Get all the latest India news and top breaking news live from all cities of India only on Readselective.com. Read latest India news, current affairs and news headlines online today.
Representative image showing a woman using a phone. Credit: iStock Photo
Indians collectively spent 1.1 lakh crore hours staring at their smartphones in 2024, according to management consultant EY, as cheap internet makes platforms from Instagram to Netflix more accessible to the world’s most populous nation.
On average, they spent five hours daily on the mobile screen, nearly 70 per cent of it devoted to social media platforms, gaming, and videos, EY said in its annual entertainment report published Thursday.
This has made digital channels the single largest segment of India’s Rs 2.5 lakh crore media and entertainment industry in 2024, overtaking television for the first time.
While the daily time spent by Indians on their mobile phones is third behind Indonesia and Brazil, the combined hours add up to the largest market globally that firms from Meta and Amazon to tycoons like Mukesh Ambani and Elon Musk are tussling for.
The country has reached “the digital inflection point,” Ashish Pherwani, the media and entertainment sector leader at EY India, wrote in the report, adding there would be consolidation, new business models and partnerships in the days ahead.
Nearly 40 per cent of the country, or 562 million people, now use smartphones — more than the population of the US and Mexico combined. 5G subscriptions more than doubled to 270 million in 2024, while 40 per cent of internet subscribers are from the rural areas.
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has been cracking down on substandard products across India.
The Delhi branch of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) conducted a series of raids on Amazon and Flipkart warehouses on Thursday, seizing thousands of substandard items. The operation, which lasted over 15 hours, was carried out at Amazon’s warehouse in the Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Delhi, and a Flipkart subsidiary warehouse in Trinagar.
According to a statement by the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the raid at Amazon’s warehouse led to the confiscation of over 3,500 items, including geysers, food mixers, and various electrical appliances. Officials found that many of these products either lacked the mandatory ISI certification or carried counterfeit ISI labels. The total value of the seized goods is estimated to be approximately Rs 70 lakh.
Flipkart Subsidiary Instakart Raided
In a separate operation, BIS officials raided Instakart Services Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Flipkart, in Trinagar, Delhi. The team uncovered a stockpile of sports footwear that failed to meet ISI standards and lacked proper manufacturing date details. Authorities seized around 590 pairs of sports shoes worth Rs 6 lakh.
These raids are part of a larger nationwide initiative by BIS to enforce quality standards. Over the past month, similar operations have been conducted in multiple locations, including Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Lucknow, and Sriperumbudur, resulting in the confiscation of numerous uncertified products.
‘Dhoom Machale’ Played At Commonwealth Day Ceremony (Image Source – smspipeband_london/Instagram)
Two weeks ago, the British royal family gathered at Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day ceremony, led by King Charles and Queen Camilla. As they arrived, they were greeted with a surprising musical choice—Shree Muktajeevan Swamibapa Pipe Band, a Hindu Scottish pipe band, performed the iconic Bollywood song ”Dhoom Machale.” This unexpected fusion of cultures left many Indian viewers astonished.
Initially, the moment went largely unnoticed. However, it recently gained widespread attention after the band shared a video of the performance on Instagram, where it quickly went viral. Some viewers were skeptical about its authenticity, questioning whether the footage was real. However, BBC’s coverage of the event confirmed that the king and queen were indeed welcomed with the Bollywood track, erasing any doubts.
Social media erupted with humorous reactions, with many referencing Dhoom 2, where Hrithik Roshan’s character disguises himself as Queen Elizabeth for a daring heist. One Instagram user joked, “That’s clearly Hrithik Roshan disguised as Camilla,” while another quipped, “Looks like Dhoom 4 promotions happened there!”
Many also made lighthearted comments about the Kohinoor diamond, with one person writing, “Relax boys, it’s Hrithik gone to take the Kohinoor back.” Another user humorously added, “The bandmaster really outdid himself that day!”
Elon Musk’s Starlink Eyes India for Expansion, Teams Up with Jio, Airtel to Tap Indian Satcom Market
Elon Musk’s Starlink is going to consider India as one of the primary markets to capitalise on its extensive satellite capacity, as it lacks access to Russia and China, the two largest countries by area, analysts say.
Low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation operators, like Starlink, look for countries with large areas to unlock a larger portion of their capacity.
With India’s substantial market, Starlink’s global user base is anticipated to grow from under 5 million to 5.7 million in five years, analysts predict.
“With Starlink not having access to the top-2 countries by area (Russia/China), other large countries such as India (the 7th largest) have become more important. Starlink’s imminent launch in India will help it monetise a large capacity, given India’s large area,” Jefferies stated in a research note accessed by the Economic Times.
Jefferies also added Starlink, with its current capacity, is capable of providing support to 0.18 million subscribers in India at 100Mbps speeds, “Assuming a 30x rise in its capacity by 2030, Starlink will be able to service 5.7 million subscribers in India…this is meaningful for Starlink, which has a current (global) subscriber base of 4.6 million.”
Reliance Jio and Bharati Airtel recently joined forces with Starlink to offer the latter’s satellite communication equipment and services at their retail locations, while also looking into additional collaboration opportunities.
As per a report by ET, Starlink’s capacity is anticipated to outperform the satcom rivals by 80-90 times faster capacity. Starlink is expected to establish three gateways located in Mumbai, Pune, and Indore along with one point of presence (PoP) in Mumbai to serve the Indian market.
Currently, Starlink’s total capacity is at 350 Tbps which is about to substantially advance as the company announced the launch of third Gen satellites that hold the potential to add 1Tbps capacity as comapre to 96Gbps in second Gen systems.
Mamata Banerjee pulled out a poster-sized image of herself from the 1990s during a speech at Oxford University’s Kellogg College.(X (TMC))
When West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, currently on a visit to the United Kingdom, rose to speak at Oxford University’s Kellogg College, she was met with a series of protests and intense disruptions about her state’s development and investment model.
The event turned dramatic when audience members, reportedly led by the Students’ Federation of India (SFI-UK), a left-wing student organisation, interrupted Mamata Banerjee with pointed questions, India Today reported.
The tensions began as Banerjee spoke about West Bengal’s progress and investment opportunities but escalated further when questions were raised about the controversial RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case in Kolkata.
Protests were held during Mamata Banerjee’s speech at Kellogg College, Oxford this evening, disrupting the event. pic.twitter.com/uovvF08Xo1
A member of the audience demanded to know how Mamata Banerjee’s government had handled the sensitive issue, leading to a sharp exchange between the two.
A question also arose about the treatment of Hindus in Bengal, to which the TMC supremo responded by saying, “I am for all, Hindus and Muslims.” Moments later, chants of “Go back” erupted from a section of the audience, adding to the chaos.
A visibly frustrated Banerjee lashed out at the protesters and said, “You should give me a chance to speak. You are not insulting me; you are disrespecting your institution.”
Mamata Banerjee pulls out a 1990’s poster
However, when the commotion failed to cool down, Banerjee, in a dramatic move of resilience, pulled out a poster-sized image of herself from the 1990s, showing her with a bandaged head due to serious injuries.
Holding it up for the audience to see, she said, “First, see my picture, how an attempt was made to kill me.” The disruptions, however, didn’t end there.
During the Q&A session, the West Bengal CM was confronted with questions regarding the Tata Group’s controversial withdrawal from the state during her tenure, and once again, she referenced the image from the 1990s to point out her political struggles.
SFI-UK claims responsibility for the protests
Following the event, SFI-UK issued a statement taking responsibility for the protest, the publication reported. The group also condemned Kellogg College for hosting Banerjee, calling her an “anti-democratic leader.”
The victim, identified as Gauri Khedekar, hailed from Maharashtra.
A 32-year-old woman was found murdered and stuffed inside a suitcase at a residence in Bengaluru, police said on Thursday. The victim, identified as Gauri Khedekar, hailed from Maharashtra.
According to the police, her husband, Rakesh Rajendra Khedekar, fled the city after the incident and was later detained in Pune. He is being brought back to Bengaluru for questioning, news agency PTI reported.
Gauri and her husband, Rakesh, had moved to a rented third-floor apartment in Doddakammanahalli, under the Hulimavu police station limits, in February 2025, Deccan Herald reported.
The couple had been married for two years. Rakesh, a project manager at a well-known private firm, was working from home, while Gauri, who held a bachelor’s degree in mass media, was searching for a job, as reported by the the publication.
According to the police, Rakesh left for Mumbai on Tuesday. On Thursday evening, he allegedly informed the landlord over the phone that he had killed his wife. The house owner then alerted the police control room around 5.30 pm.
Landlord’s tip-off
The crime came to light around 5.30 pm when the landlord of the couple’s rented flat in Doddakammanahalli, under the Hulimavu police station limits, alerted the authorities. Deputy Commissioner of Police Sarah Fatima said the body bore stab injuries and was found packed inside a suitcase.
“The accused has been detained, and we are bringing him to Bengaluru. The reason behind the murder will be known after further interrogation,” she said.
There were reports suggesting that the accused had informed his wife’s family about the killing, but officials said these claims were still under investigation.
Violent clash erupted between fans. | (Image Credits: Screengrab)
A heated altercation triggered between fans at the Baraspara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati during the IPL 2025 game between the Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals. A video of the same surfaced on social media as the fans were cussing at one another and beating one another.
The night had already been eventful as a fan had interrupted the proceedings by storming onto the field, falling on Royals skipper Riyan Parag’s feet before being dragged away by the authorities. Moreover, a fan was held by the authorities as he tried to cross the fence as Knight Riders’ co-owner Shah Rukh Khan was taking a parade.
Watch the video shared by Telly Chakkar of the heated altercation between the fans:
Meanwhile, the Royals, who were playing their home game in Guwahati, slumped to an eight-wicket defeat on Wednesday. It was Knight Riders skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who had won the toss and opted to bowl first witnessed a terrific job done by the spinners as they restricted the Royals to 151/9. The Royals’ batting unit hardly got going as Dhruv Jurel top-scored with 33.
Indian army in Jammu & Kashmir | Representative pic (ANI) |
A fierce gun battle in a remote forested area of Kathua district has left two terrorists dead and five security personnel injured as the security forces intensified their operation to neutralise an infiltrating group of about five militants, officials said on Thursday.
It was not immediately clear whether it was the same group that had been evading an earlier cordon in Sanyal forest of Kathua region or another batch of freshly infiltrated terrorists.
The encounter triggered intense firing and explosions, the officials said.
The gunfight, centred near Jakhole village in the Ghati Juthana area of Rajbagh, involved a group of approximately five terrorists and an initial exchange of gunfire resulted in injuries to Special Police Officer Bharat Chalotra, who sustained facial wounds.
He was treated at a Kathua hospital before being transferred to Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu, where his condition was stated to be stable.
The officials said that two terrorists were killed in the onslaught led by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and assisted by the Army, the BSF and CRPF.
Adding to the tension, three security personnel, including a Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), were reportedly trapped near the gunfight’s location, adjacent to a rivulet concealed by dense foliage.
The officials said a clear picture would emerge only after the ongoing encounter ended.
It may be mentioned that a group of terrorists were intercepted by the SOG in the Hiranagar sector of Kathua district on Sunday evening.
Despite a massive search operation, the terrorists managed to escape the initial cordon, the officials said, adding it is assumed that the same could have been possibly spotted near Jakhole, approximately 30 kilometers from the initial encounter site.
The terrorists were moving through the forest area when a police party headed by a SDPO moved in after getting specific information, the officials said, adding they came under heavy firing resulting in the gunfight.
Reinforcements from the police, army, and CRPF were immediately deployed to the area.
The quiet village Suffain in Kathua district was shattered by the relentless sounds of gunfire, grenades, and rocket fire as a fierce exchange raged throughout the day, punctuated by a series of powerful explosions.
Earlier, a group of terrorists was intercepted on Sunday evening within a ‘dhok’, a local term for an enclosure in a nursery, in Sanyal village near the International Border with Pakistan.
A subsequent massive search operation, involving the police, army, NSG, BSF, and CRPF, utilised advanced technical and surveillance equipment, including helicopters, UAVs, drones, bulletproof vehicles, and sniffer dogs.
The search teams discovered evidence on Monday, including four loaded magazines of M4 carbine, two grenades, a bulletproof jacket, sleeping bags, tracksuits, food packets, and materials for constructing improvised explosive devices (IEDs) near the Hiranagar encounter site.
Police believe the terrorists infiltrated on Saturday, possibly via a ravine route or a newly constructed tunnel from across the border.
Boiler Blast At Paper Mill In UP’s Ghaziabad; 3 Workers Killed (Screengrab) | X/@PTI_News
At least three workers were reportedly killed in a boiler blast at a paper mill in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad on Friday. The factory is located in the Bhojpur area of Ghaziabad.
After receiving the information, authorities rushed to the spot. Panic gripped the locals of the area after the blast.
Congress leader P Chidambaram asked the government to spell out India’s response to US President Donald Trump’s threat of tariff war, alleging that no discussion in parliament or consultation with Opposition parties has been held over the matter.
He called for finding common ground with other nations that share the same interests in pushing back against Mr Trump, and warned that if Mr Trump starts picking out individual countries and applying different tariffs, the affected nations could be left to fend on their own.
In an interview to NDTV, Mr Chidambaram said if the Indian government’s perception is that America is taking one step forward and two steps backwards, it must have a policy to counteract that.
“I mean, it can’t be in uncertainty. Of course, Americans are uncertain, let’s assume so. But you must have alternative scenarios. What if they take one step forward? What is our response? What if they take two steps backward? What is our response? And that response need not be made public to the whole world, but at least there must be a statement in parliament, or there must be a consultation with opposition parties. We are completely in the dark,” Mr Chidambaram, who was Union finance minister under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, told NDTV.
“In fact, my information is, most ministers are in the dark. Who is involved in making this reactive policy to America’s uncertain policy? I don’t know. Nobody seems to know,” he said.
Mr Trump’s decision to slap a 25 per cent tariff on all auto imports has cast uncertainty over India’s nearly $7 billion of exports to the US, which industry fears could squeeze margins. Automobiles and car parts imported to the US would face a 25 per cent tariff starting April 2.
While India is not a big exporter of cars to the US, Tata Motors’ luxury car subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is deeply entrenched in the American market. Indian auto ancillary firms will see the biggest hit as they export a lot of components to the US.
About a fifth of the revenue of India’s auto component sector is derived from exports. Of this, 27 per cent is to the US market alone.
“I think the government is making sort of impromptu, unilateral, knee-jerk decisions. For example, in the Budget speech, they got rid of the 2 per cent tax. Day before yesterday, the finance minister announced that the 6 per cent digital service tax, popularly known as the Google tax, will go. Now, what more are they going to concede to Mr Trump?” Mr Chidambaram said.
“If you don’t wish to have a public discussion in parliament, then you should at least invite the principal opposition parties which are represented in parliament and take leaders into confidence of what alternative scenarios are being worked out,” he added.
Mr Chidambaram defended his comment that most ministers are in the dark on this matter.
“I think at the moment, only the external affairs minister and perhaps the commerce minister who went on a delegation to the US are privy to what is going on. I don’t think other ministers know. I’m sure the agriculture minister does not know. I’m sure the industries minister does not know. But they are making concessions? I don’t know. Are you making concessions on agriculture? Are you making concessions on industrial goods? Are you making concessions on intellectual property? I don’t think anybody knows,” the former Union finance minister said.
He said India should put its interest first, but many countries are finding common ground in acknowledging that unilateral tariffs imposed by the US are unacceptable.
“There are WTO rules; there are multilateral and bilateral trade agreements; there are international laws and conventions. So if you want to rewrite the tariffs of several countries, you must hold a discussion. This is what Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada is doing. He has taken his parliament into confidence, at least the leaders into confidence. And he says we will coordinate with the European countries and respond to Mr Trump’s unilateral tariffs,” Mr Chidambaram said.
“Now, I’m sure the oil producing countries are also coordinating among themselves. We are a major agricultural exporter. We are a major textile exporter. We also export a lot of industrial goods. So we must band together with countries which are in the world market for agricultural exports, textile exports, and industrial goods exports, and evolve a common approach. You see, if he [Mr Trump] picks one country at a time, and imposes tariffs, it will ruin the economy of that country.
“Suppose he picks India, and he leaves other countries out. Suppose President Trump picks India and says, ‘these are the tariffs from goods exported from India’, we’ll be ruined. In a matter of three to six months, our economy will be ruined.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath Credit: PTI Photos
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday lambasted his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath for his comments that the former was trying to create divisions based on region and language due to the fear of losing his vote bank, saying the state was waging a battle for dignity and justice and this “isn’t riot-for-votes politics.”
In a social media post, Stalin said Tamil Nadu’s fair and firm voice on two- language policy and fair delimitation is echoing nationwide, and the BJP is clearly rattled.
“Just watch their leaders’ interviews. And now Hon’ble Yogi Adityanath wants to lecture us on hate? Spare us. This isn’t irony—it’s political black comedy at its darkest,” Stalin said, quoting an interview by Adityanath to a news agency.
Tamil Nadu’s fair and firm voice on #TwoLanguagePolicy and #FairDelimitation is echoing nationwide—and the BJP is clearly rattled. Just watch their leaders’ interviews.
And now Hon’ble Yogi Adityanath wants to lecture us on hate? Spare us. This isn’t irony—it’s political black… https://t.co/NzWD7ja4M8
In the interview, Adityanath accused Stalin of creating divisions on the lines of language and region after feeling that his vote bank was at risk. The BJP has been alleging that the DMK was trying to create divisions within the country through false allegations that the Union Government was imposing Hindi.
PM Modi extended greetings to Bangladesh on its National Day, emphasising shared history and mutual sensitivity in ties. Ahead of the BIMSTEC summit, Dhaka seeks a bilateral meeting, however, India has not yet confirmed.
PM Modi wrote a letter to Muhammad Yunus on Thursday. Photo : PTI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended greetings to Bangladesh on its National Day. He stressed the need for mutual sensitivity in strengthening bilateral relations. In a letter to Bangladesh’s chief adviser Muhammad Yunus, PM Modi highlighted the “shared history and sacrifices” that have shaped the partnership between the two nations.
“The national day stands as a testament to our shared history and sacrifices that have laid the foundation of our bilateral partnership,” the Prime Minister said. He added that the spirit of Bangladesh’s Liberation War continues to guide the relationship, which has expanded across multiple sectors, yielding tangible benefits for both nations.
PM Modi’s message comes just days before his meeting with Yunus at the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok on April 3-4. This will be their first face-to-face interaction since Yunus took charge as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government following the ouster of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a long-time ally of India.
While Dhaka has requested a bilateral meeting, New Delhi has not confirmed any such engagement. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar previously informed a parliamentary panel that the request was under consideration. Government sources have indicated that Modi’s bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit will be announced later.
India has been cautious in its approach, particularly in light of Dhaka’s stance on sensitive issues, including the protection of minorities and Hasina’s political future.
Meanwhile, President Droupadi Murmu also conveyed her wishes to her Bangladeshi counterpart Mohammed Shahabuddin, reaffirming India’s commitment to a “democratic, stable, inclusive, peaceful and progressive Bangladesh.”
India is strengthening its naval and economic partnerships with African nations through two groundbreaking maritime initiatives.
India is significantly expanding its naval and economic ties with African nations through two groundbreaking maritime initiatives: the Africa-India Key Maritime Engagement (AIKEYME) naval exercise and the Indian Ocean Ship (IOS) Sagar mission. These strategic actions reflect New Delhi’s intention to bolster its influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), positioning itself as a credible partner offering African nations a viable alternative to China’s expanding maritime footprint.
Strengthening Economic and Strategic Ties
India-Africa trade has surged, reaching $83 billion in 2023-24, emphasising the importance of maritime security. Nearly 80% of India’s global trade and more than 90% of its energy imports transit through the Indian Ocean. The ten countries participating in AIKEYME—Tanzania, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa—are strategically essential to these trade dynamics.
To deepen economic relationships further, India has provided approximately $8 billion in Lines of Credit (LoCs) to 44 African nations. This support has facilitated significant maritime infrastructure improvements, including port modernisation, installation of coastal surveillance radar networks, and trade facilitation projects.
Naval Exercises: AIKEYME and IOS Sagar Initiatives
Scheduled for April 2025, AIKEYME seeks to enhance interoperability among African and Indian naval forces, featuring robust anti-piracy exercises, search-and-rescue operations, and helicopter drills. Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, India’s Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, has highlighted the importance of AIKEYME as a cornerstone of enhanced regional security and naval collaboration.
Simultaneously, the IOS Sagar mission, spearheaded by INS Sunayna—a Saryu-class patrol vessel—will perform joint surveillance and maritime training in participating African countries’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Notably, INS Sunayna’s multinational crew includes naval personnel from nine African nations, symbolising India’s tangible commitment to mutual security and maritime cooperation.
Navigating China’s Maritime Expansion
India’s intensified maritime cooperation with Africa occurs against the backdrop of China’s aggressive and hegemonic naval and economic expansion under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Chinese investment in maritime infrastructure across the continent, particularly in Djibouti and Kenya, has sparked concerns about debt sustainability and national sovereignty.
The presence of China’s naval base in Djibouti—the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) first overseas military installation—has significantly enhanced Beijing’s operational reach, exacerbating regional geopolitical tensions and highlighting India’s strategic imperative to strengthen its maritime ties with Africa.
African Perspectives: Seeking Balance and Sustainable Partnership
African nations have generally responded positively to India’s maritime outreach, emphasising sustainable partnerships, local employment opportunities, and capacity-building. India’s collaborative approach contrasts with China’s criticised model, which is known for high debt burdens, environmental impacts, and minimal local benefits.
Leading think tanks such as the Observer Research Foundation and the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defence Studies and Strategic Analysis (MP-IDSA) have commended India’s inclusive and collaborative strategy, highlighting it as strategically advantageous for Africa and positioning New Delhi as a trusted partner dedicated to regional stability and mutual growth.
Addressing Shared Maritime Security Challenges
Piracy, illegal fishing, and inadequate maritime governance continue to pose significant threats in the Indian Ocean. India’s naval exercises and collaborative training through AIKEYME and IOS Sagar aim to enhance regional capabilities to address these challenges effectively.
In particular, illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing activities, often linked to China’s extensive distant water fleets, pose severe environmental and economic threats. India’s joint surveillance efforts with African navies aim to provide coordinated responses and improved maritime governance.
Strategic Maritime Infrastructure
India’s investments in coastal radar systems and port enhancements have significantly improved maritime domain awareness (MDA) across Africa. These developments align with India’s broader maritime doctrines, SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions). Both frameworks emphasise cooperative security, sustainable development, and economic integration, starkly contrasting China’s assertive and economically aggressive approach.
Future Prospects and Geopolitical Impact
As India and China intensify their geopolitical competition, India’s cooperative maritime diplomacy increasingly appeals to African nations wary of China’s assertiveness. Implementing AIKEYME and IOS Sagar successfully could broaden regional cooperation, potentially including West African countries in future collaborations.
Geopolitical observers expect India’s maritime diplomacy will continue to significantly influence regional security frameworks, strengthen economic relationships, and provide African nations with strategic alternatives to China’s growing influence.
People are posting varied images in Studio Ghibli style using ChatGPT’s native image generator. (X/@ivivekch, @heyBarsee)
The latest version of OpenAI’s image generation technology has taken over the internet. From trippy landscapes to quirky avatars, users are going gaga and creating studio Ghibli-style AI images. While some are turning their favourite pics into works of art, others are creating memes using it.
Here are five things to know about the image generator:
What is Ghibli style?
OpenAI recently launched GPT-4o, labelling it the “most advanced image generator yet.” It also creates images replicating Studio Ghibli’s anime style. The company is famous for creating popular anime like The Boy and the Heron and Spirited Away.
Here’s an post by a Blinkit product manager who tried it with iconic Bollywood scenes.
“At OpenAI, we have long believed image generation should be a primary capability of our language models. That’s why we’ve built our most advanced image generator yet into GPT‑4o. The result—image generation that is not only beautiful, but useful,” the AI company wrote.
Sam Altman on Ghibli style:
The OpenAI boss also shared a post on this new development. However, instead of sharing a pic, he took a witty dig at himself.
“Be me. Grind for a decade trying to help make superintelligence to cure cancer or whatever. Mostly no one cares for first 7.5 years, then for 2.5 years everyone hates you for everything. Wake up one day to hundreds of messages: ‘look i made you into a twink ghibli style haha’,” he posted on X. He also changed his profile picture on X into the same Studio Ghibli style.
Who can use the image generation feature?
The ChaGPT’s new native image generation feature was scheduled to roll out for Plus, Pro, Team and Free users on the chatbots. However, in a later X post, Sam Altman updated that the feature for the Free users has been “delayed for a while”.
Will it cause legal issues?
Evan Brown, an intellectual property lawyer at the law firm Neal & McDevitt, told Techcrunch that this product by OpenAI falls in a legal grey area.
“I think this raises the same question that we’ve been asking ourselves for a couple years now,” he said, adding, “What are the copyright infringement implications of going out, crawling the web, and copying into these databases?”
Trending on Google
While people are having fun generating Ghibli-style photos, some are also wondering what it is all about—especially those who are not well-versed in the world of anime. As people search more about this style and ChatGPT’s image generator, the word Ghibli is trending on Google.
US President Donald Trump has announced a 25 per cent tariff on overseas auto imports, which is expected to impact Indian companies such as Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, Sona BLW, and Samvardhana Motherson.
Cars wait to be loaded onto the Eco Napoli, a hybrid Ro-ro ship built by Jinling Shipping in Nanjing for the Grimaldi Group, at the port in Yantai, in China’s eastern Shandong province on March 26, 2025. (AFP)
These firms export auto components to Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China, which supply vehicles to the United States, MoneyControl reported.
Tata Motors does not have direct exports to the US, but its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has a strong foothold in the American market.
According to JLR’s FY24 annual report, the US accounted for 22 per cent of its overall sales. In FY24, JLR sold nearly 400,000 vehicles worldwide, with the US being one of its top markets, the report added.
The company’s vehicles sold in the US are primarily manufactured in the UK and other international plants, which will now be subject to a 25 percent tariff.
Meanwhile, Eicher Motors, the maker of Royal Enfield motorcycles, could also feel the impact, as the US is an important market for its 650cc models.
As one of India’s leading auto component manufacturers, Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd has a strong footprint in both Europe and the US.
It supplies parts to major American automakers, including Tesla and Ford. However, with established manufacturing units in the US and Europe, the company is relatively shielded from the impact of import tariffs, unlike firms that rely solely on exports, the report added.
Sona Comstar manufactures automotive systems and components, including differential gears and starter motors. The company derives about 66 percent of its revenue from the US and European markets. To mitigate risks, Sona BLW has been diversifying its export base by expanding into China, Japan, and South Korea, aiming for these Eastern markets to contribute over 50 per cent of its revenue within five years.
Other key component makers with significant export exposure include Bharat Forge, Sansera Engineering Ltd, Suprajit Engineering, and Balkrishna Industries.
In the financial year 2024, India exported auto components worth $21.2 billion, contributing to the global auto component market, which stands at $1.2 trillion.
The Reserve Bank has imposed penalties on HDFC Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank for deficiencies in regulatory compliance. File | Photo Credit: Reuters
The Reserve Bank on Wednesday (March 26, 2025) said it has imposed penalties on HDFC Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank for deficiencies in regulatory compliance.
A penalty of ₹75 lakh on HDFC Bank has been imposed for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC), the central bank said in a statement.
In another statement, the RBI said a penalty of ₹68.20 lakh has been impose on Punjab & Sind Bank for non-compliance with certain directions on ‘Creation of a Central Repository of Large Common Exposures – Across Banks’ and ‘Financial Inclusion – Access to Banking Services – Basic Savings Bank Deposit Account (BSBDA)’.
The Reserve Bank of India has also imposed a penalty of ₹10 lakh on KLM Axiva Finvest for non-compliance with requirements relating to declaration of dividends.
S Jaishankar said today that issues between India and China can be addressed without conflict
As China and India push to mend ties, strained for nearly half a decade, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said that “what happened in 2020 was not the way to address issues”. The minister’s remarks recalled the way China had unilaterally tried to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control or LAC.
Mr Jaishankar also acknowledged that India and China will continue to have issues in the “foreseeable future”, but said that “there are ways of addressing them” without getting into a conflict.
“We know that, between India and China, at least in the foreseeable future, there will be issues, but there are ways of addressing those issues, and what happened in 2020 was not the way,” External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in a conversation with non-profit Asia Society.
The minister was speaking about the way ties between India and China have evolved over the years. After China’s unilateral decision to alter the status quo is eastern Ladakh, which led to a military clash followed by a standoff in 2020, ties between the two Asian giants went into a deep freeze for nearly five years.
“We feel that from October, 2024, the relationship has seen some improvement. What we are trying, step by step, is to see if we can rebuild, undo some of the damage which happened as a result of the actions in 2020,” Mr Jaishankar said.
China’s actions and the subsequent military standoff led to a feeling of betrayal and severe distrust in New Delhi. Anti-China sentiment surged across the nation, impacting everything from people-to-people ties, business and bilateral ties, trade, technology, visas, and even air travel.
It was only in October 2024, after dozens of rounds of talks, both at the diplomatic and military levels, that the two countries reached an agreement – to return to the status quo in place before 2020. It was only on the basis of this understanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Russia.
Rape and sexual assault have been under intense scrutiny in India since 2012, when a gangrape in capital Delhi made global headlines
India’s Supreme Court has put on hold a recent high court court which said that “grabbing [the] breasts” of a girl and breaking off the drawstrings of her lower garment could not be considered an attempt to rape.
The Allahabad high court had ruled last week that the offence could only be described as “aggravated sexual assault”, which involves a lesser punishment.
The top court judges said some of the comments in the high court order depicted “a total lack of sensitivity” on the part of the judge who wrote it.
The high court ruling led to outrage in India.
On Wednesday, the two-judge Supreme Court bench of Justice BR Gavai and Justice Augustine described the 17 March order as “shocking”, especially since it was not delivered “on the spur of the moment” but had been well thought through after being reserved for four months.
The top court has now sent notices to India’s federal authorities and state government in Uttar Pradesh, where the court in Allahabad (now called Prayagraj) is located.
According to the prosecution, the case involves an 11-year-old girl whose mother has alleged that the two accused offered a lift to her daughter on their motorbike, promising to drop her home.
She sent the child with the men who were from the same village and known to them.
“The accused persons stopped their motorcycle on the way to the village and started grabbing her breasts,” the high court order said, adding that one of the men dragged her beneath a culvert and “broke her pyjama [lower garment] string”.
She was rescued by some villagers who were passing by and were alerted by her cries for help, forcing her attackers to flee.
The accused have denied the allegations against them.
The high court ruling was based on the argument that “attempt to rape” was different from “preparation”, legal website Live Law reported, quoting from the high court order.
“The prosecution must establish that it had gone beyond the stage of preparation. The difference between preparation and actual attempt to commit an offence consists chiefly in the greater degree of determination,” the order said.
The controversial ruling led to outrage in the country with many describing the judgement as “atrocious”.
Senior lawyer Indira Jaising told a TV channel that what happened with the child “goes beyond preparation” and in legal terms “it is attempt to commit rape”.
“How do you prove intent? It is proved by actions that precede the actual act of rape,” she said, adding that the fact that the girl was dragged to a secluded place meant it had gone beyond preparation.
While the official did not disclose when Kamra, accused of making defamatory remarks against Shinde, has been summoned, sources said the comic has sought one week’s time to appear before police.
Kunal Kamra Credit: X/@kunalkamra88
Mumbai: The Mumbai Police have issued a notice to stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra in connection with a case filed for allegedly making derogatory remarks against Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, officials said on Tuesday.
Kamra has been asked to appear before the Khar police in connection with the case registered against him, an official said.
“We have issued an initial notice to Kamra as a probe has been started into the case against him,” the official said without giving more details.
While the official did not disclose when Kamra, accused of making defamatory remarks against Shinde, has been summoned, sources said the comic has sought one week’s time to appear before police.
The 36-year-old stand-up comedian has kicked up a major political storm in Maharashtra for taking a jibe at Shiv Sena leader Shinde’s political career in his show.
In a video which has gone viral on social media, the store employee is heard telling a customer, ‘I will not speak in Marathi, I will speak only in Hindi. Do what you want to do.’
The incident took place on Tuesday at the D-Mart store in Versova, Andheri (West) Credit: dmartndia.com
Mumbai: Workers of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) allegedly slapped an employee of a leading supermarket store in Mumbai for not speaking in Marathi, police said.
The incident took place on Tuesday at the D-Mart store in Versova, Andheri (West), they said.
In a video which has gone viral on social media, the store employee is heard telling a customer, “I will not speak in Marathi, I will speak only in Hindi. Do what you want to do.” After the MNS came to know about the employee’s comments, a group of workers led by the party’s Versova unit president Sandesh Desai went to the store and allegedly slapped the staffer.
Six thieves stole 100 pigs from sheds near Doddaballapura, Bengaluru, in two midnight raids. Farmers Divakar and Lokesh lost pigs worth over Rs 8 lakh
Screengrabs from CCTV show the gang loading the stolen pigs in their vehicle.
A gang of six pork-lover thieves stole 100 pigs from two sheds located near Doddaballapura on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
In two consecutive midnight operations, the gang struck the same shed twice, leaving farmers in shock. On the first day, thieves broke into farmer Divakar’s shed in Byrasandra and stole 30 pigs. They targeted his shed again the very next day and stole over 20 more.
Police said the gang struck with ease as the two sheds were located far away from human habitat due to hygiene factors.
On the first day, they first parked their vehicle and slowly loaded the pigs in their truck, but the next day they emptied the shed. Police said while escaping, they even left behind smaller pigs on the road, injuring their limbs.
A complaint has been filed at the Dodballapur Rural Police Station regarding the incident.
With no clear view of her face and no one recognising her, locals are puzzled about her intentions.
Additional Superintendent of Police Niranjan Sharma said that no formal complaints had been filed. (X)
The residents of Madhya Pradesh’s Gwalior have been on edge after videos of a mysterious woman, walking in a spooky way and ringing doorbells of houses late at night and disappearing, have emerged on social media.
According to the media reports, the incidents have been reported from Raja Mandi and Sona Garden area where the CCTV footages captured a mysterious woman ringing doorbells at midnight and walking away without responding
The footage also showed cattle and stray dogs reacting strangely in her presence, suddenly fleeing as she approaches, adding to the mystery.
The woman was seen dressed in a salwar-kameez, and her face was unclear as it was covered with a long dupatta, adding to the mystery. Some locals have claimed that she did not react when called from inside the houses. She simply kept moving forward, ringing bells at different houses.
Additional Superintendent of Police Niranjan Sharma said that no formal complaints have been filed, but the station in charge has been instructed to increase patrolling.
“While no formal complaint has been lodged yet, the police are monitoring the situation to gather more information about the woman,” he said as reported by India Today.
During the 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held in Beijing on Tuesday, India and China discussed the early resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra To Resume After 5 Years Photo : iStock
India and China on Tuesday discussed the early resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra during the 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) held in Beijing.
Notably, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has been suspended since 2020, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent border issues.
“The 33rd meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation & Coordination on India-China Border Affairs (WMCC) was held on 25 March 2025 in Beijing,” the MEA said in a press release.
“The Indian delegation was led by Gourangalal Das, Joint Secretary (East Asia), and the Chinese delegation was led by Hong Liang, Director General of the Boundary & Oceanic Affairs Department of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” MEA further said.
The MEA in the release said, “Held in a positive and constructive atmosphere, the meeting comprehensively reviewed the situation along the Line of Actual Control in the India-China border areas. Peace and tranquility on the border are critical for the smooth development of overall bilateral relations. The two sides explored various measures and proposals to give effect to the decisions taken during the 23rd meeting of the Special Representatives on the India-China boundary question in Beijing in December 2024 and to advance effective border management.”
“The two sides agreed to maintain and strengthen relevant diplomatic and military mechanisms towards this end. They also exchanged views on early resumption of cross-border cooperation and exchanges, including on trans-border rivers and Kailash-Mansarovar Yatra,” MEA added in a press release.
Both sides also agreed to prepare for the next meeting of the Special Representatives, set to take place in India later this year.
Detailed discussions will be held where suggestions of all political parties will be taken, Times Now has learnt. This decision comes amid the buzz of a possible revival of the NJAC Act.
Justice Yashwant Varma (Image: Delhi HC)
In a big development in the Justice Yashwant Varma cash seizure controversy, top sources have told Times Now that the Centre will reach out to all political parties to gather their stance on the case. The decision was taken after a meeting of the floor leaders with the Vice President.
Sources claim that detailed discussions will be held where suggestions of all parties will be taken along with their respective stance before a final decision is made. This comes amid the buzz of a possible revival of the NJAC Act, which sought to replace the Collegium.
Times Now has learnt that Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha JP Nadda, and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge met Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday. Thereafter, a floor leader meeting was called by the Rajya Sabha chairman. Sources claim that the government is mulling a broader discussion on the matter, and Nadda has been entrusted with the responsibility by the Centre to reach out to all political parties.
#WATCH | After his meeting with Leader of the House (Rajya Sabha) JP Nadda and LoP (Rajya Sabha) Mallikarjun Kharge, Vice-President and Chairman, Rajya Sabha Jagdeep Dhankhar said, “We had meaningful deliberation about the issue that is agitating the mind of Judiciary. It is for… pic.twitter.com/inHI9vV5xm
SC intensifies probe into judge cash controversy
A fire broke out at the residence of Justice Yashwant Varma’s residence on March 14 after which Delhi fire officials and cops were called in. During the firefighting operation, they allegedly found sacks of cash in the storeroom and reported the matter to higher authorities. A three-member committee has been constituted by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna to conduct an inquiry into allegations. Justice Varma has claimed that he was “never aware” of any money or cash lying in the outhouse storeroom of his residence.
Nithyananda established a sovereign nation called “The United States of Kailasa” or the “USK”, the geographical location of which no one knows. The fictitious country is thought to have been established at an island off Ecuador, there are no photos of the country.
Accused of rape in 2010 by a US national, Nithyananda fled India in November of 2019.
New Delhi: Self-proclaimed godman and fugitive Nithyananda, who fled India in 2019 and has since claimed to have established a sovereign nation called “The United States of Kailasa”, is part of a global land scam” that has shocked the entire world.
In an absurd and jaw-dropping development, three indigenous tribes from Bolivia’s Amazon rainforest were duped into signing land-leasing agreements with Nithyananda’s non-existent country.
According to a report, “The United States of Kailasa” conned these tribes to sign a 1,000-year lease agreement for 3,900 square metres of prime Amazon land. The land in question is 2.6 times the size of Delhi, 6.5 times the size of Mumbai, 5.3 times the size of Bengaluru, 19 times the size of Kolkata.
The fraudulent deal guarantees “The United States of Kailasa” full autonomy and complete rights to all resources within the land. The deal was reportedly signed for USD 1,08,000 per year (equivalent to Rs 8.96 Lakh).
Interestingly, the Bolivian government did not have any knowledge of the agreement. After the government got wind of the agreement, it along with the Confederation of indigenous people of Bolivia, declared the contract null and void.
Nithyananda ‘Global Land’ Loot
– Wanted to ‘Loot’: 3,900 sq kms of Amazonian land.
It’s 2.6 times size of Delhi, 6.5 times size of Mumbai, 5.3 times size of B’luru, 19 times size of Kolkata..: @Swatij14 with more details.@esha__mishra with more inputs. pic.twitter.com/riYikqeFIn
The Bolivian laws bars foreigners from acquiring land in the Amazon forest. The country’s Agricultural and Land Development Minister categorically stated that the indigenous people cannot make agreements with a fictitious country.
Nithyananda’s Tall Claims
Accused of rape in 2010 by a US national, Nithyananda fled India in November of 2019. He later established a sovereign nation called “The United States of Kailasa” or the “USK”, the geographical location of which no one knows. The website for the USK claims to represent “the Hindu Diaspora that lives in more than 150+ Countries”, proclaims to exercise a “right to sovereign self-determination” and follow “a time-tested model of Hindu governance and Hindu administration”.
Nithyananda is referred to in full as “the Supreme Pontiff of Hinduism (SPH) Jagat Guru Mahasannidhanam (JGM) His Divine Holiness (HDH) Bhagavan Sri Nithyananda Paramashivam”, the rightful “Emperor of 19 Ancient Hindu kingdoms”.
During a show at the Habitat Comedy Club in Mumbai’s Khar, Kunal Kamra performed a satirical rendition of Bholi Si Surat from the 1997 film Dil To Pagal Hai, making indirect remarks about the Shiv Sena chief without naming him.
After ‘Gaddar’ Joke, Kunal Kamra Reports 500 Threatening Calls
Amid controversy over his remarks on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, comedian Kunal Kamra has requested more time to appear before the Mumbai Police and has been receiving death threats from Shiv Sena workers.
According to NDTV sources, Kamra has received at least 500 calls in which people have threatened to kill him and cut him to pieces (Kaat Denge Tumhe)
During a show at the Habitat Comedy Club in Mumbai’s Khar, Kunal Kamra performed a satirical rendition of Bholi Si Surat from the 1997 film Dil To Pagal Hai, making indirect remarks about the Shiv Sena chief without naming him. The song included the word gaddar (traitor), widely interpreted as a reference to Eknath Shinde’s 2022 split from Shiv Sena and his alliance with the BJP, which led to the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government.
Kunal Kamra’s New Video
Comedian Kunal Kamra on Tuesday shared a new video with a song to slam Shiv Sena workers for vandalising Mumbai’s Habitat Comedy Club, where he had mocked Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
In the video, Kunal Kamra performs a parody song titled “Hum Honge Kangal Ek Din, Mann Mein Hai Andhvishwas, Desh Ka Satyanash” (“We Will Be Poor One Day, There Is Blind Faith in the Heart, The Country Is Heading Towards Destruction”) while footage of Shiv Sena members vandalising property at the venue plays in the background.
The country’s defence exports have surged from Rs 686 crore in FY 2013-14 to an all-time high of ₹21,083 crore in FY 2023-24, a 30-fold increase over the past 10 years, the government said.
How much has India’s defence power grown? Photo : PTI
Centre has said that India’s defence production has increased at an extraordinary pace since the government launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative, with the production reaching a record Rs 1.27 lakh crore in FY 2023-24. The government said India’s defence production reached Rs 1.27 lakh crore in FY 2023-24, which was a 174% rise since 2014-15 “driven by the Make in India initiative”.
In an official press release, the Ministry of Defence said its exports hit a record ₹ 21,083 crore in FY 2023-24, expanding 30 times in a decade, with exports to more than 100 countries. “Initiatives like iDEX and SAMARTHYA are driving technological advancements in AI, cyber warfare, and indigenous weapon systems,” it added.
The ministry said the country is aiming for ₹3 lakh crore in production, with ₹50,000 crore in exports by 2029. It said the dream of becoming a global manufacturing hub would be fulfilled as 65% of defence equipment is now manufactured domestically. The government called this a “significant shift from the earlier 65-70% import dependency, showcasing India’s self-reliance in defence”.
The country’s defence exports have surged from Rs 686 crore in FY 2013-14 to an all-time high of ₹21,083 crore in FY 2023-24, a 30-fold increase over the past 10 years, the government said.
How Much Has India’s Defence Power Grown
The Ministry of Defence said the country’s defence exports have grown 21 times, from ₹4,312 crore in the 2004-14 decade to ₹88,319 crore in the 2014-24 decade. This, the Centre said is a 32.5% surge year-on-year, rising from ₹15,920 crore in FY 2022-23 to ₹21,083 crore in FY 2023-24.
Interestingly, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Prasanna B Varale had on March 24 declined to entertain a PIL filed against that Allahabad High Court order.
Allahabad High Court, Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has initiated a suo motu case to examine the controversial Allahabad High Court order which had held that acts of grabbing a child victim’s breasts, breaking the string of her pyjama and attempting to drag her beneath a culvert do not constitute the offence of rape or attempt to rape.
The suo motu case titled ‘In Re: Order dated 17.03.2025 passed by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Criminal Revision No. 1449/2024 and Ancillary Issues’ will be heard by a Bench of Justices BR Gavai and Augustine George Masih.
Interestingly, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Prasanna B Varale had on March 24 declined to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed against that Allahabad High Court order.
The Allahabad High Court had made the controversial observations on March 17 while modifying a summoning order.
The High Court had altered the charges against the two accused, who were originally summoned to stand trial under Section 376 IPC (Rape) and Section 18 (Punishment for attempt to commit an offence) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The High Court instead directed that the accused be tried under the lesser charge of Section 354-B IPC (assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe), along with Sections 9/10 of the POCSO Act (aggravated sexual assault).
While doing so, Justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra observed,
“…the allegation against accused Pawan and Akash is that they grabbed the breasts of the victim and Akash tried to bring down lower garment of the victim and for that purpose they had broken string of her lower garments and tried to drag her beneath the culvert, but due to intervention of witnesses they left the victim and fled away from the place of incident. This fact is not sufficient to draw an inference that the accused persons had determined to commit rape on victim as apart from these facts no other act is attributed to them to further their alleged desire to commit rape on the victim.”
According to the prosecution, the accused, Pawan and Akash, allegedly grabbed the breasts of the 11-year-old victim. Thereafter, one of them broke the string of her pyjama and attempted to drag her beneath a culvert.
However, before they could proceed further, the intervention of passers-by forced them to flee, leaving the victim behind.
Finding it to be a case of attempted rape or attempted penetrative sexual assault under the POCSO Act, the trial court invoked Section 376 along with Section 18 of the POCSO Act and issued a summoning order under these provisions.
Challenging the summoning order, the accused persons approached the High Court, arguing that even if the complaint’s version is accepted at face value, no offence of rape was made out. They contended that the case, at most, fell within the scope of Sections 354 (assault with intent to outrage modesty of woman) and 354(B) IPC, along with relevant provisions of the POCSO Act.
On the other hand, the counsel for complainant argued that at the stage of framing charges, the trial court is not required to meticulously analyse or weigh the evidence collected during the investigation. Instead, it only needs to determine whether a prima facie case exists to proceed with the trial, it was contended.
According to reports, the shooting took place on the footbridge connecting platforms 2 and 3. The assailant, identified as 24-year-old Aman Kumar, first opened fire on the teenage girl, Jiya Kumari, and her father, Anil Sinha, before turning the gun on himself. All three died on the spot.
Triple Shooting At Bihar’s Ara Railway Station: Gunman Kills Teen Girl, Father; Then Ends Own Life; Shocking Visuals Surface | Video screengrab
A tragic shooting incident at Ara railway station in Bihar on Tuesday evening left three people dead, including a 16-year-old girl, her father and the gunman, who took his own life after committing the crime.
According to reports, the shooting took place on the footbridge connecting platforms 2 and 3. The assailant, identified as 24-year-old Aman Kumar, first opened fire on the teenage girl, Jiya Kumari, and her father, Anil Sinha, before turning the gun on himself. All three died on the spot.
Trigger Warning: Visuals can be disturbing. Viewers’ discretion advised.
Shocking News Coming From #Bihar: Triple murder at Ara railway station Young man shot dead father and daughter, then he shot himself.#Arrah, Bihar, where a 23-24-year-old man shot dead a 16-17-year-old girl and her father before taking his own life. pic.twitter.com/fjfcHbov3B
Local police are still investigating the motive behind the attack, though they have not ruled out the possibility of a personal relationship between the attacker and the victim. Bhojpur district Superintendent of Police Raj stated that forensic experts have been deployed to examine the scene and gather evidence, reported PTI. The police have registered a case and are questioning potential witnesses to establish a clearer picture of the sequence of events.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said there should be a limit to any satire, and said a decorum should be maintained while taking jibes, otherwise the action causes a reaction.
Speaking in reference to Kunal Kamra’s controversial remark against him during one of his stand-up comedies, Shinde also likened Kamra’s jibe at him to taking ‘supari’ (contract) to speak against someone.
“Freedom of speech is there, we understand satire, but there should be a limit,” Shinde said.
“This is like taking ‘supari‘ (contract) to speak against someone,” he said at a BBC Marathi event.
“The other person should also maintain a certain level, otherwise, action causes a reaction,” he added.
“This same person (Kamra) had commented on the Supreme Court of India, the Prime Minister, and some industrialists. This is not freedom of speech, this is working for someone,” Shinde said.
The 36-year-old comedian has kicked up a major political storm in Maharashtra for taking a jibe at Shinde’s political career in his show by modifying the lyrics of a popular Hindi movie song.
On Monday, Kamra said he would not apologise for his remarks.
As multiple videos of Kamra’s humour went viral, workers of the Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) ransacked the show’s venue.
Later, they also got a First Information Report (FIR) registered against Kamra.
The blaze led to successive explosions in the cylinders.
A gas agency truck caught fire in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district on Monday afternoon, triggering a series of explosions in more than 300 LPG cylinders loaded on it, officials said.
No casualties were reported in the incident, but frightened villagers evacuated the area near the gas agency warehouse, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mukesh Chandra Mishra said.
He said the truck carrying more than 345 LPG cylinders, owned by Mahalaxmi Gas Agency, caught fire due to unidentified reasons near Rajau Parsapur village in Bithri Chainpur area.
The blaze led to successive explosions in the cylinders, creating panic in the surrounding villages, he said.
Upon receiving information, police and fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and managed to douse the flames after about two-and-a-half hours of efforts, he added.
IMF also analysed cyber security frameworks in the banking sector.
The Indian financial system has become more resilient and diverse, driven by rapid economic growth and withstood the pandemic well, according to an IMF report.
The Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), a joint programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB), undertakes a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of a country’s financial sector.
IMF has released the latest India-FSSA report, based on the assessment carried out during 2024, while WB’s Financial Sector Assessment (FSA) report is due for publication.
“India welcomes assessment of the Indian financial system undertaken by the joint IMF-World Bank team conforming to the highest international standards,” the Reserve Bank said in a release on Monday.
The IMF report said that since the last FSAP in 2017, India’s financial system has become more resilient and diverse, driven by rapid economic growth.
“The system recovered from the distress episodes of the 2010s and withstood the pandemic well. NBFIs and market financing have grown, making the financial system more diverse and interconnected. State-owned financial institutions’ share remains significant,” it said.
It further said that stress tests show that the main lending sectors are broadly resilient to macrofinancial shocks, despite some weak tails. Banks and NBFCs have sufficient aggregate capital to support moderate lending even in severe macro-financial scenarios.
“But several banks, particularly PSBs, may need to strengthen their capital base to support lending in such situations. Weak tails comprise a few non-systemic NBFCs and urban cooperative banks (UCBs) that report below minimum or negative capital even in the baseline. Vulnerability to short-term liquidity stress is generally contained,” the report said.
On regulation and supervision of NBFCs, the IMF acknowledged India’s systematic approach to prudential requirements of NBFCs with the scale-based regulatory framework. IMF appreciated India’s approach to the introduction of a bank-like Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) for large NBFCs.
IMF also acknowledged that the regulatory framework in securities markets has been enhanced in line with international practice to manage and prevent emerging risks. Notable improvements include establishing the Corporate Debt Market Development Fund (CDMDF).
The report observed that India’s insurance sector is strong and growing, with a significant presence in both life and general insurance. The sector has remained stable, supported by better regulations and digital innovations.
IMF also analysed cyber security frameworks in the banking sector, financial market infrastructure (FMI), critical information systems, and other relevant players in the securities market.
It found that Indian authorities have advanced cybersecurity risk oversight, especially for banks.
However, it stated that extensive cybersecurity crisis simulations and stress tests for banks could be expanded for cross-sectoral and market-wide events to further strengthen cybersecurity resilience.
Prasanna Sankar is the co-founder of Rippling, a San Francisco-based HR tech company
Amid a heated legal dispute, a 2021 photo featuring Rippling’s Prasanna Sankar, his estranged wife Dhivya Sashidhar, and Sam Altman has resurfaced on X. The image, originally from November 2021, is now circulating as Sankar publicly accuses Sashidhar of infidelity and filing false police complaints.
The resurfaced post was captioned: “Super inspiring to meet @sama for dinner tonight at our place. @dhivsash and I loved the conversation.”
In a series of posts on X, Prasanna Sankar accused his wife, Dhivya, of having an affair with a married man named Anoop for over six months. He claimed he discovered the relationship after receiving screenshots of their conversations from Anoop’s wife.
Beyond the infidelity allegations, Sankar stated that after they began negotiating their divorce, Dhivya filed multiple false complaints against him, including accusations of domestic violence and rape. He asserted that Singaporean authorities investigated the claims and cleared him of all charges.
Sankar further accused Dhivya of abducting their 9-year-old son despite a court ruling in his favor. He alleged that she took the child to the U.S., prompting him to file an international child abduction case. “The judge ruled in my favor, ordering the return of the child,” he wrote.
Who is Prasanna Sankar?
Prasanna Sankar is the co-founder of Rippling, a San Francisco-based HR tech company valued at $10 billion. Originally from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, he is an Indian-origin entrepreneur now based in Singapore. However, according to his LinkedIn profile, he left Rippling in 2020.
Sankar pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy), where he met his wife.
Before founding Rippling, he worked at leading tech firms, including an internship at Google in 2006 and a role at Microsoft Canada.
Since January 2023, he has been leading 0xPPL, a decentralized social network focused on crypto communities, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Former Attorney General of India and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi has called for a forensic investigation into the cash-at-home scam and said there is a need to streamline the system of disciplinary action against judges instead of the current rule of impeachment. The only constitutional action against judges, impeachment, is so complicated that in the last 75 years, no judge has been impeached, despite three or four attempts, he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.
Calling the incident a “huge dent in the heart of judicial dispensation system,” he said if the people see “this kind of thing and if the judge is guilty, action should be taken at the earliest”.
“There must be a better system for disciplinary action,” Mr Rohatgi said. “Today, the only action under constitution is impeachment. Impeachment is so laborious, complex and difficult that no impeachment has taken place in 75 years,” he said, while discussing the case of Justice Yashwant Varma, the sitting judge of the Delhi High Court, from whose house a stack of partially burnt currency notes were recovered on March 14, the night of Holi.
The alleged recovery was after the fire department was called in to douse a fire at the Delhi bungalow of the judge.
Along with it, Mr Rohatgi also questioned the Supreme Court’s decision to order an internal investigation into the matter.
There is a need for a police investigation, forensic investigation. large number of VCDs, CCTV footage. This evidence should be collated to get at the bottom of the issue, he added.
The senior advocate also questioned the current system of selection of judges through a collegium.
“The old debate on the manner of appointment of judges and the manner of disciplinary proceedings against judges has to be relooked at,” he said.
Calling the collegium is “absolutely unsatisfactory and opaque”, he said the Supreme Court has interpreted the constitution “somewhat selectively”.
“The attempt to bring in sunlight 10 years ago was turned down by the court. If the NJC (National Judicial Commission) was bad, we can have some via media, some sunlight, some outsiders, who have a committee which should recommend judges and there should not be only “judges selecting judges,” he added.
Justice Varma was moved to the Delhi High Court from the Allahabad High Court in 2021. Today, the Supreme Court said it has recommended his transfer back to the parent court – a decision that has also been taken apart by critics. The top court’s statement that the transfer has nothing to do with the discovery of the burnt currency has also been questioned.
“I never understood this statement (of the Supreme Court) that this transfer has nothing to do with the cash scam. According to me, it is because of the cash scam that he is proposed to be transferred,” Mr Rohatgi said. “We should come to the bottom of the issue — whether the judge is delinquent, is he guilty of moral turpitude or he is not and his reputation is being blackened,” he added.
A month after several workers got trapped inside theSLBC tunnelafter it collapsed in Telangana’s Nagarkurnool, the rescue teams have found another body early Tuesday morning. This is the second body that the teams have found, however, they are yet to retrieve it.
A total of eight people including engineers and labourers were trapped in the SLBC project tunnel when a portion of it collapsed on February 22. After a heavy reasue operation, the the body of Gurpreet Singh, a TBM operator, was recovered on March 9 and handed over to his family in Punjab.
Around 700 personnel of 25 state, central and private agencies are engaged in the search operation. All the workers are feared to be dead by now.
This comes after Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy on Monday asked the officials to expedite the operation to locate the seven people trapped inside the partially collapsed tunnel. He asked them to consult experts to plan the mission effectively.
During a meeting with officials overseeing the search, he suggested appointing IAS officer Shivashankar Lotheti to closely monitor the operation. The teams told the CM that the rescue work is underway to remove soil, stones, and debris, including parts of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) that was damaged during the collapse.
They also added that dewatering is also being carried out at the site.
Officials said that 30 metres of the area at the accident site has been identified as particularly dangerous. And this is why they have recommended that the search be carried out according to the scientific studies conducted by the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) and the Geological Survey of India (GSI), reported PTI.
Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) Nilin Prabhat was seen leading from the front during a search operation in Kathua, holding an AK-47 rifle as security forces combed the area to track down a group of terrorists who they engaged on Saturday late evening.
Several images of the 1992-batch IPS officer, actively participating in the search and combing operation, have now surfaced.
Pictures show J&K DGP Nilin Prabhat along with cops of Special Operation Group (SOG) walking down the densely vegetated fields in the Hiranagar area of Kathua near the International Border.
Prior to his posting as DGP of J&K Police, IPS officer Nilin Prabhat has served in Kashmir for about twelve years during which he deeply remained involved in anti-terror operations.
Nalin Prabhat has been awarded the Police Medal for Gallantry three times, a rare accolade that recognises his bravery and devotion to duty.
In addition to the bravery medals, he received the Parakram Padak, Police Medal for Distinguished Service, and Police Medal for Meritorious Service. His contributions to Jammu and Kashmir have also been recognised, with the Antrik Suraksha Padak (awarded twice) and the Police (Special Duty) Medal with Bar.
On Saturday, an exchange of gunfire between terrorists and security forces was reported in Saynal village of Kathua near IB.
Terrorists had attempted to take a couple into hostage but failed as the lady ran away forcing terrorists to release her husband. The couple informed the villagers about the movement of terrorists and later same was reported to security forces who moved quickly and engaged the terrorists.
Officials said that the operation was suspended late in the evening due to low visibility but terrorists seem to have managed to change their location.
During the search and combing operation, security forces recovered ammunition, clothes and eatables left behind by terrorists.
Saurabh Rajput was brutally murdered allegedly by his wife and her lover in Meerut, after which the duo were arrested.
Saurabh Rajput murder case (Photo: X)
A new video has surfaced in connection with the Meerut murder case, showing Saurabh Rajput travelling on a bike with his friend in the city, shortly before he was murdered allegedly by his wife Muskan Rastogi, and her lover Sahil Shukla on March 4.
The CCTV footage, that came to the fore days after his brutal murder, showed Saurabh and his friend on the bike entering a street at 11.49 pm on March 3.
Hours later, he was killed allegedly by his wife and her lover, and his body was chopped into pieces and sealed inside a drum, and cement was filled up.
The couple then went on a 10-day trip to the mountains in Himachal Pradesh. As they returned from the trip, they were arrested by the police and sent to judicial custody.
Saurabh had recently returned from London where he worked. He was married to Muskan since 2016 and had a six-year-old daughter.
Muskan and Sahil had plotted to eliminate Saurabh from their way in November last year so that they could be together.
Saurabh was allegedly drugged before murder. As he went unconscious, Muskan stabbed a knife into her husband’s chest – an action which was confirmed in the autopsy report, which said that the man was stabbed with extreme force thrice.
The report further said that Saurabh’s head was severed, hands cut off and legs bent. After the murder, they booked a cab and set off to Himachal Pradesh on a vacation.
During this period, Muskan misled Saurabh’s family by sending messages from his phone. They were seen attending a Holi party in a viral video.
The top court was hearing a plea by advocate Zulfiqar Haider, professor Ali Ahmed and others whose houses were demolished.
The Supreme Court on Monday slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over its “high handed” demolition in Prayagraj saying it had shocked its conscience.
A bench comprising Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan also frowned upon the manner which the houses were bulldozed within 24 hours of serving notices without the time to appeal.
“It shocks our conscience how the residential premises were demolished in a high handed manner. The manner in which the whole process has been conducted is shocking. Courts cannot tolerate such process. If we tolerate in one case, it will continue,” the bench said.
The top court said it would allow the reconstruction of the demolished homes at the cost of the petitioners given their undertakings of filing the appeals before the appellate authority within the specified time and not claiming equities over the plot or creating third-party interests.
If their appeals get dismissed, the court said, the petitioners must demolish the houses at their own cost. The matter was adjourned to enable the petitioners to file the undertaking.
Defending state action, attorney general R Venkataramani assured of following the adequate “due process” in serving the notices.
He pointed out large-scale illegal occupations saying it was difficult for the state government to control unauthorised possession.
The apex court had previously slammed the Uttar Pradesh government over the demolition of houses in Prayagraj without following due legal procedure and said the action sends a “shocking and wrong signal”.
The counsel for the petitioners had said the state government wrongly demolished the houses thinking the land belonged to gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, who was killed in 2023 in a police encounter.
The top court was hearing a plea by advocate Zulfiqar Haider, professor Ali Ahmed and others whose houses were demolished.
A team from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), along with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) officials, apprehended two accused in possession of 65 Indian Roofed Turtles and Spotted Pond Turtles based on specific information.
A case was registered by the CBI against the two accused under Section 51 read with Sections 39, 44, 48A, 49, and 49B of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, for the possession, transport, and trade of these species, which are covered under Schedule I of the Act.
A total of 50 Indian Roofed Turtles (Pangshura tecta) and 15 Spotted Pond Turtles (Geoclemys hamiltonii) were found in their possession. Since the seizure involved live animals, they were handed over to the Delhi Zoo for safe upkeep.
Kunal Kamra joke row: FIR against Rahul Gandhi and Aaditya Thackeray
A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed against Kunal Kamra, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and Sanjay Raut for the comedian’s joke on Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. Kamra during a stand-up comedy show at ‘The Habitat Comedy’ club in Mumbai’s Khar area used ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ song and called Shinde ‘traitor’ while referring to the politician’s 2022 rebellion.
He did not name Eknath Shinde but his song talked about changing party, taking leaders with them – everything that happened in 2022 that led to the division in Shiv Sena.
The complainant alleges that this is part of a larger conspiracy to malign Eknath Shinde’s image: @Prathibhatweets takes us through the F.I.R copy accessed by TIMES NOW. pic.twitter.com/Z0wFqVY0ga
Rahool Kanal, Shiv Sena Yuva Sena General Secretary accused Kunal Kamra a “self-proclaimed” comedian, adding that he along with “Mr. Aaditya Thackeray, Mr. Rahul Gandhi, and Mr. Sanjay Raut”were allegedly involved in “pre-planned criminal conspiracy and a systematic paid campaign” to malign the reputation, image, and goodwill of the Eknath Shinde.
“The acts committed by Mr. Kunal Kamra, including making statements that hurt public sentiments, utter obscene words, and make defamatory insinuations and innuendos targeting Shri Eknath Shinde, are not only offensive but also unlawful under the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). 2023,” he said in the complaint.
#WATCH | Thane, Maharashtra: Members of Yuva Sena (youth wing of Shiv Sena) staged a protest against comedian Kunal Kamra and even burnt his photographs outside Wagle Estate Police Station, after his remarks against Maharashtra DCM Eknath Shinde in a show yesterday. (23.03)… pic.twitter.com/4l3g9Gu0S0
“While constructive criticism of public figures is always welcomed, such close, demeaning, and defamatory statements go beyond reasonable limits and constitute cognizable criminal offences. I seek your immediate intervention to investigate and take appropriate legal action against the accused,” Kanal added.
Meanwhile, a case has also been filed against several Shiv Sena leaders for vandalising the set of the comedy club where the show took place. The party workers were seen throwing chairs and breaking articles inside the club. A Shiv Sena MP also threatened the comedian saying that Kamra would not be able to go anywhere in the country.
“Kunal Kamra is a hired comedian, and he is making comments on our leader for some money. Let alone Maharashtra, Kunal Kamra cannot freely go anywhere in India, Shiv Sainiks will show him his place. We feel sorry for Sanjay Raut and Shiv Sena (UBT) that they have no party workers or leaders left to make comments on our leader, which is why they are hiring people like him (Kunal Kamra) for the job…” MP Naresh Mhaske said.
Anti-dumping duties are trade remedies permitted under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) announced these duties in March 2025, following thorough investigations by the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR). The DGTR’s findings indicated that these products were being imported at unfairly low prices, causing material injury to Indian manufacturers.
Specific Measures Implemented:
Vacuum Insulated Flasks: An anti-dumping duty of USD 1,732 per metric tonne has been levied on vacuum insulated flasks originating from China. This duty will be effective for five years, as per Notification No. 03/2025-Customs (ADD) issued on March 17, 2025.
Aluminium Foil: A provisional anti-dumping duty ranging from USD 619 to USD 873 per metric tonne has been imposed on aluminium foil imports from China. This measure is set for six months to mitigate the pressure on domestic producers caused by cheaper Chinese imports.
Background and Rationale
Anti-dumping duties are trade remedies permitted under the World Trade Organization (WTO) framework. They are imposed to ensure fair trading practices and to create a level playing field for domestic producers vis-à-vis foreign producers and exporters. India has previously imposed such duties on various products to tackle cheap imports from multiple countries, including China.
The DGTR conducted investigations and recommended these duties after finding that the concerned products were being exported to India at below-normal prices, leading to price undercutting and financial harm to Indian manufacturers.
Implications for Trade Relations
China is one of India’s largest trading partners, with bilateral trade reaching significant figures in recent years. However, the trade deficit has been a point of concern for India, prompting measures like anti-dumping duties to protect domestic industries from unfair competition.
Police take away Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput’s wife Muskan and her lover Sahil Shukla after they were arrested in connection with his murder in Meerut. (PTI photo)
Meerut Murder Case: In a shocking revelation, the officials said that Muskaan Rastogi, the woman who brutally killed her Merchant Navy officer husband, fraudulently acquired the sleeping pills used in the murder by tampering the latter’s prescription to purchase the drugs, reported NDTV.
A Merchant Navy officer- Saurabh Rajput- from Meerut was murdered, chopped up and the 15-odd pieces of his body were put into a drum and sealed with cement, the police said. The investigation into the case brought to fore an extramarital affair between Saurabh Rajput’s wife Muskaan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla.
The officials said that Muskaan had purchased the pills from Usha Medical Store, which was raided on Sunday as part of the probe.
Meerut drug inspector Piyush Sharma told the news outlet that they were investigating how she got the medicine. He said they are verifying the records of all sales over the past two years. He said antidepressants are sold based on prescriptions, and medical stores have to maintain a record of such sales.
The owner of the store told the news outlet that Muskan had shown the prescription to them on her mobile phone. He said the medicine was sold to her after following rules and regulations.
What Post-Mortem Revealed?
The post-mortem report of former merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput has revealed gory details of how brutally he was killed and how his body was chopped into pieces.
Both accused had allegedly repeatedly stabbed Saurabh until life was drained from him on March 4, the police said
The 29-year-old officer’s head was severed from his body, both hands were cut off from the wrist. His legs also bent backwards, suggesting that the duo had made an attempt to compress the body in the drum, according to the autopsy report.
Shock and excessive bleeding have been said as the cause of the death in the report.
The doctors who carried out the post-mortem said that the officer was stabbed in the heart with extreme force thrice.
“The blows from the sharp long knife pierced deep inside the heart,” one of the doctors said.
Saurabh Rajput’s Brutal Murder
Saurabh Rajput and Muskaan Rastogi married in 2016 for love after which the Merchant Navy officer left his job to spend more time with his wife. He also distanced his family for her. In In 2019, Saurabh found out that Muskaan was having an affair with his friend Sahil which led to tension between the couple. Eventually, Saurabh decided to rejoin the Merchant Navy.
Saurabh’s daughter turned six on February 28 for which her father returned home from London. Muskaan and Sahil had decided to murder Saurabh, as per their statement to the police. Muskaan mixed sleeping pills in Saurabh’s food on March 4 and once he was asleep, she and Sahil murdered him with a knife. Following this, Muskaan and Sahil chopped up the body, put the pieces in a drum and sealed it with wet cement in order to dispose of the body.
IED attack on security personnel in Chhattisgarh (ANI Image)
Two STF jawans suffered injuries in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur as Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device (IED) to blow up a vehicle they were travelling in on Sunday, officials said.
The incident took place around 5.45 pm near the Gorla rivulet in the limits of Madded police station while the Special Task Force (STF), a unit of state police, was returning from an anti-Naxalite operation. The injured ones were evacuated for medical attention.
According to an official, the Naxalites triggered the blast in an attempt to target the vehicle, however, the explosion took place some distance away, sending shockwaves to the personnel.
“There was no serious damage to any vehicle or personnel due to the explosion. Two STF personnel suffered minor injuries due to the shockwaves from the IED blast,” the official said.
Bengaluru roads were covered in white foam after rains, sparking curiosity. (Instagram/milanfied)
After weeks of scorching temperatures, Bengaluru residents finally got relief as heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed the city on Saturday. Strong winds and intense downpours swept through several areas, cooling down the atmosphere. However, alongside this much-needed respite, an unusual phenomenon puzzled citizens—white foam mysteriously covered some city roads.
Viral video sparks curiosity
A video capturing this bizarre sight has now gone viral on Instagram. Shared by a user named Milan, the clip shows thick white foam spread across a street. The text overlay on the video reads, “Mysterious white foam covers Bengaluru roads after unexpected rainfall. What’s happening?” Milan captioned the video, “Does anyone know what’s happening? Bengaluru’s streets turned into a foam party after an unexpected summer rain!”
In response to curious viewers, Milan later clarified the location, commenting, “If you’re wondering which area—this is at NIMHANS Dairy Circle.”
Internet reacts with theories and humour
The video has already amassed 4.5 million views, sparking curiosity and amusement among social media users. While some speculated about the cause, others resorted to humour.
One user explained, “It’s due to the soapnut tree. During the first rains, these flowers create a foam-like substance when they mix with water. Risky for two-wheelers to ride as it’s slippery—always fun to see them!”
Another joked, “Someone dropped Surf Excel while driving back home.”
A third user expressed concern, “Oh, if it is soapnut, it must be slippery… Careful, people!!!”
Another user reaffirmed the tree theory, adding, “It’s flowers from the trees that react with water and create foam. These trees are found across all the roads of Bangalore.”
Yet another person provided a detailed insight, writing, “It’s caused by the impression of soapnuts fallen from the soapnut tree (Shikakai). When raindrops fall over them and vehicles pass, foam-like appearances occur. These are common.”
Bengaluru roads were covered in white foam after rains, sparking curiosity. (Instagram/milanfied)
After weeks of scorching temperatures, Bengaluru residents finally got relief as heavy rains and thunderstorms lashed the city on Saturday. Strong winds and intense downpours swept through several areas, cooling down the atmosphere. However, alongside this much-needed respite, an unusual phenomenon puzzled citizens—white foam mysteriously covered some city roads.
Viral video sparks curiosity
A video capturing this bizarre sight has now gone viral on Instagram. Shared by a user named Milan, the clip shows thick white foam spread across a street. The text overlay on the video reads, “Mysterious white foam covers Bengaluru roads after unexpected rainfall. What’s happening?” Milan captioned the video, “Does anyone know what’s happening? Bengaluru’s streets turned into a foam party after an unexpected summer rain!”
In response to curious viewers, Milan later clarified the location, commenting, “If you’re wondering which area—this is at NIMHANS Dairy Circle.”
Internet reacts with theories and humour
The video has already amassed 4.5 million views, sparking curiosity and amusement among social media users. While some speculated about the cause, others resorted to humour.
One user explained, “It’s due to the soapnut tree. During the first rains, these flowers create a foam-like substance when they mix with water. Risky for two-wheelers to ride as it’s slippery—always fun to see them!”
Another joked, “Someone dropped Surf Excel while driving back home.”
A third user expressed concern, “Oh, if it is soapnut, it must be slippery… Careful, people!!!”
Another user reaffirmed the tree theory, adding, “It’s flowers from the trees that react with water and create foam. These trees are found across all the roads of Bangalore.”
Late Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput (File Image)
Former Bihar DGP Gupteshwar Pandey criticised the Mumbai Police for its handling of Sushant Singh Rajput death case and said that their actions “caused suspicion” in the minds of the people. Pandey’s statements come as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a closure report in the case.
Pandey accused the Mumbai Police of not cooperating with Bihar Police during the initial investigation. He clarified that he never claimed that the Bollywood actor was murdered but only found the death suspicious and wanted to conduct a detailed investigation. Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging from the ceiling of his apartment in suburban Bandra in Mumbai on June 14, 2020. He was 34.
“…When news of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death came, the matter died down within 20 days. After 20 days, his father lodged a case in Patna for the investigation of which a team was sent. But Maharashtra Police did not cooperate. I sent an IPS officer for better coordination. But quarantined him,” Pandey told ANI.
“I don’t need to be biased against anyone but during that time, the kind of conduct that was displayed by Mumbai Police caused suspicions in the minds of people in the country… I did not get the chance to investigate. My team was turned away after 5 days and another officer was quarantined for 10 days. So, Bihar Police team did not even get the chance to investigate,” he said.
“There could still be a suspicion that CBI did not get all evidence or maybe some evidence was even destroyed. But I never said that Sushant Singh Rajput was murdered…I just said that it was a suspicious death and should be murdered. Had Mumbai Police handled the case well and held a press conference and answered all questions, Mumbai Police would not have been defamed…” he added.
On CBI filing the closure report, Pandey said, “I don’t want to say anything on CBI’s closure report because it is a professional agency. What else can it do if it can’t find evidence?…”
Around five years after Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput was found dead in his Mumbai apartment, the Central Investigation Bureau (CBI) has filed a closure report in the case. The CBI has filed two separate closure reports related to Rajput’s death, one in the abetment to suicide case filed by his father, and another by the actor’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty against his sisters.
The CBI submitted its findings on Rajput’s father K K Singh’s complaint in a closure report before a special court in Patna, while the closure report in the second case was submitted before a special court in Mumbai.
Ambedkar University DelhiCredit: Instagram/ambedkaruniversitydelhi
New Delhi: A student from Ambedkar University Delhi has been suspended for allegedly using “derogative and disrespectful language” against the Vice Chancellor, triggering a call for protest from the All India Students’ Association (AISA).
The student organisation has termed the suspension an act of “political targeting” and “suppression of dissent,” calling for a protest outside the Vice Chancellor’s office on Monday afternoon.
There was no immediate response from the university over the allegations.
According to the university’s proctorial board, the student, affiliated with AISA, violated AUD’s code of discipline by circulating critical remarks about Vice Chancellor Anu Singh Lather through the official university email system on January 28.
The disciplinary committee found the student guilty and issued a suspension order on March 21, barring them from campus for the 2025 winter semester.
However, AISA has strongly condemned the decision, arguing that the student was punished for criticizing the Vice Chancellor’s “ahistorical, communal, and casteist remarks” in a public pamphlet.
“This is a clear case of political targeting. The administration is using disciplinary action as a tool to silence dissent,” AISA said in a statement.
The students’ body has also raised concerns over alleged procedural lapses in the disciplinary proceedings claiming that the student was given less than 12 hours’ notice before their hearing, was not informed about the complainant’s identity, and faced an all-male committee, with only one female member participating online.
Further controversy arose during the hearing when, according to AISA, a disciplinary committee member questioned the student’s religious identity while discussing the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
AISA alleges this amounted to communal targeting.
The timing of the suspension has also drawn criticism. The incident in question took place in late January, but the show-cause notice was issued weeks later, and the suspension order was delayed until March 21, the students organisation claimed.
AISA argues that this delay indicates the action was politically motivated rather than a routine disciplinary measure.
Sahil Shukla showed extreme restless without marijuana, while Muskan Rastogi demanded morphine injections in prison.
Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla are being kept under strict monitoring by the Meerut prison’s medical team. (PTI)
Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla, the two accused in the Meerut murder case of merchant navy employee Saurabh Rajput, are suffering with severe drug addiction issues in jail, going into withdrawal and refusing to take any food in pursuit of acquiring some narcotics.
Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla are being kept under strict monitoring by the Meerut prison’s medical team. (PTI)
Muskan Rastogi and Sahil Shukla are being kept under strict monitoring by the Meerut prison’s medical team. (PTI)
Both the 27-year-old accused are lodged inside the Meerut District Jail, in separate barracks for men and women.
‘Severe dependency on drugs’
A jail official, on condition of anonymity, described their dependency as severe, adding that additional precautions have been taken to prevent any harm to themselves or others.
Muskan, along with her lover Sahil, stabbed her husband Saurabh to death on March 4 and then chopped his body into pieces, concealing it in a drum which, the duo filled with cement. After this, the lovers tried to cover their tracks and travelled to Himachal Pradesh, before returning to Meerut on March 17.
During their trip to Himachal, the lovers allegedly went into ‘celebration’ mode, playing Holi, cutting a cake, and posing for pictures in snow-covered landscapes.
Accused demand marijuana, morphine
After their arrest, Muskan and Sahil were remanded to judicial custody. And on the very first night of being lodged in jail, Muskan’s health started to worsen. The doctors diagnosed her with severe drug addiction and started urgent treatment for her.
Meanwhile, Sahil created a ruckus in the facility and demanded that he be given drugs. He showed extreme restlessness without marijuana and Muskan demanded morphine injections, official sources said on Saturday.
Officials also confirmed that the two had been regular user of injectable drugs, which has now led to them facing severe withdrawal.
On March 5, the Indian Army said, a young man and woman from the villages of Basgran and Kamalkote tragically “drowned” in the Jhelum River.
Indian Army officials facilitate the return of the mortal remains of two missing youths from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POJK), at Uri in Baramulla on Saturday.(ANI )
The Kaman Bridge in Jammu and Kashmir, which divides India and Pakistan was reopened on Saturday for the first time in six years but under unusual and tragic circumstances.
Indian Army officials facilitate the return of the mortal remains of two missing youths from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POJK), at Uri in Baramulla on Saturday.
Indian Army officials facilitate the return of the mortal remains of two missing youths from Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POJK), at Uri in Baramulla on Saturday.
According to news agency ANI, the bridge, located in the Uri sector of Kashmir’s Baramulla, was used to facilitate the return of the bodies of a couple who are believed to have drowned in the Jhelum River two weeks ago.
On March 5, the Indian Army said, a young man and woman from the villages of Basgran and Kamalkote tragically “drowned” in the Jhelum River.
In response, the Indian Army immediately launched an extensive search operation to recover their bodies.
The bodies of a 22-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman had floated across the river, drifting from one side of the Line of Control (LoC) to the other.
The young man’s body was first spotted on the Indian side near the Kaman Bridge but could not be retrieved due to the river’s strong currents and was carried to the Pakistani side, the officials said.
The body was eventually recovered near Chinari in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir while the woman’s body was found just a day earlier, also from the Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir side of the river, an Indian Express report said.
India-Pak militaries collaborate to transport bodies
After the recovery of the bodies, the Indian and Pakistani military authorities collaborated to ensure the smooth return of the corps which led to the reopening of the Kaman Bridge, after six years of its closure as both sides agreed to open it on the humanitarian grounds.
The union had organised a ‘no AC campaign’ in April 2024 as well, as drivers would spend more on fuel costs per km, than the earnings they made through apps
Cab drivers in Hyderabad are launching a no AC campaign on March 24 to protest unfair prices by cab aggregators such as Ola, Uber, Rapido(REUTERS)
In the aftermath of a boycott of rides to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Telangana’s Hyderabad, cab drivers in the city have decided to launch a ‘no AC campaign’ from March 24, to protest the unfair rates charged by Ola, Uber, Rapido and other cab aggregators.
In a post on X, the Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union (TGPWU) said, “Cab drivers in Hyderabad to begin ‘No AC Campaign’ from March 24.
‘No AC’ campaign
Telangana Gig and Platform Workers’ Union wants cab-aggregators to implement a uniform fare structure similar to the government-mandated prepaid taxi fares, which reflect fuel costs, maintenance and fair compensation for the driver’s services.”
The union had organised a ‘no AC campaign’ in April 2024 as well, arguing that drivers would earn ₹10-12 per km, while the cost of running a cab with the air conditioner on was ₹16-18 per km.
The TGPWU president Shaik Salahuddin said that the union would demonstrate against the unfair pricing offered by cab aggregators in various ways, including the ‘no AC campaign,’ as quoted by Telangana Today.
He added that there was a difference of close to ₹300– 400 between the fares charged by aggregators and pre-paid taxis. Since, cab drivers often have to wait three to four hours at the airport for a return trip, and pay a 30 per cent commission from the fare to the application they are operating with, they are often left with low earnings.
Summer heat rising
As summer heat rises, customers will have to deal with cab drivers refusing to turn on the air conditioner, as it increases the amount of fuel used, and translates to losses for the drivers.
150-Foot-Tall Chariot Falls During Huskur Madduramma Fair | X
The spine-chilling incident was caught on camera and the video of the incident is doing rounds on social media. The horrific video shows that the massive chariot which was being pulled by oxen and JCBs overturned, reportedly resulting in the death of one devotee.
In a shocking incident, a towering 150-foot-tall chariot collapsed during the centuries-old Huskur Madduramma Fair. The spine-chilling incident was caught on camera and the video of the incident is doing rounds on social media. The horrific video shows that the massive chariot which was being pulled by oxen and JCBs overturned, reportedly resulting in the death of one devotee.
As per reports, the incident occurred in the Anekal Taluk which falls under the jurisdiction of Bengaluru Rural. The chariots from Doddanagamangala and Rayasandra villages in Anekal Taluk were being pulled using the oxen, JCBs, villagers and tractors when the incident occurred. The tragic incident occurred when the sky-high chariot reached Huskur Madduramma Fai today.
The video of the incident is being widely shared on social media. The video shows a massive crowd pulling the chariot. They are seen running for their lives when the chariot overturned and is seen slowly falling to the ground.
😢 ಹುಸ್ಕೂರು ಜಾತ್ರೆಯಲ್ಲಿ, ದೊಡ್ಡ ನಾಗಮಂಗಲದ ಮತ್ತು ರಾಯಸಂದ್ರ ದ ಎರಡು ತೇರುಗಳು ಮಳೆ ಬಿರುಗಾಳಿಯ ಹೊಡೆತಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಲುಕಿ ಧರೆಗೆ ಉರುಳಿ ಬಿದ್ದಿದ್ದಾವೆ 🙏🏻 #BengaluruRainspic.twitter.com/ZLV8XM4P5u
The fair is famous for towering chariots which is being attended by lakhs of devotees. These chariots are pulled during the fair as a mark of prestige. There are also reports that during the festival which is celebrated in March every year, various chariots from different villages travel for many kilometers through narrow lanes to reach the fair.
The report, made available on the Supreme Court’s website, includes visuals purportedly showing semi-burnt currency allegedly found in the storeroom of Justice Varma’s official residence during a firefighting operation on March 14, the night of Holi. The materials were shared with Justice Upadhyaya by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora.
Supreme Court Releases Video Showing Burnt Cash At Justice Yashwant Varma’s House; Delhi Judge Denies Links To Money |
The Supreme Court on Saturday night released a report, along with three images and a video, regarding the alleged discovery of unaccounted cash at the residence of Delhi High Court Judge Yashwant Varma. The disclosure follows an internal investigation initiated by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna. Additionally, Delhi High Court Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya was directed not to assign judicial work to Justice Varma amid the controversy.
#WATCH | The Supreme Court released the inquiry report filed by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya into the controversy relating to High Court Justice Yashwant Varma. In his report, the Delhi High Court Chief Justice said that he is of the prima facie opinion… pic.twitter.com/1xgMh8xWNW
The report, made available on the Supreme Court’s website, includes visuals purportedly showing semi-burnt currency allegedly found in the storeroom of Justice Varma’s official residence during a firefighting operation on March 14, the night of Holi. The materials were shared with Justice Upadhyaya by Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora.
Justice Varma Denies Links To Cash
Justice Varma, however, has vehemently denied any connection to the cash. “I was shocked to see the video as it depicted something that was not present at the site when I last saw it. This appears to be a deliberate conspiracy to malign me,” Justice Varma stated, questioning the authenticity of the evidence presented.
In a detailed response to the Delhi High Court Chief Justice, Justice Varma explained that the fire broke out in a storeroom located near the staff quarters of his government-allotted residence, reported NDTV. According to him, the space was a common storage area for household items, including old furniture, crockery, and garden tools, and was neither locked nor directly connected to his main residence.
On the night of the fire, Justice Varma and his wife were in Madhya Pradesh, while only his daughter and elderly mother were at home. He returned to Delhi the following day via an IndiGo flight from Bhopal. His daughter and private secretary alerted the fire department when the blaze erupted. He noted that during firefighting efforts, all family members and staff were kept at a safe distance and did not witness any cash at the scene.
Karnataka Bandh today: The 12-hour bandh, from 6 am to 6 pm, has been organized by Kannada Okkoota, a coalition of various pro-Kannada groups.
Karnataka Bandh today: Pro Kannada organisations have called for a shutdown from 6am to 6 pm in the state (Representative image)(AFP)
Several pro-Kannada groups have called a shutdown in Karnataka on Saturday, March 22, for a period of 12 hours from 6 am to 6 pm, protesting the alleged assault on a bus conductor in Belagavi.
The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) conductor was allegedly attacked for not speaking Marathi, fanning the flames of an existing dispute over linguistic communities in the region.
Karnataka’s deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday announced that the Siddaramaiah-led state government would not support the bandh.
He said, “We will make them (the organisations) understand that it is not the right course of action, as it will impact students whose exams have already begun.”
Additional security forces are expected to be deployed in Belgavi, and other sensitive regions in the state. Commuters, business owners and students have been warned that the bandh could affect their usual routine.
Here is everything you need to know about the Karnataka Bandh:
What led to the Karnataka Bandh?
Last month, the KSRTC conductor of a bus plying from Belagavi to Balekundri was allegedly assaulted by individuals associated with pro-Marathi organisations for not speaking their language.
Following the incident, inter-state bus services between Maharashtra and Karnataka were suspended. The attack on the conductor sparked a debate on the long history of language disputes between the two states.
After independence, Maharashtra had claimed Belagavi, which is now a part of Karnataka, citing its significant Marathi-speaking population. Linguistic struggles have been an issue on the border of the two states ever since.
A coalition of various pro-Kannada organisations called Kannada Okkuta, has organised the bandh, demanding strict action against pro-Marathi activists for inciting violence and disturbing communal harmony in the region. They have also called for a ban on pro-Marathi organisations.
Karnataka bandh: What’s open, what’s closed?
Bus services: KSRTC and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) unions have offered support towards the bandh, which might affect bus services across the state.
Ola, Uber: Third-party transport vendors such as Ola, Uber and a few rickshaw unions have also backed the bandh, which would disrupt transport. However, metro, railway and airport services will continue uninterrupted.
Banks: Banks will remain closed since it is a Saturday. Some schools and colleges might have holidays today, but there have been no official statements yet.
12 engines are expected in 2025, with 20 engines each expected to be delivered by GE every year to fulfill the 2021 99-engine contract worth USD 716 million.
IAF Chief ACM A P Singh and Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi in Tejas fighter.(File)
Amidst anxiety over India-US trade tariffs, there is forward movement on the security front, with US aircraft engine major GE expected to deliver the first of the 99 GE-404 engines to HAL this month after a contractual delay of two years. The much awaited GE-404 engines powers Tejas Mark 1-A fighters, delays in deliveries of which has caused much concern in the Indian Air Force (IAF).
According to at least two officials in knowledge of the matter, the first of the contracted engines is already on the test-bed and is expected to be delivered by end of this month. A total of 12 engines are expected in 2025 with 20 engines each expected to be delivered by GE every year to fulfill the 2021 99-engine contract worth USD 716 million.
Parallelly, the HAL, despite its Indian PSU mindset, is working with GE for manufacturing the more powerful GE-414 engine in India under transfer of technology regime worked out by iCET (initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies) between India and US National Security Advisors. The GE-414 engine will power the advanced multi-role combat aircraft (AMCA) being developed by the DRDO.
Faced with delays in the supply of 83 LCA MK 1 A aircraft by HAL and frustration voiced by none other than the IAF Chief over the same, the Defence Ministry under the Chairmanship of Defence Secretary R. K. Singh has set up a committee to work out a business model for the proposed fifth generation fighter. This committee will not go into any technical aspects of the proposed AMCA but will work out a model which involves private sector participation in the fifth-generation program. The whole idea is that India should have other options than HAL to manufacture fighter jets to fulfill the country’s national security requirements for the future.
Justice Verma is at the centre of a controversy after reports that a large sum of cash was discovered at his official residence last week
Justice Yashwant Varma (IMAGE: X)
The Supreme Court on Friday clarified that Justice Yashwant Varma, a senior judge of the Delhi High Court, had not been transferred and that a proposal for the same was under consideration. It added that the proposal was not related to any “incident” at Justice Varma’s house.
Justice Verma is at the centre of a controversy after reports that a large sum of cash was discovered at his official residence last week.
Amid reports that Justice Verma was transferred to the Allahabad High Court, the top court’s press note suggested that the proposal for the judges’ transfer had yet to be examined and was unrelated to the alleged cash discovery.
“There is misinformation and rumours being spread with regard to the incident at the residence of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma,” the Supreme Court stated in a press release.
“The proposal for the transfer of Mr. Justice Yashwant Varma, who is the second senior most judge in the Delhi High Court and a member of the Collegium, to his parent High Court, i.e. the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad, where he will be ninth in seniority, is independent and separate from the In-house enquiry procedure,” the release added, referring to a Supreme Court-ordered probe into the cash controversy.
The press note came a day after the Supreme Court Collegium, led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna, reportedly initiated the process to transfer Justice Varma.
Kailash Mansarovar Yatra To Resume After 5 Years? Here’s What Foreign Ministry Said Photo : iStock
The government organises the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra every year between June and September, through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass (since 1981) in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim.
New Delhi: An understanding has been reached for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra to resume this year, its modalities are yet to be firmed up, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, which has not taken place since 2020, is likely to begin this year.
“It has been agreed that the Kailash Mansarovar will start in 2025, but how the yatra will start and other talks are still going on…” Jaiswal said in a press briefing on Friday. During the briefing, when asked about the resumption, the MEA spokesperson said an understanding has been reached that the yatra will restart in 2025. However, how it will resume and what would be its modalities, discussions are yet to take place on this, he said.
#WATCH | Delhi: On Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, MEA Official Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal says “It has been agreed that the Kailash Mansarovar will start in 2025, but how the yatra will start and other talks are still going on…”
He also referred to the overall constructive engagement between Indian and Chinese sides at various levels, since the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Russia’s Kazan last October. “On India-China talks, since we had the meeting between President of China and Prime Minister in Kazan, since then we’ve had engagement, constructive engagement at the level of External Affairs Minister, at the level of NSA. And Foreign Secretary also travelled to China in January where we met his counterpart,” Jaiswal told reporters in response to a query.
“So conversation and dialogue have been going on and they have been moving forward in the right direction. Several in-principle approvals or in-principle understanding have been reached, and hopefully these will go forward in the days ahead,” he said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had met on the sidelines of G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting in Johannesburg in February. The two ministers had reviewed developments in bilateral ties, management of peace and tranquillity along border areas and the resumption of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.
The government organises the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra every year between June and September, through the two official routes of Lipulekh Pass (since 1981) in Uttarakhand and Nathu La Pass (since 2015) in Sikkim.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticised Rahul Gandhi in the Rajya Sabha, accusing him of ignoring development in Jammu and Kashmir. He highlighted the Modi government’s zero-tolerance policy against terrorism, citing the 2016 surgical strike and 2019 Balakot airstrike, contrasting it with the previous government’s alleged inaction on terror threats.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (File Image) Photo : PTI
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday trained guns on the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, while addressing the Rajya Sabha on counter-terrorism operations and development in Jammu and Kashmir. “If someone is sitting with kaala chashma (black glasses) on, how is it possible to show them the development?” Shah asked, taking a swipe at the Congress leader, according to ANI.
The Union Minister also spoke about Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra in Kashmir, saying that the latter had claimed to see terrorists from afar.”Arre bhai, nazar mein hi aatankwadi hai toh sapne mein bhi aayega aur Kashmir mein bhi” (If someone has terrorists in their mind, they will appear in their dreams as well as in Kashmir), Shah said.
Further launching his attack on the opposition, Shah slammed the previous dispensation for failing to take action against terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Terrorists used to enter Kashmir from the neighbouring country, they used to execute bomb blasts and murders here. There was not a single festival that could be celebrated without worry. Central governments had a flexible attitude. They remained quiet and were scared to speak. They were worried about their vote bank,” Shah said.
Saurabh Rajput was allegedly drugged and then stabbed to death by his wife, Muskan Rastogi, and her lover on March 4, his body dismembered and sealed inside a drum with cement.
Several such images found in his Sahil Shukla’s room. (Photo: Times Now)
The murder of former merchant navy officer Saurabh Rajput, 29, has taken a disturbing turn after police uncovered chilling details about the accused, Sahil Shukla, 27. Visuals from Sahil’s room revealed unsettling imagery, including tantric symbols and eerie graffiti, suggesting a relation to black magic.
Saurabh Rajput was allegedly drugged and then stabbed to death by his wife, Muskan Rastogi, and her lover on March 4, his body dismembered and sealed inside a drum with cement. The duo then went on a vacation to Himachal Pradesh, all the while misleading Rajput’s family by sending them messages from his phone. They were arrested after the matter was brought before police on March 18.
During their investigation, authorities discovered disturbing occult symbols and cryptic messages written in English throughout Shukla’s room. Additionally, images of Lord Shiva were found on the walls. The room also contained beer cans, bidi stubs, and other scattered items, adding to the eerie atmosphere.
Saurabh Rajput’s kin claimed that occult practices were central to the chilling murder.
Rajput’s mother Renu Devi said, “Both Muskaan and Sahil were into occult practices. They killed my son by performing tantric rituals,” as quoted by PTI.
Rajput’s in-laws, Kavita and Pramod Rastogi, alleged it was Sahil who held their daughter Muskan “captive” by making her believe in tantric rituals. He also kept Muskan isolated from her six-year-old daughter, they claimed.
“Sahil’s occult practices dominated Muskaan’s mind in such a way that she started keeping her six-year-old daughter away. Sahil had made Muskaan an addict and completely superstitious,” the deceased’s mother said.
Neighbours claimed Sahil frequently dressed in yellow and black kurtas with “Mahakal” inscriptions on them while sporting numerous tattoos of religious and mystical symbols.
The 1918 Battle of Haifa was a pivotal moment that shattered British myths about Indian soldiers, influenced the Indian Army’s evolution, and played a role in India’s defense of Kashmir post-independence.
If there’s a battle Indian soldiers fought that has had a lasting impact on the Army, particularly just after independence, it’s the one in faraway Haifa, in 1918. Haifa? Yes, said lieutenant general Raja Subramani, vice chief of the army. “It shattered the myth”, perpetrated by the imperial British that Indian soldiers lacked initiative and needed supervision. Gradually, the British began allowing Indians to join Sandhurst and become officers of the British Indian Army. These Indian officers, battle hardened during the Second World War, including in Myanmar as part of General Bill Slim’s “Forgotten Army” helped India “to hold onto Kashmir” despite the “treachery” of British officers who sided with Pakistan during the war of 1947-48. And for the Indian army, the performance of the cavalrymen of Jodhpur and Mysore in Haifa, said the vice-chief, was the turning point.
Even today, the performance of the Indian cavalrymen, part of the British Indian army, against Ottoman Turk soldiers, dug in and well armed, can motivate Indian soldiers today, the vice chief, speaking at a discussion on the Haifa battle, added. Besides, the defeat was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire and it helped to free Abdul Baha, the Baha’i religious leader, who was the voice of tolerance, the vice chief said.
Beginning the discussions, chaired by KN Srivastava, Director, India International Centre, Colonel DPK Pillai (Retd.) said the attack was one of the last cavalry charges in history, overwhelmed the Ottoman Turks, supported by some of the Kaiser’s troops, inflicting heavy casualties and taking 1,350 prisoners. Importantly, the success helped in breaking racial barriers.
Brigadier MS Jodha, descendant of an officer who fought at Haifa — Captain (later Colonel) Aman Singh, spoke of how impressed the British commander, General Edmund Allenby, was, adding that it was the first time in history that cavalry units captured a fortified town. He also called for Haifa, Jodhpur and Mysore to be sister cities.
A senior official said that acting on a tip-off, a police team raided a hotel on Friday night and seized 1.10 lakh Yaba tablets, also called ‘crazy drug’.
Representative image of a Yaba tablet. Credit: iStock Photo
Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided a hotel on Friday night and seized 1.10 lakh Yaba tablets, also called ‘crazy drug’, a senior officer said.
Yaba tablets contain a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine and have been banned in India.
“During the search operations, 1.10 lakh Yaba tablets were recovered from a trolley bag which was in possession of the three people. The market value of the seized narcotics substance is Rs 5.50 crore,” West Tripura Superintendent of Police Kiran Kumar told reporters.
The accused drug peddlers hail from Tripura’s Kamalpur subdivision and have been taken into the police custody for interrogation, he said.
Yuzvendra Chahal and Dhanashree Verma in court with an inset image showing the cricketer’s tee-shirt which reads ‘Be your own sugar daddy’. Credit: PTI and X/@GaurangBhardwa1 Photos
Cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal and dancer Dhanashree Verma finalised their divorce proceedings today.
The 34-year-old bowler is set to pay his ex-wife Rs 4.75 crore in alimony.
Chahal showed up to court wearing a hoodie, and a tee-shirt underneath.
#WATCH | Mumbai | Cricketer Yuzvendra Chahal arrives at Bandra Family Court for hearing in his divorce proceedings pic.twitter.com/tltfYsd3hM
He also had a mask on while entering the courtroom. However, Chahal was also videoed leaving the court, and at this time, his tee-shirt was visible with the caption ‘Be your own sugar daddy’.
Cambridge describes ‘sugar daddy’ as “a rich and usually older man who buys presents for or gives money to a younger person, especially a woman, usually so that the younger person will spend time with him and have a sexual relationship with him”.
The cheeky tee-shirt caption implies monetarily treating oneself.
Notably, Verma, 28, and Chahal got separated after five years of marriage.
There were earlier speculations that Chahal was set to pay Verma a whopping Rs 60 crore as part of the divorce settlement, but the couple shot down the rumours.
Chahal’s tee-shirt has, however, set tongues wagging online with one user asking “What kind of Cold War is this?”
Another wondered what the judge might have to say about the sartorial choice in court.
One user remarked, “This disease which pays alimony is more dangerous than corona.”
Others chipped in saying ‘Chahal got no chill’ and ‘nice tee-shirt’.
When exiting court too, Chahal was asked about the proceedings and about the alimony, as videos on social media showed, but the cricketer had no comment for the press.
“Where’s the empathy,” asked actor-model Lisa Ray after Air India “denied” her a waiver when she had to change her travel plans due to her 92-year-old father’s ill health.
In its response, Air India said Ray’s claim that the airline didn’t display empathy for her unwell father is “unfounded”.
Ray, known for starring in movies such as Kasoor, Water and Bollywood/Hollywood, tagged the air carrier in a post on X on Wednesday. Her travel destination was not known.
“Here we go again @airindia My father is 92, unwell and I have to cancel travel due to his ailing condition. Submitted doctors letter and the waiver was denied? How is that possible? Where is the empathy from an airline that is claiming to care about passengers???” she wrote.
On Thursday, an Air India spokesperson issued a statement saying: “The claim that Air India did not display empathy for her unwell father is unfounded, as the passenger herself mentioned that she is booked to fly Air India along with two other co-passengers that does not include her father, whose medical documents she has submitted.” According to the airline, Ray had purchased the ticket from “a travel agent and had first reached out to the travel agent, and not to Air India”.
“After the passenger raised the matter to Air India, the Air India team reached out to her and, as an exception, offered solutions that included a free date change or a one-year period to utilise the tickets for future travel. She declined the offer and requested for a full refund of her ticket, instead,” the spokesperson said.
“We urge the media to restrain itself from maligning the reputation of the airline without corroborating facts. Air India flies millions of passengers and such misleading news reports belie the airline’s resolve to customer centricity and empathy,” they added.
On Wednesday, the official X handle of Air India responded to Ray’s post, saying: “Dear Ms. Ray, we empathize with your concern and wish your father a speedy recovery. Please help us with the email address from which you’ve written to us or the case ID (if any) via DM. We’ll look into it.” The 52-year-old actor then shared a screenshot of the mail she received from her travel agent, saying there was “no medical waiver” available.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday directed the home secretary and director general of police to ensure compliance of the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters Act with regards to filling up details of the “gang charts”.
Taking a serious note of non-compliance of provisions, a division bench of Justice Siddharth and Justice P K Giri said the details of the “gang chart” should contain the required details in the prescribed format.
Besides, a separate list of the criminal history of the person who is being included in the list of gangsters should be presented, the bench said, while staying the arrest of the petitioner, Jai Prakash Bind alias Neta from Bhadohi, against whom a case was registered under the Gangsters Act.
The court also sought a reply from the state government on the petition.
The court directed the registrar of the court to provide a copy of the order to the UP home secretary and DGP so that district magistrates, police commissioners, SSPs, SPs and SHOs of the state can be instructed to comply.
A case was registered against the petitioner under the Gangster Act in Gyanpur police station of Bhadohi. The petitioner had filed a petition demanding cancellation of the FIR. The court found that only one criminal case was registered in column six of the petitioner’s “gang chart”.
While the state counsel said that four cases are registered in column five of the gang chart, he said their details were not mentioned.
The Delhi High Court recently dismissed a petition filed by Adani Global Air Cargo Solutions Private Limited challenging the bidding process for the development of a new cargo terminal at Kolkata Airport [Adani Global Air Cargo Solutions Private Limited v. Union of India].
The Court held that Adani failed to substantiate its claim that technical glitches on the e-procurement portal prevented the timely submission of its bid.
This was after the Central government and other respondents opposed Adani’s petition and submitted material which showed that the portal was functioning without any technical issues on the relevant day.
The judgment was passed by a Division Bench of Justices Vibhu Bakru and Girish Kathpalia.
“Whilst this court finds no ground to interfere with the bidding process, given the limited scope of judicial review, it is necessary to clarify that ACLASCL (the company inviting bids) is not precluded, from considering that despite the petitioner’s bonafide attempts, it had failed to upload its bid, and from taking an appropriate decision in its commercial interest,” the Court said.
The petition filed by Adani Global Air Cargo Solutions and its director sought the cancellation of the e-tender issued by ACLASCL, a subsidiary of the Airports Authority of India, for the development of the cargo terminal on a design, build, finance, operate, and transfer (DBFOT) basis.
The petitioners claimed that they were unable to submit their bid due to technical issues on the Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal, which allegedly prevented them from uploading their financial bid before the deadline of 5:00 PM on November 7, 2024.
Adani argued that despite multiple attempts, they faced repeated errors while uploading documents, including issues with duplicate file names and an unresponsive “sign and submit” button.
They claimed that these technical glitches were beyond their control and sought an extension of 30 minutes to complete the submission process.
However, the respondents, including the Union of India, ACLASCL and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) contested these claims. They submitted that the e-procurement portal functioned without any technical issues on the day in question.
NIC, which manages the portal, provided detailed logs showing that the petitioner had successfully uploaded 18 documents at 4:57 PM, just three minutes before the deadline, but failed to complete the submission of the financial bid.
The Court noted that the petitioner had initiated the submission process well in advance but encountered errors due to improper inputs, such as duplicate file names, which led to repeated logouts.
The Court found no evidence of systemic errors on the e-procurement portal as NIC’s logs indicated that 243 bidders were active on the portal that day, with 18 bids successfully submitted between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM.
“In the present case, we are unable to accept that the bidding process falls foul of the Article 14 of the Constitution of India or is vitiated on the ground of bias. The petitioner’s challenge to the bidding process also fails the Wednesbury test of unreasonableness,” the Court said.
The Court referred to the Supreme Court’s decision in Maharashtra Housing Development Authority v. Shapoorji Pallonji and Company Private Limited (2018), which held that bidders must ensure timely submission of bids and cannot seek a second opportunity due to their own errors.
The Bench also cited the 2023 judgment in Deep Blue Xpress Limited v. Municipal Corporation of Delhi wherein the Delhi High Court had dismissed similar claims of technical glitches, emphasizing that bidders must bear the responsibility for timely submissions.
While the Court acknowledged the petitioner’s bonafide efforts to participate in the bidding process, it ruled that there was no ground to interfere with the bidding process.
“Having stated the above, we consider it apposite to also note that there is no cavil that the petitioner is a bonafide bidder and was intending to participate in the bidding process. Its efforts to upload its bid had failed due to problems encountered by it,” the judgment said.
The Court attributed the failure to complete the submission to Adani’s repeated login attempts and subsequent logouts due to incorrect inputs.
The Bench inferred that the pressure to upload documents quickly may have led to these errors.
“We get a distinct impression that there would have been feverish attempts to ensure that all documents are properly uploaded and the process may have resulted in certain erroneous inputs that had resulted the petitioner being repeatedly logged out. Finally, the petitioner had run out of time and could not complete the process notwithstanding that it had commenced the exercise of uploading its bid much in advance of the deadline,” the judgment said.
However, the Bench opined that Adani’s inability to submit a complete bid not only disadvantaged the company but also deprived ACLASCL of a competitive bid.
“It is also relevant to note that ACLASCL has received bids from only three bidders and exclusion of the petitioner from the bidding process has significantly reduced the pool of the competitors,” the judgment said.
Stand-up comedian Samay Raina has found himself embroiled in controversy due to his show, India’s Got Latent
. The backlash stemmed from an inappropriate remark made by a panellist, which led to widespread criticism from the public and fellow content creators. The comment sparked outrage, prompting multiple legal complaints and summoning several individuals associated with the show for investigation.
In response to the growing scrutiny, Raina took swift action by removing all India’s Got Latent episodes from his YouTube channel. He expressed that the situation had become overwhelming and clarified that his intention was only to entertain. Acknowledging the severity of the issue, he assured full cooperation with the authorities handling the case.
The controversy has had significant professional consequences for Raina. He was set to tour multiple cities across India, including Delhi, Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. However, amid increasing pressure and threats from certain groups, he decided to reschedule his tour. He informed his audience through social media that all shows were postponed and assured that refunds would be processed for ticket holders.
Before this situation escalated, Raina had been performing in Canada, where he briefly addressed the controversy in a lighthearted manner. Despite the ongoing challenges, his primary focus remained on bringing humor to his audience.
The carried out search and seizure operations was carried out by BIS officials at the Amazon and Flipkart warehouses as part of an ongoing crackdown on uncertified products.
A surprise raid was carried out at multiple warehouse locations of leading e-commerce platforms, including Amazon and Flipkart, in Tamil Nadu led to the seizure of products worth Rs 36 lakh, officials said. These included 3,600 products, including 215 toys and 24 hand blenders, all lacking mandatory certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
The carried out search and seizure operations was carried out by BIS officials at the Amazon and Flipkart warehouses as part of an ongoing crackdown on uncertified products.
— Bureau of Indian Standards (@IndianStandards) March 19, 2025
The searches at Amazon warehouse located at Ponneri in Thiruvallur district and Flipkart warehouse located at Koduvelli in Thiruvallur district led to recovery of 36 lakhs rupees worth non-certified products. These included children toys,ceiling fans and mineral water bottles.
#BREAKING || Raids conducted at Amazon & Flipkart warehouses in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur.
Earlier, in February 2025, a similar operation at an Amazon warehouse in Gurugram led to the seizure of 58 aluminium foils, 34 metallic water bottles, 25 toys, 20 hand blenders, 7 PVC cables, 2 food mixers and 1 speaker.
Similarly, in a raid at a Flipkart warehouse in Gurugram, BIS seized 534 stainless steel bottles (vacuum insulated), 134 toys and 41 speakers, that were not certified.
Aaditya Thackeray to Address Allegations in Court Over Disha Salian Case
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday claimed that efforts were made to “malign his image” his reputation in connection with the June 2020 death of Disha Salian, the former manager of late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
“Attempts are being made for the last five years to malign my image. We will put forth our side in the court. We will give our replies (to the allegations) in the court,” PTI quoted the former Maharashtra minister as saying
This comes after Satish Salian, father of Disha Salian, moved the Bombay High Court seeking a fresh probe into the mysterious circumstances under which she was found dead in June 2020.
The petition demanded registration of a First Information Report against Aaditya Thackeray and transfer of the probe to the CBI, he said.
The petition also claimed that his daughter was raped and murdered, and subsequently there was a politically-orchestrated cover-up to protect certain influential persons, Satish Salian told PTI.
Disha Salian died on June 8, 2020, after falling off the 14th floor of a residential building in suburban Malad. The city police had then registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) case. Six days later, Bollywood star Rajput allegedly committed suicide in his apartment in Bandra.
Targeting Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday, BJP minister Nitesh Rane said as per the Supreme Court’s past decisions, if a person is facing allegations of rape, he must be arrested.
He also demanded Thackeray’s resignation as an MLA. “We have demanded this in the House (assembly),” Rane said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ambadas Danve, who is the leader of opposition in the legislative council, alleged that the BJP was behind the attempts to target Thackeray.
Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, in an exclusive conversation with Times Network Group Editor-in-Chief Navika Kumar, spoke about astronaut Sunita Williams’ return to Earth and India’s growing presence in space and technology. “I’m glad she’s safe, and I was amazed at how patient they were. They didn’t seem to complain at all, which is great,” Gates said, while speaking about Williams’ return.
TIMES NOW EXCLUSIVE
I’m glad she’s safe, and I was amazed at how patient they were. They didn’t seem to complain at all, which is great: Bill Gates in conversation with @navikakumar on the return of Sunita Williams & Butch Wilmore to Earth @BMGFIndia@BillGatespic.twitter.com/NwywuDT0Zg
Discussing India’s advancements in space and technology, he highlighted the country’s contributions to affordable space solutions. “I am a very ground-based person, but even I would admit that some of these things we are going to do with satellites—such as weather and agricultural observation—are benefiting us back here. India, amongst its huge number of startups—cheap rockets or satellites or cheap sensors—is part of that game, making a contribution,” Gates said.
He also spoke about how satellite data could be leveraged for development, particularly by organisations like the Gates Foundation. “How do you help the people here? By taking that data that we never had in the past,” he noted.
Twenty-five Indian nationals are currently awaiting the implementation of death sentences in the UAE, the government informed Parliament on Thursday. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh shared this information in a written response to a query in the Rajya Sabha.
The Ministry of External Affairs was asked about the number of Indians languishing in foreign prisons, as well as those facing capital punishment abroad, and what efforts the Indian government is making to save their lives.
“As per the information available with the Ministry, the number of Indian prisoners, including undertrials, in foreign prisons at present is 10,152,” Singh said.
The highest is in Saudi Arabia at 2,633 and in UAE it stands at 2,518. In Nepal, the number is 1,317, while 266 Indians are in the prisons of Pakistan.
The government prioritises the safety, security, and well-being of Indian nationals abroad, including those in foreign jails, he added.
Singh provided data on Indian nationals facing death sentences in eight countries. The numbers are as follows: 25 in the UAE, 11 in Saudi Arabia, six in Malaysia, three in Kuwait, and one each in Indonesia, Qatar, the US, and Yemen.
“Indian Missions/Posts abroad provide all possible assistance to Indian nationals who have been sentenced, including with death sentences by the foreign courts. Indian Missions/Posts also provide consular access by visiting the jails and follow up their cases with Courts, Jails, Public Prosecutors and other concerned agencies. The jailed Indian nationals are also assisted in exploring various legal remedies including filing of appeal, mercy petition etc,” Singh said.
The MEA was also asked whether any Indians have been executed or given capital punishment in foreign countries over the last five years.
Singh confirmed that executions have taken place in Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
The number of Indians executed or given capital punishment in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in 2024 was three each, while one Indian was executed in Zimbabwe.
Delimitation Meeting: MK Stalin said in a video message, “It is the beginning of a movement that will shape the future of our country.”
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin
The first Joint Action Committee meeting on delimitation is more than a meeting, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said in a video message.
“It is the beginning of a movement that will shape the future of our country,” he asserted ahead of a meeting which will be attended by various political parties in Chennai on March 22.
MK Stalin wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), “I extend my warmest welcome to the leaders from Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal & Punjab who are joining us for the Joint Action Committee meeting on Fair Delimitation.”
An all-party meeting was earlier held on March 5 on delimitation which MK Stalin called “a landmark moment, where 58 registered political parties of Tamil Nadu set aside their differences and came together for a singular cause—Fair Delimitation. This overwhelming consensus reflected Tamil Nadu’s unwavering commitment to democracy and justice.”
According to the police, the driver used benzene solution and a matchbox to ignite the flames. As the fire spread, he jumped off the moving vehicle
A tempo traveller catches fire while it was ferrying some employees of a company to their office, at Hinjewadi, near Pune. (PTI photo)
Pune police on Thursday revealed that the minibus fire, which killed four employees of a private firm, was not an accident but a pre-planned murder carried out by the driver.
The driver confessed to the crime after persistent questioning during the investigation, admitting that he deliberately set the company minibus on fire.
According to the police, the driver used benzene solution and a matchbox to ignite the flames. As the fire spread, he jumped off the moving vehicle, which continued for around 200 metres before crashing into a tree. The driver also stated that he planned the act after enduring repeated mistreatment from the daily office-goers who used the minibus.
Initially, authorities suspected a short-circuit might have caused the fire, however, this theory was debunked following the driver’s confession.
The incident took place around 7:45 am on Wednesday in the Hinjewadi area of Pune, within the Pimpri Chinchwad municipal limits.
The tempo travellerwas ferrying employees of a local graphics design startup when it caught fire on its way to the office. At first, it appeared to be an accident, but police grew suspicious due to the driver’s contradictory statements.
Four employees of Vyoma Graphics, a graphic design firm, lost their lives in the blaze. The victims were identified as Shankar Shinde (63), Rajan Chavan (42), Gurudas Lokare (45), and Subhash Bhosale (44), all residents of different Pune areas. They held various roles within the company, such as supervisor, printing machine operator, courier, and paper cutting operator.
Meerut: Police take away Merchant Navy officer Saurabh Rajput’s wife Muskan and her lover Sahil Shukla after they were arrested in connection with his murder, in Meerut, Wednesday, March 19, 2025. Muskan with her partner Sahil allegedly killed her husband Saurabh, dismembered his body, and sealed the body parts in a drum filled with cement(PTI)
Gruesome details continue to emerge in the case of Saurabh Rajput, a former merchant navy officer killed, chopped into pieces and sealed inside a drum with cement allegedly by his wife Muskan Rastogi and her lover Sahil Shukla in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut.
SP (City) Ayush Vikram Singh revealed more details on the murder for which the accused duo has pleaded guilty.
Sedative laced ‘lauki ke kofte’
The 29-year-old Saurabh returned home on March 3 to meet Muskan and his daughter with a dish of ‘lauki ke kofte’ prepared by his mother, Renu, the officer revealed.
Muskan (27), who had been hatching plans to kill her husband since November 2024, seized the opportunity, reheating the dish and lacing it with the sedatives. As Saurabh slipped into unconsciousness, she invited her lover Sahil Shukla (27) to their rented home in Indira Nagar to kill Saurabh, who was perceived as a ‘hindrance’ to their relationship.
Seizing the opportunity, the couple unleashed a frenzy of knife attacks on the sleeping Saurabh and stabbed him repeatedly until life drained from his body, the officer said.
Searched Google for drug names
Police said Muskan had been looking to purchase sleeping pills and narcotics in ways that would not invite any suspicion.
On February 22, Muskan visited a doctor on Sharda Road claiming to be suffering from depression and requested sleeping pills. Later, she turned to Google to search for drug names as the doctor did not prescribe enough amount of sleeping pills that could help execute her plot.
The induction of ATAGS will play a crucial role in modernising the Indian Army’s artillery.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the acquisition of the India-made Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS) worth nearly Rs 7,000 crore, marking a major step towards the country’s self-reliance in the defence sector, according to official sources.
The ATAGS, the first indigenously designed, developed, and manufactured 155 mm artillery gun, is set to enhance the operational capabilities of the Indian Armed Forces with its cutting-edge technology and superior firepower.
The ATAGS, an advanced towed artillery gun system featuring a long 52-calibre barrel, allowing for extended firing ranges of up to 40 km, is seen as a game-changer. With its larger calibre, the system ensures higher lethality, delivering increased explosive payloads while enabling automated deployment, target engagement, and reduced crew fatigue. This approval underscores India’s growing prowess in indigenous defence manufacturing and technological advancements.
The induction of ATAGS will play a crucial role in modernising the Indian Army’s artillery by replacing outdated 105 mm and 130 mm guns. Its deployment along the country’s western and northern borders will provide the armed forces with a significant strategic edge, ensuring enhanced operational readiness and firepower.
A testament to the ‘Make in India’ initiative, ATAGS has been developed through collaboration between the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian private industry partners. Over 65 per cent of its components are sourced domestically, including key subsystems such as the barrel, muzzle brake, breech mechanism, firing and recoil system, and ammunition handling mechanism. This development not only strengthens India’s defence industry but also reduces dependence on foreign imports.
Being an entirely indigenous system, ATAGS will benefit from a robust supply chain of spares and seamless life cycle maintenance. The domestically developed system ensures long-term product support, strengthening India’s self-sufficiency in defence technology.
One of the key advantages of ATAGS is its minimal reliance on foreign components. Critical subsystems such as the Navigation System, Muzzle Velocity Radar, and sensors are designed and sourced indigenously, significantly reducing India’s dependence on foreign technology and imports.
Representative image for an arrest. Credit: iStock Photo
The police have arrested 27 more people and rescued 10 babies, in connection with the interstate infant trafficking racket busted in February.
Earlier, 18 people including those who illegally bought the infants and sold them through mediators to childless couples in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana were arrested in connection with the racket and four infants from Gujarat were rescued.
The interrogation of three accused, who purchased and sold infants, led to the arrest of 27 more accused including a 29-year-old woman, (prime accused), a resident of Hyderabad, police said.
Further investigation has revealed that a total of 25 infants were illegally bought and sold, Rachakonda Police Commissioner G Sudheer Babu told reporters here.
“While four infants were rescued earlier, 10 infants—six girls and four boys have been rescued now, and 11 remain to be rescued,” he said. Special teams were formed and deployed for further rescue of the infants.
The infants boys and girls, aged one month and above were bought in Mumbai, Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, Raipur (Chhattisgarh), Amravati (Maharashtra) and Hyderabad, police said.
They were sold in Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Guntur in Andhra Pradesh.
The infants were bought for amounts ranging from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh and resold for Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh, they said.
There were also reports of minor clashes between the farmers and the Punjab police as the former tried to march towards the said protesting sites where the farmers had been camping since February 13 last year to press for their demands including minimum support price (MSP) and debt waiver.
Farmers at Punjab-Haryana Shambhu Border raise slogans during their protest over various demands, on Wednesday. (ANI Photo) |
Tempers ran high among Punjab farmers and tension mounted at their protesting sites – Shambhu and Khanauri borders of Punjab and Haryana – after Punjab police detained several of farm leaders including Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher, as they entered Punjab’s Mohali district, after attending the meeting with the Central ministers over their demands, here Wednesday evening.
#WATCH | Patiala: Punjab Police bring detained farmers to Bahadurgarh Commando Police Training Center. Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher and others have been detained today.
The temporary structures erected by protesting farmers at Punjab-Haryana Shambhu Border are being… pic.twitter.com/Sw5zdUVex1
There were also reports of minor clashes between the farmers and the Punjab police as the former tried to march towards the said protesting sites where the farmers had been camping since February 13 last year to press for their demands including minimum support price (MSP) and debt waiver. The farmers had begun to move towards the said barriers, apprehending that it was a strategy of the Punjab government to get the two borders vacated and after detaining their leaders and the police trying to stop them.
Pertinently, a large number of farmers apprehended the same even much before the meeting ended, noticing that the Punjab government had beefed up the police deployment there since Tuesday evening at farmers’ protest sites and even suspended the internet services in the villages located around Shambhu barrier.
However, when asked about the same, Punjab minister Cheema had – immediately after the meeting – held there were no plans to remove the protesting farmers from the two barriers.
Condemning the detentions of Dallewal and Pandher, the farm unions alleged that the Punjab government had committed to enforcing corporate and MNC framework in agriculture and it is for this that it is collaborating and cooperating with the RSS, BJP government at the Centre. It is rather sinister that this move has come after top AAP leaders had a meeting with industrialists yesterday, farm leaders’ statement said.
Meanwhile, the opposition parties, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leaders assailed the chief minister Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for the detention of the farm leaders.
Congress state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring condemned the detentions dubbing it as a cheating with the farmers and that they were betrayed and backstabbed. He alleged that the farmer leaders were arrested apparently to divert the public attention from the outrage over the brutal manhandling of a serving army colonel by 12 Punjab police cops in Patiala recently.
A massive fire broke out in furniture shops in Maharashtra’s Sambhaji Nagar on Thursday. The shops are located in the Azad Chowk area of the district.
Massive Fire Breaks Out In Furniture Shops In Maharashtra’s Sambhaji Nagar (Screengrab) | X/@ANI
A massive fire broke out in furniture shops in Maharashtra’s Sambhaji Nagar on Thursday. The shops are located in the Azad Chowk area of the district. After receiving the information, fire tenders reached the spot.
A firefighting operation is currently underway. Senior officials also rushed to the spot. The reason of the blaze is yet to be known.
In the visuals which surfaced online, massive flames could be seen billowing out of the shops. An envelope of smoke also engulfed the area.
A high-voltage drama unfolded in Lucknow on Wednesday night after a woman started acting weird in the middle of the road. The incident took place outside Lohia Hospital in the Vibhuti Khand area of the city outside at around 11 pm.
High-Voltage Drama On Lucknow Road: Woman Sits In Middle Of Road, Starts Twirling Body Weirdly For 20 Minutes (Screengrab) | X/@NewsIndiaTweet
A high-voltage drama unfolded in Lucknow on Wednesday night after a woman started acting weird in the middle of the road. The incident took place outside Lohia Hospital in the Vibhuti Khand area of the city outside at around 11 pm. The entire incident was caught on camera and its video is doing rounds on social media.
The video shows the woman sitting in the middle of the road and twirling her head. She also kept swinging her arms and sometimes even folded her hands. Soon people gathered at the spot. One of them recorded the entire incident on a mobile phone.
A black-coloured bag next to the woman was also seen in the video. The clip also shows vehicles passing from the side of the road.
People then called the police. Cops tried to pacify the woman, reported Dainik Bhaskar. The incident caused long traffic jams in the area. The drama went on for 20 minutes. The police then reportedly took the woman aside.
ISRO Chairman V Narayanan congratulated astronaut Sunita Williams on her safe return from the ISS after an extended mission. He praised her achievement and expressed India’s interest in utilizing her space exploration expertise.
ISRO Chief V. Narayanan and NASA Astronaut Sunita Williams (Image Source: L-ANI, R-nasa.gov) Photo : Times Now
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman V Narayanan has conveyed his heartfelt congratulations to astronaut Sunita Williams on her safe return to Earth after an extended mission abroad the ISS.
Describing Sunita’s return as a “remarkable achievement” and a “testament to NASA, SpaceX, and the USA’s commitment to space exploration, the ISRO chief also indicated India’s strong interest in utilizing her expertise in space exploration.
In a message shared on X by ISRO, Narayanan extended warm greeting to Williams stating, “Welcome back, Sunita Williams! Your safe return after an extended mission aboard the ISS is a remarkable achievement. A testament to NASA, SpaceX, and the USA’s commitment to space exploration!”
He lauded her resilience and dedication, noting that they continue to inspire space enthusiasts around the world.
Highlighting India’s ambitious goals, Narayanan stated, “When Bharat under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Modi ji is working towards making India a developed country, we wish to utilise your expertise in space exploration,”.
Williams, along with fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, touched down on Tuesday following a nine-month stay on the space station. Their journey back to Earth was protracted by a glitch in their Boeing spacecraft, extending their initial eight-day mission.
Sunita Williams, a 59-year-old former US Navy captain, has strong ties to India through her father, Deepak Pandya, who hails from Jhulasan in the Mehsana district of Gujarat. Her mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, is of Slovenian origin.
The deal for the Brahmos (named after rivers Brahmaputra and Moscow) for both services is for about 250 supersonic cruise missiles valued at approximately Rs 20,000 crore.
India Strengthens Defense Arsenal: Massive BrahMos Missile Deal in the Pipeline
The purchase of a huge consignment of Brahmos missiles by the Indian Army and the Indian Air Force is before the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh and including the chief of defence staff General Anil Chauhan, the three chiefs and senior bureaucrats and scientists. The meeting is likely at noon tomorrow.
The deal for the Brahmos (named after rivers Brahmaputra and Moscow) for both services is for about 250 supersonic cruise missiles valued at approximately Rs 20,000 crore. The Army is likely to get a slightly larger number of the missiles, which have a range of 300 km. They were developed jointly by India and Russia about 30 years ago. The Navy also has the Brahmos missile: a similar consignment was cleared a few years ago. In recent years, India has sold three batteries of Brahmos missiles to The Philippines for its Marines and there is some discussion regarding additional purchases.
Also on the agenda is the refit of a submarine. Refits are not capital acquisitions but come out of the revenue budget of the defence ministry, but they often involve huge sums of money, which is probably why it has been included.
The DAC is also expected to discuss the acquisition of a ship-launched torpedo and anti-aircraft missiles, besides several other major projects.
The QUAD grouping of India, the US, Australia and Japan met officials of the Philippines and discussed maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific during the recently held Raisina Dialogue. In the meet, China was a key topic of the talks.
A new military alliance taking shape to counter the China threat? Photo : iStock
The concern around China’s aggressive approach in the South China Sea has become a point of discussion again as the Philippines has asked India to join a new military ‘Squad’ along with the US, Australia and Japan. According to a report, the new strategic alliance aims to counter such threats in the crucial Indo-Pacific region.
Philippines Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces General Romeo S Brawner said India and South Korea should also be ‘included’ in the Squad, as he pointed to China’s “illegal, coercive and disruptive Grey Zone” methods to claim territory and strengthen its military in the South China Sea region, a Reuters report stated.
The Squad is an informal multilateral grouping comprising Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the United States, whose defence forces have been conducting joint maritime activities in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea since last year.
The QUADgrouping of India, the US, Australia and Japan met officials of the Philippines and discussed maritime security challenges in the Indo-Pacific during the recently held Raisina Dialogue. In the meet, China was a key point of the talks.
“The three artificial islands created by China give it effective control over the South China Sea. They have built a 2.7-km runway, with air defence and other missile systems, on Mischief Reef…Moving forward, it is our belief that they will take full control of the South China Sea,” Gen Brawner said, quoted TOI.
“Together with Japan and our partners we are trying to expand the squad to include India and probably South Korea,” he added.
China has long claimed supremacy in the South-China Sea strong-arming its neighbours in the region and Taiwan Strait. It has always pushed for territorial claims, denouncing all international norms. Japanese Chief of Joint Staff Gen Yoshihide Yoshida said the country is doubling its defence spending to improve its current war-fighting capabilities.
Present at the meeting, US Indo-Pacific Command chief Admiral Samuel Paparo said all countries that believe matters should not be “settled by force” should build and maintain a strong deterrence posture, hinting towards China and its repetitive claims in the region and on Taiwan.
Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi meanwhile said India believed it was its responsibility to ensure that the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) remains peaceful and stable. He said the passage should have unhindered access to trade. “A Navy that does not deploy does not deter. So, we have been deploying far and wide…We are quite capable of maintaining MDA (maritime domain awareness) in the IOR. We are aware of who is doing what, where and how,” he said.
The Navy chief further said that India is “keeping a close watch” on dual-purpose and other naval vessels operating in the IOR.
As Williams’ landing neared in the early hours of Wednesday, all eyes were on her, with Jhulasan residents gathering at one place to view the event live on a television screen
Videos showing firecrackers lighting up the sky in the early hours have been circulating on X.
The ancestral village of Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams in Gujarat’s Mehsana district was illuminated as residents of Jhulasan celebrated her safe return on Wednesday. The celebrations included bursting firecrackers, distributing sweets, dancing, and offering prayers to the local deity.
Jhulasan, the ancestral home of Williams’ father Deepak Pandya, has been buzzing with excitement since news of her delayed return from the ISS emerged.
As soon as a SpaceX capsule carrying Williams and astronaut Butch Wilmore splashed down near the Florida coast in the US, following their nine-month stay at the International Space Station (ISS), the villagers erupted in joy. They burst firecrackers, danced, and chanted “Har Har Mahadev”.
With Williams’ landing approaching in the early hours of Wednesday, all eyes were on her, as residents of Jhulasan gathered in one place to watch the event live on television.
Videos showing firecrackers lighting up the sky in the early hours have been circulating on X. The villagers were seen dancing as news of Williams’ landing spread.
Students from the local government school joined the celebrations by performing garba, a traditional Gujarati folk dance, and took out a procession carrying Williams’ photo to the nearby temple of Goddess Dola Mata. As the procession made its way from the school to the temple, the students danced, sang, and distributed sweets along the way.
Teachers and locals said their prayers to the goddess had been answered, as Williams had returned safely. The procession and the prayers at the temple were a way to give thanks for her safe return.
Vishal Panchal, the principal of the local primary school, expressed the village’s pride and excitement. “The daughter of our village is the pride of the world. She stayed in space for such a long time and came back safe. We performed garba, burst firecrackers and distributed sweets. Our happiness knows no end,” he said.
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel also congratulated Williams via a post on X, saying, “We, in India, take immense pride in Sunita’s connection to our land, celebrating her as a shining example of our shared heritage and aspirations.”
In his post, CM Patel extended heartfelt congratulations to “our very own Sunita Williams and the Crew9 astronauts on their safe return to Earth after an extraordinary nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station”.
Powered exclusively by wave and solar energy, the Wave Glider stays on mission 247 for several months at a time, providing real-time data and communications for a variety of applications, Boeing said.
Liquid Robotics, a Boeing company, signed an MoU with Sagar Defence Engineering
An Indian startup and a US company are looking to work together to co-develop and co-produce autonomous surface vessels (ASV) in a first such project by a startup in the country, American aerospace firm Boeing said in a statement.
Liquid Robotics, a Boeing company, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sagar Defence Engineering Pvt Ltd, an Indian unmanned systems startup, for the project that builds on the joint US-India roadmap for defence industrial cooperation, Boeing said.
The MoU supports the Autonomous Systems Industry Alliance (ASIA) aimed at expanding industry partnerships, Boeing said.
As the first such project by a US company in partnership with an Indian startup, this collaboration marks a milestone in US-India defence industrial cooperation, with undersea domain awareness as a key focus.
It reinforces India’s potential to be developed as a hub for MRO (maintenance, repair, overhaul) and sustainment of such platforms, with export potential across the region, Boeing said. Additionally, advancing autonomous underwater capabilities will accelerate ecosystem growth and drive innovation in next-generation defence technologies, it said.
Boeing said the partnership aims to enhance undersea domain awareness through manufacturing, system interoperability, ocean testing, and the establishment of an MRO capacity for the Wave Glider ASV platform.
“The US-India relationship continues to strengthen, and we see immense potential in deepening our collaboration,” said Salil Gupte, president, Boeing India and South Asia. “This partnership with Sagar Defence Engineering underscores our commitment to co-developing and co-producing critical systems in India, fully aligning with the collaborative vision of both the U.S. and Indian governments outlined in the US- India Joint Leaders Statement last month.”
Shane Goodenough, CEO of Liquid Robotics, said the Wave Glider is a key platform for US-India collaboration, strengthening tactical readiness in the Indo-Pacific.
Captain Nikunj Parashar, Founder, Sagar Defence Engineering, said this strategic partnership brings together the best of US and Indian defence capabilities by co-developing advanced technologies like the Wave Glider, strengthening our aim to contribute towards fostering innovation within India’s defence ecosystem.
“This collaboration reinforces our shared vision of providing solutions for complex maritime challenges to enhance global maritime security,” he said.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has charged Sachin alias Praveen alias Dholia, Yogesh alias Monu, and Vijay alias Kale with conspiring with other accused to carry out the attack on Hotel Highway King in Neemrana, in December 2024.
The investigation revealed that the trio were in touch with Canada-based terrorist (Arsh) Dala.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday chargesheeted three persons, linked to a Canada-based wanted Khalistani terrorist, for their alleged involvement in a firing incident outside a hotel in Rajasthan last year.
In its chargesheet filed before the NIA special court in Jaipur, the agency has charged Sachin alias Praveen alias Dholia, Yogesh alias Monu, and Vijay alias Kale with conspiring with other accused to carry out the attack on Hotel Highway King in Neemrana, in December 2024.
The IT Ministry is examining the matter, sources said.
The Information and Technology Ministry is in touch with social media platform X over the recent incident of AI chatbot Grok using Hindi slang and abuses and will be examining the issue, according to sources.
The ministry will look into the matter and the factors that led to the use of abusive language, they said.
“We are in touch, we are talking to them (X) to find out why it is happening and what are the issues. They are engaging with us,” sources said.
The IT Ministry is examining the matter, they added.
Grok, the powerful AI chatbot on Elon Musk’s X, shocked netizens recently with its wild side when its response in Hindi came loaded with abuses and slang after provocation by users.
The banter started when an X user requested that Grok provide a list of the “10 best mutuals”. After a silence, the user responded with some harsh comments. This prompted Grok to retaliate with an equally casual tone and slur-loaded response.
An IndiGo passenger deployed an emergency slide of a Leh-bound aircraft before takeoff at the Delhi airport on Wednesday.
In a statement, IndiGo said a slide was deployed inadvertently on flight 6E 5161 from Delhi to Leh before takeoff.
“Following Standard Operating Procedures, the crew reported the incident and the customer was offloaded and handed over to concerned authorities,” the airline said and regretted the inconvenience caused to other passengers.
Specific details about the incident could not be immediately ascertained.
As per information available on flight tracking website flightradar24.com, it was an A320 aircraft.
An Indian researcher, studying at Georgetown University in the US, has been arrested by immigration officers and faces deportation, according to his lawyer. Badar Khan Suri, a post-doctoral fellow, was arrested by “masked agents” outside his home in Virginia, on Monday night, Politico reported.
The agents identified themselves as being with the Department of Homeland Security and told him the government had revoked his visa, the lawsuit says, reportedly.
Mr Suri has been accused of “spreading Hamas propaganda”. He is said to have “close connections to a known or suspected terrorist”.
“Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media,” Tricia McLaughlin, Assistant Secretary Department of Homeland Security, wrote on X.
“Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a determination on March 15, 2025 that Suri’s activities and presence in the United States rendered him deportable under INA section 237(a)(4)(C)(i).”
Suri was a foreign exchange student at Georgetown University actively spreading Hamas propaganda and promoting antisemitism on social media.
Suri has close connections to a known or suspected terrorist, who is a senior advisor to Hamas. The Secretary of State issued a… https://t.co/gU02gLAlX1
Mr Suri’s lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, argued in his petition that Mr Suri is being punished because of the Palestinian heritage of his wife, a US citizen, according to Politico. Mapheze Saleh from Gaza is a first-year student at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism and information at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine and a master’s degree in conflict analysis and peacebuilding from the Nelson Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi, India.
“Dr. Khan Suri is an Indian national who was duly granted a visa to enter the United States to continue his doctoral research on peacebuilding in Iraq and Afghanistan,” a Georgetown spokesperson said in a statement. “We are not aware of him engaging in any illegal activity, and we have not received a reason for his detention. We support our community members’ rights to free and open inquiry, deliberation and debate, even if the underlying ideas may be difficult, controversial or objectionable. We expect the legal system to adjudicate this case fairly.”
Who Is Badar Khan Suri
Dr Badar Khan Suri is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. He has been teaching a class this semester on “Majoritarianism and Minority Rights in South Asia”
He completed his PhD in Peace and Conflict Studies from Nelson Mandela Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2020.
He is an interdisciplinary scholar whose areas of interest are religion, violence and peace; ethnic conflicts and peace processes in the Middle East and South Asia, according to the information available on Georgetown University’s website.
Indians In US Face Deportation
Ranjani Srinivasan, a 37-year-old Indian student, pursuing a doctoral degree in urban planning at Columbia University, self-deported last week, days after their student visa was revoked for participating in pro-Palestine protests. The US Department of State cancelled their visa on March 5, citing security concerns related to their involvement in alleged activities “supporting Hamas”.
“Ranjani Srinivasan was involved in activities supporting Hamas, a terrorist organisation. On March 5, 2025, the Department of State revoked her visa. The Department of Homeland Security has obtained video footage of her using the Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agency app to self-deport on March 11,” it said in a statement.
Implanting a pacemaker may be a common procedure but performing the surgery in the heart of a 102-year-old woman is a rarity, doctors said. (A pacekmaker is seen in this photo) Credit: iStock Photo
Doctors of a private hospital in Kolkata successfully implanted a pacemaker in a 102-year-old woman and discharged her from the facility within two days, one of the physicians said.
Implanting a pacemaker may be a common procedure but performing the surgery in the heart of a 102-year-old woman is rare, he said.
Dr Smriti Kana Roy, a gynaecologist who used to treat Saint Teresa and other nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, underwent the operation on March 15.
Roy, a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, had complained of dizziness when doctors found an irregular heartbeat and prescribed the implant, her younger daughter Julie Basu told PTI from the US on Tuesday.
“It was an amazing experience. She has no comorbidities. But her heart rate had decreased, and her halter rate recorded a pause of six seconds. We suggested the need for a pacemaker implant.
“She was admitted on Saturday morning and the surgery was done that very day. She was discharged on Monday,” Dr Sunil Baran Roy, senior consultant of interventional cardiology at Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital, said.
The centenarian told PTI from her residence in south Kolkata’s Ballygunge area that she was confident about the success of the surgery.
“I feel better. I do not know whether this is a miracle or not because I am not the one to decide that. I followed whatever was suggested by the doctors,” she said.
Asked about the secret of her agility at this age, Roy, who was born in 1922, said she works, reads newspapers and books and keeps herself busy.
“I believe in helping others and working for them has given me satisfaction,” Roy said.
“My mother has been a very disciplined woman, and she follows a strict routine even today. She is very strong mentally and I have never seen her cry. Even Covid could not touch her,” said 66-year-old Julie, who is scheduled to come to the city soon.
Roy had to leave behind her two daughters, then aged seven and three years, when she went to the UK in 1964 for her Membership of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Later, she was rewarded with the Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FRCOG).
Roy recounted that Mother Teresa admitted her elder daughter June to the Loreto Convent, where she used to teach before forming Missionaries of Charity.
Representative image showing a person at a bank Credit: iStock Photo
More than half of Indian families (59%) surveyed found their banks to be ‘bureaucratic and inefficient’ when it comes to re-enabling online access to their bank accounts, while 63% stated that they have lost online access to their accounts because of issues either with KYC, login credentials or because their accounts have been made dormant by the banks.
This is part of a survey conducted by LocalCircles, released on Tuesday. The survey received over 54,000 responses from customers from over 334 districts in India. LocalCircles said that 42% respondents were from tier 1 cities, 27% from tier 2 cities and 31% respondents were from tier 3 and 4 districts.
“Even as banks continue to invest in digital solutions to meet customer expectations like easy-to-use interfaces and personalized experiences, the problems faced by consumers are arising due to sudden changes in rules,” the survey stated, adding that different banks appear to have different rules and safeguards for accessing online banking.
The complaints received by the Reserve Bank of India’s Ombudsman reached a record-high of 9,34,000 in the previous financial year (2023-24) showcasing the declining customer service from banks. In fact, complaints to the ombudsman grew at a compound average rate of almost 50% per year over the past two years.
RBI Governor Sanjay Malhotra recently brought attention to this alarming trend, and issued a diktat to banks to improve their customer service. “In this age of competition, we would not survive long if we do not provide quality service to our customers,” he said at an event.
Opposition lawmakers ignited smoke bombs in the chamber to protest the passage of the lawImage: Boglarka Bodnar/MTI/AP Photo/picture alliance
Hungary’s parliament passed a law on Tuesday banning LGBTQ+ pride events, including the famous Budapest Pride march that attracts thousands of people every year.
The new legislation was put forward only a day earlier and the measure was pushed through parliament in an accelerated procedure thanks to the ruling coalition’s supermajority that allows it to amend the constitution.
The legislation, passed in 136-27 vote, is supported by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party Fidesz and their minority coalition partner, the Christian Democrats.
Hungary’s crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights
The step represents the latest rollback of rights and protections for LGBTQ+ people in the country by the Viktor Orban government.
Orban’s government has passed other similar laws, including the contentious “child protection law” in 2021 that bans gay people from featuring in school education materials or TV shows aimed at people under the age of 18.
Tuesday’s law keeps with the government’s view that annual Pride march could be considered an event harming children, and that this outweighs the right to assemble.
Attending a prohibited event will carry fines up to 200,000 Hungarian forints ($550, €500), which the state must forward to “child protection,” according to the text of the law.
Authorities may also use facial recognition tools to identify individuals attending a prohibited event.
Budapest Pride organizers slam new law bill, launch funding drive
Budapest Pride organizers slammed the bill after it was first submitted Monday.
“It’s nothing more than political theater — the ruling party is using the LGBTQ community for its own gain. But we refuse to be anyone’s scapegoat,” the organizers said in a statement.
“While more and more people are starving in Hungary, the Prime Minister’s priority is to ban human rights protests,” the statement added.
Both Ranya Rao and Tarun Raju have been charged under the Customs Act and the Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act.
Kannada actor Ranya Rao, who has been arrested in connection with a gold scam case, took at least 26 round trips to Dubai with actor friend Tarun Raju during which they smuggled gold, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials told the court on Tuesday.
The DRI, during a court proceeding, revealed fresh details about the case stating that their travel pattern raised many questions, India Today reported.
During their trips, Rao and Raju would leave in the morning and return by the evening and this pattern raised suspicion, the agency told the court as per the publication.
The remarks came as the DRI opposed a bail plea filed by Tarun Raju. He was arrested soon after Ranya Rao’s arrest from the Bengaluru airport where the agency caught the actor smuggling gold red-handed.
Both Rao and Raju have been charged under the Customs Act and the Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act.
The India Today report further stated that the investigators found more financial links between Raju and Rao and they flew from Dubai to Hyderabad on a ticket booked by Rao, using money she sent to his account.
Officials say they have proof of this, backing claims that he was part of the smuggling network.
Ranya Rao took 52 trips to Dubai in 2 years
As per the officials, Ranya Rao made 52 trips to Dubai between 2023 and March 2025, with Raju accompanying her on at least 26 of them and they suspect that these same-day return journeys were used to smuggle gold into India.
After a circular notice was issued against Raju, he tried to flee the country adding all necessary documents, including the legal grounds for his arrest, to the court.
Ranya Rao’s bail plea adjourned till March 19
The bail plea of Ranya Rao has been adjourned to March 19 in a sessions court. The CCH 64th Session Court today directed the DRI’s counsel to file its objections by the next hearing, March 19.
Further proceedings will continue after the objections are submitted.
Ranya Rao had earlier filed a bail application before the Special Court for Economic Offenses, which was rejected due to the serious nature of the allegations against her.
Ranya Rao’s stepfather questioned in gold smuggling case
DGP-rank officer IPS K Ramachandra Rao, who is also Ranya Rao’s stepfather, was questioned on Monday in connection with the gold smuggling case involving his stepdaughter.
His statement was recorded by the investigating team led by Additional Chief Secretary Gaurav Gupta, PTI reported.
Ranya Rao was arrested on March 3, 2025, at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport after DRI officials intercepted her carrying gold.
A viral video from Rajasthan circulating online shows a woman dancing atop the animal, which was placed on a raised platform under the scorching sun. The camel’s legs appeared to be tied, restricting its movement while a crowd watched in silence.
A disturbing case of animal cruelty has surfaced in Hanumangarh, where a camel was subjected to severe mistreatment for the sake of entertainment. A viral video circulating online shows a woman dancing atop the animal, which was placed on a raised platform under the scorching sun. The camel’s legs appeared to be tied, restricting its movement while a crowd watched in silence.
The footage, shared by the animal welfare organization Street Dogs of Mumbai, sparked significant outrage on social media. The NGO, in an Instagram post, condemned the act, stating, “This is NOT tradition. This is NOT culture. This is pure cruelty!”
The incident has raised serious concerns about the treatment of animals under the guise of entertainment, with activists urging authorities to take immediate action.
Animal rights activists argue that such acts of cruelty should not be normalised, calling for stricter enforcement of animal protection laws. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and other advocacy groups have also demanded legal consequences for those responsible.
News agency Asian News International (ANI) told the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that AI chatbot ChatGPT has been infringing on ANI’s copyright not only by taking content directly from its website but also by scraping content that is shared with ANI’s subscribers [ANI Media Pvt Ltd v. Open AI Inc & Anr].
The submission was made before Justice Amit Bansal by ANI’s counsel advocate Sidhant Kumar during a hearing of the news agency’s copyright infringement suit against OpenAI, which developed and owns ChatGPT.
To cite an example, Kumar referred to a news article from the Economic Times (ET) which has subscribed to use ANI’s content for a fee.
Taking content shared with ET by ANI would also amount to an infringement of ANI’s content, Kumar argued.
“While they crawl from my (ANI’s) website, they also crawl material from my subscribers. While they say that they don’t take content from me, they are taking from my subscribers. I do not cease to have control over copyright. I don’t divest control … Merely because I have licensed contact content for public viewing by a person who has paid subscription or a license fee, I do not cease to have control over that content,” he said.
Kumar added that while copyright may not lie in common facts, the manner in which such facts are narrated – as is the case with news articles – carries a copyright.
“They (OpenAI) state that facts cannot be copyrighted, the narration can be. I cannot have a monopoly over reporting that particular fact, but I certainly do have a monopoly over reporting that fact in that manner. Expression is capable of copyright protection. When I publish an article which is authored by my journalists, weighted by my editors, there is a particular way in which I will narrate,” he said.
In response, Senior Advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for OpenAI, argued that when the same facts are narrated by different persons, similarities are bound to rise.
In such a scenario, a copyright infringement claim will not lie, he said. To cite an example, he pointed out that a quote given by a celebrity and published across media portals would not carry copyright.
“When the facts are narrated by someone else, there will always be a similarity, which comes from the fact that the facts are common between the two narrations,” he said.
He added that ChatGPT also only provides a summary of what is available online in its own words, and also redirects users to the websites from which the information is sourced from.
Meanwhile, Advocate Kumar also accused OpenAI/ ChatGPT of violating ANI’s copyright by ripping off content from interviews published by ANI.
He pointed out that an interview on ANI’s website was translated by it, which was then made available on ChatGPT. This too violates ANI’s copyright, Kumar argued.
“I have independent intellectual property on translations. Our interviews are carried out by other subscribers, but we hold rights in it,” he said.
Sibal countered by arguing that ANI is not a newspaper itself and that OpenAI has licensing agreements with the newspapers from which it may source information that is summarised on ChatGPT. To cite an example, Sibal said,
“We have license with Financial Times, where they wish for us to promote their content, they give us a license to reproduce their content. Plaintiff (ANI) is not a newspaper. It only collects information. Financial Times is a newspaper with which I have a license in place.”
That matter will be heard next on March 28.
In its suit before the High Court, ANI has claimed that its original content is being exploited by OpenAI for commercial gain and to train its AI chatbot, ChatGPT to answer user queries.
On November 19, the Court issued summons to Open AI. Advocates Adarsh Ramanujan and Dr Arul GeorgeScaria were also appointed as amici curiae in the case.
The Court is now considering the following four issues:
I. Whether the storage by Open AI of ANI’s data (which is in the nature of news and is claimed to be protected under the Copyright Act, 1957) for training its software (ChatGPT) would amount to infringement of ANI’s copyright.
II. Whether the use by Open AI of ANI’s copyrighted data in order to generate responses for its users, would amount to infringement of the news agency’s copyright.
III. Whether Open AI’s use of ANI’s copyrighted data qualifies as ‘fair use’ in terms of Section 52 of the Copyright Act, 1957.
A video of a man feeding a crocodile much like a common domesticated pet was shared on social media, which immediately went viral as it left people reacting in all kinds of ways. Take a look…
Man’s video with a crocodile goes viral.
If the state of ‘Florida’ was a video, this clip of a man and his possibly ‘pet crocodile’ would have surely been it! For those confused, Florida is known for some of the most bizarre incidents that are popular all over the social media, where a majority involves getting ‘too friendly’ with animals that were never meant to be friends with humans! Coming back to the viral clip, the video showed a man casually feeding a crocodile- much like a common pet. What further left many surprised and confused at the same time, was how the reptile even allowed the man to pet and rub its head- the way people usually do with cats, dogs and other such domestic animals. The clip began to circulate on social media, mostly over its bizarreness. A few also found it completely hilarious. Times Now could not confirm the location and the authenticity of the viral video.
“Dude recording could not believe his eyes,” the post read.
The video was shared on X (formerly Twitter), by the handle ‘AMAZlNGNATURE’. The post was shared yesterday and pulled more than 400K views from people.
“Just another Tuesday in Florida,” a user joked. “Not okay. This stuff signs that amazing animal’s death warrant. Now that it associates humans with food, it will be labelled a ‘nuisance gator’ in short order – and destroyed by Fish and Game Wardens. It’s only a matter of time. Please – don’t feed the gators. Let them live,” added another.
“He’s petting the crocodile-like a dog,” wrote another. “Bro out here treating a prehistoric murder lizard like it’s a golden retriever,” added the next.
During the podcast on Sunday, PM Modi said that “every attempt to foster peace with Pakistan was met with hostility and betrayal” and that he hoped that “wisdom would prevail on the leadership in Islamabad to improve bilateral ties.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File Image) Photo : Twitter
India on Tuesday responded to Pakistan’s remarks on Jammu and Kashmir following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comments in a recent podcast with American podcaster Lex Fridman.
During the podcast on Sunday, PM Modi said that “every attempt to foster peace with Pakistan was met with hostility and betrayal” and that he hoped that “wisdom would prevail on the leadership in Islamabad to improve bilateral ties.”
PM Modi also called out Pakistan’s long-standing role in fostering terrorism, stressing that the world was no longer in doubt about where the roots of terror lie and added that time and again, Pakistan has emerged as the epicentre of terror, causing immense suffering not just to India but to the entire world.
Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at a media briefing, “We note that Pakistan has once again made some comments about the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The world knows that the real issue is Pakistan’s active promotion and sponsorship of cross-border terrorism.”
“In fact, this is the biggest roadblock to peace and security in the region. Instead of spreading lies, Pakistan should vacate Indian territory under its illegal and forcible occupation,” Jaiswal added.
Meanwhile, rejecting PM Modi’s assertions, Pakistan Foreign Office issued a statement saying that the prime minister’s remarks were “misleading and one-sided”.
Our response to media queries regarding comments made by Pakistan⬇️
“The remarks are misleading and one-sided. They conveniently omit the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, which remains unresolved for the last seven decades despite India’s solemn assurances to the United Nations, Pakistan and the Kashmiri people,” according to the statement.
It alleged that India was involved in fomenting trouble on Pakistani soil and carrying out “state-sanctioned oppression” in Jammu and Kashmir. It also accused India of “orchestrating targeted assassinations, subversion and terrorism in foreign territories.”
The statement further added that Pakistan has always advocated constructive engagement and result-oriented dialogue to resolve all outstanding issues, including the core dispute of Jammu and Kashmir, and added that peace and stability in South Asia have remained hostage to “India’s rigid approach and hegemonic ambitions”.
He also noted that inquiries into disasters like stampedes and providing assistance to victims’ families are handled by the state government, and no such data is maintained at the national level.
Heavy rush of passengers to catch a train for Mahakumbh, at the New Delhi railway station, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (PTI Photo) Photo : PTI
Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that inquiry into the Maha Kumbh stampede was conducted by the Uttar Pradesh government and no data on casualties and injured victims is maintained with the Centre.
Rai’s comments came in response to questions from Congress MPs KC Venugopal and Kirsan Namdeo regarding the number of casualties and injuries in the stampede, as well as the actions taken to investigate the incident.
He explained that, according to the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, “public order” and “police” fall under state jurisdiction. Managing religious gatherings, ensuring crowd safety, and preventing disasters are state responsibilities, Rai said.
He also noted that inquiries into disasters like stampedes and providing assistance to victims’ families are handled by the state government, and no such data is maintained at the national level.
The minister added that the National Disaster Management Authority has issued guidelines for crowd management at large events.
The Bureau of Police Research and Development has also provided crowd control protocols. In addition, the Union Home Ministry has advised all states and Union territories to create their own crowd management plans based on these guidelines.
Tharoor had initially condemned India’s neutral stance after Russia invaded Ukraine, calling for the country to condemn the aggression.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor. (File Image)
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor admitted on Tuesday that he was wrong to criticise India’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine war when it began, acknowledging that the country’s position has put it in a unique position to help achieve lasting peace.
Tharoor had initially condemned India’s neutral stance after Russia invaded Ukraine, calling for the country to condemn the aggression. He cited violations of the UN charter and Ukraine’s sovereignty as key reasons for his criticism.
However, during a session at the Raisina Dialogue, Tharoor said, “I am still wiping the egg off my face,” reflecting on his earlier position. He explained that India’s approach had allowed the country to engage with both Ukraine and Russia, making it a potential mediator in the conflict, as quoted by PTI.
The Thiruvananthapuram MP noted that the Indian government’s stance had positioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a leader who could engage with both the Ukrainian president and the Russian president, creating opportunities for peace efforts.
Tharoor also said India could play a critical role in facilitating peace, given its unique standing in the world.
He added that if an agreement was reached between Russia and Ukraine, India might be open to sending peacekeepers, especially as Russia has rejected European peacekeepers from NATO countries.
However, he clarified that as a member of the opposition, he could not speak on behalf of the government.
In the advertisement for an electric cycle company, EMotorad, Dhoni could be seen in long hair, just like Kapoor in the movie ‘Animal’.
In the advertisement for an electric cycle company, EMotorad, Dhoni could be seen in long hair, just like Kapoor in the movie ‘Animal’. (X)
Ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni channeled his inner ‘Animal’ as the former Indian captain mimicked Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor’s aggressive role Ranvijay Singh in a hilarious advertisement with filmmaker Sandeep Reddy Vanga.
In the advertisement for an electric cycle company, EMotorad, Dhoni could be seen in long hair, just like Kapoor in the movie ‘Animal’.
The ad shows Dhoni getting down from his swanky car (recreating one of the scenes of the movie) and crossing the road with an e-cycle in hand instead of a gun. Further, an epic conversation unfolds as Vanga praises the former Indian captain’s acting and claimed people would love it.
“Mind-blowing, fantastic, maza aa gaya sir. Log seetiyan marenge bilkul,” Vanga thrills.
To this, Dhoni, in his Animal character, replies, “Sunayi de raha hai mujhe, behra nahi hoon mai. (I can hear you, I’m not deaf)”.
Vanga excitedly says, “Ab hua na mera hero ready. (Now my hero is ready)”.
At a point in the ad, Dhoni even asks Vanga, “Ye thoda zyada nahi hogaya? (Isn’t this too much?)”
The final shot was the closing scene from the Animal movie where Dhoni once again mimicked Ranbir.
The campaign has ignited a frenzy online, with viewers praising the execution. One social media user quipped, “EMotorad got Thala and Vanga together before GTA 6!” while another noted, “This is the first ad I’ve Googled myself and watched five times!” The crossover of sports and cinema, two of India’s biggest entertainment industries, has struck a chord with audiences.
The woman was arrested by police following her husband’s complaint. (Representational)
Frustrated as she could not give birth to a son, a woman in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu killed her 17-day-old daughter by throwing her into a water tank, police said Monday.
According to the police, the woman said that she wanted a son but ended up delivering a daughter, due which she threw her into the water tank and closed the lid.
Kotwali Station House Officer (SHO) Narayan Singh said Aachki Devi (22), from Shri Ram Colony, threw her 17-day-old daughter into a water tank on Sunday when she could not give birth to a son.
She then closed the tank’s lid resulting in her daughter’s death, he said.
The officer said the woman informed one of her acquaintances about the incident, following which the woman’s husband lodged a complaint.
The ministry stated that it has requested for the details from the US admin regarding expenditures incurred on USAID-funded projects in India over past decade.
The government has also sought information on the NGOs involved in implementing USAID-backed initiatives. (Reuters)
The Union government has taken note of recent developments concerning the activities and funding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the ministry of external affairs (MEA) informed Rajya Sabha on Monday.
In a written response, the ministry stated that it has formally requested for the details from the US administration regarding expenditures incurred on USAID-funded projects in India over the past decade.
The response came in reply to questions raised by Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas, who referred to reports, which alleged that the USAID funds were used to influence voter turnout in Indian elections. The controversy gained momentum after the Elon Musk-led US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced budget cuts for USAID on February 16, including a contentious $21 million allegedly allocated for voter mobilisation efforts in India. The issue further escalated with repeated claims by US President Donald Trump that his predecessor, Joe Biden, sanctioned funds to interfere in India’s electoral process.
“In view of the recent reports regards USAID funding in India, the ministry of external affairs has formally asked the US Embassy to urgently furnish details of expenditure incurred on all USAID assisted/funded projects in India over the last 10 years,” the ministry said in its response to Brittas.
The government has also sought information on the NGOs involved in implementing USAID-backed initiatives. However, it noted that no official response has been provided by the US side so far. “While there is some open-source information available on this matter, the Government of India understandably expects an official response from the US Government on this matter,” the statement added.
The MEA further highlighted that certain details about USAID beneficiaries have been withheld by the US administration, citing legal provisions under American law that allow “exceptional redactions.” “As per that legislation, the exceptional redactions include information that would jeopardise the health or security of an implementing partner or programme beneficiary. Another justification is a determination that the information online would be detrimental to the national interests of the United States,” the ministry noted.
Amid the controversy, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated on February 21 that President Trump’s claim regarding the $21 million was “very deeply troubling.” He added that it has “raised concerns about foreign interference in India’s internal affairs.” The following day, on February 22, external affairs minister S Jaishankar mentioned that the government was investigating the matter and assured that “the facts will come out soon.”
“The USAID was allowed to operate here in good faith to undertake positive activities. However, suggestions are emerging from America that there are actions being taken in bad faith,” the EAM remarked at a public event.
