Indian envoy meets Putin, bypassing Western pressure
Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday and held talks over a range of issues, including the war in Ukraine.
Mr Putin invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Russia next year.
“We will be glad to see our friend, Mr Prime Minister Modi, in Russia,” Mr Putin told Mr Jaishankar, who is on a five-day official visit to the country.
Mr Jaishankar also met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov earlier on Wednesday.
The meetings in Moscow highlighted Russia’s attempts to break through its isolation from the West by pivoting to an increasingly powerful Asian nation, reported The New York Times.
Defence minister in Kashmir amid tensions over civilians deaths
Amid the row in Jammu and Kashmir over the death of three civilians after they were detained by the army for questioning, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh told soldiers on Wednesday that they should not “make any mistake” that hurts an Indian.
Mr Singh is in the Union Territory to review the security situation, days after an ambush on two army vehicles left four soldiers dead. In the aftermath of the terror attack, several civilians in Poonch were detained by the army, and three of them were later found dead.
The army has said it has zero tolerance for violence against innocent civilians.
Gujarat authorities to probe suspected human trafficking
Authorities in Gujarat have launched an investigation into how 303 Indians ended up on a chartered flight that was grounded in France last week because of suspected human trafficking.
Tipped off by an anonymous informant, French authorities on Dec 22 prevented the plane from flying to its listed destination of Nicaragua. Many of the Indians onboard hailed from Gujarat.
Senior Gujarat police officer Sanjay Kharat said authorities had obtained the names and addresses of 21 persons from the state who were on the flight and that investigators were trying to determine who facilitated their travel.
5 Covid deaths, 529 fresh cases reported in 24 hours
India recorded 529 fresh Covid-19 cases and five deaths in 24 hours, while the new sub-variant JN.1, which was first detected in Kerala on Dec 8, has spread to nine states, with Delhi reporting its first case on Wednesday.
The deaths were reported from Karnataka (2), Maharashtra (2) and Gujarat (1). In all, 110 cases of Covid-19 were confirmed to have been caused by JN.1 in the country.
60 hospitalised after ammonia leak at fertiliser plant
Sixty people have been hospitalised following an ammonia leak from a pipeline belonging to fertiliser company Coromandel International near its Ennore plant in Chennai.
They suffered breathing difficulties and a burning sensation in the eyes.
The leak took place on Tuesday night when Coromandel’s fertiliser manufacturing unit was preparing to receive an ammonia shipment through its 2.5km undersea pipeline.
Dense fog to cover Delhi and northern India till New Year’s Day
A thick blanket of haze covered pockets of New Delhi and its surrounding areas as the mercury dipped to 6 deg C on Thursday morning.
The India Meteorological Department said the dense fog over Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Punjab will continue till Dec 31.
The haze, which covered much of northern India on Wednesday, delayed more than 110 flights and 25 trains in Delhi.
Union minister backs Bengaluru’s ‘60 per cent Kannada’ rule
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday that, while he does not condone violence, he agrees with locals’ demand that shop signages in Karnataka be predominantly in the local language.
Pro-Kannada groups recently went on a rampage in the state capital Bengaluru, questioning why shopkeepers insist on putting up signages only in English. The civic rules in Bengaluru maintain that 60 per cent of a signage has to be written in Kannada.
“Everybody should be able to read the signs, and not everyone can read English,” Mr Joshi told NDTV. “What is the harm in writing in Kannada or in Hindi? This is not England.”
Conman claims messages he ‘sent’ to actress are fake
Sukesh Chandrashekar, an accused in a Rs200 crore ($32 million) money laundering case, has claimed that dozens of “leaked” WhatsApp messages between him and actress Jacqueline Fernandez, who is also an accused in the case, are “fake”, and alleged that she is trying to “sensationalise” the chats.
“I want to make it very clear that none of these alleged WhatsApp messages or voice note was sent by me or through me from jail or otherwise,” Chandrashekar claimed.
Chandrashekar also alleged that his voice had been “cloned” using Artificial Intelligence and that chats have been “created” after he threatened to expose Ms Fernandez.
Probe agency seizes $44 million in case involving HPZ Token
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) said it has seized assets worth more than Rs278 crore ($44 million) from various entities, including those with links to China, in a money-laundering probe that involved alleged cheating of investors through mobile phone-based app HPZ Token.
The ED had earlier attached properties worth Rs176.67 crore in the case.
The case stems from a 2021 police report made in Kohima, Nagaland, that alleged people were promised “astronomical” returns for investing money in a project that involved Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies.
The HPZ Token app was allegedly used for this purpose.
13 killed as bus catches fire after collision with truck
At least 13 people were killed and 14 others suffered severe burn injuries when a private bus caught fire after colliding with a truck in Madhya Pradesh’s Guna district on Wednesday.
Officials said the injured were rushed to the Guna district hospital for treatment. The state government has ordered a probe into the collision.
Temporary wrestling body formed days after federation suspended
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has formed a temporary committee to run the affairs of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI), days after the Central government suspended its newly elected administration.
The ad hoc committee will be headed by president of the Wushu Association of India Bhupinder Singh Bajwa, and its members include former hockey player M.M. Somaya and shuttler Manjusha Kanwar.
The newly-elected WFI office-bearers, headed by Mr Sanjay Singh – a close friend of former WFI head Brij Bhushan Singh – was suspended on Sunday amid protests by top wrestlers, including Olympic medallist Sakshi Malik.
