Breaking News, October 19

Pro-Khalistan and anti-India slogans were found scribbled on the outer wall of a closed power plant here on Wednesday, said police. After the matter came to notice, the slogans were wiped off from the wall, said police. Station House Officer Harjot Singh said the investigation is underway. On October 2, similar slogans were found written on the wall of the office of the Forest Department.

The sugar industry will need government support to produce ethanol required to meet the target of achieving 20 per cent mixing with petrol by 2025, Indian Sugar Mills Association President Aditya Jhunjhunwala said on Wednesday. As per the estimates of the Niti Aayog, to achieve 20 per cent of ethanol (E20) blending in petrol in the country by 2025, 1,000 crore litres of ethanol will be required, he said while speaking at an event organised by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). This would require higher ethanol production capacities, more distilleries and government policies to boost sugarcane and sugar production in the country, he added. "The sugar industry has set its goal to have approximately 100 lakh tonnes of sugar and thus converting 1,000 crore litres of ethanol only from the sugar industry

A suspected drug peddler escaped from the custody of Noida Police on the pretext of going to the toilet, following which the on-duty constable was suspended, officials said on Wednesday. The suspect was arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act on Tuesday and held at Phase 1 police station, the officials added. "Accused Bhishma Singh, a native of Siwan district in Bihar and current resident of Harola village in Noida's Sector 5, had sought to go to the toilet while in police custody. He was escorted by a constable but Singh escaped from custody," a local police official said. Constable Sunny Chaudhary has been suspended, the official added. A fresh FIR has been lodged against Singh under sections 223 (escape from confinement or custody negligently suffered by public servant) and 224 (resistance or obstruction by a person to his lawful apprehension) of the Indian Penal Code, the police said. Searches are on to arrest him, they added.

MP Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the president was the “supreme authority” in the Congress and whoever got elected to the post would decide on the way forward (for the party). Responding to a query during his brief interaction with media during the Bharat Jodo Yatra here, Rahul Gandhi said the new president would decide on “what my role and how I will be deployed”. “Obviously”, Rahul replied when asked if he would be reporting to the new president. “President is the supreme authority in the Congress and everyone reports to him. My role… I am very clear… Congress president will decide what my role is and how I will be deployed,” he remarked. At one point, Rahul said, “It is for Kharge to decide” but later corrected himself to “whoever gets elected, that gentleman will decide”.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will be present at a ‘Bijaya Sammilani’ here on Wednesday, where prominent personalities and Durga Puja committees of the eight districts of the northern part of the state were invited, officials said. The ‘Bijaya Sammilani’, a social gathering traditionally held after the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal, is being organised by the state government at Kawakhali Maidan at Siliguri in Darjeeling district, which is the largest city among all the eight districts. As a large number of cars and buses from various areas will reach Siliguri for the event, there could be traffic snarls during the day. Apprehending traffic jams, several educational institutions in the city had declared a holiday on Wednesday. However, the district administration directed all such institutes to keep them open, officials said. The chief minister is currently on a visit to the northern part of the state. 

Two-year-old Amyra Sikandar Khan from Pakistan has successfully undergone bone marrow transplant (BMT) in a city hospital. Daughter of cricket commentator Sikandar Bakht hailing from Karachi, she was recently cured from Mucopolysaccharidosis type 1 (MPS I) with the help of a BMT at Narayana Health. "Mucopolysaccharidosis is a rare condition that has the potential to impact the functioning of multiple organs including eyes and brain," the healthcare chain's Chairman and Founder Devi Shetty said on Wednesday. Amyra (aged 2.6 years) was saved using the bone marrow of her father, who was the donor, doctors said. 

An earthquake of magnitude 4.2 on the Richter scale hit Ladakh on Wednesday, the National Centre for Seismology said. The epicentre of the tremor, recorded at 8.07 am, was 135 km north-east of Leh belt of the union territory, it said. The officials said there were no reports of any damage. The quake hit at a latitude of 34.92 degrees north and longitude of 78.72 degrees east at a depth of 10 km, they said. The Himalayan region is prone to earthquakes. 

Markets regulator Sebi has barred Empiric Trade and its proprietor Niraj Thakur from the securities markets for providing advisory services without its authorisation. The watchdog issued a show cause notice to them in September 2021. The regulator found that Empiric Trade and Neeraj Thakur (notices) were engaged in investment advisory services without obtaining a certificate of registration. The noticees have prima facie collected Rs 83.70 lakh during January-July 2019, Sebi said in an order on Monday.

The famous Pushkar fair in Rajasthan's Ajmer district, which attracts thousands of tourists, will be held without the cattle fest this year owing to the spread of lumpy disease in the state. Sub-divisional magistrate (Pushkar) Sukhram Pindel said, "Cattle fair will not be held this year due to the lumpy disease outbreak. Apart from this, all other religious and cultural events will be held. Preparations for the fair are going on full swing." Cattle trading remains a key highlight of the colourful and vibrant fair which is held annually in the holy month of Kartik in Pushkar town, around 150 km away from the state capital. The Pushkar fair will be held from November 1 to 7, an official release said. According to the animal husbandry department official, as many as 15, 59, 859 animals have been affected with the lumpy disease in Rajasthan and of them, 74, 495 died and 11, 84, 163 recovered as on Tuesday.

BJP MP Virendra Singh Mast has announced plans to build an auditorium in memory of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and sanctioned Rs 25 lakh from his local area development funds. The proposed auditorium will come up on the premises of the District Civil Court, Ballia. On Tuesday, Mast wrote to District Magistrate Soumya Agarwal, recommending Rs 25 lakh from his MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund to set up the auditorium. In his letter, the BJP MP from Ballia said the Samajwadi Party founder had a rich and unique personality and was widely appreciated as a humble, down-to-earth leader. "He was sensitive towards the problems of the common people. He diligently served the common people and dedicated his life to popularising the ideals of Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan and Dr Ram Manohar Lohia. He made his own identity in national politics," Mast said in the letter. 

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Union minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday launched a special cleanliness drive at Chandni Chowk here as part of the Swachh Bharat campaign, which aims to collect 1 crore kg of plastic waste across the country. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Sports and Youth Affairs had launched the month-long campaign, being conducted across 744 districts of the country, at Prayagraj on October 1 through Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan and National Service Scheme affiliated institutions.

Equity benchmark indices made a firm start on Wednesday, rallying for the fourth day running, helped by buying in HDFC twins and a largely firm trend in global markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 382.43 points to 59,343.03 in early trade. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty advanced 98.45 points to 17,585.40. From the Sensex pack, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC and UltraTech Cement were the prominent winners in early trade. HCL Technologies, State Bank of India, Infosys, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.
Among other Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo traded in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong quoted lower.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered an FIR in the October 8-9 clashes between two communities in Ekbalpur area of Kolkata, a senior official said. The anti-terror agency is likely to start an investigation into the clashes from Wednesday and its officers may submit a copy of the complaint at Bankshall Court in the city, he said. 

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The BJP on Wednesday released its first list of 62 candidates for the polls to the 68-member Himachal Pradesh assembly, fielding Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur from his constituency Seraj. Anil Sharma, son of former Union minister Sukh Ram, has been fielded from Mandi. The list, which features five women candidates, was finalised in Monday's meeting of the party's Central Election Committee, whose members include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior leaders. Some incumbent MLAs have been dropped. Assembly polls in the state have been scheduled for November 12 and the last date for filing nominations is October 25.

French President Emmanuel Macron will visit India early next year amid a renewed push for the construction of nuclear power reactors at Jaitapur in Maharashtra. French Minister Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, during a meeting with Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh, said Macron was scheduled to visit India in "early 2023". Singh told the visiting minister that the technical, financial and civil nuclear liability issues concerning the Jaitapur project will be resolved at the earliest by both sides and well before Macron's visit. India has announced building six nuclear power plants of 1,650 MW each at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri, which could emerge as the largest nuclear power site in the country with a total capacity of 9,900 MW. Singh and Zacharopoulou discussed ways to speed up the setting up of the nuclear power reactors, an official statement said.

Prosecutors have charged a Northern California man with fatally shooting three men whom police have said were among six victims slain by a serial killer over the past year and a half. Wesley Brownlee (43), was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of killing six men and wounding a woman in a series of shootings dating back to April 2021. Police had been conducting surveillance on him on Saturday as he drove through the streets of Stockton, armed with a handgun and possibly “out hunting” for another victim. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday filed three counts of murder, one count of a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of ammunition. Brownlee, a truck driver who had recently moved to Stockton from Oakland, was only charged in three recent slayings in Stockton. District Attorney Tori Verber Salazar said she expects to file additional charges in two other murders in Stockton, as well as an attempted murder.

The woman whose naked body was found in an abandoned suitcase here was strangulated to death, police said on Tuesday. However, a doctor of the medical board which conducted her post-mortem said a possibility of rape cannot be ruled out. "The postmortem revealed that the deceased was strangulated to death and then put inside the suitcase. Our teams are on the job and the probe is on. "The body of the woman has not been identified yet but we will soon get a clear picture," said DCP, West Deepak Saharan. A member of the medical board member said the possibility of rape cannot be ruled out.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued the final gazette notification for redrawing of municipal wards in Delhi, paving the way for civic polls in the city. The 800-page gazette notification by the MHA, dated October 17, stated that the number of municipal wards in Delhi will now be 250. Before the reunification of the three erstwhile municipal corporations, there were 272 civic wards in the city. The delimitation committee on Monday submitted to the Centre the final report on redrawing of the wards of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), official sources earlier said.

The government announced plans to award millions of dollars in grants to expand all-hours mental health and substance abuse care in more communities around the country. “Today we're talking about providing to Americans 24/7 support for crisis care,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said. “That's something that's only been available to some, in some places. But depending on your income and ZIP code, you could be totally out of luck. That's going to start to change.”

A homeless man living in a tent fatally stabbed a Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a Vancouver suburb, police said on Wednesday. RCMP Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald said 31-year-old Const. Shaelyn Yang was stabbed to death by a homeless man while she partnered with a Burnaby city parks employee. He said a suspect was shot and injured and remains in hospital.

A Lashkar-e-Taiba "hybrid terrorist", who was arrested following the death of two labourers in a grenade blast in Shopian, has been killed in an anti-terror operation in Jammu and Kashmir, police said on Wednesday. "Based on disclosure of arrested hybrid terrorist and in continuous raids by police and security forces, another contact has been established between terrorists and SFs at Nowgam, Shopian, in which hybrid terrorist Imran Bashir Ganaie (was) killed by firing of another terrorist," Kashmir Zone police said in a tweet on Wednesday. It said incriminating material, including arms and ammunition, were seized from the encounter site. "The search operation is still going on," police said. Two labourers from Kannauj area of Uttar Pradesh were killed in a grenade attack early Tuesday at Harmain in Shopian. Police arrested two people, including Ganaie, for their involvement in the incident. "Hybrid terrorists" are unlisted radicalised people who carry out terror strikes and slip back into their routine lives often without leaving any trace.