh military hospital, IG, Bikaner range, Om Prakash said.  The pilot made all efforts to avert human casualties and crash-landed the plane on the outskirts of a village, he said.

On Monday, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra held a road-show in Vijayanagar Assembly segment as part of the campaign for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka. She was accompanied by Vijayanagar MLA M Krishnappa, who is seeking re-election from the segment, and his son Priya Krishna, the Congress candidate in the neighbouring Govindarajanagar constituency. Vadra has addressed a series of public meetings and held multiple roadshows in different parts of the State in the last few days.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday interacted with college students and working women here ahead of the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka. The former party chief stopped for a cup of coffee at a 'Cafe Coffee Day' outlet on Cunningham Road. At a close-by Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus stop, he spoke to a bunch of college students and working women. He then hopped on to a BMTC bus and interacted with women passengers to understand their vision for Karnataka, party leaders said.

At least 100 people were killed in clashes that erupted last month between armed fighters in a city in Sudan's restive region of Darfur, according to the Sudan's Doctors Syndicate. Hospitals were still out of service in the Darfur city of Genena and an accurate count of the wounded was still hard to make, the doctors' union added in a statement posted on their official Facebook page late Sunday.

The Congress had only used the Muslim community as a vote-bank, while doing nothing concrete for their welfare, Janata Dal (S) leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has said. Addressing a campaign meeting for his party’s Mangaluru North candidate Mohiuddin Bava at Krishnapura near here Sunday evening, he also charged that the Congress was welcoming hardcore Hindu leaders into the party and accusing JD(S) of having an understanding with the BJP.

A court in Maharashtra's Thane district has sentenced a 35-year-old man to 10 years' rigorous imprisonment for sexually assaulting and torturing his wife's minor sister. Special Judge V V Virkar, hearing cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, in the order passed on May 6 also imposed a fine of Rs 8,000 on the accused. Special Public Prosecutor Rekha Hiwrale told the court that the sister of the victim, then aged 17, asked her to stay at her place in Dahisar area of neighbouring Mumbai for some days in April 2018.

A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF) crashed in Hanumangarh district of Rajasthan on Monday, leaving at least two civilians dead on the ground, police said. The pilot of the plane is safe, District Collector Rukmani Riar said.  The aircraft crashed near Dabli area of Hanumangarh. Additional Superintendent of Police, Jassaram Bose said at least two civilian casualties have been reported. 
 

Tipra Motha chairman Pradyot Kishore Manikya Debbarma said he will meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi on May 10. Speaking to reporters, Debbarma said Shah has invited him to the meeting. Meanwhile, Special Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs AK Mishra, who has been appointed by the Centre to lead the dialogue for resolving the problems of indigenous people in Tripura, cancelled his visit to the state owing to the situation in Manipur. "Mishra told me that he is not coming to Tripura because he is rushing to Manipur. After visiting Manipur, he will return to Delhi to brief the Centre about the prevailing situation there. Then, he will visit our state," Debbarma said on Sunday.

All schools for students up to class 8 in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban were closed on Monday due to heavy rains in the district, officials said. According to reports, the upper reaches of Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban also received fresh snowfall. "All schools, both government and private, up to the middle level (Class 8) in Ramban district shall remain closed today in view of heavy rains," said Ramban Deputy Commissioner Mussarat Islam. However, exams, if any, shall be held as per schedule, he said.

The Andhra Pradesh government has arranged two special flights on Monday to fly back as many as 157 students from the state stranded in strife-torn Manipur. The flights will land at Hyderabad and Kolkata while the government is making arrangements to ferry them back home from there. According to the government, 160 students from Andhra Pradesh are pursuing their education in various institutions such as NIT, IIIT and Central Agriculture University in the northeastern state.

Two Naxalites, including a woman, were killed in an encounter with police in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district on Monday morning, an official said. A cache of explosives and an automatic weapon were recovered from the encounter site, he said, adding the two Naxalites were carrying a collective reward of Rs 11 lakh on their heads. The gunfight took place at around 5.30 am in a forest near Danteshpuram village under Bheji police station limits, located more than 400 km from state capital Raipur, when a team of District Reserve Guard (DRG) was out on an anti-Naxal operation, Sukma Superintendent of Police Sunil Sharma told PTI. The police had specific inputs about the presence of Golapalli Local Organisation Squad (LOS) Naxal commander Madkam Erra along with 30-35 team members.

The Manipur government appointed Vineet Joshi as the new chief secretary of the state, which has been rocked by ethnic violence over the past few days, according to an official order. Joshi, a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Manipur cadre, replaced Rajesh Kumar. Joshi was on central deputation, and serving as the additional secretary of the Department of Higher Education in the Ministry of Education. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved the repatriation of Joshi to his parent cadre on the request of the Manipur government, a Personnel Ministry order dated May 6 said.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate the first-of-its-kind Indian Air Force (IAF) Heritage Centre here on Monday, officials said.It was set up under a memorandum of understanding between the Union Territory of Chandigarh and the IAF which was signed last year. Last month, Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari visited the Indian Air Force Heritage Centre to review its progress. Spread over 17,000 square feet, this is the first heritage centre of the IAF and depicts its role in various wars, including in 1965 and 1971 and the Kargil war, and the Balakot air strike through murals and memorabilia.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has claimed he survived the 2020-revolt by some Congress MLAs because BJP leaders Vasundhara Raje and Kailash Meghwal refused to support a conspiracy to topple an elected government through money power. Raje, a former chief minister of Rajasthan, however, said that "Gehlot's 'praises' are a big conspiracy" against her and the Congress leader was speaking lies due to rebellion in his party. Gehlot also took potshots at the rebel Congress MLAs on Sunday, saying they should return the money they had taken from the BJP so that they can carry out their duty without any pressure.

The death toll in the tourist boat accident near the Thoovaltheeram beach here has risen to 22, officials said on Monday. Eight people were rescued after the boat capsized on Sunday evening and are undergoing treatment at various hospitals, district officials said. The boat, which was carrying more than 30 people, capsized near an estuary close to the Thoovaltheeram beach in the Tanur area around 7:30 pm. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Coast Guard teams have reached the spot and a search operation for the missing persons is underway, the officials said.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan had a meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit K Doval in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the White House said, adding that the two leaders are scheduled to meet again in Australia later this month on the sidelines of the Quad Summit. This is the first meeting between Doval and Sullivan after they launched the ambitious India US ICET (Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology) dialogue here in January. Sullivan is currently travelling to Saudi Arabia.

A fire broke out deep in a gold mine in southern Peru and killed at least 27 workers during an overnight shift, Peruvian authorities reported. The Yanaquihua mining company said in a statement that a total of 175 workers had been safely evacuated after the accident, which happened late Friday or early Saturday. It said the 27 dead worked for a contractor that specializes in mining. Government officials said the cause of the incident was under investigation. Some news reports said preliminary investigations indicated an explosion might have been set off by a short circuit in a part of the mine about 100 metres below the surface.

An SUV slammed into a crowd Sunday, killing at least seven people and injuring at least 10 who were waiting at a city bus stop outside a migrant shelter in the border city of Brownsville, Texas, police said. Shelter director Victor Maldonado of the Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ozanam Center said he reviewed the shelter's surveillance video on Sunday morning after receiving a call about the crash. "What we see in the video is that this SUV, a Range Rover, just ran the light that was about a 100 feet away and just went through the people who were sitting there in the bus stop," Maldonado said.

The assailant who killed eight people at a Texas outlet mall has been identified by investigators as a 33-year-old man named Mauricio Garcia. That's according to three law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in order to discuss details of an ongoing investigation. One of the officials said Garcia had been staying at a nearby hotel. The official said investigators have been searching the motel and a home in the Dallas area connected to the suspect. The official said police also found multiple weapons at the scene after Garcia was fatally shot by a police officer. The weapons included an AR-15-style rifle and a handgun, according to the official. 

Twenty people, including women and children, were killed when a houseboat with more than 30 passengers on board capsized and sank near the Thoovaltheeram beach in the Tanur area of Kerala's Malappuram district on Sunday, the state government said. Sports Minister V Abdurahiman said 20 deaths were confirmed on the basis of information from various hospitals where those pulled out from the water and inside the boat were admitted. Four people in critical condition have been admitted to a Kottakkal hospital here, Abdurahiman said. Of the 20 bodies, 15 have been identified, the minister added. "The boat is being hauled ashore and more bodies are expected to be recovered from inside," he told PTI.

Army drones and helicopters kept a close watch on Manipur on Sunday as curfew was relaxed in some parts of the Northeastern state, which was rocked by ethnic violence over the last few days, officials said. So far, 23,000 people have been rescued from the violence-hit areas and were moved to military garrisons, they said. Personnel of the Army and Assam Rifles held flag marches as life started crawling back to somewhat normal, but the tension was palpable. Sources said around 10,000 security personnel have been deployed in the state, which has been on the boil since Wednesday.

The Congress on Sunday hit out at Chief Minister N Biren Singh over the situation in Manipur, saying he cannot absolve himself and "his patrons in New Delhi and Nagpur" of the responsibility for the horrific violence and killings in the state. The Congress' attack came a day after Singh, who heads a BJP-led government in Manipur, chaired an all-party meeting over the prevailing situation in the violence-hit state.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the posting of women officers of the Territorial Army (TA) with its engineer regiments along the Line of Control (LoC). He has also cleared appointment of the women officers as staff officers at TA group headquarters and directorate general of TA at New Delhi according to organisational requirement, the defence ministry said in a statement on Sunday. The Territorial Army had commenced commissioning of women officers since 2019 in ecological task force units, TA oil sector units and TA railway engineer regiment.