Breaking news, December 10 | HIGHLIGHTS

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that India's aspiration to become a "significant power" is not possible without its becoming a knowledge powerhouse and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) will play a vital role in this. Jaishankar in his address to students and faculty of BHU said that the country's foreign policy is now taking a multi-faceted form connecting with more global concerns. He said that during the global spread of Coronavirus, India not only protected its population but also took up global leadership by exporting its vaccine worldwide. "We have now started shaping global discussions and in the coming days, our foreign policy will also have the ability to solve global questions around the world. "In the 21st century, the new world can be ruled only by the power of data, technology, and ideas," he said, adding soon a meeting of development ministers of G-20 countries will be organised in Varanasi. Jaishankar said that Kashi has been a city of civilization, knowledge, and discussion and BHU reflects the best aspirations of post-independence India.

A 30-year-old woman received serious burn injuries as a two-storey house collapsed following a cylinder blast in suburban Vikhroli on Saturday evening, an official said. The incident took place in Surya Nagar locality in Vikhroli (West) around 7.10 pm. The walls and slab of the first floor of the house -- a ground-plus-one structure -- collapsed due to the LPG cylinder blast, a civic official said. Sujata Kawale (30), who lived in the house along with her family, was injured in the incident, he said. Four fire engines were rushed to the spot after receiving a call about the incident, he added. The woman was rescued from the debris and rushed to the nearby civic-run Rajawadi Hospital. She had suffered 80-90 per cent burn injuries and her condition was said to be critical, the official said. Further details about the incident were awaited, he said.

A 65-year-old woman allegedly committed suicide by setting herself on fire in a public toilet in Thane city of Maharashtra on Saturday, police said. The deceased woman has been living with her daughter in Sainath Nagar after the death of her son last year. She set herself on fire in the public toilet in the locality around noon. Local people saw smoke coming out of the toilet and rushed to the spot only to find the burnt body of a woman, the official said. The motive behind the extreme step is under investigation, he said. The official said the woman had attempted suicide in the past.

The winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine shared their visions of a fairer world and denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine during Saturday's award ceremony in the Norwegian capital. Oleksandra Matviichuk of Ukraine's Center for Civil Liberties dismissed calls for a political compromise that would allow Russia to retain some of the illegally annexed Ukrainian territories, saying that “fighting for peace does not mean yielding to pressure of the aggressor, it means protecting people from its cruelty.” “Peace cannot be reached by a country under attack laying down its arms,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion.

The Telangana cabinet on Saturday approved new job recruitments in various wings of the government, including the police department. The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao decided to fill 3,966 posts in various categories in Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Rachakonda Commissionerates, Command Control Centre, Narcotics Control Bureau and Telangana Cyber Safety Bureau, a release from CMO said. It directed the Home department to take steps to initiate the recruitment process. At the meeting, approval was accorded for the establishment of new police stations, new circles and new divisions to further improve law and order and strengthen the police system in the limits of Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Rachakonda Commissionerates.

The death toll in the cylinder explosion during a wedding in Rajasthan's Jodhpur went up to 12 on Saturday with five people succumbing to their injuries, an official said. According to MG Hospital Superintendent Raj Shri Behra, 42 injured were still undergoing treatment at the burn unit of the hospital, and more than half of them were critical. The superintendent said a team of 24 doctors, including a general surgeon, a plastic surgeon, a pediatric surgeon and an anesthetist, are working round-the-clock to attend to the injured. The cylinder explosion at Bhungra village in Shergarh subdivision on Thursday triggered a fire and left more than 50 people injured. The injured included the groom, Surendra Singh, his parents and other family members.

The Godda-Rajendranagar weekly express train was flagged off by Jharkhand MP Nishikant Dubey and legislator Amit Kumar Mandal from Godda railway station on Saturday, officials said. Speaking on the occasion, Dubey, the Godda BJP MP said the new train will fulfil the long cherished demand of local traders and artisans as they will get direct access to bigger markets. "History is being scripted every day in Godda parliamentary constituency under leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said in a Twitter post. The Prime Minister gave railway line to Godda after 75 years of Independence and the railway minister gave Godda-Patna rail on Saturday, he said. Godda railway station is about 335 km from Jharkhand Capital Ranchi Mandal said that the new train will foster socio-economic development of Jharkhand.

Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Saturday alleged that the BJP has started "threatening and luring" some of his party's councillors and asserted that it was "impossible to buy" them. In a statement issued by the AAP, Singh was also quoted as saying that despite getting nearly 30 seats less than the AAP in the recently held elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and losing on 80 seats as compared to the previous election, the BJP has resorted to its "dirty tactics". There was no immediate reaction from the BJP. Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta had on Friday said the new mayor will be from the AAP and the BJP will play the role of a "strong opposition", ending speculation over the saffron party staking a claim on the mayor's post despite losing the civic polls.

A decade ago, then-Vice President Joe Biden shocked the political world and preempted his boss by suddenly declaring his support for gay marriage on national television. But not everyone was surprised. A small group had attended a private fundraiser with Biden weeks earlier in Los Angeles, where he disclosed not only his approval but his firm conclusion about a positive future for same-sex marriage. He predicted, “Things are changing so rapidly, it's going to become a political liability in the near term for someone to say, I oppose gay marriage.'" "Mark my words. And my job — our job — is to keep this momentum rolling to the inevitable.” The day that Biden envisioned may have arrived. He plans on Tuesday to sign legislation, passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress, to protect gay unions — even if the Supreme Court should revisit its ruling supporting a nationwide right of same-sex couples to marry.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of south coastal and Rayalaseema districts of Andhra Pradesh early on Saturday after cyclonic storm 'Mandous' made landfall off Mamallapuram in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. According to an official release from the state government, 20.5 mm of rainfall was recorded in Annamaiya district, 22 mm in Chittoor, 10.1 mm in Prakasam, 23.4 mm in SPSR Nellore district, 2.4 mm in Tirupati district and 13.2 mm in YSR Kadapa district from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm today. G Sai Prasad Special Chief Secretary (disaster management) said 708 people were evacuated from unsafe low-lying areas and moved to safer areas.

Delhi University will give an undergraduate 'honours' degree even to the students opting for three years, Vice Chancellor Yogesh Singh said. According to new norms prepared by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in a draft, students will now get an undergraduate honours degree only after completing a four-year course. These norms have been mentioned in a draft titled 'Curriculum and credit framework for four-year undergraduate programmes'. Likely to be notified on Monday, the draft has been prepared in accordance with the National Education Policy (NEP). While DU's new Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) has been implemented from the academic year 2022-23, at least for this academic session the university will follow a system approved by it its academic bodies, Singh said.

SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Saturday said the Samajwadi Party won the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat because of public sympathy over the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav. He also took a swipe at the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP, saying joining hands with Shivpal Singh Yadav's PSPL would not change its electoral fortunes. "Mulayam Singh Yadav had contested the last Lok Sabha election in Mainpuri as part of the SP-BSP alliance and won by a margin of about 95,000 votes. Dimple Yadav won the seat by a margin of 2.5 lakh votes, so it is clear that a sympathy wave has contributed to her huge victory," Rajbhar told news persons on the sidelines of an event here. "The coming together with PSPL will not benefit the Samajwadi Party in any way (in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls). Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav had contested the assembly polls earlier this year together. Both the leaders have already been together," he further said.

The newly elected Rashtriya Lok Dal MLA from Khatauli on Saturday said he was stopped from visiting Khatauli tehsil by the district administration, which cited law and order situation as the reason behind the decision. RLD leader Madan Bhaiya called the incident "murder of democracy". Khatauli Sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), Jeet Singh cited prohibitory orders in the district as the reason behind the move. "Considering the law and order situation Madan Bhaiya was not allowed to go to Khatauli to participate in a public meeting. It was done on the apprehension that the meeting could lead to breach of peace due to the gathering of a large number of his supporters," SDM told PTI.

Bhupendra Patel will continue as the chief minister of Gujarat for a second straight term with the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs electing him as the leader of the legislative party at a meeting here on Saturday. After the meeting, Patel met Governor Acharya Devvrat at Raj Bhavan and staked a claim to form a government, two days after the BJP won a record mandate in the state elections by winning 156 seats in the 182-member House. He will take oath as the 18th chief minister at a function to be held at the Helipad ground near the new secretariat in Gandhinagar on December 12, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah along with chief ministers of BJP-ruled states, the BJP had said. Addressing a press conference after the legislative party meeting held at state BJP headquarters 'Kamalam', Patel said the implementation of promises made in the BJP's poll manifesto, including the implementation of the Uniform Civil Code, will be the priority of his government.

With 2022 turning out to be the best ever year in terms of sales, luxury carmaker BMW India expects volume to remain robust in 2023 as well as it looks to drive in multiple products, including electric sedan i7. The carmaker, which sells products under BMW and Mini brands in the car segment and bikes under BMW Motorrad, is all set to introduce eight products over the next eight weeks in the country. "For us, we believe it (sales momentum) will carry on for sure. We got fantastic products coming next year as well. We are starting with eight big launches with three being super big products, so I am very confident. We will grow in a very strong way in 2023 as well," BMW Group India President Vikram Pawah told PTI in an interaction.

The Guwahati International Airport Ltd, the Adani group entity that operates the LGBI Airport, here, has been granted aerodrome licence by the DGCA for complete management of the airport, an official statement said on Saturday. The licence was granted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday, the Guwahati International Airport Ltd statement said. It said the aerodrome licence has been given for "ensuring complete management, operations and development of the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) airport in accordance with the concession agreement".

Three members of a family of Andhra Pradesh origin died when the car in which they were travelling collided head-on with a private bus near Nellikaru in Udupi district on Saturday. The accident occurred on the Udupi-Subrahmanya Road when the couple and their two-year-old child were travelling from Dharmasthala to Sringeri, police said. The three died on the spot due to the impact of the collision, they said. Sources said the couple, which was residing in Bengaluru, had come to visit Dharmasthala and from there was proceeding to Sringeri when the mishap took place. A case has been registered and investigation is on. 

The blame game between the AAP and the BJP has begun just three days after the announcement of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) poll results, with both sides alleging poaching of councillors by the other party. BJP leaders including national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala and Delhi unit media cell head Harish Khurana at a press conference here on Saturday alleged the AAP of trying to poach the party’s newly elected councillors. Poonawala alleged a “new model” of the AAP -- “Pralobhan for Parshad” (alluring councillors) -- has come to the fore. Khurana claimed that an "agent" of Kejriwal was trying to induce the BJP councillors to switch to the AAP. He said there was “evidence” of poaching attempts by the AAP.

A man from West Bengal has been arrested in connection with the theft of gold jewellery worth nearly Rs 7 lakh from a jewellery production unit where he had previously worked in Udupi district of Karnataka, police said on Saturday. The arrested person has been identified as Subhashish Bera (38) from Medinipur district in West Bengal, police said.

Police have arrested the manager of a factory for allegedly employing three children as workers at his unit in Thane district of Maharashtra, police said. The Anti-Human Trafficking Cell (AHTC) of the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar Police Commissionerate took the action on Friday and rescued the three children.

Nihar Malaviya, an Indian-origin publishing executive, has been named interim CEO of New York-based international publishing group Penguin Random House after its current chief executive officer Markus Dohle announced he is stepping down from the role.

An air-conditioner (AC) mechanic allegedly raped a five-year-old girl inside the lift of a residential building at Navi Mumbai in Maharashtra, after which he was arrested, police said on Saturday. The incident occurred on Tuesday evening at Taloja, they said.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resumed the Rajasthan leg of the 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' from Gudli village in Bundi district on Saturday morning. Gandhi had taken a day's break in the yatra on Friday to celebrate his mother Sonia Gandhi's birthday.

In a significant ruling, the Orissa High Court has slammed a senior police officer for "refusing to register an FIR" in a death case, and directed him to undergo fresh training for one month at the Biju Patnaik Police Academy in Bhubaneswar. The inspector-in-charge (IIC) of Infocity Police Station was also banned from any field posting for one year by the high court, which, in an order on December 6, stated that the inaction shown by him is highly deplorable.

A 30-year-old Indian-origin Singaporean has been sentenced to six months jail for starting a fire outside the apartment of his former girlfriend’s fiancé ahead of their marriage, a media report has said. Surenthiran Sugumaran was convicted in October this year after he pleaded guilty to one charge of committing mischief by fire, knowing that he was likely to cause damage to property, The Straits Times reported on Friday.