Breaking News, June 12

Over a dozen people were injured when the bus in which they were travelling overturned near Khamni village here on Sunday evening, police said.

Two children from Pelhar in Palghar district of Maharashtra drowned in a water-filled quarry, police said on Sunday.

Two bike-borne men died after being hit by a truck in Agra on Sunday evening, police said. The incident occurred around 5 pm near the New Dakshin Bypass under the Malpura police station limits, they said.

Jammu and Kashmir reported 11 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, taking the infection tally to 4,54,348, officials said. Of the new cases, six were reported from Jammu and five from Kashmir, they said.

Pre-monsoon activities in several parts in Udaipur and Kota divisions of Rajasthan brought down temperatures in the last 24 hours. However, in northern and western parts, there was no respite from heat conditions. According to the Meteorological (MeT) department, Dholpur was recorded as the hottest place with a maximum of 45.9 degrees Celsius, while Karauli, Alwar, Sriganganagar, Churu and Bikaner recorded respective highs of 45.2, 45, 44.8, 44.5 and 43.5 degrees Celsius.

Police have registered a case against a person for allegedly duping a man of Rs 10.10 lakh in Maharashtra's Nagpur city by promising jobs to his two sons in the railways, an official said on Sunday. The case against Dharendra Singh Gaur (57), a resident Sitabuldi area in the city, was registered based on a complaint lodged by Ravindra Bawankar (53), who lives in Somwar Bazar road, he said.

Gujarat on Sunday reported 140 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 12,26,252, the state health department said. With 66 patients getting discharged, the number of recoveries in the state went up to 12,14,529.

Delhi on Sunday reported 735 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths due to the disease, while the positivity rate increased to 4.35 per cent, according to data shared by the city health department here.

A minor boy ended his life in a school hostel as the warden allegedly did not provide him a mobile phone to wish his mother on her birthday, police said on Sunday. Poorvaj (14) was a resident of Hosakote, Bengaluru. The police said the teen requested the warden for the mobile phone to let him call his mother up on her birthday (June 11) to wish her. But, the warden reportedly did not hand over the phone. Besides, when the boy's family members tried to contact him several times, they could not talk to him as he was not allowed to speak, the police said.

Two Army personnel were injured on Sunday in a landmine explosion near the Line of Control (LOC) in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said. The landmine, part of an anti-infiltration obstacle system, went off when the soldiers were busy extinguishing a forest fire in Balakote area, they said.

A group of people attacked and damaged a local train at Bethuadahari railway station in West Bengal's Nadia district on Sunday evening, a police officer said.

Prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPC has been promulgated in Cachar and Karimgamj districts of Assam and all processions and rallies have been banned in the two districts, an official said. Cachar district administration on Sunday promulgated various restrictions under Section 144 of CrPC, while neighbouring Karimganj issued a similar order on Friday.

French voters are choosing lawmakers in a parliamentary election Sunday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to secure his majority while under growing threat from a leftist coalition. More than 6,000 candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 92, are running for 577 seats in the National Assembly in the first round of the election. Those who receive the most votes will advance to the decisive second round on June 19.

Iran's currency on Sunday dropped to its lowest value ever as talks to revive the country's tattered nuclear deal with world powers remained deadlocked. Traders in Tehran exchanged the rial at 332,000 to the U.S. dollar, up from 327,500 on Saturday. That marked more than a 4.4% change compared to June 1 when it traded at 318,000 to the dollar.

A 38-year-old woman on Sunday died at the government medical college hospital here due to scrub typhus, the second death due to the disease in the last three days. Thiruvananthapuram native Subitha who died this morning was admitted on June 10, hospital authorities said.

An 18-year-old girl was murdered and her body chopped off before being dumped in a sugarcane field here, police said on Sunday. Police have arrested in this connection a man, identified as Santosh Verma, who is in his late 20s. The woman’s family members have alleged rape before the murder, police said.

A lawyer has filed a complaint before a court here, seeking punitive action against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and others for recent "blasphemous" remarks against Prophet Mohammad. The complainant has named now-expelled Delhi BJP media head Naveen Kumar Jindal, an editor of a private news channel and others in his complaint.

The Gauhati High Court has quashed a case in a trial court relating to the alleged violation of the model code of conduct by Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A single-judge bench of Justice Rumi Kumari Phookan quashed the case and set aside all the proceedings as well as observations by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kamrup Metropolitan.

The Sri Lankan government plans to introduce a fuel rationing scheme from next month, under which registered consumers at filling stations would be guaranteed a weekly quota, a senior minister said on Sunday.

As many as 295 active Maoist militia members – unarmed villagers who act as sympathisers, informers and aid of the red rebels – surrendered before the Odisha Police in Swabhiman Anchal of Malkangiri district, Director General of Police (DGP) S K Bansal said on Sunday.

Swambhimani Paksha MLA Devendra Bhuyar on Sunday claimed he voted for the Shiv Sena in the recent Rajya Sabha polls to six seats from Maharashtra. Shiv Sena's second nominee Sanjay Pawar lost the bitter contest on Friday to the BJP. On Saturday, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said three MLAs of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), an independent MLA from Karmala Sanjaymama Shinde, Swabhimani Paksha MLA Devendra Bhuyar, and PWP MLA Shyamsunder Shinde did not vote for the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA-comprising the Sena, NCP and Congress), despite assuring to do so. Raut said they had taken note of this development and that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was distressed over the defeat of Sanjay Pawar. Talking to a TV channel at the Nagpur airport on Sunday, Bhuyar said it was wrong on Sanjay Raut's part not to trust him.

Asserting that India has attained new milestones in 'gram swaraj' and democratic empowerment of panchayats in the last eight years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged sarpanches to make efforts for saturation coverage of welfare schemes, conserving water and making the upcoming Yoga Day special. In a letter to sarpanches (village heads) days after his government marked its eighth anniversary, Modi listed several issues on which he sought their support while appreciating their contribution in the last eight years. He asked them to work to make the eighth International Yoga Day, which falls on July 21, special and to encourage everyone in their village to join the exercise.

A minor fire broke out at Keshari shopping mall in the heart of Bhubaneswar on Sunday but no casualties have been reported so far, a fire officer said. Smoke was seen billowing out of the first and second floors of the shopping mall and fire tenders doused the flames, he said. The exact reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained but it could be due to a short-circuit on the first floor, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Mayor Sulochana Das. Das has ordered an inquiry into the incident. This was the second fire incident in the shopping mall. On April 16, a major fire had turned properties worth lakhs of rupees to ashes. 

Four persons were killed when their car collided with a chemical tanker in Churu district of Rajasthan on Sunday, police said. The mishap occurred in Sujangarh Sadar area on Salasar highway, Station House Officer (SHO) Manoj Moond said. The two persons died on the spot while the two other succumbed to their injuries in a hospital, the SHO said.The deceased were identified as Vasudev Vaishnav (23), Ankit Kumar (24), Ravidas Vaishnav (30) and Sanjay (30), he added. 

The Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) of Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur has deputed six veterinary doctors to treat the cow of District Magistrate Apurva Dubey. In an order, a copy of which has gone viral on the social media, CVO Dr SK Tiwari has deputed six veterinary doctors, one for each weekday, to take care of the cow. The doctors have been asked to visit the cow twice a day and submit their report to the CVO office by 6:00 pm. The letter also warns that any laxity in duty would be unpardonable.

Tension prevailed in Jharkhand capital Ranchi on Sunday, as shops and other establishments remained shut amid heavy deployment of security forces in the wake of violent protests over controversial comments on Prophet Mohammad. Internet services, however, were restored in the district after nearly 33 hours, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan said. Around 2,500 police personnel are on guard at sensitive areas in Ranchi, where two people were killed and more than two dozen people were critically injured, as protests and clashes rocked the city after the Friday prayers.

Two persons allegedly robbed a businessman of Rs 20 lakh cash and some electronic items while he was returning after collecting money from retailers in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur city, police said on Sunday. The police arrested five people within 24 hours of the incident, which took on Friday, he said. After the arrest, the accused told the police that they committed the offence to repay their loans, buy drugs and to make quick money, Additional Director General of Police (Jabalpur Zone) Umesh Joga said. The victim, Rajkumar Tiwari, who is into mobile accessories trade, was going on a motorbike after collecting money from retailers when two scooter-borne persons allegedly snatched his bag containing Rs 20 lakh cash and other items, the official said. The businessman chased the duo for some distance, but could not catch them.

A 42-year-old man has scripted history by starting a donkey farm at a village in Dakshina Kannada district. The farm, which opened on June 8, is the first of its kind in Karnataka and the second in country after one in Ernakulam district of Kerala. Srinivas Gowda, the owner of the farm, says he was moved by the plight of donkeys which were often spurned and undervalued. Gowda, a BA graduate, first started Isiri farms, an integrated agriculture and animal husbandry, veterinary services, training and fodder development centre on a 2.3-acre plot at Ira village in 2020 after quitting his job in a software company.

French voters are choosing lawmakers in a parliamentary election Sunday as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to secure his majority while under growing threat from a leftist coalition. More than 6,000 candidates, ranging in age from 18 to 92, are running for 577 seats in the National Assembly in the first round of the election. Those who receive the most votes will advance to the decisive second round on June 19. Following Macron's reelection in May, his centrist coalition is seeking an absolute majority that would enable it to implement his campaign promises, which include tax cuts and raising the retirement age from 62 to 65.

The COVID-19 tally of Andaman and Nicobar Islands rose to 10,055 on Sunday as two more people tested positive for the infection, a health bulletin said. Both new patients have travel history, it said. The Union territory now has six active cases, while 9,920 people have recovered from the disease, including one in the last 24 hours. A total of 129 patients have succumbed to the infection thus far. The administration has tested over 7.43 lakh samples for COVID-19, and fully vaccinated 3.40 lakh people to date. 

Tony Finau birdied the final hole for an 8-under 62 and a share of the RBC Canadian Open lead with defending champion Rory McIlroy. "I didn't finish the way I wanted to yesterday and I think all it did was kind of light a fire in my belly to get after it today," Finau said on Saturday. "That's pretty much what I did. I made some birdies and I just played really clean golf." McIlroy had a 65 to match Finau at 11-under 199 at St. George's Golf and Country Club. "I'm just happy to give myself a chance, be in the final group," McIlroy said. "Once I saw, I think Tony had got to 10 or maybe 11, I think I was on like 8 or 9 at the time. I just said to myself, `Let's just try to get yourself in the final group.'" McIlroy had to wait three years to defend his 2019 title because of the COVID-19 pandemic that canceled golf's fourth-oldest championship the last two years. “I need to set myself a number and be super aggressive,” McIlroy said. “I know I'm going to have to make some birdies out there to win this thing tomorrow.”

China's defence minister accused the United States on Sunday of trying to “hijack” the support of countries in the Asia-Pacific region to turn them against Beijing, saying Washington is seeking to advance its own interests “under the guise of multilateralism.” Defence Minister Gen Wei Fenghe lashed out at US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin, rejecting his “smearing accusation” the day before at the Shangri-La Dialogue that China was causing instability with its claim to the self-governing island of Taiwan and its “destabilizing military activity” in the area. Austin had stressed the need for multilateral partnerships with nations in the Indo-Pacific, which Wei suggested was an attempt to back China into a corner.

The Russia-Ukraine war has adversely affected the livelihood of lakhs of workers of the diamond industry in Gujarat, especially in rural parts of Saurashtra region where many units import small-size diamonds from Russia for processing and polishing, according to industry representatives. The state's diamond industry employs nearly 15 lakh workers, the Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council's regional chairman, Dinesh Navadiya, told news agency PTI.

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Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides. Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the UK Defence Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they “are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties,” the ministry said.

READ FULL STORY HERE

A huge fire broke out at a shoe market in Central Delhi's Karol Bagh area early Sunday morning, the Delhi Fire Service said. It said 39 fire tenders were rushed to the site and the blaze was brought under control. "A serious fire call was received from a shoe market in Gaffar, Karol Bagh, at 4.16 am and 39 fire tenders were rushed to the site," Delhi Fire Service Director Atul Garg said. Nobody was trapped or received any injuries, he said. The cause of fire is not known yet, he added. 

An office-bearer of a Hindu outfit was arrested on Saturday for allegedly posting a deranging comment on Facebook over the controversial remarks by now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, a police official said. The action was taken following a complaint received through a Twitter message from the state general secretary of the Congress' minority cell, Akbar Chaudhary, the official said. Ishu Shikharwar, the convener of Hindu Raksha Dal, had allegedly made a deranging comment on Facebook against another religion while supporting Nupur Sharma. He has been arrested, Circle officer Anshu Jain said. 

Three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists were killed in an overnight encounter with security forces in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, police said Sunday. The encounter broke out Saturday in Drabgam area of the south Kashmir district and one terrorist was killed before the night fell, they said. A police official said a tight cordon was maintained during the night to stop the terrorists from fleeing, and when the firing resumed early Sunday morning two more terrorists were killed.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday inaugurated a cancer diagnostics and research centre here, which is slated to be the country's first oncology laboratory for comprehensive cancer diagnostic services. Karkinos Healthcare's advanced centre for cancer diagnostics and research will serve as a central lab for analysing specimens at molecular and genomic levels to aid in personalised targeted therapy, predicting possible response to treatment and evaluate response by liquid biopsy. Inaugurating the lab on the third floor of the JLN Stadium Metro Station at Kaloor here, Vijayan said the state is encouraging more private-public partnership in the healthcare sector to benefit people.

Senior journalist Ashok Pahalwan, 65, died on Saturday, according to people close to him. Pahalwan was ailing for some time. He belonged to a Kashmiri Pandit family from the Shadipora-Manasbal area of Ganderbal district. He is survived by his brother. Pahalwan started out as a reporter for Hind Samachar in the late 1980s. He moved to Jammu in the wake of emergence of militancy in Kashmir in 1990 and worked with various organisations including Reuters and Voice of America (VoA). Pahalwan's last rites will be held on Sunday, those close to him said. 

Mexico's migration agency has issued nearly 7,000 temporary documents and transit visas over the last few days to members of a migrant caravan which by Saturday had broken up in southern Mexico. Hundreds of people were heading north in buses while others were spread out over various towns north of Tapachula, near the Guatemalan border, resting or waiting to receive money from relatives to continue their trip to the United States.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed young paralympic champion Avani Lekhara for clinching her second gold medal at the ongoing Chateauroux 2022 World Shooting Para Sport World Cup in France. Lekhara shot 458.3 in the R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 finals to take the gold ahead of experienced Paralympic stars Veronica Vadovicova (456.6) of Slovakia and Sweden's Anna Normann (441.9).