Tag: New Delhi

  • 52 dead within two days in Indian heatwave

    52 dead within two days in Indian heatwave

    A total of 52 deaths have been reported within two days as an intense heatwave grips the Indian capital of New Delhi.

    As yet, 192 homeless persons have died in New Delhi in heatwaves that hit the ancient city between June 11 and 19, Indian media has reported.

    More than 40,000 cases of heat stroke have been reported in India this summer, and at least 110 deaths have been confirmed between March 1 and June 18.
    Recent media reports suggested that the mercury hit 52 degree Celsius, however no break is in sight.

    The Meteorological Department’s assessment says the temperature will be several times higher than normal this month, while New Delhi had its hottest night in more than 50 years on Wednesday.

  • Husband-wife fight forces plane to make emergency landing in India

    Husband-wife fight forces plane to make emergency landing in India

    A Lufthansa plane that took off from Germany had to make an emergency landing in New Delhi’s Indra Gandhi’s airport after an intense fight broke out between a husband and wife.

    On November 29, right after the take-off from Munich, a couple started fighting in the plane. Seeing the situation getting worse, pilots informed the control room. It directed the plane to land in Pakistan. On not getting permission, the pilots made an emergency landing in New Delhi and handed over the two passengers to airport security there.

    The wife, a native of Thailand, complained that her German husband was threatening her. Passengers as well as the crew also witnessed him shouting and hurling things at his wife while reportedly being drunk.

    According to Indian media, the German embassy has been contacted to handle the matter. The police is talking to airline staff to ascertain the sequence of events and check if an FIR needs to be registered.

    The wife was travelling on a separate ticket and later asked the airline to continue her journey to Bangkok alone but she too was deboarded.

  • 16-year-old kills older teenager for Rs 350 in India

    16-year-old kills older teenager for Rs 350 in India

    A 16-year-old boy in New Delhi killed an 18-year-old with sixty stabs of the knife.

    As per Indian Media, the shocking incident took place in New Delhi where a young boy robbed an 18-year-old boy for INR 350 and left him lying on the street in a pool of blood. The killer then celebrated the murder by dancing over the body of the murdered boy.

    The police has recovered a blood-stained knife from the murderer and acquired CCTV footage. The suspect has been shifted to the police station.

  • What is the situation of Air Quality Index in South Asia?

    What is the situation of Air Quality Index in South Asia?

    Six of the top ten cities plagued by the worst pollution on the Air Quality Index are from the South Asian region. Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata from India, Lahore and Karachi from Pakistan, and Dhaka from Bangladesh.

    Post-Diwali, the air quality index in India is pretty bad as three of its highly-populated cities are facing a rise in air pollution. While Delhi is at the top, Mumbai and Kolkata are competing closely for the sixth and seventh spot on the chart.

    Lahore has seen a major drop in the past few days after a short spell of rain, however, the air is steadily getting dense as it retained its second position in the chart for two days in a row. Karachi holds the fourth spot after Baghdad.

    The Capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, is a relatively new entrant. It holds the tenth position with an “unhealthy” status in air quality.

    Population growth and rapid industrialization are the two major factors contributing to the thickening of air with particulate pollutants in South Asia. This is a threat to all living beings, from animals to plants. Life expectancy is severely reduced in these cities and pollution-related illnesses are rampant. The situation of the poor quality index calls for strict action to be taken for the safety of residents of the world’s most populous region-South Asia.

  • New Delhi schools go on early winter break as smog suffocates Indian capital

    New Delhi schools go on early winter break as smog suffocates Indian capital

    Amidst its fight to reduce suffocating levels of smog, the Indian capital, New Delhi, has announced a ten-day-long winter break in schools throughout the city.

    Over in Pakistan, the hazardous air has worsened to the extent that the government announced a four-day health emergency from November 9 to 12 in Lahore, Gujranwala, and Hafizabad. Schools, markets, offices, and restaurants shall remain closed in these cities.

    Following the trail, New Delhi announced an early winter break for the session of 2023-24 in schools from November 9-18. The notification asserted that the step has been taken after observing “severe air quality prevailing in Delhi” and that there is “no respite from such adverse weather conditions in the near future”.

    Lahore and New Delhi have been vying with each other in the charts of air quality index, being the top two most polluted cities in the world.

  • India ‘Shocked’ At Qatar Death Penalty For 8 Citizens

    India ‘Shocked’ At Qatar Death Penalty For 8 Citizens

    India said Thursday that eight of its citizens had been sentenced to death by Qatar in a case that media reported involved high-ranking ex-naval officers accused of spying.

    New Delhi said it would “take up the verdict with Qatari authorities” and would continue to “extend all consular and legal assistance” to the prisoners, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

    “We have initial information that the Court of First Instance of Qatar has today passed a judgement in the case involving eight Indian employees of Al Dahra company,” the statement added.

    “We are deeply shocked by the verdict of death penalty and are awaiting the detailed judgement.”

    Al Dahra is a Gulf-based company that offers “complete support solutions” to the aerospace, security and defence sectors, according to its website.

    There was no immediate confirmation from the Qatari authorities.

    India’s foreign ministry gave no further details on the eight condemned or their alleged crimes.

    “Due to the confidential nature of proceedings of this case, it would not be appropriate to make any further comment at this juncture,” the ministry statement added, saying it was “exploring all legal options”.

    However, several Indian media outlets reported that among those sentenced were ex-naval officers -– including former captains and commanders -– and that the men had been arrested in Doha in August 2022.

    The Times of India, Hindustan Times and the Press Trust of India all reported that the men were arrested for an “alleged case of espionage”.

  • Growing Saudi-India partnership: MBS and Modi discuss expanding trade goals

    Growing Saudi-India partnership: MBS and Modi discuss expanding trade goals

    Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held discussions on trade ties in New Delhi after the G20 Summit. The leaders met at the Hyderabad House, New Delhi, for the Saudi-Indian Strategic Partnership Council meeting. During the talks, they covered various areas of cooperation and regional and international topics of mutual interest.

    Modi expressed satisfaction with the discussions, highlighting synergy with Saudi Arabia. He emphasized the potential for collaboration in grid connectivity, renewable energy, food security, semiconductors, and supply chains.

    The meeting involved senior officials from Saudi Arabia, including Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and Minister of Investment Khalid al-Falih. Falih mentioned the possibility of establishing an office for Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, in India’s tax-neutral financial services center, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City.

    Furthermore, the Saudi Export-Import Bank (Saudi EXIM) and the India Export-Import Bank (India EXIM) signed an agreement to boost exports and mutual market presence.

    This gathering followed the announcement of a multinational rail and ports deal involving India, Saudi Arabia, the United States, the European Union, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and other global leaders. The deal aims to connect the Middle East and South Asia through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, enhancing connectivity and reducing shipping costs.

    US President Joe Biden viewed this agreement as a significant step and a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

  • ‘Haye Raam’: Indian Charge d’Affaires on price of onions in Pakistan

    Dr M. Suresh Kumar who is currently serving as the Charge d’Affaires at the Indian Embassy in Islamabad, has arrived in Lahore for the first time since his appointment two years ago. Jang reported that the diplomat had breakfast with senior journalists, where he revealed an interesting tibit about food prices in the capital. He was recently purchasing groceries and was shocked to find out that the price of onions was Rs 300/kg, when in New Delhi it was Rs 20/kg.

    Dr Kumar also addressed the matter of improving business ties between India and Pakistan, by saying that Pakistani businessmen are refused a business visa in India because of the fact that there are no business ties between the two countries. To which Pakistani businessmen asked how will business ties between both countries improve if they aren’t given a visa. To which Dr Kumar responded its like asking which came first- the chicken or the egg?

    To answer another question, Dr Kumar said that Gujranwala is the city of wrestlers, and felt that there should be wrestlying and kabadi competitions between the two countries.

    Dr Kumar also said that he will talk to the higher authorities in New Delhi to send an invitation to a delegation of journalists from Pakistan to visit India.

    Jang also reported about a conversation with a senior official from the foreign office in New Delhi who remarked that after the restoration of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran in the region, efforts should be made to improve the relation between Islamabad and New Delhi.

  • Man murders girlfriend, marries another woman on the same day

    New Delhi police has arrested arrested 24-year-old Sahil Gahlot on February 14 for murdering his longtime girlfriend Nikki Yadav and stuffing her body in a refrigerator inside his restaurant.
    Gahlot had killed the deceased between February 9 and 10, by strangling her with the phone data cable he kept in his car.
    The murderer and Yadav had been in a relationship since 2018. After the covid-19 lockdown, they began living together in Greater Noida in a rented house. However, Gahlot’s parents were not aware of this relationship, and were pressurizing him to marry another woman. Around December 2022, Gahlot got engaged but did not inform Yadav.
    According to the police, Yadav asked Gahlot to come to her flat in Uttam Nagar where she pleaded with him not to get married to the other woman, and threatened to tell the family if he refused to listen to her.
    “She had already planned to go with him to Goa and had booked tickets for February 9. She asked him to accompany her to Goa but he refused. This led to an argument and in anger, he killed her inside his car,” the officer told Deccan Herald.
    Gahlot tied the knot with the other woman on the same day.
    Special Commissioner of Police Ravindra Singh was able to arrest Gahlot when on February 14, they received a secret tip that Sahil Gahlot murdered his girlfriend and married another woman on the same day.
    When the mobile number of the accused was found to be switched off, a police team arrived at Mitraon village, where the accused lived, but he was there. After an intensive search of the village and other areas, Gahlot was arrested at Kair Village in Delhi.
    During interogation, the officer told Deccan Herald that Gahlot had tried to mislead the police, but then later revealed to them that he had murdered Yadav.

  • India and Pakistan were close to nuclear war, claims former US Secretary of State

    India and Pakistan were close to nuclear war, claims former US Secretary of State

    Former United States (US) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo revealed on Tuesday in his new memoir that arch rivals— India and Pakistan— were on the verge of nuclear war in February 2019.

    Pompeo, who served in President Donald Trump’s tenure, has written in ‘Never Give an Inch: Fighting for America I Love’ that he does “not think the world properly knows just how close the India-Pakistan rivalry came to spilling over into a nuclear conflagration in February 2019.”

    He says at the time, he was informed by his Indian counter-partner that Pakistan had begun to prepare for a nuclear strike on India. However, he asked him to give it some time to sort out the matter. Later, he reached out to Pakistani former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Qamar Javed Bajwa.

    The ex-army chief told Pompeo that Indian allegations were baseless. He believed the Indians were preparing their nuclear weapons for deployment.

    Moreover, the former US official said that it took them a few hours and remarkably good work by their teams on the ground in New Delhi and Islamabad to convince both countries to desist.

    In February 2019, Delhi launched strikes to attack Pakistan after a militant attack on Indian troops in Kashmir. However, Pakistan shot down two Indian military jets and captured a fighter pilot who later was released.

    In 1974, India became the first country in the region to become a nuclear power while Pakistan attained nuclear power in 1998.

    It is pertinent to mention that neither India nor Pakistan has commented so far on Pompeo’s claims.