Month: February 2020

A South African judge said she was left with no choice but to issue former President Jacob Zuma with an arrest warrant after he failed to appear in court on Tuesday.   Zuma’s legal team said he was receiving medical care outside the country. But Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Dhaya Pillay was skeptical of the document they submitted as evidence of Zuma’s illness, calling it “puzzling” and questioning if it was even signed by a medical doctor.   “What this court requires is evidence. Some authentic, reliable proof that Mr.…

A small village in the outskirts of Ahmednagar district passed a resolution against NRC, CAA during a Gram Panchayat meeting on Republic Day.   Mahadev Gawli, a villager, who proposed the resolution during the meeting in the village with a population of just about 2,000, said that they will launch a non-cooperation movement if the Centre refuses to roll back the new citizenship law and NRC.   “Out of the 2000 people here, 45 per cent of people belong to the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and downtrodden sections. They do…

 Almost 18 families of Kerala were baffled when they found their drinking water was laced with alcohol.   The report claims that excise officials recently disposed alcohol in a pit near the well in an apartment premises. The alcohol must have seeped through the soil and entered the well, as per reports.

Visiting Bhutan can pinch your pockets as Bhutan’s lower house on Monday passed a legislation that makes it mandatory for visitors from India, Bangladesh, and the Maldives to pay a fee of Rs 1,200 per day for its ‘sustainable development’ from July this year.   The Himalayan kingdom, which is concerned about its ecology and environment, decided to impose the fee following an increase in Indian tourists. There was a ten percent hike in the number of tourists from the three countries who visited Bhutan in 2018.   Currently, international…

After the `Disha Act,’ the Andhra Pradesh government has showed its steely resolve by launching “Disha Police Stations” across the state to especially deal with rape and POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offence) cases on priority. On February 7, the first `Disha Police Station’ will start functioning in East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. As many as 18 Disha Police Stations will be established across 13 districts of the state, in a phased manner.   The Police Station will be under the supervision of two DSP (Deputy Superintendent of…

Two separate gangs consisting of 2 juveniles were arrested on Tuesday for printing and circulating fake currency notes, police said. The counterfeit notes worth a value of 17.77 lakh were seized. The police team raided the printing press where the fake currency notes were being printed. The police laid a trap and caught the gang members from different places.  In one gang among nine people three juveniles were caught and fake currency worth 9.27 lakh were seized. The gang was believed to have printed and circulated notes of Rs. 200…

Arvind Kejriwal’s daughter Harshita Kejriwal, aged 24 has commented that BJP leaders’ remarks were a “new low in politics”. She also listed the work done by the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in Delhi in the last five years.   The BJP lawmaker Parvesh Verma first used the term terrorist for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader during a campaign trail in January while talking about the anti-citizenship act protesters in Shaheen Bagh.   Then Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Monday that Kejriwal had called himself an “anarchist” and there is…

A tail submission of pleas and new applications by the guilty and because of their pendency at the court, their death warrant has already been stopped twice by the Patiala House Court.   The Patiala House Court had issued a death warrant to hang the guilty on February 1, but Vinay’s pending mercy petition at the President’s office led to a stoppage of the execution.   The Delhi High Court is said to pronounce its verdict on the central government’s plea regarding the hanging in Nirbhaya case on Wednesday.   Justice…

The Oil Ministry has moved a Cabinet note seeking approval for hiving off state-owned gas utility GAIL (India) Limited’s pipeline business into a separate entity for a possible sale to a strategic investor at a later date, sources privy to the development said.   GAIL is India’s biggest natural gas marketing and trading firm and owns more than 70 per cent of the country’s 16,981-km pipeline network, giving it a stranglehold on the market.   It will continue to execute the gas sales agreements it has already signed and will…

Hospitals in India are now on high alert as patients suspecting coronavirus are being admitted. Two city residents who returned from China recently have been admitted to the isolation ward of the Civil hospital with novel coronavirus-like symptoms, prompting the district health department to issue an alert on Friday.   Civil hospital’s epidemic in-charge Dr Ram Prakash Rai said, “Both the male patients, 31 yr old and 35 yr old respectively self reported to government hospital, are under observation in isolation ward, being suspected of being affected by the coronavirus.…