Breaking News, May 11 | LIVE UPDATES

Of the humongous Rs 62,000 crore debt on the books of Air India when it was handed over to the Tatas, the Government of India has closed its part of Rs 47,000 crore by paying off all the banks involved.

Civic authorities on Wednesday carried out anti-encroachment drives at various places in south Delhi, including Najafgarh, Dwarka and the popular Meher Chand Market in Lodhi Colony, as bulldozers rolled down and removed temporary structures put up illegally, officials said. However, municipal staff and police personnel during the action also had to face stiff opposition from local people at some places.

A major fire broke out on Wednesday at the Visveswarayya Bhawan here, a sprawling multi-storeyed building that houses many key establishments, including government department offices. Though the flames kept leaping up for several hours, there were no casualties.

A police officer in Jharkhand's Hazaribag district was suspended for allegedly failing to check illegal coal mining and smuggling, officials said on Wednesday. The officer-in-charge of Barkagaon police station Gautam Kumar was given several warnings in the past about rampant illegal coal mining in the area, Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said.

After bringing heavy rainfall in almost all four southern states, especially the Andhra Pradesh coast, cyclonic storm Asani weakened into a deep depression post afternoon as it lay near Andhra Pradesh coast on Wednesday evening.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami owns property worth Rs 2 crore, including a rifle. Dhami declared it in an affidavit filed along with his nomination papers recently for the May 31 bypoll to the Champawat assembly seat.

Sri Lanka's embattled President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said on Wednesday that he will appoint a new Prime Minister and a Cabinet this week which would introduce constitutional reforms, amid continuing widespread anti-government protests over the country's worst economic crisis.
In an address to the nation, President Gotabaya also said that after appointing the new Prime Minister, and Government a constitutional amendment will be moved to enact the content of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which will vest more powers with the Parliament.

Human rights activists and those accused in sedition cases on Wednesday welcomed the “historic” order of the Supreme Court putting on hold the colonial-era penal law, and demanded repeal of the legislation. They alleged that the sedition law was being used by governments to silence the voice of protest.

Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) on Wednesday said its two hangars set up at the dedicated general aviation terminal of the airport have become operational since last month. Built through the FBO-MRO Concessionaires, the new hangars will not only help in saving time and money for the general aviation/business jet operators but also reduce environmental pollution to a large extent, the company said in a statement.

India and Uzbekistan on Wednesday agreed to exploit the full potential of the Chabahar port for trade between the two countries as they held extensive talks focusing on greater bilateral economic ties. The two sides also agreed to take steps to enhance connectivity to boost trade during the 15th round of India-Uzbekistan Foreign Office Consultations that took place in Delhi.

Faridabad crime branch has rescued a 30-year-old son of a businessman and nabbed two of his abductors, officials here said on Wednesday. Two women who were also involved in the honey trapping of the son are absconding, said police.

The Defence Minister of Pakistan, Khawaja Asif, on Wednesday revealed the possibility of general elections in November, prior to the appointment of the new army chief, Geo News reported.

Six school students and a 22-year-old man were injured after their car allegedly went out of control and hit a divider in Greater Noida on Wednesday afternoon, police said. The incident occurred near a CNG pump in Delta 2 area, under Surajpur police station limits when the children were being taken to football practice

An encounter has started between terrorists and security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on Wednesday, police said.

"Encounter has started at Marhamaa Bijbehara area of Anantnag. Police and security forces are on the job," police said.

New Zealand will reopen its borders to tourists from all countries by July, allow back cruise ships and make it easier for skilled workers to immigrate as it looks outward to the world again following the COVID-19 pandemic, the government said Wednesday.

Uber Technologies on Wednesday announced a fresh round of recruitment for its India tech centers, outlining plans to hire 500 more techies by December. The app-based mobility and delivery company has a 1,000-member tech team across its centers in Hyderabad and Bengaluru. 

Male students in a Navodaya school in Uttar Pradesh's Aurraiya district have written a letter to their principal complaining about girls in their class bullying them.

The initial public offer of Venus Pipes and Tubes got fully subscribed within the first few hours of opening for subscription on Wednesday. The Rs 165.41-crore IPO received bids for 51,67,502 shares against 35,51,914 shares on offer, translating into 1.45 times subscription, according to NSE data till 13:03 hours.

The category meant for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) received 2.59 times subscription, while the portion for non- institutional investors got subscribed 34 per cent and Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) 30 per cent.

A woman was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly killing her two teenage stepsons over property dispute in a village here, police said. The deceased were identified as Ajay (18) and Abhishek (15), they said. The incident came into light when around 5 am their mother Mansa Devi found them lying on their beds with their throats slit, Circle Officer of Rudrapur, Jilajeet, said.

The deceased boys were taken to the hospital where the doctors declared them brought dead, the CO said.

CRPF personnel, who will be deployed for the Amarnath Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, are being sensitised about the threat posed by "sticky bombs", a senior officer said on Wednesday, asserting that alertness is the best way to deal with the problem. In a first of its kind seizure in February last year, the Border Security Force (BSF) confiscated a drone-dropped consignment along the International Border in Samba district which included 14 improvised explosive devices (IEDs) with in-built magnets.

These could be used as "sticky bombs" by sticking them on vehicles and controlling them using a timer and a remotely-held device.
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Deputy Inspector General, Hiranagar Range, Devender Yadav, said alertness is the key to deal with the threat of "sticky bombs".

The Delhi High Court Wednesday delivered a split verdict on the issue of criminalisation of marital rape and granted leave to the parties to file an appeal before the Supreme Court. 

While Justice Rajiv Shakdher, who headed the division bench, favoured striking down the marital rape exception, Justice C Hari Shankar said the exception under the IPC is not unconstitutional and was based on an intelligible differentia. 

The Head of Security for the former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and other officials have been summoned to Crime Investigation Department (CID) to record statements in connection with the Monday violence.

"Director in charge of former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's security unit and the OIC of the Kollupitiya Police had been summoned to the CID to record statements in connection with attacks on unarmed 'MinaGoGama' and 'GotaGoGama' protesters on Monday," Daily Mirror reported.

Logistics services provider Delhivery's Rs 5,235 crore initial public offering (IPO) opened for subscription on Wednesday. Gurugram-based company's IPO will be available for public subscription till Friday, May 13, 2022. The company has fixed a price band at Rs 462-487 per share with a face value of Re 1 per share.

Out of the total Rs 5,235 crore size of the IPO, the company will raise Rs 4,000 crore through issuance of fresh equity shares with a face value of Re 1 each. The remaining Rs 1,235 crore is proposed to be raised through offer for sale route, in which existing shareholders and promoters will offload their stake.

An earthquake measuring 4.6 on the Richter scale hit Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh on Wednesday morning, the National Center for Seismology (NCS) informed.

According to NCS, the tremors of the earthquake had a depth of five kilometres at 20 kilometres northeast of Pithoragarh.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended the stay on the non-bailable warrant issued by the Allahabad High Court against Noida Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and IAS officer Ritu Maheshwari till Friday (May 13) in connection with contempt proceedings against her.

A bench of Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Krishna Murari adjourned the matter for Friday and asked to list the matter before "any appropriate bench" after getting direction from the Chief Justice of India.

The Supreme Court, on Tuesday, had stayed the non-bailable warrant against Maheshwari.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed all proceedings in sedition cases and directed the Centre and states to not register any fresh FIR invoking sedition charges until the government re-examines the colonial era penal law.

A bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana said all pending cases, appeals and proceedings with respect to charges framed for sedition should be kept in abeyance. Reliefs granted to the accused by courts would continue, it said and fixed the third week of July for hearing pleas challenging the validity of the provision; by then, the Centre would have the time to undertake the exercise to re-examine the provision.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday cancelled his investment promotion meetings scheduled in London and New York next week, saying his presence is required in the state in the wake of some recent developments pertaining to representation in local body elections.

Chouhan's move came a day after the Supreme Court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to notify the programme for local body elections in Madhya Pradesh within two weeks.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday said that it would continue the technical level talks with debt-ridden Sri Lanka to prepare for policy discussions once a new government has been formed in the island nation.

Sri Lanka has been grappling with an unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948. Sri Lanka is currently facing the worst economic crisis and political instability ever after Independence due to manifold reasons both short and long-term.

The IMF said that it remains committed to assisting Sri Lanka in line with its policies, the Colombo Gazette news portal reported.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur on Wednesday said that one accused has been arrested in connection with the 'Khalistan' flag incident.

Thakur said that two accused were involved in putting up the flags on the wall of the state Assembly, out of which one has been nabbed this morning.

Speaking to ANI, Thakur said, "I would like to say that in the case where Khalistani flags were tied on the Himachal Pradesh Assembly gate, I am sharing for the first time that there were two accused who had come to carry out the whole incident. One of them has been arrested earlier today."

Main accused in Mohali blast -- Nishan Singh, arrested from Punjab's Faridkot 

As the demolition drive began at Jahangirpuri, complaints started rising.People want clear roads. Yesterday we operated bulldozers at Nand Nagri&Sundar Nagri. Today we will conduct a drive at New Seelampur: Syamsundar Agarwal, East Delhi Mayor

The country logged 2,897 COVID-19 fresh infections in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed on Wednesday. The daily case tally of the virus remained below the 3,000-mark for the second day.

The daily positivity rate is at 0.61 per cent, while the weekly positivity rate of COVID in India is at 0.74 per cent.

As per the Ministry, the active COVID cases in the country stand at 19,494, constituting 0.05 per cent of India's total positive cases.
In the last 24 hours, 2,986 patients recovered from the virus, taking the cumulative tally of recovered patients, since the beginning of the pandemic, to 4,25,66,935.

Revised status of today's flight ops in view of Cyclone Asani - All IndiGo flights (22 Arrivals plus 22 Departures ) stand cancelled. Air Asia cancelled one flight from Bengaluru & one from Delhi, decision about evening flights awaited: K Srinivasa Rao, Airport Dir, Visakhapatnam

Air India is yet to decide and convey about their flight operations. SpiceJet Kolkata-Visakhapatnam-Kolkata stands cancelled, they will take a call on Hyderabad flight by post 2 pm: K Srinivasa Rao, Airport Director Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh

Enforcement Directorate has summoned Jharkhand mining secretary Pooja Singhal for questioning today in Ranchi in connection with a money-laundering probe linked to alleged embezzlement of MGNREGA funds and other charges. Yesterday Singhal was questioned for around 9 hrs: Sources

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Wednesday said that the severe Cyclonic Storm 'Asani' weakened into a 'cyclonic storm' and is likely to become a depression by Thursday morning.

"The Severe Cyclonic Storm 'Asani' over westcentral Bay of Bengal moved west-northwestwards with a speed of 12 kmph during the past 6 hours, weakened into a Cyclonic Storm," said IMD.

India has contributed USD 800,000 to the United Nations as part of the initiative to enhance public outreach of the organisation in Hindi.

Country's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations, R Ravindra handed over a cheque for the UN project launched by India in 2018 to disseminate information about the UN to the Hindi-speaking population across the world.

"The Government of India has been making continuous efforts to expand the use of Hindi in the United Nations. As part of these efforts, 'Hindi @ UN' project, in collaboration with the UN Department of Public Information was launched in 2018 with an objective to enhance the public outreach of the United Nations in Hindi language, and to spread greater awareness about global issues among millions of Hindi-speaking people around the world," the UN said in a statement.

The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF) said that the videography being carried out at the Gyanvapi Mosque is a clear violation of the Places of Worship Act, 1991, which laid down that a religious place will retain the same character it had on August 15, 1947.

The IICF will now approach the Supreme Court in this regard.

IICF Secretary Athar Hussain said: "We will not spare any effort in getting the Ayodhya verdict implemented in letter and spirit. We will approach the apex court to get the Places of Worship Act, 1991 implemented.

Madhya Pradesh Minister Inder Singh Parmar's daughter-in-law was found hanging at their residence in Shajapur. The body is being sent for postmortem this morning. Details awaited.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 156 pips to 6.7290 against the US dollar Wednesday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 per cent from the central parity rate each trading day, according to Xinhua News Agency.

A "big decision" is on the cards as Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be meeting his elder brother and PML-N supremo in London, media reported.

Senior PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi - who is already in London - confirmed the visit, with sources saying that PM Shehbaz will likely leave for the visit tonight, Geo News reported.

The Ukrainian government has approved the seizure of Russian assets in Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Today, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a document according to which Russian assets in Ukraine are transferred to the state, or rather to the state enterprise 'National Investment Fund'," Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday approved age relaxation in the upper age limit for the ensuing Jammu and Kashmir Combined Competitive Examination (JKCCE).

The decision was taken keeping in view the demands from aspirants and several delegations during a series of meetings with Sinha.

Following the meetings, Sinha approved age relaxation in the upper age limit of JKCCE candidates in all three categories.

Cinema celebrities from across India will walk the 'Red Carpet' along with Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The ministry in a statement said that the 'Red Carpet' event at the 75th Cannes Film Festival is going to be a gala event for Indian audience as celebrities from the cine world across India are set to walk as part of Indian delegation on the opening day of Cannes Film Festival on May 17.

A seven-year child has been raped inside a madrassah located in Pakistan's Quetta, Samaa TV reported.

An FIR was registered by the victim's father, who said that his son went to a shop near their house on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m., where a boy identified as Abdul Hafeez, son of a seminary teacher Muhammad Ilyas Lehri, forcibly took him inside the madrassah's room and raped him.

The father said his son returned home after two hours and narrated what had happened with teary eyes, the report said.

Authorities will not file criminal charges against former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson after he was recorded on video punching a fellow first-class passenger aboard a plane at San Francisco International Airport last month, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

The San Mateo County District Attorney's Office said it has closed the case and decided against pursuing charges based on “the circumstances surrounding the confrontation.”

The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka on Tuesday refuted as "fake and blatantly false" local social media speculation that former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family members have fled to India, a day after the patriarch of the powerful Rajapaksa family quit as premier amidst the unprecedented anti-government protests.

"The High Commission has recently noticed rumours circulating in sections of media and social media that certain political persons and their families have fled to India. These are fake and blatantly false reports, devoid of any truth or substance. The High Commission strongly denies them”, a statement said.

The whereabouts of Mahinda Rajapaksa is being speculated since his resignation on Monday. It was reported that Mahinda left his office-cum-official residence, Temple Trees, early this morning.

A former village head was arrested after he allegedly made a man announce that if anyone from the Dalit community entered his field, they would be beaten with shoes 50 times and made to pay Rs 5,000 as fine, police said on Tuesday.

In a video, Kunverpal is seen beating a drum to make the announcement on Monday in front of houses of Dalits in Pawti Khurd village in the district's Charthawal area, they said.

Former village head Rajbir Tyagi made Kunverpal make the announcement after members of the Dalit community refused to work in his field, locals claimed.

Tyagi was furious about the refusal and took the step to ban them from entering his field and use a tubewell, they said.

Leonid Kravchuk, who led Ukraine to independence amid the collapse of the Soviet Union and served as its first president, has died, Ukrainian officials said Tuesday. He was 88.

Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office, confirmed Kravchuk's death on the social media app Telegram without giving details of the circumstances. Kravchuk had been in poor health and underwent a heart operation last year.

Kravchuk led Ukraine as its Communist Party boss in the waning years of the Soviet Union, and played a pivotal role in the demise of the USSR before holding the Ukrainian presidency from 1991 through 1994.

Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi on Tuesday laid stress on Afghanistan becoming safe haven for terrorism at a high-level international conference on human rights, civil society and counter-terrorism.

Speaking at the conference, she said, "Afghanistan is once again at the risk of becoming a safe haven for Al-Qaida, ISIL and a number of other UN-designated terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed," read the Ministry of External Affairs press release.

Paying tribute to the victims of terrorism and their families for their pain, suffering and losses, Lekhi said that terrorism is the biggest violator of human rights.

The death toll from last week's explosion at a historic hotel in downtown Havana climbed to 42 on Tuesday, after two more bodies were recovered from the rubble, official sources said.

According to the Public Health Ministry, 96 people were injured in the blast at the five-star Saratoga Hotel, and 13 adults and five minors remain hospitalized at six city hospitals.

Rescue teams continued to sift through the debris in search of three people, two chambermaids and a cook, reported missing, said Roberto Enriquez, spokesman for the state-run hotel management group Gaviota.

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine on May 12, sources in the Security Council told Sputnik.

"It's confirmed. Thursday morning," a source said, adding that France and Mexico requested the meeting.

Another source said the meeting is scheduled for 10 am. (2 pm GMT).

India-Oman joint commission meeting will be held in New Delhi on May 11. The meeting will be co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Oman counterpart Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef.

According to a Commerce and Industry Ministry release, senior officials from both sides would be participating in the joint meeting. This will be the 10th edition of the India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting.

A high-level multi-sectoral delegation from Oman led by Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef, Oman's Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, is visiting India from May 10 to 14.

Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Pandit Sukh Ram passes away at the age of 95, says his son Anil Sharma 

He was admitted to the AIIMS, New Delhi and was undergoing treatment for brain stroke.

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that he would restore former US President Donald Trump's banned account on Twitter if his deal to acquire the company is completed.

"I think it was a morally bad decision to be clear and foolish in the extreme," he said at a Future of the Car event hosted by the Financial Times.

The world's richest man Musk called the ban a "morally bad decision," saying permanent bans undermine trust in Twitter.

Amid reports of mudslinging the all-powerful institution - the Pakistani Army, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday claimed that his party and the country's armed forces were the two things "keeping Pakistan together.

Addressing a rally at Jhelum, he lashed out at Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif and PML-N Vice-President Maryam Nawaz were speaking against the army, not him, reported Geo News.

Sri Lankan Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army, General Shavendra Silva on Tuesday refuted allegations that the armed forces are poised to shoot at the general public to provoke them.

The allegations were levelled by Duminda Nagamuwa of the Frontline Socialist Party, reported Daily Mirror Online.

Gen Shavendra Silva, while rejecting the statement, assured that the members of the armed forces would not resort to any such disgraceful acts under any circumstances.

The Pakistani rupee slumped to an all-time low against the US dollar on Tuesday in the interbank market.

The value of the greenback surged by 82 paisa in early trade and currently trading at Rs 188.35 in the interbank market, hitting an all-time high, reported ARY News.

An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 occurred at around 4:36 am, in Jujuy Province, Argentina today: National Center for Seismology