Breaking News, September 16

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After the Common University Entrance Test results were declared, UGC Chairman M Jagadesh Kumar on Friday said universities will prepare rank lists for undergraduate admissions on the basis of "normalised" scores and not percentile or "raw marks". Kumar told PTI that the scores have been normalised to provide a level playing field for students who wrote the exam in the same subject on different days or in different shifts. The results for the debut edition of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG were declared earlier in the day.

India is undoing an ecological wrong by bringing back the cheetah which became extinct in the country due to overhunting, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav said on Friday. Addressing an event to mark the 28th Ozone Day, the minister also emphasised mindful utilisation of energy for cooling purposes. "India is one of those countries which believe in undoing ecological wrongs. A mistake should be rectified. Cheetahs became extinct in India due to overhunting. We have decided to bring the large carnivore back. This ecological wrong is being undone," Yadav said.

Former chief minister and Punjab Lok Congress chief Amarinder Singh will join the BJP next week, a party spokesperson said on Friday. Singh will also merge his newly formed party with the BJP. He had floated the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) last year after quitting the Congress following his unceremonious exit as chief minister. Singh (80) will join the BJP in the presence of party president JP Nadda and other leaders in Delhi. Seven former MLAs and one former MP, who joined the PLC, will be among those to follow Singh on Monday, PLC spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal told PTI over phone. Other office bearers and district presidents of the PLC will join the BJP in a separate event in Chandigarh next week, Baliawal added.

A 23-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by jumping into a well along with her two children at a village in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, police said on Friday. Bodies of Girja Bai, her two-year-old daughter Sania and six-month-old son Siddhant, were found floating in the well near their house in Mangamar village under Dipka police station limits on Thursday, an official said. As per preliminary investigation, Girja had left the house with her children while other family members were asleep in the early hours of Thursday, he said. The woman took the children to the well and jumped into it with them, he said. A search was subsequently launched and their bodies were found floating in the well, the official said. Girja was suffering from a mental illness and availing treatment for it, he said, adding that further investigation is underway. 

Over 100 families of a society in Noida are forced to live without power due to lackadaisical approach of the builder, leading to inconvenience to the residents. As per information, the Power Department snapped the supply in Hilston Urbtech Society in Sector 79 on Tuesday (September 13) post allegations of electricity theft against the builder. After the Power Department snapped the supply, electricity to the residents was provided via generator. But at around 2:00 pm on Thursday, the generator ran out of fuel and stopped.The builder, who had allegedly taken a temporary connection of 50 KW during construction of the building, did not take the permanent connection even after the families started residing there and continued to supply 750 KW power from the same line.

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has frozen Rs 46.67 crore worth funds kept in payment gateways Easebuzz, Razorpay, Cashfree and Paytm after it carried out raids this week against Chinese-controlled loan apps and investment tokens. The funds have been frozen under the anti-money laundering law. The searches were launched on September 14 at multiple premises of the accused in Delhi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, Lucknow and Gaya. Sixteen premises of banks and payment gateways in Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bengaluru in respect of an investigation related to an app-based token named HPZ and related entities were also covered, the federal agency said in a statement. The money laundering case stems from an October, 2021 FIR filed by the cyber crime unit of Kohima Police in Nagaland, it said.

A person has been arrested on charges of harassing a woman who was buying sweets in a supermarket at Tingaladi in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district on Wednesday, police sources said. The accused has been identified as Badruddin, a resident of Sorake in Sarve panchayat of the taluk, the sources said. The woman had come to the bazaar to buy grocery and sweets on Wednesday evening. When she had bought sweets and was paying cash to the shop owner, the accused Badruddin suddenly touched her inappropriately from behind. When the woman raised an alarm and started screaming, the accused ran away from the spot. As the news of the incident spread, Hindu activists gathered at the spot and demanded the police arrest the culprit immediately or face fierce protest. Sampya police, who swung into action, arrested the culprit on Thursday. A case has been registered under IPC Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), the sources said. 

The ED on Friday launched fresh raids at about 40 locations across the country as part of a money laundering investigation into alleged irregularities in the now scrapped Delhi Excise Policy, official sources said. The searches are being conducted at premises linked to liquor businessmen, distributors and supply chain networks in Nellore and some other cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Delhi-NCR, they said. This is the second round of raids being conducted by the federal agency in this case after it first conducted searches on September 6 at about 45 locations across the country.

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Accompanied by hundreds of party workers and senior party leaders, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday resumed his party's Bharat Jodo yatra, a 150-day-long foot march, after a day's rest from Polayathodu in Kollam district of Kerala. Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, V D Satheesan, AICC general secretary in charge of Organisation, K C Venugopal, senior Congress leaders, Ramesh Chennithala, K Muraleedharan, RSP leader N K Premachandran among others were seen walking besides Gandhi.

The results for the debut edition of the Common University Entrance Test (CUET)-UG have been declared on Friday, National Testing Agency (NTA) officials said. The results were scheduled to be declared by 10 pm on Thursday, however, the NTA informed post-midnight that there will be a delay citing a huge database. "The merit lists will be prepared by participating universities who will decide about their individual counselling on the basis of CUET-UG score card," said Sadhana Parashar, Senior Director (Exams), NTA. The First edition of CUET-UG, a gateway for undergraduate admissions, began in July and concluded on August 30. The exam had recorded 60 per cent attendance. 

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi Thursday targeted the Centre over its policies, alleging the BJP government evades accountability on matters of public interest by using diversionary tactics. "India has the highest number of unemployed youths in the world. But, when you ask a question about it, Modi ji will say 'bhaiyo-behnon have some tea'. When you ask why inflation is not being controlled, he will say 'haven't we built the Ram Temple'," he said, addressing a public meeting in Ladnun of Nagaur district during his two-day tour to the state. The state goes to polls 2023 December. Owaisi said the youth of India and Rajasthan need to think about what the BJP has given to them and what it has taken away.

Bihar Police authorities have asked an inspector general rank officer to examine the authenticity of evidence furnished against the Nawada district SP that he allegedly kept five cops inside a lockup for two hours, and initiate action if he is found guilty. The Magadh IG, Vinay Kumar, was directed to complete the investigation into the matter within seven working days and update the Headquarters, according to an order issued by the Anil Kishore Yadav, Additional Director General (ADG), CID & Weaker Section division of the Bihar Police.

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A volunteer Ukrainian medic held captive three months by Russian forces in Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol told U.S. lawmakers Thursday of cradling and comforting fellow prisoners as they died of torture and inadequately treated wounds. Ukrainian Yuliia Paievska, who was captured by pro-Russian forces in Mariupol in March and held at shifting locations in Russian-allied territory in Ukraine's Donetsk region, spoke to lawmakers with the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, a government agency created in part to promote international compliance with human rights. Her accounts Thursday were her most detailed publicly of her treatment in captivity, in what Ukrainians and international rights groups say are widespread detentions of both Ukrainian noncombatants and fighters by Russia's forces.

Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday said Odisha will get 5G service along with other cities in the first phase of its launch. “Odisha will have access to 5G telecom service in the very first phase. It will provide users 10 times the speed of 4G,” he said on the sidelines of a programme. Around 13 cities are likely to get 5G telecom service across the country in the first phase. Vaishnaw also downplayed apprehensions over the radiation impact of 5G. “The radiation from 5G is much below the WHO-recommended levels,” he said. During an interactive session with students, the minister said the Centre has asked telecom operators to improve the quality of their service.

Asserting that the people of Pakistan need America’s help, a US lawmaker has introduced legislation to provide more help to the country that has been devastated by recent floods.The cash-strapped nation has been struggling with the worst floods in the past 30 years, leaving more than 1,400 dead and 33 million people affected since early June.A third of the country is submerged in water and one in every seven persons is badly affected by the floods that have led to an estimated USD 12 billion in losses that have left about 78,000 square kilometres (21 million acres) of crops under water.