Breaking News January 28

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday asked the southern states to focus on the 5-fold strategy of 'Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and Adherence to Covid Appropriate Behaviour' along with effective surveillance of cases which is crucial for Covid management.

Mandaviya reviewed the public health preparedness on Covid with state Health Ministers and senior health officials of eight southern states and UTs -- Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep in the presence of Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health on Friday.

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar has announced plans to convert 150 villages around the 'Centres of Excellence' into 'Villages of Excellence' with technical assistance from Israel.

The Centres of Excellence (CoEs), an example of cooperation between India and Israel, are producing more than 25 million vegetable plants, over 3,87,000 quality fruit plants and can train more than 1.2 lakh farmers per year. The Minister expressed satisfaction at the functioning of 29 Centres of Excellence in 12 states. "Out of 150, half of them, i.e., 75 villages are being taken up in the first year to commemorate the 75th year of India's independence, where India and Israel will work together," Tomar said and expressed happiness on the completion of 30 years of diplomatic relations between India and Israel.

Tomar was speaking when the newly appointed Israel Ambassador to India Naor Gilon called on the Agriculture Minister on Thursday, a release from the Agriculture Ministry said on Friday.

Winter chill is set to return to Odisha and some districts are likely to be in the grip of a cold wave, the India Meteorological Department said on Friday. Minimum temperatures will be 3-5 degrees Celsius below normal in many places in the next three days as northwesterly dry and cold winds are entering the state, the Bhubaneswar Meteorological Centre said in a bulletin.

The weatherman forecast cold wave conditions in some areas of Kandhamal, Nuapada, Boudh, Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sundargarh, Angul and Keonjhar districts till Sunday morning. Cold wave conditions may prevail in a few places in Jharsuguda, Bolangir, Bargarh, Subarnapur and Kalahandi for a 24-hour period till Monday morning, it said.

 The Jammu and Kashmir cyber police has retrieved Rs 30 lakh withdrawn by fraudsters from the bank accounts of two senior citizens, police said on Friday.

"Prompt action by Cyber Police Kashmir Zone Srinagar led in retrieving and securing Rs 30 lakhs amount withdrawn from bank accounts of two senior citizens during a cyber fraud.

"Beware of scammers, don't fall prey to cyber fraudsters", police cited Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, as saying on its Twitter handle.

Delhi Police have arrested nine people, including eight women, in the sexual assault case of a 20-year-old woman in the city's Shahdara area. Two male minors were also apprehended in the case. The incident occurred on Wednesday when the woman was allegedly attacked by a group of people, including women, who tonsured and stripped the victim before blackening her face and parading her on the streets of the Shahdara area.

It was also alleged that the woman was gang-raped in a house in the same area. According to the DCP, the two minors, who have been apprehended, were involved in sexually assaulting the victim. The police have registered an FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for gang-rape, kidnaping, illegal confinement, and physical assault of the woman

An aircraft of the Indian Army's Officers' Training Academy here, with two trainee pilots on board, crashed on Friday shortly after take off, a senior official said. According to Bangajeet Saha, the Director of Gaya International Airport, both pilots were safe. He said the crash took place in fields adjoining a village under Bodh Gaya block, when the pilots tried to make an emergency landing. Villagers noticed the trainer aircraft falling down, rushed to the spot and pulled the cadets out. They were taken away by Army personnel who arrived soon afterwards. Debris of the crashed plane was also collected by them. "The nature of the technical fault that might have caused the crash will be known only upon examination by experts,” the airport director said. 

Three workers are feared to be trapped under debris after the roof of a ceramic insulator manufacturing unit collapsed here on Friday, police aid. According to police, the incident took place early Friday in Khurja Industrial Area apparently due to some heavy material kept on the roof of the unit named ‘Mahashakti’. District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh and senior superintendent of police have reached the spot and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel are conducting rescue operations, they said. Singh told PTI that two workers have been rescued and sent to a nearby hospital while at least three are still trapped under the debris.

 A 38-year-old man was allegedly shot dead by unidentified persons in north Delhi's Alipur on Thursday night, said police. The deceased has been identified as Pramod, a resident of Hiranki village. Police on Friday said the Alipur police station received the information at around 10:44 pm last night that some unknown persons had opened fire at a man and fled.

Four wagons of a goods train going towards Kollam in Kerala derailed at Aluva railway station on Thursday night which affected train services on the route but no injuries were reported, railway officials said. The freight train was carrying cement from Andhra Pradesh. The second, third, fourth and fifth wagonos of the train derailed while entering the third platform of the Aluva station around 10.30 pm. Following the incident, some trains were stranded for hours at different stations leading to a disruption in services. Four up trains and two down trains that were affected due to the incident. However, traffic through one of the tracks was restored at 2.15 am.