A case has been registered against seven named and 50 unidentified people for allegedly offering namaaz on a road near a graveyard in Bareilly district, police said on Saturday.

Hafizganj Station House Officer (SHO) Chetram Verma said based on a complaint lodged by Sub-Inspector Gajendra Singh, a case has been registered against Kalua, Narbar Khan, Sabir, Janade Ali, Mohd Umar (village pradhan), Urabbe Ali, Mumtaz -- all residents of the Duavat village -- and 50 unnamed people under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 505(1)(b) (offence against State or public tranquility) and 341 (wrongful restraint).

The case was registered on Friday night.

Citing the sub-inspector's complaint, the SHO said the village's pradhan Mohd Umar had informed police that a burial would be performed in the graveyard on Friday morning.

When the burial procession of Nakshu Khan arrived on the road near the graveyard, the accused offered namaaz, police said.

Police force is already present near the graveyard, since it is located close to a populated area, and is also close to a religious place called 'Brahmadev Sthal'.

Local residents objected to the offering of the namaaz. They also made a video of the incident, which went viral on social media, prompting police to take action.  -- PTI

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said a review petition has been filed before the Cauvery Water Management Board regarding the Cauvery water release order.

The state government said in its review petition that it cannot release water, the Chief Minister's Office said in a statement.

Also, the government sought permission to build a balancing reservoir across Cauvery river at Mekedatu near Kanakapura in Ramanagara Taluk.

After reviewing the situation, a similar petition will be filed before the Supreme Court, he added.

Speaking to the reporters in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said he had convened a meeting with retired judges of the Supreme Court and the Advocate General and took suggestions.

Accordingly action will be taken. Karnataka had witnessed a bandh on Friday against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. Prior to that, there was a Bengaluru bandh on Tuesday.   -- PTI

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Saturday the Aditya-L1 spacecraft has travelled beyond a distance of 9.2 lakh km from Earth, successfully escaping the sphere of Earth's influence.

It is now navigating its path towards the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 (L1), the Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

'This is the second time in succession that ISRO could send a spacecraft outside the sphere of influence of the Earth, the first time being the Mars Orbiter Mission,' it said.

The ISRO said earlier this month the Aditya-L1 solar mission spacecraft has commenced collecting data which will help scientists analyse the behaviour of particles surrounding Earth.

Data collected around L1 would provide insights into the origin, acceleration, and anisotropy of solar wind and space weather phenomena, it said.

The launch of Aditya-L1 by PSLV-C57 rocket was successfully accomplished by ISRO on September 2.

Aditya-L1 spacecraft carries a total seven different payloads to study the Sun, four of which will observe the light from the Sun and the remaining three will measure in-situ parameters of the plasma and magnetic fields.

Aditya-L1 will be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrangian Point 1 (L1), which is 1.5 million km from the Earth in the direction of the Sun. It will revolve around the Sun with the same relative position and hence can see the Sun continuously.   --  PTI

Bharatiya Janata Party's Manipur unit has told its national president J P Nadda that people are angry as the state government has so far failed to contain the ethnic strife.

A letter signed by party's state unit president Sharda Devi, vice-president Ch Chidananda Singh and six others told Nadda that 'public anger and protest is now slowly turning the tide, putting the sole onus of this prolonged disturbance into the failure of the government in dealing with the situation'. 

Demanding immediate re-settlement of the displaced people in their 'original places of residence', the leaders said, 'We know our government is working day and night so as to bring back normalcy in the state' and that 'our party in the state-level is also playing a major crucial role in coping with the new development'.

The party also highlighted the demands of the people including immediate restoration of 'free flow of traffic along the national highways'.

The state unit also called for providing promised compensation to people whose houses were destroyed and ex gratia to families of those killed in the ethnic strife.

It also urged for effective implementation of ground rules of Suspension of Operations and to treat any violation as an 'act of terrorism'.

The state unit also urged Nadda to apprise the 'Union home ministry for early completion of the drive to record the biometric data of illegal immigrants to facilitate the early implementation of the NRC' and 'to completely destroy all poppy cultivation' and 'establish a joint monitoring committee for constant vigilance'.   -- PTI

A court in Punjab's Fazilka district sent Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira to 14-day judicial custody on Saturday in connection with a 2015 drugs case.

Amid tight security arrangements, Khaira was produced in the court in Jalalabad after his two-day police remand ended on Saturday, officials said. 

Bholath MLA Khaira was arrested on Thursday from his Chandigarh residence.

He was arrested by the Punjab Police following an investigation conducted by a special investigation team led by Deputy Inspector General of Police Swapan Sharma in the 2015 drugs case.

The case was registered in March 2015 at Jalalabad in Fazilka.

Nine people, including Gurdev Singh, who was allegedly a close-aide of Khaira, were booked in the case and later convicted under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.

Police had recovered 2 kg of heroin, 24 gold biscuits, one country-made pistol, a .315-bore pistol and two Pakistani SIM cards from them.

Khaira's cropped up later during the police probe.

However, in 2017, the Supreme Court stayed the trial court proceedings against Khaira who was summoned as an additional accused in the matter.

He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2021 on the charge of money laundering linked to the 2015 drugs case.

He was granted bail in 2022. In February 2023, the apex court quashed the summoning order against Khaira in the drugs case.

The Punjab Congress had called the police action against Khaira as political vendetta, a charge vehemently denied by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party.  -- PTI

Most parts of India are likely to record normal to above-normal maximum and above-normal minimum temperatures in October, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Saturday.

It said the northeast monsoon, which brings rainfall to five meteorological sub-divisions of south peninsular India -- Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh, Rayalaseema, Kerala and south interior Karnataka -- in the October to December period is most likely to be normal.

This means, the region may receive 88 per cent to 112 per cent of the long-period average of 334.13 mm of rainfall.

The Met office said normal to above-normal maximum temperatures are likely over most parts of India in October.

Above-normal minimum temperatures are predicted over large parts of the country, barring some parts of northeast, it added.   -- PTI

Tamil actor Vishal on Saturday expressed gratitude to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for ordering an immediate inquiry into his corruption allegations against the Mumbai office of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Vishal had alleged that he had to pay Rs 6.5 lakh to the CBFC's Mumbai office for the screening and certification of the Hindi version of his film Mark Antony.

He also made an appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to investigate the 'scam' that transpired at the CBFC's Mumbai office.

Following his post on microblogging site X, the I&B ministry said the government had zero tolerance for corruption and strictest action will be taken against anyone found involved.

'I sincerely thank @MIB_India for taking immediate steps on this important matter pertaining to the corruption issue in #CBFC Mumbai. Thank you very much for the necessary action taken and definitely hoping for this to be an example for every government official who intends to or is part of corruption and to take the honest route to serve the nation and not the steps of corruption,' Vishal wrote on X on Saturday.

'I once again thank my Prime Minister @narendramodi and Maharashtra CM @mieknathshinde and everyone involved in bringing out this initiative immediately. It brings a sense of satisfaction to a common man like me and others that justice will be served to people who are victims of corruption, Jai-Hindi,' he added.

The I&B ministry on Friday said that a senior officer has been deputed to Mumbai to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

Vishal's sci-fi film Mark Antony, directed by Adhik Ravichandran, was released in Hindi on Thursday.

The movie also features S J Suryah, Ritu Varma, Sunil, Selvaraghavan and Abhinaya.

According to a senior official, I&B minister Anurag Thakur wants the CBFC to speed up creating a transparent mechanism for faster certification of films in urgent cases and further strengthen the oversight measures.

The minister has sought an action-taken report in the matter by October 16. -- PTI

The India Meteorological Department said on Saturday said that the southwest monsoon has receded from Delhi, with the city receiving above normal rains during the season.

According to IMD data, the Safdarjung Observatory, the primary weather station of Delhi, received 660.8 mm of precipitation against a normal of 653.6 mm during the monsoon season (June to September).

Normally, the monsoon begins in the national capital by June 27 and recedes by September 25.

This year, the rain-bearing system embraced the city on June 25.

'The southwest monsoon has further withdrawn from some parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand; entire Punjab and Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi; some parts of west Uttar Pradesh, west Madhya Pradesh and east Rajasthan and some more parts of west Rajasthan today,' the IMD said in a statement.

The weather office said conditions are becoming favourable for further withdrawal of the monsoon from remaining parts of Jammu, Kashmir, Ladakh, Gilgit, Baltistan, Muzaffarabad region, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and west Uttar Pradesh; some more parts of Madhya Pradesh; remaining parts of Rajasthan and some parts of Gujarat in the next three to four days.   -- PTI

Eminent farm scientist M S Swaminathan was cremated in Chennai on Saturday with government honours, marked by a police gun salute.

A platoon of police personnel in ceremonial attire gave a gun salute and bugle was played marking the Tamil Nadu government's honour at a crematory in Chennai.

The final rites were performed by the family members and the body was cremated at the Besant Nagar electric crematorium.

Swaminathan passed away on Thursday. He was 98.   -- PTI

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma are slated to meet in Guwahati on Saturday evening to discuss the resolution of border disputes between the two states in six remaining areas, an official said.

The chief ministers are also likely to discuss the September 26 clash between residents of two bordering villages of Karbi Anglong and West Jaintia districts along the Assam-Meghalaya border, the official said.

Official level talks to resolve the issues in the remaining six disputed areas are being held at regular intervals  between the two neighbouring states.

Sarma and Sangma had last met on May 24 and had agreed to meet again to take forward the discussions to resolve the border issue as it was 'complicated', he said.

The two chief ministers had then agreed to visit the disputed areas along the border of Karbi Anglong-West Jaintia Hills districts of both the states.

Meghalaya was carved out of Assam as a separate state in 1972. It had challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act, 1971, leading to disputes in 12 areas of the 884.9 km long border between the two states.

Sarma on assuming office in May, 2021 had announced that his priority was to resolve long-standing boundary disputes with the states  neighbouring Assam. Subsequently, three regional committees were set up in August 2021 to resolve them in a phased manner.

The committees submitted their recommendations which were handed over to Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi by the two chief ministers, followed by the signing of a memorandum of understanding on March 29, 2022 to resolve disputes in six of the total 12 areas.

According to the agreement, 36.79 sq km of disputed area was taken up for settlement in the first phase with Assam getting full control of  18.51 sq km and Meghalaya over 18.28 sq km.   -- PTI

Communal tension erupted in Ramganj and nearby areas in Jaipur on Saturday after a man died allegedly due to thrashing by a group of men over an accident between two motorcycles, police said.

Two motorbikes collided in Subhash Chowk after which a group of men with one of the two riders thrashed the other rider, Iqbal, late Friday night, police said.

He was rushed to SMS hospital where he succumbed to his injuries, they said.

Several shops in the Muslim-dominated areas were shut down, and family members of the deceased and locals gathered there are demanding action against the other side.

Additional forces have been deployed around the area and efforts were being made to diffuse the tension, police said.

Shops in Ramganj, Subhash chowk and nearby areas have been closed in view of the tension.  -- PTI

Heavy rains continued to lash several parts of Kerala affecting normal life on Saturday.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sounded a 'yellow alert' warning in 13 of 14 districts of the state except in Kottayam. The yellow alert predicts heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.

Uprooting of trees, water-logging and collapsing of compound walls were reported in many places, but no major casualties have happened anywhere in the state so far in the rains continuing for the last two days.

Heavy downpour submerged hundreds of acres of paddy fields at Edathua, a tiny hamlet in the Kuttanad region in Alappuzha district.

The shutters of Aruvikkara Dam near the state capital was raised up to 160 cm in view of rising water level, district authorities in Thiruvananthapuram said.

As the rain is expected to intensify in the coming hours, the state Disaster Management Authority urged people living in high range to maintain extra vigil and directed fishermen not to venture into the sea.   -- PTI

India has raised with the United Kingdom foreign office and the police the incident in which its High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami was prevented from entering a gurdwara in Scotland, according to government sources.

"Doraiswami was on Friday stopped by a few radicals from entering a gurdwara in Glasgow. The Indian High Commissioner decided to leave instead of getting into an argument," as per the sources.

According to a purported video posted on the Instagram channel of 'Sikh Youth UK' a man reportedly a pro-Khalistani activist was seen blocking Doraiswami from entering the Glasgow gurdwara located on Albert Drive.

Read about the incident HERE

A person cannot be incarcerated for an indefinite period of time pending trial as it is violative of the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution of India, the Bombay high court said while granting bail to a man, accused in a double murder case.

A single bench of Justice Bharati Dangre on September 26 granted bail to Akash Satish Chandalia, arrested in September 2015 by the Lonavala police in Pune district on the charges of double murder and conspiracy.

The court in its order said a balancing act has to be struck between the gravity and seriousness of the charges, which the accused is facing, and the long time taken for conclusion of trial.

"The seriousness of an offence and its heinous nature may be one aspect, which deserves a consideration while exercising the discretion to release an accused on bail, but at the same time, the factor of long incarceration of an accused as under-trial prisoner also deserve its due weightage," the court said.

Pending the trial, a person cannot be kept in custody for an indefinite period of time and it clearly violates the fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution, and time and again has been considered to be a justiciable ground to exercise the discretion to release an accused, it added.

The court in its order noted that despite directions being issued to conclude the trial in a time-bound manner, it has not yielded any result and in such circumstances, there is no option but to release an accused on bail.

"A balancing act, therefore, will have to be struck between the gravity and seriousness of the charges, which the applicant has to face and the long time consumed for conclusion of the trial, as the question of great significance, which all the stakeholders in the system must ponder is, after this long period of trial, if the accused is acquitted, how shall the system compensate him," the order said.

Justice Dangre noted that deprivation of personal liberty, without ensuring speedy trial was not in consonance with Article 21 of the Constitution. 

"Access to justice and speedy trial has been well-recognised as a hallmark of liberty guaranteed in Part III of the Constitution and when a timely trial is not possible, the accused cannot be made to suffer further incarceration," the court said.

If an accused has already undergone a significant period of the proposed sentence then the court would ordinarily be obligated to enlarge him on bail, keeping aside the seriousness of the accusations faced by him, it said. 

Chandalia's advocate Sana Raees Khan argued that he was incarcerated for almost eight years and the trial is yet to conclude.

"Incarceration for an indefinite period will amount to pre-trial conviction and deprivation of personal liberty without ensuring speedy trial is not in consonance with Article 21 of the Constitution and the same is violative of his fundamental right," Khan submitted to the court.

The bench noted that Chandalia faces a charge under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (murder) and the manner in which the alleged offence has taken place is undisputedly serious in nature.

The case against Chandalia is that he and the co-accused in the case, a gangster, allegedly kidnapped two persons and assaulted them to death.

The prosecution's case is that Chandalia was one of the persons who assaulted the duo.

Two other co-accused in the case are already out on bail in the case.  -- PTI

A feature film based on the tragic story behind OceanGate's Titan submersible is being developed by 'Blackening' producer E Brian Dobbins and MindRiot Entertainment.

According to entertainment news outlet Deadline, Dobbins will serve as a co-producer on the fiction project, which will be penned by  MindRiot's Justin MacGregor and Jonathan Keasey.

The Titan submersible went missing during a deep sea underwater excursion near the wreckage of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean in June 2023.

The submersible lost contact with its mother ship 1 hour and 45 minutes into the dive, and four days later, a remotely operated underwater vehicle discovered debris near the Titanic wreck, and the Titan submersible was believed to have imploded.

All five of the crew members aboard the Titan died; they were British businessman Hamish Harding; British-Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman; former French Navy diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.

"The Titan Tragedy is yet another example of a misinformed and quick-to-pounce system, in this case, our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process.

"Our film will not only honour all those involved in the submersible tragedy, and their families, but the feature will serve as a vessel that also addresses a more macro concern about the nature of media today," said Keasey.

The project is part of MindRiot's upcoming slate of docu-series, including one based around Seattle's underground rap scene.   -- PTI

The agitation has hit the movement of trains, with many being cancelled, short-terminated or diverted, railway officials said. The farmers have been blockading railway tracks at several places in Faridkot, Samrala, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Sangrur, Patiala, Ferozepur, Bathinda and Amritsar since Thursday as part of their three-day agitation. 

The protest has left hundreds of rail passengers stranded in Punjab and Haryana.

A railway passenger at Ludhiana station said he arrived from Jalandhar City by road to take a train to Gorakhpur but there is no information on when it will arrive.

Another passenger at the station said the agitation forced the cancellation of a train from Amritsar in which 12 of his family members were supposed to travel to Bihar.

They later learned that the train would depart from Ludhiana and the family was travelled from Amritsar by road. However, there is still no update about the train, he added.

The farmers' agitation has directly affected the Ambala and the Ferozepur railway divisions, officials have said.

Several farmer groups, including the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee; Bharti Kisan Union (Krantikari); Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Azaad); Azaad Kisan Committee, Doaba; Bharti Kisan Union (Behramke); Bharti Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) and the Bharti Kisan Union (Chottu Ram), are participating in the three-day protest.

The three-day protest is scheduled to end on Saturday, the agitating farmers have said.

Their demands include a financial package for the flood-affected people in north India, a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for all crops and a debt waiver for farmers.

The farmers want a Rs 50,000-crore flood relief package for north Indian states and MSP according to the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission report.

They are also demanding a waiver of the entire debt of farmers and labourers, and Rs 10 lakh and a government job as compensation to the kin of each farmer who died during the agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws.  -- PTI

The class 11 student was allegedly killed by the accused on Friday night in Baraut Police Station area, they said. 

The deceased was identified as Hrithik, a student of KHR Inter College in the village, the police said. 

Baraut station house officer Devesh Kumar Singh told PTI that preliminary investigation into the alleged murder revealed a dispute over Rs 30. 

According to the complaint filed by family members, Hrithik had a dispute with three men of the same village regarding a transaction of Rs 30 and the dispute escalated to a point where the accused strangled Hrithik to death. 

The incident happened around 9 pm on Friday, police said. 

The SHO said that family members have said that all three accused knew Hrithik and added that there were no injury marks on his body. 

The police said the body has been sent for a post-mortem examination. 

An FIR has been registered in the matter and further investigation is underway, they said. -- PTI

According to a purported video posted on the Instagram channel of 'Sikh Youth UK,' a man reportedly a pro-Khalistani activist was seen blocking Doraiswami from entering the Glasgow Gurudwara on Albert Drive.  

This comes amid a diplomatic row between India and Canada over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.  

"They are hurting Sikhs in Canada and other places, every Sikh should protest against any Indian Ambassador like we did here in Glasgow," the man is heard saying in the video.  

The 'Sikh Youth UK' claims that there is an ongoing ban on Indian officials visiting the gurdwara in their official capacities.  

The video shows two men near the high commissioner's car in the parking area. 

One of them is seen attempting to open the car door, which has been locked from the inside. 

The purported video then shows the high commissioner's car leaving the gurudwara premises.  

The video then shows another man speaking to the camera that this is how any Indian ambassador or any Indian government official who visits the Gurdwara will be treated.  

"We know what games they are playing, what's happening in Canada. The Canadian PM has openly condemned India and expelled Indian diplomats,' he said.  -- ANI

The two armies on Friday carried out field training drills in Alaska, according to Indian Army officials.  

Indian army contingents participating in the exercise arrived in Alaska recently.  "#IndianArmy contingents participating in the Joint Military Exercise #YudhAbhyas with #USArmy and 'ADMM plus EWG' with #ASEAN Nations departed from #NewDelhi,' additional directorate general of public information of the Indian Army wrote on 'X' formerly Twitter on Monday.  

"Before departure, Director General #Infantry interacted with the contingents and encouraged the contingents to display the highest standards of training & imbibe the best practices of the participating nations," the tweet stated.  

The exercise will entail exchanging the best practices, enhancing interoperability and strengthening the bond between the two Armies.  

"Indian Army contingent will be participating in 19th Edition of joint military Exercise Yudh Abhyas at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, USA. The Exercise will entail exchanging best practices and enhancing interoperability to mutually learn from each other & strengthen the bond between the two Armies," the official handle of the Indian Army posted on X (formerly Twitter).  

The joint exercise will take place from September 25 to October 8 at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, US.   -- ANI

The suspect has been identified as Duane "Keffe D' Davis. 

He was arrested early Friday morning. 

New York Post reported citing sources that the accused will be facing a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. 

Shakur was shot and killed while leaving a boxing match on the Las Vegas Strip. 

His untimely death '" the rapper was just 25 '" has been the subject of conspiracy theories and a decades-long investigation, CNN reported. 

The home of Davis' wife Henderson was searched in July as part of the ongoing investigation into the shooting, during which a copy of the memoir was seized, where Davis authored detailing street gang life and the murder of Shakur, according to CNN. 

Notably, Davis had been very public about being a witness to the shooting of Tupac, then 25, and hip hop mogul Marion "Suge' Knight on the Las Vegas strip in September 1996. 

Davis said he was one of four occupants of a white Cadillac that pulled alongside the rapper's car, rolled down its windows, and shot, hitting Tupac four times. -- ANI

On Friday, the CWMA endorsed the direction of its assisting body, Cauvery Water Regulation Committee asking Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu. 

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "We do not have water and therefore cannot release water". 

The chief minister spoke to reporters at his home-office 'Krishna' after a meeting with retired Supreme Court judges and former Advocate Generals of the state. 

Siddaramaiah said they have given some opinion and suggestions. 

It was suggested to form an expert advisory committee to the government exclusively regarding the irrigation projects of the state. 

"Data collection and advisory work should be done by the committee. The committee should advise the government and provide information to the legal team about inter-state water disputes," he said about the suggestion aired in the meeting. -- PTI

Head constable Chaubey Singh, constable Omveer Singh and constable (driver) Anil Kumar -- all posted at Kithore police station -- were suspended on charges of laxity in the discharge of their duties, senior superintendent of police Rohit Singh Sajwan said on Friday. 

The three on Thursday recovered a country-made pistol from a scooter parked at the house of one Firoz, a local plumber. Sajwan said the three did not inform their seniors about the recovery nor carried out the procedure as per law, which shows laxity in discharge of duty on their part, and also tarnishes the image of the police department. 

Firoz on Thursday accused the police of planting a gun inside his scooter with the purpose of extorting money from him. 

The police checked the CCTV and dismissed his allegation as false. 

According to Firoz, on Wednesday night, three policemen came outside his house and called out his name. 

He was not there so his mother came out. 

The policemen first asked about him and then asked for the keys of the scooter. 

After this, according to him, the three lifted the seat of the scooter and planted a pistol inside. 

They made a video and left with the scooter. -- PTI

A month's worth of rain -- more than 4 inches -- fell over parts of Brooklyn in just three hours. 

Intense rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour were falling across the region, and the National Weather Service warned totals exceeding 8 inches "are increasingly likely' in parts of the tri-state area.  

The heaviest rainfall began to ease across hard-hit portions of Manhattan and Brooklyn late Friday morning, but another round is expected in the afternoon and could reinvigorate dangerous flooding.  

"This is a dangerous weather condition and it is not over," New York City Mayor Eric Adams said at a Friday morning news briefing.  

"I don't want those gaps in heavy rain to give the appearance that it is over, it is not," CNN quoted him as saying.  

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley Friday morning. 

In an interview with New York's WNBC-TV she urged residents to stay home because of widespread dangerous travel conditions.  

"This is a very challenging weather event," Hochul said. -- ANI

The show was held Thursday under Vibrant Ladakh Festival in which models from 14 nations from across the world participated. 

The event was organised by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council in partnership with Ladakh Art and Entertainment Alliance and was supported by Indian Army and Border Roads Organisation. 

Two Ladakhi models were among those who walked the runway at record height. 

The Umling La fashion show was aimed at promoting 'one world one family' creed of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam', as well as the highly valued GI tagged Pashmina of Ladakh, the show's organisers said. 

The costumes donned by the models introduced a colour palette which reflected the spring and summer hues and also showcased pashmina products produced in Changthang region, they said. -- PTI

The Air Traffic Control informed the captain of the plane about the bomb threat after which all possible emergency procedures were followed and the plane was landed at Varanasi.  

The aircraft landed on a separate runway and passengers were disembarked immediately. 

CISF personnel conducted a thorough search of the plane for about an hour. Nothing was found during checking.  

Varanasi airport director Puneet Gupta said "Everything is normal. When information about the bomb was received, the airport authority took full precautions and checked and everything was found to be normal. This flight was coming to Varanasi only and it had to land here. Yes as a precautionary measure it landed on a separate runway." -- ANI                        

During the day, CM Shinde held a meeting with representatives of the OBC and Nomadic Tribes at Sahyadri Guest House. 

It was attended by deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as well as senior ministers and officials. 

Representatives from these segments put forth their demand in the meeting. 

"The government's stand is quota of any community will not be diluted. While giving reservation to the Maratha community, the quota of other communities will remain unaffected," Shinde said. 

He added that the government stands firmly behind those from the Nomadic Tribes. 

Shinde said officials have been directed to start 72 hostels for OBC students. 

Fadnavis said implementation of schemes of Rs 4,000 crore is being done. Pawar, who handles the Finance department in the Shinde government, said the NT community will be allocated a huge amount of funds in the budget. 

Meanwhile, Sachin Rajurkar, general secretary of the Rashtriya OBC Mahasangh, who took part in the meeting, said Fadnavis will go to Chandrapur to persuade Ravindra Tonge to call off his 19-day hunger strike. -- PTI

Immersion processions had begun winding their way to various water bodies including the beaches on Thursday morning, and some of them spilled over to Friday. 

Over ten days, a total of 2,05,722 idols were immersed in water bodies including artificial ponds across Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation said on Friday evening. 

Of these idols, immersed after one-and-half, third, fifth, seventh and tenth day, 76,709 idols including 72,204 household idols were immersed in artificial ponds set up in all 24 civic wards in the metropolis. 

The BMC release also highlighted that this year 1,904 Ganapati Mandal's preferred artificial ponds for immersion of their Sarvajanik (Public) Ganapati. 

While there are 69 natural water bodies available for immersion, the BMC provided 200 artificial ponds too, and collected around 500 tons of `Nirmalya' or floral waste that will be used for making organic fertilizer for the public gardens maintained by the civic body, the release said. 

The festival, which began with Ganesh Chaturthi on September 19, concluded on Anant Chaturdashi on September 28. 

Amid the beating of drums and chants of 'Ganpati Bappa Morya', various Ganesh mandals in the city started processions on Thursday to immerse the idols of the deity, marking the culmination of the festival that is celebrated across Maharashtra with fervour. 

The immersion processions in the city, which began a day ago, concluded on Friday afternoon on the second day. 

The city's famous Lalbaugcha Raja idol, whose procession started at 11.30 am on Thursday, was immersed in the Arabian sea off the Girgaum Chowpatty around 9.15 am on Friday. -- PTI

Jaishankar said this in response to a question during his appearance at the prestigious Hudson Institute think-tank when asked about India's relations with Russia amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine. 

Asserting that every major international relationship in the last 70 years has seen great volatility, the minister pointed out that the relationship between New Delhi and Moscow has largely been stable. 

"India, Russia are very exceptional. It's been very steady. It may not be spectacular. So, it may have stabilised at a certain level," he said. 

Commenting on Russia's ties with the world due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, Jaishankar said, "I think as a consequence of what is going on in Ukraine, it seems to be clear that in many ways Russia's relationship with the West has broken up and in that case, it's logical that Russia focuses more on the Asian side of Russia, though historically Russia has always seen itself as a European power." 

"I would predict Russia, which would consciously focus on the non-western world, away from Europe, away from the United States, and look much more at Asia, possibly at other regions as well, but Asia is economically the most active," he added. -- PTI