Breaking News, August 30

The Congress on Tuesday claimed that the grouping of the G-23 "never existed" in the party and blamed the media for "perpetuating this mythology."

Days after Ghulam Nabi Azad, who led the group of dissidents quit the Congress, AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh claimed that G-23 was a creation of the media and accused it of "perpetuating" the "mythology" of such a grouping.

Social activist Anna Hazare has written a letter to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, slamming his government's new excise policy and said it seems the CM has "sunk in the addiction of power." Hazare also said it seems the new policy will encourage liquor sale and consumption and spur corruption.
Last month, Delhi Lt Governor V K Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the implementation of Delhi's Excise Policy 2021-22.

Hazare, while citing the complete liquor ban in his village Ralegan Siddhi in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, reminded former associate Kejriwal about the latter's book 'Swaraj' which favoured liquor ban. The activist, who had penned the book's foreword, said he has written a letter to Kejriwal for the first time since he became CM and that it pains him to read reports about the Delhi government's new excise policy.

A mathematics teacher and a clerk of a residential school in Jharkhand's Dumka district were allegedly beaten by students after tying them to a tree for reportedly giving poor marks in Class 9 practical examination, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday at a government run Scheduled Tribe Residential School under Gopikandar police station area of the district.

As many as 11 students of the school out of 32 procured Grade- DD (double D), which is considered equivalent to fail, in the class-9 examination, results of which was declared by Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) on Saturday, the police said.

"No FIR has been lodged in the case, as school management did not give any written complaint about the incident. After verification of the incident, I asked the school authority to lodge a complaint but it refused saying that if might spoil the careers of the students," Gopikandar police station in-charge Nityanand Bhokta told PTI.

The teacher was identified as Suman Kumar, while the clerk was Soneram Chaure, police said. They also did not give any written complaint to the police, Bhokta said.

The first ship carrying grain from Ukraine for people in East Africa affected by drought and conflict has docked at the Horn of Africa port of Djibouti.

Food security experts call it a drop in the bucket for the vast needs in the worst-hit Horn countries of Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia, the nation where this first shipment is going.

But the flow of grain from Ukraine for hungry parts of the world is expected to continue, with another ship departing Tuesday for Yemen.

The United Nations' World Food Programme has said the first shipment of grain will be shipped overland to northern Ethiopia, where millions of people have been affected by the country's Tigray conflict, which has now flared up again.

WFP has said the 23,000 metric tonnes of grain are enough to feed 1.5 million people on full rations for a month.

But the UN has said 2.4 million in Tigray alone are severely food insecure, and millions more in the Horn of Africa region are going hungry because of drought.

The NFR has decided to operate four new special joyrides under the toy train service of Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) during the ensuing festive season, a senior official said. The new toy trains will run between Darjeeling and Ghum in both directions on a daily basis from October 1 and will continue till December 31 in view of the upcoming festive season, Northeast Frontier Railway Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De said.

Three people--a policeman and two labourers--were shot dead by unknown armed men in the restive northwest Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Monday, police said. The incident happened after the armed men abducted the policeman and two labourers from an under construction police station building in Aurakzai tribal district of the Kyber Pakhtunkhwa province and later shot them dead at a short distance from the premises.

A court here has issued fresh summons to filmmaker Leena Manimekalai in a plea seeking injunction against her upcoming movie “Kaali” for allegedly depicting the Hindu deity in an uncalled way in its posters and promotional videos. The court had earlier summoned the filmmaker on August 6, saying she needed to be heard before any order is passed.

In a fresh attack on the AAP-led Delhi government, the BJP on Tuesday said 'sharab' (liquor) and 'shiksha' (education) scams had become the "twin towers of corruption" in the Delhi government and the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation was gradually building more floors. The BJP leaders also alleged that the Delhi government escalated the cost of building classrooms multiple times and projected several schools toilets as classrooms to justify the "bloated" costs.

The Delhi Assembly witnessed ruckus on Tuesday with the proceedings adjourned twice amid sloganeering by AAP and BJP MLAs, who trooped into the well of the House. When the House met again at 12 noon, Deputy Speaker Rakhi Birla adjourned proceedings till 1 pm amid uproar by legislators from both sides who came to the well carrying placards.

A lawyer allegedly hanged himself to death in his house in Rajasthan's Sriganganagar district even as his family said he was being tortured by the police after he launched an agitation against peddling and consumption of drugs in the area. They have refused to accept the body and are demanding action against the policemen. On the other hand, advocates in victim's native Anupgarh tehsil have called for a boycott of their work in protest.

The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday issued a summons to Trinamool Congress' national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee for questioning in connection with its probe into the ‘coal pilferage scam’, an official said. The central agency asked Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, to appear at its Kolkata office on Friday morning, he said.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dropped a contempt case against activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan and journalist Tarun Tejpal filed in 2009 over their remarks against the judiciary. A bench of Justices Indira Banerjee, Surya Kant and M M Sundresh closed the proceedings after senior advocate Kapil Sibal informed that an apology has been tendered.

CBI officials searched Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia’s locker here on Tuesday, chaos reigning outside the bank as camera crews jostled with each other and curious crowds gathered to see what was happening. A team of about five Central Bureau of Investigation officials reached the PNB branch at Sector 4 Vasundhara in Ghaziabad, on the outskirts of the national capital, to execute the search, officials said.

The Mumbai Police have arrested actor and film critic Kamal Rashid Khan, popularly known as KRK, in connection with an alleged defamatory tweet posted by him, an official said on Tuesday. Khan was nabbed from the Mumbai airport late Monday night after he arrived from Dubai, the official from Malad police station said. The police did not reveal details of the tweet.

A team of CBI sleuths is likely to visit Asansol jail on Tuesday to question arrested Trinamool Congress leader Anubrata Mondal in connection with their ongoing investigation into the alleged cattle smuggling scam, an officer said. A four-member team of CBI reached Asansol from Kolkata on Monday night. “Our officers will be visiting the jail where Mondal is lodged. We hope to get new information from him,” the officer told PTI.

Kolkata reported the least number of rape cases among 19 metropolitan cities in India last year, according to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). Kolkata reported 11 cases of rape in 2021, while Delhi reported 1,226 rape cases -- the highest in the country.

The Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in Jharkhand's Dumka district has said that the class 12 student who died days after being set on fire by a man was a minor, and demanded action against him under the POCSO Act. The committee said she was around 16 years old as per the class 10 board examination marksheet and not an adult as claimed by the police. The incident happened in Dumka town on August 23 when the accused allegedly poured petrol on her from outside the window of her room when she was sleeping and set her on fire.

The rupee appreciated 7 paise to 79.84 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday in line with a positive trend in domestic equities. However, higher oil prices and month-end dollar demand could restrict the gains for the local unit, forex traders said.

India added 5,439 new coronavirus infections taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,44,21,162, while the active cases declined to 65,732, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. The active cases comprise 0.15 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has increased to 98.66 per cent, the ministry said.

The trial run of Mumbai's Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro line 3 will be conducted on Tuesday at Sariput Nagar in Aarey area, an official said. This marks an important development in the realisation of the Metro track shrouded in controversy. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis will attend the event.

First lady Jill Biden tested negative for COVID-19 on Monday and will return to Washington on Tuesday, nearly a week after she came downwith a “rebound” case of the coronavirus. Her communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, announced the negative test in a statement Monday night.

The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition BJP are both holding protests on the premises of the Delhi assembly building, and they are both accusing one another of corruption. The AAP MLAs set up beneath the monument of Mahatma Gandhi, while the BJP MLAs began their sit-in near the sculptures of legendary freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, and Sukhdev inside the Delhi assembly grounds.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is exploring the possibility of running for the post of Congress president though he is yet to take a final call on it, sources said. They said he has not made up his mind but could take a call on it soon. While Tharoor declined to comment on whether he would throw his hat into the ring, he has written an article for the Malayalam daily 'Mathrubhumi' calling for a "free and fair" election.

Newly-appointed UP BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary on Monday evening met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his residence here. In a tweet in Hindi, Chaudhary said, "Had an informal meet with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath at his residence after assuming the post of state BJP president."