Indian family offloaded from British Airways flight 'over crying 3-yr-old'

New Delhi, Jun 20: After Prime Minister Narendra Modi said there are no foreign incursions into India, China has once again claimed that Galwan valley of Ladakh union territory is located on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

In an official statement on the step-by-step account of the Galwan face-off where 20 Indian soldiers were killed, China's foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian has said the Galwan valley is located on the Chinese side of the LAC in the west section of the China-India boundary.

"For many years, the Chinese border troops have been patrolling and on duty in this region," Zhao said alleging that since April this year, the Indian border troops have unilaterally and continuously built roads, bridges and other facilities at the LAC in the Galwan Valley.

China has lodged representations and protests on multiple occasions but India has gone even further to cross the LAC and make provocations, Zhao said.

By the early morning of May 6, the Indian border troops, who had crossed the LAC by night and trespassed into China's territory, built fortification and barricades, which impeded the patrol of Chinese border troops, Zhao said adding that they deliberately made provocations in an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo of control and management.

The Chinese border troops, he said, were "forced to take necessary measures to respond to the situation on the ground and strengthen management and control in the border areas."

In order to ease the situation, China and India have stayed in close communication through military and diplomatic channels, he said. "In response to the strong demand of the Chinese side, India agreed to withdraw the personnel who crossed the LAC and demolish the facilities, and so they did.

On June 6, the border troops of both countries held a commander-level meeting and reached consensus on easing the situation. The Indian side, he said, promised that they would not cross the estuary of the Galwan river to patrol and build facilities and the two sides would discuss and decide phased withdrawal of troops through the meetings between commanders on the ground.

"Shockingly, on the evening of June 15, India's front-line troops, in violation of the agreement reached at the commander-level meeting, once again crossed the Line of Actual Control for deliberate provocation when the situation in the Galwan Valley was already easing, and even violently attacked the Chinese officers and soldiers who went there for negotiation, thus triggering fierce physical conflicts and causing casualties."

"The adventurous acts of the Indian army have seriously undermined the stability of the border areas, threatened the lives of Chinese personnel, violated the agreements reached between the two countries on the border issue, and breached the basic norms governing international relations," the spokesperson said.

Beijing, he said, hopes that India will work with China, follow faithfully the important consensus reached between the two leaders, abide by the agreements reached between the two governments, and strengthen communication and coordination on properly managing the current situation through diplomatic and military channels, and jointly uphold peace and stability in the border areas.

Bhopal, Mar 15: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Saturday sought the intervention of Home Minister Amit Shah for the "release" of 22 Congress MLAs in Karnataka, saying they had been held "captive" and were under "pressure".

In a letter to Shah, Chief Minister Nath said the BJP's demand for floor test had "no meaning" till the MLAs do not reach the state.

He said that the MLAs do not have any means of personal communication and all efforts to reach them have failed.

In the four-page letter, Nath said Governor Lalji Tandon had told him that the responsibility of security of those who will come to meet the Speaker should be with the CRPF but as the Chief Minister, it is his duty to ensure the security of all residents of the state including MLAs.

"I assure you that if these 22 MLAs are released by the Karnataka Police, then I will ensure maximum security by the state government so that they are able to convey their views without fear and take part in the proceedings of the assembly," Nath said.

He urged Shah to use his powers as Home Minister so that 22 MLAs safely reach Madhya Pradesh and discharge their responsibilities "without fear or greed" in the assembly session beginning on March 16."

Chief Minister Nath said that he had been informed that the MLAs had been deprived of all personal communication facilities.

He said that a father was not allowed to meet his son and two ministers who were accompanying the father of the legislator were "arrested" and manhandled by the Karnataka Police.

"My efforts to reach them as also of their relatives have failed which proves my apprehension that they are under captivity."

He said the videos released in the name of MLAs to "mislead" the people of the state were similar. "This proves that all these MLAs are under pressure and they are being forced to act in a particular way," he said.

Nath said that he was drawing Shah's attention to the developments in the state since March 3 which were aimed at destabalising the government.

He said three Congress MLAs, one BSP, and one independent MLA were taken to Gurugram and two ministers of his government were able to "rescue" the BSP legislator.

He said the three Congress MLAs and the independent MLA were later taken to Bengaluru by the BJP. He said a BJP MLA and a party functionary accompanied them.

"Later, 19 Congress MLAs were taken to Bengaluru in chartered planes and the arrangement was done by the BJP," he said, adding that they were accompanied by two former BJP MLAs and a former minister.

Kamal Nath said the number of MLAs in Bengaluru grew to 22 and they are all in the protection of the Karnataka Police.

He said some BJP leaders from Madhya Pradesh can be seen in pictures of the place where the MLAs were staying. "All reported expenses on these MLAs are being borne by the BJP," he said.

He said the BJP leaders had told the media about the resignation of MLAs and they had not presented themselves before the assembly Speaker.

Kamal Nath said he was concerned about the security of the MLAs and had written to the Governor earlier.

"You would agree with me that the demand for floor test has no meaning till the 22 MLAs are in captivity. This is unprecedented that the BJP is demanding floor test and several Congress MLAs have been kept outside the state,' he said.

New Delhi, Jun 25: India registered its worst single-day increase in COVID-19 cases on Thursday, recording more than 16,000 coronavirus infections, to push the overall tally to 4.73 lakh as the number of fatalities also jumped by 418, the Union Health Ministry said.

This was the sixth consecutive day when coronavirus cases increased by more than 14,000. On June 20, the country registered an increase of 14,516 cases. On June 21, the increase was of 15,413 cases; 14,821 cases on June 22; 14,933 cases on June 23; and 15,968 cases on June 24.

Consequently, India added 92,573 cases since June 20, and over 2.82 lakh this month since June 1.

The health ministry data updated at 8am on Thursday showed the daily tally increased by the highest-ever 16,922 cases to reach 4,73,105, while the total deaths climbed to 14,894 with 418 new fatalities.

However, according to the data, the recovery rate has improved to 57.43 per cent. The number of active cases stands at 1,86,514 while 2,71,696 people have recovered; one patient has migrated.

The total number of confirmed cases included foreigners.

According to ICMR, a total of 75,60,782 samples have been tested up to June 24 with 2,07,871 samples being tested on Wednesday.

Of the 418 new deaths, 208 were in Maharashtra, 64 in Delhi, 33 in Tamil Nadu, 25 in Gujarat, 14 in Karnataka, 11 in West Bengal, 10 each in Rajasthan and Haryana, nine in Madhya Pradesh, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, five each in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

Bihar, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir have reported one COVID-19 fatality each.

Of the total fatalities, Maharashtra tops the tally with 6,739 deaths followed by Delhi (2,365), Gujarat (1,735), Tamil Nadu (866), Uttar Pradesh (596), West Bengal (591), Madhya Pradesh (534), Rajasthan (375) and Telangana (225).

The COVID-19 death toll reached 188 in Haryana, 164 in Karnataka, 124 in Andhra Pradesh, 113 in Punjab, 88 in Jammu and Kashmir, 57 in Bihar, 35 in Uttarakhand, 22 in Kerala and 17 in Odisha.

Chhattisgarh has registered 12 deaths, Jharkhand 11, Assam and Puducherry nine each, Himachal Pradesh eight, Chandigarh six, Goa two and Meghalaya, Tripura and Ladakh have reported one fatality each.

More than 70 per cent deaths took place due to comorbidities, the health ministry said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases at 1,42,900 followed by Delhi at 70,390, Tamil Nadu at 67,468, Gujarat at 28,943, Uttar Pradesh at 19,557, Rajasthan at 16,009 and West Bengal at 15,173, according to ministry data.

The number of COVID-19 cases has gone up to 12,448 in Madhya Pradesh, 12,010 in Haryana, 10,444 in Telangana,10,331 in Andhra Pradesh and 10,118 in Karnataka.

It has risen to 8,209 in Bihar, 6,422 in Jammu and Kashmir, 6,198 in Assam and 5,752 in Odisha. Punjab has reported 4,627 novel coronavirus infections so far, while Kerala has 3,603 cases.

A total of 2,623 people have been infected by the virus in Uttarakhand, 2,419 in Chhattisgarh, 2,207 in Jharkhand, 1,259 in Tripura, 970 in Manipur, 951 in Goa, 941 in Ladakh and 806 in Himachal Pradesh.

Puducherry has recorded 461 COVID-19 cases, Chandigarh has 420, Nagaland has 347, Arunachal Pradesh has 158 and Mizoram has 142 cases.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu together have reported 120 COVID-19 cases.

Sikkim has 84, Andaman and Nicobar Islands has registered 56 infections so far while Meghalaya has recorded 46 cases.

"Our figures are being reconciled with the ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research)," the ministry said, adding 8,493 cases are being reassigned to states.

State-wise distribution is subject to further verification and reconciliation, it added.