01 May 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday inaugurated the second edition of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam at Namo Ghat in Varanasi. The cultural festival will be held from December 17 to 30. The first batch of the Tamil delegation departed from Chennai on December 15.
Nearly 1,400 people (seven groups of 200 each) from varied walks of life are expected to be travelling from different parts of Tamil Nadu.
(With inputs from agencies)
Samer Abudaqa, a Palestinian cameraman for Al Jazeera, was killed in an Israeli strike, while the TV network's chief Gaza correspondent Wael Dahdouh was wounded on Friday as they reported at a school in the south of the besieged territory, the network said.
Abudaqa and Dahdouh had gone to Farhana school in Khan Younis after it was hit by a strike earlier in the day. While they were reporting from the spot, an Israeli drone hit the school with a second strike, the network said.
The Supreme Court agreed Friday to take up on January 4 next year a petition filed by the family of Nikhil Gupta — who is accused by US authorities of plotting to kill Khalistan separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun — seeking directions to the Centre to intervene in the extradition proceedings pending against him in Czech Republic, where he is currently under detention.
The plea by a family member — identified only as Mr X — contended that Gupta, 52, “has no roots in the US” and questioned “the veracity of the narrative presented in the second unsealed superseding indictment” dated November 29 filed before a US District Court. It underscored “the absurdity of the notion that the Indian government would engage him in alleged covert operations and assassinations on US soil when he has no connections or business in the country”.
Four years after Article 370 of the Constitution, which gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, was abrogated by the central government, the Supreme Court on Monday (December 11), gave a unanimous verdict upholding the government's decision.
Article 370 was drafted as part of the Indian Constitution's "Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions" in Part XXI. It was an interim arrangement, born out of the war conditions prevalent in the state at the time.
A Sonbhadra court on Friday sentenced Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Ramdular Gond to 25 years in jail for raping a minor girl in 2014. Gond, an MLA from the Duddhi seat in Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, now faces the prospect of losing his assembly membership.
According to the Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment of two years or more shall be disqualified “from the date of such conviction” and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.
