Breaking News, October 22

The Congress in Kerala on Saturday suspended rape-accused MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly from the KPCC and DCC memberships for six months, the party said. The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), in a statement, said the explanation provided by the MLA was not satisfactory and the party suspended him from the KPCC and District Congress Committee (DCC) memberships for a period of six months.

A 21-year-old woman pharmacist was hacked to death allegedly by her ex-lover at her home near Panur in Kannur district of northern Kerala on Saturday, police said. The deceased, identified as Vishnupriya, was found dead in a pool of blood with a slit throat and deep wounds on her neck and hands at her residence in Vallyayil at around noon, they said.

A 34-year-old man was injured after he was shot at while trying to foil a robbery attempt at his shop in northeast Delhi's Karawal area, police said on Saturday. Around 9:45 pm on Friday, two men entered Surender Kumar's grocery shop, which he runs along with his son Saurabh (34), and started enquiring about the prices of various items, they said.

Four minor girls drowned and a fifth went missing on Saturday while collecting soil from a drain in an area under Motigarpur Police Station here, police said. The search is on for the fifth girl. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, expressing grief over the deaths, has directed the District Magistrate and senior police officers to go to the spot and conduct relief work.

Kotak Mahindra Bank on Saturday reported a healthy set of numbers, with net profit growing 27 per cent to Rs 2,581 crore for the three months to September, boosted by record margins and loan sales.

The number of snow leopards has increased to 121 in Uttarakhand, according to the latest census. State's Chief Wildlife Warden Samir Sinha said the 2022 snow leopard census was conducted on the orders of the Centre.

RBL Bank on Saturday reported a multi-fold jump in net profit to Rs 202 crore in the July-September quarter compared to Rs 31 crore in a year ago on lower provisioning for bad loans.

A team of the Forest and Wildlife Department rescued a leopard, which had got stuck in a barbed wire fencing at Bassi Umar Khan village, said officials here on Saturday. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajesh Kumar said he had received information about the trapped leopard on Saturday morning.

A 26-year-old software engineer was allegedly raped by around 10 men in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said on Saturday. The woman, who works at a well-known IT company and is here as she is working from home, was out with her boyfriend on a two-wheeler on Thursday evening when the incident took place near the old aerodrome in Chaibasa, they said.

A six-year-old girl was killed in a fire triggered by a gas leak at a small eatery in Sadashiv Peth area of Maharashtra's Pune city on Saturday, fire brigade officials said. The blaze broke out at an outlet selling biryani in Sadashiv Peth area around 10.50 am, an official said. A family from Uttar Pradesh worked at the eatery and lived with three children in a loft on top of the establishment, he said. "The fire broke out around 10.50 am. When a team from the fire brigade reached the spot, they were informed that a girl was stuck on the loft," the official said.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday expressed hope that the Congress' Bharat Jodo Yatra would bring about a change in atmosphere in the country. "Rahul Gandhi started the Bharat Jodo Yatra in protest against rising inflation, unemployment, hatred and violence in the country. In many states, the situation is such that criticising the government has become a crime. Seeing the success of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, even the statements of BJP, RSS leaders have started changing," Gehlot said in a tweet in Hindi.

The Congress on Saturday accused the Modi government of cheating farmers and said the Minimum Support Price for rabi crops announced by it is even lesser than the rate of inflation. Congress general secretary Randeep Surjewala said even as the BJP dispensation is patting its back for MSPs, it has in fact "duped the farmers" and claimed that their hard labour has got lost in the lights of Diwali.

Excise sleuths on Saturday seized 15.2 grams of MDMA, a banned contraband, from two youths who acted as drug suppliers in this district. They duo was taken into custody while travelling in a scooter with the narcotics at Kaipamangalam here. A senior excise official said the seizure was made based on a tip-off received by the Excise Commissioner's central region squad and the arrest was conducted by a team led by special squad CI Junaid.

A 26-year-old software engineer was allegedly raped by around 10 men in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district, police said on Saturday. The woman, who is here as she is working from home, was out with her boyfriend on a two-wheeler on Thursday evening when the incident took place near the old aerodrome in Chaibasa, they said. A group of eight-ten men stopped the couple, beat the boyfriend up and allegedly raped the woman after taking her to a secluded spot, police said. Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Shekhar said that a case was registered at the Muffasil police station and an investigation underway to identify those behind the incident. The woman works at a well-known IT company, police said. After raping her, the accused left her at the spot and fled. They also took away her wallet and mobile phone. The woman somehow managed to reach home, and told her family about the incident after which they filed a police complaint. Her medical check-up was conducted at the Sadar Hospital. 

Former prime minister Imran Khan will have to go through a gruelling legal battle to regain his political turf in the wake of his disqualification from holding public office for five years in the Toshakhana case for hiding proceeds from the sale of gifts he received from foreign leaders, according to a media report. Khan on Friday lost membership of Parliament, as well as, barred from contesting elections for five years after the Election Commission of Pakistan, the top constitutional election body, found him guilty of hiding the proceeds from the sale of precious gifts which he got as prime minister from different heads of states. However, there is confusion about whether the five-year disqualification would apply only to the five years term of the current assembly, or whether the disqualification period would start from the date of the verdict by the ECP.

The Rajasthan government has revised the pay scale of more than 31,000 contractual workers, gram panchayat assistants, education workers and para teachers, Education Minister B D Kalla said. They will now get salary based on the length of their service period. "The pay scale of contractual workers, gram panchayat assistants, education workers and para teachers -- whose estimated number is 31,473 -- has been revised. They will now get a salary of Rs 18,500 after nine years of service and Rs 32,000 after 18 years of service," Kalla said in a tweet on Friday. He also shared a copy of the official order dated October 21.

Two criminals were arrested after a brief exchange of fire in northeast Delhi's Jyoti Nagar in the early hours of Saturday, police said. The arrested men were identified as Shakti alias Sonu (36) and Sachin (24), they added. Police said Shakti is listed as a "Bad Character" at the Mansarovar Park police station and has been named as an accused in 18 criminal cases, while Sachin has four cases pending against him. The encounter took place around 2 am on the service road towards the Ambedkar College, near the Loni roundabout in Jyoti Nagar. Shakti, who received a bullet injury on his leg, is also wanted in a case registered under section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Jyoti Nagar police station, a senior officer said.

Four people were killed and one was injured when a landslide hit three houses in the Tharali area of ​​Uttarakhand's Chamoli district, officials said on Saturday. Tharali Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ravindra Juwantha said police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have been rushed to the spot. 

Union Minister Munjapara Mahendrabhai said the Centre has launched various schemes to develop Jammu and Kashmir as a world-class health and wellness tourist destination. He said the Union government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had last year announced a public outreach programme in J and K to reach out to people at the grassroots to listen to their problems, besides reviewing the development scenario in the UT. "Jammu and Kashmir would be developed as a world-class health and wellness tourist destination. The central government has launched various social and health sector schemes in this regard," Mahendrabhai said.

India saw a single-day rise of 2,112 new infections raising the COVID-19 tally to 4,46,40,748, while the number of active cases declined to 24,043, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll climbed to 5,28,957 with four fatalities which includes three deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. One death has been reported from West Bengal in a span of 24 hours. The active cases comprise 0.05 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.76 per cent, the health ministry said.

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Diwali is a universal concept that transcends cultures, Vice President Kamala Harris said on Friday as she opened her official residence for scores of Indian Americans to celebrate the festival of lights. The Naval Observatory -- official residence of the vice president -- was colourfully decorated with lights and diyas (earthen lamps) while the guests were served a wide variety of authentic Indian delicacies from ‘pani puri’ to traditional sweets, community leaders, who attended the event, said.

South Korea's former defence minister and coast guard chief were arrested on Saturday over their alleged involvement in covering up facts and distorting the circumstances surrounding North Korea's killing of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020 near the rivals' tense sea border. The arrests came as the government of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol expands investigations into the 2020 killing and another border incident the year before that prompted criticism that Seoul's previous liberal administration 

The government plans to start cruise services on the Yamuna river, a top official of UP Braj Tirth Vikas Parishad said on Friday. An order has been placed with Cochin Shipyard by the Union government for two cruises. These cruises will be handed over to the Parishad, its chief executive officer Nagendra Pratap said. According to officials, the cruise service will commence from Jugal Ghat Vrindavan and terminate at 'Vasudeo Vatika' adjacent to Gokul barrage, with halts at various points. Under the scheme, more than half a dozen jetties would be developed for the 22 km journey from Vrindavan to Gokul, they added. The officials said the Union government is also developing similar river transport in Ayodhya and Varanasi.

Giorgia Meloni on Friday formed Italy's new ruling coalition, assembling the country's first far-right-led government since the end of World War II and becoming the first woman to obtain the premiership. A presidential palace official announced that Meloni and her Cabinet would be sworn in on Saturday. Meloni's Brothers of Italy, a party with neo-fascist roots, was the top vote-getter in Italy's national election last month. A few hours before the new government's formation was announced, Meloni, 45, a career politician, told reporters that she and her allies had unanimously asked President Sergio Mattarella to give her the mandate to govern.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson- ousted by ethics scandals just three months ago- has jockeyed to make a comeback as one of several contenders seeking to replace Liz Truss, whose rapid downfall threw the country's leadership into disarray at a time of severe economic challenges. The governing Conservative Party has ordered a lightning-fast race that aims to finalise nominations on Monday and install a new prime minister, its third this year, within a week.

A 22-year-old woman was hacked to death allegedly by her husband in Jaipur district in the early hours of Friday, police said. The accused, Ramkaran Meena, hit his wife Sunita with an axe in their house in Bilod village in Raisar area of Jaipur, they said. She died on the spot. Primary investigation revealed that the couple quarrelled often and the woman had been living with her parents for nearly four months. She had returned to her husband's house two days back, police said. A case of murder has been registered against the husband at the woman’s father’s complaint, police said. The husband is absconding and is being searched for, they added. 

A second-year dental science student of a private medical college here died on Friday, two days after she allegedly jumped off the fourth floor of the building and was hospitalised with critical injuries, police said. SHO of local Jani police station Rajesh Kumar Kamboj said on the basis of a police complaint lodged by the woman's father, student Siddhant Kumar Panwar of the same batch was arrested and sent to jail. He said Vania Asad (22) allegedly jumped off the fourth floor of the library building of Subharti Medical College and was admitted to the medical college hospital, where she died on Friday afternoon. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination, Kamboj said. During the probe, police came to know that the accused had slapped Asad in public, as a result of which she was upset, the SHO said. 

Ukrainian forces bombarded Russian positions in the occupied and illegally annexed southern Kherson region, targeting resupply routes across a major river while inching closer to a full assault on one of the first urban areas Russia captured after invading the country. Russian-installed officials were reported desperately trying to turn the city of Kherson, a prime objective for both sides because of its key industries and major river and sea port, into a fortress while attempting to evacuate tens of thousands of residents.