India

Patna, Apr 26 (PTI) The Bihar Police have claimed to have choked the supply chain of weapons to Maoists during a sustained anti-Naxal crackdown leading to a drastic reduction in their strength.

An illegal arms factory, a major source of weapons for the Naxals, was recently busted by the Special Task Force (STF) and Central forces in Nawada, Additional Director General (STF-operation), Bihar Police, Sushil Mansingh Khopde said.

Tirupati (AP), Apr 26 (PTI) In a heartrending incident, a man was forced to carry the body of his deceased son on his lap, riding pillion on a bike, for 90 km to his native village from Tirupati around midnight on Monday after a rowdy mob of ambulance drivers demanded that he cough up Rs 10,000 for the trip.

Not stopping at that, the ambulance drivers at the Ruia Hospital in Tirupati did not allow another ambulance sent by the man's relatives to carry the body.

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Uttarakhand chief secretary to place on record that no untoward statement will be made at the 'Dharam Sansad' scheduled in Roorkee.

The event is scheduled for Wednesday.

A three judge bench headed by Justice A M Khanwilkar took note of the assurance given by the Uttarakhand government that authorities are confident that no untoward statement will be made during the event and all steps as per decisions of this court will be taken.

Kolkata, Apr 26 (PTI) The Left parties Tuesday held a huge rally in Kolkata for peace and communal harmony.

CPI(M), CPI, All India Forward Bloc, RSP, CPI(ML) Liberation, SUCI (Communist), RCPI, MFB and Workers Party were among the Left parties that took part in the rally, which began at Moulali in central Kolkata and concluded in Narkeldanga.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose, CPI(M) state general secretary Md Salim and RSP general secretary Manoj Bhattacharya were among the leaders who participated in the march.

Srinagar, Apr 27 (PTI) There seems to be no relief in sight for the residents of Kashmir facing electricity outages for the past several days, with the authorities citing the early onset of summer and sub-optimal hydro power generation as reasons for unscheduled power cuts.

Kashmir is going through one of its worst power crisis as unscheduled and prolonged cuts in supply in the holy month of Ramzan have left the people distraught.

New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Poll strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday declined the Congress offer to join the party and evolve its poll strategy and said more than him, the party needs leadership and collective will to fix deep-rooted structural problems through transformational reforms

Kishor was asked by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to join the party and be a part of the Empowered Action Group-2024 and take care of its election strategy for upcoming polls

NEW DELHI, Apr 26 (NNN-PTI) – India’s COVID-19 tally rose to 43,062,569 today, with 2,483 new cases registered during the past 24 hours, showed the federal health ministry’s latest data.

This is the seventh consecutive day when the number of daily new cases has surpassed the 2,000-mark, after lower tallies were reported in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, 1,399 deaths due to the pandemic, recorded since yesterday morning, took the death toll to 523,622.

Kanpur: The STF unit here arrested three smugglers of an international gang smuggling narcotics from Nepal in the early hours of Monday.

Charas worth 4.5 crores were recovered from them, which were to be supplied to the city and adjoining districts.

STF Inspector Shailendra Singh said that Roshan Patel, a resident of Motihari, Ashish Takkar, a resident of Barra, and Shailendra Kumar Soni alias Shilu, a resident of Auraiya, have been arrested.

About 85 kg of charas was recovered from them. All three were smuggling for about a year and a half, it had been reported.

Washington, Apr 26 (PTI) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday held a meeting with representatives of the semiconductor industry of the US and invited them to make further investments in India.

The Finance Minister spoke about opportunities for companies situated in Silicon Valley and about the government of India's commitment to be a reliable player in the entire semiconductor value chain with dedicated incentive for the sector in mission mode through the Indian Semiconductor Mission.

Sangli, Apr 26 (PTI) An unidentified man allegedly stole a JCB machine and used it to dislodge and take away an ATM in Sangli district of western Maharashtra, police said on Tuesday.

The incident took place on the intervening night of April 22 and 23 at an ATM centre of a private sector bank in Agar village of Miraj tehsil, an official said.

A CCTV footage from the ATM centre showing the JCB machine being used to dislodge the cash machine has gone viral on social media.