Breaking News, April 29 | LIVE UPDATES

Six persons belonging to different villages under Tarraiya police station in Bihar's Saran district died after they consumed spurious liquor, their family members claimed on Friday.

A powerful blast targeted a mosque in Kabul on Friday, killing at least 10 people and wounding several others, security officials confirmed, media reports said.

A man has been arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 1 crore from a property dealer in Gurugram, the police said on Friday.

In an attempt to shed over-dependence on Central armed forces like the CRPF, West Bengal police have decided to set up a separate squad for counter-Maoist operations in the state.

The NCB on Friday said that three persons were arrested by them in connection with the Shaheen Bagh raid and two out of the three were Afghanistan nationals. They were rounded up from UP and Delhi.

A 38-year-old man allegedly hanged himself after beating his wife to death in Jharkhand's Pakur district, police said on Friday.

Investors who hold shares of food aggregator Zomato became poorer by nearly 50 per cent since the start of 2022.

China has allowed return of Indian students to its various universities on a "need-assessed basis", according to the Indian Embassy in China.

Three Indian Army personnel, including a major, were injured in a landmine blast near the Line of Control (LoC) in J&K's Poonch district on Friday, police said.

An Indian man travelling to Sharjah was caught by CISF personnel at the Delhi airport for allegedly trying to smuggle foreign currency worth about Rs 59 lakh by concealing it in his bag, an official said on Friday.

Congress appoints Capt. Sandeep Singh Sandhu as the General Secretary of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, with immediate effect.

Factions of the fallen Afghan republic are claiming attacks on the Taliban in many provinces in what seems to be an uncoordinated spring offensive, media reports said.

A special court in Andhra Pradesh on Friday sentenced a youth to death for killing an engineering student for rejecting his advances. The court in Guntur district pronounced the verdict, sentencing 20-year-old K. Sasi Krishna to death.

A heat wave has gripped Rajasthan where the night temperature was recorded as high as 31.2 degree Celsius in Bundi town. The MeT department has warned that the maximum temperature in various parts of the state is likely to rise further due to the heat wave, which will continue for the next three to four days. According to the department, the maximum temperature is likely to be recorded around 45 to 47 degrees Celsius in Jodhpur and Bikaner districts on May 1. From May 2, another western disturbance is likely to develop over the state, leading to thunderstorms and light rainfall in parts of it. Night temperature was recorded 31.1 degrees in Jaipur, 30.5 degrees in Ajmer and 30.3 degrees in Banswara.

A man allegedly hanged himself after killing his wife and infant daughter here, police on Saturday said. Ramprakash, 26, his wife Meenu, 24, and their three-month-old daughter. Krishna were found dead in their room, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rohit Singh Sajwan said.

11 more positive cases reported today. Total positive cases 182 now: Tamil Nadu Health Secretary, Dr J Radhakrishnan

Chief Justice of India (CJI) N V Ramana highlighted the issue of vacancies in high courts on Friday and urged the chief justices of all the 25 high courts to send names for elevation as judges at the earliest. Inaugurating the 39th chief justices' conference here, which is being held after a gap of six years, the CJI outlined the agenda of the meeting and said the "aim and object of today's conference is to discuss and identify the problems that are affecting the administration of justice".

Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai who is under pressure to expand or rejig his cabinet at the earliest, ahead of the Assembly polls next year, on Friday said he would try to discuss in this regard with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is scheduled to visit the city on May 3. The Chief Minister who is travelling to Delhi tonight on an official visit said he will not be meeting the party high command during the tour.

Terming power outage a "national crisis", Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot expressed concern on Friday over the shortage of coal supply in the country and the simultaneous increase in electricity demand during summer. He said the demand for electricity has increased in 16 states due to the rising mercury levels and coal is not being supplied in accordance with the requirement, affecting the power supply. "This is a national crisis. I appeal to everyone to unite in this crisis and support the government in improving the situation. Turn off non-essential electrical appliances at your home or workplace. Set your priorities and use electricity in accordance with your need," Gehlot said in a tweet in Hindi.

Haryana's Home Minister Anil Vij used the Congress's "Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon" slogan on Friday to take a dig at the opposition party after Kumari Selja was replaced as its state unit chief. Claiming that there is a huge difference between the words and the deeds of the Congress, Vij, in a tweet, said, "The Congress, which had raised the slogan of 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon' in Uttar Pradesh, could not tolerate Kumari Selja in Haryana and removed her from her post in an indifferent manner."

BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday mocked Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav's assertion that he wanted her to become the prime minister and wondered how someone who could not fulfil his own dream of becoming the chief minister will manage to realise the aspirations of others. Reacting to Yadav's statement that he wanted her to become the prime minister and that the SP had forged an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for this, Mayawati, in a tweet in Hindi, said, "When the SP chief could not fulfil his own dream of becoming the chief minister (of Uttar Pradesh) even after securing the votes of Muslims and Yadavs and forming an alliance with several parties, how can he fulfil the dream of others to become the prime minister."

Well-known Islamic seminary, Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur has now decided to share documents of aspiring students with the local intelligence unit for "verification and an in-depth scrutiny of their antecedents". This is being done to ensure that the institution does not get a bad name if some students are found to be indulging in any anti-national activities. Officiating Vice-Chancellor of the seminary, Abdul Khaliq Madrasi, said, "The seminary will also make other aspects of its admission process more stringent because the seminary has often come under criticism for "harbouring suspicious elements".

The rupee witnessed a range-bound trading in early trade on Friday as the strength of the dollar in the overseas market and elevated crude oil prices offset the support of positive domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 76.62 against the American dollar and moved in a narrow range. It touched an early high of 76.53 and a low of 76.63 in initial deals.

Delhi will continue to reel under an intense heatwave with the maximum temperature likely to touch 44 degrees Celsius on Friday, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The minimum temperature in the national capital was recorded two notches above normal at 25.8 degrees Celsius.

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A court here stayed the execution of an Indian origin man convicted for drug trafficking, pending the conclusion of a civil application that he and other death row inmates filed against the Attorney General’s Chambers. The court decision came on Thursday, a day after an Indian origin man was hanged for drug trafficking at the Changi Prison. Datchinamurthy Kataiah (36) was scheduled to be hanged on Friday, The Straits Times reported. Kataiah and 12 other death row convicts have filed a civil application against the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC), seeking declarations and damages over the disclosure of their private letters. The hearing in the case is fixed for May 20, according to the daily report. Datchinamurthy represented himself in the High Court.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told a visiting European Union delegation, including EU special representative for human rights Eamon Gilmore, that constitutional and religious rights of every section are absolutely safe in India, sources in the ministry said on Thursday. The six-member delegation, which included Gilmore and EU Ambassador to India Ugo Astuto, called on Naqvi in Delhi, a day after they met National Human Rights Commission chairperson Justice (retd) Arun Kumar Mishra and other members of the panel. According to sources in the Minority Affairs Ministry, Naqvi told the delegation that constitutional and religious rights of every section are absolutely safe in India but "nobody has the right to indulge in forceful and fraudulent religious conversion".

A 20-year-old youth ended his life by allegedly committing suicide in Uttar Pradesh's Etawah district after he allegedly shot dead his girlfriend, police said on Friday. The police added that initial findings suggested the youth shot down the girl and committed suicide. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Jai Prakash Singh said the bodies were found on the canal track near the Turaiya bridge. The deceased bodies have been identified as that of Arun Kumar Rathore, 20, and Poonam, 19. The pistol was found in the hand of the deceased, which suggested that the youth first shot dead the girl and then shot himself. "Poonam was pursuing B.Sc at a private college while Arun Rathore had done B.Com. The forensic team has reached the spot. Police has initiated the investigation," the SSP added.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that medical students who had returned from war-ravaged Ukraine have been admitted to various medical colleges of the state. Engineering students who were forced to come back home because of the war were also accommodated at private colleges in the state. Banerjee said, "Altogether 422 students have returned from Ukraine to the state risking their career. We had asked the Centre to allow us to accommodate them at different colleges. But the Centre said they cannot help them. They are asking the students to go to Poland and Hungary. How can they spend so much money again?” Of the 422 returnees from Ukraine, 409 are MBBS students, three are in a dental course and one is pursuing veterinary course. While six are engineering students, three are labourers.

The Jharkhand government on Thursday said it has ensured the safe return of 10 of the 30 workers stranded in Malaysia while the process for the return of another 20 is on. The workers from the state who have been living and working in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur as labourers since 2019 had urged the Jharkhand government to ensure their return.

Two persons, including a Delhi University student, were injured when the roof of a rented accommodation in Delhi's Vijay Nagar collapsed partially, a police official said on Thursday. An FIR was registered against Rajendra Chadda, the owner of the house, and he has been arrested, the official said. The room in the two-storey building was rented by Indraprastha College For Women's (IPCW) student Sukanya (22). Her sister and a friend were visiting her when the incident occurred on the night of April 25. Sukanya's sister, a film student, has suffered a fracture in her leg and was also required stitches. Sukanya herself has suffered minor injuries on her back.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra Thursday asked people in her constituency to inform her if anyone tries to extort money using the name of the ruling party. Moitra, the Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar, also urged people to come forward and break the nexus of corruption without any fear. “Our honourable chief minister has repeatedly said that any kind of extortion by using the name and position of the party would not be tolerated. If anyone in the name of giving jobs… tries to extort money, please lodge a complaint in writing to the police or at my office,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday said politics over Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) has to be stopped to ensure that the project sees the light of day at the earliest. He also alleged that not a single minister from Rajasthan visited his office to take up the issue pertaining to the project with him. The Rajasthan government has been urging the Centre to give the project “national status”, saying this would enable the ERCP’s fast completion and 13 districts of east Rajasthan would get drinking and irrigation water.