Breaking News, May 12

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Gujarat International Finance Tec-City or GIFT City near Gandhinagar on Friday evening, officials said. The prime minister was on a one-day visit to Gujarat. He reviewed the status of various ongoing projects at GIFT City and also interacted with the top officials of various entities which operate from the GIFT International Financial Services Centre (GIFT IFSC).

After a protracted standoff with authorities, Pakistan's ousted prime minister Imran Khan left the premises of the Islamabad High Court on Friday night despite being granted bail in a number of cases. Three different benches of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted relief to the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief. However, despite the bail being granted, Khan remained within the premises as he and his legal team were locked in apparent negotiations with authorities over his exit from the court.

Mumbai on Friday reported 28 new COVID-19 cases, taking the overall tally to 11,63,475, while one more patient succumbed to the infection in the city, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said. A BMC bulletin said the death toll rose to 19,769. On Thursday, the financial capital had logged 48 cases, but no fatality. According to the bulletin, a 59-year-old man with comorbidities, including diabetes and hypertension, died due to the coronavirus infection. As per the bulletin, 1,016 Covid tests were conducted in the city and the cumulative total of the tests conducted so far reached 1,88,59,549.

At least ten chemical godowns were destroyed in a fire in Rahnal in Bhiwandi town of Maharashtra's Thane district on Friday, but no injuries were reported, fire brigade and civic officials said. Chief Fire Officer of the Bhiwandi Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) Rajesh Pawar told PTI no one was injured in the blaze that broke out at around 15.40 pm. Four fire engines were pressed into service to douse the flames, he said. Pawar said the fire caused explosions in a godown complex and gutted at least 10 warehouses. The cause of the fire was not immediately known, a civic official said.

Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday said that the Telangana government should be alert on the issue of terrorism and let police function with freedom sans any political interference.Asked about  the arrest of five people here recently for their suspected links with a radical outfit in Madhya Pradesh, Reddy said the government should control any terror activity with an iron hand. Referring to the State government establishing a police command and control centre in Hyderabad, he asked what was centre doing. "The situation is such that police had to come from Madhya Pradesh and identify the terrorists here. Definitely, the government should give freedom to police," Reddy told reporters here.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday seized more than Rs 91 lakh cash following raids on half-a-dozen premises in Madhya Pradesh and Mumbai in a money laundering investigation linked to alleged illegal sale of cooperative society lands worth over Rs 1,000 crore. Five residential locations in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, and one of a shell entity in Mumbai were covered during the searches in a case against Deepak Jain Madda and others, the agency said in a statement.

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her daughter and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra arrived in Shimla on Friday on a private visit. They were welcomed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu at Kalyani helipad in the Chhabra suburb of the city. The chief minister presented Sonia Gandhi a memoir of traditional musical instruments. They would stay at Vadra's house at Chhabra in the vicinity of the Rashtrapati Niwas 'The Retreat'. The house, which is a blend of English and hill architecture, has grey slate roofs and is located amidst serene surroundings of thick deodar forests.

A new 'Model Prisons Act 2023' that will replace the 130-year-old pre-independence era law has been prepared by the Centre to address lacunae in the existing law and focus more on reformation and rehabilitation of inmates, the Union home ministry said on Friday. Among the salient features of the model Act are provisions of punishment for prisoners and jail staff for use of prohibited items like mobile phones etc. in jails and providing for legal aid to prisoners, provision of parole, furlough and premature release etc. to incentivise good conduct, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) said in a statement.

A man was shot dead and another injured on Friday when they fired at each other following a heated argument outside a gymnasium here, police said. Hoshiarpur Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Sarabjit Singh Bahia said an altercation broke out between two groups at the gym in the Piplanwala area. The argument turned ugly and both sides called more people to join them, following which a brawl broke out outside the facility, he said.

India's foreign exchange reserves jumped by USD 7.196 billion to USD 595.976 billion in the week ended on May 5, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday. The overall reserves had dropped by USD 4.532 billion to USD 588.78 billion in the previous reporting week. In October 2021, the country's forex reserve had reached an all-time high of USD 645 billion. The reserves have been declining as the central bank deployed the kitty to defend the rupee amid pressures caused majorly by global developments. During the week ended on May 5, the foreign currency assets, a major component of the reserves, increased by nearly USD 6.536 billion to USD 526.021 billion, according to the latest Weekly Statistical Supplement released by the RBI.

A labour union representing more than 200,000 railway workers said Friday that it was going ahead with a planned strike next week after its demands for better pay were rejected by employers. The EVG union said its members will walk out for 50 hours from late Sunday until late Tuesday. Rail company Deutsche Bahn has cancelled all long-distance travel during that period and warned that most regional trains also won't run. The strike will likely be one of the biggest in recent years, following a previous large-scale walkout in April.

The fifth edition of the Global Ayurveda Festival (GAF 2023) will be held in the State capital from December 1 to 5, focusing on projecting Ayurveda's huge potential in addressing the health challenges of the present world and setting a platform for global networking of Ayurveda practitioners and stakeholders. The focal theme of the GAF 2023 is "Emerging Challenges in Healthcare & A Resurgent Ayurveda," Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs, V Muraleedharan, who is the Chairman of the Organising Committee, told at a press conference here on Friday.

A girl allegedly committed suicide after failing her Class 12 examination in Chhattisgarh's Durg city on Friday, police said. Results of the Class 12 examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) were declared earlier in the day. Upasana Verma, resident of Malviyanagar, was found hanging from the ceiling fan in her room, said Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Dhruv. Verma, a student of a private CBSE-affiliated school in Bhilai town, failed in three subjects and was apparently deeply upset, he said.

Heavy security presence seen outside Islamabad High Court in Pakistan. The Court today granted bail to Imran Khan in all cases and barred authorities from arresting him till May 17 in any new case.

The Navi Mumbai police in Maharashtra have arrested 13 Bangladeshi nationals, including five women, for allegedly illegally staying in the country, an official said on Friday. The station house officer of Khandeshwar police station said the foreigners were taken into custody from Khanda Colony in New Panvel on Tuesday night. They were living there for the past year without a visa or passport, he said. The arrested persons were booked under the Foreigners Act and the Passports Act on Wednesday, he added.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday questioned the Supreme Court's granting of relief to its "ladla" Imran Khan, saying its "double standards" have led to the death of justice in Pakistan. In a major relief for Khan, Pakistan's Supreme Court on Thursday declared his dramatic arrest "unlawful" and "invalid" and ordered his immediate release after he was produced before a bench on its orders. Khan, 70, was arrested on Tuesday outside the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and an accountability court on Wednesday handed him over to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for eight days' remand in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

Sachin Pilot's 'Jan Sangharsh Yatra' is a "personal" one and the party "is keeping an eye on" it, Congress' Rajasthan in-charge Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said on Friday. He said a discussion on all issues would be held when Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge returns from Karnataka. Randhawa made the remarks after a meeting with state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra and co-in-charges Qazi Muhammad Nizamuddin, Amrita Dhawan and Virendra Rathore, among others, at the party's Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Road office where Pilot's march, organisational issues and preparations for the assembly polls this year were discussed.

In a temporary relief to former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan, a special bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted him protective bail in a corruption case. A division bench comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz heard the Al-Qadir trust corruption case, a day after the Supreme Court termed Khan's arrest from the IHC premises on Tuesday as “invalid and unlawful”.

Adani-Hindenburg row: SC on Friday while hearing the Adani-Hidenburg matter said that it may grant 3 months instead of the 6 sought by SEBI to finish the probe into allegations of stock manipulation.

Islamabad High Court has granted two-week bail to Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan in a corruption case.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai and other BJP leaders hold a key meeting at former CM BS Yediyurappa's residence in Bengaluru.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 10 exam results will be announced today, said CBSE.

"There is no chance of a hung Assembly, we are going to form the govt comfortably. Let him (DK Shivakumar) be happy with his 141 seats till tomorrow. We will have a legislature party meeting to decide the CM's face," said Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai.

"Exit polls have their own theory. We don't go by those samples, my sample size is too high and in that, we will have a comfortable majority. I do not know about JD(S), let them take their own call. I don't have any backup plan, my only plan is that Congress party will come to power," said Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar.

Gandhinagar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of various projects worth around Rs 4,400 crores in Gujarat.

Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court extends former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia's judicial custody till June 2 in the CBI case. Consideration of the charge sheet pending before the court.

NCP leader Jayant Patil sought 10 days time from ED to appear before the agency. Enforcement Directorate had sent a summon to Jayant Patil and called him for questioning today, in connection with the IK&FS scam

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class 12 exam results announced.

Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates in Akhil Bhartiya Shiksha Sangh Adhiveshan in Gandhinagar.

 India reports 1,580 new cases and 3,167 recoveries in the last 24 hours; the active caseload stands at 18,009​.

Delhi Crime Branch busts three extortion modules of Goldy Brar-Lawrence Bishnoi gang. Further details awaited, said Delhi Police.

"GOC Spear Corps visited forward areas along Indo Myanmar Border & hinterland of Manipur to review operational preparedness. He complimented tireless efforts of all ranks of Army & Assam Rifles to stabilise the situation & exhorted all ranks to remain vigilant & continue to work towards restoring peace & normalcy", tweets Indian Army.

The SCS “Mocha"  intensified into a Very Severe Cyclonic Storm, lay centered at 0530 hours IST of 12th May 2023 over Central adjoining Southeast Bay of Bengal near latitude 13.2N & long 88.1 East, about 520 km west-northwest of Port Blair: India Meteorological Department

25-year-old Bunty, brother of the gangster Tillu Tajpuria’s aide allegedly died by suicide. Family members heard a gunshot yesterday and found him lying in a pool of blood. He was declared brought dead at the hospital, said Delhi Police.

Rajasthan: "It is May & very hot summer but still people are coming out on the street because the issues I have raised are relevant. Issues of corruption & problems of related to the future of our youths, affect us. We hope our state govt take cognisance of the issues I have raised...," said Sachin Pilot, Congress MLA on his second day of Jan Sangharsh Yatra.

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya arrives in Nagasaki City, Japan for G7 Health Ministers' Meeting.

Elon Musk to step down as Twitter CEO as he announces new CEO of Twitter without naming her and that she will start in 6 weeks. He will now serve as Twitter’s executive chairman and chief technology officer.