India

Chandigarh, Oct 6 (IANS) After a WHO product alert, authorities in Haryana have taken samples of cough syrup from Sonepat-based factory of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, and sent to the Central Drug lLboratory in Kolkata for analysis, state Health Minister Anil Vij said on Thursday.

He said if samples failed to meet the standards, strict action will be taken against the company and its owners.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that Maiden cough syrup could be linked to the deaths of 66 children in the west African nation of The Gambia.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs V. Muraleedharan will be in the US from October 6 to participate in the High Level UN Security Council Debate, on "Peace and Security in Africa: Strengthening the fight against the financing of armed groups and terrorists through the illicit trafficking of natural resources", an official said.

The UNSC meeting is a signature initiative of Gabon's Presidency of the Security Council, and is likely to be presided over by the Foreign Minister of Gabon.

On October 7, the Minister will also attend an event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of India-UN Development Partnership Fund.

Established in 2017, the $150 million India-UN Development Partnership Fund is supported and led by Central government, and implemented in collaboration with the UN system.

The fund supports Southern-owned and led, demand-driven and transformational sustainable development projects across the developing world, with a focus on least developed countries and small island developing states.

During the visit, Muraleedharan is also likely to meet senior UN officials as well as ministers of other member states attending the UNSC meeting.

He is also scheduled to visit Atlanta for Indian community related engagements.

--IANS
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Chandigarh, Oct 6 (IANS) The Punjab Vigilance Bureau on Thursday arrested Assistant Inspector General of Police Ashish Kapoor, posted as Commandant, 4th IRB, Pathankot, for taking a bribe of Rs 1 crore through cheques.

DSP, Intelligence Pawan Kumar, and ASI Harjinder Singh are also among the accused in the case.

A Vigilance Bureau spokesperson said a case under Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code have been registered.

Giving details, the spokesperson said during posting as the Superintendent at Central Jail in Amritsar in 2016, Kapoor had got acquainted with Poonam Rajan, of Haryana's Kurukshetra, who was under judicial remand in a case.

When Rajan, along with her mother Prem Lata, brother Kuldeep Singh and sister-in-law Preeti, was in police remand in a fraud case at a police station in Zirakpur town, Kapoor went to the police station and fraudulently convinced Rajan's mother to help her in getting bail and acquittal from the court.

Later, Kapoor in connivance with then SHO Pawan Kumar, and ASI Harjinder Singh got Preeti declared innocent in the case. In lieu of that favour, Kapoor obtained signatures of Prem Lata on different cheques amounting to Rs 1 crore, deposited them under the names of people known to him, and got them encashed allegedly through Harjinder Singh.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it would develop a model builder buyer for sale containing 'core' clauses in consonance with the mandatory provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, for the protection of home buyers.

A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Hima Kohli noted the suggestion brought on record by Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, and advocate Devashish Bharuka, who is amicus curiae in the matter.

In its order, the apex court noted the ASG and the amicus curiae, have suggested the following road map: "(i) Based upon the responses, the Central Government along with the amicus curiae would prepare a model agreement for sale containing - Part A: 'Core' clauses in consonance with the mandatory provisions of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act 2016, for the protection of the home buyers. These clauses cannot be altered by any State/UT and must necessarily be a part of every agreement for sale."

The bench noted that the model agreement for sale would be submitted for consideration and for its approval. "The states/UTs shall then incorporate in the agreement for sale. Part B: Additional clauses based on individual needs and exigencies of each State/UT as permissible within the scheme of the 2016 Act. However, these clauses must not be contrary to or dilute in any manner the clauses in Part 'A'," it said.

The Centre's response came on a plea filed by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay seeking a direction to protect home buyers from exploitative practices adopted by the real estate developers. The plea sought a direction to the Centre to frame model builder-buyer and agent-buyer agreements to ensure uniformity across the country.

The apex court noted that 11 state governments have not filed their replies in the matter, while 13 states and two Union Territories have filed their responses so far. Responses from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are awaited.

"The states which have not filed their responses shall do so positively within a period of four weeks from today, failing which the Principal Secretaries of the State Government in the Ministry of Urban Development/Affairs shall personally remain present before this court on the next date of hearing to explain as to why they should not be proceeded with under the coercive arm of law," said the apex court.

It added that the copy of the present order shall be communicated by the Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to their counterparts in the above 11 states which are yet to submit their responses.

The top court has scheduled the matter for further hearing on November 28.

--IANS
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New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) The Customs official on Thursday said a man was arrested at the Indira Gandhi International Airport for smuggling one iPhone 14 pro and seven expensive wrist watches (out of which one was diamond studded) worth Rs 28 crore.

A senior official said that the passenger was held on the basis of APIS Profiling.

"We have booked a case of smuggling of seven highly precious wrist watches. One out of the four is an extraordinarily exorbitant, customized billionaire piece made of gold and studded with diamonds. One diamond studded gold bracelet and one iPhone 14 Pro was also seized," the official said.

The official said that a detailed examination of the baggage and personal search of the passenger resulted in the recovery of the seven wrist watches, including Jacob & Co, Piaget Limelight Stella, Rolex Oyster, one diamond studded gold bracelet and one iPhone 14 having a total value of Rs 28,17,97,864," the official said.

The said recovered goods has been seized under section 110 of customs act. The passenger has been placed under arrest in terms of section 104 of the Customs Act, as the offence being non bailable committed by him is covered under 135 of the Customs Act.

--IANS
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San Francisco, Oct 6 (IANS) Joe Sullivan, the former chief security officer at Uber, has been found guilty of covering up the massive 2016 cyber attack when a hacker downloaded the personal information of more than 57 million people.

This may be the first time a senior company executive faced criminal prosecution over a hack.

According to the Washington Post, Sullivan was convicted of federal charges "stemming from payments he quietly authorised to hackers who breached the ride-hailing company in 2016".

Sullivan was found "guilty of obstructing justice for keeping the breach from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and of actively hiding a felony," the report said late on Wednesday.

In July, Uber admitted that it covered up a massive data breach in 2016 that exposed data pertaining to approximately 57 million users and 600,000 drivers' license numbers.

Uber settled civil litigation with the attorneys general for all 50 states and the District of Columbia related to the 2016 data breach, paying $148 million and agreeing to implement a corporate integrity programme.

On September 16, Khosrowshahi testified against Sullivan, saying, "He was my chief security officer, and I could not trust his judgment anymore."

The ride-hailing platform has entered a non-prosecution agreement with the federal prosecutors to resolve a criminal investigation into the coverup of the 2016 data breach.

The breach was not reported to the FTC until approximately a year later, when new executive leadership was managing the company, revealed the Justice Department.

In a latest hack by an 18-year-old hacker, the ride-hailing platform Uber said last month that no private information of its users was exposed in the data breach.

An 18-year-old hacker had broken into the internal systems of Uber, reaching company tools, including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, and employees thought someone was playing a prank.

The hacker made himself known to Uber employees by posting a message on the company's internal communication system Slack.

--IANS
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Mehsana (Gujarat), Oct 6 (IANS) Three accused have been arrested in a gang-rape case here and two more are absconding, the police said here on Thursday.

The accused had lured a woman and taken her to a field on Tuesday night, but the victim somehow managed to escape on Wednesday morning and lodged a complaint with the Unjha police station.

Unjha Police Inspector K.J. Patel told the local media that on Wednesday afternoon a woman approached the police station. She alleged that she was returning home from Unjha bus stand on Tuesday evening when auto-rickshaw driver Saiyad Amiruddin accompanied by two other males approached her and took her to a farm in the Bhakhar village, where Saiyad Amiruddin, Saiyad Asabamiya Murtuja Miya, Sadiq Mohammad Sarquddin raped her repeatedly and also called two other persons from the village, who also raped her. She could not identify the other two accused, said the police.

The victim told the police that on Wednesday morning she managed to escape and reached the Unjha police station. After lodging the complaint, police sent her for the medical examination.

Unjha Police station officer told IANS that by late evening police have successfully arrested three accused and will be officially arrested once their corona test is negative. They too will be sent for the medical examinations.

As two accused were not named by the victim, police will find their names from the accused during primary questioning and will be arrested soon, said police. All five have been booked under IPC section for gang-rape and other sections.

--IANS
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Patan, Oct 6 (IANS) Since the last 15 days, Gujarat BJP President C.R. Patil while addressing party workers at various places has repeatedly said that this time party candidates will be finalised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah so they should not come for recommendation.

Contrary to this statement, on Wednesday during his visit to north Gujarat, Patil gave green signal to two BJP candidates.

He told local media, "BJP workers are well aware that party's parliamentary board, and the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister takes final call on party candidates, but Alpesh Thakor is our senior party leader, so he will contest from his Radhanpur constituency and we are confident that he will win, we wish him all the best."

The Gujarat BJP President added that Dilip Thakor, the sitting BJP MLA from Chanasma Assembly constituency, too, will contest and win the seat.

On Monday, Alpesh Thakor while addressing people in his constituency had announced that he will contest upcoming state Assembly elections and had sought support of the Thakor community and people. He also reminded the people that last time, due to lack of support he had lost the by-election in 2019 which should not happen this time.

On the other hand, local Thakor leaders are against the nomination of Thakor from Radhanpur constituency. One such group is led by Lavingji Thakor, who had given the slogan to local voters that "Local will win election, and migrant candidate will be defeated" directly targeting Alpesh Thakor, a turncoat, who switched over side from Congress to the BJP.

--IANS
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Hyderabad, Oct 5 (IANS) The Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), formerly the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), will make a beginning from Maharashtra to expand its activities nationwide, party President and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said on Wednesday.

He said the party would pick up Maharashtra as the first field of activity by launching the farmers' wing of the party from there.

Rao stated this during his speech at the general body meeting of the TRS, which unanimously passed a resolution to change the party's name to the BRS.

KCR, as Rao is popularly known, also made it clear that while continuing as the Chief Minister, he would visit all parts of the country. "We will not leave the ground. No one should have any doubts about this," he told party leaders.

KCR's remarks came amid speculations in political circles that his son K.T. Rama Rao will take over as the Chief Minister while he will focus on national politics.

The TRS founder called for developing a bright India. "If resources of our country are used within the country, we can develop better than America. We still have time. We will expand across the country," said KCR, who has his eyes set on 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Chief Minister also stated that if good happens to the country because of Telangana, this would go down well in the country's history.

KCR also revealed that Dalit, farmers', and tribal movements would be carried forward as the main agenda. He vowed to remove social and political disorders across the country. "Telangana has already shown this to the country. We will take stock of the evolving situation from time to time and move forward," he said

He called for taking the country forward just as the Telangana movement was carried to victory. He claimed that Telangana ensured development of every community. He said both the rural and urban areas in the state have developed and the awards announced by the Centre were a proof of this.

He recalled that the TRS made a beginning 21 years ago. " Within a short time after achieving Telangana state, we moved forward rapidly by implementing development programmes in all sectors including agriculture, electricity, irrigation and drinking water. The neighbouring states are wonderstruck by seeing programmes in Telangana state. All this was possible because every action is being executed with utmost commitment."

KCR said that in the 75 years of Independent India, parties that ruled the country have done nothing for the country except coming to power or leaving power. He claimed that politics is a task for the TRS, while for other parties it is only a game.

"We worked with commitment as activists for the development of Telangana. Due to hard work, great achievements have been made. The per capita income of Telangana was only Rs one lakhA when the state came into existence but today it has increased to Rs 2.78 lakh. Telangana's GSDP was Rs 5. 6 lakh crore in 2014 and today it has reached to Rs 11.50 lakh crore," he said.

KCR called for working hard and collectively for the country's development on the lines the TRS strove for the development of Telangana state.

"It is not a hasty decision to float a national party. India is a union of states. Comprehensive development is possible only if the states and the country develop together. Telangana's GSDP is originally supposed to be Rs 14.5 lakh crore. But Telangana is not able to achieve the development it deserves due to the short-sighted and irrelevant policies adopted by the Union Government. Many of the sacrifices made for the independence of this country remain unfulfilled."

The Chief Minister attributed the rapid development achieved by Telangana to out-of-box thinking and innovative programmes implemented in the state. He spoke about one such programme Dalit Bandhu aimed at upliftment of the Dalits.

Stating that agriculture is one of the neglected sectors, KCR said BRS would highlight the problems of farmers as the main agenda and try to influence the politics of the country to address them.

He claimed that leaders of many parties across the country were coming forward to join hands with him.

He said former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav have assured him that they will attend the historic programme of launching of the BRS.

He recalled that former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda strongly supported the Telangana movement, and his JD-S announced its support to the national party.

The TRS meeting was attended by Deve Gowda's son and former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and Tamil Nadu's VCK party founder-leader Tholkappiyan Thirumavalavan.

KCR revealed that he already had discussions with many economists and experts in various fields and took their advice for the formation of the national party.

--IANS
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Itanagar, Oct 5 (IANS) A pilot was killed and another injured when a Cheetah helicopter of Army Aviation crashed near Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang on Wednesday, officials said.

Defence spokesman Lt. Col Mahendra Rawat said that the Cheetah helicopter, which was on a routine sortie, crashed at around 10 a.m. injuring both the pilots and they were immediately evacuated to nearest Military Hospital.

"With regret to inform that one of the pilots Lt Col Saurabh Yadav, who was critically injured, succumbed to the injuries during treatment.

"The second pilot is under medical treatment. The cause of the crash at this stage is not known. Details are being ascertained," he said.

Expressing his deep shock, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu offered all assistance.

"Pained by the news of crash of helicopter at Nyamjang Chu near BTK area of Jemeithang circle in Tawang district. I am in touch with the Army officials for every possible assistance, and pray for speedy recovery of the injured pilots," he tweeted.

Eastern Army Command chief, Lt General R.P. Kalita also expressed his deep sorrow over the accident.

"Lt General Kalita and all ranks offer tributes to the supreme sacrifice of Lt Col Saurabh Yadav in the line of duty on 05 Oct 2022 while flying a Cheetah Helicopter near Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. Eastern Command offers deepest condolences to the family," a defence statement said.

--IANS
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