11:26 10 feared trapped under avalanche in Ladakh: As many as 10 people are feared trapped under snow after an avalanche occurred in Khardung La on Friday. Two tippers and a Scorpio car, which were carrying a total of 12 people, left for Khardung La this morning to load snow which was to be brought to Leh. A tipper had been loaded with snow while the other one was being filled with the same when the avalanche struck. A search and rescue operation by the army is currently underway. Further details of the incident are awaited. – ANI
11:23 That’s what Delhi looked like this morning: A thick blanket of fog enveloped the national capital today, with residents advised to avoid all physical activity outdoors and move activities indoors. “If asthmatic, keep relief medicine handy. Sensitive groups must stop outdoor activity early morning and after sunset. Avoid prolonged or heavy exertion. Go for a short walk instead of a jog and take more breaks. Stop any activity level if you experience any unusual coughing, chest discomfort, wheezing, breathing difficulty, or fatigue. If the room has windows, close them. If the air Conditioner provides a fresh air intake option, keep that closed,” stated an advisory published by SAFAR. According to the latest report published by the World Health Organisation, as many as one million lives in the world can be saved if all the countries reduce the menace of air pollution in accordance with the Paris Agreement by 2050.
11:20 Fog disrupts rail traffic in Delhi : Delhi, routinely suffering from air pollution accompanied by thick fog caused by vehicular exhaust and coal burning, witnessed yet another bad day on Friday. Owing to the low visibility, at least 10 trains were delayed in the morning after the minimum temperature settled at 7 Degrees Celsius.
11:14 ‘Unemployment is a major cause of resentment in India’: Baijayant ‘Jay’ Panda, who was suspended from the Biju Janata Dal and resigned from the BJD last year, was one of the party’s founders and was one of the most vocal MPs in Parliament for 18 years.
A compilation of his opinion pieces has just been published, in a book quite aptly called Lutyen’s Maverick.
11:10 Dense fog disrupts flight operations at Delhi airport:
Dense fog enveloped several parts of the national capital, leading to disruption in flight operations at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
Arrivals and departures have largely been put on hold at the IGI airport. Two flights were also diverted between 5.30 am and 8.30 am.
“Flight operations have largely been put on hold. Very few aircraft are departing and that too on the basis of their size, visibility and ATC (air traffic control) clearance for taking off,” an airport official said.
According to the official, departures were completely put on hold from 5.30 am to 7 am and arrivals happened only intermittently in between 6 am to 7.20 am. Departures were not allowed after 7 am due to dense fog. One of the flights diverted from the IGI airport was coming from Singapore. It was diverted to Kolkata, he said. At Delhi, the minimum runway visibility required for take off is 125 metres.
The Delhi airport was facing low visibility conditions since 4 am Friday due to dense fog, the official said.
Vistara Airlines tweeted at 8.23 am on Friday that “due to dense fog and poor visibility in Delhi, delays are expected for both arrivals and departures with likely consequential impact on flights across network”.
“Currently, flight departures from Delhi are on hold and will resume by 0930 hrs subject to weather clearance,” it added. Jet Airways also tweeted on 6.33 am that some of its flights have been affected as there is dense fog at Delhi airport as well as Bengaluru airport. — PTI
Image: That’s not a railway platform, but IGI airport this morning. With most flights cancelled this morning, passengers were inconvenienced with all seats taken at the terminal. Pic: Seema Pant
10:53 Bishop Franco has money, political power, anything can happen: Nun: Sister Anupama (one of 4 nuns who protested against Bishop Franco Mulakkal) on the transfer order against them: It’s mental harassment so that the survivor sister and we come under mental pressure. We won’t go but will be here with our survivor sister until our case ends. We know Bishop Franco has a lot of money and political power and with that, anything can happen. We hope the Court gives us justice. We are satisfied with the investigation.
10:38 It’s mahagathbandhan vs Modi at Mamata’s rally tomorrow : With an eye on Delhi, the Trinamool Congress is all geared up for tomorrow’s “united opposition rally”, which party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said would sound the “death knell” for the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha polls.
Leaders of over 20 opposition parties are expected to attend the rally at the iconic Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Saturday to vow to put up a united fight against the “misrule” of the saffron party. The TMC hopes to use the rally as a platform to prop Banerjee as a leader who can “take along other parties” and challenge the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party after the general election.
Banerjee, the brain behind the mega opposition rally, on Thursday said the regional parties would be the deciding factor in the Lok Sabha polls. “It will be a ‘United India Rally’ against the misrule of the BJP. It will sound the death knell for the BJP … The saffron party’s seat count in the general election will not cross 125. The number of seats the state parties will win will be much higher than that of the BJP’s. “The federal parties, that is the regional parties, will be the deciding factor after the elections,” she claimed.
Chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, H D Kumaraswamy, N Chandrababu Naidu, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) M K Stalin, besides dissident BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha are among those billed to attend the mega rally. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge and his party colleague Abhishek Manu Singhvi will also take part in the rally. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Ajit Singh, former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, Patidar leader Hardik Patel, Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha will also be present on the stage alongside the TMC supremo. Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang, who quit the BJP on Tuesday, is also set to attend the meet.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati will not be present. They have deputed senior party leaders to attend the programme. The three politicians had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy last year.
According to state Congress sources, the party unit was not very keen on Kharge and Singhvi attending the rally as it would send a wrong message to its workers who are fighting against the TMC in West Bengal.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), along with the other Left parties, has decided to give the rally a miss. Asked to comment on Mayawati skipping the rally, Banerjee said BSP’s “senior leader Satish Chandra Mishra will be attending, which is a big thing for us”. — PTI
Image: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on a Twitter post of @AITCofficial with a warning to the BJP, ‘First take care of Delhi, then look at Bengal’.
10:13 Son of BSF jawan suspended for food video found dead: Rohit, son of Tej Bahadur Yadav (pictured), the Border Security Force Constable who was dismissed from service after he had released a video in 2017 on quality of food served to soldiers, was found dead at his residence in Shanti Vihar in Rewari, Haryana.
“We received a call that Rohit has committed suicide. At the crime spot, we discovered that the room was locked from inside. The body was lying on the bed. There was a pistol in his hands. His father has gone to attend Kumbh Mela. We have informed him,” said a police official.
Tej Bahadur Yadav had posted four videos on the social media in January, 2017, that showed him complaining about the unpalatable food at his camp along the Indo-Pakistan border in Jammu and Kashmir. The videos triggered outrage across the nation, but the BSF dismissed his allegations.He was later dismissed from service. — ANI
09:55 Soldiers dying because we are not doing our job properly: RSS chief: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat lamented Thursday that though there was no war going on, soldiers were still dying on the country’s borders. This was happening because “we are not doing our job properly”, he said at a function to mark silver jubilee of the Prahaar Samaaj Jagruti Sanstha in Nagpur. He said it was time to sacrifice life for the country before India gained freedom. After Independence, one had to do it on the borders when there was a war, the RSS chief said. “(But) in our country there is no war (at the moment), still people (soldiers) are getting martyred….because we are not doing our job properly,” he said. “Otherwise, if there is no war then there is no reason why a soldier should die on the border. But it is happening,” he said, adding that steps must be taken as a society to stop this and “make the country great”.
He said people have to strive all the time to make one’s country great. “Everybody has to strive…this is not something for which we can give contract to somebody. (We rest easy thinking) the government will do it, police will do it, the Army will do it, but it’s not like that, the entire society has to make efforts,” Bhagwat said.
“The policies in the country affect everybody. I do not make the policy nor you, but we all have to bear its impact. Inflation increased, I did not increase it nor you, but we all have to suffer. Unemployment increased, I did not increase it nor you, but we all have to suffer, that is why we will have to learn to live for our country,” he said. — PTI
09:47 LIVE! Modi’s decision to buy 36 Rafales shot the price of each jet up by 41%:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision, announced out of the blue in Paris on April 10, 2015, to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France instead of the 126 asked for by the Indian Air Force for six squadrons, pushed the price of each fully fitted, combat-ready aircraft up by 41.42%.
It was the National Democratic Alliance government’s acceptance of the cost of 1.3 billion claimed for the ‘design and development’ of 13 India Specific Enhancements (ISE), and the distribution of this ‘non-recurring cost’ over 36 instead of 126 bare-bones aircraft, that was the major reason for the big increase in price.
09:23 Delhi’s air quality worsens, fog disrupts air and rail traffic:
A thick blanket of fog covered the National Capital Territory this morning. All departures from Delhi Airport were on hold from 5:30 am to 7 am today and most of the arrivals were also hit due to poor visibility and bad weather. Train services have also been affected with 10 trains to Delhi running late due to fog as of now.
The Delhi Traffic Police alerted commuters of poor visibility. Tweeting a list of ‘Dos and Don’ts’, the police said, “Visibility low due to intense fog in the border areas and area around India Gate in Delhi. Drive with caution. Maintain moderate speed. Drive with headlamps switched on.”
The India Meteorological Department has said that there will be dense to very dense fog at several places in western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand for the next two days. In the east, there is dense fog forecast over Assam, Meghalaya and Tripura.
Visibility was very poor in the capital. Pictures from Delhi’s RK Puran and Rajpath show vehicles moving very slowly due to poor visibility.
08:58 Karnataka Congress summons MLAs today to identify dissidents:
A tense end game in Karnatakas latest political drama is set to play itself out on Friday, when the Congress has summoned a meeting of its legislators for a show of hands, seeking to identify turncoats with a warning that absentees will be expelled from the party.
The Congress, which has an alliance with the Janata Dal-Secular in the southern state, and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party resumed an acrimonious verbal battle after a days rest, accusing each other of trying to poach their MLAs.
Some of the Congresss 80 MLAs were still missing, and thought to be in Mumbai, keeping up the suspense over their intentions. One of the alleged dissenters, B Nagendra, arrived in the state capital to attend a court hearing and rubbished speculation that he had been poached by the BJP, but was unsure if he would attend Fridays meeting.
I have come to the city for a court hearing. There is no operation (to poach Congress MLAs). I went to Mumbai for personal reasons as I have business there. I keep going there often, Nagendra said, insisting that he had never been out of contact.
I dont have any reason to be unhappy (with the Congress). Regarding the CLP {Congress Legislature Party} meeting, I have to see what happens with the court, if I have a hearing tomorrow as well, it might be difficult to attend, Nagendra said.
A senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, said the dissidents had been thwarted in their attempt to muster more support.
08:39 Trump cancels US delegation’s visit to Davos amid shutdown:
US President Donald Trump has cancelled the delegation’s trip to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, due to the partial government shutdown.
The announcement comes as the shutdown entered its 27th day on Thursday.
Last week, Trump cancelled his planned trip to the WEF meeting, citing the “intransigence” of the Democrats on his funding request to build a controversial wall along the US-Mexico border.
The five-day summit is slated to begin at the Swiss resort town of Davos from January 21.
“Out of consideration for the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay and to ensure his team can assist as needed, President Trump has canceled his delegation’s trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Thursday.
The cancellation of the US delegation visit to the WEF meeting came on a day Trump postponed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan, citing the shutdown.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin was due to lead the five-member presidential delegation to Davos which also included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross.
The longest-ever shutdown in US history has rendered over 800,000 federal employees without work, crippling the functioning of several key wings of the government including Security and State department.
— PTI
08:00 Britain’s Prince Philip unhurt after car crash near royal estate:
Queen Elizabeth’s 97-year-old husband Prince Philip escaped uninjured from a car crash while driving near the Sandringham estate in eastern England.
Police said two people in a car that collided with that of the prince, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, were both taken to hospital for minor injuries but later discharged.
Pictures from the scene showed a Land Rover overturned on the side of the road. The accident occurred when Philip was pulling out of a driveway onto a main road, the BBC reported, quoting a witness saying he was very shaken.
Philip drove former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle to lunch during their state visit to Britain in 2016.
Buckingham Palace confirmed the accident.
“The Duke was not injured,” it added in a statement.
A palace spokeswoman later confirmed Philip was at the wheel and was checked by a doctor afterwards. He did not go to hospital and was now back at Sandringham, the private country residence owned by Queen Elizabeth in the county of Norfolk.
Famous for verbal gaffes but generally regarded with wry affection by Britons, Philip married Elizabeth in 1947 and has been by his wife’s side throughout her long reign.
00:24 Rajasthan: 1 dead, 65 cases of swine flu found positive today:
As cases of swine flu are on the rise in Rajasthan, one person died in Churu and 65 cases of swine flu were found positive across the state on Thursday, said an official statement.
According to Rajasthan Health Department, “A total of 1,036 cases of swine flu have been found positive and 40 deaths have been reported in the state in January so far.”
Two cases each in Bhilwara, Jhunjhunu, Kota, one each in Nagaur, Bharatpur, Bikaner, Hanumangarh, Dausa, four in Churu, 24 cases in Jaipur, nine in Alwar, three each in Sikar, Barmer, five in Jodhapur, three in Barmer, and six in Udaipur.
Earlier it was reported that a total of 210 people died of swine flu with over 2,192 positive cases reported from across the state in 2018.
The highest number of cases and deaths were reported from Jaipur district followed by Kota and Jodhpur districts respectively.
Director, Department of Health, V K Mathur said: “There have been 2,192 cases of swine flu in Rajasthan between January 1 and December 21, 2018.
“The highest number of deaths and positive cases has been reported from Jaipur, where 38 people died due to swine flu while 884 positive cases were reported. Jaipur is followed by Kota with 29 deaths and 400 positive cases of swine flu being reported.”
Swine flu is an infection caused by one of the several swine influenza viruses (SIV), with the H1N1 strain being the most common across the country.
H1N1 virus spreads when an individual touched an infected or breathes droplets of coughs and sneezes that are in the air.
The symptoms are the same as the seasonal flu, also known as the viral fever. This includes cough, sore throat, and body ache. — ANI
Source: Rediff