Highlights of the day: Joe Biden says anti-Semitism has 'no place' on any US campus

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10:40 PM

Biden says violence and hate speech have no role in peaceful protest

President Joe Biden said Thursday that “dissent is essential for democracy,” but “chaos” has no part in a peaceful protest. He spoke as arrests continue on campuses around the U.S. as police dismantle camps of students protesting Israel’s war in Gaza.At UCLA, officers arrested at least 132 people in sometimes violent confrontations. Most protesters left the library at Portland State University, where police on Thursday were preparing to arrest those who remained behind barricades. Other arrests were made at the University of Texas, Yale, Dartmouth, and the New York State universities at Buffalo and Stony Brook. The Associated Press has kept track, with nearly 1,750 people arrested at 32 schools.

9:53 PM

Delhi's maximum temperature settles at 35.5 deg C

Delhi on Thursday recorded a maximum temperature of 35.5 degrees Celsius, four notches below normal, according to the India Meteorological Department.

 

The relative humidity oscillated between 17 and 51 per cent during the day, it said.

 

The weather office has forecast partly cloudy skies for Friday with strong surface winds at speeds of 25 to 35 kmph during the day.

 

On Friday, the minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to settle at 38 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively, the weather office said.

 

"After May 2, the temperature will start rising again in the capital as it dropped on Tuesday and Wednesday due to strong surface winds," Kuldeep Srivastava, scientist and head of the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre, told PTI earlier.

9:32 PM

Universal Music Group first-quarter core earnings beat forecast

Universal Music Group on Thursday posted first-quarter adjusted core profit that beat expectations, helped by the success of its star Taylor Swift.

The world's biggest music label posted adjusted core earnings (Ebitda) of 591 million euros ($632.6 million), up 15.9 poer cent year-on-year and comfortably above the 567 million expected by analysts in a Visible Alpha consensus shared by the company.

9:17 PM

Israel says Turkey's Erdogan is breaking agreements by blocking ports for trade

Israel's foreign minister said on Thursday that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports.

"This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements," Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X.

Katz said he instructed the foreign ministry to work to create alternatives for trade with Turkey, focusing on local production and imports from other countries.

9:16 PM

Joe Biden says anti-Semitism has 'no place' on any US campus

President Joe Biden on Thursday defended the right to protest but insisted that “order must prevail” as college campuses across the country face unrest over the war in Gaza. “Dissent is essential for democracy," he said at the White House. "But dissent must never lead to disorder.” The Democratic president also said the protests have not caused him to reconsider his approach to the war. Biden has occasionally criticised Israel's conduct but continued to supply it with weapons. Biden said the campus protests haven't prompted him to rethink his Middle East policies, and he opposes sending in National Guard.

8:11 PM

Bajaj Finance says cenbank lifts ban on two lending products

Bajaj Finance said on Thursday the Reserve Bank of India has lifted the restrictions imposed it in November on the sanction and disbursal of loans via two of the non-bank lender's products.

5:00 PM

No political clearance was either sought from or issued: MEA on Prajwal Revanna leaving for Germany

"No political clearance was either sought from or issued by MEA in respect of the travel of the said MP to Germany. Obviously, no visa note was issued either. No visa is required for diplomatic passport holders to travel to Germany. The Ministry has also not issued any visa note for any other country for the said MP...Yes, he travelled on a diplomatic passport," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said today on JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna leaving the country for Germany.

4:41 PM

Mumbai Police constable dies after gang of thieves injects him with poison

A Mumbai Police constable died on Wednesday after battling for life for three days, after he was allegedly injected with a poisonous substance by a gang of robbers and drug addicts on railway tracks near Matunga on April 28. He was posted with the Worli Local Arms division-3 and was a resident of Thane.

4:12 PM

Vodafone Idea in talks with lenders, seeking $1.8 billion of loans in next two years

Vodafone Idea is holding discussions with lenders for loans totaling $1.8 billion in the next two years, Bloomberg reported today.

4:03 PM

News alert: Cops begin removing blockades at pro-Palestinian demonstrators' camp at University of California

Police personnel have started removing barricades at a pro-Palestinian demonstrators' encampment at University of California, Los Angeles.

3:59 PM

Delhi-NCR schools bomb hoax: Sender aimed to create mass panic, says FIR

The intention of the bomb hoax emails received by over 100 Delhi schools was to "create mass panic and disturb public order," the Delhi Police says in an FIR registered by its Special Cell. At least 125 bomb threat calls were received from different schools from 5.47 am to 2.13 pm on Wednesday, news agency PTI reported.

3:51 PM

Bomb hoax case: Delhi police approaches Moscow to provide suspect’s details

 A day after over 250 schools in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) received bomb threat emails that turned out to be a hoax, the Delhi Police has approached the National Central Bureau (NCB) in Moscow, Russia to assist them with details of the person who created the email account with the country domain (.ru) to send the threats.

3:24 PM

South Korea raises diplomatic alert levels citing North Korea threat

South Korea today raised the terrorism alert level for five diplomatic offices in the region citing intelligence that North Korea may attempt to harm its officials. The five locations include Seoul's embassies in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, as well as consulates in Vladivostok, Russia, and Shenyang, China, the ministry said in a statement.

3:01 PM

Death toll from south China road collapse rises to 48

The death toll from a highway collapse in southern China's Guangdong province has increased to 48, local officials said today. Constant rains caused a stretch of road running from Meizhou city towards Dabu county to cave in at around 2:10 am on Wednesday , according to state news agency Xinhua.

2:57 PM

'Go hang yourself' not necessarily abetment of suicide: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court has refused to categorise the statement 'go hang yourself' as abetment of suicide. Justice M Nagaprasanna addressed the complexity of determining abetment of suicide in cases involving contentious statements. The petitioner was accused of abetting a priest's suicide by allegedly asking him to "go hang himself" during a conversation about the priest's alleged relationship with the petitioner's wife.