Breaking News, January 16

A civilian and a policeman were injured in a militant grenade attack in Srinagar city on Sunday evening, police said. Police said militants hurled a grenade towards a team of security forces in Safa Kadal area of Srinagar. "Two persons were injured in this explosion, selection grade constable Mehraj and civilian Mushtaq Ahmad. "Both the injured have been shifted to hospital for treatment. The area has been cordoned off for searches," a police officer said.

Ahead of the Republic day parade, politics of tableau has heated up after Centre rejected the proposals of Kerala and West Bengal governments with Mamata Banerjee shooting off a letter to the Prime Minister and Congress alleging partisan and vindictiveness in the selection of the states for the Tableau. Congress leader B.K. Hariprasad has alleged that the BJP is vindictive towards non-NDA ruled states. "BJP is having vindictive attitude towards certain states. The Centre has rejected Kerala government's tableau which was based on Narayana Guru, a philosopher & social reformer."

Three persons belonging to Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district were killed on Sunday, while one person was injured in Chamba area of Himachal Pradesh in a road accident. "The accident happened when the vehicle they were travelling in met with an accident," a police officer said.

The deceased have been identified as Bashir Ahmed, son of Samad Sheikh; Bashir Ahmed, son of Ghulam Mohammad, and Mohammad Iqbal, son of Ghulam Mohammad. The injured has been identified as Ghulam Nabi, son of Sultan Mohammad. "All these persons were from block Loran, tehsil Mandi in Poonch district and had gone to work as labourers to Chamba in Himachal Pradesh," the police officer said.

S. Prabhakaran from Podhambu in Madurai district of Tamil Nadu, who was the winner of the best bull tamer award at the Palamedu Jallikattu held on Saturday, urged Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to provide government jobs to the bull tamers. The 21-year-old won the best bull tamer award and a two-wheeler sponsored by the DMK Youth wing president and son of Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin, Udayanidhi Stalin.

Prabhakaran tamed 21 bulls after he took the field at round 4 and endured till round 7. M. Karthik Raja who had tamed 11 bulls won the second place and was awarded with an LED TV. Sivaganga Puliyur Sooravali won the best bull award and a car sponsored by the Chief Minister. The first prize winner Prabhakaran had earlier won the Palamedu Jallikattu in 2020 and became runner up in 2021.

The bull tamer said that he was working as a driver and most of the bull tamers are doing something or other odd jobs and that they were not into full-time bull taming. The Palamedu Jallikattu showered gold coins and other home appliances for the winners of each round and throughout the game. Several sponsors lined up to provide awards to the winners. Most of the awards given away were sponsored by DMK ministers including S. Moorthy and Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi other than the car for the best bull tamer sponsored by Chief Minister Stalin and a two-wheeler for the best bull tamer by the chief of the DMK youth wing, Udayanidhi Stalin.

A pantograph used by trains to draw power, along with models of eight metro trains operational across the country, are among the two new attractive exhibits displayed at the Delhi Metro Museum recently, officials said on Sunday. The Delhi Metro Museum, started in 2009 at the Patel Chowk Metro Station, has about 50 different panels, models, exhibits and photo galleries chronicling the illustrious journey of the the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), they said.

Explaining a pantograph, a senior metro official said that it is an equipment which is mounted on the roof of the train and is used to draw power from the overhead electrification (OHE) wires.
 
"One such pantograph, currently out of use, has been refurbished and put for display at the museum. An information board, along with photographs of pantographs used in metro trains, have also been displayed," he said. To display the growth of Metro networks in the country, models of eight different Metro trains, including those used by the Delhi Metro, have been also displayed at the museum, the official added.

"This exhibit will give an idea to visitors about how the Metro networks have grown rapidly in India over the last few years," the official said. Despite the constraints posed by the COVID–19 pandemic, the Delhi Metro Museum has added another exhibit displaying the prestigious Japan Society of Civil Engineers' (JSCE) Award received by the DMRC, he said.

A case has been registered against three persons, including a village head, after four cows were found dead at a cowshed run by the state government in this Uttar Pradesh district, officials said on Sunday. The case was registered on Saturday in connection with the deaths of the cows at the Nandi Gaushala in Karsuma village under Bahua development block of the district. Chief Development Officer Satyaprakash on Sunday said the case was registered against village head Kalavati, panchayat secretary Lalit Gautam and supervisor Suresh Kumar. He added that an adverse entry in the service records has been made against Bahua's block development officer Lalji Yadav and veterinarian Ajay Kumar Dubey. "The four cows were found dead at the Nandi Gaushala on Friday," Satyaprakash said.

The father of an Army Aviation pilot who died in a crash in Jammu and Kashmir last year has written to President Ram Nath Kovind, requesting him to make it mandatory for all army pilots to undergo underwater survival training and to equip them with essential life-saving gears. Harish Chander Joshi's son Capt Jayant Joshi of 254 Squadron of Army Aviation had died in a fatal crash of his helicopter over Ranjit Sagar Dam in Jammu and Kashmir on August 3, 2021 while on a mission sortie. A pilot of Rudra Weapon System Integrated (WSI) attack helicopter of Army Aviation, Jayant Joshi along with Lt.Col. A S Batth, a test pilot and an aviation instructor, were practising target acquisition and deployment of integrated weapons on the 200-square kilometre dam when the crash took place.

"The crash has exposed many glaring gaps in the safety processes being followed in Army Aviation. It has also apparently revealed an attitude of apathy and disregard in the matter of pilot safety and training needs among those responsible for the affairs of Army Aviation," Jayant Joshi's father Harish Chander Joshi wrote in his letter to the President. The President's secretariat has forwarded the complaint to the Defence Secretary, according to a communication received by Joshi.

A 31-year old woman allegedly hanged herself to death over torture by her husband and in-laws in Ajmer, police said on Sunday. The incident took place Saturday night, they said. According to a suicide note left behind by the woman, she was harassed by her husband, who is living in Germany, and his parents staying in Ajmer's Kishangarh area. The victim, Anuradha, got married to Aniruddha three years ago.

A man has gone on trial in London, accused of plotting to kill a Pakistani blogger living in the Netherlands, the BBC reported. A court heard that 31-year-old Muhammad Gohir Khan was hired as a "hitman" by figures said to be based in Pakistan.He was arrested last June and pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder.Lawyers said the intended victim, Ahmad Waqass Goraya, had set up a blog on Facebook making fun of the Pakistani military and detailing alleged human rights violations, the report said.

Rajasthan continued to reel under cold wave conditions with dense fog engulfing many areas in the state Sunday morning. While Mount Abu recorded -3 degree Celsius, in the plains, Karauli was recorded as the coldest place with the lowest night temperature of 2.4 degrees Saturday night. The night temperature in Mount Abu has been below freezing point for the last three days. Along with the state capital, foggy conditions prevailed in Ajmer, Bhilwara, Pilani, Vanasthali, Pilani, Sikar, Kota, Chittorgarh, Dabok, Bikaner, Churu and Ganganagar. The areas were covered under a thick layer of fog, which reduced visibility and affected movement on roads and highways.

In light of surge in COVID-19 cases, Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday ordered that all schools and colleges will remain closed till January 23, 2022. On January 5, the Uttar Pradesh government had ordered to close all government and private schools for students up to class 10 till January 16. Several other states are also extending the closure of schools due to rising COVID-19 cases. Telangana on Sunday ordered to educational institutions to remain closed till January 30, 2022. Similarly, schools and colleges in Madhya Pradesh will remain closed till January 31. Schools in Bengaluru will remain closed till January 31 while schools in Kerala for students up to class 9 will remain closed for physical classes till January 21.

The West Bengal government has started an exercise to assess crop damage due to recent unseasonal rain and advise farmers to take necessary steps to protect their produce from pest attacks, a minister said. State agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay stated that his department is monitoring the situation so that there would be no shortage of foodgrains at a time when the economy is grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and food inflation. “Our officials have been sent to fields after the unseasonal rain occurred since January 11. We want to complete a quick assessment of crop damage in areas that received rainfall," he said.

Five persons, including a minor brother-sister duo, were killed, while two others suffered grievous injuries after a car rammed into a moving tractor in Banaskantha district of Gujarat, police said on Sunday. While four of the deceased were family members who were travelling in the car, the fifth victim was the driver of the tractor, they said. The accident occurred late Saturday night, an official said.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday said that in a joint operation with Border Security Force (BSF) it has arrested one Aladu alias Mathur, a resident of West Bengal, Malda in connection with running fake Indian currency racket. The gang was being operated from cross border. The main accused were sending fake notes to India from Bangladesh. A senior NIA official said they busted the gang last week and had arrested an aide but he managed to give the agency a slip and since then they had been working to nab him.

Two on-duty police constables died after being knocked down by a drunk driver in the beach village of Colva in South Goa early on Sunday morning. According to officials at the Colva police station, the deceased police personnel Shailesh Gaonkar (30) and Vishwas Deykar (32) were posted on a check-point at Colva when they were knocked down by a speeding Skoda car driven by one Craig Rodrigues. "Both police constables died while they were being taken to the nearest hospital for treatment," a Goa Police spokesperson said, adding that the accused was found driving under the influence of alcohol upon examination.

The Tamil Nadu Police are on high alert after a number of child trafficking cases have been reported. The police had arrested four members, including the mother of a 10-month-old baby, when they were trying to sell it to a couple in Andhra Pradesh for a huge sum. Police arrested an agent Thanakam on Friday based on the information provided by the four people who were arrested. Thankam has four cases of child trafficking against her and is a habitual offender and has national-level networks, according to police. While there are several processes of adoption in the state with approved legal procedures, the sidestepping of these laws and making children available through the illegal route is getting rampant in the state.

Minimum temperatures improved marginally in J&K and Ladakh on Sunday as the weather office forecast light rain and snow for three days. A statement by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said, "Under the influence of a feeble Western Disturbance, weather is most likely to remain generally cloudy with possibility of very light to Light rain/snow in plains of J&K during January 16th to 19th and light to moderate snowfall over higher reaches. "As of today, there is no forecast of any major rain/snow till ending January."

After several party leaders of the BJP defected to Samajwadi Party (SP), the saffron party seems to be on the back foot. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, however, is confident about the BJP's victory in the upcoming polls and called the high-stakes poll battle as an "80 vs. 20 per cent" political fight. The sudden spate of MLAs and ministers quitting the BJP does not seem to be ending very soon. SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav has managed to dealt a blow to the political fortunes of the saffron party ahead of the polls with Swami Prasad Maurya, a Cabinet Minister in the Yogi government, tendering his resignation on January 11. In a span of few days, three sitting ministers in the Yogi government, including 14 BJP MLAs, have resigned on successive days. Therefore, it becomes extremely crucial for the BJP to counter Akhilesh Yadav's new political move. BJP's Achilles heel is that Akhilesh Yadav has started pitching the political narrative of 'Forward vs Backward' caste countering Yogi Adityanath's '80 vs 20 per cent' jibe with this new political strategy. During the 2017 state Assembly elections, the BJP along with its alliance partners had won 325 seats by successful caste arithmetic of the traditional upper castes vote bank as well as non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalit voters voting in its favour. In the 2017 state Assembly elections, the NDA got the support of 41.35 per cent of people. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the NDA in Uttar Pradesh secured 51.18 per cent of vote share, which has been described as a resounding poll victory of the BJP as it single-handedly won 62 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats.

In the wake of a cold wave since the past two days, the mercury again dipped on Sunday in the national capital, intensifying the winter chill.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the city's maximum and minimum temperatures have been pegged at 14 and 8, respectively, while the relative humidity at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 87 per cent.

Due to the cold wave, the temperatures also plunged to a maximum of 14.8 degrees and a minimum of 6.1 degrees.

"Similar to yesterday (Saturday), today also there was a layer of moderate fog/low cloud during the day over Delhi NCR, also over Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and north Rajasthan," the weather department said, adding that it has prevented sunlight to reach the surface.

"Also, light winds are blowing over the region. These conditions led to a severe cold day over Delhi NCR," it added.

As per the IMD, the next three days, starting January 18 will be densely to moderately foggy with the possibility of light rain on January 19 and 21.

Meanwhile, Delhi's Air Quality Index (AQI) stood in the 'very poor' category at 235, according to the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research's (SAFAR).

A private 'bank' that promised Muslims to keep their money secured, has duped hundreds of people of their money and the main accused has reportedly fled to Dubai. According to the police, hundreds of villagers in the Nagina area have lost the hard-earned money they had deposited with 'Al Faizan Muslim Fund Ltd', a facility privately owned by one Mohammad Faizi for Muslims to keep their money in a "secured manner". So far, 170 police complaints have been filed and the police are in the process of ascertaining the extent of loss to the depositors. The institution had been running for five years in Nagina's Mohalla Lal Sarai.

At a time when the Congress in Uttar Pradesh is making news for giving 50 per cent tickets to women candidates, the party's government in Rajasthan is garnering accolades for launching a women-friendly project, "I am Udaan". Costing Rs 200 crore, under this scheme each girl and woman in the state will receive free sanitary napkins, no matter how remote their dwelling is. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in an exclusive e-interview with news agency IANS termed it as the most aspirational scheme of the state and said: "Periods or menstruation is such an issue for our society where there is always hesitation in discussing it while this is a natural process."

A day after there was no report of damage to the California coast by tsunami triggered due to an undersea volcano that erupted in Tonga. California, Oregon, and Washington state, as well as parts of Hawaii, south Alaska and the Aleutian islands were all expected to also be affected by the huge eruption, the National Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin. Tsunami waves of 2.7 feet (about 83 centimetres) were observed by gauges at the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa and waves of 2 feet at Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, a US territory, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The agency later canceled warnings for American Samoa and Hawaii, but said the tsunami remained a threat for parts of the Pacific nearer the volcano, warning residents living near beaches, harbors, marinas and other coastal areas should move away from the shore and make their way inland or uphill, Xinhua news agency reported.

A Police SWAT team in the southern US state of Texas is negotiating with a man who appears to have taken hostages at a synagogue in the town of Colleyville, Dallas. The police department in Colleyville said in a tweet at 11:30 (16:30 GMT) that it was "conducting SWAT operations" at the address of the Congregation Beth Israel. Two hours later the department said the situation remained "ongoing". A live stream of the Shabbat morning service at the synagogue on Facebook captured audio of a man talking loudly when the incident started. According to the law enforcement officials, the hostage-taker demanded the release of the Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, who was convicted of trying to kill US military officers while in custody in Afghanistan. Siddiqui is currently being held at FMC Carswell, a federal prison in Fort Worth Texas. According to reports, the suspect demanded to speak with his sister on the phone amid the ongoing hostage situation.

A day after there was no report of damage to the California coast by tsunami triggered due to an undersea volcano that erupted in Tonga. California, Oregon, and Washington state, as well as parts of Hawaii, south Alaska and the Aleutian islands were all expected to also be affected by the huge eruption, the National Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin. Tsunami waves of 2.7 feet (about 83 centimetres) were observed by gauges at the Tongan capital of Nuku'alofa and waves of 2 feet at Pago Pago, the capital of American Samoa, a US territory, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

The Delhi Police on Saturday issued a traffic advisory ahead of Republic Day Parade rehearsal. According to the advisory, the traffic restrictions will be imposed at Rajpath-Rafi Marg, Rajpath-Janpath, Rajpath-Man Singh Road and Rajpath-C-Hexagon from 9 am to 12 pm from January 17 to January 21. However, the Vijay Chowk to India Gate route will remain closed for traffic. "Traffic restrictions to be imposed at Rajpath-Rafi Marg, Rajpath-Janpath, Rajpath-Mansingh Road and Rajpath-C-Hexagon between 9 am to 12 pm on January 17, 18, 20 and 21, to facilitate Republic Day Parade rehearsals on Rajpath. Vijay Chowk to India Gate route will remain closed," said Delhi Traffic Police. According to officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, the route of the parade will be shorter similar to last year.

Six people were injured after a shooting outside a concert hall in Eugene, US state of Oregon, police said. Of the six victims that were shot and hospitalised, one was in critical condition, The incident took place on Friday evening. Eugene Police Chief Chris Skinner said at a news conference early Saturday morning, adding that it's not clear if the shooting was random or targeted, Xinhua news agency reported. "What we have right now is a single suspect," Skinner said. "All we know is that he's male and in a hoodie."