Breaking News, May 4 | HIGHLIGHTS

ManipurViolence | Situation in Moreh & Kangpokpi brought under control and it is stable. All efforts underway to restore normalcy in Imphal & Churachandpur. Precautionary build-up of additional troops in Manipur to continue. Additional columns also re-deployed from Nagaland. In addition, Indian Air Force will be undertaking flying operations to induct additional Indian Army columns commencing tonight from Guwahati & Tezpur, said Indian Army.

Aircraft lessors approached DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) to deregister 23 GoFirst planes, sayd DGCA

Fake videos on the security situation in Manipur including a video of attack on Assam Rifles post are being circulated by inimical elements for vested interests. Indian Army requests all to rely on content through official & verified sources only, said Indian Army.

A policeman was injured after militants opened fire at security forces in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, officials said. Militants attacked a security forces’ party in the Bijbehara area of the south Kashmir district in the evening, they said.

The officials said a policeman received minor injuries while taking cover, adding he was shifted to a hospital. The area has been cordoned off and a hunt launched to nab the attackers, they said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to the chief ministers of the states neighbouring Manipur, which has been hit by violence between tribals and the majority Meitei community, officials said. 

DRDO scientist arrested in Pune for `providing information' to Pakistani agents.

Centre closely monitoring situation in Manipur, paramilitary forces being mobilised from nearby states, said Officials.

"Called an urgent meeting with officials to discuss the situation in Manipur and to check on the safety of students of Meghalaya studying in the state. We are in touch with officials to ensure their safety," Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma tweets.

Pakistan | At least seven teachers were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Upper Kurram Tehsil. Local police said unidentified gunmen shot the teachers in the staffroom of Government High School Tari Mangal. In another incident in Parachinar, a teacher was killed whilst in a moving vehicle — taking the total number of educators killed in a day to eight: Pakistan's Geo News

Odisha | Four people died in a road accident in Chitrakonda of Malkangari district. CM Naveen Patnaik announced an ex-gratia of Rs 3 lakhs each for the next of kin of the deceased.

Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee urges PM Modi and Amit Shah to restore peace in Manipur.

ED has filed supplementary charge against TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, his daughter before Delhi court in cattle smuggling case.

ED on Thursday filed over 2000 pages supplementary chargesheet against AAP leader and former Delhi Dy CM Manish Sisodia.

NCLT reserved its order on budget airline Go First's plea for insolvency resolution proceedings, reported PTI.

Dreaded gangster Anil Dujana has been killed in an encounter with UP STF in Meerut. Further details are awaited.

Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari arrived in Goa on Thursday to attend a conclave of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in the first such high-level visit to India from the neighbouring country since 2011. Bhutto Zardari's visit comes amid continued strain in ties between India and Pakistan on a number of issues including Islamabad's continued support to cross-border terrorism.

The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court order which stayed trial court proceedings against DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal in a criminal case of allegedly abusing her official position to appoint people associated with the AAP to different posts in the women's rights body. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and J K Maheshwari asked the high court to decide the case expeditiously. The high court on March 10 had stayed the trial court proceedings against Maliwal and sought a status report from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on her petition challenging the trial court order framing charges under the anti-corruption law.

A 26-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district has been arrested for allegedly killing a woman who apparently was extracting money from him and trying to dissuade him from marrying another woman through blackmail, an official said on Thursday. The body of Simran Sheikh (26) was found in a pool of blood on Wednesday night on Naka Road at Gandhi ward of Multai police station area, about 50 km from the district headquarters. A sharp weapon wound was found on her neck, Superintendent of Police Sidharth Choudhary told PTI.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his Karnataka elections campaign pitch stressing on stable governments, alleging that the BJP-led dispensations in the state after the 2018 polls were born out of "deceit, horse-trading and money power". In his campaign speeches in Karnataka, Prime Minister Modi has been asserting that for the fast-paced all round development, a strong and stable BJP government with full majority is important.

Due to operational reasons, Go First flights until 9th May 2023 are cancelled: Go First

Adani group's port firm on Thursday reported highest-ever monthly cargo volume in April on the back of increased movement of containers and higher shipments of iron ore and coal to support a fast expanding economy. "Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) handled 32.3 million tonnes of total cargo in April. up 12.8 per cent over the same month last year," the company said in a statement. This growth in cargo volumes is supported by dry cargo volumes increase of 9 per cent (iron ore, non-coking coal and coastal coal) and container volume increase of 13.6 per cent. APSEZ is India's largest commercial ports operator in India accounting for nearly one-fourth of the cargo movement in the country. It operates 11 seaports including Gujarat's Mundra port, the largest commercial port in India.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah & Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla attend Antim Ardas of former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal at Badal village in Lambi, Sri Muktsar Sahib, Punjab

Authorities have removed 279 huts which encroached upon a forest land in Maharashtra's Thane district, an official said on Thursday. Nearly three hectares of the encroached land in Mumbra area was freed after the mega operation carried out on Wednesday by the forest, police and revenue officials, Deputy Conservator of Forest Santosh Sasthe told media. 

The counting of votes for 34 wards of Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) commenced here on Thursday at 10 am. The result is expected to be declared by afternoon, officials said. Eight tables have been set up at the counting centre located at a Government Senior Secondary School in Chhota Shimla under tight security. The counting would be done in five phases. Counting of votes polled in ward 1 to 7 would be taken up in the first phase, ward 8 to 14 in second phase, ward 15 to 21 in third phase, ward 22 to 28 in fourth phase, and ward 29 to 34 in the fifth phase, said Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi, who is also the returning officer.

India has logged 3,962 new coronavirus infections, while the active cases have decreased to 36,244 from 40,177, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Thursday. The death toll has increased to 5,31,606 with 22 deaths, which includes seven reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated. The Covid case tally was recorded at 4.49 crore (4,49,60,678) The active cases now comprise 0.08 per cent of the total infections and the national COVID-19 recovery rate has been recorded at 98.73 per cent, the ministry said. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,43,92,828 while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.18 per cent.  According to the ministry's website, 220.66 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered in the country so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

President Droupadi Murmu will begin her three-day visit to her home district of Mayurbhanj in Odisha on Thursday, officials said. During the trip, Murmu will visit her house in Rairangpur for the first time after becoming the president in July last year, they said. Murmu will attend a host of programmes during the tour. She will also visit the memorial of her husband and two sons at Pahadpur village, and a residential school she had set up.

Crisis-hit Go First has sought various interim directions from the National Company Law Tribunal, including restraining lessors from taking back aircraft and regulator DGCA from taking any adverse action against the airline. The Wadia group-owned airline, which has liabilities worth Rs 11,463 crore, has sought voluntary insolvency resolution proceedings and the plea is set to be heard by the Delhi bench of the NCLT on Thursday. Go First has cancelled all its flights for three days starting from May 3. In its petition filed before NCLT, the budget airline has sought directions to restrain aircraft lessors from taking any recovery action as well as restrain the DGCA and suppliers of essential goods and services from initiating adverse actions.

Two people were killed and five others injured when a hotel caught fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Ramban district on Thursday morning, officials said. Fire occured in Hotel Maa Shanti in Sanasar tourist place and spread fast engulfing the entire area, they said. Fire tenders were pressed into service along with locals and police to douse off the blaze, which has been brought under control, they said. Those injured have been hospitalsed. A magisterial inquiry headed by ADC Ramban has been ordered, they added.

Eleven persons, including five women and two children, were killed when a sports utility vehicle (SUV) they were travelling in collided with a truck in Chhattisgarh's Balod district, police said on Thursday. The victims, natives of Soram-Bhatgaon village in Dhamtari district, were on way to a wedding, police said, adding the accident took place near Jagtara village under Purur police station area on National Highway-30 on Wednesday night.

Former US president Donald Trump called a writer's claims that he raped her at a Manhattan department store "the most ridiculous, disgusting story," testifying in a deposition shown in court Wednesday that the allegations were "made up" and that the assault never happened. Lawyers for accuser E. Jean Carroll played about 30 minutes of excerpts from the former president's deposition, including his emphatic denial of the longtime advice columnist's accusation that he attacked her in the mid-1990s in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room. "If it did happen, it would have been reported within minutes," Trump said, contending that shoppers and employees at the "very busy store" would've heard a commotion and alerted authorities. "It's the most ridiculous, disgusting story. It's just made up," Trump said in the video deposition taken in October.

An encounter broke out between security forces and militants in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday, police said. Acting on specific input about the presence of militants in the Wanigam Payeen Kreeri area of Baramulla district, in north Kashmir, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there early Thursday morning, a police official said. He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon a search party of the forces, who retaliated. The exchange of firing is going on and there are no reports yet of any casualty on either side, the official said.