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7:51 PM

Delhi records 357 new Covid-19 cases in last 24 hours

The national capital on Sunday witnessed a dip in COVID-19 cases as Delhi logged 357 new infections in the last 24 hours, as per the health bulletin issued by the Delhi Health Department.

Earlier on Saturday, Delhi recorded 442 new COVID-19 cases.

According to the bulletin, the active COVID cases in Delhi stand at 1,624. A total of 19,478 COVID samples were tested in the last 24 hours in the national capital.

As many as 374 COVID patients recovered from the disease in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries since the onset of the pandemic in the city to 18,78,479.

With zero death during the last 24 hours, the death toll remained in the city at 26,208.

As far as the vaccination is concerned, 34,032 beneficiaries were jabbed with COVID vaccines taking the total number of vaccine shots administered so far to 3,42,01,011.

7:51 PM

US view on China gone seriously awry, Chinese FM Wang Yi

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Sunday that the US view on China has "seriously gone awry" and Beijing will not give in to "blackmail and coercion", in a sharp retort to his American counterpart Antony Blinken's remarks identifying China as "the most serious long-term challenge to the international order.

Addressing an audience at US-based George Washington University on Thursday, Blinken said China is the only country with both the intent to reshape the international order and, increasingly, the economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to do it.

He called China "the most serious long-term challenge to the international order", and the US, while stepping up competition with "invest, align, compete" strategy, will, however, avoid conflict or a new Cold War with the Communist country.

While the Chinese Foreign Ministry hit back by terming Blinken's observations as a smear campaign by the US, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi who is currently touring Pacific countries said Blinken's speech outlining the US strategy towards China showed the US view on has gone seriously awry.

Chinese leaders have pointed out that whether China and the United States can properly handle their relationship matters to the future of the world, and it is a question of the century needed to be well answered by the two countries, Wang said speaking during the visit of Fuji on Friday.

 

7:48 PM

Mobile phone signals from crashed Nepalese plane's pilot may provide vital clues accident site

Mobile phone signals from the lone pilot of a crashed small Nepalese passenger plane may provide vital clues to soldiers and rescue workers on the possible location of the aircraft with 22 people, including four Indians, the country's civil aviation authority said on Sunday.

The turboprop Twin Otter 9N-AET plane belonging to Nepal's Tara Air took off at 10:15 am from Pokhara, and lost contact with the control tower 15 minutes later, according to an airline spokesperson.

The missing plane could possibly be located after Nepal Telecom tracked down the cellphone of the airplane's pilot Captain Prabhakar Ghimire through the Global Positioning System (GPS) network, the Nepalese media reported.

The cell phone of Captain Ghimire of the missing aircraft has been ringing and Nepal Army's helicopter has landed in the possible accident area after tracking the captain's phone from Nepal Telecom, Prem Nath Thakur, general manager of the Tribhuvan International Airport was quoted as saying by MyRepublica newspaper website.

A Nepal Army helicopter carrying 10 soldiers and two employees of the civil aviation authority landed on the bank of a river near the Narshang Monastery, the possible site of the crash, media reports said.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said that it has traced the potential location of the aircraft in Khaibang based on an emergency locator transmitter. However, due to bad weather, the search operations have been halted for the day.

 

7:41 PM

Nearly 100 recommendations by HC collegiums for judgeship under process

Nearly 100 recommendations made by various high court collegiums for appointment as high court judges are under various stages of processing, people aware of the procedure to appoint members of the higher judiciary said on Sunday

.The various high court collegiums have recommended nearly 100 names for appointment as judges in at least 10 high courts, they said.

The sanctioned strength of judges of 25 high courts has increased from 906 in 2014 to 1,104 in 2022.

As on May 1, there were 391 vacancies in the high courts and the working strength stood at 713.

According to the procedure, a copy of the recommendation sent by the high court collegium is also sent to the Department of Justice in the Ministry of Law. The department attaches Intelligence Bureau reports of the candidates and other related details before forwarding it to the Supreme Court Collegium.

In the recent past, while various recommendations made by the SC Collegium to elevate advocates and judicial officers as HC judges have been cleared by the government, some are still pending, including those of at least three advocates from Delhi and Chennai.

Several names reiterated by the top court collegium after being returned for reconsideration by the government are also pending.

7:39 PM

Rajya Sabha polls: BJP fields Piyush Goyal from Maharashtra, Sitharaman from Karnataka

The BJP on Sunday announced 16 candidates for the June 10 Rajya Sabha polls, fielding Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman from Maharashtra and Karnataka respectively.

Of the 16 candidates, six are from Uttar Pradesh. The party has fielded two women -- Darshana Singh and Sangeeta Yadav -- from the state.

The party announced the names of two candidates each from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Bihar and one candidate each from Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

The name of BJP general secretary Dushyant Gautam, who was a Rajya Sabha member from Haryana, was missing from the first list of candidates.

The party has given ticket to former MLA Krishan Lal Panwar from Haryana.

Kavita Patidar will be the party's nominee from Madhya Pradesh, Ghanshyam Tiwari from Rajasthan and Kalpana Saini from Uttarakhand.

From Bihar, the party has fielded Satish Chandra Dubey and Shambhu Sharan Patel.

Anil Sukhdevrao Bonde has been nominated from Maharashtra and Jaggesh from Karnataka, according to a BJP release.

7:24 PM

Muslims among six religious groups to get Minority certificates in Assam

Minority certificates would be provided to six religious communities, including Muslims, in Assam, Health Minister Keshab Mahanta said on Sunday.

The state cabinet decided that the minority certificates would be issued to Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Parsis and the modalities will be worked out accordingly, Mahanta said at the media briefing after the cabinet meeting here.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also decided to pay a total of Rs 12.63 crore to 1,263 families of workers of the Doloo Tea Estate as a goodwill gesture for their cooperation in the development of the Greenfield airport at Silchar.

Each family will be provided Rs one lakh as compensation for their cooperation, he said.

The state government had earlier announced a compensation of Rs 50 crore for the acquisition of the land at Doloo Lalbagh and Mainagarh tea gardens for setting up the greenfield airport and had already released Rs 2.37 crore as the first instalment.

The Cabinet also decided to pay Rs 142.50 crore against the outstanding Provident Funds dues of workers of the state-owned Assam Tea Corporation Limited (ATCL), Mahanta said.

 

7:22 PM

Sidhu Moosewala shot by unidentified assailants in Punjab's Mansa

Famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala was seriously injured after unidentified persons opened fire at him in Punjab's Mansa district on Sunday, a day after the state government withdrew his security cover.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Mansa) Gobinder Singh told PTI that several bullets hit Moosewala, 27, who was in his jeep at village Jawahar Ke when he was attacked.

He had fought on the Congress ticket from Mansa assembly seat in the recent assembly election and was defeated by AAP's Dr Vijay Singla.

Expressing anger and shock over the attack, several Congress leaders indicated that Moosewala had succumbed to his injuries but there was no official word on his condition.

7:11 PM

2 J-K govt hospitals among 10 in north India chosen for ICMR's palliative care project

Two government hospitals in Jammu and Kashmir are among the top 10 institutions chosen by AIIMS New Delhi for a research project to extend palliative care to patients with chronic debilitating conditions, officials said.

Government Hospital, Gandhinagar, in Jammu and Government Medical College (GMC) in Srinagar are among the 10 centres in north India that have already been developed for providing palliative care. They have now been selected to handhold 100 district hospitals in providing similar services, the officials said.

"This project aims at establishing and develop palliative care services at grassroots in northern part of India through capacity building approach and utilising it for malignant and non-malignant diseases and to reduce patient suffering and cost of care," a senior doctor at the Gandhinagar hospital said.

These hospitals will be provided with state-of-the-art advanced training in terms of confidence building, leadership qualities, advanced palliative education for providing, pain palliative and supportive care services to terminally sick patients, he said.

"The Government Hospital, Gandhinagar, is the first hospital in Jammu and Kashmir to provide pain and palliative care services and the staff is trained by AIIMS New Delhi in collaboration with Asian Pacific Palliative and Hospice Network Singapore and Indian Association of Palliative care," Head of Pain and Palliative care unit and clinic, Dr Rohit Lahori said.

 

7:10 PM

Back AAP to make your kids doctors, engineers; back others to make them goons: Kejriwal at Kurukshetra rally

Those who want to make their children doctors and engineers should support the AAP and those who want them to become goons, rioters and rapists should side with its rival parties, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said here on Sunday.

Addressing the first state-level meeting in Haryana ahead of the June 19 urban civic body polls, the Delhi chief minister made the exhortation without naming either of the AAP's rival parties.

Claiming to have ended corruption in Delhi and Punjab and improved the conditions of schools and hospitals in the national capital, Kejriwal also said his party wants to replicate the same in Haryana.

I want to ask those who want their children to be engineers and doctors and lawyers to come with us and those who want their children to be goons, rioters and rapists, to go with them, Kejriwal said in an apparent attack on the BJP-led Manohar Lal Khattar government in the state.

Exhorting people to root out the Khattar regime, Kejriwal dwelt upon his claims of improved conditions of government schools in Delhi and said children of the poor alone used to study in government schools earlier in Delhi.

He said the condition of schools in the national capital earlier was as bad as what is now in Haryana and only the children of the poor used to study there.

But now the rich people too are sending their wards to government schools (in Delhi), he said while talking about the visit of Melania Trump, the wife of the then US President Donald Trump, to a government school in Delhi.

After studying in government schools in Delhi, children of the poor are now becoming doctors, engineers and lawyers, he claimed, while promising to transform Haryana's government schools as well.

Kejriwal was addressing the first state-level rally here in Krukshetra ahead of the June 19 polls for 28 municipal committees and 18 municipal councils.

 

7:09 PM

Former SC judge emphasises on making India a centre for dispute resolution

Former Supreme Court judge A K Sikri has emphasised the need to make India a hub for dispute resolution and arbitration.

Speaking at an event organised by the Indian Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), titled 'Arbitrate in India Conclave, 2022', Justice (retired) Sikri said small steps are needed in this direction.

"Just in one day's time we can't think that the western countries would come and look forward to India as an international hub. So why not start with South Asian countries. We may have good arbitration centres in Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. but there is nothing in the 6-7 countries around India.

"Once we start, they'll look forward (to arbitrate in India). If we are able to show our work, we are able to show our mettle, and we are able demonstrate to the world that we are successful, then it would spread to other countries as well, the former top court judge said.

Additional Solicitor General Balbir Singh also emphasised the need for having a trained pool of arbitrators.

He said there is a need of more IDRC like arbitration centres across India.

Apart from former judges of the Supreme Court and high courts and senior advocates, the IDRC panel arbitrators, leading law firms and Bar association members attended the conclave.

The event was held on May 28 at the India International Centre here and marked the second anniversary of IDRC.

6:39 PM

Decisions on power projects taken with limited understanding: Bangladesh MP

Bangladesh MP Waseqa Ayesha Khan on Sunday claimed that power projects are implemented with limited understanding of social and environmental costs, and stressed on the need to have regional cooperation for energy security.

She said that a best practice' followed in one part of the world may not be suitable at a different location and called for adapting such models that suit local challenges.

Speaking at a Natural Allies in Development and Interdependence' conclave here, Khan rued that decisions on power sector are very often taken with limited understanding' and important aspects like social and environmental costs are not taken into consideration.

She emphasised on the need for a blueprint on the energy sector in the region and said, It is essential to have cooperation in the region for energy security.

Khan maintained that harnessing trans-border rivers for various projects can be contentious at times.

 

6:25 PM

Encounter between security forces and militants in Pulwama

An encounter broke out between security forces and militants in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, police said.

Based on a specific input about the presence of militants in the Gundipora area of Pulwama in south Kashmir, security forces launched a cordon and search operation there, a police official said.

He said the search operation turned into an encounter after the militants fired upon the security forces personnel drawing retaliation.

The exchange of fire was going on, the official said, adding there were no reports of any casualty on either side so far.

6:24 PM

Sangrur bypoll: Notification on Monday, nominations can be filed till June 6

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer S Karuna Raju on Sunday said the candidates for the bypoll to Sangrur Lok Sabha seat can file their nominations till June 6.

The seat had fallen vacant after Bhagwant Mann contested and won from Dhuri assembly segment in the 2022 assembly elections.

Mann, who at present is the Punjab Chief Minister, had won from Sangrur parliamentary seat in 2014 and 2019.

Polling will be held on June 23 from 8 am to 6 pm while counting will take place on June 26, said Raju.

The notification for the bypoll will be issued on Monday, he further said.

Raju said the nomination papers are to be filed with the concerned returning officer between 11 am and 3 pm.

However, June 5 being Sunday is a holiday under the Negotiable Instrument Act and therefore, nomination papers cannot be presented on that day.

The scrutiny of nominations will be done on June 7 while the last date for the withdrawal of the candidatures is June 9.

6:23 PM

Ladakh accident: Kerala soldier laid to rest with full military honours

The mortal remains of Lance Havildar Mohammed Shaijil, who lost his life in a road accident in Ladakh, were laid to rest at the Muhiyadeen Juma mosque here on Sunday with full military and state honours.

Shaijil was among the seven Army soldiers who were killed on Friday in Ladakh's Turtuk sector when the vehicle they were travelling on skidded off the road and fell into the Shyok river.

The mortal remains were brought from New Delhi to the Karipur International Airport in Kozhikode and was received by Member of Parliament E T Muhammed Basheer, MLA P Abdul Hameed, District Collector V R Prem Kumar and others.

The body was kept at the Thirurangadi Yatheem Khana and the higher secondary school here for public viewing. Thousands gathered to pay their last respects to the soldier.

On behalf of the state government, Minister V Abdurahiman paid the respects to the deceased soldier.

The 122TA Madras Battalion paid a gun salute as part of the military honour.

On Saturday, Ministers K Rajan and Ahamed Devarkovil visited the family of Shaijil. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had expressed "deepest condolences" to the family of Shaijil.

6:14 PM

Fate of 4 Indians, 18 others unclear as rescuers locate wreckage of missing Nepal plane

The fate of four members of an Indian family and 18 others on board a small plane of a Nepalese airlines remained unclear after the aircraft crashed on Sunday in the mountainous region of the Himalayan nation minutes after taking off from the tourist city of Pokhara, officials said.

The Twin Otter 9N-AET plane belonging to Tara Air took off at 10:15 am from Pokhara, and lost contact with the control tower 15 minutes later, according to an airline spokesperson.

Nepali Army Major General Baburam Shrestha in the evening said that the plane was spotted in a state of burning at Laningchgola, an upper area of Larikota in Thasang Rural Municipality-2 in Mustang district, The Rising Nepal newspaper reported.

The fate of the crew and passengers were immediately not known.

There are four Indian nationals, two Germans and 13 Nepali passengers besides a three member Nepali crew, said Sudarshan Bartaula, a spokesperson at the airlines.

The airline issued the list of passengers which identified four Indians as Ashok Kumar Tripathy, his wife Vaibhavi Bandekar (Tripathi) and their children Dhanush and Ritika. The family is currently residing in Thane city near Mumbai.

"Tara Air flight 9NAET that took off from Pokhara at 9.55 AM today with 22 people onboard, including 4 Indians, has gone missing. Search and rescue operation is on. The embassy is in touch with their family. Our emergency hotline number :+977-9851107021," the Indian embassy in Nepal tweeted.

The three member crew of the aircraft was led by captain Prabhakar Prasad Ghimire. Utsav Pokhrel is the co-pilot while Kismi Thapa is the air hostess, My Republica newspaper reported, quoting Pokhara Airport Information Officer Dev Raj Adhikari.