Breaking News, March 4 | HIGHLIGHTS

Two Odisha government officials were arrested on Saturday in corruption cases, the Vigilance Department said. Additional director in the Directorate of Mines Umesh Chandra Jena was arrested after assets disproportionate to the known sources of his income were allegedly found during searches, it said.

A man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly carrying counterfeit currency notes in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said. A police party intercepted a suspicious person at a checkpoint near Manigam Crossing on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway. He tried to flee after noticing the policemen, a police spokesman said.

A 27-year-old man from Nagpur city has been arrested on the charge of seriously injuring another person for refusing to give him money for alcohol, an official said on Saturday. Accused Shubham Ashok Matey approached Mahesh Santosh Nandanwar (31) around 7.15 pm on Friday when the latter was standing at the Telephone Exchange square, the official said.

West Bengal Congress spokesperson Kaustav Bagchi was arrested on Saturday after a huge team of the Kolkata Police raided his residence around 3.30 am over his comments against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Bagchi, also a lawyer at the Calcutta High Court, was arrested from his residence in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district on the basis of a complaint filed at the Burtolla police station in Kolkata, around 22 km away.

Two people were arrested for allegedly killing a youth in northwest Delhi's Bawana, police said on Saturday. The accused have been identified as Vicky (18), a resident of J J Colony, Bawana, and Praveen (22), a resident of Metro Vihar. While Vicky works as a waiter at wedding functions, Praveen works at a gas power plant in Bawana, they said. Two other accused, Vishnu Gupta and Chandan, are on the run, they said.

At least five people were killed and over 30 others injured on Saturday after a major fire broke out at an oxygen plant in Bangladesh’s Chattogram district, officials said. A loud noise was heard after which the fire broke out at Seema Oxygen Plant around 4.30 pm in Keshabpur area of Chattogram’s Sitakunda upazila, local people said. “The fire killed five people, wounded over 30 others,” private ATN News and other news outlets reported.

Indonesian rescuers and firefighters on Saturday searched for more than a dozen missing under the rubble of charred houses and buildings, after a large fire spread from a fuel storage depot in the capital and killed at least 18 people. The Plumpang fuel storage station, operated by state-run oil and gas company Pertamina, is near a densely populated area in the Tanah Merah neighbourhood in North Jakarta. It supplies 25% of Indonesia's fuel needs.

Two men were injured after they were allegedly shot at by some persons in northwest Delhi’s Kanjhawala area, police said on Saturday. The incident took place at around 6.24 pm on Friday in Tatesar village, they said.

A 26-year-old man was stabbed to death allegedly following a quarrel with his neighbours in northwest Delhi's Samaypur Badli area, police said on Saturday. According to them, one person has been arrested and seven juveniles have been apprehended in connection with the incident that took place on Thursday.

The holy oil to be used to crown Charles as King of the United Kingdom during his coronation ceremony on May 6 has been consecrated at a ceremony in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, Buckingham Palace said on Saturday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday flagged off a new UPSRTC bus service -- Rajdhani Express -- which will connect the state capital with all district headquarters.
Speaking on this occasion, Adityanath asked the Transport Department to work towards providing transportation to one lakh revenue villages in the state in the coming days.

Himachal Pradesh will start a pilot project for bio-energy production from pine needles and bamboo as the state is blessed with an enormous wealth of coniferous forest and has a high potential for bamboo production, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said. The project would involve the local community and increase their income. The state government is all set to partner with the Indian School of Business (ISB) to provide policy inputs and research support for the emerging bio-energy sector, he said in a statement issued here on Saturday. "Many sectors like thermal power, cement and steel were exploring fossil fuel substitutes to reduce emissions. The scope can be expanded to include fuel briquettes made from pine needles as potential substitutes, which has the advantage of much higher calorific value and this would also pave the way for strengthening the rural economy," said Sukhu. ISB would provide the business model and technology to make this project a success and would also ensure adequate market linkage. As the government mandate for ethanol blending in petrol has increased from 10 per cent to 20 per cent with the target of achieving 'Green Energy State' by 2025, ISB would also undertake the task of making ethanol, compressed bio-gas and bio-fertilizer from bamboo, he said.

Delhi excise case | CBI seeks further three-day remand of former Delhi Dy CM Manish Sisodia as hearing begins in Rouse Avenue Court

For how much time was Manish Sisodia investigated ?: Court to CBI

He's still non-cooperative: CBI to court

Senior Advocate Dayan Krishnan appearing for Manish Sisodia opposes the CBI application seeking an extension of remand. Seeking an extension of remand by CBI is not justified, argues Krishnan.

The National Green Tribunal has restrained the Jannayak Chandrashekhar University in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district from carrying out further construction on any part of land within the ecologically sensitive zone area of Jai Prakash Narayan (Surha Tal) Bird Sanctuary. A bench of Judicial Member Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and Expert Member Afroz Ahmad said the report of a panel constituted earlier "established" that the administrative, academic, library and commercial buildings and a 100-bed SC/ST hostel were being constructed within the ecologically sensitive zone (ESZ) area of one kilometre from the sanctuary's boundary. The bench said "prima facie", the construction was "impermissible" and violated the Wild Life (Protection) Act and the National Wetlands (Conservation and Management) Rules.

Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio tendered his resignation to Governor La Ganesan. 

Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje offered prayers at the famous Salasar Balaji temple in Rajasthan's Churu district on Saturday. She was accompanied by her son, Jhalawar-Baran MP Dushyant Singh, during her visit to the temple. In the afternoon, Raje -- a national vice-president of the BJP -- is scheduled to address a public meeting, being seen as a show of strength ahead of assembly elections in the state. Her aide, however, debunked the theory and said it is a religious programme that she organises every year on her birthday. This year, the programme is being held before her birthday, which is on March 8, to avoid clashing with Dhulandi. The BJP's former state unit chief Ashok Parnami, former ministers Yunus Khan, Rajpal Singh and other leaders are engaged in preparations for the event.

The Congress on Saturday demanded the resignation of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai following the arrest of government officer Prashanth Kumar M V while accepting a bribe of Rs 40 lakh on behalf of his father, a BJP MLA. More than Rs 8 crore unaccounted cash has been seized in subsequent raids at various locations by Lokayukta. The arrested officer's father is Madal Virupakshappa, the MLA representing Channagiri constituency in Davangere district of the state. The Congress started a poster campaign accusing the ruling BJP in the state of collecting 40 per cent commission on public works. The party workers took out a mammoth rally to lay siege to the Chief Minister's residence and raised anti-BJP slogans. Prior to the rally, former chief minister Siddaramaiah tore into the ruling BJP at a public meeting.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Friday that he plans to sign a measure that would effectively ban abortion clinics from operating in the state, meaning hospitals will soon be the only places where they can be provided in the state. After passing through the state Senate on Thursday with minor amendments, it returned to the Utah House of Representatives Friday morning, where it was approved and then sent to the governor for final approval. The move comes less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, returning the power to regulate abortions to states. Cox told reporters that he will sign the legislation, which also clarifies the definition of abortion to address legal liability concerns providers voiced about the way exceptions are worded in state law — a provision that he and Republican lawmakers called a compromise. “One of the concerns with the trigger bill that medical providers had across the state was there was a lack of clarity that would have made it hard for them to perform legal abortions,” Cox said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new BJP-IPFT government in Tripura on March 8, a senior official said on Saturday. In the recently concluded Tripura Assembly elections, the BJP won 32 seats in the 60-member Assembly while its ally IPFT won one seat. "Chief Secretary S K Sinha is holding a meeting with senior officials regarding the Prime Minister's visit to the state. An SPG team is also arriving today. The Prime Minister is coming to attend the oath taking ceremony of the new government on March 8", the senior police official told PTI. Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday tendered the resignation of his government to Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya. He had told journalists that the new government will take oath on March 8 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to attend the event.

A cluster bus crashed through the wall of a cemetery in central Delhi's Khan Market area on Saturday morning, police said. Videos and pictures that show a major portion of the bus inside the cemetery are being circulated on social media. A senior police officer said the incident took place around 6 am. Only the driver and the conductor of the bus were inside the vehicle at the time of the accident, the officer said. The bus is being removed from the cemetery. A case under appropriate sections will be registered, the police added. Last month, three people were injured when a DTC bus hit a car before ramming into a subway crossing in west Delhi's Naraina, police said. The driver, conductor and the marshal deployed on the bus were taken to the Metro hospital in Ranjit Nagar, the police had said.

A Vande Bharat semi-high speed express train will be operated on the Mumbai-Goa route soon, Union Minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve has informed a delegation of legislators from Maharashtra. This information was shared by Niranjan Davkhare, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council representing the Konkan graduates constituency. The delegation of legislators met Danve on Friday. During the meeting, the Union minister told the group that a Vande Bharat Express train will be operated between Mumbai and Goa, Davkhare said in a release. This express train will be operated between Mumbai and Goa on the lines of the ones introduced recently on Mumbai-Shirdi and Mumbai-Solapur routes to curtail travel time, Danve said. The electrification of the Mumbai-Goa railway route has been completed and the new train service will be introduced following an inspection, the minister told the delegation.

A four-member team from the Bihar government will visit Tamil Nadu today over alleged "attacks" on migrant labourers. The team will take stock of the situation and will submit a report to CM Nitish Kumar following their visit.

A bird flu outbreak has been reported in Jharkhand's capital Ranchi barely a week after the disease in Bokaro district led to the culling of 4,000 chickens and ducks. H5N1, a type of avian influenza virus, was confirmed among poultry in Ranchi, an official said. "The Centre in a letter to Chief Secretary, Jharkhand, Sukhdev Singh on March 3 has confirmed the outbreak of avian influenza (H5N1) in poultry at Ranchi, directing the state for its control and containment," he said. The letter from the Union Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying read, "The samples from the said epicentre (Jail More, Ranchi Municipal Corporation) were sent...to the ICAR-National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) Bhopal which confirmed on March 30, 2023 that samples are found positive for H5N1 avian influenza."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will pay a four-day visit to India from March 8 with an aim to boost overall bilateral engagement in a range of areas including trade, investment and critical minerals. It will be his first visit to India after becoming the prime minister in May last year. "At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese will pay a State Visit to India from March 8 to 11," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Saturday. Albanese will be accompanied by Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell and  Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King besides a high-level business delegation.​ The MEA said Albanese will arrive in Ahmedabad on March 8 on the day of Holi. He will visit Mumbai on March 9 before arriving in Delhi later in the day. The Australian prime minister will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan on March 10. Following this, Modi and Albanese will hold the annual summit to discuss areas of cooperation under the India-Australia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership besides regional and global issues of mutual interest.  The ties between ​India and Australia have been on an upswing in the last few years. The strategic partnership between the two countries was elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership in June 2020. "Prime Minister Albanese's visit is expected to provide further momentum to the comprehensive strategic partnership," the MEA said in a statement.

A large storm system took aim at the Northeast on Friday, threatening heavy snow and coastal flooding after heavy winds and possible tornadoes damaged homes and buildings, left thousands without power and caused five deaths in a wide swath of the South and Midwest. Three people were killed by falling trees in Alabama as severe weather swept through the state. In Mississippi, a woman died inside her SUV after a rotted tree branch struck her vehicle and in Arkansas, a man drowned after he drove into high floodwaters. The storm system turned toward New England, where a mix of snow, sleet and rain was expected across the region starting Friday night and lasting into Saturday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a winter storm warning. There is a chance of coastal flooding in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and the storm could bring as much as 18 inches (45 centimetres) of snow to parts of New Hampshire and Maine. The storm will also bring strong winds with gusts of 40 to 50 mph (80 kph), which could cause power outages. Airport officials in Portland, Maine, cancelled several flights for Saturday ahead of the weather and some libraries and businesses in the region announced weekend closures. Still, with warmer weather expected to return by the end of the weekend, most New Englanders were taking the storm in stride. It was not the same story in California, where the weather system slammed the state earlier in the week with as much as 10 feet (three metres) of snow. Some residents in mountains east of Los Angeles will likely remain stranded in their homes for at least another week after the snowfall proved too much to handle for most plows.

Twenty-two truckloads of aid from the World Food Programme and the UN Children's Fund (Unicef) crossed into Northwest Syria from Turkey, bringing the total of cross-border delivery to 557 trucks since February 9 in the wake of massive earthquakes, said a UN spokesman. The UN has carried out 18 inter-agency cross-border missions to Northwest Syria since the first interagency visit to Idlib on February 14, said Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, at a daily press briefing on Friday.

A woman's eight-year-old son and 21-year-old niece were crushed to death by a tractor-trailer after they fell off a scooter during a snatching incident near here on Friday, police said. The incident took place near Miani, about 40 km from here, while the three were returning to their village, police said. Tanda Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kulwant Singh said the 40-year-old woman sustained injuries and was admitted to the Community Health Centre, Tanda. The child and the young woman were riding pillion on the scooter. Two unidentified robbers snatched the purse of the young woman causing her aunt to lose control over the scooter that collided with a tractor-trailer. The three fell on the road and the woman's son and niece were crushed under the wheels of the tractor-trailer, police said. The robbers fled towards Rara village. It is likely that they had been following the trio for some distance, Deputy Superintendent of Police Kulwant Singh said. Footage of CCTV cameras installed near the incident site are being examined, he said, adding that the matter is being probed.

US Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has said that she will stop giving aid to nations that hate America if she is voted to power. In her address at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday (local time), she said that the US to this date continues to give foreign aid to Pakistan, Iraq, Palestine, Cuba and China.Nikki Haley stressed that the US has been paying its enemies. In her remarks at CPAC, she said that the US has been giving billions of dollars to nations that undermine the country each day.

The Allahabad High Court on Friday granted bail to two persons arrested in a terror case. The duo - Mohd Mustakeem and Mohd Shakeel - are suspected to be members of the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, an terror outfit affiliated to al-Qaida. A bench of Justice A R Masoodi and Justice O P Shukla granted the accused bail but directed them to record their attendance at their police stations concerned in the first week of every month till their trial was concluded. The two were booked for waging war against the country and conducting terror activities. While granting them bail, the Lucknow bench of the high court said that the two did not have any criminal history and were in jail for a year.

The fourth World Cultural Festival will be held in the American capital here this fall, organiser Art of Living has announced. Several world leaders and hundreds and thousands of people from across the globe are expected to attend the three-day mega event from September 29 to October 1 at the historic National Mall. The previous three editions of the World Culture Festival were held in Bengaluru (2006), Berlin (2011) and New Delhi (2016). "In a world which is so polarised, divided and despondent, it is time for us to come together in celebration, where we appreciate the rich diversity on this planet," Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said. "It is high time we recognise we are a one world family," he added. The event's reception committee is being led by Ban Ki-moon, who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations, and includes multiple current and former heads of states, members of the United States Congress and a range of spiritual and faith leaders, according to a media release.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with US Attorney General Merrick Garland and top European legal officials on Friday, and called for Russia to face international prosecution for war crimes. Zelenskyy announced the meetings in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, hundreds of kilometres from the war's front lines, during his evening video address to the nation. "We are doing everything to ensure that the International Criminal Court is successful in punishing Russian war criminals," Zelenskyy said. "The main issue of all these meetings and the Lviv conference is accountability," he added. "The accountability of Russia and its leadership is personal, for aggression and terror against our state and people." Zelenskyy said over 70,000 Russian war crimes have been recorded so far. "But, unfortunately, we do not know about all crimes at the moment," he added. "A large part of our territory still remains occupied and we cannot currently reliably predict how many Russian crimes we would discover after the occupiers are expelled."