Breaking News, April 5 | LIVE UPDATES

A Station House Officer (SHO) in Bihar's West Champaran district has been suspended for sharing the details of a remand home to a family in an inappropriate manner.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to file its response on a plea challenging the constitutional validity of Sections 15 and 16 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956.

The Delimitation Commission on Tuesday concluded its 2-day visit to J&K, in which it met 400 delegations, an official statement said.

The Gurugram Traffic police have issued challans amounting to Rs 2,11,08,900 against 1,30,512 traffic offenders, and recovered Rs 1,42,77,623 as penalty from January 2022 to March 2022 for various offences.

The French Foreign Ministry said that the country has decided to expel "many" Russian diplomats, "whose activities are contrary to our security interests".

The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear a plea against the laws allowing political parties' funding through the electoral bond scheme.

The displaced Kashmiri pandits of the Muthi migrant camp here on Tuesday held protests against the selective targeting of their community members and non-locals by terrorists in Kashmir. Terrorists fired at a Kashmiri pandit and two laborers from Bihar in South Kashmir on Monday, leaving them injured.

As pressure mounts on Big Tech to sanitise their platforms and stop scraping users data, India needs to learn from the US antitrust bill called the American Innovation and Choice Online Act which has now been endorsed by the Department of Justice (DoJ).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Jammu and Kashmir on April 24 on his first visit to the union territory after the abrogation of Article 370, BJP general secretary (Organisation) Ashok Koul said on Tuesday.

Telangana Rashtra Samithi(TRS) working president K.T. Rama Rao fired another salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over fuel price hike.

Indian Army Chief General Manoj Mukund Naravane and Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen met on Tuesday and discussed regional geopolitical developments.

Whether it be the Covid-19 pandemic or otherwise, the number of suicides witnessed a sharp increase during the past six years in Odisha. According to the latest official data, as many as 28,249 suicide cases were reported in the state during the past six years (2016 to 2021). The data shows that the suicide cases increased with each passing year.

Giving a special concern to organized crime in the state, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday ordered the constitution of an Anti-Gangster Task Force in the state. The task force would be headed by an Additional Director General of Police (ADGP)-rank officer. In a statement, the Punjab government said that the eradication of organized crime is among its topmost priorities.

Tata Power Solar has commissioned a 160 MW AC solar project at Jetstar in Rajasthan. Around 6,75,000 monocrystalline PV modules were used in this installation and it will produce 387 million units of energy per year, according to a statement.

Opposition members on Tuesday disrupted the proceedings in the Lok Sabha by staging vocal protests over hike in fuel prices and other issues, forcing two successive adjournments in the House. As soon as the House met at 11 am, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and DMK's T R Baalu demanded a discussion on the hike in fuel prices, which were raised 13 times in the last two weeks.

Equity benchmark Sensex fell over 200 points in early trade on Tuesday, tracking losses in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, Reliance and Infosys as profit booking emerged at higher valuations amid mixed global cues. The 30-share Sensex and the broader Nifty, witnessed heavy volatility in initial deals.

The 30-share BSE barometer was trading 212.43 points or 0.35 per cent lower at 60,399.31 in opening trade. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty dropped 49.95 points or 0.28 per cent to 18,003.45.

From the 30-share pack, HDFC Bank, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, Axis Bank, Reliance, and ICICI Banks were among the biggest laggards.

On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Titan, HCL Tech and TCS were trading in the green.

India reports 795 fresh COVID19 cases, 1,208 recoveries, and 58 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Active cases: 12,054 (0.03%)
Death toll: 5,21,416
Daily positivity rate: 0.17%

Total vaccination: 1,84,87,33,081

Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Tuesday informed senior party members that he will not step down as Sri Lankan President but is ready to hand over the government to whichever party proves that it has a majority of 113 seats in Parliament.

According to Daily Mirror, Rajapaksa held political meetings on Monday even as public protests continued against shortages of essential goods and electricity power cuts.

Parliament is scheduled to convene for the first time today, since the public protests and with Speaker, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena presiding to conduct a vote to determine which party holds the absolute majority of 113 seats in the 225-member assembly.

Indian Nursing Council on Monday condemned the "derogatory content" in the Sociology textbook for nurses wherein merits of dowry are listed, adding that it does not endorse any author or publication nor has it allowed any author to use the name of Indian Nursing Council for their publications.

A chapter in a sociology textbook for nurses sparked a row yesterday as it has claimed that the system of dowry is actually good for society and even helps parents of "ugly looking girls" to get them married off.

The book is called 'Textbook of Sociology for Nurses' by Author TK Indrani lays and it is part of the curriculum for second-year B.Sc. students.

Airline major IndiGo on Monday suspended some of its pilots on disciplinary grounds.

In a statement, an IndiGo spokesperson said: "We confirm that a handful of IndiGo pilots have been suspended from duty for indulging in activities that are in contravention to the terms of their employment and in violation of the code of conduct of the company."

The Afghan security forces have launched a clearance operation in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, and the surrounding districts as the latest preventive measures to ensure a high level of security, the local government said.

The clearance operation was launched on Sunday by the security forces of the Interior and Defence Ministries as well as the National Intelligence Agency, the government added on Monday in a statement.

The operation aimed at arresting and eliminating the thieves, kidnappers and other culprits who had already been listed by the security forces, the statement said.

Iran is ready to resume talks with Saudi Arabia to solve differences, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman announced.

"We are ready for the continuation of talks and for the settlement of differences. We have submitted our views in written form to the Saudi side, and they should express their views," Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday in his weekly press briefing.

Repeating Iran's welcome of a ceasefire in Yemen, he said this "should be completed with the beginning of intra-Yemeni dialogue and we should wait for the results."

In light of the shrinking Covid-19 cases, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the country's national state of disaster was terminated.

The national state of disaster was terminated on Monday at 12 a.m.

"While the pandemic is not over, and while the virus remains among us, these conditions no longer require that we remain in the national state of disaster. Going forward, the pandemic will be managed in terms of the National Health Act," he announced in a televised address on Monday.

The UN mission in Mali is investigating reports of civilians killed during clashes last week between government troops and militants, a UN spokesman said.

Published reports vary in the number of civilian deaths, but they do agree the number is in the hundreds. They said the army of Mali engaged with militants believed to be associated with the Islamic State or al-Qaeda, known to be in the area.

"Our peacekeeping colleagues are very concerned about these reports, and they are working to verify the facts and circumstances of the incident, including whether human rights violations and abuses were committed," said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Madhya Pradesh's former Chief Minister Kamal Nath will remain the state Congress President and the party will contest the 2023 Assembly elections under his leadership, it was unanimously decided at a party meeting on Monday evening.

Sources in the party said that during the two-hour-long meeting, Congress leaders discussed various issues and unanimously decided that they should hold such meetings at least twice in month, which all senior leaders should present.

Heatwave continued in Madhya Pradesh on Monday as the average temperature in several parts of the state either touched or crossed the 42 degrees Celsius-mark, forcing people to state indoors in the day time.

The maximum temperature in places like Khajuraho, Narmadapuram, Rajgarh, Damoh, Khandwa, Khargone and Nawgaon touched the 43 degrees Celsius-mark on Monday, even as the heatwave continued in Chhindwara, Rewa, Sidhi, Guna, Rajgarh, Damoh, Sagar, Satna, Jabalpur, and Gwalior.

According the Met department, the maximum temperature in the four major cities -- Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior -- was recorded at a little over 40 degrees Celsius.

The Madhya Pradesh government is set to introduce a digital locker system in all colleges and universities of the state to provide marksheets, certificates, migration transcripts etc. to the students digitally.

The higher education department of the state government has initiated the digital locker system, which will be made available at all the universities of the state.

Every student will have an account on the digital locker system, said an official in the higher education department, adding that the Barkatullah University has been made the nodal varsity for this system.

Bangladesh has been a leader in rallying other countries to deal with climate crisis that the planet is facing, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken has said.
Blinken and his Bangladeshi counterpart Abdul Momen on Monday discussed a wide range of bilateral and regional issues, including the Rohingya refugee crisis.

“Bangladesh has been a leader in rallying other countries to deal with climate crisis that the planet is facing. We deeply appreciate that, and we are working closely together as well on COVID-19, and we are proud to have been able to contribute through COVAX some 61 million vaccine doses to Bangladesh,” Blinken said during his bilateral meeting with the visiting Bangladeshi delegation.

Lucknow has reported zero Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. This is the first time in 104 days that the state capital of Uttar Pradesh has not reported a single case. This is in sharp contrast to April 2021, when the second wave had taken the city into its grip.

In two months, April and May 2021, more than 1.5 lakh people got infected and over 1,200 died due to Covid-19.

According to the official press release from the office of the Chief Medical Officer, Lucknow, no sample in the city has tested positive for the Covid-19 infection in the past 24 hours.

A local Congress leader was allegedly killed by two supporters of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the Swantar Nagar locality here, police said on Monday.

Station House Officer Namdev Singh said there was a dispute over the construction of a building belonging to Congress leader Mangat Ram, who was the president of ward number 12.

Two supporters of the SAD had objected to the construction and had filed a complaint with the municipal corporation. On Sunday, the Akali supporters allegedly attacked Ram with sticks, which led to his death. Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu on Monday met the family members of Ram.

Amid a controversial statement by MNS chief Raj Thackeray on countering azaan from mosque loudspeakers with Hanuman Chalisa, Maharashtra home minister Dilip Walse Patil halted his speech in Pune's Shirur area when the Muslim call for prayer was being made nearby. A video of the incident went viral on social media platforms. His cabinet colleague Ajit Pawar had done something similar while speaking in Pune some time ago.

Speaking at another event in the district, Walse Patil said there are several real issues such as petrol price hike, inflation, unemployment and the poor economic condition of the country to talk about, but attempts are being to create tension between communities.

Criticizing Thackeray's statement on azaan, he said Muslims have faith in their religion, while Hindus have faith in their religion.

Curfew in violence-hit Rajasthan's Karauli was extended till April 7 on Monday considering the law and order situation. The district administration also made arrangements for class 10 and 12 examinations, allowing students to reach their exam centres after showing their admit cards, officials said, two days after communal clashes in the town.

"As the present circumstances are not normal for the law and order situation. In such a situation, curfew is extended till April 7 midnight," an order issued by Karauli District Collector Rajendra Shekhawat said.

However, two hours relaxation will be given to allow people to make essential purchases, and any further relaxation will be provided considering the law and order situation, officials said.

The Agra police on Monday arrested four people who posed as magistrates and sought to inspect a secure room where question papers of Uttar Pradesh board examinations for classes 10 and 12 were kept, an official said. The four reached an examination centre in Agra in an SUV.

Superintendent of Police (Agra City) Vikas Kumar said, "All four persons went to the school posing as magistrates. They asked police and the centre manager to take them to the strong room where question papers were kept. When asked, they were not able to prove their identity and provide authorisation letter."

They have been identified as Raghuvir Singh Tomar, Mukesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Devendra Kumar -- all residents of Agra.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday handed over appointment letters to 10 family members of those who were killed after their houses were set ablaze in Birbhum district last month.

She directed the district magistrate to ensure that the next of kin of the deceased face no problems while joining work in organisations mostly located in Rampurhat area.

Charred bodies of eight people were recovered from Bogtui village in the district on March 21, hours after the murder of a TMC panchayat leader.

The incident sent shockwaves across the nation with the Calcutta High Court directing the CBI to take over the probe.

President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Amsterdam on Monday on the final leg of his two-nation visit - the first presidential trip to the Netherlands after 34 years - during which he will hold discussions with the top leadership of the European country. President Kovind arrived from Turkmenistan where he held talks with his Turkmen counterpart Serdar Berdimuhamedov and the two sides agreed to expand bilateral trade and energy cooperation to further strengthen the multifaceted partnership. He is the first Indian President to visit independent Turkmenistan.

"Goedemiddag Nederland! President Ram Nath Kovind arrives in Amsterdam on the final part of his two-nation visit. The presidential visit to the Netherlands comes after 34 years since the visit of President Venkataraman in 1988," the president's office tweeted.

Air travel in the United States improved Monday after a rocky weekend that left thousands of flyers stranded by thunderstorms in Florida, technology problems at the busiest domestic airline and labor problems at another carrier. However, airlines that do much of their flying in Florida were still struggling Monday, especially Spirit Airlines.

And airlines were bracing for another round of storms that were forecast to hit the Dallas area — home to American and Southwest— Monday night.
Airlines scrubbed about 650 US flights by midafternoon Monday, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. That followed the cancellation of more than 3,500 flights about one in every 13 over the weekend.

The United States supports peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles in Pakistan, its official has said. As you heard from me last week, we support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles in Pakistan,” State Department Spokesperson Ned Price told reporters at his daily news conference.

It is the case around the world. We do not support one political party over another. We support the broader principles, the principles of rule of law, of equal justice under the law, he said.

Price reiterated that there is no truth in the allegations that the United States is interfering in the internal affairs of Pakistan and tried to topple the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Rajasthan Congress on Monday formed a three-member fact-finding committee over the Karauli incident. The Committee includes MLAs Jitendra Singh and Rafiq Khan and Karauli district in-charge Lalit Yadav. The panel will visit Karauli and submit its report to Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. The Rajasthan police on Monday arrested 46 people and detained seven others for interrogation following a stone-pelting incident during a religious procession in Karauli on Saturday.

The Inspector-General (IG) of Police, Bharatpur Range, Prasanna Kumar Khamesra said, "After stone pelting took place during the procession in Futa Kot area Main Bazaar Karauli on Saturday, the police acted promptly and arrested 46 people and detained seven people for interrogation."

Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, Bharat Biotech will rectify the issues raised by the World Health Organization regarding its COVID-19 vaccine-- Covaxin-- in a few days and added that the company has informed about this development to the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) and Union Health Ministry, sources said on Monday.

According to sources close to ANI," Bharat Biotech has informed Union Health Ministry that it will rectify the issues pointed out by WHO in 15 to 20 days."
"World Health Organization (WHO)'s suspension is not related to safety or efficacy issues but limited only to supply for United Nations agencies," sources said to ANI.

"Received some feedback... will do those modifications. WHO has said nothing related to safety or efficacy," sources in Bharat Biotech told ANI.

Feeling neglected in the coalition government of Jharkhand by its senior partner Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, a Congress leader on Monday said that no one should live under the illusion that they can run the government without their support.

"No one should be under the illusion that they can run the government alone," said Congress Jharkhand in-charge Avinash Pandey on being asked about the Congress MLA being neglected by the CM.

As many as 25 Jharkhand Congress leaders have been called to Delhi for a meeting with party state in-charge Avinash Pande today. The state president, all four working presidents, four Ministers in the Jharkhand government from Congress, all former state presidents and presidents of some wings will attend the meeting.

Pande will preside over the meeting. The presence of Rahul Gandhi in the meeting is still not confirmed.

Speaking to ANI on the development, Jharkhand Congress chief Rajesh Thakur termed the meeting a "pre-decided" programme.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday warned that time is running out for countries, corporations and others to adopt critical measures to reverse greenhouse gas emissions, but the crisis can be averted primarily by substituting renewable energy sources for fossil fuels.

He made these remarks in response to the sixth UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report issued on Monday.

BJP top brass held a meeting at the party office in New Delhi on Monday to formulate the plan for programmes to be held on the party's Foundation Day on April 6 and planned to screen the address of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in every booth of all the states. The address of the Prime Minister is likely to be followed by the address of a senior party leader who would speak on the history and struggle of the party, said the sources.

Party senior leaders including party National President JP Nadda, National General Secretary (Org) BL Santhosh, CT Ravi, Kailash Vijayvargiya and others were present at the meeting.

In the meeting, an outline of the programmes to be held throughout the month was also discussed.

Price of petrol & diesel in Delhi at Rs 104.61 per litre & Rs 95.87 per litre respectively today (increased by 80 paise)

In Mumbai, the petrol & diesel prices per litre at Rs 119.67 (increased by 84 paise) & Rs 103.92 (increased by 85 paise)