Breaking News, January 24 | HIGHLIGHTS

Nearly two months after the urination incident on its New York-New Delhi flight, Air India on Tuesday said it has closed the internal probe into the case and will assist the flight's pilot-in-command with an appeal against the suspension of his license by DGCA as the airline deems the action as "excessive".

 A court at Halol town in Gujarat's Panchmahal district on Tuesday acquitted 22 persons, accused of killing 17 members of a minority community, including two children, for want of evidence in a case stemming from the 2002 post-Godhra communal riots in the state.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Harsh Trivedi acquitted all the 22 accused, eight of whom died during the pendency of the case, defence lawyer Gopalsinh Solanki said.

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Tuesday described political parties as its trusted partners in exploring electoral reforms, saying the poll panel looks forward for regular dialogue with them in the future.

His remarks on the eve of National Voters' Day (NVD) came days after the Election Commission (EC) discussed the proposal of remote voting with recognised national and state parties.

The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday wrote to Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and urged him to "expunge" the amendments to the IT Rules that seek to direct social media platforms to take down news or information identified as "fake" by the PIB's Fact Checking Unit.

In a letter to Vaishnaw, the Guild asked the ministry to initiate consultations with press bodies, media organisations and other stakeholders on the regulatory framework for digital media, so as to not undermine press freedom.

A special MP/MLA court on Tuesday acquitted former Uttar Pradesh minister Suresh Rana and two local leaders in connection with the 2013 Kairana violence case for lack of evidence.

According to police, a violent mob set vehicles on fire, damaged public property and looted shops in Kairana town in Uttar Pradesh in 2013 in protest against a gangrape case.

 A record 38 lakh students registered this year for participation in "Pariksha Pe Charcha", an annual interaction of students with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about issues relating to exam stress.

The registrations are at least 15 lakh higher than last year, according to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The sinking of soil at several places in Joshimath on the highway to Badrinath has triggered concern over the annual yatra to the holy shrine that is just four months away.

The Badrinath National Highway from the TCP area to Marwari Bridge was prone to landslides for a long time, but after the recent subsidence, it is now sinking at more places.

Why did Rahul Gandhi take so long to publicly declare his respect for the armed forces, the BJP asked on Tuesday, slamming the former Congress chief for dismissing Digvijaya Singh's controversial comments on surgical strikes as a "personal opinion". It also asked the Congress to make its stand clear on the issues of terrorism and national security.

Union Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday assured leaders from Maharashtra that the Centre would soon increase the export quota sugar and take steps to help the ailing sugar industry in the state.

Shah gave the assurance during a meeting with Maharashtra BJP leaders, who also have stakes in the sugar cooperatives sector.
The state leaders were part of a delegation led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis.

Authorities in Nepal have handed to relatives the bodies of 60 of the 72 people killed in a plane crash last week, the airline said. Rescuers were still searching for two bodies at the site where a Yeti Airlines flight with 72 on board crashed on Jan. 15 at the resort town of Pokhara, 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of the capital, Kathmandu. Among the 10 other bodies recovered, six have been identified and will be returned to relatives soon and four others still need to be identified, the airline said in a statement late Monday.

 A man issued a death threat to self-styled godman Dhirendra Krishna Shastri, who claims to predict the future of people through chits, over the phone in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district, police said on Tuesday. Shastri is the head priest of Bageshwar Dham in Gada village which attracts a large number of people. The threat call was received by Shastri's cousin Lokesh Garg on Monday night, a police officer said.

 Distancing his party from Swami Prasad Maurya's controversial remarks on Ramcharitmanas, senior Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Singh Yadav on Tuesday said the party follows the ideals of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna and that Maurya's statement was his "personal opinion".
SP MLC Maurya had kicked up a controversy by alleging that certain verses of the Ramcharitmanas promoted social discrimination.

The Delhi court dismissed the bail plea of TMC leader Anubrata Mondal in the cattle smuggling case.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday listed for hearing on February 2 petitions concerning the 2020 North East Delhi riots, including those pertaining to alleged hate speeches by certain political leaders, and asked the Centre to state if the speeches in question are subject of proceedings before the Supreme Court.

 Full service carrier Vistara will continue to expand and expects to have a total of 70 planes by mid-2024, its chief Vinod Kannan said on Tuesday. The airline, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, reported an operating profit for the first time since inception in the three months ended December 2022.

The Delhi Police on Tuesday filed a 6,629-page charge sheet against Aaftab Amin Poonawala in the Mehrauli murder case in the Saket court here which extended his judicial custody by two weeks to February 7.

Poonawala is accused of strangling his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and chopping her body into pieces before dumping them in different parts of the city across several days.

A woman was killed and four people sustained injuries when their car fell into a ravine in Kadipur Kotwali area of Sultanpur district, police said on Tuesday. SHO Kotwali Kadipur Devendra Singh said that the incident took place on Monday night at Raibigo village. The driver lost control of the car and it overturned and fell into a ravine.

A student from Telangana has allegedly been shot at during a reported robbery attempt in Chicago, USA, according to his parents here. K Sai Charan went to the US on January 11 to pursue MS in Chicago, his father Srinivas Rao said.

The incident happened on Sunday and Sai Charan's friends informed them about it on Monday, he said.

A gold mining company said that three workers have been killed after a blast in western Kenya and blamed illegal mining activities. Karebe gold mining company said in a statement late Monday that a wall built to prevent flooding and illegal incursion was blasted by illegal miners, causing an explosion.

A man allegedly stabbed, in the neck, a woman employee of a travel agency here on Tuesday over a dispute regarding delay in processing of his visa to travel abroad. The man was subsequently taken into custody by the police and is being questioned, an officer of Ernakulam South police station said.

The woman was admitted in the ICU of a nearby hospital and her health condition is presently stable, he said.

An FIR was registered against Samajwadi Party leader Swami Prasad Maurya on Tuesday over his controversial remarks on 'Ramcharitmanas', police said.

"A case has been registered against Swami Prasad Maurya at the Hazratganj police station for allegedly outraging religious feelings with his recent remarks on Ramcharitmanas," a police officer said.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) House was adjourned on Tuesday without electing mayor and deputy mayor amid a ruckus by some councillors.

After the oath of aldermen and elected councillors, the House was adjourned for 15 minutes during which a number of BJP councillors started moving into the House, chanted "Modi, Modi", and raised slogans against AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.

A 9-magnitude earthquake jolted Western Nepal on Tuesday afternoon, officials said. The earthquake, with epicentre in the Mela area of Bajura district in Sudurpaschim province, hit the region at 2:43 PM local time, Lokvijaya Adhikari, head of the Earthquake Measurement Centre, was quoted as saying by Ekantipur news portal.

 A man, suspected to be mentally challenged, entered a small temple and damaged the idol in this district early on Tuesday, police said. The shrine is located a few meters away from the famed Sree Kurumba Bhagavathy Temple at Kodungallur, police said.

The accused, identified as Ramachandran, a native of Parassala near Thiruvananthapuram, was taken into custody later, they said.

Security forces have busted a terrorist recruitment module in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir being run by Pakistani handlers through social media, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.

"Five youths, including two juveniles, were rescued from terror folds, counselled and handed over to their parents in the Pattan area of Baramulla district," Senior Superintendent of Police Amod Nagpure told reporters in Pattan, 30 kilometres from here.

Strong tremors of earthquake were felt in Delhi-NCR on Tuesday. 

The 'Nari Shakti' tableau, reflecting women's empowerment in Karnataka will be displayed at the Republic Day parade on ‘Kartavya Path’ (previously Rajpath) in New Delhi. According to the Department of Information and Public Relations, the tableau which is ready for the parade was prepared in a short span of 10 days.

Senior IPS officers Gurpreet Kaur Deo and Shashi Prabha Dwivedi have become the first women officers in Punjab who have been promoted to the rank of Director General of Police. They were among seven 1993-batch IPS officers who have been promoted to the rank of DGP in Punjab, according to an official order issued on Monday. Deo was earlier holding the charge of additional director general of police, community affairs division and women affairs while Dwivedi was posted as Additional DGP, Railway.

A shootout at an Oakland gas station killed one person and wounded seven others in the second shooting Monday night in the San Francisco Bay Area, police said. Officers were sent to the scene on Macarthur Boulevard just after 6 p.m. and learned there had been a shooting between several people, a police statement said.

Shares of Axis Bank declined nearly 3 per cent in morning trade on Tuesday after the bank's December quarter results failed to cheer investors. The stock fell 2.68 per cent to Rs 908.35 apiece in early trade on the BSE. On the NSE, it declined 2.59 per cent to Rs 908.50 apiece.

Shares of Gland Pharma declined 2 per cent in morning trade on Tuesday after the company reported a decline in net profit for the third quarter.

A section of students of the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has screened the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its campus, prompting the University authorities to seek a report.

Two youths were killed while four people were seriously injured when two speeding motorcycles collided head-on on the Unnao-Rae Bareli Highway here, a police official said on Tuesday. The two motorcycles collided at Chikandarpur village in the Bihar area. The impact of the collision was so intense that one motorcycle caught fire after its fuel tank exploded, Circle Officer (Bighapur) Vijay Anand said.

The death toll from the dance hall massacre blamed on a 72-year-old gunman has risen to 11 on after one of the 10 people who were wounded died. The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said Monday that one of the four people being treated at the LA County-USC Medical Center has died of gunshot wounds.

Brazilian police said Monday they planned to indict a Colombian fish trader as the mastermind of last year's slayings of Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips. Ruben Dario da Silva Villar provided the ammunition to kill the pair, made phone calls to the confessed killer before and after the crime, and paid his lawyer, federal police officials said during a press conference held in Manaus.

Four people were arrested for allegedly beating a 26-year-old sales executive of a bread manufacturing company and trying to kidnap him in north Delhi's Wazirabad area, police said on Monday.