Breaking News, November 17 | HIGHLIGHTS

Demanding justice for the woman doctor who was raped and murdered at RG Kar hospital here in August, 100 cyclists on Sunday paddled for 10 km to reach her workplace in Shyambazar area in the northern part of the city. Organised by the Abhaya Mancha, a forum of protesting medics of West Bengal Junior Doctors Front and civil society members, the cycle rally started from Sodepur Traffic More, not far from the deceased post-graduate trainee doctor's residence in North 24 Parganas district.

Eight lower-rung Naxalites were arrested and explosives were seized from them in the Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, police said on Sunday. The arrested cadres were planning to plant an IED between the Usoor- Tekmetla route to target security forces.

They were apprehended on Saturday by security personnel between the Usoor and Tekmetla villages during an anti-Naxal operation by the District Reserve Guard and the local police, an official said.

Assam Rifles organised a security coordination meeting at Lailophai (near Sugnu Iron Bridge), Churachandpur District of Manipur to ensure peace and harmony. According to a statement from HQ IGAR (South), a high-level security meeting was convened and key representatives from Assam Rifles, Manipur Police, BSF and ITBP. DIG Kakching and Thoubal, DC Kakching, SP Kakching & SI Churachandpur district were also present in the meeting.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi concluded the first leg of his three-nation visit to Nigeria. He will be in Brazil on Monday. He will participate in the 19th G20 Leaders’ Summit, scheduled from November 18-19. 

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday attacked Shiv Sena (UBT) Uddhav Thackeray, saying the late Bal Thackeray would be sad to see his son deviate from his ideology for the sake of power.

Chouhan was addressing a rally here to seek votes for BJP candidate Charansingh Thakur ahead of the November 20 assembly elections. Thakur is pitted against sitting MLA Anil Deshmukh’s son Salil Deshmukh, who is contesting as the NCP (SP) nominee.

Earlier in the day, he also addressed a press conference in Nagpur and highlighted various government schemes for farmers.

At least two persons were killed and six injured in a bomb blast in Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Sunday, local police said. The bomb blast occurred in Azam Warsak Bazaar, close to Shahzada Mosque. The blast resulted in the death of two persons and injuring six, local police said. Hospital sources said the condition of three persons is stated to be serious.

Two men were killed and one was injured in a drunken brawl that broke out during a wedding ceremony in a village here, police said on Sunday. The victims were identified as Pawandeep (22), Indrajit Singh (32) and Vishal (24), they said.

Delhi's air quality worsened further on Sunday, with an AQI of 441, making it the second-most polluted city in the country. The city's 24-hour Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm daily, stood at 441, in the "severe" category. On Saturday, the AQI was 417.

According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), a "severe" AQI poses risks to healthy individuals and severely impacts those with pre-existing health conditions. Four cities in the country recorded the AQI in the "severe" category. Bahadurgarh in Haryana topped the list with an AQI of 445, followed by Delhi (441), Bhiwani in Haryana (415) and Bikaner in Rajasthan (404), according to the CPCB's data. Of the 40 monitoring stations in the capital, data from 34 provided by the CPCB showed that 32 stations recorded the air quality in the "severe" category, with AQI levels of above 400.

India accords high priority to its strategic partnership with Nigeria and it will work towards boosting ties in a range of areas, including defence, energy and trade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said during his talks with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Sunday.  

In his televised opening remarks at the meeting, Modi identified terrorism, separatism, piracy and drug trafficking as major challenges and said the two countries will continue to work together to deal with them. Modi arrived in Abuja early Sunday on the first trip to the country by an Indian prime minister after a gap of 17 years.  

In a major boost to its military prowess, India has successfully flight-tested a long-range hypersonic missile off the coast of Odisha, an achievement that has put the country in a select group of nations having the weapon that can strike with extreme speed and evade most air-defence systems. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh described the missile test on Saturday under the country's first long-range hypersonic mission as a "stupendous" achievement and a "historic moment".

Three women allegedly drowned in a swimming pool at a resort near Ullal beach here on Sunday, police said. The deceased have been identified as Nishita M D (21), Parvati S (20) and Keerthana N (21) - all from Mysuru. According to the police, they had come on a pleasure trip to the beach resort 'Vazco' on November 16, and were staying there.

Seven people, including three police personnel were injured following a dispute between two Hindu groups here -- the“ Himalayan Brahmo Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram -- in the heart of the state capital, police said on Sunday.

The premises of the Ramakrishna Mission Ashram, located within the Brahmo Samaj property near the Vidhan Sabha was also damaged in the conflict, they said.

In a remarkable achievement, fine variety paddy (sanna vadlu) cultivation in Telangana has gone up by 61 per cent to four million acres this kharif season compared to 2.5 million acres during the same period last year, government sources said on Sunday. In a social media post, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy complimented farmers and said for the first time after the formation of Telangana, despite the Kaleshwaram Project not being in a position to store water, paddy was harvested at a record level.

 Irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley even as security forces foiled the attempt of agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, officials said. The fresh incidents of violent protests took place on Saturday night even as an indefinite curfew was clamped after people, agitated by the killing of three women and children each by militants in Jiribam district, attacked the residences of three state ministers and six MLAs earlier on Saturday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday paid tributes to Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray on his 12th death anniversary. In a post on X in Hindi, the chief minister on Sunday, said, "On the death anniversary of the strong voice of nationalism, unique speaker, founder of Shiv Sena, respected Balasaheb Thackeray, I pay my heartfelt respects and humble tributes to him!" Thackeray was born on January 23, 1926 in Maharashtra's Pune. The Shiv Sena founder passed away on November 17, 2012 at his residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai after a prolonged illness.

A sudden power outage at the Kalaignar Centenary Super Specialty Hospital, Guindy, here, purportedly due to an electrical short circuit on late Saturday night left the patients and their attendants in shock. A senior government official, however, said the power supply was restored. Additional Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu Health department Supriya Sahu said there was a fire accident in the main cable at the hospital, impacting the power supply in the KCSSH. “The generator supply cable was also impacted. But immediately, we ensured power supply to 419 patients including 15 on ventillator support, through a separate generator. As a result, these patients were not affected,” she said.

 The Railways detained a connecting train in Howrah station for a few minutes for a 'baraat' party coming from Mumbai so that they could reach the venue in Guwahati on time, officials said. The incident took place on Friday after Chandrasekhar Wagh, a member of a 34-strong 'baraat' party (relatives accompanying the groom) coming from Mumbai, pleaded helplessness on X to the Railway authorities as the Mumbai-Howrah Gitanjali Express, which was scheduled to arrive in Howrah at 1.05 pm, got delayed and they feared they would miss the Howrah-Guwahati Saraighat Express, which was scheduled to depart for Assam around 4 pm.

A massive fire broke out in a shoe factory in Ghevra area of northwest Delhi early Sunday, an official of the Delhi Fire Services said. No casualties were reported. "We received a call regarding a blaze at 2.35 am from a shoe factory located in Ghevra," he said. A total of 30 fire tenders were rushed to the spot, the official said, adding the blaze is under control and cooling operation is underway.

Poll authorities have seized gold valued at Rs 14.5 crore from Nagpur amid the model code of conduct in place for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls, an official said. The gold, in the form of ornaments and biscuits, was being transported by Gujarat-based firm Sequel Logistics when a flying surveillance team apprehended it on Saturday, he said. The shipment arrived in Nagpur by flight on Thursday and was being sent to Amravati. The vehicle was stopped while it was moving from Ambazari Lake to Wadi, the official said.

The Manipur government has requested the Centre to review and withdraw AFSPA from areas falling under the jurisdiction of six police stations in the state, an official said. The Centre has reimposed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in Manipur's six police station areas, including violence-hit Jiribam. A letter from the Joint Secretary (Home) to the Centre on Saturday, mentioned that "the state cabinet has deliberated upon the same (reimposition of AFSPA) in its meeting held on November 15 and has decided to recommend to the central government to review and withdraw the said declaration of areas falling under the jurisdiction of six police stations in the state as disturbed areas under Section 3 of AFSPA 1958.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has asked if the call for "dharma-yudh of votes" given by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis adheres to the model code of conduct of the Election Commission. Addressing a campaign rally in Dombivli town of Thane district ahead of the November 20 state assembly polls, Thackeray on Saturday said he was asked to remove the words "Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji" from his party's election anthem before the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year, but he refused to do so. "Devendra Fadnavis has given a call for "dharma-yudh of votes. I am asking the Election Commission, does dharma-yudh fit in with your model code of conduct?" the former chief minister said.

The Jharkhand Police have registered FIRs against operators of two social media accounts for allegedly running campaigns to malign the image of Chief Minister Hemant Soren and that of the state, a senior officer said. The FIRs were registered after Soren and the ruling JMM accused the BJP of running "shadow" campaigns to malign the image of the CM and the state. "Two FIRs have been registered for campaigns against the CM's and the state's image," the officer said. Soren had alleged that the saffron camp has been "spending crores of rupees on various social media platforms" and "created 95,000 WhatsApp groups" to campaign against the JMM-led coalition in the state.