Breaking News, February 7 | HIGHLIGHTS

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said there is no place for violence and Left Wing Extremism ideas in the “self-reliant New India” under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chairing a meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), he said the ministry's policy in dealing with Left Wing Extremism (LWE) has three main pillars — strategy to curb violence with ruthless approach, better coordination between the Centre and states, and eliminating support for extremists through public participation in development.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has asked all its field units to take urgent steps to vacate "dangerous" and "unsafe" houses, according to official documents. The agency, which comes under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), looks after maintenance work of most central government offices and accommodations.
 

Two men were killed and three injured when their taxi fell off a hilly road in Uttarakhand's Pauri district. The accident took place late on Monday when the five men were returning to Kandai village from nearby Bageda, Additional Superintendent of Police Shekhar Suyal said.

As many as 137 students of college for nurses here have fallen sick after having taken hostel food and a first information report (FIR) has been registered in connection with a suspected case of food-poisoning, police said on Tuesday. Based on a complaint from a surveillance officer of Dakshina Kannada district Dr Jagadish, the police said they registered the FIR. In the complaint, Jagadish said contaminated food was provided to the students on Monday. He alleged that the management erred by not submitting a report to the district administration on the incident.

BJP MP Uday Pratap Singh on Tuesday said a Krishna Lok would be built in Mathura soon as people were eagerly awaiting it. Singh, the Lok Sabha member from Hoshangabad, made the remark while participating in a debate in the Lower House on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.

Congress MP Digvijaya Singh on Tuesday reiterated the demand for setting up a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) to probe the Hindenburg Research report that alleges irregularity in the business of the Adani Group conglomerate.
During a discussion on the president's address in the Rajya Sabha, Singh said 'Amrit Kaal' has benefitted only a bunch of people and 21 people hold assets equal to 70 crore people.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar intervened during the speech and said he may be called to authenticate some documents. The Congress member agreed.

 A German court on Tuesday rejected a lawsuit by environmental campaigners seeking to force automaker BMW to stop selling vehicles with combustion engines by 2030. The group Environmental Action Germany, also known by its German acronym DUH, argued that manufacturers such as BMW pose a threat to people's right to property, health and life if they continue making vehicles that produce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Union health ministry in consultation with the National Medical Commission (NMC) has decided to reduce the eligibility criterion for NEET-Super Speciality courses from 50 percentile to 20 percentile, officials said on Tuesday. Candidates who have scored 20 percentile and above in the NEET-Super Speciality (SS) will be eligible to participate in the "special mop-up round", they said.

 A PMLA court here extended the judicial custody of former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee and his alleged close associate Arpita Mukherjee, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges, till February 14. Chatterjee and the other accused were produced before the court through the virtual mode from the correctional homes they are lodged in respectively.
No bail prayer was made by Chatterjee or Mukherjee before the court.
The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court judge at the Bankshall Court here extended the judicial remand of Chatterjee and Mukherjee till February 14.

Leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday linked Gautam Adani's meteoric rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's coming to power and said "magic" happened after 2014 that propelled the businessman from the 609th to the second spot on the global rich list.
The Congress leader's remarks drew a sharp response from the treasury benches, with Law Minister Kiren Rijiju asking him not to level "wild allegations" and furnish proof of his claims.

Three persons, including an employee of a plastic trading unit, were arrested on Tuesday on the charge of robbing more than Rs 20 lakh from the manager of the establishment at knifepoint, a Mumbai police official said.

An IndiGo flight from Jeddah to Delhi on Tuesday made an emergency landing here in Rajasthan after a 60-year-old woman passenger fell ill -- and was later declared brought dead by a local hospital. Her son said she was rushed to the hospital on landing, but it declared her brought dead. The aircraft made the emergency landing around 10:30 am and a medical team took her to the hospital, officials said.

A 17-year-old girl allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her house in Maharashtra's Thane city on Tuesday, police said.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Tuesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider the civil service aspirants' demand for an extra attempt with corresponding age relaxation to all those who exhausted their last attempt due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Taking up the issue with Modi, Stalin said aspirants of various exams conducted by the Centre including Civil Service examinations, who had exhausted their last attempts due to the pandemic, have been requesting since the past two years to extend the age limit to appear for the examination as one-time measure.

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday opposed in the Delhi High Court a plea by the police for the condonation of delay in filing a revision petition challenging the discharge of the politician in connection with his wife Sunanda Pushkar’s death case.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said the reply filed by Tharoor to the police’s plea be brought on record and listed the matter for further hearing on May 17.
Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, appearing for Tharoor, has pointed out to the high court that the revision petition has been filed by the Delhi Police 15 months after the trial court passed its order on August 18, 2021, clearing him from all charges.

The CBI has arrested a sub-area manager of Western Coalfields Limited for allegedly demanding a bribe of over Rs 3 lakh for allowing a company to lift coal from the Ghonsa open cast mine, officials said Tuesday.
The agency acted on a complaint from a transport company, Shree Transport, that Jitta Trading Company had purchased 8200 MT coal through e-auction and authorised it to lift the coal from the mine before January 11, they said.

Lebanon's battered commercial banks on Tuesday closed their doors to customers in protest of a recent court ruling that forced one of the country's largest banks to pay out two of its depositors their trapped savings in cash.

Citing retired Senior officers, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that Agniveer Yojana came from RSS and Home Ministry and not from the Indian Army. "People also talked about the Agniveer scheme but the youth of India told us about them being asked to leave after 4 years. Retired Senior officers said that Agniveer Yojana came from RSS, Home Ministry and not from Army," he added. 

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi slammed the government over the high unemployment rate in the country.  "We ask youth about their jobs, many said they are unemployed or drive Uber, farmers talked about not getting money under PM-BIMA Yojana, their land being snatched away while tribals talked about tribal bill," he said. 

Structural engineers, soldiers, paramedics and handlers with trained search dogs are heading to Turkey and Syria to help locate and rescue survivors of Monday's earthquake. Here's a glance at the assistance that's being provided: — The European Union has mobilised search and rescue teams to help Turkey, while the bloc's Copernicus satellite system has been activated to provide emergency mapping services. At least 13 member countries have offered assistance.

Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm on Tuesday amid an uproar by the Opposition over allegations of fraud against the Adani Group. Soon after the House met at 12 noon after the first adjournment, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar called for Question Hour to be taken up.

Police busted a gang allegedly involved in making spurious liquor and arrested two of its members in Madhya Pradesh's Indore city on Tuesday, an official said.
The police seized around 600 litres of spurious liquor from the accused, the official said.

The Army on Tuesday said it was prepared to give an appropriate response to any adverse aggressive designs of China in the Ladakh sector, maintaining that the integrity of the country was being ensured through physical patrolling and technical means.

A Supreme Court-constituted panel has asked the Union Environment Ministry to amend or withdraw the guidelines related to setting up zoos and safaris within tiger reserves and wildlife sanctuaries to discourage the use of wildlife habitats for tourism activities which are non-site specific.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed journalist Rana Ayyub's plea challenging summons by the Ghaziabad special court in a money laundering case, leaving it open for her to raise the issues before the trial court. A bench of Justices V Ramasubramanian and J B Pardiwala allowed Ayyub to raise the issue of jurisdiction before the trial court, saying it is a question of evidence.

Lawyer Lekshmana Chandra Victoria Gowri, who faced opposition from a section of the legal fraternity to her appointment to the higher judiciary on Tuesday took the oath of office as the additional judge of Madras High Court.

The proceedings of both Houses, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, have been adjourned till 12 noon over Opposition leaders' demand for a discussion on the Adani row and demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe. 

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court has in an interim order restrained the police from conducting mock drills depicting persons of a particular community as terrorists. It was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by social activist Sayed Usama alleging that mock drills being conducted by police department depicted attire and slogans to indicate the terrorists were Muslims.

 Russia will soon complete the supplies of the third regiment of the S-400 Triumf surface-to-air missile systems to India as both sides are committed to the contract, Russian Ambassador Denis Alipov has said.

As part of India's G20 presidency, Gujarat will host the first Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting at Dhordo Tent City in Rann of Kutch from Tuesday, officials said. The three-day TWG meeting, which will be attended by Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, will be the second G20 event in the state after the 'Business 20 Inception' programme held in Gandhinagar last month, an official statement said.

The body of a 25-year-old man has been recovered from Gomti river here, police said. Babar, son of a retired army jawan, who was a resident of Kotwali Dehat police station area, was missing since Sunday evening. On Monday evening, his body was found in the Gomti river in Tatia Nagar area under Gosaiganj police station limits, police said.

Rescuers in Turkey and war-ravaged Syria searched through the frigid night into Tuesday, hoping to pull more survivors from the rubble after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed nearly 4,000 people and toppled thousands of buildings across a wide region.

The United States has expressed "deepest condolences" to the people of Turkey and Syria following the earthquakes that jolted the two nations on Monday, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. Addressing a press briefing on February 6, Price said that an initial assistance response is underway and US will send two rescue and recovery teams to Turkey.

At least 15 were killed in landslides in southern Peru. Authorities in Peru have warned that the death toll could rise in the Arequipa region. According to reports, officials in Arequipa have also asked the government to declare a state of emergency for the region.