Breaking News, September 15

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release cheetahs brought from Namibia in Madhya Pradesh's Kuno National Park on Saturday as part of his efforts to revitalise and diversify the country's wildlife and habitat, his office said. Cheetah was declared extinct in India in 1952. The cheetahs that would be released are from Namibia and have been brought under an MoU signed earlier this year. On September 17, which is also Modi's birthday, the prime minister will also participate in Self Help Group (SHG) Sammelan later that day with women SHG members/community resource persons at Karahal, Sheopur. Prime Minister Modi will visit Madhya Pradesh on September 17 and at around 10:45 AM he will release cheetahs in Kuno National Park, a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.

A 22-year-old Indian-origin man in Singapore was sentenced to life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane on Thursday for stabbing a stranger to death with a Singapore Armed Forces-issued Swiss folding knife during the COVID-19 "circuit-breaker" period in 2020. Surajsrikan Diwakar Mani Tripathi pleaded guilty to one count of murder. He stabbed 38-year-old Tay Rui Hao on May 10, 2020, while they were both jogging, Channel News Asia reported. Both he and Tay lived in Punggol but did not know each other. Tay had started jogging two to three times a week since the start of the circuit breaker (when people were not allowed to leave their houses for non-essential activities although the exercise was allowed) while Surajsrikan was a regular runner. The court heard that May 10 was a significant date for Surajsrikan as his father had abandoned his family and it was also the date of his enlistment into National Service.

Five persons were killed and 12 others injured when the bus they were travelling in plunged into a deep gorge in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district, officials said on Thursday. The bus, which was on its way to Jammu from Surankote Poonch, skidded off the road and plunged into the gorge at Deri Ralyot in Manjakote area, they said. Security forces and local residents have launched a rescue operation, they added. The accident comes a day after 11 people were killed and 28 others injured in another accident in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district. 

A Supreme Court bench, in a rare instance, has expressed displeasure in its judicial order over a new case listing mechanism introduced by Chief Justice U U Lalit for speedy disposal of matters pending for years. A bench headed by Sanjay Kishan Kaul, the number three-judge in seniority at present in the apex court, while hearing a criminal case passed the order, "The new listing system is not giving an adequate time to take up matters fixed for hearing like the present case as there are number of matters within the span of ‘Afternoon’ session".

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Thursday (September 15) said that the University Laws Amendment Bill recently passed by the state assembly seeks to legalise illegalities and he will not allow it. Khan also indicated he was against the Lok Ayukta Amendment Bill, also passed by the Assembly recently, saying that no one can be a judge in his own cause.

The results for Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG will be announced by 10:00 pm on Thursday, according to UGC Chairman Jagadesh Kumar. "CUET-UG results will be announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) by around 10:00 pm tonight. Best wishes to the students," Kumar said. The debut edition of CUET-UG, a gateway for undergraduate admissions, began in July and concluded on August 30. 

West Bengal BJP leader Jitendra Tiwari has been summoned to appear before the state CID in connection with its investigation into a coal smuggling case, officials said on Thursday. The CID has asked him to appear before its officers in the city for questioning in the coal smuggling case on Friday. Tiwari, who is the former Trinamool Congress mayor of Asansol and joined BJP before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly poll, confirmed receiving the notice. "An investigating authority can call anyone for the sake of investigation," Tiwari, a former TMC MLA from Pandaveswar, said. The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate are also investigating alleged illegal excavation, transportation and sale of coal from some districts of West Bengal. 

Krishnamurthy Acharya, Congress leader in Udupi, has been appointed KPCC coordinator for the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by Rahul Gandhi. He has been selected on the recommendation of KPCC president DK Shivakumar and chosen by All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of Karnataka Randeep Singh Surjewala, a party release said. The 3,570km 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' led by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi which commenced in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu on September 7, entered Kerala on September 10 evening and will traverse through the state covering 450 km, touching seven districts over a period of 19 days before entering Karnataka on October 1. 

India-Bhutan border gates at Samdrup Jhongkhar and Gelephu along the Assam frontier will reopen for tourists on September 23 for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak. A Bhutanese delegation, led by Tashi Penjore, the Himalayan kingdom's Director (law and order) of the Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs, held a meeting with Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) officials here on Wednesday and announced that the gates will be reopened after a two-and-half-year hiatus. As the COVID-19 scenario has improved, the Bhutan government has announced the reopening of its borders for trade, commerce and official transit from September 23, provided the pandemic situation does not worsen, Penjore said. "Over the last two-and-half years, many officials on both sides have changed and we were not able to meet and establish friendship and person-to-person contacts which are essential for people residing along the border areas of the two countries. We look forward to more such visits," he said.

Japan posted a record trade deficit in August as costs for imports of oil and gas soared, the government reported on Thursday. The 2.82 trillion yen (USD 19.6 billion) deficit, the 13th in a row, was triple the deficit logged in the same month a year earlier. Customs-data showed exports rose 22 per cent from a year earlier as regional economies recovered from pandemic-related disruptions while imports soared 50 per cent. Energy-related imports from the Middle East accounted for about half of the deficit. Japan's currency, the yen, has weakened sharply against the US dollar as the Federal Reserve has raised interest rates to counter inflation. Surging prices for many commodities and other products are also pushing Japan's imports higher. 

Defending champions India produced a clinical performance to retain their SAFF U-17 Championship title as they crushed a 10-man Nepal 4-0 in the final in Colombo. Boby Singh, Korou Singh, captain Vanlalpeka Guite, and Aman scored a goal each, to shape a resounding victory in India’s favour. In the group league, Nepal had defeated India 3-1. However, in the final, India looked a side eager to take a complete charge of the proceedings right from the word go. They got off the blocks early in the match, looking to find the gaps in the Nepal defence, and managed to get the lead in the 18th minute through Boby, who headed it into the goal at the far post, after a good piece of play between Ricky Meetei and Guite, as the latter sailed a cross towards the eventual goalscorer.

India added 6,422 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,45,16,479, while the active cases increased to 46,389, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll climbed to 28,250 with 34 fatalities which includes 20 deaths reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The active cases comprise 2.04 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.71 per cent, the ministry said. An increase of 640 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.  India's COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.  The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and  three crore on June 23 last year. It crossed the four-crore mark on January 25 this year. 

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A tropical storm was advancing up China's eastern coast on Thursday after bringing typhoon-strength winds and heavy rains to Shanghai overnight. Typhoon Muifa had maximum winds of 125 kilometers (77 miles) per hour upon landfall late Wednesday but had weakened to a tropical storm by morning, according to China's National Meteorological Center. It was forecast to weaken further as it moved through eastern parts of Jiangsu province through the day.No casualties or major damage has been reported in the Shanghai area, and the city was restarting public transit on Thursday after shutting down the metro as the storm passed.

Shefali Razdan Duggal, an Indian-American political activist, has been confirmed by US Senate as the country’s next envoy to the Netherlands. Razdan Duggal, 50, was confirmed by the US Senate by a voice vote along with two other confirmations to senior administrative positions. A Kashmiri Pandit, Razdan Duggal was born in Haridwar and moved with her family to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the age of two. Thereafter she moved to Cincinnati, Ohio at the age of five, where she grew up. She graduated from Miami University and earned her master's from New York University.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday about exporting Russian fertilizer through Ukraine's Black Sea ports to address a growing global food crisis that threatens multiple famines. The UN chief said they also discussed security at Europe's largest nuclear plant, where he said bombing has stopped for the past three days, and prisoners of war which he would like to see exchanged. Guterres told a news conference that Putin said a fact-finding mission he appointed at the request of Russia and Ukraine to investigate killings at the Olenivka prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine on July 29 will be able to go there “through whatever way we choose, and that is a very important aspect.” The warring nations accuse each other of carrying out the attack in which separatist authorities and Russian officials said 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed and 75 were wounded.

An auto driver along with his two associates has allegedly looted a 25-year-old Belgian tourist in Agra, police said here on Wednesday. According to the police, 8000 Euros in cash, one laptop, one camera, a mobile phone and a pair of shoes were looted on Tuesday morning from the tourist who came to see the Taj Mahal.  A complaint has been registered under various sections of Indian Penal Code at the Tourism Police Station in Agra against the three unidentified persons, they said.  "The name of the tourist was Sevi who had complained that he was looted by an auto driver and his two associates on Tuesday morning on a street near Agra Cantt Railway Station," Jai Singh Parihar, Incharge at Tourism Police Station told PTI.

A woman was arrested in South Korea on Thursday on two murder charges from New Zealand, where the bodies of two long-dead children were found last month in abandoned suitcases, authorities said. Authorities didn't immediately say if the 42-year-old suspect was the dead children's mother. New Zealand police had earlier told their South Korean counterparts that the mother might be living in South Korea. South Korean police said they detained the woman in the southeastern port city of Ulsan, based on a South Korean court warrant issued after New Zealand requested her extradition.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's car collided with another vehicle early Thursday after a battlefield visit, but he was not seriously injured, his spokesman said. Zelensky was returning to Kyiv from the Kharkiv region, where he visited troops in the recaptured city of Izium. A passenger vehicle collided with the president's motorcade in the Ukrainian capital, his spokesman, Sergii Nikiforov, said in a Facebook post. The driver of the other vehicle received first aid from Zelensky's medical team and was taken away by ambulance, he said. Medics examined the president, who suffered no serious injuries, Nikiforov wrote. He did not specify what injuries Zelensky might have suffered. The spokesman added that the circumstances of the accident are under investigation. Zelensky was late in posting the nightly video address that he has given during the war, possibly because of the car accident.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Wednesday that social security is one of the primary objectives of his government, which is working in all areas, including education, employment, health and infrastructure development. Gehlot observed the block-level Rajiv Gandhi Rural Olympic Games activities at Pratapgarh and Gogunda (Suran village) in Udaipur on Wednesday. He inaugurated and laid the foundation stones for development projects worth Rs 150 crore in Pratapgarh and Rs 26 crore in Gogunda. According to a statement, Gehlot said the sporting event named after former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi is a new and unique initiative not only in the country but in the world. He said there is no dearth of sporting talent in Rajasthan and the state government is trying promote talented sportspersons through the Rural Olympic Games.

The body of a police inspector was found hanging in his rented apartment on Wednesday in front of the police station in Ayodhya where he was posted. The body of Omkar Nath (46), who was a senior sub-inspector at the Purakalandar police station in the district, was found hanging in his rented accommodation located right opposite the police station in Mainuddinpur village, police said. Nath was promoted to the post of inspector only a few days ago. Before this, he was posted as a senior sub-inspector at the police station.

Widespread, global failures at multiple levels in the COVID-19 response led to millions of preventable deaths and reversed progress made towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in many countries, according to a new Lancet COVID-19 Commission report. The Commission critically considers the global response to the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing widespread failures of prevention, transparency, rationality, basic public health practice, and operational cooperation and international solidarity that resulted in an estimated 17.7 million deaths.