Imran Khan Arrest LIVE Updates: Clashes erupt in Pakistan as police try to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan

The Telangana government has announced to implement half-day classes across the state from Wednesday in the wake of the state experiencing rising temperatures.

“All the Regional Joint Directors of School Education and District Educational Officers in the state are hereby informed that the half days will commence from March 15 untill the last working day which is April 24, 2023,” an official notification from the Director of School Education said on Monday.

The official notification further stated that Primary, Upper Primary and High Schools under Government Government aided and Private management shall function as half-day schools from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM. Mid-day meals shall be provided at 12:30 PM.

However, the special classes for preparing Class X students for the SSC Public Examination shall continue. The schools which have SSC Examination Centres will function from 1.00 PM to 5.00 PM.

In 2022, Telangana government also announced the commencement of half-day schools from 15th March till the last working day of the academic year 2021-22 as the state experienced rising temperatures.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday defended Rahul Gandhi and said there was no question of apology for his UK statement.

Kharge said that Gandhi did not say anything wrong and only spoke about democracy, “whereas the Prime Minister spoke at many places in foreign lands and insulted the country”.

Amid the uproar over Rahul Gandhi’s statement has tried to make it clear that the party is not going to yield on the subject and will be offensive on the issue and press its demand of JPC in Hindenburg-Adani row.

Hitting out at PM Modi, Congress chief and Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge had tweeted: “I want to remind you of your statement made in China. You said – “Earlier, you felt ashamed of being born Indian. Now you feel proud to represent the country” Was this not an insult to India and Indians? Tell your Ministers to refresh their memories!

“In South Korea, you had said – “There was a time when people used to feel that what sin they committed in their past life which resulted in taking birth in India, is this what you call a country…” First see the ‘Mirror of Truth’, before lecturing the Congress party!”

The Congress is blaming the government for the disruption in Parliament by saying that as Rahul Gandhi’s UK statement made outside the House are non issues.

Veteran actor Sameer Khakhar, best known for his roles in TV shows such as ”Nukkad” and ”Circus”, passed away at a hospital here on Wednesday morning due to multiple organ failure, his younger brother Ganesh Khakhar said.

He was 71.

Ganesh said Sameer Khakhar was admitted to MM Hospital in Borivali in suburban Mumbai on Tuesday morning following respiratory issues.

“He had respiratory problems since yesterday and later he went into an unconscious state, so we had called the doctor at home and he asked us to hospitalise him.

“He was admitted to the intensive care unit of MM Hospital. Slowly and gradually, he suffered multiple organs failure, he was unconscious and then he collapsed. He passed away at 4.30 am today,” Ganesh Khakhar told PTI on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s police and supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan clashed outside his home in the eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday, a day after officers went to arrest him for failing to appear in court on graft charges.

The police operation triggered clashes between Khan’s supporters and police in the country’s major cities, including Karachi, Islamabad, the garrison city of Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta and elsewhere in Pakistan.

For the past 18 hours, police were firing tear gas at the house as the 70-year-old opposition leader’s supporters hurled rocks and bricks at the officers. The upscale area of Zaman Park where Khan lives was under siege since Tuesday. The government was sending additional police to tackle the situation after hundreds of Khan’s supporters showed unexpected perseverance.

Paras Defence signs MoU with CONTROP Precision Technologies, Israel with an intent to create new opportunities and expand both parties’ business in the Indian and Global Defence sector.

“To support the MOU objectives, the parties intend to form a JV in India for manufacturing Electro-Optic Systems for various applications, all in accordance with the Government of India’s Make in India initiative,” the company said

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Emirati authorities of arbitrarily detaining for more than 15 months as many as 2,700 Afghan evacuees who have no legal pathways to refugee status or resettlement elsewhere.

Many of those housed in Emirates Humanitarian City are suffering from depression and other psychological ailments, have no access to legal counsel, and have inadequate educational services for their children, a Human Rights Watch report said.

“Living conditions have also deteriorated significantly, with detainees describing overcrowding, decay of infrastructure, and insect infestations,” the report said of the facility in Abu Dhabi.

The report said Human Rights Watch received no responses to requests for comment from the UAE ministries of interior and foreign affairs.

The U.S. State Department office that handles the relocation of Afghans told the group in a letter that the U.S. commitment to resettling eligible Afghans – including those in Emirates Humanitarian City – is an “enduring one”, the report said.

Emirati officials previously have said the UAE offered to temporarily host thousands of Afghan refugees evacuated after the Taliban takeover of Kabul in August 2021.

At least two policemen were killed and four others sustained injuries in attacks which Pakistani forces called “militant attacks” on census team in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s southern districts of Tank and Lakki Marwat, the Dawn reported.

According to the spokesperson for the district police, the police van came under attack in the Kot-Azam area of Tank district while it was returning from a village.

“Militants opened fire on the police van when it was returning from Manjhi village (after duty hours). As a result, one policeman embraced martyrdom and four others sustained injuries,” said police spokesman Syed Yaqoob Bukhari, adding that the attackers fled after the shooting.

The injured personnel was rushed to the Tank district headquarters hospital from where they were referred to Dera Ismail Khan due to the unavailability of required facilities, he said, adding that law enforcement agencies’ personnel reached the site and launched a search operation against the militants, reported the Dawn.

The deceased policeman was identified as Khan Nawab, a recruit of Kohat police training centre, belonging to Swat district. A funeral prayer for the martyred policeman was later offered at the District Police Office which was attended by officers of law enforcement agencies, police, and others.

SVB Financial Group said on Tuesday that Goldman Sachs Group Inc was the acquirer of a bond portfolio on which it booked a $1.8 billion loss, a transaction that set in motion the failure of SVB.

The loss on the portfolio was the reason SVB, a technology-focused lender known as Silicon Valley Bank, attempted a $2.25 billion stock sale last week using Goldman Sachs as an adviser. The capital raise was thwarted as depositors fled and investors fretted SVB would have needed even more capital.

The portfolio SVB sold to Goldman Sachs on March 8 consisted mostly of U.S. Treasuries and had a book value of $23.97 billion, SVB said. The transaction was carried out “at negotiated prices” and netted the bank $21.45 billion in proceeds, SVB added.

SVB became the largest bank to fail since the 2008 financial crisis, and was taken over by U.S. regulators on Friday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to meet Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday during a visit aimed at reviving ties and bolstering a fragile peace process after a two-year civil war.

He is the highest-ranking US official to visit Africa’s second most populous nation since war broke out in late 2020 between Ethiopia’s government and Tigrayan rebels, fraying US relations with its longtime ally as Washington alleged crimes against humanity.

Blinken’s trip is part of a push by President Joe Biden’s administration to step up engagement with Africa, where China and increasingly Russia have been moving to deepen their influence.

He is expected to hold talks in Addis Ababa with Abiy — a Nobel Peace Prize winner once seen as at the vanguard of a new generation of forward-looking African leaders, but whose reputation later took a beating in Washington over the war.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace urged Moscow to respect international airspace, after the United States said that Russia had caused one of its drones to crash into the Black Sea on Tuesday.

“The key here is that all parties respect international air space and we urge the Russians to do so,” Wallace told Reuters at the DSEI Japan defence show in Chiba prefecture, near Tokyo. “The Americans have said they think it is unprofessional,” he added.

The incident involving a Russian Su-27 fighter jet fighter plane and a U.S. military MQ-9 drone is the first such direct encounter between the two powers since Russia invaded Ukraine over a year ago and risks deepening tensions between Washington and Moscow.

Daniil Medvedev shook off a second-set fall to beat Alexander Zverev 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 on Tuesday, the “crazy” victory pushing him into the Indian Wells quarter-finals for the first time.

Medvedev notched his 17th straight ATP victory. But for awhile it seemed the red-hot form that saw him lift trophies in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai wouldn’t be enough in the combined WTA and ATP Masters 1000 event in the California desert.

The world number six, frustrated as ever by the slow courts at Indian Wells, rolled his right ankle in the sixth game of the second set, crying out in pain and lying on the court for several minutes before limping to his chair.

Zverev, who suffered three torn ankle ligaments at last year’s French Open, looked on in concern, but after the injury was examined and taped by medical staff Medvedev continued and turned the match around.

He saved all 10 break points he faced in the second set — eight of them before he fell.

The head of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, created by US regulators to succeed Silicon Valley Bank after it collapsed, on Tuesday urged fleeing depositors to return with their money, as large banks see an influx of funds.

Silicon Valley Bank — a key lender to startups across the United States since the 1980s — collapsed after a sudden run on deposits, prompting regulators to seize control Friday.

“The number one thing you can do to support the future of this institution is to help us rebuild our deposit base,” chief executive Tim Mayopoulos said in a statement, “both by leaving deposits with Silicon Valley Bridge Bank and transferring back deposits that left over the last several days.

He added: “We are doing everything we can to rebuild, win back your confidence, and continue supporting the innovation economy.”

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation has said it will cover all SVB depositors, including beyond the usual cap of $250,000 for FDIC protection.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks with Syria’s leader Bashar al-Assad in Moscow on Wednesday, the Kremlin said.

“Topical issues of further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in and around Syria will be discussed,” the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday.

Assad’s office said he had arrived in Moscow for an official visit during which he would meet with Putin.

In a statement, it said that the Syrian president had been greeted on arrival by Putin’s special representative Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian ambassador to Damascus Alexander Yefimov.

Assad was accompanied by a “large ministerial delegation”, said the Syrian presidency statement.

A presidential advisory sub-committee has recommended the federal government to extend the grace period for H1-B workers, who have lost their jobs, from the existing 60 days to 180 days so that the workers have enough opportunities to find a new job or other alternatives.

“The immigration subcommittee recommends the Department of Homeland Security and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to extend the grace period for H1-B workers, who have lost their jobs, from 60 days to 180 days,” Ajay Jain Bhutoria, member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, said on Tuesday.

In his presentation, Bhutoria highlighted the significant challenges faced by H1-B workers laid off from their jobs. The current 60-day grace period presents numerous hurdles, including finding a new job within a tight timeframe, complex paperwork for transferring H1-B status, and delays in processing at USCIS, he said.

A decomposed body of a 53-year-old woman was found in a plastic bag in the Lalbhaug area, informed police on Wednesday.

Police informed further that the 22-year-old daughter of the deceased woman was taken into custody for questioning.

“The decomposed body of a 53-year-old woman was found in a plastic bag in the Lalbhaug area. The 22-year-old daughter of the deceased woman was taken into custody for questioning,” said DCP Pravin Mundhe.

The police took custody of the body and sent it for post-mortem.

An investigation is underway and further details are awaited.

Haryana Police arrested two men on Wednesday in connection with a viral video in whicn one of them is seen throwing currency notes from his moving car in Gurugram, officers informed.

The accused were identified as Jorawar Singh Kalsi and Gurpreet Singh.

Police said a case was registered in the matter.

“Both the accused, Jorawar Singh Kalsi and Gurpreet Singh, were arrested. They made a viral video in which one of them is seem throwing currency notes from a moving car in Gurugram,” said Assistant Comissioner of Police (ACP), Vikas Kaushik.

The ACP said the currency notes were seized from Jorawar Sigh Kalsi’s custody.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday aiming at increasing background checks to buy guns, promoting more secure firearms storage and ensuring US law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

The Democratic president was to address his latest efforts to curb gun violence in a speech in this suburban Los Angeles community, where a gunman stormed a dance hall and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration in January. He was also meeting with families of victims and with first responders from that day.

Biden’s rhetoric has grown ever stronger about guns — he routinely calls for banning assault weapons — in pushing a vocal gun-control platform even tougher than during the Obama administration when he was vice president. He has been emboldened by the midterm electiions when his regular talk of gun control didn’t result in massive losses, and he’s expected to continue to argue for strong changes as he inches toward a 2024 reelection run, his aides say.

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Tuesday aiming at increasing background checks to buy guns, promoting more secure firearms storage and ensuring US law enforcement agencies get more out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.

The Democratic president was to address his latest efforts to curb gun violence in a speech in this suburban Los Angeles community, where a gunman stormed a dance hall and shot 20 people, killing 11, following a Lunar New Year celebration in January. He was also meeting with families of victims and with first responders from that day.

Biden’s rhetoric has grown ever stronger about guns — he routinely calls for banning assault weapons — in pushing a vocal gun-control platform even tougher than during the Obama administration when he was vice president. He has been emboldened by the midterm electiions when his regular talk of gun control didn’t result in massive losses, and he’s expected to continue to argue for strong changes as he inches toward a 2024 reelection run, his aides say.

After months of rumors and speculation, OpenAI has announced GPT-4: the latest in its line of AI language models that power applications like ChatGPT and the new Bing.

The company claims the model is “more creative and collaborative than ever before” and “can solve difficult problems with greater accuracy.” It can parse both text and image input, though it can only respond via text. OpenAI also cautions that the systems retain many of the same problems as earlier language models, including a tendency to make up information (or “hallucinate”) and the capacity to generate violent and harmful text, reports The Verge

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday, where he is scheduled to meet top ally Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russia is a main backer of Assad and has a broad presence in Syria, where a 12-year uprising-turned-civil war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country’s pre-war population. Moscow has played a pivotal role in fighting back armed opposition groups trying to topple Assad’s government through its military support, and has also aggressively backed Damascus against opponents at the United Nations.

The Kremlin confirmed Tuesday that Putin will meet with Assad on Wednesday — the anniversary of the conflict — in a statement carried by Russia’s state news agency Tass.

According to the statement, “further development of Russian-Syrian cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian spheres, as well as the prospects for a comprehensive settlement of the situation in and around Syria,” will be on the agenda.

The Russian Defence Ministry says Russian fighter jets didn’t use weapons or impact a US drone that went down after an encounter over the Black Sea.

The ministry said the US drone was flying near the Russian border and intruded into an area declared off limits by Russian authorities. It said the Russian military scrambled fighters to intercept the drone, which it claimed crashed into the water after a sharp maneuver.

The US. military previously said that a Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a US surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday in a “brazen violation of international law,” causing American forces to bring down the unmanned aerial vehicle.

The government is mulling a new framework to develop adequate security standards for mobile phone users, with sources saying the initiative follows concerns over misuse of data and spying by pre-installed apps.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) in a tweet on Tuesday said security of mobile phones is important and the government is in consultation with stakeholders to develop adequate security standards.

“India is emerging as a trusted player in the global value chain of electronics. Security of mobile phones and applications is important. The government is in consultation with stakeholders to develop adequate security standards,” the Meity tweeted.

Poland’s prime minister said Tuesday that his government may hand its Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters jets over to Ukraine “within the next four to six weeks.”

Poland’s leaders said last week that sending the warplanes would be only done within a larger international coalition. Slovakia has also declared readiness to provide its MiG-29 planes to Kyiv and the two NATO nations have urged others to join in.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Tuesday said that Warsaw could send its MiGs within weeks, but didn’t clarify whether there was any coalition ready to follow suit.

A Russian fighter jet struck the propeller of a U.S. surveillance drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday in a “brazen violation of international law,” causing American forces to bring down the unmanned aerial vehicle, the US said.

Moscow said the US drone maneuvered sharply and crashed into water following an encounter with Russian fighter jets scrambled to intercept it near Crimea, but insisted its warplanes didn’t fire their weapons or hit the drone.

The incident, which raised tensions over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, appeared to mark the first time since the height of the Cold War that a U.S. aircraft was brought down after being hit by a Russian warplane.