Author: Admin

An Indian sailor was killed and several others injured after a wooden dhow carrying Indian crew members caught fire near the Strait of Hormuz.Seventeen other Indian crew members were rescued following the incident on Friday, while authorities continue to ascertain the exact cause of the blaze.According to sources, the crew members were rescued by a passing vessel operating in the area.”A wooden Dhow, carrying general cargo, with 18 Indian crew capsized yesterday close to the Strait of Hormuz after it caught fire,” a source was quoted as saying by PTI. “In this incident, one Indian on the dhow died while…

NEW DELHI: BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday took oath as the chief minister of West Bengal.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, JP.Nadda and Dharmendra Pradhan, along with Tripura chief minister Manik Saha, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta and Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Dhami, attended the swearing-in ceremony.The BJP won 207 seats in the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, while the Trinamool Congress secured 80 seats after ruling the state for 15 years.West Bengal recorded its highest-ever voter turnout since independence, with an impressive 91.66% polling in Phase II…

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Sonar Bangla” era has begun as Suvendu Adhikari is set to be sworn in as chief minister of West Bengal on Saturday.This comes after the BJP received an overwhelming mandate in the assembly polls, winning 207 out of 293 seats.Despite being considered a politically difficult terrain for the BJP, even amid the party’s expansion across India, the new era represents the saffron party’s long ideological and organisational battle.Here are the top developmentBengal gets its first BJP chief ministerThe biggest reason the moment is historic is simple — Bengal has never before had a BJP chief…

NEW DELHI: Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) late Friday shared a video purportedly showing AMMK MLA-elect Kamaraj writing a letter extending support to Vijay’s party, sharply rejecting claims by AMMK general secretary T. T. V. Dhinakaran that the document was forged amid the fast-moving government formation battle in Tamil Nadu.The row erupted after Dhinakaran rushed to Lok Bhavan to meet Governor Rajendra Arlekar and submitted a letter asserting that AMMK’s lone MLA-elect remained loyal to the NDA and AIADMK alliance. He also backed AIADMK chief Edappadi K. Palaniswami as the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate.However, TVK dismissed the allegations and released a…

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Saturday appointed Lieutenant General N S Raja Subramani (Retd.) as India’s next Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), while Vice Admiral Krishna Swaminathan was named the next Chief of Naval Staff. According to an official announcement, Lt Gen Raja Subramani, PVSM, AVSM, SM, VSM (Retd.), will also function as Secretary to the Government of India in the Department of Military Affairs from the date he assumes charge until further orders. The current CDS, General Anil Chauhan, is scheduled to complete his tenure on May 30, 2026. Lt Gen Raja Subramani has been serving as Military Adviser…

NEW DELHI: When a sudden airfare hike of Rs 10,000 per pilgrim was announced in late April, it set off a wider debate over what India’s Haj pilgrims were actually paying for-and one line item that came under immediate scrutiny was a Rs 7,000 deduction for a GPS-enabled smartwatch that each of the 1.2 lakh pilgrims had been mandated to carry. The smartwatch, procured by the Haj Committee of India and supplied by Delhi-based firm Sekyo Innovations, was positioned as a safety measure. But pilgrims who have since departed say the device is not turning on, not holding charge, and…

Sole Choice, No Other Name Proposed: Shah KOLKATA: BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari staked claim Friday to form the first saffron govt in Bengal after being unanimously elected leader of the 207-strong legislature party, paving the way for him to take oath Saturday as the state’s ninth chief minister.Union home minister Amit Shah, who had a hand in bringing one-time Mamata Banerjee aide Adhikari from Trinamool Congress to BJP in 2020, spoke eloquently about how the East Midnapore strongman epitomised what BJP aspired to achieve in the state.”We received eight proposals and all of them had one name. Adequate time was given…

NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said “future wars will not be won solely through weaponry, but through innovative thinking and enhanced synergy” and advised commanders of the three services to cultivate the “element of surprise in any given situation as it’s must to secure a strategic edge”.Addressing the second edition of Joint Commanders’ Conference in Jaipur on Friday, the defence minister underscored the need to strengthen capabilities in artificial intelligence, autonomous systems, data analytics and secure communication networks to stay prepared in the rapidly-evolving geopolitical security scenario. He also advised commanders to remain vigilant of the element…

JAMMU: The SIT Friday filed charge-sheet against the man accused of attempt to assassinate former J&K CM National Conference president Dr Farooq Abdullah during a wedding ceremony in Jammu on March 11 this year.The accused, Kamal Singh Jamwal, 63, is a Jammu resident.The seven-member SIT was constituted on March 14, days after the abortive bid on Abdullah’s life.According to the charge-sheet, as Abdullah was leaving the function at in Greater Kailash area, Jamwal allegedly fired at him from a revolver, which was seized soon after.The SIT probe revealed the accused had allegedly developed deep resentment against Abdullah and blamed him…

An AI generated image used for representation NEW DELHI: For continuous ‘health monitoring’ of major and extra-long old bridges on NHs, highway owning agencies will now install advanced sensors for quick alert in case of abnormal behaviour so that corrective steps can be taken before any mishap.The road transport ministry has issued a standardised tender document (RFP) for procurement of the continuous structure monitoring system for bridges which the highway owning agencies and their engineers can use to invite bids. This is significant considering that there is a dire need to monitor the behaviour of old major bridges on the…