An Indian-American teenager from New Jersey won the 2019 South Asian Spelling Bee, after correctly spelling the word “flipe” to earn the national title and $3,000 grand prize. By correctly spelling the word that means to strip off by or as if by peeling, Navneeth Murali bested Hephzibah Sujoe, 13, of Fort Worth, Texas; Pranav Nandakumar, 13, of Austin, Texas; and Vayun Krishna, 12, of Sunnyvale, California, who all tied for the runner-up position, the India West newspaper reported on Sunday. “It fills my heart to see such talented young spellers from across the country who make us proud as…
Author: Our Correspondent
An SPO of Jammu and Kashmir police was killed while another cop was injured in an encounter with terrorists in Baramulla district on Tuesday night. Cops also gunned down a terrorist during the encounter whose identity is yet to be established. The martyred SPO has been identified by the police as Billal. The police said the injured sub-inspector, Amardeep Parihar, has been admitted to a hospital for treatment. The gun battle between security forces and armed militants, which had begun on Tuesday evening, had continued into the night. At 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the Jammu and Kashmir police tweeted that…
Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa directed all the 17 new ministers to reach out to the distressed people in the flood-hit districts across the southern state, an official said on Tuesday. “In a cabinet meeting held soon after the 17 ministers took oath at Raj Bhavan earlier in the day, Yediyurappa advised them to tour the flood-affected districts for two days from Wednesday, assess the damage and assist the local administration in mitigating the hardships caused by heavy monsoon rains and floods in the state’s coastal, central, southern and northwest regions,” an official of the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) told…
Karnataka’s dominant caste Lingayats got a lion’s share of the cabinet posts in the state’s BJP government, with 8 of the 18 legislators belonging to the powerful community in the southern state, a party official said on Tuesday. “Of the 18 cabinet ministers, including Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, 8 of them are Lingayats, accounting for 44 per cent of the ministry,” party’s state spokesman G. Madhusudana told IANS after 17 of its legislators were inducted in the over 3-week-old ministry earlier in the day. After the Lingayats, another equally powerful community – Vokkaligas — got 3 ministers, followed by 2…
Rail traffic over the Old Yamuna Bridge was temporarily suspended on Tuesday as the water level in the river continued to rise, northern railways said. The trains using the bridge have been diverted to New Delhi railway station. The river was flowing at 206.04 metres at 9 p.m., more than a metre above the danger mark of 204.83 metres. It is expected to rise further. Built over 150 years ago, the road-cum-rail bridge on the Delhi-Howrah line, is a vital link between Delhi and the neighbouring states. The highest water level recorded at the Old Yamuna Bridge was 207.49 metres…
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a telephone conversation on Tuesday with his British counterpart Boris Johnson, drew his attention to vandalism of the Indian High Commission by a violent Pakistan-led mob on August 15. The British PM regretted the incident and assured that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure safety and security of the mission, its personnel and visitors. During the phone call, Modi raised the issue of challenges posed by vested interests pursuing their motivated agenda, including by violent means. On August 15, Indians and people of Indian origin gathered outside the Indian High Commission in London…
After speaking with the leaders of India and Pakistan and urging them to reduce tensions over Kashmir, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the weekend at the G7 in France, and he would do his best to mediate in the issue. Addressing reporters in the White House, President Trump said: “Kashmir is a very complicated place. You have the Hindus, and you have the Muslims, and I wouldn’t say they get along so great. And that’s what you have right now.” “And you have millions of people who want to…
Rajasthan has topped the 16-state chart detailing implementation of the free medicine scheme, being run under the National Health Mission, according to NHM Secretary Manoj Jhalani. According to an NHM letter, the DVDMSA (Drugs and Vaccine Distribution Management System) coverage in Rajsthan is 77.26 per cent and proportion of online drug distribution counters, 96.03 per cent. The expired quantity proportion, including breakage, wastage and loss, is just 7.43 per cent. Congratulating people associated with the scheme, Medical and Health Minister Raghu Sharma said, “This comes as a great achievement for the medical and health department of Rajasthan. The scheme is…
Hours after the Delhi High Court on Tuesday rejected former Finance MInister P. Chidambaram’s anticipatory bail plea in the INX Media case, the battery of lawyers representing him approached the Supreme Court for the urgent hearing seeking protection from arrest. Chidambaram’s lawyer KapilSibal asked the apex court to put up the matter before the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi as soon as possible. However, Additional Registrar told Sibal that the Chief Justice is busy in judicial work. Sibal then went to the Supreme Court Registrar to take up the matter urgently. Speaking to reporters, Sibal said, “We have not received the…