An Indian Army helicopter crashed in the snow-bound area of the Gurez sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Friday.
The Cheetah helicopter crashed in the Baraum area of Gurez sector of Jammu and Kashmir, according to defence official.
Search parties have rushed to the spot.
“The search parties of the security forces are reaching the snow-bound area for the rescue of the chopper crew,” said the official.
More details are awaited. (ANI)
Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday along with the state cabinet submitted his resignation to the governor Lieutenant General Gurmit Singh at Raj Bhavan.
As per the practice, he will continue as the caretaker chief minister till the new government is sworn in.
In a tweet in Hindi today, Dhami wrote, “As we have received a tremendous amount of support in Uttarakhand my cabinet and I submitted resignation to Governor Gurmit Singh today.”
The BJP has come back to power for the second consecutive term in Uttarakhand with a two-third majority in the 70-member Assembly.
The party won 47 seats and got a vote share of 44.33 per cent, a drop of nearly two per cent from the previous 2017 Assembly elections. The BJP had secured a 46.51 per cent vote share in the 2017 Assembly election.
However, the BJP suffered a loss of 10 seats in comparison to the previous polls in 2017 when the party had come with an even bigger majority with 57 seats.
The incumbent Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, however, suffered a loss to Congress candidate Bhuwan Chandra Kapri by a margin of 6,579 votes in the Khatima constituency. Dhami got a total of 41,598 votes with a vote share of 44.8 per cent as against Kapri who got 48,177 with a huge vote share of 51.89 per cent.
However, some BJP MLAs including Kailash Gahtori and Suresh Gadiya have expressed their willingness to give up their respective seats for Dhami to contest as he suffered defeat in Khatima.
The Congress party, which was hoping to return to power in this election managed to win 19 seats. The party’s top leader and former chief minister Harish Rawat lost his seat from the Lalkuwa seat to BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht by 17,527 votes.
Anupama Rawat, daughter of Harish Rawat defeated sitting minister Yatishwaranand from the Hardwar Rural seat by a margin of 4,472. (ANI)
Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday took a dig at the Congress for blaming him for the party’s defeat in the recent Punjab assembly elections.
“The Congress Leadership will never learn! Who is responsible for the humiliating defeat of Congress in UP? What about Manipur, Goa, Uttrakhand? The answer is written in BOLD LETTERS on the wall but as always I presume they will avoid reading it.” Amarinder Singh tweeted.
Singh who had had late last year launched his own party Punjab Lok Congress lost his Patiala Urban Constituency seat and ally BJP could manage to win only two seats out of the total 117 assembly seats in the state as per the results of the assembly polls announced yesterday.
Congress’ Randeep Singh Surjewala had claimed that the Congress party had lost because of the anti-incumbency of 4.5 years under Captain Amarinder Singh.
“In Punjab, Congres presented a new leadership through Charanjit Singh Channi who is the son of the soil, but the entire anti-incumbency of 4.5 years under Captain Amarinder Singh could not be overcome and hence people voted for AAP for change,” said Surjewala said while addressing a press conference yesterday.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), registered a historic win in Punjab with a three-fourth majority while in the other four states- Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, and Uttarakhand, the BJP is set to form the government. (ANI)
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Friday informed that the Term-II examinations for classes 10 and 12 are to be held from April 26, 2022.
Last year, the CBSE had announced that board examinations for 2022 will be conducted in two terms. While Term-I exams have already been held, the Term-II exams for both the classes will commence from April 26.
This time exam timings will be 10:30 am and won’t be conducted in two shifts. Further details are available on the official website, stated the CBSE.
According to the Board, the exam schedule has been prepared keeping the COVID-19 pandemic in mind.
“As the schools were closed due to the pandemic which has led to learning loss, therefore, more gaps have been given between the examinations in almost all the subjects in both the classes,” said the CBSE in a notification issued today.
The CBSE notification further added, “Other competitive exams including JEE Main have been taken care of while preparing the data sheet.”
The Supreme Court on February 23, 2022 dismissed a plea seeking cancellation of physical exams for Class X and XII to be conducted by all State Boards, CBSE, ICSE and National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), saying such petitions give false hope to students and only create more confusion. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding a roadshow from Gujarat airport to Kamalam (BJP’s office) on Friday.
This roadshow holds importance as Gujarat is scheduled to go for Assembly Elections this year. However, the dates of these polls have not been announced yet.
Further, this roadshow comes just a day after BJP won in 4 out of 5 states including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa in recently concluded assembly polls.
In Uttar Pradesh, BJP and its allies won 255 seats out of 403 assembly constituencies. In Uttarakhand, the party secured 47 seats out of 70 seats.
In Goa, BJP won 20 seats, out of 40, and got the support of independent candidates while in Manipur, the ruling BJP coalition bagged 31 seats out of 60 seats.
PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Gujarat from today.
At around 4 PM, the Prime Minister will participate in Gujarat Panchayat Mahasammelan and address the gathering, the Prime Minister’s Office informed.
On Saturday, the Prime Minister will dedicate the building of Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to the nation at 11 AM.
He will also deliver the first convocation address of the RRU as the Chief Guest.
At around 6:30 PM, Prime Minister will declare open the 11th Khel Mahakumbh and deliver an address on the occasion. (ANI)
Anushka Sharma has been training hard for her role of a cricketer in the upcoming film ‘Chakda Xpress’.
On Friday, Anushka took to Instagram and shared a video from her training session.
In the clip, Anushka can be seen doing some feet exercise on the cricket training pitch. She can also be seen trying her hand at bowling and batting in the video.
“Get-Sweat-Go! #ChakdaXpress #prep getting hard and intense as we are counting days,” she captioned the post.
For the unversed, Anushka’s film ‘Chakda Xpress’ is inspired by cricketer Jhulan Goswami’s life and journey. The filming will be started soon under Prosit Roy’s direction. (ANI)
The 16 students from Assam, who arrived at the Delhi airport earlier today from Sumy in war-torn Ukraine, will be housed at the Assam House in the national capital till their travel to Guwahati is arranged, chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Friday.
“We welcome 16 of our students studying at Sumy State University, Ukraine after being evacuated by MEA. They were received at Delhi by Assam Bhawan officials. They will be staying at Assam House, New Delhi till their travel to Guwahati is arranged by us,” Assam CM tweeted.
For the last several days, Sumy has been witnessing heavy shelling and intense exchange of fire between Russians and Ukrainian forces.
ANI had previously reported that arrangements for the evacuation of stranded Indian students were made on both sides of Ukraine as well as the Russian border.
Ukrainian drivers were not willing to drive towards the Russian side. However, local arrangements for buses were made. ANI learnt from sources that India demanded escort from Ukraine and it was provided after some delay.
Red Cross also helped and humanitarian passage for all international students was created and students were finally evacuated. They were asked to maintain radio silence until they crossed the danger zone.
India has brought back over 20,000 stranded citizens from the war-torn country. (ANI)
The United States is not assisting Ukraine with biological weapons in its war with Russia and there are no indications that biological weapons are being used by Ukraine, said a US Defense Department official.
Two senior defense officials held an on-background press briefing at the Pentagon on Thursday, the US Defense Department said in a press release.
There are five biological research laboratories in Kyiv. Their work focuses on diagnostics, therapeutics, treatments, prevention and vaccines, not on military use as the Russians and Chinese accuse, the US official said.
“There are no DOD bio-weapon labs in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world,” the US official said.
The Biological Weapons Convention effectively prohibits the development, production, acquisition, transfer, stockpiling and use of biological and toxin weapons.
It was the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The United States, Ukraine and Russia signed onto it in 1972 and all three ratified it in 1975.
Earlier, Russia said it has obtained evidence that the regime in Kyiv had urgently eliminated all traces of the US-funded military biological program in Ukraine.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov on Wednesday said Ukrainian laboratories’ staffers testified last month that a number of dangerous pathogens of plague, anthrax, cholera and other deadly diseases were urgently disposed of.
Over the ongoing
conflict
in Ukraine, the Pentagon official said the Russians have moved about five kilometers closer to Kyiv since yesterday and are now about 40 kilometers east of the city.
There are multiple lines of advancements toward Kyiv, with the assessed intent of encircling the Ukrainian capital. However, their progress to do so hasn’t been effective, the US official said.
Security assistance continues to flow into Ukraine from the U.S. and NATO allies, the official said.
“The Ukrainians are putting up a very stiff resistance,” the official said. The Ukrainians still have most of their fixed wing fighter aircraft available to them, the official added. (ANI)
More than 1 million children have now fled Ukraine as war continues to ravage the country, UNICEF said on Thursday. Most have fled with their families to Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Moldova and Romania.
“The number of children on the move is staggering, an indication of how desperate the situation for children and families in Ukraine has become,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Afshan Khan. “Children are leaving everything they know behind in search of safety. This is heart-breaking.”
So far, six trucks carrying nearly 70 tons of supplies have arrived to Ukraine. The supplies include personal protection equipment and medical, surgical and obstetric kits.
Working with partners, UNICEF said that it will be delivering medical supplies to 22 hospitals in 5 different conflict-affected areas of Ukraine, to benefit 20,000 children and mothers.
In a press statement, the UN agency renewed its call for safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access to reach populations in need, and for the safe passage of civilians to reach the services and protection to which they are entitled.
“Across the border, three trucks were dispatched from Copenhagen – UNICEF’s warehouse and the largest humanitarian hub in the world – carrying essential supplies, such as early childhood development, recreational and hygiene kits. These supplies have now arrived in Poland,” the UNICEF said.
Additional supplies are on their way from Copenhagen and from Turkey, and are due to arrive in the coming days, it added.
To assist children and families on the move from Ukraine to Moldova, Poland, Romania and Belarus, UNICEF has set up “Blue Dots,” one-stop safe spaces that provide key information to traveling families and the ability to identify unaccompanied and separated children and ensure their protection.
Furthermore, UNICEF appealed for USD 349 million to prevent deterioration of the welfare of children in Ukraine and neighbouring countries and to enable the effective provision of critical life-saving support. This includes USD 276 million for immediate needs within Ukraine and USD 73 million in neighbouring countries.
“We’re doing everything we can to help the children and families in need but the war must end. Peace is the only sustainable solution,” Khan said. (ANI)
Nearly a week after Disney paused the release of its new movies in Russia, the company has now announced that it is “taking steps to pause all other businesses in Russia”.
As per Variety, the Walt Disney Company is working to halt all of its businesses in Russia following the country’s “unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” a spokesperson said on Thursday.
Disney has many linear channels and consumer product brands across Russia, as well as a cruise port located in St. Petersburg.
Talking about the company’s decision to suspend all of its businesses and services in the country, the Disney spokesperson said, “Given the unrelenting assault on Ukraine and the escalating humanitarian crisis, we are taking steps to pause all other businesses in Russia. This includes content and product licensing, Disney Cruise Line activities, National Geographic magazine and tours, local content productions and linear channels.”
The spokesperson added, “Some of those business activities we can and will pause immediately. Others — such as linear channels and some content and product licensing — will take time given contractual complexities.”
While the businesses are being paused given the current situation, the staff based in Russia will continue to be employed.
“Even as we pause these businesses, we remain committed to our dedicated colleagues in Russia, who will remain employed. And we continue to work with our NGO partners to provide urgent aid and other much-needed assistance to refugees,” Disney’s statement read.
This move comes after the entertainment and media conglomerate on March 1 announced its plans to halt the release of new movies in Russia.
Russia has faced economic blowback to its decision to wage war on Ukraine. In response to the country’s invasion, several entertainment companies including Amazon, Netflix and WarnerMedia, Sony Music have decided to pause or entirely withdraw business in Russia, while all of the major studios including Paramount Pictures have announced they will stop premiering their films in the country.
Outside of Hollywood, companies like Microsoft, Apple and Dell have suspended sales in Russia. (ANI)
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