Breaking news on October 7

Govt of Jammu and Kashmir: Governor Satya Pal Malik held a situation cum security review meeting today with the advisors and the Chief Secretary. The meeting was also attended by the Principal Secretaries of Planning and Housing & Urban Development Department. The Governor was briefed about the Block Development Councils (BDC) elections. He was informed that there is active interest in the BDC elections and most of the seats of Chairpersons of BDCs would be filled. The Governor was also briefed about the progress in apple procurement which has crossed 850 tonnes and worth Rs 3.25 crores. Some changes in the rates of apple are being made which will be announced shortly.

Congress appoints Ajay Kumar Lallu as the president of Uttar Pradesh Congress committee. Aradhana Misra 'Mona' appointed as the leader of Uttar Pradesh Congress Legislative Party.

Government of Jammu and Kashmir: Governor Satya Pal Malik has directed that the Home Department’s advisory asking tourists to leave the valley be lifted immediately. This will be done with effect from 10.10.2019.

Madhya Pradesh: 6 people died in a collision between a truck and an auto-rickshaw on Mumbai - Agra National Highway near Kolaras in Shivpuri district today. The injured have been admitted to a hospital.

HSBC declined to comment Monday on a Financial Times report that interim chief Noel Quinn plans to seek immediate saving across the group. The newspaper described the cuts as an attempt to rein in costs by reducing its headcount among a staff of about 238,00.

Is it going to have an effect on jobs in India?

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The bomb was placed in a rickshaw and detonated when the army bus arrived.

No one claimed the attack, but both Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan, and especially the Nangarhar province.

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NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge has rejected President Donald Trump's challenge to the release of his tax returns for a New York state criminal probe.
Judge Victor Marrero ruled Monday.

He said he cannot endorse such a "categorical and limitless assertion of presidential immunity from judicial process." 

The returns had been sought by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. His office is investigating the Trump Organization's involvement in buying the silence of two women who claimed to have had affairs with the president.

Trump's lawyers have said the investigation is politically motivated and that the quest for his tax records should be stopped because he is immune from any criminal probe as long as he is president.

More to follow...

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas  — A naval air station in Texas says one person is in custody after an unauthorized person on base prompted a lockdown.

There are no reports of injuries at the Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi, but the base said Monday morning that the lockdown will remain in effect until the base is confirmed safe.

The base says the facility went on lockdown at about 7 a.m. Monday after an unauthorized person who was possibly armed made it onto the grounds.

In February, a man was fatally shot at the base after he drove through a gate at the Naval Air Station. In that case, the man was driving a vehicle that had been reported stolen and led authorities on a chase before crashing into a barrier at the base's north gate.

(AP)

With the sword of being blacklisted by FATF hanging on Pakistan, the Lahore High Court has accepted global terrorist Hafiz Saeed's plea challenging his arrest.

The news comes at a time when Pakistan is struggling to convince the global watchdog FATF that they will live up to their promise of acting against terror funding. Pakistan is on an ultimatum by the Paris-based global watchdog on terror funding FATF.

The latest seems to be the failure of Pakistani prosecutors in making a watertight case against Hafiz Saeed - globally declared terrorist under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267. 

Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, Chief of the Air Staff, called on President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Delhi, today.

"In India's democratic tradition, there is a difference between personal and public life and personal liberty has always been respected," Congress national secretary Pranav Jha told reporters when asked about Rahul Gandhi going abroad.

Assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra are being held on October 21..

"Those who have tried to create a controversy over the issue or those people and institutions who are misusing their powers to make public the personal visits of some leaders should respect personal liberty," Jha said.

"The personal should not be mixed with the public life of an individual," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said on Twitter while defending the former party president.

IDBI Bank has invited bids to sell its non-performing account Amzen Transportation Industries for a reserve price of Rs 52 crore.

The lender intends to sell its identified non-performing asset on all cash basis to ARCs/banks/NBFCs/FIs in line with the regulatory guidelines and the bank's policy on sale of financial assets, it said in a notification.

Amzen was earlier known as Amtek Railcar Industries. The last date for submission of bids by interested parties is October 29, IDBI Bank said.

Nobel Prize for Medicine awarded to 3 scientists for the discovery of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen.

The 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was given jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, who was born in 1957 in New York City and is a professor of medicine at Harvard University; Peter Ratcliffe, 65, of the University of Oxford; and 63-year-old Gregg L. Semenza at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Karolinska Institutet said in a statement the trio should share equally the 9 million kronor ($918,000) cash award.

The trio was given the award jointly for their discoveries of “how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability,” the Nobel Committee announced Monday.

India has received first tranche of details about financial accounts of its residents in Swiss banks. This comes as a major boost to the Modi government in its war against black money. 

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza “for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”

Sensex drops 141.33 points to end at 37,531.98; Nifty falls 49.45 points to 11,125.30

Heavy snowfall in Rohtang has crippled movement of vehicles and normal traffic on Manali-Leh highway. Snowfall has brought temperatures down in the higher regions. Several Himachal Road Transport Corporation buses were stuck in 6-inch deep snow. 

Areas with maximum snowfall on Manali-Leh Highway route:

Between Rani Nallah & Rohtang Pass

Keylong-Manali route 

Transport services between the above routes have been hit due to snow. 

Hyderabad: Rainwater entered the Intensive Care Unit of Malla Reddy Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Jeedimetla yesterday. #Telangana

Water gushed into the ICU of a hospital in Hyderabad as torrential rains once again lashed the city, inundating low-lying areas on Sunday.

Water entered the Intensive Care Unit of Malla Reddy Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Jeedimetla.

One-two feet deep water got accumulated in the emergency ward in the basement, causing severe inconvenience to patients. Hospital staff, with the help of attendants of patients, were seen pumping out water.

Many parts of Hyderabad experienced heavy rains in the afternoon, flooding the roads and throwing the normal life out of gear. The heavy rains that lasted for over two hours also inundated low-lying areas and brought the vehicular traffic to a halt.

According to the Telangana State Development Planning Society, parts of the city recorded highest rainfall of nearly 10 centimeters. Quthbullapur 'mandal' (block), where Malla Reddy Hospital is located, recorded 9.2 cm rainfall.

AP NEWSBREAK: White House: Turkey will soon invade Northern Syria, casting uncertainty on fate of Kurdish fighters allied with US. 

U.S.-backed Kurdish-led forces in Syria say that American troops have begun withdrawing from areas along Turkey’s border. 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former President Jimmy Carter had a black eye and 14 stitches after falling Sunday at his Georgia home, but made it to an evening concert in Tennessee to rally volunteers ahead of his 36th home building project for Habitat for Humanity.

The 39th president fell earlier in the day at his home in Plains, Georgia, and required the stitches above his brow. By Sunday evening, Carter was on stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville with his wife Rosalynn, 92, to talk to volunteers and supporters of the building project that runs through Friday.

Carter turned 95 last Tuesday, becoming the first U.S. president to reach that milestone.

(AP) 

Hours after the Supreme Court restrained authorities from cutting any more trees in Aarey Colony here, an activist demanded that the Metro project chief
be held responsible for the move to axe trees at night last week and action be taken against those found guilty.

 Former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and Senior Congress leader Harish Rawat admitted to hospital after he complained of chest pain.

Section 144 is still in effect in Aarey police jurisdiction till tomorrow morning, but police are ensuring that local residents' movement is unhindered in Aarey area, Mumbai Police told ANI.

Four people were killed and one injured on Monday when a container truck collided with a divider following which an SUV rammed onto it on the Agra Lucknow Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.

With the arrest of a Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist from Baramulla, police in Jammu and Kashmir have neutralised a newly-formed grouping of the terror outfit that had planned to foment violence by targeting security forces and civilians.

Mohsin Manzoor Salhea, a resident of Old Town Baramulla, was arrested along with arms and ammunition on Sunday.

He was part of a newly-raised group of three terrorists aimed at conducting terror activities in Baramulla district, the police said.

Tarun Tejpal sexual assault case: Hearing adjourned till October 21 by Goa's Mapusa Court as the victim was not present in court today.

Trade bodies of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) will challenge the state government's decision to sack about 48,000 agitating
employees, as and when they are served with dismissal or suspension notices, a union leader said here on Monday.

In view of some incidents of drowning during the Ganesh festival last month, the Madhya Pradesh government has directed that during the ongoing
Navratri celebrations, idols of Goddess Durga be immersed only through cranes in the city's Lower Lake.

The Supreme Court on Monday restrained authorities from cutting anymore trees in Mumbai's Aarey to set up a Metro car shed.

A special bench comprising justices Arun Mishra and Ashok Bhushan said it will have to examine the entire thing and posted the matter for hearing on October 21 before its forest bench. "Don't cut anything now," the bench said.

The felling of trees is being opposed by green activists and local residents.

PDP leader and former Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti took to Twitter to say that trees in the Aarey Colony of Mumbai were greater than Kashmiri lives.

Supreme Court orders that status quo should be maintained regarding felling of trees at Mumbai's Aarey Colony. Top court asks to include Union Environment ministry a party. Next hearing on October 21.

The SC orders the Mumbai police to release all the activists who were arrested over the past 2 days, if the had not been released yet.

Supreme Court has put a hold on cutting of trees in the Aarey forest area in Mumbai. The Maharashtra government has also told SC that no more trees will be cut. 

Maharashtra government has told the Supreme Court that no more trees will be cut in the Aarey forest area in Mumbai. 

Special Supreme Court bench begins hearing PIL, submitted as a letter by law students in Aarey Forest tree felling case, asks lawyers not to site media reports in arguments.

Equity benchmark BSE Sensex opened on a highly volatile note on Monday as weak domestic and global cues weighed on investor sentiment amid sustained foreign fund outflow.

After opening in the positive terrain, the 30-share index swung over 300 points in early trade. The index was trading 72.68 points, or 0.19 per cent, lower at 37,600.63 at 0930 hours. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty slipped 32.80 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 11,141.95.

Section 144 of the IPC was reimposed around Aarey Colony after prohibitory orders were relaxed for a short while amid protests against tree axing in Mumbai's 'Green Lung'. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance in the PIL against felling of trees in Mumbai's Aarey Colony.

Pakistan would engage China at the highest level for talks on several big projects in the fields of hydropower, oil refinery and steel mills as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a Minister said here.

Addressing the media a day before Prime Minister Imran Khan's three-day visit to Beijing, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar on Sunday said that Pakistan would start formal negotiations on additional projects, including a major overland LNG terminal, 7,000-megawatt Bunji hydropower project, Pakistan Steel Mills, oil refineries as well as joint ventures in businesses and science and technology, for agreements, reports Dawn news.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will embark on two-day visit to France from Monday during which he will hold the Annual Defence dialogue with French Minister of Armed Forces Florence Parly, a Defence Ministry statement said.

Singh would meet France President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday before participating in the Rafale fighter aircraft handing over ceremony at Merignac along with Parly. The Defence Minister will also perform the Shastra Puja on the auspicious occasion of Vijayadashami and fly a sortie in the Rafale fighter aircraft.

On October 9, Singh will address the CEOs of the French Defence industry during which he is likely to urge them to participate in "Make in India" and the DefExpo to be held in Lucknow from February 5-8, 2020.

Delhiites woke up to a partly cloudy Monday morning with the minimum temperature settling at 22.4 degrees Celsius, a notch above the season's average.

According to the MeT department, the humidity level recorded at 8.30 am was 82 per cent.

"Skies will be clear today and the maximum temperature is expected to settle at 33 degrees Celsius," an official said.

On Sunday, the minimum temperature recorded was 21.1 degrees Celsius, while the maximum temperature settled at 32.9 degrees Celsius.

Many cars damaged after a bridge collapsed near Malanka village in Junagadh in Gujarat yesterday. No casualties reported. More details awaited.

Traffic movement affected on Manali-Leh Highway between Rani Nallah & Rohtang Pass, after snowfall in the area today. All routine buses on Keylong-Manali route have been stopped.

Section 144 of the IPC has now been lifted around Aarey Colony, ahead of Supreme Court's special sitting on Monday on tree axing in Mumbai's 'Green Lung'. The Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of the tree felling in Mumbai’s Aarey colony.

Two drunken youths allegedly attacked a man and tried to strip his wife at the central bus stand in Alwar late on Saturday night because the couple belonging to a minority community refused to say ‘Ram-Ram’ as ordered by the accused. The plight of the couple drew a crowd of locals, who thrashed the duo — Vansh Bharadwaj and Surendra Bhatia — and handed them over to police. 

A major tragedy was averted after locals managed to rescue five girls from being swept away in river Mahanadi here on Sunday. A 13-year-old girl, identified as Pinki Biswakarma, of Badbazar area, however, is still missing. A group of six girls had gone to the Badbazar ghat of river Mahanadi to take bath when Pinki was swept away in the strong currents.

A 62-year-old retired bank manager allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree outside his house in Southeast Delhi's Amar Colony. The deceased was identified as Satish Kumar Chawla. He lived with his family in an apartment in National Park, Amar Colony. A suicide note was also found from the pocket of his pant in which Chawla apologised to his wife and son and said he wanted to take the extreme step as he was depressed after not getting tenant for a house he had bought recently.

Thousands of people demonstrated on Sunday in cities across Spain to denounce the rapid increase of gambling and the number of betting shops and urged "decent" leisure activities as alternatives. Sports personalities and celebrities sell their images to publicize gambling, a sector that moves enormous sums and whose growing presence on streets and online has sparked alarm among those who see gambling as the next big addiction.

Six people including folk singer Sushma Nekpur's live-in partner and two contract killers have arrested for her murder, police said on Sunday.

According to police, the live-in partner, Gajendra Bhati, hatched the conspiracy of the murder as he was fed up with Sushma's increasing demands and gave a contract to the sharp shooters to kill her.

With only two weeks to go for the Haryana Assembly polls, a galaxy of top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will be campaigning in the state over the next few days. Modi, who is the star campaigner of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will be addressing four rallies across Haryana over two days.

He will address the first rally in Ballabhgarh in Faridabad district on October 14, the BJP said in a statement. On October 15, he will address three more rallies in Dadri, Thanesar and Hisar, the statement said. The BJP has fielded Commonwealth Games medallist Babita Phogat from Dadri.

A BJP corporator and four of his family members were on Sunday shot dead at his residence in Maharastra's Jalgaon district by three gunmen. The incident took place late Sunday night when BJP corporator Ravindra Kharat (55) and his family members were inside their residence.

All the injured were rushed to the hospitals nearby but declared dead during treatment.