30 minor girls oppose lewd graffiti in Bihar school, thrashed

Thane, Apr 24: A 34-year-old man was allegedly attacked on suspicion of being a COVID-19 patient and died after falling into a gutter during the assault in Kalyan town of Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Wednesday morning, when Ganesh Gupta had stepped out of his home to purchase some essentials amid the COVID-19 lockdown, an official said.

On noticing some policemen manning the street, the victim took an alternate route, where a few passersby assaulted him after he coughed while walking, he said.

The men suspected him of being a COVID-19 patient and attacked him, causing him to fall into a gutter and die, the official said.

The deceased's body was sent for post-mortem and a case of accidental death has been registered as of now, the station house officer of the Khadakpada police station said.

New Delhi, Jun 22: With an increase of 14,821 new cases and 445 deaths, India's COVID-19 count reached 4,25,282 on Monday.

According to the latest update by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), 13,699 deaths have been recorded due to the infection so far in the country.

The rise in confirmed cases today is lower than the highest spike of 15 thousand plus cases registered on Sunday.

The count includes 1,74,387 active cases, and 2,37,196 cured/discharged/migrated patients.

Maharashtra with 1,32,075 confirmed cases remains the worst-affected by the infection so far in the country. The state's count includes 60,161 active, 65,744 cured, discharged patients while 6,170 deaths have been reported due to the infection so far.

Meanwhile, the national capital today became the second-worst affected region in the country with the number of confirmed cases in Delhi reaching 59,746 as opposed to Tamil Nadu's 59,377 cases.

While 2,175 deaths have been reported in Delhi due to the infection so far, the toll in Tamil Nadu stands at 757.

Davos, Jan 22: President Donald Trump has said that the US is watching the developments between India and Pakistan over Kashmir "very closely" and repeated his offer to "help" resolve the longstanding dispute between the two neighbours as he met Prime Minister Imran Khan on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum here in the Swiss ski resort.

Addressing the media with the Pakistan Prime Minister prior to their private meeting on Tuesday, President Trump asserted that trade and borders were both critical points for discussion, while Khan said that for him, Afghanistan was the top priority.

Trump told Khan, whom he referred to as "my friend", that he would speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the ongoing Kashmir issue. The US president is expected to visit India in the coming weeks, marking his first visit after taking up his post in the White House.

"What's going on between Pakistan and India … if we can help, we certainly will be willing to. We have been watching it very closely and it's an honour to be here with my friend," he said.

"The Pakistan-India conflict is a very big issue for us in Pakistan and we expect the US to always play its part in deescalating the tensions, because no other country can," Khan said.

President Trump has repeatedly offered to mediate following India's August 5 decision to revoke the special status to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories, evoking strong reaction from Pakistan which has been trying to internationalise the Kashmir issue.

New Delhi has defended the move, saying Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and the issue was strictly internal to the country, and the special status provisions only gave rise to terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The country took the decision of abrogation of Article 370, which had only given separatism and terrorism to that state," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at a function in October last year.

This is the third meeting between Trump and Khan since Pakistan premier assumed office in 2018 and it came against the backdrop of Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi's recent trip to the US, amid reports that the US and Afghan Taliban were close to striking a peace deal.

"There are issues we want to talk about. The main issue is Afghanistan because it concerns the US and Pakistan. Fortunately, we are on the same page. Both of us are interested in peace there and an orderly transition in Afghanistan with talks with Taliban and the government," Khan said.

When a reporter asked Trump if he would visit Pakistan considering he was already set to visit India, the US president said he was meeting the Pakistan premier in Davos.

"Well, we're visiting right now. So we don't really have to. I wanted to say that from a relationship standpoint, we got a great relationship. From the standpoint our two countries, we're getting along very well. I would say we've never been closer with Pakistan the way we're right now. And this is a big statement," Trump said.

Khan left for Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum and meet the world leaders, including President Trump, on the sidelines of the annual event which kicked off at the ski resort town of Davos on Tuesday.

The four-day summit marks the 50th anniversary of the forum.

A total of 53 heads of State are on the guest list. Nearly 3,000 participants from 118 countries are expected to attend the event during which political leaders, business executives, heads of international organisations and civil society representatives are set to deliberate on contemporary economic, geopolitical, social and environmental issues.