Women take part in a candlelight vigil against the “killing” of two missing students by unknown miscreants and demand peace in Manipur, Imphal. File
| Photo Credit: PTI

Four arrested in Manipur for abduction, killing of two Meitei students

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested four people, including two women, for their alleged role in the abduction and killing of two Meitei students in Manipur in July. They were arrested from the hill district of Churachandpur. The suspects were identified as Paominlun Haokip, S. Malsawm Haokip, Lhingneichong Baite, and Tinneilhing Henthang. They were flown to Guwahati from Imphal by a joint team of the CBI and Manipur Police.

No shortage of TB drugs in India: Union Health Ministry

There is no shortage of anti-tuberculosis medicines in India, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday, slamming media reports claiming that such a shortage exists as “false, motivated and misleading”. In a sharp statement, the Ministry asserted that there is a sufficient stock of all anti-TB drugs in the country. The Centre proactively undertakes regular assessments to evaluate the stock positions at various levels, from central warehouses to peripheral health institutes, it said.

Over 9.2 lakh sites host cleanliness drive; PM appeals for swachhata

More than 9.2 lakh sites across the country hosted a mega cleanliness drive on Sunday in which people from across the spectrum, including politicians, celebrities, and students participated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also took part in this cleanliness drive along with fitness influencer Ankit Baiyanpuria.

AFSPA extended in four districts of Assam, withdrawn from four others

The Assam Police on October 1 said the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act or AFSPA has been extended in four districts of the State for six more months. At the Assam Police Day 2023 celebrations in Guwahati, DGP Gyanendra Pratap Singh said the ‘disturbed area’ tag, which allows enforcement of the AFSPA, has, however, been withdrawn from four other districts.

Congress, AAP back protest seeking restoration of old pension scheme

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said that he has requested the Union government to implement the old pension scheme (OPS) for Delhi government employees. He voiced his support on a day when thousands of protesters gathered at Ramlila Maidan in the capital for an agitation against the new pension scheme (NPS). Delhi Congress chief Arvinder Singh Lovely also participated in the rally and offered his support to the protesters.

Students make 154 sculptures of Mahatma Gandhi

To observe the 154th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Chembrakanam Chitra Shilpakala Academy and Thrikaripur St. Paul’s School are jointly conducting a four-day Chitra Shilpakala Camp, which began on Saturday. The camp saw the creation of 154 sculptures of Gandhi, each meticulously crafted from 1 kg to 5 kg of clay by students. As many as 154 students from over 17 schools participated in the camp.

Demand for inquest into Khalistan activist’s death in Birmingham likely on October 2

The Sikh Federation UK (SFUK) plans to make a formal demand, likely on Monday, for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Khalistani activist Avtar Singh Khanda in Birmingham last June, according to sources aware of the plan. Pro-Khalistani Sikhs also plan to hold a demonstration outside the Indian High Commission in London on October 2, accusing the Indian government of involvement in the death of a pro-Khalistan activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in Canada. The protest is part of a coordinated strategy by Sikh separatists in various countries.

Biden says there’s ‘not much time’ to keep aid flowing to Ukraine and Congress must ‘stop the games’

President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the President said in a warning to Congress. “We cannot under any circumstances allow American for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Mr. Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding package late Saturday that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the battle against Russia.

Turkiye strikes suspected Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq after suicide attack in Ankara

The Turkish Defence Ministry says its warplanes have carried out raids on suspected Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq on Sunday following a suicide attack on a government building in the Turkish capital. A Ministry statement said some 20 targets of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were “destroyed” in the aerial operation, including caves, shelters, and depots. Earlier, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive device near an entrance of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, injuring two police officers. A second assailant was killed in a shootout with police on Sunday, the interior minister said.

Indonesia to launch China-funded high-speed rail, first in Southeast Asia

Indonesia is set to launch Southeast Asia’s first high-speed railway on Monday, a delayed multibillion-dollar project backed by China that will cut travel between capital Jakarta and another major city by hours. The Chinese-made bullet train named “Whoosh” is built to take more than 600 people to and from Jakarta and the Javan city of Bandung in 45 minutes and is part of China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

GST revenue growth slowed to 10.2% in September

Growth in India’s gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues slowed to a 27-month low of 10.2% in September, from around 10.8% in the previous two months. However, collections improved 2.3% over August revenues to touch ₹1,62,712 crore. Revenues from domestic transactions, including services imports, were 14% higher than the tax collected from these sources during September 2022. This is the fourth time that the gross GST kitty has crossed the ₹1.60 lakh crore mark in 2023-24, the Finance Ministry said. 

Hangzhou Asian Games | Abhay’s performance in the final is one for the history books

Abhay Singh is a proud product of the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai. The 23-year-old made his alma mater proud by rising from the ashes to help India regain the men’s team gold medal in Hangzhou with a dazzling performance in the third and final rubber against Pakistan in the summit clash. It was an outstanding performance that will go down in history books as one of India’s finest wins in the Asian Games.

Teams deal with warm-up games conundrum

Not much to gain for us. Priority is to look after the players. Just a formality.” That was the crux of India captain Rohit Sharma’s brief chat with the host broadcaster after winning the toss against England in Saturday’s World Cup warm-up match. No wonder then that India would not have been too disappointed when a thunderstorm that started minutes before the start of play washed the game out. As a result, India left for Thiruvananthapuram for its last warm-up game with only four players training on the pre-match day.

New Delhi:

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that he was very touched emotionally when he went to pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat in Delhi. He noted that Mahatma Gandhi had a great meaning in his political life.

In his remarks at the closing session of the G20 Presidency, the Brazilian President said, “And I would like to say, Prime Minister Modi that I personally am very much touched emotionally when I went to pay a homage to our dear Gandhi. Everybody knows that in my political life, Mahatma Gandhi has great meaning because the struggle for non-violence with role model that I followed for many decades when I was in the labour movement. And that’s why I am very much touched and emotional. And I like to thank you for the opportunity to pay this homage that we did today.

“And I like to say to all of you that Brazil will take the chair of the G20 and we will make a tremendous endeavour to manage to at least try to do something as the same that our brothers and sisters from India did,” he added. 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made the statement as he and all other world leaders paid homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat on Sunday morning. 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Sunday thanked India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts in conducting the G20 Summit and set forth three priorities under his country’s presidency of the grouping. These, the Brazil President said include social inclusion and the fight against hunger, energy transition, sustainable development and reform of global governance institutions.

At the closing session of the G20 Summit in New Delhi, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said, “All these priorities are part of the Brazilian presidency motto which says ‘Building a fair world and a sustainable planet’. Two task forces will be created – Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and the Global Mobilisation against Climate Change.”

“…The technical groups and the preparatory ministerial meetings will be hosted in several cities in all five regions of our country…I will be very much honoured to welcome you all to Rio de Janeiro Summit in November of 2024 and before I ham the hammer here, I would like to thank very much to PM Modi and to thank the Indian people for the competence that they had in organising this event…,” he said. 

He made the remarks after PM Modi handed over the ceremonial gavel of the Group of 20 Presidency to him. The Brazilian President said that the world needs to redouble its efforts to achieve the goal of ending world hunger by 2030.

“We need to redouble our efforts to achieve the goal of ending world hunger by 2030. Otherwise, we will be facing the biggest multilateral failure in recent years, Acting to fight climate change requires political will and determination of the rulers as well as resources and technology transfer. We want greater participation of the emerging economies in the decision-making process of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, the unbearable foreign debts of the poor countries needs to be addressed,” he added.

The Brazilian President said that people today are living in a world where wealth is more concentrated in which millions of human beings still go hungry and where sustainable development is always threatened.

“…We are living in a world where wealth is more concentrated in which millions of human beings still go hungry, where sustainable development is always threatened, in which government institutions still reflect the reality of middle of the last century. We will only be able to face all these problems if we address the issue of inequality – inequality of income, of access to healthcare, education, food, gender and race and also of representation is at the origin of these anomalies,” Lula da Silva said.

He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an “efficient leading” of India’s G20 Presidency and praised him for the work carried out in preparing the G20 Summit. Lula also expressed gratitude to India for its efforts of giving voice of the topics of interest to emerging economies.

“I thank India for its efforts for giving voice of the topics of interest to emerging economies. I would also like to give my salute to our friend, the representative of the African Union, who is a member of the G20,” the Brazilian President said.

Earlier, PM Modi handed over the ceremonial gavel of the G20 Presidency to Brazil’s President at the G20 summit here.

“I congratulate Brazilian President and my friend Lula da Silva and hand over the gavel of Presidency,” PM Modi said minutes before the G20 Summit in Delhi concluded.

Earlier, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva handed over saplings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of Session 3 of the G20 Summit.

While Indonesia held the G20 presidency last year, Brazil will hold the presidency after India and hold the G20 Summit in its capital Rio de Janeiro. India took over the G20 presidency on December 1 last year at the G20 Summit in Indonesia’s Bali and will continue to hold it till the end of November.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)