Breaking News, April 8 | HIGHLIGHTS

Three labourers died after consuming spurious liquor in Punjab's Sangrur district, police said on Saturday.

The deceased were identified as Chamkaur Singh, Gurmail Singh and Gurtej Singh, all residents of Namol Village in Sangrur district, they said.

Cheema Police Station Sub Inspector Lakhvir Singh said police received information about the death of three labourers on Saturday morning.

Investigation was underway, police said, adding that the bodies have been sent for post mortem examination.

Parliament on Saturday unveiled its new website which claims to have easier accessibility options and a pop-up window to the live telecast of Sansad TV.

Parliament officials said the new website -- www.sansad.in -- had its soft launch on Saturday and the transition from the existing website will take place soon.

The website is yet to be launched formally, an official said.

The U.S. Navy has deployed a guided-missile submarine capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk missiles to the Middle East, a spokesman said Saturday, in what appeared to be a show of force toward Iran following recent tensions.
The Navy rarely acknowledges the location or deployment of submarines. Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet based in the Gulf nation of Bahrain, declined to comment on the submarine’s mission or what had prompted the deployment.

 Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Saturday said he looked forward to work under party national president Mallikarjun Kharge, if the latter becomes the Chief Minister of the state following the assembly elections.

Stating that Kharge is an asset to the state and the country, the party leader said the AICC president's services to Karnataka has given strength to the party here.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will be leaving for the US to attend the 2023 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), along with G20 meetings.

During her week-long trip, she will be hosting the second G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting under India's G20 Presidency and G20-related side events, the finance ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

 All India Football Federation general secretary Shaji Prabhakaran is hopeful of the national U-17 team gaining "valuable experience" from the exposure tour of Spain and Germany as part of preparations for the AFC U-17 Asian Cup Final Rounds in June-July in Thailand.

Prabhakaran on Saturday met the India U-17 men's team, which will travel to Spain and Germany to train and play matches.
The team is currently camping in Goa.

Prabhakaran said: "For us, our national youth team's preparation is one of the biggest priority focus areas and these youth players will have big exposure opportunities in Europe in the coming weeks.

Maharashtra on Saturday recorded 542 new cases of coronavirus infection and one fatality, which raised the tally of infections to 81,49,141 and death toll to 1,48,458, an official from the state health department said.

There has been a drop in infections since Friday, when the state had recorded 926 cases and three fatalities.

With 668 patients recovering from the infection in the last 24 hours, the count of recoveries has reached 79,96,323, leaving the state with 4,360 active cases, the official said.

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the Bihar government on Saturday transferred 36 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and 26 Indian Police Service (IPS) officers.

Vinod Singh Gunjiyal, secretary of the Minor Water Resources department will be the new secretary of the Prohibition Excise and Registration department.
B Kartikey Dhanji the Inspector General of Registration-cum-Excise Commissioner has been given charge of Director, Bihar Education Project Council, a notification issued by the General Administration department said.

China on Saturday began military exercises around Taiwan to test the capabilities of its forces to "seize control of the sea, air and information," days after a meeting between the US House Speaker and the President of the self-ruled island in defiance of repeated threats by Beijing.

China views Taiwan as a breakaway province.

Beijing has not ruled out the possible use of force to reunify the self-ruled island with the mainland.

The Chinese military announced the start of three-day “combat readiness patrols,” asserting that it is testing the capabilities of its forces to “seize control of the sea, air, and information.

 A five-and-a-half-year-old girl was mauled to death by stray dogs in Chhattisgarh's Koriya district, police said on Saturday. The incident took place at Talwapara village adjoining Baikunthpur town on Friday when Sukanti Majhi, the girl, had gone to a shop to buy snacks, a police official said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said one crore youths of the state will get employment in the next three years through investment proposals received at the recently held Global Investors Summit. He was speaking after laying the foundation stone of a rural mini-stadium at Bholaram Maskara Inter College in Sahjanwa here, which will be built at a cost of Rs 10.43 crore. The stadium will have a multi-sports complex, athletics track and an audience gallery.

The Congress on Saturday slammed the BJP over its leader Kailash Vijayvargiya's "women look like 'Surpanakha' in bad clothes" remark, saying it is an insult to every woman of the country and reflects the party's mindset. All India Mahila Congress chief Netta D'souza said this not only shows his dirty mindset, but also that respecting women is not in the BJP's dictionary. "Are we living in a Talibani rule that the government will tell women what to wear, what to eat and whom to meet," she asked.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said he felt inspired and energetic after meditating at the Vivekananda House here, where the legendary monk had stayed in 1897. In his address at celebrations commemorating the 125th Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna Math here. Modi said he has deep respect for the Ramakrishna Math and that it played an important role in his life.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flagged off the Secunderabad-Tirupati Vande Bharat Express train here. PM Modi, who arrived in the city, flagged off the service from Secunderabad Railway station. He boarded the stationary train at the railway station and interacted with school children. The train will reduce the travel time between Secunderabad in Telangana and Tirupati in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, by almost three and half hours and will be particularly beneficial for pilgrims.

Two persons were arrested for stealing seized articles including four kilograms of heroin from a high-security court complex in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, a senior police officer said on Saturday. The theft inside the ‘Malkhana’ of the court complex had taken place on the intervening night of April 3 and 4, prompting the authorities to suspend five police personnel including an officer.

Six members of a family were killed when the car in which they were travelling collided with an unidentified vehicle here early Saturday, police said. The incident took place near Vishambharpur village under Sriduttganj police station, they said. Sonu Shah (28), a resident of Deoria district who worked at a paper mill in Nainital, left for his village with his wife, children and other family members on Friday evening, Superintendent of Police (SP) Keshav Kumar said. Early on Saturday morning, the car collided with an unidentified vehicle near Vishambharpur village, killing Shah, his wife Sujavati (25), their children Ruchika (6) and Divyanshi (4), Shah's brother Ravi (18) and sister Khushi (13) on the spot, the SP said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flagged off the Chennai-Coimbatore Vande Bharat Express, which is expected to cut down the travel time between the state capital here and the western industrial city by more than one hour. At a function at the Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station, the PM flagged off the inaugural special, loaded with modern features and passenger amenities. He also interacted with school students in the train. "It is the fastest train between the two cities with a travel time of 5 hours and 50 minutes, saving more than an hour of journey time," an official release said. The train, the first to connect two Tamil Nadu cities, has enhanced passenger safety with indigenous automatic train protection system 'KAVACH', CCTV cameras in all coaches and automatic sliding doors.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday said his government has decided to change office timings from 7.30 am to 2 pm from next month. At present, the office timings of the state government departments is 9 am to 5 pm. “The Punjab government has decided that from May 2, all the government offices will open at 7.30 am and close at 2 pm,” Mann said in a video message. The new office timing will remain in force till July 15, he said. Mann said the decision was taken following discussions with many people, including state government employees. He further said the change in office timings during summer will ease the load on electricity demand.

Coronavirus pandemic is completely under control in Andhra Pradesh with only 267 people exhibiting symptoms out of the total 15,096 people screened, state Health Minister Vidadala Rajini said. The Minister said there was no reason to worry, reflecting on these tests conducted in the past two weeks. "Currently, all these patients are undergoing treatment at their homes. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy always alerts the health department on Covid tests," said Rajini in a statement on Friday.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday assured people that marriage of women coming from poor families would not be delayed, nor treatment of any patient hampered for lack of money. "Don't worry or panic. The government is ready to help those in need," Adityanath said during a 'Janata Darshan' programme held at the Gorakhnath temple here.

If some children are weak in studies, extra classes will be organised for them, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Sunday, responding to a BJP leader who posted mark sheets of students, who didn't perform well, on Twitter.

Pakistan President Arif Alvi on Saturday returned to Parliament for reconsideration a bill aimed at clipping the powers of the chief justice, citing that the proposed legislation is beyond the jurisdiction of the legislative body and can be assailed as a "colourable legislation". Pakistan is witnessing a rift between the judiciary and the government after a three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Uma Ata Bandial on Tuesday fixed May 14 as the new date for elections to the Punjab Assembly and quashed the Election Commission's decision to extend the date of the poll from April 10 to October 8.

A 23-year-old man allegedly killed a Dalit woman with a knife in Ram Shahpur village here, police said on Saturday. The man, Sanjay Kumar, slit the throat of 18-year-old Kavita Friday in his house, then tried to kill himself also with the same knife, Additional Superintendent of Police, Amethi, Harendra Kumar on Saturday said.

A major fire broke out at a plastic godown early Saturday in outer Delhi's Tikri Kalan area, authorities said. No casualty has been reported yet.

Police arrested four persons accused of murdering an Andhra Pradesh techie recently, who was striving to amicably resolve an extra-marital affair dispute involving his younger brother. Batte Rupinjaya, Peta Gopinath Reddy, Appana Ramesh and Appana Kumar were arrested while Chanikya Pratap is still on the run, a police official said on Saturday.

Two Naxalites were arrested and explosives were allegedly seized from them in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district, a police official said on Saturday. Muchak Sukhram (28) and Madvi Kosa (30), who carry rewards of Rs 1 lakh each on their heads, were planning to plant the explosives to target security personnel, he said.

China sent warships and dozens of fighter jets toward Taiwan on Saturday, the Taiwanese government said, in retaliation for a meeting between the US House of Representatives speaker and the president of the self-ruled island democracy claimed by Beijing as part of its territory. The Chinese military announced the start of three-day “combat readiness patrols” as a warning to Taiwanese who want to make the island's de facto independence permanent.

Gunfire erupted on a South Carolina beach during a “senior skip day” event involving numerous teenagers Friday, wounding six people, police in South Carolina said. The shooting took place around 5:20 pm on Isle of Palms, 94 miles (151 kilometers) south of Myrtle Beach.

A man was sentenced to seven years in jail by a Thane court 19 years after he trespassed into a house and raped a woman. Additional Sessions Judge Rachna Tehra convicted Ramashankar Shukla, an autorickshaw driver, under section 376 of the Indian Penal Code and also fined him Rs 5,500.

Six men in Congo were sentenced to life in prison on Friday for the 2021 murder of Italy's ambassador and two others. The sentence was announced by a military tribunal in the capital, Kinshasa, following a six-month trial. Luca Attanasio, Italy's ambassador to Congo since 2017, was one of three people killed in February 2021 in an ambush on a World Food Programme convoy that was travelling from Goma, Congo's eastern regional capital, to visit a WFP school project in Rutshuru.

The executive director for a Northern California police union who was charged with attempting to illegally import synthetic opioids from India and other countries has been fired from her job, officials said Friday. Joanne Marian Segovia, who was the executive director of the San Jose Police Officers' Association, was arrested last week on charges she attempted to unlawfully import valeryl fentanyl, a synthetic opioid. If convicted, she faces up to 20 years in prison.

North Korea on Saturday claimed it tested this week a second known type of nuclear-capable underwater attack drone designed to destroy naval vessels and ports, adding to a flurry of weapons demonstrations this year that have heightened tensions with rivals. The report of the four-day test came a day after the nuclear envoys of the United States, South Korea and Japan met in Seoul to discuss the growing North Korean nuclear threat and called for stronger international efforts to crack down on illicit North Korean activities funding its weapons program.

Russia lost elections to three United Nations bodies this week, a sign that opposition to its invasion of Ukraine over a year ago remains strong. The votes in the 54-member UN Economic and Social Council follow approval of six non-binding resolutions against Russia by the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. The latest — on Feb. 23, the eve of the first anniversary of the invasion — called for Moscow to end hostilities and withdraw its forces and was adopted by a vote of 141-7 with 32 abstentions.

An Indian-origin man has died after he was pushed in the chest by another man and fell down a flight of stairs outside a shopping mall in Singapore. Thevandran Shanmugam, 34, fell backwards down the stairs at Concorde Shopping Mall on Orchard Road last month.

Israeli authorities said late Friday that at least seven people were wounded in a suspected attack in Tel Aviv, Israel's commercial hub. The exact nature of the attack was not immediately clear, but the Israeli Foreign Ministry referred to it as a "terror attack," a term Israeli officials use for assaults by Palestinians.

Vice President Kamala Harris made a last-minute trip to Tennessee on Friday, hours after the Republican-controlled House expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the Legislature in retaliation for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin.