Indian Sub-continent

NEW DELHI, April 19 (Reuters) - India is on its way to becoming the world’s most populous nation, overtaking China with almost 3 million more people in the middle of this year, data released on Wednesday by the United Nations showed.

India’s population is estimated at 1,428.6 million, or 1.4286 billion, against 1.4257 billion for China in the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) "State of World Population Report" this year.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) A Delhi court on Tuesday sent gangster Lawrence Bishnoi to the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for a week for interrogation in a case related to alleged terror funding to pro-Khalistan outfits, a source said.

Special Judge Shailendra Malik passed the order in an 'in-chamber proceeding' on an application moved by the NIA, the court source said.

Hyderabad, Apr 18 (PTI) The Telangana High Court on Tuesday directed YSR Congress Party Lok Sabha member Y S Avinash Reddy to appear before the CBI everyday for examination in the case pertaining to the murder of former Andhra Pradesh Minister Y S Vivekananda Reddy, and granted him protection from arrest till April 25.

In an interim order on the anticipatory bail plea of Avinash Reddy, the court asked him to cooperate with the Central agency and appear before it daily till April 25.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The very notion of a man and a woman is not “an absolute based on genitals”, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday while discussing the ambit of gender and whether it expanded beyond the biological sex of a person.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an order of the Gauhati High Court which had set aside the discharge of independent Assam MLA Akhil Gogoi in connection with a case related to anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links.

Allowing an appeal filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the high court had remanded the matter back to the trial court to conduct a fresh hearing on the question of framing of charge against all the four accused persons including Gogoi.

Peshawar/Beijing, Apr 18 (PTI) An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has sent a Chinese national to jail on a 14-day judicial remand on blasphemy charges in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after he was arrested on Monday, media reports said on Tuesday.

The police arrested the Chinese national identified as Tian on Sunday and on Monday he was shifted to Abbottabad via an Army helicopter due to security concerns as the police feared local people could harm him.

New Delhi, Apr 18 (PTI) The Delhi government has approved a project to lay a 25.5-km-long sewer line in 11 unauthorised colonies of Sangam Vihar.

The project will provide relief to around 3 lakh people suffering from sewage problems.

According to Water Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj, the colonies of Ambedkar Nagar and Deoli Assembly in Sangam Vihar will be connected with the sewer line so that treated water can flow into the Yamuna.

Sambalpur (Odisha), Apr 18 (PTI) With a high-level BJP delegation being prevented from entering violence-hit Sambalpur, senior party leader and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan Tuesday urged Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to maintain “raj dharma” and act in a neutral manner.

Pradhan’s statement came hours after the Odisha Police detained members of the delegation comprising, among others, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti and Tribal Affairs Bisheswar Tudu, Sundergarh MP Jual Oram and BJP state president Manmohan Samal.

Delhi; 19 April 2023 (UMMN): A letter by former MP and MLA Atiq Ahmad (60) with instructions to send it to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) and Uttar Pradesh chief minister in case of his death is being dispatched to them, Atiq’s lawyer Vijay Mishra said on Tuesday.

LANDI KOTAL (Pakistan), April 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least two people were killed and eight injured in a massive pre-dawn landslide that buried dozens of trucks waiting to cross from Pakistan to Afghanistan, officials said
Tuesday.

The landslide struck Torkham border post, the busiest and most important transit point for trade between the two countries, as more than 120 trucks were waiting to cross.

“We have recovered two bodies and have taken eight injured to hospital,” Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the Rescue 1122 emergency service, said.