Breaking News, April 23 | LIVE UPDATES

In a span of 24 hours, a third rocket from the Gaza Strip was fired into Israel on Saturday, following two from the Hamas-ruled enclave the previous night.

The national capital on Saturday reported 1,094 fresh Covid cases, registering a marginal rise against 1,042 infections reported on the previous day, health officials said.

Nearly two months into the Russian-Ukraine war, the Kremlin has taken extraordinary steps to blunt an economic counteroffensive from the West. While Russia can claim some symbolic victories, the full impact of Western sanctions is starting to be felt in very real ways.

Even when entire northeast India has been experiencing heavy to very heavy rainfall for the last few days, the spatial variability due to various reasons has meant that Meghalaya has received 'large excess' rainfall while Tripura has received 'deficient' and Mizoram 'large deficient' rainfall since March 1 till Saturday.

The Supertech Twin Towers in Noida that are supposed to be decimated next month is representative of the fall of the real estate czars in the recent past, especially in Delhi-NCR.

Three Pakistani soldiers were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in a cross-border firing from Afghanistan, a military statement said on Saturday.

One terrorist has been killed in an ongoing encounter between terrorists and security forces at Mirhama area in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district on Saturday, officials said.

Sensing early assembly polls, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said the BJP will hold early elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, adding if voted to power, his party would implement the Delhi model of governance in Himachal Pradesh.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers have discovered 1,084 bodies in the Kiev region, with a majority of them shot dead, a top police official said.

The Delhi Police said on Saturday that it has arrested two people for murdering a man by smashing his face with bricks and later dumping his body on a vacant plot in the national capital. 

Indian wrestler Ravi Kumar Dahiya clinched his third straight Asian Championship gold medal with a dominating performance in the 57kg category, winning the title clash by technical superiority against Kazakhstan's Rakhat Kalzhan, here on Saturday.

The CBSE has dropped chapters about the Non-Aligned Movement, the Cold War era, the rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories, the chronicles of Mughal courts and the industrial revolution from the history and political science syllabi of classes 11 and 12. Similarly, in the class 10 syllabus, the topic "impact of globalisation on agriculture” from a chapter on 'Food Security' has been dropped. The translated excerpts from two poems in Urdu by Faiz Ahmed Faiz in the 'Religion, Communalism and Politics — Communalism, Secular State' section have also been excluded this year.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to brief him about various initiatives of his government, with the two leaders also discussing a host of issues. In a tweet, Modi said, "Met MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who discussed the good governance initiatives of the MP Government and how their transformative schemes are bringing a positive change in people's lives."

Five women and a boy were killed after a truck rammed into a jeep in Beed district of Maharashtra on Saturday, police said. The accident took place near Saigaon village in Ambajogai tehsil around 10.30 am, they said. "Members of a family from Aarvi village in Latur district were going in the jeep to Radi village in Ambajogai to attend a programme. A truck coming from the opposite direction hit the jeep near Saigaon," a police official said.

A CRPF sub-inspector was killed and his relative injured when their motorcycle was hit by a truck near the Durgapur crossroad on the Faizabad-Allahabad highway here, police said on Saturday. "The accident occurred under the Piparpur police station area on Friday night," station in-charge Dhirendra Yadav said. Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Sub-Inspector Umashankar Singh (55), who was posted in Ramganj in Amethi, was killed in the accident. He was a resident of Patti Lal Shah Bhadar village which falls under the Piparpur police station's area, the official said.

An alleged drug peddler was injured when police fired upon him as he purportedly attacked them and tried to escape from custody in Assam’s Nagaon district, an officer said on Saturday. The injured accused has been admitted to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital with bullet injuries on both legs, the police officer said. "We had arrested the person on Friday and at night, we had taken him to his residence in Juria in Nagaon district in search of hidden drugs or any incriminating documents,” he said.

An assistant sub-inspector of the Railway Protection Force (RPF), who was injured in an attack by militants, died at a hospital here on Saturday, officials said. Militants had opened fire on two RPF personnel at Kakpora in south Kashmir's Pulwama district on Monday, killing head constable Surinder Kumar then. ASI Devraj succumbed to injuries at the SMHS hospital on Saturday morning, the officials said.

A first year MBBS student of Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital in Odisha’s Bolangir district died after allegedly falling off the roof of the hostel, police said. The deceased student was identified as Nishant Kumar, a native of Haryana. He was a resident in the four-storied New Boys hostel, police said, adding that the incident took place at around 2 to 2.30 pm on Friday. The deceased student’s relative alleged that he was subjected to ragging for which he committed suicide or somebody pushed him down.

The global coronavirus caseload has topped 508.6 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 6.21 million and vaccinations to over 11.22 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University. In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload and the death toll stood at 508,675,438 and 6,215,433, respectively, while the total number of vaccine doses administered increased to 11,223,233,693. The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 80,952,268 and 991,166, respectively, according to the CSSE. India accounts for the second highest caseload at 43,052,425.

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Up to 50,000 migrant workers, living in dormitories and working in Singapore's labour-intensive sectors, will be allowed to go about among the community on weekends and public holidays from April 26, an increase from the 30,000 limit now. On weekdays, the limit will be raised to 25,000, up from the 15,000 now, said the Ministry of Health on Friday. The migrant workers, largely from India, Bangladesh and China, may spend up to eight hours out each time, whether on weekdays or weekends.

All vaccinated travellers arriving in Singapore via air or sea checkpoints will no longer need to take a pre-departure COVID-19 test as restrictions for controlling the spread of the coronavirus are eased. The Ministry of Health (MOH) also announced that from July 1, all long-term pass holders aged 13 and above travelling to Singapore will have to be fully vaccinated before entering the country, unless they are medically ineligible for vaccines. This is a change from the present rule, which states that long-term pass holders aged between 13 and 17 can travel into Singapore even if they are not fully vaccinated. The ministry said in a statement on Friday that it is now requiring vaccinations for this group "given the increased availability of vaccines globally for those aged between 13 and 17".

A man, illegally carrying 791 gram of gold concealed in his rectum, was arrested at the Jaipur airport on Friday following his arrival from Sharjah, officials said. "The passenger, who arrived by Air Arabia Flight, was looking suspicious from his manners. Therefore, a personal search was carried out," an official said During the search, yellowish granules packed in three transparent polyethylene capsules and wrapped in white polythene were found concealed inside the rectum, the officials said.

The West Bengal directorate of economic offence has arrested one person for allegedly duping several hundreds of senior citizens of around Rs 9,000 crore with promises of large returns, a police official said on Friday. Sleuths of the DEO conducted a raid on Thursday night at a house in Ballygunge area of the city and arrested the director of a ponzi scheme company, which has so far allegedly duped mainly retired persons, a senior officer said. The company has been operating since 2007 and duped its customers by promising them to double their money, the official said.

West Bengal logged 40 coronavirus cases on Friday while 34 persons recovered from the infection, a state health department bulletin said. The cumulative Covid caseload has gone went upto 20,17,940, while 19,96,489 people have recovered from the contagion so far, the bulletin said. The number of fresh COVID-19 positive cases was 26 on Thursday. With no fresh fatality recorded like in the past several days, the overall toll in the disease remained at 21,200, it said.

Mumbai: BJP's Mohit Kamboj has lodged a complaint at Santacruz Police Station after his car was allegedly  attacked by a mob comprising Shiv Sena workers

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Rajasthan government on death of two infants due to overheating of warmers at a government-run hospital in Ajmer district. The commission has issued notice to the Chief Secretary of Rajasthan, calling for a detailed report within six weeks. It has directed the government to include in the report the status of investigation in the matter, action taken against the responsible persons along with the relief, if any, provided to the aggrieved families.

Around 24 students of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya at Behjam in Lakhimpur Kheri district were allegedly locked on the roof of the school by two teachers to pressure the district authorities into cancelling their transfer orders, officials said on Friday. The incident occurred on Thursday night. Officials and the local police managed to bring back the girls to their hostel after several hours. "The teachers resorted to such tactics to put pressure on the district authorities to cancel an order of transfer to other Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya on disciplinary grounds," Laxmikant Pandey, the basic education officer of Lakhimpur Kheri, told news agency PTI on Friday.