Breaking News, March 29

A fire broke out in a six-storey hotel in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh on Wednesday morning and 42 people trapped in the building were rescued, of whom 10 were admitted to a hospital, an official said. The incident occurred in Papaya Tree Hotel located in Rajendra Nagar area, he said. "Forty-two people staying in Papaya Tree Hotel were trapped in the fire and were rescued by the police and fire brigade. Ten people evacuated from the hotel were admitted to a hospital and most of whom complained of difficulty in breathing due to smoke," Rau police station in-charge Narendra Raghuvanshi said. Superintendent of Police (Fire) R S Ningwal said the fire started from the roof of the hotel's ground floor, which resulted in smoke engulfing the building. After a lot of hard work, the fire was brought under control as proper arrangements to tackle the incidents of fire were not in place there, he said. "The hotel management has installed a hydrant that is powered by electricity connection. But during the fire, the hydrant did not run due to power failure," he added.

A 15-year old boy was allegedly killed after being abducted for a ransom of Rs 50 lakh in Odisha’s mineral-rich Jharsuguda district, police said Wednesday. The police have arrested two persons in this connection after recovering the body of Samarth Agarwal, son of a businessman of Sarbahal area in Jharsuguda, police said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted an inter-state drug network by arresting seven persons from Maharashtra, Punjab and Gujarat, and also seized 3,195 bottles of codeine-based cough syrup (CBCS), officials said on Wednesday. One of the accused is a physician based in Surat city of Gujarat. The syndicate was actively involved in illicit diversion of certain prescription drugs which are covered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS Act), an official said.

Maharashtra reports 483 new COVID-19 positive cases, 317 recoveries and 3 deaths in the last 24 hours.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a plea by the Centre seeking allocation of Rs 5,000 crore out of Rs 24,000 crore deposited by the Sahara group with market regulator Sebi to repay dues of the depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. The direction came on an application filed by the Centre in a PIL by a person named Pinak Pani Mohanty, who sought a direction to pay the amount to the depositors who invested in several chit fund companies and Sahara credit firms. A bench of justices MR Shah and CT Ravikumar noted that the amount was lying in the "Sahara-SEBI Refund Account" unutilised. The apex court said the prayer sought in the present application seems to be reasonable and which shall be in the larger public interest and interest of the genuine depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies. "Out of the total amount of Rs. 24,979.67 crore lying in the 'Sahara-SEBI Refund Account', Rs. 5000 crore be transferred to the Central Registrar of Cooperative Societies, who, in turn, shall disburse the same against the legitimate dues of the depositors of the Sahara Group of Cooperative Societies, which shall be paid to the genuine depositors in the most transparent manner and on proper identification," the bench said.

An Indian national in the UAE killed his wife and two minor children before jumping to death from their 11th-floor flat in Sharjah, according to media reports. The police and paramedics arrived at the scene in Sharjah upon receiving a call on Tuesday evening and rushed the man to a hospital, the Gulf News newspaper reported. The Indian national said to be in his 30s, succumbed to the injuries he suffered. While searching for more information about the deceased's identity, authorities recovered a note in his clothes in which the man admitted to killing his wife and two children, a boy, aged four, and an eight-year-old girl, in their residence before jumping off the tower, the report said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the Bhopal-New Delhi Vande Bharat Express train at Rani Kamalapati station here on April 1, and also take part in the Combined Commanders' Conference that day, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Wednesday. The Vande Bharat Express train between Bhopal and the national capital will cover 708 km distance in 7.45 hours, he said. "PM Modi will be visiting Madhya Pradesh. During his visit to Bhopal on April 1, he will give a big gift to the people of the state in the form of Vande Bharat Express, which he will flag off from the Rani Kamalapati station for New Delhi," the CM said.

The Rajasthan High Court on Wednesday acquitted all four accused in the 2008 serial Jaipur blast case which claimed 71 lives and left over 180 injured. The accused were given capital punishment by a trial court in 2019 which was challenged in the high court. The high court also lambasted the investigating agency for doing a shoddy and shabby investigation in connecting the chain of evidence. Jaipur was rocked by a series of blasts on May 13, 2008 when bombs went off one after another at Manak Chawk Khanda, Chandpole Gate, Badi Chaupad, Chhoti Chaupad, Tripolia Gate, Johri Bazar and Sanganeri Gate. The explosions in the evening left 71 people dead and 185 injured. One live bomb was recovered near Ramchandra Temple which was defused by a bomb disposal squad.

A 36-year-old woman was hospitalised after her throat was slit due to a 'maanjha', or kite string, in northeast Delhi's Shastri Park area, police said on Wednesday. The incident took place Tuesday when the woman, a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation employee, was returning home on her scooter, they said. A senior police officer said that Shastri Park Police Station received information at 8.20 pm from Sant Parmanand Hospital that Vinki Bhardwaj, a resident of Vasundhara in Ghaziabad, UP, had her throat cut by a maanjha near Shastri Park flyover. She was rushed to Max Hospital, Vasundhara, where her condition was stated to be stable.

The government issued directions to block 30,310 web links, including social media links, accounts, channels, pages, apps, web pages, websites etc since 2018, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday informed the Lok Sabha that the committee constituted under IT Rules examined a total of 41,172 URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) that were received from nodal officers in various ministries, departments and states for blocking under section 69A of IT Act 2000.

The Reserve Bank may go for a final 25 basis points increase in the current rate hike cycle next week and a reduction would come in only by the end of third quarter of FY24, economists at Axis Bank said on Wednesday. As per media reports, RBI officials met economists on Tuesday, and the latter have suggested the central bank to go for a 25 basis points hike in key rates. Since May 2022, the RBI has hiked rates by 250 basis points, hurting borrowers and some are already concerned about loan tenors extending beyond their working lives as a result of the hikes. The RBI has been hiking rates with an eye to tame inflation, which mostly remained beyond the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent. “I am leaning towards a further and final 0.25 percentage point hike in rates,” Chief Economist at Axis Bank Saugata Bhattacharya told reporters, adding that the hike will tame the stubbornly high core inflation. He also said the slowdown in growth visible in anecdotal evidence at present, coupled with some cool down in inflation, should prompt the six-member Monetary Policy Committee to cut rates by the end of the third quarter of FY24. Bhattacharya also noted that it is too early to change the “withdrawal of accommodation” stance of the RBI and that some tweaks can be expected in the way it is communicated at the next review on April 6. The RBI will shift the stance to “neutral” in the June review, he said.

With the Election Commission announcing the schedule for Assembly polls in Karnataka, it remains to be seen whether the ruling BJP will buck a four-decade old trend to script history or if the Congress upstages its saffron rival to up its stakes as a challenger ahead of the 2024 parliamentary polls. No political party has won a successive mandate in the state since 1985 and the BJP is eager to rewrite this bit of history and retain its southern citadel.
The Congress is keen to wrest power to give the party a much-needed elbow room to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Also what needs to be watched out for is, whether former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular), will emerge as a "Kingmaker" by holding the key to government formation, in the event of a hung verdict, as it has done in the past.

Billionaire Gautam Adani-led promoter group has paid off all of the USD 2.15 billion loans taken pledging their shares in the conglomerate, and only debt at operating company level remains, Adani Group said seeking to assure investors of its ability to repay debt. Adani Group in a statement termed reports of the group not completing repayment of USD 2.15 billion share-backed debt "baseless and deliberately mischievous." "Adani has completed full prepayment of margin linked share-backed financing aggregating to USD 2.15 billion (as was announced on March 12) and all corresponding shares pledged for those facilities have been released," it said. While "all share-backed facilities availed by the promoters have been paid off", residual pledges pertain to debt taken by operating companies, it said. "After such repayment, pledge positions for Adani Green, Adani Ports, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises have reduced substantially, and only residual share pledges corresponding to Operating Company facilities remained outstanding," it said.

The Russian military conducted drills of its strategic missile forces Wednesday, deploying mobile launchers in Siberia in a show of the country's massive nuclear capability amid the fighting in Ukraine.

As part of the drills, the Yars mobile missile launchers will maneuver across three regions of Siberia, Russia's Defence Ministry said.

The movements will involve measures to conceal the deployment from foreign intelligence assets, the ministry said.

The Defence Ministry did not mention plans for any practice launches.

The Yars is a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile with a range of about 11,000 kilometers (over 6,800 miles).

It forms the backbone of Russia's strategic missile forces.

Vivan Sundaram, a pioneering multidisciplinary artist who often used his work, melding sculptures, photographs, videos and paintings, to reflect contemporary issues of the day, died here on Wednesday. He was 79.

"Vivan Sundaram passed away this morning at 9.20 am," read a note issued by the Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust (SAHMAT), of which Sundaram was a founding trustee.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday launched the seventh round of auctions for commercial mining of coal blocks, putting 106 mines under the hammer. Of the total mines offered under the seventh round, 61 blocks are partially explored and 45 mines are fully explored. As many as 95 non-coking coal mines, 10 lignite mines and one coking coal mine are being offered in the latest round of auction. In his address, Singh said coal is considered black gold which plays an important role in strengthening the economy of the country. "Our energy consumption has grown in the last few years and will continue to grow. And to meet this need we will have to start taking efforts from today," he said.

President Joe Biden is opening his second Summit for Democracy with a pledge for the U.S. to spend $690 million bolstering democracy programs around the globe. The Biden administration wants to use the two-day summit that begins Wednesday to zero in on making “technology work for and not against democracy,” according to a senior administration official. Some 120 global leaders have been invited to participate. Biden frequently speaks of the U.S. and like-minded allies being at a critical moment in which democracies need to demonstrate they can out-deliver autocracies. The summits, something Biden promised as a Democratic 2020 presidential candidate, have become an important piece of his administration's effort to try to build deeper alliances and nudge autocratic-leaning nations toward at least modest reforms. The new funding will focus on programs that support free and independent media, combat corruption, bolster human rights, advance technology that improves democracy, and support free and fair elections.

Maharashtra BJP MP Girish Bapat passed away today reportedly due to a liver ailment. He was a Member of Parliament from Pune. 

A man was arrested for allegedly murdering his wife following a dispute over her beating their child, police said. The incident took place in the Ratanpuri village of this Uttar Pradesh district.

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Wednesday within minutes of assembling as opposition MPs kept raising slogans demanding a JPC probe into the allegations against the Adani Group. MPs of the Congress and other parties, several of them dressed in black, started raising slogans such as "Modi-Adani Bhai Bhai" as soon as Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar took his seat.

Jharkhand High Court has ordered Labour Secretary Rajesh Kumar Sharma to appear in person before the court on April 6 over the non-payment of legitimate dues to a vocational training provider. The court of Justice Rajesh Kumar was hearing a writ petition filed by Ishmat Ansari, a vocational training provider. 

The illegal dredging of sand from the Vaitarna river is threatening the safety of the rail bridge between Vaitarna and Safale stations in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said. A criminal offence was registered against two persons recently at Mandvi police station under section 151 of the Railways Act (Damage to or destruction of certain railway properties), various sections of the Indian Penal Code, and the Environment Protection Act for illegal sand mining.

The BJP claimed that Rahul Gandhi believes it is his "birthright" to rule the country because he was born in a particular family. Keeping up the heat on the Congress leader, whose disqualification from Lok Sabha has become a rallying point for the Opposition, the BJP cited several instances of "attack" on institutions during the Congress rule to counterattack rival parties over their similar charges. 

Senior Congress leader from Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh said Rahul Gandhi, who was served a notice to vacate the government bungalow in Delhi post his disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP, can stay in his residence. Singh, a Rajya Sabha MP, said the entire country is like a family for Gandhi who has a "liberal heart".

Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his corruption jibe at the Opposition, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday accused him of running a "bhrashtachari bhagao abhiyan" (make the corrupt flee campaign) and said he must stop his image makeover by posing as an anti-corruption crusader.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah will undertake a day-long visit to Mizoram on April 1 during which he will inaugurate and lay foundation stone of development projects worth Rs 2,414 crore, officials said.

Toll for vehicles on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, the first access-controlled road of the country, will increase by 18 per cent from April 1, officials of the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) said. A senior MSRDC official said on Tuesday that though the toll increases by six per cent annually, it is implemented cumulatively at 18 per cent after every three years, as laid down in a government notification of August 9, 2004.

The police here have attached a plot worth Rs 3 crore belonging to Firoz Qureshi, son of former BSP legislator Yakoob Qureshi, under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act, officials said. Superintendent of Police (Rural) Anirudh Singh said a case was registered against Yakoob Qureshi under the UP Gangsters Act, and his properties are being attached following the orders of the district administration.

Brazil's government on Tuesday reported the 700,000th death from COVID-19 in the South American nation, which has the second most victims of the virus after the United States. Brazilian health experts say most people dying of COVID-19 in recent days are either unvaccinated or suffer from other debilitating diseases.

At least 14 people from the African nation of Cameroon were rescued from waters in the eastern Caribbean early Tuesday after their boat capsized, but three people were dead and 13 others missing, authorities in St.Kitts said. The group had departed Antigua early Tuesday aboard a boat carrying 32 passengers that apparently was en route to the U.S.

A Special Court for People’s Representatives sent Karnataka BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa to Lokayukta police custody for 5 days in connection with a corruption case.

Devotees were seen offering prayers at Chhatarpur Temple in the national capital, on the eighth day of Navratri today.