LIVE: CM Biren Singh holds all-party meeting on Manipur violence

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Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh conducted a meeting with the representatives of the 'Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI)' in the wake of the violence in the State, informed CM in a tweet. Political parties including Congress, NPF, NPP, CPI (M), Aam Aadmi Party and Shiv Sena attended the meeting chaired by Biren Singh himself.

On the international front, King Charles III was officially crowned the King of the United Kingdom as the Imperial State Crown was placed on his head amid spectacular pomp and pageantry at Westminster Abbey here on a rainy Saturday, reminiscent of the Coronation of his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, 70 years ago.

Following the violence in Manipur, the Indian army and Assam Rifles have so far evacuated more than 16,000 people from the violence-hit areas of the North Eastern state. A senior official of the Indian army told ANI that efforts are being continued to bring the overall situation under control and for normalcy to be returned.

Meanwhile, Congress on Saturday alleged that a "sinister and "ugly plot" is being "hatched" by the Bharatiya Janata Party to "kill" its party President Mallikarjun Kharge and his family. At a press conference in Bengaluru today the Congress played an audio clip, claiming that the BJP candidate from Chittapur Manikanth Rathod used derogatory language for Kharge and could be heard talking about eliminating him and his family.

India recorded 2,961 Covid infections in a day while active cases dipped to 30,041 from 33,232 a day earlier, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Saturday. The death toll has increased to 5,31,659 with 17 fatalities, which includes nine reconciled by Kerala, the data updated at 8 am stated.
 

11:19 PM

Eknath Shinde to campaign for BJP in Karnataka

Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde will campaign for the BJP for the May 10 Karnataka assembly elections.

He will be in the state on Monday and participate in two BJP roadshows at Kapu and Udupi town, party sources said.

Before reaching Udupi, Shinde will visit the Sri Manjunatha Swamy Temple. He will then meet the Dharmasthala temple's Dharmadhikari, Veerendra Hegde, they said.

The chief minister will also visit the Sri Krishna Temple in Udupi and on Monday itself, return to Maharashtra, the BJP sources said.

11:04 PM

Biju Patnaik Airport inaugurates 4 MWp solar plants, switches entirely to green sources of energy

Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA), Bhubaneswar has entirely switched to green sources for its energy consumption, by installing 4MWp Ground Mounted Solar Power Plant in the operational area, making it one of India's 100 per cent sustainable airports, said officials.

As per the airport authority, Bhubaneswar airport has installed a 4MWp solar power plant in the operational area which includes 10530 PV modules of 380W each.

The 4 MW Power plant was inaugurated on Saturday by Aparajita Sarangi, Member of Parliament from Bhubaneswar in the presence of Prasanna Pradhan, Airport Director and other officials.

10:27 PM

Andhra Pradesh govt opens helpline to evacuate students from Manipur

The Andhra Pradesh government on Saturday opened a helpline and a control room at AP Bhavan in Delhi for coordinating the evacuation of state students stuck in violence-hit Manipur.

The helpline numbers are 011-23384016 and 011-23387089.

"We are in constant touch with Manipur government and local administration to ensure all help," said the State government in a statement and shared six more helpline numbers from the northeastern state.

Manipur officials contacts include Michael Achom, IRS (8399882392), Rehanuddin Choudhury, joint secretary (Home, 9436034077), Peter Salam, joint secretary (Home, 7005257760) and Charanjeet Singh, joint secretary (Home, 8794475406).

10:00 PM

Girls outperform boys in Andhra Pradesh SSC exams, 72 pc pass in total

Girls outperformed boys in Andhra Pradesh's Secondary School Certificate (SSC) or Class 10 examinations with an overall pass percentage of 72 per cent recorded in the state.

Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana announced the SSC results for academic year 2022-23 on Saturday that saw more than six lakh students appearing for it.

Out of the total number of students who graduated, 69.2 per cent of boys cleared the examination, compared to 75.3 per cent girls, according to a state government release on Saturday.

9:44 PM

Virat Kohli completes 7,000 IPL runs, becomes first player to do so

Star India and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli reached the 7,000-run mark in his Indian Premier League (IPL) career, becoming the first-ever player to do so.

The veteran batter did so during his side's IPL 2023 match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi.

Virat gave some solid entertainment to those who turned up to watch him in the stadium, which also happens to be his home stadium in domestic cricket. He scored 55 off 46 balls, consisting of five fours. His runs came at a strike rate of 119.57.

9:41 PM

113 fresh Covid cases, three deaths in Delhi

Delhi recorded 113 fresh coronavirus cases with a positivity rate of 8.21 per cent and three Covid-linked deaths on Saturday, according to data shared by the city government's health department.

 

In its latest bulletin, it, however, said the complete case sheets of the three fatalities are awaited from hospitals. With this, Delhi's case tally climbed to 20,39,996 and the death toll rose to 26,641, it said. The fresh cases emerged from 1,376 tests conducted the previous day, the bulletin said.

9:24 PM

INS Magar decommissioned after 36 years service

INS Magar, the oldest landing ship of the Indian Navy was decommissioned on Saturday after a prestigious service to the country for 36 years.

The ship, commanded by Cdr Hemant V Salunkhe, was decommissioned at a sunset ceremony held at the Naval Base here.

The Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command (SNC), Vice Admiral, M A Hampiholi, who had helmed the ship from 2005-06, was the Chief Guest for the ceremony, Navy said.

9:18 PM

Centre denied request for flights to evacuate Mizoram residents from Manipur: Official

A senior Mizoram official on Saturday claimed that the Centre has turned down the state's request to provide flights to evacuate its residents stranded in violence-hit Manipur.

The Mizoram government has urged both the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Civil Aviation to charter flights for the stranded people hailing from the northeastern state, he said.

"The Centre turned down our request, and so has a private airline (to evacuate people of Mizoram stuck in Manipur)," the official told PTI.

9:10 PM

OECD inflation falls to 7.7% in March 2023, as energy inflation continues to drop

Year-on-year inflation in the OECD, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), fell to 7.7 per cent in March 2023, down from 8.8 per cent in February 2023 and from 10.7 per cent peak in October 2022.

Returning to its February 2022 level, the decline in inflation was broad-based, with inflation between February and March 2023 moderating in 34 of the 38 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries.

At the low end, Japan, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland recorded inflation rates below 4 per cent, while inflation in Hungary and Turkey still exceeded 20 per cent.

9:06 PM

Delhi reports 113 new cases, 303 recoveries, three deaths in last 24 hours

8:52 PM

Samyukta Kisan Morcha to hold nationwide protests in support of wrestlers

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Saturday announced that it will hold nationwide protests in support of grapplers protesting against Wrestling Federation of India president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.

The outfit also demanded the immediate arrest of Singh.

On May 7, several senior leaders of SKM from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and western Uttar Pradesh, with hundreds of farmers, shall once again visit the protest site at Jantar Mantar and extend support to the protesting wrestlers, the outfit said in a statement.

8:36 PM

INSV Tarini on her return passage to India: Navy

Indian naval sailing vessel Tarini is on her return passage to India after a six-month-long transoceanic intercontinental expedition that commenced from Goa in November 2022, officials said on Saturday.

During the expedition, Tarini sailed to Rio de Janerio, Brazil via Cape Town, South Africa, participating in Cape to Rio Race 2023, and she will complete an arduous 17,000 nautical miles passage when she touches the Indian shores again, a senior Navy official said.

8:08 PM

Tripura to bring back all students stranded in violence-hit Manipur: CM

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Saturday said that all students from the state, who are stranded in violence-hit Manipur, will be brought back by two special flights.

The announcement came hours after the chief minister held a meeting with the parents of the students stuck in the trouble-torn state.

"The first flight with 37 students studying at Central Agriculture University in Imphal is expected to reach Guwahati on Saturday night, and they will return to Tripura on Sunday," Saha said, addressing a press conference at the Civil Secretariat.

7:45 PM

Cong will win at least 141 seats, BJP will be down to less than 60: D K Shivakumar

Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Saturday exuded confidence that his party would win at least 141 seats in the May 10 assembly polls and asserted that he would abide by whatever the party decides on the issue of chief ministership.

Voting for the 224 assembly seats in the state will take place on May 10 and the results will be out on May 13.

In an interview with PTI, Shivakumar said the Congress will get a comfortable majority in Karnataka and the win would open the doors for the Lok Sabha elections as the party's victory in the state in 1978 had done.

7:41 PM

BJP got perturbed by Bharat Jodo Yatra: Sonia Gandhi