Breaking News, February 24

Ahead of the Budget session in Bihar, the opposition parties have prepared a list of issues to corner the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government. The Budget session of Bihar Assembly will begin on Friday. Bhai Virendra, the RJD MLA from Maner and chief spokesperson of the party, alleged that the Nitish Kumar government is involved in various kinds of expenditures, including monitoring illegal liquor trade using helicopters.

President Ram Nath Kovind will visit Assam from February 25 to 27 wherein he will attend the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Barphukan, the 17th century war hero from Assam. "On February 25, the President will grace the 400th birth anniversary celebrations of Lachit Barphukan in Guwahati," said a communique from Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday.

Border Security Force DG Pankaj Kumar Singh on Thursday exhorted all security personnel of the Central security forces to come forward to donate blood in the mega blood donation camp being organized at All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on February 25. "I exhort the entire 'Prahari Pariwar of the security forces and fellow citizens to come forward in donating blood during upcoming mega blood donation camps and make it a huge success," Singh said in a video message.

The Kerala High Court on Thursday reserved orders in the plea of actor Dileep seeking to suspend further probe into the 2017 actress abduction case. Justice K. Edappagath decided to reserve his verdict after hearing all parties. It was on February 14, exactly a week after the High Court granted anticipatory bail to him in the fresh case registered against him by the Crime Branch following fresh disclosures by his former friend and director Balachandrakumar, that he would do away a few police officials who had investigated the 2017 actress abduction case in which he is presently out on bail, that Dileep filed a petition to quash the FIR in the case.

Jammu and Kashmir police along with security forces have arrested an active terrorist and a terrorist associate of proscribed terror outfit LeT from Central Kashmir's Budgam district, officials said on Thursday. Police said acting on specific information about presence of terrorists in Aarath area of Budgam, police along with army's 2 RR arrested an active terrorist of proscribed outfit LeT identified as Yasir Mushtaq and a terrorist associate identified as Irfan Bashir, both residents of Allahpora Budgam.

In an unusual development, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday summoned the Budget session of the Assembly at 2 am on March 7. However, the Governor made it clear that he only accepted the Cabinet decision to summon the Assembly session at such an odd hour.

An soldier died after coming under a shed, that collapsed due to snow, inside the Badami Bagh cantonment area in Srinagar. Sources said a soldier of field ordnance depot was standing beside a shed when its roof collapsed, leaving him injured.

India has asked its citizens stranded in Ukraine to reach out to the embassy for evacuation and also has issued helpline numbers. The announcement was made after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday announced a military operation in Ukraine. In an advisory to all the Indian nationals in Ukraine, the embassy said: "This is to inform all Indian nationals in Ukraine that since the Ukrainian airspace has been closed the schedule for special flights stands canceled."

Mom's Belief, a mental wellness and health company for kids, has come up with a specified health insurance product for children with special needs who are suffering from autism, Down's syndrome and learning disability, among others. Mom's Belief Care-Aadvik child insurance plan, which has been launched in association with care health insurance, will cover the treatment cost for such children, providing cover in the range of Rs 1.5 lakh-Rs 4 lakh.

Facing charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia on Thursday surrendered before a trial court in Mohali near here following directions of the Supreme Court. Majithia applied for regular bail and the trial court started arguments over his bail plea, it is learnt. The court, however, allowed the Special Investigation Team to interrogate Majithia for about an hour in the court complex.

Prices of precious metals like gold and silver accelerated on Thursday after Russia declared war on Ukraine. Global equity indices slide and commodities, including gold, surged as hostilities started. Concurrently, gold prices rallied with MCX Gold April futures surging by 2.25 per cent to Rs 51,500 per 10 gram.

The Madhya Pradesh government plans to setup recreation centres at medical colleges for junior doctors who work for long hours without breaks, state Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang said on Thursday. These recreation centres will have indoor games, home theatre, library, gymnasium and cafeterias, he said. “I have asked an architect to come up with the design for recreation centres,” Sarang told news agency PTI. Around Rs 2 crore to Rs 2.5 crore will be invested in setting up a centre, he said, adding that there were 13 government medical colleges in the state. The junior doctors are delighted with the state government's move.

Rajasthan BJP president Satish Poonia on Thursday apologized for his controversial remark comparing the state budget with a dark-complexioned bride after getting a makeover. Talking to reporters after Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot presented the Budget for the year 2022-23 on Wednesday, Poonia had said, "It seems to be a 'daubed up' budget. It seems like a dark-complexioned bride has been taken to a beauty parlour and presented after a good makeup.” The remarks drew strong criticism with the ruling Congress targeting him for using such a language against women. "I was giving reaction to the budget during which I spontaneously spoke a few words. Usually, I do not use such words. If my words have hurt someone's sentiments, then I humbly apologize," he said in a video statement. PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Chairperson of Rajasthan Commission for Women Rehana Rayaz, and others had condemned Poonia's statement.

Emphasising that the agriculture budget allocation this year is much more than previous years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (February 24) said it is aimed at the complete modernisation of the sector and suggested seven pointers from the budget provisions. In just six years the agriculture budget has increased manifold and agriculture loans for farmers have also increased by two and half times in the last seven years, the Prime Minister said, and added that the preparation for multiple schemes that have been discussed during this budget need preparation, for which the month of March can be utilized and then, "start rolling out right from day one in the new financial year." If all this is done properly, the budget will not just be a numbers game but, in reality, can be an effective means to bring about change in life, change in agriculture," he said while addressing a webinar on the positive impact of Union Budget 2022 in the Agriculture sector.

Two people allegedly committed suicide here in two separate incidents, police said on Thursday. Mahender Kumar, an employee of a sugar mill in Khatoli town of the district, was found hanging inside the mill on Wednesday, they said. The body has been sent for post-mortem, police said. In another incident, a 60-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree at Chandsamad village under Khatoli police station. Jayvir had gone to his fields on Wednesday but did not return, police said.

The Goa bench of the Bombay High Court on Thursday upheld the Goa Assembly Speaker's order dismissing two petitions seeking disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling BJP in 2019. Goa Pradesh Congress Committee president Girish Chodankar had filed a disqualification petition against 10 party MLAs who switched over to the BJP in July 2019. Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party MLA Sudin Dhavalikar had also filed a similar petition before the court against its two MLAs, who joined the BJP in the same year by splitting the regional party. Goa Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar had on April 20 last year dismissed the disqualification petitions filed by Chodankar and Dhavalikar.

New Zealand recorded 6,137 new community cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. More than half of the infections were reported in the largest city Auckland. In addition, eight new cases were detected at the New Zealand border, XInhua news agency reported. Currently, 205 Covid patients are being treated in New Zealand hospitals, with two of them in the intensive care unit. New Zealand has reported 42,469 confirmed cases of Covid since the beginning of the pandemic, including 27,611 active community cases which have been identified in the past 21 days and not yet classified as recovered, the ministry said. Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins said the country will move to the next phase of the government's Omicron response from Friday.

With the addition of 55 new cases of coronavirus, the infection count in Maharashtra's Thane district has gone up to 7,08,081, an official said on Thursday. These new cases were reported on Wednesday, he said. The virus also claimed the lives of three more persons, which pushed the death toll in the district to 11,869, he said, adding that the COVID-19 mortality rate in Thane is 1.67 per cent. In neighbouring Palghar district, the COVID-19 case count has gone up to 1,63,336, while the death toll stands at 3,391, another official said.

The Border security force (BSF) troops on Thursday fired at a drone along the International Border in Jammu and Kashmir's RS Pura and Arnia sectors. A BSF spokesman said, "Drone movement was observed near R.S. Pura, Arnia sectors of the International Border area. The drone returned after the BSF fired 10 to 20 rounds. "A search operation is underway". Reports said the area is being scanned by the paramilitary forces, but nothing suspicious has been found so far. Sources said the drone was first spotted in the R.S. Pura sector and after being fired upon it moved to the Arnia sector and finally went back to the other side of the border.

CLP leaders, PCC president, working presidents of Karnataka Congress will meet Rahul Gandhi at 3.30 pm today, at his residence in Delhi.

Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar has been brought back to ED office after medical examination. He was sent to ED custody (on Feb 18) for 7 days by a court in Mumbai in a money laundering case. 

The national capital on Thursday experienced a cloudy morning while the minimum temperature settled two notches above the season’s average at 12.7 degrees Celsius, the weather office said. Officials of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the maximum temperature is likely to settle around 27 degrees Celsius. The weather office said strong surface winds are likely to sweep across the national capital for the next few days due to western disturbance. Delhi's maximum temperature on Wednesday had settled at 24.8 degrees Celsius, normal for this time of the season. Meanwhile, the city's air quality continued to remain in the “poor” category as the air quality index (AQI) at 9 am on Thursday was 289, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed. An AQI between zero and 50 is considered “good”, 51 and 100 “satisfactory”, 101 and 200 “moderate”, 201 and 300 “poor”, 301 and 400 “very poor”, and 401 and 500 “severe”.

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Ukraine restricts flights of civil aircraft within the country. NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) issued. Air India’s second special flight AI- 1947 left for Ukraine’s Boryspil airport today in the morning.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces a 'military operation' in Ukraine, calls on Ukraine military to 'lay down its arms': AFP

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The death toll from mudslides and floods in the Brazilian city of Petropolis, in southeast Rio de Janeiro state, rose to 204, authorities said. According to the police, at least 51 people remained missing as rescue efforts continued to retrieve victims from the mountains of mud that buried homes on Wednesday. A spokesman for the Fire Department of the state of Rio de Janeiro said search and rescue efforts were suspended on Wednesday due to storms in the area, Xinhua news agency reported.

Austria's year-on-year inflation rate rose to five per cent in January, the highest figure recorded since December 1984, the federal institution Statistics Austria has said. The January inflation rate was 0.7 percentage points higher than in December 2021. Tobias Thomas, Director General of Statistics Austria, on Wednesday said in a statement that surging fuel prices and household energy prices were main drivers of inflation, Xinhua news agency reported. In January, fuel prices increased by 29.6 per cent year-on-year, while household energy prices rose by 16.4 per cent. Members of Austria's National Council and the country's trade associations have urged the federal government to take immediate measures to curb soaring inflation, the Austrian news agency APA reported.

The Assam Rifles on Wednesday foiled a terrorist bid to carry out violence in poll-bound Manipur and recovered a large cache of explosive materials and six Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) near Betuk village along the Myanmar border, officials said. A defence spokesman said that the Moreh Battalion of Assam Rifles, acting on a secret tip-off, nabbed a man riding an imported motorcycle into India from Myanmar carrying a suspicious wooden box. On being challenged by the troopers, the person dropped the wooden box and fled back to Myanmar. The Assam Rifles troopers recovered six IEDs with cortex, electric wire and explosive materials from the wooden box. In the run-up to the Assembly elections in Manipur, Assam Rifles is proactively guarding the unfenced 400 km India-Myanmar border, a spokesperson of the force said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday said that the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi is an ideal example of global harmony. A 17-member Indian delegation, led by Birla, on Wednesday visited the under-construction Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) Hindu Temple site in Abu Dhabi. The delegation was accompanied by the UAE Federal National Council Member Ayesha Mohammed Al Mulla. Birla said that the BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi is an ideal example of global harmony. “It is more than a temple, it is truly an Oasis of Spirituality, Beauty and Universality,” Birla said.

The Rajasthan government Wednesday gifted the latest iPhone to all the 200 MLAs after presenting the state budget. However, BJP legislators decided to return the iPhones "keeping in view the financial burden" it entailed on the state exchequer. Last year, all the 200 MLAs were gifted I-pads, just after the tabling of the budget by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. On Wednesday, after the chief minister presented budget and the house was adjourned for the day, all the MLAs were given a briefcase with an iPhone 13 at the time of exit. The phone costs above Rs 70,000. A ruling party MLA said, “The assembly is going paperless and the effort is to make members of the house hi-tech.”

A 30-year-old woman was allegedly killed by her husband on Wednesday in east Delhi's Dallupura area, police said. The husband, Ashok Kumar (40), is from Uttar Pradesh, they said. On Wednesday, police received information that a man slit his wife's throat and she was lying in a pool of blood, a senior police officer said. Police reached the spot and inspected the scene of crime, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Priyanka Kashyap said. A case was registered and teams formed to nab the accused who fled after killing his wife, Pooja. He was apprehended, police said. They said Pooja's sister who lives in the same building informed the police about the incident.

Terming the state budget as historic, PCC president Govind Singh Dotasra on Wednesday said that Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has made several important announcements for all sectors. "The Budget presented today is historic. The decision to revive old pension for state employees is a great decision in favour of employees. The employees and their family members are making celebrations today,” he said. Dotasra said that the farmers will get electricity in the daytime for irrigation, which is another key announcement. “It was for the first time that a separate budget was presented for the agriculture sector. Congress benefits the farmers in true sense,” he told reporters.